Over the next fifteen minutes, the rest of the captains trickled in. Ava was still missing, but Sam decided to let the woman deal with her emotions for a bit before consulting her. Sam ushered them all into the city hall, clearing out a few people who were organizing files in there. It seemed that the curse of bureaucracy had already made its way into the city. Sam had no idea how there were already rows of files, but he supposed that some people just liked to organize everything. They trooped up the stairs, and made their way to the war room at the top of the building. Sam closed the door behind him, and turned to address them.

“Right. For those who do not know, Jane has been captured by the Legion. They sent a clone of her here to infiltrate the city, but I dealt with it half an hour ago. The more pressing matter is their demands for her return. They want my hammer, Lao’s staff and ten million credits.”

"How long do we have?” Thomas asked.

"Until noon tomorrow. They want us to meet them at the Eiffel tower. Only three of us are allowed to go.”

“This reeks of a trap,” Thomas replied.

“Oh, it is most certainly a trap. Do we really have another option though?” Eduardo interjected. “The only thing we can do is to send our strongest, which would be Sam, Lao and myself.”

“I agree. All three of you are F Rank, which is a cut above the rest of us. If anyone will survive this, it will be you,” Jeffrey said. “I am getting close to breaking through, but I will not be there by tomorrow.”

“Great. It is decided then,” Sam said. “We will leave tomorrow in the flying craft, and will arrive in Paris before noon. We have no idea what to expect there however. We should pack for a heavy battle.”

“Well, let’s not waste any more time chatting then. Let’s get to work!” Eduardo said, rising out of his seat.

Sam, Lao and Eduardo made their way out, leaving the others behind to discuss what would happen when they were gone. The city was more than strong enough to repel basic assaults, but there was always the possibility that someone would try to take advantage of the three strongest faction members leaving.

In the meantime, Sam was gathering up as many pieces of equipment that he could find. It seemed that almost everything could be found within the Interweb, as Sam was able to purchase over fifty small grenades from a shady looking vendor there. They were all guaranteed to take out anything below level 30, and severely injure even low F Rankers on a direct hit. Each had taken a significant chunk of cash to buy, but Sam wasn't exactly poor anymore. Sam had also found a single F Rank portable bomb, which would make for a great cover for an escape. It was supposed to be able to take out a city block, but it was also quite volatile, which necessitated Sam buying a special storage device. That had cost half a million credits, and it could only store a single item, but apparently proper storage devices were extremely valuable. The smallest one that he could find was over ten million credits, and he would not waste that much money on a simple utility device.

He also stocked up on bandages and other medical supplies, all of which were imbued with minor Life elemental energy. He had tried to pick up some healing crystals too, but the F Rank versions were ruinously expensive, and he decided just to wing it. Sam had caught sight of the green serum that the System had provided during the tournament, but it had been the subject of a bidding war, and the price was in the high hundreds of millions. In any case, Sam was satisfied with what he had acquired.

The shopping trip had taken him about an hour, meaning that there was still a lot of time to spend before they had to leave. With that in mind, Sam made his way to the Adventurers’ Guild. The place was exactly as he had remembered, a large building with a constant stream of people going in and out. Sam displayed his badge more prominently, and a few people made way for him as he entered. As he entered the building proper, he heard someone shouting his name. As he turned towards it, he spotted Garn, the man who had overseen his admittance test, running towards him.

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“Sam! Come with me now. Some of the higher ups want to talk to you.”

Garn seized Sam by the wrist and dragged him towards a small portal that had appeared in the center of the room. Sam entered it a moment after Garn, finding himself in the middle of a small auditorium. Three hooded figures sat at the top, each of them exuding a concentrated aura of power comparable to someone like Berrigious. The aura thickened around Sam, forcing him to take a knee.

“Sam Atlas. We have heard much about you,” one of the figures stated. Her voice was undoubtedly feminine, but it reverberated in an unnatural manner.

“Indeed. You are one of the most promising individuals of your universe, and unlike the others, you joined the Guild,” another one of the figures said.

“Rise, Sam Atlas, and walk to us,” the final one said, removing the pressure that crushed Sam into the ground.

Sam got up with a grunt, and slowly made his way up the stairs to the top of the auditorium. Behind him Garn stood like a statue, almost as if he was too afraid to move. Sam knew that no harm could come to him within this place, but it was still disconcerting to be standing in front of beings that were so much stronger than him. Sam reached the top a few moments later, and he stood there, waiting for them to speak. There was an awkward pause during which the three robed figures leaned in, almost as if they were smelling Sam.

“Ah, the sweet perfume of destiny hangs heavy around this one,” the feminine voice called out.

“He is a nexus point, without a doubt.”

“We made the right decision in calling him here,” the final voice intoned.

“Uh, excuse me for interrupting, but what exactly is going on here?” Sam asked, trying as hard as he could to sound polite.

“And the boy has manners too. Good,” was the only response he received.

The three figures began to whisper to each other in tones too low for Sam to hear, and he decided to take a seat in the interim. None of the beings seemed to care, and Sam was soon sitting on the end of a row of stone benches, waiting. He sat there for what felt like hours, but was really only about fifteen minutes. The figures rose in unison, and the pressure returned after that time had passed, telling Sam that it was time to rise.

"We have come to a consensus about you, Sam Atlas. You show more potential than another in your universe, but we cannot take action to rescue you from the Butcher at this moment. We might feel as if you are an investment that is worth the risk, but to our supervisors, there are always other universes.”

“I appreciate the praise, but how exactly does this help me?” Sam replied. “I apologize if my tone causes offense.”

“No, no offense taken. My partner here sometimes speaks obliquely. Her Dao path is one that does not render her easily understandable to mortals. What she meant to say is that if you prove your worth to us beyond the shadow of a doubt, then we can step in and rescue you from your predicament.”

Sam froze as he heard what the man had said. It was a way out, a way to leave the dead end universe that he had been sealed into. And then reality hit him.

“What about my allies? Will they be allowed to come as well?” The figures collectively sighed.

“We knew that you would ask about that. The answer unfortunately is no. To purchase the freedom of one such as you from Tantalos Veruvax would already cost more money than we would spend on almost any F Ranker. To add in thousands of people would make that investment untenable. If your allies wish to come with you, they must all prove yourself to your level.”

“Oh. I see. I am afraid that I cannot accept your offer, even if I was able to prove myself sufficiently. There would be no reason to do so, if I was taken away from my people,” Sam responded. It hurt, saying no to an offer such as this, but he knew that he was a shadow of himself without people to protect.

“You arrogant scum. You think that your judgment is superior to ours? To deny our will without a moment of hesitation? You best not show your face before us again, lest we teach you a permanent lesson,” the female voice said.

The pressure slammed down on Sam again, far stronger than before. It was time for him to leave. Sam left the Interweb with a tiny smile on his face. Those people had shown their true colors as soon as he had said no. They had led him along with honeyed words and promises, but when they were confronted with something that they did not like, they turned into arrogant children. Sam promised himself that he would never turn into someone like that as long as he lived.