TAK AND DREG TALK

1777, JULY 21st, THURSDAY 7:00pm.

Dreg stared at the building before him, it was a normal apartment complex and didn't stand out in the least. However, to him, it was the most important place in all of Movecity. Medusa approached and placed her hand on his shoulder; they both shared a glance.

"You know, this is killing me," he said.

"Me too, Lion. Me too," she responded.

They both stood there for a moment.

"I'm going to talk to him."

"I understand... Just. Don't do anything stupid."

Dreg grinned at her, "When have I ever."

Medusa gave him a flat look, but a smile replaced it a moment afterwards. They both walked inside the building and it didn't take long to reach the room they were looking for. Shaylin greeted them with open arms and Medusa got to work taking the report. Dreg, however, walked past them and towards the balcony.

Tak was leaning his elbows on the railing and staring out into the night sky. The stars were barely visible with all the light pollution from Movecity. He stood next to the immortal and both were silent as chaotic noises filled the air.

"Tak."

"D-Dreg?" He flinched. "S-Sorry, I didn't hear you."

"It's alright. This place is always loud."

The General stared at the immortal's face and blinked. Tak's eyes were now blue, just like his own. However, that only held his attention for a moment before seeing how red they were.

"What's wrong?"

"I... Got into a fight with Noche."

"Are you ok?"

"I'm immortal."

"She can use corruption."

Tak chuckled and his expression became morose. "Yeah... Yeah she can."

Dreg didn't say anything for a moment.

"I just... I did everything I could. I tried my best to stop her. To convince her she was wrong... And yet," Tak paused. "I feel like I'm going to lose her as a friend."

He turned to face Dreg as he continued.

"Noche is amazing. She is a beautiful, wonderful person at times... But it feels like those times are getting further and further apart. I'm starting to realize the girl I have in my head doesn't match the one I see before me," he choked up. "I owe her so much. She's done so much for me... Yet I can't do anything for her, because what she wants right now is to hurt those I care about. What am I supposed to do?"

Dreg leaned over and patted Tak on the shoulders. "Sometimes, the best thing you can do for a friend, is to help them when they're wrong. Other times it's better to give them space."

"But what if I lose her as a friend because of that?" Tak asked. "She's immortal too, did you know that? Everyone else I know will... Will die one day... But Noche can live as long as I can. I don't want to lose my first friend, especially if she can last forever."

Dreg grimaced. "Believe me. I understand the pain of being alone better than anyone. But you will always find new friends. There will always be new adventures to experience, new loves to find, and new companions to share tales with."

Tak bundled himself into his scarf.

"You... Really like that scarf."

"Yeah. It reminds me of my dad."

Dreg turned to face the city rather than look directly at Tak. Right now, that was the easier thing to do.

"I'm sure your father loved you very much."

"T-Thank you."

The two stood side by side in silence, staring out at the countless glowing windows from the endless rows of buildings.

"If Noche continues to act this way, I know what I'll have to do," Tak whispered. "I don't want to, but I won't let her hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it."

Dreg nodded. "You're a good man. I'm proud of you."

Tak turned to face him. "T-Thank you master."

"Our training is over. You don't have to call me that. You've mastered every technique I had to teach you. Still can't believe you could do that with hundreds of martial arts in two years."

The immortal grinned and Dreg pat him on the should once more. With that, the General turned to head back towards Medusa. Before he did he tossed something at Tak, who caught it with ease.

"A baseball?"

"Keep it safe for me, would ya?" Dreg asked.

"Lion D. L. Who's that?"

Dreg was gone before Tak finished the question. Medusa had finished being briefed by Shaylin and had noticed the General's approach.

"It seems Noche is immortal now," Dreg said.

"That's what I heard from Shaylin," Medusa sighed. "Corruption, immortality, and now apparently teleportation. That's a lot of V.I.Ps."

"You don't seem surprised."

"A lot of strange things have happened since war was declared. Noche being at the center of it all makes sense seeing how much of her life is tangled with DeathTech."

"So, how far did she go?"

"Pretty far. She assaulted Mary, who is a higher-ranked officer. That and it seems she's starting to disobey my orders. She even casually used corruption in front of Shaylin, even if they were in a private room."

"Do you think Rust will find her?"

"If she's still at the hotel, yes. Otherwise, with the ability to teleport, who knows where she could be."

"How is Mary holding up?"

"Bad. She's questioning staying at Cross. The reason she joined was to get funding to find a cure for her disease. Back before the war, when everything at Cross was slow," Medusa frowned. "As time goes on, she's spending less and less on looking for a cure and more on fighting against DeathTech. I get the feeling she wants to help people in need and that's why she's staying, but in her own words, she's running out of time."

"I don't see her or Alice."

"Mary is in the bedroom. Alice, from what I understand, glitched away. We don't know when she'll be back. Fortunately, Cherries volunteered to go check up on her."

"Hopefully seeing him awake will help."

"I think it should."

They stood in silence for a moment, then Dreg spoke up.

"So what's the plan?"

Medusa sighed. "We're going to meet with Boxy Love in about an hour, then we're going to look for Noche."

"And if we can't find her?"

"Then we're going to send in some spies and hope we can catch her before she does something stupid. I'd prefer to send an army to track her down, but we both know how Raptorman would react to that."

"What if she does something stupid?"

"Then it'll create a headache and a mountain of paperwork, but I'm used to both. I'll have to punish her appropriately, but it won't be a situation we can't salvage... However, if she uses corruption and gets caught, then we're going to have to discharge her. She was warned. We cannot deal with the political ramifications of having a corruption user in our military."

"I imagine the Planet Lance Cult would eat that up. Make moves to have the United Government switch the funding from us to them."

"With how this war has been going on for the last two years, that's more than a possibility at this point. We are literally on a razor's edge and Noche being stupid will easily push us over. We have got to get that girl."

"Very well. Once Boxy is dealt with, I'll do what I can to find her."

"Thank you Dreg. I hope you're ready. This is looking to be a long night."

Venny and Rad closed the door behind them they placed their groceries on the table. Her scorpion tail twitched in the air as she handed all the refrigerated goods to her boyfriend.

"I've been thinking, maybe I should go back to school," Rad said.

"Por que?"

"We're doing good with our broadcast, but this place is expensive... Maybe I could get a degree in engineering."

"Ok. How long have you been thinking about this?"

"A while now. I'm hesitant because of our bills, you know? Right now we need both of us to pay them. The rent alone is difficult."

"Tu puedes do school part time."

"I could... The other thing I'm worried about is the loans. What if I get my degree and can't find a job?"

"Por favor, esto es Movecity. There's always a demand for engineers."

"Yeah... Maybe you're right."

"You could also do chemistry. Learn to create better. Atoms, elements, chemical bonds. All muy importante with create."

"I'm not sure I got the drive to persue chemistry."

"You gotta have drive to use create."

Rad chuckled. "I swear someone named it just for that pun."

Venny smiled and handed over a pack of raw chicken; Rad placed it in the freezer.

"Do you think we should do a story on how people with aphantasia can't use create because they can't visualize what they're creating?"

Venny paused. "Maybe a small article. See if it gets attention."

"I'll note it down... Where's the milk?"

The scorpion tailed stopped twitching and the pink-haired girl checked the bags.

"It's... It's not here."

"Did we leave it at the store?"

Venny frowned. "I think we left it at the store."

They both groaned.