The Dream Gate that Lady changing star created, to enter the Dream realm was in central NQSC. As expected, it was an extremely fortified location, around a few miles away from the ragtag group position, with several machine guns, police officers and a few fire keepers guarding the place. There were hundreds of people moving in and out of the gate every minute as well, so security was on high alert at all times; Safe to say that it wasn't easy for smugglers like Jasper to move in or out without getting caught with illegal substances.
"Hey Mist, we're here, get ready. You too Corsair!"
The voice of one of the awakened smugglers whispered to Rain and June, catching their attention. Due to the long walk from the border of the outskirts all the way to the central of the city, the two shadows were lost in their thoughts for a few minutes, for Rain it was that walking outside this long in this cold weather makes it hard to concentrate. Mist was Rain made up alias for this mission that she herself created. Although June didn't think it was a very good alias to hide behind, it was still better than her previous one of 'Rani', so she was pretty proud of herself for the name.
Rain stopped walking on the wet pavement, then stared back at the awakened smuggler, after a while she'd then responded back to him with a question that June was also interested in as well. Though her voice has changed quite a bit due to the epithet she assigned herself prior to leaving the alley way, being 'Coarse and deep voice Promise of a Distant Sky'.
"So how are we supposed to sneak all these all of these 'Shard dust', without getting caught by the fire keepers or the government scanning memories?"
June then stared at the man as well, anticipating for an answer. He had a few guesses to how they were going to transport these substances over to the Dream realm as well. His best guess so far is that it has to do with Jasper ability.
Coincidentally, just at that moment, the boisterous Jasper spoked in a cheeky quiet voice.
"Don't worry miss Mist, I'll have it covered in no time."
With that, Jasper activated his ability to hide away the shard dusts. Seemingly appearing out of thin air, a yellow sticker with a key design popped into the palm of the ginger haired man's hand. Then a second later a yellow key appeared in the other palm, as Jasper sticks the sticker on the suitcase. Jasper then moved the key towards the sticker, then somehow 'put it into' the keyhole and twist, locking it.
Jasper then gives out a light-hearted chuckle.
"This is my aspect ability, basically I can hide or 'Lock' information pretty well. As you can see, I've just locked the information that this suitcase carried 'Shard dusts'. Safe to say those pesky scanning memories will not be catching us carrying them anytime soon! Ahahaha!"
'What a devious aspect...'
Rain ponders to herself, as Jasper picked up his suitcase and signalled to the rest of the group to continue to move to the Dream Gate. And just like that, a few moments later, the two shadows have entered Night Garden.
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Rain and June was greeted with a majestic luminous light that lit up the great citadel. From the distance the ragtag group of smugglers and two shadows could see gorgeous pagodas and palaces, with several streams running along the forest areas of the citadel. Like how most people first reaction upon entering the great citadel that had once belonged to the prestigious House of Night, Rain was in awe of the view.
However, she was quickly snapped back to reality as June tapped her on the shoulder.
"Come on, hurry up we need to go."
Moving past the busy crowd of Night Garden, Rain and June wasn't quite sure where they're heading to besides following wherever Jasper was leading them.
After a while, June took a quick glance at the surrounding of the city, it seemed like they've moved past the tourist areas, and were now entering into a night market, where the citizen of the citadel dine, party and hang out.
"This district, seemed to be heavily inspired by eastern cultures, before the dark times."
June said offhandedly, which caught Rain attention.
"Eastern Cultures? What do you mean?"
Taking a moment, June breathed in slowly and responded with a harsh tone.
"My grandfather-"
Suddenly he'd stop mid-sentence, taking a while to calm himself down. Then he continued where he left off with a more calm and cool voice.
"Was part of the first generation, I believed before the dark times, his family had given him some pictures of how Asia used to look like before. Of course, it is all lost now, but as a child he did tell me a brief description on how it looks like."
Just as when Rain was about to reply, their conversation was interrupted by Jasper signalling to the group to enter a building through it back door in the alley. Silently, one by one, the ragtag group of smugglers entered through the door and into a dimly lit room. The walls of the room were damp, and wooden floor was crooked with a candle providing light. At the centre of the room was a wooden antique, small circular table, and there stood a tall figure dressed in a white scientist coat with a hood attached to it, kind of like a customed made clothe. The figure was quite a tall man, around June height himself, though his frame was relatively thin; What stuck out is that he was wearing a plague doctor mask.
The man with the bird mask then looked over at the direction of the peoples who just entered the room, causing everyone to shivered. Taking a few steps towards Jasper, the man with the bird mask tilts his head, asking.
"It took quite a while for you to arrive at Night Garden, isn't it? Now I hope that you have bring the dust with you."
For the first time since meeting the man, June and Rain saw that Jasper was looking uneased and intimidated by the man in the bird mask. Timidly, he placed the suitcase on the table and unlocked it.
Rain then whispered to June, who was currently staring at the bird masked man with weary in his eyes.
"Corsair, just who is that guy?"
Without waiting for a second, June replied to Rain, though this time instead of whispering, he'd messaged her using hand signals.
[Sir Galahad, he was once one of the masters of Valor, known as 'The Knight of Sand', before the clan collapsed. Afterwards he'd disappeared from the public, no one really knows where he went but now it seemed like he had join one of the resistant groups against Lady Changing Star reign. Though those who are part of the underworld of the black market, may also know him as 'The Doctor' or 'The Chemist'; If my guess is correct, then he's also the main person who will be responsible for the distribution and productionof the drug in Night Garden.]
