In the city of Ylisstol, the de jure but not de facto capital of the Grimleal, the royal palace was abuzz was activity. Palace servants and workers scurried around the throne room carrying various supplies, treasures, and personal artifacts. Emperor Gangrel occasionally stopped to watch, but his attention was largely focused elsewhere. Rather, he and his wife were watching over a group of workers as they tried to remove a painting from the wall. The painting was over six meters long and almost as tall, and it was quite prominently positioned in the area behind the throne. It was only one of many valuable objects being removed from the palace, but it was of particular importance to Gangrel.

As the Emperor of humanity, Gangrel controlled the most wealth, the most soldiers, and the majority of the population. As High Inquisitor, however, Aversa had a closer direct connection to Grima. It was Gangrel's responsibility to keep humanity pacified, but it was Aversa's responsibility to enforce the Fell Dragon's will. Aversa thus had the authority to take anything she deemed necessary to achieve this from Gangrel whenever Black Authority was issued. For everything the Emperor had, there was nothing Aversa didn't have the right to take now. Though Grima intended Aversa to only appropriate what was necessary, the Fell Dragon didn't truly care to limit her, and Aversa wasn't exactly conservative in her taste. If anything, she'd take something just because she knew it would annoy Gangrel. Ever since he'd heard of Black Authority being issued and Aversa's imminent arrival, Gangrel had been furiously working to hide what he could. The important assets, such as Kryczek's Reaver program or his beloved Shepherd Slayer outfit, had already been spirited away, but the palace still contained priceless objects. Gangrel worked to save what he could, but he knew there was no way it could all be sent away before Aversa came to seize it. He tried not to think about Aversa as he watched the workers take down the massive painting. His wife stood by him with crossed arms, her face scrunching with anger until she finally directed her piercing voice towards him. "I can't believe you!" She almost shrieked in her hostile and very familiar tone. Gangrel sighed even further. If it was possible to physically feel one's manhood retract into oblivion, it was happening to Gangrel right now. "I have thousands of gold coins worth of jewelry and clothing still in this palace, and you're having the workers waste their time with this stupid painting! Why don't you ever think about me for once?! Your artwork is more important than my happiness!"

Gangrel ran his hand down his face in frustration. "I guarantee you, dear, that Aversa has no interest in your jewelry or clothes. She's the most powerful woman in the world. There's no physical want she can't have at the snap of her fingers."

"Then why do you think she'd want this awful painting?!"

"Because I want it! She wants it because she knows I like it, and she'll happily take something from me just because she knows it'll upset me."

"Who cares if she takes it! It's just a tacky painting. We can always get a new one painted. Who's going to replace my jewelry! You?! My selfish husband who couldn't keep it from being taken in the first place? I don't think so."

"Do you know how significant this painting is?"

"Oh, please do enlighten me as to its importance." She responded sarcastically. Gangrel sighed and did just that, regardless of whether or not his wife actually wanted to hear it.

"Plegia was not a hereditary monarchy. I was born in the slums. I had no relation to the previous king of Plegia. The Plegian King or Queen was whoever was strong enough to seize the throne." Gangrel chuckled. "T-there was an old joke about Plegian monarchs. So a new monarch ascends the throne, and he finds two letters written by the previous monarch. He is to open them whenever he is in trouble. Eventually the new King becomes unpopular with the people, so he opens the first letter. He is told to blame all the problems on the previous monarch, so he does. Everyone believes him, and for a time everything is fine. Eventually he gets into trouble again, so he opens second letter. Do you know what it said?" Gangrel turned to his wife, who only returned a bitter glare. "It said… sit down and write two letters!" Gangrel didn't really hope that his wife would laugh, but he thought it would at least make her less frustrated. He slowly frowned as he realized his hopes were in vain.

"What the hell does that have to do with having all these men move one painting?! Are you going senile on me?!"

"I'm not senile! I'm making a point. Plegia didn't have any royal treasures like Ylisse or Chon'sin, because any Plegian King or Queen that was still alive when they left the throne would just take everything of value in the palace. Treasures weren't passed down, but this painting was an exception. It was painted after the Siege of Viipurias, during Caracalla's Crusade. It's considered to be a symbol of national pride. It was in Castle Plegia when I was King, and I had it brought here when I became Emperor. I can't let Aversa take it. I just can't."

"Who cares?! Just have a new one painted! Maybe a smaller one that doesn't take up so much of my wall!"

