All the eyes of the assembled Professionals turned to the Gate when the thumping sound came from there. They caught sight of an armoured Defender dropping and flopping on the ramp coming from the metal circle before becoming still, smoke pouring out from slits in the full-plate equipment.

Everyone readied itself for some assault, but nothing more came out of the Gate. Finally, one walked carefully, turning over the corpse, revealing a bright red face that had the look of being slightly cooked from the inside by various effects. Part of the armour looked slightly battered as well, intimating some powerful attacks. The gear would slowly fix itself, but obviously, the man would not.

“Man had too many statuses ongoing when he crossed, my guess. One second more, and he might have been killed while still on the other side, wherever that was.”

The raid team’s leader approached. For anyone unfamiliar with the French’s upper cadre, he would look extremely strange. Half of his face was invisible as if the skull had been cut at his nose, and the skin draped over a flat surface. The rest of his appearance was more normal by comparison, a heavily studded gear, framed in lines that glowed a dark red as if it covered some kind of slow-burning coal fire, along with a pair of pattern-inscribed swords strapped to his sides.

“Anyone knows who this is?”

“The descriptor says Rocco Malenpent, around 700 levels based on the resurrection timer.”

The man sorted through his memorized list of major Professionals for a moment, before nodding.

“Governor at Versailles. Early tier six. Due to rotation for more levels this spring.”

The man who’d checked the dead body nodded back and sent his health into the defender’s corpse since he had enough for that. The man heaved, before turning and dumping what appeared to be a nearly empty stomach to the side.

His breath steadied before his gaze rose and he took account of the Professionals present around him.

“Hoped you would be at this Gate, given the calendar.”

“We noticed… some abnormalities. The Gate to Argenmart is unusable along with many more, and the two who had a Recall in the zone are now locked in this zone. What the blazes happened?”

He focused on the faceless man and half-bowed despite his sitting position.

“Consul, we got attacked by the British…”

All of Jonas’s team had caught up with Applied Ringmaster Jack Millard, as the Professionals hurried along the road that rounded the Royal Palace, toward the Government buildings further away. People noticed the clump of Professionals, but there was very little indication to suggest any oddity to casual onlookers.

Almost all of the mundanes wouldn’t even be aware of the ongoing offensive against the French, with the British armies freshly debarked on the continent. Let alone the – partially successful or unsuccessful, depending – assault on the heart of the French Dominion. And besides, the mundane citizen was rarely aware of the various intricacies of Professionals activities, and would not take notice of seven Professionals together, when the practical cap on teams was six. So, they attracted some, but not much notice in the streets of London.

If you wanted to look at Professionals, you watched the Great Gate. Like Jonas and Ira, and most of their team had been doing that fateful day over a year ago.

Millard didn’t turn toward the War Department, as Jonas had expected. Instead, he trudged on, and Jonas suddenly realized they were actually headed toward the Ministry of the Labyrinth.

“I thought we were reporting to the Duke?” he asked.

“That will come later. The matter of the Labyrinth is more of a concern for his brother, though,” Millard replied.

Jonas winced slightly. He was definitively not looking forward to having to explain to the Minister how his team might have wrecked the Labyrinth by mistake. While they were briskly walking toward the government building, he turned his attention to Jonathan, who was looking oddly around.

“You’re good, Jonathan? Any lingering problem from the Gate Closer use?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m good. Distracted, though. I think it’s going to take a bit getting used to.”

“Used to what?”

“The mini-descriptors. If I focus on anyone, they keep popping up. It’s… a bit different from the one from every critter. I don’t have enough ranks to compare with Gauge Enemy, though.”

“You do really see everyone’s base potentials?”

“Every passer-by, if I look straight at them. Just their ten Potentials, mind you. Nothing else, but still, it’s a descriptor that clutters my mind’s eye. I need to avoid looking too much around. It’s not distracting in the Labyrinth, because there are only so few critters around and they have a more basic descriptor. But in London’s bustle…” Jonathan’s voice trailed.

The group finally reached the Ministry’s entrance, and Jack Millard wasted no time asking the ushers at the entrance to tell the Minister that he needed to see him immediately, no matter what the man was doing at the moment.

While they waited in a side room, Jonas asked him about the familiarity.

“When the operational head of the British Scouts says he wants to meet the Minister now, that usually happens,” Millard replied.

“Right now, he’s my official boss, and the person in the government most interested in that event, which makes it simpler to call upon him.”

Seeing Jonas’s slightly confused look, he elaborated.

“Legally, the British Scouts report directly to the Marquess Wellesley, as the sponsoring noble for the company. It just happens that said Marquess is also the Minister for the Labyrinth, which makes it easy for everyone. That’s how he set us up when the Royal Labyrinth Company was broken up and he wanted a dedicated set of teams for keeping track of the Labyrinth.”

“What happens if the government changes?” Guss asked, curious.

