Week Two (classic version)

== **Week ~~One~~**
Two **==**

“So…” Unsurprisingly, Gaia was the first person to break the
ice. “What now?”

It was raining when she ventured to speak – it had been
raining for a while, almost since the battle – and the noise of water hitting
window would have drowned out her words, had she not been as bombastic and loud
as usual when saying them. As it was, the mundane phrase exploded from her lips
as though she were a frantic zealot, repeating the words of her messiah.

For a moment, she received no answer, with the room’s various
occupants distracted for just as various reasons. Eventually, a ginger-haired
man reclining on the aging sofa in the room’s center lowered his book and
glanced back at her.

“We wait. Still.” He deadpanned. “In the five minutes
between now and the last time you asked that question, Plue hasn’t returned. There
isn’t a lot we can do.”

“But…” Gaia’s face fell, and she adopted the expression of
someone who had gone through a major paradigm shift. “Waiting is boring…”

“Then find something to do.” Jacen indicated the pair’s
surroundings with a hand. “Cramped as it is, this is still a full-sized house.
There must be *something* around here
that’ll keep you entertained.”

Gaia looked around, quizzical. Her eyes roved from books to
board games to active games consoles, but eventually, she shrugged. The baggy
shirt she was wearing slid around on her shoulders as she moved.

“Not really.” She admitted. Jacen, in response, laid his
book on his lap and glanced at her with a very tired expression. The expression
of someone who was more than fed up with their circumstances.

“All of this random junk, and nothing interests you?”

“To be fair,” a third voice interjected into their
conversation, “it probably has something to do with, like, the knowledge that
she’s waiting for something? And the fact that she has to wait for anything is
what she finds boring, rather than a lack of things to do?”

Gaia and Jacen both directed their gazes to Rose, who
cowered slightly under attention. A moment passed before Jacen turned away from
the dark-skinned girl, and began to read his book again.

“Just stop complaining about it.” He muttered, conclusively.

Gaia, upon hearing this, proceeded to turn around and bang
her forehead into the closest wall, presumably out of frustration.

“But she’s been gone so looooong…”

Jacen slammed the book back down, and opened his mouth to
speak again. However, he was beaten to it.

“Actually, Gaia’s got a point.”

Rotating his neck, Jacen fixed his gaze on Dante, who had
just walked into the room. Coat slung over one shoulder, holding a coffee in
his free hand, the tired young man’s brow was furrowed as he spoke up.

“It’s been almost an entire day.” He pointed out, sipping
his coffee. Jacen chose not to focus on the anxiety evident within his eyes.

“Are you worried?” He instead chose to ask, expecting their
de facto leader to bluff his way out of properly answering the question.
Instead, he was met with a firm and tense gaze.

“Yes.” Dante admitted.

Immediately, Gaia sprang out of her stupor with a shout.

“Let’s go and check on her, then!”

“Okay.” Dante shrugged. “Just don’t do anything illegal. Or
particularly dangerous.”

“’Kay!” Gaia gave a jaunty, two-fingered salute as she
strode towards the door. “How are we getting there?”

“Car.” Declared Dante, looking pointedly at Jacen, who
understood his message almost immediately.

“Oh.” He sighed. “No.”

“Jacen, please.”

“Dante, I’m not going to drive all the way to…” He was cut
off upon seeing both Dante and Gaia’s pleading faces. “God damn it.”

“Hey, I have an idea!” Gaia exclaimed suddenly. “Let’s all
go!”

Ignoring Jacen’s exclamation of “huh?”, she turned and
yelled up the stairs. “Shadow! You there?” A moment of silence passed, before a
cracking noise rent the air and the flaming black apparition appeared beside
her. She cheered.

“We’re gonna go on a trip to the new Nexus Force base to see
if Plue is okay because she’s been gone for like the whole day and do you want
to come?” The sentence’s length forced Gaia to inhale sharply after speaking,
in order to replace the breath lost. Another moment of silence passed, and then
Gaia turned to the rest of the assembled figures.

“Yeah, he’s cool with it.” She grinned jauntily.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Dante smiled as he finished
his coffee (tossing the cup away as he did so) and began to sling his coat
around his shoulders. Its maroon colour clashed horribly with the cyan shirt he
was wearing, but by this point it was fair to say that they had all grown used
to the man’s atrocious fashion sense.

Jacen exchanged a glance with Rose, whose gaze flickered
from him to their companions and back. She shrugged. He sighed.

“Nothing.” He rose, groaning, from the sofa. “Let’s go.”

\*\*\*

Jacen’s car was a tight fit. His parents, who had rushed to
Crux Prime as soon as their missing son had contacted them, and who were
currently sleeping in the top room of the house everyone was staying in (the
long trip and subsequent reunion had tired them out), had bought the vehicle
when it had been a family of three, and space hadn’t been a concern. As it was,
Gaia, Rose and Dante found themselves crushed against one another on the back
seats, while Jacen drove and Shadow rode shotgun. Despite Gaia repeatedly
clamouring for the position, Jacen had given it to Shadow, because he figured
that being pressed against a figure made of flames for the journey’s duration
would be weird and uncomfortable, and Rose – and maybe Dante – deserved better.
The downside to this was, or course, the complaining.

“Jaceeeen!” Gaia whined from the middle seat. “You know I claimed
eternal shotgun, right?”

““Eternal shotgun”?” Echoed Dante, sounding decidedly
dubious. “No wonder he didn’t let you sit up there. Eternal shotgun sounds like
too much power for any one man to wield.”

“Yeah, well, I’m a woman, thank you very much.” Declared
Gaia, folding her arms in a pout.

Dante snickered. “You’re just jealous because Jacen can
drive.”

“Oh, I could totally drive.” Gaia declared. “I bet it can’t
be that hard. I just need a car… Jacen! Are you going to use the car for
anything else after this?”

“I’m not lending the car to anyone.” Jacen deadpanned.
“Least of all you.”

Dante laughed at the rebuttal, before turning to Gaia. “How
old are you, anyway?”

“I…” Gaia trailed off. “Sixteen or Seventeen, I think.”

