Chloe came back into the room carrying a new bucket, a mop, and a bag. Without speaking she opened up the bag and poured its contents out over the sludge on the floor. The gravelly powder seemed to absorb all of the moisture from the sludge and Chloe handed Nick a dustpan and brush. Nick got to work scooping up all of the mixture from the floor. When he was done Chloe took it from him and left the room. Nick took the mop and gave the floor a good once-over. He then squeezed out the mop and did his best to get rid of any remaining water from the floor. It was a very simple task and really helped Nick calm himself down.

Nick processed what had just happened to him. Paige had drained him of everything he was worth, putting an insane amount of venom into him. The venom was what made him so infatuated with Paige, but something went wrong. It must have been Intolerable Weakness, or more specifically its evolution. It must have added some sort of passive component to the skill, which would explain why he was resistant to Paimon’s abilities. The new passive didn’t react well to the venom and caused the extreme dissonance that had racked his body and mind. This new skill was awesome, but just like its unevolved counterpart, it seemed to have some serious flaws.

Nick sighed. At least he’d found all these flaws in an environment he felt safe in. It would likely have spelled his doom if he had been anywhere else in the Complex when everything had kicked off. He also now had an understanding of his skill, without having to locate a button. Nick also began running over what he had heard Paimon tell Paige. She wanted to kill him, but someone named Dante was preventing her from doing that because of a vision of some sort. That raised some serious questions. Who was Dante? What was this vision, and what role in it did Nick play? If Paimon wanted to kill him for it but someone else, that was powerful enough to stop Paimon, was preventing her, then it must be something pretty serious.

Well, he now knew what Paimon wanted from him. She really was just keeping an eye on him, though seemingly reluctantly. He also had to consider his relationship with Paige, she had been very forthcoming about killing Nick without even a hint of hesitation. Nick wasn’t sure how he really felt about Paige. She was a very creepy woman who’d caused him a whole bunch of grief and pain. She was also one of the people he’d been closest to lately, he felt some sort of relationship with her. Though could he trust that feeling? It was all her skills, right? He was also very isolated and Paige was the only person around him that he could talk to. It also didn’t help how intimate they’d been, his own skill told him it wasn’t a skill influencing him here. He was just a lonely young man and Paige was giving him some attention. A super effective strategy.

Just as Nick was letting out another long sigh, Chloe reentered the room.

“So, what the hell was that?” She asked.

“Wellllll, where do I start?”

Nick started with his meeting with Paimon, then he told a very censored retelling of his time with Paige. He found out it had been over 14 hours since Nick had seen Chloe, which meant he had been unconscious for at least ten hours. He then explained how he thought his skill worked, he wasn’t sure if he should be telling all of this to a person he’d only recently met and didn’t know how much he could trust. He told her anyway because he really just wanted to talk to someone, he could deal with any consequences later.

“You need to avoid the vamps then. They’re going to be the death of you. I’m sure Paimon is already aware of what’s happened here. From my experience, nobody in that faction takes nicely to not getting what they want. And they want you, Nick. I couldn’t tell you why, but I know someone who might. Have you met Vassago yet? He’s the head Shaman here at Agoetia, he’s also the leader of the Unvoided faction.”

Nick had fuzzy memories of his meeting with the man. He had been far more preoccupied with Paimon and trying to negate her influences over him at the time. The man had popped into the office and vanished just as quickly, he did seem like a nice enough bloke though. Chloe then told Nick where he could find the man.

“Vas is a very friendly guy, I’m not sure what he can do for you but I’m sure he’ll at least be able to give you more information about your situation than I’ll ever be able to.” She said with a smile.

Nick then remembered something Paimon had questioned him. “Hey Chloe, I’d watch out for Paimon. She asked some questions about you and your involvement with me, she doesn’t seem like the person to try and talk things out.”

Chloe just laughed. “Thankfully I don’t have to be overly worried about Paimon’s faction. There’s a reason the Voided avoid Healers as much as they can. Also, Paimon would never be confident enough to encroach on Vas’s faction. I’m pretty safe.”

That made Nick a bit more relieved. He hadn’t known Chloe for long, but he definitely liked her. He didn’t want her to get in any sort of heat just because he was tumbling his way from catastrophic event to catastrophic event. Nick really had been witness to some rather bonkers events so far. He started it off by becoming a slave for Tony, then he bumbled his way into some sort of invasion plan, then his brother had been kidnapped, and then he was in the centre of Reggie’s massacre. Now he was under the watchful gaze of one of the leaders of the strongest faction in the Complex. How the hell had he managed such a series of unfortunate events. Nick was almost impressed by how lucky it all seemed to be.

As Nick was leaving the room he had one last question. “Who was the old dude?”

“Oh, that was Jeremiah. My healing isn’t good enough to actually replace blood properly. Jeremiah is the highest level Healer here in Agoetia.”

“Oh. Cool.” Nick nodded and made his way out of the room. “Thanks for everything Chloe.”

“See you soon Nick.” She replied with a sigh.

Nick grinned and walked out to the reception. He found a rather grumpy looking Paige waiting there for him. He waved at Sandy and the blonde woman just sighed and shook her head at him. He had a feeling that he was slowly winning her over. Paige tried to loop her arm through his but Nick stepped away. Paige looked even grumpier at his action, he turned to him with a pout.

