The sound of metal being dragged across stone resounded through the city. Summers watched from the street as a group of guards and beasts hauled what was left of their Humvee past the crowd. The tires had actually been intact when they’d last left it, but Summers had the foresight to put the Humvee in park and snap off a few key parts to make reusing it a bit more difficult. Given the amount of drag that caused, one of the geniuses that found the vehicle must have thought to remove the tires entirely.

That was at least a good sign none of the elves could figure out how to work the rest of the equipment on their own. There wasn’t much left of their cargo, he’d been sure to destroy what he could and even went as far as to screw with the turret at the top. While he wasn’t some expert saboteur, he was certain that thing wouldn’t fire ever again. And anything he’d had to scrap could be replaced back at base.

The crowd was still gaping at the scene as Summers moved off, making sure to keep an eye on the church across the street.

Asle, now dressed in a slave’s rags, was talking to a taller woman that he assumed was giving her instruction. Synel hadn’t had a hard time selling Asle. She’d convinced the other merchants she caught the girl stealing from her, and the money she’d get as part of the sale would cover the debt Asle now owed. That was extremely worrying to Summers on a fundamental level, because apparently no one batted an eye at a child becoming an indentured servant.

Again, problems for later.

As both Asle and the woman moved into the church, Summers tossed the crate he’d been carrying and headed over that way.

Staying here too long might blow his cover, but he had no intention of keeping this act up much longer. In fact, the slaves he’d bunked with were surprisingly knowledgeable about things like the guard’s routes, their numbers, and the like. Some shared food and an explanation that he’d had a bad run in with one such guard had gotten him all the information he was after. So, he didn’t feel bad about ending his new career a little early.

As he sat in the shadows, he focused on listening, all that was left to do now was wait.

Asle allowed herself to be led through the church, keeping an eye out for anything that seemed off. The woman that was showing her around was nice, but not someone she’d call genuine. She seemed like the type of person that put up that kind of front. It didn’t bother Asle, but it was something worth noting. People like that tended to use others as a shield when the situation required it.

“I’ll be back in a moment with your clothes,” the woman told Asle. “Wait here.”

Asle inclined her head as the woman moved off, then promptly left the room. She made her way down a long hall, trying to keep her pace casual. There was no telling if she’d have a chance to slip away from the woman later, so, may as well get to work now. Besides, she had no intention of staying in this place past the day. With that in mind, it wouldn’t matter if she made a few people angry.

A few minutes of searching found her the kitchen. With a little application of her power, it was easy to swipe a plate of food. With her disguise out of the way, she headed straight to the door that Summers had told her about, doing her best all the while to look as though she belonged.

As she approached, the guard stationed beside the door looked down at her. “Little early, they send you in Mari’s place?”

“Yes,” Asle said, simply.

The man had the distinct look of someone that didn’t care about his duty, so any elaborate excuse would do little good here.

He considered her another moment before stepping aside and opening the door. Asle kept her gaze down as she made her way into the small stone room.

She’d expected a lot of things coming in. What she’d found was a bedroom, a man lying on a pile of furs in the corner. She set the plate down, seeing no reaction. Asle glanced back, noticing the guard had turned his back on her. She crept towards the furs, intent on getting a closer look, then stopped as she saw the man’s face, or lack thereof.

His face was a twisted mass of angry, red flesh giving way to bone. Even the man’s limbs looked longer, thinner than they should have been, jutting out at odd angles. Almost as though they’d melted. But what worried her most was the feeling the man gave off, the fact that she could feel something about him pulling her in, calling to her. Something familiar. Something she wanted no part of.

Asle stood, intent on leaving. Just then, the faceless man’s head turned on her, and screamed.

“Ah. . .”

Before Asle could truly react, a rough hand pulled Asle back towards the door, imposing itself between the creature that was now crawling on its hands and her.

“Get her out. And find me the one that decided sending a child in here was a fine idea.”

Asmund, the last man she wanted to see, guided the faceless man back into his furs before returning to her, kneeling to her level. “Are you okay? Did someone send you in their place? Who was it?”

Asle was about to respond, when she realized that was probably not the best move here. She didn’t want someone else to get the blame for what she and her friends were doing. So, she played the part of the scared child.

“I don’t. . .” Asle started before trailing off, doing her best to look terrified. Which, frankly, wasn’t difficult.

After a moment, Asmund stood back up. “It’s fine, go rest,” he turned to the guard that was guarding the door. “Get my brother back in bed and her to the slave’s quarters, I want to speak with her handler.”

