"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Elaine grumbled, her arms crossed. "It's the obvious choice. This?" She gestured at the village around them. "It's my mess, caused by my Patron mission. It's only fair that I stay while you go. Besides… I would have stayed anyway. These people? They need help."

"Are you out of your mind?" Isaac finally found his voice. "You plan on staying here alone?" He let out a humorless chuckle. "That's suicide, Elaine. You will have to look after ten people by yourself and fight off whatever monsters show up. And they will show up. Or did you not read the notifications?"

Elaine narrowed her eyes, stepping up until she was almost in his face. "Then what do you want me to do? Leave them to die?" she hissed. "No, I refuse. As much as I hate Prosperity for dumping this shit on me, I was sent here for a reason. I won't leave the job half-finished, no matter what the Interface says."

Isaac clenched his fists as he looked the woman right in the eyes. That fire in her gaze, the stubbornness in her voice… it reminded him of Sacramento, of the vow she made back then. And by now, he knew better than to think he could talk her out of it.

Not that it changed his opinion of her plan. It was still a suicide, no matter how one looked at it. A single person had no chance of taking care of and protecting ten half-broken people.

As such, Elaine didn't really leave him with much of a choice. He wasn't letting her die just because she was being stubborn.

"Then I'm staying too," Isaac stated, feeling a tiny bit of satisfaction when the woman's eyes widened. Served her right for trying to play a hero when they were a team.

That said, his triumph was very short-lived.

"No, you aren't. I am," Marie cut in, stepping between him and Elaine. "Both of you, calm down. There's no point fighting over this."

While Isaac and Elaine just stood frozen, staring at Marie like she had grown a second head, James was far from idle. With a frown that portrayed both his confusion and maybe a little disappointment, he spoke up.

"Ari? What? Why?"

The short woman sighed. "Isn't it obvious? My abilities would be better used here than on the road. I can fight, but I can heal, too. And let's be honest, my people skills are a hell of a lot better than Isaac's. No offense."

No offense, my ass. Isaac rolled his eyes. He didn't disagree, though. She was right, after all.

"But—" James protested, only to be stopped by Marie's raised hand.

"I wasn't done yet," she said. "Look… It's simply better this way. I get to use my skills here while Isaac continues using his Legacy to speed up your trip to LA. You know I'm right."

James' shoulders slumped as he dragged a hand down his face. "Yeah, you are."

Marie smiled. "Thought so." Her gaze then snapped to Isaac and Elaine. "And you two?"

Elaine just shrugged. "Fine by me."

When everyone looked at Isaac afterward, he let out a long sigh and nodded. "Yeah, let's do that. But just so you know… Once James and I do what we have to in LA, I'm coming back here."

"Good," Marie said. "Bring some supplies with you, okay? We could really use some essentials… and, you know, clothes."

He chuckled. "I will see what I can do."

Marie nodded, her gaze flicking between him and Elaine. Then, without warning, she frowned, grabbed James by the arm, and tugged him toward the house. "Come with me for a sec."

The older man didn't even have a chance to respond as the short woman dragged him inside the Chief's house. It was quite an amusing sight, in Isaac's opinion. Or at least it was for a moment. Then he realized they left him alone with Elaine.

Oh, shit.

He grimaced. Ever since their argument after the fight with the Wyvern, things had always been awkward between them when they were alone. It was getting better lately, but some tension still remained.

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Might as well… Probably won't get another chance in a while.

Isaac took a deep breath and opened his mouth. "Hey, about Rak—"

"No, wait. Please, let me," Elaine cut in, head bowed. "Back then… I overreacted. I can admit that much. I was just worried you were blindly following your Sire's orders, but fuck… doesn't that make me a hypocrite now?"

Isaac frowned. "Hypocrite? What are you talking about?"

"My Patron mission. It updated again after the fight," she muttered. "Says I have to keep these people alive until the Virus Wars begin. That's why I volunteered to stay."

Isaac shook his head. "No, that's not the reason. Don't be stupid. Sure, maybe it pushed you in that direction, but you can't seriously tell me you wouldn't have done it anyway."

