Imperial Disarray

[Madotsuki]

Continued from Dreams of Absolution

Unfortunately, once Madotsuki had shut the trapdoor behind her, she realized that the tunnel had absolutely nothing to slow her descent-- no ladders, no footholds. Instead, the underground route was fashioned like a slide, and a crude one at that. Tiny rocks knocked the dreamer about as she rode down the pitch-black tunnel on her back like she was an Olympic Luger. Those would be forming some nasty welts later. This continued for several minutes, and she was starting to worry about where this was going to lead her. What if she was going to the center of the Earth? Was this even Earth? Probably not, but the tension was there all the same.

Her eyes widened in alarm as a faint glow notified her that she was about to reach her destination. There was one problem: the light emanated from behind a rock that was wedged firmly into the wall. At the speed she was going, her entire lower-half would be crippled if she rammed into the exit. She tried to push her arms against the sides of the passage in an attempt to slow down, but there wasn't enough room for her to move. Gasping deeply, she tucked her head to her chest and braced for impact.

However, instead of bringing her to a complete stop, she continued along her course as the rock dislodged itself. She hung in the air for a moment before she landed on the pavement back-first (a thing she hoped wouldn't become commonplace). Her body ached all over, so she waited for a while and listened to the ambient noise. Horns blared in the distance, and faint saxophone music felt oddly placed. The sky was shrouded in darkness, but the streetlamps offered enough light for her to realize that this place was some sort of underground city.

Once her pain had subsided, she sat up and glanced around. The tunnel had dumped her in another alley, but this one wasn't so pristine; dull red bricks replaced sharp chrome, and the entire place smelled of sewage. Wrinkling her nose, she stood up and turned to the tunnel exit. She grabbed the rock, surprised at how light it was, and wedged it back into place. It blended impressively well with the wall, and Madotsuki thought that she might have a problem locating it again if she needed it. She probably wouldn't, though, since there didn't appear to be any way to return from this side.

Sighing, she turned and walked away like nothing even happened. Her eyes casually flickered around, trying to see if any cameras were tracking her. To her delight, there were none. As she walked down the street, her ears tried to hone in on the saxophone music that was playing nearby. Maybe she could get some information from the residents? Hopefully the Stormtroopers wouldn't interrupt her again. Next time, they'd get a lot more than a couple... whatever those crescents were, to the face. It was always a bad idea to mess with an irritated stranger. She had barely been here for an hour and she was already hiding from the enforcers. Way to make a first impression.

[Madotsuki]

It didn’t take too long before she discovered the source of the music: stuck in between two closed-down buildings was some sort of club. The establishment had some notable holes on the sides, and the windows were boarded up. A green neon sign right above the door announced that this place was the “Song and Dance”, although several letters had shorted out and left the message an incoherent mess. For all intents and purposes, this place should’ve closed down ages ago. It couldn’t have been closed, though; because if it was, why would someone be playing the saxophone inside?
 
If this was a club, she’d probably need some cash. Relying on the kindness of strangers seemed like a very bad idea in this place. Half of the time, she thought that someone would jump around the next corner and mug her. Sure, she could defend herself, but if no one bothered to rob her, things would go a lot smoother. Leaning against the building, she tightened her focus as the Omnilium in front of her started forming some gold coins. A few minutes passed before she held out her hand below the Omnilium bubble. It burst, allowing the coins inside to freefall into her palm. She wasn’t sure if they’d accept this kind of coinage, but the dreamer decided that it would be better than entering empty-handed.
 
As she neared the entrance, she could hear faint chattering. She opened the door, but paused before entering. The place was pretty packed; at least one person was seated at each table, and the bar was fully occupied by people in trench coats, half of whom were passed out. Just to the left of the bar was a raised platform, presumably for the entertainment, since an animesque girl with teal pigtails stood there while playing a saxophone. Everything about her just felt out of place—she didn’t look any older than Madotsuki, and she didn’t give off those “gruff” vibes like pretty much everyone in the building did. Even her movements looked unnaturally stiff. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the girl was some sort of animatronic. That robot sure knew how to play the saxophone, though. Madotsuki gave the robot an approving nod, and the robot nodded back.
 
