"This is the place," Cheshire said. We, as in every one of us, were standing in front of one of the largest buildings in the city. More than just a skyscraper, it was a towering multi-level building that not only took up the whole block with its scale but also had bridges that connected it to buildings across the street. On each side of it, massive letters displayed the large name and symbol of 'Cornucopia, The Capital of Research and Development.'

The streets of the city were empty. Apparently, this Archer ordered The Sentient to go active across the country, to kill as many as possible. The Boston Protectorate and Wards had left to do some crowd control, and the villains of the city were actually working together at a moment's notice to deal with it. We wouldn't know how successful The Sentient were going to be, especially on a nationwide scale, for a while. But for now, we had Archer cornered.

"Cornucopia?" I asked. "I've never heard of it."

"That isn't that surprising," Ergo said. "It likes to work through proxy companies it owns. It was started by a family that made a fortune making munitions for World War one and two. After that, it branded itself as an institution for scientific research, but it has been doing much more than that."

"Basically," Cheshire said. "They've been getting a foot in the door of every industry there is for the last forty years. Restaurants, movies, gyms, private schools, coffee shops, toys, clothing, electronics, soda, farms, land development, and on and on and on. You pick an industry, Cornucopia can be found there somewhere."

"If we are going to be breaking in, I need to get to their research," Ergo said.

"We aren't here to sightsee," Purity said. "No matter how impressive their research is."

"You don't understand," Ergo said, turning to her. "I need to get access to their research. It could advance my studies years ahead of its current place. Cornucopia purchases Tinker for billions of dollars but refuses to employ a single one. They have been doing what I've been trying to do with my power since before I was born. If we go in there, I can't not get into their computers."

"Relax," Cheshire said. "If we go by the lead scientist's office we can stop by."

"Good, good," Ergo muttered as he excitedly began to adjust controls on his gear. I looked over at Purity and Imp. They nodded to me. I looked the other way where Desh, Cheshire, Ergo, Biohazard, and Shadow Stalker were standing.

"Desh? You getting anything?" I asked. My dad shook his head.

"No rats inside," he answered. "Only what I brought with me." I nodded and looked back at Cheshire, silently asking her what we should do next.

"Going in from a few directions would probably be best," she said. "Purity and Imp can take the roof entrance. Ergo, Biohazard, and Desh could find an underground or back way in. Us along with Flower Knight and Shadow Stalker could go in through the front doors."

"Alright," I said. "Everyone do that and meet up right here in three hours if it even takes that long."

Their response came when they began to move. Purity and Imp took off into the sky and Desh directed Biohazard to a sewer grate. I took a step forward but Cheshire stopped me by putting a hand on my side.

"Nova," she said. "You need to know before going in that my power isn't working properly."

"What?" I asked, alarmed.

"It is like Accord described," she said with a frown. "The whole building is this gap in my power, redirecting me away every time I try to focus on it. I can still use my power, but only on myself. If was firing a gun or something I could guess how to hold it and what not, but past that I just can't."

"So basically," Shadow Stalker said with a hint of annoyance. "You're useless."

"Shut up," Flower Knight told her angrily.

"This isn't that much of a problem," I said. "It doesn't change anything. Let's get moving, we can solve any problems ourselves."

"If you say so," Shadow Stalker added disdainfully. Flower Knight took several steps away from her. I decided it would probably be better if we got moving sooner rather than later.

***

Breaking into the place was… odd. At first it was interesting, I broke through a three inch steel door with a liberal application of magic, Shadow Stalker took out some gun men with her tranquilizing darts, Flower Knight created a counter agent to some nerve gas that flooded the hallways, Cheshire warned us of turrets, bombs, and hiding men moments before we encountered them, and a handful of other things like that. But after a time, it left me feeling a little disappointed when it began to be more like clockwork than an actual fight. Sure, it all made logical sense for this to be the setup as only the strongest Brutes and the luckiest of people could work through the threats we were facing, but the people weren't changing. They weren't adapting to us, and it was concerning me.

On the other hand, it let me have conversation with Cheshire as she rode on top of my back through all of this.

"So," I began as I crushed another automated turret system with my magic "What was Ergo's deal with getting his hands on this place's research?" In retrospect, what Ergo wanted to do was some pretty massive corporate theft, but I didn't have much sympathy for the company that created The Sentient.

"Well," Cheshire began before suddenly jumping off my back and darting the edge of another turn, grabbed the barrel of a gun and yanking out the gunman from that hallway. She struck him once in the back of the head and he fell to the ground unconscious.

"You remember his speech about the barrier between Tinkers and normal science?" She asked.

"I think so, the one where he said Tinkers shove generations of work and talents into one machine of their own design?"

"That's the one, and Ergo has been using his power to try and prove it." Cheshire climbed back onto my back as we went down the sprawling hallways. It was generally safer that way, as I could throw up a force field fast if there was something she didn't catch quite fast enough. And with the maze of this entire building coupled with all the repeated redundancies defenses, there tended to be an alarming amount of those.

I did a quick mental check of my magic levels. I wasn't even tired yet which meant I was above at least half of my full strength. It didn't take much to deal with these, there just was a lot of it.

