Whatever plot Wells had going, he didn’t spring it on her immediately. Instead, he simply took her report, gave her a list of cleaning assignments, and then dismissed her.

Normally, she would have gone straight to work, but Alex didn’t even hesitate before she went to the barracks instead. It didn’t matter if Wells was angry about the delay, not if her mother came to burn down the compound that night.

When she got to the barracks, she found her friends already there. Clara, Audrey, Joanna, and Alessa were all standing around, and their expressions were worried. It looked like they’d all spent some time going through their belongings; bags had been dumped out on their bunks, and drawers had been left open.

Joanna caught sight of Alex first, and her expression went cold. “Our phones are gone. All of them.”

Alex stopped dead. She looked at the others for confirmation and felt the bottom drop out of her stomach as they nodded. One phone was an innocent mistake; all five of them… “When’s the last time you saw them?”

Clara answered. “Audrey and I left them in our bunks before we headed out. Joanna and Alessa both left them in the ready room with some of our other stuff. The phones were the only thing missing.”

She nodded, going down a checklist in her mind. Isolate the target, wait for a vulnerable moment, sever communications… “Nobody’s told any of you they were grabbing phones?”

Audrey shook her head. “Nope, nothing.”

Alex spent another couple of heartbeats thinking. Then she turned, keeping her voice level. “I’m checking with the guys. Maybe they have one.”

Inwardly, her heart was beating hard, and she was starting to feel as hunted as she did when Liliana was stalking her. It fit a pattern she didn’t like. She had shown a reliable habit of resetting all her Skills at the end of a major Survey; it was consistent enough that some of the Surveyors joked that the Valkyrie had a hangover each morning. If they wanted to come for her when she was weakest, now would have been an ideal time.

She heard the others follow her out of their side of the barracks, and she led them over to where Sam and the others were bunked. Alex felt her stomach tighten as she heard them complaining about something, but she knocked anyway. A moment later, Sam stuck his head out. “Hey Alex, what’s going on?”

Alex tried to keep her voice calm. “Hey Sam, do you have your phone? I need to make a quick call.”

He blinked. His dark eyes grew serious. “Your phone is gone?” She nodded, and he grimaced. “So are ours. All of them.”

She felt her heartbeat accelerate again. “Oh.”

For a moment, she just stood in the hallway, thinking through possibilities. If she ran now, they might be after more than just her. She didn’t think she could sneak all eight of them out the exit, not if they were actively looking for her, and it was hard to tell whose side all the Surveyors would choose if she started a fight inside the compound. What was she going to do?

Joanna stepped forward, her expression hard. “You’re serious, right? This isn’t some kind of prank?”

Sam nodded. He stepped back. “Come in and see for yourselves.”

Alex followed the others as they went in. She barely noticed Sam shut the door behind her as she still tried thinking through her options. There was one other chance, but no one had ever really made it work before. Her chances of surviving it were good, but the others would be a problem. It kept coming back to the same problem…

Brian and Tim were both still sorting through the contents of the drawers below their bunks. Neither one looked like they expected to find anything, though. Tim looked up and gave Alex a wry smile. “So they got yours too, huh? Didn’t expect to have a phone thief here, of all places.”

“There’s no way it’s a phone thief, is there?” Sam was looking at Alex still. She nodded, and he sighed. “Thought so.”

Then he grinned. “Which is why it’s a good thing they missed my secret phone, huh?”

Alex blinked, and Sam chuckled to himself. He walked over to his bunk and raised the mattress. There was a piece of duct tape across the bottom of it. Sam pulled the tape loose and then fished around in the hole it left.

A moment later, he pulled out the most beautiful thing in the world. It was a plain blank phone, one that had been obviously powered off. He started it up, and Alex was reaching for it before she even realized she’d moved. “Can—can I borrow it? Please?”

Sam glanced at her, a joke on his lips. Then he seemed to recognize the need in her voice and nodded. “Sure. Let me just get it unlocked. You know the number, right?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Her father had made her memorize it every night for months, just in case they got separated. She’d thought it had been ridiculous, but now…

“Why do you even have a secret phone, anyway? Nobody even calls you in the first place.”

“Don’t question my needs, Brian. I don’t ask anything about that pack of dolls you have—”

“Those are wargaming figures! Not dolls!”

“You guys are all nerds.”

“Shut up, Audrey.”

