The journey back to the base took only a fraction of the time it had taken Alex to get to the den, now that they didn’t need to be quiet. Along the way he checked his notifications for what he had gained from defeating the Goliathon.

Dire Ursu Goliathon defeated. EXP +8000.

Alex, allow us to offer congratulations on this win. By literally all checks and balances you should not have succeeded. You also should not have had to face something this strong in this area. We have added this to our list of things we need to investigate, as someone or something is going to extreme lengths to cause mayhem. Be wary of the city when you arrive there. Be especially wary of the council compound ~ The Veil.

Trying to keep his expression neutral, Alex kept the message to himself and instead decided to ask for opinions on how best to spend this EXP. “So, now that I have hit level 10 in each of my current classes, I am unsure what would be best for the group makeup now. Are any of you able to offer me some advice?”

Slowing the pace slightly, Nieve glanced back and answered, “Well… none of us really thought you were going to get to this point so quickly and as such, have no real direction to point you. What way were you leaning?”

Alex considered for a minute before replying. “Well, the excess I had last time I just put into Field Knight for the extra HP it gave me. I understand that there are at least a couple of other classes available in the Frigid realm? Is it worth me trying to acquire and get these to level 10 as well?”

“You could, I know Yas would be happy to teach you Frigidtech.” Nieve gestured to Yas who was slightly off to the side, immersed in their own little world thinking about the samples in their bag. “And soldier would potentially be a benefit for you, but none of us are a high enough level to impart the class. If it was me, I would look to improve whichever area you feel is your weakest based on the outcomes of your battles so far.”

“I guess that keeping on growing my HP is all I can think of for now. It gives me the biggest overall bonus seeing as it stacks with my RockFlesh skill…” Alex mused aloud, not remembering that none of the group knew about the new skills he had created prior to his battle with the Goliathon.

“Rock...Flesh? What is that?” Whittaker perked up at the mention of a skill they had never heard of before.

Alex drew himself out of the numbers swirling around in his head to give them all a summation of everything he had learned and created. As he explained his process for creating the new skills, as one the entire group stopped in their tracks and looked at him.

“Alex… what you are saying is not possible. You cannot just create new skills on the fly like that. They always require specific levels to unlock, and always on a set template.” Eira said with barely masked awe on their face at the revelations Alex was so carelessly tossing around.

“Well, I did!” Alex shrugged, “Watch.” And he proceeded to reactive all of his passive abilities one by one for them to observe. As he activated each, he gave a brief description of what each skill did. As he finished explaining the last skill he created, he looked up to gauge the reactions of his friends. Whittaker was just stood there with a big grin, Nieve had a small smile, Yas had already tuned out again and Eira had a frown plastered across their face. “So, yeah. I did create them as you can see. Is it because I’m the first of the class so the limitations don’t affect me in the same way?”

“We honestly don’t know Alex. From birth to death, Fridigians are taught that the classes need to be granted by someone of appropriate level, and that the skills for each class are set in stone. That is all we have known, but perhaps your theory has merit. Either way, we certainly won’t bemoan this extra bonus for our cause.” Nieve smiled at him before indicating they needed to continue back to the base.

The rest of the journey passed quickly, and soon they all arrived back at the base where an awaiting Iclyn met them at the door. They all quickly filled Iclyn in on everything that had happened whilst they were away. Apart from a lingering gaze on Alex as he recounted his parts, Iclyn made no comment on his skills, or the idiocy of his actions in the Ursu cave. Instead they all followed behind Iclyn towards their map table as Iclyn relayed some news.

“I have heard from our contact in the Council compound. Something strange has happened. The Council ordered their chamber clear of all non-council members, and then locked down access to the compound itself. They have never done this before, and the timing just feels too coincidental.”

Nobody spoke for a few moments until Alex cleared his throat. “Erm, I don’t know how to put this. When you were all telling me the history of your people, there were a few things that didn’t quite sit right with me. I can’t really explain why, but the things you said just sounded a little off. This is another of those times. This whole thing stinks to me. We know the council are at least partially to blame, but this seems like its a much deeper issue. Can you get a hold of your contact again Iclyn?”

