“So, you’re sure this is a good idea?”
Alex didn’t look at Sam immediately. Instead, she glanced up at the roof of the bus stop. It was some kind of see-through plastic, with a greenish tint that made it hard to see the rainclouds overhead. The weather in this place was not nearly as pleasant compared to where they had lived before, but her transfer to the new company had made it impossible to stay where she had been living. It rained a lot more here, but that was going to be the least of her problems.
“They need to know, Sam. They deserve to know what they are getting themselves into.”
Sam didn’t respond right away. He just studied her, concern clear in his dark eyes. He’d arrived at the bus stop a little earlier than she’d expected; apparently, he’d just walked over from his own new house a short distance away. There were plenty of available places to rent or buy in the area. There weren’t many families willing to live so close to an active C rank portal, after all, except for Surveyors and their families. It was convenient in a way, though Alex did wonder what would happen if Royal Purple Contracting ever somehow managed to get rid of the portal at the center of their facility. Would people suddenly want to come back? Would the mostly empty town surrounding it die off, as the purpose of the place disappeared?
She shook off the thoughts and checked her phone. The bus was a little late, but that wasn’t a surprise. Schedules and actual timing almost never lined up, after all.
Beside her, Sam sighed and shook his head. “I understand what you’re saying, but are you sure this is the best way to do it?”
Alex raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you saying I shouldn’t trust them? Because at this point…”
He snorted and rolled his eyes. “I’d say that ship has sailed, sure.”
“Then what’s the problem?” She tilted her head as she looked at him. “Are you saying you would rather not know?”
Sam shook his head. “No, that’s not it either.”
She smiled. “Oh? Is it that you just wanted to be the only one who knows?”
He paused, and a flash of guilt swept across his face before he looked away. “I… guess I appreciate being the one on the inside for once. Normally I have to drag each secret out of you, so just telling them feels almost like… cheating, I guess.”
Alex sighed in exasperation. “Sam…”
The other Surveyor waved her off. “I know, I know. It isn’t a game.” Then he gave her a crooked grin. “Still, that doesn’t mean this can’t be fun, right?”
She couldn’t help but laugh, though she kept it to a low chuckle. He was still grinning at her when the bus came around the corner a moment later.
Alex’s eyes immediately locked onto the vehicle, feeling her heart start to beat a little faster as it approached. The moment she’d been waiting for, the one she’d been dreading for the past few weeks, was finally here.
She swallowed a little nervously and tried not to fidget as the bus drew closer. Sam shifted a little beside her, as if he was trying to deal with a bit of nervousness as well.
The bus, entirely unaware of her growing nerves, rumbled down the road until it came to the stop. She heard its brakes squeal slightly as it ground to a halt, and then the door hissed open. Alex took a breath and squared her shoulders, putting on a smile that she desperately wanted to be sincere.
Joanna was the first one off the bus. She was wearing simple, practical clothing, just a t-shirt and jeans. The Adept simply nodded to them. “Sam, Alex.”
Alex nodded back and turned to her second guest. Clara was a little more fancily dressed, with a knee-length skirt and a bright-colored blouse. The Acolyte smiled at Alex and gave her a quick hug. “Hey! Long time no see.”
She snorted softly and stepped back from Clara. It hadn’t been more than a week since they’d last met up. Alex had wanted to keep in close contact once they had all moved to their new location. The last thing she wanted was for their new employer to break them all up. “Thanks for coming.”
“No problem at all!” Clara gave Sam a brief hug as well before she turned back. “So! You said it was something important, right?”
Joanna was studying her with her typical intensity. “Something you wanted to discuss before we started with Royal Purple. Have you already heard something about them?”
Alex nodded. “Yeah. You could say that.” She braced herself and then gestured for them to follow her. “Come on. It’ll be… easier to explain back at my place.”
For a moment, it looked like Joanna was going to argue. Then Clara gave her a quick look, and the Adept sighed. “All right. Lead the way.” She sighed as they all filed out of the bus stop. “I can’t wait to see what kind of disaster we are heading into this time.”
Clara gave her a nudge and a look. Then she smiled at Alex. “I just can’t wait to see where you are set up! My family didn’t want to move with me this time either, so Joanna and I are just sharing an apartment on the other side of town. The neighbors seem nice, but there’s not a whole lot to do around there.”
