This mess all began when two people, January and Rebecca, spoke inside of Luna's Mind seeking help from The Players.
Rebecca - What in the Many Hells Happened???
Luna - eh??? Rebecca? You're safe?
Rebecca - Yeah??? I was at Solar Sanctuary, but then. Uhm. uhhhhhh.... okay i think i blanked out??? The past like... 2 or 3 weeks have been a total blur!
January - Where in the Many Hells am I??? Urgh, what is this?
Rebecca - Jan? No idea.
Night - could you please describe it?
January - It is pure darkness and I cannot move.
I feel a cloth on my he-- oh I'm fucking blindfolded. Gods damn it.
Night - anything else like sounds, smells, or textures around you?
January - Hrm. Something rough around my wrists. Might be rope of some kind. Smells erm. Sweet. Very sweet. Do they not realize I am diabetic? Sounds. I hear.. someone yelling? Feminine. Rebecca?
Rebecca- Okay, we're in the same place then. Can confirm similar to him, rope around my wrists, sweet scents, and the sounds of a lot of people worried.
Night - sweet like roses or sweet like candy? and can you make out if and or what the people are saying?
Rebecca - Sweet as in it stinks. It's like the sweetest thing you've ever smelled, but it's so overpowering that it almost smells like mold.
I wish I didn't have a nose right now, let me tell you what.
Tsukuyomi - Jan! Where are you dear!
January - If I knew, I would tell you dear.
I can see only black.
Viper - That scent sounds familiar.
Rebecca - Eh? Oh! Are you Rasalhague???
Viper - Pleasure to meet you, I'm pretty sure you're smelling stardust right now either that or someone clogged your nose up with sugar
Rebecca - Stardust.. that bullshit Antares was going on about? I told him that shit would only destroy the ecosystem!
Viper - Yeah well unfortunately it seems like it's being used on you, if you start feeling drowsy then the stardust is unfortunately working on you.
Rebecca - So that's what i'm feeling then? Great. I feel like I just ran a fucking marathon and uhh --
Rebecca - >user disconnected
January - >user disconnected
Luna - ...great! Wonderful, amazing! Spect-FUCKING-tacular! What the FUCK do we do now???
Viper - Well shit.
Tsukuyomi - Oh january. :(
Viper - Go find them and give them the antidote
Luna - Right. Just gotta scour all of fucking capital city and the outskirts to find out where they were! That’s… amazing.
Hinata - Luna! Be nice. She’s trying to help.
Viper - I mean, I could see if I can call someone and see if we shipped out or gave out any stardust. That could probably narrow it down.
Luna - sure. I need to be left alone for a few minutes, excuse me.
Hinata - Maybe it will work?
Viper - I can only hope
Rebecca - It's just. Rebecca's an ADMIN too. Why did they take her? I don't get Nova's motivation. Plus you're an ADMIN right? You didn't get taken? I don't get it. I get you're not in Capital City, and you're not a Magical Soul like the rest of us. But.. it feels almost half-assed in a way? If Spark's whole goal is control, why leave shit to chance?
Viper - I likely didn't get taken because Stardust doesn't work on me, but I don't know why they'd capture an Admin especially one that I can easily contact. It doesn't make much sense but it has to be some kind of power move
Hinata - Maybe. I don't get it. This is way beyond my own understanding. Thank you for looking into this for us btw.
Viper - Ah, it's no problem, anything for you two.
-----
Viper is sitting on the edge of her bed with a monster can in her hand as she groans and pulls her phone out of her pocket and dials Chandra's number, figuring it would they would be the best person to call
It rings a few times before he picks up. His voice has a tired morose quality to it, "Yes?"
Viper sighs in relief as she replies "I wanted to know if we've sent out any stardust to anyone outside of Nova, this is really important"
"Outside of Nova? What is this about? Unless--" He pauses and you hear him setting a book on a table and flipping through quite a few pages, "Are you referring to the stupid bullshit Spark's doing? His Phase 2 plan?"
Viper sighs in annoyance, "Assuming that his plan is capturing two people, one of them being an Admin" she sighs heavily "Yes, yes it is."
