I decided to make the rest of the trip by myself, but things were different. I was annoyed Ergo wouldn't explain what that was, I was irritated with all the things Archer was throwing at us, I annoyed that he had separated me from Cheshire, and I was concerned because he had ordered Sentient attacks across the country before we came in.

I was frustrated, and I was tired of taking the slow path.

Looking upward, I put all the telekinetic pushing force into one small beam and fired it. It ripped through the ceiling of this basement and it tore through the ceiling above it. I grabbed all the debris out of the air before it could fall on me and violently flung it back, further widening the hole as I did.

I shot upwards, flying past the floors and ripping the building open even more as I did so until I got to the floor I had left Cheshire on. My wing screamed in pain from the injury I sustained before. I quickly took another healing potion to dull the pain and start moving back through the hallways. This time, I was knocking down walls to get where I needed to go.

Expanding my magic outward, I was able to feel the building around me. I could make out the guns and bombs and other tech that was placed in my way but ignored them. I was really only interested in finding Cheshire.

I pulled out a potion to increase my magic and started blasting down walls around me as I flew forward. Anyone that was around got blasted with my kinetic beam and probably knocked unconscious or at least in mobile.

I found Cheshire several hallways away from where I had left her, grappling with three men who all had lost their guns at some point in the fight. Using my raw magic feeling to guide me, I picked up the three of them while I was on the other side of the wall and threw them aside. A moment later, I shot down the wall and came out into the hallway to greet Cheshire.

"Nova," she said with a relieved sigh. "Glad you made it back."

"Cheshire," I said sternly, a frown overtaking my face. "Why is Ergo able to control Biohazard."

She opened her mouth to respond and then stopped, as if unsure of what to say. She quirked her mouth a moment and then asked me,

"How much do you know?"

"I know that he took control of Biohazard and made her put the man she was attacking back together. He then ordered her to forget it ever happened. So why? Why is he able to mind control his sister?"

Cheshire took a deep breath. "I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I have my guesses. I think it is related to their trigger, but I can't be sure."

"Go on," I said sternly.

"I think something happened to Biohazard a long time ago, and Ergo needed to understand how her brain worked to correct it or something in that vein, Only when he corrected it, he tweaked some things so if Biohazard ever went too far, which you saw how she clearly will, he could stop her."

"Cheshire you-"

"Should have told you? Maybe. But we have some more important things to be dealing with right now. Can we save this conversation for when we're finished here? Please?"

I fixed her with a flat look. After a second, I took a deep breath and sighed. As much as I disliked letting this rest, we needed to get this done.

"Is there anything else of reasonable importance like this I need to know?" I asked.

"Define 'reasonable importance'."

"Cheshire," I warned.

"Fine, fine, Shadow Stalker is Sophia if you really want to know."

"... We are going to have a talk after this."

"Fair enough," Cheshire grimaced. I shook my head in annoyance. I was frustrated before, but hearing the Shadow Stalker, the once murder, was also Sophia Hess, the bully, made me a few shades more than frustrated. Now I was angry, and I really wanted to hit something.

"Cheshire," I said slowly. "Can you guess which way Archer's officer would be from here?"

"Well, I would guess it would be right in the middle of the place, probably up a couple of floors. But without my power, it's only a guess."

"Then climb on," I ordered as I charged my horn up for a much larger spell than I used normally. "Because I'm ready for this day to be over."

I managed to meet of with Purity on the way. She had found Theo with a whole bunch of other people in some sort of prison thing on the premises. She was working getting out of the building with him. And seeing how I wasn't caring for property damage anymore, she was able to expedite that process with a liberal application of her power.

About ten minutes after she had left us, I caught a strange part of the building with my power. A room surrounded by a good foot or more of steel surrounding it. Changing my course slightly, I broke down every wall between me and it.

Bursting into the hallway leading up to its door, I was surprised by how ordinary it seemed. It was made to look like it was just another hallway leading into what was labeled 'CEO's office'. The only thing odd about it was the thick metal door blocking the entrance.

There was a keypad on the side that Cheshire immediately went to, but that didn't yield anything immediately. Apparently another issue with her power. Frowning at the door, I began to focus my magic.

The way I had been using my magic to just burst through walls and people as well as the occasional teleport whenever I encounter a falling floor like before was really draining my magic. I had already taken several magic recovery potions since I got started, and for this I had to down my third. I only had two left, but hopefully, things would be easier once this was all said and done.

I let my magic flow out of my horn and spread out. It was slow going as the room didn't have any easy access for my magic to flow into it. Instead, I had to wait almost five minutes for it to start sinking through the steel shell like water through a sponge. But once it got going, I got a feeling for the mechanisms of the door.

My telekinesis, I found, was a lot more like using my hands than expected. I didn't need a line of sight so long as I had a general idea where the object was. Just like a person doesn't need a line of sight to reach blindly into a backpack for an object they know is there. But with the raw flow of my magic mapping out my surroundings and the inside mechanisms of door, my telekinesis was able to work at a much higher level.

