My hand twitched. It’d be so easy to end Aaron here. My Strength wasn’t particularly high, but it was still a significant upgrade from a normal person. It’d take seconds to dig my fingers into his throat and squeeze—

“I’d love to get in touch with her. Have a little chat about what she remembers.”

crossed the threshold of stress. I stepped back from myself, mentally. Looked back towards the house. Daphne had moved from the kitchen table to the sitting room. She was lounging on a chaise, pretending not to be looking our way. Joyce was tidying up dishes.

Moving on Aaron here—even if my chances of success were good—was worse than idiotic.

It was impulsive.

And no matter how good it would feel in the moment, it wasn’t worth the fallout.

Aaron sighed. “Alright. We’ll do it your way.” He angled away from me and unfastened the clasp of his Rolex, pressing his thumb against a black button hidden within the clasp.

My ears popped from a sudden shift in pressure. A thin, membrane like bubble shimmered around us.

“We’re shielded.” Aaron explained.

“Where the hell do you keep getting items that look futuristic?” I had to ask.

Aaron gave me a smug grin. “Haven’t met a technomancer yet, I take it.”

“No.”

“They’re infuriating. But incredibly useful. Not even the gods themselves could hear us if they were so inclined. Say what you need to say.”

I looked Aaron dead in the face. “Cameron Reed.”

Aaron blinked, just a fraction too late. “Who?”

I let out a slow hiss. “Damn. And from what I hear, he thinks so highly of you. Anyway, his number is up.”

“If you’ve come here to threaten the life of someone who may or may not work for me, I think the result may not be to your liking.” Aaron didn’t bother hiding the threat in his voice.

“On the contrary. I’m here to ask how you’d like us to proceed.”

“Us?” Aaron asked.

Like clockwork, Azure hopped the fence. He was wearing my damaged Eldritch armor and carried the stench of death with him.

“Can’t say I knew what to expect, but this is… something else.” Aaron murmured. His body language was still strong, confident. No amount of posturing could hide the sudden paleness in his face.

“Got a vermin infestation on your hands.” Azure said. I didn’t like what he was doing to my voice. It sounded too gravelly, too pointlessly obfuscated.

“What kind of vermin?” Aaron asked.

“Homegrown. Gray hair. Big smile. Feels like he’d kill you at the slightest provocation. Unnaturally attached to his car?”

“Sunny.” Aaron said. He sounded less angry, more disappointed.

“That’s the one.” I confirmed.

“He said they looked everywhere and couldn’t find you.” Aaron interrogated Azure directly.

“Technically true. I found him.” Azure reached in his inventory and pulled out the dossier, handing it to Aaron “Which was when he gave me a target.”

Aaron leafed through the file and put a hand to his mouth. Then slowly, his face hardened. “Christ. It’s hard to believe he’d act so directly.”

“Well,” I shrugged. “No point in denying it. If it wasn’t Myrddin, he’d have pawned this off to someone else. The question is, where do we take it from here?”

Aaron opened his mouth, then closed it. He pointed a finger at me. “Don’t do that shit to me. I taught you that.”

“What shit?”

“The ‘act like you’re already a part of a team you want to join’ shit.” Aaron frowned. “Which implies something I hadn’t fully considered.”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“Why would you even-” Aaron stopped himself. His expression grew firm. “No. Not until I understand this,” he drew an invisible line with his fingertip from Azure to me, and stuck the finger in my chest. “And this.”

“The merchant’s guild found some of Myrddin’s actions during the transposition… unpalatable.”

“Didn’t even bother to hear me out.” Azure groused.

I shrugged. “Personally, I don’t really care. It takes a lot more for me to throw away someone so useful.”

Aaron’s brows knit together. “So the chaos the other night...”

“Feds have been up my ass.” I rolled my eyes.

“They thought we were the same person. Nearly crucified Matt for it.” Azure chuckled. I shot him a look. That was sharing far more information than necessary.

“We got a little creative.” I finished.

“Then the rumor of Myrddin being there was what? A dogwhistle?”

I smiled. As much as I hated him, it was always nice how quick Aaron was on the uptake. “Something like that. Figured you’d be one of the few to realize things weren’t adding up, making the transition to this moment as smooth as possible.”

