Young Writers Society

Ilias was tired of being stuck in a room with a small guy in a neon colored wizard's hat. As they both decided that sitting in a classroom would be boring, they went to training. But since the lockdown and the blaring sounds, he felt claustrophobic. It didn't help that he heard an explosion. It also didn't help that said guy and his partner were looking for him with bloodthirsty intent. Nevermind justice, if they found out he'd be shot on site. But it was interesting that some things that you search for are right there in front of you, speaking to you and occasionally insulting and annoying you. He paced back and forth in the room from one side to the other.

"If you keep pacing, there's going to be a 6 ft line by the time that this is done. Good thing is I won't have to dig the graves if anyone's dead." Mid quipped from the ceiling.

"How much longer will we be stuck in here?" Ilias asked.

"Until the threat is deemed clear and done."

"Can we pull a spy movie and get into the air ducts?" There was one such air duct above Ilias and a few feet to his right.

"Oh! Like pulling a Skids!"

"What?" Ilias paused his pacing for a second, looking perplexed.

"Nevermind. But the point is, these airducts are sectioned off. You won't get far."

"Is there anything that we can do to get out?"

"Well, unless you can smash through very solid walls, not really."

Ilias found a small table to drag over and stand on. He removed the plate of the duct and looked into it.

He was greeted by a bread roll to the face. He blinked, surprised. The bread roll rolled away, revealing Mari. She put a finger to her lips and looked past Ilias at Mid. Then she softly tapped out,

Intruder. Assassin. You or director.

Go to director. I'll be fine. Thank you. He tapped back. Him or the director. He really just couldn't get a break, could he?

She nodded and crawled away.

"What's so interesting up there?" Mid asked. "Have the pearl pigeons returned to roost in the ducts?"

"Well, I see metal, and I'm pretty sure I see the dividers. It looks like they've been cut though. They aren't supposed to have a big gaping hole, right?"

"No, that's about as unusual as me not talking." Mid peered down towards the ducts. "Well, mah dear Watson, only one way to solve this mystery!" He pulled out a neon blue deerstalker from nowhere and replaced his wizard hat with it.

"You've got to tell me where you're getting those hats."

Mid waggled his eyebrows. "A pocket dimension. No biggie. Now, sidekick, onward and upward! To find the duct-muncher!"

"Are you coming with?" Ilias asked, debating how to get in the duct without looking ridiculous. Then he got in the vents, going in the opposite direction of Mari.

"Do you think the Magnificent Midnightravenguard the Glorious would turn down such an intriguing adventure? Of course I'm coming!" And with that, he strolled over to the grate and hopped down into it.

"Great. Let's find out where this goes." Ilias replied, crawling forward.

Mid crawled on the ceiling of the duct. He started humming a catchy tune. "Bop dee bee bop doo doo... Crawling in an air duct, me 'n' you..."

"Please tell me that isn't an actual song."

"'Air Duct' by the Enthusiastic Emeralds," Mid said with a straight face. "A minor hit in some areas of the astral plane. Bap bee dee doo doo bap... Shuffle along, stomp and clap..."

"Interesting." Well, they definitely were being the opposite of sneaky. The grate they were passing showed a lab. People were slumped in various positions, looking like they had abruptly fallen asleep. Ilias paused to look, squinting.

"Helloooooooooo!" Mid called. No one stirred.

"This isn't normal, right?"

"Nopity nope. Last I checked, it wasn't 'Take a Nap at Work Day.'" Mid stuck out his tongue at the sleepers.

"Great. Onwards we go. These guys aren't going anywhere."

"Onwards, upwards, downwards, sidewards, wards words wyrds." Mid hummed as he continued along the duct.

The gravity suddenly flipped, and Ilias found himself lying on what was the top of the vent. Mid fell (was lifted?) to the bottom of the vent. He continued humming, seemingly unconcerned. Ilias turned around and continued crawling. Eventually, the laser cut dividers ended, and there was a single grate. Ilias opened it and slipped out.

Mid followed, doing a somersault in mid-air before landing with a soft thump. He glanced around and whistled. "So, the void way?"

"It appears so. Now what?"

"Now we chase the void of sound and go round and round to where silence abounds."

"In layman terms that even celebrities can understand?"

"Find the strange quiet." Mid pointed into the air, twirled a bit, then pointed down an empty hallway.

"Make it more obvious Mid."

"We hunt down the intruder." Mid tapped his deerstalker.

"Uh huh. And how do you intend that we do so?"

"Go the void way." Mid marched down the corridor he'd pointed to.

Ilias just groaned, and dramatically crumpled to the floor. "You're killing me with nonsense."

"Ah, just wait until you see me on a Fried Day. Fried clams and oysters for miles." Mid skipped down the wall. Ilias picked himself up off the ground and followed, jogging a little to catch up.

There was a bang from the room next to them. Mid froze. It was the director's office.

The door opened, and a short person strolled out. Their brown eyes flicked between Mid and Ilias, then lingered on Ilias. The upper half of their face was covered in a mask, but their manic grin was quite visible. Ilias instinctively locked into a position of stiff and ready to fight.

But the person simply fluttered their fingers in a cheeky goodbye and darted down the hall.

Mid rushed into the room. Ilias followed him instead of the assassin. It wasn't him, this time. Only Darkness knew about next time.

Inside the room, Director Pan's blue eyes stared vacantly at the ceiling. There were signs of a fight, but it appeared to have been brief. Mid stood there, silent and motionless, as if someone had frozen time just for Mid.

Ilias just stood there silently for a second. Then he went over and closed the former director's eyes before going back over to Mid, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

Mid stared at Director Pan--no, at his sister. His gaze was as vacant as hers had been in death.

They stood in silence for a minute. Then emotion came crashing down on Mid, and he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face. His tears spoke volumes more than any words he could have said. Ilias just was there, with him, being a shoulder to lean on.

Finally, the sound voices and footsteps from down the hall grew louder. Mid hastily wiped the tears from his face. A security team entered the room.

"We heard a gunshot..." The leader trailed off as he took in the scene. His face grew grim. "An assassin," he gritted out.

Mid just nodded, not looking back at the security team. His eyes were glued on his sister's corpse.

Efficiently, the security team started to cordon off the crime scene. One of them tapped Ilias on the shoulder. They sounded slightly apologetic as they asked whether he had any more information on the assassination.

He gave them the description of the assassin, refusing to leave Mid's side. Mid had stopped sobbing, but now he was stonily silent, and somehow that was worse. Much worse. Ilias decided that it was his mission to stick with Mid.

The security team called more people, who came to photograph and analyze the crime scene. During the time it took to document the death of the director and write up a preliminary assessment of the crime, Mid said nothing.

Convenient time for Agent Potash to show up. She strode into the room, took one look at Mid, and tossed a garishly silver wizard hat at him. He grabbed it, and stared at it for a few times before looking up at her. He made a sound somewhere between a hiccup, a sob, and a laugh.

Agent Potash looked almost sorry for a moment as she turned to Ilias and said, "Take him to his room. Make sure he eats and stays hydrated." Then she got to business and began discussing the crime with a member of the security team.

Ilias just nodded, and started coaxing Mid to stand up. "Come on. I've got orders to see through."

Mid kept clutching the wizard hat. His mouth opened and closed as if trying to form words, but then he simply nodded weakly and staggered to his feet. Ilias led him out of the room, and stood in the hall for a second to get his bearings before leading Mid to the right. Mid followed him quietly, worrying the edge of the hat with his fingertips.

They reached Mid's room, which unlike Ilias', was decorated. Ilias would look later. For now, he led Mid to his bed. Mid sank into the hot pink blanket and promptly collapsed backwards onto the mattress. Ilias went over to the kitchen, and searched for food. There was a banana as well as some mangoes on the counter. Ilias grabbed the banana, and found a bottle of water. He took it over to Mid.

Mid had been staring at the ceiling, but he glanced over at Ilias when he returned and attempted a smile. It wobbled and became more of a shy frown. The expression did not suit Mid. Ilias just sort of awkwardly watched in silence, his brain spinning as he tried to think of something to do.

Mid coughed, then whispered, "You can go. I'll be okay." He patted the tacky silver wizard hat. "Wizanda here will keep me company."

"No pulling stupid stuff, yeah?"

Mid nodded. "When have I ever?" He attempted a smirk. "Don't answer that."

"You know where my room is. Visit if you need to." Ilias smiled back, and exited the room.

Mari hadn't thought it was possible to feel worse than when she'd had to assassinate the child of a real estate tycoon, but seeing Mid's reaction to his sister's death came pretty close. She hunkered down in the vent until Ilias led Mid away.

As Mari crawled back to the lab, she wondered whether she should've intervened. One part of her reasoned that to intervene was essentially to cut off ties with her mother, and that was too much to risk for a practical stranger. The other part didn't know how she was ever going to face Mid again.

Would she have stopped Syrah if it were Ilias? Mari pressed her lips together. She didn't know, and that scared her.

She dropped down from the vent right as the first scientists were starting to stir awake again. She slumped against the counter next to Sammy and pretended to come to a minute later.

"What happened?" she asked, yawning.

"I'm not sure. A side effect of the explosion?" Sammy shook his head.

"Possibly," Mari agreed. She stood up carefully. "Are the doors still locked?"

Sammy got up, and opened the door successfully. "it appears so, yes."

"We should check on everyone else." Mari glanced outside. "Want to come with me to check on Ilias?" She wasn't sure why her first instinct was to talk to him. Maybe to reassure herself that he was still the same, even if a life could be snuffed out and another life turned silent because of a single flickering moment.

"Sure! Not everyday you get to meet your doppleganger." He replied cheerfully.

Mari laughed, perhaps a little louder than necessary. "That's for sure."

"Lead the way!"

They walked down the corridors towards the dorms, and Mari knocked on Ilias's door. After a few seconds the door opened. He looked between the two.

Mari glanced at Sammy. "So, this might get weird."

"Ilias! My famous doppelganger! It's an honor to meet you." Sammy grinned. Ilias just stared. Maybe they just broke him.

"...Ilias?" Mari waved a hand in front of his face. Was it the murder? But it wasn't like she could talk about it with Sammy there. Or was it Sammy himself?

He blinked. "Sorry, it's been a wild day. Nice to meet you my stunt double I've never met. Er, your name?"

"Samuel Lotus, but everyone calls me Sammy. And you're Ilias Ravioli, of course! I've followed your whole career. Your albums? Top tier music."

"Uh, pleasure to meet you Sammy." He smiled, although it looked a little forced.

Sammy's brow furrowed. "Is something wrong? Sorry if I'm coming across as an over-the-top fan. I'm also the head scientist here. Probably should have started with that."

"No it's not you. Come on in. You'll probably want to sit down for this one."

Mari exchanged a glance with Sammy, and then they walked into Ilias's room. Ilias shut the door and followed behind them.

In the kitchen, Mari pulled out chairs for Sammy and Ilias, then sat down herself. "So. We're seated."

"Well, I'm not one to beat around the bush." Ilias said as he sat down. "The director's dead."

Mari pretended to look shocked. Sammy sucked in a breath, then let it out in a woosh. "Director Pan?" he asked, as if there was another director.

"As far as I know there isn't another director."

Sammy nodded slowly, his face falling. "Another director, assassinated. Was it Skater again?" He said the name "Skater" with disgust.

Ilias shook his head. "No. The assassin wasn't wearing a wolf mask."

"Then who?" Mari noted how Sammy's fist clenched on the table. It appeared that he'd looked up to Director Pan, or at least respected her, to get this fired up about her death. A slight pang of regret struck Mari, but she brushed it away.

Ilias shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't heard of this assassin. Short, grins at you like a maniac cannibal looking at it's next meal."

"And you know that from experience?" Mari sat up higher.

"Unfortunately, yes." He shuddered.

If Syrah had grinned at Ilias like that... she shivered. That did not bode well. Next to her, Sammy looked concerned. He said, "Ilias, are you alright? That sounds like a terrifying situation to have been in."

"Fine. Mid's in a worse situation than me. At least my sibling isn't dead, to my knowledge."

This time, Mari was distracted from the guilt by Sammy. The scientist abruptly stood up, his chair scraping against the floor. Then he seemed to remember where he was and sat down again, flashing an apologetic smile at the other two. "I, uh, just remembered I forgot to do something at the lab. Ahem. You... you remember your sibling? I mean, you have a sibling?"

"My parents mentioned that I had one once." He nodded absent-mindedly.

Mari peered at Sammy. Sammy's attention was fully on Ilias. "They... Did they mention anything else about your sibling?" Mari leaned back in her chair. No. There was no way. This perfectly good, non-irritating scientist was Ilias's sibling? Mari could not see the resemblance. Well, other than the appearance, of course.

Ilias thought. "Just that he left, and they miss him. They didn't show me any pictures-"

Sammy stared at Ilias for a long moment, and Mari swore she could see tears forming in his eyes. "Ilias..." he choked out. "Little bro..."

Ilias gaped. And then pinched himself hard. A tear rolled down from the corner of one of his eyes. "I have got to be dreaming."

Sammy broke down into full-on sobs and reached across the table to hug Ilias. His story came out in fragments. "I hated the family business... All those eyes... didn't know how to leave... and then it was, it was just easier to not stay in contact... I'm sorry, so sorry..." He finally calmed down, though he was still holding Ilias in a near-death grip. "I didn't realize how much I missed you until I saw you in person."

Ilias also had him in a death grip, so Mari wasn't too worried. Tears silently fell from his wide-open eyes. Mari felt extremely like a third wheel.

The brothers hugged for another minute, and Mari wondered whether she should get tissues. She decided yes, she should, and so she wandered into the next room to secure a box, then placed it next to them. The two finally separated, and sat back down. Sammy blew his nose with a tissue. Ilias just wiped his tears away with his hand.

They spoke at the same time. Sammy said, "So how have you been? Besides what the public knows, which I've been following along with in detail."

"How's life been treating you as an agent? What stupid stuff has Mid pulled in your labs?"

Sammy stopped and laughed, and so did Ilias. "You can ask first. You said something about being an agent and Mid?"

"How's life been for you as the lead scientist? And what stupid stuff does Mid pull on you?" He asked again.

"Ohhh boy, those will take a while to answer. Being a scientist is great! There's no paparazzi following you around, you can spend hours alone in the lab whenever you want, but still talk with others when you're feeling more sociable... There's pressure to get results, but that's a different kind of pressure than being in the public eye." Sammy gradually stopped sniffling. "As for Mid's tricks? There are too many tales to tell, my dear little brother." He shook his head for a second, as if in disbelief that he could say that. "One highlight was when he tinted all the erlenmeyer flasks a beautiful, neon green. No one could use them for days, or if they did, they complained that it hurt their eyes."

Ilias laughed a genuine, happy laugh. Mari couldn't remember if she'd ever heard him laughing a non-sarcastic, non-faked laugh.

"Of course he did. As for the past few days, it's been pretty chaotic. I'd like to go at least a year without assassins at this point."

Sammy joined in on the laughter, his easy laugh combining with Ilias's to form a melody of mirth. "So would I, and so would the rest of the agency. But tell me-- how have you been? I've watched every single one of your interviews, but I'm sure there's more to the story."

