To Alex's surprise, there were no other alarms for the rest of the week. Warner did announce that they had found another new client—something which she suspected meant that another incident had been canceled—but aside from that, it was peaceful for the rest of the week. She had nothing but lectures, runs, and time to worry about what might happen next.

As they came to the end of the week, however, she started to relax. They'd be able to train again just as soon as their on-call duty was done. It would give them time to grow their Skills, time to get closer to leveling up, and maybe even time to continue recruiting allies. Abbott was close to becoming a real asset, and if he was on board, they would probably have a much easier time handling their problems. He'd be especially useful if push came to shove and they ended up fighting Rabbit; the B rank was just too much of a threat to handle on their own.

Then, just as she set out on her evening run, Alex's phone beeped. It showed that she had a video message sent by Mitch Warner. She paused as a sinking feeling filled her.

Bracing herself, she hit the play button.

Warner was sitting at a very fancy desk in his office. She could see a view of the campus in the window behind him. Judging by the daylight in the background, the message had been recorded earlier in the day. His normally cheerful face was now distracted, almost dismissive. He kept looking a little away from the camera, as if he was avoiding eyes that weren't physically there watching him.

He began, his voice sounding just as noncommittal as his expression. "Employees of Royal Purple Contracting. It has been my honor to be your chief executive officer the past few weeks. As many of you know, I was brought in to assess and improve the performance of our company and prepare it for any challenges it might face in the future."

"We knew at the outset that some of these changes would be painful, but as we have worked through them, we've been able to see a rise in both the productivity and profitability of our work here. The Royal Purple brand has become even more closely identified with reliability, safety, and good Surveying practices. I want to commend all of our people for their effort to make sure we achieved that result."

He took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, the changes are not yet done. This fiscal year has been a rocky one in terms of its outlook for Royal Purple Contracting, and my time here has been no exception. Rising costs, market volatility, and other concerns have placed our company in a position of great risk. In order to weather that problem, I've been… required to take certain actions."

"As of today, many of your fellow employees have been let go from the company."

Alex felt her breath catch. Her pulse pounded in her ears as the man continued. "Anyone who is receiving this message may rest assured that their job is secure, and that as we work through these transitions, we will do our best to continue making sure that your position within Royal Purple Contracting, and the greater Greylight Industries umbrella, remains valid and fulfilling. The coming days may have continued challenges, but I am sure that we can face them together. As for our departing colleagues, I expect everyone to treat them with the respect, sensitivity, and discretion they deserve. Any who have concerns, or who are approached for help, should remind them that our company has offered them transition packages that can either assist them in finding new work elsewhere within Greylight, or otherwise ease their adjustment to their new situation. We should also all be ready to take on additional responsibilities in the coming weeks."

Warner paused. He nodded to himself. "Again, thank you for everything that you do, and I hope that in the future we can continue to do our best to live up to our work. Goodnight."

The video stopped, and Alex stared at the blank screen for a moment longer. Then she started running.

It took her a few minutes, and a sudden flurry of texts from her friends, to figure out exactly what had happened.

Out of the eight C rank teams that the company had maintained, three of them had been fired. Of the sixteen teams of D ranks, nine of them were going to be gone by Monday. Dozens of Surveyors were already emptying out their rooms in the dorms, or simply not coming back into work ever again.

The support staff had been hit almost as hard. Nearly a third of the people who helped to run things were gone; even the janitors and security staff hadn't been spared. Joanna had reported that a few of the mechanics had been let go as well, which didn't give Alex good feelings about the next few flights she'd need to take on the Greyhawks.

Predictably, none of the administrative staff seemed to have been touched.

Her mind was spinning at that point as she tried to reason out what was happening. It couldn't have been a reaction to their probing, unless Warner was simply trying to reduce possible sources of leaks. Still, it should have been far simpler to just lay her and her friends off rather than hollowing out the whole company. A follow-up email from Warner only worsened the confusion. The schedule was being shifted to compensate for the missing personnel. Instead of two training weeks and one on-call, they'd be changing to one training and one on-call for the foreseeable future. Their training was changing too; they'd be going into the portal three times a week instead of two, in order to keep the C rank portal contained.

