“Come on Mira, you’re really okay now. No one else is going to freak out about your… situation.” I said to a still very much flustered Mira who was walking beside me as we left the school building together.

After tugging tighter on the drawstrings of the hoodie she had pulled up, and doing two quick but careful looks back and forth, she finally seemed to release the tiniest bit of the tension in her posture.

“M-maybe, you’re right. I just wish that-” She began to say before another voice cut us off as we exited the doors to the outside.

“There you two are. I’ve been waiting for forever for you guys to get here.” Beth scolded immediately upon spotting us.

“Eeep.” Mira exclaimed before drawing her already smothering hoodie even tighter around her head until only her eyes and nose were barely visible.

“Hey Beth, can you please try to stop scaring the crap out of Mira today. She’s already high-strung enough as is.” I told her reproachfully.

“Wha-, I wasn’t trying to scare her… this time at least.” She said while giving Mira a very obvious side-eye, resulting in Mira not so surreptitiously moving to stand behind me.

“See. This is what I’m talking about.” I chided.

“Well, how do you expect me to react right after meeting my first…first… whatever she is.” Beth struggled to say while making broad, frustrated gestures.

“Look, I get how it's all new and crazy, but can we be careful about how much attention we draw to this stuff while others are around.” I warned while trying to do a casual glance at any other students milling about near us as we walked over the edge of the sidewalk where the buses would arrive.

“I thought, you and that old guy you’ve been hanging out with said that we literally couldn’t tell other people about this stuff.” Beth said somewhat bitterly, clearly not happy about having her freedoms restricted in that way. “Also, why does Mira look like she’s coming with us to get on our bus? She doesn’t live near us.”

“Well, to answer your second question. I asked her to help me study, and we do still have an English project to work on.” I said while looking back at Mira to see if she was still hanging in there. Her eyes seemed to be glued to my back, and she was avoiding making any eye contact.

Poor Mira.

I wanted to just turn around and wrap her up in a big hug, but she’d probably become even more freaked out and on edge by that than anything else.

“And the first question?” Beth prompted.

“Well, as far as I know, that is how it works for you, but for me, I have a bit more leeway in what I can say. That also means, I think, more danger in accidentally saying or revealing too much.” I said with only marginally confidence.

“Mmph Mmrly.” Mira mumbled unintelligible from within the confines of her hooded realm.

“What was that?” I asked while looking back at her.

Reluctantly she opened up her hoodie’s top enough for her mouth to be visible again.

“I said, you’re really not in much danger of that actually happening. Intent matters with this kind of thing, for both of you. Basically, accidentally saying too much and revealing what you shouldn’t is unlikely.” Mira said, before quickly tugging hard on her drawstrings and sealing her head off to the world once more.

“Okay, thanks for that Mira.” I said with a small smirk at her behavior. “See Beth, we’re fine. Nothing to worry about.”

“That’s what-, you’re still pretty new with all this aren’t you?” Beth asked with a slightly annoyed glare in my direction.

“I mean, yeah. I thought that was obvious.” I said while scratching the side of my head anxiously.

Beth and I's attention was pulled to a familiar voice heading our way.

“No really, you have to farm all of the spawn points before even trying the final boss. There’s no point in even trying despite however over-leveled you are.” Scott said to a group of nearby boys he was chatting with.

“But that’s such a pain in the ass man. At that point, it’s just a grind and time sink keeping us from clearing the boss and collecting all that sweet, sweet loot.” Another boy said irritably.

“I don’t know what to tell you man, but-” Scott continued to explain in great detail, but I turned my attention back to Beth and Mira instead.

“Probably just some new MMO they're playing or something.” I said to Beth with a shrug.

“Yeah, it’s called Garden’s of Azreal: Retribution. The graphics are a bit dated, but the setting and combat are pretty cool, for an MMO.” Beth helpfully explained.

“H-how do you know so much about the game? I didn’t know you were into MMOs?” I asked in bewilderment.

“I mean, I’m not really, but Scott is super into this one right now. So, if I want to spend time hanging out with Scott, that meant playing this random ass game I hadn’t heard of before.” Beth said, low-key scolding me again for ignoring my friends too much.

“Fine,fine I'm picking up your not so subtle hint here. I guess I’ll try to download it tonight then or something.” I said somewhat hesitantly.

“Hey man, don’t feel like you have to play it with us. I know you have actual important things to do now.” Beth said with an apathetic shrug. “Speaking of, why don’t you have your own car already? Aren’t you like, super important to this shadowy governmental agency or something. That was the impression I got anyways. And if that's the case, shouldn’t they be throwing big wads of cash your way to keep you happy.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Yeah kinda, I guess. They do consider helping me to be extremely important, but at the same time they expect me to be able to pull my own weight, and not have to rely on them.” I said with an equally apathetic shrug. “It still seems a bit contradictory to me, but like we were just saying, I’m still pretty new.”

“So what, no batmobile, no invisible jet, nothing?” Beth said with a slight smirk on her face. “Tcch, man, and here I thought our school was the cheap one.”

“Meh, the big bucks probably don’t come until later, when I’m stronger and they have to take me more seriously. That’s my guess at least. I should still try to harass Gunderson about it though. Maybe there’s something he can do about it.”

“Like buying you a new car?” Beth asked hopefully.

“Nah, well maybe, it's-” I started to say before being interrupted by my cell phone vibrating in my back pants pocket. “Ah frick, now what.”

I pulled it out to read the caller ID and all it said was ‘Office’. It was probably spam, but it was weird enough that it might just actually be 'The Office', I had visited recently.

