Luz tensed up, remaining cautious as the five metallic disks hovered in the air above her head. At first, she thought these things might be some other entities that came from the Demon Realm but looking closely at she realized that they were definitely mechanical in nature, meaning they were more likely products of the human realm. Luz was still routinely impressed by what humans could accomplish with technology in lieu of magic, but she had never seen anything like these strange disks before. They had not shown any sign of aggression, though she stayed on guard none the less
Behind her, the Snaggleback glanced between Luz and the disk floating in the air, looking relatively unconcerned with what was happening. "So, I'm kinda missing out on a lot of context here." he said, almost sounding casual. "Is this a good situation or a bad one?"
At this question, a small whirling noise started to emanate from each of the disks. A moment later, a compartment opened from the underside of the disks and a small, double barrel turret projected out, taking aim at Luz and the Snaggleback.
"Bad one" Luz answered darkly.
There was just barely a second to react before the disks opened fired, their turrets launching small round pellet projectiles at them at high speed. Luz grabbed the Snaggleback by the back of his shell and pulled him along behind her as they ran for cover, the pellets striking against the ground behind them as they ran, cracks forming at the impact.
Before they could get very far, two of the disks broke out of their formation and flew over Luz and the Snaggleback's heads, moving at incredible speed before coming to halt right in front of them, blocking off their escape. Luz quickly tossed the Snaggleback to her side and rolled the opposite direction as the hovering disks in front fired on them again.
The five disks now converged entirely on Luz, surrounding her from all sides, apparently ignoring the Snaggleback.
Before the disks fired again, Luz slammed the tip of her staff on the ground, forming a large glyph under her feet then which rose up and formed into a bubble of light that acted as a shield that surrounded her body. The pellets broke off the shield's surface, though they were firing so fast Luz couldn't dare lower the shield for a second.
Eventually, the disk suddenly stopped firing, followed by a small clicking noise. Seeing her chance, Luz lowered the shield and cast a fire glyph from her hand, a huge burst of flames erupting from edge of her palm. The disks broke apart, narrowly avoiding the blast as the flames shot up into the air.
The Snaggleback yelped in fear as some of the flames hit the ground next to him. In a panic, he quickly rolled over to his back and lay down on his shell, his belly facing upward.
"Other side!" Luz called, with a frantic note of impatience, while trying to keep her eyes focused on the flying disks as they circled above her.
"Oh, right" he said, embarrassed. The Snaggleback threw his arms up as he attempted to pull himself back to his feet, only to remain completely motionless, the back of his shell planted firmly in the ground. "Uh, I can't up. Could you help me, please?"
Luz lowered her head and groaned wearily, getting the distinct feeling that this was going to be one long night
From within C.O.V.E.N headquarters, Lilith was sitting behind her desk, her hands skillfully operating the drones with the controller, occasionally using the keyboard to input some kind of command, all the while watching events as they played out on the computer monitors which were transmitting a visual relay of the battle. Standing behind her, Detective Ghoal, Steve and Mei-Lien were watching the screens, like would be spectators at a sporting event, as the drones fired on the Witch.
"Don't you think you should have given her a warning first?" Ghoal said, slightly apprehensively.
"She's had her warnings" Lilith said coldly, locking onto the Witch and firing again.
"This is so much fun!" Steve said, practically giddy, still wearing his mask and uniform, clapping his hands together fervently. "This is like a video game, only with real people's lives in the balance! Popcorn?" he asked, apparently producing a bowl of fresh popcorn from who knows where, offering some to Ghoal and Mei-Lien.
Ghoal simply grunted response, keeping his eyes focused on the screens with a grim frown. Mei-Lien stared at the bowl in Steve's hand with the same neutral expression that she always seemed to wear, before taking a small handful of popcorn and casually stuffing it into her mouth.
"Oh, popcorn. Mei-Lien, save some of that for me" Mr. L asked eagerly, communicating from the other end of his speaker phone.
Luz darted out of the way as the disks fired upon her again. Raising her hand, she formed an orange tinted fire glyph which shot another burst of flames at the disks. The disks dispersed, avoiding the flames. However, one of the disks moved further away from the others, leaving itself isolated.
Taking her chance, Luz crouched low and slammed her hand against the pavement; a blue glyph appeared under her feet and a second later a pillar of solid ice lifted her from into the air, launching her through the air before she landed on the lone disk. The disk swerved from side to side in an effort to knock her off, but she maintained a firm grip on the side of the rim. Twirling her staff in her other hand, Luz struck the tip of her staff into the shell of the disk like a spear as bright current of energy traveled down the length of the staff and into the disk. There was small explosion from within the disk, it's exterior cracking a s trail of smoke started pouring out. The disk slowly began to lose altitude, descending toward the ground.
Luz was just about to jump off, when she felt something hard knock her staff out of her hands and down to the park pavement below. Luz turned her head to see two more of the disks now flying toward her. From its turret, one of the disks fired out a small bola, which wrapped tightly around her hands, binding them in a knot.
The second disk then fired a small ball that separate out into a large net. The net ensnared Luz's body, the momentum knocking her off the disk down to ground. Luz rolled along the ground, struggling to break free as her body was well entangled in the net and her arms now bound, leaving her very little room to move as the four remaining disks hovered above her like actual vultures.
To her horror, Luz realized only too late that she been out maneuvered. The lone disk that broke away from the others was intentionally trying to draw her out so the rest could surround her. Whatever these things were, they clearly working as a kind of organized intelligence.
"Yes, I did it!" Lilith cried in pure joy, jumping out of her chair. "Yes, I did it! I finally got her! Go Lilith, go Lilith!"
"Oh, yeah, you da bomb Miss Lilith!" Steve cheered, striking a gangster style pose with his arms.
"I am the da bomb!" Lilith said, mimicking Steve's pose, giving him a fist bump in return.
"What's happening? Are people fist bumping?" Mr. L asked, curiously. "I can't see into the room. Mei-Lien, fist bump my speaker"
Mei-Lien rolled her eyes and gave an unenthusiastic fist pump to the speaker phone.
"Ahem, what about that other demon?" Ghoal said, looking at Lilith with a serious expression. "Don't you want to capture it too?"
Lilith turned the screen to view the pink furred demon with the spiked shell, which was kicking its arm and legs in the air, trying in vain to pull itself up right again.
"Hmm, doesn't look like it's much of a threat." Lilith said, giving the little demon a look that was mixture of pity and disgust. "Besides, the Witch is a far more valuable capture. Now, we all we need to do is bring her in and-"
Lilith turned the screen back to the Witch, expecting to see her quarry still tied up, but her face fell in shock when all she could see now was an empty net.
"What?!" Lilith cried in shock. "Where did she go? The net's not broken, she was just there a second ago!"