"Not much really. Just the normal celebrity stuff. Visiting Mom and Dad every other sunday."

Sammy quieted. "You're a good son. A much better one than I was. How... how are Mom and Dad?"

"They're good. Still flinging insults and taking blows. If they saw where you were now, they'd be proud, trust me." He smiled.

Sammy started to tear up again. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

Mari had a feeling that they'd both forgotten she was in the room, but she was content to watch. It was like seeing a drama unfolding in real life. She did have a few things she wanted to check on, however...

Quietly, she slipped out of the room and went to find Agent Potash.



Agent Potash was in an office with her name to its side. Mari knocked on the clear quartz door. "Hey, Agent Potash. It's Mari."

"Come on in!" Potash called, sounding tired.

Mari opened the door and walked into the office. Potash's desk was on the left side, with stacks of papers organized neatly on it. There was a bookshelf pushed against the back of the room, next to some filing cabinets and a potted plant of a deep, healthy green. On the right side was a window showing the rest of the city.

"Walking around without any identification?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

Mari coughed. "These are, er, unusual circumstances, wouldn't you say? Circumstances in which it might be understandable if one forgets to bring one's identification on their way to visit a respected agent? Especially if one was never given identification in the first place?"

"Well, never fear. We got your idents today." Agent Potash slid 2 cards across her desk.

"Why does mine look like a cringy old yearbook photo?" Mari scrutinized her image. She was smiling awkwardly at the camera, and her black hair was lopsided.

"It's what we could get of you."

She harrumphed, then turned to Ilias's. She rolled her eyes. "And of course Ilias looks great. This is unfair."

"Well it is a lot easier to just pull an image of a celebrity from online than it is of a scientist."

"Eh. Fair enough." Mari slid the cards into her pocket. "Well, identification wasn't what I came here for. Ilias told me Director Pan was assassinated. Could you tell me more?" She made eye contact with Agent Potash.

"Well, it wasn't the explosion in the lab that caused you all to be knocked out. It seems you were gassed. But at the moment nothing is missing so we don't quite know why the lab was gassed. We are suspecting that it was Veilnom testing a new gas."

She should've expected that. The gas had been invented by her mother, actually, but she had made some improvements to it so that resistance could be selectively given to their employees. "I see. That is peculiar," Mari commented. "What about the assassin? Did you catch them?"

"They escaped. Unfortunately all cameras in the building were disabled somehow. That's the only thing we can't explain. They disabled the cameras but cut through the dividers."

"Huh." That was probably to gain access to locked rooms without making it obvious that they were broken into. Or possibly it was to confuse the investigators.

"Do you have any information that you're able to lend?"

Mari shook her head. "Sorry, I was knocked out along with the rest of the scientists."

"So you didn't see or hear anything peculiar?"

"I'm afraid not." Mari shrugged. "Unless you count this strange dream I had about sentient potatoes."

"Sentient- well, that follows the other scientists having strange dreams."

Mari nodded. That was one side effect of the gas. "So, do you suspect the assassin is Veilnom? Or Skater again? Or someone new?"

"For this assassination we're thinking Veilnom. How well do you know assassins? Do you think there's the possibility they'd work together? Veilnom and Skater?"

She hesitated for a moment. "Well, I only know what I see on the news. But they've never worked together before, have they? So why would they work together now?" It was rather humorous. How Mari and Ilias were supposed to be working together for this agency, and how their alter egos, who were completely innocent in this case, were suspected of doing the same.

"Good point." Agent Potash nodded.

"What would you like Ilias and me to work on?" Mari asked. Perhaps she could get a sense of how serious the hunt for Skater and/or Veilnom would be.

"I would like you to continue working with Sammy. As for Ilias, I might need to get him assigned to someone else if I'm busy. Mid will need time to mourn and recover." She fixed her posture.

"That I can do. And I hope that new person can put up with him without going insane." Mari briefly considered telling Agent Potash about Ilias and Sammy's revelation, but decided it was up to them how and when they told others. In any case, she suspected she wouldn't get much else out of Agent Potash for now. "Alright, thanks for the chat, Agent Potash. Have a good day, or, as good of a day you can make it in the aftermath of this tragedy."

"If I could catch a few assassins, my day would be terrific."

"Right. Absolutely!" Mari quickly waved goodbye and shut the door behind her as she left. Skater and Veilnom were in trouble, weren't they?

Emotionally, Midnight was swimming in pain. Like a vast sea of it, whose waves malevolently tossed him to and fro, never letting him catch his breath. He didn't have the willpower to stop himself from drowning. Ever since Ilias left he had uncontrollably cried, hugging the wizard hat Potash gave him. It was so unmanly that he would have felt ashamed if someone was watching him. It was bad enough when he saw his sister lying there-

No. No, he couldn't think about it now.

There was a businesslike knock on the door. Potash. He wiped the remaining tears, and took his time trudging over. He had just actually gotten up when Potash knocked again.

"Agent Midnight. Midnightravenguard the Glorious. I'm prepared to wait here for exactly ten min-"

Mid swung the door open. "Oh," Potash said. She strode in and took a seat at the table, eyeing him critically. "You... look about as expected. Sorry. That was likely unhelpful." She placed a basket on the table. It was full of fruits and nuts and other food, as well as water and another funny hat, a propeller cap this time.

As rude as she usually was, and how much she denied it, she did care. Midnight put on the propeller cap and flicked the propeller. He tried for a smile, but he was pretty sure he was wincing. "How does it look? Do you think I could fly away with a pretty lady?"

She scoffed. "You could get an inch off the floor, maybe. And I think you'll have to settle for this pink lady apple." Potash tossed the fruit at him. "Eat."

Midnight caught it, and took a small birdy bite out of it. In full honesty, he wasn't that hungry.

"One symptom of grief is the feeling of helplessness and a loss of purpose, which can lead to losing the will to take care of yourself," Potash lectured. "The agency can't afford that. Grieve, yes. But do it in a way that doesn't unnecessarily harm yourself. Understood?"

"Please, spare me the lecturing. I'm not feeling a loss of purpose. I need to be training Ilias." He set the apple down on the table with an eyeroll. "He made sure I was fed and hydrated when I got here."

"Good. Perhaps our new recruit is worth something, after all." Potash's dark eyes followed Mid across the room. She coughed lightly. "If you... need to talk, I'm here. I'm not assuming you'd want to talk to me, but as your partner, I felt that I should make the offer, at least."

"Thanks, Potash. Seriously."

Potash gave him a brusque nod. She lingered for a moment longer, then said, "I need to get back to work. The paperwork... You don't want to hear about it. See you tomorrow, Agent Midnight?"

"Yes, I will still be physically existing tomorrow Agent Potash."

"Good. I hope you mentally and emotionally exist as well."

"I'll work on that tonight as I sleep."

Agent Potash nodded, then took her leave. The sea was calming down. Land nor ship was nowhere in sight, but he'd find some eventually. Eventually.

When Sammy woke up, he was practically buzzing with happiness. It was like a colony of bees had taken up residence in him, and he just wanted to shower honey on everyone around. He'd finally spoken to his brother, for the first time in twenty three years! Twenty... three... years...

The length of time hit him like a toppled beehive. He started to regret staying away so long for the hundredth time, but it was difficult to send messages from the astral plane to the physical one, and... and... well. Those were all excuses for being a coward. Sammy covered his face with his blankets, then abruptly threw them off again. He would simply try to make the most of the rest of the time he had with his brother.

He'd meet with his brother in the afternoon. For now, he had to get to the lab. Sammy tried to ignore the small part of his brain that said, "Yet again, science takes precedence over family." He was meeting with family today, wasn't he?

When he got to the lab, Mari was already there, sitting on a countertop humming. She brightened up when she saw him. "So, how did the rest of the brotherly reunion go? Looks like you two were getting along as well as a cation and an anion. Honestly surprised that you walked in here without Ilias."

"Good! We are planning to meet later in the day."

Mari grinned. "Send my best regards to Ilias then, as well as congratulations for managing not to annoy one person."

"-managing not to annoy one person?" He asked, confused.

"Yes. So far, he's gotten on my and Agent Potash's nerves. Mid is harder to read, but I bet Ilias has found a way to frustrate even him. Actually, I probably shouldn't be badmouthing Ilias. He's a decent fellow sometimes. Maybe with your influence he can become a decent fellow for more of the time."

Sammy laughed. "I may be nice, but he's my brother and I'm sure I can make him swallow a large chunk of decency."

"Wonderful." Mari smirked and hopped off the counter. "Well, I do love a good chit-chat, but we were going to go to Garnet-13 to analyze the site of the explosion today, correct?"

"Yes! We're going right now." Sammy grabbed a briefcase from a cabinet.

Mari selected one container of the powder sample and placed some equipment into a crate. She found a wheeled contraption from somewhere (probably a supply closet) and placed the crate on it. "You can put the briefcase on top!"

"I'll stick with carrying the briefcase, thank you!" He replied with a smile.

"Suit yourself. Is it a time travel machine or something?" Mari wheeled the crate of equipment plus the sample out of the lab.

"What? What gives you that idea?"

"Well, you preferred to hold it, which means it's fragile, precious, dangerous, or all three. A time travel machine fits the bill."

"I wish." He laughed, sincere. All the damage he could undo...

"Yeah, me too." Mari gave a short laugh, then called a cab outside. The driver was draped in a fluffy green blanket and was wearing a fedora hat. They tipped the hat at Mari and Sammy as they got in.

"Garnet-13 please." Sammy told him.

He nodded cheerily. "Sure thing! Didja hear of the explosion there recently? It's all over the news. Might be tough to get access."

"Don't worry. We're superheroes, and my superpower is being where I'm not supposed to be," Mari said with a straight face.

"Trust me, we'll get there just fine. I'm the superheroes trusty sidekick." Sammy told the cabby cheerfully.

The cabby chortled. "Alright then, folks. I'll be the side character who gives the superhero and her sidekick a ride."

Sammy grinned.

At Garnet-13, Mari tipped the driver heavily, then rolled the contraption with the crate and sample out of the cab. "So. Where to? Ilias and I heard the explosion, but we were mainly focused on, y'know, running for our lives."

"Well, to the source of the explosion of course."

"Alright, sidekick, lead the way."

"Of course superhero!" Sammy started walking. He'd seen a map before leaving, so he knew the approximate location of the explosion. He glanced over at Mari. Returning to the scene of the crime might be traumatic for her. Thankfully, she seemed alright so far. He'd have to be extra careful to keep an eye on her mood, in case something did trigger some trauma.

Besides, dealing with other people's emotions were not his specialty. He tended to go with the flow, and intervening with words of comfort... well, he never really knew whether what he said was helpful or not.

They reached the site of the explosion after around fifteen minutes of walking. Some of the destruction looked like what had happened in the lab. There was a green powder dusted across the twisted chunks of metal and crystal. Mari quickly scraped a sample into an empty container, probably so they could analyze and compare them later.

Sammy put his hands on his hips. "So. Clearly a larger amount of fluid was used here. The blast radius... I'd estimate twenty feet."

Mari nodded. "The explosion did sound quite large. Also, I need to use the restroom."

That was an abrupt change in topic. Sammy looked at Mari, but she looked sincere and otherwise as usual. "Well, I'm sure you can find a bathroom easily in any of these buildings, no promises that the plumbing works."

She nodded a quick thanks and walked off. Sammy bent down to examine the explosion more closely. How fascinating... of course it was destructive and terrible, especially if this were to happen in a populated area. But it was entirely new! No one alive knew exactly how it worked, just that movement caused it to explode. And there was nothing that intrigued Sammy more than a seemingly-unsolvable problem.

He unpacked some of the equipment Mari had brought in the crate. He got to work photographing the scene and collecting more samples. Time passed, and he hardly noticed when Mari returned.

"It looks like there was some kind of fight between Skater and someone here," she said breathlessly. "I was coming back from the restroom and I saw this tree, and Skater's mask, and, y'know what, you should see it for yourself."

Sammy scrambled to his feet. This was something he had to see. "Gladly."

Mari led him to the site. There was a drooping pomegranite tree there. Shaded under its stony branches, barely visible, was Skater's signature wolf mask. Nearby were smudges of chemical substances and blood stains.

Sammy picked up Skater's mask. The mask of the person he most despised. "With the amount of blood here, either one person was severely wounded, or two people had a really good fight. It seems to all have came from one person though."

Mari frowned at the chemical stains and the pattern of blood. "Skater would have taken his mask if he'd won the fight." She looked troubled for some reason, but she continued her analysis. "Seeing as there are no bodies, it's possible that he was severely wounded but not wounded enough to prevent him from escaping."

"But wouldn't someone have taken the mask? At least have grabbed it as he ran off. That had to have happened before, and we've never heard of him losing it before. Is it possible his opponent could have taken the body? Maybe to keep it, maybe bury it, maybe it was dissolved with chemicals?" He frowned as he continued to stare at the mask. He could almost imagine Skater's silver eyes staring at him. The fact he had grey eyes that were similar to this killers, eugh. He shuddered. Made him wish that he had the courage to take out his own eyes. Something wasn't adding up here.

Mari walked around the fight scene to see it from another angle. "I doubt such a skilled assassin as Skater would have died this easily. This could have been staged. Someone wanted others to see Skater's mask. But who?"

"You're right. We should take pictures and samples." Sammy put the mask in his bag, and pulled out containers.

Mari squinted at the patches of chemicals, a frown on her face. But when she noticed Sammy looking over, she put on a neutral expression. Curious. "Did the agency investigate this place earlier?"

"It wasn't here when they were." He shook his head. "Is there something about the chemicals that you'd like to share?"

She hesitated. "These chemicals... Well, not all of them are harmful. Some are simply pigments used for color. Why..."

She was right. "Curious. Collect samples of them anyways."

Mari nodded and did so. Eventually they had samples of around five different substances in small containers. They also had 5 different samples of blood from different spots. Just to make sure.

"Alright, extra fieldtrip is done. Let's get back to the main one."

Sammy followed Mari away from the site, casting one last troubled glance at the scene.



Once getting back to the agency, they immediately headed to Assistant Director Poutine's office. Sammy dropped Skater's mask on her desk.

Assistant Director Poutine looked like she had been attacked by a raccoon. Her dyed-blue hair was sticking up in unruly tufts and she had severe dark circles under her eyes. "...Skater's mask. Does this happen to come with an explanation?"

"We found it on Garnet-13, where the assassination took place. There were blood stains and chemicals on the ground nearby." Mari pointed to the samples they'd brought.

"Which means there's the possibility that he's off licking his wounds, dead. Or it could have been staged. There were a few things that were... off." Sammy glanced at Marisol.

"Yes. Some chemicals wouldn't have been used for harm. And as Sammy noticed, why would Skater's mask have been left behind?"

"Exactly. And there was no body. Who would leave the mask instead of taking it as spoils of war? Well, not really a war but you get the gist."

"Mmmmmmmm," said Assistant Director Poutine. She steepled her fingers. "Mmmmmmmmmm."

"Congrats, we've landed on microwave AD Poutine." Sammy told Marisol.

Mari raised an eyebrow. "Lovely. What's she cooking up in there?"

