The financial district was a constant heaving mass of decay and renovation, all around buildings stood in various stages of demolition or construction, each being tailored to fit their owners requirements. Far below the skyline, Alice slunk behind the group of men, trying her best to stay within the shadows of the buildings that towered above her.

Dropping behind a large industrial rubbish bin, she brushed her blonde hair away from her eyes, her frustration clearly evident. For the past thirty minutes they had just wandered through this maze of backstreets and alleyways, each filled with their own unique kind of filth. Yet the grey suits seemed to be no closer to their meeting place. Alice longed to be back in her lodgings and had begun to seriously start to consider ditching this waste of time for a warm bath.

Up ahead of her the grey suits turned off into a side another side alley, like they had done countless times before. They filled in slowly each man checking the back of the one behind of him, trying their best to ensure they weren’t being followed. Unluckily for them Alice didn’t need to be in sight of her prey, as she had her [Spirit Puppet] tracking them from high above.

Patiently she waited until the last man’s footsteps disappeared into the surroundings. Sneaking up from behind, Alice made her way to the corner, her steps light, distributing her weight evenly across them, attempting to reduce the sound of her footsteps as much as possible. Peering gingerly round the corner she finally caught sight of something worthwhile.

Down at the end of the alleyway a set of double doors stood, guarded by another set of black suits, their presence stopping anyone who wished to intrude into the abandoned building beyond.

Several meters away the grey suits stood, while their black suited members, Samuel and Mr Olivier made their way over to the other black suits.

As the drew up upon the door Mr Olivier flashed his case, towards the black suits, Samuel at his side nodded slowly. The guards quickly strolled over, checking that none of the men who had arrived where hiding anything suspicious. A few moments later, after they confirmed everything was correct they opened the doors allowing the men to slowly disappeared into the darkness beyond, their silhouettes quickly vanishing, the guards solemnly following them.

"These bastards, they took their sweet time getting here!" Alice thought to herself, gently clapped her hands as she did so, a grin once again adorning her face.

Standing up, Alice leapt from her hiding spot, sprinting up towards the entrance. She kept her head low, just in case, not wanting to be caught. Quickly clearing both the corners Alice plunged headlong into the interior of the building, the darkness instantly swallowing her.

Inside, the walls lay bare, their paint and paper stripper from them, revealing the damp plaster beneath while overhead fluorescent light tubes hung limply from the ceiling. Most seemed to have broken long ago while the ones that still worked barely lite up their surroundings, irradiating the halls in a sickly glow.

Alice slowly stumbled through hallways, her eyes still adjusting the the dimly lit interior. She kept her hand planted against the wall, using it to feel her way through the darkness. Being unsure of where the suits had gotten was one thing, letting them know she was even there was worse but letting them know by tripping over something was a whole nother matter entirely.

If that did happen Alice was sure she’d die of embarrassment well before they would kill her and they would kill her. These gangsters might not be anyone she knew of, but they were gangsters all the same and wouldn’t think twice about killing an eavesdropper like herself. Especially when they seemed to be dealing with something of an extremely high value.

Ahead of her Alice could see a dim glow, it was different from the light that illuminated her way till now, glowing green like some alien ichor. Fumbling she made her way towards it, stooping down to grasp the light source as she came upon it.

"Huh... a chemlight? What is one of these doing here?" She thought, immediately beginning to formulate an understanding of the situation.

"Ahhhh.. they left it! Which means that I’m back on the sent! Wait till Noelle hears this, she always keeps saying I have no sense for subtlety or stealth!"

Down the hallway she could seem more chemlights, like a trail of breadcrumbs leading deeper into the building. Tossing the chemlight in her hand to one side she eagerly began to follow the trail, her heart racing as she darted through the shadows.

After a few winding turns the trail lead her towards what seemed to of been the building’s main stairwell. Stepping into the stairwell Alice immediately felt a chill run down her spine, glancing upwards she strained her eyes, just barely making out the silhouettes of several men shuffling about a dozen floors above.

"Bingo!" She whispered.

From her best guess the men had just approached the seventh floor and seemed to be a smaller, separate force, possibly three of four strong. From what she could tell this meant they must be some sort of patrol unit, lightly armed and only intended on being used to report the arrival of any visitors. It was highly likely they were in communication with the rest of their forces, meaning Alice would have to sneak past them if she had any hope of getting herself anywhere near to the actual meeting room.

