“Good afternoon, Boss.”

The man greeting Isaac looked like someone straight out of a 1920s mob film, complete with a strong but perfectly understandable Italian accent, black suit, and a fedora.

A getup that was hardly subtle, or something commonly worn in this time period. But it wasn’t real, simply an illusion projected by one of his [Skills], something that worked based on perception and expectations. As long as no one grew suspicious of your presence, no one would stop you if you went somewhere you shouldn’t be, making it the perfect disguise.

It also helped hide your real identity even from people who sort of knew who you were. When people only saw the most picture-perfect cliché of your [Class], they often failed to see the real you. Even Isaac didn’t know what his real face was, but it wasn’t like he needed it, given that this man’s loyalty was assured.

Or maybe this guy just liked the look, who knew? After all, Gregorio Zambon, formerly an Italian mobster, now Isaac’s number one off-the-books investigator. Well, his only off-the-books investigator, but given that he had a legendary investigation [Class], that was more than enough.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Zambon.” Isaac greeted and pulled out the second chair at the table. They were currently in a small coffee shop in Cornwall, with scones, clotted cream, jam, and tea. A terrible location for a clandestine meeting under normal circumstances, but the people holding said meeting had infosec abilities up the wazoo.

[Perception Interdiction] and [Unknown Fear] for Isaac, [Perception Interdiction], several [Skills] from the Eldritch summoning category that made trying to peek a memetic hazard for Zambon, as well as several [Class] [Skills] in that vein.

If anyone tried to overhear, they’d notice and there would be hell to pay.

Unless they decided to have this talk across the street from a national intelligence agency, they’d be safe. Besides, those scones were looking damn good.

“What do you have for me?” Isaac asked.

“Several leads, two potential high-ranking members of this cult, and one location that’s currently being furnished.” Zambon reported, “But we need to talk.”

“So, you figured it out?” Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You knew I would,” Zambon replied. It wasn’t a question, though Isaac did catch a hint of surprise. The man sitting across the table from him wasn’t wielding the full power of his infosec [Skills] against Isaac, presumably an attempt at making him feel more at ease. After all, Zambon now knew just how powerful Isaac was, and how dangerous he could be in a fight. And not just the power he’d shown to the public either, but at least some of the true depth of his power and potential.

Isaac nodded.

“You wanted me to figure it out,” Zambon said.

Isaac thought about responding but decided it would be superfluous. Instead, he sighed “I don’t think I’ll need to say anything, will I? At least unless there are specific things you want to know that you haven’t been able to figure out yet.”

“All of this was just an XP farming opportunity.” Zambon said, half asking, half telling “And you’re doing this all … hm … you want to save the world. You wanted someone able to research your enemies, or rather, the world’s enemies. But that person couldn’t be someone who could turn on you, sell you out, so you found someone with an [Oath].”

He paused for a moment, tapping against his chin with his index finger, then continued with new confidence “It’s really that simple, isn’t it? You really just want to save the world.”

Isaac nodded.

Zambon chuckled softly “Well, boss, I know I already promised to be by your side forever as long as you treat me right, but I’d like to promise it again: I’ll help you save the world, come what may.”

Isaac thought he did a good job hiding his surprise, but really, who was he kidding? No matter how good of an actor he was, no one could hide anything from the person sitting across from him.

“I realize how that sounds, but really, is it so strange? I live on this planet too.”

Isaac couldn’t help himself, he burst out laughing. A deep, belly laugh that made his sides hurt and all but had him rolling on the floor.

“What’s so funny?” Zambon asked. So Isaac wasn’t a one-hundred percent open book, good to know.

It took a bit for him to be able to answer, but eventually, he managed it “I’ve made that joke myself, every time someone asked me what I do and why I do it.”

“Who wouldn’t want to save the world?” Zambon asked “Other than the fools we’re hunting, who would actively decide against saving the planet we live on?”

“Selfish idiots do plenty of damage every day.” Isaac pointed out.

“Ah, but is that an active decision, or is it just a fool being a fool and not paying attention to the consequences?” Zambon questioned.

Isaac nodded “Point taken. So, is there anything more you wanted to talk about, or is there something else we need to discuss before we can get to your leads?”

Zambon pulled out a folder and opened it onto the table.

“Two potential high-ranking members who suddenly came into a lot of wealth after the [System] initialized without that gain being directly linked to the [System], followed by them gaining new contacts without a clear reason for them to be working together. One of those contacts? Your friends from Hamburg.”

“There’s a communication [Skill] in play, isn’t there?” Isaac said, “A [Skill] that doesn’t work through any medium, not via letters, the phone or over the internet, pure [Skill]-based communication with absolutely nothing traceable about it, even for you.”

