All they could hear was the sound of their own breathing and the occasional drip of the pipes. All they could see was the labyrinth before them, filled with wet rot, wood fill-ins, and crumbling concrete, lit by the single candle that was dwindling far too fast for their liking. The air was still and musty below, and Edward swallowed hard. The space was hardly big enough for a single person, and with a person ahead and a person behind, he was feeling the pressure.

"Do you know where we're going?" he asked Nirvana, who headed the three.

"No clue, honestly. All I know is, these things go way deeper than just the Underground. We've barely scratched the surface," Nirvana said, knocking her finger against a lead pipe leaking some sort of fluid.

"Then how are we supposed to get out?" Ed grumbled.

"We can always punch a hole to the surface," Nirvana said, looking up into the wet, dripping complex of pipes, passages, and ratholes.

Edward shook his head. They'd been walking for about an hour and a half, if his Widget was anything to go by, and so far they'd run into several dead ends, where either the floor ended or the wall did. In some places, the floor had rotted so badly they didn't want to chance it, while in others, great rooms full of needles, blankets, pots, excrement, and other paraphernalia immediately made them turn back lest they risk some sort of disease or incurable injury. They had gone down makeshift stairs and ladders to "safer" levels, walked in circles a few times, and come across a few rats the size of small dogs. He had thought that by now they would've made it out.

Realizing that they had no heading gave Ed a peculiar feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was hard to tell how long they might be down here in the dark, especially with the candle beginning to run low, even with Nirvana's constant alchemical ministrations.

"How long are we going to be down here?" Allana asked.

"Not a clue," Ed muttered as they continued.

"Sure does fill me with confi-"

"Hey, guys, I think I might have found a service passage out," Nirvana said at the front of the group, and the two hurriedly caught up, ignoring the sound of skittering feet somewhere in the background.

Nirvana stood before a heavy, iron door, half-crumbling metal corridors branching off to either side, slowly blending into the dreary concrete that they'd been passing through for the last half-hour. It was built blocky and heavy, with thick struts and a circular valve on the door for a handle. There was no clue as to how old it was, but there was a fair amount of rust. The two peered over Nirvana's shoulder as she contemplated the door to nowhere.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Allana asked impatiently.

"Something's not right. This door is too old. It isn't a service passage," Nirvana stated, touching the door. "It's ancient - I'm talking, Battle for the Underground ancient. Look at this door seal - this is the style they would've used back when Amestris was a military state. The whole thing must have been part of a complex. They built on top of the old city -"

"While this is fascinating, can we have the history lecture after we get out of the subterranean labyrinth?" Allana sighed, looking over her shoulder nervously.

Nirvana shot her a dirty look, and she turned to Edward.

"Well, what do you think, Ed-boy, is it worth cracking- Hey, what's the matter?"

The other alchemist was staring intently at the door, his skin pale under the light of the candle. His hands were slightly trembling, and he was working his jaw as he stared at the door. It seemed to creep ever closer to him, and the more he stared, the closer it seemed to come. Something about it was almost menacing, and Ed couldn't put his finger on it. His stomach quivered within him, and electricity seemed to jolt through his every nerve.

"Ed?" Allana asked, touching his hand, and it snapped him out of his reverie.

He looked over to the two girls, then back to the door.

"I think I've been here before."

Allana frowned.

"What, you mean you know how to get out?"

Ed shook his head, and Nirvana raised her eyebrows. She gestured with the candle towards the iron, gray door covered in its patina of rust, and she asked, "You're telling me... this is familiar to you? I mean, you had to have seen tons of doors like this -"

"But this one's got a notch up here," Ed said, raising his right hand and running his fingers over a large rent in the metal, nearly covered completely in rust. "And... and it's going to be unlocked."

The two girls stared at him for a few moments in perplexity.

"Ed, what's going on? You're scaring me," Allana said quietly.

"Seriously, what bimbo said. You're freaking me out," Nirvana agreed, which earned her a rather nasty glance.

Edward shook his head, rubbing his forehead.

"I just... I don't remember. I can't remember. It's like it's there, I just can't get to it. Like a word on the tip of your tongue," Ed spat out.

"Well, while you're dealing with some... weird past life memories or something, I'm going to open the door. You said it's supposed to be unlocked, right?" Nirvana asked as she handed the candle off to Allana, and Ed nodded.

With that, she took hold of the large, circular valve and pulled hard on it, only to find that it refused to turn.

