His mouth was dry, and he stared at the ceiling in his Apocalypse Assortments office, wishing he had a glass of water as he blinked sleep from his eyes.

"Why am I inside?" He thought to himself as he tried to motivate himself to get off the couch.

With a grunt of effort, he pushed himself to a sitting position, his limbs shaking with the effort. When his feet hit the floor, he winced as pins and needles flooded his legs. Briefly, all he could manage was shutting his eyes and wishing them to go away.

After a minute, he opened his eyes once again and looked around the room. No one else was with him, and the door to his office was closed. However, he could still hear voices floating in from the shop floor.

All ones that he recognized, to his relief.

His tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth reminded him of his thirst, and so he pushed himself into a wobbly stand.

The bruises around his body ached in protest of the movement, and he knew he’d need to get them healed properly. For the moment, he did his best to make sure he covered up the worst of them. The last thing he needed was for Augustus or Theobold to get too overprotective.

He put it in his later pile as he moved with small, shuffling steps towards the small kitchenette. No one was inside, and the door was closed, allowing him to move over and make himself a cup of tea without interruption.

No sooner had he raised the cup to his lips, however, than the door opened a crack. When he looked over, he saw Thomas peering at him through a gap in the door.

"The question is: are you coming to check on me or grab something from the back room?" Arthur thought as he took a sip, enjoying the way the hot liquid soothed his throat.

Thomas’s eyes widened when he saw Arthur standing there, and the door slammed shut with a thump. A shrill shout for Nyssa followed not long after. Arthur couldn't help but grimace as he continued to lean against the counter and sip his tea. If she’d sent the boy to check up on him, that wasn’t a good sign.

Though at least he’d get to find out why he woke up on the couch rather than in The Orchard with Pydes.

"Arthur!" The blend of irritation and panic that filled Nyssa’s voice as she yelled at him from the shop floor caused him to set his cup down.

With a bang, the door slammed open, revealing Nyssa and Augustus. Behind them, he could see Theobold and Billy watching the shop. The younger boy was showing off the knife that hung at his side.

"Nyssa," he said, filling his voice with confidence to counteract her own worry. "Good to see you. How long was I out?"

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him before she closed the door. "A couple of hours. What the hell happened?"

"I needed to talk to the goddess about Rathnil. It didn’t quite go as planned. Why did I wake up on the couch?"

Augustus squeaked and mimed carrying something. Nyssa folded her arms and shook her head.

"We found you on the ground in front of the store. No one saw you fall, of course. I assume that was because Pydes dropped you off. That hasn’t stopped people from asking all sorts of questions about what happened. Rumor has it that the stress got to you and you jumped."

"Ahh."

It was all he could think to say as he tried to avoid eye contact so he wouldn’t have to see the worry in her eyes.

"No, I didn’t jump."

Augustus squeaked.

"I didn’t."

Nyssa nodded as she reached up to scratch under Splotch’s chin. The tiny elemental squeaked in delight and bounced happily on her shoulder. For a moment, they stood in silence until her tail flicked out behind her and she sighed.

"Alright. I believe you. I never thought you did." Her eyes flicked to her feet, and she looked momentarily worried. "Unless one of Rathnil’s demons got to you. But I feel that would have been obvious. Plus, you didn’t exactly have any injuries from the fall. Those bruises are all in the wrong places."

Arthur couldn’t help but wince as he noticed Augustus’s unimpressed stare.

"Right. That’s because I got them fighting Wilth."

"The goddess secretary?" Nyssa’s nose twitched, causing her whiskers to bob. "You got into a fight with him?"

Arthur nodded and continued attempting to ignore Augustus’s stare.

"He grappled me and shoved me through a door when I wouldn’t give up the scale. I ended up meeting with the goddess’s version of Augustus here. Nice guy. He wants me to go and parley with Rathnil or kill him."

Augustus growled, his bat tapping on the ground, a clear sign of his aggravation. A chuckle escaped Arthur as he imagined Augustus turning up at the head office to pick a fight with Wilth. The dragon wouldn’t know what hit him.

Sorry, Augustus," he said with his best smile. "I would have taken you along if I could."

That seemed to calm the giant rat, though Arthur could tell from the way he watched him that he wouldn’t be escaping his head of security’s watch anytime soon. Which he knew would be a problem for tomorrow’s meeting.

"I should probably get out there and let everyone know I’m okay," he said, picking up and draining the rest of his cup.

Nyssa nodded and stepped aside. "Agreed. Then maybe try to get some actual sleep? You look awful. Oh, Mr. Nimble is out there as well. He wants to talk to you about money."

