> We’re going to be able to do great work on behalf of the Clothes-Lovers. As long as our clients survive…

>

> – Radio transmission from Voices for Non-Citizens

The Quarry was disquietingly empty: just tables, chairs, empty sleeping bags, and a few stray monsters. The only person moving was Andy, who was racing in a widening circle around my position, dispatching mobmu after rustpile with ruthless efficiency. For all the man’s easy-going nature, he clearly took his bodyguard duty seriously. A series of frozen figures popped into being around me as my other bodyguards came through and moved to support Andy. Vince had come through at the same time as me and stood by my side, weapon out, slowly turning as he kept a watch for nearby threats.

Life Sense revealed an overwhelming quantity of monsters above, both Titans and the regular sort. In fact… I frowned. The monsters had clearly breached the walls - which we’d expected - but they’d also destroyed the Shop, which we’d hoped they wouldn’t be able to. We’d armored it up as much as we could, but apparently it hadn’t been enough to stand up to multiple Titans for so long with all the defenders absent.

Disappointing, but not unexpected.

Vince lunged forward, picking off an apep Andy had missed before it could reach me. Ariel? Any chance the reward for that Challenge was an Improved Shop or something?

I lifted an eyebrow. So if I see a new monster, I can immediately tell if it can breathe fire, or use Telekinesis, or Knockback or make poison gas? That’s surprisingly good!

And there’s the catch. I sighed. I guess it won’t apply to basic monsters on Earth, since you’re still in charge of those. Just the ones in Challenges.

Okay, yeah, fair. You… haven’t released any new monsters today, right?

No! No. Just… checking.

It was important that we kept releasing new monsters, since the Points offered scaled so sharply. But waiting a day so that we could focus on whatever fresh hell Hamlet unleashed with the new Threat seemed like a good compromise.

The Quarry was filling up quickly, mostly with children. Cassie, Micah, and Gavin returned, one after another, each appearance unknotting a lump of fear in my heart.

“I’m glad Flip sent you all through early,” I said. “It might not be fair, but…”

“Yeah, a lot of people were saying that,” Micah said. “But Mayor Alexandra yelled at them.”

“She did?”

“Yep. She said if one of us got a penalty and died, you’d be too messed up and useless, and we all needed you to be smart,” Micah said.

One of my other bodyguards overheard Micah. “That wasn’t exactly what was said, ma’am. Don’t, uh-”

I cut him off, laughing. “It’s not wrong!” I pulled Vince and my kids into a hug. “Maybe it’s not fair, but I’m grateful.”

Ariel’s estimate of how long it would take everyone to get back was largely spot-on for my group. Everyone arrived back right on schedule, with the slowest 25% getting a penalty called “Exhaustion” that made their abilities tire them out twice as quickly.

Alexandra shook her head. “That will make the next Challenge more difficult.”

I put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll ask Ariel to spread you guys out. Hopefully, the rest of us can help you through.”

She rested a hand on mine and gave me a tight smile. How had her manicure survived a mountain climb unscathed? “Thank you.” She sighed. “At least we can still receive healing. That was my greatest fear.”

I shuddered. “Understandable.”

We’d returned first, but

the other groups from Fort Autumn seemed almost as organized. Nearly 80% of the fort’s residents had returned within an hour of my arrival, and from what we could track, most of the other 20% were still alive, just… slow.

Hesitantly, I reached out to Ariel for numbers, the sort I didn’t usually ask for. What I got back surprised me.

“Less than a 1% casualty rate? Really? The Challenge was so nasty.”

“But here… in Fort Autumn. We lost less than 1%?”

“That’s amazing!” I breathed.

“Hah! All those Titans they tried to kill us with just made us stronger. Too strong!”

Micah frowned at me. “Don’t get too excited, Mom. There’s going to be another Threat soon, and the last one was really mean and scary.”

“That’s true,” I sighed. “And we won’t have the fort back up in time. Alexandra said the tower’s still in good shape - the Titans just ignored it since it had no one inside - but the walls are basically rubble and our stoneshapers aren’t fresh.”

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“Plus there are so many monsters upstairs!” Gavin yelled. “I can feel them going thump-thump-thump!”

“It’d be good to clear them out before the Threat arrives,” Vince said. “But a lot of our fighters aren’t fresh either. Do you mind if…?”

“Go ahead,” I said, and hugged him.

“I’m coming too!” Gavin called.

“And me!” Micah said.

“Nuh-uh,” said Vince. “Gavin and I can go melee, but you should join a group in the tower, if anything.”

Part of me wanted to stop them, but… this was how they’d gotten so strong to begin with, wasn’t it? “Just… stay safe, all of you. Okay?”

Gavin scrunched his cherubic face up in a fierce expression. “You got it!”

I sighed, slumping down onto the ground and looking up at Cassie. “You’ll stay here with me, won’t you? I don’t think they’ll want Mommy to go up and fight right now.”

“I will stay with you, Mommy!” she said, plopping herself in my lap and sticking a filthy thumb into her mouth.

Oh well. Gavin had Cure Disease.

I hugged Cassie and sat down. She snuggled up to me, not making any demands. She seemed tired, even though Vince had carried her up the mountain. Overstimulated, I thought, and then laughed a little.

“What’s so funny, Meghan?” Pointy asked.

