A Measured Reaction (11-03-2022)

## The News - GEO-7 Roundtable Hold, Camelot [11/03/2022]

"Well... **fuck.**" Void muttered, staring at the television. He was sitting alongside Thunder, Specter, and Nikita in the Roundtable lounge when the bad news came out. The CACG was now an illegal operation, and being anomalous was illegal too. "Fuck? Real original response, V," Specter snidely commented, cracking open a bottle of moonshine and downing it. A faint crackling field of electricity was emanating from Thunder as panic crawled across his face, he ran to his quarters as Void buried his face in his hands.

"We bugging out, V? Still got that contact up in Koivusalo," Nikita said, breaking the silence.

"Got any forged passports for me too, mountain man?" Specter butted in.

"We're not leaving Niki, whole nation's watching us now," Void finally responded.

"I didn't ask you to answer for me bitch, I'm not staying to get captured again."

"Then leave, ghostie. I don't know what we're doing yet Niki, I'm going to talk to Archie," Void ended, meeting eyes with Nikita before turning and leaving. As soon as he left, silence fell back over the room. Specter was quite obviously drunk by now, and Nikita tossed a small passport to them before leaving as well to do whatever.

Archangel was in the mess hall with Malik and the In and Out Unit when the news broke. "No fucking shot," Tsar says as he grips his fork with immense force. Crown and Malik look at each other and then at Archangel. Royal touches his shoulder and asks with a concerned look on her face, "What's the plan, boss?" Archangel touches his chin and closes his eyes, deep in thought. Malik suggests, "Let's find out what the others think. Get a scope of what we're dealing with here." Archangel's halo shines as he looks at Malik and nods. "You're right Mr. King. I'm calling for an immediate hearing. Meet me in the Council Quarters. The rest of the agents, sit tight. In and Out. You're with us." The three nod and give a unanimous, "Yes Director". They all closely follow behind Archangel in their usual protective formation, with Crown and Tsar at his shoulders, and Royal directly in front of him. Malik King follows right behind, as to not get disconnected from them in the rising panic of the other agents and workers around them.

## The Schubert Protocol - GEO-7 Roundtable Meeting Room, Camelot [11/03/2022]

No less than 6 minutes after the news broke, a Code Guinevere was called. Nonessential staff were encouraged to go home and cooperate with authorities while those too valuable to leave waited with bated breath for the Council to convene. Each councilmember got the notification to meet, a notification they wouldn't ever have expected to see before all of this happened. Calliope and Strongman were the first ones there, followed by the advisory board, Reptile, and Wizard trickling in. Thunder, Agent B, and Void finally entered and took their seats shortly afterwards, and the whole room fell into silence waiting for the Director and his detail.

The armored door to the meeting room slid open, revealing a somber looking Director flanked by Dr. Malik and the In and Out crew. He silently took his seat at the head of the roundtable, with Malik joining the rest of the advisory board surrounded by Crown, Tsar, and Royal. "I think you all know why we're here right now. Heralda has won the election, and she's just turned the government against us," Archangel started.

"So what now? We just bend the knee to them and close up shop?" Dr. Lambert questioned immediately, saying what almost everyone else was thinking.

"We aren't surrendering, but we need more information before we act. We can't do anything until we know what's going on out there, V?"

Void jumped in surprise, nervous enough as it is, much less without getting to talk to Archie beforehand. "We're in the middle of a complete intelligence blackout, almost all of our Camelotian field officers have cut communication and are presumed to be captured or laying low. Not to mention the CIB cutting us off."

Strongman saw an opportunity to follow up with better news in mind, "Our perimeter security officers have reported roadblocks and a observers posted up in the sticks. Seems both the feds and the Syndicate are cooperating on this, and they're waiting for us to give ourselves up." Archangel's face turned somewhat sour during the latter half, no doubt ready to go down with the CACG if it came to it.

*"Goddamn feds,"* Void muttered before taking his company laptop and plugging it into the roundtable's data port, "Since surrender clearly isn't an option, we've got to clear house and do it fast. I can't imagine we'll have more than 24 hours to get our shit and get out." A presentation file named 'schubert protocol' opened up on the meeting room's bigscreen, quite clearly hastily thrown together. Void took a deep breath in, and started:

"First, we need to transport all the anomalies we've got here, in GEO, to their fallback containment sites. I think Wiz and B would be enough insurance to make sure our resident breachers won't try any funny business. The second highest priority is getting every bit of intelligence, equipment and research out of here, anything that can be used by either these government-sanctioned idiots or squatters ten decades from now. I'll personally oversee the intelligence transfer with Dr. Malik, while I'd like Dr. Tenma and Reptile to get our research, specimens, and everything else out of dodge."

