Movement in the Shadows

*SWOOSH*

" Hmm... So this is the DoA headquarters." August looked at the huge building in front.

August teleported all of them to the location in Marvian city that Charlotte had given him. August was really eager to get his hands on the research papers. They will give him the insight to make artifacts and also understand awakened powers. He didn't have to do his own research for that.

In front of them was a grand building covered with white marbles and stained glass. It was an architectural marvel.

*Phewwweewwww*

Fatty whistled as he watched the beautiful building. Daisy seemed uninterested as it was nothing new for her.

" Follow me." Charlotte went ahead and climbed the stairs in the entrance. The three followed her behind. The front gate was twenty meters wide and resembled greek architecture. Charlotte put her palm on the wall and the door opened.

" This way."

They went inside and soon came across a grand hall. Even though it was very big, there were only dozens of users there. They looked at Charlotte and the three behind them.

" Miss Charlotte, what brings you here?"

A user at the reception counter spoke up. He was wearing a black tuxedo and bowtie. He looked at them and shifted his gaze to Charlotte again.

" I am here to access some research files."

The receptionist handed her a card.

" Here you go, miss."

Charlotte took the card and walked across the hallway. There was an elevator at the end of the corridor. She tapped the card on the panel on that elevator. She typed the floor number on the pad and the elevator opened.

The four of them entered the elevator and the gate closed automatically. There was a transparent glass wall on the other side of the elevator. When they were going down several floors, they saw several construction projects happening.

" This elevator is for important personnel, normally other users go through different elevators. This glass wall enables the ones inside to see everything outside, but the people on the outside can't see us." Charlotte explained to them.

After going down for a while they reached the level B32. The elevator stopped and opened its gates. Charlotte walked out, the rest followed her. There was a huge room with many equipment and devices scattered all around the tables. One middle aged man was doing something with a device at the end of the table. He noticed someone coming inside and looked at them.

" Miss Charlotte."

" Dr. Kromer. How is the project advancing?" Charlotte asked the middle aged man.

" I am still trying to find the right coefficient, this will take some time." The man replied with an exhausted voice.

August walked across the table without listening to their conversation. He pulled out several records and files from the shelf and appeared to be reading them, but he was actually scanning them through his system.

' Record all the data here'

[ Recording ….]

..

..

He moved around and started taking out more files. The man was looking at August with interest. He looked at Charlotte who didn't mind him, so he asked her.

" Who is that young man?"

"Hmm.. well he is part of the squad, we recru.."

" I am here for the awakened research papers.. " August interrupted her.

" Are you not from the squad ?" The man didn't understand the current situation.

" Well, I am here for compensation." August casually replied while looking through the files.

The man was even more confused by the answer. Looking at the face of Dr. Kromer, Charlotte sighed.

" He is a powerhouse above SS rank. We wrongly identified them as Setrian and tried to apprehend them. But he.. well you can say that he is in charge now." She didn't tell him about the fight, as it would only further complicate things. She will have to get an SS rank healer to heal their bodies. It will be very expensive, but that was nothing compared to losing six S rank users.

Thinking about the battle gave her goosebumps. When he took off her mask, the nonchalant expression he showed as he said he would ruin her face, greatly traumatized her. She was not afraid because of the threat, rather the underlying motive. If she refused, there would be even worse things that could have happened. She finally gave up and accepted his condition.

Now that she had time to think, she understood that he was just playing with them. A powerhouse of this caliber that no one could go against except one person. But she was also skeptical about that. She can only hope that he could persuade this young man. He really admired people with power, so it won't be surprising if he wanted to recruit him. Will that encounter level another city? She didn't want to think about that.

********

" Hey Donny, did you find any beasts yet?"

A man opened his comm and asked his teammate.

" Nothing so far, seems like all the beasts here vanished somehow."

" Alright, keep searching, we have to report this to the DoA. Something really shady is going on here."

He cut off the comm and started looking around the area.

Suddenly, he heard a rustling noise in the nearby bush. He walked to the bush but the sound stopped. After he searched the bush he found nothing. Another rustling sound was heard in the leaves above him. He looked up and two faint red lights could be seen in the tree branch. He nervously took a step back but something hit his body. As he turned around to look, he saw a humanoid figure in black that was sucking all the light from the surroundings. He was like a black hole with the whole body full of darkness. Two red lights projected from his face.

" Hello" The figure opened his mouth and countless fangs could be seen inside his mouth.

The user slumped on the ground and crawled backward.

" I will be taking your body if you don't mind."

Six tentacles came out of his body and penetrated the user in different limbs. The user's body was slowly being absorbed by the tentacles.

" Hmm. Hmm. nothing, he also didn't know about what happened here."

He started to change his figure and turned into the user that he just absorbed.

" Guess I have to go to their place to find out everything."

His red eyes glowed as he licked his lips.