"What's that?" Kirkus pointed to the collection of monsters lurking in wait just outside of the compound.

Terry had no time to think up a reasonable excuse. "Visiting tamer contingent," were the words that came out of his mouth. He scrambled for an explanation. “Since we’ll need help reclaiming C01.”

“Oh! Perfect. Let’s stop by to see them first.”

“No,” he blurted without thinking. The last thing he wanted was for them to interact with the invasion force. He wished there were some way to signal them, but there was no way he could trust they’d play along with whatever scheme he came up with.

Kirkus was regarding him with an eyebrow raised. "I know this is your region on paper, are you that opposed to sharing? Think I’m out to poach your staff?”

Terry nudged the plane into a curve away from the invasion force, circling around toward the flat open area that was the closest thing to a landing strip they had.

Kirkus, hand resting on the battery charger as he kept power flowing into it, took his silence for agreement. “I’ll expect a full briefing when the operation’s concluded,” he said in clipped tones of clear irritation.

Terry let out a breath. “Sure, that’s doable. I'll confer with them on the way out. You get your report in due time."

Kirkus scoffed. "You young people, so paranoid." But he stopped pressing the matter, assisting in the descent as they brought the plane down.

"Mind if I drive on the way back?" Terry held a hand out for the key, casually, as though he weren't quaking internally.

Kirkus tossed it to him without more than a grunt of assent.

At least now he had an emergency getaway vehicle. Whichever way things went. He didn't want to choose, but fate seemed determined to force the issue one way or another.

Terry sent out a quick mana ping of his own as they neared the building. He immediately sensed Levi, Cassandra, and several other loud mana presences. They were still inside. As he’d feared. This was the worst possible timing.

Kirkus frowned and paused his steps, glancing up the watchtowers. "No guards patrolling? You’re really letting things slip around here. No wonder you’re so concerned about being usurped."

Terry swallowed, and struggled to keep his tone casual. "True, I haven't checked the schedule for today at this facility," Terry said testily, hiding his nerves under a façade of exaggerated annoyance. “I'm not sure if you're aware, but there's been a lot of things going on lately. Things have been a little chaotic the past few days.”

“Things are always chaotic." Kirkus frowned and glanced back at him. "Is that any excuse for neglecting your responsibility?"

"We had a revolt if you recall. One of our facilities is still out of our control. My attention has been focused on reclaiming that. Guard rotations are important, yes. I will look into it as soon as we’re done with our inspection or meeting or whatever this is. Right now, I have bigger things on my mind."

"Reclamation planning coming well, at least? It better be, if you’re ignoring everything else for it."

"I'm confident we'll have the dungeon back by the end of the week," Terry said with legitimate confidence. "If it's not back in our possession by then, I'll lead a retrieval team for it myself."

Kirkus nodded, as though that was what he expected to hear.

The odd hierarchy here annoyed Terry at times. He was more powerful and more capable than either of his regional co-commanders, but since they were older they automatically assumed that he would be the one to run errands. Neither of them would've personally led an assault on a dungeon held by high-level enemy Awakened. But they would expect it of him as a matter of course.

Normally, he made it a point of pride to be the one who did things. To be the one on the ground, the one who knew everyone, who actually saw what was happening.

If Terry were in Kirkus's position and saw the group behind the ridge, he would've immediately known but none of them were theirs. He’d have called it out as a potential threat and certainly an irregularity.

But no. Kirkus and Kinar had better things to do than pay attention to the minutiae of the day to day operations.

That thought made Terry realize that he had already made his decision, whether he wanted to or not.

By choosing to cover for the invasion force, he had burned this bridge without meaning to. They would eventually find out the truth, one way or another, and his credibility would be tanked.

So he had nothing left to lose. He was out. He was done.

That thought was oddly satisfying. Imagining these two buffoons trying to handle everyday operations, scrambling to fill the void that Terry's tireless efforts had filled until now. He would have had the dungeon back in days. Terry had been the one to take initiative and retrieve their kidnapped agents, and if left to his own devices he probably could have spun the entire affair into an alliance.

