An interminable amount of time later, they were on their way.

The same shuttle bus that had brought them to the offices was now carrying them to the portal facility. One of the lawyers had led them out of the conference room where they'd been trapped and graciously offered them the ride. Jonathan had already gone ahead, claiming that he needed to prepare something at the portal itself. Alex thought it had more to do with his desire to not be stuck in the same room with the suits, which she couldn't exactly blame him for.

They piled into the bus and were on their way, with each of them stretching and sighing at the relief of finally being back on the job. Sam gave her a wary look. "You sure that we're going to be able to handle this thing in a week? It sounded kind of nasty, especially with what Clara was saying."

Alex gave the Acolyte a sidelong glance. The driver was safely isolated from them by a glass divider; she didn't think that the Emerald Bay folks would be quite conniving enough to eavesdrop on them with a bug. "Yeah, that was something new. You really saw the portal from that far off?"

Clara blushed. She avoided Alex's eyes. "I… might have exaggerated things. Just a little."

Sam burst out laughing. He shook his head even as the laughter faded to chuckles. "Well done! We'll make a criminal of you yet!"

The Acolyte rolled her eyes, but Joanna spoke up before she could respond. "We might be closer to that than making a negotiator out of you, Alex. I'm pretty sure that we could have pushed for a little more on their end."

Alex shook her head. "Maybe we could have, but I didn't want to." Joanna gave her an exasperated look, and she shrugged. "Our priority is to get stronger, not necessarily to make tons of money. If we get the chance to go into a portal and complete a Survey, that's worth the hit to our bank accounts."

"Even if we end up on the streets between portals?" The Adept raised an eyebrow and Alex's response died on her tongue. "I know that Surveys are everything for you, Alex, but we do need to eat. We don't have a company to provide the basics for us now. Getting a job that leaves us stranded and with no portal access or transportation is not going to help things."

As Alex winced, Sam spoke up. "She's right, but at the moment, we probably need to focus on what we're going to do inside. I imagine that we want to get as much out of this as we can, right?"

When they all nodded, he continued in a low voice. "I think that means we should aim for a full clear with each run. We don't have any corporate suits breathing down our necks or anything, which means we can set our own goals. That should give us plenty of breathing room."

Clara grinned. "It helps that we already know where we can find most of our targets. We'll probably be able to do everything pretty quickly."

Joanna nodded. "We should try to salvage whatever we can while we work. Our agreement with Emerald Bay says that we can sell the materials back to them for additional funds—which is something we might need." She gave Alex another look, which Alex tried to ignore.

"That sounds good to me." She cracked her knuckles and grinned. "After all, the more we get done in a single run, the better our reputation will be. It's probably going to be a good idea to make a big impact."

Sam snorted. "As if there was ever any chance of that not happening." He looked around, and a slightly hesitant expression stole across his features. "We should also probably do a bit of… experimenting."

Alex raised an eyebrow at him. "There's only so much we can do with the Grue materials right now."

He raised a hand and made a calming gesture. "I know, I know—though I bet there're a few things we haven't tried yet." Sam gave her a lopsided grin. "I was thinking more along the lines of trying to figure out what the rest of us need to do to gain Pioneer, like you did."

She blinked. When she glanced at the others, they were watching her just as intently. "You're sure? It seems like we aren't going to be able to do much about that."

"We can at least give it a shot. Especially if it means we all gain access to the new abilities you've gained." Joanna's voice was calm, but Alex could hear the eagerness bubbling under the words. She was sure the Adept was already visualizing what she could do with Grue leftovers using her magic. "At the very least, we can try a few things as we work."

Alex looked around at them again and then grimaced. "I was going to lecture you about taking unnecessary risks, but…"

Clara burst out laughing. "Yeah, that might not have gone very well." She glanced in the direction of the portal and grew a bit more serious. "I guess I have the least to risk, since I already have Dreamseer, but I'm just hoping the rest of the things we need to do are a bit less dangerous or painful than what you did. I don't know if I'd want to see something like that again."

Sam grimaced. "Yeah, I think we'll save that experience for when we already have the other requirements ready." His crooked grin returned. "Besides, it might not look very good if we come back through the portal with half our team unconscious on the very first Survey."

Alex snorted, and the others chuckled. As they started to debate their first experiments, Alex turned her attention back to the scenery outside. It was already shaping up to be quite the first day.

