Dumbfounded, the chồn cái, vixen struggled with words, swallowing the panic. She took in the scene with wide eyes, especially on the hole. A closer observation was in mind, but the acid overruled the option. She knew what happened. "Craiger," Grace was able to muster, "Rynk's gone." Despite wanting to yell it out in distress, her voice was kept quiet in shock.

Craiger noticed this immediately, and quickly rushed over to the hole, looking over the area. “We’ve been gone for… three phút maybe.” He noted. “She couldn’t have gotten that fa-!” Slowly a hand leaning on the tường curled into a fist as the Ausey cáo, fox closed his eyes in realization of a very distinct possibility of where Rynk had gone. “I think I found where she went.” He motioned Grace over.

She drew in a breath and strolled over alongside Craiger.

The male cáo, fox pointed out in the distance of the school, near the boundaries. There were rooftops blocking the bottom, but in the distance was a portal generator. “Rynk knows how to use the porting generators.” He informed before starring down towards the roofs below them. “Do bạn want to go the long way hoặc the short way?”

Grace had a notion of what he was thinking. "Short way."

The Ausey could not hide a small grin as he leapt off through the hole and landed in a kneeling position below, looking up for Grace once he rose back up again.

Glancing down, Grace tilted her head as a sign of faint interest. She took a deep breath, choosing not to comment. Grace pushed off the ledge with a step phía trước, chuyển tiếp and landed in a similar manner, not as a comparison, of course. There was, however, a brief instance of brushing off dirt once she balanced herself.

The two made their way to the bottom, panting slightly from the exercise. In less dire circumstances congratulations might have been in order but neither wanted to focus on anything but their objective at the moment. Craiger knelt down in front of the generator and began to type away at the holo-screen.

Grace looked over his shoulder, brows lowered. "....Of course bạn know how to work it, too. What's your plan here?"

“I’ve had experiences with Zone Cop Technology. I’m looking through the logs to see where the las-… Semretches…” He sighed deeply. “Of course.”

"Semretches?" Grace repeated with squinted eyes, unable to identify what it was as a place - a city, a small town? "Why would she go to a place called Semretches?"

“Well,” Craiger began “it’s a city in Supreta, her trang chủ country.”

Supreta. As if bởi trigger, a surge of memory burst through, especially the troubled issues connected with the word. She remembered the conversation with Mr. Calto, her failed attempt to get information out of Craiger, and Rynk's refusal to mention it. Respectfully, the secret was never mentioned again, but now the situation came to her. Back then, it bothered her as it did now, because most of all, Grace remembered the fear. "Doesn't it have...um, Me-...Melcro Labs, wasn't it?" She spoke with distance, straining out bits of discussions. "Why would she go back?"

“Melcro labs is a sort of Genetic Science Company… among other things.” The screen flashed red briefly, causing Craiger to groan with a glare at it. “The Zone Cops are prohibited from going to Mobocan, it won’t let us create a portal there, so I’ll have to do this manually.”

"How long would that take?"

“Well one of the main reasons that Mobocan was off-limits was because it’s a threat to the Zone Cops, having superior technology, technicians, etcetera. They don’t like the Zone Cops, so any form of communication to Mobocan from a Zone Cop signal will result in an instant connection, if for anything a warning to back off. As soon as that happens, Mobocan will take control of the portal, and we’ll have a một phút hoặc so to set the coordinates and get to Semretches before they find where the signal is coming from.” He paused to take a breath. “Now the only confusion for me is how Rynk was able to hack this herself… but then again we’re probably going to find out các câu trả lời to a lot of các câu hỏi during this.”

Grace pursed her lips and sighed. "I hope so." She frowned slightly, somewhat unsettled bởi the plan outside her experience. "We're actually going to go along with this..."

“Well actually I’d be inclined to say something like ‘It’s too dangerous, I’ll go alone’ but she’s your friend so it’s your choice. Big warning though, this city really isn’t going to be pleasa-aaaaaaand we’ve got it.” Instantly Craiger tensed up, rapidly tapping away at the holo-screen.

Breaking his concentration appeared unfavorable at the moment, so Grace only leaned to some extent to focus on his work. Even if she was tempted, she watched without questioning. In general, the whole scene was hard to bọc her head around.

A six-foot tall energy door appeared tiếp theo to the generator. Craiger quickly rose up and turned to Grace. “Ready?”

She briefly glanced at the door, pushing aside doubts. Grace took a step and looked back at him with firm nod. "Definitely. Let's get to it."

The two walked through, though Craiger was noticeably cautious about the situation. The portal had yet to bring them to their destination, keeping the two in a cosmic energy tunnel. It was somewhat loud and electric-sounding, but they remained unharmed. The tunnel had a light at the end which enclosed around the mobians, and faded as quickly as it arrived.

Their new location would be best-described as a mixture of a highly technological and large-scale city both post, and in the middle of an, apocalypse. The buildings were notably metal, cement, and various other materials normally found on downtown cities, but somehow all looked darker.

The streets were cracked in areas but remaining standing, with no dents hoặc drops. The sidewalks and alleys were filled with garbage, most of it consisting of high-tech items, televisions, computers etc. Many people walked about, but most in very close-together groups. Those who were not in đã đưa ý kiến groups were completely alone, and practically flailing their weapons about to ward off any that they deemed hostile, whether hoặc not anyone actually was.

Many lights could be seen about, though they were very overshadowed bởi the makeshift repairs to the buildings, with rusting construction beams still noticeable. While the bottom of the city seemed fairly average ignoring it’s filth, that of anything three stories above looked almost like a steampunk một giây city above, with twists and turns, tunnels above and below, and perhaps three buildings still shiny and bright.

The only constant beauty was the sky, which remained untouched bởi the pollution below somehow. This was Semretches.

It took a moment to comprehend the wretched scene Grace stood in. Her eyes followed the crevices and crannies of the city, các câu hỏi accumulating within. She focused on the fact that this was the trang chủ of her high-spirited friend, and suddenly the doubts settled in. Someone of such personality couldn't possibly live in these surroundings without being impacted, right? "Rynk actually...lived here."

“Well…” Craiger’s tone sounded doubtful but he tried anyway, “all we know is that she’s from Supreta… she might not be from here specifically. This country isn’t… all terrible. I have to admit though this is probably the worst of em.”

"What could she be doing here?"

“Well this IS a Banshee hotspot… and a few Nictrela are around sometimes… did she tell bạn what those are?”

Grace shook her head. "I don't think so."

“Well I’m fairly certain that somehow Rynk has abilities from both. Before I thought she just had Banshee Mobian in her. Large hands and feet, big ears, her stripes, metal bones, but Nictrela, hoặc Acid Monsters as some call them, well… bạn saw.” A few sets of eyes began to stare at the two. “We should get moving.” Craiger informed before walking towards a cross-walk.