Lilith sat back down in her seat and quickly typed another command into the terminal, sending the drones to swipe the area. Lilith knew she to still be there somewhere and was going to find her.
Luz felt her lungs start to burn as she held her breath, keeping herself perfectly still inside of the net, which if her spell was working, should appear empty. One of these days, she would have to figure out an invisibility spell that did not require her to hold her breath when she cast it. Regardless, the spell was still working, and the disks now moved away from her location, likely thinking she had somehow escaped. Her eyes fell on her staff which lay just a few away from her. Luz quickly and quietly rolled across the ground until she was close enough to grab hold of it through the net.
Gripping the center of her witch's staff, Owlbert's eyes glowed bright yellow for a second and then the net and ropes that were binding Luz were burned away. Luz released the breath she was holding, taking an extra-long inhale.
Twirling her witch's staff, Luz formed two separate glyphs at both ends of her staff. The blue coated ice glyph at the end of the staff summoned another pillar of ice, which rose up from the ground and struck the underside of one of the disks, causing it to bounce and ricochet into another, sending them both falling to the ground. The green colored glyph at the end of the head of the staff shot out a long string of vines which entangled one of the disks. Luz then swung her staff, using the vines like a lasso to hurl disk into a nearby tree.
Luz ran over to the Snaggleback, who still embedded into the ground by his shell, grabbing him by his hand and pulled him back to his again.
"Go, run. I'll cover you" she said. The best plan she could think of right now was to keep fighting, long enough for the Snaggleback to get away.
"Wow, thank. " the Snaggleback replied gratefully, tears already forming in his eyes. "I promise I won't ever forget this heroic…"
"NOW!" Luz snapped. Without a second thought, the Snaggleback quickly scurried off into the bushes and disappeared out of sight. Content that now at least one problem had been solved, Luz gripped her witch's staff and readied herself for battle.
Setting her sights on the only remaining disk in the air, Luz charged forward and leapt up into the air, pulling her staff back as she prepared to strike.
Another compartment opened from underneath the disk and a different, round shaped turret appeared. Next there was a loud ringing noise as the air in front of the disk's turret began to vibrate, like ripples in a pool of water as strange pulsating wave moved through the air. The moment the wave struck Luz, she felt as though her whole body had been punched by a hurricane, which hit with enough force to knock her back down to the ground. Luz could feel her breath caught in her chest, and her bones began to shake as the pulsating wave continued to reverberate through her entire body, hitting her in-between tiny intervals, as though she was standing in the middle of giant bell that was being rung endlessly. Luz struggled to remaining standing, gripping her ears with both hands in attempt to block out the ringing noise before she collapsed down to her knees, her staff falling next to her. The disk hovered closer to her, keeping the wave of vibrations focused upon her the whole time.
Luz gritted her teeth, feeling as though they may shatter along with her bones at any moment. She doubled her focus and tried to form a glyph from her hand, but she could not concentrate, barely even able to keep her eyes open, her vision becoming more and more blurry. Just as she felt herself beginning to drift out of consciousness, the disk that was in front of her suddenly jerked from side to side as though it was being knock back and forth; the pulsing wave was still emitting from its turret as but now it had moved away from Luz as the disk spun around erratically in the air.
Luz didn't know what had just happened and she didn't have time to dwell on it either. The instant she was freed, she took a few quick breaths to help regain her sense and then concentrated everything she had into creating a yellow-colored glyph. The spell circle formed in her hand and small ball of light appeared in the center of it. Beneath the ball of light, she created another light glyph which hovered up and merged with the ball, contorting its shape as the light stretched out into narrow triangle shape, resembling the tip of an arrowhead. Luz then flicked her finger and shot the light arrow at the disk. A split second later, there was a bright flash which illuminated the park, followed by a powerful explosion that had blown the metal disk to pieces.
Once the light from the explosion had faded, the remaining three disk converged to back the same spot, to find that Luz was gone, and nothing was left but the shrapnel pieces of the destroyed disk
Luz quietly parted one of the branches in front of her, watching as the remaining three disks now began to patrol the surrounding area of park, no doubt still searching for her. She pulled the branch back again and leaned against the trunk of the tree, taking a few moments to catch her breath and collect her thoughts, the thick foliage of the tree giving her cover for the time being as she rested on the tree branch high above the ground. She still didn't know exactly was going on, but experience taught her to question the nature of her troubles after she had escaped from them. At the very least, it looked like the Snaggleback had made their escape in the all the chaos.
Luz soon felt a cold sweat form on her brow and fresh wave of exhaustion washed over her; that light spell had taken more out of her than she was expecting. She only just realized how hungry she actually was. She let out a tired sigh, slouching down slightly on the branch, deciding to enjoy the brief moment of respite while she had the chance; another thing experience had taught her was that moments of peace like these would seldom lasted very long.
Lilith growled angrily as the Witch just dispatched three of the drones, now leaving her with only one screen that kept her with Lilith's field of vision.
"Quite a wily one, isn't she?" Mr. L commented with some amusement. "If I might make a suggestion, Agent Clawthrone, why not try the special package?"
"Special package?" Lilith said, confused.
"Mei-Lien" Mr. L ordered.
At her boss's command, Mei-Lien stepped forward next to Lilith and quietly typed something into the keyboard. A boxed message appeared on the computer screen, prompting for a yes or no response.
Somewhat cautiously, Lilith selected yes. As soon as she did, the disk she was currently operating opened another turret which fired wave of vibrations at the Witch as she came flying toward the screen, knocking her to the ground and incapacitating her
"Um, that wasn't in the tutorial" Lilith said, surprised.
"Well, it's still experimental. " Mr. L explained. "It's a powerful sonic wave cannon"
"Looks like it's really hurting her" Ghoal said, sounding more concerned than impressed.
Mr. L chuckled slightly. "Well, this Witch can throw some heavy rocks but looks like we're about bring down this glass house!"
There was a long moment of awkward silence, everyone briefly turning to look at the phone. Mei-Lien lowered her head and rubbed her eyes, almost though she felt actual pain from hearing that attempt at a joke.
"No takers?" Mr. L said, sounding slightly disappointed. "Well, I was hoping the Witch was going to hurl a boulder or something during the fight, that would go better with my set up. "
"Oh, ho! I get it." Steve said, slamming his fist into his hand. "The Witch represents the simplistic and rebellious heavy metal genre of music, but we are effectively defeating her with elegant, yet more frail classical genre"
Mei-Lien turned to look at Steve, with an expression that heavily suggested she was questioning either his intelligence or sanity with that statement.
"Uh…yeah sure, let's go with that" Mr. L said, hesitantly taking the praise
"I think see why they call you Mr. L, sir." Steve said with great enthusiasm. "You're a real lively fellow.
