A woman sat hunched over a glowing screen, fingers rapidly moving over a ridged board, fixated on the world in front of her. She hemmed and hawed, pulling back errant strands of her auburn hair that floated in front of her face, mesmerized by the glowing screen so much so that the world around her didn’t even exist. She was perched on her seat, feet riding over the edge of the cushion, a black band wrapped around her head terminating in two large circles over her ears. She periodically wrote words on paper, scratching out the letters just as quickly as they graced the page before turning back to her screen, continuing her endless job.

She could have been sitting there for minutes or hours, her routine repetitive by necessity until a light flashed from another screen off to her side. She looked over at the glowing source, noting the red flashing light on the map display, in the heart of the eastern continent. “No… it couldn’t be,” she murmured to herself. “Someone with administrative access is active in the eastern continent? That project has been abandoned for centuries… it couldn’t be… could it?”

She stuck her writing utensil in her mouth, chewing on the implement as she mulled over her thoughts, periodically tapping at the board in front of her primary screen once more.

“This has to be a false flag,” she muttered. “The project can’t be running again. We’ll have to have someone look… won’t we? Surely couldn’t be me. I have more pressing matters to attend to and yet... The thought of someone resurrecting that project is absurd. Have to be sure it isn’t anything more than a false positive. If someone is resurrecting the old work, that’s a problem.”

She sighed, pushing away from the table, staring without blinking at the other screen with the flashing red dot. “I’ve talked myself into going, haven’t I?” she said, pushing back her headband.

“I guess I have some calls to make…”

We were gathered in Amalaris’s office, Mia’s tear-soaked eyes the only remnant of her grief. Her gaze was steeled towards those in front of us. We had a lot to discuss and not enough time.

They had arrived at the mansion not too long after Lord Nonan’s passing, working to create an emergency warrant given our group’s procedural disruption.

Their untimely arrival begged the question, that if they had arrived earlier, would Lord Nonan be intact? The violence committed upon his battered form was out of the reach of the assembled party, or so the verdict on the guard report would state. Javier’s experience as the leader of our team was enough to exonerate us, given the circumstances. Being found with the terribly mutilated body of one’s father was often enough evidence to be charged for patricide, in usual circumstances.

Lord Nonan’s body was left behind as evidence, to be watched over by other summoned members of the city guard, who in turn were to be supervised by Lexus and Renault, their last duty to the former master of the estate. That brought us back to the barracks, where we were now, in what could be construed as an extended interrogation with Amalaris and Javier.

“Your report has a lot that doesn’t make sense here,” Amalaris said. “Do you think you can help make heads or tails of this, Javier?”

“If you don’t mind me being thorough, than I’m sure we can get to the bottom of this, boss. I want to be perfectly clear here. You’re saying that you didn’t kill your father. You weren’t responsible for his mangled form. You weren’t the actors that ravaged his body.”

Amalaris bit her lip at Javier’s habit, but refrained from interjecting, having formally ceded authority to him. Her eyes twitched as his affectation but she refrained from speaking further.

“We came to non-lethally capture Mia’s father, Javier. For whatever ills passed between the two of them, she still loved him and was prepared to deal with in the means prescribed by the doctrine.”

Mia managed half of a nod, as much as an agreement she could give to Vera’s statement. The flavor was off, but the message was on point. She had wanted to stop her father, not kill him. Even if he was barely present, he was the remnants of her family. He was what tied her to her mother, whose specter lingered in that dilapidated mansion. Death was the opposite of what she had wished for him, at least, that’s what I had gathered from her words.

“So, how did he die then? I know you gave us your statement at the manor, but we need it again.”

Mia looked like she was ready to collapse, and Vera was dedicated to her support, which meant it would fall on me to illustrate what happened.

“After being weakened in battle by Mia, Lord Nonan passed out. We were looking for something to tie him up to haul him back over to the barracks when a thorny pattern multiplied upon his skin, covering all of the visible surface area. It then peeled off of his skin into a writhing ball, which condensed around his form until it crushed him into the shape that was seen when visiting the manor.”

“It’s baffling to hear those words, Perry. No matter how odd it is, that doesn’t mean we can outright disregard it. We’ve allocated some of the researchers to study your father’s corpse, if that’s alright with you, Mia. You are the lord of the Nonan family now, so if you pushed back, we would be unable to go against your word.”

“No,” she said, resolute. “No. Let the researchers examine him. I want to know why he died, so that I can pay the perpetrator back ten-fold.”

I shared a quick glance with Vera, concerned with Mia’s drive. Diving head first into the hunt for her father’s killer was almost certainly a way to get her killed, not that I didn’t agree with her motive, albeit not to the same degree. If they weren’t found, they could continue their extended social siege against Titan City, let alone kill others away from the guard’s watchful gaze.

I found it curious that nether Javier nor Amalaris asked how we managed to overpower Lord Nonan. I presumed they believed we just caught him unaware— an easy feat for the weaker to overcome the stronger when the stronger is in a stupor. I didn’t mention their precipitous achievement of their third tiers, and they didn’t bother to correct my statement that refrained from mentioning them. Perhaps if they were present, then they would have had the right to know. For those who couldn’t come until the proper paperwork was in order, that knowledge would be out of their reach until the situation truly merited the knowledge otherwise.

