The Split Sun and The Mechanical Moon

Chapter Twenty-One: Indolent Hell Spawn.

I was hoping to receive information on Vick, as he would be just above Vex in their power scale. But with this new info about Vross and the Fifth District,  we decided to meet up with the squad working with Middle Earth before we headed out to the Fifth. Brandon, Kibo, Delilah, and Nico were staged in a hideout in a building high up somewhere in the 4th. The Fourth was a storm of housing, almost like the Slums it was packed with houses and apartments so much so that the widest pathway could only fit one person. In order to dodge Promises Rioters and ever present Threats from the EPD, we drove underground until we popped out of a long abandoned subway entrance. The streets were filled with trash, the homeless piling up as we pulled coats over our heads and continued to the meeting point.

"What happened here William?"

"The Darkness, it'll drown any hope for someone's future. Building more homes won't fix homelessness, but I guess they never realized that."

We arrived at a tall brick building, climbing up some ladders we entered through a black door into a large room. The furniture had white sheets over it, the windows barricaded with no resemblance of this really being ever a home. A single broken chandelier lit the room, and a table in the center had candles on it. Delilah and Brandon were on their laptop, Nico welcomed us in with her hand gently touching her hilt of her sword. Kibo was asleep in a chair, and to my surprise Emmy revealed herself from the corner of the room. Without Kibo, we congregated at the center table. I spoke first, William stepping away and fading into dust without anyone noticing.

"So, what have you guys found out?"

Brandon set the computer aside, letting his glasses fall to his nose he sighed.

"The bodies of a couple of Hawkins friends were found in the 13th not too many days ago, reports say they had bite marks and chunks missing from their arms and torsos. If I had to guess, it's Vick. If you guys are going after Vross later today, handle Vick as soon as possible, or else he's gonna kill more people."

Great... more things to worry about, I sighed.

"Anything else?"

"Me and Delilah have come up with a plan to get you above the clouds."

Nico interrupted.

"That's impossible, that layer of cloud isn't just clouds. It's littered with machines and devices to keep the sunlight out- and more importantly, people."

"Well yeah, that's why it's not final. When Delilah and I have concluded testing and such, we'll pitch the final to you. Alright?"

I nodded, shaking my head a bit later when Brandon wasn't looking.

"Other than that, Promise has been silent, The Underground remains as it is now, and riots have been on the decline lately."

We dismissed, I said goodbye to Nico as she left quickly. Emmy brought me aside, having news for me alone.

"My sister is keen on capturing you, The EPD thinks you're in a good relationship with the Vulcanite, making you an even bigger target for them. They've deployed Captain Aethernick, someone you should not engage combat with. He's been in the force for as long as it's existed."

"So he's a robot?"

"Nobody knows, all his files are confidential and nobody ever sees him! He's practically a myth- a bedtime story like the Boogeyman! Okay? Just listen to my warning, if you see him... run. I need to go, my precinct will start looking for me I'm not back soon. Bye, Dove."

Emmy walked away, her head a bit low as she walked out the doors. I looked for Vee, who had busied himself by sitting right next to Brandon. He kept looking back at Vee, his cat features on display as Brandon winced a bit.