Crombel IV – South Korea, 15th February, 14:00

Something about the atmosphere had changed. Aris did not come back and the Third Elder had told them that they would negotiate an alliance with the Nobles - which could mean many things. A part of Yuri hoped she broke free from Crombel's mind control thanks to the distance she crossed. He knew, however, that this was unlikely. Most likely, her body was rotting somewhere in Mexico now. "You called, Boss?", Yuri asked as he entered Crombel's office. His mood has been even more tense than usual these past days.

"First Elder called. Third Elder returned. Unharmed." Which was bad news.

Oh. Well. "Did he mention Dr. Aris?" This was a question of simple curiosity.

"No. Just that they'd accepted the alliance and to wait for more news." It was maddening. What had gone on? Aris couldn't have defected.

". ...So Aris failed?" She was probably dead, as he had assumed, and he felt. ...strange. Not pity, but a wistful regret that was reminiscent of things that could have been.

"So it seems." He sighed deeply. "We may have to ally with Second for this."

"I assume he would accept." With both nobles and the remaining Union closing in, it might be better for the werewolf Lord to ally with them, instead of going alone.

"I certainly hope so. Better one enemy now than the allied ones later."

"Do you want me to prepare everything for a call, then?"

"No. I'll need to meet with him myself." Like he had with Frankenstein for that brief truce.

"Would you like for me to arrange a permission of visit, then?" The werewolves were reclusive like that. But such things were usually left to the assistants to organize.

"Yes. Please." Yuri was always such a competent follower. Out of all of his Assassination Squad, he was glad at least Yuri was still around. Though he still missed Marie from time to time.

"I will inform you once I obtained a permission for you, then." Yuri lowered his head in a respectful gesture before turning to leave. Even if they had lost Aris and several of their soldiers, they were still a strong asset that one should not underestimate.

Crombel pressed a button on an intercom. "Mark. Please come here."

A couple of minutes later, Mark entered the room. "Yes, Boss?" Yuri had a bit of a sour face when he crossed him on the hallway, so he wondered what was up.

"How is recovering the data coming along?"

"It's been actually very smooth," he said, sounding fairly pleased with himself. "I am confident we will be able to recover a lot of data. The mechanism is fairly old, while we have the best technology available."

"Good." He couldn't wait to look at it. "Maybe then we can fix the decay rate you've been suffering ever since you took that form."

Mark just nodded. Everything was rather difficult, really, because those enhancements he, Yuri and the rest of the team received were all experimental and unstable. "That would be good."

"That will be all, Mark. Contact me when you are finished recovering the data." Crombel didn't need more than that from Mark, at the moment. So there was no point in keeping him there for idle chit-chat.

Raskreia VIII - 16th February, 03:00

Even though she wasn't alone anymore, Raskreia still felt like the isolated prisoner she was. The woman in the other cell was clearly unwell, often retching or whimpering. There was no telling of the passage of time down here. Eventually, a warrior came down to them, bringing a bottle of water and a plate of. ...Raskreia wrinkled her nose. The scent alone wasn't something she could easily identify. Krano grinned down on Lunark. "You look like shit."

"Can it, Krano." With her nose stuffed and her throat raw, it didn't come out with anywhere near the amount of force she wanted it to.

"You poor thing must be parched." He held up the water bottle, shaking it slightly in mockery. "You want it?"

"Nah. Better to die here than deal with you or your Lord more." She hated how it sounded like she was about to cry. That was the sickness, not her emotions.

"No no no. You're not supposed to die." He shook his head and crouched down to place the bowl of unidentified stew on the floor, just within reach from the cell.

"Oh really? Then what do you suppose I'm doing? Especially down here. Instead of the lab. With the other test subjects."

"What do I know?" He snorted and grabbed his flashlight to direct it straight at her, a shrill, blinding light in comparison to the overwhelming darkness here. "All I know is you fell hard."

She hissed at the light, covering her face as best as she could. "My position would have been taken regardless of my actions." She was as good as a traitor from the moment she'd said no to him.

"Tell yourself that. You're a traitor and you know what? No one is going to miss you strutting around like you own the place." He spat. "Like you're better just because you've been a warrior before we got the enhancements. Natural power or not, it's worth shit in the hands of a traitor."

Lunark took a few bites of the stew. She needed it to continue the argument. "Please. Tell me. How did I betray you? Trying to take down a Lord isn't a crime. You just got in the way."

