The sun was setting on the war-torn city. Dusk made itself known, while the darkness of the night began to creep in. With their shadows elongated and their plan under way, the Power Four of the Libra mob gathered on the outskirts of the eastside power plant. Huddled in the alleyway was Vincent, Fang, Siegella, and Larry.

“So, how are we gonna kick their asses?” Vincent eagerly asked.

“Hold on, boy,” Siegella cut him off. “The first thing I’m wondering is how we’re going to get in.” She then looked at Larry. “I’m assuming you have a plan for this?”

“I have a few,” Larry answered, lighting up a cigarette. “I worked here before this whole mob thing started, you know?”

“Good for you,” Siegella responded, “but I don’t really care.”

“That’s a shame. You really should care about someone’s past.”

Fang then interjected, physically putting themselves between the bickering mobsters. “Alright, alright,” they said in a calming manner. “We have a job to do. This is the first chance we’ve had in a long time to take down Aries.”

“And how did the other attempts go?” Larry snarkily prodded.

Fang responded to the comment with a disappointed, yet somewhat hidden face. While it could be chalked up to Fang simply trying to hide their annoyance with Larry’s demeanor, for some reason, Vincent clocked a slightly different emotion underneath their look. He didn’t know what the feeling was, but he continued it nonetheless. Either way, he didn’t think about it, and instead he gave Larry a playful punch.

“C’mon, man,” Vincent said, “stop being such a downer. We’re gonna do somethin’ great and help a lot of people!” He then looked down and thought of Eliot. Shaking his head, he firmly stated, “We’re gonna make sure no one gets hurt again.”

“Whatever you say,” Larry neutrally replied. He then shifted slightly and then sat down in the dirt. He busted out a small poking stick that was in one of his many jacket pockets. With that stick, he began to draw shapes in the dirt.

“Whatcha doin?” Vincent asked.

“What Siegella asked,” he simply said. He then finished his drawing “This is a rough layout of East Power. I don’t know what’s inside of it anymore, so we’ll have to improvise as we go, but I do know the basic structure of the plant.” He then pointed at the first chunk of rectangles. “This is the front entrance. It’s the most accessible point for anyone to get in.”

“And the most obvious,” Fang commented.

“And probably the most guarded,” Siegella added.

Without looking up from his blueprint, Larry responded, “You’re both right, but there aren’t a whole lotta other options. If you’re determined on skipping that section, then the only other place we can get into from the outside is the cafeteria.”

“Wait wait,” Vincent said. “Our goal is to take out those engine thingies, right? The stuff that makes electricity?”

Larry rolled his eyes and said, “They’re generators and they do more than ‘make electricity’.”

“But yes,” Fang interjected, “that’s what the entire plan is. We get in, break all three of them, and then get out. Then we wait for their supplies to dry up without their power, and that’s when we fully invade the east side.”

“Cool cool,” Vincent said. “So anyways, if we wanna bust up those engine things, then why don’t we just enter the building where they’re located? Seems pretty simple.”

Larry whacked Vincent in the head with his stick. “Let me show you why that can’t happen,” he said. He then pointed at the innermost section of the blueprints. “The generators are located in the basement of the middle section. And since the power plant is shaped like a hexagon, it’s protected by a room on each side. Therefore, we cannot simply get into that room—we have to sneak into an adjacent room, get into the middle room, and then descend the stairs and somehow bust our way into the generator room. See?”

“Sure,” Vincent lied.

“Good. Now,” he said, circling the westmost part of the blueprints, “let’s go over how we’re going to achieve our goals. Like I said, the easiest way for us to enter is through the lunch room, which is what I have circled.”

“Why’s that?” Fang asked.

“Because it’s the place with the lowest security. Besides, all the rooms look the same from the outside. So unless you know what’s on the inside, you would have no way of telling.”

“I see. So the only place that they would focus their security would be the front entrance—the only place with a visible difference.”

