The last remaining Agent of Morose stepped up to face the titan. His posture was unreadable and his face unseen behind the frowning mask. Commander Bridge, however, let his emotions clearly show.

"Your demigod will answer before the Empire for this," he growled, "you've interfered for the last time."

"Morose answers to none," the agent replied.

The titan moved. In a flash, his was standing inches from the man with his hand clasp around the mask. He ripped the mask away, revealing a man with downward arcs tattooed on either side of his mouth in a permanent frown. The commander stared into the agent's eyes as he clenched his fist and shattered the mask. The agent flinched, but said nothing.

"Tell your boss -- and your demigod -- I'll fight them both if we cross paths again."

The commander slammed a palm into the agent's chest, flinging him back against the wall where he collapsed into an unconscious heap on the floor. The titan then turned to face Iris, who was lingering by the opening in the wall.

"This isn't how I planned on starting this conversation," he said, "but you and I need to talk."

Iris absent-mindedly stepped up to the edge of the opening. Her Fearless Resolve feat only went so far, and right now every fiber of her being was screaming for her to run.

"Don't do that," the commander said with a tired voice.

Iris blipped into the open air, plummeting past the countless floors of the Giantrock Governmental Complex as the city below raced towards her. When she grew close to the rooftops, she blipped again, redirecting her momentum horizontally to fling herself out over the city. Her landing was harsh and fast, but she rolled through and broke out into a sprint across the shingled rooftop. Blip after blip carried her across the city faster than ever before even as she sucked in desperate, ragged breaths through her bruised throat. Enough time passed that a feeling of security began to creep up on her, and she started to wonder if she had really escaped.

A winged shadow passed over her and across the rooftop that stretched out in front of her. She whipped her head around to see the commander, carried by his giant feathered wings, swooping down at her. She blipped, but a slight twitch of his wings adjusted the commander's flight to meet her. His outstretched hand grabbed her by the back of her collar and a flap of his wings lifted her feet from the rooftop. The seams of her robes bit into her flesh was she was hoisted into the air, and she frantically reached up to grab hold of his arm -- not to attempt to break free, but support some of her weight as he carried her off into the distance.

Her stomach churned as he angled his wings and dipped down over the edge of the city, swooping over the bay and bringing her low enough that her feet almost dragged across the water. He released her as they approached the beach, dropping her into a painful tumble across the sands. She finished her tumble and frantically scrambled to her feet at about the same time the titan completed a tight circle overhead and landed on the beach with a crunch of sand.

He tucked his wings behind his back as he spoke, "don't try to teleport, it won't take you far enough."

Her heart was racing in her chest. Too much was happening too fast. Her eyes locked on the Gaping Maw in the distance behind the titan, and hope fluttered in her chest.

Commander Bridge followed her gaze, then looked back at her and shook his head slightly, "the Shark Titan won't be helping you. My business with you supersedes his right to defend his crew."

"What do you want?" she asked with a cracking voice.

"I want the egg. I know you have it."

"Y-You're wrong! I got rid of it!"

"Where?"

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"I sold it!" she grasped at a cover story, "to a guy in the underbelly. The Fish Wizard!"

The commander shook his head and chuckled, "no you didn't. He's foolish enough for something like that, but he'd have no interest in a wyvern."

She swore internally, wondering if all titans knew each other.

The commander took a meandering step towards her, "I generally consider myself one of the good guys, but I've had a really long month or two."

Iris took an involuntary step back, the threat behind his words not lost on her. She reached for her bag, and suddenly he was upon her and his hand was grasping her wrist. He didn't squeeze tightly, but his grip was unmovable. She tried to pull away but it was as if she were being held by a statue.

"You should cooperate. I can crush you with less effort than it takes to speak."

