Team Player

[D Rank Pioneer Alex]

[Ascension Level: 9]

[Role: Porter (Role Skills: None)]

[Role Level: 4]

[Experience: 1940/5500]

[Attributes: Strength -> 9, Speed -> 10, Life -> 8, Devotion -> 0, Control -> 0]

[Current Skills: Combat Balance(45), Motion Trance(5), Combined Arms–Axe/Shield(45),

Holy–Storm(45)]

[Permanent Skills: Battle Maneuvers***(0)]

[Current Titles: Empress of War (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Combined Arms, Weapon Mastery, and Battle Maneuvers by five.),

Aggression (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, Combined Arms, and Combat Balance Skills by five.),

Fated Hero (Increases Skill grade of Dodging, Anticipate, Battle Maneuvers, and Inspect by five),

Eternal Motion (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, Marathoning, and Motion Trance by five.),

Tireless (Increases Skill grade of Recovery Skills by three.),

True Sentinel (Increases Skill grade of Deflect, Dodging, Blocking, Resist, Zeal, and Combat Balance by five.),

Still Flow (Increases Skill grade of Meditation, Focus, Recovery, Arcane, Sense, and Motion Trance by five.),

Elite (Increases Skill grade of Combat Balance, Battle Maneuvers, Battle Mastery, and Battle Dance by five.),

Lethality (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by five.),

Consecrated (Increases Skill grade of Holy by five.),

War Prowess (Increases Skill grade of Battle Maneuvers, Rush Assault, and Heavy Assault by five.),

War Momentum (Increases Skill grade of Combat Balance, Riposte, and Battle Dance by five.),

Blitz Master (Increases Skill grade of Combined Arms, Lunge, and Charge by five),

Deliberate (Increases Skill grade of Battle Maneuvers, Anticipate, and Combined Arms by five.),

Swift (Increases Skill grade of Motion Trance, Evasion, and Charge Assault by four.)]

Alex stared at the Screen and tried not to yawn. It had still been a little dark out when they'd gone to the portal building, and the fatigue from the previous Survey still hadn't faded entirely.

[Current Portal Status: Stable, Magic Level Stagnant]

[Current Portal Level: D4]

[Salvage Oriented Objectives Recommended]

[Local Area Population: None]

It was good to see that their work hadn't been undone already. Clearly, the Emerald Bay folks had managed to keep things from being reset, and hopefully their work today would make it that much easier to keep it going.

[Current Objective Budget: 500]

[Select Priority Objective]

At least this time she would have fairly simple and straightforward goals, even if it did rankle a little to deviate from their original plans.

[Priority Objective: Clear at least thirty Grue Camps. Possible rewards: 300 Experience. Accept?]

It would be a long, grueling day, but at the very least, when they left the portal, their work would have a sizable impact. Even a suit like Murand wouldn't be able to call them lazy or ineffective. She accepted it and moved on.

[Select Additional Objectives]

Her next objective was somewhat related to the first one. Joanna had a few clues where they'd need to look already, thanks to Flash Scan, but they'd definitely be looking in new areas for the things they needed to destroy. Choosing a goal that would line up with that fact was probably a wise decision.

[Additional Objective: Scout at least eight locations within the local area. Possible rewards: 160 Experience. Accept?]

It seemed like a fair number. If each spot had an average of four Camps, then they wouldn't even have to do any extra running to finish things. She accepted.

Of course, it also didn't leave that much left to fill up with patrols, which was nice.

[Additional Objective: Destroy at least eight patrols. Possible rewards: 40 Experience. Accept?]

Alex nodded to herself as she locked the last of her points in. Then she moved forward, letting the light wash over her…

The air seemed a little less oppressive in the other world now, though there was a chill to the breeze. Alex looked around the still-empty courtyard, waiting for the others to emerge behind her.

Joanna and Clara came through, followed by Sam. He looked vaguely disappointed, and Alex sighed. "No label next to your name?"

He shook his head. "Nothing." Sam gave her a slightly frustrated look. "There still has to be something else, right? We can't need to perform exactly those three things in order to activate it. That would be ridiculous."

Joanna raised her eyebrow. "You're assuming that the Screen makes any sense as it is."

Clara blinked. She looked back at them with eyes that were briefly lit by green fire. "What do you mean?"

The Adept shrugged. "None of us really know anything about the Screen, or where it comes from. Why should we assume that any of the systems inside it make rational sense?"

"There has to be some logic to it." Sam shook his head as they all started to walk away from the portal. They were heading in the opposite direction of the Clock Tower; Jonathan had shared the fact that most of the camps to the west were still mostly intact. "Whoever put the Pioneer system in had to have some reason behind the thing."

"You're assuming that somebody actually designed any of this, though." Alex tried not to sound too skeptical. "If they did, why wouldn't they have included a few more clues about how to get to it?"