Asmund’s words faded to the background as a woman she hadn’t even seen gently guided her to the other side of the church. She was a little surprised at how much care she was being shown.

As the woman deposited her into the slave’s quarters, the yelling and commotion of earlier not quite fading, Asle decided it might be best to leave. Luckily, at this time of day the only other occupant was a young boy. He’d clearly just woken up, which made this a little easier.

She took a breath, and flexed her power, creating a small hole leading to the world outside. The slave boy stared at it, wide-eyed, as Asle stepped through. Before she closed it, she turned to the boy. “No one’s going to believe you.”

With that, she allowed the portals to close, leaving a seamless wall where she’d been a moment earlier.

Summers saw a figure materialize in the center of the street, and with the commotion he could hear inside the church, it was clear Asle had decided to make her escape. He hopped down to meet her just as she cut the portal off. It didn’t escape his notice how the girl was trembling slightly.

“Asle,” Summers began, “You. . . okay?”

“No.” Asle turned to the growing noise in the church. “But we should probably leave.”

Summers hesitated, before Asle gave him a reassuring smile. He led her to an alley where he’d stashed some extra clothes. Today, the city would be losing two slaves, he doubted there would be much attention paid to it, however. The last few days had given him plenty of time to think, and now that their little undercover operation was done, they could move on to the real plan.

“It was a man?” Synel asked.

“It’s not-” Asle cut herself off, “He wasn’t just a person, there was something about him. Like looking at him did something. It’s hard to explain.”

Asle had been trying to tell them what she saw in the church, but she was having trouble finding the words.

“You said he called the man his brother?” Synel held a finger to her chin. “I recall hearing the man’s brother went missing some time ago.”

“If it was around the time Wendel’s bullshit blew the base to hell, that could explain things. Guy’s disfigured because some portal took his face out. Doubt anyone here or even my world would know what that did to a person.”

“No, it wasn’t his face, it-” Asle let out a breath. “It was a feeling. A wrongness. Like looking at him made me. . . not me.”

Synel and Summers both looked at her with worried expressions.

“I’m not crazy,” Asle said defensively.

Summers paused, taking in her expression. “Fine. I get it.” Summers offered. “Really, but it doesn’t tell us much. Other than there’s a guy with some serious issues. For all we know, these samr did that to him themselves. Body horror is kind of their thing.”

Asle thought on that a moment before nodding.

“Point being,” Summers continued, “we still don’t know much about what it is. But it doesn’t seem likely to bite us in the ass any time soon.” Summers noticed Asle shift a bit. “But now that we know that; I think we can move on to the next step.”

“We have steps now?” Synel remarked.

“Maybe you’re rubbing off on me a bit.” He smiled. “I noticed something odd about Asmund, mostly that he seems to genuinely care about the people here. I think he doesn’t like the position they’ve put him in. Or maybe he regrets throwing in with them.”

“And that helps us how? Yes, we might offer a better alternative, but a promise of help won’t be enough.”

Summers gestured to Asle. “You said he seemed like a good person, right?”

“Or he was pretending really well,” Asle countered.

“No man in a position that high would bother to pretend.” Roan said. “Trust me I’ve gotten worse from nicer people.”

“Yes, but you had it coming,” Synel countered.

“But they didn’t know that.”

Synel considered that. “Fair point.”

“And from what I’ve seen,” Summers interrupted. “Him and this lieutenant aren’t exactly on good terms. So, I say we use that.”

“Oh, is this one of those false flags you told me about?” Synel asked.

Summers smiled, not bothering to hide it. “Exactly. We just need to stir the pot.”

“Hmm, but why not just kill the woman?” Synel asked.

“Because Asmund seems to genuinely believe the samr are his people’s best chance for survival. And killing her is one big unknown, it might make her soldiers default to crazy, it might do nothing. We’ll have to do it eventually, but we have to make sure we’re ready for that. And that the city won’t try to kill us for it.”

Synel considered. “You’re right, if we play it correctly, we’ll come out looking like the better ally.”

“Exactly.” Summers turned to the others. “We need something that will make Asmund look at the samr differently.”

The group quieted in thought, before Roan spoke up. “Isn’t it obvious?” At their silence, he continued. “That woman, you said she controls those people? That means that whole army out there is one person. And people panic. Asmund has people to worry about, he’s not stupid, and if he’s as good as you say he won’t just turn on an ally. So don’t try, you should make her do your dirty work.”

“What do you mean?”

“Make her do something she’ll regret.”