Aurora Legion took up positions on the roof of a building, binoculars on the target site. Wonder Knight’s eyes narrowed as he reached up to his mic.

“Aurora in position.”

Director Green’s voice came through.

“Good. Standby while we set up the last barricade.”

“Yes Director.”

Wonder Knight kept his eyes focused on the site, not speaking another word. The rest of Aurora exchanged glances and turned to Pink Star. She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, but they held their gaze. She let out a sigh and walked over to Wonder Knight.

“Wonder, everything ok?”

“Fine.”

“You don’t seem fine.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

Pink Star crossed her arms.

“I’m going to. You’re the leader of the team, Wonder, and you haven’t even made eye contact with us today. That’s not the Wonder Knight I know. What’s going on?”

Wonder Knight continued to observe the site, but eventually he let out a sigh and stood up to face Pink and the team.

“It’s just, am I really doing any good? Nemesis, these attackers…I couldn’t do anything against them. If they had wanted to…they could have…”

Pink Star shrugged.

“Then get better.”

“Huh?”

“You’re Wonder Knight. You never give up, you always have a plan. So don’t just give up because you lost once or twice, and come up with a plan to deal with it. Leave the brooding to those of us that are still single.”

Wonder Knight winced again, but he let out a sigh and smiled.

“You’re right.”

Chronolock glanced over at another street, eye’s narrowing.

“Better come up with that plan quick, looks like it’s time for a rematch.”

“What?”

The team glanced over as Chronolock pointed. Another block over, they could see Nemesis stalking through an alleyway, setting up by a side door of a nearby research facility.

Wonder Knight spoke into his mic once more.

“Director Green, this is Aurora, we have a problem.”

“What is it?”

“Nemesis is in the area, a couple blocks from the site.”

“...of course they are.”

“What’s your orders, Director?”

“...”

He heard Londyn sigh.

“...no choice. Handle them, driving them away is good enough for today. Try to keep it as quick and quiet as you can.”

“...understood.”

Wonder Knight nodded to the rest of the team and they gathered in a huddle.

Aurora Legion took positions up above the alleyway. Wonder Knight signaled with his hand and the team leapt into action.

Icy Rose lifted her hands and a cold wind blew through the alleyway, ice encasing the opponents’ feet. As she did, Wonder Knight and a pink panther leapt from the building, falling towards the large man and the red-haired girl, respectively. Meanwhile Voidspeaker let a black beam fly, targeting the machine. And the moment the beam connected…

The machine vanished into thin air.

Along with the rest of them.

Icy Rose’s eyes widened and she rushed over to the team still on the roof. She pushed her hands out to her sides and an ice-filled cyclone surrounded them.

They heard a tongue click as a ninja appeared in front of the cyclone.

“Heh heh heh…looking for us, Aurora losers? You’re not going to stop us today!”

The air shimmered and Nemesis appeared on the roof. The red-haired girl lifted her hands, a second cyclone appearing and whirling towards the team.

Pink Star let the panther in the alley fade and created a small bird, sending it flying up above Icy Rose’s cyclone. She pointed her finger and Voidspeaker fired a beam through the wind. Both cyclones vanished and the beam continued into the red-haired girl. She gasped as the light faded from her eyes.

A wall of ice grew around the team, just in time to block a barrage of blue bolts and a ninja with a stun blade. Chronolock leapt from on top of the wall. The ninja scoffed and swung his blade, which froze in the air. His eyes widened and he was forced to release the blade to dodge Chronolock’s fist.

And then Wonder Knight launched into the air, landing into the middle of Nemesis with a crash, as Icy Rose sent a second frosty cyclone spiraling towards them. Nemesis was forced to scatter as Wonder Knight tackled the man with the sword.

There was a flash of pink and a small dragon appeared on the rooftop, Pink Star, Voidspeaker, and Icy Rose leaping on its back. The dragon unleashed a cone of pink fire, forcing the ninja away from them.