"Two people? You underestimate him. He may be incredibly brash, not exactly the greatest strategist, and dare I say rather stupid, but he's persistent. With his Phase Two, he's taken most of Nova's Admins hostage sans one he missed out on, one ADMIN Andromeda that escaped! Plus many of Capital City's citizens are under his control as well. Now the question lies, what is his plan with them? And to that, I cannot tell you because I don't know it myself. Another weakness of his, and a growing absurdity that I must deal with on a daily basis is his lack of communication. I tell you Viper, I cannot stand working with him!" He sounds genuinely frustrated, even what sounds like him slamming his desk from anger. He then growls under his breath and continues, "The man does not speak to me. I am supposed to be a LEADER of this Gods forsaken company! I do not want whatever the hell he wants. My intention was solely to revive Nova Heart in the most peaceful of ways, to grow our economy and proceed with our scientific research. He is a disease that will KILL every single one of our citizens if he doesn't get what he wants."
Viper listens then nods "Do you know where they're located? Any hint at all? I could try and rescue them and make sure I don't leave any evidence that it was me."
Chandra flips through his book for a few moments while reading something. "Hrm. It appears to be Nova Adventurers' Guild. Right outside of Nova Tower. Be forewarned, however, I do not know what he is planning. You could be attacked if you go rescue them. Be careful. I don't even want to think of what Spark would do if he caught you." For the first time all this time Viper's known him, his voices softens up dramatically, "please Viper, be careful. I-- I don't know what i'll do if you get harmed. I- Thank you for helping us."
Viper nods as she notes the location mentally and sighs "I'll be careful, afterall if i'm not careful I risk my job position"
"You risk a lot more than just your position!"
Viper sighs and nods "It's easier to think about when I just focus on that loss instead of...the other loss"
"Right. My apologies. Erm. Hm. Okay, if you get into a tight squeeze, please find a way to call me if you can. I will.. help you. The risk is great, but I want to do this. Understand?" This man sounds completely broken down. He is nothing like the Chandra Viper first met or the Chandra that Luna spoke so lowly of. "I will attempt to hack into the cameras and will watch over you if I am able to."
Viper nods as she pins the phone to her shoulder as she stands up and walks over to her closet "Got it, I'll be wearing a green and black outfit with a metallic gas mask."
"Noted. I'd better start working on getting access to the cameras. See you, Viper." He hangs up.
Viper unpins the phone from her shoulder and texts the server then tosses it onto her bed as she grabs a plate carrier, a green and black styled suit and tie as she quickly changes into the outfit and grabs a pistol as she slots it into her concealed carry holster then snags her key card off of her dresser as she heads out the door towards Nova.
When Viper reaches the familiar card reader behind the arcade, she notices it's rather quiet back there. The place is clearly open with people going in and out and the two black and white tuxedoed bouncers watching out for any issues that could arise. The employee's entrance is open and a bit of the music and sound playing inside can be heard. It kind of sounds like a live concert if she were to really focus her hearing. Perhaps the Lunartics are playing today. Past that, it's normal back here.
Viper slides her card in the special way Chandra showed her and is met with the usual special menu. Attempting to enter Debug mode requires an 8 character password. She attempts to put in PASSWORD as the key and it fails. Knowing there are only two chances left before she gets locked out, Viper looks for the closest Portal point nearest to Nova Heart District Adventurers Guild, being Nova Tower Entrance, and enters. When she arrives, she exits out the door and into Nova District’s Central Square.
Nova Square, much like the Entrance to Nova Tower is completely silent aside from bells ringing at a certain interval and rhythm. The heartbeat in the Square is there too, adding some much needed intensity to the otherwise dead area. A clock above Nova's entrance rings six times rather loudly showing that it's currently 6pm. Aside from Viper, absolutely no one is outside and all of the store shutters are shut and buildings closed. The sweet scent of Stardust, specifically the mustier version that Rebecca and January complained of, overtakes the air. It's much too sweet to the point where it smells awful. Otherwise, the area is absolutely covered in snow and ice, almost like the area turned into a wintry wasteland all of a sudden. About 500 feet away from where Viper stepped outside, a rather large polar bear is knocked out on the ground and asleep.
