The Calmest Waters Often Hide the Deepest Depths - Part One
Normally, when Echo was let outside by his request, he would waste his time wandering around the building looking for any interesting things happening. On days when he was feeling particularly attention-hungry or just plain hungry in general, he'd walk around outside and interact with pedestrians, hoping they'd give him treats (which hardly ever happened, but hope springs eternal). Rarely, he'd do the odd bit of hunting to supplement his diet. He never once left Flower Row to explore the neighborhood.
Today, something new had come up. Echo was not deaf to what had happened in the hallway. In his own way he was just as distressed as Gray, even if he couldn't vocalize it properly. Too much abrupt change had taken place, and he hated it.
He initially wanted to investigate right away, but Gray had immediately left the building instead of letting him out. So instead he ate and drank his fill at his feeding station, did his regular business, and slept until Gray returned. He refrained from going into the hallway while the dogs were present, not wanting to deal with them any more than she did.
It wasn't that he hated dogs. There was a little terrier in the corner building next door that he got along fine with. It was just that those five were complete strangers to him, and he didn't want to risk anything.
After everypony was finally gone, Echo made what sounded to his owner like his usual demands to be let outside. With some reluctance she did so, voicing her concerns. She probably believed that he wanted to do some evening hunting.
If so then she was right, in spite of it not being quite the type of hunting he had in mind.
Echo didn't leave the building right away. For a time he explored the hallway, letting his nose tell him what had happened here today. There was no shortage of scents here: his family had all been around, intermingled with those who had taken them. He recognized the scents of several ponies that he knew lived in the building. His whiskers twitched as he catalogued the smells of the Police ponies and the dogs. Some of those scents had diluted a little with time, and would probably be gone entirely within days.
He eventually determined that there was one that hadn't.
One of the ponies that had been here had not done a very good job taking care of herself. The areas where she had been lurking fairly reeked with sweat, more than what the summertime heat would normally be responsible for. Echo found himself surprised, knowing how much ponies--or at least his ponies--liked to keep themselves clean. This scent out of all of them was the most fascinating to him, and he decided to follow after it.
The trail ended at the fire escape. Echo growled as he saw the doors closed and locked, as they always were at night. There would be no continuing through there.
Instead, he trotted to the stairs at the other end of the building and made his way down to the ground floor. The superintendent was in the lobby putting some things away for the night, and he recognized Echo by his collar as he entered the room. "Hey there, cat," he greeted him. "Heard yer owner getting into trouble up there earlier. Doin' some hunting?"
Echo meowed an affirmative, waiting impatiently by the front door.
The stallion chuckled. "Fine, fine," he said, approaching the door and pushing it open. "If I'm not in 'ere when you get back, you know what to do. Have fun out there."
Echo slipped out and went straight for the alley. He spent several minutes sniffing around, eventually picking up the sweat-laden odor jumbled among those he had previously detected.
Interesting.
The pony he was tracking had exited the alley the way he had entered, and her pursuers had gone that way as well. When Echo explored past the fire escape, he found that there were traces of the odor still in the air--and that they were clinging to the alley's fence, telling him that the pony had scaled it to approach his home instead of entering normally.
Gathering his muscles, Echo leaped to the top of a dumpster, from there to a windowsill, and then to the top of the fence. Getting down didn't require quite as much effort from him, only a good sense of balance. After he landed he inhaled, drinking in the night air. None of the other scents were interfering anymore: of all those that had been in the hallway, there was now only sweat and the vague scent of the ocean. Strange. We are not near the water.
Echo walked to the end of the alley, apprehensive as he looked out at the world beyond Flower Row. There was very little in the way of wind and nothing informing him of rain, indicating that the trail would stay somewhat warm for a while. He didn't know what he was going to find by backtracking this trail, but if it helped his pony to stop worrying, he was going to do it even if it meant venturing into unfamiliar territory.
A taxi carriage passed him by. Double-checking to make sure that nothing else big was headed his way, as he was aware of his nearsightedness compared to those he lived with, he cut across the street to continue his search.
