<Anja>

The sun is setting, the sky darkening as Kat stands on the stone steps leading down in front of me and chides me for my cowardice. She's right, of course… I can't let despair take me now, when we're so close.

Lily comes to join us, walking up to the bottom of the steps. "Hey Anja. You guys done?"

"No, I don't think so," I say. "I gotta get back in there."

"Better do that sooner rather than later," Lily says, turning and looking behind her. "See those guards over there?"

I find what she's talking about- by the line of trees, there are a couple of guards scanning the faces of a group of protestors.

"I don't know for sure what they're looking for," Lily continues, "but, don't these guys know about the Metaverse? And if Mom is working with them…"

"...Then they'd know I'm a threat," I finish for her. "You're right. I'll get back in right now."

"Kick their asses for us!" Kat cheers, a devious grin on her face as she reaches a fist out. I bump it, then I turn around to make for our enclaved entrance point.

<Ruth>

During our trek back, I review everything we know in my head.

Schneider, in this palace, is representing himself as some sort of core to plug into a robotic body. The original one self-destructed, and now he is trying to build some sort of weapon- speculatively, a new robotic body that is more dangerous than the last one. To do so, however, he needs an energy source, which is being gathered by men in the arena's pit. This doesn't make much sense on the face of it- where is the source coming from? Was all of this built upon some asteroid or small moon that they've been mining? Then again, there's probably no point in thinking about it from a geological perspective- likely this is simply the palace's abstraction.

At any rate, to prevent Schneider from coming back online with a new body, or whatever else this "weapon" is, we need to take away the energy source- find all that's been stored and hide or destroy it, and prevent them from getting more. This is easier said than done, given that the only way to do so seems to involve going straight through the most populated part of this entire airborne flotilla. Still, discretion is likely a necessary requisite to pulling it off, and there may just be a way to meet it.

By the time we circle all the way around to the stadium's entrance, I stop Zoe and Kevin, intent on forming a plan this time before re-immersing ourselves into the jarring sounds and perverse debauchery of the elites.

"I think there may be only one way to infiltrate this arena and take the source without causing a scene," I offer. "Kevin, you briefly alluded to this earlier."

"I did?" he says, turning his head to one side.

"The two of you will enter this twisted little game going on in here," I suggest. "However, your focus will not be on digging up new crystals, but finding the door that leads to the stockpile."

Zoe nods. "That makes sense. That'll probably be easier than just invading the arena. But… don't we need a 'sponsor' or whatever?"

"I'll play the role of the sponsor," I say.

"You're not coming with us?" Kevin asks, frowning.

"I simply won't be of any use without my navigator sense," I admit. "I trust that you two together are more than strong enough to pull this off."

It's a flawed plan, admittedly, that relies upon certain assumptions… and part of me fears that McCullough could make a reappearance and ruin everything. But, Zoe and Kevin ultimately don't argue. It's the best plan we have right now.

I just wish I could see … Why can't I? …No time to worry about that. We re-enter the stadium.

<Charlotte>

"Wait! Come back!" I shout after Nova as he dives behind one of the food stands. I don't think he heard me.

I turn back to the ghastly creature approaching me.

Gulp .

Well, nothing to it then.

I pull out my rocket launcher, slinging it over my shoulder dramatically. "Say hello to my little friend!" I say. Then, I pull the trigger!

PHWOOSH! BOOM! The center of the food court is a fountain of smoke and smoldering remains of the chairs and tables. And when the smoke clears…

IT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING??? BULLSHIT!!!

That fucking thing just keeps slowly inching towards me, the same horrific expression on her ghastly face!

Uh… okay, plan B. I use my earthbending or… telekinesis? Or whatever, to start moving the tables and chairs, using them to paint a barricade between her and I. That should at least buy me a little time to think…

Okay so…

I look to my left to see that a small crowd has stopped and gathered to glare at me. Businessmen and high-class ladies alike glaring at me with disdain… There's even a lady out here who might be one of the prostitutes.

Oops, I did it again…

You know, joining Nova in his hiding place is starting to look like a good idea!

But then… there's a scuffle in the crowd. A few people are grunting and looking at their feet…

Then out of the crowd comes… THAT ARMADILLO GUY!

And behind him, shoving through the crowd… ASHLEY!

"Boy, am I glad to see you two!" I call out to them.

They both run up to me, quickly looking around the area, at the ashen bits of wood, and at the huge barricade I just constructed.

Ashley then looks back at the crowd once before turning to me. "Uh, everything good here?" she asks genuinely.

"No!" I say. "That barricade is actually blocking, er, some sort of monster based on Nova's mom. Seems to be immune to everything. Help is appreciated."