The machine put its hands together, its arms starting to glow. Voidspeaker lifted a finger and quickly fired a black beam. The glow faded and the machine ran to escape the beam.

A barrage of blue bolts flew through the air, but the dragon simply lifted its wings and covered the team.

Meanwhile the machine continued running, slamming a fist into Wonder Knight as he sat on the man with the sword. Wonder Knight gasped and fell back. The machine grabbed the man on the ground and spun around, pulling him up and launching him through the air in one move. The man laughed as he drew his sword, hurtling towards the dragon.

A wave of icicles soared towards him, only for a wave of blue bolts to catch each and every one. The man continued towards the dragon.

He decapitated the beast in a single blow.

Aurora Legion fell to the ground as the machine grabbed Wonder Knight and tossed him over as well. They picked themselves up and glared at Nemesis, fists at the ready.

Round 2 had just begun.

In the basement of Midnight Staffing, Chris and a team of minions worked to move a huge stack of boxes.

“Ugh, this was a much better idea in theory…”

Finally, when all the boxes were moved, Chris removed one of the floor tiles, revealing a door. He opened it up…

But it wasn’t empty.

“Boss? What are you doing here?”

Bob climbed the ladder and into the room.

“Something I need to take care of. How’s the evacuation looking?”

Chris nodded.

“Sergei just finished wiping the data. We just need to get out of here.”

Bob nodded and glanced at his wrist. A green light was flashing on it.

“Go, I have a team distracting them so they shouldn’t notice you moving underneath.”

Chris nodded and Bob let out a sigh.

Fortunately the majority of people in the building were Eternal Night. His people focused on the logistics and management side of things, so only a handful of them were onsite at any given time.

As for the Eternal Night disciples…well he had a plan on that.

Bob helped the others evacuate. He let out a sigh as the last of his people climbed into the emergency tunnel and climbed in after them. He turned in another direction, entering a secret room underneath the structure.

A room with a Scieffer-Oscillator core, rigged into a bomb. Bob began to flip switches on the device and it hummed with light. He let out a sigh and dialed a number, connecting to the building’s intercom systems, while a monitor in the corner of the room displayed the view from the security cameras.

“Hello, Senior Brother Wu.”

Bob watched as Senior Brother Wu’s eyes narrowed.

“Hello Bob. The Mistress said you might stop by.”

“I see. Well, I’m leaving now. I suggest you do the same.”

Senior Brother Wu scoffed and crossed his arms.

“I don’t take orders from you today, mortal.”

“I’m not ordering anyone. I’m just letting you know.”

“...letting me know what, mortal?”

“That the building is about to explode.”

“...you wouldn’t dare. This is property of the Eternal Night Sect. There are grave consequences for any that might attack it.”

“This is no attack. This position is compromised and the ILS is enroute, we are simply following the policy we laid out at the start with your Mistress.”

Senior Brother Wu’s eyes narrowed.

“Be careful, mortal. The Mistress may choose not to believe that.”

“I’m aware.”

He shrugged.

“It’s your funeral, mortal. As for us, I thank you for your warning, but I’m going to ignore it. A mere bomb can’t harm me.”

“Not you, but all the Outers will die. Even the Inners won’t escape unscathed. So it will be you and a couple of wounded against everything the ILS can bring to bear. And even if you win, you'll have to explain the heavy and entirely avoidable casualties to your Mistress.”

“...”

“Take care, Senior Brother Wu.”

With that, Bob hung up and walked down the tunnel, pressing a button on his arm.

Up in the building Senior Brother Wu clenched his teeth and furrowed his brow. He spun around to the nearest disciple.

“We’re leaving.”

He turned and left without another word.

“Nemesis has retreated, Aurora’s back in position and ready.”

Londyn let out a sigh. Less than ideal, but the target hadn’t made any moves yet, so they still had time…

And then the ground started to rumble.

Londyn’s eyes widened. The target structure began to shake and fall into the ground, crumbling upon itself.

Within moments, nothing was left but pebbles and ash.

The building was gone…and Londyn’s best lead with it.