"So what about the facility itself? Our equipment too? I can't imagine anything good comes out of just leaving our systems and equipment behind," Thunder interjected, getting a nod of approval from Yue.

"Everything that isn't bolted down is getting shipped and locked inside an offsite storage facility. Anything that has to stay, we'll put it into an L5 Shutdown."

"L5? Do we even have an L5 Shutdown?" Yue questioned.

"We do, hate to say we saw this day coming, but the L5 Shutdown was intended for abandoning ship just like this. Once we put everything into L5, GEO will need encryption key and blood sample authorization from the acting Director, Deputy Director, and Head of Engineering to do as little as turn the lights back on. It's like a self-destruct without the commitment, I'd say," Void responded.

"Well then... it seems all our bases are covered by that. Initiate the... Schubert Protocol," Archangel said, with a hint of exasperation in his voice.

## Gone Ghost - GEO-7 Topside, Camelot [11/03/2022]

"U-uh s-sir, you really shouldn't be going out here!" one of the security guards timidly protested. Even with weapons heavy enough to take down bona fide soldiers, they felt fear tingle down their spines as Specter slowly approached them. A ghostly aura surrounded Specter, swirling with tortured spirits finally given form. No amount of protesting was keeping them away, and the guards finally let them through out of fear for their life. Specter stumbled out of the door and out of one of GEO's lesser known maintenance exits, with the bright pale lights of Vela and Dela nearly blinding them as they reflected off the snow.

They looked down at the passport in their hands, and back at the dirt path before them. It was the perfect cover to get out of GEO and into the city without the feds being alerted, at least at first. They started down the path as fast as their drunken mind could allow. Contrary to the sour mood of the day, a pleasant breeze blew across their face as they noticed their path was shielded from the snow moonlight by a lush green and white canopy of snow-topped pine trees overhead. Only a few rays of moonlight could reach the beaten dirt path beneath them.

On any other night the shade and breeze would've been pleasant, but it only served as the herald of something truly unpleasant instead as the air turned cold and the shade turned to full darkness. They felt the shade's presence before seeing it, a shadowy cloud slowly giving form to a humanoid figure. "Great, it's you," Specter mumbled. Wraith shot them a look of contempt before manifesting a pair of shadowy sickles in their hands. Specter responded in kind by getting into a fighting stance and clicking the handle of their sword, unsheathing the blade and surrounding it with the souls they've collected.

Wraith dashed towards Specter, swinging a sickle with their offhand towards Specter's neck. Specter pulled their sword into the air, catching the sickle and briefly locking blades with Wraith before overpowering the shadowy opponent and sending them backwards. Wraith let out a frustrated grunt as they nearly fell to the dirt, recovering just in time to parry Specter's follow up swing using their offhand. Sparks flew as their blades locked once more, with Specter quite clearly pushing the shade towards a patch of moonlight and snow with a smug grin.

Wraith barely resisted, letting the ghostly adversary push them all the way to the moon's pale light before backstepping out of the clash. With a clearly telegraphed attack, they brought their right hand over their shoulder and swung their sickle as hard as possible. Specter's grin widened, putting all the force in their body towards slicing through Wraith's wrist... but the sword never hit its mark. The hand Specter thought they swung for faded in the moonlight as the stump from the previous encounter revealed itself. Their eyes went wide as Wraith spun back around, slicing their throat open with one last offhand swing.

They fell to their knees, a river of blood pouring from the open wound as the souls they were so acquainted with became all too real before their now-tearful eyes. Wraith grabbed the back of their head by the hair, forcibly extracting Specter's essence as they could only gurgle in mindshattering pain. As the last of the living ghost's essence was drained from their body, Wraith let them fall to the ground. They relished seeing Specter bleeding out, waiting for their body to go limp before taking a pair of rings off the body that caught their attention, as well as the sword that was just used against them, and gently fading back into the shadows as the clock struck midnight.

## Clearing House - GEO-7 Daedalus Sector, Camelot [11/04/2022]

Unease filled the workshop as Void hurriedly transferred the data from his terminal to the drive he had hooked up to it, deafeningly silent between the facility announcements letting maintenance teams with loads of equipment and herds of staff know when to embark on their trams to either Dragon-I or the Vault respectively. As the data transfer started, he got to work stuffing his duffel bag full of prototype devices, documents, and anything else he could carry that the Syndicate might want.

