“Another one?” Byron offered, holding up the bottle of whiskey. It was a fancy-looking bottle with a fancy-looking wax seal and a fancy-sounding name.

All I knew was: it was getting us all fucking hammered.

Except for Amos, who was pouting in the corner as we raided his second secret stash. But we were celebrating and he had the good grace not to rain on our parade—unless it was to inform us just how wasted his stash was on us peasants.

“That bottle there is twelve years old. Retails for a grand! You can’t just shoot it. Gotta sip it, let it swirl around all the corners of your mouth, inundate your taste buds—”

I picked it up by the neck and guzzled it straight from the bottle for a five-count.

“Ye feckin’ heathen!” Amos shouted, the veins in his balding head pulsing in a concerning rhythm. He reached out to snag the bottle from me, his boosted Agility giving him a surprising speed. But I was faster, handing the bottle off to Frank who took a timid sip before passing it to Jerome.

“Relax, Amos,” I said with a wink. “You’ll get it all back when we reset in—” I checked my [Darling of Fate] timer. “—thirty minutes.”

“Why you gotta bring that up?” Byron complained in between sips of whiskey. “I’m never gonna get used to the fact that none of this really happened.”

Lacy shook her finger then grabbed the bottle from him. Her cheeks were already flush, though her voice was steady. “It matters, By’. Everything we did this run helps us optimize the next. Well, the last run, in this case.”

“You say that…” Byron replied, not looking convinced. “I just don’t know.” He looked at me. “Maybe if we ran through the plan one more time—” Groans of annoyance came from Lacy, Amos, and Jerome, while I sighed and looked to the ceiling as if praying for God’s intervention. “What?” he asked, scanning the room. “Can’t we run through it one more time?”

“Done did that,” Jerome replied curtly.

“About a million times,” Amos added.

Byron looked at the ground, his shoulders slumping in. “I-I know that! But it…it comforts me…”

I sighed once more, then nodded. “Fine—” I held up my finger with a stern expression. “But this is the last time!”

“Yeah, yeah, sounds good,” he said quickly, a small smile flitting across his face.

“God, give me that bottle, then,” Amos said, snatching it from Byron’s hands and chugging a quarter of it in one go. With a satisfied sound, his whole body shivered with pleasure. “Oh, yeah…that’s the stuff.”

I chuckled, then turned to face the group circled around the small table in Lacy’s Personal Space. “Step one, we all know well enough. I rush through the jungle and save Lacy in the knick of time from the racists.” I flashed her a wink and puffed my chest out heroically. She scowled and rolled her eyes, but the slightest uptick in the corner of her lips might have been a smothered smile.

“Yeah, yeah,” Frank said with a dismissive wave. “Get a room.” We all looked at him in shock. His face dropped as if he just realized he had spoken out loud. “I-I think I’m drunk…”

We shared a laugh before I added, “The really awkward part will be explaining all these Boons that you guys are going to have. Jerome’s Soulbound armor for sure. Lacy’s new class potentially. The only thing we can hope for is that this doesn’t cause deviations in the plan.”

“To be honest, we were all so scatterbrained in the first few minutes, I doubt Jerome even opens his Inventory.” Then she adopted a pensive look, her eyes going wide. “Actually, now that I think back, I did open my Status Sheet to allocate points to Strength. I was struggling a bit on the ropes and…” She trailed off, cringing in apology.

I waved away her concern. “We’ll just have to take it one step at a time. No point worrying before there’s something to worry about.”

Lacy chuckled, then said, her words coming out in a quick cadence without a breath in between, “Would aliens sending demons to Earth while different aliens try to wipe out humanity in a magical Tower that defies the laws of physics while we all have crazy-weird magical powers like we’re in a video game count?”

We all shared a laugh and I conceded the point with a nod. “Okay, yes, that counts. But something other than that.”

“Oh,” she replied with a wry smile. “Got it.”

I shook my head with a chuckle, but paused as I planned to come to a much heavier part of the plan.

“Step two, once you guys are settled, I need to find Nikki.”

“About that,” Byron started. “What if…what if she’s not okay?”

Lacy lightly shoved him. “Bro, shut up,” she said through the side of her mouth.

“What?” he replied defensively. “I’m just saying…” He looked at me quickly before looking away timidly. “We need to prepare for the worse.”

“It’s fine,” I said with a shake of my head toward Lacy. “If Nikki isn’t okay…then I’m going hunting.”

Silence reigned over the group for a moment. Lacy put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “She’ll be fine.”

I nodded, though I couldn’t help but feel my own doubts. What if Craig killed her and fled just to get back at me? What if he—

No, focus on what you can control!

“Step three,” I said quickly, changing the subject to avoid those uncomfortable thoughts. “You all lead the other survivors through the tunnels to the water region. I’ll grab the first piece of the Skeleton Key. Rok will do his thing and I’ll grab the second piece before meeting with Umndirop to form an alliance.”

