The single light in the dark room flickered, a small hum and crackle ing from the bulb. Two hooded men stood together, speaking in hushed voices. Both of them checked their watches nearly at the same time befng towards a door. A heartbeat ter it slid open, a third man stepping inside and shutting it behind him. His expression was grim. He crossed the room slowly, pulling out an earpied slipping it into his ear as he came to a stop. His hair was short and gleamed a bit silver in the dim light. Dark red eyes turned betweewo men.
“I have an update,” He said quietly, “Information that o make it back to the Headmaster.”
The two men g one another and nodded, “What do you have for us, Tenure?”
The tenured professor of the Night Society nodded and reached for a satchel slung over his shoulder. He pulled a tablet out ae to the two of them, “Liberty put out an order just a few ho to begin assembling for an attao immediate word oarget area but I suspect it is one of the hero camps, likely the ohat her sister is training at, we could be moving within the few hours at the minimum,” The Professor said and one of the hooded men took the tablet, examining the text on the s carefully.
“So soon! She’s sending members of the round table?” The man holding the tablet asked in a hushed voice, “Four? That’s a sizeable portion of the team guarding her,” He added and turo the other hooded man, “What do you think? Is this our opportunity?”
The sean crossed his arms, “The Headmaster will want this informatiardless, it is his decisioher or not we strike during the attack or not,” He began, “Though something feels off, what ged that she decided to move so aggressively? A strike against the camps was something we sidered but dedig this much force to the attaes across as overkill.”
“She wants to be certain,” The Professor said, “The mole that she ied into the camp has not met their deadlihey will be killed along with the rest.”
The two hooded men looked up, “A mole?”
They looked at one another before looking back at him, the one holding the tablet gnced down at it again before looking up at him, “There’s no information on a mole in here, are you certain?”
“I’m positive,” The Professor said with a callous smile. His eyes lit up with a ruby glow as he took a casual step back, “She told me herself.”
The man holding the tablet threw it to the ground and leaped back several feet, reag for his knife, “Damn it! Flicker! Get us out-”
The sed hooded ma out a garbled shriek of pain, red sparks of electricity rag over hid body as his body twitched and vulsed, his eyes rolling bato his head. He took a sudden sharp breath and seized, colpsing to the ground as whatever was keeping him elevated gave out beh him. The first man threw his hood back revealing a middle aged man with dark hair and a mosutache, “Tenure, Sir! What oh are you thinking? This is madness! You know what she’s capable of better than anyone!”
“That’s the point, adjunct,” The Professor said in a onotoilting his head to the right, “Isn’t that obvious?”
The adjunct scowled at him as he tried to get up, his movements sluggish, like he was trying tht himself in water, “How long has it been Professor?” The adjunct demanded.
“Very early,” The Professor said with a sigh, “I kept feeding accurate but ultimately useless information to the members that sided with me,” He scratched his ned tilted his head, “Oh, and please call me Sir Halloway, now.”
The door opened behind Halloway and a dozen men with guns stormed inside, raising their ons to point them at the three men before turning their attention to focus owo men on the ground. Flicker jolted and twitched, trying again to use his ability but only managing to cause his body to twist and bend in ways that a human’s really shouldn’t. He let out a cry of pain and fell onto the ground again, both legs broken a. He opened his mouth to scream but received a bullet in his forehead for his trouble.
Halloway lowered the gun, “What a noisy assassin,” He sighed before turning on his heel, looking away from the adjund bowing at his waist, “My Lady.”
“Well done, Sir Halloway,” A cruel voice came from the doorway. A tall shadow slipped into the room, blue eyes glowing shtly they cast a shadow over her face. She wore a suit of heavy armor that gleamed and glittered, portions of it illuminated by some strange force. In her right hand was a sword, her left, a shield. She stalked into the room with heavy footfalls that sounded more like thunder in the fined space. Her blonde hair fell down around her face as she ehe faint light. She looked down on the adjunct who stared up at her, his expression hard. “That should be the st of the unaligned spies in my midst,” She snarled, “At least in the main pound. How many does that make for my off-brand Night Society?”
Halloway stepped back a bit and raised his hand to his heart, “Thirty six agents, Leader.”