Gangrel calmed himself. He found his anger washed away by the emotions the painting brought up, and in a desperate attempt to get any other kind of reaction from his wife, he decided to genuinely share these emotions. "This painting is about half a century old. It's considered to be a symbol of Plegian pride. It's priceless, but beyond that… it means a lot to me."

"Why?!"

"Because I was there." Gangrel looked over the painting as the workers struggled with it. It depicted Plegian and Ylissean soldiers locked in combat on a city wall. A burning city could be seen in the background. "When I was a child, my mother and I had very little. She made a living as a street performer, playing her violin for spare change. She could have begged. She could have done manual labor. She might have made more doing that." Gangrel gave a small smile. "But she had her pride. We constantly moved from city to city, always staying in the slums. We just happened to be in the city of Viipurias when the Ylisseans came. You see, I was growing up during the height of Exalt Caracalla's crusade against Plegia. The Ylissean army, motivated by their belief in their righteousness, their belief that they had to punish the heretics, penetrated deep into Plegia. Viipurias was a port city on the southern coast, and the Ylisseans stretched their lines thin to take it. They fought their way into the city, but the Plegian commander saw an opportunity. As the Ylisseans advanced and took more and more of the city, the Plegian forces surrounded them, creating an awkward situation where the Ylisseans were besieged in a city that wasn't theirs. The citizens were caught in the middle." Gangrel was struggling to suppress the powerful emotions he found himself dealing with now, but he continued his story. He was too far into it now, and he had to finish it. He no longer even cared about calming his wife. The story just had to be finished for its own sake. "My mother took advantage of the situation. She played patriotic songs by Plegian composers on her violin, and it made her something of a local attraction in the slums. She made a lot more money that way, but I also suspect that pride of hers was involved. To the Plegians she was a symbol of hope, but to the Ylisseans she was a symbol of defiance. They grew to hate her." Gangrel's gaze fell to the ground. "One night a Ylissean soldier, drunk on stolen wine, wandered past her as she was tuning her violin. In a fit of primitive, bestial rage, he cut her down… right in front of me. Even now… her music still haunts me to my very soul." Gangrel shivered. "I didn't have anything to remember her by, but I saw this painting when I became the King of Plegia. It was commissioned by the government after the Plegian forces finally prevailed in that battle. The previous King had miraculously chosen not to steal it, and so it had become like a royal treasure. Validar didn't get rid of it when he succeeded me, and it was still there when I returned to Castle Plegia. It's become a symbol of my people… but more than that, it reminds me of my mother. Of her final days in that city. It's become something for me to remember her by." Gangrel slowly looked down to his spouse, who had actually been moved by his words. "So you'll forgive me, my darling wife, if I am reluctant to part with it."

"I… I didn't know."

Gangrel's attendant cleared his throat. He'd apparently been behind his Emperor the entire time, listening to the entire story. As always, he was apathetic and professional. "The High Inquisitor has finally arrived at the palace, milord. She'll be entering the room shortly."

Gangrel shivered again, this time in an attempt to contain his frustration at Aversa's visit. "Of course it doesn't matter. Aversa will just take it from me. She was my advisor when I was King of Plegia. She knows about the painting, and she knows how much I like it. She'll take it just because she knows I want it." Gangrel straightened his posture and held his head high as he approached the door to the throne room. "Let's get this over with."

Gangrel and his wife stood by the throne as the doors were thrown open. Two armed and armored men had opened them for Aversa, and two dozen more followed after her as she strolled towards the throne. Her children followed after them. Gangrel's palace guards knelt before the High Inquisitor, but they quickly rose to their feet after she passed by. Her guards didn't receive the same acknowledgment from them, and some seemed to glare in response. Aversa paused several meters away from the throne and gave a smug look as her men took positions by Gangrel's own guards. Gangrel didn't recognize Aversa's soldiers, but it wasn't unlike her to create new organizations. Aversa's soldiers were all male, and they all had at least a half meter on her. Their armor was an eerie purple, a color representing both Plegia and the Grimleal, with bright golden trimmings. Their weapons included swords, shields, spears, maces, grenades, pistols, carbines, bows, and tomes, and no two soldiers had the same weapons. However, their movements were coordinated and regimented, showing that the soldiers were highly disciplined. Each soldier covered their face with a metal mask modeled after a human face, but bright purple light cascaded out of the eyes. Each mask was also in a unique expression. Gangrel wasn't easily intimidated, but he was certainly less than comfortable at their presence. Aversa patiently waited for her soldiers to form up. She then walked over to the one standing closest to Gangrel and began to caress his arm. Gangrel was disturbed by how intimate it was. Though hard to tell through the mask, the man was likely only a third of her age. "Ah, Gangrel. How long has it been? Oh, that's right. I was last called here by the Fell Dragon when it reprimanded the two of us for your failures."

