While meeting up with the other three and being in a whole other 'World' was neat and all, Chris had bigger concerns when he left the sealed room. Specifically Alexander, who finished letting out an anguished cry and disappeared, teleporting off to who knows where. "Fan-fucking-tastic." Chris sighed. "That's going to be a problem."

"What was that?!?" Trent asked incredulously.

"Oh, nothing. Just an unstable individual traumatized by the destruction of the only home he's ever known, gifted with a frankly ridiculous set of abilities in order to stop said destruction in a different world, breaking free of my control because he now sees us as the problem, rather than the overbearing king who is forcing this decision upon us." Chris explained.

Trent blinked. "Should we go after him?"

Chris frowned at him. "What part of 'ridiculous set of abilities' did you not understand? The dude shot me, twice, in the middle of the Scouts graduation ceremony and got away with it. Can you guys chase someone down better than the Scouts?"

"Then what are we going to do about him?!?" Melinda exclaimed. "He knows about us!"

"Eh?" Chris wiggled his hand. "No more than he did before, and he had months to be a problem then. Plus, his goal is to stop the war, which will only happen if I die, and that's not going to happen, now is it?"

"So what will he do?" Trent asked.

"I honestly have no idea." Chris shrugged. "As I said, the dude is unstable, and with no clear path to accomplishing his goal…" Chris trailed off, blinking slightly as he realized something. "Huh… well he could go after the Elf King. That'd end the war as well… shit, I should have done that in the first place." Who better to send than the dude who gets stronger by killing? It might take him a while, and he'd definitely die a few times, but eventually he'd get him. Plus, it'd give the Elf King something to focus on besides Chris. Though now, without Chris's ability supporting him, the odds were Alexander would just die… Chris sighed. "What a waste."

"Do you really think he would go after the Elf King?" Melinda asked skeptically.

"Well, it's either that or kill enough of us that we can't resist the Elf King." Chris replied. "I mean, after a certain point, if we take enough losses, we're just going to have to cut and run. But in order to do that, he'd need to know who we are…" Chris frowned. "The game is different enough that he shouldn't know too much about us. I mean, he only knew who I was because I started showing off at the Scouts graduation ceremony. But by that same logic, he should have an inkling of who we're supposed to be, which means… doing anything iconic would probably get you targeted." He turned to Dichonius. "Which means you still need to hide, because the Mayor getting outed as a Doppelganger was a pretty big plot point. As for the rest of you…" Chris waved his hand and a table with a couple dozen game guides appeared. "Look through these and try to avoid doing anything related to any major plot point."

Trent, Melinda, and a few others picked up some books and started flipping through them curiously, slowly at first, and then faster and faster as they read more and more. "Holy shit, you're telling the truth." Trevor muttered, looking up and staring at Chris incredulously.

Chris blinked. "I am?"

"He is?" A few others asked at the same time.

Trent jabbed a finger at the book. "Right here, it says that- well, the name is wrong, but the Klein Family has been forcing low-tiers into sweat shops for their clothing line! We just discovered it a few days ago, and we only know a few locations! This thing details their entire operation! Apparently its discovery was a huge hit against the Matthews campaign… obviously Johnson in reality, since the Klein Family is one of his major supporters."

Dichonius frowned, picking up one of the books himself and flipping through it. "This- this is practically a handbook for dismantling Johnson's campaign! I could-"

"You aren't doing anything!" Jo snapped, snatching the book from him. "If you become Mayor, you become a target, remember? Someone else can handle Johnson."

"With this book, anyone can handle Johnson! If even half of this is true… I mean, I knew the man was corrupt, but not this corrupt!" Melinda exclaimed. "He has a freaking sex dungeon!"

"Huh." Chris picked up one of the books. "Maybe I should have done more than skimmed that section." He'd been more focused on the whole invasion and purge parts, so he'd barely even glanced at the election section.

