Cark brought his sister over to say hello after their reunion. The kid was hands down the most outgoing child I'd ever seen in my life. After such a crazy ordeal I expected her to be reserved or timid, I know I would have been, but Cassidy was grinning ear to ear and chattering away as they came within range. Cark had a big smile on his face despite the constant eye rolling and groans of annoyance at the nonstop talking.

When she came within range of us she immediately changed targets, summarily ignoring her brother as she hopped down and ran over to us. She stopped in front of us, hands on her hips. "Hey! Were you the ones who helped my brother? That old guy said I should talk to the guy in the wooden mask to find out what happened." She stared us all down, though I noted her voice shaking a bit. I didn't think the kid was as ok as she was trying to let on, but I wasn't enough of an asshole to call out a nine year old on being scared after something like that.

Jessie, ever the diplomat and hands down the people person over the group, nodded cheerfully. "Yup! Well, he helped us just as much we couldn't have figured out where you were without him. He's kind of impressive, don't you think?" Despite being her normal cheerful self I noticed Jessie didn't try to talk down to the kid at all. She gave Cark the props he deserved, but she wasn't babying her. I hadn't been around kids much, but I had been one not that long ago, and I know I always hated when adults treated me like an idiot.

Cassidy apparently felt the same, because I saw her relax fractionally at Jessie's friendly but not condescending tone. She gave the older blonde a wide grin. "Duh, he can set stuff on fire with his mind or whatever. I want to get the same power. Still though, he said you guys helped a lot. Thanks for that. He's all big and buff but he can be kind of stupid about things sometimes. I don't know what he would do if I wasn't around to take care of him." The small girl flicked a dismissive glance at her indignant brother.

It was weird to see them standing next to each other. Cark was huge and muscular, with black hair and blue eyes. Cassidy was a tiny blonde girl with long, fine hair and eyes so hazel they looked gold. They literally could not have been more different, but it was obvious how much they cared about each other. Cark was still hovering over his sister even now, to the point where he slightly adjust his stance to place himself behind her seemingly without noticing, like he was expecting her to fall over and need catching.

Their relationship somewhat reminded me of mine and Benny's relationship with Maria growing up. The girls both seemed to take it as their mission in life to keep their brothers humble. It was sweet to see. I looked over at Callie and jerked my head toward Cark, and she nodded slightly. Stepping forward to stand next to Jessie. "So Cassidy, why don't we show you around the building, and you can tell us all about what happened when...that old guy, showed up to save you." Her lips twitched as she said it, and I was pretty sure it was half because she didn't know if Zeke had given his name and half to mess with my Uncle.

Cassidy looked at her dubiously for a minute before she shrugged. "Yeah, ok, but if you wanted to talk to Tony you should have just said so. I do want to see inside though. Tony says you have magic birds?" That surprised a laugh out of my girlfriend and Benny and the girls took Cassidy inside, with Grimmengap following along behind them as she once again started rambling happily. Zeke strolled after them casually, not really needing to stay close but still trying to be nearby just in case. I recognized it as his own form of hovering. He used to do the same thing when he took me out when I was really young.

Cark walked over to stand and watch them all leave. "She's terrified." I cocked my head, having been working on my nonverbal communication skills in the mask. You never realize exactly how often you raise your eyebrow until people can't see it. My point was made because he laughed a bit. "She isn't the type to get all weepy. She gets loud and blusters a lot when she's afraid. She learned it from me. I can't ever thank you enough for helping me find her. For helping me keep her safe. I just...I worry about what they managed to do while she was there."

They hadn't finished making her a sleeper, but I was pretty sure hypnosis wasn't a switch you flipped. The chances of Cassidy having some remaining programming in her head weren't small. Luckily, this was basically what I'd been planning to talk to him about. "I might actually be able to help with that." He looked at me in surprise, but not an ounce of uncertainty or doubt. It was a testament to his gratitude for our help that he didn't even think to question the fact that I had a solution.

I'd been waffling about telling him, but that reaction made up my mind for me. "I have some connections in the WCP, something you're obviously aware of. Mostly through Zeke." Which was true even if it wasn't really the whole story. "I have access to a source for wishes from the WCP itself. I'd be willing to help make sure there's no leftover programming in Cassidy's head. I can't do it right now, but if you stick around for a bit I can help you out." I had already used today's wishes, so it would have to wait sadly.

