Eve was done hanging around and even though the weapon that had went off and the carnage she had seen was still semi fresh in her mind. She couldn't stand the thought of Valentina or anyone else being able to do more than her. It was time to go back to the door and see if she could regroup with Alexandria and Valentina. Nobody was better at close range combat than her. Of course, blending in was her specialty as well. Veronica might be a match in pure brute strength and technique, but Eve could do things that no one else could do thanks to her size. Now it was time for her to figure out how much worth she actually had, and she had to make up for running away previously. She made sure all of her blades were sharpened and ready to go. Packing a few different healing supplies and some food making her way back to the door from their newly established forward base.

  Everything had pretty much been taken care of out on the water and now they were setting up a perimeter waiting for new orders from Alexandria. As Eve made her way to the front door, or the side door of the facility Eclipse and the others down below made ready to use her ability to try and communicate with the rest of Alexandria's crew on the beach.

  "Alright Alexandria all you have to do is place your hand on my back and don't worry no black threads will come out at you. This is only done when I touch someone, or I take a defensive stance. Right now, all we're doing is observing and communicating. You can touch me without fear." Eclipse turned around facing in the direction of the path that would take them upstairs. Even though she could communicate from any area within the shadows she still had to have some type of line of sight. She had been to every area in the facility at least once. So, her line of sight as long as she was facing in the proper direction was always true.

  "You can go ahead and touch my back at any time. Once I locate someone up above you will be able to speak with them but remember they will hear your voice as if it is coming from the shadows. You must speak up, understand?" Eclipse stretched a bit getting ready to begin the ability.

  "Sure, I got it." Alexandria walked forward placing her hand towards the top of Eclipse's back. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

  Eclipse took in a deep breath as well and then began to move through the facility jumping from shadow to shadow until she finally reached the area they had come in through. She searched around and saw that the door was cracked open.

  "Why would someone leave the door open?" She jumped to shadow and peered out seeing someone walking towards them. Well, walking towards the door.

  "Alexandria, do not be alarmed I'm going to speak to you within your mind. This is the best way for me to keep my composure and my focus. The young one that you had with you or perhaps the small one? I'm not sure how old she is. She's making her way to the facility door." Eclipse continued to breath steady making sure not to use too much power.

  "That's Eve. How close does she have to be so that we can speak?" Alexandia did her best to contain her excitement.

  "She has to at least open the door. It'd be pretty weird if a voice started just coming out of a door for no reason don't you think?" Eclipse let out a small chuckle thinking about a talking door.

  "Alright." Alexandria rolled her eyes a bit still keeping them closed.

  Eve's footsteps crunched leaves and other debris as she made her way close to the slightly ajar door. She moved forward a bit hesitantly and grabbed the handle pulling it open. As soon as it was open far enough Eclipse spoke to Alexandria.

  "Now is the time go ahead but remember do not shout. You have to speak clearly and loudly but if you scream you will scare her. I don't care who it is any time this ability has been used, and someone doesn't talk properly they scare the crap out of the person getting the message. Alright?" Again, Eclipse had to do her best to contain bursting out into laughter remember all the other times it happened before.

  "Sure, I got it." Alexandria paused for a moment making sure she did this right.

  "Eve, it's Alexandria." Her voice was loud and clear. Thankfully she didn't scream.

  Eve paused and looked around. She raised any eyebrow putting her left hand near the opening of her jacket. "Where the hell are you?"

  "I'm down inside the facility with Valentina and a few other. We found some of the ability users down here and we're working with them. However, the next track is going to be a little bit dangerous and we're going to need some reinforcements. I can't see you, but you can hear me and the person I'm using this ability with can give me any other information I need. However, what is the situation up there before anything else?" Alexandria was getting a bit unnerved not being able to see Eve and hopefully she had good news to report.