Viper looks around with a determined expression as she grabs a metallic gas mask from one of the pockets on her plate carrier and equips it as she starts moving towards where she thinks the adventuring guild is. From the distance, she hears someone else outside with her and some talking. Their voice is muffled by a gas mask they seem to be wearing: "So this is Callisto. This is incredible! I cannot believe he's letting me play with all of them like this!"
The snow falling in the area is much too dense for Viper or the unknown party to see each other. A few minutes of trudging through the snow later, Viper finds the Adventurers Guild. It's a massive warehouse-like structure with what would usually be a lit-up sign and a ramp to enter the complex. As the area is completely deserted, however, the sign is turned off and the door leading inside is shut. Viper attempts to open the door as she draws her pistol from her holster as she mutters "God don't make me kill anyone."
The door does not open. It might be stuck on something. Seems like it would open inwards.
Viper huffs as she steps back and rams into the door with her body weight. With a little bit of slipping due to the ice, she’s able to rush through the door and tip over a bucket of gold Stardust. Everything in this place smells like Stardust.
The Adventurers Guild is nothing like it would be a normal operating day. It's dead silent aside from the heartbeat and bell noises. It's warm at least, a farcry from the wintry wasteland outside. It's also rather dark inside, as many of the lights that would normally illuminate the club atmosphere are off. Viper hears what sounds like weirdly calming music coming far down from where she's currently at.
Viper brings her weapon up to her chest as she slowly walks through the club, looking around the area to see if there's any hints as to where the hostages are. No direct hints can be found, but she does notice on one of the many couches in the entrance hall, what seems to be a pamphlet about the Guild is found. The strange calming music seems to be coming from one of the doors, though it's still muffled quite a bit.
Viper approaches the group of doors where the music is coming from and attempts to narrow it down, while keeping her weapon at her chest just incase. It's coming from the door in the back. Upon opening it, she finds a long hallway with doors on each side. The scent, had she not put on a gas mask, would've been overwhelming to the point where it could impact breathing. The music seems to be getting and more clear as she explores.
Viper huffs at the smell as she pushes down the hallway while listening out as best she can for anyone struggling.
From behind one of the doors, she hears something different, sounds of someone's muffled screaming. The strange calming music begins to intensify especially near this door. Above the door, Viper notices the a gold plate stating this to be the Main Floor.
Viper checks to see if the door that has someone's muffled screaming is locked, hoping that it isn't.
It's not. Perhaps an oversight from an all too smug control-addicted villain?
Upon entering the door, she finds hundreds of people tied up, blindfolded, and gagged with tape. They all seem to come from Capital City. A few look vaguely familiar, fellow ADMINs from Nova, some look like normal people, and an older man with a long white beard shakes his head while bound. Most of the crowd is asleep and unable to move. The one screaming is someone Viper recognizes from work, one former Admin Lyra.
Viper sighs as she rushes over to the group and starts untying them and instructing everyone she frees to help with untying just incase they start to notice that someone is freeing their hostages
Lyra is the only one who's awake currently. She shakes her head stating, "Thank you Viper, but I don't.. how are we going to get everyone else out of here??" She's extremely nervous, even terrified of what's happening. "Plus they're all asleep." Viper notices that Lyra seems to be immune to the Stardust.
Viper sighs as she thinks then responds, "Carefully and one at a time, that's how, the air has been saturated with stardust, even if we gave them the antidote they'd be rexposed instantly" she peeks out into the hallway to make sure no one has discovered them
So far so good. No one seems to be in the area. Lyra is working quickly to untie and unbind as many as she can.
Viper keeps an eye on the hallway while Lyra unties, making sure that they won't surpise them
Lyra gets right to work on unbinding as many people as she possibly can and hoping at least one of them wakes up. She's rather quick about it. Viper doesn't seem to notice anyone coming in to intercept the pair from rescuing the massive crowd of people. The music in the area intensifies and the bells on top of that become a bit more loud. Some odd speech can also be made out of the audio, but it's rather hard to hear.
