The City of Silver Lights

< Alchem. Corp: Part II

Prologue
[Enter two GUARDS inspecting the VEHICLE]

"Are they dead?"

"You know I can't feel pulses in this goddamn rust bucket."

"The car is brok-"

"I know that the fucking car is broken! Stop being so dense you fucking numbskull!"

"I'm sorry..."

"Whatever. Grab the android. Dr. Alchemilia could give us a raise for that, androids are some top-tier shit."

They grabbed Chris and loaded him into their truck. The first guard spoke up as the prepared to drive off.

"What about the kids?" The second guard chuckled.

"Fuck 'em. I'd rather a promotion than dealing with some brats. Probably dead, anyways."

The two guards drove off, back to the Alchem Corp building.

Protagonists and Thieves
Savannah was surrounded by darkness, she could not see or hear anything. Then she started to hear noises, slowly starting to try moving, she opened her eyes, her head was pounding from a massive headache. She slowly sat up, not realizing what had happened and placed a hand to her forehead, only to bring it way hissing in pain, seeing there was blood, she started to look around her. She saw Melissa unmoving trapped under an airbag. She slowly and sorely turned to look at the others, realizing the car had crashed when Melissa was driving to escape the guards. She could see Atticus had been throw to the back and Marshall had been tossed from the middle seat, she couldn't see Chris, assuming he may have been tossed from the car during the crash. "Oh god, please tell me they aren't dead." She said holding back a sob.

Marshall slowly opened his eyes. He grabbed the seat with one hand and clenched the other into a fist. His eyes rolled back. "Dammit..." His shirt was soaked in blood, both from the crash and his gunshot wounds.

"Wh... whe-where's Chr... Where is h... where?" He groaned, barely able to form a coherent sentence.

Atticus felt a piercing pain near the top of his head and began to open his eyes, the light from the outside causing him to wince, as well as make his headache more intense. Trying to move, he realized he was stuck at the back of the vehicle, which was nearly crushed. Due to his situation, he could only see a bit in front of him, which was mostly a view of outside the vehicle, and could not see the others in the car. Trying to call out to them, he realized his throat was dry and that he could barely talk, only able to make a few gasping sounds.

Savannah looked relieved that Marshall seemed okay, though she couldn't see Atticus. She turned her attention to Melissa and started to try to push the airbag away and pull her towards her somewhat. As soon as she did, she could feel Melissa breathing slightly. She stopped moving her, giving up on pulling her completely out. "We have to get out of this car." She said.

"Got a f-fucking gunshot wound, how am I s-supposed to get outta here?" Marshall said.

Hearing noises, Atticus began trying to speak, still failing and making faint sounds only.

"What was that?" asked Savannah, hearing Atticus's fainting sounds barely. She was quite scared of what could be the cause of the sounds. Savannah opened the car door with glass falling out the window. She was still bleeding from the crash and could barely walk. Nevertheless, she was still curious to see what was at the back of the car, where she heard the noise from so slowly and painfully crept towards the rear and was horrified by what she saw.

Two young thieves start to walk around, hoping they could successfully steal something as all the other robberies they did earlier that day failed.

The first thief, Jay Brendon, was wearing a black jumpsuit, black gloves and a black mask covering his face.

The second thief, Sterling Heron was dressed similarly to Jay but wearing a black tank top instead.

"We have to steal something today, something that is worth a lot of money since all of our robberies has been fails today," Jay said to Sterling in a commanding tone of voice.

"Yes sir," Sterling replied to his command

"If we fail again, it'll be all your fault because I commanded you well and you didn't listen," Jay said in a commanding tone of voice

"Yes sir," Sterling replied to Jay.

The two see the car wreckage, having a lot of interest in what items to steal from the car, and they sneak to it, making sure to not get noticed by anyone that could be around. They start to look for metal identification plates, the metal parts of the wheels,many licences, gold necklaces, diamond rings and gold bracelets to steal.

"We will have a successful robbery," Jay whispered to Sterling in a strict tone of voice.

"Yes, we will sir." Sterling replied, also whispering and agreeing.

