Day 10

Wednesday, June 15, 2045

Kaden looked over Julia’s response to his late night message. He had sent her the team’s goals by the end of the day yesterday, as requested. She had responded almost immediately, even though it was almost midnight by the time he sent it.

Basically, she had increased or doubled all the targets. He didn’t know yet how to achieve all of this by next Tuesday. He read over the goals again, trying to focus on the best way to tackle each problem:

Week 2 Goals

* Meditation: 10 hours

* Caps: 100

* Plus points: 2,000

* Ward rating: D (stretch goal = C rating)

The meditation goal wouldn’t be a problem for him. He was already doing morning and night sessions. Their team’s ability to collect monster caps from training was limited by the time they had in the main training gyms, but he mused that there might be a way to increase the difficulty (and increase the potential mana to be collected). He or Bill would have to find a manager or two interested in giving them lucrative Plus assignments. And the Ward rating – that was going to require study. He was confident he could pass the written exam, but if he wanted any chance at getting a D rating or better, he was going to need help.

Kaden sighed. It wasn’t even the end of the second week, and he felt exhausted. He reminded himself that all of these goals and activities and targets were not his main quest. His primary goal was to find out the truth about the Tower and what happened to his father, and that meant he needed to make faster progress on the David Olson lead.

A notification popped up on his mobile. It was a message from Sandy.

Hey kid. Got something for ya. Something related to that little field trip we took yesterday.

Great! Thanks, Sandy. What is it?

Ha! Don’t thank me yet. I need you to do something for me this morning.

Kaden sighed. It was always this way with the Corgi.

Alright, Kaden replied.

So here’s the deal. There’s this sweet piece that lives somewhere over on Water Street. I have it on good authority her owner takes her out every morning around 7:30 for the daily constitutional. At any rate, I need you to get chummy with her and her owner. Make friends. So one day soon you can introduce.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Kaden muttered to himself.

This intel better be legit, Kaden replied. And I’ll need something to go on up front. This sounds like a long-term operation you’re asking me to do. I’m not sure if it’s worth it.

Trust me, I’ll make it worth your while. You get me in with this girl and I won’t forget it, kid.

Kaden sighed. Seemed like a lot of work for little benefit. Not to mention he felt just a little gross.

Wait a sec. Why not get Cliff to do it?

Cliff and I aren’t on the same page on this one. And not a word to him about this, ok? Or deal’s off. Got it?

Yeah, got it.

Alright, here’s a little teaser for ya, out of the goodness of my heart and to let you know how serious I am about this, ok? That guy you’re looking for? He’ll be in the City this weekend, starting Friday. He’s got meetings scheduled in the Tower on Friday and Monday. He’s also supposed to be at the shindig they’re holding for some of the managers this Friday evening.

Kaden sat up straight, a spike of adrenaline rushing through his body. That was great news! He could use that. And the timing was great. With a little luck, he could arrange to meet David Olson and hopefully have a private conversation.

That is great intel, Sandy. Thanks. I’m on board.

There’s more where that came from, just get to work. Yeah?

Alright. I’m on it. What am I looking for? What does this dog look like? Who’s the owner?

You’re looking for the hottest little toy poodle you’ve ever seen. White coat, English saddle haircut. Usually has a pink or purple scarf. Her owner is some gay guy who likes to wear matching scarves with his dog.

I’ll take a look and get started this morning.

That’s the spirit. Keep me posted.

Will do. And by the way, my sister says hello.

Sister, huh? Bring her by someday. Always happy to meet a fan.

Kaden stretched and got out of his seat in favorite corner spot on the 3rd floor cafeteria. It was just after 7am. A short walk outside and some fresh morning air seemed appealing. He would grab some more doggie treats and head over to Water Street for a stroll around the neighborhood.

----------------------------------------

It was a good thing Kaden prepared for his short walk outside the office. He spotted the target exactly where Sandy had told him to look, and the matching pink scarves the pair wore today were a dead giveaway.

Pretending to be a fellow dog owner, Kaden struck up a conversation with the man about having pets in the City in general and specifically dog treats. He kept the conversation short. He learned their dog's name was Penny. Foundation laid, he returned to the office and gave Sandy the update.

Good work, kid. You’re a natural. I’ll keep you posted on the next phase of Operation Penny. I’ll need you to take me on a short walk with you next time.

Kaden caught up on his messages as he hurried up to the 4th floor. This morning, his team had an early morning session scheduled in the large training gym. He had messaged Andy about what other advanced training sessions the team might do to maximize the cap collection rate, but he hadn’t heard back yet.

Bill was waiting for him.

“Sup, bro? How’s it hangin?”

“Alright, I guess. It’s already been a long week and it’s only Wednesday.”