"Well, you can't see inside, so you don't really know until it's done."

"Hmm. There's no metal in there, right? Would hate for the microwave to catch on fire."

That was an excellent question, one he did not have the answer to. AD Poutine continued humming.

Finally, she made a sound that was uncannily microwave ding-like and slapped her hands on the desk. "Marisol, Sammy-- work with the lab to track down the source of the chemicals. Send a field agent team there, but keep in mind it may be a trap. We'll keep things quiet for now."

"Cool." Sammy put the mask back in his bag, and walked out. AD Poutine resumed her microwave humming sound as Mari followed Sammy out the door.

"Keep it quiet for now eh?"

"Why do I get the feeling it'll be easier to drown a fish in water than to keep things quiet?" Mari commented.

"Well depending on the fish, it would be much easier. Just take a salt water and put it in fresh water. Or vice versa." Sammy replied.

Mari pondered the response as they walked towards the lab. "Does that count as drowning?"

"I mean, it does kill them. I'm not a biologist."

"Neither am I. I think we'll leave fish-drowning to the biologists and stick to tracing these chemical samples." Mari pushed open the door to the lab. "Now then. How much time do we have before you meet with your brother?"

Sammy looked down at his astralwatch. "I've got 2 hours."

"Excellent. Let's get started."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ilias was sore, but he didn't mind it that much. Except for the fact that Mid was completely focused on their training. It was weird being left with no silly quips from him. He was wearing a little propeller hat though. They trained, but it was more like Ilias training how to act like he had no real fighting experience whatsoever. He had been whacked with a wooden pole too many times today. As of now, he continued to lay on the floor.

Mid leaned over him. "You're getting better. Again?" His expression was uncharacteristically serious.

"Nope. I've got to meet someone in an hour. I'm pretty sure they don't want to see me all sweaty and bruised." He huffed.

Mid sat down next to Ilias. "Okay." He simply looked at Ilias for a minute, although it was more like that glazed look when you're staring at something but thinking of something else.

"One more round." He sighed, and stood up. He hated seeing that broken look in people.

Mid shook himself slightly and nodded. He rose and twirled his wooden pole, adopting a ready stance.

Ilias got into the stance Mid taught him. It wasn't the best one, and left his right side open to attacks. But he'd change that later.

Mid lunged forwards. He feinted towards Ilias's left, then aimed at Ilias's right side. As he had done this already, Ilias pretended to learn, and he blocked Mid's strike, then jabbed forward with his wooden stick. Mid managed to block the strike just in time. "Good," he said shortly.

They circled each other for a moment, then Mid struck again, trying to sweep Ilias's feet out from under him. It worked, or so Ilias let it. He so badly wanted to follow his instincts and jump. Fighting had been something natural to him. Of course his masters always jabbed him where it hurt the most, specifically the places where acid was freshly dropped on his skin. All of this happened, and no one, not even his parents knew. This had been his lesson a long time ago, be careful who you friend. But for now, he needed to focus on the fight. He hit the ground and also swung at Mid's legs. Assuming he'd jump, right at that level should be close to knocking him down, unless Mid used enough force to hit Ilias' stick with his stick.

Mid jumped and was subsequently knocked to the floor. He lay there for a moment, then sat up and gave Ilias a smile that, still, was tinged with a hint of sadness. "Good job."

Ilias grinned victoriously. "Yes! I'm improving!"

Mid cracked a more genuine smile at that and brushed himself off. "I think that's good for today. We can do some stretches to cool down and then you can go meet that person."

"That doesn't involve 5 horses, right?"

"Nope. Might involve three, though." Mid laughed slightly.

"Three? which limbs?"

"Whichever ones are least precious to you. Your choice."

"Well, I do prefer all my limbs, thank you."

"No horses, then. Maybe geese. Five geese?" Mid flicked the propeller on his cap.

"Batting practice?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Goose avoidance practice. They are fearsome creatures. One time, my family..." Mid trailed off. His propeller stopped spinning. "Never mind. Let's start with some leg stretches." He demonstrated. Ilias tried, also pretending to fail. Mid raised an eyebrow. "Surely you're able to handle stretches. You have pulled stunts for movies before, no?"

"That's why there are stunt doubles."

"Hmm," Mid grunted. He demonstrated a simpler stretch. Ilias did it just fine. Mid nodded in approval, then walked Ilias through the rest of the cooldown routine. It felt good to get back into this. Once done Ilias went off to go shower.

Mari was craving tacos. She rather wisely decided tacos and chemicals weren't the most delicious mix and so she suppressed the craving until she'd finished up her analysis. Mari lifted her goggles and smiled at another scientist she'd been working with while Sammy was off meeting Ilias. "Looks like we just need to wait a few hours for the program to finish running. Want to get tacos?"

"Sorry, I already have plans," the scientist apologized. "There's this new movie playing on Saphhire-1, and it's starring Ilias Ravioli, so of course I had to go see it..."

The celebrity she'd kidnapped? The one who'd broken her dinnerware and refused her bread roll? She could hardly think of him as a famous figure now. Mari tried not to gag or laugh and likely ended up looking like she had indigestion. "Sure, have fun," she wheezed. She waved goodbye and went off in search of someone to eat tacos with.



"Hello, Agent Potash. Would it please your Agentness to go get tacos with a humble scientist such as myself?" Mari smiled at Potash across the desk.

"Well, there's nothing but paperwork at the moment. I'll gladly go." She smiled.

"Wonderful!" Mari bounced up. "I asked some of the other scientists and they say there are good food places on Ruby-4. Have you tried any before?"

"Well, for as long as I've been here, I'd like to see you find a place I haven't been."

"Challenge accepted." Mari listed off a bunch of taco places as they caught a cab to Ruby-4. "Tacopalooza? The Number Eight? Terrific Tacos?"

"Tried all of them."

"Okay. Olive Garden- wait no that's pasta. Terrible Tacos? Tahhhhhhcos?"

"Been to all of those."

"Mmm. Fantacostical. Tacotacotaco."

"MMmm."

"Think I've listed every nearby taco joint at this point." Maho raised an eyebrow at Potash. "You, Agent Potash, have set me an impossible task."

"Well I never gave it to you. You just took it up. I do suggest looking for hole-in-the-wall places though."

"Fine. We'll wander the streets of Ruby-4 until we find a hole-in-the-wall taco place that will surprise and dazzle even your jaded tastebuds." Mari smirked.

"If you can find one I haven't been to." Agent Potash kept a straight face.

The cab let them out at Ruby-4. Mari started walking backwards in front of Agent Potash, pointing at any taco place she spotted. "That one. No, too obvious. That one."

"Already been there."

"Okay, okay. I expected this to be a challenge." Mari walked in the right direction. She optimized her gestures to a simple glance and eyebrow raise at the taco places she saw as they approached the downtown area. All of them Agent Potash just simply hummed in a "already been there".

Downtown, the buildings leaned on each other like people huddling to stay warm in winter. Civilians hurried down the metal-lined streets. Restaurants abounded. Mari twirled around, reveling in the liveliness of the city. Finally, she spotted a taco place next to an alley. It looked rather dingy, but... she pointed at it and raised an eyebrow. Agent Potash just raised an eyebrow. Mari made her eyebrows dance. "Does that mean you've been there or not?"

"I did get food poisoning."

Mari groaned dramatically. "Have you made it your life's mission to try every single taco place in the astral plane?"

"Well not just every taco place. Also, it looks like your friend Ilias is rubbing off on you."

Mari gasped. "No. You did not say that."

"It's almost uncanny. I think you're an exact replica."

"You wound me. It's nearly fatal. Quick, find me a taco place you haven't been to to revive me."

"That's your mission Ilisol."

"Ilisol." Mari gagged. "No. Just. No. That sounds like a rare disease." She twirled around and pointed at another taco sign desperately.

"Well then don't act like you're his twin."

"Pray tell, what makes you think that?" Mari had a look of utter disgust on her face. Comparing her, Marisol Vélez, to Ilias Ravioli? How could Agent Potash even let the thought cross her mind? She was obviously a much better scientist and a better person to hang out with.

"Your dramatic flare."

"Oh, so all dramatic people get compared to Ilias. Isn't that lovely?"

"Well you're adding three tablespoons over the normal amount."

Mari rolled her eyes. "Fine, then. I'll compare you to Mid. Your food place experience is on par with his wizard hat experience."

"It far exceeds his wizard hat experience. Hat experience in general, now that's hard to beat."

"How many hats does he have?" Mari asked curiously.

"I lost track at 593.751." Agent Potash replied.

"Five. Hundred. Point seven five one. Somehow Mid would be the one to have point seven five one of a hat."

"Yep." She didn't give any context. How rude.

"Where does he even find the space to store them?"

"I don't know."

Mari nodded, then pointed at another taco place. "There. Just opened... three days ago."

"I went there yesterday. It's Mid. No pun intended." Agent Potash continued walking.

Mari laughed. "Well, looks like we've got to find a place whose grand opening is today, then. Time to look for the large posters and long lines."

Potash also laughed.

It took around another half hour in astral time, but finally, Mari spotted a taco place with a large banner saying, "Grand Opening Today!" She pointed at it triumphantly.

"Congrats. I think you have found a place I haven't been to."

Mari whooped. "Finally! Now, to wait another hour before actually getting tacos." She joined the line.

Agent Potash smiled.

They'd only been waiting a few minutes when Mari turned to Potash again. "So. What's the story with you and Mid? Also, how is Mid doing?"

Agent Potash shook her head. "Still not quite himself. I know it will take awhile, but I honestly didn't expect him to break like that."

"It was his sister." Mari was quiet for a moment. "Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes, I know who it was." Agent Potash tapped her foot. "Twelve."

Mari's eyes widened. "Twelve?! I have zero. Were you one of the younger or older ones? I'd guess older."

"Middle, actually."

"Being a middle child in a family of twelve children..." Mari whistled. "Congratulations for not growing up too oddly."

"Well, in total, there were thirteen. Including me."

"Right. Math." Mari smacked her forehead. "Even better."

"I wouldn't say I didn't grow up odd though."

"Well, less odd than Mid, which I suppose is a low bar." They were still at around position twenty in the line.

Agent Potash snorted. "That's an astute observation."

"How did you first meet Mid, anyways?"

"Well, the first time was on my 13th mission. My other partner died in action, and he was the temporary replacement."

Mari winced. "Ah. Sorry to hear that. Was Mid always so... Mid?"

"Yes. Perhaps more Mid than Mid was when you first met him."

"Wow. That must have really been a sight to see." The line inched forwards.

"It was one that I'd want to defenestrate. Zero star, wouldn't recommend unless you're batty."

"That is quite a scathing review, Critic Potash." Mari lifted her eyebrows. "One that I am completely in agreement with. Just out of curiosity, could you never request a different partner?"

"And why in the realms would I do that?" Her eyes went wide.

"Because it's Mid."

"And?"

Mari shrugged. Really, why was she talking badly about Mid? Was it to alleviate the guilt? No, she didn't want to think about that. And whenever she didn't want to think about something, she changed the subject. "When did you start working for the agency?"

She shrugged. "Nine, almost ten years now."

"Wow. You should celebrate your ten year anniversary. I can plan the decor."

"Is it going to be all rainbows and sparkles with fairies and unicorns?"

"You bet it is." Mari winked. "Cupcakes and candy canes too."

"Good, it'll give me a reason to not show up."

"Nonono, you've got it all wrong. You've got to show up to prove you're not afraid of the unicorns. To prove you can take on the sparkles and win."

"Unicorns can run you though with a headbutt, and sparkles, depending on what the material is, can kill you."

"Exactly. You're tougher than that, right? I believe in you. The great Agent Potash, who singlehandedly exfiltrated the celebrity Ilias and the chemist Marisol from the hospital!"

"I'd rather live with being teased about not being there than being teased about being there, thank you very much."

Mari rolled her eyes. "Booooo. Fine. You get to pick the decor. I'll do the catering." They were only a few spots away now.

"And do tell what would the food be like?"

"Well, why don't we try this place and see if it's worthy of supplying the food?" They'd finally reached the front of the line and were being led to a table. Mari grinned in excitement. Once sitting down, they picked up their menus to see what they had.

"This one," Mari declared. "Carnitas, cabbage, tomato, beans, cheese, and sauce."

"I'm taking the barbacoa, tomato, avocado, beans, cheese, onion, with a little parsley."

They ordered once a waiter came by. Despite the hustle and bustle of the restaurant around them, the tacos came out fairly quickly.

Mari lifted her taco, her mouth watering in anticipation. She took a bite. Then a bullet buried itself in the wall right next to her. It had narrowly missed the back of her head by an inch. Then another one hit the seat. Mari dove under the table, taco in one hand. It was admittedly crowded with Agent Potash under there as well.

"Why are people shooting at us?" Mari hissed. "Also, this taco is delicious." She took another bite.

"We're being shot at and you're focusing on food?" Potash scowled.

"Of course. Hunger doesn't disappear just because you're fighting for your life." Another bullet whizzed by and buried itself in a chair leg.

"Eat later, stop whoever's shooting at us!" Potash brought out an Octagon sunstone, probably contacting Mid or Ilias.

"Right, with the approximately zero crystals I have on me right now? I'm a chemist, Potash, not a fighter." Mari chewed aggressively.

"Just improvise!"

"What, you want me to chuck this taco at them?"

Potash grabbed the ceramic plate Mari's food had been on, and threw it like a frisbee in the shooter's direction. "Whatever you can throw, throw! I'm contacting backup."

Mari held the taco closer to herself and leapt up to grab Potash's plate instead. She grabbed the taco on it, then tossed the plate.

Potash cursed. "Ilias is being shot at as well and Mid isn't picking up!"

"Want a taco?" she offered it to Potash. Potash grabbed it and started chewing viciously as she pulled out another sunstone. Mari's mind whirred. Could this be the same person who'd staged the Skater-Veilnom fight? She tried to get a glimpse of them, but they were dressed in a nondescript suit and mask.

"How good are you with wrapping crystals?"

"Not good at all." She'd never wrapped a crystal in her life. "Didn't know it'd come in handy in the future. What a lack of foresight on my part." It was actually because she wasn't really a part of the ruling families, but it wasn't like she could tell Potash that.

"You're learning, assuming we get out of this alive." Agent Potash handed her the sunstones and brought out some dark blue gems. "Keep updated on Ilias' situation, keep trying to contact Mid."

"Alright." Mari stared at the sunstones. "Ilias? You there?"

Yeah. He grunted. So, who gave a bunch of idiots automatic weapons?

"Automatic?" Potash asked, going slightly crosseyed as she focused on wrapping the crystal. Her hands moved quickly. "We aren't facing one with an automatic as far as I can tell."

"But to answer your question, probably another idiot. A dangerous one," Mari said.

Well then that's the first smart idiot I've met besides me.

"So you admit you're an idiot." Mari activated the other sunstone, trying to call Mid again.

A smart and funny one, yes. Count in the charming part too I guess.

She rolled her eyes. "Hear that? That's the sound of me rolling my eyes in utter disbelief." She turned to Potash. "Agent Mid still isn't picking up."

There was a loud, distorted sound that came through the crystal, which cracked.