Liberty gowards him but said nothing, just houghtfully. She turned back to the adjunct with a sneer before reag down and grabbing him by the throat. She lifted him off the ground and held him there, he struggled, his weight pulling down against his spine, his eyes bulged and he reached frantically for his throat. Her lips twitched a little, “How sad, an adjunct of the Night Society made to fret and scramble for his breath so easily. It seems that even the death dealers fear it in the end, how human,” She said coldly as she squeezed until there was a noisy pop. She dropped the corpse to the ground. She turowards a frowning Halloway, “We have enough and your betrayal will color any attempts at versioer to liberate him now rather than ter,” She sighed, putting a hand on the man’s shoulder.
He nodded, “Yes, leader.”
She tilted her head, “You’ve earned your p the Round Table, kneel, Halloway.”
He did as instructed immediately, dropping to a knee and pressing his knuckles to the hard grouh him. He bowed his head as a bde rested on his shoulder. “I am here to serve, Leader.”
“As it should be, you are better than those beasts out there and have finally found yhtful pce. I have chosen to reward you for that, despite your heretical in, be grateful for my mercy,” She intoned. He bowed his head further and she raised the sword up to rest on his other shoulder, “I gain power from my followers, every one adds to my strength. I have learned a lot about my abilities, Halloway, thanks to your insights. My Round Table be more than just titles,” She said proudly and a light began to gleam on her on, “I spread that power that I have acquired out, give it back. So I will do so with you first.”
“You honor me,” He said as the light began to seep into his body.
“I dub thee Sir Halloway, Knight of my Round Table. Take noortion of my strength a power your ability, bee strong, and be my tool against the Pandora ittee,” She anded.
He looked up at her, a smile on his face, “I am honored.”
She sheathed her on and turned away, marg towards the door. He got to his feet as the men around him set to work ing up the bodies. With two quick steps he was just behind her, walking in silence. She gnced his way and then looked back at the path in front of her. The crete buildings of the pound stretched out ahead of them as they stepped out of the alley, “e,” She ordered as they made their way along the path before turning on to the main route, heading towards the core building where the rest of the Round Table waited.
“Did you see the broadcast?” He asked, slipping io her and giving her a hard look.
“I did,” She said with a thoughtful frown before turning a cold look on Halloway, “What are your thoughts?”
“While Sonya ovna is an annoyance she is ultimately nothing more than a pilr of the Pandora ittee and is currently at the target locatioe all public discourse to the trary, killing her would send the Pandora ittee into a tailspin,” He said ftly, “Ishtar is a far greater threat. She is genuinely powerful and quite real despite all evideo the trary,” He said, rubbing his thoughtfully, “She also poses a philosophical threat to yrace.”
“Excuse me?” Liberty growled, turning on him, “What do you mean, Philosophical Threat?”
“I was told through a tact that it ossible that our new headmaster ut in pce by Ishtar but there was nothing to genuinely prove his words, so I opted for a wait-and-see approach. Ishtar is a powerful supervilin, ma’am, and she reigns over the underworld with an iron fist, keeping order and holding vilins who go wild atable but otherwise seems to preach simir teo your own faith,” Halloway said with a tap to his , “She es across as both more le and more stri ways that are appealing.”
“She could attract potential recruits that should be going to me,” Liberty nodded, “I see your point,” She crossed her arms as they walked into the building. “Then I know what I o do,” She said with a breath and go the left, “I’m putting you in charge of the raid. You will atta twelve hours.”
Halloway bli her, “I- Yes ma’am.”
“You are to kill everyo the camp, leave no stourhere will be trainees in the duhere. Do your best to press it as close to breaking as possible but don’t sacrifice round-table lives to do so,” She said with a scoff. He nodded and read between the lihe other cultists were fio sacrifice, though. “What’s our progress on Chairman Phan?” She asked.
“We’re in position,” Halloway said with a nod, “We’ll move on your order.”
“Have it happen just before the attack,” She said, “Don’t leave any time to react, have we firmed that Bck Lotus is still suspended?” She asked.
“Yes ma’am, her personality indicates that while she is proo rash a when there are minor sequences on the lihe likelihood of pletely losing her Hero Lise will hold her back from ag uhings get serious, if she is pushed, she will move,” Halloway said.
