“What’s happening down there?” Natasha whined from the bed as I joined her, pulling her in close to my body.

“Sophia’s making breakfast and the girl from the airport is with her.” I said with a yawn.

“Hmm, guess we should get up.” Natasha softly moaned as she stretched.

I couldn’t help but let my eyes wander down her flexing body-

“Enjoying the view?” Natasha interrupted my thoughts, sending me an impish look.

“Always.” I replied with a grin.

“Well, too bad. We’ve got things to do.” She replied before getting up, my eyes following each sway of her hips as she walked away.

***

We got dressed and left the house, a comfortable town car already waiting for us outside along with Sophia’s newly acquired aide currently planning out a route with the driver.

The driver, noticing our approach, quickly broke away and introduced himself before opening the door for Natasha and Sophia, more so than me. Although I couldn’t exactly blame him, I looked like I’d slept on a park bench and they... didn’t.

The drive was pleasant, Abigail in the front behind a privacy partition along with the driver, while we were seated in the back.

“That looks suspiciously like work.” I said, gesturing to the tablet in Sophia’s hands.

“I’m just checking up on a few things.” Sophia answered with a dismissive hand wave.

“An immortal workaholic. That doesn’t seem like a good combo.” I chuckled.

Sophia looked up at me with a frown.

“Oh yeah, so how is the valley right now at this very moment?” Sophia asked accusingly, and I couldn’t help but reach out with my senses and check.

“Touché,” I replied

***

Katya was not having a good day.

It seemed she was having less and less of those lately.

Among the reasons for her current predicament was her successor, running off with the first pregnant Sentire in history and what amounted to a walking atomic weapon with a hair trigger.

But as if the fallout of panicking Sentires in her valley wasn’t bad enough, she currently found herself standing in front of a piece of military grade hardware which wasn’t supposed to be here.

“It still seems functional, Ma’am.” A Custodes observed from beside her, she barely even had to move, a slight twitch of her hand and a tall suit of scaled armor rose from her shadow and brought down a massive jagged obsidian blade, cleaving the Mechanical surveillance drone in two with such force that a small wave of dust and dirt spread out from it.

As the dust settled, the armored figure pulled back its cloak, which had shielded Katya from the dirt. She hadn’t felt the fabric touch her skin; in fact, it was more like being swallowed by darkness and then reappearing.

She hadn’t moved a muscle, trusting in Arkos’s capable hands, as the two of them had gained an understanding with one another.

There had been far more intelligence behind those glowing embers in his faceplate ever since Aleks had completed his artificial core.

She would even feel the occasional wisps of emotion from the shadowy knight.

“Thank you, Arkos.” She said simply and primly, having not even flinched.

Arkos bowed to her respectfully before returning to her shadow, where he’d remain with her until she needed him again.

Her troubles weren’t due to the Surveillance drone being shot down, as she’d given the order to one of the marksman shadows herself after the foreign drone’s third pass across her valley’s no-fly zone.

No, what bothered her was the fact that the U.S. Government was getting curious about their valley, something which she’d gone to great length to avoid in the past.

Katya had never been concerned about the decennial court battles or political pressures exuded on her to give up their land claim predating the founding of this country.

What bothered her wasn’t the political aspects of the government, but instead the military aspects.

Using drones to spy on their valley was a bad sign to anyone.

***

“We’ve lost contact, Sir.” The remote pilot stated.

“God dammit, that’s a hundred million dollar piece of hardware we just lost, and we don’t even know how we lost it!” An airforce officer swore angrily, slamming his fist against a table.

“The last recorded images before the hit showed a dark projectile with no smoke trail hitting the main compartment of the unit.”

“How did the mapping go?” The officer asked.

“One third was mapped, mostly the lower valley, although one section of the central valley lit up like Christmas Lights on energy scans.”

“Good, at least we got something.” He responded.

***

“Why are these a thousand dollars?” I asked, holding up what looked like a pair of worn work boots.

“These should not be a thousand dollars...” I repeated in disbelief.

“Looks like you’ve discovered the hipster trend.” Natasha said with disdain.

“I don’t know what that is... And I think that’s for the best.” I said, putting the overpriced homeless-wear down.

