Viper gets a text notification from former ADMIN Lyra, her previous employer at Nova Heart.
Hey Rasalhague, there is a meeting happening today at Nova Heart and you're required to attend since you're an ADMIN. Apparently in April, some event is being planned. They tried to get me to come in myself, but since I don't work for them anymore, I figured I should let you know. Did they even get your contact information? According to Sirius, they've been trying to contact you.
Viper texts back with a raised eyebrow, "They didn't even ask for my contact information, I was getting ready to head in anyways."
She checks herself out in the mirror. Viper is wearing a black suit and red tie she then heads out of her house and towards the arcade. Upon reaching the arcade, she finds it covered in snow after the recent snowfall. Very few footprints lead into the arcade. Maybe it's an off-day for attendees. The path to the back of the complex still leads her to the card reader and employees entrance. She scans her card and heads through the door with an annoyed expression then finds herself in a meeting room at Nova Heart Tower.
Viper finds herself in a populated room inside Nova Tower housing large comfortable black leather chairs around a large ovular oaken desk. At the very front of this desk in front of a large touch screen monitor stands the two LEADERS of Nova Heart Incorporated, Spark Estelle, wearing his usual white hooded cloak and black slacks, and Chandra Nightshade, who is currently wearing a black and red tuxedo with a bowtie. They seem to be waiting for everyone to join them. In the other seats sit other ADMINs, many of which Viper wouldn’t recognize. She finds a seat with the nameplate ‘Rasalhague’ written in black marker at the very end of the table, which could suggest an ADMIN heirarchy.
Viper walks to her seat and keeps her head down, assuming that she's late and sits down and folds her hands
With Viper seated, Spark begins to speak. Viper can see that he has a black eye on his right eye and some bandages on his neck. Many of the other ADMINS also appear injured in some way, a few with bandages on their arms. Chandra, on the other hand, looks perfectly fine though his jaw is clenched and brows furrow, especially while looking at Spark.
Spark begins to speak. Despite the size of the room, his voice carries well throughout and everyone is able to hear him clearly, “We call this meeting of Nova Heart Incorporated ADMINs to order. We are happy you could join, but let us begin with Roll. Andromeda!”
A nerdy looking woman with thick brown hair, a plaid sweater vest and slacks, and wearing turtle-rimmed glasses says "Present!"
Spark continues, "Betelgeuse?" A middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair, a beard, and wearing a labcoat with beige slacks responds with "Here!"
"Cassiopeia!"
A small, cute woman, probably around 18 or 19 with pink hair and a very bright smile responds, "Yo I'm here. Can we hurry this along?”
"Leo?"
A blonde haired man with silver studs in his ears responds, "Yeah I'm here Sparky."
"Don't call me Sparky," Spark grumbles.
The call goes on until he arrives at Rasalhague. He looks at Viper with vocal embarrassment and his hands folded nervously, "Rasalhague... ah! We uhm. Forgot to get your contact information, my apologies. Glad you could join us." He gives a very polite smile. Chandra just facepalms.
Viper shakes her head and folds her arms, "I can provide it after the meeting" she looks slightly annoyed, she's not offering it now because she doesn't need the entire meeting room contacting her randomly
Spark slightly smiles, "of course. We're glad to have you and your expertise in our ranks." He continues roll call until reaching the end. A man with short brown hair, what looks to be a Scottish kilt, and a wearing a red and green plaid flat cap at the very back of the room seems to be typing rather rapidly before giving Spark a thumbs up. "Right, thank you Perseus."
"I'm yer scribe, dats me job." Perseus says with a thick nearly unintelligible accent of some kind.
Cassiopeia mutters aloud, "I thought he was the radio DJ."
Perseus huffs out loud, "Dats me otter job ya lasseh! Imma Admin of advertisin' and radio communicatin'."
"Ah. Well nice to meet you, I'm Tin-- er.. C-Cassiopeia." Cassiopeia smiles towards him.
Spark claps his hands and announces, "If we can continue our meeting, then we can go back to work."
Cassiopeia rolls her eyes, "Fiiiiiiiiiiine, get on with it. I wanna get back to Australis. I was in the middle of very important work.”
With roll call completed, Spark begins to speak, "Right, well thank you for joining us. Let’s begin with news. As many of you are aware, last week’s trial run was a failure. We attempted to secure the Alpha Prototype, but alas, it has its allies. I never would have expected The Destroyed Sun and Moon to have intervened, but I do suppose our planning was rather sloppy. Many of our ADMINs and Grunts have been injured as a result, and I for one, apologize." Those who have bandages on their bodies give an annoyed grumble. One even walks out and slams the door. Spark winces from the reaction.