Just as Void got the last of his goodies from the workspace he heard a knock at the door, nearly making him jump out of his own skin. "Open up," he shouted, prompting Archangel to open the door. He took in the workshop for a second before entering, mildly impressed that it was the neatest it's ever been despite looking like it was just ransacked by five tornados in ski masks. "Arch? Shouldn't you be packing too?"

"There wasn't too much to pack, already got almost everything I need here," he said, tapping his necklace as he looked around the room. Almost everything that wasn't bolted down was shoved into a black duffel bag on top of the holobench in the center of the room, which surprisingly seemed only slightly overfilled. "I was actually coming to see if I could help you out, most of the council is already packed and out by now."

"Well that's pretty thoughtful, all I have left though is some shit from my bedroom and then we can bounce. While you're here though, would you mind helping me carry this?" Void responded, pointing towards the bag he just filled. Arch picked it up, feeling a bit more heft than expected while Void ducked into his bedroom within the lab with a second - empty - duffel bag.

It felt like whiplash, heading into such a comfy and cozy room under such circumstances. A tiny part of him wanted to just lay down and sleep it all off, but he pushed himself past his bed's siren song and started packing anything personal or essential that he needed. A set of three compactly folded outfits, his jacket, some bottles of water and soda, and... he needed his rig's data drive. He walked over to his desk before crouching down to the brightly lit computer. Unlike his work terminal it was used for more leisurely activities, like harvesting the government's secrets and gaming.

With the press of a power button he cracked open the computer's case. A slight wave of pride came over him as he admired the computer's innards, capped off by a twinge of confusion as he saw a small CACG-issued pistol tucked near the power supply. Regardless, he kept at his work and eventually had the data drive out and packed into a rugged carry case. That bastard Maskie wouldn't be getting any of his data. He stuffed the cased drive into his duffel and ran through his checklist once again. He had almost everything he needed, everything besides... the damn prototype. He groaned aloud, remembering the sleep he lost working on it late last night.

He found it laying atop his workbench, almost mocking him with its presence as it sat smug and unfinished. He sighed, putting a sheath on it and packing it with the rest of his things. "Shouldn't keep Arch waiting," Void muttered to himself, casting another longing look at his bed before meeting Archangel back in the main lab. "We ready to go? Last tram out is just waiting for the last security guys, us, and Wiz," Archie asked, picking the duffel Void asked him to carry back up and slinging it over his back.

"Yeah, just one more thing though," Void said, heading back to his work terminal. The data extraction was complete, all his research and development data was inside the small data drive, leaving the computer nearly bare. Of course the operating system was still there, as well as the default browser, but Void was kind enough to leave a single particular image as a parting gift. He right clicked it with a menacing grin, setting it as the terminal's wallpaper as Archangel shot him a glare. It was a picture of Void holding his groin over his pants with the message *'reverse engineer deez'* hastily written on it in garish font and color.

"Really, V?"

"Really, Archie."

## Off the Hook - GEO-7 Corridors, Camelot [11/04/2022]

"Alpha Team, any sign of the feds yet?" Archangel spoke into his radio, walking alongside Void and Wizard to get to the lower layer GEO - where the tram station was.

"Negative Director, federal forces have remained at roadblocks. Final fallback perimeter should be secure," a facility guard responded in kind.

"Uhh... *fuck.* Director? This is Delta Team, we uh... we have a situation," another guard timidly said.

Void gave Archie a concerned look, radioing in himself, "Are the feds moving in?"

"No... no it's not that it's just that uh... S-Specter. Th-th-they're... *th-they're dead."*

Archangel, Wizard, and Void's eyes widened in shock. "What the fuck do you mean dead? It's dark as hell out there, they could be passed out or something! Check again!" Void shouted into the radio.

A tussle was clearly heard over Delta's radio, with a 'give me that damn thing rookie' being heard before a calmer operator started speaking, "Councilmember Specter is confirmed dead, Deputy-Director. Item A-019 has been breached and there are suspected hostiles in the facility grounds."

This report was immediately followed by another, "Beta Team reporting in, there's an unidentified individual approaching topside entrance. *Is that... is that the politician lady from the news?* Ma'am! You can't be here-!"

The sounds of shattered glass and gunfire came over the radio, with Beta Team hastily announcing a retreat as they cut off. Void stared at Wizard and Archangel, silent as a walk in a graveyard. "Void, come on," Wizard said, sensing what was about to happen. He attempted to put a hand on Void's shoulder as A-007 started to coat his body, spreading like wildfire across his skin. Sensing he was about to run, Archangel threw a sucker punch in an attempt to knock him out. Void raised his arm just in time to barely block the punch, getting blown back into a wall by the force before scrambling back to his feet and bolting down the topside route.