"To what do I owe the pleasure, witch?"

Aversa seemingly ignored Gangrel and casually walked behind him until she neared the painting. The workers stopped trying to move it and stood up straight at the sight of her. Aversa smiled, knowing that seizing Gangrel's treasured painting was more than enough of a retort. "I remember this. It's from our days in Castle Plegia. Before Chrom kicked your teeth in? Remember?" Aversa turned to the workers. "Why don't you handsome men take that to one of my carriages outside. I think I'll take that with me."

Gangrel snarled, but tried not to outwardly show any signs of anger. "Black Authority is meant to give you the resources you need to carry out the Fell Dragon's tasks. What does that have to do with a painting?!"

"Gangrel, sweetie, surely you have come to suspect what I have long since realized. The Fell Dragon doesn't care what we do. So long as we carry out its will. I can take whatever I want from you."

"We're partners!"

"Were partners. I needed your help once, but surely you don't think the two of us are equal now. Your a puppet emperor. Don't get caught up in your strings, love, or I may have to cut you loose." Aversa walked up to Gangrel, taking long, slow steps. Her voice became quieter as she neared him, and somehow this made it more menacing. "Your soldiers are little more than idiotic sadists and conscripts. My Inquisitors are disciplined and loyal. I need only snap my fingers, and my agents would have yours dead." Aversa was right next to Gangel now. With a smug smile, she spoke so closely that she was almost whispering in his ear. "I will have every institution of the Grimleal under my control. If the imperial throne will not fall in line, then I will have it eliminated entirely."

"You have no right to do that." Gangrel briefly lost his composure and shot a look of fury at Aversa. She only smiled wider in response. "This pursuit of power for its own sake will be your undoing, woman."

"Mmm. I'm sure it will be, sweetie." Aversa said with a less than genuine voice. "I'm sure it will. Now, my forces are exercising Black Authority all over this continent. Even as we speak my agents are appropriating military equipment and personnel from your forces."

"You've taken more than just military crap!" Gangrel's wife shot. "You're taking anything you please!"

"Aw. Look at the little Empress. She's trying to play adult." Gangrel's wife tried to respond, but Aversa just turned back to Gangrel and ignored her. "Now my forces are fully willing to retaliate, with lethal force if necessary, if your forces try to stop them. However, I need to make sure you're not organizing any kind of coordinated resistance."

"Do you really think I'd instigate a civil war?"

"Now now, Emperor, I didn't become so powerful by just letting my rivals have chances to stop me. I've lived this long by ensuring there isn't even the slightest possibility that they could stop me." Aversa stepped down from the raised platform the throne was on and walked over to the closest of her soldiers. "Speaking of the superiority of my personnel, I'd like to introduce you to my men here." Aversa continued to speak while removing the soldier's sculpted mask. Gangrel noticed that it wasn't the mask that was causing the soldier's eyes to glow. Something inhuman had been done to them. Aversa gently caressed the man's cheek as she spoke. He didn't react positively or negatively to it. He just stood there. "These men are hand picked based on a number of attributes. Strength. Intelligence. Discipline. Heh…" Aversa blushed slightly. "Stamina."

"You, you have relations with men under your authority? That's barbaric!"

"Oh don't give me that. I tried the conventional married life. All it got me was heartache and-" Aversa glanced over to her children. Servillia and Fulvia were standing tall, but Thallius was preoccupied with picking his nose. Following the successful retrieval of a booger, Thallius proceeded to wipe it on the armor of a royal guard, knowing full well that they wouldn't do a thing about it. Aversa recoiled at the sight. "Parasitic children. Besides all of that, there was one other attribute all these men were chosen for. Their hatred of you."

"Excuse me?"

"Ah, slavery. Always by the side of human civilization. Sometimes endorsed by governments. Sometimes only existing in the dark. It's as old as civilization itself though." Aversa placed the soldier's mask back on his face and turned to Gangrel. "I know it's stronger than ever under you. I know how much money it generates for your Lord Lieutenants."

"I have not legalized any kind of slave trade!"

