Liquid amber crashed around Mark's construct in an attempt to find a way in. When it failed Jason pulled the resin back and reshaped it into hardened spears.
Mark widened his stance as he took in multiple attacks from all cardinal directions. Warping his pane of force into a cube, he then sent the panels forward towards the shards. He was touching his construct to the point of the four spears and preventing them from ever building up speed.
Jason scowled and lowered his stance to charge but Mark clicked his tongue.
“Captain, if you want this to work, then you will have to stop trying to punch your way out of things.”
The massive greatsword had already appeared in his hands but he did pause.
Straightening, Jason tried to cover up his frustration.
Mark looked around the roof and snorted.
“How about we take five.”
The man looked even less enthused about this, but he still nodded.
“God dammit Mark can’t you at least give me a chance.”
Mark's brow rose as he couldn’t help the smile that snuck its way onto his face.
When Mark had taken Jason up to their floor he had gotten situated in a room, but after that, the man had many questions.
He wanted to know how they were going to synergize as a team and what roles they would all play, but more than that he wanted to know how they were planning to run tomorrow's mission without a proper leader.
Mark had explained what he could to the man but that only seemed to cause further questions to arise.
Mark got the feeling that the man was used to having everything decided by a chain of command and having this much freedom to complete his task was new to him.
As a distraction, Mark had moved onto the topic of magic. Seeing as the man had been looking for an answer there he wanted to at least help if he could.
Jason had many questions in this area too and Mark was surprised to find out that while he functionally understood a lot about Mana, he didn’t have the experience his attributes would suggest.
Mark had decided to take him up to the roof to get a handle on Jason’s abilities firsthand, and while he knew about and used [Meditation] he tried to avoid doing it because of the low returns. At least individually Jason was not seeing a benefit compared to just fighting out on the main walls. Which Mark disagreed with heavily.
They had spent the last couple of hours sparring because it was the most effective way for Mark to see where the guy was.
Jason did not need much convincing to attack him, in fact, no sooner had he spoken the words than the guy began launching his magic.
Mark nodded as he brought in his construct, wrapping it tightly around his form once more.
“You’re brute forcing it, captain. Forget about control, your Mana cost is probably through the roof for something half as effective.”
Jason frowned.
“Well, I use my physical abilities in tandem. I tying one of my hands behind my back here. Also, I thought we were past calling me captain.”
Mark grinned at this.
“I mean yea, haven't you ever seen those training montages? You train now with one hand behind your back so that when you use both again you’re suddenly much better?”
Jason shot Mark an unamused glare.
“Maybe, but if you let me use my blade, things would be far more even.”
Mark’s dry look should have spoken for itself.
“That's not the point. Look I’ll be honest from what I’ve seen you're powerful, but you’re not relying equally on your Mana and Aura. Your magic seems completely underdeveloped.”
Jason didn’t say anything as he stared out over the side of the building, his eyes catching on the spire. To be fair the colossal structure was hard to ignore. Jason wore an impatient look on his face.
“There’s not a lot of time to perfect these types of things. Not when so many of my men are out there, in danger.”
Mark found himself nodding almost absentmindedly.
I know the feeling there’s so much to learn and just never enough time. I’m the first person to want to dive into the frontlines and help my people… okay maybe not the first, but that’s only if Jonathan or Sam don’t beat me there.”
Jason gave Mark a sidelong glance but didn’t speak.
“Let's try it this way, you’re here you may as well make the most of it and practice your magic while I can help you. And you can start with shaping. I need over two hundred, five by five amber panels for the greenhouse I’m building. They need to be uniform and have perfect clarity, so if you want this time to be worth it, you may as well get started.”
Mark knew the request was a little silly. He could even make the panels himself if it came down to that, but the man needed to practice fine control over his magic, and the more stringent the request the better.
Jason nodded at this and dutifully began manifesting resin and shaping it into transparent panels.
Mark helped the guy when he saw he was going wrong and used a [Force bolt] to shatter the panels that weren't up to scratch.
This just frustrated Jason more, causing him to try and make more resilient panels, not that Mark was complaining.
They had only managed to get thirty panels by the time the door creaked open.
Mark had felt her coming before he saw her so only Jason was a little surprised. Causing his current attempt to warp out of shape. Though he didn’t seem to mind when he saw who it was.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Sam smirked when she saw what Mark was having him do.
“Good idea Mark, I thought his control looked a little shakey.”
Mark realized that Sam had figured out in just a few glances what had taken him a fight with the man to understand.
Jason on the other hand placed his hands over his heart good naturally.
“Ah, so you see now I could use all the help I can get. Mark has been an incredible help, do you have any advice for me?”
Sam had stepped onto the roof with Andy close on her heels. Mark nodded to his friend happily and got a wink in return.
“I think you are doing great Jason. Mark’s skilled, and any advice I could offer, he will have already gone over with you. I’m just here to collect my fellow pillar as Ethel wants to start early. Andy here will remain with you, let him know if there is anything you need at all.”
Mark cocked his at Sam but didn’t argue.
Jason looked disappointed to see her go but refocused on his current assignment.
Andy nodded to Mark as the door to the stairwell closed. Turning to her Mark made a question gesture with his shoulders.
“What’s up, why are we doing this earlier?” a hint of dread in his voice.
Sam smiled.
“For once there’s no emergency. Ethel and I just managed to clear some things off the docket quicker than we expected. All the candidates are assembled at this point so we thought why not”
They went down a couple of levels and contrary to the norm, the hallways were a lot more congested than normal.
