Snowchester is uncharastically loud that night. The leader of the district, Minotaur, had set up some sort of party in the lower levels of the estate. His sidekick, HoneyBee, was being forced to attend. Most of the servants were stationed in the party, and the few who were given the night off were making the most of their chance. They, however, were not the only ones with an opportunity presented before them. Jack Manifold, the former vigilante Blaze, was also taking that night to be his chance to escape.

Well, it wasn't his plan actually. Earlier, HoneyBee had come by with a keycard and directions for how the night would go. With almost everyone, including Minotaur and HoneyBee, preoccupied with the party, there would be fewer guards and servants around the perimeter. Even if Minotaur realized that Blaze had escaped, it would be too late to properly mobilize their forces. HoneyBee told Blaze that a servant in the mansion had recently found out that she was pregnant. No one else knew about this, so HoneyBee had come to her with a proposal. He would pay for her life if she agreed to leave that night. When tomorrow came, people would suspect that she had been the one to give Blaze the keycard and fled afterward. No one would suspect it had been HoneyBee, especially not his father who believed only cowards chose to run from a situation. Jack hated to admit that the plan was smart. He didn't want to like HoneyBee, but he was starting to see that sidekicks were not the heroes they served.

Now, night had fallen and the party had started. Jack grabbed the backpack that held his vigilante costume and some extra packets of food and water. Jack used the smuggled keycard to unlock his cage and the power dampener on his wrist. As the cuff fell to the ground, Jack felt his power surge within him. Golden rods appeared around his body, bobbing in the air as they awaited his orders. Jack breathed out comfortably as he was surrounded by the warmth of his rods. He had felt so bitterly cold with the dampener on, his body unused to room temperature. He was glad to be back in his element. He didn't simmer in comfort for long, though. HoneyBee warned him that the window would be tighter than Blaze would have anticipated.

Jack stepped out of the cell into HoneyBee's private chambers. Jack had sometimes slept on the couch. Not because he was trustworthy enough, but because both Jack and HoneyBee knew full well that Minotaur's guards would catch Blaze before he even touched the ground. Tonight, the guards were in the party room and around it to make sure no thieves snuck in, or more importantly, snuck out. Jack could do this. He had to.

Jack walked over to HoneyBee's window. He pulled it open, lifted his leg out to land on the shingled roof that slanted downward. Jack lowered his body to slide down the shingles to the waterspout that circled the perimeter of the roof. Jack flecked his hand in front of him, and the rods surrounding his body laid horizontally in the air to form steps. Jack smiled to himself. He was reminded of his time as a vigilante, using his rods to move and attack villains. It had been a few weeks ago at this point, perhaps two months, since he had last seen the world beyond his cell. He wanted to see his district again, how his home had changed without him there.

He wanted to see Nemesis. She was his best friend and partner in crime. He had found her in the Pit a few years ago, and they had been close ever since. The last time he had seen her, she was bleeding out on the street, her eyelids struggling to stay open as she pitifully reached for him. Jack shuddered at the memory. He could still feel Minotaur's burning hands heaving Blaze's body over his shoulder like Blaze was no more than a sack of dirt. Blaze had reached his hand towards Nemesis, hoping that he could reach it, but Minotaur hit the back of Blaze's neck. Blaze's last moment of consciousness was hearing Nemesis yell out his name.

Jack hadn't heard any news about her other than a few random snippets HoneyBee would sometimes mutter while they were working in the lab. The most relevant piece of information is that Nemesis was spending a lot of time near Kinoko district. Jack didn't know why she was there, but it was the only clue he had. He was going to follow it.

Jack landed on the ground. He snapped his fingers, and the golden rods that had formed a makeshift staircase reassembled around him. Jack leaned low to the ground as he walked forward. He kept his eyes peeled for any movement, and his ears strained to hear any distant sounds. He could hear a little bit of a song that was fluttering into the night from the party, but he wasn't close enough to make out the words or even the beat, really. Jack didn't mind. He didn't care about listening to music when he was getting close to the thick wall that separated the estate from the rest of Snowchester. If any place on the grounds was still going to be guarded, it would be the tip of the wall. Not only to keep people like Jack in, but also to make sure that the people of Snowchester were kept out.

