They made it back to the others without incident, and then they set out to finish the remainder of the Survey.

They wound up hitting the Outposts in both the Pet Store and the Police Station next, tearing through the Grue there without too many problems. Neither place lasted long; the Grue didn't even have the advantage of knowing the terrain, since her team had hit both places before on a previous run. Gathering Hidden Flowers and Shining Slivers nearly made Joanna cackle; she seemed to have a much better idea of how much the things were worth. Not even the patrols that they ran into between Outposts could dampen her spirits, even when they checked yet another spot where there had been Camps before and found only empty stores.

Eventually, Alex persuaded the Adept to use her Flash Scan ability to track down a new group of Camps, one that was apparently located around a pond of some kind. There were multiple of them, all with small clusters of tents and Grue gathered around them. They didn't seem any better prepared than the previous Camps had been, and Alex had started to lead her team towards the closest one when Sam stopped her.

He glanced at the others and smiled. "Do you think you could distract them?"

Alex blinked. She thought back over the conversation she'd only half-listened to in the shuttle. "You're kidding."

"No risk, no reward." He smiled. "We aren't going to find the secret to Pioneer by doing what every other Surveyor does. We'll have to take a chance sometime, and better now than later."

She fixed him with a stern look. "We do still have to hit one more Outpost, you know."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, the Clinic. I think there's health potions there, if we need them." He glanced at Clara. "Are you almost out of healing, Seer?"

The Acolyte hesitated before she responded. "Not quite yet. We aren't taking nearly as much damage here as I expected."

"Then we should be good." Sam gave her another grin. "I'll head to the Camp on the other side, second from the left. Keep the Grue's eyes on you."

Alex grimaced. "Fine. Just… be careful."

He started to roll his eyes. Then he paused, and his expression grew serious. "I will. Be ready."

She nodded, and they watched as he crept away around the edge of the Camps. Alex quickly lost sight of him—his Stealth related Skills seemed to have improved dramatically lately—but it seemed like Clara was able to still follow him. The Adept's eyes were glowing as she traced his path around the edge of the Grue, even as Joanna kept a careful watch on the closest sentries.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Clara nodded. "He's in position." She looked at Alex. "Ready to make some noise, Valkyrie?"

Alex tried to tamp down on a flutter of anxiety as she nodded. "Of course."

Joanna nodded and lifted her sword. "Then let's start."

They gave each other one last look, and then all three of them charged forward with wild yells. The Grue startled and spun around as they came at them through the undergrowth; purple and grey eyes grew wide with alarm, and horns lifted towards the sky.

Alex killed the closest of the horn-bearers, lashing out with a well-timed Feather. It shot across the distance and struck the Grue straight in the head, and the creature collapsed without making a sound. The rest of the horns around the lake still sounded, though, and in no time, waves of Grue turned to rush to battle. Even the Grue from the other camps started to flow towards them, their weapons raised and their eyes fixed on the three invaders that raced to meet them.

She forced herself to focus on the closest of the Grue, rushing to slam into the nearest wave of Soldiers. Spears snapped, and she swung her axe in a single brutal strike that sent ruined bodies tumbling back through their ranks. Still more stabbed in at her, and she danced aside, weaving through the howling enemies and killing them as they came. Soldiers became Knights, Knights became Brutes, and still she rushed forward, carving her way through Grue in an unending assault.

They tried to collapse in around her, but Joanna and Clara didn't give them the chance. Waves of fire and ice blasted through the ones on either side; thorns exploded out of the ground beneath Archers, Mages, and Killers. Even as more and more Grue joined the fight, they found themselves being driven back towards the hovering crystal that marked the first Camp.

She felt her eyes narrow as more and more Grue fell, their bodies trampled beneath the feet of the others. There had been at least five Camps around the lake; had there been more just out of sight? A part of her grimaced as another group came howling out from a patch of trees. They could still just pull back, but with Sam about to make his move, she didn't want to leave him on his own. Besides, leaving the Camps intact would mean that whatever patrols they had called would come crashing down on them. They had to—

There was a sudden flash of purple light, and she jerked to the side to avoid a Brute's hammer strike. It slammed into the ground beside her, and she looked across the pond to see what was happening, just as a second flash of purple lit the air.

It was Sam, having emerged from hiding at last. He had rushed the last handful of guards, killing them in moments, before striking directly at the crystal for the Camp itself.

His spear buried itself in the hovering crystal, and it cracked. Glowing lines spread across the facets of the thing, and a bolt of purple lightning lashed out at him. She saw him grimace and strike again and again, trying to shatter the thing before something could stop him.