"If you were real about it, you'd invoke the right of challenge. People got killed because of you and your friends." He set the water bottle down just an inch out of reach. "Portion it wisely, who knows when someone next remembers to bring you some." He turned around to leave, taking the light with him.

"Pfft. Rite of challenge my ass. Like he'd have accepted it." She kept eating her meal. It felt a bit better now that there was food on her stomach.

Raskreia waited until the man's aura couldn't be sensed anymore, then she waited some more until the woman was done eating. "What is the rite of challenge?"

"It's where someone challenges the Lord to a fight for their position. Maduke has never accepted one."

"Is that rightful?" It sounded strange, for a Lord to refuse something that was part of their culture.

"No. But then, he didn't get his position through the rite anyway."

"I see." Raskreia frowned. "I hope you could enjoy your meal."

"It's better than..." No. Don't continue that line of thought. She was already choking up from it. She didn't need to show weakness here. Calm down. Calm down. Her breathing grew heavy for a few moments before evening back out.

"You seem to have made plenty of enemies." A simple observation.

"It's nothing new." They just had actual reason to truly hate her now.

Raskreia fell silent. Maybe this woman was untrustworthy, if everyone here seemed to hate her so much - or maybe this whole place was upside down. She couldn't tell. "Did he give you the water?"

"It's just out of reach." She closed her eyes, continuing to take deep breaths.

Raskreia nodded, reaching out with all of her senses until the, tentatively, found the bottle. Though she accidentally knocked it over in her attempt to move it, she managed to roll it towards the cell. It hit the bars.

Lunark reached for it, able to bring it in. "Thank you." It was more than most had done for her.

"Don't mention it." Even though she was weakened by the loss of sunlight and the magic seals on her powers, moving the bottle towards her fellow prisoner was the least she could do.

"Honestly. The Union is shit but they don't treat their prisoners like this. It's either straight to the labs or death, once they've got the information they want."

"Do you know much about the Union?", Raskreia questioned carefully. It would be good to know.

Lunark scoffed. "I was the Fifth Elder. Yes. I was involved in a fair amount of the bureaucracy there."

"And you still ended up here?" This didn't sound good at all.

"Maduke is the Second Elder. Were you unaware?"

"Not before coming here." She'd assumed that the Union was merely humans and the traitor nobles.

"Right. Well. Since I attempted a coup, I was stripped of my Elder title and my rank as a warrior. So that would be how I wound up here."

"That sounds pretty political to me," she pointed out.

"Oh, there are political reasons, to be sure. But he just hates me. On an exceedingly personal level."

"I see." She could imagine those. "Do you know anything about the remaining Elders of the Union?"

"Third is a shut-in. Thirteenth is some idiot scientist named 'Crombel'. No one knows what First is actually like. He seems very no-nonsense, though."

"What are they like, as people? What are their positions, do you know that?"

". ...As I said, Third is a shut-in. Kind of a dork. Good with technology, and thus is in charge of most programming technology sectors. Thirteenth I don't know that well, but a lot of the other human Elders didn't like him. He was put in charge of the enhancement program after Ninth died. First is impossible to get a pin on."

"What are their positions on nobles?" If the remaining elders were against them, then any alliance would be a hopeless project.

"First hates non-humans. Third is reasonable. Thirteenth I have no idea."

"Thank you." So it would be impossible to predict, really.

"Information is nothing. I have no need of it. Might as well give you whatever you want."

"Do you have anything useful about Maduke?"

". ...Define useful."

"Anything that might help in this situation."

"Probably not, then." This was hopeless, after all. "All I've got is that he's a complete monster and everyone here follows his orders unquestioningly."

"How did he achieve that?" Werewolves were unable to mindcontrol others, unless his scientists found a way.

"Everyone is either not wise enough to question it, or wise enough to know that if they do they will die."

"So those who would oppose him are unaware of each other." And so, he isolated his critics. Those were cowardly methods of ruling.

"Yes. If there are any that truly would."

"Are there warriors who could successfully challenge him?"

"Once, Dorant could have, perhaps. But he isn't exactly a suitable ruler, nor is he interested in taking the throne."

"Surely it cannot be entirely hopeless?"

". ...No. I'm sorry. There is not a single person here I would trust to put things back in order, even if he was taken down. Not a single person who could. And that's what he's always wanted." It was truly hopeless. And she was sorry she had to disillusion the Noble Lord.

Raskreia fell silent. If the First Elder truly hated all who were not human, and if the warriors were truly all so loyal. ...then maybe Ignes would have to come up with a plan B.