Arthur was surprised he wasn’t reacting more strongly from the crowd of rude people hammering at his door- judging by the number of voices he could hear, there was certainly more than one. After facing down a hydra and jumping down its gullet, this drama, whatever it was, just felt so tedious.

He took his time going down the stairs, first heading to the kitchen to get his food out of the air fryer. The people outside certainly didn’t like how long he was taking given how loudly they were knocking now, system-enhanced knuckles striking wood with the sound of muffled gunshots. Would it kill them to just ring the fucking bell, or better yet, wait?

Taking a bite out of his chicken tenders, Arthur grimaced. He’d overcooked them. Putting the plate down, he made his way to the front door. What bogus charge would they hit him with? Vandalism. Theft. Did they find out I was responsible for the water pipe explosion? Whatever bullshit they pulled, Arthur knew it would get on his nerves, so he took a deep steadying breath before opening the door. It didn’t help much.

There was a group of six crowded outside on his front porch, two of them, a woman and a man dressed in civilian clothes and the rest in combat fatigues, so at least he’d been right about them being military. They were armed with guns that looked like they’d come straight out of a sci-fi movie. It might have worried Arthur if he hadn’t just tanked a bunch of them in a forest only four hours ago. “Why don’t you come inside,” Arthur said. "The door clearly didn’t stop you before and I don’t need my neighbours thinking I’m a criminal. You’ve given them enough reason to talk about me already.” Despite the accusations in his words, he spoke in a perfectly pleasant tone of voice. A little passive aggressiveness aside, being belligerent would get him nowhere and cost more energy than he was willing to put into this conversation.

“Mr Ward. you’ve been-”

Arthur interrupted the man with a raised hand. Surprisingly enough, he took the rude interruption in his stride without any viable annoyance crossing his face. Cool headed. That was always a plus in his book. “This conversation will happen inside or not at all,” Arthur said, ignoring the fact that it was supposed to be his arrest. “That’s not unreasonable, is it? Look, my neighbour's gonna fall out of the window if he sticks his head out any further.”

The man in charge, Corporal Henderson, as Homunculus' eye identified him, turned to see a rapidly closing window. He turned back to face Arthur with a faint smile on his lips.

“You’re right, Mr Ward. Let's not create a scene. After you please.”

The double meaning wasn’t lost on Arthur. Don’t create a scene. Don’t resist arrest. Arthur wasn’t a seer but he had a feeling there'd be some disagreements happening in the near future. His house wasn’t small by any means, but having five grown men and a woman crowding his living room made things a little cramped. Henderson took a seat on the couch in front of him. The rest of his men remained standing.

“Before we get started, can I ask who sent you? Was it General Bradly? This doesn't really seem like his type of thing, though. You don’t happen to know a man called Aaron West do you?” Arthur asked. The look of surprise on Henderson’s face was answer enough.

“I wasn’t aware you’d met Sir Aaron West yet,” the corporal spoke carefully. “But no, I’m on General Bradley’s orders today. Not his.”

Sir Aaron West? He's well known. And respected, Arthur mused. As far as he knew, sir didn’t denote a military rank, at least in America. Maybe British? Arthur left his speculation there.

“You’re right, Henderson.” If the man was surprised he knew his name, he didn’t show it. “I haven't met Aaron. The bastard just sent a team of alien mercenaries after me. They actually used the same weapons as you guys. At least they looked very similar.” This time, Arthur got a reaction out of the man, the whole group actually, the men in uniform visibly tensing. Corporal Henderson, as unflappable as ever, only raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“That’s a pretty big accusation to be throwing around. I’ve read your file, kid, you’re a great healer and you’re a decent water mage.” He glared at Arthur over steepled fingers. “You’ll understand that I simply can’t believe your outlandish claims. Even if, for some impossible reason, Sir Aaron did send his mercenaries after you. Well, I’ve met the tough bastards. They’d snap you like a twig.”

“So pray tell, how is it then, that you're sitting here so relaxed in the comforts of your home.”

Arthur sighed wearily and rubbed his temples. Everything Henderson said made sense, at least from the man’s perspective. Though it was surprising his file apparently didn’t mention the final blow he’d dealt against Shade. Henderson wouldn’t have dismissed him out of hand so easily otherwise.

“It does sound pretty unbelievable when you put it like that,” Arthur admitted. “Besides my word, I’ve got no way to prove it to you. Actually, I did end up picking a fancy-looking rocket launcher from them but I think if I showed you, you’d try and take it. Besides that, you do know it’s very, very illegal for aliens to come to our planet right now. However Aaron managed to get them here, he's breaking a lot of rules. You might want to think twice about working with a man like that.”

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His words unfortunately fell on deaf ears and he could tell the group didn’t believe him. I could just show them the weapon, but no way in hell will they let me keep it. And I doubt it'd get them to stop whatever bullshit they're trying to pull here. They’d take it from him, or at least try to and that was a can of worms Arthur didn’t want to open right now. It’d also clearly implicated him as a major suspect in the death of the mercenary squad when Aaron finally realised they weren't reporting in. He'd fought in self-defence but he didn’t know if Lorak society would accept that. Perhaps he was being cynical, but he felt it was highly likely they’d try and press him with a bunch of bogus charges, much as a human government was trying, anything to get him under their thumb. Arthur had enough on his plate without getting into that debacle. Honestly, I’ll get brought in for questioning regardless when they send professional investigators to the scene. Let's not borrow problems from the future today.