Alex nodded and focused on putting one step in front of the other. Her heart was beating so loud that it seemed like the others should have been able to hear it. “At least you have your own space, though. My parents have been a little… overprotective lately.”
Sam snorted, and she gave him a glare. Joanna raised an eyebrow at her, but Clara didn’t seem to notice. “Can you really blame them? After that whole mess at Red Blade Securities, anyone would be concerned.”
Joanna grimaced. “My parents were just interested in when I would be home so they could show me off. Seems like being part of the ‘Red Blade Revolution’ has made us pretty popular in some circles.”
Alex winced. The press had already given their uprising against Wells and his corrupt little empire a nickname, which hadn’t boded well. The firestorm of allegations, rumors, and ‘reporting’ on the incident had mostly died down in the following weeks, but not before far too many people had heard of the Valkyrie who’d led the whole thing. She was still having to watch out for the occasional muckraker who was looking for a candid photo. After all, the last thing she needed was some paparazzi finding out exactly the wrong thing.
Fortunately, her parents had taught her well how to avoid attention. The media had been frustrated, at first, by her refusal to stand for photos or entertain interviews. Her habitual avoidance of predictable routes or stable schedules meant that lurking photographers or reporters had a hard time tracking her down. Of course, all of it fed a little more into the intrigue of it all, but she had some hope that some new scandal would push her further off the front page soon. There had to be a politician or a celebrity making trouble somewhere, right?
She shook the thoughts off as Sam chuckled. “Yeah. My folks were saying something similar, though I heard that not all of the neighbors were such big fans. Apparently, a few thought it was a sign that Surveyors were getting a little uppity or something.”
Clara frowned. “What do you mean? It’s not like we were doing anything wrong.”
“That doesn’t mean they want to see Surveyors taking on law enforcement or burning down gangs in the city, though.” Joanna’s words had a hint of sarcasm buried in them, but she didn’t seem to be angry at anyone in the group in particular. “My father… he offered to buy out my contract. Said he wanted to keep me from getting into any more trouble, and that I shouldn’t be consorting with such people.”
The Adept gave Alex a significant look, and she winced. “Sorry. I’m… probably not going to make things any easier for you.”
Joanna grunted. “Yeah, I thought not.” Then she shook her head, and some of the bitterness drained from her expression. “Then again, better you get me into a little bit of trouble than having me get killed at Golden Swallow, or sold off to some gang at Red Blade. My father can gripe all he wants, but you’ve done good work so far. I’m not going to give up on you now.”
The words brought a blush to Alex’s cheeks. To hear Joanna’s confidence in her helped steady her still-racing heart a little. Maybe it wouldn’t turn out too terribly after all.
They walked along in relative silence for a few more moments, tracing the path between the bus stop and the new house. Even in civilian clothes, they all seemed to fall into old habits of scanning their surroundings for danger. It wasn’t like there was anything to see, of course. The neighborhood was full of the same cookie-cutter houses that made up all of the surrounding blocks. Each of them was two stories tall, with a one-car garage on the left side. A small brick path led from the driveway to the front door of each place, and although each front yard had a different style of landscaping, it barely seemed different enough to matter much. Maybe in a few years, additions or bigger changes could differentiate things more, but for now, it was a stretch of bland familiarity.
Her parents’ house had a few decent shrubs on the left side of the yard, between the path and the garage. A large tree had been planted to the right, giving enough shade to block a direct view of the house from the street and providing some shade for the grass beneath. Alex was still trying to decide if she liked the spot, but at least it seemed like a safe enough place to stay for now. Hard to linger outside of it without being noticed quickly.
She still scanned the street, looking for reporters or outright spies, but she saw nothing but the same bland houses as far as the eye could see. It was at least a little reassuring that nothing had gone that wrong yet.
Joanna was the one who broke the silence. “So. This problem. How bad is it?”
Alex glanced at her. “You remember I asked you if you really wanted to continue at Royal Purple?”
The Adept’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah.”
“You might reconsider your answer after today.”
Clara broke in before Joanna could respond. “You asked me that too, and I’m pretty sure we both gave you the same answer. We have come this far working with you, and we aren’t going to give up now. Especially if you need our help with whatever this is.”