Alex was still trying to reimagine her coming week when she suddenly asked herself what Abbott's reaction would be. A horrifying thought occurred to her, and a text to the others only confirmed it.

Minutes later, she was at the seldom-used C rank dorms, hammering on Abbott's door. "Abbott! Open up!"

There was a shuffling sound inside. The C rank opened the door a moment later, and Alex stepped back at the weary expression on his face. He blinked when he saw her there. His smile returned a heartbeat later. "Alex. Come to see me off?"

She stared at him, trying to assemble her thoughts. "They let you go."

"Yep. That they did." Abbott leaned against the doorjamb, folding his arms. "I guess they didn't see a reason to keep a C rank like me onboard. After all, I wasn't being sent out on Surveys. All I did was train people."

Alex shook her head. "But how are they going to keep training people without you? Who's going to do it?"

Abbott grinned. "Apparently, they're going to 'encourage the rising generation of Surveyors to seize the opportunity for themselves'. At least, that's what they told me when I asked."

She shook her head. "But that's insane. We're going into a C rank portal as D ranks. We'll be risking injuries and worse every time."

He grimaced, his smile fading. "I wish I could argue with you, Valkyrie, but I can't." Abbott met her eyes with a serious look. "Your group is probably the best off in terms of the ones who are left, but you're still going to need to be careful. Especially about some of the… ideas you might have had."

Alex nodded, the twisting feeling in her gut growing worse. "Why would you say that?"

Abbott laughed, a softer sound than usual. "I might have done some poking around. I can't say it's the reason I'm out, but given the risk…"

He looked away, off towards the towers. His expression grew wistful. "Then again, it might be better for you to get away from this place, Alex. I was happy to have you here, and you're exactly the right kind of Surveyor for this work. I'm just not sure it's going to be safe for you, though. Not anymore."

Her heart ached for a moment, but she forced a smile. "Thanks, Abbott."

"Ryan. Call me Ryan for a bit." He looked past her and sighed. "Though not long, I suppose. What are you here for, Jester?"

Alex turned and saw Rabbit and Jester walking down the path towards them. Jester was sauntering along, like a cat approaching a mouse with a broken leg. Rabbit was simply studying the situation with cold satisfaction. Jester grinned widely as he responded.

"The bosses apparently thought you could use a reminder that any vandalism or sabotage will result in both criminal charges and deductions from your severance pay. As well as maybe a reminder that it would be good for you to clear out sooner rather than later."

"As well as a pointed reminder that I'm not the best Surveyor here, I imagine." Abbott's voice was thick with irony.

Jester's grin widened. "That's right!"

Abbott snorted. "That explains why Rabbit's here at least. So why did they send you?"

The question caught Jester flat-footed, and his smile seemed to slide off his face. Before he could find a retort, Rabbit spoke in a cold voice. "Regardless, you've been asked to leave. I also need to take your keycard. There won't be any reason for you to access the portal or the building after today."

For a moment, Abbott seemed ready to resist. Then he sighed. "All right. Wait a moment." He ducked back inside, leaving Alex standing uncomfortably outside with two probable enemies. Fortunately, he reappeared a moment later, holding his security badge. "Here you go."

Jester took it from him with obvious relish. Rabbit just nodded and started to turn away.

Then she paused, looking back at Alex. "You would do well to leave Mr. Costello alone, Valkyrie. He probably has a lot of packing to do."

Alex glared back at her, but Abbott spoke up. "That's all right, she was just leaving. Right, Alex?"

She looked back, ready to argue, but he just held her gaze until she nodded. "Yeah."

He smiled. "Thanks for dropping by. Just remember what I told you about Monday. It's important."

She nodded again, and he waved goodbye. Alex turned, ignored Jester and Rabbit as if they weren't even there, and started running again. This time, she headed back towards her dorms. The others were probably waiting for her, and they had plans they needed to make.

The training room seemed far emptier when Alex walked into it.

Of course, the entire campus felt the same way. Nearly the entire previous day, she'd been watching people pack their things and leave. She'd helped out some of them, spending her day off moving boxes and trying to help organize things. A few of the departing Surveyors had appreciated it, but most had just looked stunned as they walked out the doors. By the time the flood of departures had finished, the sun had already been setting, and she'd gotten only a troubled sleep.