Rather anxious bởi the attention, Grace picked up her pace until she was side bởi side with him.

The cross-walk lit up with a strange green symbol. Craiger continued walking. “I don’t suppose bạn know Supretan.”

Her eyes lowered to the symbol, confused. "No...I don't."

It was a sort of web-looking thing, as if shattered in mid-spin, and connected in various strands. “Don’t worry, even if bạn did it’d be hard. Thankfully for us I can translate most of this to English.” He walked about as they got to the other side of the building. Did he even have a plan? How would they find Rynk?

The thoughts were sticking to Grace now that her head was clearing. "Craiger, where are we going exactly?"
“Well,” He replied while tilting and ducking his head about as they turned a corner, squinting occasionally at the many strange texts on buildings, “Banshee Mobians, hoặc Hellborns as people like to call them, are outlawed. There was a genocide about thirty hoặc so years cách đây that tried to wipe them out, but since they aren’t completely gone, the law-enforcement here has means to hunt them down. I’m looking for a police-station to get a tracker for both Banshees and Nictrela.”

The mention of genocide prompt a quiver in Grace's walk. A formulated plan, however, was relieving enough if she hadn't begged against reality that there would be downsides. "Would they actually just hand over a tracker like that?"

“If they think we’re bounty-hunters then yes.” He paused a một giây time as a group in the distance made a turn towards them, and quickly turned around and went to a different direction with Grace following suit. “Our biggest worry is a triggered signal that activates as soon as the tracker gets a strong enough signal. When it senses thêm than five pounds of Banshee Metal it alerts the police, and they come zooming after it. There IS a way to short-circuit that part of the tracker, but it’s hard to do without breaking the whole thing, so we just have to be quick.”

All the schemes, the time limits, the risks - they were piling up while nearing the goal. Suspicious citizens didn't make the situation anymore easier. In addition, the fact that he knew this sort of stuff...maybe Grace was underestimating her schoolmates. The chồn cái, vixen sighed. "Since it looks like bạn have a plan for everything, I'm guessing bạn know what to do if something backfires." Her eyes shifted, assuming another set of walking threats were nearby. "Or if there's obstacles. I don't recall having any defense."

“If the Zone Cops, hoặc the school, was allowed jurisdiction here, yes, but as for now, I’m taking what I’ve got. I do have one back-up plan though. For now we just do the obvious.”

"We'll see where that takes us then."

Two phút of walking passed. Neither of them were calm, both of them were tense. Stares, approaches from distances, and even a car nearly running the two over kept both Grace and Craiger well aware of their surroundings. They had just passed the crosswalk where the car rushed passed them when Craiger pointed to a building in the distance and đã đưa ý kiến “There.”

Grace followed his finger and leaned phía trước, chuyển tiếp to get a clearer view. bởi now she wasn't expecting too much of a sight, really.

From a distance it looked like a simple white building, almost chapel-seeming. Closer up it consisted of white and silver, with the silver being the metal plates in different walls. The station seemed to faintly glow, and occasionally small sparks could be seen around it. It was long and wide, half a story underground, with stairs leading into the front, in a sort of short hallway. It was like a safe-haven, which was emphasized bởi the fact that there were five badly dressed, and very masculine, individuals standing around it, daring anyone to try getting in.

Almost in disbelief bởi the sight, Grace's eyebrows furrowed, and her lips pressed together. Muscled men weren't all that provoking considering she was standing tiếp theo to one, but the fact that protection was centered on this particular location instead of branching out, it made her wonder what sort of state the government was stuck in. Perhaps the guards were viewed a challenge, only because they seemed to hold the reputation of being unmoved bởi persuasive and charming words. After all, it was evident that the group appeared prone to act violently if they even sensed a shred of threat. Surely her eyes conveyed a stern veil when Grace glanced up at Craiger, seemingly questioning his tiếp theo move.

Craiger was studying the group, and had his theories, but he wanted to be certain. “It’s probably best that…” He turned to an alley way at the left of the station and walked inside, searching. He came back with a piece of string, a long one at that. “From an old cánh diều I’m assuming.” He guessed. “Tie this around your hand. If someone tries to jump bạn I’ll feel a jolt.“

Grace stared at the string, clearly at the edge of blowing a breath of reluctance. She would give it one thing, at least - although it was low-budget and half-minute, it was reasonable enough to be considered effective. Trust merely supported this, but it was enough for Grace to take the string and tighten it around her hand.

“Keep it tight.” He unraveled the rest of the string and tied it to himself. “Stay behind the wall,” He nudges his head to the alleyway he got the string from, “if something bad happens I call out. If bạn see me run over here we need to move. I’ll do this as quickly as I can, okay?”

"Okay," Grace muttered, backing up to a position behind the wall. "Good luck."

Craiger nodded and slowly made his way to the front of the station. Muffled speech was heard. Four different voices were part of the conversation, one of them being Craiger’s indicated that two of the men were either not part of the same group, hoặc simply remaining silent. This was going on for thêm than thirty seconds. Chuckling could be heard, but it was not specific enough to be categorized as friendly hoặc hostile.

Grace eavesdropped silently, not realizing she was holding her breath unil she felt the side effects of dizziness. Sliding against the wall, the chồn cái, vixen paced her breathing and neared the edge, tempted to glimpse. Naturally, Grace didn't go along with the plan, considering the risks of being seen, and instead focused on her surroundings. Now that she was alone, any sight of a person would be viewed as a warning. She kept her sharp hearing on the voices, however, pressed against the tường with hands on string.

She moved closer to the station, but not sticking out hoặc anything to avoid being seen and all. And she's just looking around her instead.

A bit thêm talking went on. Now she realized why it was hard to understand them all, they were all speaking a different language, this Supretan-like one Craiger talked about most-likely. No one was laughing anymore, and the voices began to rise. Craiger’s tone seemed lower and slower now, perhaps warning them off?  The tones became sporadic in how they varied, though mostly loud. It was inevitable… like clockwork, just as the string tugged at Grace’s wrist, a large *whack* sounded from the voices. They were finished talking.

Under her breath, a plea was uttered: Let it not be what I think it is, please. Almost instantly Grace turned her attention to the station, blood pumping as a wave of dread washed over her. This was not an aftermath she expected.

Three of the men were going at Craiger. One had his fist tightly held in Craiger’s palm, which was quickly made of use, being lunged into the right-side attacker’s face as the Ausey cáo, fox circled around and quickly wrapped the string around the right-side-attacker’s neck, and the middle-man’s fist, yanking it and sending a rope burn into both of them. The left-side attacker charged at Craiger, aiming for a headshot. The cáo, fox almost failed to notice, barely shifting backwards as his forehead was grazed bởi the man’s fist. He had to crouch downward to avoid getting shoved on his back, which caused the string to snap halfway between him and Grace. The man took advantage of this and gave a front-kick at Craiger’s jaw, but from his crouching position the cáo, fox was able to spring himself into the air. The kick passed his stomach and the cáo, fox prepared to perform a crane-kick into the man’s eye-sockets. Unfortunately the other two of the five had recovered, and one kicked Craiger forward, causing him to slam into his frontal-attacker.

