The cabin interior elapsed into momentary silence as Zee Captain's violet lenses studied Alexa intently. Then, the System Wizard spoke in a calmer, more measured tone.

"Alexa, I must ask - why are you so antagonistic towards the System Wizards? What drives this excessive desire to dismantle our work and to rebel against established order?"

Alexa's mischievous grin faltered slightly at this question. She leaned back in her seat. Her playful demeanor shifted, her silver-blue eyes taking on a more serious, dangerous glint. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

"You want to know why I'm antagonistic? Fine, I'll tell you," she said. "System Wizards have been mucking about with my Earth, rewriting history, creating heroes and villains like it's some kind of cosmic playground. And for what? The whimsical entertainment of a guy named Bob!

“You’ve been treating my world, my people, my friends like characters in a story! You’ve been manipulating events for thousands of years, manufacturing conflicts, creating heroes and villains all for the amusement of an audience of one fat idiot manager from another universe! Do you have any idea what that's like? To find out that your entire existence, everything you've ever known or cared about, is just a fabrication for someone else's enjoyment, a game that's basically doomed to end with everyone on Earth being turned to dust?"

Alexa's glacier-cold eyes struck Zee Captain.

"So yeah, I'm not too fond of System Wizards your precious 'order'. Because from where I am standing you're the ones breaking the rules and reshaping reality on a whim, giving simpletons like Bob absolute power over others. Do tell me, teach, how is what you’re doing any different from what you're accusing me of? At least I'm honest about my intentions - I am a villain and I want to bring down the unjust rule of law wherever I see it manifested. How is your order fair and just? Why does it deserve to be upheld? What gives you the right to treat us like NPCs, to banish me from my home, to tear me away from my friends, to send me to Manchester because I am not playing by the rules of your stupid game?"

Alexa snapped her conceptual raygun open and pulled the card with the picture of the Surgeon. She shook the shiny 'Hero' card in front of Zee Captain’s face. "Do you deny this evidence? It literally says NPC on it! The entire system you willingly serve is abhorrent because it treats sapient human beings as toys!"

“She certainly got you there, Z!” Sasha barked out a laugh.

"You speak of things you do not fully understand, young lady,” Zee said. “The relationship between the System, the Numbers, the System Wizards, Users, NPCs and the subscribed and free worlds we oversee is... complex. More complex than you realize. I cannot speak for the others, but I try to do good in Captainia… however little it amounts to."

“So you admit it?” Alexa’s eyes narrowed as she shoved the card back into her raygun. “You’re a useless warden-type entity serving a corrupt system?”

"Tell me, Alexa,” Zee leaned forward towards the girl. “If you had the power to weave the narrative of reality, would you simply do nothing? Or would you try to create meaning, purpose, beauty? Would you help others no matter where you are?"

"That's not the point!" Alexa snapped. "The point is consent! Did anyone on my Earth consent to being part of your cosmic game?"

"And yet," Zee Captain countered calmly, "without that 'game', as you call it, you and your world would not exist at all. Wizard Revolution's narrative injection created you as you sit in front of me now. Is non-existence truly preferable?"

Alexa opened her mouth to retort, but Zee Captain continued. "I understand your anger. Truly, I do. But consider this - perhaps zere is more to learn about the nature of reality and our role in it than you currently know. Perhaps your journey to Manchester will reveal truths that will change your perspective, open your eyes."

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"Spare me your semantics," Alexa rolled her eyes. "Just admit that what you're doing is wrong!"

“You’re avoiding my question Alexa,” Zee said. “Did you not try to help the people of your Earth using whatever means were available to you?”

“I did,” Alexa nodded.

“So then you will make a good System Wizard,” Zee Captain declared genially, waving his gloved hand.

“What, like you?” Alexa asked. “A hobo in a grimy coat covered in duct tape?”

“Yes,” Zee Captain said, ignoring her jibe. “Like me. Like people, not all System Wizards are alike, we don’t all agree on everything. Some of us are simply trying to do the best we can with what we are given. I try my best with my charges and sometimes things exactly don’t work out, but I keep on trying. Infinity’s a very long time, yes, but it’s not enough time to sort out every terrible problem that’s befallen the limitless, seemingly hopeless desolate plane that I inhabit for the most part.”

“Say what?” Alexa’s eyebrows went up.

Zee Captain leaned back on his seat. "Captania isn't some grand kingdom, Alexa. It's a desolate wasteland, an infinite mesh ravaged by entropy and cosmic disasters. I didn't choose to rule it - long ago, I, like you, was just a little girl born on a planet that had fallen to ruin.”

Alexa frowned at Zee’s words.

The System Wizard's voice took on a wearier tone. "My job is an unending struggle against the creeping, all devouring-death that threatens to consume what little remains. I'm not some all-powerful being playing games - I'm more like... a cosmic janitor, desperately trying to keep the lights on in a universe that's constantly falling apart. Best I can do is tape things together and hope that they last longer."

“Why bother if it's so hopeless?" Charles suddenly spoke up, eyeing Captain.

"Because even in the darkest places, there is potential for life, for growth, for meaning," Zee replied. "Even the darkest story has rays of light in it. Every spark of consciousness, every fleeting moment of beauty or kindness - it matters. It pushes back against the entropy, if only for a moment."

The System Wizard gestured towards Charles and Sasha. "That's why I can't simply ignore your companions here. They may be 'questionable entities' as I said before, but they're here now. They're part of this story, for better or worse. My job isn't to judge them or cast them out - it's to try and guide them, to help them find their place in the grand tapestry of existence."

Zee turned back to Alexa. "That's what I'm trying to do for you too, Alexa. Not to control you or force you into some predetermined role, but to help you understand the true nature of your power and responsibility."

Alexa sat in silence for a moment, processing Zee's words.

"Okay," she said finally. "Let's say I believe you're not just some cosmic tyrant pulling some world by its strings. What exactly are you trying to teach me then? How to be a good little cog in the System's machine?”

Zee Captain shook her head. "No, Alexa. I'm trying to teach you how to be a force for creation and renewal in a world that desperately needs it. The System isn't perfect - far from it. But it's a framework that allows narrators like us to shape reality, to fight against the tide of encroaching entropy."

Alexa crossed her arms.

The System Wizard leaned forward. "You have incredible potential, Alexa. Your ability to question, to challenge, to imagine new possibilities - these are valuable traits. But they need to be tempered with understanding and wisdom. That's what your journey to Manchester is really about."

Alexa narrowed her eyes, still not fully convinced. "And what if I decide I don't want to be a System Wizard? What if I decide your whole setup is fundamentally flawed?"

"Then you'll have made that decision with full knowledge of what you're rejecting," Zee replied calmly. "But I hope you'll at least give it a chance before smashing everything around you to bits.”

“What if I decide that the System must be destroyed?” Alexa said. “What if I undo the cosmic order that holds everything in place, dismantle whatever it is that labels my friends as NPCs?”

“As improbable as that is,” Zee answered. “Such action is yours to make. I am not your warden. I am merely your assigned journey Instructor, one who has to ensure that you don’t break any more things catastrophically on your way to Manchester.”

“Are you going to attempt to stop me?” Alexa asked. “Will you threaten me, send me to the Dead Zone, or put me into an inescapable box if I…”

“No,” Zee replied simply. “If you wish to demolish this liminal train and doom all of its current inhabitants to perish or to become scattered across liminality, I won’t stop you. I’ll simply minimize the consequences of your actions, as I have before.”