Vin walked down the well lit street, her hand locked with Elend's. After they'd gotten dinner they had gone to a cheap store for clothes so they wouldn't stand out. At least that had been the plan.

As it happened the only shirts in Elend's size were bright and covered in flower designs. Vin personally wanted to turn it into confetti, but while the image of Elend without a shirt was appealing to Vin, the shirt could still serve a purpose. People would see his shirt first and not his face, which was handy as they were committing a crime to get the identification cards made. Still, if he was going to be wearing something that bright he might as well wear his uniform, though it did need to be cleaned.

Speaking of cleaning, Vin and Elend needed to figure out how to use the machines for cleaning clothes. Well, Elend more than Vin. Vin knew how to clean and wash her own clothes even if it had been infrequent in the Final Empire. On the other hand, Elend had never done laundry in his life.

Vin had opted for a simpler dark navy top with a black set of pants. A pair of cheap shoes, as she had none, and a satchel for her knives, vials, and money from the muggers completed her outfit.

They had investigated the bar one of the muggers had mentioned and had found only a bird obsession and the stench of rancid pipe smoke and stale beer. They had asked around to see if their target was in for the night or if he was likely to appear. Most of the answers had been inconclusive and overall unhelpful as the inhabitants seemed to either leer at Vin, glare at the pair for their accents, or seemed to be indulging in some type of drug.

Vin frowned at the memory. They had taken a corner at the horribly stained (in the sense of beer and blood both) bar to watch for any sign of the target. The bartender had given Elend a drink without even asking for any identification while he had laughed at Vin's request. Elend had politely ordered a second and given her the first as soon as the man turned his back, but it was the principle of the thing. Admittedly from the few sips she had taken the alcohol was nowhere near as watered down as a standard Scadrian drink, though it was hardly the hardest drink Vin had ever had. She was certain what she had been drinking at 13 was stronger on average if only by the amount she drank out of a lack of clean water.

Elend checked the map of the city he had retrieved.

"It should be… right across there," he said, pointing to a large warehouse just peeking around the corner.

The street which had been full of pedestrians and life was now as empty as a tomb, though the echoes from the city still carried. The few who remained moved and acted as though they were its mourners.

The buildings had rapidly declined in quality with numerous broken windows and boarded up doors. Graffiti marked most of the buildings with one of the local symbols and more of the bird obsession, though a square bent cross design was also present. Rival gang? Higher gang the local one answered to? She'd need to look more into it.

Scanning her eyes at the shattered windows, Vin tightened her grip on her husband's hand.

"Don't react. Watchers in the windows. Two to your right in the second-floor window and one on the roof of the corner building," she said.

And sloppy ones at were clearly visible and seemed to be asking to show where their crew was stationed. Was that the intention? The thought seemed foreign to Vin. Advertising oneself, let alone where a crew was located, was a death sentence for skaa. Then again, many things were a death sentence for skaa.

Elend nodded and replaced the map in his shirt pocket. The lack of pockets on Vin's outfit was a minor source of annoyance to her but she could sew some additional ones on at a later date.

At the corner warehouse a guard stood in front of a steel door. A quick use of allomancy showed a knife in his back pocket and a lump of metal in his coat pocket that was presumably one of the powerful mini-crossbows she had seen on a few of the muggers she'd beat senseless.

Elend put on a wide smile and Vin gave a laugh to imitate a conversation that had not happened.

"Good evening my friend. We were hoping to get some entertainment for the night and we heard from a close friend that this was the place to go," Elend said, trying to affect his speech to sound more lower class.

It wasn't a great job but Vin was proud of him nonetheless, even if he did sound like a nobleman who had been kicked in the head by a donkey as a child.

The guard looked them over and stared at Elend's shirt with an eyebrow raised. Vin Soothed at any suspicions.

"I must say we were pleasantly surprised to find your fine group of businessmen here. Alain and I were just discussing how the rest of this city seems ready to fall into the sea, but your group seems like a shining beacon," Vin lied, not interested in any of the gangs here.

To be honest this group seemed to be the most numerous, akin to an infestation in need of a good stamping out. It was hard to stay hidden with several large gangs. Many small splinters on the other hand were much easier.

Neither of the Ventures wanted a large gang to have their names, so Vin was Valette Tekiel, which was technically only half a lie. She was fairly sure if she had asked the remnants of house Tekiel after she had become empress they would have legitimized her, or if she'd just asked Elend to do it as emperor which likely would have been simpler. Not that it mattered, her father hadn't known she existed until the minutes before his death and she had never really cared what her last name was. Names were unlikely to get food or help with jobs after all.

