"That will be all for now, Konstantin. Keep up the good work."

"Of course."

As the Russian exchange student shut the door on Edison's 'temporary' office, the old professor couldn't help but stare into the bottom of his glass for a minute. He'd thought that bringing the good stuff along with him would've been enough comfort to make up for switching cages to a less gilded one. He'd been wrong.

It's something that needed to happen, he reminded himself. I need to know what happened in there, and so do many others.

He brought the half-glass of spirits to his lips, ice clattering inside as he downed the rest in one go. Re-corking the bottle, he slid open the bottom shelf of his desk and put it away, next to the well-worn photo of himself, his brother and his students in their heyday.

Hope I'm doing you guys proud, he signed off mentally before gently closing the drawer.

Edison stood up straight, and made his way over to his prefab quarters in the adjoining hall. Stopping only to straighten his shirt collar a bit and comb what remained of his hair back with one hand, he moved with purpose through the maze of hastily assembled concrete and canvas hallways.

With one destination in mind.

< -|- -|- >

Agent Jansman's first statement of the meeting was direct and to the point.

"Report," he commanded tersely.

Dr. Edison suppressed he urge to grimace. These spook types were all the same. Information needed to come now, now, now. They needed to know everything, while at the same time keeping you in the dark as much as physically possible. And if you couldn't get with the program, well, you better make sure you were invaluable, lest they try to go over your head with things.

Well, invaluable he might be, but he'd learned from experience it was still better to play nice when these guys were involved. Saved a lot of headaches on the back end.

"Construction of the new lens is well underway, and proceeding on schedule.", he began without preamble. "Not better, not worse, but neatly in acceptable limits. Considering everything, that's a miracle in and of itself."

Out of the three agents present, none of them gave any outward reaction to his words. Again, typical. It might have just been his ego chafing, but the interrogative stance that usually formed in reports like these always managed to rub him the wrong way. Which was probably the point.

"Elaborate," Jansman delivered in his same bored, distinct monotone.

Edison tsked. "Well, because you're lucky I brought along some people who actually know what they're doing. Seriously, do you know the amount of times I've heard from those three that they had to correct some set of inscriptions or another because one of your hired 'helpers' put the wrong end in backwards first? To put it bluntly: More times than there should have been."

"Those 'helpers' you seem to disdain are some of the top Domain researchers from fields across the globe. Are you implying that the best of the best simply aren't good enough for you, Dr. Smith?"

"Not for a moment, sir," he retorted. "But there's a very important key term you're glossing over there: they're the top in their fields. Researchers might be good, but the better they get the more specialized their work becomes. And, since we're verging on creating an entirely new field with all the data we're gathering… Right now the experience the kids have has them beat."

Elefterov snorted, tusks protruding from his mouth in a snarl that came as close to amusement as orcs could manage. "And what would you have us do about that?", he chuckled derisively. "Take lessons from these… children?"

"If that's what it takes, then yes," he replied candidly. "Look, I get it, you've got a lot of eggheads on hand with overinflated egos that you have to keep at least a little happy. Incentivize them, get them to blame me for questioning their intellect, I don't care. Just get them up to speed before something actually catastrophic happens. Because, as bad as the city-wide power outage was… that occurred after everything was assembled properly. I'd hate to see what happens when it turns out we crossed two ley lines somewhere important just so we could keep the ivory tower happy."

Jansman glanced over his shoulder to the only remaining agent who'd not spoken. Blackthorne gave only the slightest nod.

"We can… make such an arrangement," the Dutchman in the center finally acquiesced. "However, there is one matter of importance that must be addressed before it creates further misunderstandings."

Edison glowered. Of course there was something to gum up the works.

"And that is…?", he asked testily.

"Our schedule is being moved up. The Queen, RAF top brass and the small handful of members of Parliament that both have clearance and aren't somewhere inside the exclusion zone are pushing to have us ready before the next major airlift operation."

The professor cursed audibly.

