"Is this it?" said Laura as she stepped down the last step from the train station stairs, looking at the tall building a short distance from her. She strained to see through the thin fog before her eyes. The morning had brought with it the light of the sun, but it was quickly covered up by the surrounding clouds. A pall seemed to be felt in the air, and the fog that was all around Laura seemed to exemplify that fact.

"Certainly looks like it," said Walski as he emerged from the stairway above. He squinted as he tried to look through the fog to see the entrance to the building. "Where the hell did this fog come from? I could have sworn we had _some_ light before we made our stop."

"I don't know," Laura replied. "It's all got to do with the demons, though. It has to. One's thing's for sure, though. We have to get in there so we can end all this madness." She craned her neck up to look at the building itself. At first built to be an imitation of the world's tallest skyscraper, the Sebec building had accrued so many profits in its many business ventures that it was able to build past the coveted height of that famous structure. Made of black, reinforced steel, it had always stood out among the other buildings in town, even the commercial skyscrapers which flanked it on either side. Even now, in a time of utter horror and evil, the building still stood out. While other buildings surrounded by the thin fog seemed to be covered and overcome by the thick mist, the Sebec building seemed to grow, even stand out more in the middle of the fog which blanketed it, almost as if it belonged to it, was nurtured by it...

*Guido's in there somewhere...can we really defeat him?* thought Laura, her fist clenching unconsciously, *..only one way to find out. We've come too far to stop now...*

Laura blinked and turned as she heard another voice coming down the stairway. It was Renee, shaking free of Lori's protective arm. She waved her hand at her, helping herself down the stars despite the lacerations on her thigh.

"I'm ok, really!" said Renee, her voice seeming to pierce the surrounding fog, "Ive had worse when it came to soccer injuries and stuff. A little cut isn't really going to hurt me." Despite Renee's reassurances, however, she seemed to wince as she descended the stairs on her injured leg and onto the ground level.

Laura grumbled. "Does she have to be so loud? She'll draw those demons to us in half a second.."

Walski grinned. "Don't worry, we're more than capable of beating whatever comes in our way. The might of my blade and the valiant cause which exists on our side will surely win the day."

Laura noted that Walski had once again unknowingly slipped into a "Kunou" mode of speech once again, and then spoke almost in an off-hand, dry manner. "Yeah, but we'd like to at least _try_ to avoid the fights. Besides, she's so uncute when she yells like that," she added under her breath.

Walski blinked and turned his gaze away from the building and back to Laura. "What did you say?"

Laura blinked as well, realizing after the fact what she had said. "Hm? Oh, nothing...just that she shouldn't attract anything by shouting like that," she said, covering up her added comment. *Why did I say that? I didn't mean to say it..* thought Laura, a puzzled look crossing her face for a brief second. She shook her head to clear the thought from her mind as she turned to face the rest of the group which had joined her and Walski at the bottom of the stairs.

"Well, where to next?" said Renee, speaking to Laura in, thankfully, a softer voice. In the time before they had arrived at the Sebec building, Rex had given an account of the events so far, including the visit by Rijk and the acquiring of their unique powers. Unfazed, she had determined to join Laura and the others in their little mission. Citing that she had an important reason to go to the Sebec building anyway, she had readily agreed to stay with them. Strangest to Laura was the fact that Renee had then proceeded to describe a dream which she had had while she slept on the bus on the return trip back into town. After listening to her account it was clear to Laura that she had had the same dream which had come to all of them from Rijk concerning their Personas.

*It could hardly be a coincidence, especially after that showing of the same power we have,* thought Laura at the time. She spoke aloud. "We're going to the Sebec building, of course. And we're going to settle this once and for all, with that creep Guido."

The group started walking toward the building entrance, the space in front of them gradually becoming more and more visible, the station behind them being swallowed up by the fog. Renee spoke again, replying to Laura. "Well, I knew that, but where do you think this guy is, anyway?"

"Probably at the top floor," said Laura. "We'll just have to make our way up."

"All right. As long as we make a stop somewhere in the building."

"Why?"

Renee was about to answer when Walski, who was leading at the front, signaled the group to stop and pointed. "Looks like that's the entrance to the building. Let's go." He started to move.

Lori grabbed his sleeve, stopping him. She pointed out past him. "Don't be so rash," she said silently. "Check out the suits." Sure enough, about four or five men seemed to be glued to the front of the building, all in sunglasses despite the fog, their black suits easily making them stand out in the murky light.

"Well, how's that gonna stop us?" said Walski, undaunted. "We can run throught hem, especially seeing as we're sort of on an important mission, here..."

"Well, they wouldn't be able to defeat us, certainly," said Bradster, addressing Lori. He squinted briefly, blinked, then shifted his gaze to Walski and continued. "It's just that we wouldn't want to attract all the attention, especially if this is where all these...creatures..are coming from."

Laura assumed a thinking posture. "So how are we going to get in? We're messed up either way - hey!" She stopped in mid-sentence as she saw out of the corner of her eye, Renee fearlessly moving towards the entrance, walking briskly. "Renee, stop..! Wait until we've formulated a plan!" said Laura, calling after her.

"No problem!" called Renee back over her shoulder. "I've got it taken care of..!" She kept moving, having moved within sight of the black-suited men.

"Ah, geez.." said Laura, exasperated. "C'mon, we better follow her before she gets into trouble. She's so impatient..." The group followed after the determined Renee, who was now talking briefly to one of the men.

"What's she doing? If she screws up, we'll have to have a little quick fight to settle things." said Rex, the red bamboo umbrella already in his hand.

"Put that away," said Laura over her shoulder. "You're starting to sound like Walski."

"So it's contagious."

