You'd never guess who I'd found skulking in the underbelly network of Cobblestone, Berk Kanvas, the sexist ex-tyrant himself. This explains the tensions I felt when coming here. There was indeed a power struggle but more in the way of secrecy. Had the Dragon Empire found out that their last open enemy had faked their death and was, in fact, laying low then it was possible that they come and kill him and anyone who helped in his cover-up.

Going under the name 'Zac' he's been busy rebuilding his renown spy network and keeping close tabs on news to help him and his own in the underground. But the plus and minuses of his continued existence can be discussed at another date.

Turns out that dark angel and protector had indeed made it here about five days back. They talked with Zac before traveling further north of all places. the village of Lucas had been attacked by demons (It was a rumor when they got the news.) along with a cryptic message.

Packing our supplies Flynn and I make haste northward. I can't say for certain but something about the timing of the information bothers me. Zac's vague grin all but confirmed my hunch. Whoever started the whispers, it was a fake. A bait, Andrew and Natalie are walking straight into a trap.

It might be too late...

Sophie - July 17th, 2764

Natalie

It climbed the shaft like a two-legged cockroach. The fear fought tooth and nail to claw into Natalie but despite this she stood resolute, her sweating palms latching onto the lift cable in open defiance to the thing that scurried towards her.

She felt the tremor of its legs stabbing into the stone walls now, and the lifelike hum if gave off seemed to bellow off it making her body shiver. It stopped around five feet below Natalie, it’s sudden pause making her realize that she’d been holding her breath. Looking closely at the two-legged machinery Natalie noticed what distracted it from its straight b-line towards her. The counterweight to the lift had dropped on its leg, the lift up above came to a grounded halt. Regarding the counterweight for a moment the monstrous machine then looked back up at her and Natalie could feel the spark of understanding coming from the man within.

Flashlights shot on from its cockpit soon after making Natalie shield her eyes.

“You saw me through these walls, that must make you the old lab rat.” a voice boomed out of speakers on the strange machine.

With her hand still definitely passing power through the cable and her heart racing Natalie unshielded her eyes to face down her enemy. It’s flashlight made it hard for her to make out the finer details of the two-legged thing. Unsure of what it was capable of or even if Andrew and the kids reached their floor Natalie did not rise to his comment.

Getting no reply from Natalie it returned its attention to the counterweight resting on its leg.

“The escapee that’s been helping the new batch escape,” his voice boomed through the lift shaft.

The leg of the machine lifted off the wall allowing the counterweight to continue its descent until it latched onto the cable above it with a violent kick. Natalie’s blood ran cold as she heated distant screaming and crying as the buzz of the moving elevators was replaced with a struggling grone. Among the distant din of panic, the man in the freakish machine gave a light chuckle.

“You even got them all wrapped and sealed for us, well then, hope you don't mind I drop the package here,” he said riley. The lift cable begins to tremble like a strung guitar string.

No… Natalie only thought as the realization hit her.

A snap of severed cord sounded in the shaft as the counterweight that hung just below the machine leg drops free from before coming to a crash down at the endless bottom. The now counterweight free cable began to slither upwards, the noise of the lift motor up above straining and struggle to keep lifting at the lack of balance was only second to the louder screaming of the children up above.

Natalie was panicking now, her hands were shaking, her breath ragged-and eyes widened. The noise of children trapped in a box that was beginning to fail just overrode her other senses.

I’ve failed-I’ve failed-I’ve failed! Her mind screamed.

She’d tried her best and yet she failed them all-she could not stop it. Just stood there against the beam looking dumbfounded. Everything fell into slow motion. Senses working on overtime but reporting nothing back but pure panic. Heart thumping-breath panting-hair standing, children screaming... man chuckling. Her eyes narrowed on the machine that the chuckles were coming from and all she saw was red.

Letting go of the lift cable to freefall Natalie channeled a condensed ball of electricity in her hand. As she fell upon the two-legged machine she threw the purple ball at it with all her might. The lift shaft lit up to the sparks that came from the defining impact. The pilot caught unprepared began to tumble down the shaft. It’s sold on the walls and beams breaking free from the sheer force alone. With sparks flicking off the beams from the impact Natalie went on, not done she charged another ball of electricity and kicked herself off the beam to drop downwards towards the falling machine as it tried to break its descent with its legs. The sound of the lift dropping behind her grew closer but it did not matter anymore. If she were to fail, if they all must fall then she’ll take this thing down with her.

