~~~Stanley~~~

"You son of a bitch!"

Stanley wasn't sure what he'd done this time to prompt an outburst from Eve. She'd actually seemed rather calm right before screaming at him... Whatever it was, it wasn't out of character. So he ignored her and followed the others.

Eve didn't shoot him this time, though he half expected it. In fact, he was looking forward to seeing how well Walter's suit stood up to her new gun... So, of course, the one time he wanted her to, she didn't attack him.

Instead, she took out her anger on the cockroaches. Shooting, blasting, blowing up, and finally even using her armored fists to beat the bugs to death.

It was great. Plus, it pushed Zeke and the others to fight harder in an attempt to keep up with her rampage.

"Guys, slow..." Nate tried to be a buzzkill, so Stanley silenced him.

"Let them fight." They'd all been taking it too easy. There was no struggle. Stanley already regretted stopping that swarm before.

Not that being easy was all bad. They were a solid team. More than solid with Zeke along. It was good to be too strong for a lair. It meant they were doing something right.

But now Stanley wanted to see them struggle. Not for any sadistic reason, but to see how they held up when shit went wrong, when something happened that they weren't prepared for, because that was when it mattered most.

He even stayed back a floor to hopefully add to the illusion that they were on their own.

Eve led the band of fighters with reckless savagery, something Stanley could get behind, and Zeke pushed his team relentlessly to keep up with her as they climbed floor after floor.

Mana reserves ran low, and people resorted to using weapons over abilities more and more, until even Zeke started flagging.

Stanley let them keep going. Eve was busy with her emotional meltdown, and Zeke would never leave without her. The question now was whether his team would stick with him, and by extension, her. Obviously, it was stupid to keep going when they didn't need to, and he ignored a few calls for help coming his way to rein Eve in.

She even surprised Stanley with her reckless abandon. He kept expecting her to notice how much danger she was putting Zeke in, but she never did. Or did she assume Stanley would look out for him?

Either way, it might have been the most angry he'd ever seen her...

Zeke still kept healing everyone, but it got steadily less effective. His aura shrank, and the healing went from nearly instant restoration to something that usually required his main skill on top of the aura.

Injuries started stacking up faster than Zeke could fix them, but he still pushed forward after his sister. Even when his team started talking about leaving her to her fate.

Stanley must have done a good job convincing them they were on their own, because one of them finally bailed. He fled back down the stairs, then froze when he came to a stop between Nate and Stanley. He was afraid... "Nate! You have to help us!"

It was hard to judge the man too harshly; Eve and, by extension, Zeke were being idiots. It was suicidal to keep going. To stick with them. Only an idiot would keep pushing toward certain death... but then again, those were exactly the people they needed on Zeke's team. People who wouldn't give up. No matter what. Even in the face of death.

Fanatics. They needed fanatics. Like Nate.

Obviously, Stanley wasn't going to let any of them die, but he definitely wasn't above letting them get hurt. Even seriously. Worst case, if Zeke couldn’t handle it, he'd take them to Adrian. If he went all out, maybe with Still Mind, it should only take a few seconds to reach the tower from the lair.

It never quite came to that.

Eve reached the top floor, a single massive hollowed out chamber that would have collapsed in on itself without the extra durable lair walls. Only one last giant roach waited up there. The queen. A cockroach that was very nearly the size of a city bus.

Maybe she liked how beat up Eve was, or maybe the queen was just salty about Stanley's last visit; either way, she didn't surrender this time. Instead, she launched the swarms from inside her body toward the relatively tiny girl in plate armor.

Unlike the previous roaches, the queen didn't only release a swarm; she also charged in for a bite herself.

Eve dropped one of her devices on the floor but otherwise didn't move as the bugs approached. Stanley thought he could feel her armor shifting, then the swarm arrived and engulfed her in a writhing mass.

Not for long though. Because fire erupted from the ground in a conflagration that surrounded her, plus a good twenty feet in every direction.

The smaller insects burned to ash almost instantly, and even the queen balked rather than enter the flames. Eve took the fight to her instead.

Her armored gauntlets now sported three foot-long blades each, and Eve used them to go to town on the goliath cockroach in front of her.

Despite her enthusiastic assault, the queen was just too big. Her little blades did damage, but unless she could decapitate the queen, it wouldn't matter. So, of course, she went for the legs.

It was a solid strategy, and Eve took off more than half of them before the queen just sat on her. Or fell on her. It was hard to say which. Either way, Eve wasn't strong enough to shove that bulk off, and the queen couldn't bite Eve while holding her down.

An impasse.

Zeke and company broke the impasse.

Exhausted and in pain, they still charged straight into battle with a monster that might kill them simply by rolling over on top of them.

A single shattering touch opened a hole in the queen's side, and spitting acid into that hole widened it. Then two of them jumped into the hole to carve the queen apart from the inside, while Zeke dragged his sister out from under the flailing behemoth.

Stanley smiled at Nate as they floated and walked, respectively, into the queen's chamber. "Not bad for their first time, was it?"

Nate nodded. "Not what I'd had in mind for today, but yes, not bad. Not bad at all."

Lair defeated.