Chandra breathes a heavy sigh and interjects, "I told you! You should have allowed me to plan this move! But no, you just had to go in, guns ablaze! I told you, I know how to deal with HER, but noooooooooo, you have to be so fu--" And then he stops talking suddenly. Many of the other admins appear nervous, as if they know something about what just happened. Cassiopeia audibly gulps and the rest of the room is struck silent.
Spark shakes his head, "It's fine. Our plans can continue without it. Fortunately, April will continue without a hitch, just as long as we continue to work at our goals. We've secured two of our other targets regardless. Thankfully, with its help, Oloric Frostbeard has agreed to assist. Wish Magic is incredibly powerful, and with him on our side, we will succeed!" Some of the other admins look incredibly confused, but others seem excited by the prospect.
Viper listens and takes note of their plan, slightly snickering at the mention of their plan completely failing while muttering something about using chemicals to solve the problem
Chandra tries to speak but for some reason, no voice comes from his moving lips. He death glares at Spark.
Spark grumbles and rolls his eyes in defiance, "Fine," and snaps his fingers.
Chandra is able to speak once more and leaves him with, "How the hell you defeated my mother, I will never understand," then he walks out. He gives Viper an obvious wink and a nonverbal shake of his head, as if asking to talk to her outside later.
"Right, we will continue to capture our other targets. If the Alpha Prototype and its allies wish to fight back, they can at their own risk. Now for your assignments. Perseus! Continue broadcasting our message to our citizens. Nova Four Team, continue your work as usual. Make sure our citizens are happy. Polaris, continue your task as described previously." The Nova Four Squad, being Cassiopeia, Cygnus, of whom Viper recognizes to be Toby Wright, another person that Viper recognizes to be Rebecca wearing a plaid flannel overshirt, light camisole, and jeans codenamed Pegasus, and a much older male probably in his 80s codenamed Polaris nod. Toby and Rebecca, who are sitting next to each other sigh in the same tone, father and daughter moment. Polaris looks excited, almost like it's chocolate pudding day at the old folks home.
"And for you three," He points to Viper, the middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair codenamed Betelgeuse, and a much younger looking guy with blonde hair and silver studs in his ears codenamed Leonidas, "Come with me. I'll show you what your next task is. Your expertise will come in handy. With that, the meeting is adjourned.”
Half of the Nova Four Squad, specifically Toby and Rebecca, seem confused by her appearance and ADMIN name. Perseus had left the office through the door. Cassiopeia is sticking around and chatting with Leo, and Betelgeuse is writing things down. Many of the other ADMINs have left as well, a few slamming the door in the process.
“Rasalhague, come over here so I may swap contact info?" Spark smiles gently and walks to the corner of the room.
Viper follows and pulls her phone out, “Here, you can just copy it.”
Spark writes her number down then gives her a copy of his. Oddly, it's in the same area code as Fairview. He then looks determined, "Right, we'll proceed to our destination soon. I'm willing to put some trust into you after Sirius and Lyra put in a good word. Do not break my trust, do you understand Rasalhague?"
Viper nods as she smiles, "I understand" she starts to head out of the meeting room to go find Chandra.
As soon as she steps out into the bland white tiled hallway and looks to her right, around the corner she finds Chandra waiting. "Ah, Viper. Pleasure to see you once more." Unlike a lot of the other ADMINs and Spark, Chandra is completely without wounds or bandages. His face is still a little messed up, but considering how much he's gone through, it's a wonder he's even alive.
Viper smiles as she nods and gestures at him as she mentions, "You don't seem to have any bandages unlike the other Admins, someone must've gotten lucky." She chuckles.
"In my defense, I was not present at this most recent strike on my sister. Viper," He looks left, then right, and with a snap of his fingers, the cameras in the area go dark and motionless. Then quietly and with precision, he speaks in such a way that only Viper is able to hear, "Do not think I am unaware of your relationship with her. In fact, currently, I am the only person within the Leadership to know this. If you wish for me to continue keeping my lips sealed, I have a proposition. Though." He exhales deeply into a sigh, "I wonder if this proposition is even worthwhile."