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Sam laughed. “Sometimes that is easier said than done, Clara.”
The Acolyte glared at him before she switched back to Alex. “Wait. He knows already?”
Alex nodded. “He kind of already figured it out, yeah.”
Joanna nodded slowly. “But he isn’t backing out either.”
She looked at Sam, who shook his head. Alex sighed. “No. No, he isn’t.”
“So you are hoping to convince us, even though you couldn’t talk him into—”
Clara came to a complete stop, and Joanna’s words cut off mid-lecture. Alex caught a hint of magic in the Acolyte’s eyes as Clara stared at her house. “There’s somebody inside. Somebody strong.”
Joanna’s sword was instantly in her hand. She looked around the inoffensive neighborhood, as if searching for more foes. “How many? Are they moving towards us?”
“No. Just one, but they’re…” Clara swallowed. Her eyes were as wide as Alex had ever seen them. “Red and yellow. Like nothing I’ve ever seen, though. Even Wells wasn’t…”
Her words trailed off. She looked over at Sam, and then at Alex. She frowned. “You… aren’t worried about this.”
Alex shook her head slowly. Of all the times for Clara to use her Lifesight! “No.” She looked at Joanna and made a calming motion. “We aren’t going to have a fight here. You can put that away.”
Joanna blinked at her. She straightened up and looked at the house. Her sword dangled in her hand for a moment as she looked at Sam, who nodded. “If you… say so.”
As the sword vanished, Alex sighed. It was time to get it all over with. “All right. Let’s get off the street.”
Clara still seemed stunned, but she followed with the others as Alex made her way up the brick path to the front door. A small light blinked at her as she approached; her father had spent the first night distributing a bunch of motion sensors and cameras all around their otherwise unobtrusive new home. A squirrel couldn’t have gotten close without being recorded at least three different ways.
Alex led them to the front door and knocked. Technically, it was open and she could have led them inside, but there was something about the situation that seemed to call for some formality.
The door opened a heartbeat later, and her father’s frame filled the doorway. Eric Morrison towered over all of them, and he was wide enough in the shoulders to fill the hallway that led back into the rest of the house. He looked over all of them carefully, as if searching for signs of treachery.
Then his face softened into a smile. “Hello! You must be the rest of Alex’s friends. Sam, good to see you again.”
Sam nodded, but Alex sighed. “They are already a little nervous, Dad. We should probably get right to business.”
Eric blinked. He straightened up, getting even taller for a moment. “I… see.” The affable expression and general joviality fell away from him. “Come in, then. I’ll go get some drinks from the kitchen. The dining room is the second door on the right.”
Without further introduction, Eric retreated down the hallway and disappeared into the door to the kitchen on the left. Alex glanced at the others and found Joanna looking at Clara. The Adept raised an eyebrow, but Clara just shook her head. Her gaze was fixed on where the dining room would be, if the intervening walls were not in the way.
Alex cleared her throat, and both of them looked at her. “That was Eric Morrison, my father.” She stepped into the house, gesturing for the others to follow. “Sorry he wasn’t more welcoming, but it’s always hard after a move. He gets a little jumpy.”
“I can sympathize.” Clara still sounded dazed, but she reached out and grabbed Alex’s sleeve before she could go any further in. “Alex, the person in the dining room…”
“Had better not be showing off when we get there!” Alex raised her voice enough to echo down the hallway. She heard Eric give a bark of laughter, followed by a mutter from her mother. She shook her head. “It’s going to be fine. I promise.”
“It’s just…” Clara grimaced. “I’m just remembering that the night things went wrong at Red Blade, your parents said they had… dealt with… a group of gangers. I’m just starting to realize what that meant, and…”
Joanna gave the Acolyte a gentle shove, her eyes locked on Alex’s face. The Adept gave her a strained smile. There were tears glistening in her eyes. “It’s her, isn’t it?”
Alex looked past her at Sam. He’d just closed the door, taking up an unobtrusive guarding position—just in case someone decided to run, she supposed.
Then she nodded. “It is.”
She watched in mild surprise as the Adept sucked in a quick breath. “I’d always wanted to meet her. I must’ve cried a week when I heard the news.”
