The evening sun seemed to bleed into the sky. Red. Jessica thought it fitting. Red was the color of blood, of pain. Absently, her hand drifted to her scarred face, but she ripped it down and turned to the others on the rooftop.

On each corner stood one of her own. They were intimidating men and women, each clad in suits with body armor over top. What could she say? She had always liked uniformity. Uniforms were like banners. They were recognizable, something the human mind could be drawn to, and her plans depended on the ARA being recognizable.

The searing pain in her face pulled her back to task. Her eyes flicked away from the city’s shattered skyline and to the five people bound and gagged in front of her. Their fires had died, burned down to ash in their fearful gazes. She rolled up the cuffs of her sleeves, her hair bound in a tight ponytail.

“Order,” she said, walking in front of the prisoners. “Order is everything. It is all that separates us from animals. From monsters. You five have disrupted my order, however.” Her voice remained soft and kind. “I forgive you, though. I know times have been hard, I do.

“All I want is help. Do this for me, and you will be free. I won’t say I will forget this.” She crouched down, looking deeply into the eyes of a trembling woman. “I don’t forget much. But I can get over what you have said about my leadership. I can. So tell me, can I count on your help?”

There was no movement for a moment, but the nods came. Slowly. Jessica smiled. “Good, good. That makes me feel much better.” She trailed her hand along the woman’s face, remembering when Grey had done the same to her. Her knuckles went white around her jaw, eliciting a sound of pain. She activated her Evolution, Hex Master. A mark seared into the woman’s shoulder and then the rest of the group save for one.

Jessica stood. She made a sign with her hand, triggering another Evolution, Curse Eater. With a sickening pop, four of the prisoners ruptured, spattering Jessica and her guards with bits of bone, flesh, and blood. Yes, the sky’s color was accurate for the day.

She wiped her face with a handkerchief while her mind wrangled with the sudden rush of energy. Her dress shoes clicked softly on the concrete rooftop. Click. Click. Click. They stopped in front of the last prisoner, a handsome man whose eyes stayed firmly on the concrete floor. Her hand pulled his head up, ignoring his tear-stained resistance.

“I curse you.” Hex Master consumed the excess energy in her body, sending it into the man below her. He fell limply to the ground, his eyes vacant. Froth bubbled at his mouth.

She knew he was experiencing intense pain. He would for the rest of his life, however short it was. Probably not long, considering his body had already failed. She clucked her tongue. That was unacceptable. The curse placed on Grey wasn’t substantial enough to kill him if she used Curse Eater, so she had decided she wanted him to suffer. A curse that erased his mind didn’t hold interest for her.

Her handkerchief cleaned the blood from her hands and neck. She used Puppeteer to lace her voice when she spoke next. “Dogs, take these bodies away and bring the others up.”

Her four guards drug the bodies from the rooftop. Or what was left of them anyways. She felt another waiting outside of the rooftop’s doorway, and she willed them forward. She didn’t need a verbal command to enforce the control her handshakes established, but it was good for her enemies to think she did.

“I’ve brought the day’s reports,” the woman said. She was a new addition to Jessica’s collection and a healer, the same one who had rehabilitated her injuries after Grey’s… surprise.

Jessica nodded. “Read them.”

The tan woman- Henna, her name was- nodded and smiled. “Of course. The changes you wanted made to the patrols have been successful. No further explosive devices have been discovered. Additionally, we have located a man with an Evolution that meets your requirements. He has detected energy that matches that of the devices in a Dungeon located on the north side of town, near what was considered Hunter territory.”

Jessica held up a hand. “Position men close. Have them filter in slowly. I want eyes on the Dungeon and the surrounding area. Tell Agent East to start working on the angle. Make sure everyone knows Grey is working with monsters, but try to obscure his involvement with the ARA, especially to the holdouts from the Guild and the Hunters.”

“Yes, ma’am. I have already sent one ahead, if that’s okay.”

Jessica smiled. “Of course. Thank you.”

The healer descended, leaving Jessica alone on the rooftop. She leaned over a rail and looked out over the city. There were so many people out there hidden in their homes. Scraping by. Many had been too stubborn to evacuate, which Jessica considered foolish. Other towns would not have attracted the Dungeons this city had, and she knew there were safety in numbers.

In fact, the only people that should be in places like this were those focused on containment. Without interference, the strong Dungeons of the cities would eventually expand beyond their city’s limits and across miles of land. Or sea. The oceans were now dangerous, dangerous places.

She wanted to save all of them. She did. It was not a generous heart humanity needed, however. They were too divided, too unwilling to cooperate. Humanity had to be conquered to be saved. Destruction had to come first.

A part of her considered herself lucky for finding Grey so soon. There would undoubtedly be more challengers, but being able to eliminate such a potent one so early was a blessing. More than that, it allowed her to practice her Evolutions and hone them into a connected set. It had also allowed her to upgrade her main Evolution, Puppeteer. Which brought her to her next objective: killing Grey Shor.

A thought activated the newest ability of her Evolution, and the rooftop disappeared. Her eyes- or rather, her Puppet’s eyes- blinked open, then again, examining the tear in the world across the street from herself. The Dungeon of… She looked at the paper in her hand. Paper monsters in the shape of men. They had the ability to craft inscribed items with various effects, as well as enhance their own bodies. Interesting.

She watched it for a moment, thinking it through. Grey did not steal those devices. They were shaped in the form of Keys, enchanted in such a way they seemed nigh indistinguishable from the real article. That meant he had coerced them into providing the devices, or he had learned how to create them on his own.

She already knew Grey had been to this Dungeon. While Alin and much of the Hunter leadership was dead, the ARA had absorbed their personnel- both the willing and unwilling. She had also kept tabs on Grey’s actions with the Hunters. Puppeteer had limits after a certain distance, or else she could have prevented Grey from doing as much as he had. But she had needed him gone for her own plans. Not that it had mattered. He had discovered her Evolution anyways.

She quelled the feeling that rose in her. She had underestimated him. His arrogance had seemed to blind him from his own recklessness. Time and again, he had taken risks and won. She had thought it finally caught up to him in the Dungeon with the suits of armor. It was all an act.

She had lost, but that was how such games were played. She had hid a few trump cards of her own, and now it was time to play them. Grey had to be killed.

She made a decision of her own, and with a though, she willed her Puppet’s body to stand. Soon enough, she had crossed the street and stopped in front of the tear in space. A glint from the window of the building to her left drew her eye, but when she looked, there was nothing. With a breath, she calmed her thoughts and stepped into the tear.

Some time later, she stepped out of the Dungeon unharmed and left her Puppet’s body. The rooftop was nearly as she had left it, but now, more prisoners sat on their knees, their hands bound and mouths gagged. Her guards had taken their positions once more.

“Dog, find Henna and have her get eyes on the Dungeon that houses the Steel Legion. I also want men in the area of the Dungeon we talked about previously, the Dungeon of the Scribes. Tell her they need to be ready to move at a single notice and to only select those with more… open minds. She’ll know what I mean.”

One of her guards ran to do her bidding, and Jessica looked out over the city once more. She had other leads to follow up on now. In fact, only recently, she had heard of a strong combatant known as the Rage Knight approaching the city. He would make a strong acquisition. There was a more intriguing fact she had stumbled upon, however. Grey’s family had escaped from the fort they had evacuated to. That was fine, however. She had broken the code on Grey’s message before he had even sent it. The problem was that the man must’ve known she could crack the code, which meant she was supposed to focus on his family. Curious.

Jessica would have to find out how far the genius in the Shor family extended.