“And how long do we have?” the manager asked, annoyance radiating from him.

“A day. At most. Beyond that… I would worry about the intelligence of the Director of Enforcement,” the demi-human replied, his canines showing with every word.

The manager closed his eyes, thinking, for a moment before looking his associate in the eyes, “And why should I care?” he asked, “Why should I have to work around your group’s needs? Richard, your organization should have been prepared for something like this! I won’t foot the bill for you and your people’s incompetence.”

Richard nearly exploded with rage as he slammed his hands and leaned in over the coffee table, baring his fangs, “And you would condemn all of these people to their deaths!? You would make them sit and wait for death while you silently leave!? We had a deal, Vic!”

“Yes, we did have a deal. However, I paid my dues long ago. That means that I don't owe you anything. That means that I can refuse to foot the bill for your mistake. Why don’t you tell me, Richard, why are the enforcers coming to our little slice of paradise? Hm? Is it purely coincidence that, just this morning, I got word that some Purist freak was murdered by a demi? Is it purely coincidence that none of my informants in the Union can get a single scrap of info on this? Look at this, Richard.” Vic pulled an inconspicuous folder from his bag and tossed it onto the table, spilling its contents. From the folder nothing but pictures flowed, all of them showing an alleyway and the dead man who laid in it. Most of his chest was eviscerated and his arm was violently severed, with blood and viscera sprayed across the walls of the alley. Next to his corpse was a blanket with a heat-blade, a bag of quick-rite, and a license for purging on top of it. “Richard, I know this guy. He was a renowned Purity goon in life, fanatical, and skilled with knives. This guy should not have died without putting up a fight, and he was put down like a rabid animal. Not even the Abyssal species could do this! So what the hell is going on here!?” he demanded, enraged.

Richard shook his head, “I cannot tell you that. The leaders of the Tunnel Rats consider it best that you do not know.”

“Then why are they going to come down to the slums?” he rebuked, words dripping with contempt.

“I cannot tell you that.”

“Why do your demi refugees have to leave my club and fighting ring? Why not take them from everywhere?”

“I cannot tell you-”

“Then what the fuck can you tell me!?” he shouted in fury, “I have people to take care of too! Hardworking men and women count on me! I can’t just throw them away!”

“I am not asking for you to do that. What I want is for you to help us. Just keep watch, help organize, that sort of thing. We will be able to evacuate everyone in a few days. A week at most,” Richard stated, his neutral expression straining under Vic's rage.

Vic gave a growl more at home in the throat of the werewolf in front of him and calmed down. “Fine,” he conceded, “My people will help you. But as soon as the enforcers start raiding places in the slums, your people are out. End of story.”

Richard nodded impassively, “Your help is most appreciated.” Without further delay, Richard stood and walked to the door, leaving the relatively clean office and entering the dingy hallways of The Ring’s administrative area. Waiting for him was a young woman wearing a dark blue trench coat and scarf, leaning against the walls. Her hands were covered in scales and ended with claw-tipped fingers, all of which shone a dark blue similar to her trench coat and scarf.

Seeing him leave the office, she stood straight and dusted off her coat. She pulled out a mana-based notepad and fed it with her mana. It hummed to life, the small metal rectangle glowing a faint red, as words appeared on it. [Took you long enough. He in?] it read.

Richard nodded, “Fortunately, he is. Even if it cost me having to sit through his tantrum. We should have help getting everyone out,” he said with a sigh. “Anyway, anything for me?”

She nodded, pulling out a small note, [Here. From the S&G Company. Shipment of water-steel from Yesli. Operation in 2 days. At night. If it goes well, boat will stop here. If not, evacuation will be in 4 days.] her pad read in glowing red.

He took the note from her and looked over it, “Good. We can meet both deadlines, though I doubt we will be able to find any new recruits for it. Thanks Aby,” he said as she nodded, “For now, we should go and check on everyone else.”

Aby nodded and shadowed him as he walked through the winding hallways. Along the way, they passed a large number of demi-humans and humans going about their own business, whatever it may be. Eventually, they reached a green door, which contrasted heavily with the dirty, cream-colored wallpaper and the wooden doors they passed, and opened it without hesitation. The room beyond was once a carpeted breakroom, but had been transformed into a mass barrack. Beds and mattresses were strewn about in neat, ordered rows, all of them with a blanket or two laying folded at their ends. Of the hundred or so beds, less than half a dozen were occupied at that moment, as the occupants of the rest were doing something else. From the corner of the room, however, an elven woman strode out and came to greet Richard, “Richy,” she greeted with a smile, “Please tell me we’re getting out soon. Everyone’s on edge and we’re getting to the point that some of ours are trying to fight in the ring.”

He sighed happily and smiled, “Don’t worry, Ell, everyone will be somewhere safe in two days at the earliest, four at the latest, so it’ll be alright.”

“Oh thank goodness,” she sighed, showing a relieved expression, “Oh, you got some mail as well. The fellow looked… terrified, to be honest, so it might not be good,” she noted.

Richard nodded to her, “I see. I’ll take a look at it. To be honest, letters from the higher ups are usually never good; it usually means that something went wrong. Either way, thanks for keeping watch over everyone, Ell. It’s been a real help.”

“We all do what we have to. Now, do your part and check what your higher ups have sent to us,” she joked as she went back to what she was doing before, which was sewing up holes in her jacket.