  Eve relaxed a little bit. She was glad that Alexandria was okay even though this ability was rather weird. Of course, being with this pirate crew in the first place has been a bit strange. Even though she did enjoy it. "Well, we've secured the beach and established a forward base. All the ships in mist area have been destroyed and we've captured about a dozen people. We have them rounded up and ready for interrogation. Lyric is chomping at the bit, but Tyra says we can't do anything without your orders. So, I would say that we've successfully neutralized all outside interference at least within the mist. However, we don't know what's going on outside and nobody has ventured out. We have a blockade around the island made up of our fleet along with some of the enemy ships we were able to salvage. Ships we had that were damaged are docked on the other side near the rocky coast where no other ships if they know about this area should go to." She paused for a moment remembering what Alexandria had said about the need for reinforcements. She was ready but was she all that was needed. There was no way that Alexandria would be calling for reinforcements and Eve would be the only person that she needed to answer that call. Eve cracked her neck letting out an exasperated sigh as she continued.

  "I'm ready to go. You said you needed reinforcements, but you didn't really say who you needed. Should I bring a few others? One, two, three, should everybody come? What do you need right now or better question is who do you need?" Eve took in a deep breath since she was getting a bit too worked up and needed to calm down.

  Alexandria laughed a bit remembering that she needed to keep her composure as well as her hand on Eclipse's back.

  "That was a good question. Do you have an answer for your crew member?" Eclipse was starting to enjoy working with Alexandria.

  "Hmm, Eve is essential to this however if we can get Veronica here too that would be good. She's insanely strong. If it's true that they have strong defenses down, there having my two best martial artists as well as a highly skilled chameleon we should have no trouble getting there. However, do you believe that two people will be enough, hmm?" Alexandria wasn't used to being unsure and Eclipse was the most knowledgeable at the moment.

  "You know if they are as strong as you say then they should be and I'm guessing the young one is the chameleon because when she first came through the door I mistook her for a researcher for a moment. She probably had some type of disguise or ability. Of course, when the machine gun went off that must of knocked off her concentration because it was like there was two different people." Eclipse made a mental note to ask Eve about her ability later.

  "That sounds like something Eve would do. Alright it's settled we'll call for her and we'll have Veronica accompany her. It would be nice to bring Isa down here, but I don't think she should see this." Alexandria wasn't about to start more drama so soon.

  Eclipse snorted a bit remembering that she wasn't supposed to talk out loud. As she spoke inside Alexandria's mind. "I agree there's no reason for her to see this place just yet. If we are able to get out of here and keep a hold on this place, she should come down here at some point. We will be taking everything with us as well. From the sounds of things, you have enough ships to carry everything just about that is stored in here. Anything we cannot take well there is a place we can hide it, but enough of the two of us talking relay your orders to her so that we can prepare to meet them. They need to be guided here and the best way to do that would be for me to jump inside one of their minds. It will take a little bit of energy however as long as I do not move around, I should be able to get them here quickly."

  "Very well." Alexandria took in a deep breath and as she exhaled, she began to speak. "Sorry for the wait Eve. I do need you to come down we're going to need your skills. However, before you start the journey down here, I need you to get Veronica we're going to need her as well. That is, it though. As far as my orders let everybody know to keep the blockade up, we do not want anyone getting in and nobody leaves. As far as the prisoners go tell Lyric she can use any means necessary to get the information out of them as to who sent them and why. I'm sure that will brighten her day." Alexandria let out a playful chuckle.

  "Very well Alexandria I will relay your orders to the rest of the crew. You don't want anyone else?" Eve was wondering if her and Veronica would be enough.

  "It would be too risky to bring anyone else besides you have to go and get Veronica and when you come back to the door, you'll have to do something that might not be to your liking. The person that I am communicating through now will have to enter your mind to guide you down here. We have to do this quickly. The person that we are trying to rescue well they are the ones responsible for the mist barrier that is around this place and once we pull them out of their confinement who knows what will happen to the shroud. We need to be prepared so along with keeping the perimeter I want you to have everyone to get the ships ready for sea battle. If there is somebody out there waiting to ambush us when we leave, we need to make sure we are ready for them. I will give this one piece of extra information if they wish they can take anything and everything from around the island and in only the upper floor whatever they can find strip it, take it, store it. Weapons get them ready for combat pass them out once the prisoners are interrogated anyone who doesn't pledge loyalty to Crimson Judgement shall be executed but save it for when the shroud disappears then we will be able to put on a show to any audience we might find. Are we clear?" Alexandria was getting a bit tired hoping they would be able to rest a bit soon.

