STARSTROM MOTEL
BRIKEN, GRATA - 1:56 PM
Light rain drizzles down from the grey clouds covering Briken as Luke and Celeste make their way towards an alley with Luke carrying an umbrella and Celeste carrying a small leather box. Luke closes his umbrella as they enter an apartment filled with graffiti. They come across two hooded individuals, one sitting on a staircase with the other leaning against a railing. They both stand up as Luke and Celeste begin to approach them. They take their hoods off, revealing a female with long, brown hair, a septum piercing and a man with straight, shoulder-length brown hair with a scar above his right eye, separating his right eyebrow into two. The rain gets stronger and pours harder.
"So, you got it?" The woman asks. Celeste opens the box, revealing a revolver with 2 zip bags of ammo inside. The woman looks over to her partner, who takes a stack of money out of a compartment beneath the stairs. Before he can hand it over though, several panicked people come running downstairs as Celeste drops the box when a stranger runs into her, while the man quickly returns the money in the secret compartment. Luke and the woman look up, finding a huge wave of water crashing downward towards them. With the exit being barred from crowds of people pushing through and stampeding in a tight alleyway, the only option left to escape was an air vent. The man punches through the vent, creating an opening as the woman crawls into it. As Celeste tries to grab the box she dropped, Luke pulls her away and drags her into the vents. The water collapses onto the people outside, drowning out their screams.
STARSTROM MOTEL
BRIKEN, GRATA - 2:07 PM
"Damn it Gareth, get your ass outta my face!" The woman exclaims, still crawling in the vents with the other three.
"Fuck off, Em! You lead the way then!" Replies the man. Luke and Celeste take a break at an intersection.
"Jeez, Nick was right." Says Luke.
"That rain isn't normal. No way Briken's weather is just that bad." Replies Celeste.
"Yeah. We've heard about unnatural sightings here before. Sewers suddenly being flooded, beaches always at high tide."
"You don't think…"
"We don't know for sure, but this is either a high-ranking demon that went under our radar, or a rogue demediom." Replies the woman.
"In here!" Says Gareth as the sound of metal crashing downwards is heard. The four leave the vents and enter an empty security office. In the ceiling is a vent with water dripping out of it. The two strangers start removing their wet jackets. They both sport Palladium tags, with the woman's labelled as "A" and the man's as "B".
"You wanna tell us what that's all about?" Says Luke, drying himself with a towel he found in the security room. The two strangers look at each other, and groan.
"...It's probably a demediom. Demons don't exist south of the wall." Replies Gareth as Celeste rolls her eyes. The Palladium woman rubs her face, disinterested.
"Okay, I know that it sounds like we're ripping you off right now… But can I ask you two to stay here while we deal with whatever's causing the flood? Then we'll return with your money ASAP." Replies the woman. Luke and Celeste look at each other, with the two being conflicted.
"Here's the thing… It's not that we don't trust you guys, but… we can't risk waiting here and losing our lives in the process." Says Celeste.
"I know that you Palladium guys might have somewhere important to be, but… these deals are important to us, too." Says Luke as the two Palladium members start listening to them.
Luke suddenly manifests a thin bar with several panels attached to the center. Celeste manifests seven bracelet rings, four on her right wrist, three on the other. The two Palladium members look shocked, and begin fixing their posture.
"We're demedioms, just like you. We can help in taking down whatever's causing this." Declares Celeste as Gareth and the woman briefly look at each other.
"Show us what you can do." Demands Gareth. A notepad situated on the desk begins to levitate as Celeste controls her rings to telepathically lift it. She puts it down as the bracelets disappear from her wrist. The two Palladium members then look at Luke, who shrugs.
"Mine's pretty destructive. It would be a bad idea to show it in this tight room." Says Luke. Gareth drags the woman into the corner as they whisper to each other.
"They could be pretty useful, right?"
"We don't even know what the other guy can do. He could be causing this flood for all we know."
"C'mon Em, we've been dealing with them for months now. You really think they're gonna stab us in the back?"
"I know, but until now things have been fine. And all of a sudden they're demedioms that aren't working for E-Drive?"
"You've heard what they do to unlicensed demedioms over there. But even if they're part of E-Drive, we can handle them, I'm sure of it."
"The hell's wrong with you?! You wanna start a war?!"
Luke and Celeste look at each other bewildered, clearly overhearing the two.