"Hopefully if this goes all to plan, I won’t even have to test out the full capabilities of Noelle’s handywork... I just hope everything is functioning as intended, if not she won’t be getting any of those payments I owe her." Alice thought, chuckling to herself at the whole situation.

With a subtle sigh she began to get everything in order, her hands quickly pulling on a mask to cover her mouth. Once it was in position she then fastened the buckle on her collar, securing it all tightly in place and without pause she swiftly continued, unfurling her hood, drawing it down and affixing it in place, leaving only her eyes exposed. Alice began to pour mana into her clothing, the magical energy quickly latching itself onto the runes engraved within the material’s surface, causing it to glow faintly in the darkness.

"I certainly feel lighter," she remarked, standing up straight.

She stretched, standing upright, her hands pushed out before her, fingers intertwined. Forcing her palms outwards her hands gave out a satisfying crack, hearing this Alice smiled. A few seconds later, after she finished confirming the clothing was operating as intended she looked up one last time, making sure no one was paying attention.

A moment later she began to sprint at full speed, her form silently moving across the room. Nearing the stairs she spread her hands out grasping the currents of the air around her, bending them to her command, ready for her next move.

In the next instant she jumped, pulling the air in around her to propel her several feet upwards. Quickly planting her foot upon the banister she jumped once more, launching herself further into the air, lifting her towards the next bannister. Swifty Alice repeated this process, arriving at the seventh floor in just a few seconds. She rolled as she landed, softening the impact and using the momentum of the roll to fling her into an open doorway off of the stairwell.

Alice glanced around herself, checking that all was clear before standing up, her body pressed up against the wall. She could still faintly hear several pairs of footsteps the echoed around the building, yet it didn’t seem that any of the men had noticed her presence yet.

"Now where has the main attraction gone to?" She thought, moving deeper into the corridor.

In front of her, the corridor spilt, branching off into two, each as decrepit as the other with loose tools and building material strewn about the place.

Alice paused for a second, unsure of which direction to take, her mind hesitant to make an ill informed decision. Calming herself she breathed deeply, noting a dusty noticeboard that hung crookedly on the wall. When she walked over to it she realised that it was the old fire evacuation plan for this floor and it detailed all of the rooms and passageways as well.

She glanced over it frantically searching for a lead as to where the meeting might be taking place. She soon spotted a large room located on the left of her, far away from the staircase. It seemed substantial enough for a meeting to be able to take place in and it had few entrances allowing it to be guarded easily.

Alice almost cursed at the unfairness of it, but then just as she went to she saw it, a small accessway that ran beside the room. It could only be accessed from the far side yet they most likely wouldn’t have anyone guarding it as to get to it you’d need to go past their position anyway. Seeing this she brightened up breaking off down the left passageway.

She continued to cautiously head through the shadowy passageways of the building, ducking into rooms and alcoves when needed, to avoid the roaming patrols that operated across the floor. Off into the distance she could occasionally hear whispered conversations, aiding her in her progress.

Within a couple of minutes Alice found herself in the accessway, while next door to her a heated discussion was beginning to take shape.

"What do you mean you want to raise the agreed price Olivier!? Didn’t we agree on a price at Dullahan’s?" A man, most likely Samuel exclaimed, failing to retain his calm demeanor.

"That was before you whisked us away because of some incident... and now I’m not so sure this security is as safe as you thought it was."

"What has that go to do with anything?"

"These are some pretty important items, items which some people may wish to have no matter what they have to do to get them... and I set this deal up initially because you said you could guarantee no one would find out about this deal..." Oliver dryly replied, his patience seemingly wearing thin.

"And no one has! Look you’re worrying over nothing... we made the move to here to ensure that, Olivier..."

"Still, I can’t go forward unless I at least get some sort of deal on top here. I need either the protection guaranteed by you or the money goes up to compensate me, it’s your choice."

"Who could you be so worried about to raise the price that much?"

"The people who I originally planned to sell them to before I found out who they were.."

"Stop being cryptic old man... who?"

"The-"

Before Alice could hear the rest of the conversation she was cut off from it, as a hand grabbed her before throwing her against the plasterboard wall.