The Grue attached to the Camp had obviously felt the strikes. They staggered before turning and lurching back in the direction of their own crystal; others turned towards him in panic as well. Alex took advantage of their confusion, trying to force her way forward. If she could break through to the backline, the rest would have to focus on her, which would give Clara and Joanna a clear shot at their backs. Maybe she could even keep them off of Sam for a little longer—

There was a sudden shattering sound and a violent explosion of light. All of the Grue shuddered and fell back, their forms wavering like flame in a sudden gust of wind. Some of them fell to their hands and knees, their upturned snouts unleashing piteous, enraged howls at the clouded sky as their forms began to fade.

[Objective Progress: 14 of 15 Camps destroyed.]

She looked towards Sam, and found him sprawled flat on his back, some distance away from the smoldering wreckage of the crystal. It looked like a bomb had gone off; the grass was littered with crystalline shrapnel and scorched black with ash. Sam's armor was embedded with half a dozen bits of crystal, and the front of it was still smoking.

He wasn't moving.

He wasn't moving.

Alex moved. The air seemed to crackle around her as she launched herself into the Grue, this time aiming to carve her way through to the group that had started in Sam's direction. There were only a few of them, but if they reached him before she could…

Her mind refused to acknowledge the thought. Each hack, each block, each dodge, brought her closer to him. The breath burned in her lungs as she cut her way through the Grue; they fell away from her, howling in fright. There was another shattering sound behind her, though it was on the very edge of her perception. All there was left in her mind was the Grue, the pounding of her own heartbeat, and the distance between her and Sam. Nothing else seemed to matter.

She was dimly aware of Clara and Joanna trying to reach her, even as she broke past the last thick ranks of Grue and sprinted after the handful trying to move back around the lake. The world blurred around her as her boots slammed into the ground; each stride pushed her to a faster pace. Alex fell on the Grue, her axe an avenging blade. A Soldier started to turn, but didn't have time to face her before the axe took its head; a Knight looked back, only for her to smash it aside, sending the broken remnants to thrash in the dark water of the pond. Archers and Killers that had been a bit further along shot at her, only to die as she reached them in turn.

Then the last of the Grue in front of her were down, and she spun around to face the oncoming horde. The Grue that had been chasing after her suddenly skidded to a halt. Those just behind them crashed into the frontrunners, pushing them forward. Their pursuit turned into a snarled, stumbling advance.

Alex was on them before they could recover. Her axe reaped a terrible toll among them, ripping the closest apart. Shield-check after shield-check sent them to the ground with the accompanying sounds of shattered bones. Her magic was long exhausted, but she still managed to send the occasional crackle of lightning among their ranks, mostly to catch some cowardly Grue that was trying to edge around the slaughter.

Ahead of her, she could still see both Joanna and Clara fighting. The two Surveyors had continued their bombardment of the Grue, but now the Adept was fighting in close as well, her flaming sword slashing through weapons and Grue alike, while Clara picked off the most troublesome of their opponents with devastating crossbow shots. Another Camp shivered itself to pieces as the last of its defenders fell.

[Additional Objective Completed]

A lucky spear managed to slip past her guard and draw blood. She killed the offending Soldier with a swipe of her axe. Two arrows struck her, one skipping off her helmet and the other piercing her leg; Alex grimaced and staggered, but she kept moving. The Grue around her were already thinning. There were already gaps in their lines, and they couldn't focus on both her and the others at the same time. All they needed was to push a little harder, and they would start to—

Another Camp fell, the fragments of the crystal scattering across the ground. She could only see one more intact; how many had been tucked away in the woods? It couldn't have been more than two.

A Brute caught her with a heavy blow; she took it on her shield, but it still sent her tumbling backwards. It started to come after her, but Alex sent a bolt of lightning into its face. As the Grue pawed at its eyes, Alex forced herself back to her feet, hacking aside an opportunistic Soldier. She got her shield between her and a blast of fire from a nearby Mage, but it robbed her of her vision of the Brute for a moment.

Instinct told her to dodge to the left and forward. She managed to avoid the incoming hammerstrikes by a hairsbreadth; the Brute was still trying to bring the weapons up again when she lunged painfully closer and began chopping through its torso. Alex ducked low as it staggered back and cut its legs out from under it. The Mage tried another shot as the Brute fell, and Alex responded by hurling a Feather through its skull.

As it fell, the remaining Grue charged in at her, their jaws snapping and their weapons raised. She met them with a grim determination; the next few moments became a blur of violence and pain as she collected a few more wounds in exchange for downing the remainder of her foes.

Then, with shocking suddenness, the field before her was clear of foes. At least, the kind that were still breathing; there seemed to be plenty of corpses. She staggered forwards for a moment, heading to where the remaining Grue were still rushing towards her friends.

A wave of flame lashed out, followed by a snarl of ice and thorns. The Grue fell under the onslaught, and she heard a pair of distant, crackling detonations. She wavered on her feet for a moment.

