A woman in her late twenties stepped through the door. She had caramel skin and dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. It was held by a black cloth embroidered with a pattern of silver threads. She was wearing camo pants and a black shirt that showed off her toned physique. There was also a plain gold ring on her pointer finger. The human version of Rick would have been madly in love at first sight. Now, as a Dungeon Core, those interests had vanished and he could just internally acknowledge that she had attractive traits by human standards.

Jimmy, on the other hand, was a mess. His face flushed red and the volume of his voice was way too loud. Rick could sense the nervousness wafting out of him.

Kara didn’t acknowledge Jimmy’s behavior and instead addressed Rick, “Hello. I’m actually here to speak with you.” She paused for a moment. It took people a minute to get used to talking without hearing him respond. Of course, he could respond and Jimmy could translate, but he just waited to hear her out.

“I found your parents and gathered some intel. Unfortunately, I still haven’t found Jimmy’s family,” She continued. Rick and Jimmy both perked up at that, but it was obvious Jimmy was a bit disappointed. “I didn’t get a chance to meet them, unfortunately. They’re being held captive by the Eagle Empire.”

Even Jimmy looked confused at the name and he translated Rick’s question, “And they are?”

“That’s what that group of dickhead golfers started calling themselves. They pretty much run everything in Phoenix now and their leader, Gus Davis, struck a truce with most of the former law enforcement and some of the other powerful factions. Truce might be the wrong word. They’re basically absorbing them, growing their organization.”

“Ask her why they’re being held captive. And what the fuck happened to our law enforcement and military?” Rick said as the walls trembled slightly through his anger. Jimmy quickly obliged.

“Apparently, your parents refused to join them and they were attacked. Gus ordered a cease-fire after your parents killed a dozen of them. I’m not sure how, but they’re powerful and the Eagle Empire is hoping to find a way to either recruit them or use them. As far as the military and law enforcement? They crumbled along with the government in the first couple of hours, creating thousands of individual factions.”

“Did I hear that right? My parents killed a dozen of those scumbags?” Rick asked. Jimmy translated.

Kara nodded. The corners of her mouth twitched into a smile, “Yep. They’re grade-A badasses since the System Integration. Even though they’re captive, I understand that they’re being treated well, for what it’s worth.”

That made Rick relax a bit more. His parents weren’t stupid, but they were goofy by all accounts. He couldn’t imagine them hurting anyone, much less a dozen henchmen of this new grassroots government.

Hell, his dad’s favorite thing to do was to go to the garden nursery and chat all day about plants with the unlucky employee that asked if he needed any help finding something. His mom wasn’t much different. She would go to the rec center and use their Olympic pool to slowly wade back and forth for hours.

“Ok, so how do we get them out?” Rick asked Jimmy to translate.

Kara frowned, “With an army? I can get in and out of places easily on my own. The second I try to bring them with me, it’ll be a disaster. I won’t risk it so don’t even ask.”

“And how much are these dickheads paying their henchmen?” Jimmy translated.

“I’m not sure, but they feel safe in their numbers and have the benefit of taking whatever the hell they want. It’s a good ‘ol boys country club vibe,” Kara said the last part with a wrinkled nose.

“I wonder how many people we can convince to fight against them if we offer some diamonds and gold. Including their henchmen.”

Kara scoffed at that. “You’re planning on going to war with them?”

Jimmy paraphrased Rick’s scorched earth rant, “He doesn’t really care what happens to them once his parents are free.”

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“It sounds beyond risky. They’ll get wind of it before any plan comes to fruition,” she said.

“What, planning to rat us out?” Jimmy sounded heartbroken.

She grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eyes, “You. Haven’t. Paid. Me. Yet. Why wouldn’t I?” she said that last part with a smirk.

Rick laughed but told Jimmy to ask her what she wanted.

Kara got straight to the point, “Your house to start. You don’t need it anymore. Then, if I’m to keep working for you, I’d need a weekly payment of whatever you have that sells best in the System Shop. We won’t know that for another seven days, but I think it’s a fair price for what I can provide,” she said smugly.

She was purposeful and Rick appreciated that quality in a person. Her demands were also fair, but he wasn’t going to give all that up so easily. “Jimmy, I don’t think she realizes that this is a pawn shop.”

A smile crept on Jimmy’s face. It might sound sinister, but Jimmy was very good at charming people when it came to negotiation. Jimmy didn’t need the System’s help to squeeze value from something. “Very reasonable of you, Ms. Kara. However, Rick and I would like to make a counteroffer. An offer where you still get the house and the valuable items, when we find out what they are.”

Kara squinted her eyes studying Jimmy, “I’m listening.”

“Great! At this point, I don’t think a contract will hold much weight, so to make us feel a bit more comfortable with the deal, we’ll hold on to your ring and that thing you’re wearing to hold your hair together.”

“What the hell would you want with my hair tie? Don’t be creepy, Jimmy.”

Jimmy held his hands up, “I don’t care about it, but you do. Plus, we’re just holding onto it. So, if either of us decides to go on separate paths, we’ll give it back and terminate our deal.”

“You can have the ring, but not the tie,” Kara crossed her arms.

Rick chimed in before Jimmy could respond, “Tell her that’s fine, but she then gets paid with the third best-selling item we have access to. If she really cares about the tie, she’ll accept the lower payment. If not, then she’ll give us the tie and we’ll know it's not that important.”

Jimmy nodded and repeated Rick’s counteroffer.

Kara promptly stuck out her hand, “Deal.”

Jimmy fished out the keys to Rick’s place and tossed them to Kara. “I hope you don’t fleece me this bad when you find my parents,” he said with a wink.

She rolled her eyes, “What now?”

“Jimmy, tell her I want her to prioritize recruiting and gathering as much intel as possible on this Eagle Empire. For you, I need you to pay as many Challengers as possible to gather trash for me.”

Jimmy gave Rick a thumbs up and told Kara her instructions. Someone had already piled up a few bags full of trash outside and Jimmy tossed them in. Rick greedily burned them up, allowing him to work on his dungeon again.

As he thought about what to do next, Rick watched as Stella rolled around in the new grass while Finn was digging a hole in one of the small hills.

“Billy?”

“Yes, dungeon?”

“Do you know why Finn is doing that? He won’t find anything in there.”

Billy shrugged and wore a small frown, “I would guess that he’s digging a den. The minions are going to have a proper place to rest their heads before me.”

“Yeah, I can see how that would be annoying. Sorry, Billy. I know you said that you wanted to build your own, but I just need some more building materials. Although, I can still make you a small shelter until then. Temporary, of course.”

“That would be most welcome,” Billy said, his eyes brightening.

Conjuring memories of a village of small people with hairy feet, Rick began to make a hollow mound of dirt and grass. It was a simple 10x10 structure and he didn’t have to worry about the elements soaking through it. Unable to help himself, he made a couple of windows fitted with the bulletproof glass as well as a small table made of the same material. Since there were no bugs or pests on the floor, he decided that dirt and grass would make the comfiest chair and bed.

Billy watched the hut form and flashed a smile, “This will do well dungeon. Thank you.”

“Yep. Let me know if you need something before you get a stick up your ass,” Rick poked, eliciting another glare to be cast about by Billy.

Finn was still digging away with Stella watching. While this gave the wolves something to do, he still decided to help them and made the dirt a little softer.

Every few minutes, Jimmy would fling a bag of trash into the floor. Rick finally had a consistent source of Energy and began to pump out uses of Spatial Expansion.