The pressure was on the man’s head, which is what he fell on. Craiger’s mid-stomach lay on the man as the other men leapt to pile on hàng đầu, đầu trang of the fox. As Craiger yanked himself to the side into a roll a brief scream was let out. He briefly clutched his chest with a pant, and rose back to a standing position. One of the attackers was standing while the others began recovering, though the first to had fallen was doing little thêm than groaning on the cement floor.

The cáo, fox clenched his fists and waited for the other two to approach him. As soon as they did, the cáo, fox jabbed his palms around both of their arms, yanking them towards him, then swinging both of his arms up, and crashing down at their crowns. With his opponents in a haze the cáo, fox let out whatever aggression he was holding back, clawing aside the one at his left, and front kicking the one at his right, sending his opponent a good five feet backward. He turned to the clawed one, who was now bleeding at the side of his head, and grabbed hold of his arm… before swinging the man into the air, and dropping him back-first onto the ground.

Three of the opponents were down, with the other two simply observing. Craiger kept his eyes locked on anything making a sound, now tense, and prepared for any attack.

Grace stood in numb stupefaction, still stationed at the mouth of the alley. Her hands had gathered the abandoned string, adjusting the tangles with lingering fingers. Now they were trembling a little while she steadied herself. For the life of her, Grace did not understand how the Ausey cáo, fox could still be all in one piece after a series of such events. She swore, if everyone she knew started pulling stunts, she would conclude that every student of Mobius Academy held classified abilities and secrets of the past.

At that moment, she could have broken the bonds of "stay behind the wall" and the phase of mutual respect she recently entered. Grace was accustomed to witnessing brawls in the đường phố, street back then. Similar to now, people she greeted daily were involved in conflicts that concluded with broken Bones and bruises. Refusing to be a mere bystander was something she'd do as a matter of course had the situation not been different.

Craiger gave her vague options on how to act if two results were to happen. Grace didn't recall a solid plan if an exchange of words shifted to an exchange of fists. She was awaiting a call hoặc a brisk walk, not a showdown of tension. He technically didn't do either, right? The fight was a blur to her.

Naturally, she would have offered help in a way, even if he made no gesture of asking for it. Looking over the scene, however, Craiger was seemingly handling the situation well so far - a charming surprise - and the two remaining men poised no threat at the moment. Her help appeared unnecessary for now, yet the observation could be deemed regrettable. In conclusion, Grace gradually stepped out inch bởi inch, though the decision felt burdening.

The Ausey cáo, fox spoke briefly to the two who did not attack him. He was the only one to chuckle during the conversation, then he shook hands with one of them. He then turned to Grace’s hiding spot, and gave a waving motion for her to walk over.

Confirming the wave, Grace released a sigh of relief and quickened her pace. She forced herself to focus on the three standing up, not the bodies on the ground. Stepping over them, Grace tried to appear calm and trustful when she joined and looked their way.

“This is Aresil, and this is Pern.” The two waved silently. Unlike the fallen fighters, these men appeared to be much younger, late teenagers almost. They wore dark hoodies, and had visible long-range guns, though nothing like a regular pistol. One had grey hair, the other had brown. Their faces were dirty but they kept a straight gentle smile between themselves.

“They like coming to watch people fight to get in.” Craiger continued. “They also keep ground control if something goes out of hand.”

"That explains things," she muttered, holding back her curiosity. các câu hỏi would be brushed aside for later. Although the pair seemed amiable, Grace couldn't help but focus on how the owners of the smile had a new level of entertainment. Perhaps it was similar to wrestlers in a rink, but she was told that professional wrestling was fake - in this situation, they took control if some cases turned to alarming violence. She found the use of authority strange, to say the least, and was certain her expression indicated her opinion.

"Does that mean we're allowed in?" Grace couldn't tell if they understood her hoặc not.

“Yep.” Craiger gave a salute to the two individuals and opened the door, waiting for Grace. The two watchers seemed confused bởi the gesture but shrugged only.

The sudden atmosphere puzzled Grace, but she returned a faint smile before walking inside. Immediately, she scanned the interior.

The station was brightly-lit, with a long hallway to their front, and two shorter ones to their left and right. A front desk, closed off bởi thick glass-seeming material, was in front of them, with an intercom monitor and speakerphone in front of it. The color-pallet was either white hoặc black, but mostly white. There were few words about but  all of them were in Supretan Persian... if the language was indeed based on some Persian language.

After a moment of decision, Grace averted her gaze to Craiger with a lopsided frown. There was really only one option laid before them. With a tilt of her head, she silently offered to go first. The chồn cái, vixen didn't await a reply before trotting over, however.

When reaching the edge, Grace leaned close to the intercom with eyes on the monitor. They could at least understand one word, right? "Hello?"

A voice not seen through the glass đã đưa ý kiến “Hello. bạn are foreign.”

"Nice observation. Would bạn treat me differently if I am?"

“That completely depends on where you’re from. Are bạn a Geisern?”

“No.” Craiger quickly spoke up before Grace could answer, stepping phía trước, chuyển tiếp in front of the glass. “Someone đã đưa ý kiến that there’s a pest problem and that a few bounty-hunters could make some profit on it.”

The voice was silent at first, since they could not see who it was what it was doing was up to debate. It then asked Grace “Is he telling the truth?”

"I support anything he says."

The voice paused again before replying. “So bạn two are Hellborn Hunters?”

“Well not normally.” Craiger quickly fibbed. “But we found one off-world. The Hellborn had escaped from a shipment apparently and thought she could trust us.”

“You came all the way back here just to get some trackers then?”

“No, we came here because the Hellborn came back here. We might be able to get her back though if she trusts us still.”

“In other words bạn want the profit.”

“Hey it started out as our hunt anyway. We don’t need your currency, we won’t even be able to use it off-world. We just want to finish our hunt and be on our marry way.”

The voice was silent again. Craiger seemed to take this as doubt, so he quickly added “Turns out she’s a hybrid… got any lynxes with moon-stripes around here?”

A scratch sounded, a sort of scratch made when someone rubs against their facial hair. The scratch was followed bởi a thud on what they guessed was a table. This mean knew who Craiger was talking about.

“Do bạn think bạn have a chance at capturing that one?” The voice asked in a much lower and sterner tone.

“I guess we’ll have to see. Does it matter if she hasn’t been caught yet bởi anyone else? If we don’t get the hybrid someone else will eventually.”

“Wait here.” A screech, a rotating-screech from a chair, was the single sound heard during their wait. No footsteps followed. What was the man doing?

