"I may have to talk to Belinda at some point." Chris muttered to himself as he watched the Monteros argue. As much as just seeing Marco pissed him off, he wasn't going to give up a portal point for no reason. Particularly when there were people talking about him right there. From what he'd heard so far, the Patriarch and Marco were lost causes, both more concerned with benefits than anything else. The Patriarch wasn't upset Marco had looked down on the abilityless freak, he was upset he'd been an idiot about it and done it in a way that had backfired so badly. Even if Chris hadn't turned into a powerful ability user, the negative publicity that would have come from anyone finding out a high ranking Montero abandoned their orphaned grandson was bad enough. If Chris had been a more vindictive sort and gone to the media at some point… the sheer political backlash that would come from proof that the Monteros look down on those with lesser abilities would probably cost them a handful of their more public positions. Not the worst, but still too large a price to pay just to distance themselves from a child.

Belinda, on the other hand, actually seemed horrified by what had happened, which… Chris didn't know how to feel about that. She was Daniel's mom, and Daniel was an asshole, which suggested she wasn't all that great either, but at least she could see that abandoning a child was freaking bullshit, so that was something? Sort of a bare minimum, really, but hey, it was something, and enough that Chris would be willing to work with her, and therefore the Vanguard, because Andre's idea to let all the military branches train in his world was actually a pretty good one.

"Chris, are you okay?" Beth asked as she finally caught up to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Chris shrugged. "The guy just pisses me off. Abandoning a child and then defending it like it was somehow the right thing to do…" Chris's expression hardened for a moment as another flash of… not rage exactly. More of an absolute certainty that something needed to be done to the man, but with no idea what, so he defaulted to wanting to hurt the man, despite the fact he had no real anger against him. That's what pissed him off more than anything. Marco's behavior was blatantly awful, yet he had no way to actually correct it, to make the man see that what he'd done was wrong. He could accept people being idiots, that was simply a fact of life, but to be unable to correct those idiots was unacceptable. "I wouldn't have been able to resist the urge to beat some sense into him for much longer, and that would have made the rest of the negotiations go poorly." Chris sighed, shaking his head. Dealing with emotions was annoying.

Beth's expression twisted. She was a bit… desensitized to the horrible things the upper class of the City could do, but even she couldn't believe the man had defended abandoning his grandson simply because he didn't have an ability. It'd definitely dropped her faith in humanity a few more points. It was just so… disappointing. "Chris… your grandpa sucks."

Chris snorted. "Yeah, he does." He agreed, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. "Thankfully, the rest of the family still sees the situation as salvageable, so they're more focused on trying to get back on my good side, which means they're unlikely to cause any problems when the Doppelgangers reveal themselves. If anything, they'll support it just to make me happy. Also, Belinda seems pissed she never knew about me, so we may have to talk to her at some point."

Beth frowned. "Belinda was pissed?"

"I know, surprising, isn't it?" Chris commented. "But then again, all I really know about her is through the perspective of Daniel, so it isn't necessarily accurate."

"She's- definitely of the opinion that high-tiers deserve better treatment, that much I know." Beth muttered. "Also that we need to do everything we can to produce more high-tiers… but honestly, that's ninety percent of the Families. I can't say I'd expect her to be okay with abandoning an abilityless relative, but I wouldn't have been surprised. I could also see her thinking it was wrong, but for her to be pissed over it… are you sure it isn't because you're powerful now?"

"No, but she emphasized that I'm her sister's son a few times, so I think it's more about the relation than anything else." Chris replied, cocking his head.

"Huh…" Beth wasn't sure what else to say about that. It felt weird, but also not, because someone caring about their nephew should be normal. It just didn't seem to be when it came to the Families, which was somewhat ironic on its own. Or maybe she'd demonized them all in her mind based on a few bad apples that weren't necessarily representative of the whole? Obviously not all the members of the Families could be completely awful, or they'd never maintain their public image. Though allowing the ones who were bad to get away with whatever they wanted was pretty awful in its own right… Beth sighed. The Families were a mess she had no interest in diving back into, and she hated that they were getting dragged in anyway.

"Big brother!" Jello shouted, launching herself at him the moment she was in view and glomping on in the way only a slime could, literally gluing herself to his side.

"Were you keeping us away?" Victoria frowned as the rest arrived as well. "It took us way too long to catch up to you."