She wasn't the only one, judging by the expressions on the faces of the remaining Surveyors. Half of them had the same stunned looks as the ones who had been laid off, while others had bags under their eyes and worried expressions. Some of them were using the equipment, but they moved listlessly, as if they weren't really paying attention to what they were doing.

Alex sighed and made her way over to the other teams. There were only three others there; Trips' team was on-call, along with another team led by a man called Whistler. The leaders of the teams here now were Grumps, a Page named Fetch, and a Squire named Bonk—at least, those were the nicknames Alex knew them by. They nodded to her as she approached. "Which one of us are going in first?"

Grumps shrugged. "Doesn't matter, really. Half of us are going to get torn apart in there without Abbott."

Bonk nudged the man. "Not exactly helping the rest of us look forward to this, you know."

Alex looked around at them. "Did he really go in with everyone?"

Fetch shook her head. "No. He'd send some of the other C ranks—the ones on the support staff—on some of the runs. The ones who were the best at it got to go alone, but there weren't many of them." She winced. "Now there aren't any, actually. The ones who managed it all got walked out the door yesterday."

"Then I guess we'll be learning how to do it today." Alex glanced back and saw the others walking in. "We'll take the first run, and we'll let you know how bad it is. Does that sound fine?"

Bonk snorted. "Better than a hole in the head."

Grumps grumbled something that sounded like 'not by much', but Alex ignored the fatalistic Surveyor. Today was going to be hard enough without determined pessimism weighing her down—which meant she definitely didn't want to listen to the part of her that was insisting that Grumps was right.

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Alex stepped out with her team into the other world and found the wind blowing hard.

It felt like the hours before a storm, one where the wind continued to push through the fields and forests, setting the grain waving and the branches whipping back and forth without actually unleashing a torrent of rain yet. Out of habit, Alex glanced upwards, only to see the same usual iron-grey clouds concealing the sky. She sighed and turned to the others.

"Well? What locations do we have?"

Sam grimaced. "I have the General Store, the Duck Pond, and the Stables. Does anyone know where those last two are?"

No one nodded, and he continued in a defeated voice. "I also have the Water Tower, the Charging Station, and the City Hall. No idea where any of those are, either."

Alex blinked. Before she could speak, though, Clara broke in. "I have the Greenhouse! I think I can remember how to get us there, too. I also have the City Hall, if we can manage to find that one."

Joanna nodded. "Same here. Though I have the Greenhouse, not the General Store. Sorry."

Sam grumbled something to himself, and Alex grinned. "Turns out I have the City Hall and the General Store as well, so we should be able to finish those off in town, right?" The others nodded, and Alex went on in an optimistic voice. "So if we hit the town and then go to the Greenhouse, we could actually get a full clear."

Clara gave her a raised eyebrow. "Something tells me you're going to try for it even without Abbott here, aren't you?"

Joanna shook her head. "As if that's even a question. Without Liliana to scare her, I don't even know what could stop her from—"

A howl rose over the sound of the wind, off in the distance. They all flinched, and Alex pictured having to face a Shifter without Abbott's support. It wasn't a pretty picture, to say the least. A quick glance told her the others were thinking much the same thing.

As the echoes faded, she started off down the road, with the others trailing after her. They had plenty of distance to travel, after all.

Thirty minutes later, Alex was regretted her confidence in picking the first slot of the day.

After smashing their way through patrols in a D rank portal, fighting the C rank versions were much, much more difficult, especially without Abbott's help. They were still more than capable of launching ambushes and destroying the packs of Grue, but it seemed a lot more dangerous.

At least, it seemed that way as they cut down the third patrol in a row that they had encountered on the way to the General Store. Clara was leading them along the road south, with occasional detours to hide in the grain. It wasn't nearly the kind of fast pace that they had been able to keep up at Emerald Bay and the Brownhat portal. Of course, they didn't also have a horde waiting for them when they arrived, so that had been a bit of an advantage as well.

"Look at it this way, we'll get the Hidden Quests done pretty quickly."

Sam's attempted reassurance was not all that effective. Not when she already had to kill eight Brutes, sixteen Knights, eight Killers, and four Mages just for the first two of her Quests. The third one hadn't even unlocked yet.