Elend had picked some ancestor on his mother's side and the king of Fadrex City ending up with Alain Yomen. It had been rather amusing as Elend had gone over which ancestor of his to pick due to the number of them.

The man eyed the two but opened the door and gave a yellow toothed smile.

"Enjoy the show! We've got a big event planned for later," he said as the pair moved into the building.

The warehouse was hardly deserving of the latter part of its name. The building was packed with bodies, each smelling in ways that inflicted Vin's tin enhanced senses with many new forms of disgust. The rusted roof had a skylight that had been recently roosted in by birds if the abandoned nests and leavings were any indication.

At the center of the warehouse was a pit. The stone had been ripped out and a hole dug. The crowd shouted and cheered as two dogs tore into each other, crimson blood flying onto the sandy dirt staining the ground as the life seeped out of the two beasts. The dogs had a starved look to them as they ripped each other apart to the crowd's excitement. As Vin watched, one of the dogs got the upper hand and bit into the other's throat. The second combatant gave a scream as it was left on the ground. A piteous whine emerged from its mouth as it died before going silent. The winner was dragged into a cage by two burly men. The loser was thrown into a large metal container filled with trash.

And then another round began.

Vin turned away and looked to the booth at the far end of the building. Gang members crowded around it as a man handed out paper money to some and began to yell for the next round. Along the edge of the warehouse several offices had been set up, perhaps for when this building had been more than a dog fighting ring. Above, a decaying rust-stained walkway snaked through the building.

Pushing through the crowd Elend and Vin made their way to the man at the booth.

"BETS FOR SCAR! FIVE TO ONE ODDS FOR LEGATE!", he shouted, and money was exchanged. Vin reached into her satchel and pushed past her dagger to the money.

"You betting girlie?", he asked, taking money from a bald tattooed man with a smirk on his face.

"Sure, this isn't going to upset you, girlie?"he asked, letting out a sickly laugh.

Vin threw down several bills, biting back her disgust.

"We have an appointment with Mr. Chris Morris. We were told he would be here," she said, adopting a soft ditzy smile that hid her true thoughts. The man grabbed the money and laughed.

"He's here. Go to the third office on the left and you'll find him. And thank you for your generous donation to the cause," he said, exposing his teeth.

Vin nodded and she and Elend made their way to the office.

"You alright?", Elend asked as they pushed through the crowd.

"Yeah, just bothered. I think some of… when I Ascended is staying with me. Watching those dogs fight each other for these thugs' amusement I just… it, hurts isn't the right word. I'm not sure there is a word for it. A sense of wrongness maybe. I was Preservation, a piece of Adon…", Vin trailed off, the name disappearing behind a haze. "... of the divine concept of preserving. Investiture personified and given form. It feels… wrong to watch something die. Like seeing a work of art be destroyed or…" Vin sighed. "I'm okay. Let's get this done and we can talk about it tonight," she said, smiling at Elend who frowned back and squeezed her hand.

"Alright. I trust you," he said, giving a small smile. "I don't know what it was like when you became Preservation, but if I can do anything to help, you know I'm here for you."

Vin gave him a smile and the two made their way to the office. She still had to meet the girl from the night before, but they'd have enough time to get this done and talk afterwards. Right now getting the identity papers was most important.

Knocking on the office door earned only a, "The bookie's by the pit. Leave me be."

So Elend knocked harder.

"We're here for you, Mr. Morris. We're hoping to have you do a job for us," he said, his voice going to the monarch tone he had used so often in the final days before their deaths.

It had a deep gravitas to it that set soldiers running and nobles bowing.

The door opened, revealing a caricature of a man. His hair was thinning and… sickly was the best way to describe its color based on how pale and almost diseased it looked. His body was too tall and thin but he had a beer gut that could beat out many alcoholics. His eyes could charitably be described as ratlike and he had the failings of an abandoned patch of facial hair. He looked them both over and gestured them into his office.

"Welcome to my humble abode," he said, and humble was overselling it.

Papers were strewn around a cheap looking desk, flies buzzed through a partially broken window and the light overhead spent most of its time in darkness before flickering on a rare occasion. Only one wall looked clean and even then only a patch by a chair.

"So how can I help y'all today?", he asked, leaning on his desk.

Vin half expected the desk to go out from under him by how it creaked.