Whereas most people would have jumped on the “I think”,
everyone seated in the vehicle knew better. Gaia had been kept inside the
underground facility, that had housed a whole group of kidnapped deviants, for
longer than anyone else. In fact, the records that had been scoured after the
battle of Crux Prime indicated that she had been imprisoned for upwards of four
years. Under those circumstances, forgetting one’s age was understandable.

“Wait a minute.” A sly smile formed on Dante’s lips. “Jacen,
how old are you?”

“Eighteen.” Jacen obliged.

“And Rose?”

“Nineteen, almost twenty.” Rose responded. Dante nodded, as
if he had just made an incredible discovery of some kind.

“And I’m twenty. Which means…” He pointed dramatically at
Gaia. “You, Gaia, are the youngest here! Not even of age!”

Gaia flushed.

“Seriously? What about Shadow?” She pointed at the figure
seated in the coveted shotgun position. “How do you know he’s older than me?”

“He has a daughter.” Deadpanned Dante.

The argument developed from there, over how Gaia wouldn’t be
allowed to drive a car anyway. Jacen chose to ignore the words of his friends
(damned if he ever referred to them as such) and instead focused on the road,
watching the raindrops trickle down the windscreen before getting knocked aside
by wipers.

He managed to re-focus himself just as Dante yelped because
Gaia had elbowed him for the sixth time. Not that that was the reason he had
been drawn out of his almost fugue state – he was forced to suddenly focus by
the realisation that the car was passing by the building they were trying to
arrive at. Hastily, he stamped on the breaks. There was a sharp screech, as
well as yells from both Gaia and Rose, before the little car ground to a halt
just outside their destination. Glancing to his side, Jacen stared at the
building in all its glory.

With the destruction of Nexus Tower (which, it had been
established, was actually not Gaia’s fault), the Nexus Force had been in need
of a new headquarters. It was only after the battle of Crux Prime that they had
been able to focus on rebuilding what they had lost, and the command center
that now stood in Nimbus Station was an impressive sight to behold, especially
seeing how it only been a week since construction had begun. Already, there
were a dozen fully functioning rooms, as well as employees coming and going
constantly from their new workplace. In there, Jacen knew, were most of the
higher-ups in the Nexus Force. The exceptions were the faction leaders of
Assembly and Paradox respectively, who were occupied with taking control of
Overbuild’s facility, freeing and rehabilitating prisoners, and converting the
building into something more humane and useful.

In any case, Plue – new leader of the Sentinel faction – had
been inside that building for an entire day, in what was apparently some kind
of meeting. Jacen was unaware of the details, and didn’t remember her
specifying how long the meeting was going to take, but this didn’t seem to
worry Dante and Gaia – or rather, seemed to worry them further. A combination
of anxious boyfriend syndrome and general restfulness meant that they were out
of the car almost instantly, striding towards the building and getting soaked
to the bone as the rain fell relentlessly.

Jacen glanced at Shadow.

“You want to stay in here, and watch the car?” Truthfully,
Jacen had no idea how the figure might have handled the water, but Shadow
nodded anyway. Shrugging, he unlatched his door, muttering a “Come on, Rose” as
he moved. The rain was absolutely pouring down, the water as intense as a
high-pressure shower and far colder. Within moments, Jacen was forced to
shudder by the sensation of water trickling down the back of his neck and
seeping through the fabric on his shoulders. Rose was trembling by his side,
neither of them having worn any waterproof clothing. One hell of an oversight,
really. Wrapping his arm around Rose’s shoulder, the two ran as fast as they
dared towards the building.

\*\*\*

“Uh… what are you two doing?”

This question was put forth by Gaia, who was unsubtly eying
Jacen and Rose as they stumbled through the headquarters’ automatic doors and
into a dry area – each of them had an arm around the other, and were hugging
one another close.

“Shared warmth.” Explained Jacen, characteristically
brusque. “It’s practical.”

“Whatever.” Gaia winked, and Jacen rolled his eyes, though
his attention was quickly turned to Dante, who was engaged in an increasingly
loud conversation with the building’s receptionist.

“I’m sorry, sir, but if you don’t have identification or an
appointment, you can’t go any further than this.” She was saying, an apologetic
look on her face.

Dante rubbed his forehead. “Since when was that…” He trailed
off. Jacen stepped forward, Rose still by his side.

“We’re looking for our friend, Plue Abernathy.” He
explained. “We just want to know which room she’s in.”

“I’m afraid I can’t say.” The receptionist confessed. Jacen
raised an eyebrow, and the poor woman blanched. “It’s not that I… it’s just…
that’s the name of one of the new faction leaders! It’s a security measure.”
She seemed about as flustered as Dante. However, the situation was saved by the
sound of another voice.

“It’s okay! I can vouch for them!”

Turning around, Jacen heard Gaia’s excited yell of “Vector!”
just as he saw the man himself. The Venture League faction leader looked even
worse than Jacen felt – a beard worth at least a week’s growth clung to his
jaw, and he had enough luggage under his eyes to declare himself packed and
ready for a well-deserved holiday. Nevertheless, his eyes were bright as he
waved at the group.

“Hey Gaia!” He smirked, before turning back to the confused
receptionist. “These guys were a big help during the battle of Crux Prime.
They’re trustworthy, don’t worry.”

“I… if you say so, sir.” The receptionist turned back to
Dante. “You can find Plue Abernathy in room G9.”

“Great.” Dante smirked. “Thanks.” With that, he began to
stride off down the metal corridor, leaving a trail of wet footprints in his
wake.

“Thanks, Vector.” Jacen managed to say before being pulled
away by Gaia. Over his shoulder, he could see the man laughingly waving them
off.

\*\*\*

“Here we are.” Declared Dante, staring at the door that had
G9 painted on it in bright yellow paint.

There was a moment of silence, during which Jacen considered
the fact that they still had no idea what Plue was doing, before Gaia could
restrain herself no longer and gave the door a shove.

“Hey, Plue! Where’ve you…” The words trailed off, Gaia – of
all people – seemingly stunned into silence. Curiosity overtook Jacen, and he
followed Dante and Gaia inside to witness one of the more bizarre sights of his
life.