"No. You just allow your landlords to make their own laws, and you give them a lot of free reign so long as they keep supplying tribute and follow your commands. You may have ignored the suffering in your territory, but I haven't. You see, Gangrel, these men were all former slaves. I took them in. Gave them the opportunity to serve me. They are indebted to me for their very freedom. That's what I call them, by the way. The Indebted. Catchy huh? They all blame you for their bondage, and they could all squeeze the life out of you without a second thought. That's why I think they're perfect for representing my interests in the imperial court."

"And what does that mean?"

Again Aversa answered Gangrel's question by interacting with someone else. She looked over Gangrel's palace guards, who continued to stand perfectly still. "Guards. You're relieved from your service to the Emperor." As if reacting to a cue, Aversa's Indebted stepped forward and threatened the guards. "My forces will take over. You are to turn in your armor and weapons, and report for reassignment."

The Indebted began to forcibly strip the guards of their equipment. The seized their spears and swords, and even took off larger pieces of the plate armor. Gangrel witnessed two Indebted take the helmet off a guard, revealing the incensed face of the woman underneath in the process, only to then turn on each other and grapple for it. The guards were infuriated and confused, but they couldn't disobey a direct order from the High Inquisitor, and the Indebted didn't give them much time to think or respond properly. Instead the men and women desperately turned to their Emperor, but it was several precious seconds before Gangrel finally brought himself to object. "This is unacceptable! The palace guard are loyal only to me! They're not part of the larger Grimleal! You have no right!"

"You'd be a lot better at this if you could take advantage of loopholes as I do. The palace guard as an organization is yours, but each individual soldier is part of the Grimleal. I can appropriate them under Black Authority so long as I replace them, and that, love, is what the Indebted are for. Isn't it beautiful? These men all suffered under the slave trade you turned a blind eye to, and now you have to rely on them for your personal security." Aversa gave a small laugh. "They'll let me know if you forget your place, and they'll happily put you back in it."

"You can't replace my guards with spies!"

"What are you going to do? Complain to the Fell Dragon? Do you really think it cares? Do you really want to admit your own weakness to it? Oh save your breath, sweetie. There's something far more important to this visit than this…" Aversa waved her hand around, trying to find the right words to say. "Exchange of hats." Aversa nodded towards the door, and Gangrel nervously looked to see who else Aversa had brought to violate his palace. A large, robed man slowly walked in. Aversa's children tensed up as he brushed past them, and Gangrel could see his unnerving smile from across the room. "Allow me to introduce the General Secretary of the Political Bureau in High Point. I don't think you've personally met, but I'm sure you know of him." Aversa smiled to herself as the man stepped into view, knowing that Gangrel would be even more annoyed than he already was. "This man will keep an eye on you, and he'll report back to me if you resist my agents. Isn't that right, Excellus."

Gangrel finally lost it. "WHAT?!"

Excellus stepped forward, holding his hand by his sinister smile. Excellus' robes were far more decadent and elaborate than they had been thirty years prior, and he was considerably more corpulent. His unsettling smile hadn't changed much though, and his mannerisms were different only in that they were more exaggerated. Excellus had done well in the new regime, and it had only fed his narcissism. "Eee hee hee! So this is where Chrom and his family used to live. It's got that Ylissean arrogance. I remember it in Chrom, sticking his chin up in the air as he cut his way through Valm. I can see it runs in the family." Excellus walked back and forth, admiring Gangrel's throne room while also getting closer and closer to him and his wife. "I recall Pheros once talking about her pilgrimage to Ylisse. I've decided to take a tour of my own, you see, and I have to say I'm not impressed. These Ylisseans deserve each other." Excellus suddenly turned around. "But oh my GODS, the food! Such decadence! Take the Casu Marzu. It's cheese with live larvae in it! It's still writhing around as it slides down your throat! Or take the lobster. That strange, insect like creature that dwells on the bottom of the ocean. The Ylisseans eat them! They keep them alive until they're ordered to ensure that they're as fresh as possible. Then they place it in boiling water as it's still moving! Or take my personal favorite, the Ortolan. That delicate little songbird. They prepare it by plucking out its eyes. This artificial night causes the bird to gorge itself until it's as fat as possible. Then they take it and drown it in brandy, which kills and marinates it. Then you eat it whole. It's… ingenious. I've never seen food like this. I think it's the cruelty that really makes it."

Gangrel's wife stepped closer to her husband. "I don't like this man. Make him leave!"

"I… I can't."

"No, my dear Empress." Excellus said in a sly tone as he neared the throne. He eagerly ran his hand over it, an act that caused both Gangrel and his wife to feel disgust towards it. "I'll be here for some time. I will be watching your husband very closely. If he messes up, then there might have to be some changes. Maybe they'll call me Empress."