HoneyBee had a lot to say about the walls. It was honestly the first time he had seen HoneyBee livid, and it was strange that all that anger was directed as one of the policies Minotaur insisted on. HoneyBee explained a lot about Snowchester's financial situation using words Blaze didn't understand, but he got the gist that Snowchester was made up of two groups: Minotaur and his favored people as the rich and everyone else as the poor workers. The wall, HoneyBee explained, was supposed to represent this divide metaphorically. If the people were ever to grow tired of their tyrant overlord, the walls would be the first line of defense to keep Minotaur safe. Most people who tried to advocate better rights or tried to steal food from Minotaur were killed at the wall. The people of Snowchester had many names for it, none of them fondly said. Recently, HoneyBee had been drafting plans to take down the wall with the least amount of people getting involved or hurt.

Jack pulled his backpack closer to him as he used his rods to create an ascending staircase. He landed on the wall, his body lowering when it touched the cement. He looked around to see if anyone was there. A guard was approaching him from one side, but their slow trot meant they were merely patrolling and had not actually seen him yet. Jack breathed out a sigh of relief, stepping back into the shadows. He kept most of his blaze rods in their position as a staircase, but he brought the uppermost one to him. The rod glowed in the shadows, illuminating everything in a warm metallic yellow color. When the guard seemed to notice that there was a strange light emitting from the corner, he was attacked by that light.

Jack didn't kill the man. His skin glistened where the rod had slammed into the side of his head, but he wasn't dead. Unconscious with a slight burn, but not dead. Jack brought all his rods back to him, and descended down the otherside of the wall. Before he stepped onto the street of Snowchester, he turned back to the wall, imagining a sidekick in a party he didn't want to be part of. Jack hoped HoneyBee would be alright.

Jack ran through the streets of Snowchester. As much as it pained his heart, he had to ignore the homeless people bundling together as the cold night winds battered them. Once he reunited with Nemesis, Jack was going to come back to help overthrow Minotaur. He would convince HoneyBee to help if he had to, though he suspected HoneyBee was just waiting for an opportunity to free the people of Snowchester from the chains of poverty.

Jack didn't stop running until he crossed the border out of Snowchester. Minotaur's guards would have a lot of trouble trying to capture him if he wasn't in the district of the tyrant. Jack slowed down to get his bearings. He found a sign with street names written across it, and this helped him narrow down where he was. Jack turned immediately, his mental map snapping his internal compass towards Kinoko where Nemesis would hopefully be. Jack narrowed his eyes with determination as he made his way towards the whimsical district owned by the heroes Unfound and Combust.

It wasn't hard to find Kinoko. Out of all the districts, it hid its corruption the best. The buildings boasted a natural aesthetic with hanging gardens and wooden structures. The highlights of Kinoko were the Agaric Academy and the Essempei national library. Neither of which Jack was particularly interested in. Jack didn't care about Kinoko at all, but if Nemesis had found her way here, there must be something he was missing. She didn't like it, either, not when she was constantly at odds with Combust like Jack is. If Combust knew that Nemesis and Blaze were in his district, Kinoko would sooner be burned to the ground than allow those two vigilantes to stay there for a night.

As Jack looked around for his partner, he noticed that there were some people heading northwest towards the Arctic District. Jack ignored them at first, but then he was seeing a lot more than he would have expected. Jack tailed one, keeping to the shadows as he saw most of the people gather up. They laughed and talked, happier than everyone in Snowchester combined. Jack tried not to feel guilty or spiteful as he watched the group of people disappear into what he assumed was the side door to a bar or restaurant. He followed them, though, because a bar would be filled with a lot of drunk people who would probably let it slip that they had seen Nemesis in their district.

The door showed him a set of stairs that descended. Jack hesitantly stepped on the first one, feeling the wood creak beneath his weight. If it weren't for his blaze rods, he would have been swallowed by the darkness as he walked down the stairs. He could hear the group of people still laughing and grumbling ahead of him, but he was no longer concerned for them. This was not a bar like he expected. This was something else entirely. It couldn't be all that bad if the people made no attempts to make sure they weren't followed, but Jack refused to let his guard down. The rods around his body pulsated with golden heat, ready to strike whatever creature dwelled in the darkness draped around the stairs.