Grace hung her head low, her voice nearly audible. "Is this part of the process...." She would have đã đưa ý kiến a few more, but risks were considered. The act could not be discarded just yet. For all they know, their conversations could be heard beyond the glass.

Craiger đã đưa ý kiến no words but shrugged. A few moments passed before a door to their left opened with a brief blaring from above it. A human, armored in black and blue, his face hiển thị through a screen, walked over to them carrying a locked metal box.

Craiger kept himself silent, waiting for the human to make his tiếp theo move.

“You want it to focus on Banshee hoặc Acid too? Don’t bother with identity we don’t do those.” The man casually, yet strictly at the same time, questioned.

“Banshee and Acid.” Craiger answered. The man nodded and set the box on a table, opening it in a position where they could not see its contents. It was taking a while, most-likely to set up the tracker, so the officer asked “Saw the tattoo. bạn Glatorian?”

Craiger had to stop himself in mid-cringe, but his fists still tightened. “No…” He answered lowly. “Not now not ever.”

The human shrugged to the notion. “Wouldn’t matter anyway. Inter-dimensional terrorists, always thinking they can just take over anything.” He sighed a sort of humored sigh while turning back to them, and holding a rectangular gun-like object, with a black screen on the top, and a claw-like fasten at the bottom. “Can’t just stick to their own dimensions, am I right?”

“As a thunderstorm…” The Ausey cáo, fox muttered.

Still beside Craiger in silence, Grace was simply observing the change of atmosphere. Until now, she hadn't focused on his tattoo hoặc even bothered to câu hỏi the meaning of it. Mentioning it in the first place wasn't fitting comfortably in casual conversations. She noted this from his mannerisms and tone of voice. Knowing the topic seemed to have struck a sensitive area, the chồn cái, vixen made it a goal to shift the focus.

Grace respectively cleared her throat in attempt to remind the human of her presence. She then nodded her titled head to the contraption in his hands. "I'm guessing that's the complete tracker. Any rules hoặc instructions with it?"

“Yes, glad bạn asked.” The man held the inside of the fasten for them to see. Two pressure pads were inside. “As long as those are pushed on bởi your arm and wrist it’ll be activated.” He turned it around to the screen. “This will display a 3D video feed in front of you, which can be limited to the physical screen. It will hiển thị the area as bạn see it, but any sound-pitches that are in the correct frequencies matching Banshee patterns. It also scans for Banshee metal, which is almost always covered in the frequencies unless the thing is dead hoặc sick hoặc somethin’. For acids it’ll easily scan for the liquid about, but don’t expect to see heat signatures.” He then held out the front, which made the scanner seem very much like a toy gun with its blunt black-screen front. “This distorts the psyche for any mobian, but bạn can command the scanner to only focus on Hellborns.”

He held it out to either of them. “You’ve got a ngày with this before bạn have to pay bởi every two hours. Doesn’t matter if you’re sleepin hoặc dying, the longer it’s gone is the thêm Purmi you’re paying.”

Grace was the one to reach out and handle the tracker, holding it in her careful hands as if it was made of glass. "We'll keep...all that in mind. Thank you." For most part, most of the information was either still struggling to soak in hoặc had gone over Grace's head completely. She hoped Craiger had better memory.

The man nodded. “Happy hunting- oh and don’t try stealing it, we’ll know. Not saying how, but we’ll know.”

The officer twisted his index and thumb of his right hand to the right, and swung it backward before relaxing it and returning through the door he came. It seemed similar to the bow Rynk gave at the end of her performance though minus the actual bowing.

In a way, the very observation bothered Grace. These were people who could hold casual conversations and even have rounded personalities. However, if true motives were leaked out such as their own, the authorities' characteristics would shift instantaneously. It didn't matter how friendly they appeared, those same faces could look dangerous.

She studied the tracker and glanced up at Craiger. "Do bạn want to handle this?"

Craiger did not waste time observing the station, he walked out quickly, briefly rubbing a part of his stomach where a small hole could be seen.

Grace noticed this and stepped in front of him calmly, becoming an obstacle, and her expression stern with concerned eyes. Remaining low-key with her behavior, she leaned phía trước, chuyển tiếp slightly, then tilted her head accompanied bởi a squinted stare. She got a good look before it was covered.

"What-" Her voice conveyed tension as she lowered it to a whisper, suddenly remembering that people were around. "Was that from the fight?"

“Nothing huge.” Craiger replied in a halt. “The bloke bit me is all… hoặc I just landed on his teeth when I fell on ‘im.”

"That's..." Grace cleared her throat and shook her head, imagining the scenario. "Alright. If it's not bothering you, then we can continue, I guess." The tracker was held up.

Craiger paused for a moment, then gently took the tracker and strapped it on to his arm and wrist. A blue hạt đậu, đậu wrapped around his lower arm. “Well I guess it won’t fall off…” He joked in a dry tone. The screen lit up with a holo-screen appearing at their eye-level. It seemed almost transparent, save for a few holographic buttons and labels here and there. “We should start where we first ported to.”

Grace shrugged. "Alright, sounds good." She turned on her heels to the direction she remembered and walked at a leisure pace.

The streets were significantly less hostile to the two strollers now. Many people that saw them also saw the scanner, and chose not to interact for one of three reasons, hoặc all reasons. The first reason was fear of being attacked bởi a Hellborn. The một giây was that they did not want to attack someone who would be getting rid of Hellborns. The third was fear of the police who would no doubt find out who lấy trộm, đánh cắp the scanner.

As soon as the two made it to the spot, the scanner lit up with a trail on the ground. It glowed a neon green on the holo-screen. When Craiger looked down for himself he promptly slapped his own forehead. “Can’t believe I didn’t notice that from the start.” At the floor were many small, but fresh, holes in the ground, with some holding small spots of acid still.

"She's not far then." The details were enough of a clue for them. All they needed to do was remain observant to avoid the same mistake. Grace's eyes trailed the holes, assuming it would lead to a certain direction hoặc to another clutter of holes. "We better hurry."

Craiger wasted no time nodding and made a quick strut forward, always aware of his surroundings.

At his heels, the chồn cái, vixen made use of her keen eyes. After all, the thêm threats one encounters, the closer they are to their goal.

As they made their journey the trail began to lead to a cleaner area of the city. It did not become completely sanitary but it was passable. A garden was seen once, three men in business suits, thêm regular people walking about their business, and shiny buildings. No children played in yards but the hostility had greatly decreased.

It was almost completely the opposite of their trước đó location. It seemed almost like a regular city now. But was this the nice side of town, hoặc was it just as bad as the area before, only spiffed up? The expression that the Australian cáo, fox gave showed the latter as often when he did look about he had no sign of a smile.

Then he froze. He was not looking at the tracker anymore, he was looking directly across the đường phố, street from he and Grace. It was a tall building, black with silver lights about it. It was bulky-seeming, and had two armored guards at the front doors. A large circle, hoặc was it an eye, was planted on the front wall. It was silver, with red spiraling triangles around it.