At the very least, they were making decent time. The Shifters hadn't been following them as closely, possibly because there wasn't a nice, juicy C rank to draw them in close, but she could tell they were still tracking the team. It was a faint hope that they could finish everything and be done before the first one struck, but she held onto it, regardless.

They reached the edge of the abandoned town a short while later, still following that ribbon of pavement further south. The vacant buildings and cracked streets seemed like they had been neglected for even longer than the ones in the other portals she'd seen recently, but she kept those thoughts to herself as they closed in on the General Store.

They had made it most of the way to the Store when Clara pulled up short. She ducked down and into the grain along the right side of the road. Everyone followed her by instinct; ignoring the person with the sight Skill was usually unwise.

Alex followed Clara's line of sight and grunted in surprise. There in the sky above, a Shifter was making a slow circle around the town.

Beside her, Sam let out a huff of air. "Is that thing guarding the town?"

Joanna nodded. "Maybe it's what they do without a C rank to hunt? Either way, it's a problem."

Before Alex could contribute her own thoughts, orange text abruptly swam into focus.

[Hidden Quest Discovered! Destroy 1 Shifter.]

Alex let out a quiet breath. "Worse for me than for you." When they looked at her, she shook her head. "Guess what my last Hidden Quest is?"

The others grimaced. Sam just shook his head. "At least we don't have to attack Camps?"

"That might have been easier." Joanna looked at her. "Do you have a plan?"

Turning her gaze skyward, Alex watched the enormous thing drift in the gusts of wind that were still tearing across the town. "Not a good one, I'll admit." She glanced at the Adept. "How close does it have to be for you to ice its wings?"

Joanna glanced upwards. "Fairly close. I'd say about three, maybe four stories up?"

Clara hefted her crossbow. "I can hit it with a Thornshot further out than that, but its breath seems to counter that pretty well. I probably also can't hit both wings at once."

Alex nodded. "One will be good to start with."

She started to stand up, but Joanna caught her arm. "Wait, what are we doing?"

Sam answered before she could, in a voice that seemed weary and resigned. "She's going to be bait while we knock the thing out of the sky. Then she'll help us finish it off when it hits the ground."

Alex looked at him and he shrugged. "After you do it enough times, it just gets normal, Alex."

"You mean Valkyrie." She grinned as he rolled his eyes. Then she turned to the others. "Like he said, I'll get its attention. Just make sure to bring it down like you did with Abbott."

Joanna grumbled something, but Clara just nodded as she loaded her crossbow. Alex turned back to the town and drew in a deep breath. She let it trickle out slowly, gathering her magic around her.

Then she ran, the scenery blurring around her as she moved. Motion Trance was still climbing its way back to maximum, but even now it gave her the kind of speed that any non-Surveyor could only dream of obtaining. The fields around her rapidly gave way to open ground as she raced out of the fields and into the town itself.

Overhead, the Shifter continued to circle. It was peering in all directions; clearly it hadn't picked up their scent. She saw a particularly harsh gust of wind rock it in midair. The Grue didn't seem all that worried as it corrected itself.

Then its head twisted to the side, and she felt its glowing eyes lock onto her. She grinned up at it, knowing what it was seeing. An isolated D rank, just perfect for a quick snack. It swung out and around her, obviously wanting to avoid missing her on a head-on pass. Alex looked back over her shoulder to see it glide into place behind her, the thin film of its wings flapping in the air as it straightened out into a rapid dive.

She started to run in a zigzag pattern, hoping to complicate its attack, but the Shifter just tracked her. It wove back and forth in a lazy imitation of her attempts to avoid it. Even as fast as she was, it was still gaining on her. The confidence in its motions was terrifying; it clearly felt it had no reason to fear her at all.

Then a slender sliver of steel shot out of the fields, and the Shifter arched its back in sudden pain. Coils of thorned plants lashed out and wrapped one of its wings in fast-growing plant life. Its satisfied snarl became a wide-eyed expression of panic, even on its canine face. Alex slid to a halt as its dive became a tumble. The Shifter twisted to claw at the still-forming web of plants, ripping at them as it fell.

It succeeded just in time to level out, nearly at street level. At that point, it was hurtling along at an incredible speed. Alex judged the distance in a heartbeat. She channeled the Storm, creating a burst of wind that shoved her back and upwards, boosting her as she leapt.