Iclyn frowned, “No. They ended the communication very abruptly and have not answered any of my further attempts to reach them. I am worried, this person has been a friend for a long time and I would hate for them to get hurt because of us.”

The discussion as to what to do with this information went on for a few hours, with Alex mostly sitting on the sidelines. He decided to use the time to spend his EXP and come up with some new potential synergies within his abilities. He put a couple more levels into Field Knight for the health boost. He was going to just dump all the exp into it, but realised that he wouldn't have enough to get him to the next level, but could get 2 levels in Combat Medic, which would get him closer to the level 15 upgrade to his passive. Happy with his choices, he tuned back into the conversation as it started to get heated.

“We CANNOT go early on these plans, we haven’t planned for this. We still need to give Alex as much chance as possible to level and train before we make our move!” Nieve shouted at an unusually angry Iclyn.

“Nieve, wake up! He has already surpassed what we were expecting for an entire weeks worth of grinding thanks to that bonus of his. If my contact has gone dark, we need to move sooner than later. I trust them, but everyone has a breaking point where they will talk!” Iclyn fired back, exposing a fear that they all had. That they would get caught before they had a chance to save everything.

Alex listened as they both continued to argue, but found that he was mostly on Iclyn’s side. He felt ready enough for them to at least start the plan to infiltrate into the town surrounding the compound. “Please, stop arguing! Nieve, I appreciate you trying to give me as much time as you have, but I agree with Iclyn. We need to start moving along with the plan, at least the first part anyway. We can adjust once we know more, but sat here we are just asking for trouble.”

Nieve gave him a guarded look before pursing their lips and giving a small nod. None of the group were happy at having to truncate their planned timeline, but each could agree that urgency was now needed. It was decided that they would go early the next morning to allow them all one final nights rest in a real bed. Alex found himself suddenly exhausted at the mention of sleep, despite it still being only early evening. The days events had really taken it out of him apparently. The group all headed off to their own beds, and Alex trudged through to his little corner in the training room, falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Alex awoke to Yas urgently shaking his shoulders and whisper-shouting at him. “... trap. C’mon Alex wake up! They have us trapped in here, they surrounded the building whilst we slept!”

Alex tried to quickly gather his wits about him. “Yas, slow down. What’s happening? Who surrounded us?”

“The Council sent the Fridigian Forces to capture us! I don’t know how they knew where we were, but they are outside and demanding we give up the “Outsider”. Which can only be you! The others sent me to help you escape whilst they slow them down!” Yas looked over their shoulder in alarm as a huge crash could be heard from the front of the building. Alex bolted upright at the noise and quickly donned his gear before nodding to Yas that he was ready.

Yas quickly leapt over the matts in the room and over to a grate in the wall. Whipping something out of their pocket, the grate quickly detached and was placed quietly down onto the floor. “Come on Alex, in here! It will lead us both out to the Tundra Hill Forest behind the base where we can hopefully hide until they leave.”

Alex rushed to follow and leapt headfirst into the grate. He hated leaving his friends behind, but if they had sent Yas to get him out it was for good reason. And he served no purpose stuck behind bars, or worse, killed by the Fridigian forces acting on the word of a corrupt government. Yas reattached the grate and squeezed past Alex to lead the way. The pair swiftly navigated the warren of tunnels that lead to their escape point. Yas slowed as they neared the exit point for the vent system, and poked what looked like a little periscope out through the grate. Yas yelped quietly and quickly withdrew the device before pushing them back away from the grate. Alex raised an eyebrow in the universal gesture for “What?” and Yas mimed guards with weapons wandering around outside. At least that's what Alex took the gestures to mean.

Now that he knew there were troops outside, Alex strained to hear what was going on. He could just make out shouted orders and what sounded like a fairly substantial fight going on. With nothing to do but wait and hope they weren’t found, the pair sat in tense silence, flinching at every noise. After an indeterminate amount of time, they both heard boots stomping around near the exit grate, and a harsh voice barking orders.

“We have 4 of the traitors in custody now, but the Outsider and the last traitor are nowhere to be found. Keep searching the building and surrounding area, they MUST be found!”