Grace simply studied the building at first, only attempting to see what he saw. For her, there was nothing extravagant that could compel attention. Sensing how stiff Craiger appeared, she turned towards him with a frown. "What's the matter?"

“… It had to be a Melcro building…” he replied in almost a whisper

Her ears perked up, catching the troubled words. "Melcro building?" The thoughts of labs and fear circled within her head, and Grace remembered she was still an outcast when it came to the details. She had to take a một giây glance at the building. "What makes this place so...important?"

“Freaky experiments, including enslaving people for đã đưa ý kiến experiments, funding for any and all parties whether productive hoặc destructive, and a general thorn in the side. This explains why Rynk turned into a Nictrela…”

Gradually, a hand was placed over Grace's mouth as she swallowed down the truth. With eyes wide open, she could now see a connection falling together. She released a breath as her arm fell to her side. "Do people here know?"

“About Melcro hoặc Rynk?”

"Melcro."

“Probably. Doubt they would do anything about it though.”

Disbelief practically emitted off her. Through clenched fists and teeth, the anger lurked. "What? That's - that's insane! No one should be getting away with that!"

For a moment, Grace tried to find a distinguishable answer bởi staring into her hands, then she reached up and gathered hair between fingers. Clearly, she was on edge. Rynk, and others before her, experienced cruelty while no one bothered to step up. How could she calmly soak the ruthless fact? "It's not right, Craiger. That man- no, this whole town...they're messed up. People can't be this hopeless."

“Grace,” He groaned while rubbing his temples and turning to her, “as much as those words are âm nhạc to my ears, I spent most of my life trying to prove that statement of yours correct, and it blew up. You’re right, but no one’s come up with a way to stop it. Melcro’s connected to practically anything in hundreds of dimensions. bạn remember Calto, right? He got started in Melcro Industries. Even people with good intentions are connected to this… dictatorship. But unfortunately Melcro’s not even the main reason all of this happened. That’s just how this cursed dimension is. It doesn’t trust anyone, it won’t allow help, and it’s barely keeping peace with any of the other countries. Not even the strongest being on this planet could stop what’s happened.”

Ostensibly, the chồn cái, vixen was not accepting the explanation without delay and little fuss. Somewhere between his clarification, she had been compressing her lips in attempt to suppress interruption - maybe even throw in impulsive questions.

Grace was on the verge of an outburst just giây before. However, the words settled and watered-down her reasons to do so. With evidence laid out before her, she realized how ineffective attempts were. When a mighty hero is unable thwart the force, there was no probability she would be able to cause a ripple.

It didn't take long for her body language to admit defeat. She had to let it slide for now. "...So it's thêm reasonable to stick with the original plan then, huh?"

“For now.” Craiger replied. “Believe me, I’ve far from được trao up on this world, but for the time being I have just about no means to do anything about it.” He walked across the crosswalk.

Of course, Grace did not doubt his statement and considered commenting on the parallel perseverance, but she decided against it and followed Craiger closely behind.

Instead of going to the front entrance of the building, Craiger walked to the side of it and made his way to the back. It seemed no less protected than the front, but there were no guards, none is sight that is.

Grace somewhat knew this could be seen as an alternative route. It wasn't an unusual method for people on a secret operation. She was starting to câu hỏi his hobbies, though. "Front doors are overrated anyway. Is there a back door hoặc something we're sneaking through?"

“Probably not but I have no idea how we’d get in through the front door, and even if we did it wouldn’t be for long.” Craiger walked about looking above himself.

She blinked, her head almost sinking to one side in question. "I was thinking bạn knew the blueprints of this place. bạn seem to know a lot of things already." Grace craned her neck and glanced up herself.

“I’m flattered but I don’t think anyone but Melcro himself knows how his buildings work.” He walked over to a nearby building and began scaling it.

At that moment Grace grew quiet and became aware she had nothing to do herself. Chatting seemed to stray away, and she even persuasively concluded it couldn't possibly answer her questions. Grace attempted to examine the surroundings in the meantime, but she knew at tim, trái tim her expertise was below Craiger's, undoubtedly. What sort of clue were they trying to find?

Once he reached the hàng đầu, đầu trang of the building Craiger began to lower a ladder from the hàng đầu, đầu trang that seemed attached to the roof.

Grace stopped pacing and waited for the ladder to descend to her level. The moment it stopped, she grabbed hold and wasted no time with crawling upward. Along the way she was muttering something about climbers under her breath. The chồn cái, vixen reached the hàng đầu, đầu trang and hoisted herself up. "Thanks."

The Ausey cáo, fox gave a kind smile with a nod. The roof of the building they were on had a tall, almost wall-like, border. Grace had climbed through a hole with the ladder that was in the border. The rest of the building’s roof had a conditioning system, an elevator, and various boxes and trash. Craiger walked about the building gathering rocks.

"What do bạn plan to do with those?" Grace asked.

“Gonna check how much weight has to hit the building before a defense mechanism is used.”

She glanced at the rocks, then back at him. "Want some help?"

“Very much so, but get ready to con vịt, vịt just in case.”

It goes without saying that she was wondering what they would be dodging exactly, but she decided to see for herself instead of asking. Grace performed a pair of finger súng and click of her tongue as an acknowledgement, then went off to collect any rocks nearby. "How much is enough, bởi the way?"

“We can start with three for now I suppose.” Craiger set down his pile of around fifteen tiếp theo to the border and prepared to throw.

A grin practically lined Grace's muzzle as she followed suit. Throwing, after all, was a skill she devoted herself to. With a few rocks gripped in hand, Grace glanced over as a cue for offering the first throw to him. She couldn't get excited just yet.

The Ausey lunged the three rocks in a snapping hurdle, ramming them almost into the wall.

Grace's focus faltered slightly. It took a một giây for her concentration to tighten as well as her hold, and once confident enough, she withdrew her own tense arm. This was her yêu thích part. Through a quick whipping motion, the rock were released and they shot forward. She watched the tường take the pounding of weight.

A large clang, and a short fizzle, followed the toss of the stones. Craiger hit the floor, though carefully tilted his head enough to see what was occurring afterwards.

On the other hand, Grace didn't bother with risking for a peek once she dropped down, too. With her head still lowered, she glanced at him. "What's happening?"

“Sentry robots are going out.” He replied. “No doubt they’re made bởi End-Ga incorporated.”

“Right, uh,” Craiger quickly searched his mind for a way to quickly describe what End-Ga was, “It’s… an invention company? They make weapons, defenses, portable dishwashers…”

Her ears flickered, cautious of any sound of the robots being nearby. "Are they good at building?" It was a câu hỏi that implied whether they were in extreme danger at the moment hoặc not.