Lori blinked as she saw what was happening in front of her eyes. Renee was nodding, seeming to thank the man, who smiled and nodded back. Renee moved to the revolving door which was the entrance to the Sebec building and stopped, turning around. She waved the others forward. "Looks like she got past them...somehow..." she noted.

"I don't believe it...I thought she was going to get us in trouble.." said Laura, now moving faster since the danger was apparently past.

"Just goes to show you shouldn't assume things," said Walski, grinning again.

"Yeah, yeah..."

They moved to the door, now within earshot and sight of the men in the black suits. One man, the one who Renee had talked to, nodded briefly at the approaching group as they passed, a little tentatively. The man seemed to notice their hesitance and gave them a little smile. "Don't worry. We're here to protect the building and not let any "unauthorized" individuals in. Since you all are Miss Renee's friends, you're ok. It's good that she made it somewhere safe."

Laura got a puzzled look on her face, her annoyance at Renee's initiative dissipating in the face of her confusion. *_Miss_ Renee?* she thought, *This gets more intriguing by the minute...oh well. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, I guess*. She entered the revolving door, the others behind her.

*****

^So how is the energy gathering going?^ said Sineriitrii, leaning back in his chair across from Guido's. He smiled as he noticed Guido's somewhat evasive look. ^He becomes more and more of a pawn by the minute,^ thought the black-robed man.

"It goes well," replied Guido, picking up a piece of paper and reading from it, more out of a way to drop his gaze from Sineriitrii's rather than any interest in what he was reading. Things had gone very quickly in the last few hours. With the acquiring of the new energy Sineriitrii was harnessing, the Deva Yuga would be operational again in the next hour or so.

Even though this should have made Guido happy, it seemed that it added to his uneasiness. His second had taken a few liberties in the time he had last met with him, especially in the gathering of this new energy. He had, as Guido had learned when he awoke from the few hours of sleep he had managed to steal in his office, increased the output of the human workers and had worked them to the point of exhaustion. Guido was self-centered, it was true, but he would have never subjected his workers to such a strenuous schedule. This Sinteriitrii may not need sleep, but his men and women did, and Guido knew very well that he needed many hands to do his work for him. In other little ways, SIneriitrii had made little changes in the way he was running the Deva Yuga operation.

This, coupled with the strange dream Guido had as he slept, disturbed him. In the dream, he was in high school again - only instead of walking proudly in the halls, he was running away, a bag over his shoulder. A huge crowd of high school students were running after him, angry, shouting. And strangest of all, he was laughing maniacally. Afterwards, he had woken, and cursed the hard surface of his desk that he had dozed off on for his bad dream.

Guido was shaken out of his reverie as Sineriitrii replied to him after a brief silence. ^Yet, according to my statistics, we could do better. I'd say your workers are not working fast enough.^ He said it with almost a non-chalant, yet cold, tone.

"Well, we needed to give them that break, to get some sleep. Any fitful rest, even one in this....situation...is appreciated." shot back Guido, a little miffed at his tone of voice.

^Very well. But we are falling farther and farther behind schedule,^ said Sineriitrii dryly. ^The sooner we get this working, the sooner you can implement things.^

"True enough," said Guido. "But we'll never get there if they're exhausted half to death. Have some patience."

^May I suggest a real solution to this problem?^ said Sineriitrii, leaning forward on his elbows and bridging his fingers.

"Go ahead."

^It's simple. Fire all the workers.^

"What?!" said Guido, standing up in sudden fury. This was preposterous, the last straw. He may have, admittedly, lost some control of his precious company, but here was where he would stand. No one, not even someone as trusted as this individual sitting in front of him, would tell _him_ that this was the best option.

Sineriitrii calmly stood, his eyes level with Guido's. ^My minions can work faster then this. Let the workers go, let them seek out their homes and their families. Lord knows they must be wondering what happened to them."

"Are you kidding? It's a hellhole out there. Even if your...minions...don't touch them, they'll still have to find their way past all the destruction out there. It's best to let them stay. And who says that they could do better..? I will be the one who decides if things are all right the way they are or if they need to be changed...." Guido was angry now, his eyes flashing dangerously.

Sineriitrii narrowed his eyes at Guido as he stared at him across the desk. ^He is reaching for his power...I can feel it..^ he thought as Guido clenched his fist. ^This cannot be. I must stop it. My pawn cannot be moved if it refuses to move on the board.^ He spoke aloud, his voice becoming softer, almost hypnotizing. His eyes began to glow red. ^You must let them go...they are not better off here. It is the better thing to do. My minions can work better at their stations - they are very adaptable and can do the job without rest. Trust me.^

Guido seemed unable to take his eyes off of Sineriitrii's gaze. The pupils of his eyes glowed a crimson red, and the light, and his voice, seemed very calm, soothing. His anger began to fade as he considered Sineriitrii's suggestions. They seemed so practical. And this way, he was giving his workers a much needed rest. Yes, that was it. He could call them back later, and perhaps they could work in conjunctions with whoever Sineriitrii had brought in to help him. That would certainly double or even triple production. "Are you sure that they will be safe?" he asked, concerned about not being able to bring back his workers and scientists.

^You have my word that they will serve your purpose, and that they will not be harmed as I stand here in this room.^ he replied, smiling.

"....Very well." said Guido after some hesitation and thought, sitting down again. "But be sure you keep to your word."

^To the absolute letter. After all, I am here only to serve.^ he said, stepping back and incling his head towards Guido. ^I will make..arrangements. I will be back to report my results.^ He turned, and to Guido's surprise, faded away into the shadow of the room instead of walking out the door as usual. Part of him screamed that he had given up too much ground, that he had crumbled. Rationalizing that he would stand his ground at the next opportunity, Guido squashed his own self-objections and buried himself in his work, trying to forget the gaze of those red eyes...

*****

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