The Shifter slammed into her shield, its skull cracking beneath the impact. Alex felt a shot of pain streak through her arm, and she was nearly knocked tumbling along the street as well. Gritting her teeth, she struck out with her axe, aiming more to hook a limb than to carve a wound.

She barely succeeded. The back spike of her axe dug into the Shifter's back, digging a smoking trench in its insubstantial form as momentum alone dragged her backwards. Alex heard the Shifter begin a pained howl as its recovery fell to pieces.

The howl cut off as it slammed into a nearby parked car, still moving far too quickly. Alex was thrown from her perch on its back, rolling across the shabby, weed-eaten concrete of a sidewalk for a painful distance. She still came up on her feet, breath coming quick and hard as her boots slipped on a crumbling bit of cement. Hot pain flooded into her from a double handful of scrapes, swelling bruises, and a worrying, repeated ache from her shield arm.

Fortunately, the impact hadn't done the Shifter any more good than it had her. It was clawing at the ruin of metal and glass that had once been a minivan of some kind, partially out of rage and partially trying to free itself from the wreckage. Alex heard a coughing sound. She darted to the side as the Shifter managed to open its maw enough to spray acid and poison fog across the inside of the vehicle. The metal began to corrode and fragment, allowing it to pull back from the mess.

She came at it from the side, hoping it wouldn't see her coming. Her hopes were dashed as it pivoted to face her, knocking what was left of the van away like a child discarding a toy. It hissed at her, snapping at her with teeth that could have cut straight through her armor. Alex hopped back from the bite, slashing at it with her axe. The blow caught it across the muzzle and drove it back.

As the Shifter twitched back and scrabbled at the pavement for a good purchase, Alex tried to dart in and strike it again. The thing was a lot more cautious and jittery than the last one she'd fought; it tended to skitter back almost as much as it snapped at her. It was almost like it was trying to buy time and distance, maybe to pounce on her all at once, or take off again. Either way, she had no intention of allowing it to happen.

Alex kept striking at it, hoping for an opening to appear. Her shield deflected another bite, and this time the Shifter managed to pull back before her axe could hit it. She pushed closer in, blocking another attempt to claw at her and dodging a second paw as it crashed down. The Shifter howled as she hacked into its leg, and she charged it, trying to take advantage of its distraction.

Instead, the Shifter reared up and flapped its leathery wings, sending a gust of wind across her path. Alex tried to brace against it, but it still pushed her back far enough to break her momentum. She looked up and saw the jaws descending on her, too fast to dodge and too large to survive.

Then the Shifter jerked in agony. It twisted to the side, only for Sam's spear to take it right in the neck. The pained howl was filled with blood and gasping, and he pulled back to avoid a vengeful bite. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, even as he punished the attempted counter with a stab to the snout. "Hurry!"

Alex sprinted forward, taking the next blow from a paw on her shield. It almost slid her into Sam, but she shoved the paw aside and ran in. The Shifter backed away again, only to lurch to a stop. Ice had formed on its feet, holding it in place; Alex saw its eyes widen in shock.

She summoned her magic just as it started to rear back. The Storm parted the wind in front of her as she sprinted in at the Shifter's exposed belly. Its eyes widened yet again, and as it tried to fold up to snap at her, a crossbow bolt caught it in the mouth. The distraction of more spiky vines wrapping around its mouth allowed Alex to slide in underneath it.

Her axe hacked up and into the Shifter's belly. It tried to jerk back, but something stopped it; a glance back told her that Sam had stabbed his spear down through one of its forepaws, trapping it. The Shifter thrashed, cracking the ice on its back paws and scratching frantically at the vines with its one free forepaw, but Alex didn't give it enough time to free itself. She hurled herself into a frantic, headlong assault, carving her way through the thing with attack after attack.

It seemed to last forever, but it had to have only been seconds. Just as the first back paw cracked free of Joanna's magic, with the telltale gurgle of poison and acid bubbling in its throat, Alex gritted her teeth and swung one last time into the ruined mess she'd made of the thing.

The axe described a brutal arc, chopping deep through the Shifter. Purple blood-smoke poured from the wounds, cascading over the ground. Alex closed her eyes and held her breath as she dodged to the side, shield up and ready to intercept the next attack.

