As if something whispered in the back of his mind, Buzzcut suddenly whipped around. He scanned the room, pausing on me.

I held my breath.

Buzzcut’s eyes finally slid off me. He pumped sanitizer into his palm from a bottle on his desk and proceeded to wash his hands intently, working the sanitizer in with practiced ease, paying extra attention to the backs of his hands, going all the way up to his wrists and arms.

I’d found a new functionality, experimenting with the this morning. It wasn’t an upgrade exactly—and on the constellation of settings, it was nestled far on the left side. It strengthened the anonymity and memory effect for a single target. Everyone else—Sae, for this morning’s experiment—would see me without the mask, while the target would see a person of little importance, who they’d immediately forget after the fact.

Buzzcut was already dialing. Or voice calling, whatever. He looked bored, eyes continually tracking to the bottle on his desk. As he continued whatever rote conversation he was having, he stood and pumped an entire glop of sanitizer into his palm, going through the washing process once more.

He forgot he washed them already. Weird fixation on hygiene.

A few feet away, I saw a faint blue shimmer as Azure navigated the shadows, swimming in the dark places beneath desks and dark lines cast by the wide window divider at the far side of the room.

While Azure did his thing, I made a show of looking nauseous and multitasked. Several quests came in shortly after the showdown at the apartment.

Quest Name: Spotlight

Quest Chain Description: Rescue your lost companion

Current Primary Objective — Assassinate Cameron and gain entry into the enigmatic organization.

Secondary Objective — Find an alternative method to gain entry.

Threat Level: (L)

EXP GAIN (L)

Time Limit: One Week.

Reward: ???

Quest Name: Blue Skies

Primary Objective — Secure a flight charm through legitimate means

Secondary Objective — Open negotiations with Region 7 to obtain a large number of charms for your associated guilds.

Personal Objective — Remain unidentified by other Users.

Threat Level: (S)

EXP GAIN (S)

Time Limit: N/A

Reward: A Flight Charm

Reward: ???

Kinsley assigned the second quest, when I told her I needed an excuse to come here for recon. Figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone.

The first quest was system assigned, and the timing I’d received it in was interesting. It came in this morning—long after the conversation with Gray-hair—while I was still rubbing sleep from my eyes and utterly at the mercy of the migraine.

It was like the system didn’t see the point of assigning me a long-term quest despite the obvious hook until I’d dealt with Miles. Further evidence that Miles was a threat I needed to take seriously, even if he was putting Myrddin on the back burner for now.

More interestingly, it pointed out a potential flaw. The system hadn’t bothered to assign anyone a quest during the Transposition event. For the most part, the quest system had entirely disappeared. I’d taken that as nothing more than part of the invisible, unknowable rule set navigating our own personal ship to hell, but given the timing of the situation with Miles and the late assignment, maybe it wasn’t that simple.

If it was a question of efficiency? If the system didn’t bother assigning quests to someone who was likely to die in the short term to skimp on processing, or something along those lines?

That was hugely exploitable as an early warning.

Of course, there were holes. Counter-arguments. Chief among them. My mind drifted to that afternoon in the tunnel, and my mouth turned downward. The system had doled out that quest to help Jinny moments before she died. And Buzzcut had been there, standing among them, as Jinny bled out into the gravel.

Azure slipped back into my shadow.

”I know where the suits are.” he whispered excitedly.

”Where?” I asked, genuinely surprised, as I hadn’t expected to get much from him. We shared the same weakness. Given enough time, access, and information, Azure was a force to be reckoned with. Short-term improvisation was where he lacked.

”Underground!” Azure exclaimed.

I groaned inwardly.

Azure hurriedly continued. ”Before you totally disregard that, I saw glimpses of their complex. It’s a big operation. Big enough that it’s not something they could have manifested themselves in months, let alone weeks.”

Huh. ”So it’s a large underground space that existed before the system. Maybe we can narrow it down. Anything else?”

”Cameron’s anxious about going down there. Partly because he’s stressing over not getting enough sunlight, partly because he’s losing faith in Aaron. Couldn’t suss out why, but things are strained.”

My eyebrow shot up. That was as close as I’d come to definitive confirmation that Aaron was with the suits.

”And I haven’t even told you the best part. The reason Cameron’s worried he backed the wrong horse. Aaron almost died in the transposition. That wasn’t cover, that was real. He’s a civilian. They had operatives in route to deliver the necessary lux to Region 14 who suddenly went missing, along with the lux. It was a coup attempt. Now Aaron’s too exposed and people are questioning his authority. It’s only a matter of time before Sunny takes over.”

The way Azure emphasized Sunny could only mean one thing. Still, I was dumbfounded. ”Gray’s real name is Sunny?”