Coffee-and-Cream's initial goal in life wasn't to become a police officer. While growing up she had been enamored with mysteries and detective novels, so she decided that she wanted to open her own detective agency. After she finished her schooling, she successfully secured an apprenticeship with somepony working in that field, learning the tricks of the trade for a year and a moon.
Unfortunately, a scandal manifested at the end of that period that resulted in the detective serving time in prison for tax fraud, possession of counterfeit bits, and illegal ownership of a swan. Though Coffee herself was cleared of any wrongdoing, the day-to-day running of the agency fell into her hooves, and she quickly found that it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. The first chance she got, she turned the agency over to somepony more capable and left it for good.
She'd never considered that someday, she'd have to resume that line of work on her boss's orders.
Drama Heart had briefly returned to the Pyre once they arrived at the scene of Leviathan's disappearance. She regrouped with Coffee a few minutes later with her saddlebags, which she said held some Heartbreakers and a few other odds and ends. "I have a big imagination, Officer, and it's telling me that she might need what I'm carrying," she had told her.
It was hardly the weirdest thing somepony had told her, and she had to admit to herself that it had merit in light of Leviathan's publicized dietary needs. She agreed to let Drama take her things with her.
The two of them started their investigation with Drama's neighbor. The pony had initially been irritated at being bothered this late into the evening, but changed his tune when he learned that it concerned what he had found earlier. He re-told Coffee what he'd said to Drama. When pressed for additional details, he was able to recall the color scheme of the pony he'd seen climbing down the ladder.
It took a bit more thinking, but he was also able to piece together that her Cutie Mark was some sort of fruit. "They were purple-blue, kinda sparkly. Sort of looked like a bunch of grapes, but the shape was all wrong," he'd explained. "I want to say they were plums, but..."
...
Drama was grimacing when they left, trying to roll something around in her mind. "Don't feel that you have to stay quiet, Miss," Coffee told her in a low voice as they circled around to the alley. "Speak your mind. I'll decide if it's pertinent to the case or not."
"I was just thinking about that Cutie Mark he described," Drama pondered with a frown. "They sounded like sugar plum candies, and it reminded me of an old business rival of mine back home in Baltimare that liked to use them as her logo."
Coffee shrugged dismissively, then started to climb the ladder up to the roof. "A lot of ponies like to use their Cutie Marks as their business logos. It's hardly uncommon."
"Except that the candies weren't her Mark," Drama corrected her, following her up. "They more accurately reflected her name, 'Sugarplum Spotlight'. Her Cutie Mark was actually a sparkly light beam."
...!
Coffee froze just short of the roof. Couldn't be... "You don't say? You said you were business rivals. What sort of business are we talking about?"
Recognizing that the officer had stopped, Drama did the same. Her horn lit up as a tendril wrapped around a step, keeping herself from falling off. "She was a storyteller and stage magician. Like myself, she'd use illusions to illustrate her tales. The difference between us is that her main attractions were bright, cheery, and family friendly. ...And leaned heavily towards happy endings."
Getting warmer... "And just to make sure I have the name right, her name is 'Sugarplum Spotlight'?"
"Was," Drama corrected her again, somewhere between irritated and truly angry. "She never did like the thought of somepony who 'incites panic for a career' keeping pace with her. She eventually took to learning increasingly powerful magic to spice up her shows, taking more risks. Because of that, according to eyewitnesses, she accidentally hit herself with a spell she hadn't perfected yet. Damaged something in her brain. She was never the same after that."
She huffed. "She stopped calling herself by her real name and began referring to herself as 'Illudere' instead. There were a number of attempts at healing and rehabilitating her, but she became very uncooperative and refused to listen. She even straight up hospitalized one of those trying to help her. After that, they gave up. Trussed her up like a Hearths Warming present and chucked her into an asylum." Drama sneered as her thoughts on the topic lingered. "It would be pretty sad if it wasn't so pathetic."
That's what I'm afraid of. "'Illudere', huh? I thought so." Coffee finished her climb, then reached down and pulled Drama on up. "As it happens, Miss, there's a pony with that very name and Cutie Mark wanted for her role in the MRPD breakout."
It was Drama's turn to freeze, even if just for a few seconds. "Nightmare Moon's sweet sorry keister," she cursed, eyes wide. "I'd always wondered where she went to after that asylum was busted open. I never realized she was right here in Manehattan the entire time!"