To her surprise, it didn't come. The Shifter continued to cough, whine, and gurgle as it struggled to free itself. Sam yanked his spear free, and the Grue lurched to the side, staggering drunkenly as it pulled its last paw loose. It flopped onto its side, paws scrabbling at pavement and concrete, sending up chips of tar and stone as poison drooled from its maw.

Alex didn't wait to see if it would recover. She sprinted around to its head, dodging the curling tendrils of acid that wafted from its face. Then she planted her axe in its throat, over and over until it jerked and went still.

Orange text flared to life seconds before the body burst into flame.

[Battle Maneuvers increases to 19!]

[Hidden Quest Completed!]

She backed away from the bonfire of the creature they'd downed. A glance told her that the others were panting hard, but they were all unwounded. Clara's healing aura descended over her a moment later, and Alex sighed as the sting from her scrapes and bruises faded. Her arm was still stubbornly grating away at her awareness, but she ignored it.

Then she looked in the direction of the Store and smiled. "So. Should we get the rest of it done?"

The remainder of the Survey was far more straightforward. They snuck close enough to the Store to fulfill the Quest, and then searched the town long enough to find the City Hall as well. It was a humble little place, with architecture that seemed older and less refined than most of the other buildings they'd seen.

Of course, the Grue had apparently thought it was the perfect place for an Outpost, which was interesting enough on its own. Not interesting enough to fight, given the number of Mages and other Grue that were stalking around the place, but it might be useful knowledge in the future.

With those locations found, Alex led the others north to finish off their last Quest. It took a little more searching to find the Greenhouse again, with its packs of Grue lurking inside, but at least another Shifter hadn't been prowling around overhead.

In fact, none of the other Shifters caught up to them, even as they smashed their way through the patrols that stumbled across them. By the time they returned to the portal, every one of them was exhausted, battered, and ready for the chance to rest.

Still, it was encouraging to see that they'd been able to finish things without Abbott, even as her arm ached. Alex was grinning as she stepped back through the vortex and into the light…

[Mission Report]

[Successful Return! +20 Experience]

[Main Quest Completed! +160 Experience]

[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +80 Experience]

[Secondary Culling Quest Completed! +80 Experience]

[Secondary Purge Quest Completed! +80 Experience]

[All Quests Completed! Glorious Victory! +80 Experience]

Alex grinned as she looked the report over. A few more like that one, and she'd nearly be to the next level.

[Battle Maneuvers increased from 0 to 27!]

[Motion Trance increased from 18 to 21!]

She'd gotten close, but not quite enough to reach the next title for Battle Maneuvers. Feeling a little disappointed, she shrugged and moved on.

[Combat Balance has reached level 35! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]

[Combat Balance has reached capacity for Titles. No more are available.]

[Reset Combat Balance to add maximum levels?]

This time, she agreed to the sacrifice. If there was ever a time to push things forward, it was now, when there was less risk of being dumped into a Grue horde. The fact that it made up for her disappointment with Battle Maneuvers was a little helpful, too.

She also accepted the resets for Combined Arms and Holy-Storm as well. Having them all have a maximum of forty would give her plenty of strength that she could rely on. As long as nothing else happened, she'd be ready for just about anything.

With that thought, she moved forward through the light, looking forward to some relief at home…

To her unhappy surprise, she found Rabbit and her team waiting for them when they left the portal.

Jester stepped forward, of course, his grin mocking and wide. "Did you guys have a little bit of difficulty out there? I hope the Grue didn't scare you too badly without your big brother Abbott to hold your hands."

There was an edge to his voice, and Alex felt her eyes narrow. He obviously didn't feel like anyone was left to call him out on his behavior. Had the layoffs been designed to allow some of the Surveyors free rein, as well as cover up Greylight's plans? Either way, it didn't promise anything good.

She walked over to Rabbit, ignoring him. "Do you want our report, Rabbit?"

The Surveyor smiled. It was not a kind expression. "I don't think it will really be necessary, Valkyrie. Thank you."

Without another word, her team brushed past her and her friends, heading for the vortex. Alex turned to watch them go and then shook her head. She was already beginning to miss Abbott.

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