“Ah, just thinking Cassie was overstimulated by all the terrifying heights and lava and poison and acid and new monsters.”

“I don’t see why that’s funny…”

“Well, a few months ago, she’d get overstimulated by… birthday parties and holidays and, uh, running lots of errands.”

“That seems more sad than funny.”

“It is,” I acknowledged. “In a way. But it’s all still new experiences, and I guess it’s funny to me that even though so much has changed, so much still stays the same.”

Cassie’s eyes were shut now, and her breathing was even. I grinned at Pointy. “See? Asleep. I knew it.”

I didn’t say that the ability to predict my daughter’s actions brought its own level of delight, but I didn’t have to. More than anyone else, Pointy understood what it was like to worry about losing who you were. She smiled back at me and climbed up on Cassie’s chest.

Neither of us said anything for a long while. Marie, my assigned communications specialist, made her way over to me, and I abused my privileges every few minutes to have her check on the boys and Vince with her Clairvoyance.

“Thanks,” I said, after she’d conducted the fifth check. “I know this isn’t really what you’re supposed to be doing…”

“Isn’t it? If it keeps you down here where it’s safe, I think I’m doing my job. Anyway, better to do this before the Threats appear than after. They’re due to arrive any second.”

I laughed. “Well, I appreciate it. Make sure you tell me everything you can about the Threat. Ariel might have some insight.”

Marie frowned. “Oh, I see something near the Pylon! Uh… description. Well, it’s not a tree. It’s some kind of low… dome thing? Almost like a cave entrance, but more organic looking. We’ve got a team on site, and they’re going in.”

Mom, everybody, get out from underground right now! RIGHT NOW!

Gavin’s Ruler Announcement blasted through my mind. Not just mine: I could see hundreds of others jerk in surprise at the same message and start rushing toward the ramp. Others, likely those not among Gavin’s Followers, got moving as well, a half-step behind.

I stood, Cassie getting jerked rudely awake as I hefted her onto my hip and started running.

Andy grabbed my arm as I reached the ramp. “Meghan? What’s going on? You can’t run out into a field of Titans.”

I twisted my arm free of his grasp, ducking around. “I-”

Whatever I’d been about to say was cut off as the wall in front of me burst open in a spray of rock, followed by a craggy maw at least twelve feet tall. My first impression was that it was a massive snake, but when it lunged for me I realized it wasn’t. It was more like a large teardrop shape, just a massive head and mouth propelled forward on a set of clawed legs.

It was headed straight for me, but Andy was faster. He drew a pair of knives and dove forward without hesitation. I threw everything I had into a Paralyze, desperate to lock the monster’s jaw in place and buy him time.

Andy had reacted fastest, but the Quarry held thousands of my neighbors, all of whom were ready to defend their home. I could only hold the jaw open for a few seconds, but it was enough. Long before the wicked teeth could snap him in two, another soldier ducked past Andy to brace her sword against the ground, the point set to penetrate the roof of the closing mouth. As she did, a burly man wrapped a pair of muscular hands around a set of fangs, yelling like an anime character as he pushed upward. Dozens of others hit the monster from the side with blades and hammers, and thousands of ranged attacks tore into it. None was enough to take it down alone, but the sheer quantity of the onslaught was too much to stand up to. The monster’s hide was blasted away, then the muscle, death by a thousand rapid cuts. I felt the monster’s life fade away, leaving a familiar-looking shard to clatter to the ground.

Andy scooped it up and handed it to another soldier, who raced up the ramp in an utter blur of speed. A Specialty? It must be.

I spun, my eyes locking on Marie. “Tell the team on site they need to hurry! Ariel says it’s going to send more of those out, and soon.”

Marie nodded, then relaxed. “No need.”

“What do you mean? No-”

She shrugged. “They’re already in the, uh, spawning chamber. Another one appeared, but they killed it before it could leave. The guy who left from here arrived with his, and the two shards were enough to kill the main hive.”

“Land mines,” I said. “I mean, ground mines? We’re going to need to trap the area around us to make it harder for those things to burrow through.”

Marie nodded, clearly listening to someone else. “Yeah… although, judging by the second monster, it takes about eight seconds for one of those attackers to form. If we have a speedster ready, they can make it to the spawning chamber in time and hopefully slow it down enough for everyone else to get there.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling a little bewildered. “So, then, we need to… we need to…”

Marie put her hands on my shoulders. When she spoke, her voice was gentle. “Meghan, I don’t think we need to do anything. We did it. We got through this week’s Challenge, and this is the only Threat Hamlet can send at us for the next twenty-four days. Even not knowing what to expect at all, we killed it in seconds. We’ve got at least a few hours before another one comes to prepare. Next time, we’ll do even better.”

“We-” I started to speak, then stopped and really thought about it.

Marie was right.

Hamlet’s best chance to take me down had already passed. Future Challenges and Threats would still be dangerous to me, to my family, and to my friends. But… we’d keep getting stronger. The most dangerous period was now behind us.

I smiled. “I guess it’s time to stop thinking defensively.”

Marie looked at me, confused. “What do you mean?”

“You’re right. We can handle everything Maffiyir can throw at us, for now. It’s time to start throwing problems at them.”

“And how do we do that?”

My grin was positively predatory. “Oh, I have a lot of ideas.”

End