“Hey, you in the pink sweater.” Madotsuki spun around, trying to see who had called her. To her right, in a secluded corner, three people with black leather jackets, white t-shirts, jeans and combat boots (in other words, dressed in typical biker attire) sat at a table. The man with tousled black hair was waving at her. “Yeah, you. Come here. We have an extra seat.” Indeed, an empty chair rested nearby. She dragged it over to the group and sat down in it. Two other girls also sat at the table. One of them had a somewhat muscular frame and blond hair that looked like a bowl of limp noodles fell on her head. She stared at the dreamer intently with grey eyes, her face neutral. The other had fluffy brown hair and blue eyes, and only appeared a year or two older than Madotsuki. The brunette gave her a warm smile.
 
“You seem lost,” she began, reaching out to shake the dreamer’s hand. “Do you come from around here?” Madotsuki shook her head. “Oh, so you’re a Prime?” The dreamer raised an eyebrow. “Did Omni bring you here?” Madotsuki hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
 
Blondie laced her hands together. “Strong, silent type?” She asked in a Russian accent. “I can relate. So what brings you here to Tier 5?” The dreamer ducked underneath the table in reply. “Hiding? Got on the Stormtroopers’ bad side?” Madotsuki pulled herself back to her chair and shrugged. “Well, if that’s the case, maybe you could help us out with something?”

[Madotsuki]

Madotsuki raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Of course they wanted something—they had the perfect scapegoat now. What idiot would give up this opportunity? Whatever they were doing, the dreamer wanted no part of it. She rose up to leave, but the man clapped her on Monday the back and forced her back in her chair. In defense, she whipped out her knife and pressed it against the man’s neck in warning. Since they were in a secluded area, no one else was watching. The two girls promptly stood up, and Madotsuki realized that the brunette was a full head shorter than the other woman, and didn’t seem as prepared for these kinds of situations.
 
“Calm yourselves, ladies,” he stammered, holding his hands up in a peaceful gesture. “Look, can you at least listen to our offer before trying to murder-kill us?” A few moments passed, then Madotsuki retracted the knife and slumped back in her chair. The others did likewise, and while the shorter girl appeared relieved, the blond furrowed her to brow in distrust. The man sighed, lacing his hands together. “Alright, now that that’s settled, maybe some introductions are in order? You can call me Rush.”
 
The brunette spoke next. “I’m Madeline,” she said, then leaned in and whispered. “By the way, his actual name is Peter.” She and Madotsuki chuckled a little bit over this bit of information while Rush stared in confusion.
 
“What’s so funny?”
 
“Eh, it’s just girl stuff,” the other woman suggested, giving the two other girls a knowing smile. This only served to befuddle Rush even if further. “Anyway, my name is Svia. What about you, little one? What should we call you?”
 
Madotsuki had been a little hesitant to say anything at all, but the longer she stayed, the more this “gang” looked like nothing more than a tightly-knit group than an organization. If she had to trust anyone down here, it’d be these guys. It was either them or some other gang that wasn’t as friendly. After a few moments, she finally spoke. “…Madotsuki.” Her voice was gravelly, like she hadn’t spoken in years (although that wasn’t far from the truth). Rush nodded and grinned.
 
“Finally breaking the vow of silence, eh? Anyway, before we explain, how much do you know about Coruscant?” Madotsuki stared at him. So this place was called Coruscant? “Nothing at all, then? Alright. Coruscant consists of several tiers. Tier 1 is up top, and it’s crawling with cameras. It’s practically a dictatorship up there. Normally, the only way between tiers is to take an elevator, but there are also hundreds of tunnels. Things get more lenient until you reach Tier 7, which can barely even be called a city—it’s pretty much nothing more than a bunch of scrapyards and factories.”
 