Iris swallowed her fear, but that only left room for helplessness to settle in. She was squirrely enough to play ball with champions, even if the odds were always stacked against her, but it was obvious she stood no chance against a titan. Tears had already formed in her eyes and were soon dripping down her cheeks. Littletooth wasn't just a pet, he was her responsibility -- and her friend. She couldn't just let him go.

The titan moved her arm out of the way and reached for the bag with his other hand. She tried to stop him, but her strength was nothing compared to his. He pulled the bag from her waist, the stretching drawstrings clinging to her belt until they were finally ripped free and snapped back to their normal length. He continued holding her arm in place as he brought the bag up towards his face to inspect it. Iris guessed Abby knew better than to attack him, as the bag remained shut with the tentacle tucked away in the void.

He glanced at the fear and worry on her face, "it's in here, isn't it? I could tear it open and find out."

"Stop!" she screamed, then broke into a sob. After a few seconds she collected herself with a deep, sputtering breath, "just stop. I'll tell you everything."

He dropped her arm and stepped back, still clutching the bottomless bag as he watched her expectedly. Her shoulders slumped, and she sobbed some more before she could speak again.

"The egg hatched," she almost whispered, "Abby and I-- Abby's the bag. We've been caring for the baby."

"Show me," the titan commanded.

Iris looked up in fear, but soon accepted the inevitable, "Abby, go ahead. Let him out."

The bag didn't react for moment, then slowly loosened itself open. A chorus of loud, discordant roars escaped from the void like cries of agony, and a tentacle rose up from the void wrapped around a struggling Littletooth. The baby wyvern froze when he saw the titan, and then looked around in confusion at his surroundings. When he saw Iris, he started flapping his wings and peddling his feet as if trying to move towards her. Abby quickly withdrew the wyvern back into the void and cinched herself tightly closed.

"This--" the titan sighed, "this is unfortunate."

"What are you going to do to him?" Iris asked through tears.

"An imprinted wyvern is worthless," he said, his intimidating tone replaced with tired apathy. He tossed the bag into her chest, and she caught it in both arms with a shocked expression. He shook his head and rubbed his temples, "separating it from you now would only create a feral pain in the ass."

"What--" she faltered, "then what are you going to do to me?"

"I never should have come back to this place," he rolled his head back to sky and sighed again as he placed his hands in his pockets, "nothing good ever happens to me in Giantrock."

Iris was confused by the shift in his demeanor. He had turned from a shocking, unfathomable force to just a tired, disappointed man lost in his own thoughts. It seemed better not to interrupt him, so she simply stayed quiet.

He absent-mindedly paced across the sand for a moment, then pointed at Iris without looking at her, "you owe me a debt that a person of your rank cannot possibly repay. I've pissed off a god -- or a demigod, at least -- to get my hands on that egg."

"What's all this about?" she dared to ask, "why is this wyvern so important?"

"It's not about the wyvern. It's about the deals that were in place for the egg. A very rich, very powerful person wanted it, and they hired me to retrieve it. A lot of powerful forces were counting on this deal going through -- myself, the Mayor General, Morose for reasons only they know. And now because of you, we're all shit out of luck."

Iris gulped, "how do I fix this?"

"You don't," the commander looked at her with what she almost thought was pity, "in my case, I'll come calling when you're stronger -- if you live that long. You'll be repay me when you're able. The Mayor General, and by extension the Empire, has more pressing concerns right now."

"And Morose?" she asked, "that's the demigod you keep talking about, right?"

The commander nodded, "yeah, good luck with that one." He unfurled his wings.

"Wait!" Iris shouted, "you can't just leave! What if more of those guys come after me?"

He shrugged and kicked off the sand, his flapping wings carrying him into the night sky.

"You bastard!" she shouted, "you can't just-- UGH!"

The bag loosened in her arms, and Littletooth poked his head out curiously. Iris looked down at him, and despite her circumstances, she smiled.

"We've really dug a hole for ourselves this time, haven't we?" she asked.

Littletooth chirped quizzically, and somber but harmonizing tones emanated from the void.