“Well they’re going back in now…” He got up. “I was checking to see the defense. If it’s electric well, we can’t climb it, but now we’ve got a hole we can sneak in through, hoặc at least one of us can.”

Grace wobbled to her feet. "If only one of us, I can volunteer unless it's wiser if bạn do."

“I think we can both make it. The robots will leave the hole, scan about for a while, giving us enough time to jump in. Hard part is making sure we throw the rocks down far enough so that we can jump into the holes easily enough and before the bots come back.”

Briefly, the chồn cái, vixen replayed the plan in her head. "Not to brag hoặc anything, but I should be able to cover that with some success...I can't give a percentage on how good I am, though. bạn probably already know, but I do have some sort of gift with anything that involves throwing at a certain target. I'm sure you're just dandy with it, too." She shrugged. "I can be cocky sometimes but I think we got a good chance."

“Right on then.” Craiger grinned, reloading and preparing to fire.

Grace took the first shot, progressing through the same movements as before. Her eyes had centered on appropriate targets, a mere step for her hobby, and the rocks favorably plunged down and reached the goal.

Craiger quickly recognized her destination and launched directly after her release. The same action occurred. They both saw the hole open up this time. Craiger once again hit the ground, but kept crouched, ready to di chuyển when the robot passed by.

Grace mirrored his actions, rather tense bởi her accumulated energy regenerating for a jump.

A circular drone flew out of the wall, with a red light emitting from it like an eye. It passed, blind to them for the moment. Craiger wasted no time and launched himself forward, slamming into the five-foot-radius hole on his stomach.

Naturally, Grace shifted to a state of hysteria. In giây she was at the edge in attempt to get closer, and her attention snapped to the direction of the bot and back at him. She wasn't sure if he had any sort of grip hoặc not. "Craiger! bạn alright?" she hissed, trying to control the sound of her voice, and trying to lean farther phía trước, chuyển tiếp with the intention of helping.

Slowly the Ausey cáo, fox turned around to face her. “I’ll be staying in this position for a bit but yeah. Jump over.”

She winced, studying the situation before her. However, time was continuing without them and it would be a risk to let one's mind wander. Grace knew of this and retreated back for the proper running distance, calculations and estimations thought over. Without hesitation, she sprinted straight for the hole and managed to land from outside of the tường to the inside, albeit roughly. The cramps were coming on as Grace balanced on her feet and straightened, waving a hand. "Alright, we good?" She was looking around.

“Yep, but we need to di chuyển ten phút ago.” Seeing how Craiger and Grace were now both in the hole-tunnel, and neither could turn around anymore, Craiger was now crawling backwards, scooting rapidly backward.

Grace followed, although keeping appropriate distance for enough room to breathe. Knowing he was struggling already with not seeing behind him, she was a different pace while taking a couple of glances at the other end of the tunnel. Eye contact was out of the question.

A drop was seen in front of them. Craiger had yet to notice it and was about to go over it.

"Woah, woah, stop!" Grace's voice was low but stern. On instinct, she reached out with the intention of stopping him rather than grabbing anything specific. "You're at the end!"

Craiger jolted to a stop. “A drop? How deep?”

"Not sure if I can tell from this angle. It's better to just take it slowly in any case, but..." With a tilt of her head, she tried to get a good look and make an estimate.

The hole was partially lit, but went very far down. It was small however, and would be able to be climbed down. A glass hatch about three-fourths the size of the mobians was below at one of the walls.

“Grace we need to go down now!” A whirring was coming from behind them.

She didn't bother asking các câu hỏi and spoke rapidly. "Scratch the 'slowly' comment, it's deep but you're able to just climb down. There's another entrance down there."

The Ausey cáo, fox was already rushing down the side, though he did manage to reach out a hand in case Grace wanted to charge head-first.

Promptly, the offer was taken and Grace moved straight out in a quickened pace. She wasn't sure how this would work, and the potential danger behind her was becoming a distraction. Facing the bottom, and seeming to climb upside down, she decided this wouldn't work. Her movements were nhanh, swift as her free hand and feet latched against the edge and her body manage to weakly flip over. Her back struck the tường below Craiger, and his hand held her up. For the most part, the jolt was painful. Grace quickly corrected herself until she faced the wall, then released her hand to climb down.

The drone was seven feet above them now, but they had reached the glass hatch. “Kick it, kick it now!” Whether hoặc not the hatch would be able to shatter, Craiger rammed both a free hand and a free foot at the hatch.

In Grace's part, she had turned to a different method. She was positioned slightly above the glass, so with both hands on the wall, she swung her feet to strike it. A number of cracks hoặc a cave in had to be noticeable bởi now.

Instead of cracking the glass lit up and opened. Deciding not to bình luận about the pressure at the moment the two chim bồ câu, bồ câu inside. The glass closed just as they passed through it, and they landed on a black floor.

Silence lingered for a moment, just heavy breathing. "That was intense." Grace's voice was borderline on fatigue. Although dizzy, she managed to focus on the ground, then attempted to look at Craiger in confusion.

“Nothing broken at least.” He noted with his face on the ground. Craiger got up.

"So far." She wobbled slightly while getting up herself. The interior of the place was studied.

It was dark, but the path was easily seen due to the streaks of red lights going through it. A fork in the hall was clearly seen.

"Which way?" Grace asked.

Craiger approached the tường splitting the paths, observing what appeared to be a sign written in a foreign language. “Not sure. I’m not familiar with this text. Doesn’t look Mobocanian.”

"Seriously? Of course they'll pull off something like this. They tình yêu to make it harder for outsiders." Certainly, the text was unfamiliar to her, but she was examining it as well. "I guess we have to choose and hope for the best."

“Hm…” Craiger glanced to the tracker, still attached to his arm. He looked back to Grace. “If I turn this on, no doubt they’ll detect it, but it might be our only way to find wherever she went.”

"We'll take the risk, then."

On went the tracker. Instantly the room lit up on the screen. Dozens of trails, each dimmer than another. Most of them were a blue color, the fifty that were of Banshees, at few were green, Nictrela. One could be seen, like a DNA-strand, of blue and green.

Grace glanced at the bichrome trail. "That has to be Rynk."

The trail went to their right, and so to the right they ran. Twenty phút of running, which turned into jogging, and finally walking, lead them through five left turns, three rights, one elevator, and finally a large door, which was burnt through.

There was an exchange of glances, then a stare through the hole. "Looks safe," Grace murmured sarcastically, stepping phía trước, chuyển tiếp for a detailed observation.

The room was quite large, going upward into nearly seven stories and downward one through a staircase. What appeared to be digital storage containers filled the walls, with ten stations set at the floor with screens, keyboards, and chairs for browsing.

"Wow," the chồn cái, vixen breathed out. "Some sort of...networking room. What kind of information is held here?"