"I thought you said this thing was unlocked," Nirvana grunted, and Ed immediately jumped in to lend a hand.

"Well it's been rusted for two hundred years," Ed mumbled back unhappily as the two tried to get the thing unstuck. However, it was clear, even with both of them putting their back - and automail arms - into it, the thing just would not budge. The two stood back and surveyed the door.

"Can we not just head down the hall? Is this door really going to go anywhere?" Allana asked, and the two looked to each other, realizing they may be wasting precious time on a door that perhaps lead to absolutely nothing.

Nevertheless, there was the fact that both of them were now interested in said door, and their curiosity was perhaps getting the better of them. The more practical of the three gave them incredulous looks as the two alchemists seriously contemplated how much energy to waste on this door in the middle of the catacombs. Allana rubbed the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger, muttering to herself, "Unbelievable."

"I've got an idea. Why don't we just rust the whole thing completely?" Ed asked.

"What, and suffocate?"

"We won't suffocate if we only strip the inside of the valve, idiot."

"Well fine, if you're so smart, you do it."

"I will do it!"

"Like to see you try!"

"Watch me!"

"Oh brother," Allana groaned as Ed clapped his hands and pressed them to the valve.

There was a brief blast of light, and then nothing more, the door seemingly the same as ever, if with a bit more rust around the inside of the valve's wheel. Nirvana looked at Ed smugly, and Ed, confused by her seemingly pleased expression, gave her a quizzical look. Suddenly it dawned on him. She hadn't wanted to do more work than necessary, and he'd played right into doing it for her. He deflated as he took hold of the door and begrudgingly wrenched the valve wheel. It squeaked with an abominable screech of metal on metal, making Ed wince, but at last, it was open enough for him to pull back and try the door.

The thing began to swing open, heavy as a ship's port-door. Inside, it was inky black, nothing much beyond the reach of the candle's light.

"What do you think this used to be part of?" Allana asked as Ed stepped through the door.

He felt as if this room should mean something to him, but there was just the empty expanse beyond.

"Probably a military base. Patron City used to be called Central City back in the days when Amestris was still a unified country, not a city-state."

"I hadn't realized there was so much in the Underground."

"You'd be surprised. Even the legitimate Underground sprawls as far as the city lets it until it hits the Chasm."

Ed looked down at the ground, surprised to see that it was only covered in a fine layer of dust. As he swept his foot to the side, he could see something inscribed on the floor in thick, permanent ink, the sort that only alchemists used to make large arrays. His heart pounded so hard, he could feel his pulse at the back of his eyes. He looked up, but there was nothing else in the room. It was completely empty, from what he could see, though the ceiling didn't seem to be too far above him.

"Nirvana, come in here," Ed stated, waving her towards him. "I need the light. I think I found something."

Nirvana snatched the candle from Allana and swiftly headed to his side, coming to a slow halt as more and more of the array was illuminated under her light. Her eyes widened as she stared at the pattern on the floor.

"Gods," she muttered, dropping to the floor for a better look. "Is this what I think it is...?"

"What are you talking about?" Allana asked, walking in, before halting outside the circle that was slowly being outlined by Nirvana's candle while she swept away the dust.

"Alphonse told me he found this place once. I don't know how - that door was rusted shut, but he's Alphonse. He could have squirmed through a vent," Nirvana muttered.

"It's a transmutation circle, a pretty big one. But what is it doing here?" Ed asked.

"If this was part of Central, it must have been part of some... some military program," Nirvana mumbled while walking around the array. It was a complex, heavy set up, and Nirvana shook her head.

"But it doesn't make sense. It's not an alchemy array."

Ed frowned at Nirvana, who was beginning to walk a little too far into the dark.

"You mean it's alphysical?"

"More like a bit of both. I can't imagine how long it would've taken someone to do this, either. It's incredibly complex. It'd take... sheesh, lifetimes to build something like this, and I can't even imagine the cost of running it," Nirvana stated. "You'd need to sacrifice a whole city's worth of people, maybe more."

"Maybe a country?" Ed asked, and it fell deathly silent as the implication settled on them.

The mystery still beckoned them. What was this thing they'd found down here? And how fortuitous was it that they had managed to find it, of all places in the Underground?

"I think we need to leave," Ed stated.

"You make a good point. But first, I want a picture," Nirvana said, pulling out her Widget.