Richard smiled softly and walked over to his bed to find the letter. His bed was nothing fancy; just a metal frame and a twin-sized mattress without a boxspring. It was not comfortable, but it was better than nothing. On top of his folded blanket was a pure white letter sealed with a blank wax crest. Tearing the letter open, he prepared for the worst as he read through the contents,

Richard,

The Sect of the Divine Mechanism has made their move. And failed. According to records, the daughter of Arthur Grant, Mary Grant, was kidnapped by the Sect and was going to be used as a sacrifice. We don’t know how, but she managed to kill every last cultist, slaughter an entire elite enforcer squadron, and make off with the divine core. The information is under tight lock and key, but they put her crimes into the enforcer records, so it wasn’t too hard to get. She is currently a wanted criminal, has connections with demi-humans, and has animosity towards the Purity Union; all of these put together makes her a perfect fit for the Tunnel Rats. If she appears in your neck of the woods, try to recruit her. You have that stash of heavy weapons, so see if she wants one. I’ve added a picture of her for you, just in case.

In other news, Leader Huk got back to headquarters this morning and got a mission from S&G. Apparently he recruited someone new for it, so expect to see a new face after that is completed. According to him, it’s a human female with an intense hatred for the Purity Union, but he doesn’t want to give the surprise away, so we’re stuck not knowing who it is. But hey, if you get Ms. Grant on board, they’ll get along swimmingly. He said he would be meeting her at Gus’ antiques on the eve of the mission, so send Ms. Grant there if you find her trustworthy enough for the mission.

As for your question regarding the reason for the imminent increase in Union activity… we can’t tell you. I don’t even think anyone below a department head or not working on the case knows anything; it’d be hard to get a read on it if we didn’t already know about it. As for what this changes for you: nothing, really. Just be careful not to expose your location. It’s business as usual. Anyway, be careful, hun. It would break my heart to see my little wolf hurt, you know.

Hugs and Kisses, Gina

Richard emptied the rest of the letter and found the picture Gina’s letter talked about. In it was a young woman and a large Cyclops —the latter he knew was Arthur Grant and thus the former must have been Mary Grant— standing in front of the Grant family estate. Mary was smiling as the sunlight caught her brown hair, reflected in her blue eyes, and shone on her strong physique. Richard studied her appearance and imagined her a few years older than in the photo, just in case it was out of date, and tucked it into his pocket with the letter. He turned around to find Aby shuffling back into her previous position. He knew she was looking over his shoulder, so he chuckled, “If you see her around, let me know. Gina wants to see if I can recruit her for the cause,” he said. She nodded, “Alright, looks like nothing new for now. You want to see what’s going on in the ring?”

She nodded, holding up her notepad, [Sounds fun. Heard rumor of new girl in ring. Fighting for quick money. Beat bouncer in arm-wrestle. Sounds fun.]

“Hmm… that does indeed sound like fun. Alright, let’s go,” he said as they walked out the door.

After going through the maze of hallways, they finally ended up in the warehouse area of The Ring, where the actual ring was, and found it bursting with life. People, both demi-human and human, shouted out insults or praise to the fighters in the arena. In spite of the noise, none reached the world beyond the walls;Vic’s gang maintained a sound-canceling enchantment on the walls of the warehouse while in use. Richard knew how expensive it would be to maintain if the gang did not want to give their position away by sapping the area of mana, but he figured that the profits from the arena were much greater than the expenditure.

Due to their agreement, Richard and Aby were let in without having to pay and were shown to the VIP seating booth where they could watch in relative peace with more sound-muffling enchantments. Aby almost immediately turned the sound-muffling to the absolute minimum, letting a wave of noise flood the booth. In the ring, a human and a demi-human were fighting. The demi-human was large, had crocodile-like features, and wore a fierce expression as he traded blows with the human. The human, on the other hand, was bloodied and bruised but kept fighting with a grin. He wore a head of blonde hair and donned a pair of green eyes and was just as large as the demi-human.

The demi-human was recoiling from a hard blow that landed into his jaw when he swung his tail out. The human caught it with his hands, but was unable to counter the force and was thrown back. The two stood and eyed one another as they prepared to charge. A long moment of tension floated by before the opponents charged. The demi-human threw out a jab as soon as his opponent was in range, but it was parried to the side. Left open by his mistake, the demi-human was forced to take the heavy punch from the human head-on. The punch connected with the demi-human’s chest and sent him flying. He flew out of the circular arena and slammed into the wall that circled the ring. Seeing his opponent outside of the ring, the human raised his fist and shouted in victory, his cry returned a hundredfold by the crowd.

The two opponents were ushered out of the arena by guards while the announcer took center stage. At that point, Richard let his mind drift off into contemplation about the letter.

‘So this chick murdered over two hundred cultists, an entire elite squadron of enforcers, and got away with the divine core. I don’t know what she plans to do with the thing, but it can’t be worse than what the Union intended to do with it. They were sneaky about it, but so was everyone else. Honestly, it was little more than idle curiosity that drove anyone to let the Sect live on as long as it did, but the Grants know the truth. It’s probably better for a Grant to have it than anyone else, but I wonder what happened to it. If she has it, then it’s none of my-’

He shook from his thoughts as he felt Aby elbow him in his arm. He turned to her and she pointed to the ring. He turned and noticed that the announcer had already finished his pre fight commentary and that the fighters were standing in the ring. On one side was a large human with dark skin and long hair, his muscles gleaming in the bright electric lights. On the other side was a young woman with brown hair, blue eyes, and a toned physique. Richard’s eyes bulged as he stared at the woman, “That’s her! That’s Mary!”