"I wanted to take some time to talk things over with Beth." Chris shrugged, as he peeled Jello off. "And I'm fine, Jello. You don't need to comfort me."

"You sure?" Andrew raised an eyebrow. "You seemed pretty pissed back there. You know, what I assume would be the equivalent of a blind rage for a normal person."

"Yes, I was fairly angry." Chris nodded. "But as I believe it is appropriate to be angry in such a situation, I'm okay with it."

Andrew cocked his head. "I suppose that's fair… the dude was a dick head."

"Fuck yeah he was!" Greg agreed. "Man, you really should have decked him, consequences be damned."

"That would have been less than productive and solved nothing." Chris shook his head.

"But it would have been funny." Greg retorted with a grin.

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Greg, amusement is not a reason to cause problems."

"No, but it definitely makes it more appealing." Greg chuckled.

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"Alright, guys, can we just forget the Monteros for now?" Chris sighed, a bit of irritation seeping into his voice. "For now they're a non-issue. We heard them out, laid out our position, pointed out potential issues, and ended it on a legitimate grievance that they have to work to solve. All we have to do now is keep them in a position where they have to chase our approval, which given our abilities, is simplicity itself. They are effectively pacified, which was our entire goal for this meeting in the first place. So, since that situation is solved, let's focus on getting shit done, like conquering the Maze and helping my subordinates grow."

Victoria and Andrew shared a look. It was weird seeing Chris this out of sorts. "Right… yeah, let's get to work on the Maze." Victoria nodded in agreement, using a slightly placating tone.

Andrew nodded as well. "It'd be nice to really let loose for a bit. Some stress relief, right?"

"I guess." Chris shrugged.

Greg threw his arm around Chris's shoulder. "Come on buddy, let's cause some guilt free mayhem."

*

Beth had to stay back, because no matter how confident she was, the tenth level of the Maze wasn't something to take lightly. She and another Chris ended up heading to Earth for a date while the rest of them headed to the Maze, along with Dyrdek and Ka'lypso's squads, since the creature density on the tenth level had grown to the point where a single squad wasn't enough to handle everything. "Alright, so, what are we dealing with here?" Victoria asked, as they arrived.

"There's a tribe of cave pygmies nearby." Chris explained. "Mid-tier physiques, and the chief is high-tier, so it should be a good fight."

"How big is the tribe?" Victoria continued.

"Around one forty." Chris answered.

Victoria nodded. "And are we going for capture or elimination?"

"Elimination, but if anyone gives you a particularly good fight, subduing them wouldn't be the worst idea." Chris replied.

"Alright, let's do this." Victoria nodded. "Greg, you scouting? Make sure nothing sneaks up on us while we're doing this."

"On it." Greg gave her a thumbs up, sending out his fairies.

"Andrew, you're the spearhead, Chris, focus on eliminating or capturing high value targets, Greg, you and I will handle crowd control, while the rest of you focus on keeping the pygmies from escaping." Victoria began to assign positions as they moved closer to the tribe, preparing for the fight. Andrew was the strongest at the moment, so the best position for him was front and center, while Chris's mobility let him move around with relative impunity, which was perfect for acting as a striker. Greg could create terrain out of nowhere, while she could mess with their opponents minds, which made them perfect for causing chaos, keeping as much pressure off the rest of them as possible.

Andrew led the way as they made their way closer to the tribe, Greg pointing out any scouts, which were eliminated as quickly and quietly as possible. Meanwhile, Victoria sent her points ahead to the tribe to begin setting up her manipulations. Unless she wanted to give herself a major headache, she couldn't make any major alterations, so she focused on enhancing the issues that were already there. Giving a repressed grudge a nudge, agitating some anxiety, adding fuel to any shame or depression she sensed. Not enough to do much on its own, but making sure everyone was just a bit… off.

That is, until she reached the Chief and his inner circle, and found something juicy. Apparently, the chief's mate had been cheating on him with the high priest. All she had to do was help the chief connect a few dots, and bam, instant fight! The chief tackled the high priest out of nowhere, yelling curses Victoria couldn't understand and attracting the attention of everyone. "Alright, the tribe is distracted. Let's move, now!" Victoria insisted.

"What'd you do?" Greg asked as they moved, watching the chaos unfold through his fairies.