“Yeah, I hear ya, man. I got some good news, though. I found another gig for the band this Friday night. There’s a happy hour for some Company leadership, and some higher ups in Marketing thought it could be a good look to showcase our collab with R&D.”

Perfect, Kaden thought. Things were finally coming together. Same party David Olson would be at. If he was lucky, he could use the access to this party to make a connection with David.

“Nice! How many points will we get for it?”

“At least a thousand, maybe two,” Bill replied.

Kaden raised an eyebrow. “That’s a lot!”

“Yeah, the manager sponsor is an SVP who reports directly to the CMO, so they have some pull. It’ll look good for Emmett and George as well. Win-win all around,” Bill added.

“Same set as before?”

Bill hesitated. “Kinda, not exactly. We need cover some classics. We’re getting somebody in Facilities to be lead singer. Not exactly my favorite type of show, but I can roll with it.”

Kaden sighed. This was a good opportunity, but the last thing he needed was learning a new set of songs in just a few days.

“I’ll send you the details. Don’t overthink it. You’ll pick up the new songs fast.”

“If you say so,” Kaden said, shaking his head.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Jill and Andy arrived, walking out of the elevator.

“I got your message,” Andy said in greeting. “Not sure it’s the wisest course of action, but given the solid performance y’all put in last time, I can give a more difficult and lucrative assignment.”

“Excellent!” Kaden replied. “That’s what we need.”

“But it’s not without risk,” Andy said, looking at the rest of the group. “Are y’all sure you want to do this?”

Heads nodded all round, and Andy shrugged.

“Alright then. Suit yourself.”

Andy found his folding chair and plopped down by the door. “Whenever you guys are ready,” he said, sounding bored.

“Same game plan, right?” Jill asked.

“That’s right,” Kaden said.

Without warning, the lights dimmed and changed color. The light levels settled at a barely visible, deep reddish hue.

“What’s going on?” Jill asked, instinctively backing up.

“A heads-up would have been nice!” Kaden called out to Andy. All he heard was a soft chuckle in reply.

Mana began to coalesce around the gym, except it was different from every other time before. This time, the sparkles of mana forming into monsters were everywhere. Across the entire space.

Kaden checked his notifications.

* Name: Chiroptera Horde-A

* Level: 7

* Attacks: Physical and Mana-based (dependent on aura type)

* Aura Affinity: Multiple

“Are you guys seeing this?” Kaden asked.

“Looks like a swarm of bugs!” Bill said.

“All kinds of different mana auras,” Jill said. “And they’re moving around so fast!”

“Alright,” Kaden said, falling back toward Jill. “Full defensive formation. Let’s layer it like we practiced,” he said.

Bill activated the general-type null ward in a dome about ten yards in diameter, centered on the group. It immediately started getting hits.

“Whoa,” Bill said. “Losing energy fast over here.”

Kaden struggled to activate the air shield ward he had. The plan was for his shield to be a backup behind Bill’s, at approximately five yards out from the group. Before he had it up and locked in place, one of the creatures broke through Bill’s shield and dove straight for Kaden.

Seeing a blur in his peripheral vision, Kaden raised an arm instinctively to shield his face. Sharp claws raked across his forearm, gouging three deep cuts and knocking him to his knees.

He gritted his teeth, blocking out the stinging pain and shock of the injury. The creature was still buzzing around inside his inner shield, dive bombing the other two. So far, they had successfully dodged the attacks, but it was keeping the team distracted.

Kaden’s gunsword blazed to life. He focused on the monster’s erratic movement, it’s bat-like leathery wings flapping furiously in the low light. When the creature’s flight path swerved toward him on its way toward attacking Jill, he swept the blade out on instinct, clipping a wing and sending hurtling to the ground.

“Everyone ok?” Kaden called, his ears pounding with his pulse and his body thrumming with adrenaline.

“Yeah but how about you?” Bill asked.

“I’m good,” he replied immediately. “What’s the plan? Any ideas?”

“It’s hard to get a read on these bat things,” Jill said. “They won’t stay still. And there’s four different aura signatures out there. And at least a hundred of those things, I can’t get an accurate count.”

As if to accentuate Jill’s statement, blast attacks started to bound off of Bill’s shield. Unable to push their way through, the monsters were unleashing sound-based attacks and mana-based blasts as well.

“Uh, shields at 40% and falling,” Bill said.

“Was that a Star Trek reference, Bill?!? At a time like this?” Jill hissed.

“Sorry! My mind goes to weird places in the face of imminent death.”

“No one’s dying,” Kaden interjected. “Let’s try to trap these bats. Immobilize them so we can siphon off the mana.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Bill said. “But whatever we’re going to do, let’s do it fast!”

Kaden jumped in with orders.