Alex tuned them all out as Sam handed her the phone. There were a few unread texts sitting there, but she ignored them and dialed her father’s phone. It rang for what seemed like forever until the line connected. “Dad, it’s me.”

There was a pause. She could hear car noises in the background. Then she heard her father’s voice, cold and deep. “Video call. Now.”

She blinked and pulled the phone away from her ear. It took a couple of seconds to find the functionality, but she found the button and pressed it.

There was a heartbeat of delay, and then her father’s face filled the screen. His face was grim, backlit by their car’s dashboard. A car passed by him on the road, the headlights briefly highlighting his features. For a moment, he just stared at her.

Then he spoke in a quiet voice. “What’s the most important thing in our family?”

The old passphrase. He was being very serious. “Morals.”

His face abruptly relaxed in relief. He took a deep breath. “Alex. You didn’t check in.”

“Yeah, sorry. My phone went missing.” She tried to keep the words casual, but she saw his expression twitch as he registered what it had to mean. “I got in touch as soon as I could.”

“Good job.” Eric’s voice was a bit strained. “We’ve been trying to reach you for a while. It’s been an eventful afternoon.”

Alex’s heart went into her throat. “What happened?”

Eric’s voice dropped a little lower. “A group of visitors dropped by the house. They were very interested in meeting us.”

Silence abruptly spread through the room. Alex closed her eyes. When she opened them, the others were all looking at her. “How loud was it?”

“I kept it quiet.” Her mother’s voice came from off camera, and Alex felt her blood go cold. She wasn’t talking like Muriel Morrison anymore. She hadn’t heard that kind of tone from her in a long time.

Across the room, Sam’s dark eyes went very, very wide, and he went very, very still.

Her mother stayed off screen, but she kept talking in that low, lethal voice. “We’ll be at the compound in forty minutes. You need to exfiltrate before that point. Otherwise, we’re coming in after you.”

“No.” Alex heard her mother draw in a breath to argue, and she continued in as steady a voice as she could. “I’ve got others involved. I can’t just leave, and hitting the compound is not a good idea.”

Muriel’s voice—the Crimson Blade’s voice—didn’t waver. “Staying is not an option either. You know how this can end. You need to get out.”

Alex felt her heart hammering away. “I will, Mom, but we’ll do it my way.”

“Alexis—”

“Alex, Mom.” She glanced at Sam, whose eyes were about as big as they could go. Clara was looking back and forth between them, and the others were all looking around with a mixture of alarm and confusion.

“Alex, you can’t handle this on your own.” The iron in her mother’s voice was starting to soften a little. The fear and love were bleeding through in a way that made Alex’s heart ache.

“Mom, it’s going to be fine. I promise.” She paused. “I need you to go back to the Golden Swallow portal. I need some things from the new compound there. Can you meet me? Right around midnight?”

There was silence for a long moment. Then Muriel responded. “Midnight. If you aren’t there…”

“I will be.” Alex took a deep breath. Two questions left. “How many came after you?”

“Eight. They weren’t normals. One seemed like he was a D rank.”

Alex heard Brian curse under his breath in a surprised, disbelieving tone. She forced herself to nod.

“Bring them too, if you can.” Then she hesitated, hating the next question she had to ask. “Have you heard from Zach at all?”

Another, deeper silence already answered her question. Her father’s face had turned grim again, and when he answered, the words carried a weight that Alex didn’t want to feel yet. “We’ve had no contact. We tried calling him after we couldn’t reach you, but he isn’t responding.”

Alex drew in a breath, and then let it out slowly. There was pain now, where there had been only dread. She shoved it aside so that she could deal with it later. “Okay. I’m going to be out of contact for a while. The person on this line knows me, and you can trust him.” She pivoted the phone to show Sam’s face. “Say hello, Sam.”

Sam gave her an incredulous look. “Hello, Mr. Morrison.”

“Hello Sam.”

She turned the phone back to her. “Don’t call unless you absolutely need to. Sam will let you know if he hears anything. If anyone hears from Zach, we’ll let the others know.” Her father nodded, and she sucked in another breath past the hole eating its way through her heart. “I love you Dad. Love you Mom.”

Her parents echoed that farewell, and then she ended the call. She handed the phone to Sam, who tilted his head and studied her with all-too-knowing eyes. A steady silence filled the room, and then Audrey broke it.

“Okay, did your mom just say she killed eight people?”

Alex looked at her. “No. None of you heard anything, and we didn’t just have a phone call. Got it?”