The second condensed ball of electricity struck the machine sending it tumbling further downward. With that Natalie summoned her wings, reached the wall in front of her just to kick off of it, and grab the beam that was to the back of her to hide in the gap just before the lift dropped past. With her purple eyes active Natalie thought she’d see the children within it falling to their deaths but she only saw Andrew on the top of it holding his sword. He’d cut the cable the moment he reached Natalie’s level and jumped to grab it as the lift fell deeper into the pit crashing into the machine residing with a booming crash.

“Natalie!” Andrew called as he swung up towards her. Natalie, still taking in what happened just blinked at him.

Andrew stabbed his sword into the solid wall beside Natalie and used its hilt as a platform before looking at Natalie.

“There you are,” he said, although he sounded casual there was still a sense of franticness about him.

“The children,” Was all she could mumble.

“They are safe, I watched them make a break for the exit before I came here,” he said with a sigh.

Awash of relief came over her to his comment but Andrew hardly took note of it, instead, his eyes were glued to the blackness below.

“I heard something huge and saw flashlights below, so I thought I’d drop on by and give you a lift,” Andrew said with a straight face.

Despite everything, Natalie's lip twitched a little to his pun. Andrew’s eyes however were already looking down at the darkened pit below.

“It’s starting to rain out there, that’s your doing right?”

Natalie nodded, Andrew, seeing this gave an approving nod himself before he looked back downward.

“What was that anyway? Like some two-legged insect. Are they sticking flashlights on demons now?” he asked, eyes squinting.

Given that Andrew does not have the sight Natalie knew he could not see that much further into the shaft. For had he seen what she could he’d have rephrased his last words.

“Not ‘was’,” Natalie said standing tall against the metal beam.

Andrew instantly got her understanding since he cursed under his breath and shifts on top of his sword.

“Then we need to get out of here, we got what we came for so let's leave this… thing and get them to safety.”

“Not yet,” Natalie replied coldly.

With Andrew by her side, her earlier fear had turned to cold tempered anger. But more than anger was now the hope of turning this stupid game on its head if she made her move right here.

“They’d taken them,” Natalie said through seethed teeth. A prolonged rumble of rolling thunder loomed on overhead.

“Natalie?” Andrew said with concern.

“They had children already and they’ve taken them,”

“What are you talking about, we knew this already-”

“They knew I’d come, knew I'd follow the van. They’ve been expecting us...”

“Wait-slowdown! How are you so sure they knew all of a sudden?!”

“I just know ok!”

“And you'd be correct.” a sharp voice boomed through loudspeakers that ran up the shaft.

This was followed by the rattle and rumble of twisted metal and sheets sounded from down below alerting the two. With her angel sight, Natalie was able to make out the two-legged machine stand and break its way out of the elevator that fell upon it.

"You followed the breadcrumbs just as we’d hoped, but you've overreached your role, letting the subjects out as you did." The voice in the machine said before sighing. “Guess he’d want me to fix that leak as well.”

Although Andrew could not see it he cursed under his breath at the sound of the booming voice below.

“‘He’?” Natalie asked. Her purple eyes narrow in confusion.

Flipping off the top of his sword Andrew hung on his weapons handle with one-handed, kicking off the lift wall he pulled the sword out of the as he jumped off the wall and landed on the ledge where the lift doors where. Prying the doors open with his fingers he begins to strain.

“My master,” the man in the machine continued.

Her eyes widened to that. Finally, the one who’s been at the root of all of this was here.

“You mean the one you call Father? Where is he?” her cold voice a contrast to her boiling blood.

The man in the machine fell silent, the honest vibe of surprise made Natalie's resolve waver.

“Wait, you mean to say that you did not know? Father is dead, has been for years.”

This news was like a slap to Natalie's face. All these years, searching and hunting for vague clues. All in the vain hope of one day confronting the one that spearheaded it all and putting an end to him. It all been nothing but a fantasy. Some pipe dream that she could no longer fulfill.

“Who killed him,” she asked.

“Hard to say, he’d made a lot of enemies. We’ve been laying low ever since. We are what’s birthed from the ashes of our late father. And I; pilot of the Nova Dawn shall rise to this new age.” Natalie heard him speak but it barely registered. In truth, she felt hollow.

Andrew meanwhile having pried open the lift doors slipped on halfway in before he turned back to Natalie, his hand outstretched.

“We’ve got to go!” he said.

Still dazed she nodded and was about to reach for him until some object came blazing its way between them. A moment later an explosion shook the foundations of the lift shaft causing Natalie to shade her eyes from the rubble. Glancing up above where the explosion sounded Natalie saw fragments of a beam and huge chunks of rubble giving way and falling towards her. Memories of a building collapsing over her paralyzed her thought process as she stood there looking up like a deer in headlights.

