Noem blew past Sylvie, ignoring her completely. Block knit itself around his left foot as he spun into a kick aimed at the man’s head. Twitch coursed through the man’s body to raise his slime-weapon in time to block the kick, but from the look on his face, he’d expected Noem to take more than a little damage from the clash.

The slime blade slammed off to the side. Noem forced his foot down with an activation of Dash, then followed through with a Block-infused punch at the man’s unarmored shoulder. It connected with a dull thump, and the force behind it sent the slime-man into the dirt.

“That’s what happens when you underestimate people, bud.” Noem said without glancing down at the man. He’d felt Qi hit flesh, and that was more than enough to confirm slimy would be down for a few minutes. Or at least until his Qi flared to heal him.

A spear sped past Noem’s face and took a chunk out of his Qi. He turned and glared at the woman, who seemed to be truly bothered by how easily her comrade had gone down. She shouted something he couldn’t make out, but this time, it wasn’t because of Sylvie’s skill. Her words came out of her mouth encoded with some sort of skill, carrying enough Qi that Noem couldn’t intercept them without dropping one of his skills.

“Smart move.” He chuckled to himself. “Unfortunately for you, I’ve got a warm body under me.”

Noem unsheathed his knife and bent down over the groaning man. The slimy Qi protecting the bald guy died out completely. “Damn, it’s nice to deal with smart people. I’m only fighting here because my sister’s in a real precarious position right about now, and I don’t want you people interfering with her bond.”

A cage of solid dust whipped up around Noem. He’d felt the Qi. But he didn’t feel any vicious intent behind it, so he let it happen. It was more than spacious enough, and even though the man under his knife coated himself in a thick layer of protective slime, the man wasn’t doing anything any time soon. His bond protected him, and nothing more.

“Well, fuck.” Noem laughed and planted himself on the slime-man. He crossed his legs and looked between Sylvie and the dust woman, whose rabbit poked its head out of the ground when she got within spitting distance. “Looks like you got me. Gonna arrest me on murder charges? Well, if you do that, you gotta get Sylvie too. She’s the one that stopped the retrieval skill from going through.”

The dust woman tensed and activated Resilient, but showed no sign of attacking. She seemed completely flabbergasted. “What are you? Those are basic skills. How did they–”

“Pack such a punch?” Sylvie interrupted. “Well, he’s the only guy crazy enough to treat basic skills like advanced ones.”

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“Not crazy; desperate.” Noem corrected. He planted his knife down right next to the man’s head, and was rewarded with a scared little whimper. “That’s what happens when you don’t have a bond. So, I want to suddenly change the subject. All three of you are here to take Mona?”

The dust woman reluctantly nodded while she clutched a forming javelin. “Close enough. But we don’t have to tell you anything, so I’m not going to.”

“We’re here for Mona. Her letter finally got opened, and it had the proper gene-stuff to trigger the signal.” Sylvie explained anyway, which got her a little annoyed huff from the dust woman. “Honestly, I thought it was you finally givin’ up on your sis. But if lil’ Mona’s actually alive and well, that’s all the better. You finally got what you were workin’ all those years for.”

Sylvie leaned against the bars and aimed her blank hooded face at Noem. There could’ve been an expression under there, but she didn’t show her face to reveal it.

Noem nodded a little too eagerly. “Yup! Mona’s alive and well. Now she gets to follow in my footsteps, but actually take them to the end. Don’t be too hard on her, yeah?”

“We won’t judge a student based on anything but their own actions.” The dust woman decreed with the kind of certainty that only came from hopeless optimism. “Your sister will be treated just as anyone else would, with no preferential or negative treatment based on her past. If she needs any aides, extensions, or materials she will have to apply for them just like anyone else.”

“Didn’t expect anything else.” Noem smiled. The dust woman flinched away slightly, and he turned to Sylvie with a frown. “Am I really that scary?”

“You’ve still got Resilient and Sprint active, but you’re movin’ just like a normal person. So yeah, I’d say you’re that scary. If someone doesn’t already know you, that is, which this new prof definitely doesn’t.” Sylvie confirmed, which was echoed by a vigorous nod from Punk. “Speakin’ of; this is Professor Hetti Haelstrom. She’s been at the university for a year and a half, and she’s good people. The guy who’s covered in slime and under your ass is Alabaster Ridgemont, and he’s with me in the sendouts. For… about eight days now.”

Alabaster cautiously raised one arm and waved his hand. “Hello. Please don’t kill me.”

Noem laughed and removed the knife that attracted Alabaster’s gaze like a super magnet. He carefully sheathed it, and the sound of the snap was echoed by a titanic sigh of relief from the slime-covered chair of a man.

“Not gonna kill you, Alab. Baster. Ally? Hmm.” Noem leaned back and crossed his arms. “Got any nicknames you like, or should I just call you Alabaster?”

“Alabaster’s cool.”

Noem nodded. “Alright, Alabaster it is. How about you, Hetti? Or should I call you Professor Haelstrom?”

Hetti shuddered as the words left Noem’s lips. “Please just call me Hetti. Hearing someone my age–and more powerful than I am–call me ‘Professor’ just sounds… mocking. No matter how you meant it.”

“Sylvie, Alabaster, and Hetti. Good to meet two of you, and nice to see one of you again.” Noem smiled much smaller than before, and with what he hoped was a little more friendliness. He hadn’t exactly practiced his facial expressions over the last four years, and apparently Mona wasn’t a great judge of them. “I’m guessing those people who broke into my house aren’t with you?”

Sylvie shook her head. “It’s only the three of us. Unless the university sent some more people after we checked in. Lemme make sure.”

“You don’t need to make sure. I know we are the only ones out here on official business.” Hetti cut in as Sylvie opened her interface. “If the university sent anyone else, they wouldn’t have the same objective as we do, and they definitely do not show up as allied markers on the map.”

“So the answer to your question is no.” Sylvie swiped away her interface and leaned against the cage of hardened dust. “You got any idea who they are?”

Noem listened and felt for the explosions. One rumbled through the ground, totalling up to ten so far. Only a few minutes and however long it took for Mona to bond the apex more to go. He shrugged and leaned forward to rest his palms on his thighs, and got as close to Sylvie as he dared with Punk on her shoulder.

“Not a clue.”