Smuggling

[Madotsuki]

Smoke. The scent of burning rubber. Was something on fire? Madotsuki spun around to try and locate the disaster, but all she could see was black. Black below and above her. Black in the distance. There was nothing to visually indicate where she was, let alone to help her locate an accident.

Within the dim mind of her subconscious, she knew it was a dream. But this wasn't a type of dream she dreamt of. It almost felt like it wasn't from her mind at all, so what was is coming from? Even worse, as much as she attempted to turn lucid, the waking awareness remained out of reach. She couldn't even control her dreams anymore; they were places where she could be herself-- no morals or laws to uphold, just a world of her own. And now they weren't even that.

She wanted to leave.

When she forced herself to wake up, she caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure in her room, lurking by the window. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't humanoid. A pair of shadowy wings framed a face with large blue eyes. The figure didn't appear aggressive, but its gaze pierced though the darkness in a commanding way, and the dreamer couldn't help but fall unconscious again.

When she went under for the second time, she could hear the wailing of sirens and screaming people. Much to her horror, her legs gained a mind of their own and started dragging her towards the noise. She pulled and tugged, but her legs remained steadfast. Suddenly the rest of her body wouldn't respond, like her soul was ripped from her form and she was forced to watch it march towards its inevitable death.

She needed to leave.

Even while she was awake, she still couldn't move. The shadowy figure was now accompanied by two black humanoids with red eyes. Madotsuki struggled not to scream as the two shades wavered their arms around her mouth, and the dreamer couldn't do anything about it. The non-human shadow, however, batted them aside and freed her. Immediately, she fell back asleep.

The building in front of her was made out of chrome, much like the establishments of Tier 2 where she lived. A giant hole had been made in the building, and the rest of it was smoldering in flames. Her path towards it was blocked by a line of cop cars. Stormtroopers hid behind them, readying their plasma pistols and shouting things that the Night Terror couldn't make out. Not that she was hard of hearing, but everyone else sounded like they were a mile underwater.

She glanced around, trying to see where the building was located, but anything further than a few meters from the vehicular blockade was hidden away in a shroud of darkness. The eyes from the friendly shadow stared at her from beyond the black, not commanding, but pleading for her to investigate the building further.

It was at that moment that the dreamer realized she could move her body again. Slowly, she crept her way past the line of cars, seemingly unnoticed by everyone else.

She wasn't meant to be here. They didn't realize that she was there because she shouldn't have been there in the first place. At least that's what the shade was thinking.

...Thinking?

Finally, she made her way through. In the center of the wreckage stood a lone figure stained with blood.

It was her.

She awoke with a start, trembling in a cold sweat. The shadows were gone, but her room remained dark under the cover of night. She stared up at the moon, trying not to cry as she attempted to piece together what had just happened.

[Madotsuki]

The moon did nothing to ease her mind.

She took a deep breath, then glanced over at her bedroom door. Slowly, she crept towards it and opened it into a shadowy hallway. Making her way to the kitchen, she took a can of Omnilium and downed it, nestling herself on the living room's couch. It was an energy drink, but she didn't care; there was no way she would be going back to sleep after that fiasco.

But why had she reacted like that? It was just a dream. Just a dream. But maybe it wasn't just that? Those shadows... she definitely didn't dream them. How could she imagine the wispy tendrils wrapping around her while awake? No matter how weird her dreams were, none of them felt... real. Even when truly lucid, there was a faint distant feeling that kept her aware of the fact that it wasn't real. There was none of that last night. And there was no control-- she had been swept along a road she couldn't waver from, led on by something she couldn't comprehend.

Truth be told, it terrified her.

With a sigh, she glanced over at the door to Hiro's workplace. She stared at it, waiting for him to walk through and comfort her. But she knew that would never happen-- not right now, anyway. He was still away at... Dante's something. Dante's Abyss. Yeah. She had to wonder how he was doing; she hadn't heard a peep from him ever since he left. No calls. No texts. Not even a post card. She had been expecting something along the lines of "Dante's Abyss isn't as bad as it sounds. Wish you were here." But no, nothing.

In the end, though, Hiro was still a Prime. If he was dead, he'd just return to life (presumably) like all the other Primes.

Regardless, she didn't want to be alone. Funny, she thought she'd never want company. Pulling out her MDD, she sent a message to Madeline. Not like she was expecting her to reply, since it was 2 in the morning, but the illusion of company was all she needed.

"hey, u awake?"

A few minutes passed, and to her surprised, she had responded. Except it wasn't her.

"She is awake. Unfortunately, she isn't in any position to talk."

...Oh boy. This better be just a sick joke.

"...Who are you and what did you do with her?"

"My name is unimportant. Don't worry, she is alive." Alongside the text was a picture of Madeline with her hands tied behind her back and blindfolded. Her head rested between her knees, apparently sobbing or asleep.

Madotsuki responded with a set of words best left untranscribed, threatening to shove her knife so far up the person's nether reigons that they'd give birth to silverware. The kidnapper appeared unfazed.

"You can save her, Madotsuki. I just need you to do something for me."

[Madotsuki]

"What kind of sick freak are you?"

