This time, Val almost got the whole morning to cool down and focus on her work. Hottie manager was away on a meeting, the fax wasn't printing continuous edits and last-minute data entries to be pinned on the big to-do board in the middle of the open space, and she had a full five kilograms of third-quarter ledgers that needed their double entries revised. Dull work, perfect to steady the mind.

If only the peace could last.

Val wasn't too used to cat-fights - for many reasons. Girls were cool. Girls were stronger together. Girls should not blow hard into a paper tissue and throw it over her partition on purpose.

"Ooh, sorry, Valerie," said her neighbor, a dashing auburn-haired upper in an eye-searing outfit. If circumstances were different, she would have been so envious of her looks. Instead, she only felt mild annoyance at her colleague, who had rolled her chair backward and was looking at Val with a smirk on her face and a snark in her eyes.

"Please, forgive me? I swear I took you for the cleaner. Must be the middler smell."

"If you need to smell people to recognize them, Celize, I suggest you get your eyes checked out," replied Val, deadpan. Oh, she had been taken aback the first two or three times - badly startled, even. But Celize and her friends were as uncreative as they were petty. Val could endure most of it, but what really got to her was when they interrupted her work and slowed her down. Insulting her was water off her back, but threatening her performance? That was a step too far.

Celize's unkind smile scrunched while her whole face turned bright pink. "Shut up, you worthless little upstart!"

There was nothing to answer to that. Yes, she was from Middle. Worse: an Outsider. She had to deal with people who thought she didn't belong her entire life. With a shrug, she turned back to her work and proceeded to ignore her bully.

For about five seconds. Then she got splashed in the face and ledgers with what was most likely flower vase water. Given the green slime sticking to the precious company documents and the complimentary funk, the water hadn't been changed in quite a while. Val froze in place, panicking.

"Oh, no, no, no…"

Celize didn't matter. What mattered were the damaged company ledgers. Her colleague was an upper, therefore, it would be Val's fault. She took off her jacket and started sponging up the open ledgers with it. She could hear barely contained giggles coming from multiple directions.

Then a voice, sharp as a knife.

"What in the world is going on here?"

Mr. White. It was Mr. White's voice. Val panicked harder. She spun around, putting her jacket back on and only realized her mistake when she heard the wet shlapp of the slime-covered left flap hitting her white button-up with enough momentum to send droplets flying. She met the eyes of a very unhappy Mr. White, and for a solid few seconds, she found herself hoping that a third Cosmogon would happen right now and swallow her up. The manager just raised his eyebrows with disapproval and turned, glaring at a very demure Celize.

"Ms. Lagothian, is there a reason for you to be celebrating additional work for the department?", he asked, his tone freezing all remaining sound into utter silence.

"I'm very sorry, sir, it was unkind of me to laugh at her clumsiness, I apologize." That bitch, Val thought. She had to calm down. She was in Upper, confronted by a rich and beautiful white woman. She - absolutely - could not - lose it.

Mr. White turned back to Val. "Ms. Marredine, is that your version of the events?"

His dispassionate stare made it pretty clear he was not gonna pick a side. Val wouldn't have minded a white knight at the moment, screw her pride. She probably had to shelve that along with the rest of her raunchy fantasies about him. Still, she felt compelled to say nothing but the complete truth to him. She could trust his judgement. She felt it in her gut.

"Sir, I…", she stuttered.

Before she got a chance to explain herself, the central elevator stopped and a League goon stepped out. Tall, with augmented sunglasses and probably more than a few bod-mods. Even without the all-black uniform, the Vanguard would have looked threatening. The man walked right between the three of them and pulled out a black bracelet stamped with the League symbol: two hands cradling a spark, enclosed in a bubble.

He gestured for Val to take it, and she did, so disoriented she just grabbed the bracelet as a reflex.

He nodded. "You've been served," he said, then waited for her reply.

Val blinked, her eyes going from the bracelet to his blank mug, uncomprehending. "W-wait, what is this?"

He did not bother replying. Mr. White, however, did.

"This is a League summon. You've been called to testify, and you would do well to leave right now. They're not known for their patience with mundanes. I will mark it on your hours."

As he talked, Val went from pale to red with anger. Shaadi. This was definitely one of her moves. She was going to choke the life out of her.

As she collected her bag, apologizing and bowing again, Mr. White gave her a strange look. If she didn't know him to be a good man, Val would have called it calculating.

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Val reached the shade of a weeping willow in Glass Park, the levitating garden in front of the Arrow Building, and pulled out her letter. She had somewhat successfully wrung the slime and water off her jacket and shirt, but they were both irrevocably stained. She settled on keeping the jacket buttoned up. Next to her, the Vanguard waited, apparently content to follow her lead. Things couldn't be too bad if she wasn't getting cuffed. Small mercies. Val was fuming.

Of course, Shaadi would not give a flying fuck about how a stunt like calling the Vanguard on her would impact her job. Would she even have one when she came back, after the ledger disaster? Val took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. She still had to get to the League headquarters. The fact that it was a bullshit summon was probably less important than the matter of who had ordered it. She would be in a world of trouble if she blew it off. Anyway, her personal bodyguard was probably tasked with getting her to the League building one way or another. Running away wasn't a realistic option.