Allana huddled next to Edward as Nirvana began her long trek through the circle in her bid for photos. She looked over to Ed, and she was concerned to see furrowed eyebrows, flashing gold eyes, and a firmly set mouth. His arms were crossed, biceps stiff as he scuffed the ground with apprehension.

"Ed?"

"Yeah?"

"What does this mean? I'm sorry. I... I don't know anything about alchemy or... Well, any of this. I deal in current events," Allana joked, gesturing.

Ed closed his eyes, trying to summon up a memory of what this room could have looked like, yet he had nothing.

"It's a circle meant to transform space, time, and matter all in one go. It changes it to the desires of the person controlling it, but it's... it doesn't make any sense because -"

"Alphysics was developed in the 1950s, and she said the room has been here since the 1900s," Allana finished for him.

Ed nodded gravely. The implications were unsettling, to say the least. While Ed didn't have an idea of what this circle could do, he was starting to get an idea that 'time' was a part of it. He felt as if he were standing on top of a bomb that could go off at any minute.

"Guys! Come over here! I think I found a way out!"

With that shout, the two quickly journeyed towards Nirvana's tiny candle. To their surprise, she was standing in front of a far more modern door, cut into the old concrete. It was white and slick as glass, obviously not the crude stuff that made up the door they'd just come through. Nirvana looked at the pad beside it and frowned.

"Looks like Gorilla glass. I could just break it, but there could be an alarm system or something. Someone's been down here, obviously, somebody important who probably thought that door back there was locked," Nirvana mumbled. "I just don't know how to get out with this key pad."

"Here, let me see," Allana said, bending down to look at it.

The girl frowned for a moment as she stared at the blank, glass touch screen, and suddenly, she breathed heavily on it. Under her breath, an image showed, the distinct lines of a pathway key, meant to slide a finger a certain way in order to open the door. Allana grinned as Ed clapped his hands in appreciation. Nirvana gave him an exaggerated eye roll.

"Nice trick," she muttered begrudgingly as Allana ran her finger over the pad, starting from the black dot in the corner. It took her another three tries to get the right combination of movements, but at last the door slid open-

-into a white, pristine corridor lit with white fluorescents.

"This... is definitely not what I expected," Nirvana said with wide-eyes as the three looked down into the compound.

"Do we... go down there? It looks like a government facility, and -"

"Well, honey, what do you want to do, wander another five hours in the dark? At least this corridor is lit."

"But we've got no clue what's down here. Could be spinejackers," Ed muttered as he looked down the corridor with suspicion.

The door on the far end of the corridor squeaked on its rusted hinges, and the three turned to stare into the darkness.

"You know what, I'll take my chances," Ed stated, zooming past the two girls and leaving them in his dust. With indignant huffs, the two fought to keep up with him as they followed immediately after.

"...and you should've seen the hissy fit he'd thrown over having to drink a whole glass of milk. Mom was really mad at him for whacking apart Mrs. Field's petunias," Alphonse chuckled.

Clottie smiled at him, as the two walked the small, white hall that linked the cafe to Greed's tower. Around them, the blank neon signs remained like black holes, their lack of life giving the tunnel a liminal quality. Normally, it would be filled with people, the shoppers there to grab some trinket while business people ate at small diners filled with expensive, exotic dishes. Tourists would take pictures of the tower that rose above them through the glass ceiling that spanned the tunnel, and the shopkeepers would beckon their would-be customers into dingy, small alleys full of baubles and prepaid Widget cards. For now, however, it was completely empty, the place deserted.

"You two had a very idyllic childhood," Clottie said quietly.

"We did. I think it sometimes gets lost in all the excitement that happened afterward, but that time in our lives really wasn't so bad. A lot of historians chalk up Ed's aggression to being a genius in a town full of dullards, but that wasn't it at all. Even as smart as we were, the people in Resembool never shunned us. We were just the Elric kids- pretty bright, but not so strange," Al sighed, ruffling his brown hair as he considered those halcyon years spent on farmsteads and grocery stores. "What about you?"

Clottie stopped to look at herself in the glass pane of a shop, the bare fluorescent tubes above giving just enough illumination to allow her a reflection against the glass. She was still incredibly skinny, her hair barely coming in. There were dark bags under her eyes, and the wan lighting did nothing to help her complexion. Next to Alphonse and his seeming radiation of health and good will, she seemed the definition of a shocker, addicted and strung-out. Clottie lowered her gaze, rubbing her arm.