“Now you’re catching on,” Larry said. “Any questions?”

“Nope! Let's get going!” Vincent exclaimed.

Just before Vincent started to get up and walk towards the power plant, he felt someone grab his arm.

“Hold on,” Sieglella said, holding Vincent’s arm. “I have a question.” She then let go of Vincent’s arm and turned towards Larry. “How do you get in the cafeteria in the first place? That seems like the most important part.”

Larry stood up. “We’ll have Haunlich scout out the room beforehand, but the plan is to sneak in from the roof. I know how to get up there.”

“And after that? How do we get to the generators?”

“I’m too sure,” Larry answered. “We’re just going to improvise that part, but I have some ideas on what it could look like.”

Siegella furled her eyebrows. “Improvise? So we’re just supposed to trust in your ideas.”

Larry paused for a moment. After a few seconds, he said, “Only as much as I trust you.”

Those two then locked eyes for a few seconds, and the air around them grew dense and full of anticipation. The tense emotions vibrated out of both of them like the constant churning of waves in an ocean.

Breaking up this stalemate, Fang walked between them and said, “Alright, well, let’s get going.”

With one final glance, both Larry and Siegella broke sight of each other and walked with Fang. Vincent followed suit. For the next few minutes, the group carefully walked towards East Power, snaking their way through back alleys and strange, abandoned buildings. They never once took an open road.

Eventually, they found themselves in an alley just outside of the plant. The plant itself was cloaked in the shadow of the night, seeing as the sun had already departed. The building was oddly rectangular and blocky…or at least it once was. Even though most of the structure was hidden by darkness, what could be seen of it showed how weathered and worn it was. The walls themselves were cracked and falling apart. Around the building was a steel-wire fence that was barely standing in some areas, and completely fallen in others. It was in a sad state of disrepair.

In fact, as the group had been traveling through the east side, Vincent had noticed how crumbled most of the houses and buildings were. When he thought about that fact, he realized that the power plant was no exception. The stark contrast between the two sides of the city was obvious.

Look at what Aries does to their people, Vincent thought. He was thankful that Archard looks after his citizens, unlike how Silo does.

It was at that moment that Vincent saw a shape in the shadows, slowly moving towards the gap in the broken fence. As he watched the figure move, he noticed that it barely stuck out from the night and that its movements were more like gliding than walking. He finally figured out that it was Haunlich when it moved through the fence and eventually through the building’s wall.

He then turned around and saw Siegella standing against the alley wall, completely concreting on something.

“What are you…” Vincent began to ask.

“Shush,” Fang quickly said, hushing Vincent. They then pointed to their head and then out towards the plant.

Ohhhh, Vincent thought, putting it together. He then sat still for a few minutes as he waited for Siegella to finish her scouting. And eventually that time came.

She quickly inhaled and shook for a second. Her eyes focused back to her immediate surroundings and she wiped what seemed like a few drops of moisture that gathered in their corners.

“What did you see?” Fang asked.

She hesitated for a moment. “There’s…no one in there,” she said.

“That’s great!” Fang exclaimed. “Easy enough.”

“Dang, I wanted to kick some ass,” Vincent dejectedly said.

Finally, Larry asked, “There’s no one? Are you sure about that?”

Siegella looked at him and asked, “Why are you surprised? Did you expect someone to be there?”

Larry narrowed his eyes. “No, no…” His voice trailed off for a bit as his eyes seemed to be thinking about something else. He then shook his head and said, “Well, I guess that makes things easier for us.”

Vincent then spoke up. “Well then, let’s get going!”

And with that, the group began to quietly make their way towards East Power. When they approached the outer perimeter of the chainlink fence, they carefully stepped over a section that was flat on the ground. The integrity of the fence looked more like a wave than it did a wall.

Once they were on the other side of the fence, Larry silently pointed towards one of the building’s walls that seemed to dip behind a corner. Wordlessly, the group quickly made their way there.