"Where's Nova himself, then?" Ashley asks, looking behind me as though expecting to see him.

"He, uh, ran and hid," I say.

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It occurs to me then that a patch of the closest table making up my barricade is starting to rapidly rot…

"It made him afraid," Ted The Armadillo Man comments simply in his low, gravely voice.

"You might be right, my friend," Ashley says. "This palace… it seems to bring out the worst in people. Whether that be wrath, despair… or cowardice."

"Well, Nova did say something about 'facing his fears!'" I add. "Before he, uh, failed to do so."

"You said that this enemy is invincible to all attacks, right?" Ashley asks.

Before I have a chance to answer, the rotten wood gives way, curling up to create a gap just wide enough for that thing to step through…

Ted and Ashley, basically in unison, turn to the monster and blast it with a double magic attack. Ashley shoots a beam of piercing, pure white light, and Ted blazes it with a fiery stream like that from a flamethrower. At the end, they even seem to combine, forming a sort of pure, white-hot fire that will surely burn the monster alive…

…HOW DID THAT NOT DO ANYTHING? IT'S LIKE A DEMON OR WHATEVER, RIGHT? ISN'T THAT WHAT THEY'RE WEAK TO???

"Alright. Time to start running!" I say.

"Hold up," Ashley says, grabbing my wrist. "It's slow moving. All we have to do is slowly back away from it, and we'll have more time to strategize."

"THERE'S NO STRATEGY!" I shout. "It's invincible, and we just have to get away from it before it kills us!"

"Like Nova, it seems that the vice the palace is exploiting within you is cowardice," Ashley says plainly.

"Rude!" I say, trying to pull my wrist out of her grasp. However, she's stronger than me, and she simply yanks me over to the other side of the food court, away from the monster (but not far enough.) I shoot a nervous glance back at the crowd watching us…

"Any being that hides in the shadows, flees from the light," Ted comments sagely.

"Correct," Ashley says.

"Uh, not correct!" I counter. "You just used a light attack on it, and it didn't work!"

Ashley shakes her head. "Not literal light. Truth. Charlotte, why are you afraid of this thing? It's Nova's mom, yes? You've never met her."

"I'm not!" I say defiantly.

Ashley raises an eyebrow at me.

"I… wasn't, at first!" I correct. "I was ready to fight it off for Nova, trust me, but… after seeing that it's immune to anything we throw at it…"

"It's merely switched to preying on your own fears," Ashley says. "Charlotte, what are you afraid of?"

"Uh… a lot of things!" I say. "Enclosed spaces… the zombie apocalypse… the Jack In The Box guy…"

"What???" Ashley questions. She notices the monster growing too close to us again, and pulls us to yet another corner of the court, Ted following behind us, never taking his beady eyes off the monster.

"He has a creepy face, okay?" I say defensively.

"Think more primordial, subconscious," Ashley says. "Existential."

"Well, uh… being homeless because I failed to develop any skills that are valued by the capitalist system?" I speculate. "Ashley, what does it matter?"

"Nova is right. Your powers don't make any sense," Ashley states. "Each of us has a physical weapon and a type of magic. I brandish a sword, and can use light magic. Ted has a pistol, and fire magic. Nova has his hammer, and electric magic. So on so forth. Your physical weapon is clear; explosives. But your magic seems inconsistent."

"Yeah, you're right," I admit. "Moving rock? Moving furniture? Pulling shit out of midair? What's the connection?"

"Well, if this being was made to prey upon Nova's fears, and is now preying on yours… determining what that is may reveal its weak point."

"And… what does that have to do with my magic?"

Ashley pulls me away to the fourth corner of the court. How is she so unbothered by this… thing? She's like a psychopath. "We need both pieces of the puzzle. If my magic doesn't stop it, yours might."

She looks down at Ted, who just caught up to us, back still turned to us as he glares at the monster. "Thoughts?"

"Did you 'blow up' with your weapons, or with your heart?" Ted asks.

For a moment, this question sounds utterly nonsensical to me. But then, I suddenly remember… Earlier, at the restaurant, it wasn't the weapons that caused that explosion. I didn't pull out any grenades, or my rocket launcher… it was just me… because…

"I was terrified walking around that restaurant by myself!" I admit to Ashley. "Should've taken Kevin's offer, but… I'm terrified of being rejected."

"Given your position, that's fairly logical," Ashley says. "Attacks against our community have ramped up recently, and you're at risk of having basic freedoms; using the bathroom, playing in sports, access to healthcare; stripped away from you."

"But… okay, what does that have to do with this… thing?" I ask, gesturing at the monster that I'm trying not to look at. Ashley drags me a few yards backwards from it, back to about where we started.