The bottom of the stairs were illuminated by candles bolted to the wall. Jack pushed open the door at the end, and he was suddenly blinded by a whole lot of light. Jack squinted, putting his hand above his head to block out the worst of the overhead lights. When his eyes adjusted, Jack found himself in a large room filled with people, cots, and chests. Jack stared at everything in shock and awe, wondering where this had all come from. It seemed like homeless people from all over had been invited to a remodeled underground subway platform, and he was starting to suspect that was exactly what was happening before his eyes. The only issue, however, is that Jack didn't know who had done this or why.

Jack was about to turn away to leave when he spotted someone in the crowd. Sure, her outfit wasn't the same, but he could recognize those kind brown eyes and faded pink hair anywhere. Niki was standing there in the midst of the crowd, talking to people and directing what looked like civil workers. She seemed to be the one in charge, and Jack found himself smiling. Of course, it would be Niki who set up a program where those who were down on their luck could live in peace and learn skills to help them get their lives back on track. Niki had always been in the hero world for the sake of helping people, no matter what capacity that may be. That was why she agreed to help Jack when he told her they could be vigilante partners. She had wanted to help him and help others, and Jack thought it was great to work with someone with the same drive and passion as him.

Jack didn't wait any longer. His best friend- practically his sister at this point- was standing there in the crowd. Jack could handle time away from his friend, obviously, he wasn't co-dependant, but they had been yanked away from each other without any way to communicate. Even worse, Jack had been stuck in one of the worst experiences of his life. He needed the comfort of his best friend, and he wasn't willing to wait for her to get done with whatever she was doing. Under different circumstances, he would have been patient. Not now.

Before Jack could reach her, Niki's eyes snapped up. They looked around the room, landing on Jack. Her eyes almost slid past him, but once recognition took root in those soil colored orbs, her lips parted in surprise. She pushed through the crowd, dropping her clipboard in the process. Jack smiled at her with much happiness, feeling tears spring into his eyes. They finally met each other. Niki stared at him for a moment as if she was trying to figure out if he was real. After coming to a decision, Niki buried her face in his shoulder, her arms coming around to squeeze his waist with all the strength she possessed. It was painful, but Jack could care less. He lifted his arms to hold Niki's shoulders, squeezing her back with just as much force so she would know to relent. Her grip only got tighter, and Jack suddenly felt challenged. They kept trying to squeeze tighter until they both tapped each other. When Niki released Jack, he felt his lungs heave with a breath. Niki breathed heavily as well, but she looked a lot more in control of herself than Jack felt.

"I- you... you're back," Niki stumbled over her words. She looked around to see that some of the people were looking at her and Jack. She waved for her subordinates to come to her. She gave them a couple of orders, and when they left to perform their duties, Niki grabbed Jack's arm. She pulled him to a side room that was an office. He didn't know if it was Niki's since there were no personal touches, but he knew it belonged to someone important.

"After I was captured, I was put in this cell inside of Minotaur's walls. This kid- his sidekick, HoneyBee- punched through the wall. He took me in as his apprentice or whatever the fuck I was to him. I slept on his couch most of the time. He actually helped me escape. He's... not like Minotaur. He wants to help the people of Snowchester, and I want to help him with that. Unfortunately, he is friends with Reverie. Speaking of him, he came by once to deliver an unconscious HoneyBee. He's as arrogant as ever, and-" Jack started, wanting to tell Niki all the details about the hero world he knew while it was all fresh on his mind.

"This is the underground city. It allows people who don't have homes or jobs or are on the run from abusive family members to... find a way to live. We give them a place to stay, fresh food, and teach them how to function without all of this. We've helped a lot of people, and there are still more that need help," Niki cut him off with a quiet voice. She played with her fingers like she was nervous. Jack wondered why that was. Why was she nervous? It was just him: Jack. Her best friend and almost brother.

"I mean, yeah, that's great, Niki. I don't really know how you did all this, but it's definitely something that needed to be done. And I mean when I say it's great, but don't you think it's time to get back to our main mission? I have gotten a lot of useful information. We might actually be able to take Dream, Reverie, and Fantasy out like we always wanted to do. After that, we'll work towards overthrowing Minotaur," Jack said, tilting his head to the side. Of course, he knew that Niki would do other things in their time apart, but he didn't expect her to stray this far from the goal they had always been trying to achieve ever since they first became partners.