Jay and Sterling then noticed the injured passengers

"Should we help them?" Sterling asked feeling concerned

"We need to focus on stealing, then maybe try to help them. As much as I want to help them, the thievery is more important." Jay responded in a serious tone of voice

They continue to look for identification plates, metal parts on wheels, gold necklaces, diamond rings and gold bracelets.

Savannah was taken back by the damaged, shattered vehicle -- but despite the darkness she could see two strange dark figures rummaging through the vehicle. She shyly motioned over to them, believing them to be help of some kind, perhaps. "Help, please" She weakly called out.

Meanwhile, Marshall was still struggling in the car. He was trying to stand up.

Sterling couldn't help but stare at the injured passengers, as if he was trying to decide whether to help them or not. Jay quickly took notice of Sterlings hesitance and spoke, "Its none of our business you know."

Sterling shook his head and went back to his searching. After a few moments had passed, he looked over at Jay and asked him, "But don't we have some sort of- whats the word- obligation?"

"It's not important," Jay said curtly, "since when is it our job to help strangers? Does it keep our stomachs filled? No."

Sterling sighed and continued scavenging, "I suppose you're right..."

Atticus began to struggle more, feeling himself falling back into unconsciousness.

Savannah turned back to the car hearing a sound she gasps as she saw Atticus trapped under the crushed rear of the car she ran over and bent down she struggled to reach out to Atticus she tried in an hopeless attempt to help him the pain from her own injuries had started coming painful she pulled away and tears started forming in her eyes feeling helpless by not being able to help her friends she had forgotten about the dark figures she had seen.

Sterling turned his head "I think I heard something..."

"Don't worry about it. It's not our problem." Jay replied calmly, trying to keep his partner focused.

"Maybe...." Sterling said, sighing.

He started walking a down the wreck a bit, searching not for scrap, but with the intent of helping the passengers of the wrecked car.

Savannah wiped away her tears, not noticing the figures near her. She crawled to where Marshall was, abandoning Atticus momentarily in an attempt to get help from Marshall.

Sterling then saw the three visible passengers.

"I need to find a way to save them, but how?" He asked himself

Jay then noticed and tried to stop Sterling from saving the passengers.

"We need to focus on getting what we need, then help them out. We're thieves, not heroes," He lectured harshly.

Savannah, after seeing Marshall was in even worse shape than before, noticed the two thieves and quickly dashed towards them crying for help. "Help! My friend is trapped!" She yelled, in a desperate attempt to free Atticus.

"Jay! We need to help them, we can do our thievery later, saving them is more important!" Sterling yelled to Jay

"Fine, we'll help them" Jay said as he saw the passengers.

"Thank you!" cried Savannah, still panicking. "Come quick!"

"You'll be saved by us, but there's a catch to it, all of you individually have to pay us afterwards in a lot of money." Jay said to Savannah

They walked to Savannah

"He's under the car!" Savannah cried, leading Jay and Sterling to the car's rear where Atticus was.

"How do we get him out of the car?" Sterling asks Savannah concerned, seeing where Atticus is.

"I don't know," Savannah replied sarcastically. "Maybe we could all just lift it?"

"Good idea" Sterling said, he agreed with her idea.

"We need to lift the car up together" Jay commanded Sterling and Savannah.

"Wait, we can't!" Savannah yelled, still panicked. "There are still other people inside it! Melissa and Marshall are there! We'll need to get them out before we can focus on Atticus."

"How do we get them out before we lift the car?" Sterling concerningly asked Savannah

"We need to drag them out otherwise they could be hurt worst if we try to move the car first." She replied quickly

"We need to all work together in getting them both out." Jay commanded Savannah and Sterling

"Come on!" demanded Savannah now determined and a little impatient. "Let's just get them out of the car already!"

"Do we push or pull them out?" Sterling asks Savannah "I have never saved lives ever before." Sterling tells Savannah cluelessly.

Savannah slaps her forehead. "Bloody hell, we PULL them out! PULL them out!" she snapped.