The queen is dead, but the eggs remain. A new queen will arise if they are not destroyed.

Stanley didn't care either way about the lair, but he had wasted more time than he planned to on this little hunt. Though it had turned out better than expected. In fact, he was starting to like some of these people...

He had an idea of how to reward their efforts while also making up for his lack of soul repair progress this morning. To that end, he punched a hole in the ceiling, grabbed everyone, and took them into the sky.

Eve was the only one who had a problem. For some reason. "Put me down, you god-damned psycho, motherfucker, son of a..."

No one seemed to really care as her tirade went on... and on, Neal even tossed a core to Nate in the middle of her rant. "Check this out."

Nate passed it over a second later with a... confusing feeling in his soul.

Host the Swarm (Epic)

You are with the swarm, and the swarm is within you.

Allows the user to gestate and carry the devouring swarm within their flesh, always ready to be unleashed upon...

"That is fucked up." Worse, it had a race requirement, which meant someone could theoretically evolve into a bug...

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

He still passed it around so everyone could see and speculate on what it would become if they adapted the skill instead. Even the thought of that option had some disturbing... implications. What if it didn't evolve very far? Who wanted to have insects living in their flesh?

"I want to try it," Neal said, the freak. First the acid spitting, now this.

Unsurprisingly, no one contested his desire for the skill.

Stanley instinctively slowed down as the core dissolved, and he wasn't the only one waiting with anticipation for the results. Neal was a dick and only frowned without saying anything.

Eve's tirade, now only muttering under her breath, also paused as they flew silently onward.

Neal held out a hand, palm up, and four normal-sized cockroaches materialized. They didn't crawl out of his skin or anything; they just appeared. Then they crawled up his arm to perch on his shoulder.

A collective shiver went through most of the onlookers, while one of them blurted, "A summoning skill?"

"Yeah," Neal said, a smile growing on his face. "And even better than I expected."

That possibility honestly hadn't occurred to Stanley, and he let the others pester the man with questions while he flew them faster toward the tower.

The skill wasn't much now; Neal could summon a total of four roaches at a time. But apparently, it hinted at bigger and better things in the future. "I'm hoping they get my acid spit as it levels!"

Stanley tuned him out after that. Acid-spitting cockroaches sounded about as horrible as acid-spitting rats, and he already hated those. Plus, they had arrived, and Stanley set his passengers onto the penthouse balcony.

He probably should have asked Walter before bringing a bunch of people over, or at least given him a heads up, but it was fine. Walter's soul felt friendly enough when the double doors swung open and he stood in the gap. "Welcome..."

Caffeine kicked Stanley backward across the sky when Princess peeked out around Walter's legs, and he missed whatever Walter said after that. Most likely, so did everybody else when the barking, screeching, and yowling kicked off between the three animals inside.

Stanley drifted back slowly, smiling at what he felt from Caffeine. Then he felt Walter's soul get upset, and he sped up. Hopefully the guy didn't mind all the extra... He wasn't mad at Stanley.

Walter was talking to Eve and outwardly looked as dispassionate as ever, but his soul was admonishing. Eve's soul was even weirder... and she was dismantling her mana drain tower. She was embarrassed and... guilty?

Elsewhere, it was chaos.

Cheesesteak was chasing Neil around while leaving streaks of fire in the air and trying to eat his summoned roaches by the look of it.

Caffeine was chasing Princess with building-shaking dashes. At least, he was chasing all twenty identical copies of her that ran every which way. Each time he caught one, it vanished, and two more took its place.

Stanley could clearly tell which fox was the real one, considering it was the only one with a soul, and he suspected Caffeine probably knew it as well. The pug just didn't care. He was having a blast. A true win win. He got to play chase, and Princess didn't actually have to get chased.

Zeke lay flat on the floor, rubbing his face on the lush carpet in a mix of pleasure and exhaustion, while the rest of his team, those not under attack by a phoenix, all lay around him in equal states of fatigued relief.

Nate was in the next room with Daryl and Adrian, probably talking about the wizards. He'd been quite upset by the revelation that they might not only have known about his base, but that they might have also done nothing to help when he was attacked by the invaders.

Typical cowards. Nothing new there, but Nate probably wanted to meet them anyway. A meeting that could come later. First, Stanley needed to make more progress on fixing his soul. But before that... "Eve."

She flinched and looked away from where Walter was now scolding Cheesesteak. "What!? I didn't..."

More guilt, but with the usual spark of anger she always got when looking at him. Stanley ignored her weird behavior, as usual. "This way."

Eve followed him, albeit reluctantly, especially when he went into his bedroom. She stopped in the doorway, her eyes darting around the room suspiciously.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Eve." She flushed and sputtered incoherently at him, but Stanley only grinned and opened the bathroom door. "I brought you all here for this. A reward for a fight well fought."

She bristled even more. "I don't need a fucking cookie like I'm a..."

Her rant ended abruptly when he turned on the shower. A shower with a dozen plus nozzles that sprayed from every conceivable direction, and the water was already steaming hot the instant it came out.

Stanley grinned at the stunned expression on her face and turned the taps off again. "But I guess if you don't want it, I could go ask someone..."

