From the light shining onto him through the window, Jordan stirred awake and inhaled a deep lungful of stagnant, steaming, musky air that stung against his nostrils like a punch to the nose.

After prying his eyes open, Jordan regained his bearings and looked around the interior of Zoltan's truck to see the still slumped passengers splayed out around him- Gelos to his right, the Malvolio siblings in the middle seat and the other two up front.

Quietly, as to not disturb the others, Jordan stepped out into open and deeply inhaled the dry brisk air and held it in his lungs before expelling the foul tasting air he'd been breathing inside Zoltan's truck and taking a look around.

During the night, not only were the construction drones continuously toiling away with their builds, but the rest of their vehicles had driven themselves here from Wayland's underground garage. Looking across the street at it, a battery symbol augment into appearance above the vehicle, indicating that the charge was nearly depleted.

Without putting much thought behind it Jordan approached the bike while gazing across the lot to check the drones progress.

Immediately noticeable was the serviced street and lot; the few cracked or potholes slabs had been replaced and quays had been emplaced along the riverbank from behind Zoltan's warehouse up to Jordan's backyard at the opposite end of the culdesac, allowing ship access from the waterfront in the off-chance that they'd ever need it. Around each parcel, a gathering of drones dutifully toiled away in slightly differing ways- A few spider-like drones crawled about the surface of the warehouse, painting it, replacing sections of wall to bring it back up to code while a separate group of drones steadily alternated in and out of the door; hauling trash to a nearby dumpster or carrying furniture and materials inside.

Near the entrance, Gelos' house was along the same progress as Jordan's: A laid foundation and semi-constructed walls. Adjacent to Zoltan's bar however, was the beginnings of Tobias' shop and an array of sixteen, fully operational charging stations that sat several meters in front of the future building.

Four of the large buses were currently sitting on the oversized lots on the left end, leaving four more spaces on this side vacant for Jordan or anyone else to use, and another eight on the opposite end. After wheeling his bike to the port and hooking up, Jordan took a second to study the massive machine sitting next to him.

Following its namesake, the machine was about the size of a standard bus- A long, rectangular frame with two robotic arms laid across the top like ladders on a firetruck. Thick nozzles hung from each head of the arm from which concrete and other building materials were deposited. An array of smaller arms were mounted just below the main nozzle, and each of them boasted their own arsenal of hammers, drills, saws and other power tools on their own heads.

Turning to Tobias' future shop, he could see how all the pieces fit together; the large busses and the smaller drones they carried. Smaller versions of the same vessel would come in along with bulldozers to dig and emplace pipes, wires, wall studs, windows or reinforcements into the foundations or walls before the larger machine would come in to pour concrete over the foundation or atop the walls like a 3-D printer. Followed again by the smaller robots to smooth everything out and address the finer details before the spiders and haulers moved into to paint and texture the walls, install furniture or clean. Over and over again. In an endless cycle until the work was completed.

His bike was around half full when the sound of staggered footsteps crunch through the snow pulled his attention away. Looking back towards Zoltan's truck, Jordan saw Coco tiredly waddling towards him with her hands stuffed deep in her pockets and a lumpy joint hanging loosely from her thin lips. In the morning light, her features were vibrantly more clearer to him than they were the night before, allowing him to properly catalog her face into his digital memory.

She had olive-tanned skin, teardrop eyes and a somewhat large forehead that was only made noticeable by the brown curly hair that'd been draped around her head in an attempt to hide it. Ending in blond tips, her hair was splayed gently over her shoulders, giving way to a slender frame that'd been generously wrapped in a pea coat a few sizes to large.

"Morning." Jordan nodded.

"Hey." She shuddered deeply after stopping next to Jordan's bike. "It's fuckin cold!"

'Now that you mention it.' Jordan wondered, looking about at the powdered forest surround them. "A little." He shrugged, turning back to her.

"What?" She scoffed. "You don't get cold in those?"

Jordan amiably shrugged. "My body runs hot."

"Anyways." She rolled her eyes and turned away to light her joint. "I wanted to thank you for helping my brother and I. I swear." She chuckled dryly and took another hit, held it in her lungs and continued to hold it in while she spoke. "I thought the worst when you guys showed up." She exhaled, turning back to Jordan. "Your kindness will be repaid in full. You have my word."

While there was much Jordan wanted to say to her, it was best if he could speak to her and her brother at the same time. So instead, he asked. "What did you assume when we showed up?"

"That we'd be killed, at best." She shrugged. "At worst, kidnapped and sold off to someone from a world far away."

Jordan raised his brow inquisitively/

"You'd be surprised!" She chuckled before he could even begin to think. "Apparently, there are some who think Galileans are a warrior race of humans. Hah!" She slapped her leg. "The Powers isn't even four decades old!"

