They started out from the portal in a similar formation from last time. This time, though, Laura stationed Mary and Ed on the right, with Bob and Alex on the left. The team moved down the streets in a line, as if the Vanguard wanted to just sweep everything in front of them out of the way.
For this Survey, their assignment took them east instead of north, and so they sped along the street towards a cluster of skyscrapers that looked like some kind of office or financial district. The first Grue patrol jumped them a few minutes later, coming at them with fierce howls from a small park on the right.
Their numbers looked to be about the same as the last Survey, complete with the massive Brute at their front. Alex grimaced and charged in even as the Screen pasted more yellow text in the corners of her vision.
[Hidden Quest Discovered! Destroy six Grue Archers]
[Hidden Quest Discovered! Destroy one Grue Brute]
Alex grunted and threw herself forward into a sprint. Bob shouted a cut-off oath as she sped past all of them; only Laura seemed to be able to catch up with her as she threw herself into the left mass of Grue Soldiers. The monsters went flying with each swing of her axe, and when a Knight tried to loom over her, Bob cut it to pieces with a shard of sunlight. She grunted as the other Grue fell back from her, bunching up, and then she sprinted around them to head for the Archers.
Her new Titles were already paying off in a big way. Arrows bounced off her shield, and then she was tearing her way through the closest Archers. They howled and tried to scatter, but she was just moving too fast. A few of the Grue Soldiers sprinted to their rescue, but they barely lasted long enough for an axe swing or a shield-check. None of the Knights had the chance to pull back to help; a glance told her that the remaining five were either falling to the other Surveyors, or were trying to hold them back.
She grinned and went back to her own slaughter. By the time she hunted down the last of the Archers, the others were already finishing off the last of the patrol. Mary straightened up and grinned, slinging the giant axe back across her shoulders. “You weren’t wrong, Ed. She’s a bit of a wild woman, isn’t she?”
Alex shrugged as the bodies began to burn. Yellow text hovered in her peripheral.
[Battle Maneuvers advances to 18!]
[Combined Arms–Axe/Shield advances to 18!]
[Main Quest Progress: 1 of 8 targets destroyed]
[Hidden Quest Completed!]
She looked back at the others. “I’ll take the Knights next time if one of you wants to hit the Archers. You have the same Hidden Quest for them, right?”
The others exchanged a look between them. Ed shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
Laura cleared her throat. “That’s not usually how we do things on the patrol. Whoever gets to the kills earns them.”
“Yeah, but we can be organized about it, right? No need to fight each other as much as the Grue.” Alex looked at Mary, who seemed about to start laughing. “Any objections?”
“Not from me! In fact, I’ll take the next shift.” The Squire smirked. “Just be sure to keep them off of me, all right?”
Alex nodded, and Laura looked back and forth between them before rolling her eyes with a sigh. The Vanguard obviously wasn’t a fan of the arrangement, but there wasn’t any point in making the Survey into a race between Surveyors. If they could all complete their Quests, why shouldn’t they? It might even soften her up for what she was hoping to ask next.
They collected the materials and set off again. The Grue were waiting.
The next three battles went more or less as expected. Alex threw herself right into the middle of the Grue, tearing through Soldiers and keeping the Knights busy, while one of the other E rankers ran around the flank and tore the Archers apart. Mary was the first, hacking through all six with wild abandon. Bob had taken the second turn, stepping back enough to unleash a slashing wave of sunlight that wiped out his targets.
By the time Ed took his turn, Laura was starting to seem a little impatient with the Survey. It was like the relative ease with which they had organized things was getting to her. All the same, it was hard not to feel satisfied as she contemplated the messages from her Screen as the bodies from the fourth patrol burned.
[Battle Maneuvers advances to 20!]
[Combined Arms–Axe/Shield advances to 20!]
[Recovery advances to 17!]
[Main Quest Progress: 4 of 8 targets destroyed]
[Main Quest Progress: 6 of 8 targets destroyed]
Mary grinned as the bodies burst into purple flame again. “Well, that’s been fun so far. It’ll be good for all of us to get at least one Hidden Quest done.”
Bob leaned back with a sigh. “Yeah. The rest would be a bit tougher to handle, though.”
Alex nodded. There were four patrols left to take down, with six Knights each. With four E rankers, they were going to run out of Knights if all of them wanted to complete the Hidden Quest for killing six extras.
Unless she proposed a bit of a change.
She looked at Laura, who was gathering up the slab of metal the Brutes left behind when they burned. “Hey, Laura, do you need any help with your Quests?”