"Well, what are you doing here?" A voice questioned as a torch shone at her face.

Blinking repeatedly Alice struggled to reply, "nothing... just out for a strole." Her poor attempt at a lie, managing to make even her cringe.

Her captor didn’t seem too amused by this, moving his grip from Alice’s shoulder to her throat, increasing the pressure applied as he did so.

"Let’s try to do that again shall we? What are you doing here? As I can tell by your outfit that you’re not here by accident."

"Sightseeing," Alice replied, her voice straining under his grip.

"Fair enough... if you won’t just tell me I’ll get some other men over here and then we’ll make you tell us. Whether you live or not? Not my problem anymore." The voice remarked, lowering his torch and unhooking a radio from his belt.

He pressed the switch, the radio flickering into life, "Patrol, this is Six over."

"Come in Six, this is Patrol, over." A voice quietly crackled from the radio.

"I’ve just found someone sneaking about the seventh floor. Can you send support to help me escort to you, over."

"Confirm, Six standby and wait for-"

Before the voice from the end of the radio could even respond the world violently shook and the sound of a massive explosion tore through the air, cutting the radio off.

All around Alice dust and debri floated through the air, pelting her and her captor. Luckily for Alice her coat protected her from halm, it’s magically reinforced fabric easily resisting the shrapnel. Her captor wasn’t as lucky and he quickly flinched away protecting himself, his grip weakening as he did so.

Seeing this Alice quickly acted, placing both arms above her head she quickly brought them down upon his arm breaking free from his hold. Before he could react she was upon him, her right elbow raised high, striking down into the man’s temple, the impact sent him staggering sideways.

Alice knew she’d not be able to take him down with one blow but she needed to at least maintain her momentum, keeping him on the defensive. She continued her attack, stepping into his guard and grabbing ahold of his left arm, locking it in place with her body weight.

At this he tried to use his strength advantage to forcibly break free of her hold but she was already a step ahead of him. Dropping her knees she bent his arm downwards, sliding her hands either side of his elbow as she did so. Alice then shifted her weight once more and using all her strength pushed her body into the back of his elbow, snapping the joint in two.

The man screamed in pain, grabbing his elbow but he did not fall. Instead he wheeled around using his good arm to land a hooked blow directly into her stomach, causing her to stumble, reeling from the blow. Alice couldn’t recover in time, a barrage of reckless blows raining down on her.

Seeing an opportunity she tried to dodge but a wild backhand slammed her into the wall, his right hand quickly wrapping itself around Alice’s throat once more. She desperately grasped at it to no avail, lacking the strength to break free.

Slowly he squeezed tighter and tighter, if this kept up he’d crush her airwaves, starving her of oxygen. Her mind race trying to think of an escape plan, her left hand frantically launched punch after punch against him, trying to get him to loosen his grip.

Yet as each second passed by Alice could feel her strength waning and soon she couldn’t even swing her fist in retaliation. As time continued on the light began to fade and her right arm dropped listlessly at her side, her strength all but spent.

As the light in her eyes began to dim and fade, she mustered all her remaining strength. Her weak voice, barely a whisper broke through her lips, "[Reject]."

Alice’s right palm that sat, lightly placed upon the man’s sternum erupted in light, a magic circle appearing around it. Almost instantly afterwards an unseen force exploded, jarring Alice’s whole body and sending her attacker flying backwards into the wall behind him, the wind blown from his lungs.

Both dropped to their knees, their lungs gasping for air, their vision blurred and unsteady. Alice due to the protection from her clothes, recovered first, launching herself towards her attacker once more, landing a flying elbow into his left temple as he staggered to his feet.

The blow knocked him back to his knees, his body barely supported by his unbroken right arm. Following this she viciously kicked out, slamming the heel of her boot into his jaw, knocking him unconscious and sending his limp body clattering to the floor below.

"Barstard!" Alice coldly remarked, spitting the blood in her mouth to the floor.

After that she leant weakly against the wall her, energy still unrecovered. Across from her she noticed the man’s radio it’s light flashing repeatedly in the darkness, crawling over to it’s she grabbed it, pushing the switch, causing it to jump to life once more.

"Command! This is Patrol, over. Please respond." A voice cried.