"Just helped the chief realize his wife was cheating on him." Victoria grinned. "Also, I'm upping all the grudges, so… yup, there we go." Victoria nodded as a few more fights broke out, everyone simultaneously deciding that now was the time to settle all their grudges, the conflict reaching critical mass as people picked sides, until almost everyone was fighting.

Andrew almost froze as he arrived at the first cavern, eyes widening at the sheer chaos of it all, before let out a roar and dived in, growing claws and carapace as he dug into the pygmies, beams of light burning through the air as they lanced into the crowd. Greg was a ghost as he flowed into the crowd, filling the air with smoke to add to the confusion, setting up random barriers that the pygmies would bump into or trip over as they tried to fight and run in equal measure. Occasionally he'd reform a body, taking a chunk out of a pygmy he'd managed to infect with his smoke or sucker punching a distracted one, often both. He also fed Chris targets through the smoke, Chris using his bow to teleport in and take them down, before absorbing their energy to feed his abilities. As for Victoria, she stayed back with the subordinates, directing them as they focused more on keeping the pygmies contained rather than killing, letting Chris fight to his heart's content.

Chris lost himself in the battle, Greg's smoke providing him an almost perfectly distraction free environment for him to focus on the fight. Pygmy after pygmy fell to his bow and abilities as he moved mechanically from target to target, following the tunnels in the smoke, until… [Die!] The chief roared, ax blazing with electricity as he leapt at Chris. Chris shifted out of the way, but the Chief refocused immediately, ax slamming into his side before his own blow could land, sending him staggering back with a grunt, the electricity locking up his jaw.

Chris narrowed his eyes as he healed. "Quick reflexes." He muttered, drawing back on his bow as an arrow appeared from his world. He took aim, the chief raising his ax in defense, before Chris smirked, teleporting behind him as he released the arrow. The chief had to focus on the arrow, leaving him vulnerable as Chris grew claws, a burst of fire driving them into the chief's side. The chief roared as he sent out a burst of electricity, throwing Chris away, clutching his side as he turned to glare at him, a field of electricity expanding around him.

Chris frowned, knocking another arrow. With that electrical field, teleporting in would just get him shocked again, so he was going to have to stick to range. Arrows began to fly at the chief, as Chris teleported around him, forcing him to constantly shift to defend himself, which he did with unerring accuracy, his ax moving to intercept the arrows the moment they entered his electrical field. "Is he using it as a sensory ability?" Chris muttered. "Gotta tell Derek about that one."

Chris paused, lowering his bow as he glared at the pygmy chief. He supposed he could keep doing this until he eventually tired him out, but… that felt unsatisfying. No, he wanted to beat the chief, not just outlast him. But for that, he needed to break through this electrical field. Which he also needed to tell Derek about, now that he thought about it… anyway, the electrical field was, in fact, a field, so… what if he grounded it? Chris raised his bow again as a copper arrow appeared, shooting it into the ground next to the chief, the field immediately weakening as a portion of the power was drawn to the arrow. Chris alternated between shooting the ground and the chief as the chief began to panic, feeling more and more of his power getting trapped by the copper arrows.

After four copper arrows pinned down the electrical field, Chris went back to alternating between shooting arrows and teleporting close to attack. He was still vulnerable to counter attacks, since any time he hit the chief he could attack him directly without worrying about the copper arrows, but seeing as Chris could heal, trading wounds was nothing. As long as he was hitting, he was winning, until a fire powered blow to the head finally sent the chief to the ground, and a final stomp ended it for good, Chris breathing deeply as he absorbed the ability, electricity starting to spark around him.

"Man, that looked satisfying." Greg chuckled.

Chris grunted. "It was fine. Nice to actually win, instead of just outlasting an opponent. Progress, you know? Plus…" His hand sparked again. "Now I have a high-tier ability. I'd definitely crush Daniel now."

"Sure, sure." Greg nodded. "You feeling better?"

Chris cocked his head. "I wasn't feeling bad in the first place?"

Greg glanced down at the savaged body, then back at Chris, raising an eyebrow. "Right… well, come on, let's pack up all the bodies, eh? Still need that ability energy. At least, the stuff you didn't drain."

Chris nodded, opening portals for everyone to begin dragging bodies into his world. With everyone helping, it only took a few minutes, and then they were off again to the next opponents Chris's scouts had found for them, this time a nest of giant spiders that Chris tore through with fire and lightning. And then they were on to the next. And the next. And the next…