"Fucking hell," Wizard cursed, adjusting the brim of his hat before running down the corridor after Void. With an exasperated sigh Archangel radioed in, "All remaining units, break perimeter and evacuate towards the Vault immediately." Then he bolted down the hallway towards Wiz. "Beta Team, they were talking about Heralda... right?" Wizard asked as Archie ran alongside him.

"More than likely, which means the Syndicate could be out there mixed in with the federal agents."

"So I'm guessing no killing?"

"Only if they're clearly Syndicate. We aren't letting any Camelotians die on our watch. At any rate, I'm more concerned about getting V back under control. Even without the risk of capture, Arthur knows if he'll be as nonlethal as us towards the feds. Another sucker punch won't work though, he'll be expecting it this time."

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Wiz responded, keeping a hand on an injector pen in his satchel.

Meanwhile - topside - Void emerged from a secure stairwell with sweat beading down his face. He had just sprinted up 25 flights of stairs, with the panicked members of Beta Team hurriedly passing by him halfway up. The emergency blast door towards the office and reception area had been sealed, no doubt by the retreating security guards. Faintly, Void could hear voices from the other side.

"What a turnout that was... absolutely pathetic. Just like that little ghost of theirs," a female voice disappointedly said on the other side.

"You heartless fucking bitch," Void growled through his teeth. He formed a razor sharp blade of A-007 over his right hand, ready to slice open the blast door if not for a strange feeling on his left arm. Wizard and Archangel were behind him, and Wizard had casted a shadewhip that wrapped tight around his wrist, with two more tentatively wrapping around his waist and chest. A cold determination filled Void as he wordlessly turned around, raising his arms in a feign surrender. In an explosion of movement, he swung his arm back and yanked Wizard towards him as Archangel dashed forward. Lightning-fast, Archangel rushed and tackled him as Wizard got back to his feet, rushing to the struggling Void's side while commanding the shadewhip to coil as tight around his body as it could and bind his arms to his sides. He readied the injector to sedate Void, pressing the barrel up against Void's neck and getting ready to press the button on top, but all three of them grew silent as an ominous creaking started emanating from the blast door.

Silence fell over the three, with Void ceasing his struggle as anticipation filled the air. Suddenly, the blast door was ripped open with a pair of monstrous demonic claws. Archie got off of Void and manifested Pendragon with a flourish as Wizard dispelled the shadewhip around Void and readied a pair of firebolts. As the cloud of arcane smoke cleared, Anti-Mage and Heralda stood before the trio. Void was the last of the three councilmembers to ready himself, locking eyes with Heralda as he drew his revolver. Archangel silently initiated the L5 shutdown as Heralda began to speak, "Ah, guess we didn't have to look far. We have three delivered to us directly!" He takes aim at Heralda, but she doesn't flinch. She only smiles at him as she walks into the base, with Anti-Mage following behind. "Ms. Smith, I'm going to ask you to leave before I open fire," Archangel coldly said. Heralda scoffs and replies, "If you forgot, *you're* the outlaws. This whole base is under government jurisdiction now. As of the 4th of November, you are trespassers."

"This facility *is* and *always will be* CACG property."

"Not anymore, Director. Hmm, where's the rest of your gang? The electric kid? The radiohead?"

"Like I would give that information away."

"Hmm, you're right. Your ethereal friend wasn't much of a talker either. Well, he probably would have talked more, if Wraith hadn't sliced his throat open." She looks at Void dead in his eyes as she mewls and squirms in what looks to be pleasure as she continues, her cheeks blushing as she taunted. "It was a beautiful thing. The sight of a diseased, helpless, and in utter despair. I went to check for myself. Did you know he was still conscious? Slowly bleeding out, choking on his own blood. I held his chin up for him to look at me. I wanted to see it...ah...the sight of someone finally being freed from their pain. Their suffering. Seeing the life leave their eyes and their skin turn pale, knowing they'll see deliverance. It's...orgasmic."

Rage overtook Void, tossing his revolver behind his back to Wizard and charging Heralda. He manifested a black blade over his hand once more as he charged, going for a killing slice to her carotid as soon as he was in range. Before the blade could meet its mark however... Heralda nonchalantly blocked it with her left arm. Void could barely believe his eyes as he saw her arm's blackened state, she somehow managed to coat it in A-007, same as his own arm. While he was still distracted, she landed a solid punch to his face.