He grimaced. "True. It just seems like there should be some consistency, at least. I mean, the Keys of Ascension had to come from somewhere, and whoever built the Screen clearly thought that—"

"Contact. Coming in fast. Thirty seconds." Clara's interruption cut the discussion off clearly, and Alex glanced at the Acolyte in surprise.

"That close?"

Clara shrugged helplessly. "Yeah, I don't know where they came from. I usually pick them up further out. They seem to know right where we are, too."

Alex looked around curiously, but there was no sign of Liliana that she could see. It would have been surprising if the Shade had found them again already, but it would have at least explained the Grue.

She'd almost dismissed it as pure bad luck when she caught sight of Sam's expression. The Surveyor's face had closed down a little, and his dark eyes didn't reveal anything when he looked back at her. Alex had seen that expression before, normally when he was on to something.

It was usually directed at her when he'd caught her hiding something, and there was normally an uncomfortable conversation later. This time, however…

Howls filled the street, and Alex yanked her attention back to the matter at hand. Questions could wait until later, when their mission was done.

"I think it's about bending the rules, but not breaking them."

Alex resisted the urge to glance in Sam's direction. She cut down the Knight as it rushed at her, opening a fatal gash in its side as she darted past it. Another one leaped at Sam, but he killed it with an almost-nonchalant stab of his spear before pivoting to kill a pair of Soldiers in quick succession.

It was the second patrol they had run into, and fatigue was already starting to bite at Alex. She was dearly missing Motion Trance, and the fact that Battle Maneuvers remained at a low level was telling on her ability to strike down their opponents. The others were struggling a little as well, though their Skills were improving with each fight.

Yet despite their fatigue and their worries, it seemed like Sam wasn't feeling challenged enough. She hacked her way through a quartet of howling Soldiers and then ducked past the flailing hammers of a Brute. The massive Grue tried to kick at her, but she dodged and put her axe into the knee of the leg still planted on the ground. As the Brute staggered, she followed after it, hacking and striking until it finally fell over backwards.

When she glanced back, she saw Clara picking off the last of the Archers, while Joanna froze a Knight with Flash Scan and melted her way through a Brute's chest with her flaming sword. The final handful of Soldiers ran at Sam, obviously trying to take advantage of his distraction.

His eyes hardened for a moment as he turned to face them. Two of the Soldiers stiffened and died before they even reached him, their minds crumbling beneath his assault. The next three died in quick succession, as he avoided their lunges.

As the last one fell, Sam stepped to the side and absent-mindedly kicked it over with a foot. The flames burst from the corpses a heartbeat later, but he didn't seem to notice. "So if we want to find what we're looking for, we have to follow the rules, but in a way that doesn't get us killed."

[Objective Progress: 2 of 8 patrols destroyed.]

[Battle Maneuvers*** increases to 2!]

Alex waved away the text and glared at him across the scattered funeral bonfires. "What are you talking about? Did one of the Grue get to you?"

He blinked and looked at her, as if surprised. "I'm talking about how we figure out what to do to get Pioneer."

She gave him an exasperated look, and Sam held up his hands defensively. "What rules are you talking about?"

Sam took a deep breath and frowned for a moment. When he answered, it seemed like he was trying to find the right words. "You know how a normal Survey works, right? You come through the portal with a Key of Ascension, you fight Grue, destroy things like Camps or Outposts, collect salvage, then go home through the portal. You don't stay too long, or go through the portal the wrong way, or come without a Key. If you do that, you die."

Clara snorted, audible even from across the distance between them. "I think we all know that, Sneak."

He gave her a disgruntled look before he continued. "So, if you follow those rules, you get the normal rewards. If you break those rules, you die."

Joanna looked up from where she'd been gathering crystal shards. Her expression seemed a little perturbed. "That's true."

"So what if you don't break the rules? You just follow them the wrong way." He pointed at Clara. "You come back through the portal, but you aren't conscious at the time."

Alex frowned as she followed the line of thought. "Or you come back through a portal, but not the one you came in."

Sam turned back to her with an excited look. "Right, exactly."

Joanna stood up and shook her head. "That works for Realmwalker and Dreamseer. What about Gatekeeper?"

"We fought Grue, but on the wrong side of the portal." Alex thought back to the emergency quest that the Screen had given her. "It might even be the exception to the rule, since it was an emergency. Something that the Screen doesn't normally do."

The Adept nodded slowly. "And breaking the Camps directly doesn't actually bend any rules. It's just a more efficient way of doing the normal thing."

Clara stood up and walked over to them, her own expression intrigued. "Like using Flash Scan to find Camps. Or Lifesight to locate Grue."

