Levik had been oblivious to the world around him for the past ten minutes. Everyone else had been running like headless slaughter animals, trying to pick up the pieces and work out what had happened. They all had families to deal with, relatives to call, things to sort out. Levik had none of that. Not here at least. His family were back at home, at his beloved nest, continuing business as normal. His blood family… well, Levik had no idea about them.
Not that any of that really mattered right now. Something had caught Levik’s attention. A low humming sound. Slightly below what most of the locals could hear. Considering that the locals were mostly Vrekans, that wasn’t surprising.
It wasn’t just humming though. It sounded like a signal. As Levik turned his head to one side, he swore it was coming from a certain direction.
With little else to do and no way to get back home, Levik decided to follow the sound.
The humming led Levik up some stairs, down a corridor, up some more stairs and finally onto a platform on the roof of the building. It was an emergency helicopter pad but it was clearly not in use right now. Probably because part of it had collapsed.
Levik was more cautious now. Not just because of the height and the rubble, but because the wind had picked up since he’d gotten up here. He knew it would be windy, but it was even winder now than it had been as he reached the rooftop. There was something in the clouds, different from the purple mist that had recently struck the city.
“You heard my signal.”
Levik rubbed his eyes as he stared at the clouds. He could see the shape of something… familiar. The voice sounded familiar as well.
“Panelix?”
“Yes.”
“You… haven’t spoken to me in a lone time…” Levik sighed. “Not since you convinced me to leave my old life behind.”
The clouds continued to swirl. No one else had noticed, but then again, why would they?
“You are happier now though, yes?”
“I am.”
“Good…” the Panelix growled. “Because I hate to inform you that you will have to put your current life on hold for a while.”
“Why?” Levik was confused. Why had She come for him? Now of all times?
“Because I require your assistance. I have no other allies as… sleuth-like as you. I need you to sneak into the domain of the Allbirther and find out the specifics of her experiments. This information needs to be relayed back to myself, in secret, so I may prepare counter-attacks as and when they are needed.”
“And you can’t do this yourself?” Levik asked.
“No. If I could, I would have already. But to raise a claw against Yisini now could spell disaster. She has taken control of the Thantophor and would happily use him against me if she saw me as a threat.”
Levik sighed. He couldn’t say no. He had no choice. “Very well. But am I doing this completely alone?”
“If you prefer, you may take some of your own allies with you. But I recommend seeking assistance outside of the main circle of the Union, as to not draw the ire of Yisini herself.”
“Fine. Do you have any starting information you can give me?”
“It will all be sent to your personal devices…”
The clouds slowly stopped swirling. The sky in general began to clear up, with hints of blue sky and orange sunlight sneaking between the clouds.
After no more than a few seconds, the Panelix disappeared. Levik sighed to himself once more as his communicator beeped.
“Well, I had better get started then…”