-- Aster --

I had been running around the city for the last couple of hours, going everywhere I could think of that might have a lead. At one point I ended up at the local news station, thinking they might have a lead there. I went from desk to desk looking for a lead, by offering to get them coffee. I was always surprised by how easy it was to walk around a place once you were inside. Everyone just assumes you're supposed to be there, and the lanyard I grabbed made everyone think I was a new intern or employee who was just trying to meet people.

I used that and found some interesting things about the city, it was just like An La Notre, a city with a mayor and a council. They were set to have an annual Lotus Festival in another week, and they actually have two questing teams. One is from this city and the second is actually another cities team, but one of the members of the team came from a guild around here, so they consider them like an adopted group.

It was when I was grabbing coffee for the employees that I finally got a lead. Two men were talking over coffee.

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"One of the quester teams got caught."

It was at this that I slowed my coffee preparations to listen closer.

"Oh! Who caught them?"

"We did." The man said excitedly.

"I got that, but who caught them? The council, the mayor, random citizen?" The other man clarified.

"Oh, it was, get this, Mullein."

The man's eyes widened, "Wow, she always stays out of these games."

"Yeah. From what I hear she thinks she's protecting them from getting them to fail early."

"Can't say I blame her."

"They really should brief questers to be more circumspect in strange cities."

I hate when people get cryptic like this. I need to find episodes of this show, and see what this false quest really entails.

"Yeah. So who are you betting on?"

"I'm staying out of it. Not really a fan."

"Sure. You don't watch the show."

"Hey just because I'm not a fan of the process doesn't mean I'm not curious."

I was already walking away, I couldn't listen to this anymore. I had a destination and went to find it. It took less than an hour to find Mullein's place. Her address was listed in the network and people were very helpful in guiding me to the address.

I found myself about a block away from the councilwoman's, three-story townhouse, wondering where she would even be able to keep them? It was a brick townhouse, she would have neighbors. Unless the place was completely soundproof. Then I remembered we were in a world of magic, so there could be any number of ways for her to hide them. Dimensional portal, the capsule designed for people, petrification, basement.

I looked over the building looking for cameras, or guards, or some type of indication it was even being watched. I spent a long time looking for anything. I was actually starting to wonder if they even had my team, or if they were kept somewhere else.

I didn't have any other leads, other than maybe the council building itself, and that would no doubt be fortified. I was not ready to try to raid another place like that.

I stared out the building trying to figure out how I was going to do this. Just because there were no cameras outside didn't mean there weren't any on the inside.

Should I use my star cloak, thing? I imagined walking through the house and saving my friends only for them to suddenly realize I was the shadow who challenged the city and won. It would feel good...or would it? Violet probably be fine but what about everyone else? Would they still want me on the team? I Shook my head. I just didn't know and didn't think I could risk the chance.

I could just put on my mask and fall away. They've seen me do that before, so they would know it was me and I wouldn't give away who I was to anyone else watching. Yes, perfect I'll do that. I reached down for my mask when I realized it was still in my luggage back in the room. "Shit."

Do I need to just go in as me? They should already know what I look like...well maybe they don't since they only took the four of them. I don't want to give them more information than they already have. We are probably going to have to make a run for it. I felt I was thinking too much, putting off actually going into the house.

Ok, falling would be best. I need my mask for that. Which was a blank I bound to myself and could summon. I had almost forgotten about that. It was something I had done on a whim when I made the mask and never did anything with it. I felt for the thread connecting my mask, finding it easily. Must be because of how close I am.

I grabbed the thread with my power and pulled. The mask almost instantly materialized in my hand. I stared down in shock, as the last time I had done this it had taken hours. It couldn't just be the distance, and I used way more power. Maybe a combination of level and power?

Now with a plan, I lifted my mask, put it on, and began to fall away. I pushed my power into the skill to send a possibility directly to the door, and selecting that copy I reached into the lock with mana, popped the door open, and simply walked in all in less than a second. Stepping inside

I was shocked the councilwoman didn't have a more complex lock.

-- Unknown --

I sat at my desk thinking about the team of questers I had caught and smiled. I couldn't believe my luck. I had caught the team that had escaped impossible odds. When the council met tomorrow I would be sure to brag, the look on their faces would be priceless. Though I couldn't really believe they had just abandoned their teammate after everything. Maybe the retrieval team missed them, or they were meeting up with him somewhere else. I'll have to look into it later.

I heard a knock on the door to my office followed by, "Mam?" My assistant Basil was leaning in.

"Ah yes come in Basil. How are the questers?" I leaned forward curious about our colorful guests.

Basil stepped in, "They appear to be doing well, if hostile, but that is what we expected."

"That's good, and how was my villainous performance?" I asked wondering since everything was really off the cuff since I didn't know what to expect.

Basil looked a little uncomfortable as he answered, "It came off, a little..."

"A little what?" I cajoled.

"Simple. Fan-ish, like you, only care about winning, for your city. Especially with that last remark."

I had thought that was perfectly heartless, "Perfect! That's just what I wanted. When the footage airs, I'll have to make some appointments for some interviews. Condemning them for foul language, and whatever else they do when that escape. I can't believe I get to be a villain."

"I must say I'm surprised you're so into this," Basil said.

He was right I had never really done anything with the quest before. My fellow council members would probably call me neutral, "I'm tired of sitting back, and besides this will be fun."

"As you say, they should be almost finished installing the entertainment."

"When should we expect them to try to escape."

If they follow patterns sometime later tonight, maybe later if they're expecting a rescue. Either way, we'll introduce an 'Ally' in another hour or so, to short their shackles. Then we can use that later."

"Do you think they abandoned there fifth?"

"I'm honestly not sure, but we didn't really search," Basil admitted

"Understood." I was about to send Basil away when I had a completely villainous idea, "Should we send down someone to rough them up, you know play up the evil villain a little more?"

"Depends on if you're going for despised or not."

"Hmmm..." I had to think since I wasn't sure yet, "let's send one person who doesn't mind being the bad guy then have two of his teammates come down and stop him. Make it look like anything could happen, and make sure one of them is our 'Ally'."

"Alright. I would also like to mention, we may have gone a little overboard on the guards having twenty-three is a little much. :

I had been a little over-enthused when I sent over the request for extra guards, "Yeah, we can go through and thin them out in an hour or so. Saying now that they're secure or something. We don't need another impossible situation"

Basil nodded in agreement, "Well, 'I'll get back and send the orders to the house. I'll go over when it starts to get dark to dismiss the extra men."

"Thank you, Basil."

Basil left and I could only smile.