"Did they give any particular reason as to why they want to rush this now?"

"Officially, it's because they want to use this new enchantment apparatus to establish an open line of communication with the zone interior. Organize better drop zones, establish manifests of necessary supplies for current and future endeavors, a census… the list goes on."

"And… unofficially?"

"That was the truth of things, I'm afraid. We are not at liberty to divulge further information at this time, Dr. Edison."

He grit his teeth. "No. Of course not. Wouldn't want your third party source stealing the show on you now, would you?"

Jansman gave no reply to his comment. "Good day, Professor."

Without another word, he was quickly shooed out of the room for the men in black to discuss amongst each other.

Cute. They think they can keep me in the dark, Edison thought to himself. They really don't understand who they're dealing with, do they…

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He'd magicked his way into the halls of the bloody Great Himalayan Dragon's Lair in his prime. And talked his way back out, too, which was an even greater feat. What was a couple of dressed-up monkeys compared to that literal den of snakes?

< -|- -|- >

A week and a bit later

"Alright, Ffion, hold it steady… Riiiight… there!"

Lucy directed from her perch atop the gantry, shouting down in the moments leading up to the culmination of their work. As had become customary, the tall elf was given the surprisingly dubious honor of putting the final touches on their invention.

It was a bit of a running joke between the three of them; the first official prototype – the one they'd made after being accepted into Dr. Edison's lab – had literally fallen apart on her watch on the very last step of assembly. It had served as a good learning experience for them all, and allowed them to properly break in the lab equipment they'd become intimately familiar with… but ever since then, it was decided that if the machine was going to break, it had to be on her watch.

Especially after the incident had somehow repeated itself, shortly after Konstantin's arrival to the team.

Wonder if she might have been distracted, that time…

Regardless, the final titanium plate of the new – and improved – Day enchantments slid into place without a hitch. Giving a thumbs up as she double checked the welding torch prepared nearby, both Lucy and Konstantin prepared their eye protection as they watched side by side from atop the steel support beam overlooking the work site.

"Safety third," he joked next to her as the heavily tinted goggles slid over his eyes.

"Oh, be quiet and go help your girlfriend make history already," she replied teasingly.

With a deep chuckle, he did just that. Chanting something to himself in Russian, the soft yellow glow of Day Domain mana enveloped his body. Normally, his darkened goggles would have made it impossible to see more than what was directly in front of him, and even then only just. However, with magic boosting his perception, he not only was able to move about with confidence but even had the cheek to use the gantry crane to slide down to Ffion, just because it was a bit faster than using the ladder.

Not to mention a whole lot riskier. He only got away with stunts like this due to his title as Dr. Edison's semi-official attaché.

"Take it easy on the equipment!", she reminded him. "The suits don't stand for horseplay, you know!"

"Is why I do it now, when they not pay attention!"

She let out a halfhearted sigh, running through the final checklist in her head and finding everything in order.

"Whatever… everyone ready?"

"You bet!", Ffion shouted excitedly, dropping the visor on her own welding mask. "Last step in 3… 2… 1…!"

The room went silent save for the buzzing of arc flashes. This was an almost sacred moment for all of them. Seeing their work be completed was akin to watching the ritual magic of old, back when the Ten Domains were more of an art than a science.

Everything had to be perfect, or their pseudo-spellbound captivation would be broken.

The last spark flashed into the air, then sputtered out. The lights of the outside world returned to normal, and Ffion stepped back, handing the torch off to Konstantin.

"It's done," she said with a sense of finality. "The Cloudpiercer Mk. IV is ready for its inaugural testing."

And what a beauty it was. They all took a moment to admire the finished product.

This time… this time, it's going to work for real.

From behind them all came a slow, drawn out clap. The trio were shocked at first, surprised that there was anyone else there with them. Not that that confusion lasted long. Of the few people who had access to the worksite while they were on the job, only one would bother to show up to congratulate them.