"Patrol, what the hell is going on down there?" A voice from next door yelled.

"It’s the Separatists sir... they’re found us and are attacking the building, we need reinforcements if we’re not to be overrun!" The voice begged, his fear quite evident.

"Damn it... okay, all of you with me. You three stay here and guard Mr Olivier. It’s his fault these idiots are here and I don’t want him running off amid the confusion." Samuel barked, this frustration snarling his words.

With that several pairs of footsteps could be heard, racing into the hallway towards the stairs, ready to deal with their attackers. Within the room, Alice could hear the sound of feet slowly shuffling across the floor and an almost silent sobbing sound that echoed through the halls.

Alice knew that this would be her only chance to get her hands on the prize and a part of her wanted to rush in blindly hoping for the best. Suppressing her nerves and reigning in her uneasiness she spread out her sense once more,using them to gather an accurate picture of her surroundings.

Around her she could feel the presences of dozens of men, their movements leaving subtle imprints of the mana that flowed around them. Behind her on the opposite side of the wall two men stood, idling about, their back leant against the wall, beyond them a man sat hunched in the corner, his body shaking.

As she continued to spread her sense further and further she began to glimpse a idea of the battle below. The stairwell had become a battlefield, not unlike hell itself.

A few floors below her, a few dozen men stood, assault rifle fire interspersed between large bursts of magical energy. All around them bodies lay, blown apart by magical flame, their skin blackened and charred.

Further below that fierce hand to hand combat could be found, with swords slicing easily through flesh and bone, and knives being desperately plunged into tissue.

And far off, right at the bottom of the stairwell a single man stood, guarded by several men whose presence shone brightly, like stars in the night sky.

"So many Mages... fuck!" She cursed under her breath, retracting her senses into herself.

"Damn it, this won’t be easy but at least I now know what’s going on.." Alice thought, quickly moving forward once more, heading through the shadowy passageway towards her target.

Approaching the double doors of the room, Alice pushed out her hands before her, fingers intertwined, palms outwards, forcing out from her hands a loud audible crack. At this she breathed deeply and promptly kicked the door in, a fireball already in her hand.

Inside the men were taking completely unaware, the first guard being struck down by a fireball that engulfed him, knocking him from his feet. The other guard, seeing this attempted to draw his gun but a sudden gust of wind blew it from his grasp, sending it spinning off into one of the dark corners of the room.

Alice launcher herself forward at an almost inhuman speed, stepping into him effortlessly. A palm strike, stuck out, slamming into the bottom of the man’s jaw, stunning him. Not letting him recover she grasped ahold of his outstretched arm, while simultaneously locking her leg behind his, placing all her weight onto him.

Unable to react they both quickly succumb to gravity falling to a heap on the floor, Alice sitting comfortably, straddled, quite suggestively across the man’s chest. Releasing her grip of his arm, Alice let loose with a vicious blow into his jaw, knocking him unconscious.

She stood up, brushing herself down, a content smile on her battered and bruised features. Alice turned to face the man who sat huddled in the corner, her eyes searching for the case.

"Please! Don’t hurt me... I’ll give you back what I promised you.. just don’t kill me!" Seeing her the old man broke down, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"I’m not here to kill you, you old fool..." Alice coldly retorted, continuing to search for the case.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"... I’m here because I know how much these low life scum were going to pay for your little mangieri of goods, so could you kindly tell me where the money is? Before I decide I do want to kill you."

"So you’re not with the Separatists?"

"Yes. It’s almost as if I hadn’t just gotten through explaining that... so please tell me where the money is."

"The money? It’s a-a-round here somewhere, it was in a black briefcase on that table over there!" Olivier exclaimed his panicked eyes racing about in their sockets.

Alice listlessly turned her head in the direction he mentioned, noticing a table that did indeed have a black briefcase sitting on top of it. Walking over to it without hesitation, Alice began to grin viciously, unable to contain her excitement. Grabbing tightly a hold of the briefcase she spun it round, opening the clasps and revealing the stacks of tightly bound notes that lay within it.

After confirming the contents of the case, Alice closed it once more, affixing the clasps in place one more. Yet before she could even make it halfway back to the center of the room, she noticed the distinct click of a slider being drawn back in place.