Steve then took his phone out from his pocket. "Hey after we're done with this, maybe we can take a group photo together. You know to commemorate this moment"
Ghoal suddenly let out a loud and frustrated sounding groan, throwing his hands up in the air. "Oh, for God sake's Steve!" Ghoal snapped, now sounding very angry. "Will you stop screwing around for one second?! This is serious"
Ghoal reached out and roughly grabbed Steve by his wrist, trying to wrest the phone from his hand, but he seemed to pull Steve a little too hard, as he came barreling into him. In the confusion, the two of them went tumbling forward, right into the back of Lilith's chair, the resulting impact forcing her to lose her grip of the controller as she nearly fell out of her chair, the display on the screen soon going haywire as the camera spun around.
"Will you two knock it off!" Lilith snapped at them as she tried to climb back into her chair. Just then there was bright flash of light that lit up the screens. Once the light had disappeared, the screens now showed only three cameras operating, showing only a deserted park, with no one in sight.
"Ugh, she got away again!" Lilith cursed, slamming his hands against the table. She turned to Ghoal and Steve with a furious snarl, glaring daggers at both of them. They both quickly put their hands to their sides and backed away, bowing their heads, looking like a pair of children caught in wrongdoing.
Mei-Lien's eyes lingered on Ghoal and Steve for a brief moment, before her view returned to the screens as Lilith continued to search for the Witch.
Amity was sitting on a metal stool, dressed in a white lab coat, watching as the centrifuge in front of her spun at high speed, the test tube within moving like a blur until the machine slowed down. She removed the test tube, swirling it slightly, seeing the two elements within now completely separated. Amity set the test tube inside the rack, next to vial containing her father's experimental compounded. Amity removed the lighter element from the test tube with a pipette and then added it to her father's compound. The compound seemed to stir slightly once Amity added the extra solution and then became still again. Satisfied, Amity decided that they were almost ready to begin.
On the other side of the lab, Serena was sitting, hunched over in front an incubator, preparing the cell culture she had been developing to use in conjunction with Professor's Blight's compound. Amity hadn't much of a chance to look at it yet but left Serena to continue her work. Amity now began to set up the glovebox container for Serena to work in, adjusting the temperature and pressure to sterilize the environment as she instructed.
It was easy for the two of them to gain access to an empty lab to work as well to get any nesscessary equipment without raising much suspicion. At any moments of trouble when dealing with a more obstinate scientist or random office worker, Amity was able to make up an excuse that would get them by, like that her mother wanted to dump the old equipment. And if that failed, a subtle threat from Amity that would eventually travel upward toward her mother would likewise do the trick. Soon enough, they had gathered everything they needed and began to operate out of one of the labs which was deserted at this time of day.
Amity had found Serena to be quite enjoyable to work with. She had a great, excitable passion for her work that matched her intelligent. Really, the only major flaw Amity could find with Serena was her occasional lapse in co-ordination, which may have caused one or two minor (and somewhat painful) setbacks. Amity had to quickly learn to adapt to Serena's clumsiness, more for her own safety than anything else.
Once she had the glass box prepared, Amity approached Serena. "Ok, everything's set up. Are you almost ready with-"
Almost on instinct, Amity swiftly stepped back just in time to dodge Serena's arm as she abruptly swung around on her chair, the petri dish in her hand just inches away from hitting Amity in the face
"Oh, Miss Amity." she said. "Just in time. I finished preparing the cell culture."
"Uh, that's great." Amity said, gingerly taking the petri dish out of Serena's hand. Amity walked back to the glovebox and placed the petri dish inside the antechamber, sealing it shut and then sliding the tray inside of the container. She repeated the process again with the vial containing her father's compound into the slide.
Serena fumbled with the inside of her lab coat, until she pulled out what appeared to be a small, electric prod, roughly the size of a fork. She placed the prod into the antechamber and pushed it inside the glovebox.
"Ok. Everything is ready." Serena shook her arms out slightly, prepping herself. Amity could tell she was quite excited. "Now this will a be simple test. All we want to see is if your father's compound will respond to the external stimulus."
Serena sat down on the stool in front of the glove box and inserted her arms into the plastic gloves, wiggling her fingers to ensure they fit securely. Her hands now inside the container, she positioned the petri dish in the center, allowing Amity a full view of the experiment as she watched from over Serena's shoulder. Serena carefully removed the lid of the petri dish, exposing the cell culture. She then before picked up the vial of the purple compound and it onto the petri dish. After allowing it to settle, Serena then picked up the small electric prod and pressed the switch to turn it on, a small jolt of electricity flickering between the two tiny prongs.
Serena licked her lips slightly with anticipation while Amity watched in silence as she lightly tapped the purple substance with the electric prod, giving it a small charge. The surface of the slime rippled for a brief moment, but then remained flat and lifeless in the petri disc. Serena probed the slime again with another charge. The slime briefly rippled again but otherwise remained still.
Serena frowned slightly, beginning to look discouraged, obviously not expecting such a lackluster reaction.
"Don't give up yet" Amity said encouragingly, putting her hand on Serena's shoulder. "Try it a couple more times"
Serena smiled at Amity, reinvigorated. She tabbed the slime a few more times with the prod, trying different voltage levels but there was still no immediate effect.
Amity crossed her arms and furrowed her brow, beginning to feel worried herself, as the purple slime remained unresponsive. She was sure that something would have happened by now. She briefly wondered if she or Serena had made any mistake in their research.
She leaned forward, moving closer to the glass, her eyes focused on the small puddle of slime in the petri dish. "Come on, little guy." she whispered. "Give us something here"
Serena gave the slime one more tap with the electric prod. This time, however, once the electrical current touched its surface, the slime instantly shifted to one side of the petri dish.
Serena and Amity shared a stunned look with each other. Serena quickly probed the slime again, watching in amazement as the slime shifted to the other side of the petri dish, moving like a muscle reflex.
"It worked!" Serena exclaimed. "The compound is reacting as I theorized to the stimuli."
Amity was likewise just as pleased as she watched the slime move inside of the petri dish, but then frowned when she noticed something peculiar.
"Wait a minute." Amity put her hand on Serena's arm just as she was about to give the slime another charge from the prod.
Amity leaned closer to the glass, almost certain that her eyes were playing tricks on her. But then she saw it again, this time for certain. The purple slime was slowly moving itself closer to the edge of the petri dish, as if it was overflowing, before spilling out onto the floor of the container.
"It's not just reacting." Amity said, watching in disbelief as the slime was now slithering along the inside of the container. "I think it's actually moving on its own"
"Intriguing." Serena said, pressing her face so close to the glass. "Could it possibly be a residual after effect of the applied stimulus, almost like a kind of muscle memory?"