Sam nodded. "So what we need to do is find something that doesn't quite step over the line, but is outside of what is expected. That might be what we need to do." He looked around at them. His gaze settled back on Alex. "What do you think?"

She studied him for a moment. Then she smiled. "I think we need to finish gathering things up and get to the first set of Camps, before another patrol finds us. Then we can start looking for ways to bend the rules. Sound good to you?"

He grinned. "Sure does. I have so many ideas."

As they gathered the scattered remnants of the Grue again, Alex couldn't help but shake her head. Something told her that the Survey was going to be a little more interesting than she'd thought.

Alex winced as Sam retched again. It was not the best sound.

She looked at Clara, who shrugged. Her hands were already glowing as she tried to heal whatever damage the other Surveyor had done to himself. Alex grimaced and looked at Joanna. "Well, that didn't work."

Joanna gave her an amused look. "Obviously." Sam let out another horrifying sound that made them both cringe, and the Adept continued. "So. We've learned not to drink the water."

"Y-yeah." Sam coughed, forcing himself back up from his knees. The fluid spilled on the ground in front of him began to spark and burn, a mix of yellow and blue flame. He spat, producing another small blaze of light on the ground. "Definitely not."

Clara's hands glowed for a few moments more, at least until Sam seemed a bit steadier on his feet. "Did it taste that bad?"

Sam made a face and swiped at his lips with the back of his hand. "Yeah. You definitely don't want to try that."

"I think we were already to that point, Sam." Alex tried not to sound amused, but Sam still groaned. She looked around. "Are there any patrols nearby?"

Clara glanced around. "None that I can see. Looks like the area is mostly clear."

Alex nodded. At the very least, they had wiped out the first seven Camps before Sam started in on his experiments; they had cleared another ten after he'd begun. Each experiment had been something that she hadn't felt entirely comfortable with, but hadn't seemed dangerous enough to stop. First, he'd nearly broken his teeth on a Grue crystal, then he'd tried to mind control a Grue into killing its companions. Neither had done much of anything, aside from giving the rest of them time to rest while he did his best to make things work.

His latest try had been the most spectacularly catastrophic, though. Despite being warned, he'd drunk from the dark water of a nearby pond. The resulting malaise had not been encouraging for anyone else.

She watched as he shook himself and grounded the butt of his spear on the concrete. "Are you good to go?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. I can still run." She looked at him skeptically, and he shot her a brief glance. "I mean it. I can keep up, still."

"I'd still advise against trying any more dietary experiments, though. You used up a lot of healing." Clara shook her head. "We don't want to run out of that, after all."

He grimaced. "You… don't have to worry about that." Sam sighed. "I've only got one more idea at the moment. It can wait until the end."

Joanna exchanged a look with Alex that said she wasn't excited to see whatever it was, but Alex shrugged it off. They had at least a handful more Camp nests to root out, and they'd already been inside for close to two hours. "Let's go, then. Let me know when you're ready."

Sam nodded, and they started off again towards the next area. She silently hoped he'd just forget about the experiments. The day had been long enough already.

The next handful of Camps were no more difficult than the others; if anything, the loss of the other Camps the day before had weakened the magic levels to the point where each guarding force of Grue lacked that many more bodies to throw at them.

All the same, by the time the last Camp fell, Alex was already aching enough that she just wanted to return home and bask in the appreciation from her employer. The agonizingly slow grind of her Skills had made her almost regret resetting Battle Maneuvers, but each painfully gained level provided a reassuring boost of power that made her feel the entire effort was worth it.

The handful of patrols they ran across barely lasted any time at all. Most of the Grue were steamrolled in mere heartbeats, leaving behind the usual scattering of material for them to collect. They had long since completed her required number of patrols long before they had started for home, let alone the requirements for the Hidden Quests that her friends enjoyed.

Which only made it that much more baffling that, only a few minutes from the portal, Sam called for a halt so that they could find another one.

Joanna had given him a disbelieving look. "Are you sure that water didn't go to your head?"

He glared at her. "Look, if you want to head back, I can try to go find one myself. They really aren't that bad at this level. Any one of us could probably wipe them out on our own. Alex probably could have done it back when she was still at Red Blade."

"That's not the point." Joanna shook her head. "We've already been here for well over three hours. If we stay too long, then Murand might use the excuse to send her own Surveyors in here after us. If she does…"

Alex shook her head. "Let's worry about the suits after we get back." She looked at Sam. "You want a patrol. Why?"

He sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a huff. "One last experiment. The last one today, at least." Joanna muttered something, and he grimaced. "No eating things this time. I promise."

She hesitated and then looked at Clara. "Can you still see any?"

"There's a few of them, here and there." The Acolyte grinned. "A lot fewer than there used to be, but we could probably still track one down."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Alex looked back at Sam. "How long will your experiment take?"