Then a wave of relief crashed through her as the bodies began to burn. It was over.

"You know, there was nothing wrong with that plan."

Alex snorted to herself as they walked towards the portal. It had been far too eventful a Survey for her tastes.

Joanna answered for her. "If by nothing wrong, you mean that you almost managed to get you and Alex both killed, then sure."

Sam gave her a disdainful sniff. "You just don't appreciate the subtle brilliance of the attempt. Honestly, I don't know if anyone would."

"I think we all appreciate it just fine, Sneak." Clara shook her head. "I'm just glad that the Clinic had plenty of potions after all. You're sure you don't need another one, Alex?"

Alex shook her head. Clara's healing had already done plenty to fix her up; she'd felt mostly fine when they had hit the last Outpost. The real concern had been Sam, but once he'd regained consciousness, the Surveyor had seemed to mostly be disappointed that his experiment hadn't borne immediate fruit. Destroying the Camp's crystal directly hadn't been weird or unique enough to count for something new, apparently.

"You know, maybe I just need to go back through the portal. Didn't your stuff appear on your second Survey, Alex?"

She looked back at Sam and shrugged. "That happened at least for two of them, yeah. You could be right."

He brightened at that possibility, even as the portal came into view. Alex looked at the swirling vortex with something beyond relief. She felt like she was getting close to exhaustion; every muscle seemed to ache, and even with Clara's healing and the potions they'd found, taking on three Outposts and nearly twenty Camps was stretching the limits of even her endurance. They were all going to sleep well tonight.

She glanced up at the sky, though it remained just as cloudy as ever. If she had to guess, it was starting to get a little darker; they'd probably been inside about two or three hours. Not the longest she'd ever been inside, but certainly one of the most productive. Hopefully Emerald Bay would see it the same way.

Either way, their first independent Survey was now over. She led them back through the portal, and into the light…

[Mission Report]

[Completed an Objective. +20 Experience]

[Priority Objective Completed. +150 Experience]

[Additional Objective Completed +200 Experience]

[Additional Objective Completed +90 Experience]

[Additional Objective Completed +100 Experience]

[Additional Objective Completed +60 Experience]

[All Objectives Complete +80 Experience]

She felt a glow of satisfaction at the full clear. It had been a while since she'd seen something like that, and she'd certainly earned it this time. They all had.

[Current Portal Status: Stable, Magic Level Decreasing Slowly]

[Current Portal Level: D4]

[Local Area Population: None]

Alex felt her eyebrows rise. She hadn't expected the portal's level to decrease that much, but apparently, they had gotten more done than she had thought. Maybe they'd be able to meet the level the executives were requesting with time to spare.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

The next few lines of text were what really got her attention, however.

[Battle Maneuvers** has reached level 30! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]

[Battle Maneuvers** has reached capacity for Titles. No more are available.]

[Reset Battle Maneuvers** to ascend Permanent Skill?]

She accepted immediately. The higher her main Skill rose, the better she'd be in the future. It might make their next couple of Surveys harder, but it would be well worth the sacrifice.

[Battle Maneuvers** becomes Battle Maneuvers***. Skill quality increases by a factor of eight. Skill will require sixteen times more effort to increase.]

The prospect of fighting up that climb was daunting, but she grimaced and pushed past it. She had other choices to make.

To her surprise, the next words were not what she'd expected.

[Motion Trance has reached level 25! Skill is at Max Level and can no longer increase.]

[Reset Motion Trance to gain a Title?]

She frowned at the words for a moment. It wasn't that she didn't want to grow the Skill, but she'd expected to see something for Combat Balance, Combined Arms, or even Holy—Storm. Alex tried to remember if she'd seen the options before, but gave up after a few moments. If the Screen didn't offer something, it wasn't like she could make it change its mind.

Resetting Motion Trance was, like resetting Battle Maneuvers, a hard choice. It was going to make the next Survey much harder, but then again, they'd have at least a little time to rest, and perhaps the next one wouldn't be quite as dangerous. She wavered over the choice for a moment longer, and then accepted. A wave of fatigue crashed into her, even as the Skill's potential expanded.

[Title Fleet upgraded to Title Swift (Increases Skill grade of Motion Trance, Evasion, and Charge Assault by four.)]

Alex nodded slowly; her list of Titles for Motion Trance was nearly full as well, which was promising. Maybe if she worked hard enough, she could start increasing its maximum level as well. Either way, she'd be spending a good portion of the next day running. She tried to persuade herself to look forward to it as she stepped forward into the light…

Jonathan was waiting for them when they returned.

The Surveyor looked like he had been pacing for a while, but his face brightened as they emerged. His eyes widened slightly at Sam's slightly scorched appearance and the others' clear exhaustion. He looked at Alex with growing concern. "How are things in there?"