"I'm first!" Eve said, her eyes gleaming and her armor already falling free as she rushed into the bathroom, only stopping to slam the door in his face.

It wasn't like they didn't have showers back at Nate's, but they were... rough, and you had to find one of the fire mages if you wanted hot water. Nothing at all like the luxury here. Stanley had never thought much about showering before; it was simply a way to get clean, until he used Walter's shower. That was the first time he truly understood that a shower could be a wonderful experience.

He checked in with Walter after that. Partly to make sure there was enough hot water, but also to ask if there were more of those fancy showers. Eve's soul gave him the feeling she would be in there a while... Wait, I can feel her soul?

Usually the room blocked him from sensing souls. Or was that only from inside? Or was it not a constant, built-in effect? Did that mean Walter was maintaining it when Stanley spent the night? No, he'd felt Walter's soul inside the room a few times... and there had been no sign of struggle. So he was probably just being paranoid.

Aside from that potential discovery, which he didn't bring up, Walter did have more fancy showers. Well, one more. On the happy couple's side of the penthouse.

Stanley left the logistics to everyone else and went back to his room to meditate. More specifically, to work on his soul wound. As so often before, the souls outside went silent. Eve too, just inside his bathroom, went dark.

It was as pleasant as every time before. A silent void to work in, with the notable exception of Caffeine bouncing around in the next room. A good exception. Not only was the pug enjoying himself and sharing that feeling with Stanley, but there was just something calming about knowing where Caffeine was. It was also the only real indication he had of time passing while inside his meditation.

Eve's soul appeared in his perfect void an unknown amount of time later; even watching Caffeine play, he tended to lose track of time. She froze in shock upon seeing him—shock and terror, with just a touch of guilt... Then she went back to her old self, angrily stalked closer, and started loudly and enthusiastically berating him.

At least, he assumed that was what she was doing. She was obviously angry, and going by the vibrations in his domain, she was definitely yelling.

He considered ignoring her; it would be easy since he already couldn't hear her. She was like a grouchy puppy, angry at a leaf for blowing the wrong way, but she would get bored or tired eventually.

Or did she need to be corrected?

There was an ugly, dark corner of his mind that wanted to smack the yapping dog. To make it shut up. To make it know its place.

Stanley ignored that feeling and ignored Eve. Instead, he went back to watching Caffeine play. Eve had a big day today. Lots of excitement. She was probably just grouchy. Maybe a nap would help? Could he put someone to sleep? He could try on...

Walter appeared in the room, startling Eve and sending her back a step, as well as shutting her up. He was almost as upset as she was.

"...aster Stanley did not intrude upon you, Miss," Walter was saying when Stanley left meditation. "I took the liberty of laundering and repairing your garments while you bathed. My apologies if that was unwelcome."

Eve wilted further with each word, then opened her mouth...

"In the future," Walter continued without giving her a chance to speak. "I would appreciate it if you brought any complaints to myself before throwing out unwarranted accusations at those within my domain."

Eve flinched at the end of his statement, which felt quite a lot like a rebuke. "I..."

"Would that be acceptable, Miss?"

"Yes, sir," Eve said, very meekly and politely.

Stanley didn't realize his mouth had fallen open until Walter vanished and Eve rounded on him. "What are you looking at!?"

He closed his mouth tight, primarily to avoid smiling. "Nothing."

The attempt to hide his amusement must have been less successful than he'd hoped, because Eve stormed out of the room with a sputtered, "Go to hell!"

Walter reappeared after she'd left. "An early dinner has been prepared and will be served shortly. Will you be joining us, sir? Or shall I have it brought to you in here?"

Stanley looked at his soul wound, particularly at how much of it he'd repaired today. It was tender, raw, and close to the limit. "Give me a few minutes, and I'll come out."

"Very good, sir."

"Walter," Stanley said before the man could vanish on him. "Thanks again for this room. I really appreciate everything you've done for me, and I'm sorry for dumping all these people on you without warning..."

"Think nothing of it, sir. This is your home. It would be entirely remiss of me to turn away your guests." He smiled his very small smile, a barest quirk of his lips that Stanley was only just able to spot. "Master Daryl was quite the hellraiser in his youth. I can assure you that dealing with a few more children now cannot compare."

With that, he vanished, and Stanley only then wondered about what he'd said. Who exactly was he calling children?

Ignoring the potential insult because it was probably deserved, Stanley went back inside his soul and forced a few more bits of the wound to seal back together. He'd had that nice jump early on where the debuff downgraded from deadly to critical, but now it was a slog. Presumably he'd been right at the debuff threshold before...

Piece by piece, he put it back together. Until it started to hurt—the sign that he was finished for now.

He knew dinner had started before leaving the room. Partly because he could feel everyone gathered around the large table, but mostly because Caffeine was frantic in the way he always was around food.

As expected, the pug was making the rounds and getting snacks from almost everyone. Eve was sulking about something, while Nate was busy talking shop with Adrian and Daryl. Something about the skills of different people and which ones would go best with others.

Nate abandoned the topic when he saw Stanley. "Can you take us to see the wizards?"