Like that I was stalking behind a woman in a red set of robes. I wasn't able to go fast, but she wasn't either. Her long dark hair blended in with everyone she passed. She kept to the middle of the road, causing me to have to dodge around. I looked, searching for a responsible adult, or at least a man in blue robes. Finding none, I continued to hobble. She walked for three blocks before she reached a bridge. The traffic on the bridge wasn't that heavy so I would be seen if I followed her.

I looked for another way out. The streets were so packed because everyone was getting off work and going all over. Of course this is when one of the red fang agents would show up. Moon Xiru was probably worried sick. Maybe she worked a day job as well? We had left Xirus shop to do absolutely nothing of importance a bit early.

I saw several children playing with brooms. They were trying to either sword fight or pretend staff fight.

"Mind if I borrow this for a bit?" I asked the obviously confused teenager.

"What huh? Ten Lengs?"

I left three confused youths with one less broom as I cycled my stagnant Qi through the beginning of my tactile telekinesis technique. For a brief moment I thought about riding the broom but that would definitely draw attention. Sitting on it wouldn't work too well and standing on it like a surfboard might-well that might work. I could pretend that I was a higher realm cultivator and fly above everyone as well.

So I did. I skateboarded that broom up to the third story and hung around there, moving about as fast as I had been walking. She was still moving and I kept on her. She crossed the bridge before looking back, but she didn't look up and by that time I was above her, nearly moving past.

Other cultivators on swords or spears flee past me in various directions. I briefly considered how there could be three layers of traffic in one town, if you counted the ground, canals and the air. You couldn't escape it.

I had enough qi to move at a normal walking pace for a fair bit of time. We moved through the infamous square of Ravens roost, taking a southern turn before we got into a more commercial district. We crossed two more canals before I began to have an idea where she was heading.

She was going south every chance she got, and turning East away from the sea frequently. She would more than likely be heading towards the airship depot. I kept on her, mad that Min was otherwise occupied and that I couldn't phone a friend. It would have been so convenient right then. I tried to nudge her through our bond but she was steadfastly cultivating on her own time and gave me the equivalent of an answering machine.

No, I did not want to leave a message after the beep. I cursed, nearly losing the demonic cultivator that I was following. If these guys were anything like I expected then there was probably an underground network that they reported to. There had to be some ass backwards task organization that some bean counter up high was referencing.

That was about the time that she first noticed me. I tried to play it all cool and nonchalant but when someone realizes that a helicopter dad is following them, things tend to go sideways. The second time she looked up her eyes were now full of fear. I hope that she actually felt that or was just a terrible actor. Nothing like a guy standing on a flying broomstick, three stories up to intimidate a lady from afar.

And just as soon as she realized it, she began to make it a lot more difficult to follow her. She ran like a sprinter.

*Fuck*.

If you have ever seen a pulse pounding high speed chase, imagine the exact opposite of that as I attempted to conserve energy and move at what had to be a sedate walking pace. Of course I could go over the buildings that she had to go around. I could feel my qi reserves blinking that I would be on empty.

It wasn't long before I was making the decision to follow and risk running out of Qi early or drop out and cut my losses. Fortunately I saw a third option with a sign far below me.

'Now in stock

Plunder wear.

For the pirate within you.'

That was about when I decided to ask the woman who had worked for them a few choice questions. I slowed into a descent as I found my way to the front of a women's specialty shop.

Resting Bitch Lace wasn't busy with one woman shopping while what had to be a teenager held down the store. Upon my entrance she turned, blanched and bowed.

"Welcome to our humble store, Cultivator. We have many wares for your lady friends and we do custom designs for the discerning Lady or Lord. We can even make a composite print of some of the examples we have here for display. Please let me know if we can help in any way."

Her customer service voice sounded practiced and the pitch was almost identical to what I expected. If you just change the word cultivator to some other Los Angeles slang word then you wouldn't be too far off base. She was clearly wearing custom shop robes. I expected everyone in the city would be using custom robes as industrialization had not occurred yet. Everything had to be made by hand. I suppose that cultivation might make that easier, but I doubt that anyone would specialize in such a artisanal path.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Yes I would love some help. In fact. I am looking for someone specific. I believe you know her as Maxine," I said.