Mari's eyes widened. "I suspect it's not supposed to do that."

"Hm?" Agent Potash looked up. "Oh no, normally, it shouldn't."

"Clearly nothing about this situation is normal. What does it mean if it does crack?"

"Well, something loud happened on the other side. It's possible a bullet whizzed right past it, or hit it directly."

"Well, shoot. Where is Mid right now? And Ilias, where are you? Still with Sammy?" Mari was getting concerned. To have launched a simultaneous attack on them... That required coordination and resources.

shhhhhhhhhhhhhkzzzzzt- r now, Sammy's with me at the moment. He sounded stressed.

"Where's your location?"

We're in Olive Garden. His voice sounded further away.

"City?" Mari could see the other patrons of the taco restaurant fleeing. Good. The fewer civilian casualties, the better.

Ruby-4

"We'll get there. Somehow." Mari glanced at Potash. "Done wiring?"

"Almost."

More bullets thudded into the table. Mari dragged another chair over for shelter.

Potash chucked the wired gemstone. A time bubble expanded where it landed. The bullets stopped coming as frequently.

"And now we run?" Mari plotted the shortest course to the door.

"We run." Potash dashed out from underneath the table, headed out the back door. Mari followed, dodging the wobbling bullets. Somehow, her life seemed to be at risk more frequently in the astral plane than it ever had been on the physical one. But it was too late to fly out now.

If Ilias were to get a break, one of his bones would be broken. If he were to be relaxed, he probably would be sedated, and on his way to a cryotube. Ilias looked at Sammy. His older brother, who at the current moment looked freaked out. At the moment he was in shock from being shot, so Ilias was left to get them out by himself. This is why he didn't do partnerships! They always got into a sticky situation, and then it would be left to him to carry his team. Sometimes literally. He'd already have been gone, but he wasn't about to leave his brother.

"Why. Shooting. What. Ow!" Sammy sputtered. Clearly he'd never been shot before. While using one arm to throw all he had, the other applied pressure to his brother's leg. "Ow ow ow," Sammy moaned. "I'm sorry. Thank you, Ilias. It hurts."

"Shut up, and stay awake." Ilias replied, in serious assassin mode. Well, protector now.

Sammy nodded mutely. He stared at the wound, then looked away, then stared at it again.

"Stop looking at it."

"Okay, okay." Sammy snuck another glance at it.

"i will grow extra limbs to secure your head in place."

Sammy stared at Ilias. "That sounds mildly disturbing. Also, we should worry about the people shooting at us."

"Yes, so stop worrying about the fact you're shot and give me some ideas on how to get out."

"Grow extra limbs and use some to fight, some to distract, and some to Spiderman us out of here."

"Now I think you're delirious." Ilias risked a peek of the view above the table, and ducked down quickly as another spray of bullets went towards him. Went that died down, he reached up and grabbed some silverware.

"Ooh, silverware! Excellent idea! We can dine together and then play a nice game of Quartyx." Sammy giggled.

"Yeah, alright, you're absolutely delirious. Stay here." Ilias made a temporary tourniquet with the napkin, and then dashed over to a table closer to the shooter.

Sammy waved goodbye, then slumped against the table leg. Ilias felt worried, but he buried that and focused on taking out the shooter. He threw a spoon, and whirled around as bullets sprayed where he once was. Then he smoothly moved towards the attacker, getting within range before they had time to fire. He grabbed the gun and forced it to point in a different direction, unfortunately he grabbed the barrel and it burned his hand. But he ignored it and attacked with a fork. Well, he was trying to grab the steak knife, but oh well. A fork was good for stabbing.

The shooter stumbled backwards, apparently taken by surprise by the cutlery. Like an idiot, they had let go of the gun, leaving it in Ilias' hand. He put it in his other hand, this time holding it properly. But the element of surprise wouldn't last long.

"Ilias, move!" A sharp voice called. Agent Potash. Timely as ever. Ilias ran backwards.

A chunk of lapis lazuli arced through the air and activated when it reached the shooter. The assassin's movements slowed noticeably, their limbs flailing as they tried to right themself.

Behind Potash, Mari scanned the room. "We need to get Sammy to the agency," she said shortly. "No one goes out alone."

"None of us were alone." Ilias grumbled. He handed Potash the gun and walked over to the table, dragged Sammy out, and picked him up. Sammy babbled something about soaring fish. "Let's go before he starts singing hotel california or talking to the gods."

"Welcome to the Hotel Californiaaaaaa," Sammy slurred. "The eyes of a master liaaarrrrr... What is Californiaaaaahhhhh...." He flopped over in Ilias's arms.

Mari held open the door, watching them with a look of concern. Ilias walked out. "Well, there's that part already."

Behind them, the assassin was saying something, but it was garbled through the effects of the sapphire. Mari slammed the door shut and they hightailed it out of the neighborhood.

In the cab, Mari tried to call Mid again. He actually picked up. "Where are you?" Mari asked.

"In front of you."

The cab driver stomped on the brakes. Mid was standing in front of them, wearing a neon green wizard hat with a few bullet holes through it.

He opened the door in the front with the horrified cab driver and got in. "Mind if I join you?"

The cab driver sputtered. "You- you could have died! Are you Lightness-touched or something?"

"Oh I'm past Lightness-touched. Pedal to the metal, we've got places to be."

The cab driver stared at him for another moment, then complied. "You know this'll cost extra, right?" he grumbled.

"At the moment, money isn't important. Pedal. Touches. Metal. Now." Mid took off his hat and inspected the holes,

"Okay, you said it, not me." The cabbie stomped on the acceleration.

"So, what happened to your assassin?" Mari asked Mid.

"I lost him." Mid replied casually. The slight smell of sewage filled the cab. Ilias wrinkled his nose.

"Oh," said Mari.

Agent Potash rolled her eyes. "The classic escape-through-the-sewers trick, eh?"

"Well, today's assassins don't expect it. They also don't like getting themselves stinky." Mid poked a finger through a hole in his hat. He was right though.

"Tsk tsk. Assassins are getting spoiled nowadays." Next to Mid, the cabbie looked like he was trying his best to tune out the conversation. He was failing, as the increasingly weirded-out glanced showed. A muscle twitched in Ilias' cheek.

The cabbie dropped them off on Quartz-2 with a sigh of relief. As soon as he received his payment, he shot back into the sky without a backwards glance. Mid waved as the cabbie drove away.

"So. To consult the microwave or to not consult the microwave?" Mari wondered.

"You figure that out. I'm going to the doctors." Ilias replied.

"Right. Want help carrying Sammy?"

"I got him." Ilias replied, walking as quickly as he could. "It's easier to carry someone on your own than two people of different heights."

"Fair enough. What about help of the conversational kind? Not too keen on meeting the microwave again." Behind Mari and Ilias, Mid and Potash seemed to be debriefing what had happened. Though actually, it seemed to be more of Mid bemoaning his hat's injuries.

"My poor hat! I must give it a true soldier's ceremony, as it protected me well today."

"Yes, yes, we can bury it in the Storage Room of Things that Must Not be Named™️. Now come on," Potash said.

"What was so bad about the microwave?" Ilias asked. Oh he'd probably be paying for it after his adrenaline stopped flowing.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm," went Mari. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

"Alright, I get it. Do you have any idea why we're all getting shot at simultaneously?"

"Mmmmmmmmmm.... Ding!" Mari, to be perfectly honest, failed miserably at recreating the microwave ding sound. Ilias snickered, but she was unfazed. "Probably looks cooler than picking us off one by one. Or so we can't come to each others' assistance. Although that doesn't answer the question of why people are shooting at us in the first place."

"No, it doesn't, so could you please get back to it."

If Ilias's memory was correct, the med center was around the next corner. Mari pondered the request. "Well, do we know anything that would threaten anyone? Most plausible reason I can think of is someone feeling threatened by us. Or maybe Mid annoyed someone so much they decided to pick off not only him but his whole crew of coworkers. In which case, unfair."

"I could see that happening because of Mid." He nodded absentmindedly.

Suddenly, Mari's eyes widened. "Sammy and I did find something earlier today on Garnet-13. Skater's mask and markings of what seemed to be a staged fight in which Skater was severely injured. Blood stains, chemicals, and the like. We're supposed to be tracing the chemicals right now, and my analysis should be just about done- oh. Byeseeyoulater!" Mari rushed recklessly down the hall towards the labs, her brown hair streaming out behind her.

Ilias stopped walking, jaw dropping. She had to be kidding. He nearly let out a string of curses, one that would impress every sailor living and dead. But for now he had to get Sammy to the medroom. Then he'd go chase down Mari and deal with any injuries he had later.

Mari could have been launched from a catapult, with the speed she was moving at. She'd gotten distracted by the most recent attempt on her life, but as soon as she'd remembered, the urge to check the analysis results consumed her. Now, perhaps they'd have some clues as to where the chemicals had been manufactured, which would hopefully help them track down whoever had staged the fight, who may or may not be the same people who'd just tried to send them to the eternal Loght.

She barely stopped herself from crashing into the lab doors and paused briefly before walking in as if her hair wasn't a feldsparrow's nest. The lab was mostly empty, with only a few scientists apparently working on individual research projects. Mari tried to look calm as she checked the computer.

Sample 1: manufactured in a factory on Citrine-7. Unhelpful, as apparently that factory manufactured chemicals for various pharmaceutical and industrial companies as well. Samples 2 and 3 were similarly unhelpful in narrowing things down. But sample 4... well, that was promising. A rare substance only found on Emerald-9. Mari jotted it down.

Still, something was bothering her. Why these chemicals specifically? They all had varying uses and colors and... oh. The classic hexicolor code. Before she could continue, there was a knock on the wall. Ilias was there, leaning on the wall next to the door of the lab.

Mari pulled up the Astral Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) table on the computer and grabbed an emerald as she greeted him. "How's Sammy?"

"He'll live. Now, about Skater's mask."

"Right. So. It was under the pomegranite tree. Someone staged it so that it'd look like Skater was wounded, because otherwise why would he leave his mask there?" Mari looked at the first sample through the emerald. It was a deep maroon wine color, but she needed to be more precise than that, hence the gem. She nudged a wire to get the hex reading. #652d33 That corresponded to... She consulted the table. "e-3." Mari wrote the characters down.

"Yeah, he wouldn't just leave his mask under any circumstances. If he was alive he wouldn't have left it." Ilias said.

"Or if he was barely alive enough to escape." Mari looked at the second sample. "The chemical samples were strange as well. A few can be harmful when used in a certain way, but the others are only paint pigments." #752669, a magenta. "u&I."

"Barely alive, meaning not or barely conscious." He walked over to see what she was doing.

Mari nodded. "Things don't add up." #4a6164 was a grayish turquoise. "Jad."

"So only a few are harmful. Why paint pigments?"

"That's what I'm deciphering right now. I'm thinking it's a hexicolor code." Mari analyzed the fourth and last sample, which was a dusty green. #496961. "lia." "Alright, so the fragments are e-3, u&I, Jad, and lia."

"Uh huh."

"Jad and e-3 can likely be combined to form Jade-3." Mari noted it down. "Possibly a location for a meeting of some sort?"

"It's a small rock not far from here. Not very populated."

"Seems like a good place for a secret meeting... or a trap." Mari assembled the other two fragments. "Either liau&I or u&Ilia. Unless 'liau' means anything to you, I'm inclined to think it means 'you and Ilia,' which may be a shortening of 'Ilias'?"

"Great." Ilias hit his forehead on a cabinet. It sounded like it would hurt.

"Careful. Some items in there are toxic. Wouldn't want you to lose even more brain cells," Mari commented.

"I don't think I have anymore to lose." He looked down at his left hand. It looked like it was blistering.

"What happened to your hand?"

"Idiocy. Mine."

"Ah. Come on, we're going to the med room." Mari logged out of the computer, grabbed the scrap of paper she'd taken notes on, then marched Ilias out of the lab.

"I was going to go there later when someone else didn't need a lot of medical attention."

Mari rolled her eyes. How stupidly selfless. "Hey. There are four doctors. Surely at least one can tend to your hand."

"I'd prefer if they focused on him. Besides, what are they going to do about blisters?"

"You think Sammy would appreciate four doctors hovering over him, getting in each others' way? And they could give you some kind of ointment or a crystal."

"I have ointment in my room. I bought some to put in the bathroom for situations like this."

"Well, why didn't you go there, then? Those blisters don't look like they're just lounging around on your hand, waiting until it's a convenient time for you to feel pain."

"When does anything wait for a convenient time?"

"Precisely. Those blisters must hurt. Ergo, you should go put on ointment."

"Not really actually. More just like an annoying thing that exists there."

Mari eyed Ilias, still heading in the direction of the med room. "A whole palm covered with angry red blisters is only 'annoying.'"

"For me, yes." He changed the direction, turning to go towards his room.

What had happened to Ilias? First resisting the gases, and now enhanced pain tolerance? Mari frowned, but followed him towards his room. "If you're not lying... That..." What did she even say to that? Not even her mother had made her assassins go through intentional pain tolerance training, unless sparring counted. "Well. You'll probably still need that hand." She lapsed into silence. Ilias was also quiet, opening his door and walking in. He left it open, probably expecting Mari to follow.

Mari entered and closed the door. He'd likely swept the room for bugs already. "So. Another thing that doesn't sit right with me. We didn't get shot."

"We didn't. Only Sammy, and Mid had holes in his hat. Also, the one I was facing was trying to speak." He opened a cabinet.

Mari paced along the length of the small room. "Potash and I were under a table, but a skilled assassin would've moved to get the right angle to shoot us anyways. So clearly the aim wasn't to assassinate us. What are we missing?"

Ilias hummed, sitting down in a chair at his table as he applied the ointment. It sounded like something out of a really old movie. When he applied the ointment, he wasn't doing it gingerly as a normal person would. He really had been telling the truth.

"You're really just slathering it on." Mari tried to place the song he was humming. She had a vague recollection of watching that movie with her dad when she was young. "...Maria?"

"Hm?" He looked up.

"The song you're humming." She coughed. "Maria Maria Mariiiiiaaaaaa~" She was a little flat, but she thought she approximated it fairly well.

"I honestly forgot the song name. Not a bad melody though."

She nodded. "Is that where you subconsciously stole your name for me from? Before Potash doxxed me, of course."

"No it was from The Avengers."

"The Avengers. Care to remind me who Maria was in the Avengers?"

"Maria Hill. Agent Hill?"

"Hm. Agent Smith from the Matrix was cooler. But I'll accept it."

"Ah, but that's a guy."

"So?"

"You don't even have the square jaw." He stood up.

She rolled her eyes. "Wow, thanks for pointing out my lack of a square jaw. I think you just think the idea of me replicating myself is too intimidating."

He paused in the middle of heading to the cabinet, gave a nonchalant shrug and continued on. "Now that I think of it, yes."

"Huh. Are you sure you're not in pain?" Mari hadn't expected him to actually agree with her.

"Yes I'm sure I'm not delirious."

"Alright then. Anyways. Returning from our song and agent detour... to go to Jade-3 or not to go? Wait no, scratch that. I'm going. Question is, when and how?"

He thought for a second. "Do you know which way the mask was pointing before it was moved?"