Jonathan was waiting for them when they arrived.

He'd ditched the suit and changed into the standard Emerald Bay blue and green uniform, and there were a few other Surveyors standing in front of the portal facility with him. They all watched as Alex and the others disembarked, with a few of them whispering among themselves. She tried not to notice how few there seemed to be for a portal this size.

Jonathan glanced back at his coworkers and then walked up to Alex. To her amusement, he extended his hand again, as if he was meeting her for the first time that day. The Surveyor gave her a half-smile. "So, the vultures didn't manage to keep you all day?"

Alex grinned back. "No. Not this time." He nodded and shook everyone else's hands as well. Then he turned and started towards the portal building, while Alex and her friends followed.

"I'm sorry for the poor welcome. If it were up to me, I'd have bypassed that whole process and tossed you straight in there, but you know how managers can be…"

She glanced at her friends, who were all trying to hide smiles. "Yeah, I'd say we do."

Jonathan snorted. He seemed far more relaxed now, though there were still signs of fatigue around his eyes. As they walked, the smell of magic grew more and more noticeable, something that seemed to call to Alex. It had already been weeks since she'd seen the inside of a portal, and her spine itched for the chance to enter one again now.

Her host didn't appear to notice how her hands twitched as they reached the front entrance to the building. Instead, he'd continued in an even voice. "I tried to tell them that going with Blue Moon would have been a mistake. They've got a decent reputation, but it wouldn't be long before they ramped up their prices. Besides…" Jonathan lowered his voice. "I think I'd rather trust someone who's already come through for us before. You got me and my people out when we needed it. I won't forget that, not for a long time."

Alex nodded to him, searching for the right things to say. "Thanks." Then the portal came into view, and all thoughts of idle conversation fled.

It was clear the portal was not a healthy, stable one. There were no bolts of lightning crawling across its face, but the scent of magic was far stronger than it probably should have been coming from a D rank portal, and it glowed far brighter. Even without going through it, she could see why Emerald Bay was shopping around for other solutions, just in case she didn't make it in time.

She was still studying the vortex when Joanna spoke, her voice professionally neutral. "What are the conditions like inside, Mr. Grissom?"

Jonathan grimaced. "Our PAD estimates that it is around a D4 right now, though I think it is edging towards D5. There are a few Anchor Points that are being built, but we've been able to slow them down a little."

Sam's voice was serious. "What was it usually, before all this started?"

"D3." Jonathan's expression grew stricken, and he shook his head. "That seems like a long time ago now."

Clara glanced at the portal, and then back at the other Surveyors. "Nobody's in there, right?" Jonathan shook his head, and the Acolyte nodded. "They should probably stay out for now. We'll take care of things."

Alex nodded. It would be good to keep any witnesses from seeing them experiment with anything once they were inside. That, and they could just assume that any Surveyors they met were unfriendly, which was a disturbing thought to have. "All right. Time for us to get in there. Thanks for the escort, Jonathan."

He nodded back at her. "Thank you, Valkyrie. Good hunting."

Alex watched him withdraw and then turned back to her team. They watched her with an aura of calm that impressed her. Apparently, after being thrown against the worst possible conditions on multiple occasions, their current mission wasn't intimidating enough. She grinned. "Any last words before we head in?"

Sam snorted, and Joanna rolled her eyes. Clara gave Alex a patient look before checking her crossbow. "We're doing War missions, right?"

"Either that or Salvage, yeah." Her own options were going to be different, but she didn't want to mention that here. Alex turned to face the portal and steeled herself for the challenge ahead. Even if it was just a D rank portal, the other world was not a place to let her guard down. Not if she wanted her and her friends to come back alive.

