Max ran his hand through his shaggy brown hair. “That’s not what I expected when you said you wanted to talk. Are you sure that they were kidnapped? It seems weird that the Silver Eagle guild would abduct their own guild members and force them to kill a governor.”

Yang nodded once. “I am sure. They gave me a message, supposedly from Lily, that proved they are lying to me. Read it for yourself.”

Max took the letter and read through it. It didn’t seem quite like Lily, but Max wasn’t sure if he was just primed to be suspicious. The last paragraph of the letter made up his mind.

Tell Max I forgive him for lying to me. If he joins the guild, we can be friends again.

“Ok, yeah. That’s hella suspicious. I never lied to Lily and we are on good terms.” Max sighed and sat back. “She’s asking you and me to rescue them from the guild.”

“Yes. I’m not imagining things. We must save her,“ Yang said and leaned forward. “She said you should join the guild. I think maybe they are still here, in the guild hall’s holding cell.”

“Alright, yeah, sure. Lily needs help. James is just lucky I still like her. I wouldn’t get involved if it was only him.” Max said and folded his arms.

“Don’t pretend to be an angry goat. We both know you are a tamed sheep. You must help your friend. They can’t keep them alive after using them like this. You won’t let James die if you know you can prevent it.”

Max groaned and put his head in his hands. Despite her weird philippino expressions, she was right. No guild would let people know that they sometimes abducted people and forced them to fight for them. Max wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he let James die. “Fine. I’ll help you. But this changes nothing. Getting himself kidnapped doesn’t make me like him all of a sudden.”

“What is with you, Max? Why is this such a big thing for you? James made one little mistake, you want to cut him out of your life. Your brother almost killed you, but you love him. Why?”

Max shook his head, “Family’s different.”

“Is it though? Is family the people you share blood with, or is it people you love? What does family mean to you?” she said softly.

Max clenched his teeth. He shook his head without looking up.

Yang got up and walked to the door. “We gotta break them out soon, I don’t know when they plan on leaving for New New York. I need to buy some new toys. Can you get Gus and Bisrat to meet us here in a bit? You know, the two people you trust despite only knowing them for a few days?”

“I’ll ask them. I’ll be back here soon,” Max said.

He met Bisrat as she was leaving the dungeon artifact shop. She immediately agreed to join the rescue effort. Max felt his heart warm as she agreed. She was a good person, willing to help people she barely knew.

Finding Gus was just as easy. He was already at the Mos Eisley bar getting drunk. Max explained the issue quickly and stood up to go.

Gus didn’t get up. “Ehh, sorry. I think I better stay. I’m already drunk.”

“Dude. It hasn’t been an hour since we got back from dungeon climbing. You can’t be that drunk yet. Besides, you'll sober up on the way. Come on.”

Gus tsked. “I’m sorry, I really am. But you want to risk your life for James, and I just don’t like that little shit that much. I’m not gonna start a fight against an entire guild when we don’t have to.”

Max stood still and blinked his eyes. “Seriously? You are going to chicken out, after all we’ve been through?”

Gus shook his head. “I’m no coward. I just don’t want to risk my life for him. I don’t even really want to risk my life for you either. We aren’t friends, we just work together. And don’t give me any bullshit about us being friends. You don’t pay attention to me at all.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Of course I pay attention to you. You are impossible to ignore.”

“Oh yeah? How come you never asked me about how my Troll card works? First time I used it, I tore up my clothes and shoes. Today when I used it, all of my clothes disappeared. You never noticed the difference, let alone asked me about it. You think of me as the dumb muscle, you don’t care about me as a person.”

Max opened and closed his mouth as he realized Gus had a point. Eventually he said, “I’ll admit I should have asked about that. I’ll try to be better in the future. But don’t make this about yourself. James and Lily saved your life dozens of times on the way here, you owe it to them to help them now.”

Gus swore at him and said, “Don’t try to guilt me into your rescue mission. This whole thing happened because you pushed him away. Why do you want to save him anyway after what he did?”