Viper seems embarrassed as she quickly nods and asks with a hushed tone, "What's the proposition? I can't let the other Admins know about that." Her embarrassed face mixes with a nervous expression.
Again, another sigh comes from him, "Simply put, I want Spark's plan to fail. I am incredibly tired of going after the so-called AlphaPrototype. It seems like any corporation that exists in our city, Solaire, Full Moon, Nova Heart, they all want to strike at her. And for what? To get her power? Look, my request is simple. Figure out what they are planning. I am not even asking you to sabotage it." He checks left and right again and continues, "I may be a co-Leader, but this position is nothing more than the same position I was in during Full Moon. Biggest change here is I was not killed this time. So far. Will you do that for me?" For once, his serious demeanor looks way softer, as if pleading for help. "I promise to keep your secret for as long as I can. But I need help."
Viper listens and nods then thinks for a moment as her face returns to no longer being embarrassed and nervous then responds "Got it, I can do that for you"
"Thank you." He manages to get a half-hearted smile out.
Viper nods and mutters, "Not a problem" then checks her phone for any notifications as she starts heading back towards the meeting room
She has a notification from Spark:
Just testing to make sure I got your number correct. Please return to the Meeting room so we may head to our destination.
Viper nods as she steps into the meeting room and puts her phone away. Upon returning, Betelgeuse, Leo, and Spark welcome her back.
Spark, with a focused look on his otherwise professional appearance asks, "Are you ready to begin? This shouldn't take too long."
The other two nod.
Viper nods as she adjusts her suit to make sure she looks presentable "Ready"
Spark snaps his fingers and the other three disappear. They reappear in a different room outside of a metal sliding door leading to an airlock and a card reader, much like the one outside of the Arcade at the Employee's entrance. Spark explains to his group, "You three may not be aware, but your keycards lead you directly where you need to go using our patented Portal Key Teleportation system, many thanks to ADMIN Leo's work. When you arrive to work and slide your cards into the scanner outside, you will be brought here automatically. When you enter inside, please change into the personal protection gear we have provided as we are dealing with some potentially dangerous materials. Understand? I'll meet you inside and show you what to do next."
Spark disappears once more. Leo blushes from being called out for his work. Betelgeuse shakes his head and scans the card. The door opens long enough for him to enter then closes once more. The light above changes from Green to Red. A minute later, red to green.
Leo mutters, "I'm glad something I did was for good, for once." then does the same as Betelgeuse. The same lights change in the same way. From green to red to suggest occupancy, then red to green to suggest vacancy.
Viper takes a deep breath and scans her card, hoping that the equipment is up to standard. The airlock opens to a room with lockers, standardized PPE uniforms including respirators, masks, and coveralls. Clearly Nova, despite existing in a Magical Universe, does not wish to break OSHA laws. A notice at the very end of the locker room states to change into the provided PPE then press the button to enter the Laboratory. Viper's coveralls specifically has a nametag stating her ADMIN codename Rasalhague.
Viper somewhat quickly throws on her PPE, then checks everything over to make sure it's on properly then heads over to the button and presses it
Upon pressing the button, a flash of light temporarily blinds Viper for a couple seconds. When she recovers her sight, she is greeted to a nearly all-white laboratory somewhere near the top of Nova Tower. Chemicals of all kinds are stored in cabinets, machines she's never seen before are on the tables, and other three men, Betelgeuse, Leo, and Antares (Spark) welcome her in. "Glad to see you've made it through our specialized Air Lock system Rasalhague. That flash of light instantly nullifies and cleans most impurities. We require our laboratory to stay spotless lest our experimentation gets corrupted."
Leo rolls his eyes and mutters under his breath, "speaking of corrup--" Betelgeuse stares at him as if telling him to shut up.
Viper blinks several times as she shakes her head, "A warning would've been nice...christ" she snickers quietly at Leo's comment as she looks around at the various chemicals and machines then returns her focus to Spark
Most of the chemicals are ordinary ones she recognizes; many of them being rather dangerous if gotten into the wrong hands. One of the machines looks similar to the one down in the other lab connected to Dust Devil though this one doesn't seem to be connected to the wall. Another looks like a large vat with a burner inside of it. Some electrical implements are seen. There are also a lot of weird tubes going every which way as well. It kind of looks like a stereotypical mad scientist's laboratory, except very very white and clean instead dark and dingy and in a castle ala Frankenstein. Over in the corner seems to be another door leading somewhere.