Finally, Elaine looked up, her lips tugged into a half-smile. "...I guess I can't… But I wanted to apologize anyway. We all agreed to use our Patrons as means to an end, and yet I still jumped to conclusions and took out my frustrations on you. I'm sorry for that."

Isaac returned the smile. "It's forgiven. Not like I wasn't without fault either. Could have explained myself better. Maybe sounded a little less eager about wandering into a potentially dangerous cave. So yeah, I'm sorry too."

Without warning, Elaine surged forward, pulling him into a tight hug. For a brief moment, he stiffened before slowly returning the embrace.

Well… this is new.

"Guess we're quite the pair, huh?" she mumbled against his shoulder.

Isaac chuckled. "That we are… But look at us. Apologizing to each other instead of fighting for the next month. Old Man would be so proud."

"Or confused," Elaine said as they separated. "I definitely still am."

Not knowing how to respond to that, Isaac gestured toward the entrance to the Chief's house. "Should we join them?"

The woman nodded, and together, they stepped inside the building, ignoring the looks shot their way by James and Marie. From there, the conversation shifted to plans for the final days before the Virus Wars began.

Obviously, Isaac and James had to get back on the road soon, no changes there. However, Elaine and Marie had a much harder task at hand. Sure, for now, no monsters dared to approach this place, but it was only a matter of time before they did.

As such, they spent the better part of half an hour going over possible problems, defenses, and tactics. Sometimes, one of the survivors would approach them to ask a question, their head bowed and hands slightly shaking. They let Marie handle those situations. To no one's surprise, she seemed the most approachable out of the four of them.

Soon enough, though, it was time for Isaac and James to leave. They said their goodbyes, wished the two women good luck, and headed out of the Chief's house, a heavy silence settling between them. Not that it lasted long.

"So it's just the two of us now, huh?" James remarked as they passed through an open gate, leaving the village behind.

"Yeah," Isaac muttered, looking up at the empty sky. "So it seems. Feels a little strange, doesn't it?"

"Yeah… I know exactly what you mean," James said. "But I guess it is what it is. Everyone's got their own part to play. Now, you ready, boss? I say we both transform and just go as fast as we can, as long as we can."

Isaac shrugged, a tiny grin tugging at his lips. "Why not? Just give me a second. Got one last item to check out."

James' eyebrows shot up. "Still? Damn, you are slow."

Ignoring that comment for the sake of his sanity, Isaac reached for the final reward inside his Storage Brand. And just like expected, a small pill landed in his palm—a blood-red one at that.

Let's see. Analyze.

[Mutagen: Blood Pump | Grade: Mystic] A slightly advanced Mutagen that mutates the Host's heart to accelerate blood production. Additionally, it somewhat enhances the potency of your blood. Note: This mutation doesn't improve the Host's healing factor.

Now that's nice, Isaac thought, summoning a bottle of water to his other hand. Without hesitation, he threw the pill into his mouth and swallowed it.

For a moment, he waited for the pain to come, to again bring him down to his knees. Yet none of that happened. Aside from a weak tingling in his throat and a brief pulse of warmth from his Blood Core, he felt nothing. A confusing, if welcome change.

Mutagen successfully adapted (Slot 2 of 3). To remove it, issue a simple mental command.

"You good, man?" James asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Isaac blinked. "I think so?" he answered, unsure. "Just surprised, that's all. You felt something when you adapted that new Mutagen, right?"

Everyone on the team received a quite personalized Mutagen for neutralizing the village. This was why Isaac knew what his final reward would be.

"Yep! Not much, though," the older man answered. "Just some stinging in my muscles. Why?"

Isaac hummed. "It's nothing, really, but I almost didn't feel a thing just now. Which is quite the change for me."

James snorted. "Damn, boss. You're so conditioned to pain by your Origin that you're actually missing it now?"

Isaac shot him a flat look. "Not missing. I'm not a masochist."

"Yeah, yeah." James waved him off with that stupid grin of his. "I sure believe you. Now, can we go already?"

Don't punch him. Don't punch him, Isaac repeated in his head while nodding outside.

"Let's go."

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