Byron cleared his throat. “And if he doesn’t play ball?”

I shrugged. “By this point, I’m strong enough that I could force the issue, but my impression of him is that he’s amenable to working with us—at least for the First Floor. Ideally, we can setup a positive relationship that we can leverage on the Second Floor and higher.”

Byron nodded, mollified for now. “Step four?”

“I’ll meet you guys in the water region and we all head to the Hold together—with the Co’xatl, hopefully. From there, we hightail it to the stairs and activate the portals for everyone.”

“Why rush to them stairs?” Jerome asked. His words slurred a bit and I raised my brow in surprise. Delicately, so as not to hurt his feelings, I reached for the bottle in his hands and took a pull from it.

I didn’t give it back as Lacy answered for me.

“Because those alien freaks won’t be expecting us to show up to the Hold in the first thirty minutes of the Tower opening. We’ll race right on through before they even get out of their pajamas!”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Jerome nodded, then pointedly reached back over and ripped the bottle from my hands. I didn’t protest as he took a long drag. We were all unwinding, I was just shocked that Jerome of all people was the first one to get a bit sloppy.

“Step five,” I continued. “I make contact with Mileen and the Kaori. I owe them and I can’t leave them high and dry—even if I theoretically could without them being any wiser.”

Before I could go onto step six, Lacy interrupted.

“About step five…I’m coming with you.”

I reared back in surprise. My instinct was to shoot her down immediately, but I faltered as she gave me a death look from hell.

“Don’t you even say it! You saw it today—none of them can see through my new illusion abilities. With me at your side, you can sneak through the Hold without worrying about the Beasts, Order, or that Watcher freak.”

My instinct was to argue. Hell, we didn’t even know if her new class and subsequent abilities would stick with her after the reset. But I had come to learn that Lacy was just as stubborn as me. And if I really wanted to force the issue, I’d just skip telling her…which felt wrong, but was worlds better than watching her die with no redos in my pocket.

I pursed my lips and nodded. She squinted, examining my face as if she could read my thoughts. But the whiskey was taking effect and she wasn’t as quick as her sober self. I moved on before she could pressure me further.

“Step six, then. I’m already max level for this Stage, so I need to figure out how to advance. In the meantime, we need to supply up and get you guys powerleveled. Imps will still be plentiful and much safer than coming and going to the Tower to farm golden mobs. But if we run out of farming spots on Earth, we’ll adjust.”

“What about the other Instances?” Byron asked. “Aren’t there, like, thousands of Instances filled with people that are pretty much borked?”

“Yep,” I replied with a nod. “Which brings me to step six and a half: convince Johnson to enlist the troops under his command to start some rescue missions. Best case scenario, we use the Skeleton Key and ferry them straight to their respective stairs. If we do it right, a single team should be able to clear an Instance in twenty, thirty minutes. The tricky part will be that the longer the Tower is open, the more spread out the people will be within their First Floors—if not dead from traps, rampaging mobs, or Jree. But with two weeks until the Second Floor opens, we have time to iron it out and hopefully stop the Jree from massacring our people.”

Byron nodded, leaning back into his chair. “I feel much better. Don’t you guys feel much better?” he asked.

I held up my hand and sighed. “Hold on. I haven’t mentioned step seven yet. That’s because I don’t like step seven. Step seven can step-fuck itself.” I let out another deep breath. “But it needs to be done.”

Byron immediately took on a panicked expression. “Wait, what? Step seven? We never discussed step seven.” He looked around the group frantically. “Did any one of you know about step seven?”

Lacy squinted in confusion. “Yeah, this was pretty clearly a six-step plan before…”

Pursing my lips, I nodded. “Step seven is that I need to meet with Kneer…and create an alliance.” Eyes went wide around the group, but I pushed through before they could interrupt. “And if not an alliance, then at least an armistice—and not a bullshit one where we both know we’re gonna fuck the other. But a real one.

“Hopefully, he’ll see my level—like Umndirop—and I can impress upon him that it would be better to work with me, rather than against me.”

“HONK! Step seven blows,” Lex added, sipping whiskey from a bowl on the table.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself…but it could also save tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of lives.”

Lacy hiccupped—a dainty little sound that nonetheless echoed through her Personal Space. We all shared surprised looks before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. She looked annoyed at first, as if we were making fun of her. But another hiccup erupted and she couldn’t maintain her annoyed facade.

We spent the last twenty minutes of the redo drinking Amos’ whiskey and just generally enjoying each others’ company.

When the timer was approaching zero, that contentment was replaced with a deep sense of melancholy inside of me. Every time I managed to build a rapport with my party, I was forced to undo it all. All the laughs we shared, the fights against the Jree and Yuri, and the camradarie we were developing—all of it was undone.

I snapped myself out of my spiraling thoughts, focusing on the fact that this was the last time—at least for the near future. This next run was the last before the Second Floor opened. Everything we did from this point on was permanent.

