"You!"
   "You!"
   "You're the psycho that tackled me in the hall!"
    "I'm not a psycho, I just needed directions!"
    "Thalia?!" Thalia looked up from her argument with the boy as she heard a familiar voice. She looked up to see a boy with a white cloak on, the hood covering his eyes and hair. He beamed and flipped it down to reveal spiky black hair and dark brown eyes.
   Thalia smiled. "Kevin!"
   "What are you doing here?" Kevin asked.
    "Ahm..." Thalia rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "It's a long story... Anyway. Why are you here?"
   "The Commander sent me on another undercover mission. I have to figure out more about the reports of missing people." He said.
   "You know her?" The boy asked.
   "Yeah, she's the one that saved the General the other day." Kevin replied.
   The boy looked from Kevin, to Thalia, and back to Thalia. "You?" He asked, looking very disbelieving.
   Thalia rolled her eyes. "Don't act so surprised." She said. "You should know by now that I have a tendency to do what I have to do."
    Kevin smirked. "Obviously, you've met before." He said. He looked at Thalia. "Now, I'd love to stay and chat, but we really gotta find somebody who knows what's happening."
   "Look no further." Thalia said, crossing her arms. "I know who's doing this."

"I figured it out when I saw my home. One of the Teuthidans during the battle said that if I didn't show myself, he'd have to tell 'Lady Xandra' that I was a threat. I remembered you telling Sky about a bunch of reports of missing people and a whole lot of other strange stuff. Then, when I got home, I found that my city had been attacked and all the residents had either fled or been killed. The Teuthidans are being led by someone. And I have a hunch that I know who it is." She sat at a table in an inn on the streets of Port Colwald. She sat back in her chair, arms crossed. Kevin leaned forward on the table, clinging to her every word. The red head traveling with Kevin sat backwards in a chair, resting his arms on the top. Jack wandered about the inn, trying to not pay attention knowing that whatever the three were talking about was none of his business.
    "Who's this Xandra person, anyway?" The red head asked.
    "All I know is that she's the one who's behind this." Thalia said. She looked at Kevin. "So, you've got your information. What are you gonna do now?" She glanced in the red head's direction. "And why'd you bring Ginger here with you?"
   The boy looked at her incredulously. "Did you just call me Ginger...?"
    Kevin and Thalia both ignored him. "This village above all others has been reported with more missing people. Sky thinks it's because there's a Teuthidan base within a mile of it."
    "Makes sense." The redhead put in.
    "So after we found out who was doing this, we were reported to check out the base before heading home." Kevin finished.
    "So what's with the Ginger?" Thalia asked.
    "Stop calling me that!"
    "The plan was for me to disguise myself as one of the Teuthidan hybrids, which won't be too hard with my hair color, and pretend for 'Ginger' to be a prisoner. That way we can see what our enemy looks like." Kevin said.
   "Pardon me for intruding..." Jack rested his hands on the table, leaning against it whist still standing. "But how were you planning on getting out again?"
    Kevin's face fell. "Oh." He groaned. "Damn it, Sky!"
    The redhead rolled his eyes. "Leave it to the fearless leader to forget an escape route."
   Jack smirked. "I've got something." He said. "If you agree to let Thalia and I help you."
   "That depends. What have you got in mind?" The redhead asked.
   Jack lowered his voice a bit so only the four of them could hear. "I don't want anybody freakin' out, but I'm half Ilex."
   "Half? So you're also half human?" Kevin asked. Jack nodded.
   The redhead stared at him incredulously. "How does that even work?"
    "Apparently his mother had an 'active social life'." Thalia explained. The redhead raised an eyebrow in Jack's direction and Kevin choked on his drink, but the Enderman just waved it aside.
   "Point is, I feel in the helping mood and besides, I kinda wanna figure out who the hell's doing all this." Jack said. "So here's my idea: You go in pretending both Thalia and Logan are prisoners. I stick to the shadows and teleport all four of us back to your base just as soon as they figure us out."
   "Hang on - why me? I'm not needed." Thalia pointed out.
   "Or wanted." The redhead put in.
   "Shut up, Ginger." Thalia said without looking at him. The redhead threw up one arm in defeat but said nothing. "I should just stay behind. I'll probably get in the army's way. Besides, I gotta find Toby."
   "Toby?" The redhead asked in confusion, but he was ignored.
   "I'll stay." Thalia stated.
   "I refuse to help unless Thalia is a part of this." Jack said.
   Thalia raised an eyebrow at him in surprise. "Dude, why?"