"We've come to a spot of trouble and were hoping to get some new identification cards. Not for long, just enough for us to get back home," Vin said, smiling demurely.

"We'd be grateful if you could help us."

Morris wiped his hands together. 'Lord Ruler, could he be any less subtle about wanting our money?'

"I think I can help. It'll run you oh… fifteen hundred for the both of ya," he said, smiling.

"Thirteen," Vin said, not missing a beat.

"Fourteen," he said, his smile falling slightly.

"Deal."

The process turned out to be very simple and far faster than either expected. All they had to do was sit in the chair by the nice piece of wall and let a device take a portrait.

"Alright, so what names do I put down?", he said, looking at the glowing box of his machine thing.

The two had debated using false names, but that seemed to be asking for issues. Vin could create an identity but living a false life everyday seemed miserable. 'How do the Kandra manage that without losing their minds?'

In the end they decided to use their real names.

"Elend Venture."

"Vin Venture."

"Oh, so you're using fake names then." Morris said, nodding. Vin frowned. 'What was that supposed to mean?' She asked him.

"The lack of either of you having a middle name for one, and you," he said, pointing at Vin, "having V.V. being your initials like some old pre-cape comic book hero."

"My middle name is Valette," Vin said, somewhat trying to spite the man.

Elend bit his lip as he tried to think of a middle name.

"Alain doesn't have a middle name. It's a tradition in his home. Just print the cards. Keeping these different names together is confusing," she said, playing the part of the ditz.

Morris shrugged and muttered something about her name sounding fake but filled out the cards. Within a few minutes two cards came out of a machine by the glowing box with a buzzing.

Glancing at her, Vin saw her picture and name as well as a date of birth that would let her consume alcohol. The card labeled her as a citizen of some nation called France, as did Elend's. Pulling out the bills from her satchel she paid the man and was pleased to notice she still had several large numbered bills left over. Crime did pay. Crime paid her to be exact.

As they grabbed their things and got ready to leave a loud commotion was heard outside.

"Oh, you two are in for a treat," Morris said.

"Got an initiation for some new bloods. Glad we finished when we did, I wouldn't miss seeing whatever race traitor or darkie got grabbed get what they deserve, not for anything," he said, pocketing the money and heading out the door.

Vin and Elend followed and tried to peek through the crowd.

A man and a woman of dark skin were being thrown into the now very bloody pit. Both were bruised and battered and had thin shackles on their wrists. Across from the Ventures two men in red and white jumped down into the pit, holding knives and looking eager while others around them cheered…

The crowd parted and a woman wearing a metal cage on her head strode through before jumping down into the pit. She kicked at the dark skinned captives and Vin realized they couldn't have been older than teens.

Vin had been helpless once. She'd had the powers of a god but she had been helpless. Helpless watching thousands die in natural disasters, helpless watching children die drowning in ash, helpless watching families be burned by the ashmounts, and most of all helpless watching her husband die. All while knowing she had the power to stop it. She had been forced to stand and watch. She wasn't helpless now. No dark god was stopping her from acting. She would protect the innocent.

Vin drew her daggers from her satchel and passed a vial to Elend who took it wordlessly. She swallowed a vial and Pushed on the metal around her. The effect was immediate. The crowd was flung to the ground as she forced a gap. Jumping down into the pit, Vin looked at the woman and the thugs.

"Let them go. Or you will die," Vin said, Flaring bronze and zinc. One of the thugs fled as the center of his pants darkened while the other backed up. Around her the gang members were starting to stand up and pull out weapons.

The masked woman smirked.

"Fuck you. We'll kill these darkies and you," she said in a raspy thin voice.

Vin had given them a chance. Any who fled would live. But the ones who stayed would fall to her blades.

Vin charged.

She dropped a coin and pushed herself into the air at once. Burning pewter, Vin twisted her body and angled herself to the masked woman. Below her gang members began to flee out the building, though a dozen remained behind.

Dropping downward, Vin Pulled on the woman's mask, only to be yanked sideways as the woman moved in a quick motion. The woman charged across the pit and drew two scythe-like weapons.

Vin didn't bother landing. As she was yanked she Pulled on the walkway above and arced across the room. Her feet smacked against the metal wall and she Pushed off of it. Flying forward, she saw the woman get ready to move again. The woman angled herself with her knees bent and ready to strike Vin.

Vin stopped Pushing, and Pulled herself to the right as she did. She Pushed on a pair of coins that had been in her pocket.