"Right." Jordan snorted. "It'd at least take a century before that happens."

"I apologize if my sister talks too much."

Jordan heard the voice as if it were next to him, but turned to see Pucelle walking over from Zoltan's truck, waving apologetically.

"But as she said, thank you. All of you." He turned to Zoltan, Tobias and Gelos trailing behind him to bow slightly at the neck.

'No time like the present.' Jordan shrugged internally. "Do you know of a good place to eat?" He asked the siblings. "Somewhere quiet. I have a few questions I want to ask to the two of you."

While he and his friends could surely skip meals for a few days, Jordan was unsure if the same could be said for their new guests. He didn't exactly trust them yet, but his gut told them they had no ulterior motives. A conclusion he was willing to follow, for now at least.

Regardless, it was true that they saved them from an inevitable demotion, and in turn, they felt a sense of debt to Jordan and the others. A debt that Jordan would be a fool to not have paid off.

While they rode around town, Pucelle and Coco bounced around the cabin to point out various buildings and areas as they explained the towns history.

Shortly after the habitat was constructed, an unnamed, D-Ranked blacksmith wandered throughout Rhadamanthus in search of a quiet place, far from the warring gangs and factions to raise his family and forge in peace. While he is long gone, those like him who sought peace from the violent gangs decided to move here, carrying on the tradition and eventually developing the area into a metallurgy town.

"But lately." Coco sighed despairingly as she sunk back into her seat. "The gangs influence has even reached here."

"Which ones?" Jordan asked. "Who were you afraid would come kidnap you?"

"Kidnappings aren't uncommon here." She sighed. "We're at the crossroads of Green Street, Rioter, Blue Dawn and Monk territory after all. Monks aren't really a threat. But a Green Street affiliate has a permanent presence here; a drug lab. And Blue Dawn has come to harass them as of late."

"And pirates." Pucelle added with a detestable tone. "Pirates have come to pillage a few times over the last month as well."

"I see." Jordan nodded. "So, does anyone still practice forging?"

"There's only a few of us now." Pucelle sighed.

'Us?' Jordan wondered. "You're a blacksmith? Is that how you rose to D-Rank?"

"It was." He nodded. "It was hard. Building merit through via crafts means either making exceptional work or making thousands of pieces a month. Which means you need either immense talent, or a lot of capital."

"Sounds rough." Zoltan distantly commented.

"As I said, it's hard. But not difficult. I managed to get by and promote myself to D-Rank. But then, my shop was raided by pirates. They came in on the river." He nodded to the bank. "They pillaged the town. Stole my tools. And trashed my workshop. I was forced to rent out a workstation after that. But with little to no sales, my points slowly dwindled."

"Damn." Zoltan shook his head. "That sucks."

"Coco got promoted shortly after." Pucelle continued, evidently unconcerned with Zoltan's comments. "But, her margin was small. She could only build her a house and immediately get to work. She helped out whenever she could. But her worry for me eventually caused her to stop." He gave her a disapproving glare after finishing with his story.

"So that warehouse was yours?" Gelos asked.

"Yes." Pucelle nodded. "I was trying to rebuild it. But with only local materials and my own two hands, I didn't get very far."

"And then we showed up." Jordan nodded. "Which brings us to our current situation." He paused for a moment; if only to gather his thoughts, causing concern to increasingly begin to show on the faces of the two siblings. "I'm still unsure of what to do with you two. But." He gave them a reassuring smile. "I won't throw you to the wolves. Let me think it over and I'll get back to you."

[Social Award: Good Samaritan. +10 Points.]

[Merit: 4,250]

"Fair enough." Coco turned about in the front seat to give Jordan a cheerful grin before returning forward to point out the passing structures to anyone who cared to listen.

Eventually, their talking dwindled to blissful silence and shortly after, the truck pulled into a grass lot that served an unassuming brick building.

Much to the confusion of the others, Coco and Pucelle seemed childishly excited to get inside. Causing Jordan to wonder how much time had passed since they treated themselves to a hot meal. After entering the establishment, their excitement apparently grew to an all time high, as they gleefully skipped across the checkerboard floors of the cafeteria style buildings towards a robotic serving line at the far end.

"Just order something for all of us." Jordan waved to them before moving away to find a seat.

A few moments later, Coco and the others joined them, carrying a heaping platter of what looked like poached eggs in a type of tomato sauce. The augmented panel floating next to him told him it was a Turkish dish called menemen, and then proceeded to list every ingredient his eyes could detect and calculate the calories he'd expect to get out of a serving. Even a recipe was displayed; in the case that Jordan fancied the meal and wanted to have his home AutoChef recreate the meal.