   Jack shrugged. "Half because I've become rather fond of your constant clumsiness." He said. "And half because you clearly stated that you wanted to find Xandra in your sleep."
   "Oh." Thalia rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Then I guess I'll join you. I mean, I'd like to come. Whatcha think, Kevin?"
   Kevin shrugged. "Fine by me." He said. "Besides, we might need a swordsman on our side if something goes wrong."
    "That'd be nice and all..." Thalia said. "If I had a sword."
    Kevin rolled his eyes. He pulled his dagger out of his sheath and have it to her. "You seriously need to get a sword of your own, Kal."
    "Don't you need a weapon?" Thalia asked as she slid the dagger into her own sheath. It fit a bit loosely seeing it was smaller than a sword, but it got the job done.
   "I've got my axe." Kevin replied. "Anyway, let's get this on the move, shall we?"

The woman sat on her throne in the throne room at the heart of the Teuthidan base. Around her, squids rushed about, some doing their own business while others tended to her needs. She had jet black hair, long hair, the bangs uneven above her eyes and brown eyes.
   She wore a complicated outfit, with a black tanktop and black pants with matching boots, and a dark green short skirt over her pants. She wore a chain link belt around her waist and a gold necklace with a green crystal in the center around her neck.
   She sat with one leg crossed over top of the other, clearly relaxing herself. "Lady Xandra!" The woman looked up and slightly raised one eyebrow at what she saw. One of the hybrid guards was shoving two humans into the room forcefully.
   Thalia stumbled and nearly fell as Kevin shoved her forward. "Watch it!" She hissed. Kevin ignored her.
   "I found these two snooping around the perimeter. Spying, they were." Kevin reported. The woman slowly stood from her chair and walked down the stairs. As she approached, Kevin backed up a pace, allowing her to encircle to two prisoners.
   "Did they?" She asked. She spoke with a drawing voice, taking her sweet time with everything. She leaned close to their faces and smiled, but there was no joy or happiness of any kind behind it. "Do you like what you see?" She turned around and held up an arm, preparing to project her voice loud. But before she could speak, the redhead did. "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks." The woman slowly lowered her arm and looked at him, one eyebrow raised. Thalia looked at the ginger like he'd lost his mind.
   "Did you just...?" She hissed. The redhead ignored her.
   "Hmhmhmm..." The woman chuckled. "Very entertaining. And very bold. Tell me, boy, wherefore art thou speaking?"
   "This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England; I cannot merely choose but one land to live." The redhead said.
    "But if thou art a wanderer - why come you to this place?" The woman asked. Kevin and Thalia exchanged dumbstruck expressions.
    "To seek but not to find; I wish to learn before my years of death, lady." He looked down at the curved dagger in the woman's hand, clearly unimpressed. "Is this a dagger which I see before mine eyes?"
    "Alas the day which man earned his eyes." The woman sighed and resheathed it, turning away.
   "What so, fair lady, mankind is a beauteous race! For we created the music and the light and as such; the stage." The redhead smirked.
   The woman chuckled coldly and turned around. "Very impressive, you know your Shakepeare well." She smirked. "With a wit like yours, you would serve well in my army."
   "Tis better to be a foolish wit than a witty fool, I must agree, but! Fair lady, how canst I serve thee when I do not know my mistress's name?"
   "Tis clever, good fool, but your game ends here. For your plot did but have a single hole." She smirked and spoke as herself again as she looked up at Kevin. "It wasn't very smart of you to leave your prisoners armed, now was it, guard? And on that, I don't believe we are yet to be acquainted."
     Thalia and the redhead both drew their swords. "Abort!" Kevin shouted, probably louder than was necessary. As soon as he had, however, Jack teleported next to him, grabbing his shoulder in one hand and Thalia's in the other. In turn, Thalia grabbed Logan's wrist. But just as Jack was preparing to teleport, the woman made her move.
   She swung her dagger down on Thalia, and she had to pull from Jack's grip in order to avoid getting her arm cut off. Just as she did, Kevin and Jack teleported off out of sight.
    Thalia didn't hesitate. She looked around her as she racked her brain for options. But before she could, the redhead grabbed her hand and ran back through a tunnel on the side of the cave clearing. "Come on!" He shouted. He let go of Thalia's hand as the two sprinted through the halls with at least a dozen Teuthidan warriors at their heels.
    The two ran as fast as they could as the squid offbreeds shouted after them. "What the hell were you doing?!" Thalia asked.
    "Improvising!" The redhead replied. Thalia ducked a bit as a bullet hit a protruding boulder somewhere behind her.
