Tyler could barely hold himself back while the connections from his pod to his suit disconnected, he was running through an emotional roller coaster. It's like the Prime AI figured he didn't have enough on his plate, and decided that good dose of stress was exactly what he needed. His business partners moved away from him without even saying goodbye, they just jumped on the Tippin' Top Hats guild train, and left the station without even looking back. With his partners gone, he didn't even get a chance to hold the deed to the small shop he set up, it didn't even brush his palm, just dangled in his face, then yanked away after being ready for a grand opening.

Even better, what was he supposed to do now? It was clear that opening a new shop was out of the question, digging himself into a hole while trying to protect what was arguably the most valuable item in HYTOMA. Who knew how far JackAttack would take his vendetta, would he attack any shop that he worked at? It was pretty common for Shop Keepers to work under another, as setting up a shop was expensive, many of them needing to work for a few years to save the gold to buy their own store front. For all he knew, Tippin' Top Hats was already running around screaming that any shop that hired Tyler would be considered an enemy of the guild, effectively creating a quest in blocking Tyler from even getting a job.

Standing up from his pod, he wasted no time and cut himself out of his suit, and changed into a relaxed cotton shirt khaki pant outfit. He walked past his robot that was offering a bright pink drink, put on a pair of shoes by the door of his apartment unit, and without looking back, he left the drink behind. He needed to get to his desk, and hopefully find what happened with his friends, he just couldn't believe the story that JackAttack told him. After the years spending time with Emma and Beatrice, developing their plan to advance their way through the levels in the tower, how could they so easily just throw it all away?

Putting one foot in front of another, Tyler quickly lost focus of his surroundings, and could only focus on his losses. There were some people in the Tower who could go their whole lives, and not even come close to what Tyler had dealt with since digitizing. A hidden class that he couldn't find information on, a quest system where he could literally create quests without speaking a word, direct interaction with multiple AI from the Council, surviving a Dragon attack and witnessing the destruction of Myneria, none of that mattered to Tyler. His whole goal of his life in HYTOMA was to set up a shop, listen to as many stories as possible from adventurers passing through his shop, and help his friends advance at every chance he had. It was all gone, his opportunity of running a shop, being able to watch his friends grow, for all he knew, all he had was to wander aimlessly in HYTOMA, not being able to afford to change his class in hopes to at least be able to defend himself.

After riding the public lifts, and made it to his trade space, two out of the three stations were completely bare, and a light was blinking on the podium in the middle of the space. They had already put in notice to move, likely placing an order while digitized to hire someone to move their belongings. Tyler sat down at his desk, and stared at his welcome screen on the desk that had booted up when fell into his chair.

After 10 minutes, Tyler broke out of his stupor, he looked around the trade space again, and his eyes fell on the podium, staring straight at the blinking light telling him that a message was waiting for the owners of the space. He stood from his chair, went over to the podium, made a grabbing motion over top of the podium, then tossed a small box of light towards his desk, watching it explode over the top of the box, delivering any new information to Tyler's station.

Sitting back down, Tyler pulled up the data package, and saw it contained one message from Beatrice. It relieved Tyler to see that at least there was a message from Beatrice, and that they didn't just leave him behind without saying anything. Considering his luck up until now, it was probably a note to dissuade him from searching to Tower in hopes to find Emma and Beatrice and confront them about what happened.

"Tyler, reading this message most likely means that JackAttack found you and probably took out his frustration out on you. It wasn't a fair move to you for us to just sign on with Tippin' Top Hats without talking to you first, but we have to be realistic. Joining the guild is way beyond anything we could hope for, they have resources and private guides that we would never hope to get our hands on if we stuck with our tiny little dream.

"We didn't know if we could say to the guild representative that we needed some time to think, and quite frankly, there was no chance of passing it up. What would you do, honestly, if Shop Keepers Aren't Weak approached you and offered a store in a large development if it meant that you had to cut all ties with your business partners? Emma feels terrible, but with a quick discussion, we agreed to do what is best for us, well, what is best for us in the long run.

"We were immediately sent off to the guild training grounds, so we didn't have time to give you the property deed, so the guild representative said she could take it and make sure it gets to you. We both know how screwed you are if you don't get the deed, so we want to make sure that you have a way to make it in HYTOMA. We have also decided to make it clear that we don't know your identity in the Tower, even though Tower Security ensures that identities aren't tracked between identities, I have little doubt that large guilds have ways around it.