Viper ducks back into the room as she calls out to Lyra, "I'm gonna start moving them out of this room, once all of them are freed start moving them outside the guild" she walks over to the chairs and grabs the back of one of them and starts dragging the chair behind her
Lyra nods, "got it, I'm working as fast as I can."
The moment Viper attempts to leave the Main Floor with one of the hostages, the door locks and is unable to open. From the stage, the large video screens shows a man's face with the biggest most shit-eating grin Viper's ever seen. His eyes glow crimson and with a haughty laugh, he shakes his head in delight, "Incredible. We have enemies in our midst! Did you truly believe we'd let you rescue them?"
Lyra growls with an enraged look on her face, "SPARK! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THESE PEOPLE? WHY? THEY'RE YOUR CITIZENS!"
Viper drops the chair as she groans, glaring at the screen, "Spark, you know damn well that what you're doing isn't right by any stretch of the imagination."
Spark simply smiles back as his eyes follow down to where Viper is standing. "Ah dearest Rasalhague, I had a feeling this was your idea. Nonmagical souls and their natural resistances, I knew you'd be the perfect candidate to witness my power! Everything in this world is mine for the taking. It all belongs to me, my citizens, my family, and my Creatures of Legend. It's all mine. Years upon years of being denied even the simplest of pleasures, the simplest of desires, genuine happiness, even the needs of having a family or a shelter of my own has led to this. You're mine, and there's nothing you can do about it!"
Lyra simply flips him off, "You're fucking psychotic! You've shown me one thing and that's you're a stupid sniveling child whose mommy never gave him a fucking toy from the store! What the fuck is the MATTER with you???" She then spits on the floor.
Viper groans and shakes her head, "You know what? Why don't you come down here and we can settle this like adults, face to face, instead of hiding behind that screen of yours." She smirks slightly.
Spark shakes his head, "Yeah uh no, that's fine. I'd rather not get shot, thank you! Though before I do go, I guess I should give you two a demonstration, the reason this spell was even cast on my citizens." Spark goes off camera for a moment to pull out a small white bell from a table nearby and then rings it. Suddenly everyone in the room except for Lyra and Viper wake up from their extended naps with crimson eyes. The crowd, mostly those who are freed from the ropes, begin to move towards the pair rather slowly at first but then progressively faster. Lyra is backing up from the group towards the still locked door. Intensity is in the air and there's probably no way to fight off this crowd.
Viper looks around with a panicked expression as she raises her pistol at the croud and yells "STAY BACK, DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!!"
Despite her threat, the crowd does not stop. In fact, they get even more intense; some even can be seen preparing offensive magic spells to throw at the interlopers. The screens above the stage continue to showcase Spark ringing that bell over and over with the biggest fucking smile on his face, "Go my citizens! Kill the interlopers!!!"
Lyra looks over at Viper terrified, "what do we do??? I don't think we can handle a crowd like this by ourselves." They continue to back up and up until they reach the door that was previously locked. When the situation looks its most dire, somehow a miracle happens. The door opens and Chandra, looking absolutely distressed, yells out, "MOVE! We need to escape! The Rhythm has overtaken Capital City!"
Viper huffs and puffs as she watches the crowd get closer until the door opens as she turns to look at Chandra as she instantly moves outside without a second thought
Lyra and Chandra follow right after. No words are shared between the two. The crowd of possessed citizens flow through the hallways in pursuit of the now trio escaping the scene. Many attempt to throw spells, but all of them seem to completely dodge them. Chandra is heard chanting something, perhaps some kind of ward to protect them? As they reach the outside, it's no longer a winter hellscape, but instead a completely clear and sunny day. Gone too is the massive polar bear that once passed out in the Square. For the first time in weeks, Nova Square and Capital City has its terrifyingly creepy silent hold broken. It's loud and chaotic now with a massive crowd facing down the three.