Plue Abernathy was sitting on a well-furnished, wooden chair
on one side of the room, her right side facing the group. She was wearing
neither battle armour nor a set of shabby, borrowed clothing, but rather a
full-on, formal business suit (with trousers instead of a skirt, however –
apparently, some things truly were impossible), with a sentinel faction pin
below her collar. In her hand was not a plastic cup full of cheap Frappuccino,
but rather a china cup containing… something. Tea, if the smell was any
indication. Sitting opposite her were around a dozen men and women, the
youngest of which looked to be in their fifties. They too were clad in
impeccable-looking business wear, and they too were holding teeny-tiny china
cups of tea. Several dozen folders and sheets of paper were scattered on the
table in between the two parties, and it was clear that some sort of
conversation between the them had been taking place before the untimely arrival
of the visitors.

As it was, the silence was deafening.

Terrifyingly slowly, Plue’s head turned towards the group.
However bad Vector had looked, she looked far worse. Despite being so
well-dressed and formal – her blonde hair was even in an intricate bun instead
of a messy ponytail, and were those glasses on her forehead? – there was
something decidedly off about her. Visible in her eyes was a cold, almost
insane fury, which she now directed at the new arrivals.

“What…” she hissed, “the ff*fff*… what are you *motheeeer*….
doing here?” Her teeth scraped against one another audibly, and Rose took a
step back in fright. Jacen was puzzled for a brief moment, but it soon became
clear.

She was trying not to curse.

Plue Abernathy, probably the least foul-mouthed person to be
found in the Nexus Force (exclamations heard on the field of battle
notwithstanding) was desperately trying to not swear… and it was hilarious.
Gaia seemed to have jumped to the same conclusion, since she almost immediately
started to unsubtly snigger – her laughter then turned into a phoney cough as
she eyed the old fogeys staring at her.

“Plue.” Dante’s voice wavered slightly, as if he were unsure
how to proceed. His trepidation was understandable, considering just how
dangerous his girlfriend sounded. “You, ah… you were gone a while, so we came
to see what you were doing.”

“You can just…” Plue inhaled and exhaled, and the cup that
she was holding trembled slightly in the grip. “You can wait outside. In the mmm*mm*… in the hallway. I’m almost done.”
The words slipped out from her lips like a monster slipping out from underneath
a bed.

“No, it’s fine.” One of the men, a portly gentleman in his
late sixties, said as he surveyed the group visually. “Are these the people you
were telling us about?”

Plue nodded, still breathing disturbingly heavily.

“Yes.” She declared. “This is Dante Wilder, Gaia Eluciss,
Roseanne Hargrove, and Jacen Farrand.” Suddenly, Jacen found himself decidedly
glad that Shadow had stayed in the car.

“Oh, Plue, you’ve been telling them about us?” Gaia’s eyes
lit up. “Awesome!”

“Quite.” Said another man, near the back of the room. “We
were discussing with Miss Abernathy a proposition that she had put forward,
about the formation of a new branch of the Nexus Force.”

“We understand that you are supposed to be the founding
members?” A woman added, glancing at the young adults with barely concealed
disdain. Rose was wearing a turtleneck that she had borrowed from Jacen, and
which was thusly noticeably too big. Dante’s coat was filthy, and the colour
clash became more apparent than ever in a room which mostly consisted of people
wearing various shades of grey and white. Jacen’s glasses were wrapped in
masking tape, as a short term fixing strategy, and there was a massive tear in
the front of his shirt that hadn’t yet been fixed properly. Both of the men had
messy, ruffled hair. As for Gaia? Her hair was so long and bedraggled that it
looked like the cape of a superhero that had come off worst in a fight against
their arch-nemesis, the fingerless gloves she had taken to wearing made her
look like a biker, and one of her forearms was wrapped in matted bandages that
she had adamantly refused to remove. On the grounds that they “looked cool”. As
icing on the cake, all four newcomers were soaking wet as a result of the rain.

It was little wonder that Plue looked like she was about to
go on a killing spree.

“Wait. In. The. Hall.” She hissed, desperately. To no avail.

“Uhh… Yeah.” Dante rubbed the back of his head nervously.
“That’s us.”

Good God, what had they done?

“Yes, well.” Plue appeared to be on the brink of
spontaneously combusting from frustration and rage. “Despite… *appearances*, they’re more than qualified
for their positions. I can assure you of that.” Her eyes narrowed. “As can my
peers."

“We don’t doubt the quality of your word, Miss Abernathy.”
One of the suits said. “We just want to ensure that our money isn’t wasted on
frivolities when there is a war to win.”

“Some war.” Someone sniffed. “At this point, it’s more akin
to a circus performance.”

“Mmm.” Another voice agreed. “Fools in flamboyant clothing being
flashy on the front lines.”

Plue visibly flinched. Dante, who had taken to wearing clothing
of a somewhat flamboyant nature, felt mildly offended. Gaia remained oblivious.
Rose’s brow furrowed. Jacen, beginning to catch on to the gravity of the
situation, stepped forward.

“How about we just, ah, wait outside, and leave you to
finish your discussion? We wouldn’t want to intrude…”

“Yes, yes, very well.” One of the men grumbled. The group
proceeded to exit the room as fast as formality allowed, followed by the sound
of Plue beginning to talk again.

“In any case, I understand where your concerns are coming
from, but let me assure you *once again*
that this division is necessary…”

\*\*\*

“Holy crap, I’m gonna get murdered.” Dante covered his face
with his palms as he lamented. Jacen, Rose and Gaia all watched on, before Rose
stepped forward.

“You don’t know that.” She said, reassuringly. “She’ll
understand that it was a mistake…”

Dante shook his head. “Rose, not that I don’t appreciate
what you’re trying to do…” he shuddered. “But I’ve never seen her so angry.”

“Never seen her so close to swearing before.” Agreed Gaia –
whose boundless enthusiasm appeared to have been suppressed by the stress of
what they had just experienced. “I mean – when she isn’t running something
through. Obviously.” She stayed quiet for a moment longer, and then smiled.
“I’m gonna go look around!”

“Don’t.” Jacen held out his palm, preventing her from
walking off. “This is a formal place, as we’ve just seen. The last thing we
need is you destroying something.”