The Vanguard paused. She looked back at Alex in surprise. “Mine? No. Not really.” She straightened up and slid the metal into her bag. “My Quests are a bit different than yours, anyway. Things tend to… shift when you reach D rank.”
“So I heard.” Her mother had told her about it often enough. “Are we killing enough patrols for your Main Quest? Or do you only get eight like us?”
Laura’s expression became a little baffled, as if she didn’t really know where the conversation was going. “Killing Brutes gets me one Hidden Quest. I’d have to kill some Knights and Archers for the other one though.”
Just as Alex had hoped. “Have you already done the Brute part? Or do you need more?”
The Vanguard looked at her, eyes narrowed. “I’m one with the Brutes. Why?”
Alex tried to phrase herself very carefully. “Well, we’ve already got a Hidden Quest for the big guys, so I was just thinking…”
Laura snorted. “You’re all still too weak to take a Brute on by yourselves. Sorry.”
“Oh yeah, I get it. Those hammers look mean.” Alex paused. “But if you managed to just wing one a little, wound it without killing it…”
The team leader had opened her mouth to refuse, but then she paused. “We’re still going to be short on Knights. You won’t finish everything.”
“I’m willing to hang around for some extra patrols. Unless anyone has something to do after?” Alex looked around at the others.
Mary’s eyebrows looked like they had climbed as high as they could go. Bob was tapping his fingers on his staff, a calculating look in his eyes.
Ed was just staring at her, as if trying to bore his dark-eyed gaze straight through her skull and into her soul. Alex looked back at him, her heart beating a bit faster as she tried to look open and honest.
Then he nodded. When the others looked at him, Ed just shrugged. “I don’t see why not. A couple extra patrols won’t hurt me that much.”
Bob laughed. “Well, yeah, Mr. Serious. When haven’t you managed to have Recovery at max? I’m surprised you ever even break a sweat.”
“Well, if he’s in, so am I.” Mary looked around, as if searching for the next patrol. “It took me forever to catch up to you louts, and I’m certainly not going to fall behind again now.”
They looked at Bob, and he grimaced. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Let’s get it done. Hopefully, Chief won’t be too upset with us.”
“Upset for what? Helping our Vanguard level up a bit faster?” Alex rolled her eyes. “We’re a team, aren’t we? So let’s show everyone we can act like it. Besides, I really, really want a piece of one of those big guys.”
Laura seemed to be caught between ambition and some nameless worry. Then she took a deep breath and nodded. “All right. We’ll give you the first shot at one, then. Just… don’t get crushed, okay? I really don’t want to be the Vanguard that gets all their people killed.”
Alex shook her head. “Don’t worry, you won’t be. Now let’s get to it.”
They found the next patrol waiting for them in the open mouth of a warehouse. The broad sliding doors had fallen off, and the Grue were lounging around in the wreckage of metal. Alex’s breath caught as she recognized the Brute at the head of their formation. She charged straight for it, the others falling into formation around her.
Laura was still in front of her, but the Vanguard had already told her it wouldn’t stay that way. The veteran Surveyor would strike the Brute in passing and then tear through the relatively weaker Grue behind it. Alex would need to occupy the thing and hopefully kill it by the time the others were finished. If she didn’t, at the very least she’d need to keep it busy.
Those thoughts were still whirling through her mind as they closed with the monsters. The Brute reeled back, both warhammers clutched in its massive paws. Rage flooded its grey eyes, and its shadowbound form seemed to bulge and stretch as it prepared to clash with its enemies. It reared back, ready to bring both weapons down on Laura, probably with enough force to flatten a truck.
In response, Laura abruptly jumped forward, pushing off the concrete with enough force that Alex could have sworn it cracked beneath her boot. The Vanguard shot straight past the Brute at full speed. Laura pivoted as she rocketed by, her double blades flashing as she pushed further into the horde ahead.
The Brute howled, its right leg collapsing beneath it. Two jagged cuts had been left in Laura’s wake, both leaking grey smoke. Rage filled the Brute’s eyes as it began to pivot, its gaze searching for the Surveyor that had dared to wound it.
Alex didn’t give it any time to recover from its wounds or distractions. She sprinted in close and slammed into the monster shield first. The impact was brutal enough that the Brute was driven back and up, its grey eyes looking stunned. Her axe came around in a brutal hacking strike that tore into its torso, opening even more wounds in its smokey hide.
There was a crashing noise as the Brute let one of its warhammers fall to the concrete below. Alex had a heartbeat to bring her shield up and around before it punched at her with its free hand, smashing her away from it. The Brute howled as she slid back from it, forcing itself back to its feet. As she watched, its wounds started to try to close, and it swung its other warhammer in a heavy blow.
