As a vigilante group, Nightwatch doesn’t have the influence or resources needed to acquire their own compound. Rather, they send encrypted messages which require a secondary key to decipher. If anyone is ever able to decrypt the message, its appears as a string of worthless symbols without this key. Once decoded, the message simply consists of a time, coordinates and the names of Nightwatch members who should attend, if at all possible.
This cumbersome, but effective system is how Nightwatch organizes their meetups. This evening, the meetup is taking place at a stalled construction site in the Northwest part of Olympus.
The first to arrive is Illumina. She’s the youngest member of Nightwatch and eager to prove herself to the jaded older members. Her inclusion was a hotly contested debate between several members who went through the pros and cons of such a young person joining Nightwatch. She narrowly got in, so she’s been annoyingly punctual and engaged with the group since she feels challenged to prove herself.
Bastion arrives a few minutes after Illumina, stares at her briefly and sighs. “Looks like I owe Gust $20.”
Puzzled, Illumina asks “Oh yeah, why is that?”
“Don’t you have anything better to do that sitting around waiting for the rest of us?” Bastion replies.
Illumina fires back. “Nope. My calendar is wide open.”
“You need a hobby. And by that I mean one that doesn’t involve sitting around waiting for messages from Codex.” Bastion turns to face her. “You’re too young to get mixed up in all this. You’re going to end up getting hurt. I don’t want that weighing on my conscience.”
Illumina ponders a response, but turns to welcome Codex who arrived next. Dressed in an Atari t-shirt and khaki slacks, the young, rail-thin nerd of the team is visibly flushed and winded as if he just sprinted all the way here.
“Are you alright?” Illumina asks.
“Hu..huh yeah.” Codex responds. He is obviously short of breath. “Just didn’t want to be late is all.”
Right on his tail is Gust, who walks in like she owns the place. She has a commanding presence which comes from a combination of her beauty, confidence and form-fitting outfit. She walks straight up to Bastion and gives him a smirk, at which Bastion begrudgingly slides her a $20 bill.
“OK, looks like the gang’s all here” says Gust as she uses a blast of self-generated air to boost herself up to the hood of a dump truck on the site. “Today, we’re here so we can figure out what to do about Wild Daisy.”
Codex responds “we’ve gotten wind of several attacks on timber camps in the forests north of here. Reports claim that she’s systematically targeting these places to terrorize the workers, destroy their equipment and shut down their logging operations.”
“So do we know where she’s going to attack next?” Illumina chimes in.
Bastion replies “we have a pretty good idea. She seems to be picking her targets based on how isolated the logging camp is. Based on those factors, we have narrowed her next target down to these two locations.”
Bastion produces a map of the area with two areas circled. “These two camps are 8 miles apart, which means we’re going to have to split up and observe each location. Once someone spots her, contact the other team immediately so we can regroup and take her down.”
Gust hops down from the hood of the truck and looks at Codex “you’re coming with me, and Bastion is the babysitter tonight.”
Illumina gives Gust her best stink-eye, but holds her tongue.
“All of her attacks have happened between 11p.m. and 1a.m., so let’s get moving” squeaks Codex, trying his best to exert some authority.
The group nods in unison and splits up, each driving to their assigned location.
// To be continued in Episode 1-3
Prologue (complete):
Season 1:
Cover Image: Freepik