Max could tell this was going nowhere. He stomped out of the bar. Gus was an unrepentant asshole. Max should have known better. This is who Gus was, he hadn't ever hid that. Max had ignored the facts because Gus was a good fighter. No more. Even after this, Max wasn't going to party with that jerk anymore.

As he walked back to the inn, he felt rage and worry pass through him in waves. He tried to put into words why he wanted to save James now when he had pushed him away earlier. Yang’s questions swirled in his head too. Why hadn’t he forgiven James earlier?

The Listen card was a violation of his privacy, but it wasn’t actually that big of a deal. If James had asked to listen to all his surface thoughts, Max probably would have said ok. It was the lying that got his blood boiling. He hated lying, ever since what happened with his parents, he couldn’t stand it.

Then it hit him. He wasn’t mad at James. Max was mad at his own father.

...

“You seem awfully confident they won’t kill you,” Bisrat said.

Max took off his belt and handed it over. “They won’t see me as a threat, trust me. Karl knows all about my cards, he knows I can’t hurt him without transmuting something first.”

“Still, walking in there without armor and protection, seems like you are asking them to murder you and throw your body in a ditch.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Max looked her in the eyes. “I appreciate your concern, I really do. That’s why Yang will be my shadow. If anything happens to both of us, then I’m glad to have you out here as plan C.”

She looked away. “See you soon, one way or another.”

Max hurried across the street to the Silver Eagle guild building to start plan A. Yang was right behind him, using Camouflage to stay invisible. She would have snuck into the building on her own, but they knew that people with Inspect could still spot her mana. With Max as a cover, she could get past the guards up front and find the jail in the back.

Meanwhile, Max would distract Karl by talking about joining up, so he would have an excuse for entering the building.

Plan B was if Max got thrown in jail along with Lily and James. He would wait a few hours until his belt reappeared on his waist. Then he would use his belt full of weapons to break everyone out. Bisrat would enact plan C if they ran into an obstacle they couldn’t overcome, like magic blockers or mind control. She would hire mercenaries to storm the guild hall.

Hopefully, none of those plans would be needed. Max did his best to be optimistic plan A would work. He walked into the building, passing by two bored guards. He stopped at the front desk and asked about Karl.

“Sergeant Karl? He’s in the training room. Just down that hall.”

He found Karl supervising two people locked in magical combat. The two combatants were both using green magic. One threw exploding balls that sizzled in the sand when they hit, the other held a shield and sword made of energy. Max waited to approach because he didn’t want to distract the one in charge of safety.

The training room had dummies, wooden weapons, exercise equipment and a sand pit in the middle of the room.

The room had seen better days. There were multiple spots across the back wall that had holes. A few spots looked like they had been burned. It was another sign that the building wasn’t being maintained by the governor anymore.

Eventually the fight ended with one of them extending his sword mid swing and cutting deep into the other man’s arm. Karl tossed over a healing salve and the combatants headed off to the baths.

Max walked up and said, “Hey Karl, good to see you again.”

“Hey, I know you. Max, right? You are the Citadel guy with the once a day attack.”

“That’s me. Hey, is there somewhere we can talk in private?”

“I was actually about to head home. It’s getting late and I got this thing in the morning. You wanna catch up in a few days?”

“It’ll be quick, I promise.”

“Alright. Real quick. My office is this way.”

As they walked, Max said, “This place is nice. You have a good guild here.”

Karl sat down at his desk and gestured towards the other seat. “You thinking of joining? Good decision. This guild is moving up in the world. Or down as the case may be. We might be moving to the second layer soon.”

“I am thinking of joining. Lily invited me to join up for the mission they were on. She didn’t mention what the mission was, but I’d like to fight with her and James.”

“I’ll have to talk to that girl about operational security. Sure, you can join, but are you sure you want to? I thought you and James were fighting.”

“That was a minor tiff. We have been friends for years and I need to be by his side to protect him. I don’t want him to lose his head over something stupid.”

“You’re a good guy, Max. James and Lily aren’t here right now, but when they get back, I’ll assign you to their squad, I promise.”

Max shook his head. “I’m worried about their current mission. Can’t I join that?”