Spark continues his speech, "so now here is our task. If you are unaware, we have been creating Stardust to help put entities that usually cannot sleep to sleep. These Entities are often known as Creatures of Legend. A major aspect to their existence is the amount of Mana, the Magical Power they exude, makes it so they are unable to rest unless they use their power. With Stardust, they are able to sleep soundly akin to a hibernation. In this state, they are also weakened heavily. We must continue to create Stardust in larger quantities so that we can continue to spread it to the Creatures."
Leo looks completely dumbfounded at this revelation. Betelgeuse simply nods and says in his gruff voice, "hence the machinery up here correct?"
Spark nods, "Correct. With the Creatures weakened, we can continue onto Phase 2 of our plan."
Leo shakes his head in disapproval, "And what is Phase 2?"
A smirk comes from Spark, "Don't worry about that Nimbus, I'll show you soon. For now, please continue to create Stardust. Understand?"
"It's Leo now, remember Sparky?" Leo says angrily before nodding.
Betelgeuse shakes his head, "Yeah, we get it. You're the boss." There's a sense of annoyance coming from him.
Viper seems concerned about the plan but decides to start working on making the stardust as she mutters "Concerning..."
Spark had left them to their devices. Leo is working near Viper as he introduces himself, "Hey there, I'm Leonidas, one of the old Solaire R&D scientists. Nice to meet you." He seems very friendly unlike the other man who's clear on the other side of the lab.
Viper nods as she introduces herself, "I’m Viper, I'm part of the chemical department, it's nice to meet you too" she seems slightly concerned about the plan but she isn't gonna mention that outloud.
Leo doesn't seem to be too happy about the plan either and he's also trying to ignore his own concerns. "Yeah so uh! So uh how's the weather, been rather beautiful outside lately eh?" The man is trying to make small talk and is failing miserably. "Did you hear the news about the WIsh Giver?"
Betelgeuse isn't even paying attention to the conversations happening, though he seems to be annoyed by it considering his own grunts and sighs. As the correct materials enter the machine, quickly soon after, stardust is made. It doesn't affect Viper, but it's almost like the PPE is designed for Leo and Betelgeuse's benefit. They carry the completed stardust far away from their bodies as if scared of it somehow.
Viper nods as she smiles under her mask "It's been awfully toxic looking outside lately" then she winks at Leo as if trying to signal that she doesn't like the plan then answers normally, "Nah, I'm not Capital City. I'm from Fairview"
Leo smirks a little bit to show the message was received, then he think out loud, "Fairview-- Fair-- oh yeah! I remember hearing something along those lines when Solaire was interested in parallel world theory way back when."
Betelgeuse is walking around with a batch of Stardust he places into the Vat at the very end of the room. He seems to look at the pair chatting it up but doesn't say anything.
Viper's head seems to tilt slightly as she asks, "So what happened to the Wish Giver? Did he get shot down or something?" she laughs quietly at her own joke
Leo sighs and shakes his head, "In a way, yeah he did. He was the first target Nova went after. Apparently he's helping us now?"
Betelgeuse hums happily to himself while working at his station.
Viper raises an eyebrow "How is the Wish Giver gonna help us? The fuck?"
Leo shrugs in confusion, "beats me. Until a few days ago, I didn't even know he was real. But then I saw him on Christmas Eve. He looks like.. how do I put it. He looks like the lead bassist of ZZ Top ate too many cookies. Just rotund." He has his arms out to show that Wish Giver is, indeed, very fat.
Betelgeuse laughs out loud, "That's because you never believed in him! Wish Magic only goes so far, you are aware correct?"
Viper looks over at Betelgeuse as she rolls her eyes "Kinda hard to believe something if it isn't there, it's like if I told you that I have 50 gold coins in my pocket but I wouldn't let you see them"
Betelgeuse pauses what he was doing and explains to Leo, "You can believe in something and not see it. You cannot see the oxygen we breathe or the manifestation of Mana in our souls, yet you can believe that it's there. You've got much to learn." He then walks up to Viper and with a smile on his face offers a handshake, "Artemis Nightshade, former lead R&D of Full Moon Syndicate, current lead ADMIN R&D of Nova Heart. Nice to meet you Rasalhague."
Leo rolls his eyes and gets back to work.