From her own saddlebags, Coffee pulled out a flashlight and a small magnifying glass, the latter a memento from her previous career. She gestured for Drama to take the flashlight, then stooped down to examine the roof after the light was on. "Working on a theory here. My mind's thinking that Illudere got it into her head to abduct Leviathan for some twisted reason, and used one of those illusions you mentioned to disguise herself. Personally I don't buy it, but you're likely familiar with that old line about impossibility and improbability."
While mysteries would never number among her favorite novels, Drama was indeed aware of the line in question. Her mind latched onto a different tack. "Why do you think it would be impossible?"
"Because Leviathan's a robot. She probably doesn't see the world the same way we do. Anything Illudere tried would fall flat on its face."
...
"You said you could communicate through song! You never said you could alter reality!"
...
"Eh-heh-heh..."
Coffee looked up at Drama's weak chuckling. There was just enough illumination from the flashlight that she could see the rosy hue past her facial fur. "...Why are you blushing?"
"So, uh... I was demonstrating a very specific illusion to Fairy her first week here." Drama awkwardly tapped her front hooves together. Her face spelled out 'whoopsy-daisy' as blatantly as it could without resorting to billboard advertising. "I had to cut it short when she started freaking out. So yes, um... Reploids can in fact be effected by them."
An awkward silence. "...Right," Coffee muttered, returning her attention to the roof. She found that she was unwilling to continue that train of thought. "Good to know, I guess. Let's... just see if there's anything of note that Illudere might have left behind. Be quiet for a few minutes and keep helping me with that flashlight."
As it would happen, something was left.
While her insanity dug deeper into her brain, Illudere had all but stopped bothering to take care herself. She began going days, at times weeks, without taking any sort of bath or shower. In addition she stopped tending her mane and tail, letting them grow wild and uncontrolled. Oftentimes she tended to forget that either of them existed, and she had to be forced to clean up.
(She always took good care of her teeth, though. One of those who had tried to rehabilitate her once asked why she continued to do so while she disregarded everything else, and her answer was that she wanted ponies to see her "innocent smile".)
Numerous hairs had been left behind all over the roof: orange, dark blue, and silver, unaffected by the former Sugarplum's illusions. All of them had gotten snagged on different parts of the roof, with a few being twisted around several times at the base of the billboard. Coffee's nose crinkled as she collected them. "And ponies think I'm bad about not taking showers," she murmured to herself at one point.
It took some time before she was satisfied that they'd found everything there was on the roof. "At the very least, we've confirmed that Illudere was behind the kidnapping," Coffee said as they returned to the streets, the collected hair secure in her saddlebags. "But this doesn't tell us where she went. We'll need to ask around to see if anypony witnessed any suspicious activities."
Drama looked up at the darkened sky and the brilliant disc of the moon, the latter visible past some drifting clouds. "That will be a neat trick, considering..."
"The alternative is searching around blindly," Coffee answered, "and we're on a time crunch. It's imperative that we recover General Leviathan quickly. The safety of Gray Ghost's family must be secured, and given how dangerous our first four enemies were, the other five will be more so. Even if the K-9 unit succeeds in finding them, I think we will need her help to rescue the victims before the imposed deadline."
"Assuming the kidnappers don't decide to cut their losses first," Drama pointed out.
Coffee's posture sunk slightly, letting her concern show for a moment. "I still don't want to believe that those two thieves would resort to murder if their demands aren't met, but the other three are complete unknowns. Based on your past familiarity with her, do you feel that Illudere would sink that low?"
"Considering she put a pony in the hospital and never showed the slightest bit of remorse for it?" Drama's horn lit up, followed closely by her eyes as they momentarily glowed red. "Yes. She used to be a good pony, but she let our little rivalry get to her head and paid the price for it. There's nothing left of Sugarplum Spotlight in that skull of hers. There's only Illudere."
"Then let's get to work." Coffee straightened. "We'll search along this street and see if we can rouse somepony who might've seen her leave. Unless it falls into your purview, let me do the talking." She gestured at a nearby bakery. Drama recognized it as one that she periodically purchased desserts from. Several lights were on in the apartment above it, though she suspected they wouldn't stay that way for long. "As good a place as any to start."
