"See?" Dorian whispered to Haley. "We aren't the only ones."<br/><br/>Haley looked from Bartholemew to Scarlet. "Project: Midnight..." she muttered, then glanced at Ephantus. "It's...good to know I'm not the only one left. That we aren't the only ones left. When they shut it down, they tried to...get rid of everything they could. They forgot about Dorian - and I...well..." she indicated her still uncovered and invisible foot. "I can hide."<br/><br/>She paused and fingered her guns a moment before holstering them. "So many of gathered in one place - it must mean something. I don't like believing in things like fate and destiny, but...maybe we can make it mean something." She realized she was talking a lot and quickly clamped her mouth shut, suddenly self-conscious.<br/><br/>"What I mean is...I feel like destroying what's left of Project: Midnight. Nothing they've created it worth letting continue to exist." She deliberately avoided considering the irony. "So. Who's up for it?"<br/><br/>-<br/><br/>Meanwhile, out in the Storm Plains...there came a low rumble, deeper than thunder, as if a thousand motorcycle engines revved up all at once. It sounded like that because that's exactly what it was! The Storm Riders had returned to Stormfront, eager to reclaim their ancestral home city from the iron-grip of the Blade Emperor.<br/><br/>Leading the pack was Vespi, the Lighting Atmosfaerie.<br/><br/>"You saw the commotion," she called to her allies. "You saw the destruction! the Crosswind's city turns against him! His city...no, Our city! Stormfront belongs to the Storm Landers!" A chorus of cries filled the air with the sounds of wind and rain and thunder. A thousand beings of the weather all cheered together, confident that this would be the day they emerged victorious.<br/><br/>"Ride!"<br/><br/>Once they reached the gates of the city, lighting and fire and wind stirred up and knocked the iron bars aside. Creations of man were nothing to the raw force of nature. Most of her Riders spread out when they were inside, searching for any City Guard or Imperial Soldier they could harass and await Vespi's command. Vespi herself directed a team of four other Riders to where she had seen the most destruction...<br/><br/>...and found Haley's group recovering from the Dow Jones battle. The five Storm Riders circled the assembled Protagonists like wolves readying for the kill and stopped, grinning madly.<br/><br/>"And who," she asked, her voice like a hundred cracks of lightning, "are you Outlanders and what are you doing in my city?"