Brian was staring at her. His expression had grown intense. “This is bad, isn’t it? Liliana bad.”

“Worse.” She grimaced as she said it, because the reason she felt that way was personal. It wasn’t a threat to the entire world. Just to her, her family and friends. And Zach.

Brian had started cursing under his breath again, but Clara stepped forward. “Whatever it is, we can help.”

Joanna nodded, though her eyes were still on Sam. “Just tell us the plan.”

Alessa was nodding, and so was Tim, though he was looking at Brian with concern. Sam just seemed a little lost, like a piece of his world had fallen in. Alex looked around at all of them.

Just when she opened her mouth, there was a knock at the door.

She spun immediately. All around the room, there were weapons being drawn. In an instant, every Surveyor there was ready to fight.

Clara spoke softly. “One person. Orange and red.”

Alex nodded slowly. She looked around again. “They’re here for me, probably. I’m going to go with them. You all need to pretend you don’t know anything is going on.“ They nodded and Alex continued. “If you don’t hear from me within the hour, then start talking to the support staff and the E ranks. Make it look like you are searching for whoever took your phones. Fill them all in; Sam knows the details.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Sam nodded. His dark eyes were narrowed now and locked onto her. “And?”

“I’ll call you after midnight with a plan, but if you don’t hear from me…” Alex shook her head. “Get out. Make a run for it with whoever you can and kill anyone you see in a Red Blade uniform. My parents will find you if they can.”

They nodded, though some of them were still confused. The knock sounded again, and Alex stepped forward, motioning for the others to lower their weapons. She took a heartbeat to compose herself and opened the door with a smile.

Ed was on the other side. He seemed a little annoyed, and slightly baffled that they were all in the men’s barracks. “Hey, I was looking for you. Wells said you’d be with the support staff, but you weren’t.” His voice was vaguely accusatory.

She shrugged. “Yeah, I stopped by here first to see if anyone had found my phone. Turns out they’re missing a lot of theirs too.” Alex glanced back, and the others gave her a half-hearted chorus of agreements. When she looked back, Ed had started to smile.

“Yeah, sometimes that happens. Security comes through trying to do a communications audit, or the cleaning staff gets a little too diligent. I bet if they asked the support folks, they would find what they’re missing.”

Alex glanced back. “Hear that? Maybe we should ask them.”

Ed coughed. “Not you though. Wells wants you to come to the portal room.” She blinked in surprise, and he continued. “There was some problem with one of the later teams, and he needs us to go in to sort it out. Mary and Bob are headed in too.”

“Sounds urgent.” Alex nodded. “Hold down the fort for me, okay guys?” Another chorus of agreements came back to her, and she stepped out of the doorway.

“All right, let’s go.”

Her heart hadn’t stopped hammering since she had started down the corridor with Ed.

He was leading the way easily enough, and his posture was relaxed. Did he know he was leading her into a trap, or was he just following a lie that Wells had told him? If he was innocent, would she be able to get him out, too? Would the trap be in the portal room, or would they wait until they were in the other world?

At least the first answer to that question came as Ed led her into the portal room. Bob and Mary were both there, looking a little grumpy in their Surveyor’s armor. Neither looked especially happy about being sent out for the second time that day. She wondered how happy they would be to go out for a sixth time.

Wells stood next to them. Hatred, instant and unyielding, filled her the moment she laid eyes on him. For a second, it stopped her in her tracks, and her hands twitched on her weapons.

Then she forced herself forward, joining the other Surveyors in front of the portal.

Wells waited until they were standing in a nice, tidy line, and then nodded. He smiled. “I’m sorry to have called you back here, but unfortunately, we have something of an emergency. Our PAD is telling us that there are anomalous readings coming from the portal. It might be part of why we were seeing Killers earlier.” He nodded to Alex. She gave him no response.

“You need to go in and see what is going on in the area. Find out if there is a serious threat, and eliminate it if you can. Either way, I expect you to come home within three hours. Understand?”

They all nodded. Wells stared at Alex just a moment longer. Then he stepped aside. “Then go. Good luck.”

