The low hum of a portal materializing just a few feet in front of me is almost comforting. Knowing that Gisela’s going to be waiting for us on the other side adds gut-twisting anticipation to that comfort, but doesn’t completely nullify it. Noland’s sources say that the Preservation hasn’t sent anyone out in the last week to anywhere near the place we’re teleporting to, so if we come face to face with enemies, they’ll be private.

And private hires can be easily bought. Or, in the case of loyal holdouts, slaughtered.

Well, it’s probably not going to come to that, since today’s just the handoff. Sure, we’re also supposed to work out how we’re going to be escorting Gisela to the party slash event, but I’ve got a nagging feeling she’s going to tell us to screw off the second she gets her coins. She just seems like that kind of person in the little I’ve read about and the minute I talked to her.

“Dress is riding low.” Ursula pats my back ever so slightly. “Have you ever worn a true strapless before?”

I sigh, pull the black cherry fabric up a little higher on my chest, and shake my head. “Never had a reason to. Didn’t want to now, honestly, but Sami insisted. Honestly, I think she just wanted me to show off the bite marks for the intimidation factor.”

“Hey, you look stunning in it. I’d personally go with a backless next time, but hey, that could just be the opinion of someone who likes to look at you.” Ursula grins to herself, then adjusts her own dress. A backless ocean blue piece with teal accents. “So, I’m willing to bet you’ve never had to do any fighting in a dress like this before. My advice? Don’t.”

“Doesn’t seem like I’m going to have much of a choice.”

“No, what I mean is, always have a change of combat ready clothes somewhere closeby.” Ursula holds out her hand, and her briefcase pops into it. “Uncertainty’s got that covered for me, so I asked Sami to make something for you.”

Another briefcase, this one decorated with black iridescent sharkbite patterns, takes uncertainty’s place. Ursula puts it in my hands, and before she can say anything, I take out a relocation coin and touch it to the briefcase. It doesn’t need any extra Worth to function, thank god.

“Alright, you can take it with you or leave it here. You’re a big girl; you can deal with delays if you know they’re coming.” Ursula stretches her arms over her head and winces. “Welp, that’s about it. Meeting time’s in ten minutes, so we should get moving. Any last minute prep you can do in sixty seconds?”

I shake my head and drop the briefcase onto the ground. Pearl squelches out of her shell before I can get a word out.

“We’re all good!” She confirms with glee. “Oh, and Fleur says she’s almost ready to talk. She should be good around when the event starts.”

“Yeah, what she first said.” I roll my shoulder, then grumble and grab the fabric that tries to slide down. “I don't have the assets for this. Can’t I get some clear straps to keep it up or something?”

“Not in thirty seconds, you can’t.” Ursula steps halfway into the portal and motions for me to follow her. “Get Sami to modify it when we get back. Oh, and don’t be scared to show some teeth in the meeting. The intimidation factor could be good for us.”

She slips into the portal a second later. I roll my eyes, even though I kind of agree with her, and motion for Pearl to go back into her shell as I walk into the portal. Pearl’s completely safe before my foot touches the shimmering barrier between here and my destination, and I brush off the grains of salt that appeared on her shell with one hand as I take in the other side of the portal.

It’s… a parking lot. Pavement, painted yellow lines, and dull grey streetlights that will probably turn on at night. I frown and look around for the building we’re supposed to be meeting in, but all I can see is a tiny rundown shack.

“Did she screw with us, or is this a cover for the real thing?” I ask as I stop next to Ursula, who is scanning the parking lot too. “Should there be… I don’t know… cars here?”

“You would think so, yeah.” She confirms with a small nod. “If we didn’t have her coins, I’d think that she’s messing with us. But it’s probably some underground complex with an entrance around here.”

That’s about what I was thinking, too. “Should we start looking?”

“Nah. We give it until the meeting time, and if nobody shows, we keep the coins as our own. I don’t appreciate being screwed with.”

As if called by Ursula’s cold tone, a parking space a few rows over rises out of the pavement. Underneath it is a set of moving stairs that leads down into a well-lit hallway, and it seems to keep going for a while. Like a combination of an escalator and one of those airport moving sidewalks.

Ursula grins and starts to walk over. “That’s better. Since I know you can hear me, any more funny business and we leave. Got it?”

Even though nobody answers, I get the feeling that she was understood. I smile to myself, showing just the smallest amount of teeth, and follow just behind Ursula as we cross the parking lot. Nobody shows up to greet us, no cars drive by on the nearby road, and my awareness doesn’t latch onto anything. Hopefully that means there’s nothing invisible watching us, but it could just be really far away.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Normal cameras can do that, so magic cameras should be much better. Ursula and I share a look, and her confidence tells me not to worry. So I set aside everything unnecessary with a calming breath and twist my lips into a warm, calculating smile.

The walkway carries us through a maze of doors and hallways. Every now and again it shifts into another escalator, taking us deeper into the complex, where there are more doors and hallways. None of them are numbered or marked in any way, which seems unbelievably paranoid to me, but it could just speak on how many enemies Gisela managed to make.