"Of course a slippery maggot like you would survive everything that's happened to the world." Gangrel shot back. "Or, rather, should I compare you to a rat, given how you'll go scurrying off to that witch if I so much as breathe."

"Well that's the thing. Rats do have a tendency to, hee hee, survive."

Excellus walked behind the throne and continued to admire the treasures contained within the palace. Gangrel felt uncomfortable with Excellus behind him, but Aversa forced him to interact with her again. "Excellus and my Indebted will be staying here for the foreseeable future, and I'll have agents working within your palace. Be a good little Emperor, and you'll be able to keep this pathetic setup. But try anything against me, and your adorable little baby girl will grow up on the streets. Just like her father."

"We built this government together! You need me."

"Oh I do need a figurehead, but it doesn't have to be you. The two of us do just keep running into each other, but I assure you, I was always in control. I kept your reign afloat. I cast the illusion spell on Chrom. I convinced Validar to let you into the Grimleal. I finished the resurrection after we overthrew Validar. It may seem like I'm mistreating you at your moment of weakness but, baby, the game was rigged from the start. If you can't do what you're told…" Aversa looked over to Excellus. "Then I'll find someone who will."

"This isn't over."

"Oh I know that you think that." With that, Aversa turned and started to leave the throne room. She stopped at her three children. Servillia and Fulvia nodded respectfully, and Aversa gave them a quick kiss on the cheek. Thallius rolled his eyes, and Aversa briefly glared at him before giving him a quick slap upside the head.

"OW! Mom!"

"Now you three carry out the tasks I gave you. Let me know if you need anything, and let Excellus know if Gangrel does anything to stop you."

"Of course, mother." Servillia and Fulvia answered at the same time.

"Yeah sure. Whatever. Bye!" Thallius groaned.

Aversa repressed her frustration at her son, remembering that this was her time of triumph, and walked out of the palace. The Faraskjótr teleported her away an instant later.

As soon as he could, Gangrel stormed over to an Indebted. "I don't know exactly what she told you, but I'm not going to just let you-" The Indebted didn't let him finish the sentence. He put his hand on Gangrel's shoulder and used his strength to force the Emperor to his knees. When Gangrel tried to rise to his feet, he simply did it again. Gangrel looked up at the sound of laughing to see Thallius walking over.

"Ha!" Thallius made a cupping gesture. "She's got you like this, pal!"

Gangrel's wife became incensed, though she still kept her distance from the Indebted. "How dare you speak to him like that!"

Thallius just shrugged and walked forward. "Relax, baby." To her significant shock, he slapped the Empress on the rear. "You worry too much. Now where do you two keep the booze?"

Just minutes earlier, Thallius' actions would have gotten him a severe beating from the guards. Gangrel's wife was too apprehensive of the Indebted to call them, however. Instead she turned to her husband, but Gangrel could do nothing to stop Thallius, nor could he stop the workers from taking the painting he'd looked at earlier out of the palace. He couldn't even stand up. "Witch." Gangrel muttered under his breath. "This isn't over."

Later that night, Servillia, Fulvia, and Thallius lounged around in a room they'd temporarily set themselves up in. Aversa's daughters tried to keep to themselves, but their brother was disturbing the quiet. Thallius, who wasn't entirely sober, was splayed out over a couch talking to a partially empty bottle of whiskey about his age. He didn't appear to notice his older sisters glaring at him. "Oh I'm sorry. Am I bothering you? It's just that I'm so excited. I must have forgotten my manners."

"Well I can see how the trip must be new to you." Fulvia responded. "But please try to keep it down, okay? We're trying to read."

Thallius rolled his eyes. "I was talking to the bottle." He nuzzled his whiskey and bit his lip as he talked to it. "Would you be interested in bringing a friend over? Then we could really have a party. Oh no, shh. Don't be nervous. I'll be gentle."

Servillia ran her hand down her face. "Ugh, my gods. Teenagers shouldn't be allowed to drink. That's it! I'm getting rid of him."

"Be nice to him, Servillia." Fulvia stated as her sister walked over to the couch. Servillia ignored her.

"GET UP, THALLIUS!" Servillia shouted in his ear while shaking him. Thallius was too inebriated to even notice her approaching, and so panicked at his sister's perceived teleporting abilities.

"AH! Wh-what? What?!"

"Mother didn't bring you here to get three sheets to the wind. Now get started on the tasks she left for you! You're bugging us!"

"Three sheets… what?!"