"A sick freak who needs a job done. Now do you want to save your friend or not?"

Her hands trembled, contemplating the idea of crushing the device and refusing the guy altogether. How could they think they had the right to take her friend and demand her services in return? They didn't even need to do that! ...Unless the service they needed was... less than pure. In the end, though, they still had Madeline captive; a tantrum was only going to make things worse.

"What do you want from me?"

"I need something delivered."

"And that would be?"

"You don't need to know."

"Where am I meeting you?"

"You're not."

"Then how do you expect me to do this? I'm not a miracle worker-- I can't read your mind through a message."

"You sure you're not a miracle worker? From what I've heard of you, you might be. In any case, I'll be dropping the package off at a specific time in a specific place."

"And that would be?"

"What works for you?"

She paused for a moment, trying to decide the best pick-up point. The only places she knew how to get to were the Song and Dance and the Blue Moon Cafe, so she had two options. Considering that she didn't want to get the Gear Grinders into this mess, the choice was obvious.

"Do you know the Song and Dance?"

An uncomfortable moment passed before the kidnapper responded.

"I do. When you get there, I'll give you directions to the package."

"How will you know I'm there?"

"I have my ways. You have an hour before the package is placed. That should give you plenty of time to get to the extraction point."

"Where am I taking this package to?"

"I'll tell you when you get the package."

"Sounds fair enough." Madotsuki was practically lying through the screen. What about this was fair?

"Alright. And you better do this right, or else your buddy won't be seeing the light of day."

Madotsuki shut off the device and proceeded to scream into the nearest pillow. She shouldn't have to be following directions from that jerk! Yet here she was, about to become Anonymous's delivery girl. There was no way she was going to do this-- maybe she could rescue her another way? But how?

Maybe Crusher could help her?

Movement from the window caught her attention, and she turned to find a shadow floating by the glass. It remained there for a few seconds before hovering out of sight. Rushing over to the window, she flung it open and stuck her head outside, trying to locate where the object had gone. Unfortunately, it had long since disappeared. Shutting the window, she paused for a moment and tried to determine what that thing was. Surely, the fact that it had been watching her while she was talking to the kidnapper was no coincidence. It must've been some sort of camera, because how would they know where she was, otherwise?

Of course, that raised the concern about the guy catching her talk to Crusher. Then again, you couldn't catch someone who was invisible.

Phasing out of both existence and sight, she raced out of the apartment and down towards the elevator to Tier 5.

[Madotsuki]

Things were very uneventful during her travels, considering that while invisible, she wouldn't have to worry about being caught on camera or from suspicious onlookers wondering why a 15-year-old girl was heading towards Tier 5 at 2:00 in the morning. As she arrived, she started moving towards the Blue Moon Cafe.

The neon moon in front of the door was currently off, indicating that the pub was closed for the night. Taking a peek inside, she saw that no one was inside, although the backdoor leading towards the living quarters was slightly open. They were probably asleep, but this was important. The dreamer proceeded to bang on the locked door, continuing for several minutes before it finally opened.

Brenda stood at the entrance, a pistol in her hand and her hair wrapped in a towel. She pointed it at her before she realized whom she was aiming at. Blushing a little bit with embarrassment, she lowered the gun, although she still appeared to be ticked off. "Mado, dear, what are you doing up at this hour? You nearly woke up the neighborhood."

The Night Terror was about to speak, but the black-haired woman looked on in surprise. "How'd you speak without moving your mouth?" Madotsuki stared at her in confusion.

'What is she talking about?' she thought.

"I'm talking about that! You just did it again!"

'But I'm just thinking it...'

"I'm telling you, I can hear you loud and clear. Look, what are you here for?"

'I need to talk to Crusher. One of my friends is in danger and I think he can help me.'

"That does sound important. Come on, dear." Brenda led her through the backdoor and into the game room. Much to the delight of Madotsuki's ears, someone had fixed up the refrigerator so it no longer hummed with the noise of a jet engine. The teleporter whirred and clicked, apparently repaired since her last visit. Instead of taking a seat around the poker table, the two entered through the other door and into the rest of the house.

Contrary to the state of the game room, the rest of the house appeared to be livable, at least. Beige walls were covered with pictures, the majority of them involving Brenda and Crusher, accompanied by people she had never seen before. The latest photo included Madeline, and the dreamer gave the black-haired woman a confused look.

"We take pictures of all our partners in crime," she explained, gingerly caressing an older photo including a duo of men with blue hair. "You never know if you'll ever see them again."

The dreamer glanced away from the picture with Madeline, fearing that she would break down and cry. Besides, now was not the time to reminisce. 'Where's Crusher?'

"On the door to your left," she replied, still looking at the photo in her hands.

[Madotsuki]

It didn't take long for the dreamer to find Crusher, since he was currently asleep on the bed and snoring like a lawnmower. She sighed, hoisting herself onto the mattress and grabbing the Gear Grinder's shoulder. She began to shake him, increasing in intensity until he toppled off. As soon he was awake, he swung a fist in her general direction. With a gasp, she ducked under his arm and curled up behind the bed.