Shrugging his shoulders helplessly, Arthur sighed. “This conversation is pointless, I’m not getting through to you and even if I did, you’re too low on the ladder to change anything. Let’s stop beating around the bush. On what charges did you come here to arrest me?”

Henderson frowned at Arthur’s condescending words, trying to see if he’d meant it as an insult or not. “I’m not sure I appreciate your tone of voice, Mr Ward. I ask that-”

“And I don’t appreciate you breaking into my home when I’m not here but we don’t always get what we want. Now say what you came to say or leave.”

“I don’t think you understand what’s going on here.” This time, the woman in civilian clothing decided to speak up. “You're under arrest. This wasn’t supposed to be a conversation in the first place. We just extended that courtesy to you in consideration of your assistance in the past. You're lucky-”

Corporal Henderson raised a hand, “That's enough Ashley. If I wanted your input I would have asked for it.” He fixed her with a pointed glare before turning back to face Arthur. “My subordinate isn’t wrong though, Mr Ward. You’ve been charged with dereliction of duty, breach of contract and a blatant disregard of the curfew laws put in place. You’re to be brought in for questioning immediately.”

Arthur stared at the man incredulously, wondering if this was some kind of shitty prank. He’d wondered what they’d try to pin him with. Dereliction of duty? Breach of contract? What the hell were these guys talking about? It was so absurd he couldn’t help but laugh. That obviously didn’t go over very well and he could see Ashley struggling not to say anything.

“This isn’t a joke, Mr Ward,” Henderson said gravely. “You’re looking at some serious jail time. And believe me you, we do have the facilities to hold you.”

“No, Henderson. You don’t. You really don’t,” Arthur replied.

His words were met with uncomfortable silence.

“Are you going to resist arrest? Trust me kid, it’s not gonna end well.” The man had finally started speaking informally. “We hate cowards more than anything in the military. We need to bring you in alive but these boys won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your legs.” His tone was hostile now, bereft of any friendliness, his eyes practically begging Arthur to make the wrong decision. If that wasn’t enough, the sneer on his face told him he really didn’t like him.

It was such a drastic change in personality, that Arthur almost thought he was imagining things. The mask of civility had come off and he was dealing with the ugly man beneath.

This shit stinks of politics and misinformation. For some reason, these people hated him and thought he’d abandoned his duty. Someone, somewhere up the chain of command was spreading lies about him. Was it General Bradley? The man didn’t have a reason to antagonise him like this.

“Give me a moment, please. I need to make a phone call.”

Not waiting to see if they were okay with it, Arthur took his phone off charge and dialled a number. Ayesha picked up the second ring. Before he could say anything, Ayesha was talking, so fast a pre-system human would’ve only heard gibberish. ”Shit Arthur. My calls haven’t been going through to you. I didn’t think I’d make it in time.”

In the background, Arthur could hear the sounds of an engine running. “I’m on the way to your house right now. Just wait five minutes and don’t do anything rash.” Ayesha was almost shouting, panic clear in her voice. This was nothing like the refined woman he’d met previously. She swore at the traffic and he heard the sound of a car door opening, then the whistling of wind. She’d left the vehicle. “What the hell is going on Ayesha?” Arthur asked gruffly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the people in his living room get ready to move. Their patience was quickly running out. “Okay, Arthur. I don’t think I’ll make it on time so listen carefully. The people in front of you, they’re completely innocent. Good people, great actually. Henderson’s a father-to-be and Ashley's a healer who’s saved hundreds of lives.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Arthur was getting more confused by the minute.

“So that when they attack you, you hold back and don’t kill them by accident. That's a possible future Iris saw. It’ll put you in a bad mental space and things will deteriorate from there. I need you at your best for the next few months, not distracted by guilt.”

“This is probably confusing as hell right now but Henderson's squad isn’t in their right state of mind.” At the speed Ayesha was running right now, it was all Arthur could do to hear her over the sound of rushing wind. The phone cut off for a second and he missed a part of what was said. “Thralls weren't the only things to come through the dimensional incursion. Their masters followed behind them. The military has been compromised.”

Arthur felt a sinking feeling in his gut, even as he mentally prepared himself for what was about to happen. Ashley reached for her gun, her eyes glazed over as if she wasn’t all there. None of her teammates moved to stop her.

“Shit Arthur- Iris is telling me the future isn’t changing. They’re still going to die. It’s not your fault this time but-”

Arthur didn’t hear the rest of what was said. Being well over level 100, Ayesha could easily move faster than ordinary vehicles, and her phone simply couldn’t maintain a proper signal at those speeds. So Iris is the seer's name, I guess. And those poor bastards are under the influence of some powerful vampires. He was pulled off his thoughts when the call suddenly connected again. “Three minutes, Arthur, and we’ll be there. The vampires are after your blood. They almost killed each other for the sample the military still had left.”

“Three minutes, Arthur,” she repeated herself. “Make sure you don’t bleed.”

Two things happened at once. The call finally disconnected for good and Arthur got shot in the face.