This time, they’d remember me. This time, things would be different.

I kept that thought running through my head as I triggered my last charge of [Darling of Fate].

----------------------------------------

Things pretty much developed the way we had expected. Despite receiving a new class, Lacy still rushed up the ropes and was confronted by the skinheads. Rather than waste a bullet, I launched one of my disk-saws from the tree line, using my Affinity control to cleave through three of the bad guys before it lost its energy. The rest fled with looks of absolute terror.

They didn’t need much convincing after that to help me get control of the other people struggling on the ropes. But with no skinheads causing havoc, no Craig to incite the crowd, and a group of people scared shitless and looking for leadership, things went as smooth as they could possibly go.

Which worried me, because no Craig meant I didn’t know where he was—and by extension, where Nikki was.

After ten minutes of helping people to the top of the cliffs, I began to worry. That dark feeling that I had managed to suppress was beginning to rear its head. Doubts began to creep in.

What if cutting a deal with Craig had signed Nikki’s death warrant? What if I could have saved her without giving him his memories?

Had I inadvertently killed her…?

When the wave of monkey mobs arrived, my heart dropped. Had she been out in the jungle, wandering aimlessly, her mind a confused mess after Craig’s repeated compulsions? The image of her crying out for help as the mobs rained stone fruit down upon her head made my stomach flip.

I couldn’t stand here a second longer.

“Jerome!” I called out across the cliffs.

He turned and nodded once in acknowledgment. He didn’t trust me yet, since it had only been a handful of minutes since I had found him. But he had at least given me respect once he saw how easily I cleared out the skinheads.

I ran over so I wouldn’t have to yell. “I need to go into the jungle and look for Nikki. She’s out there somewhere. Can you hold down the fort while I’m gone?”

He grunted, his usual scowl laying heavy on his face. “Boy, no one made you boss man anyway.”

“Cut the shit!” I barked. “This is life-or-death and I’m not playing. You got this or not?”

His nostrils flared and I wondered if he was about to throw down. If he did, I wasn’t gonna waste time doing the alpha dance—I’d just leap off the cliff and let him think he was a big shot. But after a moment, he gave a terse nod.

“Good. I’ll be back soon.”

A shout from further down the cliff rang out. “There’s someone there!”

I snapped my head toward the person who had shouted, then followed their finger toward the trees.

A flash of golden-blonde hair was the first thing I noticed. Then, I saw a rain of projectiles arcing toward that hair and I moved without thinking.

Without another word, I leapt off the cliff edge, Red flaring wide while I reduced my mass to give me a good glide. The monkey’s projectiles were pouring down over Nikki now, but they didn’t have enough heft to knock her out through the protective shield of her hands. Still, it was clear she was out of it, her stumbling gait barely making up ground as the stone fruits pelted her arms, legs, and back.

With a manipulation of my mass and a signal to Red, I dove straight down, flaring the cape at the last moment to slow my fall.

I landed next to Nikki delicately, barely even stirring the dirt. Red immediately reached out to shield her from the projectiles as I supported her weight.

“I got you, Nikki.” I had to shout to be heard over the sound of the stone fruits pelting Red like hail on an umbrella.

She looked over at me, her eyes clouded with confusion. “Dirk?”

“Yeah, come on Nikki.” I ushered her forward, but once we hit the bottom of the cliffs, it was obvious she wouldn’t be able to make the climb in her state. “I’m gonna carry you, okay?”

She didn’t say anything, but I took her silence as tacit agreement as I wrapped her inside Red like a cocoon. Using my Friction energy, I scaled the cliff easily, careful not to bump her against the rocks.

As we went over the top, Jerome, Byron, and two other men helped pull her to safety. I followed quickly behind, turning her to look into her eyes.

“Nikki? You good?”

She suddenly shied away, her hands up defensively as she backed away from me.

“It’s me, Nikki,” I said quietly, reaching my hand out to calm her.

She pulled out of range again. What she said next sent my brain into a tailspin.

“I know it’s you! Just—” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Just give me some space. Please.”

I stood immobile, not sure how to respond to her. She had never reacted this way in any of the previous redos. Not even when I’d saved her from Craig’s compulsion at Umndirop’s camp. Something was off about her reaction, but I knew that probing right now wouldn’t help.

“Okay, no problem,” I replied, taking a step back. “I’m gonna go help the other people still climbing the ropes.” I pointed at Lacy further down the cliffs. “That’s Lacy over there. If you need anything, she’ll help you.”

Nikki nodded tersely, a guarded expression on her face.

Her sudden coldness ate away at me, and I had to wonder if Craig had managed to do something to her even through I had assumed she was now immune to his control. I briefly considered casting [Analysis] on her to see if there were any Charisma effects present, but discarded the idea for now. The last thing Nikki needed was that cold-wash feeling of invasiveness from the ability.

I had to console myself knowing she was alive—that was what mattered. All I could do from here was move on to step three of our plan.