"No, but I'm saying Viktor knows where we are right now. They'll have our back. Surely."
"...Fine. But keep your guard up."
The two Palladium members turn towards the two Neverglow workers and put on fake smiles.
"I mean… If you insist. I'm Emilia by the way, and this is Gareth." Replies the woman as she points towards Gareth.
"Celeste and Luke."
"We'll assess the enemy first, then tell you what to do. Until then, don't do anything stupid. 'Kay?" Replies Gareth. The two Neverglow workers nod.
Gareth sits on an office chair as the four start observing the security cameras. All floors of the apartment are flooded, the top floor being an exception.
"Looks like our culprit's situated on the eighth floor."
"How do we get up there?"
"Through the vents again, maybe?"
"That's risky. The vents above us are flooded. We don't wanna submerge this room too, do we?"
Gareth stands up and turns towards Celeste.
"Maybe you can keep the water in place? Can you do that?"
"I- I don't know. I've never tried." Replies Celeste. Gareth picks up a water bottle from a table and removes the cap. He starts pouring the water, as Celeste motions her hands toward it. The water stops in place, and floats upward, following Celeste's hands.
"Well I'll be damned." Says Gareth as Celeste drops the water, splashing it onto the floor.
"Cel, you sure about this?" Asks Luke, grabbing Celeste aside.
"What other choice do we have? Do you wanna drown here?"
"I know but… The last time you lifted something beyond your limit…"
"It's not gonna happen again." Says Celeste. Before Gareth can re-open the vent, Luke stops him.
"Hey, so you guys know that… There's a limit to what we can do, right?"
"We're well aware." Replies Emilia.
"Well Celeste… She reaches her limit pretty easily."
"Luke." Says Celeste, trying to get him to stop. Luke however, refuses to acknowledge her.
"Last time she tried to lift something out of her capabilities. It… didn't go so well." Says luke as he turns his head towards Celeste.
8 YEARS AGO
NEVERGLOW
LUTHERFORD, AETERNUM - 8:11 AM
A large bolt of electricity strikes a massive tree in an open field, setting it on fire.
"Damn!" Shouts a young Luke. Beside him are Zack and Celeste, sitting on a fence watching as well. The culprit behind the lightning bolt turns out to be Nick Altair, who is visibly exhausted and sweating.
"Hah… How's that… For ya?" Says Nick, panting as Zack hands him a water bottle. He sits on the fence Celeste is sitting on.
"Alright, my turn!" Exclaims Luke as he walks towards Nick's initial position. He rubs his hands together to create friction, and pulls back his right arm. He pushes it forward with all his might, and creates a large explosion, fully detonating the tree Nick set on fire earlier. As a result, a large branch, still on fire, gets blown away and lands on Luke's right arm, pinning him down.
The three Neverglow members are shocked at Luke's destructive power, as Luke clutches his wrist in pain. His right arm is seared, with his right hand badly burnt. Celeste quickly lifts the branch away telekinetically and runs up to him as Nick returns to the house to get some first aid.
"Shit! You okay?!" Asks Celeste.
"Aghh! No…" Exclaims Luke, in severe pain.
"Hell of an ability. You're really gonna make me work to suppress that, huh?" Says Zack as he lights his cigarette off a burning branch. Nick comes running back with bandages, medicine and a bucket of cold water.
NEVERGLOW
LUTHERFORD, AETERNUM - 8:16 AM
Luke sits by the fence along with Zack and Nick with his right hand taped up, being treated with ice. Celeste stands where he and Nick destroyed the tree, with the tree being replaced by a large boulder Zack pulled using a truck.
Celeste situates herself in place, facing the boulder. She begins to raise her hands, as the boulder trembles. Celeste struggles lifting the boulder telepathically, as it falls down. She looks over to the others, afraid to disappoint them. She gives it another go, and starts lifting the boulder. It lifts off an inch from the ground, into two inches, into eight…
…Until the boulder is fully levitating, six feet in the air. The three Neverglow members on the fence are awed and start to clap, but Luke notices Celeste bleeding profusely from her nose. She sets the boulder down, and passes out as Nick catches her.
8 YEARS LATER - PRESENT DAY
STARSTROM MOTEL
BRIKEN, GRATA - 2:12 PM
"That was eight years ago! Things are different now!" Says Celeste, trying to convince Luke.