Alex’s heart sank through the floor at hearing his friends had been captured. But at least that meant they were still alive for now, which was only a good thing. Now all he and Yas needed to do was evade their pursuers until they called off the hunt, and maybe try and free their friends if they could do so without getting caught. He snuck closer to the grate and peered through, immediately seeing a set of shiny boots in front of his face. Motioning to Yas that there was someone there, Alex set about using Earthshape to create a pit under the trooper. Slowly carving away a 10 foot pit, but leaving a crust for the trooper to stand on, Alex created the trap. Once the main pit was formed, he slowly eroded away the crust until the weight of the trooper sent them falling down into the hole with a yelp. Alex quickly ducked back into the darkness of the vent system and waited as the troopers cries drew the attention of more of the forces.

After a minute or two of people coming and gawping, a figure cut through the crowd. Guessing based on the way the milling troops all reacted, Alex figured this must be a higher ranked individual. The figure immediately barked in a tone that was obviously used to laying blame at everyone else’s feet. “Luca, how did you manage to fall into a pit?”

“It wasn’t a pit just a minute ago! It was solid ground for the 10-15 minutes I have been patrolling this sector!” The poor soldier, Luca, tried to explain.

“Nonsense! Holes like this don’t just appear soldier! You were obviously not paying attention and triggered some pit trap. Rations will be docked once we return to the barracks. Maybe that will teach you to pay more interest in your surroundings next time!” And with that the figure turned sharply on their heel and headed back towards the front of the building where Nieve and the others were being held.

Alex was shocked at the apparent disdain that the leaders of these troops had for them. Rather than let the poor soldier explain the truth, they had been punished and ignored. Maybe this would be something Alex could exploit… Checking that the rest of the soldiers had dispersed and left Luca on their own to try and get out of Alex’s pit, he edged back up to the grate and quietly called down into the hole.

“Hey Luca!”

Luca’s head snapped around to locate the voice and their eyes widened at seeing Alex’s face behind the vent. “You! You’re the outsider! Did you do this?!”

Alex quickly tried to hush the soldier before their voice drew attention again. “Yep, that was all me, and if you want to get out again, you’ll tell me everything I want to know!”

Luca gestured around the little pit, “Well, I’m not exactly getting out myself, and nobody else will help me get out of here, so… I’m listening.”

Alex thought for a second to make sure he asked the right questions. “How did you know we were here?”

“I don’t know exactly, that's above my station, but from what I heard of the Generals discussing with the Council, they've known you were here for a long time. Something happened yesterday that caused the Council to decide enough was enough and order the raid.” Luca answered, fearing that they would be left in the hole if they didn’t.

Alex pondered this, as he wasn’t at all shocked to hear this was the case. Something had been off about the whole situation for the entire time he had been aware of the plan. It just seemed too… clean as to how Iclyn had managed to “escape” and not get noticed. Plus all the other little things that had just seemed wrong to him? Yeah, this wasn’t a surprise to him at all. “Okay Luca, next question. What are you planning to do with my friends, and i guess, Me, once you caught us?”

“We were ordered to keep you all alive. You were all to be delivered to the council compound as soon as possible. Somehow they knew you would all be here which is why we were sent in at night. That all I know, and a lot of what I’ve told you is stuff I picked up from listening in when I maybe shouldn’t…” Luca looked uneasy at this admission, knowing that they would be in even deeper trouble if it came out.

“Thank you Luca, one last thing. How many are here tonight to capture us?” Alex wanted this last bit of info to see if it there was any way they could attempt a rescue.

“They deployed an entire 50 strong squad to capture you. They were taking no chances.

Alex winced at hearing such a large number of troops were involved. No matter how he planned it, there was no way they could free his friends without getting caught. Leaving Luca there for now, Alex scooted back along the ventilation shaft to where Yas was sat hugging their legs. “Yas, there is nothing we can do to free Nieve or the others right now. We need to get away from here completely, and attempt to rescue them once they arrive in the compound. We carry out the original plan as best we can.”