Sophia joined up with us as we left the store named RoughWear, which should have been named RoughWorn judging by the state of the goods in the store.

Sophia groaned at my internal play on words.

“Abigail?” Sophia called and the assistant keeping a respectful distance until needed closed in on our little group.

“Yes, Ma’am?” She replied dutifully.

“Please find somewhere that sells cheap and durable clothing and footwear.” Sophia said with a tone as if she’d failed to civilize a barbarian.

“Right away.” Abigail replied.

***

The sun was starting to set in the distance, turning the skies above us into a cascade of orange and purple.

We’d spent the day shopping for essentials, and eating out, Sophia gave Abigail the day off and we started heading towards the beach to enjoy the evening there before going home.

It was on our way down the festive carnival-like pier I felt something change in the air, and it soon became clear what it was.

My focus unconsciously drawn to certain people around us, cutting out their silhouettes from the crowd.

Natasha didn’t react, but there was an almost imperceptible tension in her movements as she leaned her head into the nook of Sophia’s neck, the two of them walking ahead casually.

I stayed back, leaning against the railing overlooking the beach below, my focus seemingly on the waves lapping against the sand, but it was anywhere but.

My shadows spread out, and I discreetly expanded my domain, reaching out to my two precious Sentires as they walked under an archway and got swallowed by the dark.

Their observers followed and looked on, confused by their sudden disappearance. There was still a doubt in my mind, some apprehension as to whether or not I was just imagining things... That disappeared the moment one of the observers raised a hand to his ear before quickly lowering it and chiding himself.

He instinctively turned and searched the crowd, our eyes locking through the throng of people before his façade dropped.

His wrist whipping up to his mouth as he spoke into his sleeve, keeping his eyes locked on me. But it was too late, four hundred yards away, two rooftops laid empty, nothing but rifles, empty matts and spotter’s scopes.

I cracked a smile, as if daring him to look away, expecting him to be the one with a face of surprise.

But instead I was the one to be shocked, as I felt the touch of several curses cover my body before sliding off like rain.

“Witches?” I thought to myself, surprised at the coordinated attack.

I let loose Geri and Freki, the only trackers I’d brought with me, and commanded them to find the culprits. Their howls echoed, making the mundane and unaware people around me stop and look around.

The sudden halt of the crowd revealed several people out of sync with the almost symbiotic movement of the mob, their attention elsewhere as they awkwardly stopped barely a second after everyone else.

“They’re all armed,” I observed as I recognized the familiar creases in their clothing.

I didn’t waste anymore time; I shifted my weight and leaned back over the railing and fell towards the beach below, catching one of the wooden beams on the way down, righting myself from my tumbling fall and landing on my feet.

Yells and screams could be heard overhead as my shadows informed me the armed people in the crowd had taken positions on either side of the pier, waiting to ambush me once I made a break for it.

They would have to be disappointed as I made my way towards the waves, staying under cover of the pier before diving into the water.

***

Natasha and Sophia sat down in the theater scene-like room, black stone walls with windows showing distant swirls of light like nebulas.

The room was furnished with various items Natasha recognized having picked out, and the space felt familiar, their connection to Aleks’ mind feeling the strongest here.

“So this is the room he made for us.” Sophia said, looking around, running her fingers across the smooth black walls. “Huh, warm.” She noted, pulling her hand away.

Neither could sense the world outside, but their connection to Aleks remained. They could feel him readying for a fight, but thinking better of it and escaping without causing a commotion.

A familiar, yet much larger spiderbot walked through the wall as if being created from it. In its pincers, it held the things they had bought earlier while shopping.

Natasha walked over and padded the now hip height drone as it whirred in a pleased tone like a cat purring.

“Any idea when we’ll be able to get out of here again?” Natasha asked the drone. It looked up at her for a moment before letting out indecipherable mechanical noises and tones.

“You catch any of that?” Sophia asked with a furrowed brow.

“Not even close.” Natasha replied, equally perplexed.

“Is Aleks done fighting?” Natasha tried instead. The now, not so little, arachnid let out a high-pitched beep.

“Does that mean yes?” Natasha asked, and it let out another high-pitched beep.

Sophia looked on in exasperation as communication broke down.

