The doors to a sort of familiar meeting room hiss open and a motley crew of suddenly very tired people stumble inside, myself included. Someone turned the AC up to eleven, which is more than welcome after being stuck outside in the sun for close to two hours. I take a deep breath of sterile, HVAC compliant air and fall ass-first into my designated chair.

Jumble and the Quest watch with a slight uncertainty as Fleur makes herself comfortable against one of the walls–where someone installed a huge salt flower for her. She hums happily and snuggles between two petals like a hammock.

I gesture at the open chairs. "Take a seat. Nobody's here to tell you where to sit, but they will be eventually, so don't get too attached."

"Noland yelled at me for sitting in his chair," Fleur chimes in. "He didn't yell at me for anything else I did, including some serious damage to the building with a few accidents. They take seating very seriously."

"That we do," I agree with a chuckle.

Jumble locks eyes on the seat next to mine and beelines for it. The Quest looks around before reaching to the ground and grabbing a piece of the floor, and with one swift motion, pulls it upwards and into the shape of a stone throne. It settles into the seat awkwardly, then shears away stone until there's nothing but a simple stool left over. That seems to satisfy it.

"So what are we waiting here for?" the Quest asks. "I don't want to be away from the city for too long in case something happens."

"No worries about that; Gil's just around the corner," I motion at the entrance for emphasis, which slides open in confirmation of what my awareness just felt. "How're our new arrivals doing, Gil?"

He shrugs and slides into his designated chair. "About as well as I could imagine, and much better in a few cases. Clutter and Agathe are hitting it off pretty well, much to my surprise, and the mask-brothers are treating this like an all-expenses paid vacation. Don't be surprised if they come to you in a few days looking for direction, though; I have a feeling they can't stay still for long."

"Noted, thank you. How about the rest of the stonestep people?"

Gil kicks his feet up on the table and sighs through his nose. "That's a loaded question right there. Ebb wants to talk to you about a whole lot of things, and the others are… fine for now. I got an intermediary pay package all written up for them that lasts all of a month. After that, who knows? Some of 'em might want to go back. Others might betray us to the 'shareholders'. Can't say either way yet."

I raise an eyebrow; his tone says one thing, but his words say another. He definitely already has an idea of who'll be happy to work with us and who'll fight tooth and nail for every crumb of advantage that they can get.

"Are you willing to work with them for a while?"

He flashes a thumbs-up. "Until the system pulls me away again, I'm more than happy to stay here and relax."

"Oh, that won't be for a while," the Quest chimes in.

Gil sits up straighter, his expression suddenly deadly serious. "What do you know that I don't?"

"The city. I haven't let you go yet, so your store is stuck there until the contract time–eigth months–is up. Or I end it early and you can go–"

"If you do that, I'll burn your city to the ground," Gil says with desperation in his voice.

The Quest holds up its hands defensively. "Understood, understood; until you give the word, I won't touch your store. You'll have to keep restocking it, though, if the constructs start looking to buy things."

"Easy," Gil grins, then turns to me. "Sorry for the little derailment, Shelby; looks like I'll be your manager for a few months at least. And it goes without saying; if you come into some Worth that you can spend here, I'll be more than happy to take some of it off your hands."

I give him a nod of confirmation as I clear my throat. "Agathe wanted to meet us here. Is that still happening?"

"It is. She's just reuniting with some old friends who've lived here for a little while. My old buddies from way back when we first got our Classes," Gil sighs happily and leans back again. "Cherished memories of before the system decided it wanted all of us Worth Classes dead."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Jumble snorts in amusement. "There was never a time the system didn't want us dead. I should know; I've been alive for almost as long as the system's been on our world. Er, my world, now. My old world."

Gil frowns. "That long? Shelby, I didn't know you preferred older women."

"She doesn't act her age," I laugh and throw an arm around Jumble. "Apparently we have the same taste in women, though."

It's Gil's turn to laugh. "Guilty as charged, guilty as charged. There's something about non-humans, isn't there? Just a little more… adventurous, you know? Scintillating."