Taking a moment to absorb the information in, Rain then signalled back at June.
[So, if we take him down then we should be good to go right?]
June let out a sigh.
[And his lab, then yes, the mission would be a success.]
Not too long after, the crooked sound of the suitcase being slowly opened could be heard, accompanied by The Chemist eerie chuckle.
"Good, good. As promised you would be rewarded heavily for this, Jasper."
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Shortly after each members of the group had received a handsome sum for their efforts in smuggling the 'Shard dust' into the great citadel of the Storm Sea, June and Rain found themselves walking behind the rest of the smugglers, slowly, a few miles away from the building they were just in.
With a sigh, he turned around to Rain and messaged her a signal using his fingers.
[It's time.]
Almost immediately, Rain signalled back at him, with a calm expression on her diligent face.
[Right, got it.]
It was time for them to start working on their mission. Rain has already dealt with 'The Seller' back in NQSC, now it is time to get rid of the smugglers. While it is their goal to capture all of the smugglers, the two shadows had identified that their priority was to get rid of Jasper from the picture. After all someone with that unique aspect that is powerful enough to go under the radar from the Fire Keepers security memories is hard to come by, so with Jasper out of the picture, it would dealt huge damage to 'The Thousand Dust'.
Their attack plan was simple, first take out the awakened first, then the mundane. Jasper, the group leader was the first to go. Taking him out of the picture was almost akin to severing the head of a snake, with the main body unable to function cohesively. And just like that, June sneaked up to Jasper, with a summoned sword memory in hand and wacked the ginger haired man over the head with the tilt of his sword, knocking him out cold.
The two people next to him, which included Awakened Kaleid and another awakened, tried to scream; But they couldn't. Their mouths refused to open, as if they have never had the ability to speak in the first place. Rain, the princess of the enigmatic Shadow Clan had given them the epithet of 'Mute'.
The young dark-haired woman then slashes at their legs, causing them to fall onto the ground, screaming in pain. But they couldn't. The last thing they saw was the blue eyes of the famed 'Corsair' staring back at them in silence.
And then it was all black.
Similarly, the 2 shadows dealt with the rest of the smugglers in similar fashion to the first 3. Rain muted them and June knocking them out in various ways.
And just like that, under than 3 minutes, The Corsair and Mist had captured all the smugglers. Tying them up against the walls, the two shadows stared at each other.
Rain was the first to speak.
"So, where's this Chemist?"
June then glances away, staring at a distant direction. It seemed like he had just activated his dormant ability to increase his perception of the surrounding areas. Eventually, he opened his mouth and replied to Rain in a calculated tone.
"He couldn't have gone too far, he's close."
At that moment, Rain then heard a distant voice and footstep coming from the building they were just in a while ago. It was the voice of The Chemist, who was rushing out of the building and holding onto the suitcase.
The two shadows glanced at each other, then rushed to one of the staircases that lead to the rooftop of a building. Climbing it, the two awakened slowly stalked the bird masked man through the streets, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
Subtly using their fingers, the two shadows weaved hand signals to each other, as they slowly watched The Chemist from the distance.
[So, June do you have any information on how The Chemist fights?]
June then weaved back at her not too long after.
[I do... Kinda. The guy isn't that much of a fighter himself, but his aspect ability could be lethal. Only very few people have saw him fight though, so I'm not sure.]
Rain then wondered to herself about the information Corsair just told her. Well not really told but communicated through hand signals.
[Then how do you know that birdy over here, isn't that much of a fighter?]
June then suddenly stopped walking, crouching down as he continued to stare at Ascended Galahad. Then he weaved back at Rain.
[It was back during the war in God Grave; I'd enlisted to fight for Valor and somehow stumbled upon a rare sight of him fighting. As i said, the bastard doesn't usually involve himself in fights, though his aspect is troublesome.]
Rain quickly absorbed the information June told her, then signalled back at him.
[His aspect? This is the second time you had mentioned it, what does it do?]
June then stood up from his crouched position upon seeing that The Chemist is getting further way.
[His aspect is something related to dust. More precisely he can manipulate the dust around him. That's why it's tricky to fight against the guy, his aspect is extremely versatile due to dust existing pretty much everywhere.]
With that Rain went silent, pondering about how to approach the upcoming battle with the bird masked chemist, while the two of them continues to move through the shadows and rooftops of Night Garden. By now the authorities should have found the unconscious body of the smugglers that they had dealt with. After a while Rain then weaved back at June.
[So, do you have any plan against this guy?]
The two then continued to run across the rooftops, then coming to a halt as they saw that Galahad finally stopped moving. Instead, the man was entering into a building that have sign reading 'Floral shop: For birds and bees'. The street they we're on was oddly empty as well, which was quite the contrast to the lively atmosphere of the rest of the citadel. Though from what June could tell, this is one of the places where people only come outside in the morning, due to it location being near one of the many forests where there's nightmare creatures nearby. Even though it was cleared out back a few decades ago, people still prefer not to go out at this hour due to pre-existing superstition.
June then summoned his storage memories, pulling out 2 gas masks.
[Kinda, we're going to have to ambush him. These are enchanted gas masked, we'll going to need them in this fight, whatever you do, don't breathe in his dust.]