“Natalie!” Andrew’s call snapped her out of her trance prodding her to reach out for his already outstretched hand and be pulled into the long wide halls of a floor.

As she recovered with a roll, Andrew proceeded to take her hand and dart off down the hall without looking back. Taking a look in his place Natalie sees that this so-called Nova pilot called Dawn had already leaped to their floor, smashed open the lift doors as if wet paper and proceeded to sprint its way towards the with its indented ostrich-like legs. With its distinctive humming sound of life drawing closer Natalie let go of Andrew's grip with one hand while the other proceeded to charge a condensed ball of electricity.

Dashing at the incoming Nova it exploded on impact staggering the mechanical thing back but only for a step. A shimmer of something rippled off the thing from the impact before fading like smoke. It had some variant of knights armor just like a living thing. Something even the Dragon Empire seem unable to do with their battle bots.

Biting her lip she turned tail once more and ran, unsure what she was dealing with and given the proximity of the halls unless she took a chance in testing its strength against it in these conditions then she had no other choice but to retreat.

The strange low clicking sound came which followed off with the roar of gunfire soon after making Natalie pick up speed to cut right at the next hall crossing. Andrew had spun around to cover her from the rapid-fire of the Nova by deflecting what he could with his sword and body covered in knights armor.

As soon as Natalie made it around the corner she glanced up to the loud slap of metal and the grunt of Andrew to see him come flying down the hall and towards the wall. Catching his arm as soon as he became visible around her corner Natalie pivoted him, diverting his trajection to the far wall and instead of throwing him on the one behind her and falling against him from the momentum. The Nova came blazing down the hall a fraction later, the sharp claws of its giant leg stabbed through the wall right where Andrew would have been had Natalie not stolen him mid-flight, dust from rubble and plaster exploded to the impact causing Natalie to hide her face on his shoulder.

As she pulled back she was in time to see Andrew’s shocked expression as his sword flashed out beyond her back, a deafening sound of metal hitting metal ran through Natalie’s skull like a wakeup call and she turns around to see the Leg of the Nova pushing up against Andrew’s sword.

“Run!” Andrew grunted, with her hands practically on his waist and shoulder she could feel the strain that was put on his muscles. He was pinned by the sheer force of its leg.

The strange clicking sounded once more which caused Natalie to hug closer to Andrew as she summoned her dark wings to wrap their exposed left side. Rapid gunfire came barely a breath later laying in on her wing shield. Most of the bullets either bounced off the impossibly light but firm feathers but even so the few that penetrated weak points dug into the wing causing great pain.

Gritting her teeth and keeping her wing up Natalie pushed herself away from Andrew and towards the Nova, channeling as much electric power as she can muster in both hands she created a giant ball of electricity. Placing it into her dominant hand she stepped in, removed her wing shield from her body and threw a superman punch straight at the cockpit with all her might. The Nova’s strange knight-like barrier flashed on impact as cracks began to make their way up the cockpit glass itself, and with an explosion like flash, Natalie was blasted back like a cannonball.

Being prepared for the knockback she shielded herself within her wings of night having it absorb the impact of crashing the ceiling and wall. With her head spinning and wrist aching from the attack Natalie staggered back to her feet. Andrew seemed to appear out of nowhere as he took a hold of her shoulder to see if she was ok. With a nod, her wings took most of the shock and what aches and pain she gained from the stunt was already being soothed by her super-fast healing. As she looked down the end of the hall she just flew down Natalie saw what became of the Nova, It crashed a hole against the nearest wall before tumbling, stopping partway down the hall on the opposite side. Rubble scattered around its takedown. The slight crashes that she saw on the cockpit mid-strike were now a clear gaping hole of glass. Relieved that her big gamble worked Natalie let out a weary breath as she barely rested body began showing signs of its fatigue once more.

Seeing that she was ok Andrew looked back at the Nova and nodded in slight awe.

“Given everything that happened I did not think you had it in you,” Andrew said, his eyes still on the Nova.

“I didn't have it in me,” Natalie pushed out as she un-summoned her wings and forced herself to her full height. The clink of the attached bullets within her wing fell down beside her. Reverting her wings curb the edge of the fatigue that washed over her body. “Had to resort to all the things I know just to pull a strike like that off.”

Using both hands instead of one to build up power takes longer but the power from doing so is far greater, that mixed with the fact that she’d summoned her wings when doing so only amplified her electric affinity. Striking from a close range instead of long-distance made it so the kinetic energy had real weight behind it. Given her style of fighting, where she was and the amount of strength she had this was the best she could manage, and yet… Natalie's eyes narrowed as she still saw the right glow of life on the mechanical Nova.