"Of course he does," Arthur sighed as he moved to the door. "Alright. Let’s get this done."

Arthur spent the next hour moving around the various groups as he reassured people he was fine. When they pressed for details, he claimed a new ability that let him move around the store.

He didn’t know if they bought it, but it seemed to help ease some tensions. At one point, he noticed Chris talking to a group of unfamiliar faces. His employee looked worried about something, but before he could ask, Mr. Nimble appeared in front of him.

With his best attempt at a warm smile, he looked at the hero.

"Did Captain Swordsman send you?"

"He did." The speedster hero saluted fast enough to look like a blur. "Wants to know when we should start and what the pay was?"

"Asap for the start. What kind of baseline were you thinking of?" Arthur asked, gesturing for him to follow him into the store.

Mr. Nimble shrugged. "I don’t know."

That caused Arthur to chuckle as he slipped behind the counter.

"Well, all your food is free, and I won’t charge you to recharge any of your gear. Let me see."

With a thought, he opened up the store payroll information, getting it displayed on a simple, handy list. What he saw made him frown. Augustus sat on fifty, which he decided wasn’t nearly enough.

In fact, aside from Pydes, no one was over one hundred. He couldn’t help but feel guilty about that. A mental prod later, and he brought everyone’s pay up.

All of his heads of departments now sat with Augustus on one hundred Golden Pennies. Everyone else, be they working the counter or external security, he’d bumped up to fifty, or in Theobold’s case, ninety.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

The question then became where The Assembly would fit in on that scale. They weren’t exactly normal employees, but he didn’t want to make his current workers annoyed by throwing accusations of favoritism around.

Let's say ninety each. That’s what Theobold earns, and you’ll be doing a similar line of work." Arthur nodded, proud of the decision, as he sent over the completed form.

STAFF HIRE FORM - Mr. NImble

NICKNAME: N/A

Position

Security

Work Load

Full Time

Salary

90 Golden Pennies a month.

Hours

12am-12pm

Benefits

N/A

Access Level

Clerk

"On call?" Mr. Nimble asked as he read over the form.

Arthur idly played with a coin he pulled out of the box. "Yes. I don’t know when and where I’ll need you. Thus, on call. You’ll get days off, don’t worry."

"Sure." Mr. Nimble nodded, his head a blur. "I’ll tell the others. Thanks Arthur."

"No problem."

With that done, he sighed and turned in for the night. The last thing he wanted was to be too tired to concentrate on whatever Dr. Kunibert wanted to discuss with him tomorrow.

***

Arthur hadn’t seen Nyssa anywhere upon leaving for his meeting with Dr. Kunibert.

It didn’t surprise him. No doubt she would have jobs of her own to keep herself occupied. He hoped that Dr. Kunibert wouldn’t try to make a big deal out of her absence.

George was leading their small group to the meeting place. It contained five people in total. Arthur, Augustus, George, and two of Mike’s external security team members called Sully and Sam. Both were brunettes wearing riot gear and carrying lightning guns.

He couldn’t help but smile when he saw the small gray rat stitched onto their gear. Mike’s way of trying to unify his team, even with their mismatched attire

"You’ll be staying across the street," Arthur told the three as they walked after George. "Dr. Kunibert wanted me to come alone."

Augustus squeaked, and it was obvious from his eyes how much he hated this idea. Arthur could fully understand why. As focused as he was on how Nyssa felt about this, it almost slipped his mind about his chief of security’s involvement in the affair.

The Ratbrid had every right to be worried.

Guilt welled up as he reached a hand up to clasp Augustus’s shoulder.

"I’ll be fine. It won’t be a repeat of what happened in the sewers." As he spoke, he bared his teeth. "We’re not the same as we were when this started, are we?"

Augustus returned the gesture even as he took a half-swing with his bat. From the corner of his eye, he could see Sully and Sam share a nervous glance. He did his best to give them a reassuring nod as he walked by them.

Not that it appeared to help much.

They made the rest of the trip in near silence. Arthur gripped his briefcase, feeling on edge. The sheer uncertainty of how this meeting would go gnawed at him.

He had enough of the moss that trading some of it away to Dr. Kunibert wouldn't affect his stock. No, his cause for concern came from not knowing why the man wanted it.

"I suppose I shouldn’t be looking this gift horse too much in the mouth," he mused as he walked. "They could have asked for something I couldn’t give. A date with Nyssa, perhaps? Plus, let’s be honest. If he wanted a sample, it’s not like he couldn’t steal it."

Arthur gave his head a little shake to derail the train of thought. If they could get Dr. Kunibert’s rats on board as spies, it would do wonders, cost be damned.

