Magnus rushes to Toni, who's caressing her neck.
"What the hell do you think you were doing?!!!" Magnus shouts.
"Can't I watch my cousin do his thing?" replies Toni. She was always her cousin's biggest fan. This was the first time she ever got to see Omega Magnus in action.
"You almost got killed!" says Magnus with a worried look on his face, "How do you think I'm going to explain that to your mum?"
Toni looks to the side with a defeated look on her face. Her mother, Stefani Lockyer loved her far too much to the point where she outright refused to let her join her cousin's crusade. That didn't stop her from getting into protest marching though.
"Come on, I'll take you to the Magnus Lair." says Magnus.
"Really?" Toni is overjoyed. "I'm so excited! I haven't seen it yet."
The two travel on Magnus' assault bike, now called the MagnusCycle, riding towards the Magnus Lair.
Reaching the Magnus Lair, Toni looks around in fascination, as if she's the inside of the Roman Coliseum.
"This is so cool!" exclaims Toni, "Is that a car over there?"
"Yeah, just fine tuning it now." Magnus replies.
The assault car Magnus had been building for a while stands completed. Dubbed the MagnusMobile, the car is a heavily battle hardened assault vehicle with a sleek sports like design, being reinforced with heavy armor plating for serious protection. The car has a sliding cockpit canopy for entering the car rather than the usual car doors. The car is equipped with various gadgets, including an afterburner for extra speed, flare emitter for diverting heat seeking missiles, twin concealed Vulcan cannons, a disc launcher, and a concealed cannon that fires 30 cm shells. All in all, just the kind of sleek battle car you'd take into a full fledged war.
"Can I drive it?" Toni asks playfully,
"No!" Magnus shouts, "This is serious!"
The two walk towards the computer area. Both sit down, with Magnus sitting on the main computer chair, looking like a king sitting on his throne overseeing his kingdom.
"Toni," Magnus begins to speak, "What you're getting involved in, it's far too dangerous."
"I can take care of myself! Toni exclaims, "I'm not a baby anymore! I mean, you've seen how I handle myself in a debate, right?"
"This isn't about debating. This is about Stephenson and his party."
"I knew he was up to something! He needs to be exposed! I can handle all that!"
"It's more than that." Magnus' tone is dead serious, "Despite crime levels plummeting, me and EJ have notice a string of killings and disappearances over the last year. The methods of killing and people going missing are all different, but all the victims are of various race, religion and sexual orientation. A few happened to be female. All we know is that all the victims were opposing the Fight for Change Party."
Toni's jaw drops at the revelation her cousin had brought to light.
"You think Stephenson is behind it?" Toni asks,
"We do suspect him, even the Lord Mayor is suspicious." Magnus answers. "But we need more evidence. For now, we have to let Stephenson play things out with his campaign. The culprit could literally be confederate extremists for all we know."
Toni is beside herself. Someone or a group of people are going to extremes to make sure their political views are not just heard, but forced upon the people.
"Let me help!" Toni chimes,
"Toni!" Magnus shouts with a worrying tone,
"I can help with getting information. You know how good I'm at with networking and such."
The one thing that Magnus struggled at in life. Trying to fit in and make an attempt at socializing. Whereas Toni was a full grown professional.
"Okay." Magnus replies in defeat. "But keep a safe distance. Or you can help EJ out here."
"Got it!" Toni proclaims in good spirits.
"What about Ariel?" Toni asks, "Are you going to go after her?"
"I have to." Magnus answers, "I can't leave her out there causing a massive mess."
"That's not what I meant."
"What do you mean Toni?"
"Do you want to stop her? Or save her?"
Magnus is shocked at Toni's statement. He'd done his best to put it all behind him, but the memories and the moments between them still resonate within him.
"I know you two were close friends." Toni chimes in, "But sooner or later, you have to make the choice of what's more important, no matter how painful it may be."
A tear streaming down his eye, Magnus looks up and faces his cousin.
"The Ariel I knew is gone." say Magnus, "I know what to do."
"Okay." Toni replies,
A notification pops up on a computer screen.
"Criminal activity in the Valley." Magnus reads the notification. "The shopping district. I'm heading off. Just don't touch anything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah!" replies Toni.
Magnus hops onto the MagnusCycle and zooms off to the place of of criminal activity.
Toni turns to the computer screen with all the information of the criminal activity in progress.
She recognizes the area.
It's the fashion section of the Valley Shopping Street.
"No! Harry!" Toni shouts.