“I – I wouldn’t!” Protested Gaia, though she stayed
nonetheless.

“Hey… Jacen…” Dante muttered. Jacen turned towards the man,
who had let his hands drop to his sides, and was now staring up at the ceiling.
“Do you think we could do this? Like, we’re not just gonna get ourselves killed
straight away?”

Jacen stroked his chin, trying to ignore the fact that Gaia
was pulling faces at him. (And that poor Rose was trying to stop her.)

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call us a class act.” Admitted
Jacen. “But I wouldn’t write us off before we’ve even begun, either.”

Dante smiled gratefully at him.

At that moment, the door slid open. One by one, the old
people began to depart and disperse, heading down the corridor as an eerily slick
single unit. None of them paid the group any heed – which enabled Dante and
Rose to glower at their backs. After they all turned a corner, and vanished
from sight, quite reigned supreme for all of a few seconds. Then, Gaia said:

“Anyone else think that those guys were kind of jerks?”

“You and me both.” Agreed Rose, folding her arms. “No-one
should be able to brush off a war like that.”

“And why did Plue have to talk to them about setting up our
organisation?” Mused Jacen, out loud. “Isn’t she the leader of the Nexus Force
now?”

It was at this moment that Plue herself walked out of the
room, in a very “speak of the devil and she may appear” fashion. She may have
looked formal, but she also looked as tired as anyone could remember seeing
her. She eyed each person in turn, glowering in their general directions before
hanging her head and holding up a folder of papers.

“I got their permission.” She muttered. “Get me the hell out
of here.”

Not wanting to incur her wrath by prying, the group were all
too happy to oblige.

\*\*\*

“So…” Surprisingly enough, Rose was the first person to
speak. “What was that about?”

The words awkwardly died in the stifling car, which now had
four people crammed into the back row. Jacen, from his position in the driver’s
seat, couldn’t see Plue, Gaia, Rose and Dante being crushed together on the
seats, but he could assume that it wasn’t pleasant based on the grunts of pain
that echoed from the back whenever the car went over a bump. There was a
stuffy, uncomfortable atmosphere to be found in the car, which stemmed from
both the moisture (as a result of all of the car’s occupants being soaking wet),
and the fact that Rose’s words were the first to be spoken all drive, despite
them nearly being back at the house.

Plue’s head rolled back as she focused her disjointed gaze
on the car’s ceiling, leaning back in her seat. Her hair, released from its
tight bun, fell in wet strands across her head, framing her face and draping
itself across her shoulders and back. Her eyes were dim with fatigue.

“I was…” She spoke slowly. “I had to get permission to form
your separate organisation.”

Everyone turned their attention to her, waiting for her to
continue speaking.

“Thought it’d be easy.” She muttered, almost to herself.
“Turned out, when I tried, I couldn’t officially do it without explicit
permission from the… sponsors, I guess. The people who fund the Nexus Force.
Mostly friends of the last batch of faction leaders, who were… well, it’s
complicated.”

She leaned forward, and wrapped her fingers together as she
continued to speak.

“They must have been brought in by my predecessors. Probably
had… I don’t know, investments and long-term plans and stuff like that. That
was all fine and good, but last month… especially last week… everything
changed.” She scanned the car, meeting everyone’s eyes. “As you know. So,
suddenly these investors find that not only has the course of the war changed,
because with the Darkitecht no longer out in the open, its less open warfare
and more of a clandestine affair, but the people who got them roped into this
project in the first place are dead, as well as all of their immediate
subordinates. In their place are a bunch of young, comparatively inexperienced
recruits who basically landed the positions through chance.” She sighed. “I
mean, it was obviously more complicated than that, but that’s basically how
they see it. So…”

She trailed off, and sighed again.

“I had to spent all day trying to convince them that your
separate branch was a good idea, and would be a beneficial use of resources,
wouldn’t be a waste… et cetera.”

“Were they bad?” Gaia ventured. Plue nodded.

“The worst. The only reason it ended up going as well as it
did is because Kaylori was able to tell me about them before the meeting. She
lent me a suit, told them how they’d try to psyche me out, helped me plan what
I was going to say…” She breathed in and out. “She’d met them before, working
with Overbuild and all.”

She wrapped her arms around herself, trembling slightly.

“I just… they *hated*
me.” She sniffed once, the noise echoing around the otherwise silent interior
or the vehicle. “Hated how young I was, hated that they didn’t know me, hated
my new ideas, hated how I had no experience… they probably hated the fact that
I was a girl leading an army, too.”

“Plue…” Rose muttered. Plue shook her head.

“I’m alright.” She declared. “Well, no, I’m not, but I will
be. It’s over, I won, and I’m going to be okay. I just… I just need some time.”
She looked almost dead, hunched over in her seat.

Jacen, for his part, was unsure what to say as the he
brought the car to a halt outside the house. The rain still relentlessly
pattered down, unceasing in its fall. His brow creased in a rare display of
concern – not that anyone could see, of course.

“Take all the time you need.” He managed to say, before
unlocking the door and stepping into the deluge.

\*\*\*

It was the knocking on Plue’s door that drew her out of what
could almost have been considered a stupor. Quiet and timid as it was, it was a
lot louder and more direct than anything else Plue had heard all evening. After
arriving back at the group’s residence – her house, as a matter of fact – she
had spent over half an hour in a shower before changing into pyjamas and
locking herself in her room, in an attempt to get over what had easily been one
of the worst days of her life. Including when she had been kidnapped. ~~And
when one of her best friends had been killed.~~ There was, of course, comfort
to be found in her bedroom – a place of familiarity. The shelves were laden
with books, most of which had been read countless times, and there were several
notebooks and pens lying in various places as well, discarded and abandoned as
she had let go of her old ideas and come up with new ones.

Speaking of old and familiar, she heard Dante’s voice from
the other side of the door.

“Plue?” He called. Softly. “Are you in there?”

For a moment, Plue was tempted to not answer. She still
wanted quiet, and alone-ness, and to just lie on the bed and not see anybody
ever again. But she also wanted comfort. Someone to talk to. And her boyfriend
was good company.

“Come in.” She managed to croak.