"Looking ready to take on the world, I'd reckon," Dr. Edison applauded. "And a full day ahead of the new schedule, to boot. I won't lie, I didn't expect you three to rise to the occasion like this."

"Professor!", Lucy exclaimed, hurriedly climbing down the gantry the proper way. "Professor, we did it!"

They gathered up in front of their creation, and their mentor clapped them each on the back one by one.

"You all worked a wonder today," he agreed wholeheartedly. "And since we've all got a little time, I think you all more than earned a little reward from me to you. Take a seat, everyone."

A few minutes and a handful of metal folding chairs later, they were all circled up in front of the Cloudpiercer in anticipation of what Dr. Edison had in store.

"Now, as I'm sure you're all aware by now, Domain magic has a lot to thank me for." A few nods from them in response came, politely putting up with the self-aggrandizing for now. "And that's all well and good… but I was not the only Founding Mage, either. Without the five of us working together, magic as we know it today probably would never have happened."

From within the folds of his jacket, he removed a small hip flask and put it to his lips. "Funnily enough, you all sort of remind me of them, in a way. So, I thought in celebration of all the work you three have done here, I'd tell you all the story that I've been keeping from the press for decades now."

"...And that is?", Lucy asked hesitantly.

"Well, the story of how we all met, obviously."

< -|- -|- >

It all started with an eventful trip to Cyprus.

Though, to tell the truth, what trip to Cyprus wasn't eventful now, in some way. Not even a decade before, there'd been an entire coup d'etat on the island itself, followed by a counter-invasion from Turkey shortly after. Even after 7 whole years, the world's leaders of the year 1981 were no closer to figuring out exactly how to address the situation as it happened in 1974.

Why a luxury cruise would willingly stop there was beyond Ed Smith's ability to figure out. Tourism money, was his best guess. Any port along the Mediterranean Sea that wasn't actively embroiled in something or another benefited from it greatly, so why couldn't this particular Gr-… contested island?

Money made the world go 'round, after all… At least, for most people, it did.

He smirked to himself as he idly juggled coins in the air with his hidden talent. They'd stopped in a bunch of high-profile ports already on this vacation – France, Spain, Italy, and so on – so the two of them had gathered a pretty diverse collection of notes and coinage.

Mostly legally. Portugal had been too good to pass up.

"Would you stop doing that already?", his brother Randall griped to him from the other side of the cabin. "What if someone catches you in the act again?"

The white glow from Ed's palm dimmed as the coins flew to his open hand one by one, stacking themselves neatly in ascending order. "No one's going to notice in here, genius," he responded. "I put the 'do not disturb' tag on the door, so relax. It's not like I do this sort of thing up on the main deck."

"Well, stop it anyway! We're on this cruise because you couldn't keep to yourself in the first place! And it's distracting, too!"

"Aaannd there's the real reason," Ed laughed.

Randall groaned. "Fine. Be like that. I needed to take a leak, anyways." He shut the book he'd been attempting to read, and wandered off down the hall.

Ed paid it no mind. As soon as the door was shut again, he just went straight back to his exercises.

"Quit doing magic, he says…" came his mocking words behind Randall's back. "Like he wouldn't be doing the exact same thing if he could levitate things with his mind…"

Dark clouds rolled in quickly over the Mediterranean. Before long, the soft patter of rain against the porthole window of the cabin brought a sense of calmness to his practice.

He glanced at his watch. Half an hour had gone by, without him even realizing it.

Randall had yet to return.

"Hang on a minute…"

Meanwhile…

When Randall came to, he found himself bound, blindfolded, and somewhere where the sway of the ship was far more pronounced.

His first thoughts was that Interpol had caught up with them again. You'd think that after giving them the slip in France, switching ships in Spain and flat-out faking their deaths in Italy, they'd have taken the hint by now. Who in their right mind would keep chasing them after that?

Apparently, someone completely unrelated, in this instance.

He could hear voices, not too far from where he was pretending to still be unconscious. Some sort of babbling in a foreign language he hadn't learned. Definitely not English, or even an English accent.