She led the way towards the portal, her weapons in her hands and her armor taking shape around her. Her thoughts were still whirling with everything they needed to do as she stepped into the light…

[D Rank Pioneer Alex]

[Ascension Level: 9]

[Role: Porter (Role Skills: None)]

[Role Level: 4]

[Experience: 1340/5500]

[Attributes: Strength -> 9, Speed -> 10, Life -> 8, Devotion -> 0, Control -> 0]

[Current Skills: Combat Balance(45), Motion Trance(25), Combined Arms–Axe/Shield(45),

Holy–Storm(45)]

[Permanent Skills: Battle Maneuvers**(30)]

[Current Titles: Empress of War (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Combined Arms, Weapon Mastery, and Battle Maneuvers by five.),

Aggression (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, Combined Arms, and Combat Balance Skills by five.),

Fated Hero (Increases Skill grade of Dodging, Anticipate, Battle Maneuvers, and Inspect by five),

Eternal Motion (Increases Skill grade of Recovery, Running, Marathoning, and Motion Trance by five.),

Tireless (Increases Skill grade of Recovery Skills by three.),

True Sentinel (Increases Skill grade of Deflect, Dodging, Blocking, Resist, Zeal, and Combat Balance by five.),

Still Flow (Increases Skill grade of Meditation, Focus, Recovery, Arcane, Sense, and Motion Trance by five.),

Elite (Increases Skill grade of Combat Balance, Battle Maneuvers, Battle Mastery, and Battle Dance by five.),

Lethality (Increases Skill grade of Melee, Weapon Mastery, and Combined Arms Skills by five.),

Consecrated (Increases Skill grade of Holy by five.),

War Prowess (Increases Skill grade of Battle Maneuvers, Rush Assault, and Heavy Assault by five.),

War Momentum (Increases Skill grade of Combat Balance, Riposte, and Battle Dance by five.),

Blitz Master (Increases Skill grade of Combined Arms, Lunge, and Charge by five),

Deliberate (Increases Skill grade of Battle Maneuvers, Anticipate, and Combined Arms by five.),

Fleet (Increases Skill grade of Motion Trance, Evasion, and Charge Assault by three.)]

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Her listed Skills and Titles hadn't changed since her last mission, which made sense given what she'd had to do. Chasing after Rabbit hadn't left her any time to go hunting Grue, after all, and without completing any objectives, she hadn't been able to reset any Skills even if she wanted to.

The words changed even as she was running over those memories in her mind, shifting to a new display.

[Current Portal Status: Unstable, Magic Level Increasing Slightly]

[Current Portal Level: D5]

[Combat Oriented Objectives Recommended]

[Local Area Population: None]

Alex took a moment to shake her head over the way the Screen had changed for her since the last time she'd been at Emerald Bay. Her shift from a Surveyor to a Pioneer had come with all kinds of strange surprises, but at least they had been generally helpful.

The information was a mix of both good and bad news. It wasn't a surprise that the portal was unstable, nor was it shocking to hear the warning about the magic level increasing. She did appreciate knowing the exact level of the portal, though it only reinforced how much work they had ahead, on top of all the wild ideas that Sam and the others had come up with.

At the very least, they weren't going to be bored.

[Current Objective Budget: 500]

[Select Priority Objective]

She grimaced. If she hadn't been a Pioneer, it would have been relatively simple. All she'd have needed to do was choose a War intention, and the Screen would have given her the task to clear out the nearby Camps. Now, as a Pioneer, she was going to need to guess how many she could reach in a single run.

Alex focused and gave it her best shot.

[Priority Objective: Clear at least ten Grue Camps. Possible rewards: 100 Experience. Accept?]

It seemed like a lot, but the fact was that they'd probably need to hit at least this much just to put a dent in the portal's output. The D rank portal at Red Blade Securities had been surrounded by nearly two hundred Camps, and while she didn't intend to knock this portal down as low as she had that one, she still needed to do at least a decent percentage of that number. They wouldn't have an infinite amount of time inside, but they'd be helped by their high-level Skills and the fact that the Camps would be gathered close by one another.

With a sigh, she shifted her expectations a little. The text appeared once again.

[Priority Objective: Clear at least fifteen Grue Camps. Possible rewards: 150 Experience. Accept?]

She accepted, though she couldn't help but feel like the experience reward should have been higher.

[Select Additional Objectives]

Alex shrugged off her resentment and moved to her next options. Camps weren't the only possible target, though she knew that hitting the Anchor Points would be a bad decision. No matter how strong they were, she didn't think getting anywhere near one of those things was going to be a good idea any time soon.

There were Outposts inside, however, and she'd led the team to hit them before. Taking them down might do just as much to bring down the portal's level, as well as gathering some new resources. Given what she'd already discovered using her new Pioneer abilities, it might help kill two birds with one stone to clear those out as well.

[Additional Objective: Clear three Outposts. Possible rewards: 90 Experience. Accept?]