Alex stepped forward with the others, funneling into the vortex. Her muscles were still sore from the last fights, not more than an hour ago. Was she ready? If she wasn’t, things were going to get ugly very, very quickly. Either way, she stepped forward and let the light carry her forward…

[D Rank Surveyor Alex, Gatekeeper]

[Ascension Level: 7]

[Role: Porter (Role Skills: None]

[Role Level: 2]

[Experience: 2060/3600]

[Attributes: Strength -> 7, Speed -> 10, Life -> 4, Devotion -> 0, Control -> 0]

[Current Skills: Combat Balance(25), Motion Trance(25), Combined Arms–Axe/Shield(25),

Holy–Storm(25)]

[Permanent Skills: Battle Maneuvers(25)]

[Current Titles: Empress of War (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Combined Arms, Weapon Mastery, and Battle Maneuvers by five.),

Aggression (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, Combined Arms, and Combat Balance Skills by five.),

Fated Hero (Increases Skill grade of Dodging, Anticipate, Battle Maneuvers, and Inspect by five),

Eternal Motion (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, Marathoning, and Motion Trance by four.),

Tireless (Increases Skill grade of Recovery Skills by three.),

True Sentinel (Increases Skill grade of Deflect, Dodging, Blocking, Resist, Zeal, and Combat Balance by five.),

Peaceful Flow (Increases Skill grade of Meditation, Focus, Recovery, Arcane, Sense, and Motion Trance by three.),

Elite (Increases Skill grade Combat Balance, Battle Maneuvers, Battle Mastery, and Battle Dance by five.),

Lethality (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by five.)

Consecrated (Increases Skill grade of Holy by five.),

Combat Prowess (Increases Skill grade of Battle Maneuvers, Rush Assault, and Heavy Assault by three.),

Combat Momentum (Increases Skill grade of Combat Balance, Riposte, and Battle Dance by three.),

Offense Master (Increases Skill grade of Combined Arms, Lunge, and Charge by four)]

She took another moment to study her Skills and Titles. There wasn’t anything she could do to make them better, not without stepping directly back through the portal, resetting some things, and then doing an entirely new Survey. Obviously, that wasn’t an option.

[Please select your intent]

[Exploration]

[Vengeance]

[Patrol]

[War]

[Salvage]

She debated the one to take for a moment. War would fit her mood better, but she didn’t want to give their PAD any way to cover up what was about to happen. Not only that, but she didn’t know if she was going to be able to stick around long enough to find what she needed to destroy. At least, not this time..

[Your intent is to Patrol]

[Quest Issued! Clear at least twelve Grue patrols.]

[Quest Issued! Destroy at least eight Grue Brutes.]

[Hidden Quest Issued!]

[Hidden Quest Issued!]

She sighed and stepped forward. It was time to find out exactly what was going on…

Alex stepped out into the other world and watched the other D ranks gather around her. Liliana’s attention almost immediately focused on her, but the Shade didn’t make an appearance. At least, she didn’t make one yet.

She looked around at the others. “Okay. Who knows the area we are supposed to go into?”

There was a pause as she held her breath, hoping that it would be Bob or Mary.

Then Ed answered, his tone dismissive. “I’ve got it. Wells told me how to get there.”

A heavy feeling pooled in her gut as she nodded. Ed was betraying her. He’d walk them into a trap just like that source had done to her mother all those years ago, and then whoever Wells had sent ahead would kill her.

Outwardly, she just followed along as Ed led them through the city. The buildings around them seemed curiously silent; she almost felt off balance without the continuous howling of the Grue to accompany her footsteps as they moved through the silent streets. Liliana’s eyes were still on her, and she occasionally caught glimpses of the Shade in the corners of her eyes, but for now the thing remained out of sight. Perhaps the threat of four D ranks was too much for waves of patrols to threaten, or maybe the creature had just grown tired for the day. Either way, they made their way through the streets remarkably unmolested.

Alex waited until they had reached an area several blocks away from the portal. They were probably getting close to the ambush site; they’d have wanted to catch her while she was too far from the portal to run back. Not that getting back to the portal would help, of course. Wells would be waiting there, and even if she got back through the portal, the C rank would finish her before she took her second step out of the vortex.

So she slowed to a stop, letting the others gain some distance from her. Alex took them all in at a glance, and then cleared her throat. “Hey, guys.”

They all turned back to face her. Mary’s expression showed surprise. Bob’s was a bit confused. Ed’s was just unreadable.

Bob was the first to speak. “What, is the mighty Valkyrie tired? I mean, it would make sense. You’ve been going crazy lately.”

“We can’t afford to wait for you to rest, Alex. We need to get to the area.” Mary’s impatience was almost palpable. Alex noted a bit of sweat on the other Surveyor’s face. Nervousness, or just the effort of the jog?