Grabbing every single gear there was, I force them to turn. The first direction didn't push the door at all, so I made them turn the other way. The was a loud creak from the door as it resisted the push. I quickly found the problem, some sort of brake like thing holding the door in place. I ripped it open and the door instantly flew open in response.

The moment the door was falling, I felt a feeling of alarm shoot through me and immediately threw up a barrier. A gunshot rang out and struck my shield just a moment after it went up, protecting Cheshire form the blast. She looked up from the keypad, a little surprised, but quickly recovered and moved closer to me.

Inside was a single man holding a shotgun.

"Well," Archer said. "It was worth a shot."

Archer was a tall and skinny man. His hair was greasy like he hasn't showered in a couple of days and his clothes were stained with several different substances. He wore an uneven, grizzly beard like he simply forgot what shaving was. His eyes were sunken, sleep deprived, and bloodshot. The room had the overwhelming smell of alcohol and gasoline permeating it, and judging from his swaying, Archer was drunk.

This wasn't a CEO or terrorist plot mastermind. He looked more like a man trying to quit meth.

"Do me a favour," Archer said sullenly as he dropped the gun and lift a cigarette to his mouth. "Make sure you kill Adkins. He's locked in the basement, you'll find all the codes in my desk."

Archer held up a lighter, but instead of lighting his cigarette, he dropped it on the ground. Before I could react, he was covered in flames.

That's why the room smelled so much like alcohol and gas.

I wasn't sure what I was thinking, only that I had to stop this. Acting on pure instinct, magic rushed to my wings and formed a massive pair of ethereal wings that gripped the air as I flapped my real wings a single time. There was a massive blast of wind that didn't even appear to come from my wings and for a moment it seemed to blow the flames out. Then for a terrifying second, there wasn't any air in the room. I wasn't sure what I had done, but when I opened my mouth I couldn't speak. There was a loud bang and suddenly we were on the ground.

I wobbled a little as I attempted to stand back up, a disorienting feeling overtaking me coupled with a wave of magic exhaustion. Cheshire was climbing to her feet next to me, holding her head.

"Give a little warning before you turn the room into a vacuum next time," Cheshire said.

"Noted," I responded dryly. I rose completely off the ground and looked around for Archer. He was laying on the ground, his skin red and blistering in places. I suppose he was lucky he got off that easy.

I picked him up with my magic and held him in the air. He was still conscious, if looking incredibly depressed. I floated him over to me and forced him to look at me.

"What was that?" I demanded.

"Burning," he answered wistfully. "I was making it all burn. Burning. Burning. Burning."

I looked at Cheshire questioningly. She shook her head.

"I don't know," she answered. I shook my head and looked at him.

"Adkins," I said. "Explain."

"The basement," Archer said. "Always there, I put him there. Always. Can't ever go, would mean the end. Would be Ragnarok if he ever left. Only death, it's the only thing for Adkins. It must be done, you must do it."

"Show us," I said seriously. Archer's head rolled on his shoulder as he looked across the room.

"Private elevator, behind the bookshelf. I don't want to go down there, not anymore. Don't make me go, leave me behind. Kill Ragnarok, put an end to it all. Let him burn, burn and burn again."

"He isn't going to be much use if he can't be coherent," Cheshire said.

"Any idea what he is saying?" I asked. I had a few guesses, but I wanted to double check with Cheshire to make sure she was getting the same thing. Power or not, she was still pretty smart.

"I think he has Adkins locked up in the basement as a prisoner. He has been using him for this effect that has been stopping my and Accord's power."

"Then we need to go down there and see him," I stated. I wasn't sure what I would find, but he wouldn't have been the first person Archer had kidnapped and locked up. And maybe, just maybe, Adkins would help us. I couldn't be sure, but maybe.

"Give me a minute," Cheshire said, walking towards a large wooden desk on the other side of the room. "I'll get the things he was talking about." She slid into the swivel chair he had and started opening drawers and sorting through the paper. I shot Archer a look and pulled out some zip ties, securing him to the desk Cheshire was working on while I waited.

"Is this it?" I heard someone say. I looked up and saw Flower Knight, Shadow Stalker, and Imp coming into the room. I felt a flare of angry at the sight of Shadow Stalker, but this wasn't the time or place. Just another thing I was going to have to deal with when this was all over.

"Imp?" I asked, "I thought you would have left with Purity?"

Imp shrugged. "She left me with you, which both of you promptly forgot. So went and grabbed these two while you guys were working on the door. You passed each other a couple times but neither you four seemed to notice each other. You seem to be bad at that."

"Thanks," I said dryly.

"Don't mention it."

I rolled my eyes.

"Nova," Flower Knight asked. "This is Archer, right? That means it's over? We got him?"

"Almost," I said. "We still have one more thing to deal with, apparently."

"And let's not forget the following press release," Cheshire said with a grin, rising up from the desk with a stack of papers in her hand. "You all ready to talk with the apocalypse?"