“What did she say to you?”

“Not much. Just worked out what my skill might be doing.”

“Oh? That is?” Paige’s face almost gave away how curious she actually was.

Nick considered it for a moment. He could try and lie his way around it, but she likely already grasped most of the details. He wasn’t sure how Paige or Paimon were going to respond to this development, but he realised he’d have to bank on whoever Dante was to save his ass. Paimon wanted to control him, she couldn’t kill him. If her skills weren’t as effective anymore, what would she do? Nick’s eyes widened, and he realised something terrible.

“Paige. What happened to the team that was going to rescue Benny?”

“Ah. I was meant to tell you last night. The team we sent to the 64th floor came back and told us that Tony was no longer there. According to the people they questioned, the group didn’t stay for long and went back out into the car park. The witnesses did confirm that three children were still with the group. The issue is, the car park quickly destroys most tracks. The team ascertained that they had gone deeper, but can’t confirm how deep.”

Nick stood still for a moment and processed what he’d just heard. Benny wasn’t safe. Paige had assured him that Benny would be back safely in no time, so he’d put it to the back of his mind and placed his faith in her. He had been wrong to do so. Nick had to consider that she was lying to him. Maybe there wasn’t a team, maybe they had found Benny, maybe it wasn’t something he wanted to know the answer to. He had to ask anyway.

He looked the small woman dead in the eye. “Is Benny alive?”

“Yes. We’re sure of it.” Paige replied, eyes unwavering.

She had no logical way of knowing that. Not unless something else was going on here. If Paimon couldn’t control him with skills, she could control him with other things. He had to assume that Benny was being used. How was he being used though? Did they actually have Benny, and were just keeping him hostage? Maybe. Did they actually find Benny and were just keeping an eye on him? Maybe. Then there was the possibility that Nick couldn’t stomach. Had they found Benny, but he wasn’t alive? The thought made Nick nauseous. It was a possibility though. They could be using the promise of getting Benny back to him to keep him around, knowing full well it would never happen.

Nick took a deep breath and cleared his mind. He totally ignored his surroundings, he pushed the fact that was still standing in the middle of a reception out of his mind and turned his attention inwards. Nick focused on his energy. He watched as it flowed around his body, gentle and carefree. Nick let all his troubling thoughts get carried away by the energy, simply floating away as soon as they arose in his mind. Nick stayed like that, letting his attention rest only on the rhythmic flowing of his energy. He recognised voices calling his name, he even felt people touching him and eventually moving him. He paid it no mind though. He simply let his awareness stay with the energy.

It was only once he felt his mind truly calm, once all the thoughts stopped trying to vie for his attention that he took in a deep breath and let his awareness return to the world around him. For the third time in 24 hours, Nick was met with the troubled gaze of Paige and Choe. When they noticed his attention on them they went to speak. Nick spoke first.

“I’d like to talk to Vassago.”

Chloe then nodded and pulled Nick up. “Okay, I’ll take you to him.”

“Paimon would like to see you Nick.” Paige spoke sweetly.

Nick completely ignored Paige. It wasn’t the most mature of choices to make, but he needed to talk to someone right now. Someone that hopefully wasn’t going to be playing games with him. There was far too much going on and Nick needed answers. Answers that wouldn’t leave him with more questions than he could handle. He needed to keep it simple, Paimon and Paige were anything but simple. Chloe started walking and Nick followed along behind her. Paige reached out and grabbed Nick’s wrist, her grip like a steel vice.

“You’ll be coming with me Nick.” Paige spoke coldly.

Chloe acted before Nick could work out how to respond. She had grabbed Paige’s own wrist and Nick saw her palm glow. There was the sound of flesh sizzling and Paige let out a pained hiss, letting go of Nick’s wrist. Nick pulled his arm away and watched as Chloe removed her hand from Paige. Paige was left with a palm print burned into her flesh. Well, that certainly explained why the Voided Exes avoided Healers.

“You dare go against the Mistress?” Paige hissed.

“I do not. I am simply acting as a representative of Vassago. Nick expressed interest in meeting with him and you acted to prevent such a meeting. You know the rules as well as I Paige. Any issues you or Paimon have can be taken up with Vassago. Now.” Chloe turned around and started walking off.

Nick followed after her. Yep. This was the burning of bridges. He doubted that his relationship with Paige was ever going to be the same after today. He almost felt remorseful about it, Paige had certainly helped him a fair bit since he’d met her. Nick didn’t entertain the feeling for very long though. Paige seemed to just be acting in a way that served her own machinations, he was doubtful if she’d ever been genuine with him. Nick realised that whatever was happening between him and Paige, it only served her, or Paimon’s, interests, not his. Nick had vowed that he’d be taking more agency for himself and his goals. While his largest goal was a bit goofy, getting Benny back was anything but. He’d been too trusting in Paige. If Nick wanted Benny back, he’d have to do it himself.

Nick walked alongside Chloe as they left the Unvoided Hall, leaving Paige scowling in the lobby. Hopefully, Vassago was going to be a much more reasonable talking partner. Nick wasn’t sure how this meeting was going to go, but he knew he wasn’t going to be bending to the whims of another person any longer.