She blinked; she hadn't quite expected the rewards to be so high, though in hindsight, the Outposts were a little harder to deal with. Alex accepted and then moved on to her next possibility. While she didn't want to attack the Anchor Points, scouting was probably a good decision, given that it would let the Emerald Bay Surveyors know how dangerous those areas were, and if a new one was being built somewhere.

[Additional Objective: Scout at least ten locations within the local area. Possible rewards: 200 Experience. Accept?]

Alex shrugged and accepted. Between the Camps and the Outposts, she'd already get at least six of them; finding another four spots shouldn't be that much more running, and at least it was better than making up the difference with meaningless patrols.

Speaking of which…

[Additional Objective: Destroy at least twelve patrols. Possible rewards: 60 Experience. Accept?]

She grimaced; the rewards for these were so much less than they had been at the C rank portal. At this rate, unless she had a massive number of other objectives, using patrols to fill the gap was going to be ridiculous.

At the same time, she didn't have a choice. If she didn't make a selection, the Screen might try sending her up against an Anchor Point or something similarly ridiculous. She accepted the last objective and sighed in satisfaction as the last of her points were locked in.

Then she stepped forward and let the light take her…

Alex exited the portal into the other world.

She left the vortex in a crouch. The market square that she remembered from her other two visits stretched around her; unlike her first mission here, it was not filled to capacity with a horde of Grue. Instead, the half-ruined shops and crumbling statues simply stood as if waiting for her, a monument to whatever catastrophe had destroyed the place. Overhead, the grey clouds were dark and rumbling; if they stayed, she had the unpleasant feeling that they'd be facing rain sooner rather than later.

Behind her, the others came through the vortex, appearing one after another. She looked back at them and grinned. "Shall we get started?"

The Grue howled as they threw themselves at Alex. She met them at a full sprint.

Soldiers lunged at her, their spears stretched out and ready to stab. Her axe tore through them and her shield snapped their weapons; she barely even felt the need to pause as she broke through their lines. The Knights beyond tried to form ranks and shelter behind their shields. Alex ducked low and cut their legs out from under them. They died as she hammered her way through and into the already panicking members of the Grue's backline.

A rampaging Brute rushed at her, desperate to save its companions, but Alex turned on it before it could raise its hammers. She ripped through its torso in a handful of swings while the weapons were still in the air. They fell to the sides as the Brute went over backwards.

She caught sight of a flash of purple flame off to the side and ducked behind her shield. A wash of fire hit the barrier between her and a Mage's magic, but the shield held. As the attack faded, she darted across the intervening distance in three quick strides. Her prey was still trying to backpedal when she slammed into it, smashing it backwards up into the air. The Grue was limp and broken-limbed as it flew back; her axe came around and ruined its throat before it fell.

Alex turned, ready to continue her charge through the remnants of the patrol, only to find that the others were already tearing the remnants of the Grue apart. Crossbow bolts rained down among the Archers, sprouting thickets of thorns where they hit. Flame washed across Knights and ice spikes burst from the ground to impale them from below. Soldiers lunged at Sam, then collapsed as his spear flashed out. A Brute lumbered forward to confront him, only to freeze as he glanced at it. The giant staggered backwards, only for the spear to take it directly in the head.

The fight was over in a handful of moments. Bodies exploded in purple flame, and orange text appeared.

[Objective Progress: 3 of 12 patrols destroyed.]

She grinned. They'd only been in the other world for about fifteen minutes. Patrols had been appearing regularly, but none of them had lasted long. After training against the kind of Grue that appeared inside a C rank portal, the ones running around in this place were not a challenge at all—much less compared to an opponent like Rabbit or Jester had been.

The others seemed to share her opinion. Sam met her eyes and grinned. "Anyone else feeling like they don't quite match up to facing a Shifter?"

"That, or a horde right outside the portal." Clara shook her head as the bodies finished burning away. "This Survey might be a bit easier than I thought. Do we really need to harvest anything?"

Joanna was already collecting the remnants that the creatures had left behind. "Every bit of salvage helps. It'll be worth it."

Alex looked at Sam and shrugged. "Well, at least the Camps and Outposts shouldn't be so bad. Not at this level, at least. Maybe we should be going after more each time?"