“None of this explains why you’d be remotely interested in helping me.” Aaron said.

I made a vague circle with my hand. “The three of us have something in common. There’s only one thing we really care about.”

“Power.” Azure said.

“And with said power, winning this stupid game.” I said. “As much as I hate you, Aaron? You’re the one person I’d wager most likely to make it out of this unscathed. And whatever plan you have to do that? I want in.”

Aaron crossed his arms and appraised me. “You’re different. Not as angry as you used to be.”

Just better at hiding it.

“So what.” Aaron turned and faced Azure. “You’d enter my organization as his agent?”

“I’m no one’s lackey.” Azure bristled.

“Myrddin owes me a few favors, but he’s his own person.” I confirmed. “He needs a guild and he’s obviously capable. You need to clean house, and have a necromancer whose research will benefit significantly from the cores he provides. What’s the downside?”

“And in the process, you’ll have done me a favor, handed me a special class, and ingratiated yourself as an alley.” Aaron nodded slowly. “Not bad. And I’m not saying anything you don’t already know. But the fact that the necromancer in question is Kinsley’s father isn’t a problem?”

I snorted. “Please. I’m sure you’ve recognized the similarities between the site and a certain project you worked on a long time ago?”

“It looked like her handiwork, but it was impossible to be certain.” Aaron hedged.

I raised an eyebrow. “Well, she didn’t want to do it. Not until I twisted her arm. Latent trauma and blah blah blah. If I’m willing to do that to my own mother, you really think I give a shit about some kid I met less than a month ago?”

Aaron glanced over to Azure.

Azure shrugged. “Kinsley cut me loose on a hair-trigger. Fuck her and her people.”

“And the losses you suffered?” Aaron asked, scrutinizing me closely.

I kept my voice casual. The words tasted like bile. “Like I told Sunny. Jinny didn’t matter, I barely knew her for two days, and what happened was mostly her fault. Sae’s alive. And Nick, so long as he’s alive and not being tortured—”

“He’s not.” Aaron confirmed quietly. “All things considered, he’s being treated very well.”

“Then he’s finally out of my hair.” I finished. “And yes, the timing sucked, and I really could have used his help during the transposition, but I survived.”

“Okay.” Aaron said. He smiled. “Lets do business.”

“On one condition.” I leveled a stare at him, and for the first time let my anger shine through. “No matter how this ends, Sunny goes down. End of story.”

“We’re on the same wavelength.” Aaron waved dismissively. “Though I’m curious why you are.”

“You don’t get to make the kind of threats he made and walk away.” I remembered in a wave of anger how he’d recited my personal information back to me, then talked in detail about what he’d do if I didn’t keep my mouth shut. “He said he’d make my mother bite the curb.”

Aaron closed his eyes.

“And that he’d stomp her skull in, while my sister watched.”

“Jesus.” Aaron hissed.

“Guessing he left that out of the report.”

“Good fucking guess.” Aaron looked genuinely uncomfortable. I had no idea if Sunny’s threats had actually disturbed him or if he was playing the reaction up for the sake of building rapport. He was just that good. “Don’t get me wrong, if you need someone to send a message, Sunny’s your guy. I knew that. But there has to be lines. Obviously it’s fine with me.”

“What do you want us to do with Cameron?” Azure asked.

“It might be possible to stage something. Whisk him away to a safehouse, if you’ve got something along those lines.” I suggested.

“No.” Aaron squinted. “Sunny already knows that’s something Myrddin might pull, because of the necromancer. He’ll be more alert to the possibility.” He grimaced at Azure. “And he’ll probably expect you to bring a trophy.”

“He never mentioned it.” I interjected, not really wanting things to head in that direction.

“Sunny doesn’t always say exactly what he wants. It’s been a reoccurring problem.” Aaron pulled both hands down his face, giving us a detailed view of the redness beneath the whites of his eyes.

“I have something of a sense for people. And Cameron seems loyal to a fault.” Azure said.

It took me a moment to realize why. Azure had enough insight into my mind that he probably knew that killing someone—even if it was someone with the enemy—at the behest of a deranged asshole didn’t sit well with me.

That, or he was talking to the tape.

