Captain Swordsman’s lack of facial expressions made it hard to judge the mood as he stepped forward to say his piece.

"We have come to a decision regarding your offer."

His body language showed no signs of being defensive, and his tone remained totally neutral. Arthur turned his attention to the other members, but it didn’t help. They all stood around the cubicle, looking stoic. Lady Pigeonette sat in the single chair, watching him right back.

"I see."

He didn’t elaborate, sensing there was a game being played here. While he didn’t understand why the victory condition was obvious. They wanted him to crack and ask for their answer. All he had to do was remain silent and watch them until they spoke first.

Derrick, the man who’d managed the store he’d died in, sometimes did something similar with customers who tried to ask for steep discounts on his dodgy products. He’d stare them down until they either paid his price or quit. Arthur fully intended to do the same.

Seconds of silence turned into minutes. He continued to watch the group, unwilling to break first. None of The Assembly looked inclined either. Then Mr. Nimble shifted from foot to foot and, with a guilty look towards Captain Swordsman, broke the peace.

Words spilled forth from him in a single breath. Arthur considered it an impressive feat with the sheer number of them and the speed at which he said it.

"We want to join up but we have some concessions to make and want some other guarantees in return so maybe we can discuss that before we get started, please and thank you."

Even through the mask, Captain Swordsman’s displeasure was obvious. He shook his head before sucking in a deep breath and turning to Arthur.

"Mr. Nimble is right. We have some concerns and questions before we agree to anything."

"Of course," Arthur said. "Ask away."

Lady Pigonette adjusted her cloak, which somehow produced the sound of ruffling feathers. She stood afterward. Not that it made much of a difference at her height. Still, her posture reminded him of a military general, and her expression was severe.

"What does working for you entail? Do you intend to use us as attack dogs against your enemies?" Her tone brooked no argument, and he could tell this question meant a lot to them.

He paused long enough to make it appear as though he’d given their words serious consideration. Not that he actually needed to. Truthfully, he didn’t intend to use them as some kind of special forces attack squad against his enemies. If things went well, he wouldn’t have anyone to attack.

Well, aside from Rathnil. The deal he made with the dragon wasn’t worth the air they used to make it. He knew that. However, he knew he’d needed the dragon to leave without killing anyone and to give him access to the grove. At least this way, he had time to discover a way to defend himself.

Not that he intended to launch an attack on the dragon. Any such plan would require more people and more firepower than he had. At least for now. Plus, he figured the dragon had hidden themselves in The Pit. Which was not a place he intended to go unless he had to.

When he felt an appropriate amount of time had passed, he shook his head. He knew from the way Lady Pigeonette stood that she expected him to be defensive about it. So Arthur kept his voice calm and his body language relaxed.

"That’s a reasonable question. To put it simply, no. Unless you count fighting The Pit fiends, which seems unfair. They’re more general enemies. No. My role is simply to make sure you have the resources that will allow you to do your job."

Lady Pigeonette didn’t appear convinced. Though he could see that Mr. Nimble and Power Drill were nodding along. When no one else spoke up, he continued. He had a feeling he knew what their issue was likely to be.

"Let me guess?" Arthur started looking across the group to catch as many eyes as possible. "Your concern is with your autonomy."

Mr. Nimble, as always, got there first. "Yes. Our Captain Swordsman, has been a great leader. I don’t want that to change."

Arthur let himself smile as he nodded and gestured towards Captain Swordsman. "I don’t doubt it. Look. If this goes through, not much will honestly change. I’ll hold meetings with Captain Swordsman, but for everything else, it’ll be the same day to day."

"So we’ll be working as partners?" Power Drill asked.

"No," Arthur said politely but firmly. "You will be in a semi-independent department. Apart from discussions about jobs and the occasional brief, it’ll be like what you normally do except you’ll have my store's resources behind you."

Lady Pigeonette narrowed her eyes. "Why not a partnership?"

"Because my boss doesn’t want me to have any."

He kept his tone flat as he said the words, not wanting to come across as aggressive. Instead, he wanted it to be taken as fact. The goddess wouldn’t let him have partners, and so he didn’t try.

Power Drill didn’t look pleased, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he changed the topic.

"What would you have us doing, exactly? I know fighting Pit Fiends, and potentially the leader of the cultists if they show up again. But what else?"