***

“Holy.... Fuck... These guys... Are persistent!” I struggled between breaths, pulling myself out of the canals I’d used to get back into the city from the sea.

It hadn’t taken them long to figure out my subterfuge, and even less time to find the means to follow me.

At one point, the surface of the water was so crowded with search parties that I had just stayed at the depths, cycling energy from my core through my body to substitute the need to breathe for well over thirty minutes.

I finally got away by swimming into a drainage channel linking up with a canal district in the city.

“Who the hell were those guys?” I asked my self wringing out my shirt, and almost as if to answer my question, the constant sound of sirens throughout the city seemed to converge on my location.

“Oh, fuck this.” I grumbled, taking off running.

***

“Okay, so, one beep for yes, two beeps for no and three for don’t know.” Natasha stated excitedly.

“BEEP.” the drone replied.

“You do realize it has only replied with one beep to everything you’ve said... Right?” Sophia commented from a nearby chair.

“Honey, I’m making history here. I can’t believe none of us thought of this sooner.” Natasha said, dumbfounded.

“Katya already did.” Sophia replied, instantly bursting Natasha’s bubble.

“What?” Natasha asked as her face fell.

“Couple of weeks ago, she came up with it to communicate with Huginn and Muninn.” Sophia explained.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me that? Why didn’t you tell me that half an hour ago?!” Natasha whined.

“You shushed me.” Sophia replied primly and clearly snubbed.

“Well, at least I got a system too now.” Natasha said to herself.

“Uhuh, hey little spiderbuddy, is the sky outside green?” Sophia said, turning to the drone.

“BEEP.” the drone replied enthusiastically.

“Is the valley under water?” Sophia asked.

“BEEP.” the drone replied enthusiastically.

“Can I fly?” Sophia asked.

“BEEP.” the drone replied enthusiastically.

“Seems like we’ve got a real understanding.” Sophia said snidely.

***

“You guys got impressive coordination. I was minutes away from surrendering before you even opened fire.” I said, letting myself get pushed against the cop car.

“Well, if you’re gonna surrender anyway, then stop when we tell you to and all of this could have been avoided.” The officer handcuffing me against the squad car snarled.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were gonna open fire on an unarmed man simply running away from you. It was this or killing a whole’ lot of you.” I replied with a smile, the cop simply snorting contemptuously at me before pushing me into the backseat.

“This is gonna be a fun day.” I said to myself.

***

“If you are just joining us we are currently observing a city wide manhunt coordinated between several branches of law enforcement, we have yet to find out the identity of the fugitive, but we do know that he has escaped custody multiple times in just the span of the past few hours.”

Katya muted the tv and turned to Silas.

“Do I even wanna know?” Katya asked.

“He contacted us through his emergency number using a payphone. Apparently, he’s got the situation under control and he almost seemed to be enjoying himself.” Silas said, concerned.

“This has the stink of special-branch all over it.” Katya stated, wrinkling her nose.

“Yes Ma’am, although the most disconcerting part was the fact they had a circle of witches helping them.” Silas added.

“Any deaths?” Katya asked.

“None so far, but when asked regarding their status, he simply replied with indentured servitude.” Silas said, reading from the call log.

***

Bonny looked at the new arrivals in disdain as they whined and rocked back and forth.

They didn’t know what kind of blessing they could receive from this place, the knowledge and power hidden in every action they were called for.

She shuddered as a soft arc of energy ran across her body, tingling her nerves and ethereal senses.

“Listen up! There is no escape from this place, or from the brand on you.” Bonny declared as she’d been told to induct the newbies.

“You will form pairs and choose a room based on your status within your circle, don’t take too long as we’ll be sorting out rankings later anyway, and who knows which of you might come out on top.” Bonny said, her twisted expression causing several of the newcomers to go pale.

“THE DARK IS CLOSING IN!” witches called from the rooms at the ends of their corridor.

“You have thirty seconds to choose, word of advice, do as you’re told, only two to a room and don’t stay in the hallway.” Bonny advised darkly before running to her own room, the dark mist snapping at her heels as she slid by it.

Bonny didn’t really care whether or not they listened. She was only required to tell them how things worked around here... And by the screams and growls, several of them weren’t good listeners.