"You've heard of Madame Maxine? Do tell."

"I have a suspicion that she will deny anything I say about her. This is probably for the best. Just having her acknowledge my presence would be more enough for me. I have some questions about her previous employer."

At that the woman turned about as white as the marble counter she rested on.

"Is this a business call or pleasure?"

"With Maxine, it's neither."

"And who should I say is here to see her?"

"You can tell her that her ex- husband is here."

"Right away, sir."

The other customer in the store gave us a look, but just as quickly turned back to comparison shopping. Next to her, a single changing booth with a mirror sat as she modeled a strong blue number.

"Sir, you are requested to attend Madame Maxine on our veranda. She will be there shortly," the clerk said. She robotically turned to face the shopper and scooted in her direction.

I walked outside. Finding two rocking chairs next to my broom, I took advantage of the situation. If Maxine was upstairs she was probably already fuming about me coming to visit her at work. It wasn't my fault that she had come here. Heck, it wasn't her fault that she was here either. She had made the best of that situation. I was trying to do the same.

Fact that somebody would summon me to another world, and also summon my ex-wife to the same world at the same time gave me no end of grief. Much like Maxine herself. We had had it out about child care, but with both kids stuck back on Earth there was no custody arrangement that we could form to allow it. People passed me on the street and I realized that I probably look like a security guard posted up outside her shop. So instead of sitting straight up right, I leaned back and waited for the woman I wanted to speak to the least.

"To what do I owe the pleasure," she said flatly, sitting down on the edge of her rocking chair. She did not let it move an inch from where it had started.

I received a look that told me that I was on borrowed time. I jumped right into it.

"Guess who just saw an old Red Fang associate?"

"By your appearance at the end of the workday, I expect that it was you, Joe. How do you know-"

"Tattoo."

"-well that's entirely predictable then. The other branches would want to know what had happened when the Sect here stopped reporting and sending in their payments."

"Their payments?"

"Ten percent off the top. They had some amazing book keeping setup too. You would think that they were a fortune 500 company, not a cult," she said, her eyes glazing over.

"They uh- what?" I shook my head and punched myself, but no I wasn't dreaming.

"They primarily hired people from the taxation office who had gotten tired of the grind to run the backend of their business. Sure they couched things in terms that their auditors didn't really understand, but the stuff I did see got sent up to some central node. This was just a branch of a larger Sect. And now I presume that they've gone underground. It's the smart move, to be quite honest."

"I think that I'm going to need a map or something. This-I don't understand the scale. How many branches are there? How big is the sect? And how are they going to hide?"

"Those are all good questions, Joe and unfortunately I have very little to give you to go off of. I was just a contractor there to do a job that they offered me a lot of money to do. It became clear after some time that they were training me up so that they could use me. When some of the people I worked with started disappearing, then you came to talk to me about what they were actually doing, well you know what happened."

I had thought long and hard if I was developing some kind of hero complex trying to stop Maxine from being turned into demonic cultivator fodder. On one hand, she could take care of herself. On the other hand I wasn't going to give my enemy any advantages. They had gone from annoying missives and recruiters that dogged my every move, to thugs that just tried to kill or incapacitate me. Then there was the I had no peace anywhere except for when I was behind the locked doors of the moon clan. I appreciated the moon clan's help, but I didn't want to rely on it. Mutual aid is great especially when you need it but better to be the guy giving the help.

There had to be some record somewhere of how large the entire organization was, but my best guess was that that was a close-held secret. I would have kept such secrets really close to my chest. No need for those to get out. Though the payment had to go somewhere so if we were able to trace that or if the government actually did their job and did that, then we would be able to find them.

"Were people part of the payments? Ten percent of the corpses?"

Her face dropped.

"Joe, I'm not proud of what I did. I'm not associated with them anymore and any records of me died the day that you were able to take them down. I am going to speak to the blue coats inspector in detail about this but I don't know that I have much."

"I understand, I really do. I want to put this entire thing behind us, but if they still have operatives in Western Jewel then we need to consider how this affects us in the long term."

"There is no us anymore, Joe. The judge saw that."

"When I said us, what I meant was all the people that came here from Earth."

I could see the record stop spinning in her head momentarily.

"The other people from Earth?"