"How long before you head to Jusits?" Sen asked as she sat across from Nyz.

"Soon," Nyz took a drink of his milk, then licked his milkstache off. "I need to meet up with Kal first. After that, I'm heading to Asterox Tower in Jusits to make our demands in-person to your father. He's there right now, and should be for the next few hours."

"Are you going to hurt him?" She asked.

"Worried?"

"Curious," she responded. "Nothing more."

"I may," he answered. "Your father still worries about you, even though you made it clear to him you were leaving of your own accord. I might use that if the plan calls for it."

"I told you I'd cooperate," she responded. "Kal already took pictures for you to use."

"Pictures?" Nyz asked.

"And videos," she nodded.

"I wasn't aware of this," he muttered, then began pulling apart his roll, the last thing he had left to eat. "These pictures and videos are to sell that you are a prisoner, I presume?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Okay," he began eating the pieces of his roll.

"Nyz," she said.

"What?"

"I've noticed," she told him. "That you always eat the rolls last, and that you always pull them apart first. Is there any particular reason why you do that?"

"Because I do," he resumed eating the roll.

When he finished, he drained his milk, licked off the milkstache, then made his way to Kal's control room, where his friend awaited. Screens lined the area around Kal's desk, the genius himself tapping away on several keyboards at rapid speed.

"Welcome," Kal stopped and looked at Nyz. "It's almost time for you to prepare. Once you're in the suit, I'll transfer you."

"Yeah," Nyz said, the pointed at one of the monitors. "Does one of those lines changing to from 'online' to 'offline' mean something bad?"

"What?" Kal looked at the monitor, then tapped, highlighting the box that had changed. "Huh. Strange. Let me pull up its last feed."

Kal tapped a few more times, pulling up a video that showed clear skies as far as the eye could see, the fog down below.

"So those are your thingies in the sky?"

"They're not 'thingies'," Kal said. "They're-never mind. You'll just forget in ten seconds, anyway. And you can't even see it. Let's change the angle around-oh."

As the image rotated, a small, scaled creature with wings and horns soared to the camera, then stared at it. It stared for several moments, then opened its mouth and bit into the camera, chewing for a few moments before the view went dark.

"That's a baby dragon," Nyz said.

"I know," Kal snorted. "Apparently, it thinks the transmitters are delicious. I'll have to replace that. Thankfully, it's not in an area I need right now, that one's over on Plurot."

"Okay," Nyz said. "Kal, when are you going to tell me your real plans for Sen?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't think for a moment I'm that stupid," Nyz told him. "You planned all along for everything that's happened with her. You knew she'd want to help us once she knew the truth. Rather than keeping to our plan, you let her go home and talk to her father. I can't wrap my head around it. What aren't you telling me about your plans for her? Why even bother with the images and videos you took of her? It's clear your plan is different from the one you told me."

"It will all come together in the end," Kal stated. "Don't worry about it."

"Kal…"

"Fine," Kal groaned. "Yes, I knew that she'd end up helping us and that we'd not need to threaten her to make her go along with our plans. I knew that the moment she found out the truth and saw the evidence, she'd want our help exposing Asterox Corporation.

"More importantly," Kal said. "She's not here as a tool against Asterox. That's all an extra thing."

"Then why?" Nyz asked. "You're not making any sense, Kal."

"Everything will come together in the end," Kal said.

"Kal!" Nyz groaned.

"It will," Kal told him, and Nyz glared. "Alright, you want to know a little more about my reason for having you take her?"

"Yes," Nyz glared at him. "That's the whole reason I brought it up!"

"She's not human."

Nyz stared at his friend in utter confusion.

"I mean," Kal said. "She's mostly human. However, she's not entirely. I noticed it in her data. Her father's been monitoring it, which is how I know. She's seven percent phoenix."

"Phoenix?" Nyz asked.

"Yeah," Kal answered. "I wanted her here to so I could do some scans myself. Her father wasn't sure what it was in her, and he didn't know what happened. Her mother is completely normal, and there was no experiment or anything. I noticed the anomaly and his secret logs, and wanted to do some tests myself. She has some phoenix in her."

"From two normal, entirely-human parents?" Nyz asked.

"Yeah," Kal frowned. "I'm not sure how that's possible. But my plan the entire time was just to do the scans on her, and they weren't something I could just do quickly. I needed access to her for a few days, and needed to use tech only found here, on the island."