Pushing all that aside, he followed Pucelle's lead and took a piece of flat bread to dip into the sauce. After taking a cautious bite, Jordan relished in the explosion of spices and flavor that spread throughout his mouth with each bite. Within seconds Jordan had matched the greedy vigor of their hosts, finishing off their meal within minutes and warranting the party to indulge in another platter before trudging back through the cold to Zoltan's truck a half hour later.

As they returned to their neighborhood, Jordan first saw that the drones made use of their absence and detailed the last remaining patch of road that led in and out of the area. After moving past the patch of forest and veering left into the lot, the truck stopped and they all sat inside for a moment to watch the drones continue working on the final touches.

Craning his neck over the seat, Jordan estimated that it was probably only a few hours until is home was completed. Turning back forward, his eyes passed over his bike still parked at the charging station where he left it.

"I'm going on a ride." Jordan called into the cabin before stepping out and summoning the bike to him.

"Finally!" Gelos almost cheered as he left the truck and began trotting over to his own motorcycle.

Smiling inside, Jordan pulled his rucksack from the handlebars and reached inside for his helmet. It felt a little strange, using the helmet of a space suit as a form of bike gear. But with no other options, he didn't have much of a choice.

By the time he'd strapped his bag to his back, Gelos was already wheeling up to him, securing the lower portion of his mask around his mouth.

"You're supposed to protect your head, you know." Jordan laughed as he tossed his helmet between his hands.

"You think that's gonna protect you from a crash?" Gelos laughed. "This is for dust."

"Fair point." Jordan snorted. 'I guess I should get a proper helmet.'

After reaching behind him to place the helmet back into his bag, Jordan reached out to the bike with his mind and took a second to allow the digital gauges and speedometers to situate themselves in his field of view. With a wave to Gelos, Jordan raced out of their neighborhood and turned right at the road to head north, further into town and past the city limits.

About fifteen minutes of racing down the gently winding roads passed before they arrived at the largest city of the region; a metropolis name Rayleigh that appeared no different than Wayland, besides surface area. Thirty minutes north of Rayleigh, they followed the road as it curved east and continued along the river that served as a natural border to the towering cities of Green Street to the north. The river continued for nearly an hour before converging with another; at which point they turned into an exit to remain in the region and follow the road south for another hour. About 120 kilometers from where they turned, Jordan saw a small, two lane road that cut through the forest and eventually led towards their neighborhood and the town of Wayland. They arrived at the edge of their border 30 kilometers past that, at which point the river suddenly churned left towards the south while the road curved north.

"What. Is that?" Gelos gasped while pointing to a large stone wall that extended around fifty meters above the surface.

"The Monks border," Jordan said as he stared up at the structure in awe. "Blue Dawn country was beyond the river junction we passed earlier, which means our territory looks something like this." He shared his local map with Gelos and focused on a pointer shaped region that sat between the three auras of gray, blue and green and pointed towards the northeast.

"That reminds me." Gelos replied. "What's your opinion of our new additions?"

"I definitely don't trust them yet." Jordan sighed. "That said, I don't see why they can't stay with us for now. If they end up being trustworthy, I'll consider bringing them in permanently. Not as a part of the crew. But like a workforce. A way to give us passive merit."

"My thoughts exactly."

Jordan explained a few of the finer details of his ideas as they followed along the wall and eventually voiced all his points as they reached the front gate of the monastery. From an inlet beneath the wall, next to the steel gate they'd traveled through the day prior, the river that formed the GS border flowed out. Following the road alongside the river once again, the two rode in companionable silence back towards Wayland.

As they passed the the city limits, a notification from the construction company flashed in his eyes, causing him to speed up without notice.

"What's up?" Gelos' voice came over the radio not a second later.

"House is finished." Jordan replied simply.

At his words, Gelos to immediately accelerated past Jordan. "If yours is done, mine shouldn't be too far behind!"

Turning into their neighborhood, the first thing Jordan saw was Gelos' house- A single-story building with a flat roof and two doors on opposing sides of the front, U-shaped wall. Placed between the alcove in the middle was a third door that led into what Jordan assumed was the main room of the house.

"Pucelle and Coco's situation gave me the idea of a hotel. Or bed and breakfast." Gelos embarrassingly shrugged. "Instead of living on Tobias' floor, they can stay here. Until they get their own places. Same with anyone else who may come around."

"That's. That's a good idea." Jordan nodded, frowning in approval.

While Gelos wheeled off tell them the news, Jordan rode off towards his own house. Catching glimpses of the almost tearful Malvolio siblings on the way.

Adjacent from Zoltan's bar was the refurbished parking lot that'd been there since before they arrived. Just past it however, was a two-door garage that overlooked the now shaded and illuminated recharging station. Gelos' residential space sat dead center on the ceiling like a small cube stacked on top of a larger box, accessible via a fire escape-style access on the wall closest to the road.