There was the sound of a gun cocking, then something settling down on the mattress. Madotsuki didn't have enough experience to tell what sort of firearm had been readied, but she knew it meant trouble. Would Crusher be able to recognize her in the darkness? Maybe not, but he could probably recognize her voice.

'Calm down, Crusher.' He flinched and spun around, trying to locate the voice that was inside his head.

"Mado? Is it ye?" he asked, his fingers still wrapped tightly around what the dreamer thought was a shotgun.

'Yes.'

"But I thought ye--"

'No time for that. I need your help.' Slowly, she rose up from behind the bed, walked over to the lightswitch, and turned it on. She had look away for a moment, but recovered and returned to the bed. 'Madeline's been kidnapped.'

Crusher paled. "Didn't think it'd 'appen this quickly."

'They wanted me to deliver a package for them... if I fail-'

"I understand. Ye want to rescue 'er?"

'Of course I-'

"Then the best option right now is to do what they ask. If ye knew where they were, then ye could try to save 'er-"

'That what I came here for. Whoever kidnapped Madeline used her phone to contact me.' She pulled out her MDD and showed Crusher the conversation she had. 'You have scientists down there. Can't you wake Nico up and get him to use some sort of doohickey to find the kidnapper so I can beat the everliving tar out of them?'

A moment passed before Crusher hopped off the bed and opened a drawer. He withdrew a small rectangle from the compartment and inserted it into the bottom of Madotsuki's MDD. "I'll can see what I can do, but I can't make any promises. This'll also give me the encryption code so I can send ye the information, should I get any." After a few seconds, he pulled out the device and put it into his pocket. "In the meantime, just play along. Trust me when I say that the desire of revenge is not worth 'er safety."

'You sound like you've dealt with this before.'

The look on Crusher's face explained better than anything he could've ever said.

[Madotsuki]

The kidnapper sent her a message as soon as she marched out the door.

"It turns out that I'm having problems getting the package to the Song and Dance. The new retrieval point is in Tier 7."

Madotsuki couldn't help but glower down at the screen, which was the only thing illuminating her face. Surely he would've had the decency to confirm that their drop-off point would work? Then again, they had kidnapped her friend, so who knew how much decency they had left? Not Madotsuki, that's for sure. What she did know, however, was that they were pulling her towards the end of her rope.

Gritting her teeth, she punched in the buttons to reply. "Where exactly in Tier 7?"

"I'll explain when you get there. Now go."

She flicked the MDD shut and scowled. Fine. Whatever. As soon as Crusher told her the captor's location, they'd be sorry. So it wouldn't be a problem to play along, right? Maybe, if she could hold herself back enough. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember the last time she had been so angry. It almost felt like the emotion was coming from something else.

She thought about heading over to the elevator, but remembered that the ones for Tiers 6 and 7 were still under repairs.

Alright then; tunnel time.

Thankfully she remembered where the tunnel Crusher had shown her was located. Entering stealth mode, she raced through the tunnel and into Rust's territory. Considering that it was 2:00 in the morning, the ghetto was rightfully quiet. All was silent, except for the sound of footsteps echoing from just around the bend.

The dreamer immediately plastered herself to a brick wall, holding her breath and waiting to see who would be arriving around the corner.

Sabitsuki rounded the bend, stomping the ground in her leather boots. Her iron pipe was strapped to her back via a custom holster. She gripped a phone in the way one would grab a person to choke them, muttering about something she couldn't make out. Instead of listening to her voice, however, she decided to try listening to her mind.

'...I swear, Errol... hang on for a while, I'm coming.'

The gang leader glanced in the dreamer's direction, and the Night Terror froze up. A moment passed, then Sabitsuki shook her head and hoisted herself into the entrance to Tier 5. At the same time, Madotsuki broke away from the wall and began making her way to Tier 7.

[Madotsuki]

Now Madotsuki was starting to wonder how right this kidnapper was in the head; sure, they couldn't be all there if they thought that they could take Madeline captive and get away with it, but... how were they going to find her in this lousy excuse for a town? She had notified the guy that she had arrived a few minutes ago, and the response hadn't been all that helpful.

"Where are you exactly?"

"On the top of a giant pile of junk."

"Can you be more specific?"

"I LITERALLY CANNOT GET MORE SPECIFIC THAN THAT!"

With a sigh, she closed the MDD and waited for a reply. Several minutes passed before she caught a glimpse of something off in the distance flying towards her-- a difficult feat, considering how dark this place was. The dreamer glanced away, trying to pretend she didn't notice. Flicking the MDD back on, she awaited the inevitable message.

"Take a left and head that way until you reach a giant crane, then head right and continue until you reach a warehouse. It'll be right outside the door."

That sounded easy enough. Following the directions, she set off.

Now, the journey itself hadn't been all that eventful-- it took her about 10 minutes of ambling until she reached her destination. However, there was the fact that something should've happened several times over that didn't actually occur, and she found it unsettling. On occasion, she'd glance around to find large groups of robots readying weapons. She had prepared to fight every time this happened, but they did not engage. From the way they backed away into the darkness, with a hateful glint in their eyes, they weren't afraid of her. They clearly wanted to attack her with their saws and hammers and whatever else they wielded, but for one reason or another, didn't do so.