“Jill – on the count of three, you activate your air shield at three yards, ok?” Jill nodded.

“Bill – after Jill activates her shield, we’re going to drop both our shields. When the bats surge forward, I’m going to reactivate my air shield at five yards. They’ll be trapped in between me and Jill’s shield. Can you work on a torus-shaped ward that will fit in the middle and pin the bats to the ceiling?”

Bill nodded, and Kaden started the countdown. “Three, two, one, now!”

The bats surged forward in a rush, bombarding Jill’s shield. The bats themselves bounced off the air shield, but a few of the sound and mana blasts filtered through the shield, which wasn’t a complete barrier to those attacks.

Kaden activated his air shield ward, which was only at 50% power. It took Bill a few seconds but he eventually had a wobbly donut-shaped field filling the space between Kaden and Jill’s wards, gradually pushing the bats toward the ceiling.

“I’m not close enough,” Jill said as she struggled to start the mana collection process. “There’s too much interference from all the different creatures and different aura signatures.”

“Can you throw the collectors closer to the edge of the shield? If we move, the wards will move with us and the instability might cause a crash.”

“I know,” Jill snapped, and tried tossing a collector toward the edge. It rolled on its edge back toward the group, settling just a few feet away.

“Whatever,” she muttered. “Close enough.”

Gradually, Jill worked her magic, pulling the mana in the now immobilized bat creatures into steady streams toward collectors tossed around the periphery of their interior air shield. The process was slow and unwieldy. The screeching and fighting bats didn’t stay still, and all the squirming movement and constant scratching and attacking on the air shields disrupted the mana flows, requiring multiple restarts and reconfigurations. But eventually, the number of creatures remaining grew fewer and fewer, as the collectors gathered more and more mana, filling over five caps of each of the four primary aura types.

The lights came back up to normal levels as the last of the creatures disappeared.

Clap. Clap. Clap. Andy’s deliberately slow applause echoed across the empty room. “You guys never disappoint. Fun to watch. Absolutely batshit crazy. But fun.”

There was a collective groan.

“Like, what’s your problem, man?” Kaden asked.

Andy let out a genuine laugh. “Bless your heart, kid. You might want to get that arm looked at.”

Andy turned to leave, whipping his lanyard back and forth. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t see the injury, otherwise I might have to report it. I don’t need the paperwork, and you don’t need the points deduction. See y’all later.”

The team looked at each other.

“That was gnarly,” Bill said. “And not in a good way.”

“We need more wards, or wards with higher capacity,” Kaden said. “We almost ran out of juice before we could start siphoning some of the collected mana into our defense.”

“And more collectors,” Jill added. “It would be nice to have a way to push a bunch of collectors out to various points on the battlefield. It would make mana collection a lot more efficient.”

“And we need a way to do more things at once,” Bill said. “One attack or one ward at a time doesn’t work for this type of monster.”

“I’ve got an idea about the collector issue,” Kaden said. “I want to talk to someone about it tomorrow.”

“I need to ask permission,” Bill said, “But I’ve got something that would absolutely rock and definitely take our ward game to the next level.”

“What about your arm?” Jill asked. “Don’t you need to go to the doctor?”

Kaden looked down at the shredded and bloodied sleeve of his sports jacket. Not another one, he thought. He was ruining clothes faster than he could pay for them.

He gingerly peeled the jacket off and rolled up the tattered remains of his shirt. Now that the fight was over, he was starting to feel the pain of the cuts, but surprisingly it was less than he expected. The blood had stopped flowing as well.

Raising his arm to the light, he studied the cuts. He thought for sure that he had been cut into the muscle, but all he saw was three bloody scratches. Rubbing at the blood caked on the edges of the cuts, he uncovered fresh pink flesh underneath, as if new skin was already growing.

“The cuts don’t look so bad,” Kaden said.

Jill pointed to the shredded jacket on the floor. “They were bad. Look at all the blood.”

He frowned. When he had been attacked, the strike had certainly felt more serious. What was going on?

“How much mana meditation have you been doing?” Bill asked.

“Three or four hours a day.”

“Everyday, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And there you have it. Faster regenerative healing. That’s a direct result of high levels of amber mana absorption.”

“I guess I didn’t expect to see any benefits so quickly.”

“That is unusual,” Jill said. “Normally it would take a month to see any measurable improvements, but even then nothing this dramatic. You must have a very strong alignment with that aura.”

“Huh, I guess so. Interesting.”

“Are you seeing any side effects yet?” Jill asked.

“No, not that I know of.”

“That’s good. Just be careful. You might be pushing too hard.”

“Ok, I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, but he wasn’t really listening. He was studying his forearm closely. By now, the cuts had closed to the size of small scratches. He was definitely impressed. And definitely wanted more of whatever this was.