Karl shook his head. “No, they are more than forty miles away, sorry. Don’t worry though. This mission is a walk in the park. You can see them when they get back in a few days.”

Max couldn’t help the frown that spread across his face. “That sucks. You sure there is no way to get there before the mission?”

“Nah, man. This isn’t Earth. No roads, no cars. But don’t stress about it. They’ll be fine. I promise.”

Max stood up. “Alright, man. Thanks. I’ll talk to you in a few days when they get back.”

“No need to wait. You can start training tomorrow. Come on by and we’ll get you properly outfitted and have you swear your oath.”

“Thanks, I might. I’m just worried about James and Lily right now. Thanks for everything. I’ll talk to you later.”

Karl led him out of the building and they parted ways. Less than a block later, he met up with Bisrat. He stretched out his hand and she gave him his belt back.

“No luck?”

“According to Karl, both of them are already out on mission,” Max said and buckled the belt back on. “Even if Lily is locked up in the Guild building, I bet James is already in New New York. We need to figure out a way to get there fast. Apparently the assassination is planned for soon.”

Yang stepped out from behind a nearby corner. Her natural color faded back in as she spoke. “Lily isn’t in the guild hall. Almost no one is. The place is deserted. They must have almost everyone in New New York.”

“Dammit. We are right back where we started. We need some wheels,” Max said.

Bisrat slid forward. “I can’t get you wheels, but I know someone who can get us there fast. It won’t be cheap though.”

“We can afford it. Saving our friends and the town is worth it.”

“Let’s get going then. Let's see if we can convince the pirate to take us.”

“Pirate?”

“You’ll see.”

Bisrat led them to a small house on the edge of the city. It was made of wood, unlike most of the cloth buildings around it. Max thought it looked a little like a boat had been repurposed into a house. Maybe that’s why they called him the pirate.

She crawled up to the front door and knocked with both hands. Max thought it was a weird way to knock, then he thought he was the weird one for thinking an alien with a centipede tail would do anything like a human would.

A chubby guy in a leather trench coat answered the door. “Go away. I’m done for the day.”

“We’ll pay,” Bisrat shot back.

“Not interested. I got an early morning tomorrow. Some people actually schedule their travel.”

“Two white cores. One now, one on arrival.”

“... damn. You got me. I’ll do it for that. Meet me outside the city gates. I gotta get my engines first,” the chubby young man said.

They found their transport just outside the city walls. It was an abomination.

It looked like a jet, a bus, and a snowmobile had an orgy and this was the malformed child that resulted. Four sets of skis held up a metal airplane body with rows of canvas seats. The contraption was open topped with harpoon guns mounted on the sides. The pirate boarded after them and mounted a row of small devices on the stern. It was something Max recognized. They were impellers, the same kind of device the Igra had given him. He sold it in Twelve Meditations for a good price. This engineering horror was expensive.

Once everyone was situated, the impellers wound up and shot them forward across the grasslands. They slid over the dark fields, like pirates sailing out to pillage. The shocks on the skis weren’t up to the task though, Max felt every little bump.

By the time they slowed down an hour and a half later, night was only an hour away. They stopped a few yards away from the front gate to New New York. Max had a burning desire never to board that abomination ever again. Everyone hopped off the contraption and Bisrat paid the driver a second white core.

Max paid the entry fee at the front gate and entered the city of New New York. The name had him expecting something out of Futurama, but the city was fairly normal. It was mostly single story buildings constructed of wood and brick. The residents were bustling around, well dressed but not nearly as fashionable as those in New Pants.

“So, Yang. How are we going to find James and Lily in a city of thousands? I imagine the Silver Eagle guild is trying to hide as well,” Max asked.

Yang shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s your job. You are the leader, right?”

Max groaned and threw his head back. “Why do you guys always defer to me? I don’t know what I am doing any more than you do.” He shook his head. “Fine. Let’s split up and search the city. If they are attacking tonight, the guildies will be one of the only people still up. We’ll meet up at city hall just before nightfall. Even if we don’t know where the guild is hiding now, we know where they will be. They are trying to kill the illusionist governor, if we stick with him, they will come to us. See you two in an hour.”