Unable to reach Dot, Luke settled into a run back to guild headquarters. Not wanting to imagine the worst possible scenario, that Alan had somehow blocked him from messaging her, he told himself she'd just shut off her messages for the night. Doing so was apparently possible. Still, finding Alan having done and then Dot right after was a coincidence that made his gut twist. Something was wrong. He just knew it.

  As he ran at top speed, heading back to check in on her, Luke thought of someone else he wanted to talk with. Someone who might not be the best advisor, but who might give him the kick in the ass he needed.

  Luke: "Ray? You there."

  Ray: "Waddup, fucker?"

  Luke: "Now you reply?"

  Ray: "What?"

  Luke: "Never mind. Question: If, theoretically, you were being blackmailed into doing something you didn't want to do, on threat of being reported to the cops for a crime. What would you do?"

  Ray: "Hmm... What crime?"

  Martin's words rang through Luke's mind. "They listen."

  Luke: "Let's just say it's something bad. Justified, but bad. Prison time bad."

  Ray: "Hey, c'mere."

  Luke: "?"

  Ray: "Let me tell you something. It's a secret. Come a little closer."

  Luke: "What are you doing?"

  Ray: "Pst. Pst. Here it is. Society as we know it has ended. It's fucking done. Most people just haven't realized it yet. The gov is scrambling and trying to hold on, but they're failing, and let me tell you, I'd know about that one. Things are so fucked, but people walk around like goddamn alien artifacts didn't appear all over Earth. No society equals no social codes equals no fucking prisons. If you're strong enough, no one can do a fucking thing, you fucking fuck."

  Luke: "Well, yeah. There's that."

  Ray: "From what I'm hearing in the corridors of power, you're pretty strong."

  Luke: "Kind of."

  Ray: "Then fucking act like it."

  Ray: "Don't be a wimp!"

  Luke: "I blew up a dragon with a nuke."

  Ray: "There you go! You want another one?"

  Luke: "Another dragon?"

  Ray: "No, dumb shit. Another nuke. I know where they are."

  Luke: "That's public knowledge, isn't it?"

  Ray: "Alright, yeah, but I know how to get to them."

  Ray: "It would be easy as fuck to just go and grab one. You just have to be bulletproof. Or, you know, invisible."

  Ray: "We're milliseconds away from nuclear war anyway, so better take the chance before it all blows up."

  Luke: "So... Is the CIA treating you well?"

  Ray: "Hah! Sorry about those messages. Kind of a low point, but I've bounced back. A brand new outlook on life. Quitting helped with that."

  Luke: "A whole lot of that going on. Milla quit the DIA just now. They let you do that, just quit?"

  Ray: "Let me? Listen to yourself, man. They didn't let me do a fucking thing. I just stopped doing what they wanted. What are they going to do? They can't even find me.

  Luke was getting closer to headquarters. Every message from Ray stoked something in him. An ember wanting to flare up and break free, to use the power within him. The power to decide for himself, to not be held back or held down.

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  Luke: "What are you going to do now?"

  Ray: "I'm in New York."

  Luke: "...That's a coincidence."

  Ray: "You're here?"

  Luke: "The guild wants me to go there. I'm going to quit, but I'm still going."

  Ray: "Then I'll see you here in a while then, fucker."

  Luke: "You will. Fucker."

  Reaching the large, towering building, Luke came to a panting stop in front of the elevators, mashing the buttons. Shifting his weight from foot to foot, he kept pushing the button again and again until the doors finally opened. The ride up felt endless. Upon reaching the right floor, he marched straight to Dot's door and stopped.

  "What the hell?"

  It was open.

  "Dot?" he called into the darkness.

  No reply.

  Extending Weaver's Perception, he sensed no presence in the apartment at all. It was empty. Still on high alert, he stepped inside. The bare rooms showed no signs of Dot even having been in there. Nothing of hers remained. Even the bed was made, showing no signs of ever having been slept in. This was wrong. All this was wrong.

  Dorothy: "Luke. I am in New York. Please come here."

  Luke: "Dot? What's going on?"

  Integrated Dot is not able to receive messages at this time.

  This did not pass the smell test. The stink was overpowering, and it permeated the building, lowering itself like a cloud from up on high. Having healed Dot, Luke would always be able to get a rough approximation of her whereabouts, even if it was far away. Now, it was far away. East somewhere. Far away.