“However,” Svia chimed in, “one of those factories is of particular use to us. The one we’re talking about specifically manufactures weapons for the Empire. If we can attack it, disable the power and take all of the weapons, we’ll deal a pretty decent blow against them. Plus, we’ll have quite a stock of weapons to sell. In summary, we need you to shut down the factory and its defenses. We’ll come in later and clean up. You’ll get a reward once the job’s done. So are you in?”
 
“I can come with you,” Madeline offered. “I could be the lookout or something.”
 
Considering that she had little else to work off of, the dreamer agreed.
 
“Great!” Rush stood up from the table. “Let’s go repossess a factory.”

[Madotsuki]

And so, the group exited the club. Madotsuki and Madeline took off in one direction while Rush and Svia headed the other way. Madeline glanced over at the dreamer with a grin. “I know just the tunnel for the job!” She raced off and rounded a corner as Madotsuki watched on, slightly impressed at her speed. “You better get moving before we get separated.” Why didn’t she just slow down herself, the dreamer thought as she picked up the pace.
 
However, as seconds turned into minutes, she started to wonder if Madeline actually knew where this so-called tunnel was; they were backtracking far more than they made actual progress, and Madotsuki thought that they had passed the same intersection 16 times. Contrary to her expectations, they somehow managed to locate the tunnel in under an hour. Madeline turned to the worn-out dreamer with apology in her eyes. “Sorry. Never been good with directions. Plus, this city looks the same to me no matter where I go.” True, the city didn’t have a lot of variation.
 
Madeline dug her nails into a crack in the wall and pulled outwards, swinging the latch open. From here, Madotsuki could see that this tunnel had several light fixtures drilled into the ceiling, which was slightly higher up than the previous one. The walls had been smoothed out, and the entirety of the tunnel was large enough for her to crawl along on her hands and knees. All in all, this tunnel appeared a lot more comfortable than the other one. She guessed that whoever made the tunnel to the surface didn’t want to risk the light giving it away.
 
Madeline hopped in first, followed by Madotsuki, who turned around and shut the door behind her. They continued on in dim light for a while until Madeline spoke up. “Hey, listen. I’m really glad you agreed to help us. This means a lot more to us than you know.” She stopped at a ladder and started to descend. Madotsuki trailed closely behind. “Our group’s really small; not counting you, it’s just the three of us. There’s not much we could do to fight back until you came along. Primes are a lot stronger than people who were born here in the Omniverse, like me. With you, we have a fighting chance. Maybe more people will join us now that we have a Prime on our side.”
 
“I know it sounds like we’re using you… I can’t deny that it’s exactly that, but… just… understand our point of view, okay?” Madotsuki let that sink in for a moment. Was she supposed to be the mascot? Merely the one that rallied others to this ragtag group’s side? It was demeaning, yes, but the dreamer couldn’t bring herself to get mad at her. She had spoken so honestly. She wanted her to know why they chose her. If they were using her, she’d at least want to know.
 
Madotsuki bumped into Madeline, who had stopped at the end of the tunnel. “We’re here. Are you ready?” The dreamer nodded and Madeline opened the hatch.

[Madotsuki]

Despite the fact that the city (if you could call it that) was located deep below the surface, Tier 7 looked as if a dust devil were constantly blowing by, coating everything in its path with pinkish dust. Heaps of gears and other bits and bobs lay scattered on the floor, with no regards to how they were arranged. A large crane stood off in the distance, deactivated and rusted, yet powerful-looking. A lot closer, hidden in a pile of spare parts, was some sort of animatronic, although half of the outside shell was missing so Madotsuki could get a clear look at its endoskeleton. From what she could tell, it was supposed to be an adult male with blond hair, somewhat similar to the style of the teal girl robot she had seen earlier. Madeline glanced down at the robot, then briskly walked away, like she was afraid of it.