Aaron leaned back against the tall fence, letting his head bang against it lightly. “Mr. Reed is a good man. Professional, despite his neuroticism. He’s been an associate of mine long before the dome.”

“But?” I prompted.

Aaron looked at the ground, sadly. “He’s not steadfast. In what we’re trying to do. He’s with us because he owes me and trusts me, but he’s not committed to the cause. It’s only a matter of time before he breaks.”

“You realize we aren’t true believers, either. Partially on the basis of having no idea what you’re actually doing.” I pointed out.

“In truth, I’m not worried about you, son.” Aaron said. “Once you see what I’m building—the endgame—you’ll pick the right side. It’s undeniable.”

It was alarming. Aaron knew the score, knew what we were. What I was. At most, we were friends of convenience, poised to eat each other at any given moment. If I were him, I would have kept me away from whatever secret I was guarding for as long as humanly possible.

The fact that he was still so confident in my longterm support made me uneasy. Aaron was a monster, but he was a patient one. What if he actually had something worthwhile?

“You’re advising me to kill him.” Azure asked, flatly. “Your own man.”

Aaron mulled over the words carefully. “What I’m advising, is for you to follow the directive you were given. There’s no telling where Sunny is, and whether he or one of his many followers is watching Mr. Reed’s domicile from a distance. It’s the safest course.”

The fact that Aaron’s group was dealing with internal strife, in the grand scheme of things, wasn’t particularly surprising. He talked a good game. Had a natural talent for making you think he was above it all, a man set apart. Elevated. But once the polish faded and he was in the shit? He was nothing more than another rat among thousands.

Azure stepped into Aaron’s space. I almost directed him to back off—but decided at the last minute to let my summon handle it. Other than a few missteps, Azure had handled this more or less perfectly. “I know what I’m about to say is pointless. That no matter what I say here, people like you don’t really get it in their head until their wings are clipped. But sometimes I can’t help myself.”

I watched as Aaron tensed, ready to send a mental message at a moment’s notice.

With a cold smile, Azure leaned in. “I don’t share Matt’s qualms about pulling innocents into the crossfire. It’s natural order of things. If you ever get it in your head to slip a similarly shaped knife between my ribs, it won’t go so smoothly. For you or the people you care about.”

“So I’ve gathered.” Aaron gave Azure a nod of acknowledgement and peered at me. “Not the sort of person I’d expect you to throw in with. You always seemed too inflexible for that. Too fixated on some cosmic notion of fairness.”

“I grew up.”

“Maybe.” Aaron said nonchalantly. Then he spoke directly to Azure. “Perhaps a show of good will is in order.”

I jumped in, keeping him off-balance. “Start with getting your foot off my people’s neck. This only works if I have plausible deniability. All it takes is one weak link in your surveillance network, and it all comes tumbling down.”

“Fair enough. Sunny was wrong, threatening you the way he did.” Aaron mused. “Done. Though we’ll eventually need to figure out where you fit in the organization, that’s a long-term issue. I’ll find an excuse to lift surveillance in your region.”

I had to actively fight myself not to ask the questions that’d haunted me. What Aaron intended. How he’d managed to achieve this position of power as a civilian in such a short span of time. But the longer I spoke to Aaron, the more likely it was that I’d give him an angle. Right now he was on the back foot, and he needed to stay that way.

Those answers would reveal themselves eventually.

“Dad? Everything okay?”

All three heads whipped around to where Daphne was leaning outside the back door. Her face was a mask of worry and concern.

Aaron gave her a strained smile and a polite wave. “All good, sweetie.”

There was a gentle whoosh as the door clicked shut behind Daphne, and she disappeared within the depths of the house.

“So, Cameron dies.” I confirmed.

“Mr. Reed was special. In a perfect world, I owed him a great deal. That doesn’t change the reality that there was no place for him in the grand scheme of things.” Aaron said. To his small credit, he actually seemed to struggle with the decision. “And his death will serve a greater purpose.”

“Sure he’ll appreciate that.”

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and began to walk away. Myrddin fell in line behind me.

“Judge me all you want.” Aaron called after me. “But we live in a world of problems, Matthias. I’m the only one offering a solution.”

“And I’m just following orders.” I called back over my shoulder.