The woman saw the coins flying and spun around them. Vin's knee crashed into her stomach and the woman doubled over briefly before swinging her left handed scythe at Vin. Pushing on it, Vin saw it leap out of the woman's hand smack a gang member in the corner of her eye. The masked woman raised her right arm and Vin saw her legs tense back. Vin leapt over the woman and spun to strike her daggers into the woman's neck. At the same moment she flared steel and Pushed on the helmet sending the woman down to the ground with a crack.

A deafening crack ripped through the air and Vin felt pain in her arm. Her ears throbbed and everything sounded muted. Spinning around she saw several men raise their crossbows. Vin flung one of her knives at one of them and a coin at another and Pulled on their weapons. The knife and coin slammed into the men's chests and a crossbow landed in her outstretched hand. Vin Pushed and Pulled herself to go through the hole in the roof. For a brief moment she rose and then landed on the roof.

Sprinting across its length she Pushed herself into the sky. As the roof began to shrink she flared pewter and Pulled on the metal structure. The building approached rapidly.

Aiming her body, Vin crashed through the roof. In front of her the gang members stood staring at the original opening aiming their crossbows. Vin stopped burning tin and squeezed the trigger on her crossbow, and watched fire explode out of it. For the briefest of instants Vin glimpsed a blue line jet out of the barrel, but it moved too fast to truly see it.

A gang member dropped and one fired wildly at Vin even as she Pulled herself to a rafter and fired back. One aimed a shot only to be thrown into a wall as Elend entered the fray. The man who had been standing beside the man Elend had thrown raised his gun only for Elend to snatch it and break it in two at the barrel. Before the man could react, Elend punched him. The man flew into the air and Vin heard bones snap as he landed head first on the stone ground.

The gang members dropped one by one, Vin firing at them and Elend keeping them busy. Air distorted as the masked woman swung her blade at Elend sending a wave of nausea through Vin and a thick ringing in her ears. She must have sprinted across the length of the warehouse and masked her approach somehow. Vin flared steel on her mask and watched her head snap back. The woman tried to right herself only for Vin to drop in front of her and feint for the woman's heart. The masked criminal swung her right scythe in an effort to block the blade, but Vin dropped downward and jabbed her blade into the woman's wrist.

Letting out a scream, she dropped her weapon, and Vin yanked her arm upward and shoved the woman to the ground. Vin Flared steel on the woman's mask and shot into the air. The cage groaned as it bent and Vin fell downward. The moment before she touched the ground she burned duralumin and steel. The cage groaned once more and bent and crumbled inward, leaving a gory mess.

Vin shot into the air twisting her body to land feet first on the ceiling. The moment before she crashed into the ceiling she burned pewter and smashed through it before falling downward. Dropping down and using ironpulls to slow her fall, Vin scanned the room. Elend had finished with the last of the stragglers.

"The prisoners?", Vin asked, checking her arm. The tiny bolt had clipped her, leaving a slash of red behind. Rusts, she'd need to get it sewn.

"Grabbed them as soon as I had a clear shot. They are in one of the offices," Elend said, smiling and grabbing one of the mini-crossbows. "Tin's out if we have to see more of these." He frowned and handed it to her.

"Still, it could be useful. I saw blue lines on the bolts. Could be a fast way to Push on something, or given the amount of lines connecting to it it could be like a smaller version of a coin purse,"

Vin said, pocketing the second and grabbing a third.

She inspected the body with her knife buried in it and pulled it out with a wet noise. The dagger had shattered in the man's chest leaving only the hilt and a jagged edge near the base of the dagger. Sighing, she replaced it in her satchel.

"Your arm alright?", Elend asked. "Are you okay?"

"I've got enough pewter to last until we can stitch it up. Now let's help get those two somewhere safe," Vin said quickly, making her way to the office area.

"Vin…" Elend began slowly, with concern evident on his face.

"... I think so. It still felt wrong, not in a moral sense, but like a deep ache in my soul as we killed them. But it wasn't as bad as I thought. Maybe it was just a one time thing, or maybe it was because I was killing to protect others," Vin said. "Something happened when I Ascended, Elend. I have thoughts that aren't mine and know things I don't understand. But I'm okay. I'm here with you and Scadrial is safe. We did our duty. With luck this will be the last bit violence we do," she said, placing her hand on his cheek and giving him a kiss.

"I'm alright. I promise."

oOo

Sorry for the delay on this. I had another scene planned but it felt off and didn't flow at all. I'd like to thank dinoseen for beta reading and helping out and editing. Thanks big time man! Hope you all enjoy