Dante entered. His jacket was gone, and he softly walked in,
holding two steaming mugs in his hands. They seemed to warm up the whole room
with their presence, though that could have been because Plue had forgotten to
turn on the heater.

“Hot chocolate.” He said, simply, managing a smile as he set
one of the mugs down on her bedside table, leaving her to wriggle upwards and
take the drink. On the mug were faded black words – *I write. What’s YOUR superpower?* Even after how much time had
passed since receiving the thing as a gift, those words still made her feel a
little warm and fuzzy inside.

“Figured you needed some, after today.” He explained,
sitting at the foot of the bed with a mug of his own. On it were transcribed a
large selection of grammatical rules – *You’re*
= you are, Your = belonging to you, *e.t.c – mixed in with a healthy amount*
of swear words. Plue was tempted to smile for a brief moment, but this was
quickly swallowed up by her more negative feelings. As much as it might soon
pain her, she and Dante had agreed on a one hundred percent honesty policy when
they had gotten together. It was now time to honour that agreement.

“I’m still cross with you.” She revealed, sipping her drink.
Dante shrugged, trying to act nonchalant even as his face revealed his dismay.

“I figured.” He admitted. “Plue… I’m sorry.”

She raised an eyebrow, silently encouraging him to continue.

“I shouldn’t have been so paranoid… no, I should have
trusted you.” He furrowed his brow. “I could probably give a load of excuses
about how we’re still technically at war, and how dangerous things might be for
you as the new leader of the Nexus Force, and all that other stuff, but I still
should have trusted you. Still should have had faith in you, and believed that
you would have been able to take care of yourself.” He raised his head to look
her in the eyes. “I just… I can’t lose anyone else. Especially not you.”

Her heart fluttered slightly, despite herself.

“Well, the worst thing about it was how badly timed your
entrance was.” She pointed out, breaking eye contact with him to stare
awkwardly at her drink. “Though, I can’t necessarily blame you for that, now
can I?”

“Can I apologize anyway?” Dante still had a tinge of fear
left on his face, and so Plue took it upon herself to smile a little. To show
him that, at the end of the day, levity was acceptable.

“Only if you mean it.” She told him. He smiled back, his
grin – familiar as an old glove – beginning to reappear on his face.

“Of course.”

“Good.” Sniffed Plue. “That being said, what else do you
think you should apologize for before I can forgive you?”

“Well…” Dante stroked his chin. “Basically barging into the
room instead of knocking or anything, though that might be more Gaia’s fault
than mine.”

“It might.”

“And… not waiting outside when you asked me to.”

“Yep.”

“And… uhh…” He seemed a little lost for ideas. She rolled
her eyes.

“You lot didn’t look the least bit presentable in there,
which really didn’t help my sales pitch. Lucky I was just wrapping things up,
otherwise they might have had more time to make the disorganised and
unreliable, or whatever, nature of this new organisation into a proper argument
against me.” She glared at him. “Especially considering the fact that you of
all people weren’t wearing ANYTHING formal. You’re the leader now, right? It’s
an official position.”

“Aw, really?” Dante looked over himself in a forlorn manner.
“I thought I looked okay!”

“Aaron-”

“Dante.”

“No. your name is Aaron.” She folded her arms, not willing
to argue with him about his idea to change his name. Which was dumb, in her
opinion, but whatever. “The point is, there are many things I love about you,
but your sense of style isn’t really one of them.”

“I like to think that I have an impeccable sense of style.”
He was smiling again. Damn him and his contagious, earnest, cute smile.

“Well, that’s your opinion. And most of the time, you’d
probably get away with it.” She sighed. “But at what was essentially a business
meeting, it wasn’t what you could call suitable attire.”

Dante’s shoulders rolled. “I had no idea what you were
doing, though. You didn’t leave a message, or a note, or anything. All you said
yesterday was that you were going to the new Nexus Force HQ – that’s how we
knew where to find you.”

“Okay, that one’s on me.” Plue sighed. “I could have at
least tried to explain what I was doing to you.”

“Are we done here?” Dante interrupted. “Sorry – I know this
stuff should be said – but I get the feeling that this sort of negativity isn’t
really what you need right now.”

Plue found herself nodding, and saying “You may be right
about that.” After a moment’s hesitation, she shrugged and put her half-drunk
mug on the side. “Alright, you’re forgiven. We can talk out the rest of the
details later. Now, come on. Hug.”

Dante chuckled as he placed his drink beside hers. “Yes
ma’am.” He muttered, lying beside her and wrapping his arms around her torso.
She laughed, even as she felt the first pangs of fatigue overtake her. His arms
were… reassuring. That was the only word for them. It was like wearing a comfy
seat belt.

“You’re a good hugger.” She mumbled, suddenly finding
herself incredibly drowsy. The warmth and the hot chocolate must have driven
the last of the adrenaline from her system, for she suddenly found it
incredibly hard to keep her eyes open.

“Good to hear.” She heard Dante say. “You need a good hug, I
can tell.”

“Mm.” Whatever words she might have been trying to say, they
fell short before reaching her lips. The pair lay in silence for what felt like
a while – enough time for darkness to overtake Plue’s vision.

“Plue?” She managed to hear her boyfriend say. Dazed, she
turned in what she assumed was his general direction.

“Yeah?” She managed to say.

There was a brief silence, and all of a sudden, she felt his
lips lightly press themselves against her forehead. It was a very brief moment,
but it suddenly seemed to overshadow the horrible day she had otherwise had.

“I love you.” Dante said, voice trembling slightly with the weight
of his words. In spite of how many times she had heard them from him, she still
felt a rush of affection and bashfulness upon receiving the message.

“Love you too.” She managed.

\*\*\*

“Maddox”, as it had been anointed, observed the work ethic
of its owners and found it to be somewhat lacking. The productivity levels of
the group were reaching roughly 30% of their potential. This was mostly due to
Gaia harassing the rest of her co-workers, the fact that general fatigue still
ran rampant throughout the ranks, and the fact that all Vector had done since
arriving had been to eat biscuits and distract the other units with his small
talk.

It just seemed so illogical. If they wanted to finish their
task as quickly as possible, why did they not simply put all of their energies
into working harder and faster?

Humans were strange.