Viper looks at his hand and hesitantly shakes his hand, "Nice to meet you, Artemis" she then turns to resume her work while glancing around the room for anything that looks suspicious or out of place
There's an unmarked door over in the corner that probably leads somewhere. The machine that processes the 'cleaning materials' into Stardust has no connectivity to the wall like in Lyra's lab, yet it makes Stardust all the same. Over by Artemis's station, Viper can see a book of some kind on a shelf that sticks out. None of the other books have any titles on the spines except for one. Clearly whoever wrote the other books hates convenience. The windows leading outside show clouds underneath it as well suggesting how high up in the sky they are. Pick your poison, Viper.
Viper decides to get up from her station and fake stretches as she wanders over to the book that's sticking out and attempts to visually identify if it opens something
From a simple visual examination, it doesn't seem to be a switch into a hidden room. The book has the title, "Legends of the Creatures of Legends" by Maximillian Solaire
Viper raises an eyebrow from the title as she mutters it to herself and then fake yawns as she reaches up and attempts to pull down on the book
The book is a book. Pulling down on it like that causes it to fall to the ground. Somehow, it opens to a seemingly random page written in red pen,
It is the ONLY writing on the page. Leo walks over to Viper with concern in his action, "Oh gosh are you okay Viper?"
Viper nods as she subtly gestures towards the book on the ground "I'm fine, just figured I should get up and stretch a bit, wouldn't wanna get a cramp or something"
"Yeah that's fair. Well, if you're okay, I'll get back to work." He doesn't even mention the book.
Viper sighs quietly as she picks the book up and decides to see if there's any other page with this red text on it
After quickly skimming the book, Viper notices two things: There are seemingly 99 total entries, but only thirty entries for the thirty most well-known Creatures of Legend are included. She notices that on the list in the first page, 44 and 69 seem to be circled in the same red ink. No name is included with Creatures of Legend above #30 No other page has any red writing other than the aforementioned 44 and 69. In fact, attempting to go back to the page with writing leads to failure. It's almost like that page never even existed in the first place. Going back to the list on the first page afterwards, she doesn't see the red circles anymore.
Viper blinks several times at the book then decides to put it back and walk back to her station as she pulls out her phone and quickly notes what she just found as she idly wanders over to the unmarked door
The door is locked. A pane of glass shows that whatever this room is, it's completely dark inside except for what seems like something white and speckled are scattered throughout. Artemis notices Viper looking in and warns, "Hey Rasalhague, normally I wouldn't do this, but I kind of like you. Spark warned me to never go inside of there. I don't know why, but apparently whatever is in there is top secret."
Viper nods as she mentions, "Right..." she then quickly points to the windows and exclaims "YOO IS THAT THE WISH GIVER??"
"Rasalhague," Artemis sighs, "You do realize he is in our captivity, correct?" He doesn't get tricked.
Leo then mentions and points towards the ceiling, pointing out the cameras in the room, "Not to mention, there are cameras in here so like."
Viper snickers as she walks back to her station, "I'm aware, you guys are no fun" she then pulls her phone out and checks if she has reception as she starts to get back to work
Despite how high up they are, phones and other communications devices have incredible signal strength. 5G, full bars. Seems to be a common feature for Nova Heart as she realizes that all throughout the city, it's like this.
She raises an eyebrow as she quickly sends a message then gets back to work so she isn't suspected of anything Absolutely no one bats an eye. After some more time passes, Spark returns and claps his hands, then announces, "Well done my ADMINs. I see you've made great strides in your work. That is all for today. Thank you."
Leo smiles towards Spark, "Yeah it was nice meeting everyone."
Artemis just nods.
Viper looks over at Spark as she smiles "It was nice to get to know some of my co-workers, plus this was pretty fun"
"Glad to hear it. With three people, our progress through Phase 1 should be rather swift. Phase 2 may be more difficult, but I believe the three of you working together should do well." Spark smiles.
Artemis just shakes his head. Leo looks very neutral.
"That is all, I'll see you again soon." He leaves once more. The door leading towards the Purification Airlock Chamber (PAC) opens.
"After you, Miss. I need to finish writing something." Leo smiles and waves. Artemis seems to be typing something into his phone at a decently quick pace. He shakes his head while looking thoughtful.
Viper nods at Spark's comments and looks neutral at the comment that they will work well together, she then waves to Leo as she heads into the PAC
Upon reaching the PAC, the light happens first, signalling that any impurities from the lab are not going to remain with her. Then she's able to get ready to leave. Upon leaving through the other door, she finds herself back in Fairview behind the arcade. Upon returning to the city, she drives home.