Specter

Chapter 6 (Intermission): Nightmares Come True

We last read Chapter 5, in which we were introduced to Imperator Barrows, his hyperactive English-accented sidekick Rogue, and their team of laborious workers who operate out of the Imperator's Armory, a seemingly humble business that was established in the Rusted Citadel shortly after the Iron Kingpin's defeat, with the goal of arming the city's populace sufficiently should another tyrant attempt to take over once again.

We meet Rogue as she's honing her blade skills with the use of a contraption that constantly fires fruit in her direction.....fruit which she expertly dices to pieces in mere seconds with her abilities. However, she horribly mistreats the two workers who set up the device for her, ultimately going as far as to bully and demean them after she easily destroys the machine they built, claiming that they should've made a better one.

After she scares them off, Imperator Barrows himself drops by and cryptically alludes to the group's true plans, with Rogue informing Barrows that another shipment of weapons should be arriving to the armory by train the following night.....weapons which would be the perfect way to rile up the agitated folk of the city, both supporters and detractors of the Iron Kingpin. Barrows then voices his approval, and then ends his spiel by claiming that he, Rogue, and their movement plan to "bring back a legend".....all while the Rusted Citadel's residents are hyper-focused on fighting amongst themselves.

This time, we catch up with Ollie as he works overtime to get the teleportation network up and running for Specter's investigation the following morning, and Specter herself begins hearing a voice in her head.....

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-Teleportation Network, Obsidian Sanctum Basement, Obsidian Sanctum, Rusted Citadel, Asia-

In the basement of the Obsidian Sanctum, the scientist Ollie was working tirelessly to make sure his collection of teleporters—which effectively served as numerous fast travel points between important places within the Rusted Citadel—was in perfect condition, ready for Moody a.k.a. Specter to use when her investigation started the next day. He ideally should've been sleeping by now, but if there was anything he could do to assist the spectral superheroine in quashing the dissenters before they grew even more prominent, then it was this.

The officially-named "Teleportation Network" was a wide and round chamber that had been newly constructed for Ollie by King Ryker a few months after the Iron Kingpin's defeat. No longer was Ollie forced to work in a stuffy underground hideout surrounded by rocks and smelly standing water; now, he had upgraded to a more high-tech setup in the basement of the Obsidian Sanctum, with metallic white, black, and silver color schemes and a very sterile environment all around. The Network's main selling points were six huge portal terminals in a semicircle-like formation near the center of the room, all with a terminal and control panel right next to each one.

From left to right, the portals went to the Beheaded Bengal Saloon, the Rusted Citadel harbor, the residential district—where T.J. lived—the large and wide bridge connecting the Rusted Citadel to the mainland, the Ember Holding Cells, and the Obsidian Sanctum's main lobby.

One by one, he activated each portal to test if it worked, and one by one, they all roared to life and began glowing before opening a wormhole showing their respective destinations on the other side.

After the final portal had been tested—and shut down again—Ollie sighed with satisfaction.

Everything's ready for you, Specter, he thought to himself. Come through for us, won't you?