“Huh…” said Margot.

“What?” I said.

The two of us were in the Ginza district in Tokyo. After working our asses off for nearly seven months straight, the world known as Uhrwerk was finally up and running.

The heavenly wills of the destroyed worlds that made up this new world were now operating optimally and comfortably. The new pantheon was set in place after the gods had finished having their trillion year-long tournament arc.

The souls of the mortals had all been transferred over into new bodies so that the myriad civilizations could...more or less...resume what they’d been doing. With a few modifications made to make things run a little smoother.

The world had gone through a final readjustment to make sure it was stable and now as far as the merged world phenomenon was concerned the worst was over. The rest of the job would just be observation and maintenance and I’d set up a few AIs that’d do most of that. Turning a portion of my FC-fleet into an observational system that’d step in something happened to the world while Margot and I were off the clock.

Thus, Margot and I decided we’d earned a small vacation, so we were spending a month traveling. Taking a breather. We’d reached the leg of our journey that led us back to Japan. We’d just finished hitting Ikebukuro and Akihabara, picking up all the stuff that Margot would normally have to order online. Now we were in Ginza for some more general shopping.

I figured we’d stop by the Tokyo Branch of the Heroes Guild to see how our pal Tommy was doing, before we left and headed over to South Korea.

“I just got an email from Director Dillan’s Secretary. It seems the Director wants to discuss the terms of our promotion…” I said. Forwarding the aforementioned email over to Margot, through our tether.

“Nh? Are they trying to take Uhrwerk from us already?” I said. Wondering whether I was supposed to be amused or annoyed right now. Keeping an eye on the girls as they wandered ahead of us. Chatting amongst themselves.

“Er, actually no...It looks like they’re turning my temporary promotion into something more permanent...Yours too…”

“Huh?!....” I said. Feeling a headache coming on as I remembered a certain old adage about the most common reward for good work, being more work.

“I’d kind of been looking forward to having the DPAA swoop in and try to take the artificial universe off of our hands,” I said. So long as they honored the contract, and paid us as agreed I had no problem letting someone else play the part of cosmic nursemaid and nanny.

“Mhm...Looks like no such luck...Apparently, they’re even deeding the entire facility over to us...Console included...”

“What? That doesn’t even…” I said. Stunned. Wondering in which world a sane and competent government would simply deed over one of its facilities. My akashic-feed quickly filled in the details and I realized that the people behind the DPAA and their superiors in House of Antipodes were making an aggressive play to keep the two of us working for them.

I realized that Margot and I might have shown off a bit too much and done just a little too good a job. Maybe we should have waited a decade or two before telling our employers that we’d finished the job? But then again, our employment contract was very clear that we weren’t supposed to lie in the reports. So maybe there was nothing we could do to prevent this situation except maybe trying not to do our jobs so well.

Now the powers-that-be were going to try and make us a permanent fixture of earth paranormal authority. I was slightly offended that they thought a ploy this transparent would work, but then I realized that transparency was exactly why I’d probably just be letting this happen. So long as I had the option to leave, I’d likely feel no reason to do so.

“So uh...Are we happy about this or…?” I said. Sighing helplessly as I turned my attention to Mint and Filomena who were headed towards a shop that sold hi-tech sporting goods.

“I guess….I mean, it is a pretty prestigious position. And I already had the job, I just thought it was going to be a temporary gig…. Er, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to just see where this goes…” said Margot. Shrugging.

“Fair enough,” I said. Smirking as I thought up a few tasty terms that me and Margot could ask for, if the UN World government and the House of Antipodes wanted to pull me and Margot into bed with them. If the Powers-that-be were trying to bait us, then they’d best be prepared to use some very big worms.

*************************************************************************************************************

A day went by, and Margot and I headed out again. Leaving the high-class hotel suite and its thoroughly devastated bed behind us. Our time in Tokyo was coming to a close. The girls were back at home, in our base up in space.

Margot and I stayed in a hotel room because we’d wanted to see why everyone made such a big deal about hotel sex. I’ll admit that there was something slightly enticing about intimacy in a new setting.