With an investigation ahead and unsettling words behind, the two of them crossed the street at the intersection and got to work.
To say that Echo's search was uneventful would be lying.
As he tracked the sweaty pony's scent across the city and took necessary detours to evade wandering dogs, he realized something that most in Manehattan had known their entire lives: there was no true rest to be had. The majority of the population might be asleep, but that still left plenty who realized the night's potential and exploited it.
The further along he traveled, the bigger and brighter his surroundings became. Where there were few night-goers back at Flower Row, there were plenty of them here. Time and time again he had to slow down and try to single out the scent after those of others had mingled with it. Thankfully it wasn't too difficult: none of the others smelled quite like the ocean.
From a distance, he heard the chatter of a dozen young ponies as they excitedly entered a noisy facility of some kind. His ears turned back as the raucous racket they called "music" rattled him, and he lingered only long enough to confirm that his target had indeed passed through here before continuing.
And I thought those songs that step-mama and my not-littermates like to listen to were bad. I'll take "fell in love again, what am I gonna tell my friends" over "why is that ugly mare your wife, I am much prettier" any day. Is it really necessary for the ground to shake for it to be considered music?
Echo passed through an alley adjacent to an all-night restaurant. A feral cat on the lookout for scraps, rodents, or both hissed at him as he passed, telling him that this was her territory and that she would not tolerate trespassers. He ignored her, dead-set on staying on track, and didn't so much as flinch when she tried to snap at his tail. There was an air of befuddlement in the alley as he left her behind, the feral cat perplexed at his total lack of acknowledgement.
Gray's pet crossed another street, pausing after he had reached safety. He had no way of knowing this, but he was approaching the heart of the entertainment district. Theaters, dance clubs, music halls, and many more establishments dedicated to the enrichment (and occasional detriment) of ponies' lives had been placed here. Those that were open at this late hour were seeing an abundance of hoof traffic, nearly crowding out the scent that he had followed up until this point. His tail twitched in irritation.
"Oh hey, what a pretty cat!"
Echo growled at the words. Normally he would've sought out attention from others, but right now he had something he wanted to do. He turned away from the one that had spoken and trotted around a corner to see if he could pick up his target's scent again, and to check for a place to take a quick rest. He'd been on the move for the last few hours.
"Aw, don't run away! Are you lost? Here, kitty kitty kitty!"
"Here, kitty kitty kitty". Not on your life, stupid.
Echo picked up his pace when he heard hoofstops behind him. Wanting only to lose her quickly, he darted into another alley. His presence startled two others that had been lurking there, but since they made no move to stop him, he ignored them and sought a hiding place inside a box instead.
Limefrost Spiral had sold an older painting she'd made of the city skyline to a private collector earlier that day. Pleased with her financial gain and deciding to treat herself, she'd made a special trip to a dance club she was familiar with to see if she could spot any good-looking, well-off stallions who were romantically free.
While she wanted to marry a rich pony so that she would be set for life, she wasn't picky when it came to actual companionship. She didn't mind the idea of adopting some sort of pet. So when she saw Echo across the street, she decided that he was as good as any--not seeing his collar and name tag--and tried to coax him to her side. When that failed, she followed after him.
Playing hard to get, are we? We'll see about that! "Kitty, come back here! I just wanna pet you!"
Limefrost saw the cat turn into an alley. Not wanting to lose track of him, she followed him in---and very nearly walked into two ponies who had been hanging out there.
Consisting of one male and one female, they were both scruffy-looking and tough. The latter pulled a knife out of somewhere, while the former opted for a hefty wooden plank that had been leaning against the wall next to him. "Your money, your silence, or both," the male threatened, balancing the plank on one hoof. "And 'none of the above' ain't an option."
...
"Kitty! Kitty, where are you?" Limefrost called, quickly scanning the alley. Seeing no sign of him, she huffed and stomped the ground in irritation. "Lost it!" She sighed and ambled out of the alley back towards the dance club, disappointed. "Thought for sure I'd be picking up a cat tonight... oh, well. Maybe I'll have better luck picking up love."
