Gone With the Wind

[Meanwhile in the Upper World…]

In the dimly lit Ouroboros HQ, Barry rushed in, his bifocals bobbing on his seal snout. "Roshan! Kaizer is gone!"

Perplexed, Roshan swiveled away from the monitor he was analyzing. "What do you mean, 'Kaizer is gone?'"

Barry hurried to the main screens on the other side of the room. "I mean, he's gone! System, open Subject Tracking, Overworld Dimension, Subject: The Black King Project."

The screens illuminated, displaying a globe of Earth, but a red error indicated, "Subject: The Black King Project cannot be found within this dimension. Try another dimension."

Roshan gasped.

Barry raised his voice. "You see? And that's not all! Subject: Kira Kurokawa!"

The same error message appeared.

"Nrgh…" Roshan grunted, expressing his displeasure.

Barry shook his head. "I knew she was gonna get in the way."

"Sanguine Dimension, Subject: The Black King Project," Roshan declared with authority.

The image flickered, revealing the realm of Sanguine. It zoomed in significantly on Kaizer Anderson's location, marked by a red dot.

"Mm… he's in a prison," Roshan noted knowingly. "Subject: Kira Kurokawa."

The location remained unchanged, but another red dot appeared right beside Kaizer's.

Barry sighed, shrugging. "Well, at least he's not alone. And, well… at least he's not running around, and they're keeping him in one place for now."

Roshan nodded. "Yes, we must use this time to clean up before Ryder gets back from his… business trip."

"It's been a while since I've talked to Kaizer face to face, not since that last operation we did," Barry said. "If he's gone to Sanguine, it's possible he's regained his memories, and if he remembers us, then that means he'll know exactly why we're there."

Roshan nodded. "I'm sure he knows we're coming."

The two of them rose and exited the room, entering a parallel one with seven terminals, only three of which were active. They approached the terminals and began typing.

"Choose to spawn at Bloodguard Prison," Roshan instructed.

"You got it, boss. See you on the other side?"

Roshan chuckled, his elephantine belly jiggling. "See you on the other side, my friend."

In an instant, they were transported to the doors of Bloodguard Prison. The air thickened, saturated with the scent of blood. Roshan sniffed, smirking. "The air is actually... cleaner now, it seems. It's been a while since I came to this city... much has changed."

Beside him, Barry gazed up at the massive, reinforced structure of Bloodguard Prison. "See, now we gotta worry about actually getting in and getting him out. And you know... Roshan, you know he's gonna wanna bring his friends."

Roshan raised a wrinkled, elephantine hand. "I know. We'll get Kaizer and Kira out, that's it. The rest of them are criminals in this world."

"Hold on..." Barry pointed a rubbery fin-hand at a vehicle in the parking lot. "Isn't that... Kaizer?"

For a brief moment, they witnessed Kaizer and Kira, along with the rest of his friends, chained up and muzzled in the back of the vehicle. The driver, a man in a Bloodguard uniform with an intimidating firearm strapped to his back, closed the door, circled around to enter the car, and drove off into the city streets. Another man, with glistening brown hair, emerged from the doors of Bloodguard Prison, walked to a parked motorbike, revved the engine, donned a black biker helmet, and followed the captive vehicle.

Barry gazed at Roshan, concern etched across his seal-like features. "What's going on? That was Kaizer, right? Shouldn't we go after them?"

Roshan observed the departing vehicles with a determined expression. "Yes. And we will." He retrieved a handheld device from a pouch.

"System, Open Subject Tracking, Activate Live Tracking Tool for Subject: The Black Project."

"Live Tracking Activated. Displaying the live location of Subject: The Black Project."

Kaizer's location was displayed on the device's screen. Roshan grinned, putting away the device and tilting his head to the sky, tusks reaching into the air. "Think I still got it, Barry?"

Barry looked puzzled. "Got what, Roshan?"

"My mech-magic."

Roshan extended his arms in front of him, eyes glowing with a bright blue light. A radiant, blue symbol manifested in the rift of space as he chanted,

"Elephas Art, Mechanical Magic: Construct."

A portal opened before them, materializing a large, flying vehicle seemingly crafted from impervious, divine metal.

"Quick, inside the jet."

They hurried into the jet, grateful for its spacious cockpit accommodating both of them, especially Roshan.

Roshan ignited the engine, preparing for takeoff. With vivid precision, he manipulated the jet controls.

"Hang on, Kaizer. We're coming to getcha," Barry declared, determination in his voice as the jet soared into action.