"How does that work?" I asked, shooting a beam of concentrated telekinetic force through the men that were coming down a crossway hall with reinforced riot shields.

"Like he said earlier today, his power works really well when he can ask 'how does X work' but not so much when he needs to ask 'what is X'. So when attempting to replicate Tinker technology he often runs into terms and concepts he doesn't understand. His power lets him work through it eventually, but it is a slow process and he isn't just interested in getting things that simply works."

She hopped off my back again and pulled out a tiny metal ball from one of the pockets on her utility belt, giving it a toss with her fakes Brute powers behind it. It shot through a vent and jammed the nerve gas dispenser before it even got started.

"I don't think I follow," I said.

"Alright, let me try this again." She said with a frown. "All the tech Ergo is wearing and working with it incredibly low-level Tinker tech, only supplemented by the fact he has all kinds of it working together at once. And the reason it is all so low is because when he started he only answers he had to 'what is' questions are what current human science has discovered. From that small seed of knowledge and liberal use of his power, he has been working out every single aspect of the Tinker tech he wears. If he had enough time, he could conceivably get to the top tier Tinker stuff and he would be better than Dragon because he has a fundamental knowledge of everything he is working with. On the macro scale, micro, subatomic, and sometimes fourth dimensional.

"But what makes it all really special is that he is charting it out," she continued, taking out yet another generic threat. "He has thirty-two volumes in the biggest three-ring binders available full of his incredibly well structured and detailed notes on how he has been bridging our known science to Tinker science, and that is just with the Tinker 2 tech he has. If he were to release those note today all out tech would advance decades. And he plans on spending his entire life working on expanding those notes before he releases them."

"I don't think you've answered my question," I said, a little light-heartedly as I disabled a few more random minions. "Why was he so excited about Cornucopia's information?"

"Don't you see?" Cheshire asked. "This company has been trying to do exactly what Ergo has been doing, except without powers and with no real limit on resources to pull from. He wants to know if they know more than him, if money can outdo his power, or if they simply have saved him time by exploring different aspects of Tinker tech than he has. This place is the closest thing he is going to have to a wet dream."

"Alright, maybe that is a little too much," I said jokingly. Cheshire shot me a vulpine grin before kicking a guy in the throat with a level of acrobatics I don't recall seeing from her before.

"Too much for your PG-13 rating?" She asked. Suddenly Shadow Stalker fell in front of our path, her hand putting pressure on a bullet wound in her leg. She lifted up a crossbow and shot at some unknown assailant down the hall before turning into a shadow right before more bullets shot through her body.

Put up a shield and poked my head down the hallway. A moment later, there were six more unconscious men lying prone amid crushed guns. I floated out a healing potion to Shadow Stalker, who took it somewhat suspiciously, but accepted it anyway to heal her wound. I was going to have to get Panacea to look her over to make sure there wasn't a bullet still trapped inside her.

"Hey," Cheshire asked. "Where is Flower Knight.

"I'm here," her voice said from behind us. We turned and saw Flower knight standing in the hallway with three massive wooden tendrils extending out her back.

"Holy crap," Shadow Stalker said, somewhat surprisingly. "When did you find some edge?" Flower Knight shrugged at her.

"Where did you get the material for that?" I asked as I stared at the large vines.

"I've, um, been taking it from people's excess body fat and muscle as we go along."

I paused for a moment and considered that, but I guess it wasn't the creepiest thing to happen recently. Or to happen at all for that matter.

"Alright," I said with a nod. "I don't think we need all four of us for this floor. So Flower Knight, Shadow Stalker, why don't you two head upwards, Cheshire and I will keep searching here and maybe come find you again later."

"Fine by me," Shadow Stalker answer.

"We're on it," Flower Knight said with a nod before turning the other way, tendrils and Shadow Stalker right behind her. I looked at Cheshire to see which way she wanted to do now. These hallways left plenty of options.

She gave a smile and moved to climb onto my back, which I let her do, before pointing one particular direction.

We ended up walking in that same direction for a good fifteen minutes before we started seeing signs. The signs were for various things like a food court or otherwise, but the one that caught our eye was for this floor's Research and Development team.

We worked our way in that direction, destroying all the same setbacks that were put in our way. Once again, I was struck by the oddness of the surprising lack of innovation on their part. Sure, if the first time didn't get us that doesn't mean we wouldn't get it the second or third time. But if we've beaten the same thing fifty times over then maybe it was time to adopt a new strategy.

Cheshire slid off my back and darted into the room as soon as got to the entrance of it. Walking in behind her, I found it was a very generic lab for the most part. There did appear to be a Tinker device pulled apart into its most base components lying on one of the tables, but past that it was just a lab with a lot of science equipment I didn't know the first thing about.

Cheshire disappeared into a back room, leading me to follow her with mounting curiosity. She had found a computer and was already sitting at it, her hands flying over the keyboard as fast as she could make them move.

"You think you'll be able to remember all of the information Ergo wants?" I asked. If her power was working in the building, I probably would have trusted it to help her. But with that not working like it should, it was kind of up in the air as to how it would actually work one we left.