What made it worse was that they weren't actually looking at her, a fact she realized the third and last time she had encountered them. Instead, they were staring off to the side and above her, approximately where she thought the drone was. Even though she had the feeling that they wouldn't hesitate to fight her if the camera didn't happen to be with her, it didn't ease her mind. If anything, it only raised more questions.

She eventually arrived at the pickup point. It was a factory, much like the one she helped take over, except there was no sound to be heard, save for the shambling of metal feet. Robots had also gathered around the area, and they all turned to stare in her general direction as she drew nearer. Engines began to stir and weapons were withdrawn, including her own. The Night Terror crouched as she continued to close the distance, not wanting to provoke the animatronics should they decide to ignore the drone.

Now that she was close, she saw that a briefcase lay in front of the door, watched over by a bot designed like one of those wrestlers one would find on television. She stopped a few inches away from it and bowed stiffly in greeting. The robot didn't respond. She gestured towards the package, asking for permission to take it. Still no response.

Bending over, she reached for the suitcase and froze as the guard seized up. After a moment of nothing happening, she pulled it away and rushed into the darkness. They did not follow.

Once she felt she had reached a safe spot, she stopped to catch her breath. Her MDD buzzed, and she checked it.

"Great job. Now you need to get to Tier 3."

[Madotsuki]

Tier 3 wasn't all that much to talk about-- given the quality (or lack of) of the other tiers, this place was little more than mediocre. If she had visited this place first, then maybe she would've thought otherwise. That wasn't the case though.

"Go 3 blocks forward, then head left for 5 and right for 4. It'll be difficult to get inside, so follow my directions when you get there."

Glancing up from the screen, she realized it was going to be trickier than she thought; despite how average the place was compared to the other tiers, this place had a decent amount of cameras watching the road to the point where there didn't appear to be many blind spots. If she went invisible though, then it wouldn't be a problem.

Madotsuki paused, willing herself to vanish. After a few seconds, she looked down at herself, unfortunately still visible. She tried again, but nothing happened. How come she was having such a hard time with it now? What perfect timing. Then she remembered that the only times she had used the ability was when no one was looking. Did it only work like that? If so, then who was-

Ah, right. The drone. The dreamer suddenly had the urge to blast the thing out of the sky, but she held it down. Funny, she normally didn't act this aggressive. Guess it was the fact that it was screwing with her powers. She doubted she could get the guy to call off the drone, so she had to dodge the cameras the old-fashioned way.

She ducked into an alley, running through it and plastering herself to the nearest wall as the camera swiveled in her direction. She snuck underneath the video recorder just in time, waiting for it to turn to her direction before she ran off the other way. Just a moment before she decided to sneak by the next camera, the kidnapper sent her another message.

"You might want to watch out-- I just learned of a white-hair girl who plans to blow up my customer. Try and take her down if you can."

Frankly, the Night Terror wasn't surprised by the fact that this guy had to enemies. But were they talking about Sabitsuki? How she wished she was in her shoes right now.

The game of cat and mouse between Madotsuki and the cameras continued until she had to duck into yet another alley, whereupon she bumped into something. Or rather, someone.

"Hey! Watch where you're--" The person spun around and snarled. It was Sabitsuki, and she was also carrying a suitcase of her own. "You!" Her free arm reached behind her back and pulled out her rusty iron pipe. "Don't try to stop me."

If it weren't for the fact that Madeline's life was on the line, she might've agreed with the albino and sent her on her way.

At the moment though, Sabitsuki felt like killing. Madotsuki, however, didn't feel like dying.

[Madotsuki]

Sabitsuki rushed forward, her pipe raised high in the air above her head. With the movement assisting her, she swung downwards at breakneck speed. Even though Madotsuki swerved to the side, the impact left a decently-sized dent in the concrete, knocking her off balance. Following the momentum, she rolled away from the next swing and kept on going until she bumped into the narrow walls of the alleyway. With no where else to move, she held up the suitcase to block the pipe as it came crashing down.

Rather then pull away her weapon for another attack, the albino pressed on, trying to pin the Night Terror to the ground. "Just give up and die already," she sneered.

Instead, the dreamer struggled back, using a newfound surge of strength to push the gang leader away. She took advantage of the small window of time to ready her knife and swipe at her, leaving a small gash on her cheek. The next strike missed, clinging against the pipe. The attack continued, driving the albino towards the other wall as she was forced to block or else die a death of a thousand cuts.

It might've been an odd scene to anyone looking on; two teenage girls fighting in an alleyway and using their suitcases as shields. All they needed was a bunch of cumbersome armor and the "modern knight" vibe they were giving off would be complete. Although, these two wouldn't ever really be called chivalrous. Strong? Yes. Loyal? Maybe-- probably less so for Sabitsuki. Chivalrous? Nowadays, fighting fair would leave you dead. A little dirty trick or two was always needed.