Amity moved closer to the glass, watching as the slime with even greater intent as it seemed to be moving in her direction. Curious, she soon formed an idea in her mind, though it seemed outlandish, yet somehow, she remained perfectly confident it would work.
Keeping her eyes focused on piece of slime, Amity raised her hand in the air. The slime stopped moving. And then, slowly, it started to stretch its body upward, as though it was trying to stand up. Amity slowly waved her hand from side to side. She then watched in amazement as the slime mimicked her movements.
"It's…following my movements." she whispered. "And it's doing it all on its own"
Serena gasped and pulled her arms out of the plastic gloves, clapping them her hands to her face in an expression of astonishment.
"You mean its…it's….!" Serena threw her arms up the air, posing dramatically, only to abruptly stop mid-sentence, dropping her arms down again while looking stumped. "Huh, I lost the word for a moment there"
Amity backed away from the glovebox and turned to face Serena, smiling brightly.
"Serena, this is more incredible than anything my dad has been working on." she said, flushed with excitement. "We may have potentially made a fully sentient cellular organism. The scientific and practical possibilities for this could be endless, not to mention the philosophical ramifications."
Serena's smile dropped from her face, as she stared over Amity's shoulder, her eyes now fixed on the glovebox behind her. "Uh, Miss Amity"
"I had no idea this was possible." Amity continued, her mind clearly racing. "I mean, I knew my dad's compound was unique, but to think it was capable of developing rudimentary consciousness is unbelievable."
"Miss Amity, perhaps you should…?"
"With a little more research, we could really be on to something. See, I knew your theory was right, Serena. I mean, I know I helped, but this is really your breakthrough." Amity said. "You deserve the credit for this. I'm sure my dad will want to work with you now. I guess I should be glad that I got to be a part of it too, even if it was only a small role-"
Serena suddenly grabbed Amity by the shoulders and quickly turned her to face the glovebox. Amity's face fell into an expression of shock what she was seeing. The tiny sample of slime that they had begun the experiment with had somehow more than tripled in size, looking nearly as big as a small kitten at this point. And it only seemed to be growing larger as it now began pressing the flat surface of its body against the pane of glass, evidently developing a newfound desire for escape.
"Ok, ok, ok, ok, let's not panic" Serena said, in a tone of voice which sounded just a few degrees south of absolute panic as she pushed Amity away to a safe distance and approached the glovebox from the other side. "We'll just move this somewhere very safe, very slowly and hopefully this will settle down in a few-"
Serena nervously picked up the container off the table. The now rapidly growing puddle of slime, lunged at the side of glass that was facing Serena, causing her to flinch and stumble backwards. Amity broke out of her stunned stupor too late to shout a warning as the container slipped from Serena's hands, dropping it down to the table, where it then bounced down to the floor with a hard thump. The was a brief and tense moment as Amity and Serena kept their eyes glued to the container on the floor.
A large crack slowly formed along the glass and a second later the entire container was blown apart. The purple slime now stretched up toward the ceiling, standing at least ten feet tall, towering over Amity and Serena like a tidal wave that was about to crash down on them.
In that instant, Amity's self-preservation instinct finally kicked in and she quickly grabbed Serena's arm, who was too busy staring up the slime with an expression of awe and wonder, managing to pull her into the run just as the slime smashed down onto the floor like a hammer.
Amity and Serena rushed out of the lab, slamming the door behind them as they ran down the hallway.
A second later, there was a loud bang and the door burst off its hinges. The slime, which looked to still be growing in size, came slithering down the hallway after them in an impressive display of speed.
Running as fast as she could, Amity reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, hurriedly beginning to type something just as they rounded a corner.
The slime shot out a long tendril from its body that caught Amity by her forearm. Amity struggled to break free, feeling her feet sliding along the floor toward the slime as it began to pull her.
Amity pulled back on the tendril with all her might, her feet slipping out from under her she fell to floor, being dragged toward the body of the slime. Thinking fast, Amity quickly pulled off her lab coat and managed to slip her arm out of the sleeve that the tendril was holding onto. The tendril pulled the coat toward its body, assimilating it into its body.
Amity shook her arm which was still sore from the tendrils grip, but then did she realize to her horror that the phone she was holding must had slipped out of her grasp and had been swallowed along with the lab coat by the slime.
The slime began moved toward her again. As it approached, Amity scrambled to get back her feet, when a huge spray of white form suddenly blasted the slime, driving it back down the hall. Amity looked up to see Serena now holding a fire extinguisher, directing the spray at the slime. The foam seemed to have enough of an effect on the slime to stun, at least temporarily.
Once the slime had retreated back several feet down the hall, Serena dropped the extinguisher and helped Amity to her feet.
"Hurry, this way!"
The two of them continued to run down the deserted hallway, managing to gain some lead on the slime, which soon resumed chasing them. Amity wasn't sure where to run to next, her mind too caught up with fear, but followed Serena's lead regardless as they burst through another door.
Once they pass through the door, Amity saw they run into one of the employee lunchroom areas, which was predictably empty. On one side of the room was the kitchen area and opposite that was a sheet of glass doors that lead out onto a small balcony, several stories above street level. Unfortunately, Amity could see any doors leading out of room, aside from the one they just came through.
Serena quickly grabbed one of the closest tables to the door and wedged it in front of the door. Amity soon joined in and helped her to grab as many tables and chairs as they could, stack as many heavy items as they could in front of the door in attempt to barricade themselves inside. There was loud bang as something crashed into the door from the other side, the barricade only barely holding up from the force of the impact.
Amity pushed her back into one of the overturned tables, using all of her strength keep it in place as the door was rocked another hard crash. Serena, who now appeared quite panicked stricken and terrified, her hair an even more frizzled mess than usual, pushed her shoulder into the table alongside Amity.
"I just want you know, regardless of anything that might happen in the next few minutes, I really did appreciate working you with on this" she said, almost managing to sound sincerely grateful.
"That actually does mean a lot to me, thanks" Amity said with honesty, hoping that this wouldn't be the last conversation she was about to have with someone.
Luz watched patiently as the metal disks performed another sweep of the park, waiting for her opportunity. She wasn't sure if they had given up or would continue to pursue her. Either way she had to move soon, or risk being discovered. As the disks drifted further away from her, Luz readied herself to make her move, holding onto her witch's staff.
Just she about to make her move, her phone started to beep. The abrupt noise was enough to almost make Luz slip off the tree branch, her battle focused composure completely shattered, as she quickly scrambled to pull her phone out, trying to silence it before the metal disks were drawn to the noise.
For a brief second she thought it might have been Eda or Willow sending her an impromptu text, but Luz then stopped and felt her heart skip a beat when she saw who the message was actually from. It was from Amity, and it read only two words
HELP US!