Alex shifted her stance slightly. “Well, I’m not sure how to put this.” She shrugged and looked Ed directly in the eye. “I know. If you put your weapons down, we can talk about it. Otherwise, I’d rather have it out here and now where your friends can’t help you.”

Ed went still. Mary went stiff. Alex smiled inwardly. Two out of the three.

Bob on the other hand, was looking back and forth at them in confusion. “What are you talking about, Valkyrie? What’s going on?”

“Shut up, Bob.” Mary stepped forward, and Alex shifted her stance. “You never know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?”

“Mary.” The flat voice stopped Mary in her tracks. Ed didn’t look at her; his attention was fixed on Alex. “I warned you that you were pushing too hard, Alex. Helping the washouts, talking to reporters… Wells needs to know you’re on his side of things. Otherwise, he’ll make sure you aren’t in his way.”

Alex watched him. The pain was fading now. It was fueling an anger that was flaring up inside her like a wildfire. Every ounce of her feelings for him was getting heaped up onto those flames. “He’s a griefer, Ed. You’re helping griefers and drug dealers.”

“I’m killing dealers, Alex.” He stepped forward, his hand out as if he was pleading. “He’s sent me out against packs of them, and covered it up when I was done with them.”

Alex snarled at him. “Ed, he’s a dealer. He’s been having you knock off the competition and protecting his clients.”

Ed shook his head. “In the end, at least there are less of them.” He paused. “I didn’t know at first, and when he told me, I was already in too deep. I can’t go back now, not when he has so much on me.”

He stared at her, his expression blank. “He said he’d hurt my mom, too. Had someone take pictures. He probably already has your parents, too. If you would just—”

Alex laughed. She couldn’t help it, but she didn’t take her eyes off any of them. “Your friends already tried that. It didn’t work.”

Ed flushed with anger. “Well, your little reporter friend didn’t get away, did he? You won’t be sneaking off to talk to him about what we do here. Not anymore.”

Alex felt another flare of hate run through her. “Is he alive?”

“He’s gone. It doesn’t matter, anyway.” Ed took another step forward. “You’re here now. You’re outnumbered, and you’re outclassed. Even if you could fight past us without any Skills, even if you survived the rest of his people here in the city, Wells would never let you get out of the portal. Just give up and go where he sends you, and nobody will need to get hurt.”

She felt a sudden burst of calm. He wasn’t going to change his mind, and if he did, Mary wasn’t going to back down, anyway. Bob might have been innocent, but he wasn’t exactly backing away from the others.

Alex’s hands tightened on her weapons. “Back down, all of you. Put the weapons down, and I’ll take you in. You have until the count of three.”

Mary laughed. “Are you really that dense? We have you three to one. You really think you can fight all of us?”

“Numbers didn’t help the last batch of griefers I crippled.” Alex glanced at Bob. “One.”

Bob had turned grey. He looked from her to the others, and back again. Then he took a step to stand beside Ed. “I’m sorry, Valkyrie. I’m choosing the winning side.”

Mary laughed again. “Good choice, pal.”

“Shove it Mary.”

A flicker of disappointment ran through her, but Alex shrugged it off. His choice was actually going to make things that much simpler. “Two.”

Ed blinked. His hands had tightened around the hilt of his sword to the point where she could see his knuckles turn white. “Don’t do this Alex. We can work together. You don’t need to—”

Alex didn’t bother saying three. She just lunged forward, her axe already ready to strike. Bob reacted immediately, unleashing a beam of sunlight that would have seared her flesh from her bones. Only a quick jerk of her arm caught the beam on her shield. It shoved her backwards, keeping her from advancing.

Mary leapt forward, her laugh wild and brutal. The D rank brought her axe back to strike, ready to unleash a blow that would smash its way through Alex’s shield and take her arm. Ed ducked low and around, his sword already pointed so that it would hedge her in and keep her from dodging.

Alex pivoted to the left, towards Mary and away from Ed. She caught sight of the wide grin on the woman’s face as she started to bring her massive axe down.

Then she unleashed a bolt of lightning directly into Mary’s face.

The blast caught the woman right in her eyes. In a flash, Mary dropped her axe and clutched her hands to her face. Her scream rose above Bob’s horrified shout. For a second, the Acolyte’s focus slipped, and the beam snapped out of existence.