One of the Doppelgangers gulped as he got to the purge section. "If all this is true… then we have to reveal ourselves, don't we?"

"Except now we have a crazy man running around who'll probably target us if we do." Another muttered.

"Unless he goes after the Elf King." Chris pointed out.

Trent shook his head. "If he knows anything at all, he'll know that is possibly the dumbest thing he could do. The Elf King is paranoid, and his defenses reflect that. No one who isn't absolutely loyal to him or completely subdued can get anywhere near him, no matter how ridiculous their abilities are."

"So, if we don't tell, we're doomed, and if we do tell, we're hunted." Melinda sighed in exasperation.

"Unless we want to wipe out the Families." Someone muttered, and everyone turned to look at them. "What? They're the ones who out us and cooperate with the Elf King! If we get rid of them, problem solved!"

"Except your plan is to essentially start a war, weakening ourselves and our allies, right before we need all the power we can get to face the Elf King." Trent explained, shaking his head. "Besides, do you really think the Families are the only way for the humans to discover us? How much worse do you think the fallout will be when they learn we essentially wiped out their ruling class as well?"

"He's right." Melinda nodded. "The best way to resolve this is by revealing ourselves. Even if the humans do turn violent, we can be prepared for it, ready to escape." She sighed. "We must be prepared to lose everything."

*

Thomas blinked at Jade as he returned. "Uh… sorry, what was I saying?" He asked.

"You were talking about skills?" Jade replied, giving him a weird look.

"Right…" Thomas nodded. "Well, basically, you have skills and you can spend points to get better at them…"

"Are you okay?" Jade asked, sounding concerned.

Thomas sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine, just… My life is weird and I think I just figured out why." He explained, shaking his head.

"I think it's because you have this weird system you keep giving people." Jade grumbled.

Thomas snorted. "Yeah, that's definitely part of it, not gonna lie."

Jade hesitated. "It's just- why did you give it to me? I don't- I'm nothing special, I'm just- me."

Thomas cocked his head. "Well, the simple answer is you're a part of my life now and it doesn't exactly hurt me to hand it out. It behooves me to surround myself with as many powerful people as I can, and through the system, you can be one of them. And, since you had essentially nothing before this, you'll probably be more loyal due to your gratitude than someone else. Still…" Thomas hesitated, before letting out a sigh. "I think the main reason is if you get stronger… you won't need to rely on me so much. You'd be free to do whatever you want, be whoever you want… See, right now, we're kinda stuck together, but if you get stronger, then it becomes a matter of choice."

Jade blinked. "If- If I'm a burden…" She muttered, her expression falling.

"No, no, you're fine." Thomas waved his hand at her. "It's just- look, think about it this way: would you rather be in a situation because you have to, or because you want to? Like, if you choose to hike up a mountain, that's a fun outing. If you're stuck in a valley and hiking up the mountain is the only way out, then it's just an obstacle to overcome. You see?"

Jade frowned. "But- why would you have to do anything? I just- if you don't want me around, then why are you keeping me around, and if you do want me around, then what does it matter if it's a choice or not?"

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"It's- complicated, but what about you? Would you be so desperate to rely on me if you didn't have to? Wouldn't you prefer it if it was your choice, and not simply your only recourse?" Thomas replied.

"But… it is my choice?" Jade replied, giving him a frustrated look. "I choose to serve you, because you can provide me a better life, and the only form of affection I can receive. I don't understand why you insist on trying to make this something more than it ever can be!"

"For the love of- look, there's no way you're completely unlovable!" Thomas exclaimed.

"Who are you to say?!?" Jade snapped back. "Why- why can't you just sleep with me and be done with it?" She asked, tears beginning to pool in the corners of her eyes. "That's all I want. Just a little affection before I'm too old for anyone to be interested." She choked out.

Thomas just stared at her incredulously for a moment. What kind of fucked up thought process- did she really think the closest thing to affection she could get was sex?!? That was just so- so- Thomas let out a frustrated sigh. "How in the world am I supposed to fix something like this?"