He grinned. "Not long. We just need to get them to chase us for a while. The rest you can leave up to me."

She blinked. Then she shrugged. "What's one more bad idea?"

Joanna snorted. "Truly, a motto that will lead to success."

"It has so far." Clara laughed and loaded her crossbow. She gestured to a nearby side street. "Just a block or two in that direction. I guess we'll have one last run to go, after all."

Joanna was still muttering her dislike of the situation when they stumbled across the patrol.

The Grue had been sniffing the air as they loped along the street. Their eyes locked onto Alex and her team immediately, and they howled in the usual rage.

Their warcries carried a tinge of triumph as Alex and her friends immediately turned and ran from them, retreating down the street before turning to head for the portal. Alex shook her head in amusement as they continued to pant and howl and shoot the occasional arrow after the Surveyors. None of the projectiles came close, but it still irritated her to even give the creatures the impression that she was running from them. Everything inside her wanted to turn and launch herself at the cluster of Grue sprinting behind her.

She restrained herself, waiting for Sam to give the signal. He kept a pace that the others could maintain as well. His face was locked in an expression of concentration, one that didn't waver as a Killer's arrow sped past him. Joanna and Clara seemed to be mostly concentrating on running; they had their own fatigue to deal with, and it wasn't like they had invested in running at all either.

Despite that fact, they made it all the way back to the portal's courtyard with the patrol still hot on their heels.

They burst into the courtyard, still at a run. Sam led them straight towards the swirling vortex, running as if he was hoping to escape from the Grue behind them. The creatures chasing them ran harder, obviously hoping to catch the Surveyors short of their chance to return home. Some of them lifted horns to their lips, calling for others to join them in the fight.

Then, just a few strides from the portal, Sam yelled above the howls and horns. "Now! Leave one for me!"

Alex spun and charged without hesitation, launching herself into the oncoming pack of Grue. The closest Soldiers barely had time to widen their eyes before she was on them, chopping and hacking through their ranks. A heartbeat later, a hedge of ice spikes snapped into existence and pierced half a dozen Soldiers; another, more literal hedge of thorns and vines lashed its way around the Archers near the back of the Grue, tangling them in a fatal embrace.

Knights rushed at Alex, and she dodged their swords and slipped past their shields, felling them with vicious blows. A Brute lumbered towards her, obviously still winded from the long chase. Clara put a crossbow bolt through its eye, leaving it to fall backwards and thrash its life away. Another Brute roared and rushed past her, only to freeze in place just short of where an exhausted and irritated Joanna stood, her sword already glowing and ready to strike.

Alex finished hacking through the remaining handful of Grue nearby and turned, half-expecting to see the last of the enemy already dead at Sam's feet.

Instead, she saw her friend had been driven backwards towards the portal. There were half a dozen Grue Soldiers and Knights strewn across the stones of the courtyard, but three of the Soldiers were still lunging at him, their jaws snapping at him and spears thrusting out towards him.

Sam retreated just a little further. Clara turned to fire her crossbow, and he caught her eye and shook his head, even as he darted aside to avoid a stab. Another Grue lunged at him, ready to close its jaws on his arm, and Alex stepped forward, ready to charge to his defense.

Then Sam laughed. He twisted and brought his own spear around. The Grue lunging at him had just enough time to yip in surprise before he slapped it across the shoulders with his spear and launched it directly behind him—where it struck the swirling face of the vortex.

Alex's heart froze in her throat as the portal suddenly blazed with energy. The swirling chaos of its face became a burning wheel of purple fire, spreading from the center out towards the edges. She thought she heard the Soldier's howl reverberate through the plaza, as if it was trying to claw its way free of the spiral.

The remaining Grue abruptly froze, their grey eyes wide. Sam gave them no time to react. He lunged forward and put his spear through the knee of the closest. It bent forward, howling, and he grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and tossed it in after its companion.

Once again, the portal blazed, and the Soldier's final howl rose into the chilly air. The last one danced backwards, its eyes wide and panicked. Sam followed it, his spear ready to lash out at its legs.

Then Joanna's sword hacked through the Grue's back, cutting it down in a single blazing slash. It fell apart in two pieces, and then she was screaming at Sam. "What are you doing? The portal—"

Sam turned to look at the swirling purple fire of the vortex. He hesitated long enough to look backwards at Alex and laughed. "Let's see if this works!"

Before she could stop him, he lunged forward and vanished into the portal. Joanna was left reaching out to stop him, and for a single wild moment, they all looked at each other as the Grue burned around them and the portal howled.

Then, as one, they all sprinted towards the vortex and leapt in after him.