I expected him to be annoyed at the wait time, but he just yanked me into a tight hug. "Thank you! I had no intention of bailing on you anyway. If anything some time out in the woods might help Cass calm down a bit, and I know she'll be fine with Zeke around. I was planning to stay and help you with your scavenger hunt like I agreed to anyway." He let me go, clearing his throat, clearly embarrassed to have just grabbed me, "That is, uh, if you guys still want the help and don't mind me and Cass taking up space?"

I'd been expecting them to leave as soon as they had a chance, and I couldn't say I wasn't happy to have his help. "That would be great man, of course we're happy to have you both. I'm sure the others will be thrilled to have Cassidy around too, she seems like a blast to be around. You sure you don't want to go home though? A familiar atmosphere might be good for her."

He let out a long, slow breath. "No, in fact, I think we might need to move. She was taken from the megaplex where we live, and I can't imagine either of us feeling safe around there anytime soon. Some time out here to think and relax is going to do both of us a world of good, and we can start looking for a new place when we get back. If anything letting us stay out here for a bit would be a favor. Not that you haven't done me more than enough of those already Solomon." I wasn't sure how relaxing a cutthroat scavenger hunt in the wilderness with thousands of super powered cultivators would actually be, but then again most of them were H rankers, so it's not like they would be a huge threat, and I knew Cark could handle himself.

I considered what we'd been through together, as well as what was coming, and made another decision. Considering I'd already trusted him with my bullshit wish story, I could at least show enough faith to tell him my name. He knew where we lived anyway. I reached up and took off my mask, giving him a friendly smile. "Shane. My friends call me Shane." I held out a hand to shake. "Nice to meet you again Tony." Cark, no Tony, was a powerful Ascendant and a good friend to have. I had a feeling even after this he would be a good person to get to know, even if only for his obvious loyalty.

He grinned back and took my hand. "Shane then. I appreciate the trust. Like I said, I owe you more than I can ever repay. Your secret is absolutely safe with me." He looked toward the air shuttles that we were going to have to move all the captives into. "So, what's our next move now that the bad guys are down and out? We going to head out and start looking around for the stuff you need?"

My answering shrug was brief. "No idea. Not my call. Nightstrike is the one in charge, she has way more experience than I do. If I had to guess though I would say probably recon. The Heartrippers weren't the only threat out here, aside from other students who might be just as powerful there are all sorts of monsters and animals and even dangerous plants that could hurt us. I imagine we'll use Agria's birds to scope out the surroundings and try to build a profile of all the nearby factions."

I used their codenames still, because while I could decided to share my identity with Tony I didn't feel comfortable doing the same with theirs. Not my secrets to tell and all that. I put my mask back on as well, since Grimmengap still didn't know who we were. I assumed Celine would be finding out Benny's name soon enough if she didn't know already, and I wasn't opposed to opening up to them a bit more once we knew them better, but for the moment one person in on my name and face was enough for me.

He paused and then gestured over to the captives. "Fair enough, but since we're out here do you want to get started carrying them over to the air shuttles. I imagine the pilots are ready to go when they have everyone onboard." That was a decent point, and we were out here already so I nodded and we headed over to start carrying captives to dump them in the spatially expanded shuttles. The limp forms weren't too tough to carry for Ascendants with double digit might stats, so we each managed to bring along two.

The others must have seen us carrying them from up top, because Benny, Martin, Celine, and Callie came out to help, while Jessie and Sarah stayed inside to hang out with Cassidy. With all of us working on it, even the hundred or so captives weren't much to handle, and it only took us about an hour to carry them all over. Once we had the shuttle's full we got Zeke. He was able to stay out here with Cassidy, given her protection wasn't directly related to me or my task out here, and sent the shuttle's back to the WCP, stepping away briefly to make a call to whoever would be expecting them.

After that we all headed inside together, and I used some supplies Grimmengap had brought with them to make dinner for us all. We would need to start hunting soon enough to make everything last, but for our first night out here together I didn't mind doing the whole banquet thing. Seeing how happy everyone was as we sat together, chowing down on pasta, I had to smile. Tomorrow the hunt would begin for real, but for tonight, it was just nice to have everyone here together. I hoped we would have more dinners like this before this hunt was over.