(Alexis POV)

"So..." Vermillion Waverson sat behind her desk, tapping her fingers across its wooden surface. Hikari and I were sitting in front of her desk in the guest chairs. I was in my suit and fedora while Hikari was dressed up in her ninja gear.

Hikari nervously tapped at the edge of her seat, where she probably thought no one would notice. I can't say I'm not surprised, considering we're back in the office that Hikari and Eleanor faced Wilson Waverson in.

The window and office had been repaired, and the room had been cleaned. But it still must've been unnerving to be here once again. Especially for Eleanor, but I have no idea where in this room she currently is.

Speaking of which, I heard that Hikari is the reason the window is broken. She flew a whole motorcycle through it! Do you realize how much I wish I could've seen that?! That's so damn awesome! It reminds me of the newest Crime-Man issue!

Ahem. Back on track!

In case this was some form of trap, we decided to be Eleanor's representatives. Shes been making sure not to stand out at any point, and thus thanks to her power she's gone completely unnoticed so far.

Actually, that means she might not even be here, we wouldn't know. I haven't seen her since we approached this building when she stopped bringing attention to herself. But we trust that she followed us here.

As for how we were able to get a private office with Vermillion was thanks to us knowing Eleanor's name. Considering Vermillion had kept it a secret, the only way we would know about it is by knowing who Eleanor is.

As in her relation to Wilson Waverson, not her being Bloodwraith.

I have to say though, I'm surprised she told her guards to wait outside. That's quite the ballsy move, considering she doesn't know what we're capable of.

And we are more than capable of ending her right here, right now.

"I have to say, I never expected the Alexis Cromwell to be close enough with her to come on her behalf." Vermillion stated.

"It's funny how things happen." I smiled. "I assure you, she's full of surprises."

"I have no doubt about that." Vermillion replied, looking towards Hikari. "And you are?"

"You can call me Kasai." Hikari replied.

Vermillion nodded. "Am I right to assume she has no intention of meeting me?"

"Unlikely." Hikari confirmed.

"I don't blame her." Vermillion sadly smiled. "Honestly, I'm surprised that she even had someone come on her behalf. What about her brother?"

"He's gone completely off the radar." I stated. "Probably has left the city by now. So an even less likely of a chance."

"I knew it was probably fruitless, but I still had to try." She stated. "I truly am sorry for what that man did to them. I had no idea. He kept them hidden because they weren't mine."

She sighed. "But that's not an excuse. Because even if I did know, I doubt I'd be able to do anything. The only reason I know now, and can do something about it, is because of his death and lack of a true heir."

"Honestly, either of the Elshers should've be on the next CEO of Waverson Corporation." She continued.

Hikari and I shared a glance of surprise.

"But no one knew they were his children." She stated. "I, myself, only found out when I gained access to everything he had access to."

"The amount of things he did..." Her hands tightened as she clenched her teeth. "...despicable."

"Respectfully, why did you marry that piece of shit?" Hikari bluntly asked.

I had to resist the urge to facepalm. Luckily these negotiations seem pretty informal...

Hold on. We haven't even done any negotiating yet!

"Arranged marriage." Vermillion cracked a small smile.

"So, you said that you wanted to try and make up the best you can for what your husband did to them." I changed the course of the conversation. "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing I can do can take back what has been done." Vermillion stated. "But I'm now the CEO of one of the largest companies at the moment. I have the money and power to assist with whatever she'd like."

"Whatever?" Hikari questioned.

"If she wants a house, done. If she wants a pool, done. If she wants to start a business, done. No strings attached. I just want to help those two." Vermillion continued.

"You do realize how unbelievable that sounds, right?" I smirked.

"Of course I do." Vermillion chuckled. "I'd be willing to sign a formal contract with you. That would actually work quite well, signing it with a Cromwell. They're powerful enough to make sure I uphold my deal."

"We are the largest mafia family in Champion City." I crossed my arms. "Quite bold. Then may I ask you about something?"

"Of course." She nodded.

"What about the power suppressants?" I asked.

She blinked at me in surprise. "You know about them?"