[Mission Report]

[Completed an Objective. +20 Experience]

[Priority Objective Completed. +300 Experience]

[Additional Objective Completed +160 Experience]

[Additional Objective Completed +40 Experience]

[All Objectives Complete +80 Experience]

Alex stared at the orange words, feeling her heart race and her breathing rasp in her throat. What had Sam been thinking? The report looked normal so far, but the portal had definitely not been normal. Had the Grue just appeared in the regular world, or had their destination changed somehow? Or was nothing going to happen at all?

She shook those worries aside and tried to calm herself. It wasn't a very successful attempt as the words shifted in front of her.

[Current Portal Status: Diminishing, Magic Level Decreasing]

[Portal Boosted]

[Current Portal Level: D4 -> D3]

[Local Area Population: None]

Alex blinked. They really had brought the magic levels down, but that label...

[Battle Maneuvers*** increased from 0 to 16!]

[Motion Trance increased from 5 to 8!]

As comforting as those increases might have been, she shoved them aside. The other offers that she'd been anticipating didn't materialize either, but for once, she didn't mind.

Instead, she pushed forward, desperately pushing her way through the light…

---

Alex emerged back into the world at a full sprint. She landed in a fighting crouch, ready to strike out at the nearest opponent. A part of her wondered if she was going to face some unknown landscape full of horrors.

Instead, she found herself facing the simple interior of the portal building. A group of Emerald Bay Surveyors were lined up in front of the portal, staring at it with wide eyes. Purple light streamed past her, casting the blank concrete and bare steel with a lurid tint. Outside the windows, she could see the first hints of snow starting to fall.

Joanna and Clara were there as well, their stances just as tense. They'd obviously had the same fears that she had, but they hadn't hesitated either. A part of her acknowledged the bravery that had probably taken, especially given what Clara had already experienced.

The rest of her was filled with utter fury at seeing Sam standing a little further ahead, looking around as if he was disappointed.

She stalked forward, each step seeming to get a little quicker. Joanna glanced at her in alarm, and Clara took a half step forward, as if she wanted to put herself between her and Sam. Alex just wove through both of them and headed straight for him.

He turned just as she reached him. His dark eyes widened slightly as she came to a stop in front of him. Then his expression hardened as stubbornness flooded in.

With an act of will, she dismissed her weapons and armor. No amount of discipline was going to make her glare vanish, though. Her voice remained a near-snarl. "You could have died."

Sam glared back at her. "I didn't."

She stepped a bit closer, pushing into his personal space. "You could have."

He didn't give any ground. If anything, he just drew himself up a little taller. "Remind me, which of us has the right to say that, Valkyrie?"

Alex twitched, her hands tightening into fists. She glared at him, but he just met her eyes without any hint of compromise. They stayed that way, snarling in each other's faces as the glow of the portal faded behind them.

Then Joanna stepped up beside Alex and murmured quietly. "Perhaps we can talk about this later. In private."

She didn't turn her attention away from Sam to look at the Adept, but a long-trained part of herself started to leash the fury within her and drag it back into the dark. Sam's expression flickered a little, and his eyes darted to the side, where the Emerald Bay Surveyors were still watching them.

With a low growl, Alex forced her hands to unclench. "Sure. Later." Sam nodded, with an infuriating hint of amusement dancing in the backs of his dark eyes. She turned to look back at Joanna and Clara, both of whom were watching her with concern. "Everyone all right?"

They nodded, and she nodded back. "Then let's get going. We probably need to rest."

She stepped around Sam and stalked towards the exit. The others fell in behind her, and the few Emerald Bay Surveyors scattered to get out of her way. Alex tried not to notice the worry on their expressions and focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

If there was one thing she could reassure herself of, at the very least Murand was going to be happy with their performance. Once their debriefing was out of the way, she could spend some time trying to hammer some common sense into Sam's head.

Murand smiled. It didn't reach her eyes.

"Thank you for your work. It is good to see how committed you were to the improvement of the situation with our portal." The executive folded her hands together, and her smile grew slightly. "In fact, your performance has been so exemplary that we no longer believe that the portal requires an emergency intervention. For that reason, your services are no longer required."

Alex blinked. She glanced at the others and found a variety of reactions. Sam was glaring at the tabletop, a scowl that might as well have burned a hole through the wood. Joanna looked mostly resigned, while Clara seemed just as shocked as Alex felt.

When she looked back at Murand, the executive seemed to be waiting for a reaction of some kind. Alex immediately resolved not to give her any such thing. She simply continued to stare back at Murand until the executive shrugged.

"You'll be allowed to retrieve your belongings from the dorms and then given a ride to the train station in town. Again, you have my thanks for your help."

The dismissal tempted Alex to feel like she should anchor herself in the chair, but Clara put a cautious hand on her arm. After a quick glance at the Acolyte, Alex simply nodded and stood.

