It had been a simple sentence that Frank had shared with the younger agent, but it was oh so important. Mostly because he was right, and she’d needed to hear someone say it to her. While she and San hadn’t been partners long, Alex had learned that Sam feared no mortal… Because she was teamed up with Gleipnir and they both knew what Gleipnir was capable of. Neither had ever faced true evil though.

Until now.

Now, though neither new it. Well… maybe Gleipnir had been able to glean the situation but had kept silent for the sake of Alex? If something happened right now, the sentient artifact would have to choose between releasing the deadly magic of the dragon corpse he was suppressing to save his warlock or staying there to protect a city. On the other hand – Alex critically eyed the distance between the hill of rubble that was mostly excavated by now – they were parked awfully close to it.

“Hey, Frank?” She was quiet about it. Nonchalant even. And she focused really hard on the distance between the vehicle and the monster being torn apart. Looking at the superior agent and then significantly nodding her head and drawing her eyes in the direction of the thing. “If Gleipnir had to release his hold on that source of magic for some reason, like say to protect Sam from another monster or something, would we be in the pink over here? As close as we are, I mean?”

Shading his eyes against the sun, he made a show of squinting at the distance. Yes, it was another beautiful day. The sky was a gorgeous azure with the occasional fluffy puff of white dancing across it. So, yeah, it could be a little bit difficult to see against the glare.

She tried to hide her annoyed flat look, but Alex really wanted to elbow Frank in the gut about now. Here she was trying to be all inconspicuous about it, and he was making it obvious that they were worried about how close they were. People were going to get suspicious.

“You’re right.” He grumbled loudly in agreement. “If Gleipnir needs to release the dragon to fight in the case of another large monster attack, we will be in the pink zone. You move the car while I go and confer with the bosses about withdrawing non-essential personnel to a safer distance.”

Though inside Alex was freaking out, on the outside, she was casual. Frank was casual about it too. Maybe they were too casual. Sam’s keys were still in the ignition, where Sam had left them when she and Gleipnir had gone to do battle. There was a beautiful silk knotted design hanging from the ring with some tassel threads on the end of it.

A gift from Sam’s pact item Gleipnir.

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Starting the engine, Alex began driving the vehicle further from the mound of rubble, flesh, and false matter. In the rear-view mirror, she watched as Frank’s stroll towards the join command passed him close enough by the massive mound or Gleipnir to hear his shout that all non-essential personnel should retreat to a safer radius. Maybe it was an excess of caution. Maybe not.

Sam stirred in her exhausted sleep again. It was clear that she was sensing the increasing distance between herself and her pact item. The wrongness of it pulled at the unnatural slumber she’d fallen into after exhausting herself. Plus, the distinct possibility of magic toxicity. But she’d refused to let herself be evacuated for medical treatment without Gleipnir. The medics had declared her not in eminent danger of death, so the agent had been permitted to stay.

Then she’d fallen asleep.

A message printed itself on the rolling message scroll attached to the dash.

‘Head to the containment facility. I’ll stay with Gleipnir. Frank.’

Alex thought that was a good idea. Sure there were still monsters that hadn’t been caught by the squads around town yet. Sure there was still work to be done to get Gleipnir and the corpse out of town. However, Alex didn’t want to risk Sam realizing what had happened. She didn’t want the warlock known for her temper and her absolute lack of tolerance for those who hurt the weak or neglected their duty as protectors, to figure out that they’d been let to die.

Okay, yeah. One could argue that their superiors knew that Gleipnir had the ability to suppress a Prometheus Pink category magic source, or even the types of monsters that would generate. But multiple sources? Like they’d reported? Multiple monsters?

Come on.

No one could ever argue that one sentient pact item and his young warlock who, by the way, was not a combat mage, could have taken care of that on their own. There we hundreds of people all over the city fighting. Just not the people who mattered. Not the F.B.I. And not a single high-ranking Magicorps officer to lead the groups that had been placed under the command of Army personnel.

No. Sam would make the connections eventually. And when she did, she’d be furious. But she had never fought evil. Monsters? Of course. But evil? Real evil? The kind of evil that delayed reinforcements and containment to deliberately give monsters enough time to manifest?

Sam had never met the kind of evil that would sacrifice the largest city in a country for whatever political scheming they planned. They needed to be nowhere near anyone who could observe her when she figured out what was happening. Because Sam would blow her lid. She would rage and Gleipnir would join her fight. They would take out some low-level player in whatever was going on and think they had won. Then one day, while she and Gleipnir were happily living their lives, something would happen to Sam.

Oh, it would look like an accident. They’d be separated conveniently. Then an elevator would fail, or a vehicle would run a red light. Or the containment on one of the devices she was working on would malfunction. And she would be gone. And Gleipnir’s reason for interfering would be gone. Because he’d go to a new warlock. Because in the end, he wasn’t really a person. Not to the gods who had created him. He was a tool to be used and bestowed for power and favor.