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Alex dodged to the side, feeling the wind of the hit pass her by. The hammer slammed into the pavement with enough force to bury the metal head in the pavement. She ran forward, passing along the Brute’s extended arm, hacking at the corded muscle as she went. Three quick, vicious hits left the monster trembling and howling with rage. It pivoted and brought its fist around in a punch that she just barely managed to block with her shield. One of its fingers cracked as it slammed into the boss of her shield, and this time, she held her ground.
As the Brute reeled back, preparing for another strike, Alex darted in under its reach. She jumped and brought her axe down in a strike that hit the exact same spot that Laura had left bleeding. The Brute screamed in agony. It staggered backward and Alex chased after it, still hacking away at its legs.
The strength suddenly went out of its wounded limbs, and Alex shield-checked it over onto its back. Then she followed it, her axe striking at it as the thing tried to roll and protect itself. She caught a swipe of its massive forearm on her shield, shoved it aside, and planted strike after strike into its torso, neck, and head.
Finally, the thing jerked and went limp beneath her. Alex stood on its shoulder, breathing hard and trying to recover her senses. Laura had been right; if it had been focused on her, one or the other hammer probably would have smashed her flat. How was she supposed to deal with something like that on her own?
Abruptly, the body beneath her burst into flame, and she was forced to scramble back away from the purple blaze. She heard laughter, and looked over at the others, just as the yellow text scrawled across the edge of her sight.
[Recovery advances to 18!
[Main Quest Progress: 5 of 8 targets destroyed]
[Hidden Quest Completed!]
Alex slumped in relief and then grinned at the others. “Well, who wants to go next? I can tell you it was just as fun as it looks.”
The others laughed again, even Laura, who still looked abnormally tense. Ed finally raised his hand. “I’ll do it. I figure that if she can take on one of those things, I might as well give it a go.”
“Well, surprise, surprise, Mr. Serious is taking on another challenge.” Bob rolled his eyes. “I’m guessing you’ll be after him, Bloody Mary? Then I’ll give it a shot after that.”
The Squire nodded, her eyes narrowed. “I’ll forgive you the nickname if you actually come through for it. Laura, are you still on track?”
Laura nodded. “Yeah. I got two of the Knights and all of the Archers. A few more of those, and we’ll be looking pretty good.”
“All right, let’s get going then.” Mary smiled. “Despite what the new girl thinks, we don’t actually have all day.”
The next three patrols went more or less the same way.
Laura wounded and distracted the Brute, and one of the E rankers used the opening to take it down. Ed killed it by actually blocking the thing’s hammers, and then stepping in under its reach to cut it to pieces. Mary relied on pure fury and damage, actually managing to cut a leg off once Laura was past and then chopping away at it while it was on the ground. Bob, for his part, got almost to point blank range and blew a hole through it with a blast of light.
By the time the Screen reported they had finished their eighth patrol, Alex was beginning to see the signs of fatigue on the others. Even Ed was starting to waver a little each time they ran into battle, and the others weren’t much better.
As they recovered from their most recent battle, Laura looked around at them and smiled. “Are you sure you want to keep going with this? We can always just head back now.”
“And miss out on all this fun?” Alex forced herself to grin. “How about we do it this way? Two of us will gang up on the Brute, while the other two kill a couple of Knights a piece. We can change who does what for the next four patrols. That should give everyone the chance to get what they need, and you’ll finish out whatever Quests you have left. What do you think?”
The others hesitated. Alex didn’t bother pushing them; after all, her main goal had been to help everyone to work together and accomplish as much as they could. If they decided to head back now, at least they had all gotten two Hidden Quests, which was more than they could have done before.
Then Ed rolled his shoulders and gave her a challenging look. “Do you want to work with Bob or Mary for the partner work?”
Alex smiled. “Bob, you all right working with me?”
The Acolyte glanced back towards the building with the portal. He sighed. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”
Nearly an hour later, they finally dragged themselves back to the portal. Every single one of them had completed a third Hidden Quest, and even if it wasn’t a full clear, it still felt like an incredible victory. Laura was grinning from ear to ear, despite her fatigue, and even Bob seemed to be excited to see the results of their actions.
The sounds of battle had faded from the rest of the city as they drew close, and Alex winced as she pictured arriving after all the rest of the teams had come back. At the very least, they’d have plenty to show for it.
She stepped through the light with the others…
Alex found herself once more standing in the light, waiting for the text to appear.
[Mission Report]
[Successful Return! +20 Experience]
[Main Quests Completed! +80 Experience]
[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +40 Experience]
[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +40 Experience]
[Secondary Adversary Quest Completed! +40 Experience]
[Hidden Quest Undiscovered.]