Wizard and Archangel sprung into action as Void fell to the ground, nose bleeding. Archangel fired a burst at Heralda with Pendragon, with her effortlessly parrying the bullets using her reinforced arm with a smug look on her face. Wizard tried to sling a firebolt right between her eyes, but it fizzled out almost instantaneously as Anti-Mage cast a hellish ward in front of Heralda. With an insane smile on her face she burst forward and tackled Wizard almost 13 feet backwards, leaving a blast of air pressure and arcane smoke in her wake.

Archangel nearly diverted his attention to assist Wizard as Anti-Mage charged him, but he immediately snapped back into action as Heralda attempted to slice him with a copy of Void's armblade. By instinct he blocked the armblade using Pendragon, with strange and vibrant sparks flying as the two nigh-invincible materials clashed. The stalemate took nearly 23 seconds, with neither weapon managing to gain traction over the other... until Void managed to stumble to his feet from behind Heralda.

Wizard struggles to get Anti-Mage off of him, he resists, but her strength is immense. She sticks out her tongue and sneers, "I've been wanting to kill you ever since you caught my eye the first time." Wizard manages to gain leverage by throwing her backwards. He quickly gets up and forms a blade out of fire then proceeds to drive it into a staggered Anti-Mage. He expects to hear the sound of the sword cutting through her flesh, but he finds his fiery blade stuck in place just next to her neck. Anti-Mage grabs the blade in Wizard's moment of surprise and disintegrates it. She gives a wicked smile and grabs at his neck. Wizard gasps for air and yelps as he feels the burning sensation from the last time he fought her. It was her anti-magic traveling along his body. He struggles to the best of his abilities, but to no avail. Anti-Mage pulls up her eyepatch, revealing a pit of darkness of where her eye should be. An orange, demonic iris appears in the pit and looks directly at Wizard. The eye begins to send out tendrils slowly towards his face. When Wizard all but gave up, he closed his eyes, ready for whatever will happen to him. "It's time to meet your father. Tell him I said I wish I had killed him," Anti-Mage says, smiling even bigger at his despair. She's interrupted however by the sound of a portal and a familiar voice to both of them. "Victoria," The voice says behind Anti-Mage, to which she responds, "Cadmael..." In an almost split second, Wizard finds himself on the ground and watching Anti-Mage and Xeno-Sorceror butting heads. Anti-Mage grits her teeth as she tries to use her anti-magic on Xeno, but Xeno persists with a calm demeanor, pushing back the Anti-Magic with his holy abilities. She manages to give a sucker punch, pushing Xeno back and shoots multiple anti-magic missiles. Xeno unsheathes his sword, cutting through the missiles and dashing back towards his opponent. She creates a ward just as soon as Xeno brings down his blade on her. He smirks and flattens his blade, swinging it from an opening in the ward and landing a blow on her side, causing her to crashing into the wall, destroying it. Xeno quickly helps Wizard get up and pulls out the Heavenly Codex. "She won't be stunned for long. I need to get you out of here," Xeno explains as he quickly flips through it in a second and slices the air next to them, creating a portal. Wizard asks, still out of it, "How did you know...?"

"I know when my pupils are in trouble. Now get out of here before she comes back."

"What about you?"

"I'll handle it."

Xeno casts a healing spell on Wizard, removing him of his anti-magic burns and hurls him into the portal with his gravity magic, quickly closing the portal behind him. He looks down the corridor at Archangel fighting Heralda and Void struggling back to his feet. He asks his sword, "Do we interrupt?" The sword responds with its usual guttural voice, "No... they'll live."

"For certain?"

"The Domination willed it."

"Then it is so."

Xeno-Sorceror looks over at the destroyed wall and sees Anti-Mage begin to get up. He creates a portal behind her and as she begins to get up, Xeno flies at her at breakneck speeds, tackling her and bringing her with him into the portal, it closing behind both of them.

As Wizard, Xeno, and Anti-Mage warped out of the office complex in the background, Archangel shoved Pendragon against Heralda's armblade. Stumbling back, she gave him the space he needed to demanifest Pendragon and draw Vryheid in its place. A new determination filled her eyes as she spotted the warhammer, formulating a plan as Archie began to charge. He brought Vryheid above his shoulder, ready to bring the hammer down on Heralda with all his might. As the heavenly weapon was mere inches away from Heralda she smirked in smug confidence.