Scuffed but otherwise unharmed and oblivious to what she'd just done, Limefrost left behind two hapless thugs. Due to Limefrost's longer legs giving her a reach advantage, the male was unconscious from a buck to the face and his own plank landing on his head. The other was trapped against a trash receptacle by her partner's weight, left quaking in fear after her tail hairs were stuck to the ground by her own knife.
I'm going to pretend I didn't see that.
Satisfied that there was no further pursuit, Echo took a moment to catch his breath and quench his thirst from a pan of water that had been set out. The pan had probably been intended for some stray animal or other, but he didn't care as long as he wasn't thirsty anymore. A light breeze ruffled his fur as he drank.
Finished, he turned aside and continued his investigation. The combination of sweat and ocean was coming through loud and clear halfway down the alley, so he figured that his target had been here. He walked around and up a set of stairs, nose working the whole way.
It was at the top of those steps that a faint--very faint--sound reached his ears. It was a noise he recognized from when any of his not-littermates aside from the quiet one were having an especially bad day. Somepony was crying.
He had never met Leviathan before. She had not visited his home since that day he had heard Ebony screaming about a mannequin, and he did not know what she looked or sounded like. He wasn't aware that she had been kidnapped; Gray had not mentioned her at all after she'd returned home.
All the same, Echo wasn't stupid (or at least he believed he wasn't). Somepony arrived at his home while traveling from this location, a place where there was some sort of grief in progress. The one crying didn't sound like anypony he knew, but his little feline mind guessed that the sweaty pony was the one responsible.
It wasn't what he had set out to find, but he knew what needed to be done.
The question is: how to do it?
The crying was coming from behind a padlocked metal door, with a boarded-up and shuttered window next to it. As the situation stood, he had no hope of getting in on his own. He would need to get somepony who could help to follow him here. He considered the two that had been incapacitated, then decided that they wouldn't be in a position to help him anytime soon.
He was still trying to figure out who to ask when the light breeze that had been blowing for the past few minutes brought him news of two new scents. He turned in the direction the breeze had been coming from to better fix them in his mind. One of them was sweaty like his mark, but it was nowhere near as bad and it didn't smell like the sea.
The other he recognized immediately. The angry pony who had threatened his step-mom into working for her and kindly listened to his not-littermates was approaching.
As good as possibilities as any, he decided as he hurried down the stairs and out of the alley. Here's hoping I can get through to them.
It took ten tries before Drama and Coffee were able to make any progress in their search.
The first pony they asked knew Drama from her visits to his bakery, but shook his head apologetically and told them he hadn't seen any suspicious activity. Three more flatly or tiredly told them they hadn't seen anything and closed their doors in the pair's faces, causing Coffee's anger to briefly percolate. A fifth was ill and was too sick to come to the door. The sixth was busy showering in preparation for sleep, and two other residences didn't show signs of life at all. A ninth pony was on his way to a night shift at the Manehattan Museum of Art and hadn't even been awake at the time of Levi's disappearance.
Finally, at an antique shop three blocks from the Pyre, they struck gold. The aged proprietor had been having a slow business day, and he had spent much of his time relaxing on a chair beneath his shop's awning. He witnessed a pony matching the description given to them climbing into a taxi and telling the driver to take her to the Bridleway Theater District. He noticed that the scraggly-haired pony's horn--barely visible within that mess of a mane--had been glowing the entire time, but it didn't look like she was carrying anything or doing anything of note.
The two of them thanked the shop owner for helping them, then left. "If she wasn't doing anything obvious, that could mean her illusions were hiding Leviathan from sight," Coffee muttered on their way back to where their carriage was waiting. "How long do those things last?"
"It depends on how much magic is applied to the illusion and how," Drama clarified. She unsuccessfully attempted to suppress a yawn. "Excuse me. Illudere's at my level of skill and power, so she should be able to juggle multiple small-scale illusions for hours at a time. It's worth noting, though, that it's more difficult for unicorns to carry Levi in their magical field than it is for earth ponies like yourself to carry her with physical strength."