"Oddly specific." Mari tried to remember. "Away from the tree, I believe. The tree was on the southwestern side of Garnet-13, so... northeast?"

"Two."

"Two what? One fish two fish red fish blue fish potassium?"

"The time. Probably morning."

"Did you just pick a random time or did that actually have thought behind it?"

"The old clocks were in a circle. 12 is north, 6 is south, et cetera

"Yes, I'm aware of that. I took basic history in school. What does the orientation of Skater's mask have to do with anything, though?" He really wasn't helping his case for not being delirious.

"They used it like the arm of a clock. Or the shadow from a sundial. Since it's east, that's where the sun would rise, so maybe morning. It would make sense. Even in the astral realm people like following a day and night schedule."

Mari pondered that. It was a stretch, but she didn't have any convincing arguments for other times, so it was as good an option as any. "Alright, that's settled. Now, whoever the message sender is, they knew I or Sammy would be the one to decrypt it. If they're the same organization as the one who shot Sammy, they would know it'd be me. That means they're asking for you and me specifically. Why?"

Ilias shrugged. "Same reasons as the agency? Information?"

"I'm getting rather sick of being shot at and kidnapped for information," Mari observed.

"To be fair, you did kidnap me in the first place. Odd how it's turned out."

"Shh. All dust brushed off a crystal. Uniting against common foes and all."

"Until those foes are gone, I assume?"

"Well. You've gotten me into the astral plane already, and I don't have any further use for you. So I'm not going to expend energy kidnapping you again."

"Fine by me." He replied coolly.

"So. Temporary allies, then strangers?" That would be easiest. A clean break, then she could move on from this horribly botched kidnapping and attempted assassination. Multiple attempted assassinations, actually.

"Apparently. No money in it, right?"

"I've either spent or lost all the money I came into the astral plane with. No money on me at all." Mari thought bitterly of how she'd found her mother's last garnet missing back when she and Sammy had investigated Garnet-13. It was smart of them to take the explosive, but... still. She held on to an irrational hope that she could get it back somehow.

"Money which I'm sure you can get by finding a job in a lab, being a well known scientist and all."

"Why thank you!" Mari bowed. "They should really pay us at this agency, actually. We'll have to inquire about it."

"That's a good idea. Shall we?"

"Indeed we shall." She opened the door. "People with a blistered hand first."

"Let's keep it old style, ladies first." He grinned, holding the door. With the blistered hand.

Mari stared at him like he was crazy. Or an idiot. A crazy idiot. She pushed the door further open, taking the weight off of Ilias's injured hand. "Out with the old, in with the new."

"Old styles always make a comeback." He didn't react to her looks.

Mari huffed and finally went first, still holding the door open for Ilias. He grabbed the doorknob and closed the door after himself.

"Off to fight for fair wages we go?" she asked.

"Wizard's fancy room or boring office?"

"Wizard's fearsome and slightly unhinged fancy room. I want to see how the hat is doing."

"Cool."

And off they went to check on the hat and get their 100%-earned pay. That was not sarcastic.

Potash regretted deciding to check on Mid. In the mess of a space that was Mid's room, Mid, Mari, and Ilias were sitting in a triangle, slightly swaying next to a chunk of onyx that was dispensing smoke. Potash raised an eyebrow. "What kind of arcane ritual is this?"

"A ritual to summon the gods of fair pay," Mari replied. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

Ilias tapped out the rhythm of the music being played with his hands. He got strange looks from Mari.

"What do you think of my new scent dispenser?" Mid asked. He held up the chunk of onyx. "It's supposed to be 'Mellow Vibes On a Diamond Isle in the Mystical Astral Plane.'"

"It's a mouthful to say, but it isn't bad." Ilias said.

Potash was tempted to walk out right then and there. But no. When she set her mind to something, she did it. And so she gritted out, "How are you, Agent Midnight?"

"I am well! And you potted ash?"

"That's it. I'm walking out. Mission completed. Goodbye." Potash backed out of the room.

"No, no, stay!" Mari called. "You probably know more than Mid about how compensation works here."

"Join us! We promise we won't make any sacrifices with you around."

Potash stopped walking. "...Fine. Just turn off the scent. It's giving me a headache."

"Awww." Mid still turned it off.

Potash smiled slightly, then sat down. The others made space so that they formed a square instead. "So, what's this about compensation?"

"Do we get any? I mean, I've been working in the lab, and Ilias has been... training, I think. What exactly do you do, actually?" Mari glanced at Ilias.

"Field agent training."

"Right. That. Do we get paid?"

"That's a good question. Do they?" Mid asked.

"I'll have to talk to HR about it. This is... a unique case, but I would suspect you two do deserve some kind of compensation."

"Yes, that would be quite nice." Ilias replied. "We've been kidnapped, in a lockdown, and shot at since we've been here."

"Ah. It has been an eventful few days." With all the life-threatening events lately, Potash had barely had the time to spare a thought for the mental states of the new recruits. She'd have to note that for later. Perhaps have the doctors give them both another checkup, this time a mental and emotional one.

"Understatement of the century."

Potash winced. "It's usually not like this."

"Have you kidnapped a celebrity and a scientist from a hospital before?"

"No. Admittedly, that was my first time."

"So why were you put up to this then?"

"Because my boss said so. As with many things in life, in that case, I did what Idekay Tebeaych Elohel requested of me."

"Who?"

"Ikrrr Elohel. Ikrrr is a rank created especially for Idekay Elohel. It might give you an indication as to their personality," Potash said dryly.

"I don't know." Mid laughed. "He seems like a 5 year old's imaginary friend."

"Trust me, Ikrrr Elohel is not imaginary." Potash rolled her eyes. "That's enough about that. I'll be going to talk to HR now and to take care of the fifty nine other items on my to-do list for today."

"How about, you stop working, and chill with your partner and your severely underpaid apprentices?"

"Mm. I've weighed the pros and cons and the cons outweigh the pros." Potash thought for a moment. "Ice cream might tip the balance in your favor, though."

"Ouh! I've got 50 flavors in my freezer!" Mid cheered.

Potash brightened. "I'll stay here then." She promptly reclaimed her spot on the floor. "How do we chill?"

"Talk about everything and absolutely nothing."

Potash blinked. "Everything. That's quite a wide range. Would it happen to include the best organizational systems for divvying up mundane corporate tasks?"

"No. Like what's the stupidest thing you allowed a friend to do to you?" Mid asked. Potash swore she saw something on Ilias' expression that was dark. But he was fine. Maybe she just imagined it. She'd never forget it later.

"You said everything, though. And what is the exact degree of closeness at which you can consider someone a friend? For example, are you a coworker or a friend?" Potash asked Mid.

"I don't know, what angle am I closer to?"

She stared at him. "An obtuse one."

"Ouch."

Mari snickered. "Well, I'll go first. When I was, oh, a teenager, I let my other science nerd friend dye my hair with unstable chemicals. I did not die, thankfully."

"Oooooooooo were there any explosions?" Mid asked, leaning forward.

"Maybe. Itty bitty ones. They were pretty cute, really." Mari got a dreamy look in her eyes. "Oh, to be a reckless teenager, playing around with all the inner ring elements."

"That's so cool. For me, my friends dunked me in a pool filled with neon paint. The kind that's really hard to remove."

"Doesn't seem much different from your usual appearance." Potash eyed Mid skeptically.

"Well, I was a statue for quite awhile. You see, they'd dunk me, then haul me back up in a net. Then they'd let the layer dry. Then they'd do it again. And again."

"Oh. That's... that's really something." Potash stared at Mid. Somehow, she wasn't exceptionally surprised. "You should find better friends."

"Ah, that's why you all are here, assuming you don't do that kind of stuff."

"So we are friends?" Potash asked. She genuinely didn't know.

"Allowing your partner to get into the cab which he stood in front of to get a ride? Absolutely."

Potash blinked. "I wasn't aware that that was what friends did, but I'll trust your judgement on that, I suppose." She didn't usually trust Mid's judgement in the field, but she suspected he had more knowledge in field of this mythical idea of "friends."

Across from her, Mari nudged Ilias. "Any stories you're willing to share?"

"Well, My friends left me on a tourist trap island."

"Did you do any tourist-y things there?"

"I spent a lot of money using their credit cards."

"As you should." Mari laughed. Ilias smiled.

"And you, Agent Potash?" Mari prompted.

Potash thought for a moment. "This, I guess. Making me sit in a square and talk."

"You have lived this easy of a life?" Mid asked. "We've got to get you to do more stupid things."

"No. Please do not." Potash shuddered.

Mari raised her hand. "Ooh, ooh! I have an idea! Every flavor ice cream challenge! Mid, do your fifty flavors happen to include the Every Flavor™️ set? With the delicious and disgusting pairs?"

"Of course! They're all unlabeled." He grinned.

"Perfect. Where is your fridge, O chaotic one?"

"Right there." He pointed at the box right behind her.

Mari grinned deviously and headed for the fridge. "Er... and bowls and spoons?"

"On the other side."

Mari grabbed four bowls and four spoons, then chose a mint-colored pair of ice cream containers and ladled out a scoop of one of them into every bowl. She brought them back to their square. Ilias helped with the passing out.

"So, this could be mint chocolate chip, or pesticide-sprayed grass with dirt clods."

"That's cheery. Don't tell me. Just put it in my bowl and if I like it tell me what it is. If I don't, don't tell me." Mid replied.

"Are you saying it's a possibility that you'll enjoy pesticide-sprayed grass with dirt clods?"

"Absolutely."

"Alright. Who first?"

"Potash." Ilias grunted.

Potash straightened up, startled. She looked at the others, who were all nodding, and groaned. "Fine." She took a tiny spoonful of the scoop and tried it. A moment passed. She kept a poker face. Then she spit it out, gagging and trying to scrape the flavor off her tongue with her spoon. "Puh... pesticide grass," she moaned.

Ilias quietly laughed, probably because he was laughing so hard he couldn't get air.

Mari looked as if she wanted to help, but she was too busy choking on her own laughter. Even Mid was snickering.

Potash rolled her eyes as she finally managed to scrape off most of the flavor from her tongue. "Okay, who's next?" She pointed her spoon at the three of them.

"Me!" Mid called.

"Do it." Potash couldn't help but hope he also got pesticide grass.

Mid didn't hesitate, and put a giant scoop in his mouth. He sat there with a poker face.

A few seconds passed. "Sooooo?" Mari prompted. "We can't just sit here and wait for you to become a sedimentary rock."

"Not bad. You're next." Mid pointed at Mari.

"I can't rememer which flavor you got," said Mari. "But two bowls got mint and two got grass, so we'll just have to see." She placed a spoonful in her mouth, looking up as she melted it. "Mint." Mari grinned.

Ilias spluttered, and went over to the sink to wash his mouth out with water.

"Pesticide grass and dirt clods?" Potash asked. "Or do you just hate mint chip ice cream?"

"I'm not a fan of mint flavor."

Mari gave an outraged gasp, but then she looked at Mid and apparently her righteous anger was forgotten. "Hold on. So you thought pesticide grass with dirt clods wasn't bad. Oh Mid. Dear Mid, I have an extreme amount of concern for your taste buds."

"Well I did often burn them on hot caramel when I was but a young child, not even a teen."

"Ooh," Mari hissed sympathetically. "I think you need to pay compensation to your taste buds for the atrocities committed on them."

"I think they prefer it this way."

"Really? Have you asked them? Conducted a survey?"

"They've just never fixed themselves."

"So it's on your poor, tortured taste buds to fix themselves. How unkind of you."

"Hey, I've done crystal therapy near my head, they've never fixed then."

Mari just shook her head sadly. "I'll keep your pitiful taste buds in my treasure chest of thoughts."

"Why thank you."

Ilias sat back down.

"And you." Mari turned to him. "Don't think I've forgotten the insult to mint ice cream, which is equal to an insult to life, the universe, and everything."

"I'm not sorry. If you don't like me not liking mint ice cream, you can fight the gods."

"Would I really need to? I bet the Darkness themself likes mint chip ice cream. Clearly it is the food of the gods."

"Well they made me to dislike it."

"No, you made yourself dislike it. What a foolish human thing to do." Mari shook her head in disapproval. Potash watched with increasing incredulity.

"Do you have your entire life planned when you're born? Oh, you know what, I want to have a heart attack at the age of 9. Or let's get kidnapped by someone! How fun!"

Mari narrowed her eyes at at him for a second. "...No. Life is unexpected, and people change. Which means you can change yourself to enjoy mint chocolate chip ice cream."

"Can a person change themselves to like spicy food, or dog poop?"

"Yes. Look at Mid over here." Mari hooked a thumb over at the agent, who just whistled and started juggling some crystals.

"Of course, I'll just go find the hottest thing here and burn all my tastebuds to the point of being dysfunctional!"

"Or you can try exposure therapy and eat more mint ice cream."

"Yeah, no." He stood back up.

"Hmmm. This isn't a war that can be won in one battle, I see. I'll have to plan my attack," Mari mused. Ilias gave her a look of promise. A promise of for sure death. No revival. Mari glared right back at him with the fury of a thousand spears. He returned the look with one that contained the wrath of mother nature.

Potash cleared her throat. "So, are you two going to keep staring at each other, or are we going to eat more ice cream?"

"As long as it isn't mint flavored."

Mari looked like she was barely restraining herself from attacking Ilias right then and there. But she took a breath and strolled off to get two more flavors.

This time, there was either blue raspberry or pool water. Mari scooped out four scoops and settled back onto the floor. Ilias stabbed at his rather violently. "This is very blue."

"What do you have against the color blue?" asked Potash drily.

"Nothing. This is just really blue ice cream. If anything, it'll taste like blue."

Mari laughed. "What an astute observation."

"Why thank you!" He replied, and then ate his ice cream. "That's blue."

Mari tried some as well. "I taste a few hints of green and purple, actually. Ooh, and a whiff of gold."

"I mean I've tasted blue before. But this tastes really blue."

Mid ate his ice cream. "Taste like drowning."

"Must be the pool water," Potash observed. She tried some. "Yep. Tastes like chlorine and screaming children."

"Are they screaming out of joy or utter horror?"

"Both. Actually, it's rather murky. I can sense the exhaustion of parents as well."

"Murky eh? Glad i'm eating blue." Ilias snorted.

"I can't tell if this is blue or ~blue~," Mari said.

"It's the bluest thing you'll ever taste."

"Very blue. True blue."

"You do realize both of us have had the better result while the agents get the worse option?"

"Blue." Mari shook her head. "I mean, yes. Blue."

"Blue." Ilias agreed. "I don't know about you all, but I'm heading to bed early. Getting shot at is draining."

Mari nodded. "Blue." Potash assumed that was agreement.

Potash gathered the bowls and placed them in the sink. "I'll wash these before I go. The least I can do as a guest. Good night, Ilias and Mari."

Ilias waved as he left. Mari did as well.

Potash washed the dishes quietly. After a moment, she asked, "Mid, honestly, how are you? After your sister and the events of today. I know it's... a lot."

"I feel like commiting extreme violence."

"I find murdering punching bags to be a good way to release rage."

"Ah, but it has no emotion!"

