Ryan quickly stuck his head in the hallway.
Torches were on the walls all the way through the long stretch.
He opened the door all the way and nodded to Angelica.
She followed him silently.
Their target was the door at the very end of the hallway.
Ryan picked up speed as the sweat rolled down his neck.
When he touched the door, he listened for any guards.
All he heard was silence.
He took a deep breath and opened the door.
It was dark, and there were no signs of life.
Angelica entered behind him, and they took a moment so their eyes could adjust.
They saw big murals of women either fighting men or giving a helping hand to women.
Ryan went through the map in his mind.
This was the entrance as well as the meeting area.
The door to the left led to Reina's quarters, and the one to the right was her office.
Ryan pointed to the door on the right.
Angelica nodded and took her place behind him.
He slowly entered the code for her office.
With a click, it unlocked.
They entered another room full of similar murals.
The difference was a massive desk full of dusty paperwork.
Ryan made his way to the desk and motioned for Angelica to guard the door.
She stood with her back to the wall and an ear to the door.
With her in position, he started looking.
On the surface, all he saw were pleas for help unanswered.
As he looked deeper, he found complaints from the Amazons.
In his quick research, it seemed that recruiting was low and resources were getting lower.
The information he found was odd, but he kept going.
When he worked his way to the drawers, they had nothing important.
Except for one, it was locked.
Ryan stuck his dagger into a crevasse and, with a quick twist, broke the lock.
Inside was a single key.
It was big and ornate.
He scanned the room for any lock it could open.
All that could fit this key was the door of what seemed to be a closet.
For a moment, he wanted to abandon the key, but he remembered that it had to be locked away for a reason.
He walked up to the closet, and it was a perfect fit.
He turned the key and opened the door.
Reina's eyes met his, and the fright made him jump backwards.
He almost let out a yell.
After the shock was over, he realised that she was immobile.
On closer inspection, he realised that she seemed to be encased in an almost invisible substance.
Angelica took her place beside him and inspected the Amazon.
She looked at Ryan and shrugged.
"What do you think is going on?"
Ryan shook his head.
"I don't know. I wonder what happened."
A voice behind them answered the question.
"She's dead."
When Ryan spun around, he saw Reina phasing through the door.
Her cruel face shifted and morphed into an empty, grey-skinned head.
When she spoke, it was like the words penetrated their minds.
"You're next."
Ryan was frozen for a moment longer than Angelica.
She sprang into action and tried to punch the creature.
There was a magical barrier that stopped her heavy blow.
With a flick of her wrist, Angelica flew against the wall.
The shapeshifter laughed at her attempt and walked toward Ryan.
"I'm going to make this slow."
Even though there were no features on her face, Ryan could feel her cruel smile.
As a last resort, he threw his dagger at her.
She was ready and held up her hand to catch the weapon.
To their surprise, it went through her barrier and pierced her hand.
The creature screamed in pain as Ryan went to Angelica.
With a half-smile, Ryan recalled the dagger.
Angelica's hand shot up and caught the dagger.
With a level of speed Ryan could barely follow, she dove at the imposter.
Before she could react, Angelica went low and cut a deep gash in her leg.
As Angelica passed, she kicked the door off its hinges and passed the dagger back to Ryan.
He caught it by the hilt, and as he cocked his arm back, ready to pierce her heart, she vanished.
They shared a look and dashed for the exit.
They needed to report what they saw.
While they were running, the faceless shapeshifter had a similar idea.
It needed to report the magical weapon.
The same boy who stole Sombra and embarrassed this one.
Thoughts of revenge made the pain in its leg and hand lessen.
It needed to go a little further to the teleportation circle.
That was the plan until there was a force that made it stop.
It felt the presence of an enormous amount of magic.
Just after that feeling a voice came from behind.
"I never thought I would discover vermin in a place like this."
It felt the presence come closer, and it managed to force a question.
"What do you want of me?"
It heard a soft chuckle.
"What I want is information."
It let out an internal sigh of relief.
Relief that was squashed by a bony hand on the back of its neck.
"I will tell you all I know."
The hand tightened, and for a moment, it saw a skeletal face with glowing blue eyes.
"Yes, you will."
Next was a snap and darkness.
As this scene played out without an audience, Ryan and Angelica made their way out of the mansion.
They made their way to the river, and Ryan called Femur.
"Femur. We are ready to extract."
As he put away his phone, he looked at Angelica.
"Thank you."
In the dark, he could barely make out her clenched jaw.
After a moment, she started pacing.
"How did you do it? How did you turn off the guilt?"
The tiredness of their mission caught up with him, and he sat down.
"I didn't. The pain dulls when you help others. It gave me something else to focus on."
Angelica froze for a moment, then sat down next to him.
"Is it really that easy?"
He took a deep breath as he focused his thoughts.
"It was the hardest thing I have ever done, but it was worth it."
She nodded, but kept quiet while they waited for the ship.
When Femur finally arrived, Ryan spoke to the Skeleton.
"I need to call Aleksandar. Something strange happened here."
Femur saluted.
"At once, Sir."