Joanna, on the other hand, remained seated for a moment longer. "We'll expect the remainder of our fee to be deposited before the end of the day."

Murand blinked. The executive glanced at one of the lawyers. "We'll see if we can—"

The Adept cut her off without hesitation. "If it is not, you'll be in breach of contract, which will result in your company paying heavy penalty fees—and that's before the punitive damages are assigned. Our attorneys at Douglas and Douglas are already waiting for my call." Joanna gave the executive a thin smile. "It was a pleasure working with you, Ms. Murand."

Silence reigned. Joanna turned and strode from the room. Alex smirked at the stunned expression on Murand's face before she followed her friend. They walked in silence towards the exit, at least until Clara spoke up. "I didn't know we had attorneys."

Joanna gave a quiet huff of laughter. "Well, Mom and Dad did say that I could call them for anything we needed." She looked at Alex. "Not that we should need them. The penalty fees are so well-known that no lawyer would try to challenge them."

Clara spoke up, her voice a little hesitant. "Are you sure? Murand seems like she'd want to."

Alex gave her a sidelong look. "They were standardized as part of most contracts. Mostly to keep Surveyors from 'collecting' on their own."

"Oh." She looked back at the conference room. There was already a loud debate happening behind the closed door. "Well, now what?"

With a sigh, Alex led them towards the shuttles. "We get packed up. We'll figure it out from there."

Her father had been laughing for a while before Alex finally groaned and tried to break in. "Thanks for your support, Dad."

His mirth calmed down to something like a chuckle that rumbled through the phone's speakers. "Sorry, Alex, it's just… this has to be some kind of a record. Three days? We have milk we bought that hasn't gone bad yet."

"Glad it's such a funny thing to think about." Alex stuffed another set of clothes into her bag and grimaced. "We don't even actually have a ticket on the train to leave here, let alone a place to stay once we walk out."

"Well, we'd love to have you come back home." Eric's voice betrayed a moment of repressed laughter, still. "It wouldn't hurt to get a chance to rest after you put so much effort in there."

Alex rolled her eyes. "I think I'd rather not be sitting at home when we could be working, Dad. Not that I don't appreciate the invitation."

Eric sighed. "Well, just remember that the invitation is open. You might as well take us up on it while you have the chance."

There was something in his voice that made her pause for a moment. "Why do you say that?"

Her father didn't answer immediately, and when he did, he was clearly reluctant. "With Royal Purple out of action, there are a lot of people moving out of town. Place is kind of emptying out."

Alex put the pieces together on her own. "Which means that there's not as much demand for public services. You're thinking that they're going to fire you from the fire department."

"I think I'd prefer the term 'laid off', but yes." Eric's voice took on a hint of irony. "We're not sure how long it'll take, but we've developed a nose for this kind of thing. I'd say we've got about two, maybe three more months, tops."

She grimaced. Suddenly, Joanna's words about funding seemed a lot more important. It had been easier to ignore when she had a fallback at her parents' house. "Do you have a backup plan ready?"

Eric cleared his throat. "Nothing you need to worry about. Though I guess I'd ask the same about you. You can't exactly keep following us anymore. You might need to get a place of your own soon."

Alex sighed. "No pressure at all, huh?"

"That's how life goes, my girl. That's kind of the way of the world." She could almost picture him shaking his head.

She was about to respond, only to pause as someone knocked on the door. Alex blinked and frowned. If Emerald Bay wanted to try evicting her by force, they were going to have an unpleasant surprise. "I'll call you right back, Dad. Love you."

"Love you too, Alex."

Alex ended the call and tucked her phone away in her pocket. A part of her whispered that caution would be wise; she stood off to the side of the door as she opened it, conveniently removing herself from the line of fire of any opportunistic gunmen.

To her relief, it wasn't a hit squad of Emerald Bay Surveyors or security personnel. Instead, it was Clara, who strode into the room with a bright, beaming smile. "I solved it!"

She frowned at the Acolyte. "Solved what?"

"Our next job!" Clara grinned. "You can all thank me later."

A wave of foreboding washed over her. "Clara, what did you sign us up for?"

There was a flicker of worry on Clara's face for a moment. "I was thinking about the fact that we don't have anywhere to go at the moment, and how it would cost us a lot of money to just go back home after all this. Then I remembered that we were already trying to fit in one too many jobs over the next few weeks…"

Alex arched an eyebrow at her friend. "Clara…"

Clara spread her arms wide. "I called Audrey and Alessa. They talked to their boss and called me back."

She felt a moment of surprise. "You got us hired at Goldiron."

"I got us hired at Goldiron." Clara grinned widely. "They've even spotted us a set of train tickets to head there now, directly from here. It's only for a couple of Surveys, but it should fit nicely between today and our work for Brownhat."

Alex felt a reluctant smile creep across her lips. "That's… perfect. We keep working and still get paid."