Madotsuki followed her, curious about what she was so nervous about. Maybe it was a case of first-mission jitters? She tapped her on the shoulders, then pointed back at the android. Madeline frowned. “I think that’s one of the Song and Dance’s old robots.” She picked up the pace, refusing to look back. “There’s a lot more of those guys down here. Let’s see if we can get back by nightfall.” Madotsuki pointed up at the smoke-covered ceiling; they didn’t even have a proper sky, so how would they be able to tell the time? “It’s just an estimate. Look, there are rumors that the abandoned robots here come alive at night, searching for people to take and use as parts so they can repair themselves. I really hope that it’s just a dumb story, but I’m not willing to wait around here and find out.”

They continued in silence for a while. Madotsuki could see why this rumor had her so unnerved: they were probably going to stay here for a few hours while they worked on taking over the factory and grabbing all the weapons, so if the robots really did come to life, then they were going to have a problem if they were hostile. While the dreamer wanted to ask further, the look on Madeline’s face told her that she didn’t want to talk about it. Instead, she asked about the factory itself. “You’ll know it when you see it. Speaking of which…”

Just as they reached the top of a giant mound of cogs, a large, grey building came into view. Smokestacks spewed out a thick black mist that pooled up at the ceiling. Several warehouses rested in a line, although all the doors were shut tight. Painted on the side was some sort of logo, but it was in some sort of language that the dreamer couldn’t understand. The windows were too far up for the two to easily reach. “Yep. That’s the one. But unless you can walk through walls, we’re gonna need a huge ladder.”

It was at that point that Madotsuki had a brilliant idea: what if she could summon her Effects with Omnilium? She sat down and concentrated. Barely aware of Madeline asking her what she was doing, she imagined the Kerchief Effect residing deep inside her Effects compartment. A few minutes later, she now wore a triangle kerchief on her head. Madeline stared on, confused, until Madotsuki turned to a faint, ghostly blue. Without a word, she hovered over to the factory and pressed her hand up against the wall. It passed through as if nothing was there. The rest of the dreamer followed suit, leaving behind an amazed Madeline.

[Madotsuki]

The factory had seen better days. If she had been here 30 years ago, Madotsuki would’ve found this place quite pristine, with gently-buffed marble flooring and well-oiled conveyor belts. But this wasn’t 30 years ago. Rust had found its way into every nook and cranny, including the assembly line robots, which all appeared about ready to rattle themselves to pieces. Said robots were putting together parts for what the dreamer guessed was some type of machine gun. They paid no heed as she hovered by, still incorporeal. Seeing that the robots didn’t have any type of security protocols, she returned to normal and summoned her knife.
 
She reared back, ready to tear the metallic workers to shreds, when she caught a glimpse of light out of the corner of her eyes. There were footsteps as well. Great, a guard. Madotsuki ducked behind the conveyor belt and watched as the guard rounded the corner. To her surprise, it was the same man whose car she had used to escape the Stormtroopers. She sighed deeply; she really didn’t want to hurt the guy, but freedom fighting had its costs, including the civilians who helped out, even inadvertently. Once the guy had passed by her, she rose up from her hiding spot and pushed her palm out, concentrating on the amount of energy pooling up in her hand. After a few seconds, a writhing, purple column shot out of her hand and towards the guard, making a little “fwoom” noise as it moved through the air.
 
The guard noticed the sound a moment too late; he spun around and trained his 9mm at her, but the column of energy rammed into him before he could do anything else. He barreled into the door with such force, the walls around it cracked. The guard himself appeared surprisingly okay—although the impact had knocked him for a loop, he otherwise seemed unharmed. He rose to his feet and began to shoot as the dreamer hid behind one of the robots. If there were any other guys here, they would be on their way any second.
 