Speaking of which, once she remembered the suitcase in her other hand, Sabitsuki swung it at the dreamer's face. It came out of left field and hit her squarely in the mouth, and she spun away to her knees, drooling blood. Madotsuki thrust her arm behind her blindly, and her opponent cried out in pain. If she had a few seconds, she could phase out and get away. Right now she didn't really care about her client; she just needed to get out of here. If it meant that her client would get blown up later, so be it.

Unfortunately, the albino wasn't backing off. The Night Terror hopped to the side to avoid the pipe, knocking away the blow that followed with her arm and kicking Sabitsuki in her now-injured belly in retaliation. Snarling in agony, she clutched her stomach as horns began to sprout out of her hair. This was her chance! Madotsuki turned tail and fled, hoping that the cameras weren't looking in her direction.

Before she could get very far, something hard and cold wrapped around her waist and yanked her backwards. When she stopped, she came face-to-face with the gang leader, having been pulled back into the fight via the bend in the pipe. The albino gave her a strained grin, her eyes flickering in pain. Despite what the dreamer thought earlier, Sabitsuki still looked relatively human. Was she holding something back? "Do you think I'm stupid?" she hissed, baring her razor sharp teeth. "Cause I'm not. You're not getting away this time."

[Madotsuki]

The albino reared back and rammed her head against Madotsuki's face, the latter spiraling to the ground. She shuddered, realizing that her nose was broken, as well as a few teeth. Great; what would the dentist's bill look like? Desperately, she hoped that her teeth would heal like her other injuries. A tiny pool of dark red pool of liquid began to form below her as she struggled to get up. Rolling onto her back, she dodged a swing from the rusty pipe and wrapped her arm around it, using it as a lever to hoist herself up.

The dreamer hopped back just in time to avoid the next attack, whereupon she lunged forward and drove the knife deep into the enemy's torso. Sabitsuki gasped in pain, then roared as she twisted the blade further. She pushed the Night Terror back, growling.

Madotsuki took the chance presented before her, dropping her knife and charging a column of energy into her palm. The albino had no clue what she was doing, but she knew it was probably a bad sign. She ducked, barely avoiding the projectile as it rushed past her head. An explosion followed, and as bits of metal flew about, the dreamer realized that she had blown up the drone. Not her intended target, but it would work.

Sabitsuki glanced behind her in surprise, focusing on the wrecked piece of machinery for a moment before blocking the Night Terror's knife with the suitcase. Madotsuki countered with her own suitcase, although by now the square cases weren't in any condition to be used as weapons. As soon as the two collided, their lids popped open, spilling their contents all over the floor.

"Way to go, punk!" said Sabitsuki, gesturing towards the countless packets of white powder scattered by her feet with clenched fists. However, that was all the contents accounted for-- no bombs or anything like that. And there were far too many packets for a single suitcase to hold. Had the gang leader been delivering something as well? Whatever the case, something was off and she needed to act before the albino started fighting again.

'Wait, Sabitsuki.' Her opponent stared at her, confused and agitated.

"Do I look like I want to talk?" she hissed, starting to lumber forward.

'Doesn't something look wrong about our packages?'

Suspicious, the Rust member knelt down and sifted through the mess. "You're right. Shouldn't your bomb be in here?"

'My bomb? What about your bomb?'

"Why did you think I'd have a bomb?"

Rolling her eyes, Madotsuki pulled out her MDD and showed her the conversation she had with the mysterious kidnapper. The albino widened her eyes in alarm, then presented her own MDD, showing a discussion she had with another unknown person. The conversations were surprisingly similar, except Errol had been taken, Sabitsuki picked up her package at the Song and Dance, and she had been warned that Madotsuki was planning to attack her client.

Suddenly the person sent the dreamer another message. "Are you okay? I can't see you anymore."

Madotsuki punched in a reply. "Yeah, just beat up the albino chick."

"Good. Mind staying there for a few minutes?"

"No problem." And with that, she shut the device and turned back to Sabitsuki. 'Let's go. We need to talk in private.'

[Madotsuki]

The two rushed to refill the suitcases, rationing out the packets as they determined the original amount. The locks had been partially broken during the fight, but Madotsuki figured that they could hold until they reached their destination as long as they didn't suffer through any more damage. Once everything had been set up, the dreamer rounded behind Sabitsuki and grabbed her by the shoulder.

"H-hey!" the gang leader shouted. It took her a moment to realize that she was invisible, pipe, suitcase and all. "Huh. No wonder you got away the first time." The camouflaged duo ran along the road, no longer having to worry about being caught on camera. If the guy was sending another drone, they needed to get away to a safe distance. They continued for a while until the Night Terror caught a glimpse of another machine floating through the sky-- definitely another drone. Ducking into another alleyway, they watched it pass by and disappear around the corner.

'This should be safe enough,' Madotsuki announced, allowing the both of them to turn visible again.

"How do you do that?" Sabitsuki asked, poking her arm as if she thought that it would vanish again.

'I... don't really know.' She shrugged. 'I just think of it and it happens. I don't understand how you happens. Anyway... how did Errol get kidnapped in the first place?'

"Eh, it actually happened last night." The albino turned her head to rub at a bruise on her neck that Madotsuki didn't notice at first. "I'm still not sure what happened exactly, but a group of masked men in black broke into my base."

