Chapter 3

It had been over a year since she had been recruited, and she had come so far. That was proven by the fact that she was currently in a Neverknown base with no backup. But she wasn't scared in the least bit. She had dealt with worse situations.

Sophie was in an air vent, listening to a very interesting conversation. The Neverknown were a lot more careless than the Neverseen, but also more violent. Right now they were talking about some chemical weapon to use on the Council. It was a gas that would freeze up enemies muscles, rendering them immoble.

They were also talking about a city called Everlight that would be good at ambushing Foster and her friends. Sophie's sister had joined the Black Swan a few months ago, and was now investigating a place called Nightfall.

Sophie Reuwen found it strange that she was identical to her sister, had the same name, similar personality, and worked for variations of the same group, Foster with the elves and Sophie with the humans. Sophie called her sister Foster in her mind to make it easier to understand.

Sophie's job was a bit more different than Foster's. Foster was more in charge of defending the Lost Cities, while Sophie's job was a bit more different. Sophie went on the offensive, going to Neverseen and Neverknown bases. They still didn't exactly have a plan to reunite humans and elves, since they had to deal with both enemy forces first.

And to do that, she had to listen to what they were talking about now. "The plane would deploy the bomb while flying over the center of the city. Every habitant of Everlight would be instantly paralyzed. Then we can take over the city, and the Council will be forced to give in to our demands."

Sophie considered this plan. It might have worked, but now it was compromised. The man beneath her continued speaking. "But we have other projects in motion. We have acquired elven technology, such as obscurers and other Technopath weapons. The elves still do not realize that we exist, and we intend to keep it that way. At least until we launch Plan Vigilo. We will infiltrate the elven cities, and once we exterminate them, we can move on to other species. Here are your orders."

Sophie had guessed that there were at least five men in that room, but she had no choice. If she didn't get the order plans, the Black Swan would be powerless against the Neverknown.

Sophie slowly opened the vent and looked out. The man in charge was behind a desk, distributing documents to the officers. The leader seemed about forty, and his dark eyes watched the others carefully. It seemed that he didn't fully trust anyone.

Sophie quickly leaped down to the floor, startling everyone in the room. The leader quickly composed himself, looking directly at Sophie. "I see they've sent the Reverse Moonlark after me."

Sophie groaned. "That's such a terrible nickname. If I was the reverse of her, I would be fighting her, not helping her. And the Black Swan recruited me first, so if anyone was the Reverse Moonlark, it would be her."

The leader just looked at her, amused. "You are remarkably calm, especially considering that you can not light-leap out of here." He had noticed the lack of a nexus on her arm.

"I don't need some light to save me," said Sophie. "I can easily escape from here. I just need to follow the pretty bird across the sky."

"And why are you here?" the man asked.

"You have something that belongs to me, and I would have it returned." Sophie lunged forward, and snatched one of the files from one of the men. The man jumped back, but then drew a knife from his belt.

He attacked Sophie, but Sophie deflected his knife with her own blade. The other leaders circled around Sophie, but the top leader remained seated. "Finish her quickly," he said, then went back to reading some of the plans.

Sophie was insulted that he hadn't found her a threat, but she had worse problems. The other officers had also drawn their knives, as it was in too close vicinity to use a gun. The knives were military grade, and wicked sharp. They closed in on her. When the first one moved toward Sophie, she slashed his arm. He cried out, and he dropped his weapon. Sophie kicked his knees, and he collapsed. Then she turned and faced the others.

They attacked in unison, a wave of metal reaching for her.

The next few minutes was a chaos of fighting, doging, parrying, and stabbing. It was five against one, not including the leader who was just sitting calmly. Sophie knew that she couldn't last much longer.

Then she glanced out the window, and saw the sun shining off something glittery. Sophie smiled. "It looks like our time must be cut short. I apologize for the short notice, and I hope to see you tomorrow."

Then Sophie jumped out of the window, shattering the glass. She closed her eyes as she plummeted an entire story before her fall was cut short. Sophie opened her eyes and looked at her savior. "Thanks, Silveny," she said as the alicorn started flying away.

"What did you learn?" Visly asked anxiously. They were an underground tunnel serving as a Black Swan base. Sophie had just returned from her expedition.

Sophie beamed and pulled out the documents. "I just stole the documents detailing all of their plans for world domination. This is bigger than any of their other plans."

Visly studied the orders. "Plan Vigilo is a serious threat. Good job, Sophie."

"Yes, very good." came a voice from behind Sophie. Sophie looked and saw Mr. Forkle walking toward them. "Now we know most of the Neverknown's plans. Visly will be in charge of leading our attack on them. We can focus on figuring out the Neverseen's plans for now."

Sophie glanced at Visly. "Be safe, Visly." Then she addressed Mr. Forkle. "What will be my next mission?"

Mr. Forkle smiled warmly at her. "You've already helped us enough."

"But I want to attack the Neverseen now that we know the Neverknown's plans."

"I'll ask the Collective. We will have a meeting tonight to discuss what to do. You will have your answer by then."

Sophie shrugged. "I'll go see how Silveny is doing." Sophie climbed up the rungs of a ladder. Above the tunnel was a meadow where Silveny would reside when she came to visit them. She spent some of the time with Foster, and some time with Sophie, but she spent most of the time flying throughout the world with Greyfall. Greyfall was asleep at this very moment, while Silveny was jumping around in the grass.

Sophie stroked Silveny's head. She wished that she had Telepathy like her sister. It was annoying that she couldn't understand what Silveny was thinking.

Sophie spent the rest of the day contemplating questions. One of them was why Foster didn't know that there were humans in the Black Swan, and that Sophie existed. Sophie wondered who was more important to the Black Swan. It was just interesting how it was: a human raised by elves, and an elf raised by humans.

A dwarf burrowed up next to Sophie. "The meeting has begun," he whispered, and then dug back down.

Sophie climbed down to the tunnel and walked until she found the meeting room. Only the Collective was in the room. They were seated around a table. Sophie took the only available seat. "Sophie," Squall said. "We were talking about doing a different strategy."

"We think you should help Sophie find Nightfall," said Mr. Forkle. "Sophie Foster had been looking in Atlantis for the past few weeks. They have not found anything. Her human parents are imprisoned in Nightfall, and it is suspected that Vespera has been experimenting on them. Will you do it?"

"Sure, but what will I be doing?"

"Your mission includes guarding Sophie and her friends, looking for Nightfall, and when you find it, rescuing her parents."

Sophie nodded. "But what if they notice that there are two of us?"

Blur answered a moment later. "When she's not around, you will have to pretend to be her."

Thanks, Guest and KOTLCfan49! Semper Vigilo.