“Sorry about that! We didn’t have many options.” Eric’s voice echoed from the kitchen, where Alex could hear dishes clanking together. Joanna blinked and then gave Alex an incredulous look. They burst into giggles a heartbeat later, while Clara looked back and forth between them as if they’d lost their minds.
“Can someone please tell me what is going on? Just because I haven’t figured it out yet doesn’t… mean…”
She trailed off, and Alex glanced backwards. Her mother had come out of the dining room at last, her face twisted in a wry expression. Muriel met her daughter’s eyes and shrugged. “Sorry, Alex. I figured since you lot had already sucked all the drama out of things, I might as well ruin my own mystique.”
Alex rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mom. We were just getting to that.” She looked back at Clara, who was staring at her with eyes wider than she’d ever seen. “Clara, Joanna, meet the Crimson Blade, my mother. Mom, meet Joanna and Clara, my friends.”
Muriel nodded, her smile as genuine as it ever had been. “It is a pleasure to meet you both. Thank you for everything you have done for my daughter. Come in. We have things to discuss.”
She disappeared back into the dining room, leaving the hallway wrapped briefly in silence. Clara and Joanna both stared at the spot in astonishment for a long moment. It was Clara who finally broke it.
“Did she just say daughter?”
Alex sighed. It was going to be a long day.
A couple of hours and a long explanation later, Alex watched as her friends tried to come to grips with what they had learned.
Clara looked like the entire sky had fallen on her. Joanna, on the other hand, was now fully back in control, her eyes narrowed in concentration. “So. To sum things up.”
Sam snorted in amusement, and Joanna glared at him for a moment before she continued. “The Crimson Blade is alive. You are her daughter. You’re trying to become an S rank so that you can bring the people who tried to kill her to justice. We’ve just been hired by those same people. Am I missing anything?”
Alex shook her head. “No. That is just about everything.”
Joanna nodded. “I can see why you wanted to explain this. I also… understand why you hid this from us before. I may need some time to adjust.”
“Take all the time you need.” Alex exchanged a look with her mother, who shrugged. The Crimson Blade had mostly sat there looking dignified while Alex had explained things, aside from an occasional clarification or two. It was hard to tell whether she felt grateful about that or not.
She turned her attention back to Clara. “Hey. Are you all right? Did you have any—”
Clara’s eyes suddenly focused on her. “Your name isn’t Alexandretta.”
The statement caught Alex off guard. She glanced at Sam. “No, it’s not.”
“Your name is Alexis. Alexis Morales.” Then Clara’s eyes narrowed. “But you never called yourself either one. You just said…”
“My name is Alex.” She heard her mother snort—it was an echo of a long-dead argument about cover identities and reality, one that Alex was more than happy to ignore. “I know it means I’ve been lying to you, but—”
“You have, in the most honest way possible, I guess.” Clara burst into a wild laugh that didn’t do anything to soothe Alex’s worries. “I want to just shake half the stories out of you, but this already explains so much! No wonder you didn’t want to salute the statue at Red Blades! And you always knew a little too much about Surveys. I thought you had just learned it from…”
Clara’s voice trailed off, and her expression sharpened. “Did Zach know?”
A stab of pain went through Alex’s chest. She looked away for a heartbeat, struggling to bury it back where it belonged. “He did. He came to visit one day.”
“Caught me red-handed!” Muriel’s grin was a mixture of fondness and grief. She made a vague gesture with her hand. “He is not the only one we’ve lost, however. If you intend to stay, this will be dangerous. For all of you.”
She ended the sentence staring at Alex, who shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Her mother wasn’t entirely pleased with the plan to continue working for Royal Purple. There had been… discussions about it over the past few days about the risk involved.
Sam coughed. “I put things together on my own as well. Things just fit together too well when we… well, you know.”
Joanna nodded. “So. Do you believe that Royal Purple is a threat, then?”
Alex glanced at her mother before she answered. “Anyone associated with Greylight will be, yes. That’s why—”
The Adept held up a hand. “Let’s pretend you aren’t going to try and keep us out of this now that we know what you are risking and why. You’re our friend, you’re going to be in trouble. We aren’t about to turn on you now.”
Sam raised an eyebrow at her. “I would’ve thought that you would be upset that she was already ruining your next job posting.”