"No, they aren't! I can't risk-"
"There it is again! Fuck! Stop treating me like a child!" Replies Celeste.
"I'm just trying to protect you." Explains Luke.
"How can I ever hope to improve if you keep "protecting" me?!"
"She's right, y'know. One way we were trained in Palladium was by reaching our limit over and over again until our stamina increased. Your body gets more tolerant the more you get used to it, kind of like working out." Replies Gareth, butting-in to stop the argument.
"At least let her try. Lest we all drown here." Pleads Emilia as Luke lowers his head.
"Fine. I just hope this works." Says Luke.
"It's just water, Luke." Replies Celeste as she and Gareth walk under the vent. Gareth situates a chair underneath and stands up.
"On 1?" Asks Gareth. Celeste nods.
"3…"
"2…"
"...1!" Says Gareth as he removes the grills. A large amount of water gushes out as Celeste redirects it to the side. After the vent has mostly dried up, Celeste proceeds to create a sphere from the water inside it.
"You good?" Asks Luke.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Go on ahead, I'll follow once the three of you are inside." Replies Celeste as she balances the sphere mid-air.
The two Neverglow members climb up the vent, with Luke following suit. Celeste redirects several parts of the bubble toward different directions, distributing the amount of water to avoid flooding the room. Eventually the bubble fully disperses, splashing water onto the tiles, partially submerging the room. Celeste climbs up the vent, and the four move along.
STARSTROM MOTEL
BRIKEN, GRATA - 2:27 PM
"Ugh, my back is killing me!" Gareth exclaims as the four continue their climb, having just arrived on the seventh floor vents.
"This coming from the guy whose entire personality revolves around the gym?" Emilia snarkily replies as Gareth brushes her comment off. Fortunately, the four are able to find rest when the tunnel separates into an open space leading to a fork. Gareth immediately sits up straight while Emilia, Luke and Celeste lay relaxed.
"Any chance you could put my spine back into place?" Gareth asks Celeste while caressing his back.
"Oh stop being such a pussy! Imagine if Viktor saw two randos- no offence, doing way better than you!" Emilia scolds Gareth.
"Who cares what he thinks? He's always so pissy anyways."
"What's he like?" Asks Luke.
"Viktor? Guy's the definition of grumpy." Replies Gareth as Emilia starts smiling.
"I swear, you can do amazing on a job and he's like "Ehhh, I've seen better." Gareth says in a deep voice, impersonating Viktor while Emilia breaks into laughter.
"He does not speak like that!"
"Yes he does!"
"No, it's more like "Eh, I've seen better."" Emilia says monotonously as Gareth laughs.
"Why'd you ask? Think of joining Palladium?"
"No thanks, we've heard all the horror stories." Replies Luke, content with his life in Aeternum.
"About demons? Please, they all die in one hit anyways." Gareth says confidently.
"Most of the time at least. Usually the firearms you sell us are enough, but for some reason the Yundash division's really getting their ass kicked by this one demon."
"Yeah. We got a call right before we left telling us to head straight there once the deal's done. Unfortunately…"
Gareth looks over to his right, seeing water drip from above.
"...Maybe we should stop picking Grata as our meeting place."
"One of us is picking up a deal in Precidia from you guys, but that's really far from Valcove, isn't it?" Celeste asks the two.
"Precidia? I'm pretty sure this was the last deal Alex set." Emilia says, unsure as she looks towards Gareth.
"Yeah. Never heard anything about Precidia."
Celeste looks over to Luke as she reaches for her phone. She tries texting Nick, warning him about Precidia but the message fails to deliver.
"What, you got scammed? Well there's no signal here, so we gotta get rid of whatever's causing this first."
"Hey, you never told us what you can do." Emilia tells Luke.
"Trust me, it's way better if you see it up cl-"
"He can create explosions." Celeste says, cutting off Luke as he looks at her disappointedly.
"He likes to show off."
"Shit, like Rhyne? If that's true then Viktor would love to get his hands on you two."
"One of our strongest members had explosive abilities; ended up retiring a while ago. And the Yundash division would kill for telekinesis. Makes rebuilding way easier." Emilia explains.
"Wait- did you just say Rhyne?" Celeste asks Gareth as the building violently shakes with the sound of flowing water echoing throughout the vents.
