Hannah yawned and stretched her arms before rising from the couch in the hotel suite Chariya had reserved in Innutuk's capitol city. They'd arrived two hours ago, and since 6 p.m. had rolled around by then, the princess had decided it would be best to wait until morning. Innutukian culture, she'd said, frowned upon most nocturnal activities and cast a suspicious eye upon them all.

Hannah shivered as a frigid draft swept across her body. She glanced over at the balcony door across the room and nodded. Wendy had gone outside for some fresh air and had failed to close the door completely. It'd been a while, though, so Hannah shrugged and slipped some shoes on to join her.

Wendy swiftly pocketed her phone upon hearing Hannah's footsteps and gave her a guilty smile.

Hannah obliviously grinned back. "Hey, Wendy! How're ya feelin'?"

Wendy nodded. "Pretty good. Beautiful night, isn't it?"

"It is!" Hannah readily agreed, "Reminds me of backpackin' back home with mah dad."

The blonde eyed her closely, noticing the subtle downturn of her voice at the end of her statement. "Oh yeah, I can imagine Odego's skies are amazing at night."

Hannah nodded, and then a moment of silence lingered between the two. Before long, she perked up and said, "I wonder how the sky looks to Brant. Like, ya know how he can see real far and all dat, well, I wonder how much detail and stuff he can see."

"Yeah, I have no idea." Wendy replied, slipping her phone from her pocket when Hannah looked away.

However, Hannah couldn't miss the uncharacteristically wide smile on the Danlashian's face. "Who're ya textin', darlin'?"

Wendy bit her top lip and her eyes darted down to her feet. "Aaron. We're comparing notes on how the constellations look on our side of the border."

"Awww, that's so cute!" Hannah exclaimed, "You too're lookin' at the same stars!"

"I guess so." the blonde replied with a reserved smile.

The brunette laid a hand on Wendy's shoulder. "Can I ask ya a question?"

"Of course you can."

Hannah giggled. "Maybe it's weird of me, but...do ya...like him?"

Wendy's icy blue eyes darted away from Hannah's and studied the horizon instead. "More than he knows."

"Dat's so sweet! But why dont'cha tell him?"

She shrugged. "I don't really know."

"Whatcha mean by dat?"

"I've just..." Wendy bit her lip, "I've never felt this way before, and I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm...I guess I'm just being myself, and hoping that's good enough."

Hannah frowned. "You're sayin' that as if there's more to do. Anythin' beyond dat's just an act ya can't keep up forever."

"That's true." she agreed. "Aren't you a little young to be that bloody wise? How do you know this, and I don't?"

"Well...I dunno, it just makes sense. I mean...fakery's how ya make movies, not conduct business."

Wendy laughed. "Well, a whole bloody lot of people do handle business that way, but it shouldn't be."

"True dat." A mischievous twinkle settled into Hannah's eyes. "Well, I'd better leave ya to it, huh?"

Wendy smirked. "Well, I guess so. You don't have to if you—"

"It's okay. Just tell him hi for me."

"Will do. Thanks, Hannah."

The girl nodded and headed back inside.

********************

Keira sighed and wiped her sweaty forehead. She stood flattened against one of the towers, in such close proximity with Ace that tangible pressure built between their connected arms.

Ace abruptly severed the connection by darting across the field into the darkness. Keira scurried after him. The two crossed back into cover just in time before a quartet of spotlights converged on the very spot they'd just been standing.

After taking a quick glance around, Ace turned to Keira. "Time for your sniper! Take out the two nearest lights, now!"

The girl's heartbeat raced as she slipped the gun from her holster and extended the barrel. After the segments clicked into place, she raised the scope to her eye, aimed, and fired at the first spotlight. The immediate area visibly dimmed as shards of glass plummeted to the ground. Pivoting on her toes, she aimed and fired at the second, with an identical outcome.

Keira turned to face Ace, but he was no longer standing beside her. She gasped and peeked her head around the corner, but he wasn't there either. Where can he be? she fearfully wondered, I can't make it out here alone!

Then she spun at a sudden thud, her palm suppressing a scream. A dark-skinned man's lifeless body slid down the wall of the lookout tower, blood trailing behind his head. Finally, Ace emerged from the shadows and nodded at Keira.

"Alright, get moving! Why pave a path if you're not gonna run on it?" he urged.

Keira huffed and sped off into the darkness she'd manufactured. She gasped when an unseen figure tackled her, but refrained from screaming. Instead, she used that energy to hurl him off, leap back to her feet, and stomp down on his groin. Then, the juicy sound of knife mingling with flesh alerted her that Ace had caught up.

Ace hurled another black ball into the distance and dashed the other way, Keira in hot pursuit. The two easily remained in the shadows as all the spotlights darted over to the flashing orb.