Joanna closed her eyes and sighed. “There’s only so much disappointment you can take before you just have to accept things, Sam. Besides, at least she is telling me sooner rather than later.”
Clara shot a glance in her direction. “That, and she’s known something was up from the moment we got our assignments.”
“That too, yes.” Joanna opened her eyes and looked back at Alex. “You are obviously hoping that they don’t recognize you before you are strong enough to take them on. Do you know who you are up against?”
Alex looked back at Muriel, who shook her head. She looked almost thoughtful. “There were at least thirteen survivors from the ambush, maybe as much as seventeen. I never did manage to identify them, though.” Muriel gave them a crooked smile. “After all, they weren’t exactly introducing themselves at the time.”
Joanna frowned. “So we have thirteen experienced, high-ranked Surveyors that have a very personal reason to make sure that you fail. In addition to that, we have Greylight itself, who would be more than happy to help them make sure the story never gets out, and a thorn in their side disappears.”
With a grimace, Alex shook her head. “I haven’t exactly been doing much to them, though.”
“You’ve already cost them whatever arrangement they had with Wells. I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t already on their to-do list.” Sam spread his arms wide as Alex looked at him. “The only reason they haven’t gone after you yet is probably because the hero of the Red Blade Revolution is a bit too public to deal with yet. That, and they still don’t know who you really are.”
Joanna nodded. “If they ever find out, though—or if you do the kind of damage to Royal Purple that you did to Golden Swallow and Red Blade Securities—they are going to kill you. As quickly and as quietly as they can.”
“A fairly good reason not to go anywhere near them in the first place.” Eric’s deep rumble announced his arrival, and Alex looked over to see him carrying a load of drinks and snacks piled high on a tray. He set the food down and gave her a level look. “I’m telling you, Alex, if things go wrong this time…”
“It’s not going to go wrong.” A table full of skeptical expressions looked back at her. “I’m going to be careful. I only have about eight months left on my contract. If I can just keep my head down until then, I can just leave the company and go somewhere else.”
There was a moment of silence. Then Sam sighed. “Everyone who believes that she’s going to be able to keep her head down for the next eight months, please raise your hand.”
No hands were raised. Alex tried to glare at them, but Joanna just turned to the others instead of acknowledging her. “So, if we know there are going to be problems, how do we counteract them? Should we just try to get us all fired for something small?”
Sam shook his head. “Better to cause some damage on the way out, honestly. Anything that keeps them too busy to come after us.” He paused. “You said you weren’t certain how many attackers there were. Does that mean you don’t have a list to work off of?”
Alex blinked. She glanced at her mother before she continued. “I had a list of the higher ranked personnel working for Greylight during the attack, but aside from that—”
He nodded. “All right, looks like we have one idea. If we can get ahold of information like that, I’m sure we can find a few other tidbits about what they’ve been up to. We might even be able to find some blackmail we can use to keep their goons at bay.”
Clara nodded, her gaze becoming more focused. “In that case, we’d want to go in with the idea of digging up whatever we can find. Maybe we could try our best to get access to whatever they have going on?”
Joanna grunted. “Royal Purple has a reputation of being a PR stunt for the rest of Greylight’s companies. We should lean into that as well.” When Alex looked at her, Joanna grinned. “They can’t put a whole lot of effort into killing you if you are their poster girl, right? The more famous you are, the better.”
Muriel stirred. “The more popular she is, the more likely it is that somebody will recognize her.”
“I doubt it. As long as she avoids any direct comparisons to you, we should be able to keep her hidden in plain sight.” Sam grinned. “After all, everyone thinks you’re dead. Alexandretta Morrison is a problem, sure, but she’s her own special problem. Any similarities to you we can dismiss as a product of Red Blade Securities’ training program.”
Eric harrumphed and settled down next to him, his expression contemplative. “Maybe she could also do some sabotage as well? I have a few ideas that I was planning on using during her escape, but with the proper preparation, we could—”
Alex slowly lowered her head to the surface of the table and put her hands over her head. Around her, the others continued to plan their campaign against Greylight Industries, something she desperately hoped wouldn’t be necessary. All she wanted was to get through the next eight months and get out. Surely that wouldn’t be too hard, would it?