He snorted. "It would make some of your Objectives easier, right?" When she gave him a look, he grinned. "I guess it's a good thing that one of my ideas involves those Hidden Flowers…"

Joanna tossed a chip of crystal at him. Sam caught it out of the air and she glared at him. "Just get busy picking up the scrap, Sneak. You can do all the mad science you want later."

Pointing his nose up in the air with false bravado, Sam started to pick his way through the debris. "It isn't mad science if it is well thought out."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Well, if you ever get to that point, let me know. For now, let's get to the Camps in the Movie Theater. Then we'll see what else we can do."

They finished collecting and then moved north, headed for the next fight. More Grue were waiting.

There were six screens in the Movie Theater, and every single one of them held a Camp.

The Grue inside had fortified the rooms. Barricades blocked the initial passages into the screens, and the ranged fighters were positioned at the top of the rows of seats so that they could rain abuse down on any intruders. Brutes and Knights were waiting to block the way, and Soldiers filled every aisle.

It didn't matter. Six times Alex and her team kicked in the doors leading to the Camps, and six times they swept through the ranks of Grue like a devouring wind. The creatures fell in piles, unable to even slow the advance of their enemies, and in the end, each of the shimmering crystals that marked the center of the Camps crumbled to pieces, leaving the Theater empty and silent once more.

They left the place behind and went looking for the next group of Camps. Their first stops were a pair of smaller Grue nests, located in a pawn shop and a ballpark that they had run across during their earlier Surveys. Unfortunately, Emerald Bay had hit both spots, and all they managed was to clear out another handful of patrols lurking in the area.

Their next stop was a bit more profitable. It was the Parking Garage near where they had found the last of Emerald Bay's Surveyors during their first mission. There was a Camp on each floor, nestled among the abandoned cars and trucks inside. The Grue surrounding each of them didn't last any longer than the ones in the Theater had, going down like wheat before the scythe.

As the last hovering crystal shivered itself to pieces on the Garage roof, Alex saw orange text flare to life in her peripheral vision.

[Objective Progress: 13 of 15 Camps destroyed.]

She nodded to herself and turned to the others. "Almost done with the Camps."

"Thank goodness." Clara slumped against a small minivan, her breath coming a bit harder than Alex liked. "I think I could use a break."

Alex felt a stab of disappointment, but she tried to keep it from her face. Clara and Joanna didn't have any kind of stamina or movement Skills, after all, and even Sam was looking a little winded.

Then again, they didn't exactly have any kind of deadline at the moment, and it wasn't like Joanna and Clara needed to go scouting. She turned to look across the rooftop of the Garage. From this spot, she could see the top of the nearby Clock Tower. When she'd been here the first time, the place had been a hive of Grue activity; she'd seen them constructing a new Anchor Point above it, which Orbit and his team had destroyed.

Now, she thought she could see figures moving in that direction, but it was clear any Anchor Point was probably far from completion. She glanced back at her friends, who were taking the opportunity to rest. Alex made a decision. "I'm going to scout the Clock Tower. You guys should stay here and rest."

Joanna gave her a jaded look. "And you'll just skip through any patrols on the way, will you?"

Alex shook her head. "I can outrun any Grue I run across. They can't catch me."

"Not that you'll mind if they do. Or are we not remembering what she could already do to patrols back at Red Blade?" Sam smiled. "All the same, I think I'll come with you."

She gave him a wary look. "I have Motion Trance. That'll help me move faster—"

He shrugged. "I have Marathoning. I could use the exercise, too." Sam glanced at the others, who nodded. "Besides, we don't want Liliana to show up when we're alone. We should stick together."

Alex grimaced. He did look a lot less tired than the others, and it made sense to stick to moving in pairs. She nodded reluctantly. "Sure. Let's head out then." Then she paused, looking at Joanna and Clara. "Will you two be all right?"

"With you two making enough noise to wake the dead? The Grue won't even know we're here." Clara snorted and waved her on. "Go ahead. Try not to do something else insane before you get back."

Joanna joined Clara by the van, an expression of relief on her face as she sat. "Yeah, we'll be fine. Just don't take too long. Otherwise, I might take a nap."

Alex snorted. Then she looked at Sam, who bowed and gestured for her to precede him. She was still rolling her eyes as they started off together across the cracked concrete. Just a quick look, and then they'd hit the remaining Camps and the Outposts. It had only been an hour or so; they still had plenty of time.

[Objective Progress: 5 of 10 Locations scouted.]