It was time for Margot and me to visit the Tokyo Heroes Guild.

The commute was short because we weren’t trying to sight-see this time. We just teleported over to the guild HQ. The Tokyo Heroes’ Guild HQ was like most other Heroes Guild HQs that Margot and I had seen. Large. More a sprawling campus than a single building. Differing from the Players League headquarters in that instead of being primarily a place for dealing with administrative matters and selling magical wares, it was an administrative building, a training facility, a medical facility, a dorm, and whatever else the local heroes might need.

The entrance of the Heroes Guild was busy. There was an eclectic mixture of men and women of various ages, ranging from senior citizens to middle schoolers. Some wearing school uniforms and work clothes, others wearing the more traditional armored-costumes, others wearing karate gi, suits, and mage’s robes.

Rather than try and navigate the crowds and lines inside, I pulled out my cellphone and made a call. The phone rang two times before the other end finally picked up my call.

“H-, Huh? Who is this?” said the voice of Thomas Yu. His tone glum. His Japanese still sounding rough and awkward, despite his having spent almost three years in the country.

“It’s me…Monty,” I said. Speaking in English.

“Oh, well shit, dude! What’s up?” said Thomas' voice brightening up.

“Me and Margot decided to go on holiday...We ended up in your neck of the woods and thought we’d say hi,” I said.

“Oh, that’s cool. Er, perfect timing honestly. I was just about to go for my lunch break. Where are you?” said Thomas.

“We’re outside the main entrance.”

“Sweet. Okay, If you turn around and head down and towards the right, you’ll see a franchise restaurant. The place with the sexy clown cutouts near the entrance…” said Thomas.

I turned around and quickly found the place he was talking about. Spotting a storefront that would have been quite inconspicuous if it weren’t for the top-heavy, short-short wearing, stripe-stockinged, clown cutouts near the door.

“I see it…” I said.

“Cool, you guys head in and I’ll meet you there.”

Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, Thomas joined us inside the restaurant. I was busy reading a menu occupied by the usual mixture of burgers and fries, when Thomas walked. He wasn’t wearing his costume, he was dressed in a white button shirt, a tie, and navy blue slacks.

“Sup!” said Thomas, as he approached our booth.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hi, Tommy…” said Margot.

I looked Thomas up and down. Noting that he was still stuck using the same, low-grade, barely functional, pincer-clad, prosthetic that the guild had given him instead of arranging a proper replacement for the arm he’d lost in the line of duty. Then I shook my head.

We could have handled this matter several months ago, when Thomas first lost his arm, but the young man had wanted to try and handle things on his own. I’d respected his choices then as his friend, because doing more would be overly patronizing and maybe have some negative effects on our friendship.

Now for the sake of that same friendship, I was going to try and push a little more firmly. I didn’t want to injure the man’s pride, but the Tommy I was looking at now was barely the Tommy I remembered. It wasn’t the missing arm that did. A limb was just a limb. No, it was the slightly defeated aura and the hollowness of his smile.

I got right to the point of deciding not to mince words.

“They caught you in catch-22 didn’t they…?”

“Uh...I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Ma-, maybe I just like things the way they are. Did you ever think about that?” said Thomas. His expression muddled. His smile quickly faded.

“You like not being able to do hero-work because you’re missing an arm, and not being able to have the guild replace said arm because you can’t do hero-work?” I said. One brow raised.

“Shit...Fine. So, remember when I said, I could handle the whole getting a replacement-arm situation on my own?” said Thomas.

“...Y-, Yeah?” I said. Blinking. Moderately surprised that this hadn’t turned into the confrontation that I’d been expecting on the way over here.

“Well, it turns out that I was...maybe a little overly optimistic...Rather than go round and round on this let’s just get to the inevitable conclusion...Monty, Is that offer to help still available?” said Thomas.

“Sure. Of course. Er,...Sit down and we’ll talk terms…I just got a promotion with the DPAA, so there’s actually a little more I can do for you, compared to before...” I said. Smiling. Relieved that he’d capitulated so quickly. I’d been prepared for a fight when I came here, but I certainly hadn’t been looking forward to it.