Liberty nodded and rubbed her with a gaued finger as they walked down the carpeted path, past armuards, “I’ll send Dame Kant with you to deal with her,” She ted on her fingers once before narrowing her eyes, “Sir Ewen for Axel, his red magic will be more than enough,” She tilted her head, “And sneak Sir Ellis in with the initial attag wave so he get close while pretending to be a grunt,” She hummed a little, “Yes, he’ll be optimal for dealing with Rouge if your intelligence about her abilities is correct.”
“She uses music, I’m certain of it,” Halloway said with a nod.
Liberty let out a breath, “Very well, do you think that your ability will be able to aplish what we to?” She asked, giving him a sidelong look as they reached the apex of the hall ihe main building.
“Yes ma’am, nothing will-” He was cut off as the doors to the outside flew open and they both gnced back towards the entryway. Halloway’s lips curled with disgust as he took a step back from the monstrosity that lurched its way inside, grabbing one of the armuards and hurling him past a stoic Liberty. The woman crossed her arms and wrinkled her nose as she watched the humanoid… thing lurch to a stop and look up at her. It was nearly twenty feet tall with grayish flesh that seemed to bend and twist however it needed, perhaps he was made of some sort of bsp;
Liberty’s lip twitched, “Oscar Ferguson,” She sighed, “You finally made it out of the hole I left you in,” She said, raising her eyebrows and looking down on the freak.
Halloway gnced her way, “You know this thing?”
“Yes, he’s teically a member,” She said cooly, watg the nightmarish thing twist and adjust its body to try to move in the fines of the building.
The horrible misshapen man turned his head towards Liberty, his face looked like it was loosely carved from flesh and mud, it was barely human. It bore misshapen malformed teeth and bellowed, “Stel! You have run your father’s good o the dirt for too long! I challenge you for leadership of the fellowship!” He bellowed, smming his palms onto the ground, the entire building shook.
“ he do that?” Halloway asked.
“Yes of course,” She muttered, stepping away from Halloway, “He’s a member, though I haven’t called the order a fellowship in a while,” She said and began walking doweps, “More importantly, he’s strong, so he gets a say.”
Halloway frowned, “How strong?”
“Mythic, He’s the Golem,” Liberty said and in one smooth motion drew her sword from its sheath as she returo the ter of the room. She crossed one arm behind her bad poihe sword in the dire of Oscar, “I accept, Oscar.”
The titani turned on her, his body literally coiling in preparation for the strike. “STELLA!” He bellowed, “DIE!” He raised his fists into the air.
“Halloway! Do you know the differeween Freedom and Chaos?” She shouted as she watched the massive man ready for his attack.
“No ma’am! Please enlighten me!” He called.
“EVIL BITCH!” Ferguson roared, his body expanding in size until he could barely fit into the building before he literally threw his enormous bulk at her, his cy-like body turning into hundreds of stony spikes that gleamed like metal. She frowned as she watched the attae towards her and lowered her sword, she sighed and held out a hand.
BOOOOM!
Ferguson’s uling face frowned, sculpted eyebrows knitting together in fusion before he let out a grunt of surprise as his body was lifted into the air, one foot, two feet, then three as somethih his massive bulk hoisted him into the air and then without ceremony threw him straight through the ceiling and outer wall of the building. He took a portion of the structure with him in a terrible crash as he hurtled through the air and nded bodily in the middle of the open square that made up the heart of the pound.
He swiveled his head as his cy-like body ignored most of the impact damage, he narrowed his eyes when a shadow stepped out of the damaged main building. His eyes widened and he bellowed, “STELLA!” He roared and threw his arms up, abs the ruined portions of structure beh him and growing rger, rger, rger, increasing in size to his maximum height. He was hundreds of feet tall now, a titan of his ht. If anyone could take her-
A flicker of silver light was all he saw before a wave of cussive force carved his body in half. Not even enough time for a half-sahought as his brain, spine, and internal ans were eviscerated.
Halloway hurried through the crushed front end of the building, gng back at the now exposed main hall as other members of the round table hurried out to see what was going oopped when he saw Liberty standing there, her on at her side and her head turo look over her shoulder, “Chaos is freedom without ao uphold,” She said coldly and turned away from the four hundred foot tall corpse, sliding her bde into its scabbard as she stalked past him, “I am your ideal,” She growled, “Have one of the heads of stru take over disassembling the corpse and use it to rebuild the main hall. Do what you want with the rest,” She said. “I have a broadcast to host.”