“Come out behind the robot with your hands above your head,” he ordered, a slight twinge of pain he was trying to hide enunciating his words. As he drew nearer, she grabbed her diary and opened it. It bore the similar purple tinge her other attacks had, so it would probably be useful for some sort of attack. The guard stopped right besides the robot, and Madotsuki took the opportunity to spin around and open the diary in his face. A purple fist launched out at his face, giving him no chance to react before the appendage rearranged his face. It seemed that the first hit dealt more damage than he let on, since he collapsed to the floor and she knelt down next to him with sweat beading on her face. That last attack left her briefly seeing stars, like her moves were using her own life energy for power.
 
There was no time to waste, though. She turned the guard onto his back and dug around in his pockets. Among some random pieces of junk was his I.D card—a Mr. Mike Schmidt. If she needed identification to reach the power, then this would come in handy. She tucked the card away in her sleeves. She would’ve searched further, but she could hear several pairs of footsteps coming her way. Instead, she snagged the pistol and ducked back behind the robot.
 
Two more guards arrived, this time equipped with laser guns. Since they weren’t sure where she was, she waited until they reached Mike’s body before chancing it and shooting at the closest guard. The bullet found its target, but the other guard had much faster reflexes than his comrade and he shot in retaliation. The laser dug into her shoulder and she cried out in pain, a harsh burning sensation running up and down her right arm. She hopped over the conveyor belt and ran, blindly shooting at the guard with the gun in her good hand. None of her shots landed, but since she slid underneath the conveyor belt, neither did his shots.
 
Once again, she waited for the guard to come closer. However, her pistol was out of ammo, she couldn’t hold the diary open with one hand, and she had the feeling that trying to use the column again with the huge pain in her arm would make her pass out. That left her with only one option. She launching at the guard and wrapped her arms around him, grappling with him and trying to stab him at the same time. He fell down and started rolling, trying to crush her, but she pushed against the floor and forced him onto his side, whereupon she straddled her knife against his neck and cut deep into the flesh. The guard’s efforts to shake her off intensified as his life began to ebb, and he managed to throw her into the wall before falling still.
 
Dots swam in her vision as she examined the mess she caused. Blood was everywhere, from the robots to her own sweater. She slowly rose to her feet and limped over to where the guards had came from, discovering the security room shortly afterwards. She pulled out the I.D card and swiped it across the scanner. The door opened and she entered. This appeared to be a typical security office, with monitors covering the entirety of one wall, although the guards who occupied this place didn’t seem to be very organized. It took her a while before she found the breaker system behind a giant mess of papers. With a knife in hand, she sliced through all the wires and everything went black.
 
The outside door opened, and in came Madeline. She activated a flashlight and found Madotsuki trying to limp to the exit, covered in blood. Madeline looked at her with worried eyes. “Hey, are you okay?” Madotsuki nodded in reply, and the freedom fighter hesitantly pulled out some sort of walkie-talkie. “Mado took care of everything. Ready to play janitor?”

[Madotsuki]

The locks must've been electronic, since now everything was open. Madeline led the dreamer to one of the warehouses, where weapons were packed away until they were scheduled for delivery. Much like the factory, everything was covered in rust, except for the weapons themselves, which stood out like a sore thumb. The lighting was minimal and yellowish, which, combined with the rust, gave the place an overall dead look, as if this building was made during a zombie apocalypse. The freedom fighter walked over to a crate, pulled a crowbar out from her satchel, and yanked on the lid until the top popped off. She dug into the pile of weapons and pulled out an SMG. Strapping the gun to her back, she grabbed a pistol and tossed it over to Madotsuki, who caught it in midair. "Nice catch," she said, opening another crate.

"While we wait for the others to arrive, we should probably be prepping the crates and such." Madeline's gave wavered over to Madotsuki's injured shoulder, which was still smoking. The air smelt of burnt roadkill. "And by we, I mean me, since you don't appear to be in any condition to be helping me out here. It's totally okay, though." She started walking further into the warehouse, but paused and turned back to the dreamer, like she had been trying to find what to say and finally found it. "I wouldn't worry about that wound too... much. I heard that Primes heal much faster than normal people. ...They didn't say how fast, but I bet you'll feel much better tomorrow." And with that, she disappeared into the darkness, her call of "just keep a lookout for me, okay?" echoing through the cavernous building.