"It does if you draw a frowny face on it and imagine it as your archnemesis."

"There's no fun in that." He whined.

"Would you like to spar, then? Training room three should still be open." Potash finished washing the last spoon and turned to look at Mid.

"Why not?"

Potash flashed a rare grin. She'd been itching for a fight as well, ever since they'd had to run from the assassin earlier. "That's what I like to hear."

Mid hopped up, and dashed out the door. Potash followed, bounding down the hallway.

Thankfully, Sammy was rescued from his underwater siege of a fashionable dolphin colony by the glare of wakefulness. That is to say, he woke up in the med room on Quartz-2. Not his first time.

Sammy blinked, taking in his surroundings and recovering from his bout of delirium. Next to him, Ilias--no, his brother--was sleeping. It looked like a rather uncomfortable position to sleep in, as his torso twisted a full 90 degrees, his head resting on his arm on the side of the bed. "Ilias?" Sammy asked. No response.

Sammy tried to sit up in bed. He found that he could fairly easily, although his leg was wrapped in bandages and surrounded by rose quartz crystals. He gently put a hand on his brother's shoulder and shook him. "Dude. You're not a twizzler. No need to go all twisty like that."

Ilias groaned, lifting his head up. His hair was a mess. Sammy ruffled it, messing it up even further. "Thanks for sticking by me, bro." Sammy smiled at Ilias. "That can't have been comfortable, though."

Ilias just grunted and stretched. "Actually it was. Best sleep I've had in over a week."

"Do I want to know how bad the other sleeps were?"

"Do you?"

"I think I do," decided Sammy. "Sitting around all day in a med room bed gets boring. Good thing I have a family member I can rope into free storytelling, right?" He grinned. Of course, he understood if Ilias had to leave, but it was just... It was really nice to be able to spend time with him.

A smile appeared on Ilias' face. "Either non-existent or I was half awake worried that I'd die in my sleep."

"Oh. Do you frequently worry about dying in your sleep?" There was still so much that Sammy didn't know about his brother.

"No. Not normally, no."

"That's good. I'm sorry this week has been so eventful, and not in a good way. It was probably your first time getting shot at too, and so... Yeah." Sammy grimaced.

"Well, it's not the first time. Assuming you're counting movie scenes." He grinned.

They both had a sense of humor at least. Sammy laughed. Behind Ilias, the door opened and Dr. Sprite walked in.

"Hey, Doc!" Sammy waved. "When can I leave?"

The doctor yawned. "Just.... 5 more minutes......"

"Ilias, you got a watch on you?" Sammy had a lapis lazuli one that kept accurate time in the astral plane, but he hadn't worn it yesterday.

"Nope!"

"Alright. One aquamarine, two aquamarine, three aquamarine...." Sammy droned. Ilias rested his head on the bed again. "...ten aquamarine, eleven aquamarine... i'm-getting-bored aquamarine..." Sammy stopped counting and watched Ilias and Dr. Sprite instead.

Dr. Sprite snored, while Ilias was completely silent. Sammy idly wondered whether he'd have a scar. Then what he could have for lunch.

When he felt that five minutes had passed, Sammy cleared his throat. "aaaAAAAaaaaaaaa!" he sang. "Yodel-ay yodel-oo!" he yodeled.

Ilias' eyes snapped open. The doctor was still sleeping.

"Ilias, if you wouldn't mind terribly, could you give Dr. Sprite a solid thump on the back?" Sammy requested. Ilias complied, and whacked him in the center of his upper back.

Dr. Sprite jolted awake. "Pineapples!"

"You patient needs attending to. Also, do you by chance have a watch?" Ilias said.

"No need for a watch now," Sammy cut in. "I'll give Dr. Sprite the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the five minutes." He winked.

"Well, I have my own personal curiousity on what the time is."

Dr. Sprite shook himself, then, looking slightly more awake, reached into a pocket and drew out a deep blue pocketwatch. He studied it. "One o'clock." Then he stepped lightly over to Sammy and held up an emerald, analyzing the wound. Dr. Sprite shifted a few crystals.

Ilias seemed surprised. "I uh, need to go then. I promised Mari something."

Sammy glanced at Ilias. He didn't particularly want to be alone with the drab ceiling and the doctors, but... "Alright. Will you be back today?"

"I think so, yeah." He nodded, and smiled.

Sammy smiled back. "Bye then."

"Don't do anything stupid."

"No promises."

Dr. Sprite finished adjusting the crystals and waved to Ilias. "Don't worry, I'll keep him safe."

Ilias waved and walked out.

Sammy looked at Dr. Sprite and sighed. "So. How much longer am I stuck here?"

"I'd say just today. It's rather early in the morning, so I suggest you go back to sleep. Healing takes a lot of resting!"

"Sounds good." Sammy nodded and laid back down, relaxing his mind and thinking of light refracting through a prism.

Ilias regretted leaving his brother, and also not being able to promise that he'd be back. But he was a curious cat who would probably die. Curiousity killed the cat, yes? He felt like a fool. Scratch that, he felt the Lightness rather than the Fool. He'd been kidnapped, thrown up on, shot at, kidnapped by a government agency, shot at again, and nearly murdered over ice cream. The only good thing was that he met his brother.

Speaking of meeting people, he met Mari on her way out of the lab. She'd managed to find other astral plane-suitable clothing somewhere and was now dressed in a lavender long-sleeved shirt and pants with elastic bands inside the hems near the ankles. She fell into step beside him. "Think they'll let us out of here without Mid or Potash as a chaperone?"

"I mean, we do already have a card." He waved his card to show it.

"Right-o." Mari reached into a zippered pocket and pulled out her identification as well. "We're just taking a morning break. No biggie." They reached the doors leading to the outside.

"Going for an early morning walk!" He grinned at the guard posted, which was new to the building. But hey, when a director gets assassinated and then some agents shot at...

He really needed to remember that he himself was not an agent. He was an assassin who destroyed a good section of an inhabited rock, and had a large swarm of agents trying to find him. They already had his mask. He made himself a mental note to never trust Mari with his stuff again. Being here as an "in-training agent" was just a cover, just something to stay under the radar and not suspicious.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts as the guard glanced at the ID cards they were still holding. The guard gave them a friendly nod and pressed a button to open the doors. Mari smiled at the guard in thanks.

The cab ride to Jade-3 was fairly quiet, other than the math rock being played by the cabbie. Mari took out a few vials from another pocket and stared at them for a moment, then put them away. Ilias raised an eyebrow in question.

"Just in case it's more of a hot dog meeting than a taco one," she said. "Always good to have a plan B, C, X, Y, and Z."

"I can't tell if you mean suicide or not. What happened to plans A, E through W?"

"Taking my own life? Never. I have too many tacos to eat in this world. Also, plan A is what we're doing right now, plan E and the other letters are boring, and who's even heard of plan W?"

"You've never heard of Plan Windermere?"

Mari squinted at him. "I don't suppose that plan has to do with wind or mirrors?"

"Mirrors, yes. Wind, no.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall. What's the wisest plan of all?"

"Plan Windermere!" Ilias called in a low voice.

Mari laughed. "Okay, fine, I'll bite. What is Plan Windermere?"

"Plan Windermere is a politician's trick based off of mirrors.

"Mirrors and politics... interesting. Literal mirrors?"

"No, not literal. Like let's say you walk into a mirror house. You can either walk into yourself or you find the path. And in the mirrors you see multiple of you, or someone else who is in the room with you."

"Oh-kay...."

"The main attraction of a mirror house is its sense of confusion and how it distorts things. So, if a politician brings a target into a house of mirrors, it both confuses them and heightens their trust, as getting out of the house of mirrors requires working together. A bonus is that the politician's face will be burned into their memory from frequent exposure," He explained.

Mari didn't look convinced, but she nodded along. "Sure, sure. The things politicians do are so ridiculous sometimes, I don't think Plan Windermere even reaches a list of the top fifty."

"Did you look at the top 50 list?"

"Not personally."

"Well, you're right about that. It's number 113."

"Is that so? Does that mean you read the 112 entries above it?"

"Some of it."

The cabbie coughed lightly. "Here's your stop." She stopped the cab, holding a hand out for her payment.

Mari blinked. "Shoot. We went all that way to ask Mid and Potash about compensation, but I still haven't gotten mine." She turned to Ilias. "You wouldn't happen to have any gems...?"

"Nope." He sighed. "I forgot my money."

Ilias turned to the cabbie. "Can you wait here and I can pay you when we get back?"

The cabbie merely stared at them suspiciously. "No. Payment now."

Mari exchanged a glance with Ilias. But before either of them could argue with the cabbie, an elegant hand knocked on the window. Well, who could that be? The people they were going to meet? The cabbie rolled it down.

"They're with me," a smooth voice said. A couple of gems were deposited in the cabbie's hand.

The newcomer wore a wide-brimmed hat and a long, dusky purple coat. Their blue cheese eyes glittered above a stylish black mask, and their skin was an even tan, though wrinkled with age. The cabbie grunted in satisfaction as Ilias and Mari stepped out of the cab. Ilias kept his eyes on the stranger, taking in every detail.

Mari eyed the stranger up and down as the cab drove away. "Well, it's me and Ilia."

"Indeed." The stranger removed their hat, revealing himself to have the appearance of an elderly man. The corners of his eyes crinkled as if he was smiling under the mask. Behind him, the small surface of Jade-3 stretched out, displaying a motley collection of trees and bushes. "Hello, Veilnom and Skater."

So. The old man knew they were assassins. Guess they'd just have to kill him. After they found out his reasons for going through all this trouble. "Were you behind both the message and the attacks?" she asked calmly.

"What do you think, dear?"

Mari tried not to recoil at the term of endearment. It was... uncomfortable, to say the least, coming from a mysterious stranger. But she could toss words around too. "I think yes, dear," she practically snarled.

The old man didn't seem fazed in the slightest. "You're correct about that. I come from R.O.M.E.O., which stands for Retired Old Men Eating Out. We're a group of... interested citizens, you could say."

Ilias snorted. Mari stifled a laugh. The old man simply smiled.

Mari glanced over at Ilias, but he was studying the old man still. She guessed it was up to her to continue the conversation for now. "So, what exactly are you citizens interested in?"

"Well, why don't we talk about that away from society? It's spoils a secret to talk about it in the open."

Mari narrowed her eyes. "What do you suggest?" So far, this guy was very blinding. She didn't trust the way he sparkled with charisma and polish. (so why's she with ilias? LOL good question... well, his sparkle is less effective cuz it's balanced by his abrasive personality)

"Well, some tea, maybe coffee on couches surrounding a table."

"Do you happen to see a table on this tiny isle?" Mari asked sarcastically.

"Well, there is one right beneath us."

Mari looked down. It was just rock. Probably dead skin cells too. She looked back up at the old man and raised an eyebrow. He thunked a portion with his foot, which revealed stairs.

Now, Mari wasn't usually one to go down creepy stairs with strange old men she'd met barely a minute before. So, like a logical person, she asked her mortal enemy what he thought. Go or no? she tapped on the side of her pants.

Stall

Good idea. "So, is this your personal hideout?" Mari asked, eyebrow raised. "Seems like you're pretty familiar with this place."

"Well I've been here for a good while, enough to grow a twirly mustache and know everything about this chunk of rock.

"Speaking of you, you never gave us your name. If you'd like to build some semblance of trust, you'll need to share some information with us."

"You're already in my debt, quite literally." He held up a few gems that sparkled in the penumbra of the astral plane. It occurred to Mari that his wide-brimmed hat was odd. There was never any harsh sunlight in the astral plane. Was it for fashion? Or something else?

"Which I could easily pay back when I get my money." Ilias said.

"Ah, but you two are indebted to me in this present moment, and perhaps that is all that matters." He turned towards the stairs, sweeping the hem of his coat in a flourish. "I promise not to kill you for now. We have need of you two, after all."

Ilias looked at Mari. Mari looked back at him. She didn't trust the retired old man eating out. But... she was curious. And she had her vials for backup. She shrugged.

Not killing us now is so assuring. He tapped and went down the stairs after the old man.

Mari stifled another snicker. She followed Ilias, descending into the unknown.



The room was lit by dim lights scattered across the crystal walls. Light reflected off the smooth facets, making the room brighter than only the lights would make it seem.

There was a table in the center of the room, as promised. Four couches were arranged in a square around it, and a kitchen wrapped around the far left corner of the rectangular room. Overall, it looked like a cozy living space.

Mari eyed the carpet. Somehow, she wouldn't be surprised if it was concealing a trapdoor to a lab with unethical experiments. Everything about this retired man was screaming, "Beware!" He knew too much. She idly considered poisoning him as soon as he served the drinks, but decided to wait until he talked a little more.

"I do apologize that my... associate is late. They'll be here any minute."

"And who is your associate?" Mari narrowed her eyes. His pauses seemed deliberately placed for dramatic effect.

"Someone I've known for a long time." Was all he said. How rude.

"You're being intentionally vague. I'm leaving if you don't give us specific answers." Mari took a few steps towards the staircase.

"Which you'll get once they arrive."

Mari stared at him in frustration. She was tempted to kill him right now. But no, she would refrain. "You mentioned tea or coffee?" she asked sweetly, changing the topic.

"Yes! Coming right up!" The old man busied himself at the kitchen.

Ilias was standing behind a sofa, eyeing them. Mari walked over to him and raised her eyebrows.

I feel like he'd pull a stupid prank

Mari rolled her eyes. It was possible, she supposed. She angled her head to get a better glance at the beverages he was preparing. I'll test for poisons. Don't drink it if it turns pink, she advised.

"I do not poison my drinks. Now that's just unethical." The old man called.

Mari froze. The old man could decipher Morse code? And could see well enough to decipher her tapping within moments? What a pain. She and Ilias would have to switch to a more secure encryption system. They should've anticipated that, but it wasn't a code that was particularly popular anymore so... Well. Mari would take care not to underestimate their opponent. "Of course," she said. "But you know me, probably better than I know myself, if the level of research you've done is as deep as I think it is. I like to be safe."

"Like I said," He sniffed. "I won't kill you for now."

"For now." Mari rolled her eyes. "Very comforting." Yes, this man was a threat. But she'd have to be careful with how she went about killing him. He was keener than his age implied. Footsteps came from the stairs.

A woman descended. While the old man had been the epitome of elegance, this lady walked down the stairs in the most efficient way possible. Her eyes shone like chips of amethyst, and her long black hair floated up due to the gravity of the astral plane. She gave them a warm smile that Mari trusted about -10%. Ilias looked at her, his expression unreadable, and the old man within his sight still.

"And who would you be?" Mari said with a facade of pleasantness.

"An associate of Idekay. Mr. Elohel to you." She replied with a smooth voice.

"And your name is...?" Mari prompted. It could (and probably would) be a fake name, but at least she'd have something to refer to her as in her thoughts.

"Cheyenne Checkers." She smiled and held out her hand to shake.

Mari inspected the palm of her hand, just in case, then gingerly shook it. "You know, I've never really understood the squarican custom of shaking hands," she commented. "It spreads germs."

She laughed. "Well, we do get a better immunity."

"Fair enough." Mari glanced at Mr. Elohel. "Now then. Would you happen to be the same Elohel as Potash's boss?"

