Diretor Kingston extended his hands out, presenting the odd shape forming within the holographic projection over his desk. It was, in a word, a dome.

"Twenty-five feet tall, three feet thick steel outer perimeter," he began, as the projection zoomed into the darker circumference of the half-sphere. "Lined with six automated turrets on rails to move around to cover any direction. Armed with high-fragmentation rounds. Around the clock security scanning and video feed, patching into whatever configuration you prefer."

Clara leaned forward, her brow furrowed. "The dome itself?"

"Combined ballistic shielding, stealth camouflage, and scanner blocking. Similar to your old dome, just a little larger and more secure." Kingston moved his hand, and the scene rotated to a bird's-eye view, showing a central circular building surrounded by around six others. "Central command center, and then whatever structures you desire."

"We can live there again?" Roxy asked. "Where is this located?"

The Director nodded. "I had assumed you would want to. Of course, you would just need to tell me what kind of house you would like."

She looked back at me. "I'd like… the same as we had before."

[Agreed.]

"Not a problem." Kingston gestured to the hologram. "As to where it is located, that is also up to you. There isn't exactly space within the city for something like this, but if you are tied to the southeast outskirts, we can make that happen."

There was a part of me that found some comfort in the idea of going back to how things were. Not entirely possible given how things ended, but a familiar house in a familiar location was a close second place. The southeast kept us in reasonable proximity to the hobgoblins and mining outpost.

[Perhaps not exactly where the ruin of our previous home was, but a similar area would be preferred.]

Roxy gave her agreement with a nod. "The old place is a little too… corpse-y."

The Director raised an eyebrow. "The cleanup has certainly been interesting. One condition of my giving you this new headquarters is that you don't turn it into a graveyard."

Aside from Chevalier and the squad of mercenaries sent against Clara, there were still a dozen or so biker corpses from a little while back under the ground. Kingston didn't seem to take issue with this, although perhaps he knew a little more about those events than he had let on. The exact involvement he had on my recent life was still a little foggy.

"Transport should be easy enough for those of us not living on site?" Ren asked.

Kingston nodded briefly. "Command center will have a heli-pad, and we'll work with Belle to set up a way for you to teleport as well. You'll even have a real road to the city, for those who prefer to travel on foot."

[This seems like quite a gift. You're throwing your weight around with your new power?]

The confidence simmered away from his expression as the held-back exhaustion took some time in the limelight. "Not quite, Gunquake. I don't have free rein, and the remaining Directors are always watching, even if their sway has been neutered."

[But you said there were conditions? Sounds like more pain on our behalf.]

With a gesture of his hands, the hologram faded away. The Director turned to the side and nodded toward the larger monitor on the wall closest to us. Whatever prior graph charts vanished to be replaced by the hero Team Ranking list.

We had moved up a spot.

"Before you react to this news, let me preface this by saying that this is only with the brief surge of interest after the Arena and resulting fallout. We haven't even started up the marketing side of things, and best believe I will be singing your praises for saving my life."

Roy raised his eyebrows and looked higher up the list. "Are you saying we have a chance of getting to A-Rank?"

Kingston adjusted his position, not answering immediately. With a sigh, he placed his fingertips together. "I have a proposition for all of you, which I think will be beneficial both for Goldarch, and our continued working partnership."

Again, that just sounded like more strife for me and the other five sitting here. Reluctantly, I gestured for him to continue.

"The recent attack on the city was a terrible thing, but there is some silver lining. Opportunities within our reach." The Director leaned forward against his desk. "Up until this point, the city has been split into four sections with two hero teams each. Then there are an additional two for the center of Goldarch. Although I had to twist a few arms—to say the least—I have gotten approval from the board to expand the list to having another two Ranked teams."

Murmured thoughts came from the Natural Disasters. Glances and curiosity. I had a few ideas as to where this was leading, but Kingston was clearly enjoying this partially prepared speech. Center stage was all his.

"Goldarch needs protection from external threats," he continued. "The previous leadership thought that by keeping to ourselves we could avoid the ire of the World Government, and anything minor could be dealt with as it came up. Thanks to the information you took from the wastes, and the attacks two days ago, we know that ignorance is not bliss."

It seemed unthinkable that the League wouldn't take meddling by the World Government seriously. Part of that was probably the push of the mole, or those with other incentives not to look too hard at the potential threats just outside the gate.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"As of next week, there will be both an A and B-Rank hero team assigned to defending our perimeter of our city. The outskirts." Kingston extended his hands out towards us. "Natural Disasters will be the A-Rank team."

For most of those seated, this was a big deal. Changing Rank was a distant goal for the team even before I became part of it. Now we were both getting that promotion, alongside becoming the forefront of something new and important.

I still needed to see eye to eye with the Director on a few points.

[Who are the B-Rank group?]

"Yet to be determined." He leaned back in his chair once more. "You six know better than nearly anyone what the wastes has to offer. As such, one of the other conditions is that your assistance will be needed to put together a team that won't falter against cannibals, mutated bandits, or roving monsters. They will be stationed in the northwest outskirts."

[That is not the entirety of our job role, however.]

Kingston gave me a humorless smile. "Cold and precise today, Gunquake. I knew the last few days would have sharpened your edge. The Natural Disasters are unique in this city. Competent and experienced in the realities of the world outside of our faux utopia. Few would have returned from the Arena alive. Fewer still would have their eyes and sanity after the unexpected meeting with the Aberration yesterday. You are all meant for a greater purpose."