Yas nodded at this, but their face still reflected their true feelings. They were completely out of their depth, so Alex did his best to put on a stoic front. Gently taking Yas by the hand, he guided them to the vent grate and motioned at the fastenings. Using the same little device as earlier, Yas swiftly had the grate loose and they both crawled out slowly. Alex rushed to the nearest corner and slowly peered out. In both directions, there were soldiers facing away from this spot. Alex went back to the hole Luca was in. “Luca, we are going now. I will create a way out of the pit for you, but if you try anything be aware that I will not hesitate to kill you.” Alex bluffed. He could handle killing animals, but killing another person? He just couldn’t do it. But Luca didn’t know that.

“Sure! I’ll stay in here for a few minutes after you’ve gone, then once I’m free, you and I have never spoken. Thank you…” Luca trailed off as Alex vanished from view again. About 30 seconds later, small handholds formed on the otherwise smooth walls of the pit, and Luca pulled themselves out. There was no sign of Alex or Yas, so they smoothed themselves off and headed on a slow loop of their patrol route as if nothing happened. But Luca still felt like they owed this Outsider a debt.

Alex and Yas bolted straight across the open ground as soon as it looked clear, praying that they weren’t spotted before they crested the hills surrounding the base. As they reached the top of the hill, Alex stopped and lay flat to watch over what was happening. Yas hopped up next to him and handed him a small box.

“What is this Yas?” Alex asked, giving the little cube a look over and bringing up its information.

Ocular Augmentor: FrosTech designed to augment the vision of the wearer, offering numerous vision enhancements including varying levels of magnification and night vision.

Alex looked up to see Yas attaching their own device. The little cube seemed to flow like jelly over Yas’s eyes before solidifying into 2 small domes, 1 over each eye. Alex copied the movement and within a second or 2 had his own fitted. They were like a small set of swimming goggles without a strap. Alex looked back down at the compound and tried to work out how they worked for a few seconds before just asking. “Yas, how do I work these things?”

“Just think what you want, they interface with neural signals to react almost like a muscle. So just keep thinking about zooming in until they reach the right amount.” Yas replied, their own eyes already raking over the base to see if they could spot the rest of their little group.

Alex did as he was told, and the little piece of tech immediately responded. He could now see in perfect clarity everything going on down the hill. He made sure that there was no alarm set off by their escape from the building, then tried to work out where their friends were held. Unable to see them from his current vantage point, Alex slowly began to move around the hilltop until the front of the building came into view. There on the ground were his friends. In front of them was what looked like a small drone with wires going to each of his friends individually. “Yas, what are they attached to?”

“An immobiliser. It basically hooks into the back of their necks and locks their bodies down, whilst keeping their heads free of the effect so they can be interrogated… I helped design it, before we set this little group up.” Yas was horrified to see their own design being used in the capture of their friends, and their hands began to shake from the suppressed fear and rage. “Alex, they modified the design, there are extra power packs on the top that shouldn’t need to be there…”

Almost on queue, each of their friends let out a pained shout, audible even from this distance. It appeared the immobiliser also allowed the user to cause pain for interrogation purposes. Yas let out a little cry, “That is barbaric! It was never designed to cause pain! The Fridigian forces are always taught not to inflict pain on prisoners, lest we lower ourselves. What is happening… What are the council doing?”

Alex didn’t know how to respond to this, so he simply placed his hand over Yas’s in a gesture of comfort and then turned his view back to the scene before them. They were unable to hear what was being said from this far away, but Alex could see the look of grim determination etched into each of his friends faces, despite what was being done to them none were willing to give him up.

After another 20-30 minutes of searching the small base, the soldiers all lined up in front of the building. The same person that Alex had witnessed berating Luca earlier seemed to be in charge of the whole mission. They were obviously not happy at Alex having been able to escape, but without any other leads it seemed they were finally going to head back to the Council compound. Alex watched as his friends were roughly shoved into the back of one of the transport vehicles, and then the rest of the troops loaded into the others. A couple of Guards were placed at the main entrance, obviously to catch them if they went back in. Slowly the vehicles picked up speed, and set off back in the direction of the compound.

Alex felt Yas slide down the hill a little, out of sight, and turned to face them. “Yas, how can we follow them? Please tell me there is a vehicle or something in your bag?” Alex knew the question was stupid, but hoped anyway.

Yas shook their head, “Sorry Alex. The only vehicle is back in my lab. Past the guards.”

Letting out a sigh, Alex looked back in the direction of the base. “Guess we have to break in then.”