"I don't know when we will be meeting again, but we are both hoping you will be able find new business partners, being in Noobie Alley will have plenty of new adventurers who will happily work with a Shop Keeper with a plan. We have heard that Noobie Alley is a staging point for groups to gather before heading into Myneria, so it shouldn't be too hard to sell off some of your higher level items to help you out, and maybe you can make a trade agreement with people heading into Myneria.

"Take care of yourself out there, and once again, we're sorry for leaving you high and dry like this. - BeaTheDestroyer."

With his trust at an all-time low with his former partners, he couldn't help but think that this was all lip service. They couldn't have been so stupid to think that the property deed would have been transferred to Tyler so easily, especially when they said that JackAttack had planned on venting his frustration. As far as Tyler was concerned, the whole message was written to keep Tyler quiet, and if worst came to worst, they could come back to him to reform the partnership if things didn't work out with the Tippin' Top Hats.

Shaking his head, he looked around the space he used to share with Beatrice and Emma, and instead of giving into the rage he felt, wanting to try and break something near him, he put his face in his hands, and screamed at the top of his lungs. Sure, he may have disturbed some of his neighbors, but the worst he would get was a fine for breaking sound rules on the Trade Floor. If he were to break something, there was a chance of facing a meeting with Tower Security, and a potential ban for entering HYTOMA for a period of time.

While still roiling in anger, Tyler composed himself, and stared at the message for Beatrice for a few minutes. Tyler needed a plan, he needed to direct his anger to move forward, and if he didn't come up with a plan soon, who knows how long it would take him to recover from his significant losses. He was still a low level, so being an adventurer starting off with nothing wasn't a unique position to be in. Sure, he didn't have partners he could rely on, but even the most powerful shop keeper guilds had to start with nothing.

He dove back into his desk, and he hired someone from the job search board to take his belongings from his trading space, and moved it back to his apartment. Staying in the space was an unneeded cost, and also a reminder to how things used to be. Hanging onto the things of the past may soothe his soul, but he decided he needed to feel like he was starting with nothing, including a space he could work on auctions and trade deals. He knew he wasn't thinking clearly, so he hoped he wasn't making a bad decision, but having a trading space for himself wouldn't make sense, and could easily do most of his work in his room at his own desk. His parents had almost all of the luxuries one could purchase from the Tower, so he could probably be even more comfortable staying at home.

A small robot pulled into his trade space, it stopped beside where Tyler was sitting and began, "Hello Tyler, I'm here for the job to move your belongings. I have all the information for where I need to deliver everything, can you confirm what needs to go?"

Tyler, not feeling too cheerful, but didn't want to be rude. "Yes, I need the memory core and portable podium from my Desk UI here, as well with anything on top of this desk here. Careful with my action figure set, a couple of the pieces are quite fragile. Thanks for coming so quickly, I figured this would have taken days."

"Ah, well I'm in between jobs right now, and I still have a few hours before I can freely navigate HYTOMA again. I was unfortunately caught up in the excitement in Myneria, so I was forced to go for a walk." The bot extended a multi-tool from its compartment, and began to open up the desk.

"I was in the area too, it looked pretty crazy with what happened." Tyler scratched his neck, not wanting to play small talk, and didn't want to accidentally give too much information to a stranger. "I'm not feeling too well, is it all right that I leave this to you? You can send me a video request if you want to confirm anything on the move."

"Not a problem at all, I do appreciate you hiring me to do this job, it looks like this could be pretty easy for you to do on your own."

"Like I said, I'm not feeling too well, so I don't want to accidentally break something."

"Don't have to explain anything to me, work is work after all. I will send you an invoice after I have completed the task, and will send you pictures of the clean work space, as well with where I put your belongings. As an extra thank you, I will send you individual pictures of your action figures."

Tyler smiled, he liked the professionalism of this bot, and appreciated the care for his treasured action figures. Tyler began to think about what his next step would be as he walked away from his former trading space, struggling to know how to advance by himself. What was the best thing he could do as a solo shop keeper? As he was walking away, he heard the AI humming to itself as it was pulling the panel of the desk. He slowed his step, he thought that the humming sounded familiar, and listened to the cadence of the humming, then the pitch.

Under Tylers breath, he put words to the humming. "Cover him in healing rain, bring away the pain." With such a short tune, it could be anything, but he was reminded of his escape in Myneria, it was the tune TitanicVoice used to keep him from burning to a crisp. His steps paused, could it be him? Before he turned back, he reminded himself that it was rude, and possibly a crime to ask someone their about their alter-ego. Also, if he was wrong, how much information would he give away to a complete stranger?