A thought came to him then. Rats in the sewers and pigeons in the air. Arthur might have had a hell of a spy network when this was done.

"It might be easier than I thought to find Rathnil with all that. If Lady Pigeonette and Dr. Kunibert would even be willing to help me."

"We’re here," George said, and Arthur stopped and looked around.

The area wasn’t much to look at. A few collapsing buildings and cracked streets. Most places here wouldn’t even count as shelter. He didn’t see any signs of Dr. Kunibert anywhere.

Though he swore, he heard a faint squeaking.

"Where?" Arthur asked as he continued to look around.

George pointed forward to one of the few buildings with a roof. "That one."

Augustus squeaked, and Arthur put a hand on his shoulder once more. He stared over at the meeting place and let out a sigh. It was dark and didn’t have many escape routes.

Still, he didn’t have to go far inside, and he would make sure he could run if need be. Help or no help, he wasn’t putting himself in a position he couldn’t get out of.

"I’ll be back in a minute," he said as he started his trek across the road.

His footsteps sounded loud to his own ears as he forced himself to enter the building. It wasn’t as dark as he feared, with light coming in through a variety of cracks in the wall. In the center of the room, a mound of rats huddled around a pole with a speaker at the top.

"Hello Arthur," Dr. Kunibert’s crackly robotic voice sounded out. "You wanted to talk? Let’s get started."

***

Arthur didn’t lean as he stared at the speaker.

While he didn’t know how, he knew the rats would show everything they saw. The last thing he wanted to do was look unprofessional. Still, he couldn’t help but reach up to his neck, where the rat had taken a bite.

"It’s nice to see you," he said as diplomatically as he could.

The speakers crackled. "I see you’ve let that madman experiment on you like he did my wife. Say your piece and then trade me what I’m owed. I have work to get back to."

"Your fiance," Arthur corrected. "Also, Dr. Muriler wasn’t responsible for my dental changes. You are correct; however, we should get on with this."

With a deep breath, he tried to pick out a spokesrat. As though sensing his intent, one scurried out of the writing mass. Brown furred, it looked at him with a gaze too smart for a rat.

"I need your help with an ongoing issue in the sewers," Arthur said. "The Slagsouls Chimera. I gave you one of their corpses. I need to find out if they’ve gotten off floor three en masse or if the group I found was an isolated incident."

"And you want me to send my precious rats to check on this for you? Why not have your own people do this? They scurry around my tunnels well enough."

"Because you have far more eyes and ears than I ever could. Besides, it’s your home, too. You don’t want these to become more of a problem than they are. A swarm of goo-covered Pit Fiends does neither of us any good."

There was no sound from the speaker as the rat he ostensibly spoke to cocked its head to the side. Arthur watched it for a while, as it appeared to think. Then the speakers said a single word.

"Nyssa."

"What about her?" Arthur asked.

The voice that came out of the speakers held a tinge of concern. "I want to know how she is. If she’s safe."

"She’s fine and is back to doing her painting."

"Something she’d need her hands to do," Arthur thought as he did his best to keep his facial expressions neutral.

"That’s good," Dr. Kunibert said. "She doesn’t come down anymore. I have something for her. Would you deliver it?"

"Is that part of our deal?"

The speakers cracked and popped. "Yes. If you must. I will send out my scouts and help your warriors who wandered my sewers. You will give me some of the moss and deliver my present to Nyssa. Plus, one more thing."

"And that would be?" Arthur knew how cautious his tone sounded.

"When I ask you to come up, you shall agree without hesitation."

A frown crossed his face. "Your rats, you mean?"

"No. There will come a time when I will come up, and you shall allow it. Do we have a deal?"

"Alright," Arthur agreed. "On the condition, you won’t try to invade. I have enough things to worry about other than you."

"Agreed. I’d shake your hand, but well..."

With a nod towards the rat, he bent down and retrieved some of the moss. As he brought it out, a three-legged rat moved out of the pile. It looked up at the moss and then at Arthur. The meaning was clear, but he asked anyway.

"You want me to attach the moss to the rat?"

"Yes."

Arthur shrugged and did so, watching as the other rats swarmed around it. Soon it vanished from view, and the entire mound and speaker moved away. In their place was a small book.

When he moved to pick it up, he saw the cover—The History of Color by Judy Pigment.

"That has to be a pen name," he muttered to himself as he picked up the book and put it in his briefcase.

With that done, he turned and moved to the door.

He wanted to spend the rest of the day relaxing and doing something easy, and that would start with the walk back.