All of sudden, nothing else in the world mattered as Luz's mind was consumed by a single, overriding thought; Amity was in danger, and she needed to help her.
Without a moment's hesitance, Luz burst out from the tree in an explosion of leaves and broken branches which scattered to the wind as her witch's staff took off at full speed, the tree line of the park quickly disappearing below her as she flew out into the city.
Luz kept her eyes forward, save only a brief glance behind her; the three disks were following close behind, not giving up the chase, but Luz didn't have a moment to spare on them. She thought hard about where Amity could be, but the answer came to her mind very quickly. Taking a sharp turn at the nearest street, Luz headed for the tallest building within her line of sight; Blight Industry where she knew Amity said she would be tonight.
Rising up over the rooftops to shorten the distance, Luz soon arrived at Blight Industry, coming to a halt in front of it. She instinctively looked around for any signs of trouble when she heard a loud crashing coming from above, pieces of broken glass and a chair falling down to the street. Steering her staff upward, Luz flew up several stories up along the building until she stopped above open balcony.
She saw Amity alongside a woman in a lab coat and bright red hair standing out on the balcony, being slowly pushed toward the edge by what appeared to be some kind of a shapeless creature made of purple slime. Luz was not sure what that creature was, but she knew that didn't matter right now. She had to get Amity and the woman to safety.
From down on the balcony, the red-haired woman turned up to see Luz flying above them.
"The Witch!" she cried, pointing up at her in surprise.
Amity turned as well, looking equally surprised at the sight of Luz
"You're here" she whispered.
For moment, Luz and Amity locked eyes with one another; Luz felt a strange of suddenly calmness wash over her now that she could see Amity was alright. The lime creature had stopped moving, going completely still once Amity had turned around to face Luz. A second later, the slime shot out a tendril from the surface of its body. Before Luz could react, the tendril snapped it around her chest, as tight as an iron vice, pulling her off her staff and holding her aloft in the air.
Luz gasped for air as she felt as though her chest was about to be crushed from the pressure the tendril was applying. Wiggling her right hand free, she formed an ice glyph and pressed it against the slimy tendril holding her. The slime solidified as a sheet of ice travelled along the tendril, freezing it until it became brittle and began to crack.
With a hard tug, the frozen slime broke apart as Luz pulled herself free, snapping her fingers to call her witch's staff back to her as she fell, landing on it feet first while still in the air.
The oozing slime creature now seemed to lose interest in Amity and the other woman, lurching along the other side of the balcony toward Luz, shooting out more tendrils from its body in an attempt to grab her. Luz dodged the tendrils and created two fire glyphs each hand, preparing to fire back, but stopped when she heard a familiar whirling nose behind her. She turned her head around to see the three metal disks right, their turrets aimed directly at her.
Luz glanced back and forth between the disk and the slime monster. "Tienes que estar bromeando!" she muttered furiously.
"What the hell is that thing?" Ghoal asked, staring at gigantic blob creature that was now displayed on the screen.
Lilith looked to be just as surprised herself at this sudden development, so much so she seemed momentarily stumped as what to do next.
"According to the C.O.V.E.N protocols, any newly discovered demons or supernatural entries can be named by the agents who discover them." Steve said. He placed his under his chin; he may have worn a pensive expression under his mask. "Oh, I got it! How about….Ablob-mination?"
"Personally, I would call it a perfect distraction." Mr. L said. "Now is your chance, Agent Clawthorne."
"Lilith, wait a second" Ghoal said, putting his hand to her shoulder, before she could take the control again. Ghoal indicated to one of the screens, which showed two other people on the balcony, hiding behind a table. "There are bystanders down there. They could get hurt"
"Well, I suppose you should do the right thing." Mr. L conceded. "It's worth allowing the Witch the opportunity to escape"
Lilith glanced across the screens, going from the Witch, to the civilians, to slime monster, as though trying to make up her mind on which she should choose first.
"I…I can multi-task" Lilith said, confidently, taking the controller once again
Behind Luz the three metal disks broke away again; two of them going for Luz, while the third went toward the slime creature. The two disks circled around Luz, each one firing a pair of darts from their turrets, connected to a long string of wire. Luz dodged the darts and flew around the disks. Now that she was actually in the air and on her staff, she found it far easier to outmaneuver the metal disks, compared to when she fought them on the ground.
Down at the balcony, the third disk fired out the same pair of darts at the slime creature. The darts struck the slime's surface and then released a small current of electricity into its body. The electricity seemed to aggravate the slime as it withered and jerked at the sensation. The slime then shot another tendril from its, catching the disk in its grasp, squeezing it tight enough to crush it. The tendril then retracted back, pulling the remains of the disk inside its body.
For a moment, Luz was hoping that the disks attack would be effective than that, but the sight of the slime reacting that way to the electric shock started to give some ideas.
Just as Luz dodged another dart from one the disks, she then heard a loud squawking sound coming from nearby. She glanced around and then spotted a small bird flying near the balcony.
Luz's eyes followed the direction of the bird as it circled over one of the nearby buildings. She looked down to the rooftop and then paused when she saw something strange. Standing on the rooftop, was lone hooded figure hiding in the shadows, a long staff in their hand, watching the battle unfold on the balcony.
"Huh?" Luz paused for a moment, looking at the unknown figure with confusion.
While she was distracted, one of the disks slammed into her side, knocking her off her staff. Luz gripped the surface of disk, struggling to hold on. The top part of the disk opened up and mechanical taser arm retracted out from the compartment, the electrical prongs aimed directly at Luz.
Before it could strike her, Luz formed a blue glyph in her hand which absorbed the current of electricity from the taser. She then slammed the glyph onto the disk and jumped off, as the metal surface of the disk cackled with the blue colored electricity, before it was blown apart completely from the inside out.
Luz grabbed the handle of her staff as it came back for her and pulled herself back upright again. This night had been nothing but problem after problem. But Luz quickly realized that she may be able she could kill two griffins with one stone.
Luz formed another electrical glyph on her palm. She touched the edge of the glyph with the index finger of her other hand and spun it around. The glyph began to glow brightly as it spun, small burst of electricity firing out from it as it built up momentum.
Kicking off her staff, Luz swung around the metal disk allowing it enough room to follow after her. She then took aim at the slime creature still on the balcony and nosedived headlong into it.
The slime shot another tendril at Luz. Bracing herself, Luz launched off her staff, flipping backwards the air, the tendril missing her completely. As it continued on its trajectory, it latched around the metal dick that was coming from behind Luz, pulling it forward in her place. As Luz flew back through the air and the purple tendril receding below her, she waited for the moment when they were about to intersect and slapped the charged up electrical glyph onto the metal disk as passed underneath her, before landing back on her staff again as it came back around to her. The slime creature pulled the disk into its shapeless mass just as it did to the other one, along with the glyph. This time, however, the slime seemed to ripple violently from within, sparks of electricity shooting out of it, before it ruptured completely, blowing apart in a huge explosion which rained goop down upon the balcony and the street below.