Roxy exhaled through her nose. "I'd probably throw up if you wanted us to go back on patrol again."

[Then we are your mercenaries once more.]

"You are superheroes protecting the city," Kingston corrected. "While the more banal tasks are beneath you, there is nothing that can stop you from being a public figure. That means you'll need to do press circuits, marketing appearances, and the occasional publicly visible mission." He worked his jaw, pausing before continuing. "You are not my personal army or hit squad. Making this official means that some of the more… controversial methods used previously are now rubber-stamped. There may be occasions where you skirt that gray area, however."

I gave him a nod of acknowledgement. Sounded like nothing much had changed, other than our existence and subsequent absences from the city having more credible validity. We could also be used to drum up the fear of an outside force within the populace. I'd be a tool of cold-blooded murder, but never a propaganda piece. As the Director opened up the floor for any other questions, I stared him down with all of my eyes.

Belle admonished Roy for the tactless question of whether we were getting A-Rank perks and pay. We would be. Roxy was more concerned with how we'd be working with the B-Rank team and how we'd go about trying to pick the five members. All in good time. Clara had at least a dozen queries about the new base, but was told we'd circle back to that soon. Ren just wanted to know the timeline of all these changes. With that point, I agreed.

[I think we are overdue for some actual vacation time.]

Kingston held up his palms and smiled. "I couldn't agree more. Even when the League tried to give you some rest, you found ways of getting yourselves in trouble. I'm thinking two weeks of proper vacation is reasonable."

The verdict from camp Disaster was reasonably positive in relation to the news. Two weeks without even basic missions or public appearances would be plenty of time for us all to rest and get acclimated to our new home. Plus, it would take the League some time to set up and build.

After conferring with Roxy, I turned my eyes to the Director and gave him a nod.

[The council finds this acceptable. Is that starting today?]

"Starting tomorrow. This meeting feels like work, doesn't it?" The exhaustion was clear on his face again, even though he smiled through it. "Be aware that you will need to be contacted throughout this fortnight for your input on your base of operations. Although we can go over some basics now?"

Clara took over at this point. Her requests were rather simple, and I was content enough for her to have the lead on anything we needed. Evidently, she intended to take the spare room in the new house once again. She wanted a second residential building for visiting Disasters or other guests.

Next up was the meat of it. A workshop for technology and our fabrication machines. More spacious so she could develop new shot types or otherwise work on her craft.

Then, a proper medical center. Tables for surgery and any necessary supplies. A warehouse for storage. Separate from that, an actual building specifically designed to house my ammunition racking. Something purpose-built sounded great to me, as being without it was really cramping my style.

Her office would be a part of the command center - the round building in the middle of the base that was for information processing and having team meetings. She made sure to stress some of the technical requirements, such as signal relays for her drones, and several other points that I mostly tuned out.

Roxy interjected to request a training area, and the techie agreed that somewhere for testing and sparring would be important. Kingston expressed that he would do his best, but it would be difficult to create an arena totally superhero-proof. He was looking at Roxy when he mentioned that.

That was the extent of Clara's questions, and she returned to quiet contemplation once Kingston was done speaking.

He sighed briefly and tapped his fingers together. The holographic image of the proposed dome bloomed back into life. "I suppose the last thing to decide will be what name to give this base?"

[The Eye.]

I didn't realize the words were leaving my vocalizer until I had finished the short sentence. The Disasters looked at me with suspicion, and I could feel the burning glare of Roxy piercing through the side of my head.

[Like the center of a tempest. The eye of the storm. You can't deny that it resembles one, and is it a fitting name considering our team and occupation.]

Saved. Surely.

"We'll… put a pin in that," Roxy said, still frowning heavily at me.

"Fantastic." Kingston put his hands together. "In that case, I will call that an end to our meeting. Sleep over what we have discussed today, and if you have any questions, we can reconvene tomorrow."

The Disasters grumbled their acceptance and thanks as they moved to stand and leave.

"Oh, but if I could keep you behind for a brief chat, Gunquake."

There it was.

I glanced up at Roxy and gave her a brief shrug.

[Head back to the hotel. I'll meet up with you guys later.]

She didn't appear very pleased, but nodded and took over the role of cat herder. A handful of seconds later and the door closed, leaving Kingston and five empty chairs my only company.

The Director took a deep breath and rolled his neck. "Hells, I'm tired," he grunted. "If you give the other assholes here an inch, they take a mile, and I've been trying to keep as much of this advantage within my grasp as possible."

[How much longer do you have to hold things together?]

"Another day or two." He rolled his eyes. "Some do not like the taste of their own medicine. Hmm. I noticed you had a slight altercation on the way here."

[Did you send him?]

"No." Kingston sat up straight. "Although it might feel it at times, Goldarch isn't a manufactured reality show."

[How long will he be locked away for?]

His eyebrow raised. "You would prefer him to have a lighter sentence? At the risk of contradicting what I just said, I'll see what I can do. A nemesis isn't the worst thing, after all." The Director leaned forward against his desk. "Is there something you need to tell me, Gunquake?"

I maintained eye contact.

[Is there something you need to tell me?]

There were a few moments of heavy silence before the Director's brow lowered. His fingertips started to glow with a mix of green and red energy.

The walls shimmered, the waves of power condensing and constricting the space in the room. Waves of dark gray lapped over the monitors, obscuring them all from view. Even the light in the room dimmed, and I felt compressed slightly. A constant pressure.

Kingston's face was pained, darkened by a gloomy expression.

"What I am about to tell you never leaves this room."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.