Vincent was amazed by the levels of stealth that each and every Libra member had, including Fang. Each of them were light on their feet, blended in with each shape of the night, and was astoundingly silent. He, on the other hand, needed a bit of help. There were a couple of times where he was about to trip or hit something, but one of the other group members would reach and arm out and guide him away from that danger.

Eventually, they arrived at one of the outside walls, which had a metal ladder affixed to it. Larry, without looking at anyone, signed a couple of hand motions involving him pointing up and the down. Vincent had no idea what any of them meant, but when he looked at Siegella and Fang, they both nodded to themselves and began to climb the ladder.

Vincent followed suit, but noticed that Larry didn’t start climbing the ladder until he and the other two made it to the top. When all four of them arrived on the roof, they crouched down to a near crawl, allowing their bodies to hide behind the lip of the roof. They stayed in stillness for a few moments before Sieglla shot Larry a confused look. He responded to this look by focusing his attention past her and towards a box near the other side of the roof. Sieglla followed his gaze and then nodded her head, seemingly understanding whatever Larry was trying to tell her. She and him then began to crawl towards that area.

Vincent followed the group, but he felt as though he was out of the loop. Everyone else seemed to understand their wordless signals…even Fang! He was a bit surprised that his friend was so knowledgeable about Libra’s ways, but they did mention that they had been affiliated with the group in the past, so he didn’t think too much about it. He just went with the flow and readied himself for whatever happened next.

When the group managed to finally slither their way to the crate, Larry looked around for a few seconds. He then gently pushed it back a few feet, revealing a hidden latch beneath it. He then reached into one of his many inner coat pockets and pulled out two thin, metal tools. He put both of them into the latch’s tumbler and went to work. One of the pieces remained relatively in place, while he jiggled and finessed the other one around. After about a minute of work, the latch was unlocked.

He motioned to Siegella, and she turned the latch’s handle and it swung downwards, opening up into a straight, laddered descent. One by one, they each climbed down the ladder, with Siegella leading the front, and Larry leading the rear.

Once at the bottom, they stood in a narrow hallway with only a door in front of them and nothing else. The hallway itself was large enough to fit two people next to each other, as long as they were shoulder-to-shoulder. However, everyone just let Siegella be on her own in the front.

When they approached the door, Larry made a motion towards his eyes, but Sieglla shook her head and waved him off, dismissively. She then opened the door, which creaked a bit, and walked through it.

The next room was a large, centralized one. There were countless tables and chairs, with the rest of the space being mostly open. There were windows on all sides, and a back room that seemed to have a rectangular opening in the wall between it and this room. In fact, the room reminded Vincent of his school’s cafeteria.

Even though they were as quiet as they could be, everyone’s steps slightly reverberated off of the polished, concrete floor and the open walls. It wasn’t horrendously loud, but it wasn’t silent, either.

About halfway into the room, Siegella looked back at Larry with an inquisitive look. He responded by pointing his hands towards the easternmost hallway. Just as the group began to make their way in that direction, Vincent felt a slight headache beginning to form in the back of his head. The moment he felt it start to creep in, he immediately stopped, and coincidently, everyone else but Larry stopped at the same time. Once he saw that everyone stopped, Larry followed suit.

Everyone but Larry turned around in the direction of Vincent’s headache. Leaning against a back wall, stood a figure who was only illuminated by the fire of his cigarette. He was a rotund man but tall and built like a steel cannon. Around his shoulders was a large, metal chain that had to weigh at least a hundred pounds. His eyes, reflecting the dulled orange glow of the smoking stick, looked directly at the group.

“Well, well…ain’t this a fuckin’ party,” he said, his voice gravely and low. He then snapped his fingers so loudly that it could be heard echoing off of every wall in every hallway.

And speaking of those hallways, moments after he snapped, a couple figures began to emerge from them, weapons drawn. There was not a single pathway unaccounted for.

“Shit,” said Siegella, “It’s Iro.”