Back at C.O.V.E.N headquarters, the final computer screen had turned black, as the last drone had been destroyed. A tiny cartoon character walked onto the screen, letting out a mocking little snicker as it held up a sign that read, 'game over'
Lilith was now sitting in her chair, her eye twitched slightly. The adrenaline and confidence that had been pumping throughout her system for the past hours had now all faded away, leaving behind a sudden and horrible sense of dread as she fully comprehended what had happened.
"Well, that was something wasn't it" Mr. L said.
Lilith gulped and slowly turned to the speaker phone, looking as though
"Um, Mr. L, I'm so, so sorry for losing your drones" Lilith said, desperately, "But I'm sure we can work out something
"Oh, don't worry about that." Mr. L replied. "That was quite profitable if you ask me"
"It…was?" Lilith said, surprised.
"Yes, you see, I find knowledge is the most valuable resource." Mr. L said. "And I think we have learned quite a bit about our target for now. The whole point of testing a prototype is to find problems with it. I already have ideas for my next upgrade. And since you have already proven quite the wiz at using my tech Agent Clawthrone, I think you are the best candidate to test our latest equipment going forward. Wouldn't you agree Mei-Lien?"
Mei-Lien simply shrugged her shoulders with a very meh-looking expression, while giving a so-so gesture with her hand.
"Precisely" Mr. L continued enthusiastically. "I think I can see us working together for quite the foreseeable future."
"You…you want me to keep using your equipment?" Lilith said slowly.
"But of course. After all, we're all in this venture together now, aren't we? We can't let our partnership end on a single, embarrassing failure, without any success to our name, can we? Not after you graciously took it upon yourself to accept my gracious offer of help on behalf of the rest of C.O.V.E.N. I would think your superiors would be somewhat disappointed if you did not make the most of this opportunity. And I certainly don't want to you feel like you owe me".
Lilith eyes widen and she suddenly felt the blood rush from her face; she couldn't see it, but she had no doubt Mr. L was smirking on other end of the phone.
"And there is the catch" Ghoal mumbled dryly.
"Um, thank you, for your continued support Mr. L." Lilith said, with a nervous smile. "And I promise I won't let you down"
"Well, I hope that's not what you've been telling your superiors at C.O.V.E.N!" Mr. L let out a hearty laugh from the other end of the phone. "Oh, I kid, I kid"
"Ah, yes, yes." Lilith replied with a nervous. "May I have a moment to confer with my…colleagues?"
Lilith quickly pushed Ghoal and Steve to the other end of the room , pulling them into a tight huddle.
"This is…not good" Lilith said, in a quiet voice, sounding as though she wanted someone to wake her from the nightmare in which she had found herself. "I never got permission from Kiki for this operation. If she finds out that I just put us in serious debt for absolutely nothing, she will end me"
"Now that he has his foot in the door, I'd say Mr. L is going to expect a lot more out of us" Ghoal said.
"We need to figure out a way of paying him off without Kiki finding out" Lilith said.
"And if we break any more of his stuff and racking up our debt" Ghoal added dryly.
"Okay, let's not panic. " Lilith said, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. "No one knows about this except the three of us. We can keep this a secret until we can figure out what to"
"That may not be our biggest concern." Steve said, sounding uncharacteristically serious.
Lilith and Ghoal turned to him with surprise, his arms now crossed and his posture now far more reserved and stoic.
Steve glanced at Mei-Lien and then conspicuously moved next to Lilith, whispering into her ear in a low voice. "I didn't want to say anything, but I think Mei-Lien is kinda into me. She's been sending me signals all night, checking me out." Steve glanced back to Mei-Lien who was looking back at him with a completely unmoved expression.
"I thought it was best to ignore it, but I fear my heart has already slipped into her cold grasp". Steve said, clasping his shaking hand to his chest. "Workplace based relationships can only end in utter disaster"
Lilith stared blankly at Steve and then shared a weak, desperate looking glance with Detective Ghoal, as though hoping he could rescue her from her predicament. Ghoal could only let out a tired sigh and buried his face in his hand.
Luz landed down on the balcony, taking the moment to examine the remains of the slime creature, that were scatted everywhere, wanting to be sure it wasn't about to spring back to life on her. Luz wiped some of the purple-colored goo off her face and rubbed it between her fingers. For a moment, she thought there was something familiar about this substance, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. She turned her head over to the side of balcony, looking down at the rooftops below. The hooded figure that was there was now gone. Maybe it was just a coincidence or maybe she had only been seeing things, but Luz could not shake the feeling that whoever that mysterious figure was, they were somehow connected to the events of this evening.
Pushing those thoughts out of her mind for the moment, Luz turned around to the other side of the balcony, watching as Amity was stepping out from behind an overturned table, helping the woman in the white coat to her feet. Amity was trying to wipe away some of the residual slime from her clothes with some disgust, while the woman in the lab coat seemed to be enthrall by the goo she was covered in, which was now totally lifeless and inert.
Feeling she should say something, Luz took a deep breath and approached the two.
"Ahem. Are you two alright?" she asked, trying to maintain an air of authority.
"We're fine, thank you". Amity replied, wiping away some more of the goo from her face. "Guess it's a good thing you just happen to be nearby"
"It's uh, Amity, isn't it?" Luz said, trying to sound as inconspicuous as possible.
"Yeah" Amity said. "I guess you saved me enough times that we can be on a first name basis. And this is my friend Serena"
The woman in the lab coat, only then seemed to noticed Luz's presence as she had been too busy examining the goo on her hands.
"Oh, um, hello." she said
"What exactly happened here?" Luz asked.
"We were running a kind of experiment, which may have gotten a little out of hand." Serena said. "Thank you for saving us." Serena then frowned slightly as she looked at Luz, puzzled. "Though, I'm a little unclear as to how you knew we were in trouble?"
"I, um…I was…" Luz fumbled with her words, trying to think of a convincing explanation. "Well, I was just, um…."
"You were in the neighborhood?" Amity said calmly, cutting over Luz. "And then you saw what was happening and came to help us?"
"Uh, yes, that's right" Luz said, in earnest. "That's me! Just you're friendly neighborhood Witch"
Just then Serena seemed to spot something on the floor and dropped down to her knee, reaching into one of the puddles of goo.
"Oh, Miss Amity, it's your phone." Serena picked up the phone, shaking away some of the goo before handing it back to Amity. "Looks like it was undamaged after being assimilated. I wonder what else might have survived the explosion?"