Coffee recalled the interrogations that were carried out on the Midnight Castles after their capture. One of their unicorns had tried to keep Leviathan immobilized but was forced to give up after a short while. The thief had chalked it up to the Reploid's pure strength, which was partially correct but clearly not the full story. "Speaking from experience?"
"I've had to move her a few times, mostly to help her with the stairs after a fall," Drama said, wincing at some memory or other. "It's surprisingly magic-intensive. It doesn't surprise me that Illudere gave up after a few blocks and hailed a carriage. If she handled her for too long, she would be too exhausted to maintain her illusions."
And she would thus alert any sensible citizen to what she was doing. Bridleway's a considerable distance across Manehattan from the Pyre.
Her question answered, Coffee stayed quiet until they reached the carriage. They climbed in, instructed the officer hitched to it to head for Bridleway at a normal pace, and settled in for the trip.
It came as no surprise to Coffee that Drama started to doze off. She let her do so. Coffee didn't have too many issues dealing with minimal amounts of sleep, at least not at this point in her life, but Drama lacked her ability to keep odd hours.
She waited a few moments for Drama to perk up once they reached the source of Manehattan's brightest lights and darkest vices. On finding that she was still asleep, Coffee nudged her. "Wakey-wakey, Ms. Heart. We're here."
Drama opened her eyes tiredly. "...That took far less time than I'd have liked," she complained, stretching a little before following the officer out of the carriage. She became a smidgen more alert as she looked around. "I'm honestly happy that my theater's not part of the in-crowd. So, where do we begin?"
...
This part of the city was just as active at night as places like Bronclyn were during the day. Leviathan's abduction had been some time ago. Coffee didn't think that there were any eyewitnesses here who would've seen Illudere pass through, which meant a more intensive search was what was needed.
It was slow going as they patrolled the street, trying to keep a close eye on anything and everything. Most of those they met were more interested in their own agendas. There were a few who were curious enough to ask them what they were doing, but none of them had seen anything wrong that evening. Occasionally the magnifying glass would come back out, but this time around it didn't help reveal any real clues.
Illudere had told the driver to take her to Bridleway, Coffee recalled. She had never given a specific place on Bridleway to go to. It could be anywhere on these streets. She shook her head, deciding to alter their approach. We're not going to get anyplace out in the open. Time to start checking the darker corners---
"Maaaooow."
Coffee's lips twitched as she heard the sound, and she reined in a smile. "I know you're tired, Ms. Heart, but please keep it down."
"Wasn't me," Drama denied, though she had paused to rub her eyes anyway. "Look up ahead."
Coffee did so, seeing the black cat approaching them at a fast walk. She wasn't superstitious, but seeing one of them at this time of night bothered her a little. Handsome little thing, though, she quietly noted. Looks healthy, though it could just be all that fur.
The cat came to a stop eight feet in front of them, meowing. "Sorry, fella, but I don't have time to pet you right now," Coffee told him, passing him by. "Maybe later. C'mon, Ms. Heart. We've got backstreets to visit."
"Little dearie, so sorry," Drama apologized to the cat as she did the same, giving it a light pat before leaving. "Would've fit my decor beautifully, too..."
...
Echo was miffed as both of the ponies left him behind. He might have been the friendly sort, but if there was one thing he hated more than anything, it was being ignored. I'm trying to do something important, and this is what happens?
Well, if they're just going to ignore me...
There was a way that was guaranteed to get their attention that he knew of. It had worked on his adoptive family when he wanted something right now, and he couldn't think of a reason why it wouldn't work this time. Picking up his pace to catch up with them, he extended his claws and reached towards the unicorn.
...
Drama shrieked as something reached out and scratched her just above her right leg. Coffee jolted at the noise, opening her mouth to tell Drama to quiet down... and jumped a foot in the air when she felt a similar sensation, this time to the left of her tail. "Ow!" Her attempt at a retaliatory buck hit nothing but air, and she whirled to face the culprit. "Why, you little---!"
"Mrrrrow," the cat replied, bringing her up short with his completely unimpressed stare.