“Well, I’d think everyone would have to ask the awkward question, then. Or keep the Marquess in their government, which might be what Richard Wellesley intended when he took over.”

“It would be very, very strange if the government changed to the Whigs, then,” Guss noted.

“Yes. That one would cause all kinds of ruckus. But that’s not our concern,” Millard replied.

At that moment, one Ministry employee came and ushered them up to the Minister’s office.

“Greetings, Millard. I wasn’t expecting you, though. I would assume that, success or failure, you’d have reported to the War Department,” Richard Wellesley, Minister to the Labyrinth, said.

“Well, regarding success, it was kind of both.”

The British Scouts’ leader quickly elaborated.

“Primary objective was a failure, secondary one a success. Apparently, we picked the absolute worst time to attack – most of the Tyrant’s cadre were along with him in the Labyrinth for their sprint gearing and experience sessions.”

“Well, that’s the kind of things you can only anticipate if you have enough time to react,” Wellesley commented, before adding, “The Village was not too defended, then?”

“That one’s a complete success. There might be a few unsuspected new heirs to some titles once that is sorted out, but they’re good. Our airborne reinforcements reported that the armies had been progressing nicely from what they could tell above as they flew over them, and they should have no problem getting to safety.”

“Which means I still have no idea where this is more relevant to me than the War Department,”

“Which brings me to my report about breaking the Labyrinth,” Millard deadpanned.

Richard Wellesley’s eyebrows furrowed in surprise. Whatever he had expected, this news wasn’t it.

Millard wasted no time in starting to explain the problem.

“So, wait? There appear to be disabled Gates everywhere?”

“A lot of the people in the raid noticed that immediately once they called upon their location descriptor to get back to Grailburg.”

Jonas reflexively called upon said descriptor to verify his own version.

Location

Zone: Earth

Locale: London

Recall: Grailburg, Gate to Earth

Recall: 20 hours, 18 minutes

Gates: 4/4

Tier 1: Zolferras (disabled)

Tier 2: Donerkal

Tier 3: Zilbarn

Tier 4: Warsemial (disabled)

Fast travel: 2 charges, 19 days until next

The two Gates that were showing as disabled on his and the rest of the team’s descriptors hadn’t changed their status in the two hours since they came out of the Labyrinth.

“Not everyone has disabled gates, but a fairly large amount of our Professionals seem to. I’ve got a Scout keeping tab at the Gatepost area for inbound teams, as most of them get back home as soon as they notice that something is off. It’s a bit too early for a full picture, but we’ve already got dozens of different Fast Travel destinations that show as disabled and can’t be used,” Millard elaborated.

“Don’t forget that team that found the Gate frame to Cheogary empty,” Ira added.

“Empty?” Wellesley asked.

“Yes. They reported it had no gate surface, like the Gate to Versailles after we blew it. Or when the London one had been blown by the French. And it has a visible descriptor as well,” Millard confirmed.

Richard Wellesley’s fingers started drumming on his desk, highlighting his discomfort at the seemingly impossible situation.

“So, what happened? A large-scale attack? There was nothing else when they closed the Gate last year. Or when the War Department did its experiments earlier this one.”

“I think I might have done it,” Jonathan’s voice came from the side.

Everyone’s head turned in his direction. Jonas was surprised. Not at the implication that Adjustment was the cause, that one was obvious for Jonas. But stating it outright like that?

“Explain yourself, Sir Gilbert.”

“I was one of the three that used the Gate Closers. I wanted to do my part on finishing the French, as best as we could do, considering what their vile attack did on my family.”

Jonathan winced slightly before elaborating.

“In retrospect, I shouldn’t have. The Gate Closer devices worked fast, and energetically. Apparently, that wasn’t how they were supposed to work. And two of them apparently broke down in the process of closing the Gate… I mean not mine, but the other two did.”

“Your special… Professional Milestone did it.”

“That’s the one different factor I see,” Millard added. “Unless closing a Great Gate from the inside of the Labyrinth is the one special case, if closing one from Earth isn’t.”

“Do you concur, Sir Sims?” the Minister asked.

“We probably should ask the Archivists if they see a different scenario. But interacting oddly with the Gates seem to be part of the ability set that comes with Adjustment. For good or worse,” Jonas replied.

“Well, that one gave all of you your titles of nobility, so let’s hope it does not lead to stripping you of those,” Richard Wellesley joked on their knighthoods.

The Minister’s fingers started to drum again on the wood.

“I need to think more about this. And start drafting some contingencies, depending on how widespread this will turn out to be,” he finally said.

“Don’t leave the Ministry. I will probably ask for you again,” he added.

“The scout at Gatepost will have a preliminary list of disabled Gates sent here as soon as possible,” Millard told him.

“Good.”

The seven Professionals had barely left the Minister’s office when they got accosted by a minor functionary.