Crossing the gate back to Middle turned out to be more of a problem than Val thought. Her punctuality, though a quality of hers, was also a product of her work visa only being valid at commuting hours. She wasn't allowed in or out of Upper this late in the morning.

She tried to argue her case to a particularly bulldog-faced employee, who looked at her with the kind of blank service smile that told her he was not going to move unless he was ordered to. The Vanguard didn't seem inclined to help.

"Sir, I received a League summon half an hour ago," said Val, pointing at the minion following her. "I won't be the only one in trouble if I'm detained here by an uncooperative officer." That seemed to startle him a bit, at least.

"Well if you have a summon, just press it at the visa reader! Why didn't you say so?"

Val resisted the urge to roll her eyes and scanned the symbol to a satisfying ring and corresponding green light flicking on. She prepared to cross the gate, but found the officer frowning. Turning away from a screen, the man looked her up and down with a air she knew all too well. Oh no. Something deflated a little bit inside of her.

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"Ma'm, the only summon I have here is for a Victor Marredine. Do you have an explanation for that?"

Val cleared her throat. "Yes, it was my old name, I legally changed it two years ago. Must be an error in the paperwork."

Surprised, the man looked again. "Really? Curious name for a pretty girl like you."

The disgust won over the euphoria and Val tried her best not to cringe. "Yes sir, that's why I had it changed," she said with her best diplomatic smile.

The officer looked unconvinced. He tapped his mustache once or twice, then said: "Sorry ma'm, I'm gonna have to check this out. Do you have any ID on you?"

The next twenty minutes were spent waiting for his phone call to be over. Val was getting worried: would she truly get stuck at the gate? Her threat was a bluff, for the most part. She didn't have the kind of pull to get someone in trouble. A trickle of anxious sweat ran down her back, adding the finishing touches to her ruined outfit. Bulldog face hung back the phone.

"Well, it looks like everything's in order," he said with a smile, opening the gate. "Wouldn't have guessed!"

He probably thought it was a compliment. Sucking air through her teeth, Val smiled and nodded. "I should get going, officer."

"Go on ahead! Have a nice day, sir," waved the gate officer. Val audibly groaned.

She did not turn back to correct him.

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Saying the day was not going according to plan was understating it. There she was, having her lunch break on a station bench in front of the League building. Shaadi could summon her on a whim, but by the Seraph she would enjoy her avogedo sandwich first. She almost felt bad for the man shadowing her until she remembered his utter disinterest in helping her cross back into Middle. If he was that much of his master's dog, he could wait on heel.

The League headquarters loomed - there was no other way to describe it - over the entire street. Explicitly distinct from the plebeian red brick of Middle, it was built like an over-sized splinter made of metal and frosted glass. Absurd angles jutted everywhere, as if the structure was born from the modulations of a tri-dimensional oscilloscope frozen in time. It was ugly, unpractical, and a monument to the hubris of the people working inside. The League symbol was woven over the shape in neon blue.

Halfway through her sandwich, Val stopped. Her stomach was knotting too much to enjoy the rest of it, even with the special sauce. With a pitiful whine, she put it back in her lunchbox and steadied herself. She was stalling. Come on, girl, it won't get any easier if you wait, she thought.

The League lobby was a public area that looked more like a giant train station than anything else. A waiting area for for mission posters and complainers alike held rows of thread-bare red seats. In the back, a metal-panelled area with a couple more guards indicated the entrance to the Victory Hall, the part of the building reserved for Vigils and the League administration. Closer to her, suspended near a reception counter, a towering mechanical screen with the Vigil rankings flipped around in real time. So much money spent on what was essentially a dick-measuring contest. There was no sign of Upper's elegance here, no matter how much they thought themselves above middlers.

Val's eye caught the names flicking around the top of the screen - Bastion, Ulgarique, Halo. The Trident was the uncontested top of the League, and its de-facto leaders, even if the actual responsibilities shifted based on their respective missions. Three Vigils on an everlasting contest with each other. In the heart of most people, they were celebrities, and the reason Nosanges was still standing. There was probably some truth to it.

Tensing up, Val joined the admission queue, and soon found herself at the counter. The receptionist looked at her, perplexed, as she tried to explain herself.

"Look- I'm here to see, hm, well… I received this? Earlier today?"

At the sight of the summon, the receptionist's eyes went wide. He switched on his screen and looked through a list.

"Ah… Mr… or Ms… Marredine? As in Shaadi Marredine?", he asked, growing increasingly more confused.

Valerie sighed. "Yes. This is probably my sister's idea of a prank." She leaned on the counter and gave an innocent smile. "Say, I don't want to waste anyone's time, can you just tell her I showed up and call it a day?" She sneaked a look back at the Vanguard. He had stepped back a little bit, but he was still on her trail. "I was pulled away from my job for this, and I'm already going to face questions for the hour I spent getting here."

The League receptionist looked uncomfortable and looked back at the screen. "Well, Ms. Marredine doesn't have any ongoing mission, which lends credit to your version of the story…"

Val snorted. Even with all the money and responsibilities she had, Shaadi found a way to push her work onto someone else. Typical Drain. The receptionist scratched his neck, embarrassed.