"It was... good. Not too horrible," Clottie stated.

Al frowned as he noticed the pall that fell over her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to -"

"No. It's fine. I... I don't talk about it much. Mother and I didn't really have a home. Splinter would not shield us, and we were always on the run from Cinnabar. Our work was difficult," Clottie said in clipped tones. "When Mother died, I... continued our work."

"With Nirvana?" Alphonse asked.

Here, finally, Clottie smiled, nodding.

"She and I made a name for ourselves, and we made surprisingly good money before she left," Clottie sighed. "That was when... things went a bit downhill, all things considered. And here we are now."

"The city falling apart?" Al asked with raised eyebrows and a slight smile.

Clottie made a face, letting out a slow sigh from her nose.

"I don't know if I'd put it like that."

There was the sound of fast footsteps farther into the tunnel, and the two tensed. However, after realizing that it was Greed's aide, dressed as always in a suit that cost more than most military operations, they relaxed. However, the tight look on his face put the tension right back as he neared them, his body language enough to tell them something was wrong.

"There you are! Just wanted to let you know that the cats got out. I'm really sorry. The window just flew open, you know," the aide sighed as he finally reached them, and the two kept their faces carefully neutral.

This was bad.

"How many?" Al asked, a concerned look on his face, his mouth stretched to one side of his face in thought.

"Um... most, if not all, of them," the aide answered.

"Well, I guess this means we'll have to go and round up the ones we can find," Al said cheerfully. "Have you told all our other housemates?"

"Actually, I was just about to do that," the aide stated.

"You'll call us when you find 'em again?" Al said. "Do you have our number?"

"Of course!"

"Alright. Well, no use wasting time. There's not much we're going to do today anyways," Al said.

With that, the two nodded their heads at each other, and Al quickly began to lead Clottie back down the way they'd come. Clottichilde was still reeling from the code phrase, her heart hammering in her chest. How had they found out about them? How had they managed to track them down? They'd used proxies of proxies, so many go-betweens, entire systems built just to make sure that their identities and their location were completely and utterly hidden...

"Nirvana is still out there," Clottie said. "She has no idea."

She turned to look at Alphonse, and his mouth was pressed into a thin, straight line.

"And neither does Edward," Al sighed.

He glanced over at Clottie, and the two shared a long stare.

"What are we going to do?" Clottie finally asked.

Alphonse took the moment to stop and rub his forehead in thought, glancing around to stare at the cameras that were surrounding them. He grabbed Clottie's hand and led her down the hallway, following the signs for the bathroom. Clottie offered a bit of resistance as they entered the men's restroom, but soon it became apparent to her what was going on when he looked around at the corners of the walls after flipping on the lights.

There were cameras, but none that pointed into the stalls.

Unceremoniously, he opened one and gestured for Clottie to follow him in. Feeling only a bit seedy, Clottie walked in with him, closing the door behind her. Even for the sake of privacy, it felt inappropriate to be in a bathroom stall with her superior, much less their group's physical messiah.

"We'll have to split up. No, no - I'm not going to argue it. I know it's the most dangerous option, but someone has to tell Edward and Nirvana. They have their work backed up on all of Nirvana's hardware, and they can hike it out of here before things really go south," Alphonse said, leaning in close.

Clottie's expression darkened with every word. It was not the best plan in the world, that was true, but she realized the wisdom of his words. If Edward and Nirvana didn't figure out what was going on, they would more than likely give everything away on accident, somehow indicting themselves or others. The other Splinter cells would be notified via remote ping from an undisclosed location in the Underground set off by a chain of pings from a number of different areas in succession, so they were certainly going to burrow in and wait out the deluge that was to come.

"How long do you think we'll have before Father really starts to try and weed us out?" Clottie asked quietly.

"I'm giving it another five hours before the first Spinejackers manage to get a hold of someone, or attempt to. Even they don't want to be out in that," Al said, pointing to the ceiling in reference to the storm still raging outside.

"Do you want me to meet up with you again?" Clottie asked.

"If you're able to. I'll give you a private pager. It's very, very old technology - old enough that I doubt its signal will draw attention," Al assured. "With that, you'll be able to find me again."

Clottie nodded her head solemnly, looking at the ground. Al deflated at her somber attitude, and he lifted her chin.

"Hey- it'll be fine. This is why we always have a plan B," Alphonse assured with a smile, and Clottie wanted desperately to catch his optimism.