Inhumanly fast - she brought the blade in front of the hammer's shaft, stopping the head only a millimeter from her face. As the warhammer's shaft locked against the blade however, Archie was caught off guard by Vryheid's shaft sinking into the blade as it started becoming semi-malleable. After sinking towards the dead center of the blade, it rigidified once more to lock the warhammer in place. Using the blade's trap, Heralda wrenched Vryheid out of Archangel's hands with brute force. As the warhammer clattered to the ground she followed up with a roundhouse kick, knocking Archangel back and sending him to the ground.

She looked down at Archie, menacingly smiling as Void finally got back to his feet behind her. Despite being compromised, he smiled back at her as Void struck. He wrapped an arm around her neck, attempting to strangle her as her eyes went wide. She immediately attempted to counterattack with an armblade over her right hand, but swiftly had her arm dislocated by Void's off hand. She gritted her teeth and endured the pain, seeing Archangel take his time getting up and dusting himself off as she was restrained.

Void kicked her knees out from under her, forcing her to kneel as Archangel drew his service pistol and aimed it at her. "Call off the feds, call off your men. We'll let you live," he said, steeling his gaze and preparing to either shoot or spare her.

"Too much of a pussy to kill me outright, little Director? You were a scientist, weren't you? Use that tiny Freeloader brain for a second. If I die here you become an enemy of the state even more than you are now, if I don't die here, I'll have your head on a pike within the week. You're in a game you can't win now."

Archangel had a somewhat troubled look in his eyes, pulling the trigger and unceremoniously shooting her in the head. Void winced as he felt the bullet punch against his chest, although it thankfully armored with A-007. He let Heralda's corpse fall to the ground, spitting on it while Archangel gave a disappointing glare.

"You just couldn't've come with us, could you?" Archangel said, crouching down and examining the politician's body.

"And let her get away with killing ghostie? Fuck that."

"For Arthur's sake, where is Wiz? We need to get the hell out of here."

"Could've sworn I saw him get warped by that... that Seraphim monster hunter guy? Can't remember his name. Xeno something?"

"Then that leaves just us. I already initiated the L5 shutdown back there, now we just need to get into the city before the federal forces figure out what's up."

Archie gets back up, holstering his service pistol and walking up to the entrance lobby. Void was left to gather himself, checking to see his duffel bag was still intact from the fight before catching a glimpse of something peculiar on the back of her neck, just like in the infirmary. He crouched down to examine it closer, seeing that it was a black vaguely eye-shaped sigil. His first thought was that it might be a tattoo, but as he held his hand over it, it started to feel... weird. His hand recoiled as a tingling sensation overtook it, reaching into his pocket and taking his phone out to snap a picture before running back over to the Director.

"Where you plan on heading Arch? You said something about the city?"

"San Arturo. I've got a contact that can get me to a CSEA launchpad in Delta Dracan."

"Oooh. Falling back to Vela?"

"Yeah, at least until we can come up with a way out of this damn mess. Want to come with?"

"Maybe to San Arturo at least, Arthur knows they'd sniff me out at the province line in a heartbeat."

Archangel chuckled a bit, remembering just how conspicuous Void's eyes would be to civvies. He reached into the necklace and rummaged around for a few seconds before extracting a pair of pitch-black sunglasses. "It's a bit lower tech than you might be used to, but these should help."

Archie tossed the sunglasses to Void before prying open the entrance autodoors, powered off from the L5 shutdown. Void followed behind him, putting on the sunglasses and following behind Archangel. The cold winter air blasted by them as a barren parking lot stood before them. Only a few cars remained, spread out among them being the cars of Roundtable Council members, essential staff, unfortunate nonessentials that didn't pick the right choice of abandoning ship, and out of all of them, Void's coupe.

"Hey, least I could do is give you a lift. It's emission free too unless you count good ole H2O, know how much you care about the environment and all that."

"I'm gonna have to pass, V. It's best I get to Vela and get settled in as quick as possible so we can start planning a counterattack. I'll call you when I get there," Archie said, lightning beginning to crackle around him. Before Void could even blink, Arch was burning through the sky in a bright bolt of lightning, initiating a winter storm as the static built up in the clouds.

"Alright, I guess," Void muttered, unlocking the doors and sitting down in the driver's seat. He could feel himself relax somewhat due to the familiar scent of the car's coconut infused interior. He stuck the keys in the ignition and turned as the car's hydrogen engine roared to life under the hood. The cyan displays on the dash flickered to life as Void buckled up. It was time to head back into San Arturo.