"I don't want to do that anymore," Niki whispered softly. Jack felt his blood run cold. He had been waiting to talk to Niki about everything he had learned. He had bided his time, soaking in everything that was said around him like a sponge. He even figured out a way to sneak a single letter out of the house to help Niki finally kill Reverie, the sidekick to her former best friend's killer. Jack had suffered through hell underneath Minotaur and his cruelty. Sure, he had risen to purgatory with HoneyBee, but that didn't erase the scars on his back from Minotaur's twisted games.

"What are you talking about? We've been trying to kill them for years now, and you just want to give up? They are cruel tyrants who sit on the top of the world. They will slaughter anyone in order to stay in power, so we need to take them down," Jack said carefully. He remembered, painfully, his encounters with the hero and his sidekicks. Jack could still remember Reverie's cold stare as he pushed Jack off a roof, uncaring if Jack had a way to save himself from hitting the ground or not. Fantasy had laughed at him, taking control of his powers with her ability in a way that he never expected. He never imagined that his golden rods were actually made of metal she could manipulate. Fantasy turned his weapons against him. And all of that wasn't even mentioning everything those two had done to other villains and vigilantes... or what Dream had done to anyone who posed a threat to him.

"They aren't as bad as we thought," Niki defended with a sharpness finally rising in her eyes. Jack felt his heart drop as he realized that Niki was getting mad at him, not at the people who actually ruined their lives.

"What the fuck does that mean? Of course, they are-" Jack started, feeling the control over his own anger weaken until it snapped. If Niki was going to be upset with him, he had the right to be upset with her.

"Reverie saved my life... twice, actually, and one of those times was at the expense of his own life. He cared about me enough to want to protect me. He made sure that I knew you were okay. He isn't as awful as I thought he was. A little arrogant and childish in battle, but there is nothing wrong with him. And Fantasy... I don't know much about her, but Reverie seems to genuinely love her. It doesn't help that she's gone missing and Reverie was exiled out of the Essempei," Niki said, her voice tittering with an emotion Jack didn't even want to unpack. What he did find concerning was that Fantasy was missing and Reverie was exiled. Why had he not been told that? Sure, he had been kept away from the internet or news of the outside world, but he imagined the maids would gossip about. Hell, why didn't HoneyBee have anything to say about it? Jack was struck with the thought that Reverie must have done something awful- or been framed for it- if the Association decided to outright exile him from the entire city. It was an unprecedented punishment, and it would never be placed on someone who had done something petty.

"Alright, fine, we'll just have to get Reverie when his exile is lifted. Whatever. It doesn't matter. What does matter is Dream. I actually know what his power is and how it works... kind of. I know enough about it. We can actually make a plan and-" Jack began. Dream was, surprisingly enough, a frequent conversation topic between HoneyBee and Blaze mostly along the lines of how do you beat the unbeatable. HoneyBee had explained Dream's powers to Blaze once based off of HoneyBee's observations, and it was close enough to what Jack saw it to be for him to agree it was the truth.

"We can't defeat Dream. He's powerful. He's more powerful than the two of us combined. There is no way the two of us can defeat him on our own," Niki said. Jack was, at the very least, glad that she seemed to still consider Dream the main target of their rage. He was the one to kill Bear, after all. If Niki forgoed her anger because Dream's sidekicks seemed like halfway decent people, Jack would be sure that Niki had been replaced or infected by someone else's superpower.

"What do you propose we do then? We can't let him keep getting away with things. Someone has to make a stand, and what if that 'someone' is us?" Jack said. Dream was powerful, that no one could deny. He was the top hero for a reason. Not only were his powers nothing to scoff at, but Dream was also proficient at most forms of combat including a multitude of weapons and hand-to-hand combat. Dream was a jack of all trades, and the master of them all, too. It would take someone who knew him inside and out to defeat him. That, or sheer numbers to overcome him.

"When you were captured, I realized how alone we were in the world. No one cared that you went missing except one newsite, and even then... it was just... I had to make a choice. I had to find allies... strong ones. I managed to get a meeting with a powerful ally, and he deemed me worthy to stand by his side. We're fighting the corruption in heroes, starting with the underground city. We're going to move onto bigger targets soon. We'll get to Dream, but it's going to take some time and preparation," Niki said slowly and thoughtfully. Jack took a step back. He did not like where this was going. Niki looked Jack in the eyes. "I joined the Syndicate."