"Let's start pulling them out now! Savannah and Sterling, you get Marshall and I'll get Melissa out by myself." Jay commanded Savannah and Sterling.

And so Savannah with the help of Sterling pulled Marshall out of the car.

Sterling helped Savannah as they pulled Marshall out of the car.

Jay started to get Melissa pulled out the car.

In Melissa's blacked out mind she felt movement slowly starting to stir her she could feel arms around her yet she didn't understand what was happening she struggled to open her eyes but only managed to make a small weak gasping noise

As Jay continued to pull Melissa out of the car, he grumbled bitterly "This one's mostly dead, is it even worth it?"

Sterling sighed after successfully helping Savannah pull Marshall out of the ruined car. "Don't be so negative Jay... It's not helping"

"I can hear something from her." responded Savannah. "She's not dead."

"Now we need to get the last person out the car" Jay commands Sterling and Savannah.

"How are we gonna get the last person out?" Sterling asked Savannah, concerned.

"I thought we were lifting the car." responded Savannah. "What happened to that? We only said we would like 15 or so minutes ago."

"Yeah, we need to lift it. Sterling and Savannah, you get the left side lifted and I'll get the right side lifted." Jay commanded Sterling and Savannah.

And so the trio lifted the car and Atticus was now free.

"Good job, we got everyone out the car as safely as possible." Jay congratulated Sterling and Savannah.

As the weight was lifted off of him, Atticus began to breathe easier, slowly opening his eyes again.

"He awakens!" shouted Savannah a little gleefully.

"What happened?" Atticus weakly asked.

"You were crushed under the car." replied Savannah.

"Gee, I didn't know that," Atticus managed to snap. "I clearly meant what happened prior to that."

"Fine!" Savannah snapped back, annoyed. "Some thieves helped me get you, Melissa and Marshall out of the car."

"Help me try to stand," Atticus asked.

Melissa opened her eyes as she heard voices she did not know. She slowly sat herself up her head suddenly shooting bolts of pain. "What happened?" She managed to say in a weak voice.

"Sure" Sterling said to Savannah, he partially lifted Atticus up.

Atticus, with the help of the others, slowly stood up. He grasped the side of the car to balance himself and looked around, seeing an unfamiliar landscape. "Where are we? Any idea how close we are to the city we saw at Alchem. Corp?"

"I'm not sure. I thought Chris knew but I can't find him." Savannah replied.

"Who is this Chris you're talking about?" Sterling asked

"A robot." she replied.

"Wait," Atticus said, looking around them. "He's not here with us. Something must've happened to him during or after the crash."

"Tell me more about this Chris" Sterling said intrigued

"He hurts people's heads with big words." Savannah replied.

Melissa coughed as she smelt gas but ignored it. She looked around her not seeing the others and called out as loud as she could with her dry sore throat. "Savannah? Atticus? Anyone?"

"Huh?" pondered Savannah. "Melissa, is that you?"

Jay and Sterling looked to see that Melissa's still alive.

Despite feeling light headed she answered Savannah. "Y-yeah."

"Are you alright?" Savannah replied concerned.

"How are you feeling?" Atticus asked, walking close to Melissa. "Any idea of what happened to Chris?"

Melissa was still light-headed and feeble so she couldn't really reply. "I-I don't kn-know what happened to C-Chris." she said feebly.

"I guess we're just going to have to continue and reach that city without him," Atticus said. "We need treatment for Marshal ASAP."

Savannah lifted Marshall up by one shoulder.

Melissa, light-headed, placed her hands in front of her and lifted herself up. As she stood, her balance was unsteady. "W-what now?" She asked the others weakly.

A light hissing permeated throughout the cold air, as scuttling would echo through the night. Something sinister was watching.

"As I said before, we're going to have to try and reach the city," Atticus answered Melissa. "We're all somewhat injured from the crash, but Marshall really needs treatment."

Atticus then walked over to Savannah and helped her lift Marshall.

Marshall, in his half dead state, began feebly clawing at Atticus' shirt. Once he had thought he had Atticus' attention, he pointed towards the darkness around them. The hiss continued.