   "Improvising my ass!" Thalia shouted. "You started spouting old English nonsense!"
   "It's not nonsense, it's Shakespeare!" The redhead shouted back.
   "What possessed you to talk Shakespeare to her in the first place?!" Thalia asked incredulously.
    "I just go with my gut!" The redhead replied. Thalia opened her mouth to reply, but the ginger spoke first, glaring at her sidelong. "Y'know, I don't think now is the best time to discuss this!" Thalia rolled her eyes and looked ahead again as another bullet hit somewhere behind them.
    It wasn't long before the two came to the end of the tunnel. Stretched out before them was a vast river of lava, so hot that they could feel it where they stood. Thalia looked around her, but there seemed to be only one way across it. There was a very narrow natural bridge made a stone stretching from one end to the other.
   Thalia drew a deep breath and started to slowly walk across it, holding out her arms like a tightrope walker. "What are you doing?!" The redhead shouted.
   "Trying to balance!" Thalia replied.
   "Are you insane?! That thing is way too unstable to go across!" The ginger said.
   "Well we don't have much of a choice, do we?" Thalia asked. A bullet hit the wall right next to the ginger and he knew she was right. He stepped onto the stone just as Thalia was stepping off. He moved as quickly as he could - but it wasn't quick enough. A bullet hit the stone behind him and the bridge buckled. He leapt the final stretch, but just barely didn't make the landing.
   But before he could fall into the lava, Thalia grabbed his arm and pulled him up next to her. However, the two didn't have to to dwell on the fact as the squids leapt over the river powerfully towards them, without fear.
   Thalia wheezed in slight panic. Both began to sprint down the tunnel once again, each of them running as hard as the could. As they went, the squids's shouts grew further and further behind them. For a moment, the two thought they could outrun the beasts. But then they entered another cavern and found themselves staring right at a dead end.
   The two looked at each other, then spun around and started to run out again, but the Teuthidans reached them first. They encircled the two of them, trapping them with no way out. They stood back to back, preparing to fight for all it was worth. Thalia held her borrowed dagger in one hand, the ginger held his sword in two.
   "I don't think we've been properly introduced." The ginger said, voice nervous, without looking behind him at Thalia. "Name's Logan."
   "Thalia." Thalia replied.
   "Nice to meet you." Logan said. Then both let out loud battle cries and rushed forward.
    Thalia dodged an attacked from one on the squids by sliding under its tentacle, then spun around and stabbed it in the back. She ducked under another tentacle immediately after, then stabbed that squid from underneath it.
   Nearby, Logan wasn't doing a bad job either. He had already killed two of the Teuthidans and was cornering another, but just as he had cornered it and stabbed it, he felt a piercing pain in his side. He let out a cry of pain and he fell to one knee, his sword clattering to the ground.
   Thalia heard the sound and turned her head to see what had happened. Just as she did, a squid's sword moved directly past her ear. If she hasn't moved her head in that moment, she would've had a sword through it. She quickly jutted her knee up, hitting the sword out of the squid's hand, in the process accidentally dropping her own dagger. It clattered to the ground out of her reach, so she instead took the squid's sword. The squid that had stabbed Logan pulled his sword out of his lower back and held it as his side, smirking. "Nice try." He muttered.
   "Logan!" Thalia ran over to him and helped him stand up, placing one of his arms around her shoulder as his other hand clutched his side painfully. His teeth were gritted and his eyes squeezed shut. He was in a lot of pain.
   Thalia looked up in fear as the woman they had seen earlier approached, a wicked smile on her lips. "Tell whoever sent you that Xandra will not be so easily deceived." Thalia glared up at her defiantly.
    Then Xandra held up her bow, pointing an arrow at Thalia's chest. Thalia stared at her, heart racing with unexpressed terror. But just as Xandra released the arrow, Jack teleported in and out again in a flash of purple. As the particles were still fading, the arrow thudded into the stone wall where Thalia had been only seconds ago.
    Xandra sighed. "No matter." She said. "One life will not make the difference to my rule." She saw a flash out of the corner of her eye and looked to it. "What's this?" She bent down and picked up Thalia's dagger. She examined it for a moment, then smirked. At the bottom, carved into the hilt, were the words, 'Sky Army'. "It seems I know who sent our visitors." She said.
   "Ma'am?" The Teuthidan asked confused.
   "Leave me be. I wish to learn more about this army. And their allies." Xandra turned her back to him. The Teuthidan nodded and he and the others filed out of the cavern quietly.