They took another taxi cab to get to the place where they were to meet Clarence. The cab headed out away from the downtown and towards the more suburban parts of the city, where the wooden man-made public parks were placed. The city of Winnfield was surrounded by a prairie which turned into snow-covered plain in winter, so it the trees in the public park were indeed just planted there by the city government. Nonetheless, it seemed as if the planting of these trees happened a long time ago, since it already created a moderately dense forest in the places of the suburban area that still doesn't have something built upon them. This is where the cab bought the three of them, to the deepest parts of this dense man-made forest.<br/><br/>They finally arrived at the destination they were talking about, in front of a gate. Its iron doors rusted away long ago and it had an arc that had already crumbled due to age, leaving a few large pieces of stone ineffectively blocking it's path. Behind this ruined gate was a dilapidated cobblestone path that was lighted by torches tied on wood posts. Neo then declared, "Dis iz it, dis is da way to the Mages' Temple righ' 'ere. Jus' straight t'is way. Le's git outta 'ere."<br/><br/>"Please do lead the way," Yukina nodded, as they began to step over the pieces of stone and walk down the torch-lighted road.<br/><br/>After a few minutes of walking, they finally reach what seemed to be an abandoned ruin of a small stone tower. It had been chunked off in some places, had small holes in the some of its walls, and the gargoyles and the gothic architecture it had have been weathered or chipped away in some form. What once were glass-stained windows have been shattered in in many parts, just enough to now know what kind of images they had. In front the structure stood a young adult man, with darker skin and wearing a grey coat, blue jeans, a blue knit cap and fur-lined boots. When he saw Neo approaching, he smiled and greeted him. "Hey man."<br/><br/>Neo approached him and gave him a fist bump, saying "Yo Clarence, mah nig! 'Sup?"<br/><br/>"We're doing good, man. We're always doing good here in the Temple." Clarence replied. "Heather wants to see you, man. We need your help. Any help, in fact."<br/><br/>"I kno', Clar. Ya' told me 'bout the sunnavabitchin' problem befo'. Muh crew 'ere now wants mo' of them details, so we can sort this shit out." Neo said, thumbing back to Rattus and Yukina.<br/><br/>"They're your crew?" Clarence looked at them.<br/><br/>"Good evening, stranger." Yukina stepped forward towards him, smiling. She then bowed down and introduced herself. "My name is Yukina Aikawa. I am one of Neo's housemates. I am honored to meet you."<br/><br/>Clarence responded with the same bow he received. "I'm Clarence Verne. Honored to meet you too, Yukina."<br/><br/>Rattus, on the other hand, offered a handshake to Clarence. "I'm Rattus von Engels, Chief Executive Officer of the Order of the Black Eagle, comprising of my current position, Mister Langraad as the Alchemical Advisor, and Miss Aikawa as the Engineering and Manufacturing Adviser. I am pleased to meet you, Mister Verne."<br/><br/>Clarence responded in kind. "Pleased to meet you too, Mister von Engels. No need for too much formalities, just call me Clarence."<br/><br/>"So yeah," Neo began to speak. "Ya' said Heather wanna see me, man."<br/><br/>"She does. And she's seeing all the mages here in the Temple right now. They're all here. We're just waiting for you, actually."<br/><br/>"Shit, really? Then le's go, nig," Neo said. "E'erywun's 'ere."<br/><br/>The four of them finally headed into the Temple, the ruins of a tower-like structure. As they entered it, the extent of the damage just became more apparent, although it was only lit by braziers improvised from screen mesh trash bins. It was larger on the inside than what it seemed on the exterior, yet it was obvious that many people have already gathered into the Temple, all seated on benches or chairs that were either improvised or taken from somewhere else. But on one raised platform, layed down a solitary figure on an old sofa. It was a woman, wearing a white sweater, red pants and glasses. She was older than Clarence, had a long dark brown hair and fair skin. She turned her head towards the entrance, and sat straight immediately when she saw who were coming. "Neo! Thank God, you've arrived!"<br/><br/>"Whut? Y'all thought I ain't gunna fuckin' come?" He asked her. "Ya' said I owe you a goddamn favor, so I'm 'ere 'n' I want to kick som' ass."<br/><br/>One of the people inside the Temple said, "Are you the help that Heather said would come?"<br/><br/>"Well, I really dunno if I can do dis alon', real talk," He replied. "It seems we're all bein' a buncha fuckin' retards here. Nobody really knows any damn thing, if Clarence was right."<br/><br/>"He's right, Neo." Heather acknowledged. "What we know so far, is that vampires, werewolves, ghouls and all sorts of creatures are going here, attacking people or taking them away. And we don't know why. But what's worse is that, now, Robert's missing."<br/><br/>"Robert? Ya' mean Bobby Brett?" Neo asked some more. "Wait, where ya' last saw the guy? And what's the big fuckin' deal with 'im missing? I mean, I kno' t'ats a pretty big fuckin' deal but so as the shit that you've been tellin' me."<br/><br/>"It's my fault." Heather told him. "We wanted to stop this incident ourselves, so we sent him out investigate."<br/><br/>"That's what I'm askin', ya' bitch. Where ya' sent Bobby? You ain't makin' it clear." Neo said.<br/><br/>"At the Old Nuclear Research Facility." She answered.<br/><br/>"You mean the large nuclear power plant that does not work anymore that we saw while we were on our way here?" Yukina interjected.<br/><br/>"Yes. How did you know what it was?" Heather asked Yukina.<br/><br/>"Because it didn't have any lights anywhere. If it was working, then it should have lights on, else the power plant is unsafe to use." Yukina smiled.<br/><br/>"Such a place only attracts suspicion in the greater scale of this ongoing investigation." Rattus finally spoke up. "Please tell us more about this research facility."<br/><br/>"That place was used by the government for seven years before it was abandoned a year ago, actually. No one have any idea what kind of nuclear research that happened there, but apparently the Federal government stopped funding its operation suddenly." Heather tipped her glasses back. "Nobody ever said anything about it anymore since then, only that it's still standing there."<br/><br/>"So the Fed mo'fuckahs just wasted your tax dollahs for that big pile o' shit out there 'nd they ain't tellin' anybody why? Goddamn, that's shady, conspiracy-level shit's that happenin' here," Neo snickered. "But I can feel some sorta' magic energy comin' from dat direction when we passed it by tha' highway. Maybe some shit is really goin' on there."<br/><br/>"That is strange," Yukina said. "What would a nuclear research facility have that vampires, werewolves and monsters want to have?"