Melissa looked in the direction Marshall had pointed wondering what he was looking at.

Looking back at Melissa was a humanoid creature perched on a tree, letting a hiss escape its clenched teeth.

As Marshall began to grab hold of Atticus' shirt, Atticus looked down at him with a bewildered look, exclaiming "What are you doing?! Stop it!". He then noticed that Marshall was simply trying to get his attention towards a certain area. Quickly glancing in the direction, Atticus noticed the humanoid creature perched on the tree, staring back at the group with large reflective eyes.

The creature dropped down from the tree like a cat, and began crawling towards the group, before breaking into a sprint on all four.

Melissa froze when she saw what appeared to be a deformed beast rushing at her, the feeling of fear flowed through her body. She held back a scream as she slowly turned back to the others as if to single for one of the others to do something.

Seeing the creature, Savannah let go of her grip on Marshall as her fight or flight instincts kicked in. In a state of panic, she turned and started to run to where they had seen the city's light coming from.

"What the hell is that?" Sterling asked as he saw the creature.

As Savannah suddenly let go of Marshall and took off running, Atticus stumbled under the weight of holding Marshall solely, but quickly re-caught his balance. Noticing the creature running towards them, Atticus yelled out to the others "Follow after me!", and began to sprint after Savannah.

Jay and Sterling followed the others to get Savannah.

Melissa started to run after the others with the creature directly behind her, she tried to keep of her speed as it was close to her.

The creature begins sniffing around through a skeletal nose as it runs after the group.

"Guys, it's after us!" Sterling said, scared by the creature. Him and Jay ran to the forest.

Not caring about the others Savannah continued to run the city had become clearer as she got closer.

The creature, now growling like a feral dog, began getting closer before a bright red light appeared from a hill in the forest. This unwanted light caused the starved creature to go hungry once more, as it scared it off, for now.

Noticing the creature was gone after a flash of red light that looked familiar to Melissa, She continued to run not wanting to lose sight of the others, she caught up to Atticus.

Standing on the hill, watching, was an enormous winged figure radiating the red light from its own body. It began growling at the group as they approached, running.

Atticus, upon seeing the winged figure, stopped in his tracks and stared upwards in fright and awe. After a minute of searching for words, he finally managed to ask, "What the hell is that?!".

"Kneel." It says, holding its arm out.

"Hey kids you want any help against that thing? Because you aren't getting our help! Bye fuckers!" Jay and Sterling said as they ran off, with evil laughs and smirks on their faces.

Melissa looked slightly nervous. "Um... Atticus, I believe it wants us to bow to it." She said in a low voice.

Towering above the group, the massive winged beast clenched it's other fist, summoning a spear made of fire. "Be you angels? Nay. You are but men. Kneel."

Still nervous Melissa looked directly at the demon. "We will not bow to you." She said with fear clearly heard in her voice.

He looked her in the eye and extended his hand towards Atticus, launching the spear at his chest

Melissa saw the spear flying towards Atticus and quickly jumped to his aid pushing them both out of its way.

As Melissa collided into Atticus, pushing him away from the spear, he finally tumbled under the weight of holding Marshall and they both fell to the ground. "Melissa, god damn -" Atticus began to yell, but stopped when he noticed the creature leering over him.

"I will not say this again." The beast manifested another spear. "Kneel. Kneel, or you will be made to kneel."

"What do we do?" Melissa whispered, looking over at Atticus in a panic.

"Just go!" Atticus yelled to Melissa. "Try to find Savannah and don't even worry about Jay and Sterling."

Atticus then looked back at the creature and did the only thing he could think of. He swung his fist as hard as he could, with it colliding heavily against the side of the creature.

Melissa ran off into the distance towards the lights, not even taking a second to look back at Atticus' struggle.

"I admire that. You'll make good food for my army, and you will be remembered." The beast laughed.

"Ugh!" Atticus yelled as he punched at the creature again, managing to get on his feet this time.

The enormous, demonic creature simply catches his fist, twisting Atticus' wrist around to inflict pain, before breaking it entirely.