Clara continued to beam at her as she spun around in a triumphant circle. "So? What do you think?"

"I think we need to go tell the others we have a train to catch." Alex forced her smile a little wider. "Let's go visit some old friends."

Less than an hour later, they had boarded a train heading for the Goldiron portal where Alessa and Audrey were stationed. It was not a short journey; getting there would take eight hours and involve at least three line changes, a delay that almost made Alex miss the days where they could just hop into a Greyhawk and fly to their destination. Almost.

Joanna had taken the news of their new commitment with a smile just short of gloating, especially when she checked her bank and saw the balance of the payments from Emerald Bay sitting in her account. The Adept had already started musing aloud about perhaps turning Alex's typical behavior into a tactic for making money more efficiently. Alex wanted to resent her for the gleeful way Joanna was chuckling over the possibilities, but given what she had heard from her father, it was hard to begrudge her the victory.

Clara had been almost bubbly as they had started out, and she seemed to grow more and more excited at the possibility of meeting up with Audrey and Alessa. She already had a whole series of things to tell the other Surveyors about, and apparently, she'd already heard plenty of rumors that the two wanted to share with her. Alex had tried not to sour her mood, even as she felt a growing sense of discontent over the whole affair. No matter what she tried, she just couldn't match her friend's enthusiasm, and the disparity ate at her as the terrain rolled by and the sun began to set.

She eventually retreated to the end of the train car to get a bit of rest, leaving Joanna and Clara to talk quietly in another section. The car was, once again, empty; none of the normals traveling along with them had wanted to share a space. Alex had heard many times about how Surveyors were viewed as possible risks for magical contamination, and the occasional shipment of portal-salvaged items meant that most people preferred not to sit alongside someone they knew had superpowers granted to them by the wounds in the world left by the Fracture.

Alex was staring out at the sky, watching the few clouds stain themselves pink and red as the sun dipped further towards the horizon, when she heard someone clear their throat. She looked over to find Sam there, standing in the aisle. "Mind if I join you?"

She hesitated. Sam hadn't spoken with her since their argument after the Survey; during their eviction from Emerald Bay he'd been quiet, and he hadn't shown nearly the same level of happiness over heading to Goldiron. A part of her wanted to say no, to ask for more time, but another part of her jeered that it would have been cowardice—and the Morrisons hadn't raised a coward.

Without saying anything, Alex gestured to the seat across from her, and Sam sat, scooting over until he could look out the same window. His dark eyes peered at the distant, setting sun for a moment before they turned back to her. "Care to speak your mind?"

Alex gave him a wry look. "Considering our last conversation, I'd think you'd be a bit more worried about that."

Sam cracked a small grin. "I've been accused of recklessness sometimes, I guess." He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Not that I'm alone in that."

Her temper stirred, a flickering bonfire waiting to erupt under the weight of her own melancholy. She shook her head, tamping it back down inside her. "You are not."

"Well, at least we can agree on that, then." Sam shrugged as she gave him an irritated look. "You aren't happy about going to Goldiron, are you?"

The question felt like it should have been an accusation, but it wasn't. She grimaced and looked back over her seat, making sure the others weren't in earshot. "Why would you think that?"

Sam snorted. "Other than the fact that you look like you've got some kind of stomachache since we boarded the train? Let's just say that I know the signs by now." He glanced along the aisle, as if double-checking that they were free of eavesdroppers. "You think it's a trap?"

Alex shook her head again. "No. At least, no more than any other corporation." He raised his eyebrows, and she continued. "I still trust Audrey and Alessa, even if we haven't seen them for a while. They wouldn't be working with Greylight or anyone else to sabotage us."

He leaned back in his seat, folding his arms across his chest. "I think I agree with you. Plus, it isn't like they could have set up a trap that easily. Not without some communications between Emerald Bay and Goldiron, which I think I'd have heard something about." Sam paused, still studying her. "So, what is it?"

For a moment, she considered simply deflecting or ignoring the question. Then she looked down at the table and tightened her hands into fists. "We lost, back there."

Sam tilted his head to the side. "Most people would view two successful Surveys and a stabilized portal as a victory. Especially when it was a single team working for less than a week."

"Most people aren't us." Alex drew in a deep breath and let it out. She looked out the window for a moment. "Those Camps are going to come back, soon. The portal is stable, but that doesn't mean it will always stay that way."

He nodded; she saw the motion in the corner of her eye. "Yeah. They have a few weeks before it does, though. That should be enough time to manage things."

Alex looked back at him. "If that's what Murand decides to do." She looked down at her hands again. "She'd need to hire more Surveyors, though, and spend time and money to do it."