Not a bad haul for a single Survey. She wouldn’t reach level five anytime soon, but she could afford to wait a little longer. At the very least she had pushed her fellow Surveyors to work together, and they’d made it through a fairly hard mission together. That fact had to count for something in the future.
[Battle Maneuvers increased from 17 to 20!]
[Combined Arms–Axe/Shield increased from 17 to 20!]
[Recovery increased from 14 to 20!]
It was even harder to be angry at a Survey that left her with all her Skills at maximum. She felt like laughing as she pictured the amount of Titles she was about to gain, and she was grinning from ear to ear as she dismissed the text and pushed forward.
[Battle Maneuvers has reached level 20! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Battle Maneuvers to gain a Title?]
She agreed immediately. The chance to continue levelling up the Skill she knew she was going to take with her to the next Role was too good to pass up, especially considering the fact that she’d have something like three days to train it back up again. It was a bit painful to think about the list of Surveyors waiting to beat on her, but only until she regained her levels again. Then she’d be practically unstoppable.
[Title Lady of War upgraded to Title Peer of War (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Combined Arms, Weapon Mastery, and Battle Maneuvers by two.)]
Alex let out a low, greedy chuckle. Increasing both Combined Arms and Battle Maneuvers at the same time was a lucky result. When the next option appeared, she barely hesitated.
[Marathoning has reached level 20! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Marathoning to gain a Title?]
She accepted it, and a new rush of power filled her.
[Title Persistent upgraded to Title Dogged (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, and Marathoning by two.)]
Of course, she might have gained something special by waiting for the option to Chain Marathoning and Combined Arms, but it seemed like that wouldn’t have been likely to help her.
Especially since the next two options were already exactly what she wanted.
[Combined Arms–Axe/Shield has reached level 20! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Combined Arms–Axe/Shield to gain a Title?]
She accepted.
[Title Savagery upgraded to Title Brutality (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by three.)]
Alex snorted. At this point, Combined Arms seemed almost as high a grade as Battle Maneuvers. Not that she was planning on keeping it instead, but it was starting to get ridiculously overpowered for a simple Chained Skill.
Her next option wasn’t quite as exciting, but she accepted it anyway.
[Recovery has reached level 20! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]
[Reset Recovery to gain a Title?]
[Title Endurance gained (Increases Skill grade of Recovery Skills by one.)]
It wasn’t the best result, but she couldn’t expect miracles from an unmodified single Skill. All the same, she’d be able to put the Title to good use as the Surveys got longer and more difficult. The little Skill had already more than proved its worth during the hunt for the Grue today, at the very least.
With her Skills all reset to zero, and with enough new Titles to make that sacrifice worthwhile, Alex moved forward through the brilliant light…
She stepped out into the portal room back and Earth, and instantly realized that something wasn’t right.
It wasn’t a hard thing to figure out. The rest of her team was already waiting with her, and Laura was giving her report to Chief Wells. He did not look happy; in fact, she almost thought that he was on the brink of violence. What had happened?
She looked at Ed, who held a finger to his lips. The other Surveyors headed for the exit, while Laura continued to talk. At some point, while she stepped past them, Wells’ eyes locked onto her. The sheer hostility in them reminded her of Liliana for a moment, and her fingers twitched as she remembered how that had ended.
Then she simply walked out the door and down the hallway. She didn’t have time to waste on whatever Wells’ problem was, not when she needed to track down Joanna and the others to see how things had gone for them. Maybe they would know what had happened, anyway.
“You really just can’t help it, can you?”
Alex watched as Joanna paced back and forth in front of her. “I can’t help what?”
“Ticking off people who are in charge of you. I swear, first Liliana and now Wells. It’s like you’re addicted to it. Or maybe it’s some kind of disease.” The Adept threw her hands in the air in frustration. “I would have thought that after last time…”
Feeling a little unjustly accused, Alex couldn’t help but speak up. “Hey, last time you didn’t exactly complain about it, now did you?”
Clara gave Joanna a steady look. “She did try to kill us.”
Joanna returned the look with a level stare of her own. “And are you going to say that she didn’t try a lot harder thanks to our resident troublemaker over here?”
Audrey burst out laughing. “Well, yeah. That was part of the fun, though, wasn’t it?”
“At least you guys actually got to go out and tick somebody off.” Alessa was face down on her bunk, grousing at them over her pillow. “We spent most of the day cleaning dishes and sweeping floors. Not exactly what I signed up for when it comes to being a Surveyor.”