'You mean Rust's base of operations?'

"Yeah. The others were out doing things."

'Such as...?'

"You don't need to know. But I will tell you that me and Errol had to hang back and give advice. I would've been able to handle those guys, but it was 4 in the morning and I was running off of coffee at that point, so..."

'Handle them?' Madotsuki asked with a smirk on her face. 'Like you did with me?'

The albino growled, winding up for a punch. In the end, she thought better of it and lowered her fist. "You're not like most people. Now, where was I? Oh, so they knocked me out and took Errol. I spent almost all of today looking for him. I was about to call it a night when the guy sent me a message. You probably know the rest."

'Why would they pick you though?'

Sabitsuki scoffed. "Why not?"

'Have you even delivered stuff before this?'

"Nope. Are you saying you have?"

'Yes I am.'

An awkward moment passed. "So how did Madeline get kidnapped."

Madotsuki frowned. She suddenly realized that she and the Night Terror hadn't been in contact for several days. She had thought that she was just busy, but with this information... had Madeline been kidnapped much earlier than she thought originally? '...I wasn't there.'

"But why go to all the trouble? Why did they send both of us? If one of us was a backup, then why pit us against each other?"

'Maybe they didn't want us to deliver it? This stuff must be worth a lot of money. Imagine if it got... "lost in transit," and suddenly disappeared?'

"That... could work." The albino heaved a large sigh. "But what now?"

Madotsuki's MDD began buzzing and she flicked it open. An evil grin began to form on her face as she read it. Shutting it, she turned to the gang leader with an almost maniacal look in her eyes. 'I just got some info. You feel like crashing this kidnapper's party?'

[Madotsuki]

The instructions weren't particularly difficult to follow-- just head south until they reached the rich part of Tier 3. According to Crusher, several kinds of law enforcement lived there, like police, lawyers, judges and others of that ilk. It showed. As the two made their way around the corner, they came across a fenced-off area that opened underneath a silver arch. A pair of Stormtroopers guarded the entrance, standing by a giant machine Madotsuki didn't recognize. It appeared that if one wanted to head through the front, they'd have to pass through the momentous device.

Sabitsuki pulled the dreamer back before the guards could notice them. "They have a scanner," she muttered, daring to sneak another glance before ducking back behind the building. "If any contraband gets through, an alarm'll go off."

'And we definitely have contraband,' Madotsuki chimed in, examining her beat-up suitcase. 'I don't suppose my vanishing trick will keep that thing quiet?'

"I doubt it. Maybe we can climb up the fence?"

They continued along for another block or so before turning to move towards the fence. It stood about 20 feet tall, and the sound of electricity crackled through the air. The Night Terror turned to face the albino, whom was standing several feet away from the wall of wire. 'You first.'

Sabitsuki neared the fencing, almost grabbing onto it before realizing why the dreamer was so hesitant. "Are you trying to kill me? I'm many things, but being electric-proof isn't one of them."

They stared up at the wall for a few seconds before Madotsuki phased out. The gang leader watched in surprise as the dreamer floated over to the wire fencing, reached out a hand to pass through it... and convulsed as several thousand volts were pumped into her ghostly form, forcing her to return to normal as the shock sent her spiraling into the alley. Sabitsuki rushed over to Madotsuki's side with a smirk on her face. 'I... thought I could phase through,' she muttered, coughing out a cloud of smoke.

"You have any more bright ideas?" The albino asked, inching away from the smell of burnt meat that now permeated the air.

Madotsuki slowly made it to her feet, examining her singed digits to make sure she still had them all. 'We may have to go through the front.' They made their way to their previous position near the front entrance. 'I don't trust the guys living here to leave our suitcases alone, so we'll have to bring them in. Unless you want to wait here--'

"No way! Errol's in there too, y'know!"

'Fair enough. We need to be fast. If we enter while invisible, they may think the machine's acting up; that should give us enough time to get in, free our friends, pummel that guy and get out before they realize we're here.'

"Why don't we just attack the guards and force them to keep mum?"

'Do we really look like we're in any condition to get in a giant brawl?' Madotsuki asked, gesturing towards Sabitsuki's stomach wound and her own burn marks.

"Point taken."

With a deep breath, they turned invisible and dashed with all their might towards the entrance.

[Madotsuki]

The alarms blared as they rushed through the gate, startling the guards who whipped out their laser pistols in response. Madotsuki turned her head to see that the Stormtroopers were investigating the scanner. They were most likely asking what had happened, but the duo were too far away at this point to  hear anything.

The majority of the buildings appeared far too nice to belong in Tier 3, what with their shiny chrome exteriors and finely-trimmed hedges. While the majority of the buildings seemed to just be a bunch of houses,  some of them had signs notifying any onlooker that the establishment was "Harry's Counseling" or something similar. The dreamer had to wonder if some of these business owners lived inside their own workplace; these buildings were too well-designed to not be used 24/7.

When the building labeled "Dewey's Law Firm" drew near, the duo stopped and stared up at the sign. As expected, the lights were off, except for the second floor. "You sure this is the right place?" Sabitsuki asked, peering into the window.