"We do." Hikari declared. "I learned first hand about them."

She looked at us blankly, before starting to chuckle. It soon broke into a full on laugh as she leaned over the table. We glanced at each other in worry as she collected herself again, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing." Vermillion regathered herself. "So you two and Eleanor are affiliated with Checkmate, then?"

"That's quite the assumption." I stated. I inconspicuously reached under my suit, putting my hand on my pistol as Hikari placed her hand on her sheathed katana.

"The thing is, very few should know about those." She stated. "The only way I can possibly think of how you two could know...is that you helped Checkmate in taking out Wilson Waverson. After all, I assume his unethical practices is why Checkmate targeted him?"

"How do you know we didn't just learn from Eleanor?" Hikari questioned.

"Simple. Because the suppressors were developed after Eleanor escaped." Vermillion explained. "Though thinking about it now, I guess Alex could've told you..."

"Well, you guessed right." I confirmed. Hikari sent me a glance, which I gave a slight nod in response.

I got this covered. I'm not the Cromwell daughter for nothing, y'know? I've been part of the mafia since the first day I was born.

And I would never do something that would bring harm to Jason or you guys.

"We are part of Checkmate's group." I continued. "Yet you don't seem scared."

"I have nothing to fear." Vermillion confidently stated. "I'm not corrupt like my husband or Stromford's CEO."

"So you know about Stromford's corruption." Hikari noted.

"Of course." She nodded. "Anyone in Champion City's underground knows they're corrupt. I now know thanks to the things that my husband left behind. I know he was working on deals with Stromford."

"Could you tell us more about that?" I asked.

"They were going to partner up together for a lot of business deals. Most were legitimate." She continued. "Except for the biggest one. The trading of S-Genome suppressors for S-Genome awakeners."

Awakeners...?

That must be what that damn scientist experimented on Jason with! Thankfully it worked, but I'm going rip that bastard to shreds!

And then Jason will reward me-

Ahem. Not the time. Focus, Alexis, focus! It's business time.

"Stromford was also going to lend Waverson some special super soldiers." Vermillion added. "Part of a project called-"

Before she could say anything more something suddenly crashed through the window. Hikari and I immediately stood up to attention, Hikari unsheathing her katana in a second while I whipped out my pistol and turned off the safety.

The man who crashed through the building slowly stood up. He was armored in some sort of sleek, high tech black suit. He wore a black helmet that completely covered his head, reminiscent of a motorcycle helmet but not quite. The front of it was glass, but stained to where you couldn't see the inside but just darkness.

He seemed to stare at us as he stood up. And then in an instant he pulled out a knife and rushed towards Vermillion.

Suddenly, as if she had appeared out of thin air, Eleanor was there. In one moment she wasn't, then the next time I had looked she was, finally bringing attention to herself as she stabbed her umbrella forwards.

The masked man jumped back, dodging the umbrella which was stabbed towards the glass in the front of the helmet in an attempt to shatter it.

Vermillion stared in surprise at the gothic girl that had seemingly teleported in front of her.

"...Eleanor?" She whispered.

"Nice to meet you, mother." Eleanor spoke the final world with sarcasm, but despite that she had a genuine grin on her face.

"Target located. Three hostiles." A distorted voice came from the man.

"What is this, some knockoff version of Sophie?" I questioned. "If you still value your life, then you'll leave now. But if you don't, then let me do the honors of ending it for you."

"Eleanor, get her to safety." Hikari ordered. "She's the target."

Eleanor grabbed Vermillion by the arm without so much of a retort. As she was about to make a break towards the door it was busted open.

A second black-clad soldier walked through the now open door, blood splattering his uniform. Two bodies of dead guards could be faintly seen lying down behind him.

"Fuck, there's two of them." Hikari cursed. "Get behind us."

I immediately unloaded my clip against the first soldier, and it did about as much damage as I expected. Even when I hit the glass it was reflected.

I tried to summon my spectral hand, but once again I was met with a drastic pain through my head. I still couldn't get it to work ever since Stellar ripped it in half...

Damn it! I'm useless here!