Serena suddenly went down on all fours, eagerly rummaging her way through the puddles of slime as if to find anything else of value. As Serena moved across the floor, Luz and Amity soon found themselves along together. Luz felt her stomach begin to churn, as she vividly recalled the last conversation that she and Amity had just a few hours ago.
"I guess, it's lucky you showed up when you did." Amity said, trying to relieve some of the tension "If you hadn't, we'd both be goners"
"I'm sure you could have figured some way out of it on your own. You seem pretty resourceful" Luz said, warmly. Amity blushed slightly and smiled at. Luz cleared her throat, deciding to shift the conversation. "Were you able to contact anyone else for help
"No….well I mean, I did managed to send a message on my phone before that thing gobbled it up. I sent it to my girl…" Amity paused briefly, before continuing in a lower voice. "To my friend Luz."
Amity cleared her throat, now avoiding eye contact with Luz. "I suppose in a sheer blind panic, she was the first people I thought to contact for help. I probably should message her back to let her know I'm ok"
Luz suddenly felt a cold sweat appear on her forehead, her eyes going wide, as she realized at once that her own phone was still in her pocket and that she had neglected to put it on silent before she had arrived. She kept her focused eyes on Amity, resisting the urge reach into her own pocket and grab her phone, expecting it to beep any second once Amity sent her text. Amity stared at her phone without saying anything, before she glanced and saw the look on Luz's face.
"…Later" Amity said abruptly, quickly stowing her phone away into her pocket without a second glance. "I'll text her later. "
Luz let out a quiet sigh of relief, grateful for whatever it was that made Amity change her mind. There was another moment of silence. Luz felt awkward once again, realizing that perhaps now was the best time to leave before anything else could happen.
"Um, well I better get going" Luz said, throwing one leg over her staff, hovering off the ground. Luz took more look at Amity. "See you around." Luz paused and turned her head back to Amity again. "I mean, hopefully, whenever I'm not saving your saving life"
Amity smiled and gave Luz a small wave of her hand. Smiling from under her collar, Luz waved back at Amity and kicked her staff off the ground, flying up air and disappearing into the night sky.
"Yeah. See you tomorrow" Amity whispered wistfully.
Amity took a deep breath and sighed. She then began to survey the huge mess that lay before her. There were pools of slime collected everywhere, covering the floor and walls. Though to be fair, perhaps it was not nearly as bad what it could have been. At the very no one was seriously hurt.
Amity walked over to Serena, who was down on her knees, examining some of the slime.
"So…how would you rate our first experiment?" she asked.
"Uh well, it may have escalated quicker than I was calculating" Serena replied, standing back up again. She then took a sweeping glance of the destruction around them. "And I'm not sure if the cost to benefit ratio is worth it."
"Well, if anyone can figure how to corner the market on giant slime monsters that want to kill you, it would be my mother" Amity said, with a cheeky smile.
Serena laughed and Amity did as well, the earlier tension seemingly melting away. Serena's smile faltering a little as she began to fidget with her lab coat.
"Um, Miss Amity. While this has been a thrilling and emotionally traumatizing experience, do you think perhaps we could keep the events of this evening a secret for the remainder of our lives?" Serena asked, clasping her hands together, in a pleading gesture. "Or preferably for the reminder of your mothers?"
"Don't worry, if mom ever found out about this, I'd would be one they'd be scraping off the walls." Amity said darkly. Amity then smiled again. "But, Serena, if it's ok with you, I wouldn't mind continuing to work with you on this. With a little more research and some very, very thorough safety precautions, we could really go far with this"
"Really? Oh, that would be….". There was a loud thud as Serena suddenly lipped in some of the goo and dropped to the ground. She stood up again incredibly fast, unperturbed. "That would be great Miss Amity!"
"Let's just go with Amity" Amity said, offering Serena her hand, which she took in earnest. Their smiles faded as they felt something very squishy oozing between their fingers
"Oh, right, the goo" Amity said, now feeling a very powerful compulsion to take a shower.
Luz slowly lifted up the window of her bedroom and quietly crept inside, feeling more exhausted than she could remember. This day had been one crazy thing after another. All she could think about now was hitting the sack and sleeping off as much as exhaustion as possible.
But before Luz reach the bed, the lights suddenly came on. Luz turned to see Eda, once again standing in her room by the light switch, mug in her hand and King resting her shoulder. Though this time she appeared without her trademark smirk, appearing more surlier looking than usually.
"Hi, Eda." Luz said with a sheepish smile, pulling down her collar. "Uh, sorry, but I'm not really in the mood for a chat tonight and so I'm just gonna-"
"Kitchen. Now" Eda said, in a firm and unamused tone, one that Luz rarely recalled hearing from her, but assertive enough that it complied her to obey.
Without saying anything, Luz followed down Eda and King to the kitchen. She took a seat at the table, while Eda stood by the cooker. A pan was on the stove, sizzling. King leaped off Eda's shoulder and onto the table, pushing his head up under Luz's arm affectionally. Luz smiled and started to rub King behind the ears. She then turned to Eda, who cracked an egg and placed it on the pan.
"I'm sorry for being late, Eda" Luz said
Eda said nothing and took a sip from her mug. She then sighed and placed the mug, learning back against the kitchen counter, looking particularly weary.
"Ok, look, kid. " she said. "I know neither of us really asked to be in this situation, but the fact is we are. Like or not, so long as you're living here, you're my responsibility. Which means I can't have you staying out all night anymore without idea where you are or what you're doing."
Luz opened her mouth to speak but Eda raised her hand to silence her.
"I know that you're only trying to help people. " she said, though not without sympathy. "But that doesn't mean you can shut me out. I've been here worried about you all day. Which means we're going to need some ground rules"
Luz looked at Eda, surprised. She never had seen her act with so much authority. Or least not so much maternal authority, sounding almost like an actual parent. In the past, Eda might have offered Luz some small nugget of wisdom wedge in between her snarky comebacks, but usually she always had such a laid-back approach to life.
Eda sat down the table, now looking Luz at near eye level as she spoke. "Rule one. Your curfew is now ten o'clock. So, unless the apocalypse is happening, I expect you to be here. No more late-night crime fighting, okay?"
"Um, okay" Luz said, choosing not object.
"Rule two." Eda continued, taking another sip of her drink. "If you are going to be late or if there is trouble, you either call or text me, in case I need to come and bail you out of trouble. And not just me either. You keep Willow and Gus in the loop too. They were here today looking for you"
"What?!" Luz cried in shock, so loudly that King yelped and nearly fell off the table. "They were here looking for me?"
