Note: Totally forgot about Alexis Von Hades. Thanks, J.4.5.M.1.N.3 !

The chains were cold and biting into Stella's wrists. Her shoulders ached from having her arms pulled behind her for so long, and she shivered in the cold of the cellar.

It was dark, and the only light in the windowless room came from a single flickering candle several metres from Stella, just out of reach. On the other side sat a hooded figure, cross-legged and still, unmoving. The flickering candle gave enough light for Stella to make out the redness of his cloak, but his face was shielded by his hood.

The only identifiable feature of the man was his voice. It was low and gravelly and he spoke with an unusually slow cadence, as if trying to maintain an air of mystery and intrigue. He succeeded.

'I wished to speak to you,' he said conversationally. 'As the Shadow Master, I was easily granted the privilege of a little one-on-one time with our prisoner.

'What made you interested in me?' Stella asked. Her tone was curious, without the slightest hint of fear. It wasn't just because she'd learnt to hide fear in training - she really wasn't worried. MI9 would get her out soon enough, and with any luck, take down a couple of KORPS henchman along the way. Maybe they could get rid of this Shadow Master bloke too.

The Shadow Master laughed, ans his low growl of a cackle echoed around the room. 'You do not know who I am, Agent Stella Knight?'

Stella frowned, not that the Shadow Master could see it. She was sitting too far from the candle for her eyebrows to be illuminated by the flame.

Stella blinked, and the Shadow Master had suddenly stood up and leapt across the candle until he was inches from her face. Still, the darkness of the room and his hood kept her from seeing his face.

'I am Alexis von Hades, Shadow Master of Skapula. Do you really not know who I am?'

Stella couldn't help it - she gasped. Hyperia had spoken of her brother. But she'd always made out that he was a common miscreant, doing drugs or laundering money or something petty. 'I still care about him,' Hyperia had said during a late-night chat when they were sharing a room on a mission. 'But MI9 is my family now. My brother has chosen his own path.'

'Ah, yes, now you realise who I am,' Alexis said, sounding satisfied. 'And I know who you are. I have always kept tabs on my sister. Her mentor. Her friend.' His voice was low, but it had lost some of its mysterious gravelly tone. He wasn't trying to put on airs - he simply did not want to be overheard.

'She loved you,' Stella said suddenly, not knowing why she said it. It was almost as though she was trying to something for Hyperia, by telling Alexis the words that Hyperia had never managed to get through.

Stella heard Alexis swallow and, in the blink of an eye, disappeared from view. She strained her neck trying to see him, but the room was too dark and the candle was casting too many shadows everywhere.

When Alexis spoke again, his voice was barely more than a whisper. No one outside of the room would have heard him, but the echoing effect of the stone walls meant that Stella caught every word.

'You have been my sister's friend and companion. KORPS wanted to kill you once information had been extract. I will set you free. But you must do one thing in return for me. Pass a message to Agent London.'

Stella's jaw dropped, but she made no sound.

'Tell him this: My sister was killed because of you. One day, I will kill you.'

Before Stella could react, there was a flurry of movement too fast for her eyes, which were already struggling in the dark, to make out. There was a click as the chains fell from her wrists. She grabbed the candle and held it up, trying to find the Shadow Master, but he was gone.

The room was smaller than Stella realised. The darkness had made the walls seem infinite, but it was really quite small. Using the light of the candle, Stella quickly found a large air vent in one corner. There was a note, written in invisible ink that was made visible by the candle.

'Remember. Tell London.'

Some part of Stella's brain was telling her to be cautious. The Shadow Master was the head of KORPS' assassin division, Skapula, one of the few parts of KORPS that MI9 was still at pains to dismantle even years after the assault on KORPS HQ. He was not to be trusted.

Yet some instinct in Stella told her that this was no trap. Alexis wanted that message - she shuddered to think of it - delivered. He would need her to escape to deliver it.

Stella clambered into the vent.