Madotsuki was half-wishing that something would just happen already. In the space of one hour, the only notable occurrence were rats crawling underneath cracks in the wall and Madeline losing her balance somewhere deep within the warehouse and causing a huge ruckus. She was going to check on the rebel, but she had assured her that she was okay. Those things weren't the type of "something" she was hoping for, though; she was thinking something along the line of the rest of the group finally arriving, or even Stormtroopers coming to investigate. Just something so she could stop thinking about what could've possibly been holding up the others. Were they dead? As the seconds ticked on, her mind started to wander into darker places. What if the robots in the scrapyards caught them? But if anything about this wait was good, it was that her wound had finally stopped hurting.

Lights suddenly shone from around the corner, and Madotsuki backed up against a wall. Holding her breath, she watched as a old diesel truck pulled into the warehouse and slowed to a stop. There appeared to be some sort of decal on the side of the vehicle, but it had been hastily spray-painted over to try and hide it. The doors opened, and Madotsuki breathed a sigh of relief as Rush and Svia exited. Rush turned to the dreamer and grinned, showing that he had a tooth or two knocked out of him. "Did'ya miss us? Sorry it took so long, but..." He glanced at Svia, who now had a black eye. "...We had a few complications. Anyway, where's Madeline gone off to?" Madotsuki pointed into the darkness, and Rush faded into the black.

[Madotsuki]

It didn't take long before Madotsuki stood outside the warehouse with a pair of binoculars in her hands, standing guard and watching as far out as she could muster, while the others were packing weapons away into the nondescript truck. Rush and Svia had even brought mops and swept up the blood. They had even buried the bodies deep below the piles of junk. There was no way those bodies were going to be found.  The night was so quiet that she could catch snippets of conversation between the triad.

"...and that was when we hid behind the table. They shot so many bullets at us that no one could even see the wallpaper anymore. Trust me when I say that getting the truck was no easy feat..."

"...why are they called miniguns? I mean, they're so large that I don't think I could hold one. It should be called a 'megagun;' that sounds a lot more terrifying..."

"...if I never see another mega-- er, minigun in my life, it'll be too soon..."

Madotsuki chuckled to herself, pulling the binoculars up to her eyes. However, the sight she saw was nothing to laugh at; rising up from the farthest pile of scrap metal was some sort of chrome vehicle with red and blue lights flashing from the roof. Her heart sank as she realized that it was some sort of cop car. Hiding away the binoculars, the dreamer ran into the warehouse flailing her hands frantically.

Madeline froze in place, letting all the weapons she was carrying clatter to the floor. "Problem?" Madotsuki pointed outside and pantomimed a Stormtrooper driving a car. "Okay, big problem. Time to go?" The dreamer nodded.

Rush frowned and glanced at the truck. "But there's still so many weapons to collect! Several warehouses full of 'em!"

Svia placed a hand on his shoulder and led him to the driver's seat. Since there were only two seats, Madeline and Madotsuki were relegated to wait inside the truck's cargo hold with all the weapons. "All those weapons won't mean anything if we get caught."

"Can't Madotsuki handle them?"

"Does she look like she's in any position to fight highly-trained Stormtroopers? She's taken care of the nightguards, but they probably weren't trained to handle Primes."

"...Point taken."

"Now drive. Drive like your life depends on it."

"It kinda does-"

"JUST DRIVE!"

The wheels squealed in agony as the truck raced out of the warehouse. It made a sharp u-turn and left the scent of burning rubber in its wake as it fled the scene, hoping to escape before the police arrived. Madotsuki sat in darkness, rattling about as the vehicle drove over bumpy terrain. It took her all of her effort to avoid getting buried underneath a pile of weapons, although thankfully, the group had planned ahead and stacked all of the heavier weapons in the back. The dreamer had expected Madeline to say something, anything, but she remained quiet, scared into silence by the prospect of getting caught. Madotsuki similarly remained hushed. After all, there was nothing to say; they just hijacked a factory, and things were only going to head downhill from there.

