We both froze as we were getting up. Well, I froze, Jessie sort of stuttered, but still she was obviously shocked. I swallowed hard. "I get to meet Nightstrike? Also Nightstrike is fucking G rank? She's like my age!" Nightstrike was...well there's no real way to say it that doesn't sound pathetic, Nightstrike was my celebrity crush. To be fair, she was EVERYONE's celebrity crush. Blue Fox was an idol and everyone adored her, but Nightstrike was a superstar.

Some of it was the outfit, I had to admit. She wore a black half face mask and low cut black leotard with black thigh high boots, a billowing black coat, and a very stylish black belt with compartments all over it. Being naturally blessed with generous curves and VERY long legs that her boots showed off to great effect certainly contributed to her popularity, but most of it was because of how fucking scary she was.

Nightstrike had a powerful shadow ability that she used liberally in combat. She could create blades or constructs from her shadow, but more than that her hair and clothes all acted like they WERE shadows, easily able to be manipulated by her abilities. I admit I was slightly geeking out knowing I was going to get to meet her. I had to tamp down on that excitement when I remembered Jessie's brother had been brutally murdered today.

Luckily Jessie seemed...well not excited, but at least slightly distracted from her loss, which seemed like a good sign to me. Plus with someone like Nightstrike working with us we would be much safer. We were way less likely to get killed with her watching our backs. I hadn't known she was G rank, but everyone knew she was a ducking powerhouse. She'd taken down some serious criminals in full view of everyone in the city. The big three ran things on a macro scale but there were still other crooks and she'd taken on some of the worst.

We followed Cap out of the room and down the stairs towards...wherever he was taking us, but I hung back a bit to talk to Jessie as he pulled ahead. I lowered my voice when I got close to her. "Hey, are you...well I know you aren't ok, but are you sure this is the best thing to be doing? Not that I don't think you can, but shouldn't you take some time to grieve, come to terms with your emotions or whatever?" I kind of petered out awkwardly as I spoke, I had no idea how to comfort people.

I expected her to be offended but her eyes were soft and she gave me a peck on the cheek. "You're sweet, but no." Her expression hardened with steely determination. "I need to do this. Not because I want to honor him or be a great hero or something, but because I can't think about it. I can't go home to our empty house and be alone with my thoughts. Being killed by some crazy murderer isn't nearly as scary as the thought of being by myself right now." She swallowed hard, as if she was terrified by the very idea.

I put an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, you aren't alone. I have a spare room at my place if you want. Granted it's a game room so I'd need to drag a mattress in there but you could leave the door open or...shit you don't know me. Just...I'm around, ok?" Once again I put my foot in my mouth but it was just so hard to know what to say. Her brother just died. Stuff like are you ok, and how are you holding up sounded like valid questions, but in reality they were just trite bullshit to make people feel like they had asked.

Of course she wasn't ok, and asking that would have put her in a position where she either had to be brutally honest with someone she barely knew about a deeply personal subject or lie about it. She didn't seem mad though, she just smiled wanly. "It's fine, I get it. Like I said you're sweet. I know we don't know each other that well but if I need a place to sleep I'll give you a call. You're a good guy, I can tell." I smiled at that, and then she continued. "Plus Ian can hear this whole conversation and if anything happened to me at your place I'm pretty sure he'd smash your head like a watermelon."

My eyes must have gone wide with horror because she cracked up. "Sweet Revenant, I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist." She wiped a tear as her smile wilted a bit around the edges. "Thanks I needed a laugh, anyway do you know where he's taking us? I feel like everyone here loves to mysteriously drag people around to random spots." That was fair, they did it often, I was pretty sure the sense of drama came with being an Ascendant.

Captain Polaris, who HAD been listening to the whole conversation, snorted. "We're going to the executive lounge. Nightstrike hangs out there most of the time. We have an Ascendent chef on hand and his food is amazing. if you can afford it he can make you dishes that even boost your stats." My eyes widened but he rolled his without even looking back. "Before you even think about it by the way the food is for executives only. G rank and above. Unearned stat points can cause instability during rank ups at low levels. It's why we don't pump you guys up with potions and pills."

I cursed internally but I wasn't too upset. I somehow doubted I could afford the meals there anyway. I didn't have time to consider it further though because we stopped outside a section of the hallway. Cap reached out to tap the way and a panel slid away, showing a black metal elevator set back into the wall. He reached out and put his hand against the plate next to it and it turned mustard yellow. He turned to regard us. "I got temporary access, that's yellow. Green is approved and red is denied obviously."