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  Eve rubbed her hands together while a devious smile crossed her face. It was finally time for her to show what she was made of in close quarters combat. There have been a few instances but most of the time they've been fighting at sea. Now they were fighting inside a building that's a place she really shined and if there were strong enemies down below, she was so ready to prove her worth. "Alright Alexandria, you got it. It might take me a few to get back and relay your orders. I would say give me about an hour maximum if I'm any longer than that I will send up a signal. Hopefully you'll be able to see it. I'll keep this door open and put camouflage over it so that no one else could see in but y'all can see out. Anything else before I go?"

  "Good job Eve and no relay my orders and get back here as soon as possible. We need to rest a bit some of our members are exhausted especially the one I'm using now to communicate with you. She will need to rest before your and Veronica's minds to guide you down here quickly. So be prepared for that. Go we will talk soon." Alexandria let out a sigh of relief that things were started to come together again.

  "Yes, captain we will see you soon." Eve turned and dashed away. There was no time to wait. She needed to make sure that everyone got the others clear and concisely and she knew Veronica would take a little bit to get ready. It was finally time for some action some close quarters action.

  Alexandria took her hand off of Eclipse's back and when she did Eclipse dropped to one knee breathing heavily.

  Aurora ran up to her mother. "Mom, are you alright?!"

  Eclipse's breathing was a bit ragged, but she answered with a smile. "Sure, sweetie I'm fine. I just need to rest for a bit." Her breathing slowed a bit, but it was still a little rough.

  Alexandria helped Eclipse up and got her to a nearby bench area so that she could lean against a wall and relax. Once she got Eclipse situated Alexandria sat down next to her took in a deep breath, exhaled, and looked at her.

  "You know when we first met, I was terrified of you and I'm still questioning how valuable you're going to be to my cause or should I say our cause. So, I want to tell you that I appreciate everything you've done even the crazy insanity that you pulled out. You've shown me that your group is not too dissimilar from mine and I enjoy the personalities so while I still need to trust you on a deeper level at the moment you have my respect at least. You don't have my full trust yet, but I can see why you've done the things that you've done up until this point. Thank you get some rest. We are all going to need it for what happens next." Alexandria gave Eclipse a warm smile.

  Eclipse let out a giggle and nodded. She was too tired to say anything at the moment and Alexandria already said everything that was important. Plus, Eclipse had talked enough. She closed her eyes and leaned back slowing her breathing deciding just to rest as Alexandria stood up and walked away. Aurora came and laid her head down on Eclipse's lap closing her eyes as Eclipse put her hand on top of Aurora's head brushing her hair back as they both closed their eyes and tried to rest.

  Alexandria walked over to Valentina who was sitting not too far from Glade and Gale. She was on the floor because there were only a few chairs. Alexandria walked over to her and smiled. "You just going to sit there on the floor?"

  "I'm fine trying to do what everybody else is doing and conserve my strength. It's going to be interesting. I didn't hear what you said because I guess it was going through Eclipse. Who did you decide to bring down here?" Valentina looked a little rough for some reason.

  "Eve came back so that's good. I told her to bring Veronica with the two of them their hand-to-hand combat knife skills and Veronica's ability we should be able to smash through any defense that they have down there with no problems. I'll leave Lyric and everybody else to help up there to give commands and keep our other forces in line. Do you have anything else you would like to say or are you going to remain silent?" Alexandria didn't like the way Valentina looked.

