Her fingers anxiously tapped the edges of her commpad. C'mon, Cici. Pick up. Pick up. After several moments, an automated voice came through the hologram.

"User out of range."

"Cripes!"

She fell back on her bed.

"Dangit, Cici. Where the heck are you when I need you?"

She groaned, dropping the commpad altogether. How was she supposed to handle things with Iris without Cici?

It seemed tensions between her and the wolf were worsening by the day. Every time they saw each other there was this awkward exchange of hellos followed by dead silence. Sometimes not even that. The wolf had practically run past her when she came out of food storage the other day. Even by Sulky's standards, something was wrong, but the wolf refused to talk to her. And without Cici around, how was she supposed to broach the subject? Just waltz up to her and hope she didn't get decked in the face for pressing?

"Cripes. GT, you awake?"

The staff appeared on her stomach.

"Always, Ms. Sasha," it said. "Are you troubled?"

"That's an understatement. Feels like I'm losing my mind over here."

She sighed, dragging her hands over her face.

How could she go from wanting to see someone so bad to suddenly being treated like the plague? She still missed Iris. The sulky, sometimes crazy-focused canine she always loved to hang around. But she forgot just how sulky the wolf could get. And to make matters even worse, she didn't disagree with how she felt.

Everything the wolf had said was true. She was acting insane. She did make a stupid choice. The fate of the universe was at stake and she wanted to prioritize saving her liaisons. It was a completely selfish goal and she didn't bother trying to convince herself otherwise. Even so, she had every intention of going through with it. Stupid or not, those were her friends in danger. Her liaisons. Yes, the universe was in danger, but that didn't mean she had to be the one to save it. That's what she'd wanted to tell Iris. Seconds before she'd first gotten punched in the face.

"Cripes."

She rubbed her cheek, still feeling that initial blow. Between the Comet Man situation and her Elisia troubles, she knew which she wanted to focus on. But...

Do you have any idea how many people will die now because of us!

She didn't. But she could make a pretty good guess.

You know what that man's capable of? What he's done?

She didn't. But she'd seen what he could on all the fallen worlds she'd visited as a pirate.

You're not supposed to be the strong one. You're supposed to be weak.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

But she was. The only reason she hadn't lost against her was because she had the area advantage. If they'd gone past five minutes...

Don't. Just don't.

Sasha sat up in bed.

"GT."

"Yes, Ms. Sasha."

"I really hate fighting her."

"Yes. I would imagine so, Ms. Sasha."

She once again looked at her commpad, to no new messages. Cici wouldn't be helping her out this time around.

"Perhaps discussing our plan may help ease your mind," GT suggested.

Given they were en route to the AIC capital, she couldn't disagree with the notion. And it would be nice to be prepared ahead of time. With a sigh, she dragged herself out of bed, making her way to the scanning room. Given what Mr. Taylor had told them, they'd need to plan for a small-scale invasion.

The monitor booted up after a few seconds, the screen projecting an image of a planet covered in greenery and surrounded by three moons. Athena. The AIC's primary home world. One that, according to what research she could find, had only been established a century or two ago. The former base had been on some faraway planet called Earth or something, though she didn't really look too much into those details. All Sasha really cared about was their target. The prison where the AIC kept all their most dangerous intergalactic threats.

Fort Zeus.

"You happen to learn anything new, GT?" she asked.

"I have thoroughly memorized the prison's history, Ms. Sasha. It was constructed December 12th, 19-"

"I meant stuff that would be useful."

"Oh." It was quiet a moment. "It is the only prison located within the capital itself."

She nodded. That was a relief, at least. The last thing she needed was to go through all the trouble of a prison break just to find out she'd invaded the wrong complex. But if there was only one in the capital, the odds of them being wrong...were not something she wanted to dwell on. She quickly pushed the thoughts away, refocusing on the scanning bot as she zoomed into the planet, traveling into the AIC's capital nation.

Though the whole world was technically the AIC's base, their main headquarters was situated on one of the six-member nations: Ares. It was home to some thousand or so officials and visitors, mostly of the human, athian, or hexigian variety. Using the scanning bot, she managed to get a digital representation of where Fort Zeus was.

"According to my reports, that prison is fortified with the AIC's latest enhancements," the staff explained. "It's contained three galactic entities, a few rogue graduates, and...gods."

"There are gods in there?"

"The ones who would turn themselves in willingly, yes."

She nodded. It made sense. Even if they were just spirits, she doubted anybody would take them down easy. And anything that could hold them had to have been a pain to deal with. Still, if Mr. Erin and Mr. Xan were there, she'd just have to find a way inside. It was just a matter of playing to her strengths. No need to try fighting the whole world. She wasn't THAT insane.

"Way I see it, we're gonna need a two-fold plan," she said. "A bunch of us can attack the prison from the front. Y'know, cause some big distraction to grab everyone's attention. Maybe wreck a city block or two."

"While the rest sneak in the back, I presume?"

Sasha smiled. "It's foolproof, right? They'll never see it coming."

The staff was quiet again. In truth, she didn't really have any idea what to do if she turned out to be wrong. Worst-case scenario, everything would fall apart, and she'd end up having to wing it like usual. But regardless, she was going to get those two back. Whether that meant fighting through a lot of guards or a few was really up to the AIC. She'd whack a god or two in the face if she had to.

"It's risky, Ms. Sasha. Very risky."

She winked. "But you've still got my back, right?"

"Naturally."

She giggled. It wasn't a perfect plan, but something was better than nothing. Now all that was left was to tell the ground teams.

Just wait, you two. We're coming to rescue ya'.