The question stumped him as he tried to think of an answer. In all honesty, he wanted them mostly to deal with the monster problem. Then he thought back to the dinner Mr. Nimble and Power Drill had attended. The way people flocked around them, and an idea came to mind.

"Public relations, if you’re interested."

Lady Pigonette pursed her lips and shifted her cloak again. "What type of Public Relations?"

"Be visible around the store. Talk to people. Maybe Power Drill can help with some of the construction crew stuff," Arthur said, trying to list things as he came up with them.

"So you want us to promote your store?"

"I want you to make people feel safe." Arthur gestured to them. "You are heroes, right? That was what they designed you to be. That’s what I want. You know as well as I do that the stores are where people are converging. Thus, being around them will allow you to talk to people. Keep an ear out for gossip as you mingle. People are more likely to ask for help if they know you."

He could see on their faces that they were coming around, a turn of events that was solidified as Captain Swordsman nodded and gestured to his group.

"Would you want us to split our focus between the stores? While Mr. Nimble would have no trouble. The rest of us will need transport. That's why we mostly hunted around this area."

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"I’m sure I can find you something suitable."

Even as he spoke the words, he wondered if they were true. A scooter wouldn’t do it. While they could duplicate the fuel tanks, they didn’t have enough to spare. He needed the truck for any big deliveries or the bigger squads of scavengers.

A frown tried to form, but he squashed it. Maybe Carina would know if Riccardo kept anything hidden. He already needed to speak to her and follow up on the bookkeeping issue she mentioned.

"Any other concerns?"

"What’s our pay?" Mr. Nimble asked. "And can we refuse jobs?"

Arthur gave a mental sigh of relief as he smiled. "We can negotiate salaries at the store, but they will be high enough to afford any necessities. Though, as per all employee contracts, meals come free. As for jobs? I don’t send people to work where they don’t want to. There isn’t a need as long as they are doing something. So far, people are happy to put the effort in."

That got him a round of nods, and even Lady Pigonette appeared content with the negotiation result. Though he knew there would be some teething problems, he hoped it wouldn’t be anything too bad.

"Is there anything else?" Arthur asked as he held out his hand to shake.

Captain Swordsman took it and shook it. "One thing. Do we get to name our department?"

"Of course."

He didn’t like the smile that came across Mr. Nimble’s face at that moment. Though the man said nothing further. With that sorted, he started to broach the topic of renting, or perhaps buying, the laboratory space.

"I know this is your home, but the laboratory space is—"

A familiar alarm going off interrupted him as Lisa hurried out of the director’s room towards them. She looked worried as Augustus and Theobold trailed after her.

"What did you do?" Arthur asked.

"The terminal listed a secret supply cupboard. I simply punched in the command to open the door." Lisa didn’t pause as she continued to the door. "It’s in the labs. I want to see what they have."

Arthur shook his head as he turned and followed along with the Assembly in his wake.

***

The alarm continued to blare as they reached the door to the labs.

Delilah spoke something about needing a security code, but no one knew what she was talking about. Not that Lisa appeared to care much. Her entire focus revolved around getting to that cupboard to see what was inside.

Arthur had to admit he was as curious, though slightly more wary. With all the different things that Genomian Inc. appeared to deal with, it could be anything. No one even tried to speak over the alarm as they marched through the labs. They passed doors to the various departments, but Lisa didn’t deviate from her march.

When he stepped into the room Lisa had led them to, he simply stopped and stared. Whoever had used it before had turned the place into a junkyard. Broken pieces of lab equipment sat scattered on desks, and he could smell the dust and mold. It made him want to cough.

He covered his mouth with his shirt before stepping in further.

In the corner, he noticed a small wooden cabinet sitting open. Unlike the rest of the room, it appeared undamaged. Both of its doors sat open, and as he drew closer, he could see there were no knobs or handles to open it from the outside.

Upon glimpsing the inside of the cupboard, he paused, shocked. He recognized the clutter that lay inside. Not old lab equipment like he assumed, but the starter set of some middle-aged witch's shelf. Horseshoes on a string, shiny crystals, bottles of colorful sand, and even what he thought was a carved wooden wand.

"What is all this?"

No one answered his question, though Lisa nudged him aside to get a better look. Arthur didn’t move back fast enough to miss her next words, even over the alarm.