  "I'm good. A little worn out and I think out of everyone's abilities mine needs to be the one that is saved for last. This place is tricky, and I don't like being confined, but I came down here with you because you needed me. You are my captain, but remember I joined this crew because I believe in your mission, and I wanted to see what this world has to offer. Don't let me down." Valentina looked up at Alexandria giving her a playful smirk.

  Alexandria let out a playful laugh. "I would never dream of letting you down Valentina."

  There was much more to do, and they had at least an hour to wait. However, with Eclipse, Aurora, Valentina, and Gale all needing rest. The only two who were at a decently capable strength were Alexandria and Glade. So, they decided to stand watch while the others rested. There was only one entry point into the room and they both stood on either side of the entry way.

  Glade had finally found something to put on. One of the researchers had left behind their lab coat along with a shirt. Even though she still didn't have any pants at least she had a shirt and a coat now. Alexandria thought it made her look pretty cool. She was also able to find some boots, but at the moment she wasn't wearing them. It was easier for her to not have any shoes on because any dirt that was on the floor she could soak it up through the soles of her feet. Even though it was only a little bit it added to their strength. Glade looked over at Alexandria and smiled.

  "From what I've seen so far you're a good leader and you seem to be a very strong captain. I know that we made this decision a little hastily and we still don't have all of our members and the last one we are coming to get or going to get is not going to be easy. Just getting through the guards is going to be one thing, but it's not going to be as easy to talk to Mist as it was to Gale. Gale has been able to you know get a sense that someone was around her. Mist however she has not seen or heard any one of us in a very long time. She could even perceive that we are dead. So, no one from your crew can go inside that room until we have the situation handled. Which means I'm probably going to have to be the one that goes in there. Gale could do it, but I don't think she'll recover within in an hour, and it would take us at least another two waiting for your friends to get down here and getting to the place combined not two and two. You must understand this is going to be difficult so you must be at your best." Glade let out a sigh wondering if this is how Eclipse felt having to talk so much.

  Alexandria let out a small laugh and she looked over at Glade. "Thank you for the compliment and I understand what you mean. Valentina actually didn't want to join me at first. It took some convincing, so I know how it feels to have a stubborn crew member on your team. The only reason she's here is because she wants to see the world. I promised her that along with all of the fame, fortune, and treasure that she could get her hands on. Plus, her ability is ridiculous. You haven't seen it at its finest because we were unsure of what we were up against and didn't want to waste her energy. However, now that we have a better idea about what we're up against you might be surprised to know that we are more on par with your level then you think, hmm. Thank you for the warning. I will keep my people out of that area until you are done."

  Glade returned the laugh with a smile nodding her head. "Thank you. I cannot wait to meet your other crew members. Hopefully we do not have to wait long. I'm sure that your people are just as ready for a fight as we are. I'm guessing that this other person that you are sending for since I heard you talking a bit to Valentina. What was the second person's name, Veronica? She seems to be somewhat of a brute maybe?"

  Alexandria let out a chuckle. "You could consider her our solid front line and one more thing. Her and Isa have become very good friends, so I want you to know that even though Veronica is coming Isa is not. Both Eclipse and I agreed it wasn't a good idea for her to be here because there was probably no hiding what we are about to see down in Mist's level because I am assuming where you have your highest security is where all of the data probably is which means there are keepsakes and other things down there." Alexandria stopped.

  Glade looked down for a moment her eyes softening. She took in a deep breath and as she exhaled, she looked back up. Her eyes welling up with tears as she looked in Alexandria's direction. "You are correct that was a good idea and yes all the important things are hidden down there. That is one of the reasons why we must advance quickly. There is no telling what those damn guards will do to those things. They have been kept safe as another way to keep us in check, but now that three of us are free they might turn to drastic measures."

  The two of them went silent. There was no need to talk anymore. All they needed to do was keep watch. Eve was coming and she was bringing Veronica. The next steps in their plan were coming together and soon they would have force that would either equal or hopefully rival the one they were about to meet in battle. Everyone was relishing the opportunity especially Mist who could feel something was going on. As the defenses around her tighten Alexandira and her people were getting ready to come and get her.