"Hold on. Let's go get this asshole first." Gareth says as the four resume their climb.
STARSTROM MOTEL
BRIKEN, GRATA - 2:34 PM
Finally arriving at the eighth floor, the four exit the vents into an empty room.
"So, how do we do this?" Luke asks.
"See, normally we'd have a radar that detects movement. But technically we're off-duty right now, so no equipment for us. Weapons included." Emilia explains.
"That reminds me. How the hell can you pull objects out of thin air?"
"We had these chips inserted in us that could create and retract weapons anytime."
"Our boss did it so we could control our abilities." Luke continues as Emilia and Gareth are stunned by the information.
"...Who the hell do you work for? E-Drive?" Gareth says before opening the door and checking the outside.
"Nah. But our b-" Celeste bumps Luke in the elbow before he can continue.
"Sorry if we're overly curious, it's just that… y'know, two demedioms in the wild with tech that rivals Eternal Drive?" Emilia says, signaling suspiciousness by waving her hand horizontally.
"What, you guys threatened?"
"For all we know Mr. Flood could be one of your guys. I mean, demedioms don't just go and out themselves like that."
"Listen, we wanna get out of this predicament just as much as you guys. We've had bad luck with other demedioms before. We don't wanna risk anything again." Celeste explains, trying to diffuse the situation.
"We trust you guys since you're Palladium. Protector of the people, and all-that jazz."
Before Emilia can reply, a huge wave crashes through the hallway, pushing Gareth out a window. He manages to grab a railing before falling eight stories, and jumps upward, rebalancing himself on the balcony. He stares angrily across the hallway, where an individual with slicked back blonde hair wearing typical biker gear stares back at him. His sleeveless jacket reveals a series of tattoos on his arm, including a very prominent "PB" on his left shoulder.
The individual raises his arms as water spirals around them. He pushes forward, with another wave of water crashing down throughout the hallway. This time however, Celeste intercepts it, directing the water out of their room's window. This gives Gareth the opportunity to lunge at the stranger with inhuman speed, punching the man and sending him flying through a room.
Emilia begins rushing towards that room, but is sent back by a wave of water that pins her against a wall. Luke manifests his steel bar, waiting for it to charge to the fullest before creating a series of explosions that pierce the walls of each room parallel to his, revealing the demediom's room from his angle. Before he can fire another explosion, the demediom creates a vortex of water and fires them through the holes, blasting Luke away.
Emilia freezes the water keeping her in place, breaking pieces off as Celeste assists in freeing her. Gareth rushes towards the man once more, but misses every strike. The stranger eventually counters by creating several ropes of water that trap Gareth's limbs, limiting his movement. Before the demediom can land a hit, a thin icicle comes flying at him, piercing his left arm. Emilia resizes the icicle, initially making it smaller, but making it expand afterward, completely crushing the stranger's arm from the inside as he screams in pain. Celeste frees Gareth as the latter lands several jabs on the wounded demediom, eventually knocking him through a room with an energized hook.
Luke, recovered from the blast, rushes to the room where the very wounded demediom begins to bring down an enormous waterfall as a last resort, having created a massive vortex mid-air using the pouring rain while the four were making their climb. Emilia tries to make a wall of ice to block it, but the force is too much and the water ends up breaking through. Celeste steps up, holding the water in place before they get submerged.
"Do it, Luke!" Celeste commands. Luke obeys, energizing his steel bar to hit the demediom directly, detonating and completely destroying the latter's body whose limbs fly into different directions. With the demediom defeated, most of the water disappears with the rest crashing downward as Celeste lets go.
"That-" Luke points at the demediom's severed head.
"-is how we do it in the south."
"Gotta-" Gareths grabs the demediom's severed hand.
"-hand it to you guys." Jokes Gareth, as he and Luke laugh.
"That guy really coulda used a-" Luke picks up the other hand as the two laugh even harder. The women look at each other, unamused by the men's twisted sense of humor.
"Y'know, if you ever get tired of this place, Valcove's doors are open."
"Sorry but, morbid as it is, we kinda like it here." Celeste replies.
"That's a shame. But if you ever change your minds-" Emilia reaches out of her pocket and hands Celeste a wet card containing the Palladium logo and a phone number.
"Give us a call." Emilia says, signalling with her hand as Gareth and Luke still laugh uncontrollably at their awful jokes.
To Be Continued…