"There has to be something here. They labeled this top secret."

When she started pulling things off the shelf, he joined her. Together, they piled it all onto a nearby table. Not concerned about any sort of filing system. As soon as the cupboard was bare, Lisa slammed the doors shut. The alarm instantly turned off.

"That’s better," Arthur muttered to himself as he turned to study the items.

While they looked like things from an occult mall shop, he still didn’t want to handle them too much. After seeing magic himself, he knew the potential danger.

"Who knows what things Genomian Inc. used this for? Combination experiments? Why lock it in a secret supply cupboard in the back room?"

Mr. Nimble didn’t share his caution and sped over to grab a shiny rock. He held it in his palm, watching it as though expecting it to do something. It didn’t. When he didn’t get a response from the rock, he moved on to the wooden wand.

"Don’t," Lady Pigonette called out, but not fast enough.

Sparks of light flew from the wand and landed against the wall, creating scorch marks. Mr. Nimble dropped the wand, and everyone but Lisa stepped back. The scientist instead leaned closer to get a better look. With a hand up to keep her glasses in place, she murmured to herself.

"No signs of wires or a way to charge it. Dangerous enough to scorch a wall, but I doubt it would kill someone. Why this design?"

"Is that real magic?" Theobold asked, looking over at Arthur, who shrugged.

"I don’t know. My question is, why do they have any of this stuff to begin with?"

Lady Pigonette shook her head. "None of what we read mentioned it."

Lisa continued to examine the items, but apart from a rock that glowed yellow when squeezed, nothing else appeared to do anything. Each of them stood looking at the items before Arthur shook his head.

"Was there anything interesting about this in the files, Lisa?"

"No," she said as she stepped away from the table. "There was only the mention of the cupboard. Most of it was confidential."

Arthur reached up and adjusted his cap. "So you think it’s magic or weird tech? Maybe toy designs?"

That earned him a snort and a shrug. "I do not know. Would you like me to study these and find out?"

"Yes."

"Now, wait," Captain Swordsman said. "I’m not sure we should take it out of here. If they kept it so secure for a reason. It might be dangerous."

Arthur sensed the opening and nodded.

"You might be right. How would you feel about her doing the work here?"

"Here?" Power Drill asked.

"Yes. Here. Before the alarms, I was going to ask you about renting out lab space. I have people who need work, and under Lisa's or Dr. Muriler’s instruction, they could manage something interesting with the equipment, I bet. What do you say?"

"This is our home," Captain Swordsman said.

Arthur nodded, attempting his best pleasant smile with his new teeth. "I understand that. They wouldn’t have access to any personal areas, only the labs. Wouldn’t it be nice to see the place turned back into what it was used for? I’m willing to give you the option of what type of work goes on here. I know we haven’t got a cure for Pit Rot, for instance."

"We’ll think about it," Captain Swordsman said in a tone that said he wasn’t interested in continuing the conversation.

"Of course. In that case, I’ll take my leave. Feel free to stop by Apocalypse Assortments when you get the chance. We can finalize the details of your department, then."

With that said, Captain Swordsman escorted them out. He even climbed the ladder that led to street level and pulled Arthur aside as Lisa climbed into the rickshaw.

"Did you mean what you said?" He asked, his grip tight on Arthur’s arm as he looked at him. "About this deal."

"Yes," Arthur responded without hesitation.

Captain Swordsman nodded and let him go. "Good. As for the lab idea, maybe. Let us get some time to get integrated, and then we’ll talk. Stay safe."

"You too. Try not to attract any more of those new monsters."

That got him a chuckle, and soon enough, they sped once more along the streets of Ashtown. Lisa didn’t strike up a conversation, but that was fine. His mind was focused on other matters.

"Why the magical items?" He asked himself for what felt like the fifteenth time. And why lock them up?"

He shook his head and caught sight of Lisa sitting next to him. He frowned.

"Lisa. I have a question."

"Go on," she said in a bored tone.

"The demons, the gas they let out. Where did you get that?"

She looked at him. "Get? The Archdemon supplied that. I combined it with the creatures as they grew. It rapidly accelerated their growth, making them easy to produce. Why?"

"No real reason," Arthur said as he settled back in his chair.

A heavy weight filled his stomach as he tried to understand the exact implications of what that might mean when combined with his new knowledge of the medusa core.