Anomaly ━━ Matt vs Chris Sturniolo¹

𝖝𝖑𝖎𝖛. To Find Her and Save Her

[ tw: violence, torture, branding, death ]

𝖝𝖑𝖎𝖛. To Find Her and Save Her

THE DARK HALLS and dead cameras remind Maeve of the Hall of the Sun, of sneaking down to the palace dungeons to save Cyrus and Weston from certain death. But she was almost a princess there. She wore silk, and she had Cedric at her back, singing his way through each and every guard, behind their will to her purpose. It was clean, spilling no blood but her own. The Security Center is not like that. She can only hope to keep the casualties to a minimum considering two are already dead.

Matt knows where to go, and keeps the lead, but he does nothing more than dodge the officers who try to stop them. He's surprisingly graceful, shouldering around blows from strongarms and swifts. He still won't hurt them, leaving that burden to Maeve and Cyrus. Lightning destroys just as easily as flame, and a trail of bodies are left in their wake. Maeve tells herself that they're only unconscious, but in the heat of the battle, she can't be sure. She can't control her surges as easily as she makes them, and it's likely she killed at least two. Although, she doesn't care much ━ and neither does Cyrus, her long knife plunging in and out of dark shadows. It drips metallic silver blood by the time they reach their destination, an unremarkable door.

But Maeve feels something remarkable within. A vast machine, pulsing with electricity.

"Here. The records room," Matt says. He keeps his eye on the door, unable to look back at the carnage. True to his word, he bathes the surrounding hallway on flame, creating a wall of twisting heat to protect the pair of girls as they work.

When Maeve pushes through the door, she expects mountains of paper, printed lists like the one Cedric gave her. Instead, she finds herself staring at a wall of flashing lights, video screens, and control panels. It pulses, sluggish from her interference with the wiring. Without a thought, she puts a hand to the cold metal, calming herself and her ragged breathing. The records machine responds in kind, and kicks into a high whir. One of the screens blinks to life, showing a fuzzy black-and-white display. Text flits across the screen, drawing a gasp from Cyrus and Maeve. They've never imagined, let alone seen, anything like this.

"Insane," Cyrus breathes, reaching out with a tentative hand. Her fingers brush along the text-on screen slowly. Large letters spell out Census and Records, with Beacon Region, Regent State, Norta written in smaller type below.

"They didn't have this in Coraunt?" Maeve asks, wondering how she found Jameson's location.

Cyrus shakes her head dully. "Coraunt barely has a post office, let alone one of these." With a grin, she clicks one of the many buttons beneath the glowing screen. Then another, and another. The screen flashes each time, typing out different questions. She giggles like a child, continuing to click.