“Probably everything.” Craiger replied. “… This can’t be this easy.” He walked over to one of the seats and dropped a shoe on it. Nothing happened so he added pressure on to the seat. Still nothing happened, so then he started randomly typing. “Guess we won’t see when the trap hits.”

"As if they're not paranoid enough." Her tone of voice suggested indifference. On the contrary, focus was on edge if a mastermind were to unleash a trick from their sleeve. Grace settled with standing nearby, seeming to respect a superficial boundary. Her eyes, however, were intent on the moving fingers and the glowing monitor. Squinting eased only after a câu hỏi ostensibly dangled before her. "What are bạn looking for?"

“Well right now I’m trying to check the logs, but I-“ The keys sunk into their holders, causing Craiger to jerk about and away from the chair. However instead of a trap they replaced themselves. Now instead of a foreign language, the keys are in regular English, as well as the information on the screen. The ausey sighed in relief, relaxing briefly against the rail he was leaning against. “I was trying to check the logs but it was in a foreign language.” He went back to typing. “If you’d like bạn can check on one of the others for anything Rynk-related bạn can think up.”

"Yes-Siree." She wavered over to a convenient chair and computer and slumped down. After a sequence of punching in a few keys, she was met with English. Then her mind went blank as fingers dangled over the keys. Grace nipped at her bottom lip and rustled with common sense. Needless to say, a simple typing of R-Y-N-K would bring no results on such a complex system. That would be too effortless. After all, when have madmen cared for proper names?

"Rynk-related," she muttered under her breath, making connections in her mind. As she forced herself to relax on the chair, her fingers tapped the bàn in thought. She needed to the search. "Hey, Craiger? Would anyone else in the system have a trio of species like Rynk? hoặc at least the traits..."

“Well if it could happen with her it could probably happen with others, but it’s worth a look.” The male cáo, fox replied with his face glued to his own screen.

Grace turned back to her own monitor, and she exhaled slowly, her focus piqued bởi the glow of the screen. A flurry of memories and what she did know about Rynk were her tiếp theo thoughts. There was the DNA to consider, an aspect the labs were most likely associated with. The final conclusion was narrowing down the logs. Hovering hands met the keyboard: banshee, nictrela, lynx.

The screen flashed with billions of files scrolling at an almost unnoticeable speed. It took a short ten giây for all files to be eliminated, except for one titled “Eternity Adaption Specimin”.

Grace blinked, then leaned back briefly to call to Craiger. "I think I got something. Does 'Eternity Adaptation Specimin' sound familar?" She glanced at the screen with a lopsided frown, and with a di chuyển of her cursor the file was opened.

The screen flashed open with pictures, video files, and text files, all which eventually grouped in eight catagories. The first file category was called “Mbn_Lx_DNA”, the một giây “Nict_DNA”, the third “Ali_Xo_DNA”, followed bởi the fourth being “Ba-Mbn_DNA”, the fifth being “ID_nanite_fail-fu_DNA”, sixth being “Core_Developed_DNA”, and the seventh being “Resulting finish”, and the final being a tinted-blue color called “D-S-M-2”

Craiger called back to her “Not exactly but what does it have?”

"A lot of data merged together, all kinds of media. It's like a project of DNA...I recognize a few." To the best of her ability, Grace repeated the category names out loud for him. Her Mũi tên xanh poised over the blue category, then her eyes squinted in uneasiness. "Should I check one of these?"

There was a pause, then footsteps. “Hold on a second.” Craiger quickly arrived tiếp theo to Grace, observing the screen. “These were all in one file? These aren’t just different species listings?”

"I don't think they're separate. It's all together in one big file." She shrugged. "With that one category titled 'Resulting finish', it sounds like they're connected somehow."

“Let’s open that one.”

Grace nodded and clicked the category.

Pictures, video-links, and multiple text-documents appeared before them. The pictures were the first in the listing, being named stages 1 through 8. Upon clicking on the first bức ảnh the two mobians were greeted bởi some form of mutation. It was two-legged, glowing, and had six different appendages, most deformed and/or corroded, with those that were not being metal spikes, hoặc what looks very similar to octopi tentacles. No eyes could be seen in the layers of the creature, though they had a guess where the mouth was bởi the large tube jammed into the facial area of the being.

For the most part, the grotesque details they studied provoked a brief, squeamish reaction. Grace's hand twitched in anticipation as an urge to di chuyển to the tiếp theo picture. However, an observation on what the subject was in the first place had to be certified. "What is this?" Grace murmured after a gulp.

Craiger remained silent, leaving a silent suggestion that he was wondering the same question. They moved to the tiếp theo slide. The corroded appendages and tissue had dissolved, hoặc fallen off, leaving what was a skeleton of a sort, with appendages still appearing from ngẫu nhiên areas, and continued layers of the metal. The eyes were noticeable, that is to say the sockets. Inside were no eyes yet.

"It's like a time lapse," the chồn cái, vixen commented, expression still stiff. It didn't take much to realize that the figure would lead to something - hoặc someone - new, but the câu hỏi of "how" was vague. The additional features gave no visible indication of what it was just yet, at least not a solid one, so they continued to the tiếp theo photo.

The third had shrunken the size of the metal spouting out, though green stains could be seen around the figure, with holes in the center of where the most green was. The eyes had yet to materialize yet, but now shoulders were becoming noticeable.

As with the others, the changes were considered and met with a form of negative hoặc curious reactions, albeit silent. The outline was of someone condemned to experiment, no doubt. Something about cruel treatment was muttered in a low tone of anger and sympathy before the slide passed.

The fourth had all normal appendages except for one tentacle sticking out from a shoulder. The metal had finally vanished and other tubes had been attached to the creature. It seemed stretched, at least the feet did, as if a một giây pair was slapped on to the first.

Guesses were being thought over bởi this point, though still topped with a jumble of chưa được trả lời questions. Considering these were only pictures, the pace was informative yet rather slow for their liking. They moved phía trước, chuyển tiếp to the next.

The fifth had created a much shorter figure, most notably due to the decreased length of the legs. The arms had yet to finish developing. The skeleton was beginning to create layers of itself, metallic bone-structures.

The sixth had added three thêm tubes, two in the shoulders and one in the forehead. The figure now seemed to be glowing a bright blue, almost as if it was a silhouette.

The seventh removed most of the tubes, replacing them with a sort of breather-mask attached to where the mouth would be. Eyes had fully developed, glowing a light turquoise. The arms had finally finished growing, long and wide as did the feet. Skin, and lông, lông thú had partially covered the stomach are and one of the feet, a pale tan sort of color.

It was unsure how the following managed to exude a sense of menace and foreboding. In the beginning, the subject could have been anyone, but the newly formed eyes, the fur, the body structure - connections sank gradually. They were both seeing a sort of resemblance, perhaps. It seemed to fall and nestle together, explaining and stringing loose ends, yet for it to be true was unsettling. The situation was strange enough. Could it merely be a coincidence?
There was an exchange of glances, a gesture suggesting akin thoughts. giây ticked, time squandered. Grace moved to the last side with an exhale.