Madotsuki nodded, pulling the albino along with her up the fire escape. 'These are where the coordinates are.'

Sabitsuki gave out a low whistle. "Then this guy has a pretty chill front."

They paused at the second floor, staring in to find a man in a red baklava and pinstripe suit sitting behind a desk covered in computer. His hands manipulated some sort of controller, and from the small amount of his face that showed through the baklava, he was definitely agitated about something. He was muttering, but not a sound made it outside the walls. If the two hadn't been invisible, they might've been spotted at this point.

'Wait, before you do anything...' Madotsuki pointed towards the corner of the room, forgetting that she couldn't be seen.  'That guy has a camera set up back there. See it?'

"I'm not blind, you know."

'I'll phase in and destroy it. Once it's gone, you can break in and help me.'

"If you say so."

With a moment of concentration, she passed through the wall and landed on the other side. Sabitsuki became visible the moment the dreamer let go, but the man didn't notice, still glued to the screen and fuming in frustration. Behind the man was a row of shelves littered with robot paraphernalia, which the dreamer promptly shied away from. Shuddering slightly, she positioned herself underneath the camera and stared back at the man.

It had only been a few hours since she had received the news that Madeline had been kidnapped, but it felt like forever. Now that she was standing here, right in front of him, she could barely contain herself. With one hand wrapped tightly around her knife, she gently dropped the suitcase and aimed her free hand up at the camera. As soon as the warped column of energy fully formed in her palm, she fired.

[Madotsuki]

The man gasped, holding up a hand to block the camera's rouge debris. Just as he lowered it to see what was going on, the window shattered into countless pieces as Sabitsuki rolled in and set off another alarm. With her pipe at the ready, she raced towards the desk and swung at him, barely missing him and knocking several of the computers to the floor. The man pulled something out from one of the drawers --a controller with a giant red button-- and pressed it, putting it into his pocket as he withdrew a laser pistol.

Before he could start shooting, Madotsuki dashed in and thrust the knife toward him. He dodged, but the dreamer took the opportunity to pull out her diary and summon the giant fist. It delivered a solid impact, knocking the lawyer to the wall and upending the shelves. He had lost the gun, struggling to find it amongst the countless figurines. In the end, the duo backed him up into the corner, weapons raised.

The Night Terror's hands twitched, ready to plunge the knife deep into his chest. She was so close to enacting revenge, but somewhere in her rage-addled mind she remembered that she didn't come here just to kill him. 'Where's Madeline?' she hissed, briefly glancing behind her at Sabitsuki. 'And Errol?'

The man didn't reply, only looking at her with a smirk on his face. Madotsuki trembled in anger, gritting her teeth. 'ANSWER. NOW.' Slowly, she lowered the blade towards his torso, pressing harder and harder. She would've began to cut into the skin, but something froze her in her tracks: deep, clunky footsteps reverberated from behind one of the doors, growing louder.

And that was when the robot interrupted. With a well-placed kick, the humanoid machine knocked the door right off its hinges and into the opposite wall. It turned to the gang, its blue LEDs for eyes flickering in analysis. Unlike the other robots Madotsuki had encountered as of late, this one was designed to look more like a human. Infact, it appeared to be some type of Vocaloid model, judging by the blue hair and scarf it wore. It seemed to be incomplete, though, considering the LED eyes and the chrome skin weren't typically something one would see from such an android.

"Kaito!" called the man, scrambling away to behind the desk while the two were distracted. "Destroy them!"

That didn't sound good.

Kaito's eyes turned to a deep red as he lumbered forward, raising an arm to punch at the dreamer. She ducked, feeling the power placed into the attack as it swiftly stopped where her head had been. Readying the diary, she launched the fist towards the Vocaloid's torso. It connected, but all the robot did in response was stumble slightly; the attack had left nothing but a small dent.

Sabitsuki tried to launch a surprise attack from behind, but the android spun around 180 from the chest up and grabbed a hold of the pipe, its eyes flashing. The two struggled to force the other off-balance, yanking and pulling like it was a game of tug-o'-war. The robot won, pushing down the gang leader and pinning her to the ground.

The Night Terror was about to assist her, but she caught the kidnapper trying to sneak away from the fight with the two suitcases in hand. As soon as she noticed, she chased after him with her knife raised up high. He tried to flee, but she was faster, colliding with him in a full-on tackle as she plunged the blade into his thigh.

The kidnapper cried out in pain, dropping the suitcases to clutch at his injured leg. "You insufferable girl!" he growled. "You don't know who're you're messing with." He turned to look at the android, raising a bloody hand. "Save me, Kaito!"

The Vocaloid immediately let go of the pipe and lunged forward, barely missing the dreamer as she hopped to the side. However, she didn't anticipate the robot lashing out with a backhand. She tumbled forward until she hit the wall, powered forward by what felt like a wrecking ball. She landed next to where Sabitsuki was. The albino's hands covered her face, slowly turning into claws. As soon as she heard the growling, Madotsuki suddenly realized what was about to happen. Sure, the robot was bad, but she'd much rather fight it than the monster that the gang leader was about to turn into.