"… but waving away a summon, a summon from her, no, I don't think I can do that. I'm sorry, miss, really am, but it's my head on the line. Just enter Victory Hall and turn right to get to the pump lift. If you scan the summon, it will take you where you need to go."

Feeling defeated, Val thanked him, straightened up and walked up to a gaudy glass capsule encased in a metal tube. The opening facing her revealed a circular sitting space in red velvet, complete with sewn-on cushions.

Instead of a manual lever, the lift had what looked like a dozen lit button and a slit that said DIRECT SCAN in all caps. Val fed the summon into it. Well, if anything went wrong, she could testify that she didn't intend to break the machine. To her dismay, the elevator door soon closed up with a smooth pneumatic sound, and the capsule shot for the top floor.

The area at the top was an unsettling kind of quiet, likely Gift-insulated in some way. A single door marked the Trident office. Val knocked and waited for a while. Receiving no answer, she held on to her bravest thoughts and opened the door.

The Trident office was the very roof of the League building, and it showed: the room was bathed in more sunlight than reached the ground, as it peered over the fog drifting from Lower. Most of the walls were gone, as was the ceiling, replaced by the frosted glass and metal shell the outside was made from. It created an ethereal space with no real shadows. It it felt like walking into a dream while you're awake.

In the center were three large walnut desks, only one of them being currently occupied. It was furnished with too-vivid potted plants, some writing supplies and a couple of crank-operated holo screens. One of them was out and replayed a miniature fight between a tentacled horror and a Vigil who created solid arcs of light with her every move. The Vigil in question was sitting behind the desk, swiping to replay the holo scene over and over, ostensibly bored. She peered at Val, who was busy steadying herself.

"Ah. Victor. You took your time," she said.

Val flinched, annoyed. "Don't call me that. And I would not have taken so long if you hadn't deadnamed me on the summon, Shaadi. The Upper gate guard wouldn't believe it was me."

Shaadi waved the concern away. "Argh - Valerie. Give it a rest. This is what happens when when you never make an effort to fit in." Val gritted her teeth.

"Anyway, I called you because it's Dad's birthday next week, if you even remember, and he wants you to attend. He got you this new job, didn't he?"

Val barely contained herself. Shaadi always had a way of getting under her skin, and getting mad would just mean getting labeled as irrational and impossible to talk to, as usual. "So that's why you had me summoned by the Vanguard like a criminal? In the middle of my work day? You could have paged me, sent me a letter?"

Shaadi stretched, leaning against her office chair, a smile on her face. It didn't reach her eyes.

She was wearing her bronze armored suit with the helm taken off. It made for a lot of interlocking pieces of metal and hand-woven plex. Behind her back, a large half circle looked like abstract metal wings. It couldn't have been comfortable to sit in that outfit.

"Victor, don't be a child, you can't shut us out entirely and then complain that you don't like the extreme means necessary to reach you." Shaadi too was getting annoyed. Good.

"That's not an answer to my question, anyway," she added. "Will you come to Dad's birthday? Yes or no?"

Val shrugged. "Or what?"

Shaadi blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Or what?", continued Val. "Usually, when Dad makes an offer, there's a punishment for not taking it. What happens if I don't come?"

"Oh Founders, you're so dramatic," replied Shaadi, rolling her eyes. "Nothing happens. If you can't grant the old man's wish, then we get to have fun without you, I guess. Just don't be surprised if he doesn't answer next time you need his help."

"Of course," acknowledged Val, sarcastic. Shaadi spread her hands outward, waiting for an answer. The well-oiled armor shifted without a whisper.

Answering was not so simple. Being in the same field but with a lot more contacts and experience, her father could easily create trouble for her. Val wanted to believe that he wouldn't go that far… But she had believed that she would always have a home with them, too. She could no longer operate on trust alone.

"Yeah, I'll come," said Val, regretting every word.

Shaadi's eyebrows shot up. "Wow, don't get too happy about it! You look like I'm inviting you to a funeral." She sighed. "Moving on, how are you doing? Have you been feeding yourself properly? I haven't heard from you in ages!"

And here was the kicker: neither Shaadi nor their parents were fundamentally bad people. They cared about Val in their own twisted way. They weren't faking the hurt. To most people around them, they were decent, helpful, kind. Shaadi had a massive ego, but as Halo she protected Nosanges from petty criminals, Anti and monsters alike.

It made their abuse all the more hurtful, that Val couldn't just dismiss them as one-note villains. That she saw the good in them. Finding their love always just a little beyond arm's reach, but there. Calling back to happier childhood memories.

After muttering a few platitudes about doing alright, Val excused herself. She hurried towards the exit before she could break down crying. As she reached for the office door, it swung open and a fit, short and very angry woman stormed through. She hesitated a second, noticing Val's distressed face, then turned back towards her target.

"Halo, you bitch, you better have a good explanation for this."

Another fun meeting for her sister. Val shrugged. Shaadi probably deserved every one of these people's envy and resentment.

All right, she thought, calling back the lift, back to work.