Then, a single clap heard from the clocktower stops the chaos. Lyra and Chandra both look up, as does the crowd. Many of the members of the throng have a very wide smile on their possessed faces. Chandra just facepalms, "Spark, what the fuck are you doing?"
Viper keeps her pistol close to her chest and stares at Spark, hoping that this isn't gonna be a stupid villain monologue.
"What's it look like? I'm simply just finishing what my father began long ago. The full control of the city through the power of Magic. Everything up to this point was done to put me into this position. The Magical Explosion to give me power, the creation of the LUNA project to experiment with trauma and mental fortitudes of Mana Vessels, the Creation of Heavens' Gates, the cult to celebrate and praise the Many Gods Above! This was all done so we can proceed to this point. The past, present, and future of Capital City is mine. It's all mine! It's... beautiful, genuinely." The trio notices a pair of large white feathered wings sprout from Spark's back as he flies up in front of the clocktower. His face and the sky darkens heavily as a pair of glowing crimson eyes is the only thing anyone can see. Not even his smile is visible. There's an uncanny feeling of being watched as well, even past Spark and the Crowd. "The mana from the Creatures we've captured is being guided into me. I've become the strongest Wizard in the world! Our time is slowly approaching. The moon will be wrong once more soon. And with the destruction of those who dare oppose me, I will be unstoppable!"
Chandra, for the first time, looks terrified, "What the fuck is wrong with you? If I had known this is what you were planning, I'd have. Never taken your offer. I thought you wanted to change the world for the better, push for better living conditions, make our people happy! But this!" he points to the chaos in the Square, "This is fucked up man!"
Spark shakes his head and instantly rushes down to Chandra’s eye level while still floating. His palm is directed at his heart. “You do realize I own you as well right? I brought you back, and I can just as easily return you to the soil.”
Chandra smirks, as if trying to mask his own fear, "And why haven't you yet? Hmm? You can't can you? You've spent all this fucking time going on and on about control and ownership but you can't even begin to touch me, can you?" He holds his hand in front of him and summons a massive longsword from the ether. "Come on, you can do it baby boy, come on! If you want to kill me here and now then FUCKING KILL ME!" He turns his head back, "go you two, get out of here. I'll keep him busy!" He then snaps his fingers as a blue and black swirling portal opens up behind Viper and Lyra.
Viper looks back at the portal then looks at Lyra as she finally looks over at Chandra, "Are you sure? I can stay here to help, I don't wanna just leave you here" she aims at Spark as she slowly backs up towards the portal.
Spark lunges towards the group, flying at a fast speed. His hands have morphed into claws and he goes in for a slash. Chandra looks back with a focused smile, sword at the ready, "I'll be okay. I won't let this asshole kill me. I'll call you later after this shit dies down." Lyra had already jumped through the portal.
Viper nods as she quickly turns and runs through the portal "Got it, I'll talk to you later."
Lyra had hopped through the portal and has fallen to her knees. "What the fuck! I-- I.. Son of a fucking BITCH!" She slams her fist on the ground.
Viper appears next to her in the back of the arcade. The portal has closed behind them. She then holsters her pistol quickly and kneels next to Lyra, “I know, I know, but I’m sure Chandra has it handled.”
Lyra looks over with tears in her eyes, "I know I know, but I've never seen him scared before. He was always so nice to me too. Like I know he has his problems.." Sounds can be heard over by the Cubes in the background, massive glass cubes with stadium seating and a rather large crowd cheering on the competitors. Oddly one of the cheers seems to be for "Sunriser", the other "Moonsetter".
"Hell's going on over there?" Lyra looks over.
Viper looks over at where Lyra's looking with a raised eyebrow "Did I just hear what I thought I heard...."
"Ermmmm.... I have no idea. Something about a sun?" Lyra asks. "Wanna investigate?"
Once more, more cheering happens, this time the Sunriser fans are clearly winning the battle against the Moonsetter nerds.
Viper nods as she starts heading towards the Cubes "Why not? What's the worst that could happen?"