\*\*\*

Jacen all but slammed his cup onto the table as hastened to
reply.

“Mom, for the fifth time this morning, I’m alright.” His
voice almost raised to a shout, and he hastened to lower it. “Really.” Suddenly
finding it hard to speak as his mother turned to him with such an unfamiliar
anxiety in her blue eyes, he resigned himself to another sip of hot chocolate.

“I trust you.” Her voice sounded like a murmur compared to
his harsh tones, and had to bite back a wave of guilt. “I just… I just wanted
to make sure. I know that what you went through was, ah…” She stopped talking.
He shrugged, uncomfortable.

“Yeah, it wasn’t what I thought it’s going to be. But that’s
okay.” He turned up to her, managing a smile. “Here I am, you know? Alive and
unhurt.”

“And that’s all that matters.” She agreed, smiling warmly at
him before turning around, staring at something on her phone. Jacen was about
to ask what had caught her interest when the clumping sound of footsteps
alerted him to his father’s presence.

“Hey, dad.” He managed to say as the man himself walked into
the room. While almost as scrawny as his son, there was an air about him that
made him seem bigger and stronger than he actually was – Jacen had never been
able to explain how imposing the man seemed to be, but had long ago accepted it
as a quizzical feature of the man. Luckily, he was amicable enough to subvert
the expectation that popped into people’s heads whenever they encountered
someone with such a quirk.

“Jacen.” His father greeted him. “Good to see you’re up.”

“And you.” Jacen nodded. “You guys sure you’ve got enough
energy today? You slept, like, the whole of yesterday.”

“An unfortunate side effect of travelling almost a day
non-stop.” His father informed him. “Trust me, we’re fin-”

“Oh my!” An exclamation from his mother interrupted the two
men, who both turned towards her. She turned to look back, an otherwise
surprised expression on her face. “Jacen, you didn’t tell us that you were
friends with the faction leaders!”

Leaning forward, Jacen and his father observed the
photograph his mother had stumbled upon. Taken just after the battle of Crux
Prime, it showed Jacen amongst a group of people standing in front of the new
Nexus HQ as it was being built – there was Plue, the new leader of the Nexus
Force, in the center, and Dante to her left. To *his* left was Jacen, who had been all but dragged into the
photograph. There was then Rose, Gaia, Shadow, and that robot – Maddox. On Plue’s
right were Vector, Kaylori, and Vanda – the other faction leaders. Altogether,
they looked more like a group of friends hanging out than they did the formal
organisation members that society now seemed to view them as.

“I’m not. Not exactly.” Jacen elaborated. “I mean, I’ve- we’ve
been working with the Sentinel faction leader, and she’s also my friend’s
girlfriend… but I don’t know any of the others very well, personally.”

“You all seem to be comfortable enough in one another’s
presence.” Observed his father, lazily indicating the picture with a wave of a
hand.

“I guess.” Admitted Jacen, not entirely sure what to say. “We’ll
probably see more of each other in the future. It’s mostly just chance, though.”

“Well, good for you, making yourself some friends already.”
His mother praised him. “If you’re going to take up a job here – and you don’t
have to, by the way – it’s best to do it with the people you like, right?”

“Yeah.” Jacen elected to not bring up, once again, how he
had decided to stay on as a member of the organisation for a large number of
reasons that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with sharing. “I guess.”

\*\*\*

“Dude, how does this work?” Dante peered at the computer quizzically
as Jacen leant back in frustration, presumably trying to not tear his hair out.

“Just… don’t… touch it.” He sounded almost as angry as Plue
had been, and Dante couldn’t help but feel a shiver up and down his spine. “I
can set it up, but they’re a pain in the ass to work with, and breaking them
won’t help-”

He was cut off as, in the adjoining room, a muffled curse
could be heard alongside an electrical fizzing noise. Jacen all but screamed as
he jumped up and ran out of the room (through the door-less doorway) to tear a
strip off Gaia for breaking something else. Now that no eyes were on him, Dante
felt himself relax a little, at least physically. With the investors’ approval,
his group – which he still needed to choose a name for – had become something a
little more tangible. Whilst there was a lot of excitement that came with
watching his childhood dream come to life as an adult, there was the additional
stress of being an adult as well.

The other members of the group, his *team*, kept coming to him with their problems, and the people such
as Plue and Vector who normally took charge seemed to have no trouble referring
to him as the resident authority. He had to call all the shots, make final
decisions for mostly mundane topics (who cared whether the landing pad he
wanted to build had an “H” on it or not?), and keep order amongst a definitely
unorderly group of employees. He wasn’t sure which number was bigger – the
number of computers that had been shorted out, or the number of desks that had
been destroyed. And he would have to deal with both issues, at some point. All
in all, it was the sort of thing he had thought was going to be awesome until
it actually happened, at which point he became thoroughly disillusioned with
the whole idea. Leadership. *Tch.*

He could hear her scoff in his mind, and rolled his eyes.

“Raelyn*,*” he
thought to her, “where the hell have you even been?”

“Giving you some privacy.” Replied the obstinate voice that
he was slowly growing used to having in his head. “I may be evil or whatever,
but even I’m not merciless enough to bother you when you’re spending some alone
time with your girlfriend***.***”

“You act as though that’s all I’ve been doing for two days
straight.” Dante retorted, even as he felt a little warmth creep up his neck.
He could picture Raelyn shrugging as she spoke:

“Yeah, well, I’m not really interested in this little club
of yours. Keeping order? Taking command of a totally mundane situation? Yeuch,
count me out.”

“Hey, no backseat driving.” Dante was tempted to rap his knuckles
against his skull, but eventually decided against it. He had tried that before,
anyway, and it hadn’t had much of an effect.

“Not knocking your life choices, pal.” Raelyn retorted.
“Just saying, it’s not something I hold a whole lot of interest in.”

“I guess I should be glad, then. I don’t exactly want you to
have an incentive for interfering in my life.” Shot Dante, the harsh thoughts
forming before he could really stop them. Was this what being an adult was
about, having a perpetually short fuse? Damn it all, responsibility was
depressing. Then again, he was conversing with a being that had killed people
without a second thought, and would probably not hesitate to use his body to do
so again. Maybe he was just on edge.