Atticus yelled out and dropped to the ground as he felt pain soar through his hand and up his arm.

"Thy suffering entertains me to no end, but I've more important priorities. The demon hounds will make short work of your body before you perish. Seems you didn't have what I was after..." The demon flies off, leaving Atticus in the woods.

Once the demon left, Atticus managed to breathe a sigh of relief, even through all the pain he was feeling. Placing his hands in front of him, he tried to lift himself up, but stumbled due to the pressure placed on his broken wrist. "Shitt." He muttered as he looked over at Marshall, who was still laying down on the ground injured. "Ugh, I'd hate to have to do this." He whispered to himself before he began to scream out for help.

Chris
"What the heck?" Chris groaned. He was in some sort of chamber. "Where is everybody?" Looking all around the room, he saw no sign of Atticus, Melissa, Marshall, or Savannah. The chamber appeared to be made of glass, in a completely white room. A sign hung over the door that read, 'Alchemilia Corporation Testing Facility.' "Aw man," Chris thought. "I'm back here again!" Then, feeling it would be his only way to get back to the others, he raised his voice and yelled, "HELP!"

"Oh, Chris. I'm excited to see you." A man wearing a large black overcoat looked through the glass at Chris. "Welcome to Remnant Rock. This ain't the Alchem Corp you know. This is a..." The man smacked his lips together. He prepares to speak again in his thick southern accent. "...This is a bona fide military base. Smack dab in the middle of the ocean."

"Why did you put me here?" Chris asked. "Why did I get taken from...my group?" Chris started banging on the glass, trying to break it.

"Your friends are dead." The man flexed his fingers. "Nice to meet you, by the way. My name is Armitage Dornan."

Dornan pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. "Now, Chris. How'd you like to be a genuine fightin' machine?"

"I've only known them a day...maybe two..not really sure," Chris said. "Wouldn't use the term "friends."And you're sure they've passed away..." Chris then processed the last sentence that Armitage had said. "No thanks! I am not much of a fighter, unless it's to protect myself and others from great dangers. Can I go please?"

"C'mon, Chris..." Dornan put away his lighter and reached into his coat. "...Well Chris, any idea what happened to your old man?"

"That mean dude was a thief and a liar, according to Gabriel. I wouldn't want to know. Especially since I spent most of my life in a barn," Chris said, though this wasn't quite true, but he had definitely seen the barn before he woke up in it, he just couldn't remember the circumstances.

"Well. You're an Android. Made from Gabriel's scrapped designs." Dornan pulled a remote from his coat. "This is The Hound. He's the best Android we've got here."

Dornan pressed the button and a door opened. A large, black man stepped out, his muscles bulging and his face scowling. He almost appeared superhuman, though he wasn't human at all.

"Made from Gabriel's-" Chris mouthed. He had remembered Gabriel mentioning something like that. Like Gabriel could easily make an exact double of him. "Uh, nice to meet you, Hound. I'm Cunning Humanoid Robot Intelligence Series, also known as Chris."

Dornan pressed the button again. "Dismissed, Hound." The Hound left.

"So, Chris, would you like to leave your containment cell?"

"Yes, yes I would," Chris proclaimed happily, tapping his fingers along the glass.

"Alright. Change into your Alchem Corp resident jumpsuit and follow me." The glass retracted into the floor, and there was a neatly folded white jumpsuit on the ground. Dornan left through the door that Hound came through.

Chris took off his clothes and put on the jumpsuit. Feeling very uneasy, he folded up his clothes, tucked them in a bag near where he had woken up that read, "Laundry", and followed Dornan, hoping they were not about to go near the ocean.

The door led to a large cafeteria full of soldiers dressed like the ones who kidnapped Chris in the first place. A large amount of them, all out of their helmets, glared at Chris and Dornan.

"Why are they glaring like that?" Chris whispered to Dornan. He couldn't say it was scaring him, exactly, but it was very distracting and annoying.

"They don't like the Androids... Those things are intimidating, after all. Just one of those babies can wipe out a small army." Dornan smiles. "Ah, Colonel Guillotine!"