A theory began forming in his mind. By pure chance, it would seem he'd gotten himself entangled in local affairs.

The hell do they need me for, anyways? What idiot would test their luck trying to kidnap a trained infantryman?

The answer to the who of things came sooner than anticipated. The sound of a camera beginning to record chimed out nearby, and a man began speaking to it in broken English.

"People of Cyprus and the EU!", he spoke fervently. "We have assumed command of this pleasure vessel! Our demands have gone unanswered for too long! Today, you will give us what we want, or none on this craft will live to see the sun set!"

Great… I'm a hostage now…

"These five here are just the beginning! They shall die, knowing that you did nothing to save them! That your inaction brought about their deaths!"

Randall was unceremoniously dragged to his feet and thrust headfirst over a table of some kind. The sharp edge of a blade rested on the back of his neck, prepared to strike.

"Know that you had the power to prevent this! Know that we, the- *urk*"

Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the pressure on his neck was removed and he felt a pair of hands fumbling at the blindfolds.

"Can't go five minutes without getting yourself in trouble, can you?", his brother griped.

"Oh, shut it! And make sure that camera gets smashed, while you're at it!"

"So demanding…"

With only a little bit of stumbling from the worsening sway of the boat, Randall was freed and the evidence was destroyed. Well, aside from the body with a franc embedded deep into its forehead. That was going to be a rough one to dispose of.

Worries for later. Right now, he busied himself with freeing the other prisoners there with him.

Two of them were men, the other two were women. Seemingly just random tourists, like himself, from all over Europe. He worked as quickly as he could, since outside the wind was howling against the hull. He could hear it from here… wherever here was.

"It's alright, you're going to be alright now…"

He spoke comforting words to the other four, making sure they weren't hurt too badly to be moved as he went. Thankfully, none of them had anything worse than minor bruising from where they'd been knocked out.

"We're going to get you out of here, you understand?", he spoke softly to a sandy-haired woman about his age.

"Y-yeah…"

She spoke with a bit of an accent. Swedish, maybe? He wasn't too good with geography, but it was somewhere up in that area.

A long way from home, then.

"Ed, we're good to go! Any plan I should know about?"

"Not really," Ed shrugged. "Just stay close and- shit!"

A man with an automatic rifle rounded the corner and raised his weapon to bear. As fast as he might have been lining up the shot, however, Ed was faster. Another coin flew from his hand and burrowed in between the gunman's eyes.

The four fellow hostages were stunned to silence. Randall, being more familiar with what his brother was capable of, had more practical concerns.

"How many coins you got left?"

"About twenty pounds sterling worth. Why?"

"Just a feeling we might need all of them, is all…"

Military training kicking in, he picked up the gun from the man's hands and went on ahead to secure the area. Leaving Ed to figure out how to deal with the four, brand new eyewitnesses.

"Was… was that a coin?" The blonde lady from before stammered. "But that… he's dead! That shouldn't even be possible!"

"Possible can be stretched a pretty long way, actually," Ed retorted.

"Just who are you, exactly?", another demanded. "What are you going to do with us?"

"Ja!", spoke a third in a thick German accent. Followed by a string of German that was borderline unintelligible to Ed, but very obviously distressed.

"Everyone, please calm down!", he shouted over the panicking chorus. "I'm going to make sure we all get out of this alive, and all I ask in return is that you lot keep quiet about me being here. Sound fair?And besides… huh?"

He looked away for a moment, seeing a familiar flash in the adjoining hallway. One that he'd seen only once in his life before.

"Randall, look out!!"

The particle swarm bounced around erratically, glimmering motes flowing in Ed's direction like a swarm of angry insects.

The motes ignored him completely, washing over him in waves with disinterest. The four behind him, however, were a different story entirely. Knocking each of them unconscious one by one, the particles of glowing magic suffused with each of them before any had time to react.

Those that weren't absorbed began eating pinhead-sized holes in the hull.

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