"Or she could just send the ones she already has in day after day, trying to exhaust the portal before it exhausts them." Sam's voice had the same fatalistic resignation that had been haunting her thoughts. He brushed at some invisible speck of dust on the table. "Which is what you think she'll do."

She nodded. "She'll want to cover up the expenses, especially given the fact that she had to pay us. It'll eat at her, too, the way we stuffed the contract in her face, so she'll take it out on the Surveyors under her. For her, it'll be like kicking an obedient dog for something that happened on the road."

Sam leaned forward, his eyes intent. His hand reached out to touch hers, just for a moment. She felt warmth inside her as he squeezed it. "You can't stop everything bad from happening, Alex. Especially not on your own."

Alex looked back at him and then turned away. "Who protects the protectors, Sam? If I'm not that, then who am I?"

She brought her attention back to the sunset again, watching the shadows of the trees begin to lengthen as the train sped past them. Her heart was beating just a little too hard in her chest, and she scrabbled for a way to divert the conversation. "Speaking of which, you did take a risk back there."

He nodded. "I did."

"You could have gotten killed. For all we know, we could all have gotten trapped or killed there." She looked back at him, feeling her anger rise again. "That's a bit more than just reckless."

Sam met her eyes. "I know. It's worse. It's desperation."

She blinked, her anger snuffed out by confusion. "What?"

He grinned again, a crooked smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You heard me. I'm desperate. We all are, in a way." Sam glanced back out the window. "You keep running ahead of us, Alex. Every time we run into danger, you're at the front of the charge, and you keep getting further ahead."

Alex shifted in her seat. "I can't help the things we've faced, Sam."

"All of them?" Sam's gaze pinned her in place. "Remember when you dealt with Team Alpha, back at Golden Swallow? You didn't just take them out. You did it alone."

She nodded, her eyes narrow. "I had to. They were a threat to everyone."

"So why not ask everyone for help?" The question knocked her off balance again, and as she grasped for an answer, he pushed forward. "After that, you remember Red Blade? How hard you drove yourself, and how close you came to dying for it? You even took on Wells by yourself when you didn't have to. We were right there, Alex. Why did you do it on your own?"

Alex looked down at the table between them, searching for something to say. Nothing answered her call; no words rose to her defense. When she broke the silence, her voice felt strangled, almost. "I… I had to do it, Sam. For him."

When she looked up, Alex almost expected him to roll his eyes. Instead, Sam just nodded. "I know. This is just part of who you are, Alex. It has been since we met you, and I don't think it's going to change anytime soon."

Then he leaned forward, his dark eyes intense. "But at the same time, I am not letting you do this, any of this, alone. If you're charging off after those griefers from Greylight, I'm going there with you. If you're exploring whatever this Pioneer thing is, I'm going to be by your side. The next time you go charging off into danger, or the unknown, or whatever other mess you end up finding, I'm going to be right there with you."

She met his gaze, her eyes narrow and her breath coming short. "I can't protect you if you keep throwing yourself into danger. If you don't stop taking those kinds of risks, you're going to get yourself hurt. Or worse, you'll get yourself killed. The same way—"

Her words choked off as a lump rose in her throat. Sam watched her, his expression filled with a curious kind of understanding. When he spoke, his voice was soft. "I'm not Zach, Alex."

Alex tore her eyes away, unwilling to let him see what had welled up inside her. "I know."

"Even if I was, what happened to him was not your fault." When she looked back, Sam was still staring at her, his eyes unflinching. "I miss him too, but he made his own choices, just like I'm going to make mine."

Her vision seemed to blur for a moment, and her hands started to shake slightly. The words became a harsh whisper. "What do you expect me to do, Sam? I can't just watch you die."

His eyes narrowed. "And I'm not going to watch you die, either. Not after everything we've been through. So whatever it takes, I'm going to be ready for whatever you manage to get yourself into—and next time, I'm not letting you do it alone."

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Alex snorted. She swiped at her eyes with one hand. "Then I guess we're just a couple of idiots, aren't we?"

Sam grinned. "I guess." Then his smile faded. "For what it's worth, I am sorry I worried you. I guess I didn't think that was possible."

"Well, now you know." Alex shook her head. "And I guess I'll try to be a bit more careful, too."

He laughed softly and stood. "I'll believe it when I see it." Sam walked past her, pausing only to put a hand on her shoulder. "Protect whoever you need to, Alex. I'll just focus on watching your back while you do."

Then he drew back. "Get some rest, we'll be there soon."

She glanced back at him, watching as he made his way to another spot in the nearly empty train car. When she looked back at the table in front of her, her hands had nearly stopped shaking. What was wrong with her? People needed her; she had to stay focused. There was too much riding on her to allow herself to show any kind of weakness.

Alex kept telling herself that, as the train carried her onward to her next destination, and they left Emerald Bay behind for good.