He continued walking, but he felt lighter in his steps, he realized that he wasn't actually alone. Sure, TitanicVoice wasn't a business partner, but he was an employee, and a start to a potential friendship. JarsForJars was another employee, and from what Tyler saw, she was way beyond anything Beatrice or Emma could offer. With two employees who were established in game, Tyler knew he wasn't in as bad as a spot as he originally thought.

Reaching the elevator lobby, Tyler pulled up his UI and decided to take stock of his inventory in an attempt to figure out how much money he could make by selling everything. He wasn't about to ask his employees for money, and the reality was, he needed gold to get anything done. He could sell part of his current credit balance and buy some gold, but he didn't want to spend anything on a conversion fee. Then it clicked, he had his gold stashed away in his Wagon, 80,000 gold was waiting for him to use it. He switched over to his wagon inventory and smiled, his property deed and 80,000 gold sitting happily waiting to be used.

Dashing his hopes, when he tried to transfer the gold to his inventory, he was met with a small window refusing his transfer. "This transaction could not be completed, your wagon is unavailable." Tyler raised his left eyebrow and squinted his right eye, his wagon wasn't available?

With a small bell going off, Tyler looked up and saw that the elevator he was waiting in front of was arriving, he stepped up to the door as it was opening. Just as he stepped through the doorway, he was greeted by Agent Mason who was looking at something on her wrist screen. To Tyler's surprise, she didn't have her permanent scowl on her face, if anything, it looked like she was smiling. Before Tyler could think about walking away from the lift and catching another one, Mason looked up, and before Tyler's very eyes, the scowl took over her face.

"Good morning Agent Mason." Tyler smiled at the Tower Security agent as he stepped onto the lift, not wanting to give the agent any more reasons for her ire to fall on his shoulders.

"Afternoon." It was a statement, Tyler looked at his wrist UI, and saw that it was indeed after noon. "Too busy running around having fun to even keep track of the time?" There it was, the frown that Tyler knew so well was on full display.

"No ma'am, not much fun going on these days to be honest." Tyler scratched the back of his head in discomfort, was he really letting himself open up to this Agent? "My partners found a better deal, they move on, left me alone on the Trading Floor, and abandoned our plan to grow together with me in the background. I lost the shop that would have gotten me a decent start, and on top of that, I get sent off for a walk all because someone more established in HYTOMA threw a temper tantrum."

Mason exhaled through her nose, "so let me guess here, the going is getting tough, so you are running back to your parents apartment to sulk right?" Mason shook her head at Tyler. "As long as I have watched you run around the Tower, every time things get hard and don't work out how you expect them to, you quit. Running the stairs in up and down, causing noise disturbances for people living next to the stairs, you don't lose the weight, and all of a sudden, you give up."

"But, you were the one to give me an actual warning of pre-loading me up with a ban if I kept running..."

"Did you even look for an alternative? Did you ask me for any suggestions so you don't disturb other people? No, you just gave up." Mason put her hands on her hips and took a step towards Tyler. "You think everybody in the Tower has it easy, and things just line up for them? How about me, you think I actually enjoy being an Agent, let alone taking a job here in the Tower, rather than making my living digitized?"

Tyler look at her, jaw dropping open, completely surprised at Mason opening up on her own. She never even said anything beyond Tower business, and now she was talking about not liking being a Tower Agent?

"I'm not from a family that can give me access to in unit digitization, or any kind of fancy training for a leg when I first digitized." Mason slowly became more and more angry, "even though I didn't have any of these advantages, I refused to be some sort of background adventurer. I focused on what I wanted in HYTOMA, and I made it a reality, it isn't easy, but at the end of the day, when I get a new achievement, it is the visible proof that I made the right choice."

"It's not like I don't want to go off on adventures in HYTOMA, it's not like I didn't want to be a fighter or a raider. I just didn't want to constantly be behind anybody when it comes to progression, since I couldn't do it as a raider, I decided to be in the fold as a shop keeper. Sure, my parents being Network Admins afforded me some extra luxuries, but because of what they do in the Tower, I'm under extra scrutiny from everybody. Who knows, in 10 years, maybe I'll be able to change my class..." Tyler trailed off, deflating in realization that he did sound pretty pathetic.