"Er, no. He's my uh, brother."

"Really. Interesting." The "Er" was suspicious. She'd have to check the staff directory and compare Ikrrr Elohel's appearance to this Elohel when they returned. "Well, Mr. Elohel, you promised answers."

"Yes, yes. with drinks." He brought five cups to the table.

"What kind of drinks are these?"

"Tea and coffee."

Mari stared at her drink. "...Combined?" She was... unsure how to feel about that. Perhaps his plan was to kill them through caffeine overdose. Was that a thing?

"Yes."

Mari frowned, then lifted the cup, subtly dripping a drop of clear liquid from the vial hidden in her right sleeve into the tea-coffee. The color didn't change, meaning it didn't have any of the most common or deadly toxins. Still... she took a cautious sip. "It's... interesting."

"Of course! It's my personal brew."

Mari looked at the lady to see what she thought of that. The lady hadn't had any of it. Mari set the cup down and decided not to drink any more.

"Not bad." Ilias noted, sipping his tea-coffee.

Mr. Elohel chugged his. He set the cup down, letting out a contented sigh.

Mari tried very hard not to judge. "Mr. Elohel. What are your aims?"

"Well, I intend to have another cup of this, take a shower, have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Add in a little plotting, which it would be great if you were in. If not we'd just have to kill you, plus you are indebted to me."

"What would the plotting include?" Mari asked suspiciously. This guy was clearly trying to get on her nerves. Good thing she'd already had practice keeping her temper with the annoyances named Ilias and Mid.

"Well, changing things about the government of course!" He replied. How could this old man be so elegant, mysterious, and cheery all at the same time?

Yep, he was deliberately being vague. How frustrating. "Things? What kind of things?" Mari shot a glance at Ilias as if saying, "Help me out here, would ya?"

"Well, how would it be if not just rulers could access the astral realm? Maybe the government was a bit more lax. Let the geniuses from normal families have access to the wonderful things! We could discover so much more! Or let the astral realm become a place of tourists, the ecomony would be boosted! There are quite the amount of possibilities."

Mari had to think about that for a second. The astral plane had been inaccessible to her for most of her life, and it probably would be inaccessible to her for the rest of her life after she left, since there wouldn't be Ilias to bring her in with a guest crystal. The research she could do on the astral plane... The research so many other bright minds could do... It was tempting, she had to say. But when one painted a picture of a utopia with their words, there was always a cost or various complications. "How?" she asked.

"Well, all we need to do is scare the government a little. Even government agents react like normal people. When they feel fear they run around like chickens with their head cut off, forgetting all about their training."

Creating change through fear. Hm. "That... is risky," she said. "Scared people can be unpredictable. How would you guide them to your preferred course of action?"

"Well, that's my part of the plan. I will be a beacon of safety and stability in the chaos."

Mari glanced at Ilias again. There were many things that could go wrong with this plan, and while she did think it'd be better for the astral plane to be open to more researchers, surely there were better ways to go about it than turning government agents into, as Mr. Elohel said, "chickens with their head cut off."

"If you have better ideas, I'd be open to hearing them. But that would mean you are in with the plan, yes?"

Well, if the options were being in with the plan or being killed, for Darkness's sake, of course Mari would say she was in. She suppressed a roll of her eyeballs. "I'll have to think about it, but you do make interesting points." She shaped her face to look slightly impressed, as if she was close to being convinced. "What would you need me and Ilias for?"

"Well, you're assassins. I'll pay you to assassinate my brother."

"How much?" Assassinating Potash's boss... The guilt about doing nothing when Mid's sister had died returned and nipped at Mari's conscience. Ugh. She never should've gotten involved with them. It was much easier to be an assassin when you had no friends, only acquaintances that you chatted with and who floated in and out of your life.

"How much do you ask?"

Mari's eyes narrowed. That could either mean this organization was rich enough to accommodate their demands, or they were bluffing. "Fifty thousand diamonds. Half up-front."

"For each of you? Deal." He held out his hand to shake.

"Wait." That was too easy. Mari looked at Ilias. "What do you think?"

Ilias studied the old man intensely for a good few seconds. "Only a deal if you pay us right now."

"No," the lady said curtly. "Half now, half later. That is as far as our generosity extends."

"Well, duh. You pay us our half right now, assuming you have that money on your hands at the moment."

"Ah." The lady reached into a pouch and drew out two fist-sized chunks of alexandrite, covered in intricate gold wire wrappings. "Two matter transmuters. Each worth approximately twenty five thousand diamonds. More if you haggle well."

Ilias looked at Mari. Mari narrowed her eyes. "We'll test them first. What's their range?" The range of a matter transmuter referred to which materials it could convert to which.

"Rock to animal."

"Do you have a rock on you?" Mari asked Ilias. Ilias looked at the bottom of his shoe, and picked out a pebble. Mari took it with minimal grimacing, then held out her hand for a matter transmuter.

The lady delicately placed one in her hand, and Mari focused on transmuting the pebble to a tiny crane. Light gleamed across the wires and bounced inside the crystal. In the flicker between one second and the next, the rock became a gray crane with thin wings of stone. It flapped its wings and flew above Mari's head. "Hm," she grunted, satisfied. Well, as satisfied as she could be considering the shady dealing in the shadyfeeshifeeeeeesh dwelling. "How do we get in contact with you after the mission is completed? Or if there are complications?"

"No need, I'll be watching."

"Well, that's not ominous or creepy at all," Mari said sarcastically.

"If you insist, here's a sunstone." He held out him hand with two sunstones in his palm.

"But now I won't stop worrying that you're watching over every minor detail of our lives. I don't work well under pressure."

"I don't care what you do. Just get the job done."

"Mhm. Is there a deadline?"

"Well, preferably within a year."

A year. That was a pretty broad time frame. Long enough for her and Ilias to decide if they wanted to go through with it, she supposed.

"Hm," she said. "But we have another condition. We need our items back. My garnet and concoctions, Skater's weapons."

"And the very long straps." Ilias added.

The old man snapped his fingers in a complicated pattern, and a section of the wall swung open. Inside were their items. Ilias picked up his stuff, looking satisfied. Mari did too, placing the garnet in a secure pocket of her outfit.

"So," Mr. Elohel prompted. "Your response?"

"We'll do it," said Ilias. Mari nodded.

"Excellent." And at the sight of the grin spreading across Mr. Elohel's face, Mari almost wanted to retract their agreement. But, well, it was a lot of money for a simple job, and... she wanted to know more.

She took the sunstones.

With money to pay for their cab ride, Ilias settled in to his seat. He had been more quiet than normal, and he was pretty sure Mari noticed.

"So, we've gotten ourselves into... really something," she said, after a glance at the cabbie. "You good? Simply thoughtful, or is there something else weighing on you?"

"Just thinking I'm tired of being blown around. It'll be nice to have something resembling a banana instead of a purple blob."

"Mm. What about your filming schedules? Time works differently in the astral plane, so I probably have enough vacation days for my work. But were you in the middle of filming anything?"

"Yes, I was actually." He hummed. "But like I said, this isn't the first time I just up and leave. People see it as a regular at this point."

"Hm. Alright then." The cabbie drew closer to Quartz-2. Mari stared out the window at the isle, analyzing the pyramid as if it were some kind of fortress to besiege.

"I do hope you're good at in depth planning. Because I'm going to do a lot of it."

"If you're going to do it, why do I have to be good at it?" She smirked.

"Because you're part of it, and you know your own skillset better."

"Fine, fine. I do love me a good plan."

"Plus you'll need to know it in and out like the taste of a good hot dog. Every part, even the back-up plans, and the back-up plans to the back-up plans."

"Plans B, C, D, and X, Y, Z, essentially. Also, I have mentally replaced 'hot dog' with a much superior food in my head, namely, 'taco.'"

Ilias snorted.

The cabbie pulled up at the stop, and after paying him, they entered the pyramid again.

"Go to my place?"

Mari nodded. Thankfully, they passed neither Potash nor Mid as they walked along the halls. They were likely too busy with their own work, especially considering the hectic few days they'd had, to keep too close an eye on the new recruits. Ilias was tempted to go to the medroom to see his brother. But he needed to start laying out plans. Also he just hadn't created a good enough excuse yet.

They reached his room soon enough. Once inside, Mari took out her sunstone and matter transmuter and placed them on the table. Ilias grabbed them and chucked them into his bathroom cabinet, and closed the door to the bathroom.

"Good." Mari gave a curt nod. "Wish we had some onyx to completely block the sunstone, but that should be good enough for now."

Ilias looked around the place and himself, checking for other listening devices. Couldn't be too careful. "We're good."

Mari had been inspecting her clothing for bugs, and she nodded as well. "Alright. Plans. Firstly, are we really going through with this?"

"We're getting paid, yeah?" He shrugged. That was what they did. It didn't matter connections. That's why assassins worked alone.

She looked at him for a moment, then said, "Yeah. Okay then. We need to know more about Ikrrr Elohel."

"I'm sure we can do easy research. We do have access to government devices."

She laughed. "Good point. What else do we need to know?"

"Building layout. Where is what. Who is where at what time."

Mari scrounged around for a piece of paper and a pen, then wrote down, "Ikrrr Elohel. Building layout. Habits - who where when." She tapped the pen against the table for a few seconds, then added, "Accident or scapegoat? Exit routes if necessary."

"Yep. We make a plan. We make a few backup plans, and multiple back up plans to all the back up plans." He hummed. "Set up diversions."

"Diversions. A minor specialty of mine." Mari smiled, looking as if she was cooking up a few ideas already.

"Good. We'll collect the information, and regroup for planning. Sound good?"

"Yep." Mari tore up the list and took the pieces to the deep sink, where she sent them to be shredded further by the garbage disposal. "Meet the day after tomorrow?"

"Sounds good." He nodded.

Mari flashed a rare grin at him. "Feels good to be planning and investigating again, despite the unfamiliar setting. See you then, partner-in-crime."

Ilias grinned back wolfishly. "See ya. Well, grab your stuff from my bathroom first."

"Right." Mari returned with the sunstone and matter transmuter. "And now I take my leave."

"Bye." He held open the door for her. She rolled her eyes, but walked out of the door, placing her items in her pockets and out of sight as she left. Ilias closed the door, and waited a minute before opening it again and walked out. He headed down to the medroom, where sure enough, Sammy was still there, and sleeping. It was 4 am at the moment, so they were only gone for 2 hours. Ilias sat down next to him. He looked at his brother's angelic, relaxed face. Was that what he looked like when he himself was asleep? That is, covering his scars of course.

Sammy shifted positions after a few minutes. His brow creased slightly, but it soon relaxed again. Ilias settled down, resting his chin on his arm which was on the edge of Sammy's medbed.

After a few moments, Sammy's eyes opened. He brightened as soon as he saw Ilias and sat up slowly. "Hey, li'l bro! How was your meeting?"

"It was good! We practiced our training, since we finally squeezed in to get in the training room." He lifted his head, smiling.

"That's good." Sammy smiled back. "Doc says I can probably go tomorrow morning, though I'll have to take it easy on my injured leg."

"That's amazing! No getting shot from now on, yeah?"

Sammy grimaced. "Well, it's not like getting shot is a choice... But for what it's worth, I'll try not to. Great as the doctors are, I don't want to spend the rest of my life in the med room."

"Spending the rest of your life with all of these doctors?" He shuddered.

"Yeah. Not as fun as blowing things up in the lab, that's for sure. Although... I'm sure they have some flammable things in here... Nah, I'll restrain myself." Sammy grinned good-humoredly.

"You get to blow things up and get paid for it? I'm jealous." He raised an eyebrow.

"Eh. As long as I keep it to two explosions or less per month," Sammy joked. "That they know of, at least."

Ilias laughed. "Potash and I were talking about her boss the other day. He seems like a very interesting guy. Do you know him?"

"Ikrrr Elohel?" Sammy thought for a moment. "Interesting guy for sure. He came into the lab once and stole some methane. He's quite fond of acronyms, and he has an... interesting sense of fashion. Think Mid, but a little more sophisticated and cunning."

Ilias' eyebrows lifted. "Stole methane? A sophisticated and cunning Mid? And this guy is of higher rank than them? So he could order them to go out on the street and jump around while juggling bananas?"

"Yep. But the truth is, he gets results. He was voted best employee of the month before, due to his work on classified one, classified two, and classified three." Sammy snorted in laughter. "And I just got the funniest mental image of Agents Potash and Mid jumping around while juggling bananas, so thanks for that."

"Huh. I might see if I can have lunch with the guy. Maybe I could get him to make it happen."

Sammy outright laughed. "Sure! Good luck, and if you do manage to make a lunch appointment, I wish your taste buds the best. Tell me all about it afterwards."

"What's going to happen to my taste buds?"

"...You'll find out." Sammy gave him a mysterious smile.

"Fantastic." He muttered. Sammy flashed a thumbs up.

"So, is it going to be so bland my taste buds will want to die?" He continued asking.

"Die of boredom?" Sammy snickered. "That's fairly close, actually."

"That's very reassuring."

"I had lunch with him once, and I never want to again." Sammy smiled, looking rather chipper for such an ominous statement. "But that's all I can say on the matter. Well, other than this tip. Invite him for pasta. He won't refuse."

"Great advice bro. Thanks." He grinned.

Sammy mock-bowed as well as he could with his leg still surrounded by crystals. "What else is up with you, other than a sudden interest in the Ikrrr?"

"Hey, Potash was the one to bring him up. And if he can make them do something funny, it's worth it. But there's been a lot of training, and a break is nice. But I am getting jealous that there are other new recruits getting attention."

"Oh? Like who? I'm really not up to date on the workplace gossip, unless it's science-related."

"I don't know their names. Just other recruits that are in the building." He sighed.

"And why do you think they're getting more attention?" Sammy stared unblinkingly at Ilias. "Here, have my attention."

"Well we're new recruits, which got shot at, so we get a temporary break apparently."

Sammy still hadn't blinked. "Is that so. And you're not happy about the break?"

"Well, I'm getting bored already."

"I would be offended, but I know I'm a lot less scintillating when I'm stuck in a med room bed." Sammy gave a dramatic sigh. "Fly. Be free. Find other friends instead of hanging out with your bedridden brother. Thanks for stopping by again." He smiled.

"Hey I didn't mean I was bored with you!" He sat up straight. "And if you think I'm leaving you, you're dead wrong."

Sammy squinted at Ilias, then smiled. "Hm. Well, I can't complain. I'm much less bored with you here. But let's see... how else can we pass the time..." He glanced around the room.

Ilias pulled out a gold coin. "Spin and guess which side it'll land on?"

"Heads," Sammy said. lias spun the coin on the table next to the bed. It landed on heads. Sammy grinned. "So, do I win anything for guessing, or is it just bragging rights?"

"Just your bragging rights on how long your streak goes. Guess again."

"Tails." It landed on heads and Ilias grinned.

"Streak goes to me now. Bet again."

Ikrrr Elohel sat at his desk, working like normal. There was so much to do. Three cases at once, plus supervising Agent Potash on her case with Mid. The paperwork was so thick that he could almost imagine that if he put a chunk of carbon underneath it, the pressure would turn it into a diamond.