"Buzzed? Smashed? Well done? Tipsy?"

Thallius just squinted at her. "What?!"

"Drunk, Thallius! You're drunk."

"Pssh! Am n-not!"

"Oh yeah? Let me ask you something. If you let go of that couch, will you fall off the Earth?"

Thallius stared into space for a few seconds before looking down to the couch. "I-is that possible?!"

"Thank you for proving my point."

"Whatever! I shouldn't have to take this from you suck ups!"

"Don't you get it, Thallius? The two of us say what mother wants to hear, and she showers us with power and wealth. She only barely tolerates you. One of these days she'll have you posted out in the sticks, and she'll visit you once every five years. By the way, we're not sharing our inheritances with you when she goes."

"Y'all trying to be funny! Huh? That it? Trying to be funny over there?!"

"We shouldn't have to suffer for your incompetence, Thallius. We need to get some work done. Why don't you just take that overpriced bottle of yours and find an underpriced whore to share it with."

Thallius stood up and adjusted his collar. "You know what? I think I will!"

Thallius stormed out of the room, and Servillia returned to the table smiling. "Remember when he was cute and easy to push around? Oh well. At least I got him to leave."

"D-did you just tell our sixteen year old brother to find a w-woman of loose virtue?!"

"Who cares. He'll probably just stumble around harassing mother's guards until he gets knocked square in the jaw, then he'll go to sleep right there." Servillia opened her book. "And we won't have to deal with him again until morning."

"You're impossible!"

For a time the twin sisters were able to focus on their duties, but Fulvia became increasingly worried for her brother, and eventually left to check on him. Her search led her throughout the palace, and she eventually found Thallius in an underground chamber. The same chamber where Kryczek and Adrasteia had once built the Reaver Program. Fulvia noticed that Gangrel had likely evacuated the contents of the chamber, as it didn't seem to be normally this empty. Thallius was peeking into a room from the doorway, and he put his finger over his mouth to implore his sister to be silent as she approached. "Shh!"

Fulvia stood by her brother. Despite being male, Thallius was much shorter than his sisters and mother, and Fulvia was able to crane over him and look through the doorway without needing Thallius to move. In the room, Excellus was holding a conversation with ten figures. The individuals were using farakveða tomes, but they had been modified. Sound came through clearly, but the holograms were staticky. "They're trying to hide their identities." Fulvia whispered. Thallius nodded.

"So the Indebted have replaced Gangrel's guards, and you've been sent to the palace?" A woman's voice asked.

"Hee, hee! Surely you should know by now, Metal Sphere, that I have a way of squirming into places." Excellus replied.

"I know that voice!" Fulvia said as she nudged Thallius. "That's Thomas! One of our mother's most trusted Inquisitors. Metal Sphere? That must be a codename. They don't want people to know about this meeting."

"Достаточно с этим тщеславием!" Another of the distorted holograms spat. "Just answer the question!"

"Ah, I see Seraph Squad Six is represented by S. I always preferred Y."

"Well Y isn't here, fatass."

"Please, Hangman." Another of the voices said. Fulvia also recognized this voice as belonging to Ascension. "Just answer the question."

"Yes. Aversa has stationed me in Ylisstol to spy on Gangrel."

"And she doesn't know about our real plans?" "Metal Sphere" asked.

"What Aversa doesn't know won't hurt her."

Thallius looked up to his sister. "Am I drunk, or are they plotting against our mother? I mean I am hammered, I see that now, but are they plotting against mother?!"

An eleventh figure materialized, and every other figure gave a quick bow. "Zoe." They all said at the same time.

"Report. Who am I speaking to?" Zoe responded.

"Superfly, reporting." One of the figures answered. Every other figure also answered in turn.

"Death Rave, reporting."

"Ricochet, reporting."

"Razorback, reporting."

"Tallman, reporting." Fulvia recognized this as Ascension.

"Metal Sphere, reporting." Fulvia recognized this as Thomas.

"Stalker, reporting."

"Max and Goose, reporting."

"Seraph Squad Six, reporting."

"D. Cowboy, reporting."

"Hangman, reporting." Excellus himself replied.

"Excellent. Now before we continue, the door behind you isn't closed, Hangman."

Excellus turned around. "Aw you've got to be kidding me!" Seraph Squad Six yelled. "You worthless fat jiggling butterball!"

"I'm sure there's no one there." Excellus walked towards the door and looked out, but Thallius and Fulvia had managed to slip away. Excellus looked around for several seconds before closing the door.