But she'd been around enough disasters to know plan B was typically not enough.

She nodded anyways. Alphonse dug into his pocket, producing an old blocky box, which Clottie stuck onto her belt, and with that, she left the stall, leaving Alphonse on in his own in the dingy, white bathroom. The silence was all encompassing, and for once, he was completely, utterly alone. He sat on the toilet behind him and put his head in his hands.

It took an hour of maneuvering through the pristine white halls before they found anything resembling a sign. It did, indeed, look like this was some sort of research facility, though thankfully it seemed to be the more academic sort rather than military. With a picture of the map on a Widget, the trio managed to scurry their way through the facility more or less unnoticed, stopping when they heard footsteps in the halls.

With delight, Ed realized they were on the last stretch of the map, heading towards the exit. His heart had hammered the entire way up the facility, hoping against hope that they'd remain incognito. Now, it seemed they were finally on the home stretch. Ed crossed another hallway with the two girls in tow, looking around constantly for anyone who could possibly notice their presence.

"Hey! I've got signal down here," Allana said with surprise, glancing at her Widget.

"Seriously?" Nirvana muttered, grabbing hold of it to see.

"Can we do this another time?!" Ed hissed as he glanced down another two halls to check if the coast was clear.

The door to freedom was just up the way. Unfortunately, it looked like it needed some sort of key card, but surely he could just make a door. It'd be less than subtle, sure, but-

"Oh no," Nirvana breathed, and Ed glanced back with a frown.

The girl's face was white with shock, staring at her own Widget. She glanced up at Ed, then to Allana, before motioning for Edward to come closer. Ed's shoulders fell in a slump as he headed back towards her. Allana watched the two suspiciously before taking watch as the alchemists muttered between themselves.

"Ed, Father knows," Nirvana hissed, turning the device for Ed to read. "He's targeted Greed. It'll just be a matter of time before goes on the offensive."

Ed's stomach clenched and churned. All their work, threatened. They needed out of here, and quickly. He glanced back at Allana, who was still watching the hallway.

"What do we do with her? She'll be killed," Ed murmured. "They think she harbored an alchemist."

"I mean, they're not wrong, per se," Nirvana conceded.

Ed glared at the blond girl. Nirvana threw up her hands and said, "Look, we'll take her with us. We need to get out of here. We were probably lucky we weren't at Greed's place when this went down."

Ed pressed his lips together, unhappy with the decision, but there were bigger fish to fry. They raced back to Allana and, with that, headed towards the door out of the facility. True to his instinct, it was a door with a complicated lock and card combination. He took the easier route and just put a hole through the door. To their surprise, not a single alarm went off in the facility.

"It's a miracle," Nirvana muttered as they squirmed through the hole in the door - and out into an alleyway in the Eyrie district.

The sandstorm had more or less abated by this point, leaving just a gust of wind with shearing sand now and again. The three shielded their eyes as they quickly hurried down the street, aware that they were but a few of the intrepid who'd taken to walking the streets while the storm trailed off. When they were safely within a shelter, the three sat down to take a breather.

"Okay, what do we do now?" Allana huffed. "I can't go back to my place. Those... those things..."

"Spinejackers. They'll probably indict you for harboring alchemists," Ed panted. "It'd probably be better if you went back home. You could hide with your family."

"But what about you two? Don't you two need somewhere to go?" Allana asked, glancing at the two alchemists.

Nirvana and Ed glanced at each other with concern. How much could they tell her? How much could they trust her?

"Allana... you've already risked yourself enough. If you take us into your parents' home, you risk their lives," Ed impressed upon her, putting a firm hand on her arm. "Besides that, we need to leave the city as soon as possible."

"We've been found out. There's no way we're going to be able to stay and keep them off our trail," Nirvana finished.

Allana looked pensive for a moment, before she snapped her fingers.

"Where do you need to head off to?" Allana asked. "I can have a quad out there tonight."

Ed and Nirvana stared at the girl with wide eyes, before glancing back at each other.

"You're serious?" Ed asked.

Allana nodded cheerfully.

"I have a news pass. I can say you two are protected respondents. Dad has the money to back me up, and we can bribe our way out of here tonight. I can even fly the quad. I have a license. You just tell me where we're going, and I can get us there."

Nirvana tapped her lips as she sighed, torn, while Ed bit his lip in thought.

"Oh, screw it. You got room for one more though?"