There was a lot I was going to have to test with my new-found authority and my rank up to the third tier, as I couldn’t discern any noticeable difference during that fight. If whatever it was that had infected me in the dungeon was paying dividends, then it behooved me to be sure of what benefits I was getting, let alone at what unknown cost.

“As for other business… while you technically quit the team in your jaunt to Lord Nonan’s manor, we’re willing to consider your reinstatement in the city guard, with some caveats for your continued employment.”

“What happens if we say no?” Vera asked, pulling Mia closer to her body, ever the protective one.

Amalaris pulled Javier back, sliding across her desk, unable to be restrained. “Well, we honestly can’t do anything meaningful to Mia. That was her family home. It’s not unreasonable that the prodigal daughter returns to see her estranged father. But the two of you being found at a murder scene is certainly enough for us to detain you indefinitely, especially given you’re from villages with no pull within Titan City.”

Mia looked up out of the crook of Vera’s neck, face flushed. “Don’t be absurd. They came with me.”

“Perhaps. Who can prove that? The staff that were on your father’s payroll? Their word means little, and your own noble authority only really covers your family, especially in the precarious state you’re in.” Amalaris’s words were cold and collected, her message coming through in a way that couldn’t be misconstrued.

“So you’re saying there’s no way out of the city guard for Vera and I, if we want to continue with relative freedom. I guess you’re not afraid of us pulling a runner then?”

“You’re rational people… I hope. We can allocate Javier to hunt you down if you thought otherwise,” said Amalaris.

He had the good temerity to blush and look away, but he didn’t refute her words. Amalaris was the law in the barracks, if not within Titan City. If he even had a thought of going against her word, it wouldn’t be stated in her presence.

“I’m… not seeing a way out of this, Mia, and no, you don’t have to fight for me. I can’t speak for Vera, of course, but if my punishment for breaking from the guard’s rules is to be conscripted back in, well, there are worse punishments to be had. I’m sure Amalaris could generate any number of increasingly bad penalties that I would be unable to avoid. This may have been constructed to force the two of us back in, for whatever purpose they need, but you know what? Knowing that means I can use them too, and it doesn’t matter if they know that, Mia. That just means we’re aware of each other’s intents to start. I’ll do what I can for you and for Titan City, which is to say, you’ve got me right where you wanted, Amalaris.”

“I’m not much of one for words,” Vera started. “Most of mine I borrow from the doctrine, or from my friends. But I’ll speak for myself here and say that I’ll still work with the city guard. You found me, Javier. You gave me a chance at a life I would never had otherwise. I’m wholly here for Mia, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate you. I’m ready to protect Titan City, no matter the cost.”

Mia sighed, pulling away from Vera once again. “Fine. I don’t think I can stop you, nor would I want to. My father neglected his duty to the city and to me. I can’t do the same, even if you’re acting nearly as unscrupulous as him in putting together this act to enforce us to work with you once again.”

Amalaris shrugged, body language neutral. “When you see an opportunity you take it. You seem to already understand that, but maybe not the implications just yet. You’ll learn, soon enough, with that authority that’s been thrust onto you.”

Given there was no way out, we could only look forward. Titan City still needed to be saved. Lord Montare needed his reckoning for his contribution to Lord Nonan’s ruin, let alone Titan City’s distress. The spike feeders still threatened to overwhelm the world.

There was so much to do. I couldn’t back down. If people asked me a thousand times, I would agree, each and every time. I had to do what was right. Whatever the price.

When the price needed to be paid, I would pay it, even if meant my blood spilled.

Another woman sat in a dusty room, staring at another glowing screen, poking and prodding at the image. A hint of black thorns and crimson blood were visible before the screen resolved into another image, the woman twisting her black strands of hair in her free hand.

“They’re certainly more proactive than they were in Malagost. I didn’t think Titan City would have been that responsive,” she said, prodding at the screen some more.

She shook her head as the screen filtered through pictures of people, each second another swipe of her wrist, the image changing in response.

“It’s such a shame to lose a dedicated worker, but sometimes you have to adapt to setbacks. I’m already doing the hard work. Stands to reason it wouldn’t continue to be easy.”

She poked at the screen once again, her clothing shimmering as different attire appeared and disappeared with each flick of her fingers. “Too refined, too fashionable, too notable, too forward,” she muttered to the changes of her attire. “This… this will have to do.”

She wore a solemn looking brown frock, perfect for reflecting an aura of piety and righteousness. “Can’t believe that they got him that fast… to be lowly is to be wise, but yet evidently not wise enough. Seems like the rhetoric wasn’t pervasive enough. I’ll have to step up my campaign. Plans within plans… a woman’s work is never done.”

She played with her screen once more, the glowing light casting a brilliant shadow amidst the ruins she sat within. Spike Feeders laid dismembered on the floor around her. There was no doubt on her face, no hesitation in her form. She was the master of her dominion.