I look over at Ursula to judge how… normal this is for interacting with a client. She’s looking down at her nails with a bored expression, but I can see something glittering in her eye. Not emotion or anything like that, but a physical thing that’s slightly raised on her eye like a bigger contact lens. Narrowing my eyes doesn’t help me make anything out, but if I had to guess, I’d say that’s how she’s keeping in touch with Noland right now. Or maybe tapping into Gisela’s communications.

But the fact that she isn’t freaking out in the slightest gives me a little peace of mind. So I steady myself, watch the same-y scenery coast by, and wait impatiently for the moment things either go to shit or we actually get to meet our client face to face.

It takes six escalators for us to finally reach a floor that looks a little different. All the metal bleeds away to wooden paneling with art lining the walls, some in frames and some painted directly onto the wood, and all depicting scenes of sunrises and sunsets above different kinds of scenery. Lakes, mountains, cabins in the woods, and even a few sleepy cityscapes shown from different angles. All either in the rising or setting sun.

“Someone’s got an obsession.” Ursula chuckles.

“Hey, you like what you like. And she really likes this kind of stuff, apparently.”

“Right you are. Which also makes it feel like we’re getting really close.” Ursula taps her wrist, and a shimmering outline of a bangle close to her skin appears for a split second. “If we need to get out of here, stay close to me until you can do your thing. And get yourself out first.”

I nod in confirmation. “Any sign of powerful system-born?”

She reluctantly shakes her head. “I haven’t seen any magical remnants, which is usually a sign of system-born activity. That could be because Gisela has a ventilation system that gets rid of all of it, or the doors completely block it from getting out of the room.”

“Could be because Gisela has everyone on a tight leash.”

“True, true. All the more reason to be insanely careful.”

The moving walkway slows to a crawl, bringing us to a random door that looks no different than any of the others. It keeps moving, albeit slowly enough that it seems like it's telling us to get off. Ursula and I share a look, and she shrugs as she steps off and walks right over to the door. Apparently that kind of confidence is contagious, since I find myself walking right alongside her with my hands fidgeting around where my pockets would be if I was wearing pants.

Before we can get to the door, it cracks open a little bit and a strikingly golden-brown eye stares out at us. It looks Ursula up and down, then shifts to me. I grin and wave ever so slightly, which seems to bring whoever’s looking at us pause, but it doesn’t stop them from fully opening the door a second later.

Ursula steps through without hesitation. I follow with just a little hesitation, and the owner of the eye quietly shuts the door behind us. He’s one of many security guards all dressed like CIA agents, complete with black suits, wired earpieces, and sunglasses even though they’re indoors. It’s about a fifty-fifty split between genders, but the women are standing around Gisela and the men stand guard near the doors and vents.

“They’re here, ma’am.” One of the women leans in and quietly tells Gisela.

Gisela sighs and waves the woman off. “I am aware. Bring them water and fetch the payment; I don’t want this to take any longer than it has to.”

The bodyguard nods, then gestures at the man who’d opened the door for us. He, too, nods before slipping out of the room with barely a sound. Tiny wisps of magic cling to him like the last strands of a morning fog. Does that mean he’s got a class, or did the other bodyguard cast a spell on him?

“Well, thank you for coming. And, I guess, for completing my request.” Gisela states in the most deadpan, uninterested voice I’ve ever heard. She swivels around in her chair while staring down at some documents in her hand. “Let’s make this quick; you don’t want to be here any more than I want you to be here. You can consider the second part of your employment null and void as well for reasons I’m sure you’re well… aware… of…”

She looks up and trails off as she locks eyes with me. “Y-you? You’re Gambler?!”

“I would’ve thought your people figured that out by now.” I smile coyly and flash my teeth. “Haven’t seen you since you almost got killed by a dragonjet. Why the hell were you there, anyway, if you’re shouldering all the important bits of a massive company?”

“That is none of your business.” Gisela coughs and looks away, but she’s blushing a little. She must be embarrassed about being saved. “But… I may have to reconsider my dismissal. As long as you actually brought the coins, of course.”

Ursula motions for me to go ahead, but I don’t need it. I’m already stepping forward as I summon my bracer, which currently has two class coins embedded in its indents. Two bodyguards try to step between me and Gisela, but they flinch back under a combined glare from me and Ursula.

“Here; defender and psychic, just like we discussed.” I pop the coins out of my bracer and place them before Gisela. “But it’s not just that; I have a little something extra I want to give you. As an… apology from me to you.”

I put such saccharine sweetness into that last sentence that nobody could mistake it for sincerity, then place the fortress coin next to the other two. It shudders when it gets close to defender, the coin it originated from, and something tells me that this is the right way. No idea what’s going to happen, but it’s going to happen when someone uses the defender coin in close proximity with the fortress coin.

Gisela stares down at my false generosity with obvious suspicion. “How many other coins did you take from the vault if you’re trying to bribe me with this?”