"When you said we'd be leaving in style, this was not what I had thought you'd meant," Clottie said with trepidation as she glanced around the quadcopter she found herself sitting in.

After a couple of texts and simple maneuvering, Clottie and Nirvana had managed to meet up. To Clottie's surprise, they ended up in a hangar off of a building in the Eyrie district, where a young woman who Clottie didn't know was prepping the quad for take-off. Edward had already seated himself, sand and all, on a bench in the hangar, chowing down on a whole pack of seaweed while messaging the Oasis as the goings-on continued.

"Hey, I overdeliver. What can I say?" Nirvana asked, shrugging her shoulders with a smirk.

Clottie lifted her eyebrows dubiously before looking around the sleek vehicle. The pilot, Allana, didn't look much older than Clottie herself, but she exuded confidence as she went through the safety checks on the quad.

"Dad, look - yeah, I know it's short notice. I just need them for this one story. Yeah, I will. Hey, I always - Marnie chipped the paint on the last one! I've never put a dent on one of these things! Okay, I'll see you later. Yeah, love you. Mwah," Allana stated into a small headset she wore.

She removed one side to lean her head back and ask, "What are the coordinates?"

"Depends. Clottie, you're the one who knows Protocol Blackout like the back of your hand," Nirvana stated.

Clottie walked over to Allana, and she tapped in the numerical coordinates onto a panel, not trusting herself to speak it out loud lest there be ears somewhere. At the least, most GPS systems didn't hook into a mainframe outside the vehicle. It soon zeroed in on a spot in the desert, and Allana's eyebrows lifted high. Ed, who'd returned from his brief break, looked over Allana's shoulder and gawked.

"Seriously?! It's a shelled out husk!"

Clottie angrily made a motion for quiet before explaining, "That's not all that's there. Trust me."

Ed crossed his arms and looked down at the coordinates before shaking his head and sitting down in a seat. Allana took a deep breath as she glanced up at Clottie, eyes narrowing. She was the picture of a shocker - short hair, skinny and cagey, with a hungry look in her eyes that belied addiction. It made her uncomfortable to know that even someone so young could take to the drug, but she knew better than to judge.

"Alright, everyone - buckle up! We leave in five," Allana assured.

It wasn't long before they were in the air, taxing along as Allana relayed to ground control. Ed gripped the armrests of his seat, feeling slightly ill as he thought about the sheer distance between the vehicle and the ground. It didn't seem he'd ever get over that fact. Nirvana and Clottie were a few shades calmer, the two of them discussing something in hushed tones as Ed watched the city towers fall away in the windscreen. So far, things seemed to be progressing smoothly, something Ed had seldom encountered.

Then, another vehicle appeared in front of Allana's, this one much bulkier and several times more intimidating, and Ed grumbled under his breath. Of course it couldn't be easy. Life just wouldn't be interesting otherwise. Allana stared at the vehicle ahead with a stern expression, hands gripping the joystick of the craft.

"Yes? What's the hold-up? I've got clearance out of the city's airspace," Allana said through the intercom.

"Are your passengers cleared for take-off? We have a record of three unidentified persons aboard your craft who have been flagged as anonymous."

Ed felt his insides tie into a bowline knot. It would be too easy for them to end up shot out of the air. This was a pleasure craft, not a military quad, and so had no means of defense.

"I've got reporter's protections on unidentified informants for the Channel 10 news correspondence. Check them over again, and you'll see that they've already been cleared," Allana said, standing her ground.

There was a moment of quiet as the two remained in a deadlock, Allana waiting with bated breath. Her passengers stared out the windscreen, hands clenched in one fashion or another as they wondered whether they were about to be unmasked. There was little they could do other than attempt to outmaneuver the other aircraft.

"The paperwork looks like it's put together. Be aware that city airspace will be shut down in sixteen hours and after such point no craft, leisure or otherwise, will be allowed to enter without the requisite applications. Violators will be forcibly removed," the other craft reported through the intercom speakers, and everyone inside let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Well, that's taken care of," Allana muttered as she sped the quadcopter forward, leaving the city behind.

A/N: Hello, hello, hello! So, obviously this is a bit late, but hopefully this is an enjoyable chapter for all involved! Obviously not a ton happened, but there are things stirring in the works, I promise. Things are going to heat up soon!

Big thanks to my two reviewers! Thank you so much for the feedback and the love!

Hopefully I'll have more out soon and get things moving again. God bless you, and happy reading!