People hung around in corridors or empty meeting rooms, just about anywhere they could find space.
Mark couldn’t help the frown that made its way onto his face. He thought they had gotten through a good amount of candidates in the first round but more had gotten through than he first expected.
Sam led him to an open office where Ethel, Karter, and Jonathan were already. No sooner had they entered than Ethel called in the first candidates. Chloe's position was the one they were filling first and to be honest, the large number of people coming through, blurred in front of Mark. After a certain while their many skill sets were all jumbled together in his head, though he tried his best to give his opinion.
Jonathan also seemed to be struggling but at some point, all of this ended when Gibby walked in. He was one of the last candidates for the position and Mark was immediately awake.
“I’ve already stated all my previous qualities in the last interview, so I decided to do something a little different. With Karter's help, I’ve begun training a network of informants from our ranks.”
Mark nodded he had some idea he had been trying something like this but he didn’t know it was this far along.
“The available job opening is prediction and maneuvering. To do this we need to operate with information we shouldn't yet have. So today I put my team to work for its first real mission”
Mark sat up suddenly far more interested.
“The long and short of it is that I have acquired the schematics for the revised M1 Abrams.”
All five of them went silent now as Gibby came forward and placed a thick stack of notes on their desk.
“Everything is there along with my predictions for countermeasures.”
Karter looked at the folder happily, an excited twinkle in his eye while Ethel was significantly more hesitant.
“This was not a safe play Gibby. While it was impressive it's a toss-up as the whether it was a smart move.”
Gibby nodded.
“I thought hard before doing this. To my knowledge, they have no idea I have these schematics but then again I'm certain they were prepared for this outcome if they were putting them on display. This is just a proof of concept that I can guide us. If you pick me, I will make sure we’re always in the know.”
The room was awkwardly quiet for a couple of minutes, no one had expected this but the proof was right there in front of them.
Mark didn’t know about the others but he was impressed. The fact that Gibby had done this with probably little to no time was incredible.
Mark didn’t hesitate to vote yes for the guy when they were making the final decision on the candidates.
When everything was said and done Gibby was the only person that got a unanimous outcome.
Mark was surprised Ethel decided to vote in his favor but the decision was not hard at all.
Gibby was their sixth.
The moment the decision was made the guy came back in and pulled up a chair. After that the halls outside emptied considerably.
Mark truly wished for a break but they had to make this decision today.
So the next batch began to walk through.
Daphne’s job was community and organization and while every candidate either had one or the other Mark couldn’t see any that held both.
They were down to the final two candidates when Holly walked in.
Mark couldn’t help sitting up taller when the woman entered.
Before she could say anything Ethel held up her hand a cautious look in her eyes.
“The final two candidates will be looked at together as I feel we need to have a serious talk here. Mr. Miller will you join us inside.”
Marks eye’s widened when he heard the name.
Shelby entered after Holly, his causal languid smile plastered on his lips.
Mark felt as though a rod had been shoved through his spine as his eyes flickered over to Ethel.
It was all he could do not to demand what was going on. She’d explain it so he’d wait, the woman had earned that much.
“Right, it’s a welcome sight to have both of you here. For those who don’t know Holly is the last pillar stand from her faction the Dancing Beasts, while Shelby is the current de facto leader of the following that resides around the spire.”
Mark's eyes widened at the fact that Holly was the last leader standing from her faction, she must have suffered greatly in the invasion.
“I believe it to be prudent to take these last two candidates seriously. If we play this right they can be a huge boon to this faction.”
Mark wasn’t sure why he got such disturbing vibes from Shelby, the man hadn’t done anything to warrant it, yet his gut couldn’t shake the feeling.
As they went through the list of questions Holly shone as she answered every one of them to Mark's satisfaction but when it was Shelby's turn Mark couldn’t help going off script.
“Why would you even attempt to fill this position, Shelby? You told me you weren't interested in leading.”
Shelby scratched the back of his head and looked to Ethel who sighed like she’d been caught.
“Mark.. I’m the one who invited him.”
Mark frowned unable to tear his eyes away from the man
“I thought your recommendation was Holly?”
“It is, but it's also Shelby. Both of them could work together to handle the masses. To be honest we’ve grown too large over the last couple of weeks for one person to contend with. So my thoughts were that he could be more of an assisting asset.”
Mark could see her point but he instead turned back to Shelby.
“You realize this job is going be doing exactly what you didn’t want right? Are you still interested in that?”
Shelby’s eyes seemed to focus solely on Mark.
“Over the last week, I’ve seen that leadership is a necessity. Sometimes we’re saddled with a job we don’t want but that will serve a greater good. We’re the same in that regard. You want to protect, I want that too. Let me help you in any way that I can.
The room’s silence stretched on like a taunt rubber band, ready to snap at any moment. At first, Mark didn’t want to respond but then Sam’s hand came to rest atop his. She looked at Mark with measured understanding, glancing about the room Mark saw the others seemed to hold the same question in their eyes.
The more Mark thought about it, the more he realized he had been selfish.
Ethel understood what they needed and had been stepping around eggshells to avoid hurting him. But the truth was this faction was about more than just his desires. If Ethel thought she needed these two then whether he trusted Shelby was irrelevant.
Mark trusted Ethel wholeheartedly.
Finally, he glanced up as all eyes were on him. A sigh escaped his lips as what felt like a heavy weight lifted from his shoulders.
“As long as you don’t make me out to be something I’m not, then… I’m fine with it.”