Scrambling to her feet, she dodged Kaito's fist and backed up towards the wall with the broken shelves. Now the robot stood between the duo, dead set on defeating the dreamer. She sidestepped a kick, then rolled to the side as the android made a large sweeping motion in front of itself.

Seeing that Madotsuki had put herself into a vulnerable position, the prototype pulled back it's arm, about to launch the hardest punch of the century. Before it could pull it off, however, something suddenly yanked its arm free of its body. Sparks flew as black claws scratched into the chrome casing, reaching into the hole where Kaito's arm used to be and ripping out countless wires. The dreamer could only watch in shock, (or awe. Or terror. Potentially all three at once) as the monster Sabitsuki became pulled the robot away and started shredding through the casing. The android flailed, unsure how to respond to the situation.

Before long, the Vocaloid had been torn apart, almost looking nothing like the robot it had once been. Madotsuki glanced over at the lawyer, who stood there, frozen with fear. "H-how could you!" he wailed, halfway between panic and rage. "He took me months to make! Nevertheless, I have more where that came from!" His hand was barely halfway to his pocket when Sabitsuki turned in his direction and landed in front of him, her serpentine tongue lolling out of her disjointed mouth.

He froze up again, trying not to look the albino in the face. "Uh... you there! Madotsuki! Call off your attack dog!"

The dreamer tilted her head in thought. 'Only if you tell me where Madeline and Errol are.'

He hesitated, glancing at the beast before he spoke again. "Fine! They're a floor above us, one door to the right after you ascend the stairs. The key is in the bottom left drawer over there." He nodded over at the desk where he had been working at just a few minutes ago. The Night Terror slinked over to where he had indicated, sifting through his stuff until he pulled out a golden key.

"P-please," he stammered, tears lacing his eyes as Sabitsuki drew closer, "call her off..."

'Alright,' she said halfheartedly. 'Down, Sabi.'

The beast did not respond. 'Sorry, I don't think I can help you.' And with that, she spun on her heels and ran up the stairs, ignoring the screams as she unlocked the door and moved in.

The room appeared to be some sort of of engineering lab. Parts of robotic suits laid haphazardly across the floor. Some blueprints were rolled out on bolted desks, one of which Madotsuki recognized as the building she had picked up the package at. Along the opposite wall stood about four more robots, designed as far as Kaito had been. She knew the one with the pigtails was Miku, but she wasn't sure who the two with blond hair and the adult with brown hair were. With a start, she realized that Miku's hands were coated in a suspiciously red liquid, as if she had already hurt someone.

In the corner were Madeline and Errol, tied up and bound. They were alive, but sleeping. Madeline had a set of faint claw marks on her left cheek. The dreamer wasted no time in cutting her partner free of the ropes. As soon as Madeline opened her eyes, she burst into tears and wrapped herself around Madotsuki in a hug. "Oh, Mado you wouldn't believe how worried I was-- I mean, he took me and I had no clue how you and the others were doing and I didn't know if I would ever get out of here and he made his robots hurt me until I told him about those Rust guys and--"

'Don't worry,' she comforted, embracing the hug. 'We've taken care of him. He won't hurt you anymore.' Pulling back, the dreamer couldn't help but feel a little guilty. It sounded like she had been through a lot. Silently she wished she found out about this sooner.

"We've? Are the others there too?"

'Not exactly.'

At the moment, Errol woke up and began struggling in his bonds. 'Speaking of which...'

After they had been freed, they made their way back to the second floor. It was an utter mess, even when the pile of flesh that had once been the kidnapper wasn't included. Madeline nearly gagged at the sight, and Errol looked alarmed when he realized that Sabitsuki was in the middle of the wreckage. She was normal again and on her knees, breathing deeply in exhaustion and covered in red. Errol ran over to her, coaxing her to her feet with some encouraging words.

Madeline and Errol poked around the desk while the duo retrieved their suitcases; hey, if they weren't delivering it, they may as well do something with them. The sounds of sirens began to blare, letting them know that it was time to bail.

'Everyone grab onto me.' The others placed their hands on her, whereupon she stealthed, phased, and passed through the building.

They waited until they were several blocks away before they returned to normal. Madotsuki nearly collapsed in exhaustion while the others caught their breath.

"Now what?" Sabitsuki asked, an uneasy tone in her voice. "I'm guessing we'll just head home from here?"

"Actually..." Madeline pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to the albino, who read it aloud. It was an address in Tier 3, and it mentioned that two suitcases worth of Blissium was to be delivered there. "I would've shown this earlier, but we had to go."

Madotsuki glanced between her and Sabitsuki. 'How about we just get this over with? We've made it this far.'

Sabitsuki shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

It didn't take long before they arrived at the one story home nestled in the boulevard. Now that they were out of the fancy district, the houses appeared normal again. Cautiously, they knocked on the door until a man in a grey suit and fedora answered. He looked startled at the sight of Sabitsuki, who was still covered in the remains of the kidnapper, but the tension seemed to drop when they presented him with the two suitcases.

'We got your stuff. Now let us in. We need to talk.'