Hesitantly I decided to answer.

“Uh, hello?” I said cautiously into the receiver.

“Ah, good. You’re free to talk. I was hoping I’d catch you before you got onto your bus.” A somewhat familiar feminine voice said to me from the other end. “This is Ms. Lawrence, Matilda if you like. I’m Mr. Irmingir’s assistant if you don’t recall, from the office.”

“Uh, yeah. I remember. How can I help you today Ms. Lawrence?” I asked nervously. Why was she calling me out of the blue like this? Whatever it was it can’t be good.

“Who is it?” Beth asked intrusively, trying to lean in and hear my conversation.

“Tch, knock it off Beth!” I said with some annoyance as I turned away to keep her from eavesdropping.

“I’m sorry?” Ms. Lawrence said from the other end.

“It's n-nothing. You were saying?” I asked, while also giving Beth a sideways evil glare.

“Right, well we have an assignment for you. A new dungeon has appeared nearby, and it fits within the criteria for what we believe you can handle at this point. Mr. Irmingir would like you to resolve the issue as soon as possible.” She carefully explained.

“You want me to do what?” I asked, my mind reeling slightly. Not even a few nights ago I was running for my life against a seemingly unstoppable monster, and now they wanted me to clear out an entire dungeon. I could already feel my entire body begin to tense up from entirely justifiable fear and nerves. “Y-you want me to do that now, as in right now?”

“Yes, Ms. Morrow. This is why I was hoping to catch you before you left on your bus ride home. We have someone coming to pick you up and take you to the site of the dungeon emergence.” Matilda patiently explained.

“B-but I, shouldn’t I be more prepared for something like this.” I said nervously.

Apparently, it was obvious enough for my friends to also have picked up on my emotions.

“Hey, you alright?” Beth asked in a soft tone of voice before coming up to stand beside me.”

“What’s happening?” Scott asked Mira as he too came over.

“Jenni just got some unwelcome news.” She explained to him after loosening her hoodie once again.

“Not to worry Ms. Morrow. We will handle all of the logistics on our end, it's what we do best. All you need to do is remain where you are for pick up, and follow the instructions provided to you when you get on site.” She said in an almost chipper voice. Why was she so happy about telling me all of this?

“Okay. Is this seriously all I need to do? Can’t uh, Bobbie handle this?” I asked in still rather obvious nervousness.

“Well of course she could, but this dungeon fits the criteria for what we believe you can reasonably handle at this point in your development. Finding dungeons that fit this criteria is actually somewhat of a difficult challenge, given how new and low-level you are.” She replied without a hint of irritation at my complaining. “No offense.”

“Um, none taken.” I said not really caring about the accurate assessment of my current abilities. “So, I’m guessing Gunderson we’ll be here soon to pick me up then.”

I felt more complaining wouldn’t change anything. At this point, I was just bracing for the inevitable. My only other option was to just run away, but that seemed like a universally bad idea.

“Agent Gunderson will be assisting you in this assignment, but he is already on-site at the moment. Another person should be arriving at your location soon to pick you up.”

“Alright… is there anything else I need to do or bring beforehand.” I asked, desperately trying to stall the inevitable.

“No, Ms. Morrow. As I said, we will handle all of the logistics, any equipment you might need will be provided to you on-site.”

“Okay…” I said in utter defeat.

“Excellent. I look forward to hearing from you again after your successful clearing of the dungeon. Best of luck Ms. Morrow.” She said politely before hanging up on her end.

“Frick.” I said out loud, letting my hand fall to my side as I stared absently off into the distance.

“What happened? Are you alright?” Beth asked insistently.

“I don’t know. Ask me again tomorrow.” I replied with maybe a bit too much honesty.

“Is it…” She started to say before giving Scott a hesitant look before continuing in a whisper. “Monster related?”

“Yeah, it is.” I replied while trying to give her a meaningful look. “I have a… mission that I need to go do, as in right now.”

“Now?” Beth asked skeptically. “You don’t even have a car.”

As if on cue, the distinctive sound of an overly loud motorcycle could be heard coming down the street, and then turning off toward the school building that we were all standing in front of.

“Bobbie?” I mumbled out loud while watching the very same exotic-looking motorcycle make its way gracefully up to the curb we were standing at and come to a smooth but still very loud stop.

The tall, well-built woman, was wearing a spunkish, but well-maintained leather jacket, and still no helmet, letting her short messy blonde hair remain visible for all to see.

“Who the hell is that?” I could hear Scott ask while looking at the mysterious new arrival. His roaming over the strange design of the motorcycle she was riding.

“Someone dangerous.” Mira calmly observed.

“Woah, she’s so hot.” Beth said breathlessly as she looked on in awe at Bobbie still sitting astride her motorcycle.

“Yeah she, wait what?” I asked in bewilderment, my mind not having entirely processed Beth’s statement.

Before I could think through what she had just said or even respond, my train of thought was interrupted by said object of fascination sitting atop her motorcycle.

“Hey there new girl.” She said with a large and playful smile on her face.

“Uh, hey.” I sheepishly replied back.

By this point we had drawn a rather large crowd of students who came to check out the noise, and stayed to gawk at the now interesting sight of a tall blonde riding a bizarre-looking motorcycle outside the school.

Holding out one hand toward me, Bobbie said. “Come with me, if you want to live.”

“Wha-” I started to say before Bobbie started cackling loudly at her own joke and completely shattering any tension or mystique she might have created.