In front of Chris and Armitage was an armoured man carrying his helmet and a plasma sword. "Hello, Arch, and... the Android." His scarred face shows no emotion.

"I'm capable of that?" Chris marveled. "Greetings, sir." Chris really hoped he could get out of here fast and find his way back to the others, who he felt were not really dead.

"Well, not you." Dornan chuckles. "There is a reason your design was scrapped. You're not much more effective than a regular soldier." Colonel Guillotine shoves past Chris.

"Come, let's go see Dr. Alchemilia." Dornan walks to another door.

"I didn't know I was scrapped," Chris said. "Dornan, do you know why I'm like this? Why I'm a friendly android, not malicious? Also, I don't want to see Gabriel, I have beef with him."

"Well, for one, Androids have never been malicious. Not intentionally. Your father had a few screws loose."

Dornan waited for Chris at the door. "And you're meeting with Gabe, whether you like it or not."

“Wow,” Chris said. “I did not know that. Fine, guess I’ll come.” He followed Dornan to the door of Gabriel’s office. Before Dornan had even finished opening the door, Chris, in a state of nervousness, blurted out, “Hey, Gabriel, it’s me, Chris. I’m back.”

Gabriel was clearly distressed. His hair was messy and his monocle was removed. He was wearing much less sophisticated clothing and was standing at his desk, staring at some paper.

Chris slowly walked towards Gabriel, noticing he looked somewhat different from how he had that morning. “Dornan brought me here for some strange reason. Can you help me get home?” He asked.

Gabriel looked up at him. "I'm going to restore your memory. All of it."

“I’d really appreciate that, thanks,” Chris said, feeling this was the perfect ticket to escaping.

Meanwhile, at Remnant Rock, Gabriel was hard at work. He had opened up Chris' robotic head, and was attempting to recover his hard drive.

Suddenly, as Gabriel was performing the hard drive recovery, Chris' wristwatch began beeping uncontrollably, as if the method Gabriel was using was harmful.

Gabriel ignored the wristwatch. If Chris died, after all, it would not matter. If he was correct, the recovery would not damage the hard drive. If he was correct...

Because Gabriel ignored the beeping, the system prevented Chris’ memory from being restored by the end of the operation. Although Chris was dismayed at first, he soon came up with a perfect idea. “My memories have absolutely been restored,” Chris lied.

"Excellent." Gabriel said. "I'll get a soldier to escort you to a room where we can view them."

Thinking fast, Chris decided to let Gabriel do this procedure...or at least think he had successfully restored his memories. The solution: A major distraction.

“Um, Gabriel...” Chris said. “My batteries are low. Can I go find a charging station?”

"No." Gabriel shook his head.

A guard walked in and grabbed Chris. He walked with him to another room, that had a large computer in it.

“But my plasma sword is broken,” Chris said, having deliberately replaced the button on his arm with a bottle cap. “So I’m unfit for testing.”

"We're only testing your memory." The guard said. "God, you're not very bright for a robot."

“To tell you the truth,” Chris said. “Gabriel’s tech failed. I heard a beeping noise, and thought it meant my memories had been restored, but now that I realize I still lack memories, it must have meant the system failed.”

The soldier stood with Chris. "Alright. Looks like we need to scrap ya, then."

“No, ha ha, just kidding,” Chris said. “Let’s get the memory scanning done with.” He then tried to piece together the little info he had, in order to create fake memories.

The guard looked at Chris. "Whatever." He grabbed a cord that seemed that it would fit the hole in one's ear.

As the cord was plugged into Chris, Chris closed his eyes and began, bit by bit, mentally piecing together the information remaining in his database with facts Gabriel had told him and other logical details, in order to make his false memories more coherent. He waited and waited for the experiment to be over, hoping he had done well.

"It's done." Gabriel calls out to a guard.

“So...now what?” Chris asked. “How did I do?”

"Well then, we won't know until we take a look then, right?" Gabriel says to Chris. "I'll bring in my assistants to have a look at you."