"I won't need to," Cheshire answered. "Ergo gave me a handful of flash drives he designed, can store everything he needs and more. And this computer only has the files for this floor's particular branch of research. I'll only need five minutes then we can be on our way."

"Alright," I concede. "I'll just go watch the door then." Cheshire nodded to me silently and kept working. I shrugged and headed back out, I could at least entertain myself a bit while I waited.

Walked back out into the hallway and saw it was empty. Trotting down it did reveal any more people. It was when I started walking back towards Cheshire that I realized my mistake.

Suddenly, thick metal doors began slamming shut on all hallways, the beginnings, middles, and ends of each one. I started running back towards Cheshire, reaching out with my magic to hit the doors, when the floor suddenly fell out from underneath me and all the lights in the building cut out, plunging me into eternal darkness.

I had trouble righting myself in the air as I fell downward, breaking through flooring that was clearly set to collapse when anything weighing much hit it. One of my wings got caught a jagged piece of metal somewhere along the way, causing a bit of blood to start gushing out of it.

I had shot through four floors before I finally hit something that didn't immediately collapse. The first thing I did was reach into my bag and pull out a healing potion and slurped it down as fast as I could.

The second thing I did was look around by the light of my horn. I was in some sort of basement like area, with smooth grey concrete walls and floor. All the lights were still out, and the hum of air fans and air conditioners had cut out. This place being as big as it is I can only imagine how important air flow might be. I decided it would be better to get moving sooner or later.

Guided only by the light of my horn, I wandered through the hallways. Every now and then a floor would fall apart when I walked on it or there would be a bomb and/or turret that would pop up and I would have to disable it somehow. It was just like before, only ten times more discouraging as I was separated from my friends and alone in a massive dark building.

Suddenly, I heard sobbing. It was male in tone, more one of pain than sadness. Cautious of another trap, I walk forward careful with the light of my horn as dim as possible. I found the source just around the corner of another branching hallway. I silently ducked low and peeked around, my light so low it was practically invisible.

I saw Biohazard, by herself, standing over a man with his chest pulled open as Biohazard pulled out his organs.

"Please," the man whimpered.

"Hush now," Biohazard said. "You don't need these, and I'm giving you better ones too. Little micro-organs that can do the same job. And there is only a thirty percent chance your body will reject them."

I walked around the corner and slammed my hoof against the concrete floor, letting the light of my horn flare up.

"Biohazard," I demanded. "What are you doing?"

"Oh hi Nova," Biohazard answer cheerfully. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be several floors up."

"It doesn't matter," I snapped. "What are you doing to him?"

"Oh him?" Biohazard asked. "I'm just taking some things I need. He isn't really in pain or going to be seriously hurt. Brother said that is why people are scared of what I do, they think I'm going to hurt them. But I would never do that, I promise!" She gave a mock salute with one hand and start pulling out some unidentifiable organ.

"Biohazard, stop," I demanded. She shot me a confused look, as her mask had fallen off, but didn't stop working.

"Why," she asked. "I need to do this for my work."

"Because you can't just take parts of people!"

"But yes I can?" Biohazard said, sounding increasingly more confused. "I'm doing it right now."

"Biohazard if you don't stop I'm going to-"

"Command 1101!"

I looked up and saw Ergo standing at the other end of the hall, a frown etched deeply into his face. I looked back at Biohazard and say that she was completely frozen.

"Biohazard," Ergo said as he began to walk closer. "Stop taking people's organs and fix this man."

Biohazard face was blank as she began doing as he said. I watched with uncomfortable uneasiness as she put everything back where it belonged and closed him up. When she was finished, she stood up and stayed completely still.

Ergo took a deep breath and sighed.

"Biohazard," he said. "Go find Desh and then forget everything that happened in the last twenty minutes. Then return to normal."

"O...kay….brother." She said in a daze before turning on her heels and walking down the hallway.

"What. The. Heck. Was that?" I asked through grit teeth. Ergo swallowed and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Please don't ask that question Nova." He requested softly.

"Ergo, that looked a lot like mind control," I said seriously.

"It is more complicated than that." He said.

"Ergo!" I demanded. "Are you mind controlling Biohazard?"

"You don't understand. That is just how her mind works." He hissed.

"Her mind lets you control her."

"Nova," he said. "Don't push me on this, don't ask me why or how because you won't stand the answer. You won't be able to stop yourself from acting on it. Just know that Cheshire didn't want to tell you, and there is a reason for that." He turned around and started walking away, but he stopped after just a few feet.

"You might think you can help with this, whatever the problem is," Ergo said. "But some problems are more complicated than your magic is capable of fixing. Please, just let it go." With that, Ergo continued down the hall and disappeared around the corner.

I glanced at the man sitting against the wall. He was unconscious. I thought about hitting him with the healing spell, but Biohazard could have left any amount of Tinker tech inside of him. And since he wasn't bleeding, I was guessing that was likely the case. If I hit him with the healing stuff I could only do more damage.

I sighed and made a mental note to check him out later, make sure Biohazard didn't do anything lasting. For now, I had something else to direct my focus to.