Alex tentatively raised a hand. “I’m still not sure what I did to make Wells so mad, anyway. Did we really get back that late?”
Audrey gave her a shrug. “Not really. Only an hour or so. It’s not like you went on another Raid.”
Alessa raised a hand from where she was lying on the bed. “I volunteer to go on her next Raid. It’s only a matter of time.”
Incredulous, Alex rolled her eyes. “Didn’t you say something about never doing that again?”
“Raids are awful. Dishes are worse.”
Joanna broke back in with an impatient groan. “The problem is that you guys were the highest-level group of E rankers that went through the portal. Wells wasn’t just expecting you to come back on time. He was expecting you to come back earlier than planned—and instead you showed up over an hour late.”
Alex shrugged defensively. “Sometimes Surveys run a little longer, don’t they? It’s not like everything always goes to plan.”
“Here at Red Blade things do.” Joanna folded her arms and tapped her foot. Alex felt like the Adept was nearly ready to start hovering on the force of her irritation alone. “Every single route and action is scheduled here. They don’t have unstable portals. They don’t have unexpected developments. Their PAD actually functions properly, and monitors the portals, so when they fluctuate, they can send more people in. Everything is set up to function like clockwork.”
It still didn’t make sense. “So you’re saying that us coming back late embarrassed Wells somehow?”
“No, I’m saying you coming back late told Wells that you are not someone he can count on to work like clockwork. You’re someone who might cause trouble and disrupt his tidy little organization that he’s built here. Not that you haven’t already been doing that by being stronger than he expected and willing to shove it in everybody’s face.”
Clara snorted. “You say that like there was any chance she wasn’t going to do that anyway.”
Joanna grunted. “Good point. She could at least try to hide it, though.”
“I mean, she could probably calm things down at least a little bit, right?” Audrey looked back and forth between them. “By going to the celebration this time, instead of hanging out here?”
The prospect of going to hang out with Chief Wells and the others—of hearing them talk about her mother like some kind of unknowable idol of some kind, or lecturing her for simply doing her job, or sizing her up for some kind of competition—made Alex feel a bit queasy. She opened her mouth to say she wasn’t going, only for Clara to groan. “You’re not actually going to go, are you?”
Alex gave her a sharp look. “Why do you say that?”
“Because I just tried to picture you rubbing elbows and making small talk with Chief Wells, and it felt incredibly wrong.”
Audrey shivered. “No, you’re right. It seems like that shouldn’t happen.”
Trying not to feel offended, Alex rolled her eyes. “I could do small talk.”
“Really.” Alessa levered herself up from the bed to look her in the eyes. “This I want to see. Go ahead. Do small talk.”
Alex opened her mouth… and then shut it. She looked away. “Okay, you’re right. I’m not going.”
Joanna put a hand over her eyes. “I want to tell you to go anyway, just to make Wells happy, but something tells me that would just end badly.”
“It’s not an option anyway, actually.” They all turned to stare at the doorway, where Ed was leaning against the doorframe. He hadn’t been there at the start of the conversation, but clearly he’d been eavesdropping for a while. The Porter shrugged. “Sorry, you, me, and the rest of our team are restricted from going to the celebration. Guess we’ll have to go next time.”
Given that she’d already decided not to go, Alex felt a burst of entirely irrational resentment for the fact she’d been excluded from the celebration. She grimaced. “We’ll have to see about that. It’s some kind of punishment for being late?”
“That and refusing to follow the guidance of our Vanguard.” Ed winced. “I guess Laura decided to throw us under the bus a little bit.”
Alex grunted. “Well, sorry. I guess this makes two celebrations I’ve made you miss.”
Ed shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I never did like to go to those things, anyway.” He pushed away from the doorframe. “Meet you tomorrow morning for a run?”
She nodded. “Sure. Just keep in mind, I’ve reset all my Skills. You might actually have a chance to keep up this time.”
“I’ll have to do my best, then.” He nodded to them and retreated, leaving the rest of the Surveyors looking after him.
It was Audrey who broke the silence. “Oooh, a running buddy, huh?”
“I swear, it’s like the less she pays attention, the more she picks up.” Alessa shook her head, as if mystified. “First Zach, now this guy. Maybe if I give myself some kind of brain damage so I don’t understand anything outside of combat…”
“Wait, what about Zach? I thought…”
Alex groaned and put a pillow over her face. She was already looking forward to sleep, and a part of her debated whether she should hope the others went to the party just so she could get an early start. Tomorrow was going to be brutal, no matter how hard she tried to brace herself for it—and she had the sneaking suspicion that Wells was going to try to make things even more difficult somehow.