Upon walking towards the cheering, Viper and Lyra first notice how massive these glass cubes are. About 500 feet on all sides and 100 feet vertical, calling these 'cubes' is geometrically incorrect. They're more like massive rectangular prisms. Past the nerdy shit, the action coming from this specific one is breathtaking to say the least. It's also incredibly difficult to tell what's going on as well, as it appears to be two blobs of light exploding in different sectors of the stadium at breakneck speeds. If she looks up, she'll see a video screen with highlights from the battle slowed down. She'll notice that the pair duking it out within this hollow area are her lovers, 'Sunriser', Hinata wearing a bright pink frilly dress; and 'Moonsetter', Luna in what could best be described as a magical girl's outfit gone completely emo: black and white with black ribbons dangling about.
The announcer, one Viper and Lyra cannot see, states there are 10 seconds left in whatever battle they're having. The scores, in whatever metric they're using, are tied up at 50% each. At the end of the battle, the scores remain and the Moonsetter fans are especially distressed but they applaud regardless.
Viper's face turns from curiosity and confusion to amazement and awe as she smiles at the screen, "How amazing..." She's a little awe struck
The pair exit from the cubes on opposite ends of the stadium and immediately go to glomp each other in a forceful tackle hug. A lot of the witnesses to their Rhythmic Rematch, as the Quest was called, take their phones out and snap pictures of the pair, even if Luna seems to be a bit embarrassed about PDA like this. A rather tall and darker-skinned woman dressed in a black leather jacket, a fiery red camisole, yellow eyes, short denim shorts, and boots breaks up the sudden media frenzy, telling them "Ayo, y'all've seen lesbians before, back it up!" Hinata smiles, "Thanks Pyra." Luna is silent. "Just keeping up with y'all. Last thing we need is Magicka Twitter blowing up with two creatures of legend making out." Pyra winks towards the pair. Luna blushes profusely as her hands cover her face. Hinata shakes her head.
Pyra smirks and continues, patting both Luna and Hinata on the back, "Y'all did good work. Thanks for agreeing to do this for me. I figured an exhibition match would've been good publicity for the arcade, just uh make sure to keep the exhibitionism out of exhibition next time k?"
Hinata has been stunned to silence and the only thing she can get out is a quiet, "oops. We might have gone a bit too far back there…"
"A little, but it was fun." Luna smiles.
Pyra walks back inside of the arcade, the crowd has dispersed.
Viper starts walking towards Luna and Hinata while still holding the same awestruck expression, not realizing that half of her face is being covered by a gas mask.
Luna tilts her head when seeing the pretty woman walk up, "Uhm... Viper?? What the heck are you doing here?"
Hinata chuckles, "nice gas mask. Did ya just finish with an experiment or something?"
Viper seems slightly embarrassed as she sighs and takes her gas mask off, it collapses into a smaller package as she tucks it into one of the pockets on her plate carrier as she looks at the two of them, "Just got done doing some investigating and figuring some stuff out, and by stuff I mean Spark doing some bullshit in Capital City" she shrugs as she continues "Chandra has it handled.....I hope."
As if a train screeches to a halt, Luna immediately discards her blushing persona and asks, "What do you mean... what do you mean Spark is doing stuff to Capital C-- my brother??? What the fuck." Her eyes are widened with some emotion. Viper can't tell if it's fury or extreme focus, or just genuine depression. She just looks. Conflicted. Hinata is taking in the words and has her eyes closed. Out of the two here, Hinata seems to actually be focused.
Viper sighs as she adds, "And the air in Capital City has been entirely saturated with the Stardust, it's not safe for either of you to go there right now, I'm sure Chandra has it handled, i'll get a call once it's all been handled but for right now, i think we should head back to the house and attempt to relax for a little bit" she attempts to get them to focus on something else, hoping that she can at least get them out of the public before one of them blows up
Luna has gone completely silent. Hinata nods, "Y-yeah, that's a good idea i think. Mind if I handle transportation?"
Viper nods as she smiles "Please....I love walking with you two but my legs are a little tired from the walking and standing i've already done"
Hinata snaps her fingers and the three disappear.