As for Jordan's abode, it was a single-story concrete building with floor to ceiling tinted windows and an A-frame roof, centered on the right side of the road so that it'd grant Jordan with a riverfront backyard. In sacrificing one of the rooms, Jordan was able to put a small garage door where the window would be on the left corner, giving him a faux garage to store and charge his bike in within the safety of his home. In doing so, the front door had to be repositioned off center to the right. An effect that Jordan was sure would bother him every time he walked up the porch.

Entering the foyer, Jordan took off his boots and stored them on the floor to his side before stepping into the house proper and looking around the space. He was currently in an L-shaped corridor that led straight back to a spiral staircase at the end. To the left was the room dedicated for his 'garage,' as well as the access closet for the storage and retrieval system. To the right was what would normally be the living room; a modestly sized space that Jordan had no idea what to do with, and thus remained empty for now. Past the stairs and around the corner was a small reading nook with a padded bench that sat atop the windowsill, next to a dumb waiter.

Up the staircase led to the attic; the area of the house Jordan was most excited to see.

After moving through a door at the top of the stairs, Jordan was faced with a breakfast nook that boasted small coffee table and chair that sat under the slanted wall, next to a decent sized window that gave him clear views of the rest of the lot. Continuing through the doorway and to the right, Jordan moved a quarter of the length through the attic before passing the wall covering the staircase below; giving him clear views of his refrigerator, AutoChef and and a small island bar that sat just before it. Nestled in the corner around the left side of the kitchen was his new bed, comfortably tucked under the slanted rood was his bed. A meter or two beyond the foot of the bed, aptly positioned in a small obtrusion in the wall, was access to the bathroom and shower stall. Lastly, an arrangement of couches and recliners sat just beyond the island around a wall-to-wall screen emplaced on the far wall. Granting space for up to six to sit comfortably and socialize.

"Jeez." Gelos' voice came creeping up the stairs, followed by his staggered footsteps and lanky body waddling around the corner. "If I knew this was possible, I would've done the same."

"It's all about finding and exploiting loopholes, Gelos." Jordan grinned as he fell into one of the seats in front of the tv.

"Who taught you that?" Gelos asked. "Your dad?"

"No." Jordan shook his head. "My little sister."

"Ah." Gelos nodded. "Anyway. We're going to Zed's bar to celebrate officially moving in."

"Didn't we just have a party last night?" Jordan rose from his seat with a sigh. 'Back-to-back celebrations takes away the meaning of it all.'

[New Message(s): 1/3 James Astros. 2/3 Villan Astros. 3/3 Villan Astros]

Jordan unconsciously slowed to a halt in the middle of the lot as he began to look into the messages, causing Gelos to impatiently turn about and flail his arms to the side in frustration.

After signaling for him to go on without him, Jordan opened the first message and immediately, James' face became augmented onto the ground before his feet.

He looked older, shockingly. More apparent than that however, was the tank top that seemed absurdly too small against the bulky frame of his chest and neck, and his sandy hair was a tapered on the sides and left on the top to grow into a straightened mess of semi-spiky locs.

"Jordan!" His visage abruptly jumped to life. "I heard you've moved to Rhad. And more, you've been promoted. Congratulations." He grinned. "I hope you're coming home soon. There's much for us to discuss, little brother."

'Much for you to discuss.' Jordan snorted with the termination of the recording.

Moving on to the next message, Jordan was pleased to see his father's face appear in much the same way as James. Albeit with a much warmer aura that somehow emanated from his father's otherwise mute expression.

"Hello, Son." Villan nodded. "I figured I'd tell you personally, since you'd never ask an no one would bother tell you until it's too late." He muttered the last few words under his breath. "My wife and I are due to arrive home in just a few days. Teimei is a Duchess from the Lei Dynasty; a prestigious monarchy from the Saturnian Empire. I'd like the family, but you in particular, to meet her. She's expressed great interest in you, Jordan. Due to your recent… accomplishments." He paused to allow the furthest corners of his mouth to curl up into a faint smile before continuing on with a notable hint of discomfort. "Attached is the date for the wedding ceremony, the specifics will be discussed later." He paused and although it wasn't visible, Jordan could see his father release a weary sigh during that moment. In reality, his face had remained as still as it was since the recording started, even as he turned his focus back to whatever screen or mirror he was looking into. "I look forward to our reunion, and I'm anxious to meet your friends. See you soon."

Jordan felt a sudden string of irrational paranoia tug at his mind as the last few words trickled through his ears. Luckily for him, Villan continued speaking before the irrational cogs in Jordan's mind could rotate up to speed.

"Also." Villan continued. "Congratulations on your promotion."