"And you confirmed she has phoenix genetics?" Nyz asked. "Even though her parents are normal and there were no experiments?"

"Yeah," Kal said. "It's confusing. I want to ask Var-Var about it, but he's ignoring my calls."

"Your… what?"

"My calls," Kal told him. "I gave him a phone."

Stolen novel; please report.

"He's a phoenix, he can't use a phone."

"Oh, trust me," Kal groaned. "He can use the damn thing. He likes to send me disturbing calls and make random pizza orders that go nowhere. The damn bird knows what I want to ask him, though, and so has been ignoring my calls."

"Can I try calling him?"

"He still wants to set you on fire."

"Never mind."

"Anyway," Kal took a deep breath, then released it. "Time for you to go, Nyz. Get geared up and I'm teleporting you there."

"Alright," Nyz began to leave, then paused at the door, frowning. "Wait."

He looked at Kal.

"Kal," Nyz said. "You're sending me directly to Jusits?"

"Yeah."

"But there's no teleport relay there," Nyz said.

"If there are enough dragonflies nearby," Kal told him. "I can use them as a teleport relay. I've sent a few into Jusits."

"That makes things easier, then," Nyz said.

"I'll still have you put down a relay anywhere you'll be staying for awhile," Kal told him. "Just in case."

"Understood," Nyz said. "I'm off to prepare."

Nyz made his way to the prep room and removed his clothes before pulling on his bodysuit. After adjusting it, he pulled on his combat suit, then performed a weapons check as he equipped his pack and weapons.

"Ready," Nyz said once he finished.

"Do you need me to go over the plan again?" Kal asked.

"Go in," Nyz said. "Get to the top floor, threaten Asterox."

"Good," Kal said. "I'll be putting the important bits on your suit's glasses while you're talking."

"Okay."

"Transferring in three… two… one!"

Nyz found himself in the lobby of Asterox Tower, headquarters of Asterox Magitech Corporation, located in Jusits, the largest city on Ilbrathi, where nearly all major companies placed their headquarters, research centers were located, and the various military organizations from across the globe gathered to work together.

Dozens of people milled about the lobby. Some sat on wooden benches, chatting with others. Some stood around in pairs or groups, talking. Others walked on their way to or from business. Potted plants surrounded pillars and desks, sat beside benches or on tables. Glass windows exposed a view of the front lawn of the tower, where two fountains sprayed water into the air.

For several moments, it appeared as if no one noticed Nyz's arrival. Then, an ear-piercing alarm filled the air, Nyz's combat suit muting the sound to protect his sensitive ears.

To the credit of the workers moving about, they reacted swiftly and orderly, making for the hallways.

"Remember what I said," Kal told Nyz through the helmet's comms. "They're heading to secure rooms. Ignore them."

"Got it," Nyz began to walk forward, setting a casual, but brisk, pace as he walked towards one of the halls.

From four doors in the room, security soldiers in combat suits emerged, shooting at Nyz with bullets and magic shots.

"They're using one of every type," Kal commented. "Trying to see if anything will harm you. That was a quick decision on their part."

The last of the workers disappeared down a hall, and shutters descended, though Nyz could hear heavier metal doors sliding into place behind them. A faint blue light shimmered over the doors, indicating a magical barrier had been created.

"Impressive," Nyz said as he raised a handgun in each hand. "As expected of Asterox, they have a decent security system built here. It seems better than the secret base's."

"The secret base wasn't expecting an attack," Kal snorted as Nyz began shooting, taking out each guard with a single shot to the head, each shot piercing through their helmet easier than a hot knife through butter. "Especially not from a person. They needed a different security system there. Anyway, nothing should hinder you. Proceed as planned. Go through that hall you were headed to."

"Understood," Nyz returned his guns to his sides, the last of the soldiers dead.

He finished his walk to the hallway, then punched through the barrier, grabbing the adamant shutters, denting them as he pulled them away. Tossing those behind him, Nyz then punched the six-inch-thick adamant-mithril door. Ordinarily, his punch would have only dented it. However, with his body suit and combat suit both augmenting his strength, the force of the blow was enough to rip the door out of the wall, sending it flying down the hall.

Stepping through, Nyz began walking towards the nearby elevator.

"Take the stairs," Kal said as Nyz reached for the call button. "The stairwell by you will go all the way to the top floor."

"Can't you just hack the system and ensure I reach the top without issue?"

"Just take the stairs, Nyz," Kal instructed. "You'll find out why in a bit."