The truck slowed to a stop, and a few tense moments passed before the door opened.

[Madotsuki]

The first thing that Madotsuki noticed was that she was facing a brick wall. Svia stood next to it, opening a passage. Several large bags lay beneath the hole, presumably to store the weapons in. Madeline swung her legs around and hopped out of the truck. “Did we lose them?” She asked, lifting up a bag and putting a pistol inside it.
 
Rush’s voice emerged from somewhere behind the group, still inside the driver’s seat. “I don’t see them anywhere. I don’t hear them, either; we should be clear for a while.” There was the sound of a door slamming shut, then Rush poked his head into the storage area and offered the dreamer a hand. She ignored the offer and exited by herself. With a shrug, the raven-haired boy retrieved a bag and started to stuff weapons inside it. The others followed suit, and Madotsuki would’ve done so as well if her arm wasn’t injured.
 
About half an hour passed before all the weapons had been safely transferred to Tier 5. Once the final bag had been brought up, Madotsuki finally got to see the group’s base of operations. Truth be told, it wasn’t much to look at—if it were located in any of the upper tiers, the building would’ve been considered an eyesore. Here, down in the slumps of Tier 5, it actually looked decent, although that wasn’t saying much. A giant hole rested where the door should’ve been, hidden by a tattered, purple curtain. All the windows were similarly broken, blocked from the inside by brick walls. Another hole in the roof functioned as a makeshift sunroof, despite the fact that no sunlight could even reached into the depths of Courscant’s lower tiers.
 
The inside of the house was decidedly livable. Off to the right of the entrance was some sort of living room, with throw pillows scattered around a small analog TV. A gaming system sat in front of it, and Madotsuki quickly recognized it as a Super Famicom. She had actually owned one of those systems back before all this Omniverse stuff had happened, although the only game she had for the console, NASU, wasn’t worth playing in the slightest. Thankfully, they had a few games. None of them were NASU.
 
They dragged the bags upstairs, where four doors opened into bedrooms, if you could even call them that. They were mostly unfurnished, aside from a mattress, a blanket, a shelf and a lamp, although the rooms belonging to the others had little bits and bobs that they had collected over time. They were also dusty, probably because these guys didn’t own a vacuum. Madeline led the dreamer to the unoccupied bedroom.
 
“You did a great job out there.” Madotsuki glanced away in embarrassment. “You know… I was thinking. We have a guest room—maybe you could live with us for a while? I’m guessing you don’t have anywhere to live right now?” That was definitely true. Unless the streets counted as a place to live, which it probably didn’t. She nodded and the rebel grabbed her by the hand and led her back to the others. “Hey, guys! Madotsuki wants to stay with us!” Rush and Svia glanced at each other, then nodded.
 
“So does that mean you’re joining us?” Rush asked. Madotsuki nodded again. “Alright, then. Welcome to…” He hesitated, looking at Svia in the hopes that she’d finish the reply for him.
 
“We don’t really have a group name,” she admitted.
 
“But we should!” Madeline objected. “Hey, maybe Mado’s got a name we could use?”
 
Without thinking, Madotsuki suggested “The Night Terrors.” A brief moment passed before Rush grinned. “Sure, that’ll work.” He disappeared into another part of the house for a moment before returning with a multicolored orb and a walkie-talkie. Madotsuki’s eyes shone when she realized that the orb was actually Omnilium. “We said we were gonna pay you, so here.” He tossed the orb at Madotsuki, who caught it in her unharmed hand. “Only Primes can use this, so we don’t have a use for it.” The dreamer pressed it into her body, and the Omnilium vanished.
 
“Welcome to The Night Terrors.”