The brief lull in activity brought on by the surprise attack let Drama---wincing from her new ache---get a better look at him than they had previously. She could see him clearly in the steetlights' illumination, and he seemed healthier than any stray cat she'd seen in years. To her displeasure, his claws were still evident. Around his neck was a simple collar with a tag hanging from it, giving his address and name---! "Officer, look at the collar!" she exclaimed. "I recognize him now! This is Gray's cat, Echo! How'd he get all the way out here?"
"Why'd it claw us?" Coffee was more interested in knowing, her teeth gritted and her face glowing in embarrassment and mild anger. "That was uncalled for! I could've bucked it just now!"
"Mrrrrow," Echo repeated. He turned and walked down the street the way he came, meowing and chirping the entire way. The two ponies' eyes were fixed on him as he reached the end of the block. He turned to face them and called out again, his tone urgent.
Their disbelief was palpable. "...Are you getting the feeling that he wants us to follow him?" Drama asked, unsure.
Coffee's eyes squeezed shut as she tried to come to terms with this new development. On the one hoof, it probably wasn't a coincidence that Gray Ghost's pet was found out here after their family was kidnapped and Illudere was tracked to this district. On the other, she didn't want any distractions in their investigation. Echo could easily be a false lead, and he'd just found something unrelated that could take them away from their search.
"Maaoow!"
Her eyes opened at Echo's call, and she emitted a frustrated groan. "I just know I'm going to regret doing this, but we don't have any solid indicators of Leviathan's location. Come on, Ms. Heart. Let's see where this takes us."
...
Having them follow him did seem to be what he wanted. When they caught up, he crossed the street and continued going, periodically looking back to make sure they were still on his trail. Coffee and Drama kept pace with him, the officer still harboring doubts and the puppeteer hoping that Leviathan was alright.
It wouldn't be long before Drama learned that her hopes had already been crushed.
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OOF. Yeah, crushed in the WORST possible way: by hurting one's heart.
11688955
Levi's going to need those Heartbreaker candies the second they find her.
Nice work, Echo! You found Leviathan! And hopefully both Drama and Coffee could cheer her up. I'm sure once Leviathan gets the full story, which you already did since you mentioned it in your end notes, Leviathan is going to make sure she never falls for that again.
You mean Leviathan will be DEAD? Because any minor damage to her body can be repaired, so Levi is kinda OK. Her sorrow also do not require for "hopes of Drama to be crushed".
11690487
Hold your horses there, Silver. The second part's not up yet.
11690493
The wording of the first part does not fill me with hope. You should not have said:
It clearly says that Levi is WORSE than "not alright".
Echo is best Familiar!
11690498
All I said was that Drama's hope that Levi was alright was misplaced. Nothing more, nothing less. I never said anything about what Levi's condition actually was at that moment.
Don't know how you arrived at that detail, quite frankly.
Now let's leave it at that, please.
11690622
Yeah... It shows that hopes are a little bit MORE than MISPLACED. Watch the wording, there, please. I know that Levi is main character, and doesn't die, or gets crippled, but those words, those exact words do not fill me with confidence.
"her hopes would not come true"
"she would find her hopes misplaced"
"she would not find her hopes come true"
Some of the softer ways to say it.
"her hopes crushed" sounds like Levi is actually CRIPPLED.
Ah, narrative coincidence... how I tolerate you.
Also, I am now trying to figure out what an actual FIGHT (rather than a duel with rules) between illusionists would be like... I think it might come down to maintaining 'cheap' illusions to trick the opponent into throwing their "trust NOTHING" level stuff at the wrong target. Plus a lot of "spot the loose thread" type stuff... perhaps some 'totems' like the queen and the top from "Inception"?
Interesting that the villain still makes HAPPY dreams despite the horrifying description of what she used on Levi. I also wondered earlier if the reason Levi got out of it and the Pony she used it on is still in a coma is that Levi's computer-brain lets the illusion run to her death a few orders of magnitude than the time it would take before she dies of old age IRL... good thing it didn't extend into an illusionary afterlife...
Edit: Maybe she feels like waking up with only months to live to find you accomplished nothing with your life and half your friends are dead would be cruel, and specifically set it to end at death in the 'dream'? Yeah, that would explain a lot!
*Snerk* Good turn of phrase...