Now suited in a light purple and blue covering... younger than either of them remember, but definitely the same. The ears, the color, the stripes. The captive hybrid looked only eight, hoặc nine, in the final slide.

Silence pervaded the room. The chồn cái, vixen leaned back in the chair, somewhat refusing to dig any further. Thoughts needed to be collected momentarily. There was no attempt of a remark, the screen displayed enough. Neither of them mentioned it. Neither of them had to.

Grace had her head lowered, holding back, preventing herself from doing anything irrational. Was it anger that seeped through veins? Chagrin? It could be that she felt this on her own, that was always how she worked. At first, Grace didn't bother with affirming this, then she glanced at Craiger's reaction.

Craiger was quiet, his eyes closed, and his hands curled. He was breathing hard and seemed to be stiffening thêm and thêm as the silence continued. He opened his eyes for a short moment, only so that he could reach over, and close the picture-window.

Grace's eyes lowered, assembling words. "Should..." - her breath hitched, knowing the truth was still in its hard to nuốt, nhạn form - "Should we look further?"

“… I’ll go through it. bạn shouldn’t have to see anymore.” He shifted out of the way, inviting Grace to leave the chair.

The offer was acknowledge with a expression of protest. The words don't tumble out immediately despite the impulse of defending herself, to claim that she could carry the same weight. She knew of his reasoning, yet the situation didn't have to be entirely avoided. Grace made it crucial to convey it hastily, "I can handle seeing more. I know it's going to be hard for you, too."

“I’ve had my fair share before. Besides, she’s your friend.”

She rose from the chair, but maintained eye contact. "She's yours, too."

The ausey cáo, fox turned away slightly. He đã đưa ý kiến nothing to her reply but took the seat. At first he didn’t actually do anything but after a brief shake of the face the chuột began to di chuyển in his hand, going towards the “D-S-M-2” file.

Grace đã đưa ý kiến nothing as she sat on a chair from a fair location, somewhat tired, but the screen still fairly viewed at an angle. She limited the intensity of her gaze in a vague way as to not invade the personal space. If something important was to be shown, the chồn cái, vixen would wait for it.

The screen now lit up with what appeared to be a suit of a kind. It was full-body, with no noticeable eye-holes, mouth-holes, hoặc exits in general. Dark blue stripes could be seen around it. The interior image showed very short, but a vast amount of, points, wires, which seemed like they were meant to poke into the user. The tiêu đề of this suit “DarkShade # 2”.

A head tilt and squinted eyes was naturally executed bởi Grace. "'DarkShade #2'? Is that some sort of disguise?"

Craiger seemed Nữ hoàng băng giá in the seat. He didn’t acknowledge the câu hỏi at first. When he did he replied with a quick “Hold on,” before clicking back to the “ID_nanite_fail-fu_DNA” file. A file hiển thị what appeared to be a glowing red eight-year old Rynk flashed on the screen, but Craiger seemed thêm interested in the text he was mumbling back as he read through it.

Unable to understand anything legible about the situation at hand, Grace made her way over and waited for him to finish.

“I…” Craiger began, “I don’t know… how to tell bạn this… Never mind.” He got up from the chair. “I think I know how we can find her.”

Confusion was Grace's obvious reaction. As a quả anh đào, anh đào on top, it irked her when a sentence began only to be cut short. "What's your suggestion?"

“Can’t say it here. Melcro might already know we’re here.”

"Of course...Where do we go then?"

“Out the way we came.” Craiger quickly finished typing away at the keypad and rose from the chair.

Grace was already walking toward the burnt through door. "Hopefully bạn found enough there." As the two neared the elevator that brought them there, Craiger halted in his tracks when the elevator opened, empty, before they were five feet close to it. It was waiting for them.

A sense of dread briefly rose. "If we're expected, should we go ahead?" Grace asked in uneasiness.

“Maybe I can get,” Craiger lifted the scanner and began configuring with it, “We might be able to use this to sense if there’s someone near us… hoặc at least recently here.”

"Can it sense anything outside the specified DNA's?"

After a short bit of button-pushing Craiger lowered the scanner. “No…” He groaned in defeat. “We could go another way, but I doubt it’ll change anything.”

Grace's brows lowered. "If it's unlikely to change, we can continue this way."

“Alright… “ Craiger stepped into the elevator, making sure that it was an toàn, két an toàn before allowing Grace in. Granted it would probably not attack them until the doors closed but at least it was something. He casually stepped to the side to invite her in.

As calm as she could possibly be được trao the circumstances, Grace expressed a stiff composure in her stride through the elevator door. Once inside and shoulder to shoulder, and perhaps on the edge of vulnerability, the possibility of another "trick" peaked. Standing inside an enclosed không gian prompt an anxiety of the inevitable, to put it mildly.

The elevator closed, and began to rise. At first there was silence… and then a casual tune began to play inside the box. There was a slight jolt in response. Disbelief rolled along as Grace leaned against the wall. "How relaxing," she sarcastically mumbled under her breath, eye roll included, to no one in particular. “They’re welcoming enough to include elevator music."

“I wonder if they can hear us too…”

It was an instant decision to not respond in words. Instead, Grace's eyes wandered, assuming they were being watched, as well. None of the black walls surrounding them showed any sign of censors, hoặc screens. Perhaps it was a one-way mirror with a camera behind it, hoặc that the entire room was a camera. Only các câu hỏi and theories could be made, with no evidence hoặc proof to support them. When the elevator opened up they found themselves at the roof of the building.

The location seemed odd from a viewpoint. Whoever awaited their arrival had an unsettling taste: it was a spacious area, perhaps indicating something. To some degree, the chồn cái, vixen was the first to step phía trước, chuyển tiếp and look about.

As soon as her foot hit the floor it sank what seemed to be a half-foot. The ground in what appeared to be ngẫu nhiên areas began to sink to the same level. Craiger practically threw Grace backward into the air with the speed he pulled her back. “S-sorry,” he quickly apologized.

Grace stumbled over an exhale, having skipped a heartbeat. Her attention was on the patterned sinking on the ground. Then, she waved a hand sheepishly and attempted to control her redness. "It...It's fine. Thank you, actually."

The male nodded quickly as their attention returned to the sinking ground. What could they do? Even if they were able to get around the roof safely how would they get down? Craiger looked to his feet, groaning as he took off his một giây shoe. “Forgot the other one back inside.”

"Oh, yeah." Grace cocked her head as she remembered, then looked down at the lone shoe in his hand. "What were bạn planning to do?"

“Check the pressure. The rubber should protect me from any electric shocks for now but not the fall.” He placed the shoe to the ground in front of them and pressed down. Five giây passed and nothing happened. He rose