"Hold it right there!" A voice commanded from behind her. "Put your hands up above your heads. Both of you!"

"And if I refuse?" Alice chided in.

"Well then you won’t have very long to regret your mistake."

"Fine... I’ll do it," Alice responded, placing the case on the floor and turning to face the source of the voice.

In front of her a man stood, his clothes ragged and worn, countless bloodstains littered across them. She could instantly tell he was from the Separatists, there was no way any member of the mafia would be caught dead in that idiotic Hawaiian shirt.

"Take off the mask and hood as well... But! move slowly, I don’t want any sudden movements," the man continued, scratching his wiry goatee, nervously as he did so.

"Fine, fine. Just give me a moment."

Alice complied, she was so close to her goal she wasn’t going to mess it up by being cocky. She needed to wait to find the perfect opportunity to escape from here.

"Mr Olivier! So this is where you had run off to with our goods, was it?" The man remarked, turning his gaze over to the man sat huddled in the corner.

"Look I don’t want any trouble... take them back and you can forget about the money I asked for. Just leave me alone will you?"

"Now isn’t that mighty kind of you, but sadly we in the alliance need to make an example of a man who skipped out of town with a shipment of precious goods we’d already agreed to purchase. Otherwise, people would stop taking us seriously... but you do have my sympathies for what’ll happen to you." The man responded, his eyes shining in delight.

Though... if we managed to get the items for free as well as a substantial settlement for the hassle caused, I’m sure the higher ups might just look away from this little transgression. So why don’t you tell me where the money is?"

"She has it!" Olivier screamed as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Alice shot the miserable old man, a death glare, internally screaming at his pathetic snivelling nature. She couldn’t wait for an opportunity anymore, she’d have to make her own.

"Hand it over girl.. I’ll not ask twice." The man calmly requested, shifting the muzzle of his gun upwards towards her head.

"Sigh... you got me." Alice solemnly replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Turning round, Alice bent down, as if to grab the case but instead she quickly summoned a fireball, it’s roaring flame hidden from view. In the next moment Alice grabbed the case, spinning as she sidestepped and threw the ball of fire at the man, all in one fluid motion.

Seeing this the man also sidestepped, the fireball striking him in the shoulder, knocking him off balance, as he fired, his shots scattering wide of target. Less than a second later he had already recovered, steadying his aim, while also summoning a fireball of his own, launching it at Alice’s retreating back.

Sensing this Alice quickly moved her free hand behind her, hurriedly projecting a barrier behind her, attempting to ward off the onrushing flame. A instant later the fireball collided with the barrier, engulfing her figure completely in a giant fiery explosion, shattering numerous windows and casting countless pieces of debris into the air.

As the smoke and flame subsided, Alice’s figure slowly re-emerged, she sat hunched over, contorted from the pressure wave of the explosion. Her back rested upon one of the metal glass frames, while all around her shards of glass lay, having been blown from their frames.

The wind howled, racing through the concrete jungle and blowing into the room, now exposed to the elements. Slowly Alice struggled to sit up her hand still tightly grasping onto the case.

"I told you, yet you had to try and run didn’t you."

"What’s a girl to do?" Alice joked, her face covered in blood and dust.

"Hand the case over!"

"You know what?"

"What?"

"Fuck you!" Alice quipped, leaping backwards, snapping her fingers as she did so, a torrent of fire bursting forth from between them, exploding towards him.

Before it had even crossed a third of the distance towards him, the room ignited in a cacophonous explosion, it’s shock wave launching Alice several meters away from the building into the void beyond, knocking her off balance causing her to flail helplessly towards the ground.

With her free hand Alice desperately tried to grab ahold of the air, hoping to be able to stabilize herself but every time she thought she had grasped it, it would slip between her fingers.

The next few seconds of falling felt like an eternity as she continued to grasp at the air, with limited results and by the time she had fallen past the second floor she had only just straightened herself out and stopped the spinning. Alice knew that she had no time to reduce the impact, instead she braced herself, fortifying both her clothing and her flesh to the limit. All the while hoping against hope to land on something soft.

Then with an almighty crash, accompanied to the sound of crumpling metal and shattering glass the world went black, her consciousness stolen from her.

Next Chapter: Intermission I: Crawling In The Dark