“No, you probably wouldn’t.” Admitted Raelyn. She sounded
almost pouty. “I just wish you’d let me have control every once in a while. I’m
bored out of our mind in here.”

“Not happening.” Dante told her. “You can’t hide your
murderous intent from me, remember? I can tell that you’d kill… wait, the
investors?”

“You sound surprised.” She didn’t deny his (mental)
exclamation. “They were a bunch of dicks.”

“Well, yeah, but you couldn’t just kill them!” It wasn’t the
first time that Dante had seen this from his companion – as it turned out, death
seemed to be Raelyn’s go-to problem solver. Go figure.

“Dante – the fact that you changed your name is stupid, by
the way-”

“Not you, too!”

“-I’ve lived long enough, and seen enough death, to
understand one thing about human lives.” Raelyn paused for a moment before
continuing. “They are completely and utterly expendable. I have seen a very,
very large number of people die, and guess what? The worlds keep turning, the
stars keep burning, the universe doesn’t change at all. Humans are worth
nothing dead, and they’re not worth much more alive. If I did kill all the
investors, all I’d be doing would be speeding up a natural process.”

“You’d also be cutting off most of the Nexus Force’s funding.”
Muttered Dante, even as he clenched his trembling hands and a cold sweat began
to make its way down his neck. “That’d probably be an advantage to the
Darkitecht.”

“…” Raelyn gave no immediate reply, to which Dante sighed
(outwardly).

“One day, I’d like you to tell me why you hate that guy so
much.”

“Never happen.” Retorted Raelyn, practically instantly.

Perhaps Dante would have said something back, but a rapidly
approaching figure shut him up pretty quickly. Jacen reappeared in the doorway,
ginger hair looking dishevelled and a flustered expression on his face.

“What’s the matter?” Dante’s rapidly growing experience with
the whole leadership thing meant that he was able to suss pretty quickly from
his subordinate’s ragtag appearance that all was not well.

“We’ve got maelstrom.” Jacen reported, smoothing down his
turtleneck (returned from loan) as he talked. “Dark Ones, by the look of them.”

“So, he’s restarting simple, huh?” Dante shoved his hands in
his pockets and began to stride towards the door. “Where are they?”

“Pretty much right outside.” Admitted Jacen. “I saw them
through a window.”

“Perfect.” Dante moved past him. “You coming, or what?”

“I- yeah. Sure.” Jacen moved in turn, in order to keep up
with the other man.

“You got a weapon?” The building that they were now about to
exit was the property they had been formally commissioned to use as a base.
After a much-needed rest that had lasted approximately a day and a half, Plue
had placed herself in charge of permits and formalities, and had been on the
phone for almost a week. Meanwhile, drastic renovations were taking place,
which was probably why there were no proper doors. This included an exit door,
hence Dante stepped across the threshold and into the sunlight to view the
enemy himself.

“Armed and ready.” Jacen reported as Dante caught sight of
their opponents. Small and weak, the Dark Ones weren’t much of a visible
threat. Nevertheless, their grotesque appearance of a hunched back, malformed
limbs, and beady pink eyes embedded in an otherwise faceless head were enough
to send civilians fleeing in terror.

“Nice.” Dante grinned as he held out a hand towards the dark
ones, palm up and fingers clamped together and pointing skyward. Channelling
the Raelyn (as he had taken to referring to it as), a thin film of magenta
light shot out of his palm, boring a hole through the nearest Dark One, which
keeled over and slumped to the ground – as any reasonable creature would do, if
a hole were shot through it with a laser. However, what most reasonable
creatures wouldn’t do would be something along the lines of sitting up after a
couple of seconds, the wound having closed, and begin to slump towards their
attacker.

Shockingly enough, the Dark One did just that.

“The hell?” Dante fired off another laser, this time slicing
through the Dark One’s arms. A moment – and the arm reformed, the purple aura
of mist that surrounded the Dark One enveloping it and forming a new appendage.

“That’s not normal.” Remarked Jacen, as the two watched the
scene unfold. “I guess this means that my gun wouldn’t be much use, either?”

“Probably not.” Admitted Dante, taking a step back from the approaching
Dark One. “You should give it a try, though. Who knows?”

A pair of deafening gunshots went off, and the Dark One
reeled back. For about a second, Dante dared to hope that it might have been
defeated, but it then leant back forward with no visible injuries.

“You and your optimism.” He heard Jacen mutter.
Unfortunately, the pressing matter of the situation meant that he was unable to
come up with a good biting retort, so he settled for pushing Jacen out of the way
as the Dark One dived at the pair of them, screeching as it leapt. A gaping
maw, with rows of sharpened black teeth, appeared on its face seemingly out of
nowhere. It snapped at empty air as the two jumped away, turning around wildly
to glare at them with its beady little eyes.

Craning his own neck, all Dante could see were the rest of
the Dark Ones, which were now slowly turning towards him and Jacen – no doubt,
the fact that they weren’t running away was enough to make them a decent allure.
That was all well and good, of course, but how were they supposed to defeat them
if they kept regenerating?

“Any ideas, Jacen?” He asked, rising to his feet and
clenching his fists.

“Not off the top of my head.” Informed Jacen, keeping a wary
eye on the slowly approaching Dark Ones as he spoke. “It really depends on
whether they have a source of energy or not.”

“Hmm?” Dante looked at him quizzically.

“Well,” Jacen explained, “We’re in the middle of Nimbus
Station – it’s not exactly a maelstrom-rich area. It figures that they’re
drawing their regenerative energy from somewhere, right?”

“I guess.” Nodded Dante, peering behind the Dark Ones. “Hey,
what’s that thing over there?”

Jacen peered towards what Dante was looking at, even as both
of them took several tentative steps backwards. There was a thin slab of rock
embedded in the road – slate coloured, and thusly inconspicuous enough to have
not been noticed by either man straight away. Still, it was kind of weird,
emitting a faint purple glow that was visible even in the midday sun. How did
they miss it earlier?

“Not sure.” Jacen told him. “But I think it’s significant.”

“Right.” Dante flexed the muscles in his fingers, letting
his energy flow through them. “Can you keep these gremlins busy?”