Alex let out a quiet breath of relief. She was already closer than she wanted to be to the Tower; if she'd needed to get any closer, she might have decided to back off entirely.

The Tower was just as abandoned and run down as the rest of the other world, with its stone walls pockmarked with neglect. Shattered glass windows gaped like open wounds along its flanks, and the anachronistic analog clock at the top sat with motionless hands locked in place. Apparently, it had stopped functioning around six and six twenty, though it was hard to tell with all the damage.

She and Sam had crept as close as they could to the thing, weaving their way between abandoned shrubs and broken storefronts. The occasional tree provided other opportunities, and they'd climbed one together to peer out across the small courtyard where the Tower marked the center. It had once been a place where people could gather and eat, enjoying the monument in the center of the plaza.

Now it was a place swarmed by monsters, all gathered around the remnants of a broken crystal ring.

Dozens of Grue were milling around the Clock Tower, gathering materials and raising their hands in some kind of whimpered chant. Crystals were scattered in some obscure pattern around the tower, marking some design that Alex couldn't follow without feeling an ache behind her eyes. At certain points, the crystals were augmented by Shining Slivers, something that they must have harvested from the nearby Outposts. Mages were huddled around each, weaving some kind of magic through the crystals to connect them. Occasional flickers of magic sparked through the broken ring before they sputtered out.

If they'd been alone, Alex might have been tempted to strike at them. Their numbers were high, but she'd faced hordes before; she'd bet their advantage would drop even further as her team continued to break more nearby Camps. The problem was, however, that they weren't alone. Something else guarded the perimeter of their strange, faltering ritual, something that she'd only really glimpsed before.

Two massive Ogres lumbered around the edges of the plaza, their car-sized claws swinging in heavy arcs along their path. They stood nearly half as tall as the Tower itself, three stories tall at least, and they looked like they'd be able to smash through any of the surrounding buildings like a person pushing through underbrush. Their glimmering black eyes swept across the nearby buildings, searching for signs of intruders, even as mobs of Killers trailed along in their oversized footsteps.

She held her breath as the closer one looked in her direction. When it turned away and continued its patrol, Alex let the air out again with a quiet sigh. "I got the location."

Sam nodded. He glanced back in the direction of the Camp as a surge of power went through the pattern. The Slivers lit with sudden purple light, and the broken crystal circle sparked. For just a moment, a flickering figure of dark flame seemed to stand in front of the shattered Anchor Point.

Then it vanished, and the Grue's chant continued, rising through the empty air of the other world.

They slipped down out of the tree and crept back away from the would-be Anchor Point, careful to pause whenever one of the Ogres stomped by. They didn't speak until the Tower was long behind them, and even then, Sam kept his voice quiet.

"So, how long before they can get that back up in the air?"

She glanced back at him, thinking back to her mother's lessons about how the portals worked. "I'm guessing that we still have at least a week or two, probably more. Did you notice how many Grue were wandering around?"

He smirked. "It was a little hard to miss."

She nudged him and continued. "I'm betting a lot of them belong to the nearby Camps. The more of those we can break, the fewer there will be to work on the Anchor Point."

He nodded, glancing back again. "I don't think that would get rid of the Ogres though, right?" When she shook her head, he snorted. "That's a shame. Though I wondered if you would want to try and take them out, anyway. I saw how you were looking at them."

Alex gave him an incredulous look and then grimaced when she saw the corner of his mouth twitch in an aborted smile. "Oh? Don't think I didn't notice that you were sizing the closest one up. I think we're a little way from being able to take one of them on."

Sam grinned openly at her, his dark eyes sparking with amusement. "Maybe I was just hoping that you could hit one with your new amazing sniping ability."

She groaned. He'd managed to get her to use one of the feathers that the Archers dropped after they'd killed one of the patrols. The Whistling Feathers, as the Screen called them, turned into some kind of projectile that had smacked into a nearby wall. "I doubt those things would even feel it if I did, Sam."

"Like that would stop you." He mimicked her throwing the things. "I can see it now, the bold Valkyrie pecking at their eyes with each strike. Ha!"

Alex chuckled to herself at his antics. "Well, sorry to disappoint you. You won't see any heroics like that out of me today."

Sam settled back into an easy stride, his grin fading only slightly. "I wouldn't say that. The day is still young, after all."

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