”Sunny Grounds.” Azure cackled in my mind.

”Bullshit.”

”I know. But it seems too obvious to be a pseudonym.”

”He’s got to be a meteorologist.” With a name that… unique… it wouldn’t be difficult to track him down if he had any significant online presence at all. The library was working on getting an archived version of Wikipedia up on the public computers. Once it was up, I’d have a wealth of information about my would-be employer.

/////

I chanced sending Azure out one more time before I was forced to pack it in. He didn’t get much more information from Buzzcut’s mind about the suits, but he got plenty about Daron and the situation in Region 7. A little too much.

Having gotten wind of our intentions from Kinsley, Tyler had asked me to handle this with care. The Adventurer’s Guild Leader was as interested in getting our collective hands on the flight charm as anyone. But according to him, Daron spooked easily. This was the first time the man had been willing to sit down and talk to anyone from either guild.

But after what Azure told me, the situation had changed.

Daron’s office was on the bottom floor. It was, perhaps, the one place in the building that wasn’t decked out in angel theme. If anything, it looked like an artifact from the early nineties. A yellowed pinup poster of a woman clutching her throat who was, apparently, very cold, overlooked an oversized mahogany desk. The desk was executive style and massive. I had no idea how they’d managed to get it through the door.

Through the blinds, a long line of people waited in line outside the front door, while others filled out paperwork at the desks.

Daron closed the door behind him. He absentmindedly reached up and grabbed a string, sliding the blinds closed as he navigated to the other side of the desk and sat down, motioning for me to sit across from him.

I eased into one of the chairs, my injuries from the previous night still giving me no small discomfort.

Daron steepled his fingers and smirked at me. “I’m not giving you our charms.”

That was about what I’d expected. Though I hadn’t considered the possibility he’d just come out and say it.

It begged an obvious question.

“So why the hell are you wasting my time?” I asked, dropping the faux friendliness from my voice.

Daron smiled wider. “You misunderstand me. I have no interest in selling them on the open market. Their value is in their exclusivity. As a region, we don’t have much to set us apart and draw in new residents. A few dungeons, and a handful of mid-size organizations, but nothing compared to the Adventurer’s or Merchant’s guild. As a courtesy, however, one region leader to another, I might be willing to extend you the opportunity to buy one.”

It took an exorbitant amount of self-control not to facepalm. I hated people like this. People who’d skimmed through Art of the Deal, or Way of the Werewolf, Or How to Win Friends and Influence People, and subsequently acted like they’d uncovered the keys to the universe.

“And where, exactly, is this sudden outpouring of generosity coming from?” I asked dryly.

Daron forced himself to hold eye-contact, though from the blinking he was having trouble. “I’m always looking to make friends. Specifically, friends in high places.” With a flourish, he withdrew a magical contract, placed it down on his desk, and slid it over, rotating the document, so it faced me.

I scanned it briefly, snorting when I came to the figure. 75,000 Selve. Quite the sticker shock for a mobility power with such limited utility, considering the short duration and cooldown. It could get you across the city in a fraction of the time, but you’d be walking back.

Talia must have sensed my mood. ”Control your temper. As much as I dislike this creature, Tyler wanted us to be diplomatic. And we’ll have a charm for Kinsley to study. Just accept his offer and renegotiate in the future.”

Despite what Azure told me, I almost considered it. Playing nice for the moment and finding a solution for the Region 7 problem later. But with the way my responsibilities kept stacking up, I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I didn’t deal with this now, I’d never deal with it at all.

It was Daron himself who gave me the final push.

He leaned over the desk, conspiratorially. “Forgive the intrusion, but I consider myself an observant man.”

“I’m sure you do.”

“Sex sells. This is the way of things.” He tapped a finger on the table, studying me. “Yet I couldn’t help but notice how little interest you showed in the attendants upstairs. All those celestial bodies on display, and you gave them little more than a glance.”

I smiled thinly. “Never had much interest in strip-clubs. Or strip-clubs disguised as massage parlors, for that matter.”

Daron waggled his eyebrows. “There are many benefits to being my friend, Matthias.”

“You’re not really my type, Daron.” I emphasized his name the same way he’d emphasized mine.

His smile dampened. Still, he tried. “This is a new world. If you’re looking for something more, the fantasy of flight is not the only fantasy I offer.”

”Matt.” Talia warned.

I busied myself with the contract, folding one corner perpendicular to the page. Then another corner. Once I’d fully repurposed the contract as a paper plane, I gave it a gentle toss.

Daron finally broke eye-contact, smile dissolving into a scowl as he watched the plane strike the wall behind his calendar and spiral to the floor.

I waited until I had his attention once more. “Let’s try again. And maybe, just maybe, we can find a way this doesn’t end badly for you.”