Obviously he needed to find her someone to love, but he had no idea how to do that for himself, let alone her. His relationships were more luck than anything and he wouldn't even know where to start. And what would he do with her in the meantime? How would he keep her from jumping at the first person who showed even a little bit of interest? Someone who would do exactly what she was asking for, using and abusing her until they lost interest. And could he really justify controlling her like that? Even if it sounded horrible to him, it was her life, and she got to do what she wanted with it.

"Okay. Just- okay." Thomas groaned, covering his face with his hands. "Look, I already said I was willing to try and have a real relationship with you." He hesitated. Was this really a good idea? Or was he just trying to keep her around for sex? He honestly couldn't tell at this point, but he could at least check himself a little. "It- look, I'm not promising anything, because emotions are absolute bullshit-" Jade snorted in agreement. "But… ugh, I think you need some time to be treated as someone valuable, not for your looks or whatever, but just because you are someone and everyone is valuable." Jade rolled her eyes at that one. "So, if you're up for it, we'll… date? Court? Whatever you call spending time together in order to grow a relationship." Thomas finished with a sigh. "But… we will at least try not to have sex."

Jade scowled for a moment. "Fine." She eventually spat, the small spark of hope inside her fighting against the mountain of bitterness that had built up over the years. If anyone could love her… maybe it would be this crazy man with his strange ideas.

*

"So, do you guys also have random romantic interests popping up all the time?" Victoria asked.

Chris frowned. "No?"

"Define 'all the time'." Andrew replied hesitantly. "Cause I only have two, but I am only sixteen." He paused. "Though, I'm also involved with both of them…"

"I've had like five in the past few weeks." Victoria grumbled.

Greg blinked. "That seems excessive."

"One of them literally fell out of the sky in front of me." Victoria added.

"Wow… yeah, nothing like that has ever happened to me." Greg shook his head. "As for love interests… you'd have to ask Tessa. I never notice these things since I think everyone likes me."

"Everyone?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a psych thing." Greg sighed. "I have a hard time reading people, or maybe over reading them, and I tend to see things that aren't there."

"Ah, that's your problem." Chris nodded. "Just don't bother reading people. Why should their feelings affect your actions?"

"That- seems to cross a line." Andrew frowned. "You can't just do whatever you want without considering other people."

"Oh, no, consider them, absolutely. Just don't worry about their feelings in the matter." Chris replied. "As long as you aren't hurting someone, who cares if they want you to ask them out or not? You want to ask them out, so do it. You want to go get dinner, who cares if people will think you're weird for eating alone? Why should you live your life subject to the whims of others? Do what you want."

"Huh. Fair enough." Greg shrugged.

"From the other side, it would be nice if people would just put their intentions out there so I can reject them, instead of silently pining after me." Victoria offered.

"Again, something just seems off about that." Andrew muttered, his frown deepening.

"Unless you have an actual argument, I don't care." Chris replied.

"Bleh." Andrew spat, his expression twisting. "Ugh, whatever."

Victoria chuckled. "Feelings suck, don't they?"

"Okay, that's too far." Andrew shook his head. "Feelings are informative. They give you insight into things you can't fully articulate. Since they are vague, they can be misleading at times, but just because you have to check them doesn't mean they aren't useful."

Chris nodded. "Good argument."

"Bleh." Victoria replied.

Greg chuckled. "Alright, feelings aside, I think we need to discuss what we're actually doing here before we meet back up with the others. I mean, you're all here, and I assume there's no leaving for any of you, right?" They nodded, Victoria more hesitantly. She probably could leave at some point, but it would take a lot of points. "So what are we doing here then? You guys could go off on your own, but to do what?"

"I assume you have an offer?" Chris raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well… I don't know about you guys, but my World is a little fucked up." Greg explained. "The spread of magic has a fifty-fifty chance of driving any individual insane, but it's the only answer to entropy."