But, that sort of thinking wasn't going to win him any prizes here. Kirkus and Kinar had their own agendas, which only partially aligned with Terry's directives and personal goals.

He had the feeling that even if he did turn Levi and his group in right now, he’d still end up taking heat for it instead of receiving any accolades.

Levi helped Greg up from his reclined position, though he needed to surge stamina to brace himself sufficiently. The ogre towered above him and nodded his thanks, eyes immediately going towards a wall in the direction Levi knew Peter was. He smiled at the ogre’s loyalty.

"Yes, Peter's here. Go very quietly on your way out, and you can—"

Becca pounced on Levi from nowhere, teleporting directly above him and landing with enough force to drop him to the ground and completely smother his words.

Levi tried to shove her off, but she pressed one paw against his face and crouched low over him, whole body tense.

He wanted to ask what it was, but her body language couldn’t possibly have screamed be quiet, any louder.

He sent out a mana ping, the only thing he could think of to do in this situation, and stiffened when the results came back.

A very loud mana presence was nearby, with two more even larger ones moving at a rapid speed toward them. From above.

Levi mentally cursed. From the air, they’d be able to see everyone. Having the bulk of their forces hiding over the ridge and out of sight from the facility was all well and good if being observed from the facility, but an airborne approach would negate their stealth advantage entirely.

Becca relaxed slightly and backed off, confident her message had been received.

Levi nodded in thanks and got to his feet, casually rubbing behind the massive cat’s ear. It was good to have her back.

She leaned into his hand for a moment, then disappeared as she rift-jumped somewhere else.

Right. They were on a timer now, no time for sight-seeing. Lash had finally stopped fooling around. Fully focused now, he opened doors almost as quickly as crackle.

They rushed through collecting the remainder of their missing minions. Peter’s magma snake was nowhere to be found, but they found his little red dilophosaur Henry. But unlike the other retrieved minions, who appeared relieved and ready to immediately return to work, Henry hissed and snarled from his cage.

“You good, Henry?” The dilo hissed at everyone wildly, and Levi was sure he’d be spitting acid in every direction if not for the muzzle.

Henry didn’t form up with the others when Levi opened his cage, but bolted for the exit.

“Lash?”

The soul-seeker caught the fleeing dinosaur before it reached the door. The way Henry was acting, Levi was sure something had gone wrong.

He did one more scan for Crimson or Slayer, but it seemed those two were gone for good. He hated the thought of having to tell Peter he lost half of his team. They could get replacements, but no one was replaceable.

This was not a time to grieve. They had what they could get, now he needed to get out as quickly as possible. If they’d been in less of a rush, Levi might have tried taking some of the caged-but-alive minions that weren’t theirs, but he didn’t have time to wrangle with them at the moment.

Becca shoved one of the more solid boxes off the others, batting at it playfully.

“Fine, but we’re going.” Levi grabbed the cage - thankfully, it had a handle for easy carrying - and sprinted out of the room.

Kinar was waiting for them just inside the back lobby of the research facility. The two older commanders immediately gravitated toward each other.

Terry took the first excuse that presented itself to his mind. "You two go ahead and get settled, talk to whoever you need. Most everyone’s in the northern section today. I'll be back, I need to check in about the guard rotation."

"We’ll meet in room D," Kinar called, then turned to Kirkus to begin gossiping or whatever it was they did while Terry was out doing all the actual work.

Terry nodded acknowledgement. He walked calmly until he was out of sight, then broke into a dead sprint, stamina letting him all but fly down the halls.

Another ping, and yeah. Levi and company were moving, but not fast enough and not in the right direction.

At this rate they’d run right into one of the research teams.

No, they were going into an empty room?

Terry burst into the hallway behind them, only to be met with a face full of panther.

"Wait! Let me up, I came to help."

His words were all but inaudible under the panther’s body, but she reacted regardless. She tilted her head at him and slowly backed up, glancing between him and the door where the others were already stepping through.

"They won’t be able to get out that way without drawing too much attention.”

The panther sitting on his chest licked at a paw, watching him with narrowed eyes.

Terry fumbled in his pocket. “I have a better idea."