For the next ten minutes, the two continued weaving around the lookout towers, creating distractions, destroying a select few lights, and dispatching guards as they went. Keira grew more and more exhausted with every step.

Finally, after shooting a trio of spotlights, Keira slid to a halt beside Ace. He crept along the stone wall of a flat building that only stood about four feet above the ground. Eventually, he reached the corner and cautiously peeked around.

With a nod, he grabbed a rope and tossed one end into Keira's hands. "Tie a loop. Just big enough to go around someone's head."

Keira raised an eyebrow, but refrained from objecting. She obeyed and made the loop, obviously confused when she saw Ace had done the same thing on his end.

He grabbed the rope in the middle between the two loops and spun around the corner. He tossed it at two guards, and the hemp hoops settled around their necks. Without hesitation, Ace snatched the middle of the line and yanked them forward. Both men fell onto the concrete flooring and broke their necks on impact.

Keira approached when Ace beckoned her over. She grimaced at the gruesome angle the men's necks had been forced into. Then Ace's voice snatched her back into the present moment.

"You know how to pick a lock?" he asked, bending on his knees before a tiny door, standing just under four feet high.

Keira shook her head vigorously. "Nope."

With a sigh, he shrugged his jacket off and put it on her.

She squinted. "What's your thing with putting your jackets on me?"

"It's bulletproof. You're gonna cover me while I pick this."

Keira smirked. "I suddenly like this idea."

Ace turned one way and unpocketed his lock-picking kit while Keira peered into the darkness, ready to fire at the slightest movement or sound.

She stood taut like that for a few minutes before finally spotting something. The moment a man's head became visible, she fired a shot, and he stumbled to the ground, clutching his belly. He groaned and fired back from where he lay.

Keira gasped reflexively, only to become relieved when the bullet merely hit her arm, flattened, and fell away harmlessly. She fired a second shot blindly into the darkness, and judging by the splashing sound that followed, it seemed she'd hit her target.

The brunette was given no more time to debate her success, though, because a trio of guards raced in from three different directions, spread out, and fired at her simultaneously. Two of the bullets bounced off her mid-section, but as for the third, if Keira hadn't raised her wrist, her head would've become a puddle of chunky blood to drip over Ace's body.

Ace glanced back and grimaced. "I'm almost there. Just hold 'em off!"

Keira gritted her teeth and watched her first shot penetrate a guard's shoulder. "I'm trying!"

She lined up another perfect shot, but then forfeited it to guard her head again. With a grunt, she tossed the gun aside and tackled her target. After throwing several punches at his face, she glanced up at his comrade aiming at her head. She snatched up her grapple gun and fired at his arm. The hook grabbed his bicep, and then she drew him in, landing a kick in his face once he was in reach.

Keira gave the man she'd originally pinned down a reminder of her antagonism with a head-butt before snatching his pistol and bursting the third guard's head. Then, when the other man struggled to remove the grapple gun from his arm, she shot him too.

Finally, she placed the gun on the last guard's temple and pulled the trigger. A click and a pop ensued, but no projectile emerged. Keira growled, tossed the pistol aside, and raised her hand for another punch. But just then, a gunshot rung behind her, and a bullet shattered her opponent's jaw. Blood shot into her face.

Keira glanced back and saw Ace peering through the scope of her sniper rifle, standing right outside an open door. He beckoned her over. She obeyed and dashed up to him, retrieving her weapon immediately after.

After ducking to enter the low doorway, the two first descended a quintet of steps. Finally able to stand straight, the two took in their new surroundings cautiously. A massive cubical chamber lay before them, lined by a railed walkway all around. The walkways themselves were lined by doors every several feet.

Keira peered over the edge of the railing and saw that the pattern continued, every one of the countless levels below them having its own identical borderline of walkways. The only break to the uniformity was the eleventh of the twenty floors, which had an additional bridge spanning across, in addition to the obligatory perimeter.

The brunette's green eyes swept across the many doors one last time. "We're never gonna find it." she muttered.

********************

A/N: ...And here's the promised bonus Christmas Eve update! As I said in the last author's note, I personally don't celebrate, but you can think of it as my gift to you, if you wish. Anyway, if you enjoyed it, please remember to vote and comment.

I don't have much on my mind, really, so I guess I'll just leave a random question and go. Which one of your senses do you feel you could most afford to go without? 😆

(For me, it might have to be taste...I guess? As a musician, losing my hearing would be terrible, and as a writer AND reader, not being able to see would likely over-complicate some things. I'm not even sure a person can live without the sense of touch, and smell's pretty important too.)

Well, have a great evening, and I'll see you at the normal update time on Friday morning! Bye!