Before I could tell them to switch Eleanor and my positions the first soldier charged forwards. Hikari dashed in front of me, swinging her sword to cleave the soldier's head off with one clean strike.

The soldier blocked it with his hand, completely stopping Hikari's attack. Hikari ripped one of her gloves off, igniting her sword with blue fire and making the man let go.

The second one charged towards Eleanor and Vermillion. I quickly grabbed a chair, slamming it on top of him as he tried to get to them. He turned towards, sending a punch I barely dodged.

He's fast! And he has good form too, shit!

I barely dodged and deflected his blows with the way he was quickly striking and guarding. I was never the best at close quarters combat but I'm not that bad! This person though, they're at least as good as me.

Hikari was thrown over the table behind me. She gripped it with her unsheathed hand, setting it on fire and kicking it towards the first soldier.

I continued playing on the defensive, waiting for the singular moment I needed. And then I was surprised by a feint. I had brought my hand up to block my face when it suddenly switched directions and went straight into my gut.

I dropped to my knees as the soldier started walking towards Eleanor. For some reason I couldn't pull myself up, and then I realized why when I noticed the electricity sparking around the soldier's body.

Either that's some advanced robot tech Sophie doesn't have or that's an S-Genome..!

The other soldier seemed to summon a weapon out of thin air, almost taking off Hikari's head as he suddenly wielded a sword. He parried Hikari's attack, swinging at her once again. Hikari parried back, and she was much too occupied with that fight to even think about Eleanor.

Eleanor held her umbrella out in front of her, eyes narrowed and focused on the soldier in front of her. The soldier leaped forwards, trying to grab Eleanor with his electricity.

I know that Eleanor could probably easily handle this soldier. I know that Hikari will absolutely best the other one as well. The difficulty was keeping Vermillion safe...and me.

I noticed how Hikari was making sure the soldier wasn't near me. How Eleanor was constantly watching me for a chance to possibly cut in and take out my opponent.

Here I am, being so useless that I've become a hindrance. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

I want to be useful to Jason. I want to be useful to them.

Why? Because I care for them.

I still remember vividly when Eleanor protected me from Stellar, using a shield created out of blood to block the attack that might've ended my life.

Now it's my turn.

I won't let you even get close to her!

My head ached with pain, sharp needles and pins infiltrating my mind. I grasped at my head, clutching my hair in pain as I forced my power to come back out. Willed it under my command once more.

"Stay...away...from my friends!" I screamed.

My spectral hand finally rematerialized once more, grabbing the neck of the soldier from behind. He was yanked away from the defensive Eleanor as I held him up in front of me.

My head was throbbing, my body felt like it was on fire, and I couldn't help but feel tense and rigid. Still partly unfinished.

I glared towards the other soldier, and that's when something unthinkable happened. My body relaxed, the pain flying away and releasing from my body as a second spectral hand grabbed that soldier by the neck, pulling him towards me as well.

My mind finally felt fully clear since when Stellar ripped my spectral hand in half. I finally felt like I was whole again. But this time with two spectral hands.

"Alexis..." Hikari gasped in surprise.

But despite my newfound clarity, exhaustion was quickly seeping in. Using double the spectral hand was draining double the energy, and it doesn't help that I already drained enough in bringing it back under my control. Who would've thought?

I'm not sure what fully happened, but I just know I'm not going to be able to hold on for too much longer. The exhaustion is kicking in and my grip with the spectral hands is already getting weaker.

"We've been ordered back." One of them spoke through their distorted voice.

"Mission has been deemed temporary failure." The other spoke.

With that the one with electricity suddenly sparked with it again, sending a painful jolt through my body. I flinched, and in my weakness I let go of the spectral hands, allowing for them to dissipate like usual.

The two quickly dashed towards the window, jumping out of it to who knows where. I felt my knees buckle only for Hikari to catch me before I truly fell.

"That was...amazing." Hikari spoke.

"...thanks." I chuckled.

My phone buzzed within my pocket. Strange, I only have my notifications on for important contacts and things.

I pulled out my phone, seeing it was a text from my beloved Jason!

Jason: We've got a problem.

A little late, my love.