"Given recent events, I've given some thought to the nature of this 'community,'" Ashley says. "Why drives people to seek an ingroup unity? To create a 'queer' cultural distinction? Sure, there's strength in numbers, but…"

"Well, black folks have done this for like, a century! Or more!" I say.

"The creation of artwork by and for the in-group…" Ashley muses. "It's even said, about both the black and queer communities, that they have a distinct sense of humor…"

I chuckle. "Yeah, I guess it's a good coping mechanism…" Then, suddenly I gasp.

'Ain't nobody gonna fuck with us,' Nova had declared. 'And if they do, just piss all over them. Establish dominance. That'll show them.'

And Kevin's singular concern with me being hydrated…

It makes me laugh, thinking back to it…

I start laughing out loud.

"What?" Ashley asks sharply.

"I'll just… piss on her!" I say.

Ashley furrows her eyebrows at me, looking genuinely alarmed.

Which, of course, makes me laugh harder.

And, I turn to the monster creeping up on us, finally feeling comfortable looking at her skeletal face.

Not so scary.

I grin.

"Riddikulus!" I shout.

"What is?" Ashley asks.

I ignore her.

What's the funniest thing that could possibly happen to her right now…

I imagine that an inexplicably endless hole appears right under, and she falls to her depths with a comical cartoon sound effect… I draw an outline of the hole with my finger…

And whoosh! She falls down, with a whining neeeeeeeeeeer … she even lets out a scream, like The Emperor's from Star Wars! I literally laugh my ass off.

"How did you do that?" Ashley asks, balking.

I can't answer because I'm laughing too hard… I keel over and start rolling on the floor…

I'm sure I'm creating a scene, and all those people are still staring at me for my improper behavior…

But for now, I don't really care… I just laugh so hard, it makes my stomach hurt.

<Kevin>

So we once again enter through the spectacular glass entry way, a semicircle of doors giving us a full view of the vibrant activity within. After Charlotte's comment earlier, the sight of the pylons reaching out from the building makes me uneasy.

We ignore the various vendors and make our way back into the stadiums; the rows upon rows of high-ranking members of society watching the event like a football game.

This time, we descend the steps to the fence. An attendant stands by a locked swinging door leading inside, a metal latch like that you'd see on the front-facing side of someone's backyard.

Now, a question about Ruth's plan is, how 'smart' are these guys? Who here are mimicking real people, like McCullough, and who here are merely mindless 'drones' doing their job, like the man in front of the restaurant? Thankfully, this attendant is totally a drone- Zoe and I are submitted as "workers," with Ruth as our "sponsor."

"Alright… now to find a way to sneak below the deck," I say to Zoe. "Let's just follow the walls."

Zoe nods in agreement, and we begin following the outside edge, thankfully keeping us away from what sounds like a major commotion coming from the center. I only catch a glimpse of flailing limbs in my periphery before focusing my attention on what's ahead of us.

It's a bit like being in a mini-canyon. We trek over an uneven, rocky trail, in between larger outcroppings of rock that divide the arena into narrow passageways, which I'm sure are perfect for close encounters between the workers here. It looks like there may have once been a micro-ecosystem here; there's browned, dead grass in patches here and there, and occasionally, dead, leafless trees.

Crossing between two mini-cliffs that are about head-high, Zoe and I are startled when a man runs up to us. He's a well-muscled, square-jawed man with short hair, wearing nothing but tattered jeans, revealing his upper body, which is covered in dust and has more than a few cuts and bruises. In his hands he holds what looks like a sort of makeshift hammer- a thick branch of rough wood, perhaps pulled off of one of the dead trees, with a blocky mass of stone fixed to the end of it. He wields his hammer at us threateningly, scowling.

"Keep walking, kids," he growls. "Nothing personal; just a living."

Zoe and I could've easily gotten rid of him, using our guns or magic. But we share a glance and come to a silent understanding; these guys aren't really our enemy.

Zoe and I step back from the cliffs, and he precedes to start bashing the one to the right with his hammer, causing new rocky debris to tumble off of it. Looking at how low these rock croppings are, it strikes me that they'll surely run out of places to mine for these crystals before long… this game can't go on forever.

In the metal sides of the arena, we find a lead- a large, sliding door, and an electric screen on the wall right beside it. The screen reads, VIP Access Only.

"Should I try shooting it?" I suggest. "That always works in the movies."

"Um… not yet," Zoe says. "VIP… I wonder if…"

She puts her hand onto the screen. And, amazingly, it flashes green, white text now showing, "Parker/Montgomery family recognized. Welcome." The metal door slides open with a whirr.

"Montgomery? Who's that?" I ask.

"That's my mother's maiden name," Zoe says. "Come on."

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