Victoria snorted, before pausing. "Wait, are you serious?"

"Yeah, ridiculous, isn't it?" Greg shook his head.

"Is entropy really a legitimate concern?" Chris frowned. "Isn't that like… billions of years in the future?"

"Well, nominally, but there is an empire consuming resources at a frankly astounding rate." Greg replied. "Not sure how much that affects the universe at large though."

"Still seems arbitrary." Chris muttered. "At least my World's issue is just a plain old overbearing dictator."

"Hey, I got an evil sect!" Victoria laughed, holding out her fist, which Chris stared at for a moment before realizing he needed to bump it.

"My World is fine, but the system World arbitrarily sorts people into monstrous and noble races, forcing the monstrous races to prey on the noble ones to survive." Andrew offered.

"When you say force..." Victoria leaned forward.

"In order to procreate, goblins need to breed with a noble race and the process inevitably results in their death." Andrew explained, his expression twisting.

"Okay, now that's fucked up." Chris commented.

"So, what do we do about it?" Greg asked. "Can we do anything about it?"

"Not gonna lie, both of yours sound like system issues." Victoria replied. "Particularly yours." She added, gesturing to Andrew. "Points can be spent to change your race, like changing a bear into a human. I can't imagine it'd be any different from monstrous to noble." She then turned to Greg. "As for you… the system can be used to Awaken people in my World, turning them into Cultivators. If it can do something similar here with magic… I'm just not sure what the whole insanity thing is from, so I don't know if the system would avoid it."

"I did meet a feral who could actually use magic, so the two aren't mutually exclusive." Greg muttered. "We'd probably need to test it, though I can't say we'd be able to any time soon."

"So, if I'm getting this right, you're suggesting we go around… fixing these Worlds?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Greg shrugged. "Why not? What do we have if not time, and if we have the capability… I'm not saying we can solve all the problems, but she just said her system can make a difference. Why not give it a shot?"

"What about the World itself?" Chris retorted. "They're set up these ways for a reason, if only because that's how the World thinks things should be. If we start mucking with it, something will try to stop us."

"Well that just makes things more interesting, now doesn't it?" Greg chuckled, shooting Chris a wink.

"Can we do less interesting?" Andrew asked. "I feel like my life is interesting enough already."

"I can sympathize with that." Victoria sighed. "Though really, I just wish the interesting parts of my life had less to do with relationships. I'd be down to fight."

"That's a good point." Chris interjected. "Are we fighting? Or just providing solutions? If we fight, how far do we go? Do we take over? Are we going to be ruling the Multiverse by the end of this?"

"Hell no!" Greg replied emphatically. "Shit, I don't even want to run a city, let alone a Multiverse." He muttered. "No, providing solutions should be good enough. And if not… Well, my current policy is to remove the assholes and let the rest sort it out."

Andrew frowned. "Guys… look, in my World, we have a race of immortals who look out for humanity, and one of the things we've learned is that doing too much is more harmful than not. I'm not saying we shouldn't do anything, but… we should be careful."

"Fair enough." Greg agreed. "Again, I don't want to do too much. Hell, I'd be happy if we didn't have to do anything. But you can't deny that these Worlds have problems and they aren't solving themselves. If we have the ability to do something, how can we not?"

"I get that, it's just-" Andrew sighed. "I'm worried we'll just end up making things worse."

"The thing is, change is always chaotic." Victoria replied. "But just because it's messy, doesn't mean it doesn't need to happen. Things can be better, and if we have the ability to push things in that direction… then we should."

Chris shrugged. "Makes sense to me. Plus, Beth would be disappointed if I didn't."

"I think Cathryn would be disappointed if I did." Andrew grumbled.

"Can you really just ignore what's going on here?" Victoria asked, frowning at him.

"No." Andrew spat, before letting out another sigh. "It's just… why am I always the one who has to take care of it?"