Gripping her fist to the thoughts Natalie starts storming up towards it. Andrew however grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around to face him.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“The pilot inside, He’s going to tell us where they took the rest of them.” Natalie shot back.

“Am I now?” The Nova pilot said as the machine rose back up to its full height.

Andrew fell into his fighting ready stand instantly and although it’s getting up was a surprise to her Natalie's resolve made little of that apparent.

“You will, once I beat you to an inch of your life,” she said after taking a few steps forward and getting into a fighting stance.

The pilot chuckled amusingly at this, his sinister laugh echoing through the hollow hallways.

“Then beat me if you can, I’ve collapsed the tunnels, and the only ones who knew where they led to are me and the unfortunate collateral that I caused by the blockage. But if you think I will betray my master's trust because of the threat of death and pain then you will be sorely disappointed. So come on then! Test my loyalty!”

Taken back by the intensity of his words Natalie shuffled uncertainly. As fanatic as he seemed she knew that he meant every word, that meant her time was wasted facing him. Eyes desperately looking for something-anything that could give her a hint on where they took the other children she begins racking her brain. That's when she noticed something among a pile of rubble through the walls a few floors below with her angel sight.

“We can’t fight this thing in here,” Andrew whispered to Natalie, breaking her out of the plan she just formed.

“Lure him outside,” was all she said back before charging off towards Nova.

Leaping in with an ax kick Natalie tried to land a blow on its cracked cockpit. The Nova however not only avoided her strike but swatted her from the air with a roundhouse kick. Knocking her sideways Natalie went tunneling across the hall only grinding to a halt when her arms peered over the edge of the broken doors of the lift shaft. She could hear Andrew calling her from behind but she was too winded to respond. She wanted to distract the pilot, never had she expected something that large to move so quickly.

Despite this she was right where she wanted to be, taking a look down the shaft from here with her angelic sight she still could see the lone light of someone laying on their back half-buried under rubble. Although he glowed with the light she could tell that he was dying. This was her last real chance to get some answers, to for once get a lead upon them that they had not planned for or expected. She had to act fast. Standing up and looking over her shoulder she sees Andrew parrying the Nova’s assortments of attacks to slip through the corner to get to her.

Her heart went out to him, had she had the time to explain what she was doing he would object, But Andrew did not understand, he would never understand, and neither did she wish him to.

Lure him to the surface, Once I'm back I'll end this.

Giving him an intent look Natalie hoped that along with her last words to him align with the next action he would understand what she was asking for. With a last look of Andrew reached out for Natalie as she dropped off the opened shaft and fell downwards to reach the last remaining sign of life in this horrid place.

~#~

Andrew

He reached over the edge in time to see her fade down the lift shaft. His thermal goggles helped him see her summon her wings and glide the rest of the way down despite the pitch blackness. Although he knew that she was safe the sheer fact that she did this at all meant she spotted something to reach the other kids.

Thudding his fist against the broken lift door he drew his attention back to the Nova. He’d seemed perplexed by Natalie's actions also since he stopped attacking the moment she jumped down into the lift shaft.

Danmit Natalie, we don’t have time for this!

She left him to stand off against this thing-this Nova. And what was that look that she gave him before she’d jumped? Trust her? She’ll be back? Did she really think that he could stand up to this Nova long enough for her to return?

Hearing the sound of gunfire Andrew blocked some of the incoming bullets on reflex. The rest arched wide or missed by a fair margin. With the kiss of his teeth, the pilot stopped his rapid-fire.

"Now I’m left with the plus one," The pilot said, he almost sounded disappointed.

"It takes one to know one," Andrew shot back.

Dawn just chuckled softly.

"A smart mouth with guts! Good." He chafed. “Her stupid light show broke my weapon, guess she ran off and left you here for me to break as compensation.”

The strange humm of the Nova began to increase making Andrew’s hairs rise on his neck. Getting into a stance and enhancing his knight's armor as best he could Andrew glared back at his looming opponent. Seeing his tense expression Dawn the Nova pilot laughed.

“Don't be afraid of dying for the will of the one you serve,” Dawn said, the Nova slowly walking closer. “If it was to further my master's dreams I would gladly serve my guts on a silver plate for him. So tell me, ‘plus one’ What would you do for yours ay? What organs are you willing to cough up?"

As the Nova drew closer towards him, as he was standing at the very tip of the edge of the lift shaft Andrew knew that this was not a matter of winning. This was not even a case of losing. It was a simple matter of just how long can he hold this thing on before it broke him.