“Depends. How long are you talking?” Jacen raised his gun
once again, firing a shot into the head of the nearest Dark One – which had
been about to lunge.

“Probably less than a minute.” Dante informed him, beginning
to stride towards the suspicious rock. “I just want to check this out.” The last
thing he heard before all sound was lost to the blood roaring in his head was
Jacen’s voice.

“Done.”

\*\*\*

Gaia wouldn’t consider herself an observant person. Not on
any day of the week, any week of the year, any year of the… decade. E.t.c.
Small details and discrepancies had the really annoying ability to just fly
right past her head. Some would call her dense, whilst others would probably
accuse her of living with her head in the clouds. Whichever one was more
accurate didn’t really matter, though living with her head in the clouds
sounded way cooler… the point was, things had a habit of passing her by. Like
the weird tiny monster that was knocked through her window – well, not *her* window, but the window that she was
passing by. It went right past her. Not metaphorically, though, because she
definitely noticed it. It went literally past her face, careening into the wall
at a speed that looked really fun to fly at. It even made a crack in the wall.
Damn.

After voicing as such, Gaia casually ambled over to the…
thing. It was short and withered, looking like a hunchback with a growth
defect. It made a bunch of weird noises, too. Sounded like it was trying to
gargle a mouthful of marbles. Sighing, she picked it up by what she assumed to
be the scruff of its neck, and wandered to the shattered window – the creature,
thankfully, was to dazed to properly struggle. Peering down at the street
below, she saw Jacen and Dante fighting several more of the little dark things.
That made sense. Dante must have tossed the one she now held up into the window
during the fight. That being said, one thing (aside from the fact that the
fight seemed to be winding down, with no proper way for her to get involved any
more) still bothered her; she held the little creature out of the window and
yelled down.

“Oi, guys! What even is this thing, some kind of gremlin?”

Her shout was loud enough to get both of their attentions,
and it was Jacen who responded.

“No, it’s a Dark One! Plus regenerative capabilities!”

“Which it was getting from that thing!” Dante pointed at…
what looked like several pieces of rubble. Didn’t he mean “things”? Ah well.
Gaia looked in disdain at the gremlin – Dark One – she held in her hand. Wasn’t
all that tough-looking to her. Looks could be deceiving, though…

“Whatever.” She decided out loud, letting the gremlin drop
out of her grip and down to the street below. “Just don’t feed these things
after midnight.”

\*\*\*

“Nice job, you two!” The palm that landed on Jacen’s back
was one hell of a shock to his antisocial system – especially from someone like
Vector, who was physically strong enough to rival Gaia in an arm wrestle – but he
managed to remain decently courteous.

“It wasn’t a big deal.” He wheezed. “The Dark Ones could
regenerate. Whatever.”

“Yeah, but think about the damage those things could have
caused if you guys hadn’t intervened.” Pointed out Rose, who was sipping a
drink a little way away. “It’s rare for maelstrom to spawn so deep in an urban
area – most of the Nexus Force’s troops are concentrated on borders and in
hostile lands.” She paused, took another sip, and finished her thought. “You
guys saved the Nexus Force a lot of damage control, probably.”

“And I’m *very* grateful.”
Agreed Plue, leaning her head against Dante affectionately. “Though, I can’t
help but wonder about this new breed of Dark One. You said they could
regenerate?”

Dante nodded. “There was a piece of debris – like, some kind
of rock. I don’t know how or why, but until I destroyed it, any injuries we
gave those things would vanish.”

“That’s worrying.” Muttered Plue. “Hopefully some of our teams
can get to the bottom of it-”

“You can worry about that later, Plue!” Vector grinned,
punching his fellow faction leader in his shoulder. “For now, let’s celebrate!
This organisation you guys have been making is ready to be made operational!”

“Well…” Jacen cast an eye around the room, which still had
half a dozen cardboard boxes filled with supplies in it. Vector waved him off.

“Yeah, I know, it still needs to finish being built and all,
that, but you’ve got enough stuff set up to start work, right?”

“I guess.” Admitted Dante, though he was stopped short by
Vector.

“Well, then we need to do a bunch of stuff to celebrate. I
mean, we need to think of a name first of all, right?”

“A name?” Echoed Dante, a quizzical look appearing on his
face. “Now that you mention it, I hadn’t thought of one.”

“Huh?” Plue and Rose both sounded surprised by this, though
Plue elaborated her exclamation. “You mean, you haven’t thought of one yet?”

“No…” Dante rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I guess,
with everything else that’s been going on, I haven’t had time to think about
it, you know?”

“I have.” The words slipped out of Jacen’s mouth before he
could consider what he was saying, and all of the room’s occupant’s gazes fell
upon him.

“Oh?” Rose raised an eyebrow. “Jacen, I didn’t know you were
bothered about that sort of thing.”

“I’m not.” He lied. “I just figured that it’d better be me
that comes up with our name instead of someone like her-” he flicked his thumb
over his shoulder to the figure of Gaia, who was asleep – practically comatose –
on top of one of the new desks. “-who’d probably bring a whole load of
absurdism with her suggestion.”

There was a ripple of laughter around the gathered soldiers,
and eventually Dante smiled and folded his arms.

“Sounds good, dude. What did you have in mind?”

“I-” Jacen was interrupted by a shrill ringing sound. Turning
his head, he saw one of their new phones (that had only been set up that day,
as a matter of fact), ringing desperately.

“Probably either another report, or a newsperson.” Vector
informed him. “We’ve been getting a bunch of calls related to you guys – who were
all photographed with us – since the battle, and I eventually gave out the
building’s number.” Dante glared at him, and Vector flinched. “Ah – sorry –
they were just too annoying for me to deal with. And after that incident with
the Dark Ones yesterday, we’ve been flooded with calls.”

“Figures.” Jacen sighed. “It’s tough at the top… but this is
perfect, though.” Even as everyone surrounding him raised an eyebrow, Jacen
swallowed his apprehension and picked up the phone. Holding the receiver to his
ear, he made sure to make eye contact with Dante the whole time he was
speaking. For once, he allowed himself to smile.

“Hello, this is Pandemonium’s’ Bane. How can I help you?”

-END