  "Alan," Luke growled more than said, forcing the name out through a clenched jaw.

  Exiting the apartment, Luke fed Smudge again. Once back inside the elevator, Luke punched the button that would take him up to Alan's office. The thing let out an angry chirp, refusing to let him go up that far into the building. Taking deep breaths to keep himself from exploding with anger, he trudged to the stairs and began climbing. Each step was like an affront to all that was right and wrong. By the time Luke made it up thirteen flights of stairs, fuming didn't even begin to describe what he was feeling.

  After several more attempts to reach someone, anyone, in the guild. He'd given up on that. Either they had the same do-not-disturb message or just plain ignored him. While it was late and most people would be asleep, that shouldn't extend to all of them. No one from The Band replied either. Strange. It was all too strange. The door to the floor was locked, of course, but Luke didn't even slow down in breaking it off its hinges with Threads of Mana.

  The entire floor of the building was dark except for one room. Alan's office. Weaver's Perception told him the man himself was in there, waiting for him. Not detecting anyone or anything else, Luke made his way to the door, having stored enough healing mana to burst most people's meta-hearts and reinforced his vital organs. Those teleporting bastards weren't far, he was sure, and the guildmaster of Integrated Solutions Group would have at least a couple of layers worth of contingency plans. That didn't matter. Alan had done something to Dot, and he needed to pay for it, and, even more deserving of his anger, Luke found, was the attempt at blackmail to keep him in the guild. No more.

  Ray was right. It was time to stop playing by the old rules. Instead, Luke would forge his own.

  Opening the door, Luke breathed in the lingering scent of a woman's perfume, one he didn't recognize. Soft, jazz-sounding tunes filled the silence, and Alan sat behind his desk with a glass of whiskey in his hand, looking contemplative.

  "Luke," he said, taking a swig.

  Swallowing his anger, Luke walked up to the desk. "I am resigning from the guild."

  "That's a shame," Alan said. "That leaves me no choice but to execute the threat from before. I'm sure you understand. I'm hoping you will reconsider your decision. We're moving up the timeline for our expansion to the East Coast. Losing you would be a blow to that."

  "Where is Dot?" Luke asked.

  "New York."

  "Asshole," Luke spat.

  Alan frowned. "I'm sure she messaged you about it."

  "That wasn't her," Luke said. "Was it?"

  The slight twinge of a smile told Luke all he needed to know. "Why is she there?"

  Leaning back in his high-backed chair, Alan put the glass away and crossed his fingers over his stomach, giving Luke a long look. "As I said, this expansion is important. Important moments in history need at least one Lifeweaver present, and I suspected you would not go. Your class is full of wonder, Luke."

  "At the guild headquarters in New York?"

  "Indeed."

  "Then take me to her."

  Alan gave a slight shake of his head, then narrowed his eyes. "Will you remain with the guild? This does not have to end in any unpleasantness. Despite your aggression and bluster, I still feel gratitude for your saving my life."

  Not giving it much thought, Luke extended Weaver's Perception to Alan. "I'm not staying in the guild, and I'm starting to think my fixing your brain did something more than just cure cancer, or were you always this way?"

  Something equally interesting and terrifying happened next, as Luke's senses couldn't extend into the man in front of him. It was as if an invisible wall kept him out.

  "There is nothing wrong with me that was not so before I touched the gray orb and met you, Lifeweaver," Alan said, getting up to his feet. Was Luke imagining things, or was Alan taller than before? "But thanks to your intervention, I have evolved my class from Commander to something more suitable. What is more, I have evolved my sense of self. Go ahead, Luke, inspect me."

  Inspect? That wouldn't work here. Unless...

  Integrated Alan. Master. Level 42.

  "Forty-two?" Luke couldn't help but blurt out the number.

  The Architect in ISG's employ must've created a mini-gauntlet in Alan's office. Or was it the entire building? But why? Standing there in front of Luke, shoulders pulled back, looming, an ominous air seemed to surround Alan.

  "Five Lifeweavers in the world. With two in my guild, that would set us apart. If only you knew the things I've done to keep you and her safe. You want to leave? Fine then, I'm nurturing one Lifeweaver. I have everything I need to help another grow into their full potential without wasting their time in dungeons."

  "Another?" Luke asked, readying himself.

  "Yes," Alan said. "If you are too willful to comply, then your spot needs to be freed up so another can take your place. Five spots. It's time you got out of yours."