A dazed laugh wretched itself free from Jack's subconscious, out of his throat in the room. His laugh grew more frenzied as he stared between Niki and his hands. Finally, he calmed down enough to realize Niki wasn't joking. The happiness on his face disappeared in one swift motion. Jack narrowed his eyes at Niki. "The Syndicate? The fucking Syndicate? The one with the Blade and the Crowfather? That one... you chose to align yourself with them?! What the hell happened while I was gone for you to think even for a moment that it was a good idea to get yourself involved with them?"

"They are working towards the same goal as us, Jack. If I have to become a villain to save this city, I will do so gladly. The Blade has even been training me. I'm stronger than I was before. They helped me set up this whole place, and they taught me how to run it, too. They aren't like the villains we fought. They're different. They care about the city as much as we do. And they're willing to help both of us. I'm sure if we talk to the Blade, he'll let you join us," Niki offered, a small smile appearing on her face as she offered her hand. Jack stared at it with disbelief. Was he the only one who remembered what all these people had done? Was the only one that remembered all the fucked up things Reverie, Fantasy, and the Syndicate had ever done? Jack wondered briefly what was wrong with Niki.

"I refuse to work with... with villains. I don't want to kill civilians. I don't even want to take down all of the hero society. I just want to weed out a couple of bad heroes. If I join the Syndicate... no, I don't even want to think about that," Jack said. He tried looking at Niki, but he felt sick every time he saw her face. He looked around her instead, trying to pretend that this was his Niki, the one who would never stoop so low as to become a genuine villain.

"They have never killed a civilian. They are as steadfast in their morals as we are," Niki argued. Her voice was a mix of anger and desperation, and Jack felt the urge to cave. He didn't, though. He didn't want to be a villain. He just wanted to help people, and he knew the only way to do that was to eliminate the heroes who perpetrated the cycle of violence. He didn't want to listen anymore. Jack tried to reach for the door handle, but Niki's next set of words caught him off-guard.

"I started baking again," Niki whispered softly. The thousands of thoughts and emotions that had been swirling like a breaking storm in his head suddenly ran still. His fists unfurled, fingers hanging limp at his side. Niki knew the power of her words. She had stopped baking a few weeks before Jack went missing. She stopped baking because she said it didn't make her happy, that nothing did. Jack had tried to get her to see a therapist or a doctor, feeling like she had depression or some mental illness, but she had refused him every time he tried to push the subject. Jack just wanted to see her happy, but she no longer found joy in anything. He hadn't seen her smile in a long time. If Niki had started baking again, it meant that she had found something that made her happy. She was content. Jack looked up at her for more answers, and she actually smiled at him. It was a weak one, sure, but it didn't waver even when he felt tears rise in his eyes at seeing her happy again.

"Remember those boys I told you about during our last conversation. I realized that I really care about them. I even went to see them the other day. I saw my love again. We don't exactly see eye-to-eye, but I know we can make it work if we both put in enough effort. The Blade and Crowfather have both been good to me. There's this teen that I work with, my assistant, called Lethe. He also makes me happy. And now... now, I have you. You're back in my life, and I couldn't feel happier. I want you to stay, Jack. I need you to," Niki said. Jack felt his breath rush out of his lungs. Niki knew exactly how to play him, didn't she? When they first became partners, Jack's only goal was to use Niki to help him bring down Dream, Minotaur, and especially Reverie. After some time with her, Jack realized that as much as he wanted his revenge and to save people from the heroes' grasps, he also wanted to make sure that Niki was safe and sound. When her depression hit a new low, all he wanted to do was make her happy again, even if it meant letting one of his enemies go free. Now, Niki was using that against him. Jack wondered what he should do.

"I'll... I'll think about it," Jack muttered, leaving the office room. He didn't stop until he was back in the streets of Kinoko. His blaze rods hung around him, dimmer than they were before and drooping low like they were mimicking his feelings. Jack ran a hand through his hair. He didn't want to think about what just happened... he decided that he would learn more about what happened to Reverie and Fantasy. He might just figure out his feelings along the way.