"Ick," Agathe whispers through the threads in our clothes. "Please don't talk about people that way. It's degrading."

Gil swivels around to face her as she takes the chair next to him. "Says the girl making goo-goo eyes at the pretty paindne. How's Clutter doing, anyway? He single?"

Agathe's expression sours, and Gil rightfully backs off. She glares at him for a few more long seconds, then sighs and flops down on the table, head cradled in her arms to block out everything. I can hear her muttering through the threads on my clothes about how Clutter's too innocent for his own good, and how he didn't seem happy enough when he talked about his girlfriend.

"Agathe?" I ask.

She grunts. "Yes, I know. I asked everyone to meet here. It's about the Preservation and Stonestep Solutions merger that's going to happen soon. I helped them with it."

Everyone except Fleur refocuses on Agathe with renewed vigor.

"You mean you helped write it?" I ask, giving her an easy out."

She shakes her head against the table. "No. I helped negotiate it between the horizonguard and some Preservation leaders. They paid really well. Sorry."

Gil sighs and scratches his arm. "Can't blame someone for taking a paycheck. Gotta ask, though; did you know what they were going to do before you signed the contract?"

"Sort of."

"Explain, then!" Gil exclaims exasperatedly. "Because right now you're not doing your credibility any favours."

Agathe sighs. "Okay. I know another horizonguard; a big woman who makes metal sculptures. She asked me if I could help her colleague with a deal. I said yes after she showed me the pay. Then when I saw the deal was with the Preservation I didn't back out. It's not that bad on paper. I promise."

But something doesn't have to be bad on paper to be horrible in real life; insurance, for example. Perfectly understandable to put money away for something unexpected. Getting that money from the insurance companies, though, and the unbelievable rate hikes afterwards? Like pulling your own teeth.

I lean forward before anyone else can get a word in. "I don't care about your morals right now; the deal would've been done whether you brokered it or not. What I do care about is if your direct influence means horrible things for us. So let's hear the details you hashed out."

The threads on the fabric Agathe gave to me quiver like they're about to let out a few tears. I watch her face-down body patiently as she presumably gathers her thoughts into a string of words that won't paint her in too negative of a light. Slowly but surely she rises from the table, her forehead red from where it was pressed, and with an audible gulp her threads start to speak.

"Stonestep Solutions is trading Palastia for connections," she begins. "The horizonguard that died controls a lot of businesses. Clamber's dad's jewelry store and a lot like it. The Preservation gets all those connections for a portion of the cities they control on Earth, and Preservation members working for Stonestep Solutions."

I nod along and tent my fingers. That's about what I expected from the trade, but something tells me this isn't even close to the end of things. Mostly because Agathe just stopped to take a short breath and is already starting to talk again.

"The Preservation promised Stonestep Solutions half of the Class Coins they collect. South America. And fifteen million loyal soldiers."

Gil nearly chokes on his spit. "South America?! Last I remember, that was still an independent continent! Have things changed while I wasn't looking?"

Agathe shakes her head. "Not yet. Not until the Preservation gets the rest of the weapons they need from Stonestep Solutions. Weapons they can use to take over the parts of Earth that don't effectively belong to them yet."

"Places like here," I surmise from her dour tone. "When were they supposed to deliver the weapons?"

"They already have."

I grimace and rise from my chair. "Then we need to find out where they're going to attack first. Gil, you handle all the city shit. Quest–see if we can make it safe for the constructs to leave. I'll need their firepower if we want to fight back the Preservation. And… on the off chance that you can make it safe… see if it's possible to give people system access through the uplifting trials."

The Quest sucks air through its teeth. "Are you sure about that?"

"No, I'm not," I say seriously. "Only do it once you're one-hundred percent sure that the system is kicked out of the uplifting trial rewards. Until then, make sure nobody has access to the things."

"That makes more sense to me. What're you going to do about all this?"

I pull out my Class Card and swipe over to my messenger. "After a long sleep, good food, and a half-dozen showers, of course? I think it's time I paid Preservation Headquarters a visit."

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