Grumbling under his breath, Nyz walked to the stairs, kicking open the steel doorway to them before he began his ascent. As he reached the next floor, guards flowed through the doorway, shooting at Nyz. He shot each one a single time, his magic shots piercing through their helmets and skulls, dropping them like rocks.

Stepping over the bodies, Nyz continued his ascension through the building. As he reached the third floor, grenades were tossed at him and dropped from above. Though they scorched the walls of the stairwell, Nyz continued on, killing the guards without so much as a scratch on him.

"This is pointless," Nyz said as he stepped past the corpses. "They know their equipment won't work against me, they have data from previous fights. They know this is superior. Yet they still attack anyway. They also know that I'm not going to kill anyone who doesn't attack during something like this. They saw that at the secret facility."

"Yeah," Kal said. "Keep going. It's… interesting, that's for sure."

Nyz continued his ascension through the building, never faltering in his step.

"Are you sure I can't take the elevator?" Nyz asked after the fifteenth floor.

"Yes, I'm sure," Kal told him.

"There are eighty floors to this," Nyz said. "The fog thickness here is more than one thousand feet, and they built this as tall as they could without breaching the guidelines for closeness for anything not supporting a farming terrace."

Though with the FDKBs sitting atop the newly-constructed concrete walls five hundred feet in height surrounding Jusits, military-grade weaponry set into them, there was no fog to block to sky anymore. However, that didn't change the height of Asterox Tower in the slightest, and Nyz couldn't figure out why Kal wanted him to ascend.

"You're avoiding telling me a lot of things lately, Kal," Nyz said.

"Nothing important," Kal said.

"Sen being seven percent phoenix isn't important?"

"I was waiting on telling you that until I had more information," Kal stated. "I have pretty much none at this moment, and probably won't until Var-Var decides to respond. Keep going."

"I am," Nyz said.

He continued his ascent, and the guards continued their attacks, shooting from above and below, throwing grenades at him. Nyz pondered over the pointlessness of their defense, yet couldn't come up with an answer. Kal knew something, Nyz knew that much, but he failed to figure out more.

"Are they evacuating the building?" Nyz asked.

"No," Kal answered. "Because you didn't attack anyone until everyone had left, they're playing it like this is a training exercise. The stairwell is lined with the adamant alloy used in Class B combat suits and mechs, making it quite resilient. Their attacks are damaging it, but they'll replace it later. They've told the employees and guests of the tower that they're running a training exercise in light of the recent Gairal attacks."

"That doesn't make sense," Nyz said. "Shouldn't they be worried we'll collapse the tower?"

"Nyz, I'll explain everything in a bit," Kal told him. "Seriously. Stop worrying, this is actually opening up more for my plan, even if it was unexpected."

"And Asterox himself?"

"Still up there," Kal responded. "Just keep going."

"Got it."

Nyz finished his ascent a few minutes later and opened up the door leading into the top floor of the tower. He stepped out into a carpeted room with wood-paneled walls, plants set into vases and planters along the walls.

"Looks as fancy as the Nubala Tower fancy room," Nyz commented as he walked over to one of the plants, flicking its leaves. "This is a rare one, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Kal responded. "There's no security up there, you've actually taken out most of the tower's security on your way up."

"Why did they send so many lambs to the slaughter?" Nyz asked as he walked past the elevator door to a steel door at the end of the room.

"You'll find out shortly," Kal told him. "Stop asking."

"Sure, sure," Nyz said. "With how much you're hiding from me, the odds of me finding out are the same odds as me having a son."

"Nyz," Kal groaned. "I'm not hiding that much. Seriously. I hid one big thing from you because I wanted to find out everything relevant first, and you're turning it into a big deal."

"How do I know you haven't hidden other things from me?" Nyz asked. "Am I really going to expire in four or five years? Or is it really tomorrow?"

"Nyz, now you're being-" Kal began, then sighed. "Okay, you're upset about not getting to take the elevator."

"The trip up here was boring and pointless."

"Just go in there," Kal told him. "You'll find out why I didn't have you take the elevator while you're in there. Now stop being a brat and continue the mission."

Nyz opened the steel door and entered the large, elegant office with a view overlooking the city. Sitting at a desk in the center of the room was a man in his mid-forties, brown hair streaked with gold, brown eyes calmly watching Nyz enter.

"So," the man said. "You are here to 'negotiate' in person now, are you?"