“We have received a notice from the War Department. You are expected to report there as soon as possible.”

“Well Lord Wellesley has said not to leave the Ministry until he’s finished,” Millard replied immediately.

“You probably should send a message to the Duke of Wellington that we are unavoidably delayed,” Jonas added helpfully.

The minister worker shrugged and turned, his task obviously done. As soon as he’d disappeared, Jack Millard shrugged in turn.

“Sorry, I know you do work for the man, while I work for his brother. The Duke could probably be finally promoted to Secretary of State for War if the prestige he gains from the campaign is enough, but for now, his authority does not equal his older brother’s.”

“No problem,” Jonas reassured him.

The Professionals settled back in the same waiting antechamber they’d been shown before. The wait was longer this time and interrupted when Gemma Chapman arrived. The Scout woman was bringing news.

“Got a temporary list. We have nearly thirty… twenty-nine to be exact… Gates that are reported disabled so far. For the last hour, no new Gates have been reported disabled despite nearly forty teams coming in after they noticed the anomalies,” she said.

She handed Millard a list, before adding, “Tressie Duncan is still keeping track, in case we had people that were too busy to notice. The teams that have no one with a disabled Gate will probably not abort their current delve anyway.”

She then finished, “Oh, and there are already people from both Minkton and Laufrey’s at the Ministry entrance, yelling about closed gates.”

After sending the list to the Minister’s office, the seven didn’t have to wait for long before the Minister called them back. When ushered in, Jonas wasn’t too surprised to see that the Duke of Wellington had arrived. Or that Howard Brook, of the Archives, was also present, presumably because Babbage was otherwise busy.

The office was starting to feel a bit cramped with all the Professionals and the rest packed in, even if the room itself was fit for a Minister after all.

“Ah, my brother has given me the news. Congratulations and well done, Millard. Closing the Gate was the right call given the circumstances… even though we couldn’t have anticipated the side effects,” the Duke said, turning to the team.

“I apologize, my Lord. We should have…” Jonas immediately started.

“We will live with it. Besides, this time, the Great Gate of London is still operating, so it’s not bad. We have months now to dismantle the structures of the Dominion and prepare for Bonaparte. We probably will have to offer him good terms he can accept to end this without too much waste of life. If it was me, I’d ship him to be forgotten on some forsaken island in the middle of the Atlantic, but that’s a tier seven we’re talking about.”

“Why not execute him?” Jonathan asked bluntly.

“Sir Gilbert, one does not execute enemies just because you can. Besides, if you do that, it only means they will never surrender, no matter what happens. It is different in the field of battle, where men are expected to fall until surrender is given. Even the Tyrant did not execute the royals of Europe, after all. The least a gentleman can do is offer the same clemency.”

The Duke made a slightly disappointed face.

“I’d hoped we’d score a final victory, but we still got a decisive one. It’s too early to celebrate, but the Dominion is over. Depriving it of its leadership cadre that drove it was the goal, and it’s done, even if temporarily. They’re not going to claw it back.”

“Let’s hope they don’t escape through the Colonies. Or China. Or even…” Jonas stopped just in time, as he realized not everyone present might know about the Zulus. Brook and Millard almost certainly didn't.

“Can’t do much about it, but unless he’s prepared a way out, it will take him time to cross the Great Line or some upper-tier pathway. And he can’t very well walk in our direction, after all.”

Richard Wellesley coughed slightly, interrupting the discussion.

“That’s good, but right now, we have another, different, problem to tackle.”

“The closed Gates,” Howard said.

“We need to map more accurately the extent of the closure. You get some information thanks to Fast Travel, but more Gates could be closed, and unless someone has them as an option, no one will notice,” the Minister said.

“Scouting,” Millard replied.

“Scouting large and wide, yes.”

“My teams will do so immediately. Most of our high tiers are still guarding the Gate in Versailles, but we’ll do what we can.”

“Post a notice at Gatepost that any team headed in the depths should at the very least make the rounds of any zone they go, and check all Gates around it,” Richard Wellesley ordered.

“It will be up as soon as I’m back in the Labyrinth,” Jack Millard replied.

“And my team will scout the reaches. We still have one option next to the far Great Line,” Jonas offered.

“Good. The Archives will coordinate the efforts of all the teams outside the Scouts,” Howard added.

“Then let’s make it so. Dismissed… not you Arthur,” the Minister said.

Everyone took his leave. As soon as they left the Minster’s offices, Jack Millard excused himself and started to stride fast toward the Great Gate direction, leaving Jonas, his team, and the Archivist to follow at their slightly slower pace. Howard also quickly turned, heading toward the London branch of the Royal Society which hosted the Labyrinth company.

“You know, the Americans were horribly worried that I could damage their own Gate, and didn’t want me anywhere near it when I went there last year,” Jonas said.

“Yea, so?” Ira asked.

“Maybe they were right.”