“Unfortunately.” Zambon sighed.

“Can we track some of the other ‘out of the blue’ contacts?” Isaac asked.

“I’ve been trying. That’s how I found the second person.” Zambon said “But these two were careless in their communication. With everyone else they regularly contact, deal with, or meet, there seems to be some kind of reasonable explanation in place. And since none of the communications are shielded by this group’s signature cloaking abilities, there is nothing immediately suspicious about any of them.

“I also found one of their new compounds, it’s right here in Cornwall. On the outside, it’s a fairly isolated convention center, perfect for avoiding casual observation while providing a perfect excuse to have a bunch of random people in the same place.”

“But in reality?” Isaac asked.

“In reality, there are several off-the-books additions, undetectable by building inspectors or any other method than very thorough scrutiny,” Zambon said.

Isaac responded with a wolfish grin “I don’t suppose you know when the big move-in date is?”

“I can’t tell which of the planned conventions belong to our targeted group, if any, but I do know when they’re planning to ship a lot of things there. I don’t know what beyond the fact that they’re highly magical and going to be guarded by high-Level people, but that alone should be a valuable target, no?”

Isaac’s grin spread ever wider until it looked like his face was about to split in half “Perfect. Do you have anything else for me?”

Zambon shook his head.

“In that case, let’s see if we can break the world record for XP gained during a single hour by you uncovering some of the best-kept secrets in the world, shall we?”

***

“New target, eh? Are you sure there isn’t anything we could help with?” Habicht asked in between bites of his steak. He was back in the Starhail, having dinner with Isaac.

“I’m afraid not. There are no targets left anywhere in Germany, I’m pretty sure they ran for the hills after we took out their Hamburg office.” Isaac shook his head “If you want to help with a mess in England, you need to bug our political overlords to get going on international cooperation.”

“Oh, that’s not going to go well.” Habicht sighed “That would require some actual concessions.”

He practically spat the word, then took another swig of his beer before he kept talking.

“See, that’s the issue, isn’t it? We, humans, can’t get our act together long enough to fight our way out of a paper bag, let alone achieve anything big or significant. We shouldn’t have to rely on individuals to work to save the world.”

“Heroes happen when shit hits the fan. If everything goes smoothly, there aren’t any heroes because they aren’t needed. Therefore, in any situation in which you have heroes, you’ve got a problem of titanic proportions.” Isaac observed.

“Sad but true.” Habicht said “But I think we might be able to root our enemies out before their time limit runs out. We’ve already found two of their major bases, haven’t we, and if we break their operations in the entire nation in one shot … we’d be able to tear them apart pretty quickly.”

“Maybe. But both of those bases were in modern nations with comprehensive databases and plenty of paper trails. People who hide like they do show up pretty easily. But in nations who aren’t as anal retentive about proper documentation as Germany is, they’d probably just disappear into a crowd.”

“Damn, good point.” Habicht swore softly “So, what’s next?”

“The Brits storm the convention center at the proper time, stomp flat all opposition using help from Camelot and hopefully, we’ll get enough to chase them across borders.” Isaac said, “We’ll see where we go from here.”

“About that, do you think I might be able to borrow your investigator once in a while?” Habicht asked.

“That … won’t work,” Isaac told him.

“Someone I’d have to arrest?” Habicht asked.

“Maybe, I don’t know, all I know is that he’s trustworthy. The [System]-enforced kind.” Isaac said. The fewer broken laws he was concretely aware of, the better for someone always around law enforcement.

“Ah, gotcha.” Habicht nodded “Hypothetically speaking if you had a nigh-infallible investigator, who would you send him after?”

“Our friends with the nihilistic streak, and the occasional extraordinary problem.” Isaac said, “But, hypothetically speaking, if you could work in the phrase ‘extremely dangerous, dastardly criminals’ into the press statement about something, that something might end up added to the schedule.”

“I can’t do that too often without people realizing what triggers the mystery informant to help.” Habicht pointed out.

“Or you could just tell me if we have a meeting that’s been planned ahead of time so it doesn’t look like you’re meeting with me just because you’ve got a problem,” Isaac said.

“Or we could do that. Shall we make this dinner a biweekly thing?” Habicht suggested.

“Sure, but I can’t always promise my investigator will be available,” Isaac said.

“I know. If I ask for help, it’ll be very important.” Habicht promised, “So, what do you think is up in that base?”

“I did check the place out a bit. It’s still empty, but there are several million euros worth of magical materials already stored in there, as well as magical storage set up in countless broom closets and the like, and so many guards. Guards, traps, and everything else a group like this might need, but disguised really well. I wish I were going too …”