Valkyrie Smash

"So this is the place…" Ingrid said with a bit of doubt in her voice.

"Seems like it," Simon added in a similar tone.

After Ingrid threatened him a little, the terrorist confessed everything he knew, which wasn't much at all. That said, they still got something by the end of it.

The manufacturing district of the First Settlement. It was an area on the western side near the outer wall, dedicated solely to factories. Most of the time it is closed off to anyone other than the workers. That didn't stop Ingrid and the others, however.

They surveyed the area from a high altitude, and once they spotted their destination, she and Juni teleported straight inside, bringing both Simon and Sara with them.

"I… don't think I like this…" the reporter said after they arrived. She held a hand to her mouth like she was about to vomit, indicating that teleportation wasn't her strong suit.

"Whoa... We're already inside…" Simon, on the other hand, seemed to be doing pretty well.

They were inside one of the warehouses at the very back. According to the info they got from their captive, he and the others were supposed to drive the trucks to this location. Having scanned it from outside, Ingrid already knew there was nothing inside besides a number of crates and some empty containers. She decided to check the place anyway, hoping to find some clues.

"This place wasn't used in ages," Simon noted, after tracing one of his fingers on a nearby crate and seeing the dust accumulated on it.

"There might be a secret door somewhere." Juni said with utmost seriousness.

"Or it might be that the location they gave that guy was a fake." Though she said that, Ingrid was hoping they would find a secret door as well. She didn't believe their captive was lying about the information he gave them, but if turned out to be fake it might be that he didn't know from the beginning.

'Did they wait till the kidnapping happened before giving them the real location?'

While deep in thought, she noticed something moving in the corner of her eye. Pretending to walk around one of the containers, Ingrid summoned her halo and teleported. An instant later she landed a couple dozen meters away with something held in her hands.

"What's that?" Sara asked, having recovered from the slight dizziness she felt.

"A drone," Said the Nephilim. "Maybe we are in the right place after all."

The drone was already broken; she had to crush it to remove its optical camouflage. That said, the fact that someone bothered to leave one behind meant they didn't come here for nothing.

After searching a little more, another clue presented itself. Some of the containers had been moved recently which resulted in some traces being left in the layers of dust. After deducing which and moving them out of the way, to their surprise they found... nothing.

"Strange…" Ingrid held her chin and tried to think of something else.

"I think I have seen something like this before." Said Juni.

"I think I know which one you're talking about," Simon added with a smile.

"You don't mean…"

Walking toward the containers at the center, Ingrid smashed the lock on one of them and tried to open it. When she did, it became clear that its door and several others were linked together. The lock she broke turned out to be a decoration with something else keeping the containers closed.

"This is a pain…"

There was no point in locking doors if the intruder could break through them with ease. Forming her halo once more, Ingrid went on to create something peculiar. It extended from her lower back, its thickness decreasing along its length. It ended in three long blades joining together to form a single sharp tip.

"A tail?" Simon asked.

"Yup."

As the young gang leader had said, the thing Ingrid created was indeed a tail. It was blue in color, and though it appeared reptilian, in truth it was entirely mechanical.

"Hey! Isn't that from Super Rex?" Juni exclaimed.

"Yeah," Ingrid replied while waving the tip of her tail left and right.

"You come you can use it without taking out the whole thing!?"

"Because I'm awesome." The Nephilim grinned. "Want me to teach you how?"

"Of course!"

"Maybe you should leave that for another time." Sara interrupted them. "We came here to look for the children, remember?"

"Right."

Ignoring the sulking Juni, Ingrid turned to the stack of containers. Her tail moved slowly, the glow of her Force Field spreading to its tip. The next instant it turned into a blur before stopping. Stepping forward, she placed her right hand on the container's surface and pushed lightly.

With a faint creak, a rectangular-shaped metal sheet fell down, leaving behind it a hole of the same size and shape.

"Showoff." Simon snorted.

"Ha! This is nothing." replied the Nephilim.

Having created the entrance herself, Ingrid was the first to walk through it. A wide grin spread on her face once she got a look at what was inside.

"Well look at what we got here."

As it turned out, the stack of containers was fake after all. Their insides were hollowed, leaving only a large shell used to cover something at the center of the warehouse. There was a large hole in the floor with a slope leading to a gate at its bottom.

The gate itself looked like the door to a massive vault and as soon as they saw it everyone became convinced that they found what they came to look for.

"I knew it!" Juni exclaimed as she followed inside.

"Now that's unexpected." Sara came in next. She was using her phone as a flashlight since she couldn't see in the dark like the other two. "Didn't you miss it in your last scan?"

"It might sound strange but… we aren't really omniscient." Ingrid looked around the hollowed containers. "It's a little difficult, but one can still trick our eyes if they put in the work."

She noticed several devices installed around the shell's corners. Those seemed to be what masked the center of the warehouse in her last scan so she quickly disposed of them and turned her sight back to the gate.

"Alright then."

Using her tail again, Ingrid sliced through the vault door. Halfway through, she realized that the whole thing might be boobytrapped. Thankfully nothing exploded and she was able to create an entrance for them to pass through.

"Hmm… this doesn't look good…"

After peeking inside, Ingrid faced the others with a slight frown. Simon crossed his arms and knit his brows.

"What? Don't tell me it's a dead end."

"Far from it." The Nephilim shook her head. She glanced at the hole behind her and explained. "There is a tunnel beyond this point. A long one at that."

The others were confused for a moment but Sara seemed to realize what she meant.

"It leads outside the Settlement."

"So it seems."

The tunnel itself wasn't a problem but the fact that it might lead somewhere that falls outside the Cleanser's range. With the Primordial having moved its visit forward, those at risk of contracting Madness had to be careful not to leave the safe zones. That included both Sara and Simon.

"I told Antony I would bring his daughter back," Simon said, his expression full of determination. "I'm not going back without her."

"You heard him." Sara shrugged, sighed then smiled. "As for me, I won't be wasting the chance to get such a great scoop. Besides, you can just teleport us back if we start losing it, right?"

Sighing, Ingrid shook her head while smiling. Something told her that would be their response but she still asked just in case.

"Just be sure to say something if you start hearing voices in your heads." She turned to face the hole she created. "Alright, let's go get those bastards."

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