The door to his office burst open. Two assassins entered, one with a wolf mask, the other with a colorful mask. The one with a wolf mask wore all black, and the one with the colorful mask wore dark navy.

"W-wh-wh-who sent you?" He stuttered, standing up.

The assassins were silent. The one in the colorful mask threw something against the ground, and a violent red smoke filled the air, obscuring his vision. Shadows and figures swirled dizzyingly in the room. He tried to run, but all his motions were slowed. So slow, he was out in the open like prey. He felt the assassins come up close.

A raspy, deep voice spoke. "Here's a hello from your brother." A blade started coming for his throat.

And then he woke.

There were no assassins. There was no smoke. There was no blade. Ikrrr Elohel breathed in deeply, taking in the stillness of his darkened room. He couldn't doubt his plans. Not now. He had worked so hard. He had practically planned out the entire conversation he would have with them in his mind. How all the events would go.

Now all that was left was to wait for the future to arrive, right on time.

Potash was getting sick of hearing of assassins. Sassy assassins with sassafras and sarcasm. And now there was not just one, but two suspects in the murder of Dr. Ghee. She let her head fall to her desk as she silently cursed Skater, Veilnom, and Mid. Mid technically hadn't killed anyone yet. But one always blamed Mid. At least, she did. She still occasionally saw Mid looking depressed. It didn't stop her from blaming him, but she did it a little more nicely, and dropped off a ridiculous hat once in a while.

She lifted her head and stared at her computer with bleary eyes. This was no good. Their last lead had been the chemicals Mari and Sammy had found, which Mari had reported no progress on and Sammy had been unable to analyze as of yet. She stood up and left her office. She had to punch something.



One very satisfying session at a training center later, Potash's knuckles were sore and her spirits were high. She strode down the hallways but stopped in front of her office. She didn't want to go back to deskwork yet. Hm. Why not check on Ilias and Mari? And possibly drop off some food for Sammy as well.

She knocked on Mari's door first, and no one answered. Hm. She was probably in the lab. Potash waited for a few minutes, then headed over to Ilias's place. It took a moment, but the door was opened by Ilias. Mari was behind him, sitting at the table with a gold coin.

"Hey!" Ilias said cheerfully.

Potash nodded. "How are you two?"

"Finer than the spider in my drain."

"Ah. Well, if the spider is in your drain, I suspect it isn't very fine." She glanced at Mari. "And you?"

"All good," she said. "Just taking a break from work at the lab. The fourth analysis is running."

Potash looked between the two of them, her brow furrowing. "Wait. Did the ice cream really work wonders? I thought you two got on each others' nerves."

"Oh we do, but we relate to each other very well. Mainly after being thrown into this chaos." He sat down at the table.

Mari nodded in agreement. "Besides, the ice cream was more likely to divide us than bring us together, considering Ilias's uneducated views on mint choc chip ice cream. The main thing was that we bonded over getting shot at."

Potash winced. "Yes. I... I'm sorry. Work isn't usually like this. Would you two like to see one of the therapists in this agency?"

"Well I've been a celebrity this long and I haven't needed to confide in a therapist." He shrugged and motioned at an empty seat. "Please, do join us at this table, unless you're pressed to be elsewhere."

Potash hesitated a moment, then took a seat at the table. Mari was idly spinning the coin. "Well, I don't believe you've gotten shot at before. It would've been all over the news, and I don't remember anything like that happening."

"No, but I have had knifes thown at me. And a few embarrasing encounters with a streaker."

"Ah." Potash was silent for a moment, looking around the room. It was still bare, practically as it had been before he moved in. "So, what are you two up to? Anything you need guidance with?"

"How to cure boredom besides spinning coins?"

"Learning is always a good idea. We do happen to have a library here, and a recreational center with art and music areas. There are all kinds of ways to entertain yourself if you're in need of a break from work. I personally prefer training or sparring."

"Does the recreational center have a foosball table?"

"Yes. A slightly battered one. But yes."

"Well I'd expect it to be battered. I'll go take a look at some point, maybe drag Mid or Mari with me to play a game."

"Just so you have some warning in advance, I'll destroy you," said Mari. She smirked and flipped the coin in the air, then caught it. "I played way too much foosball as a bored child."

"Well then we're evenly matched. Heads." He grinned.

Mari glanced at the coin. "Heads."

"Yeah! 5 in a row streak now!" He fist pumped.

"Harrumph," Mari said. "Potash, want to play?"

Potash stared at the coin. "I feel like this is a two-player game."

"We'll find a way to make it three person." Ilias waved it away.

"Heads," Potash said dubiously.

"I place 49% of my bet on tails, 49% on heads, and 2% on edge," said Mari.

"Darkness, just whoever wins faces the other person who wasn't in the round."

Mari pouted. "Are you disallowing percentage votes? I didn't even make them add up to over a hundred percent!"

"Yes, it'll hurt my brain."

"What a tragedy," Mari deadpanned. "Fine. You go this round. I'll start tracking the coin flips to see if it's weighted."

"Well, it's gold. Of course it has weight to it." He laughed.

She rolled her eyes. Potash couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Maybe I'll test for whether it has a telepathic communication with you, then. Or a code. An eyebrow raise means to go heads. A twitch of the nose means tails." Mari eyed the coin.

Ilias put his index fingers on his temples and squinted at the coin, humming loudly and monotonously.

Mari laughed. "Now you're making it obvious. The coin will know your cover's blown. It's not going to cooperate with you anymore."

"We'll find out. I choose tails. Flip it."

Mari flipped the coin. It hit tails and Ilias, self satisfied, leaned back in his chair. Mari raised her eyebrows. "Wow. Okay. Clearly the coin has some loyalty to you. I choose heads."

She flipped it. "Tails."

"7 in a row." He smiled. "Your turn Potash."

Potash hummed. "Heads."

Ilias flipped the coin. It landed on tails. "8 in a row."

Mari grabbed the coin. "It must be rigged somehow." She tossed it in the air. She spun it on the table. "What do coins like... Oh, I'll polish you if you land on tails this time. Sound good?" The coin, being a coin, did not respond.

Mari flipped the coin. "Heads." She squinted at it.

Ilias laughed. "Don't blame me. It has a mind of it's own."

"Apparently it also has a sense of favoritism of its own."

"Apparently. But it is my coin."

"Hm." Mari stood up. "Let's do something else. I find myself looking at the coin with a rising feeling of irritation and I do not think it would end well for the coin."

"My poor coin. Hated for having a personality and an opinion."

"Ah-ah-ah. Not for having a personality and an opinion. For having the wrong personality and opinion. Clearly."

"Still a personality and an opinion."

"If it had the right personality and opinion, it wouldn't be hated."

"Then it would be biased towards me, and I'd put it in acid."

"It's already biased towards you. And is that how you're controlling it? Fear tactics?"

"I'm not using fear tactics at all."

"Lies. Propaganda. Brainwashing," Mari declared.

"None of those either."

"Refer to previous statement. Repeat."

"Nope." He leaned his chair backwards.

"Imagine me repeating 'Lies. Propaganda. Brainwashing' every time Ilias says something."

"Then I'd have to duct tape your mouth shut."

"I'd still hum it."

"Then I'll disable your voice box."

"Lies. Propaganda. Brainwashing."

He stood up. Mari was still standing. Then he pulled a rickroll and danced just like Rick Astley. Mari watched for a moment, then joined in.

Potash stared. "That's it. I'm afraid I've been incredibly unproductive. I must return to work now. Goodbye."

"Bye!!!!!! Oh and maybe you're right, the ice cream did work wonders."

Mari nodded and spun in place. "If nothing else, it amplified our chaotic tendencies."

"Oh, great," Potash muttered. "Just please don't become another two Mids."

"Hum. No promises."

Potash pinched the bridge of her nose. "Goodbye." She left and closed the door behind her.

They had gotten a hit on the skeleton they found on the roof. They had already identified the one that was in the building near Dr. Ghee's home. That was likely the assassin. The skeleton on the roof, on the other hand... Perhaps some third party? One who had killed the assassin? But then who killed him?

Mid shuffle-stepped down the ceiling. Many questions, many answers, but not the right answers to the right questions. Sammy had just gotten out of the medroom, so hopefully he could test the blood samples found. The best part about the astral realm was that no one could wash away the evidence and blame the rain. The anthropologist noticed strange gouges on the bone, but they hadn't narrowed it down yet. It had been over a week now, and not much has been found. How annoying.

Mid danced across the walls. Maybe they'd send him to investigate the contacts of the roof skeleton, at least. Anything to keep himself busy and not thinking about... Anyways. Who should he ask for a field mission? Ikrrr Elohel? He slid down onto the floor and stopped in front of his drawer which was filled with sunstones. Mid took out the one corresponding to the Ikrrr.

He activated it, and leaning on the drawer said. "Hey Boss!"

A few moments later, the Ikrrr's smooth voice filled the air. "Hello, Mid. How may I aid you?"

"You got any missions I can take?"

There was the sound of flipping papers for a moment. "Yes, we have a few low-stakes missions. Even one on the physical plane. Any other preferences you could provide to help narrow down the options?"

"Physical plane? It has been awhile since I've been down there."

"It's certainly something." The Ikrrr sniffed. "There are a few persons with whom the presumed assassin was in contact with recently."

"And what do you want me to do with them?"

"Befriend them. Interrogate them. Whatever you wish, as long as you can acquire information related to that man and any larger movements he may be a part of. Motives are key."

"Cool. I'm on it once I get the needed information." He ended the call. This was something he could do. He couldn't think about- no. No. Mission.

Soon enough, a tourmaline chip on his desk blinked, indicating that the relevant files had been sent across. He opened them up, read them, memorized them, and then started packing.



The physical plane was... bread roll, on a scale of donut to banana peel. Mid sniffed. The air smelled decidedly less clean than on the astral plane. And he couldn't walk up the sides of buildings, apparently. That was a bummer. (He hadn't been on the physical plane in a while. He'd forgotten how boring its gravity was. He did find out by jumping on a wall, and then falling back down to the ground.)

The first person Mid contacted on the physical plane was a laborer who'd been noted as having near-weekly contact with the assassin at a certain place called Franny's Fish 'n' Chips. So was the fish cooked or raw, and what were the chips made of?

Mid studied his dish as he sat across from the laborer. He pretended he knew what it was and took a bite. It tasted very greasy, and his chips looked like they were soaked in oil and not fried at all. He wiped his hand on his napkin.

The laborer guffawed. "Firs' time at thi' place?" He dug into his own dish with gusto.

He smiled. "Afraid so. Are you a regular?"

He nodded and swallowed a bite. "Get righ' to it. What d'ya want with me?"

"What are you building? And how can I get a job?" He asked, leaning forward.

The laborer eyed Mid for a moment. "More office buildings 'n such. D'ya have experience in construction?" His food was nearly half gone now. He'd practically inhaled it.

"Depends on what kind of construction. I'm pretty good at the structural integrity of plans."

"Plans, eh?" The laborer--quite surprisingly--paused in the devouring of his food. "...I'll see wot I can do." Then he returned to his food, practically dumping the rest of the chips in his mouth.

"Thank you." He smiled.



True to his word, the laborer got Mid in contact with a supervisor, who deemed him good enough to start work in a junior position. As far as Mid could tell, it mostly involved filing paperwork, delivering coffee, and fixing the random sprinklers that would go off. It seems that he'd have a lot of work to do to climb up the board. But there was another contact working as a manager at this company. Perhaps simply bumping into her would suffice? Either way, he'd have to buy the laborer lunch sometime, both to thank him and grow a relationship.

He knocked on the manager's door, holding a cup of coffee.

There was silence for a moment, and then, "Come in." The voice sounded vaguely irritated and slightly distracted. He opened the door and walked in.

"Would you like some coffee?"

The manager was typing away at her desk, brow furrowed. Stacks of paperwork threatened to swallow her, her computer, and the desk itself. "No," she muttered.

"That's a lot of paper. I'm quite sure you have a tree in here."

She finally glanced up, still frowning. "You're not funny, you know."

"I was making an observation out loud, not trying to be funny."

She returned to her computer. After a few minutes, it appeared that she realized Mid was not going to leave. "What?" she snapped.

He sipped his coffee. "Would you have some lunch with me and my buddy in construction?"

"Why." She tapped violently at the keyboard. That poor keyboard needed some more respect.

"Just to chat. And I'm paying."

"Free food? That changes things." She glanced at a clock. "Make it snappy. We eat at the restaurant next door. In an hour."

Mid took a long drink from the coffee, nodded, and walked out. So far, so good. Too good.



He was back, knocking on her door. It had been just him and the laborer, but oh well. Guess he'd need to be a little more direct.

There was, again, a delay in the response. Finally, there was a rather unprofessional "Mhm" grunted from behind the door. He walked in, holding a cup of coffee.

"Would you care for a cup of coffee since you missed lunch?"

It didn't seem like it was possible, but the piles of papers had grown. There was no response. He put the cup up to his mouth, and slurped. Very loudly and obnoxiously.

The papers shifted. A head popped up, glaring at him.

"You have got to get rid of this tree. Dead tree."

"Shoo." The head descended back into the dead tree.

"You didn't come to lunch." He slurped loudly again.

"...Oh. I got... caught up in things." Was it an acoustic trick, or did she sound slightly embarrassed? "My... apologies. I reneged on an agreement."

"Apology accepted, assuming you'd agree to talk now."

Silence for a moment. Then she somehow managed to extract herself from the dead tree. She towered over Mid in a spiffy suit and heels. "Fine. Five minutes"

"So, what would you change about the government?"

She blinked. "...Not here." She frowned at Mid, as if working through a difficult calculus problem. "Hmph. You'll have your five minutes at lunch tomorrow." She grabbed a piece of the dead tree and scribbled down the address of a restaurant. "12 pm sharp. I won't be late."

"Do please show up." He sipped the rest of his drink and threw it away in the trash can in her office before walking out.



She was indeed on time the next day. The restaurant was a small taco stand hidden away next to an alley. The interior was dimly lit and filled with the overlapping chatter of patrons, who looked to mainly be of the working class. The manager had changed into more casual clothing and was waiting at a table. He sat down in the seat in front of her.

"Glad to see you away from your beloved tree corpse."

She eyed him funnily. "Ha. Ha. Ha. First. Why do you ask?"

"I'm dying of boredom from doing nothing at all."

"And your first thought was to try to change the government." She arched an eyebrow.

"Well, I have spent the past few years working on stuff to sharpen my skills."

"Is that so." The manager stared at Mid for a good twenty seconds. "Order a taco. I will judge your trustworthiness."

"Yes ma'am." He got up, and looked at the menu. Number 8 looked good, so he ordered it and sat back down.

"Mm." The manager looked mildly satisfied. She ordered the number eleven. "You passed. Come here again in two days."

"That's it for today?"

"I'll give you a hint. We want change. And I'd say I'm an outlier. The laborer you met for lunch is more typical of our organization. See if that gets you anywhere."

"Does it involve food?"

"...Sure. Food for thought."

"I'm kidding. See ya in 2 days!"

She did not look amused, but she nodded. "See you."