Mason relaxed, her anger quickly fading, her Agent training kicking in. "It shouldn't be so easy for me to lose my cool, but when I looked at you Tyler, I just saw wasted talent. Yes, I did see you laughing with your friends on the Trade floor, and I thought that you could use that time finding a new way to advance in HYTOMA even with your.... body. I've learned some things over the past few days, and I realize that the way I was looking at things worked for me, but like everything else in this world and HYTOMA, what works for one person doesn't mean it works for everybody. I may have forgotten over my time in HYTOMA, sometimes you just need to work with what you have, and sometimes you need to move forward without even knowing what is going on around you.

"I can't talk much about how I learned this, but I met someone who I think was a Caravanner. A class that I always looked at as someone who sits on a wagon, going from town to town, and enjoy the protection of the Kingdoms. Travel all over HYTOMA without a care in the world, and as a Caravanner, the ability to do whatever they want, because they get paid per shipment, regardless of success or failure. I was in a tough situation, and I told them to run, and they could have just ignored me, but they just went along with it."

Tyler began to have a tingle on the back of his neck, while Mason was being very vague, it did remind him of his time in Myneria. He was going to say something, but he could see Mason wasn't done, and he didn't want to give anything away.

"I'm realizing that with my position as an Agent, my view of the world has narrowed. We are trained to view things in black and white, where you are guilty of breaking the Tower rules, or that you followed the rules. I applied that to you Tyler, maybe it's because I've had so many interactions with you, I just decided that you were wasting time, rather than trying to make the best of your situation. I saw that with the person I told you about, I was rewarded by that person moving forward and doing their best to resolve it."

Tyler couldn't hold back, but at least he found an opening that might get him an answer, and confirm what he was thinking. There was over hundred thousand people in the Tower, so the likelyhood of what he was thinking was slim, there was still a chance. "Rewarded? Don't most quests get awarded by a player who asked for your help? I mean, by the sounds of it, the person you are talking about stumbled into what you were doing, so they couldn't reward you."

"They weren't, I don't know who gave it to me, but it was obviously a higher level quest that was created, because the system gave me bonus reputation for a period of time and trade skill points!" Mason's eyes were wide open, and it was the first time Tyler could view her as an adventurer, and not a Tower agent. He also knew that he was standing in front of JarsForJars, and the last thing he needed right now was for her to find out that he was Pylioth. Tyler could only imagine losing JarsForJars as an employee, but he could also see her enacting punishment on him for becoming his employee in the first place.

"Anyway, I can't say too much to you, I signed a Non-Disclosure agreement, and even telling you that much is probably too much. All I know is that the adventurer in question actually succeeded, and actually proved to me that just because they aren't a combat class means that they are weak willed players who are afraid of putting in work." Mason shifted her eyes to her right, shifting her weight to her left leg, clearly uncomfortable. "I've treated you unfairly over the years, I judged you without fairly looking at the situation, and have judged many other people unfairly as well. I hope you can forgive my treatment of you, and that you won't cringe so much any time you see me in the future."

Tyler was stunned, he never expected an apology, let alone such an open confession of her actions in the past. She didn't have to apologize, she was a Tower Agent who only answered to IV, and the best Tyler could ever do is fill a complain form directed to IV. "I mean, I appreciate you being open with me ma'am, and I'll be honest, I'm at a loss for words, I don't think anybody has ever received such an open apology from an Agent without IV requiring it."

"Well, I've learned from my time as an Agent that it's better to address these things as soon as possible, rather than letting them sit. It would be harder for me to apologize the longer I wait to actually do it, and I have seen situations get blown out of proportion because nobody wanted to deal with the elephant in the room so to say." Mason smiled at Tyler, "but don't think for a second you are getting favored treatment, I will be keeping my eye on you."

Just as Mason finished her last statement, the elevator door opened and Mason exited the lift. Without looking back, she turned the corner and was gone, leaving Tyler stunned in the lift. While what she said at the end could be a threat, Tyler couldn't help but feel it wasn't the same as previous interactions with Mason. Tyler leaned his back to the wall, and exhaled deeply, letting him give in to the shock of the thought that JarsForJars was in fact Agent Mason. There was still a chance that it wasn't her, but the way she described it, and the admission of a non-disclosure agreement, there was a very small chance that she wasn't JarsForJars. Tyler could only think that he hoped he could keep it together while back in HYTOMA, and not give away the fact that he knew who JarsForJars was. He had no plans on taking advantage of the realization, but could Mason actually trust Tyler to keep her identity secret?