That instant was long enough for Alex to sprint forward and smash her shield into Mary’s face. As Mary went over backwards, Alex ducked another wash of sunlight from Bob, lunged back to the right, and brought her axe around and into Bob’s knee.

Bob dropped his staff and fell, already screaming. Alex spun, delivering a second strike to his arm, and caught Ed’s desperate sword thrust on her shield.

The impact drove her back a step, and Ed snarled at her. “You monster, you—”

Alex sidestepped, knocking his sword back with the shield. He lashed out again, and she deflected it with her shield. Before he could withdraw, she caught the blade with the back spike of her axe, pinning it to her shield. When she pivoted, Ed’s sword twisted out of his grip, and he jerked forward to try to grapple with her.

She smashed her shield into his face, stunning him. As he staggered, she stepped forward and swung hard, planting her axe deep in his chest. The blow stopped him short, and as he glanced down at the wound, the blood seemed to drain from his face. Alex planted her foot on his chest and kicked him over, tearing out her blade. Before he could rise again, she swung two more times, and Ed lay still.

Mary was still coughing and clawing at her ruined face when Alex knelt beside her. One look told her the Surveyor was finished; even a health potion wouldn’t regrow someone’s eyes. “Tell me how many, and I’ll let Bob walk you back to the portal.” Bob was rolling in the dirt and clutching at his ruined knee and arm, groaning in pain, but when she looked at him, he gave her a brief nod.

The D rank’s face twisted, clawing with her hands at the empty air. “Eight. There’s eight of them. All with gang tattoos.”

Alex nodded. There was a burst of light, and she looked over to see Ed’s body light on fire. It burned in a wash of orange and red flame. She looked away from it to where Bob was now struggling to rise. “Both of you, get back to the portal. I never want to see you on this side of a vortex again.”

Bob nodded, shaken, and a few moments later the two Surveyors were hobbling on their way home, the blind leaning on the lame. Alex watched them go and wondered if the Grue would get them. It wasn’t her concern any longer; either way, their days of harming others were at an end.

Ed’s body continued to burn for a while longer. When the flames died, the only thing left of him was his sword and the Talisman that had made him a Surveyor. Alex looked at the coin for a moment, and then stepped forward to collect it. Her movements were calm, but mechanical; her mind was elsewhere, wondering if Zach had been thrown through the portal, and if his body had burned as well.

When she stood, she saw Liliana watching her. The Shade seemed somehow subdued, as if something inside it knew things had gone wrong. Alex blinked, and it was gone, vanished into whatever hole it called home in this place.

Alex looked at the spot a moment longer, and then noticed a scrap of paper left behind, trapped by Ed’s sword. She picked it up and found a map of the city, lovingly detailed with the various Camps and Outposts marked. There was also a small neighborhood circled. A narrow alley, where a host of ambushers would have loved to sit.

She studied it for a moment longer. Then she tucked it away. There was at least one more thing she had to do.

It took her the better part of an hour to kill all of them.

To their credit, they ran fast when they realized their mistake. Alex had taken three of them by surprise, and all three were down in mere moments. None of the others had gone to help them. They’d launched a few spells, shot a few arrows, and then run like rabbits for the portal.

None of them ran faster than her. Two of them barely even made it out of the ambush site, and that was more due to the fact that she was still collecting the Talismans of the ones who fell. She took down another two as they ran south, headed right for the portal building and safety. Alex felt like a wolf hunting defenseless sheep and tried to convince herself to feel bad about it.

The D rank among them was the last to fall. He was a tough one, probably a Squire or a Porter, and carried some kind of massive club. One swing probably could have put her through a wall. He made it to within a handful of blocks of the portal before she hamstrung him and put an end to it.

When the bodies had finished burning and she collected the Talismans, Alex looked in the direction of the portal and paused. Part of her longed to just go back through the portal and finish things, to face down Wells right then and there.

The aches in her body told her otherwise. She had been fighting for the entire day, and even Motion Trance had its limits. A C rank was nothing to take casually, even now, with grief and hatred eating at her soul. Her mother’s voice echoed in her head, telling her how she should have run, should have escaped.

So instead, Alex turned to the southeast. She started trotting; the pavement blurred under her feet. She tried to keep her pace even, to not overtax herself. There was a long way to go, after all, and she was sure the Liliana would throw Grue in her way, now that the Surveyors had finished turning on each other.

Still, she wanted to put the whole broken city behind her, so she ran. She ran, and she never truly stopped.