“Hold up..” Chris said. “I seem to remember the memory test finishing already.”

"What?"

"Are you saying I dreamed that part?" Chris asked, very confused.

"Some sort of error...? Don't worry, I'll be right with you."

"Well, I really hope you make this snappy," Chris said. Truthfully, he did want to go back and see what that strange troupe of humans he'd met was doing, but he decided not to say this, as it could potentially mean they would scrap him.

An assistant then proceeded to bring in a questionnaire, and handed it to McFarlane.

"Here, fill this out. Putting you on the spot wouldn't do, so go through these questions for us."

"Okay, sure," Chris said, eyeing the questionnaire. He quickly used some skills of logic to get himself through each answer at a time, as well as his fake memories. After filling in each bubble, Chris was fairly certain he had aced the test. "Here it is, how is it?"

"Looks good, then. Guards, take em to the crate -- we have work to do." Gabriel then proceeded to motion to the guards to dismantle McFarlane.

Chris looked a bit startled as a guard rushed over and took his arm off. "What is this for?" Chris asked, as more and more of his body parts were removed and tossed in a crate. When the crate was fully loaded with Chris' parts, it was placed on one of Gabriel's planes, which then took off into the cloudy sky.

Savannah and Warren
Savannah soon stopped running and started panting and collapsed due to a loss of breath in a city with noticeable glistening lights around.

"Excuse me, ma'am, are you alright?" A middle-aged man with a large mustache said, approaching Savannah. He was walking a small dog, who was now sniffing at her rather curiously. He looked genuinely concerned for Savannah's well-being, as she lay collapsed in between two of the most silvery lights in Silivia.

"W-where am I?" asked Savannah as she recovered, looking at the lights amazed.

"You're in Silivia, young lady," The man said. "A city well-known for its silver lights. My name is Hughes, Warren Hughes. But of course, you've heard of Silivia?"

"I-I guess?" Savannah replied. "I don't remember anything."

“Sorry to hear that,” Warren said apologetically. “How would you like to crash at my place tonight?”

Epilogue
A short man with slicked backed blond hair entered the shiny, steel elevator, impatiently tapping his foot after passing through the retina scanner and identification. The ride continued over multiple floors, employees entering and exiting at each stop. Once at the top, the man left the elevator and hurried down the hallway. One side was walled; the other a balcony. He took no time stopping to look at the portraits of Alchemilia Corporation executives and decorative potted plants lining the hall, keeping to his busy schedule. Nearing the end of the hall, he entered Gabriel’s office on the left. The door was open, and Gabriel was facing a large tank of water, watching his shark as he sipped an unknown green liquid from a mug.

"Hermann. You’re earlier than expected. Good job. We can get to work now," he said, placing his mug on his metal desk and turning around.

"What needs to be done with this room?" Hermann asked, leaning on the dark green chair in front of Gabriel’s desk.

"My bookcases, have Admirals Guillo and Landau gather up a few men and see to it that they are properly transported. There, move them into Loading Dock C and have them taken to my new office. Same as my desk and chair. Take my portrait to the main hall.. Give the guest chair to Baptiste as a gift from me. Keep the box of items here. I will personally retrieve that upon leaving. Got it?"

"Yes, however, your shark?"

"It needs to be taken to the Resolution. A shame I never had a proper aquarium installed at Remnant Rock. It’ll be done eventually," he answered, wiping the condensation from his mug.

"Any specifics?"

"Yes, have some of Guillo’s men unscrew the roof panels and have Mr. Udin and a few other scientists remove and package my shark. I want Mr. Bowman to transport it to the Resolution quickly and smoothly. If any of this is unclear, tell me now, Alfred."

"It’s all clear. I’ll get the men to start at it today." Hermann straightened his posture as Gabriel grabbed his mug and walked from behind his desk and past him.

"Good. Save my shark until tomorrow." Gabriel stood in the doorway. "One more thing, Hermann. In an hour or so, Director Rousseau will inform you of our new employee. You might even get to meet him," he finished, slowly walking down the lightly-carpeted hall.

Getting Screwed >