The elevator slid open soundlessly, letting us into a spacious interior about ten feet by ten feet, filled with chairs and even a couch. Jessie and I plopped down on the thing as Cap hit a button, taking one of the single person seats, and then the elevator began to rise. It was smooth and constant, barely noticeable as we soared upward, but I could still just barely feel the motion. Despite the seats and being on an elevator it took a pretty decent chunk of time for the thing to arrive at it's destination, showing we must have gone up pretty high. more space warping shenanigans probably.

Finally the elevator stopped and the doors slid smoothly open again and we stepped out onto...clouds. Literal clouds all condensed into some kind of flat, springy flooring and lit by the final gleam of sunset. We stood under the red sky a never ending dusk, and the light shone over a huge gathering of white marble tables with gold veins and legs. The chairs were golden frames with the same soft, springy cloud we were standing on set into the seats and back.

There were only about a dozen people there, and when I looked to Cap he smiled. "This is the executive lounge. Only G rankers and above are allowed inside under normal circumstances. There are thirteen G rankers and two F rankers in this entire branch. The F rankers, my mother and Beaker, have their own places to eat, so this is the most exclusive place in the branch. Very few people even see it until they reach G rank. I've only been here a few times myself, my mother used to bring me here as a child when she was in the G rank, before the former guild master ranked up and moved on."

He led us between the tables, not avoiding the gaps in the clouds as we stepped on empty air that felt like glass. Below us, an endless sea stretched out into the distance, the clear spaces in the clouds acting as a sort of window for people to enjoy the waves and the occasional jumping animal. I couldn't imagine what ability could make all of this, but I imagined it was one of the former or current F rankers. The basic requirement for F rank was a thousand stat points total, which was an insane number.

We approached a small table off to one side where a girl sat eating. The black half face mask of shiny stone and the telltale leotard and coat were more than enough to give away who this was. Hell, even if she'd been dressed in a bunny costume, that ferocious aura would have easily made it clear that we were in the presence of someone powerful. She didn't even look up from the massive steak she was chowing down on, just kicking the chair across from her so it slid away from the table.

Cap rolled his eyes and sat down. He motioned us to stand by the table. "Strike, this is Solomon and Jessie, she hasn't gone through her processing yet so she's using her civvie name for now. Contrary to popular opinion we are not, in fact, romantically involved. Nightstrike is the daughter of the former guild master, who moved up to E rank and took over the capital branch. She stayed behind here because her mother lives in town but the guild looks out for it's own so she grew up in this place just like I did. You could think of her as my little sister."

Nightstrike snorted, putting down her fork. "Anyone who's seen you look at Blue Fox knows those rumors don't have any weight. You two are so sappy about each other it's sickening, the only people in the whole city who don't know you're already dating are the two of you." She paused. "Well, and all her fans, but that's not ignorance as much as willful delusion." She flicked her eyes to Jessie. "I was sorry to hear about Alan, he was a friend and a mentor of mine. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask."

I was curious about why they kept using his real name so I mentioned it. Cap smiled sadly. "It's a form of respect for the fallen. We use cape names inside the guild because every time you mention someone their legend grows just a tiny bit, but once a person dies we use their given name, to show that the human being who that cape name belonged to won't be forgotten. It's the least we can do for those who give their lives for the Unity." Nightstike nodded solemnly, clearly agreeing with the solemn sentiment.

Her eyes shifted to me, I had my hood back up and the wrap around the bottom of my face. "So, you're the newbie huh? H rank before intake, not bad. Even I was only H at intake. Of course, I was twelve at the time, but still. I look forward to seeing what you can do." She switched her gaze back to Cap. "I assume you're here about the Evil Eye case. It's top priority so I figured Aunt Stella would have you on it, but Revenant knows her precious baby boy cant be running around hunting a big bad serial killer without protection."

Cap's expression looked annoyed for basically the first time since I'd seen him, but he just nodded. She grinned at him. "Fair enough. Well I've been thinking about it, and the Evil Eye took out Errant before he was even a blip on our radar. Now if he was a G ranker before that happened that kind of power tracks, but it isn't exactly consistent with his sneaky MO. My personal preference is for the artifact theory." My stomach dropped as I realized what she was going to say, and sure enough her face split into a grin. "So we need to go where the best artifacts are. Time for a field trip to the Wish Curse Palace."