Eda said nothing as she helped King back onto the table, while Luz moaned and buried her head in her hands. "I completely forgot them today after school"
"Which brings me to rule three," Eda continued. "If you do have problem, I want you to know you can tell me. I promise I'm not going to judge. I only want to help, but I can't do that unless I know what is going on with you."
"Eda, I'm….sorry." Luz said, sadly. "I didn't mean to ignore you like that….I just, I just didn't want to talk about it"
"Well to be fair, I'm probably not the world's best confidant." Eda said, leaning forward, resting her arms on the table. "I thought something was wrong this morning, but I was sure you'd have already told me. Looks like we both have some room for improvement"
Luz was about to say something, when all of a sudden, her stomach let out a loud growl, much to her embarrassment.
Eda placed her hand over Luz's, giving her a firm squeeze. Eda then stood up and walked back to the stove, placing the two eggs onto a plate.
"And rule four. You never leave here on an empty stomach again. Understand?"
Eda placed the plate in front of Luz, along with a knife and fork. Eda then instinctively grabbed King by the collar as he made dash for the freshly made eggs.
Luz stared down at the home cooked meal in front of her, which, based on the renewed, overwhelming sensation of hungry that swept her over, might have been the most delicious looking thing she had ever seen in her life.
"Thank you, Eda" Luz said, gratefully. She grabbed her fork and immediately began to dig into her eggs savoring every bite.
Eda smiled, looking pleased with herself as she took another sip of her drink. "Now once you're done, go to bed and if you feel up to, you go to school tomorrow. Is there any else you want to say to me?"
Luz paused, a piece of egg inches from her mouth. She then sighed and placed her fork down again. "Um, Eda. I actually do want to tell you about something. If it that's ok" she asked, with a hesitance glance.
Eda set mug down and smiled, leaning back in her chair, while King hopped up onto her should, his eyes focused on Luz. "I'm all ears, kiddo"
Luz smiled, suddenly feeling safer here in this dirty kitchen with Eda and King than she had ever felt in a very long time. She took a deep breath and then exhaled.
"Well, it's about this thing that happened with Amity a few weeks ago"
There was a loud noise clattering of keys as Serena Thumblithe practically barged through the front door of her apartment, struggling to maintain her balance, a stack of papers in one hand, keys in the other, while also a carrying a plastic bag of groceries between her teeth. She closed the door behind her with her left leg, before wobbly hopping across toward the kitchen on her remaining foot, looking ready to topple over at the smallest infraction.
"Do you need some help with that?"
Serena froze on the spot, one foot raised in the air, the plastic bag still dangling her mouth as she turned her head toward her living room, to see a hooded individual seating comfortably at her dinner table. A long spike coated staff was resting against the edge table; a number of dead insects, rodents and even small birds were impaled on the spikes of the staff, hanging lifelessly.
For a moment, Serena and the hooded figure stared at one another. Then suddenly, Serena planted both her feet firmly on the ground and straightened herself. She calmly placed her keys on the kitchen counter and then removed the bag of groceries from her mouth, placing them down as well. She then neatly organized the stack of papers she had been carrying and tucked them under her arm, before walking toward the table with complete poise and confidence, sitting down opposite the hooded figure.
"No, thanks, I got it" she said, perfectly assured.
"Why do you continue with that performance of yours even when no one else is around?" the hooded figure asked.
"Method acting." Serena answered with a shrug. She leaned back in her seat as she stared at the hooded figure coolly. "Why do you always keep your hood up when we meet? I've seen your face already"
"Security blanket" the hooded figure replied.
"So, why are you here?" Serena said with a tried sigh, crossing her arms. "As if I needed to ask"
"I just wanted to review this evening's activities with you." the hooded figure said, while idly scratching at a corner of the table with one of their long nails. "Unless I am mistaken, you were supposed to approach Professor Blight with the formula, not his daughter."
"I've been having difficulty getting close to him." Serena said. "I thought maybe by making friends with his daughter, that would make it easier to get to him, but once I saw her understanding of his research, I realized she might make a better substitute"
"And was she?"
Serena groaned slightly. "I couldn't confirm anything yet, because the Wild Witch interfered" she said with a note of impatience. "And unless I am mistaken, you were supposed to keep her busy tonight"
"It seems like things were a little more unpredictable, than I had….predicated" the hooded figure said, a wry smile just visible beneath their hood. "Truth be told, I am rather pleased with how things turned out. It was quite a performance"
"We were conducting an experiment, not a talent show" Serena said, unamused.
"We can do both" the hooded figure replied, a little defensively, casually flicking away a piece of wood from underneath their nail.
"The entire point of a controlled experiment is to restrict any external influence." Serena said, sternly. "Throwing in new variables changes the outcome, making the results inconclusive. Now I can't be sure if Amity is a good enough candidate or not"
"But we can also learn more than what we initial intend when new variables arise. " the hooded figure replied coolly. "It's only when things are at their most chaotic are their true natures exposed
"And what exactly did you learn?" Serena asked, dryly.
"That things are about to get a lot more…chaotic" the hooded figure, said with another wicked smile.
Serena rolled her eyes and threw her hands up. "Look, we are partners in this. So, you know that we need one another. If you could do this without me, you would. We need to follow a real plan rather than just see what happens"
A bird flew in from the opened window and landed on the hooded figure's staff, carrying a small mouse in its beak. The bird they impaled the mouse onto one of the spikes, leaving it there to dangle with the rest of the collection of dead prey. The bird they turned to the hooded figure and squawked loudly.
"Oh, fine, fine. I was only teasing." the hooded figure replied, waving a dismissive hand at the bird. "But all in all, I think you were right to use Amity instead of her father. In fact, I think she will be the perfect candidate, one way or the other.
"I still think we need another test to be sure" Serena said.
"We can get to that later. " the hooded figure said, stroking the head of the bird. "We have other prospects to investigate as well"
Serena cleared her throat and leaned forward on the table. "And what about the Wild Witch? You still haven't told me what the plan is regarding her"
"She has her role to play." the hooded figure said, picking up their staff from the table. They then plucked one of the small rodents from the staff and examined it between their fingers for a moment. "While it may continue to squirm, this meat is caught on our hook. It just has yet to realize that it's already dead"
The hooded figure dug one of their long nails into the neck of the rodent, small trickle of blood pouring out. They then tossed the dead rodent into their mouth, eating whole without a second thought.
Serena stared blankly at the hooded figure as they pulled another dead mouse from their staff and brought it up to their mouth. The hooded figure then paused as they noticed Serena looking them. With their mouth half opened, the hooded figure seemed to hesitate for a brief moment, glancing between Serena and the rodent in their hand, before offering the dead animal to her in what might have been a sincere and polite gesture.
"Think I'll just have a coffee" Serena said tiredly, taking the excuse to get up from the table.