Alex tried to look reassuring. "We got a lot done. The portal should be a lot better now." She glanced back at the swirling vortex; perhaps she was a little biased, but she thought it seemed a lot calmer now. "I think we're on target to finish the contract by the end of the week."

He relaxed slightly. "Do you think we should be okay to run a few Surveys tomorrow? Just to maintain things while you rest."

Clara nodded. "You should be fine. The patrols were already looking a little thin, and we've already hit a good number of Camps. Even got some of the Outposts, too."

Jonathan paused. A slightly nervous look crossed his face. "Outposts? I didn't realize you'd be going after those."

Alex glanced back at Joanna. "We thought it would slow down the Anchor Point construction."

Joanna nodded. "That's true. We were also able to harvest quite a few materials that we can sell you. At the listed prices on our contract, of course."

The Emerald Bay Surveyor nodded, though he didn't seem happy about it. "Of course." He glanced at Alex and hesitated, as if deciding whether to say something. Then he shook his head. "Ms. Murand will want to meet with you tomorrow for the performance review. Until then, Martin will show you to the bunks that are prepared for you."

Alex nodded and followed the Emerald Bay Surveyor who gestured to them. While a part of her was wondering what had Jonathan so concerned, she mostly just wanted to find the nearest bed and rest for a while. Everything else could wait.

The next day, she woke up sore and grumpy. Missing the bonuses from Motion Trance made for a rough way to start the day, even if she knew that the Survey really hadn't gone all that poorly. Alex lay for a moment in the small, spartan room that Emerald Bay had set aside for her, peeking out from her nest of sheets and pillows at the cheerful sunlight invading the room.

Then, resentfully, she pulled herself out of bed and put her running clothes on. Some patterns were hard to break, especially when she had built them for a lifetime.

Sam was waiting for her at the end of the hall. He looked only a little better rested than she was; she caught him hiding a yawn behind one hand as he nodded to her. Alex forced a grin. "Up for a run?"

He eyed her for a moment. Then he grinned back. "I guess so. We both reset our running Skills, didn't we?"

Alex nodded, her false cheer quickly buried under her own morning troubles. All the same, they started out at a terrible, limping pace compared to their previous speed. "We should… be able… to get it back… fast."

Sam nodded, his expression absurdly unhappy. "Sure. Of course."

Then they fell silent, running together around the perimeter of the Emerald Bay containment area. She saw other Surveyors milling around the entrance to the portal building; some of them turned to watch them as they stumbled along. Alex shook her head as she imagined the poor impression they were leaving.

Luckily, it didn't seem to take long before they finally started to see some benefits.

[Motion Trance increases to 1!]

Alex breathed a little easier as the notification came in. Her arms and legs suddenly didn't seem to hurt nearly as much, and her pace picked up just slightly until she reined herself back in. Sam gave her an appreciative nod as he plodded along. She could almost pinpoint the moment when he gained a level in Marathoning; the way he suddenly started to speed up himself, along with the relief on his face, was too profound not to notice.

"That's… a lot better." Sam grimaced as she increased the pace again. "No peace… for the wicked?"

Alex laughed a little as they pounded their way along the chain-link fence. "Not for us, at least." She glanced at the portal building as they passed the entrance again. "You think we're… doing all right?"

He gave her an incredulous look. "I'd say so. Yeah." They ran wordlessly for a moment as they adjusted to the new pace. "They can't… have expected more. We're just D ranks."

"For now." She nodded. "They'll be happy with us so far, then?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. They'd have to be." He looked at the portal building, where the Emerald Bay Surveyors had disappeared inside. "What else could they expect?"

Alex stared across the table at the suited executives. It took a few moments more for the words to settle in. "You're saying you expected more out of us?"

Murand tilted her head, her expression unrevealing. "I'm saying that while we are content with your current rate of progress, we would have hoped that you would have focused far more on what we brought you here to do, rather than on lining your own pockets."

It took a bit more effort than Alex liked to restrain her initial reaction. Before she could get her fury under control, Joanna responded, her voice cool and undisturbed. "Perhaps you could clarify what you mean?"

The executive tapped the table with a finger as she spoke, emphasizing her words. "I'm referring to your apparent intention to loot several Outposts rather than damaging the surrounding Camps. While I will admit that you are within the bounds of the contract to harvest such places, it was my understanding that you would focus on bringing down the level of the portal to a more manageable state. It is disconcerting to see that you seem to be motivated by other concerns."

Alex finally regained the use of her voice. "I can assure you that we destroyed quite a few Camps inside. Did the emissions from the portal not decrease?"

Murand glanced at one of the technicians who had been invited. The young man seemed entirely out of his depth; he alternated between staring wide-eyed at the Surveyors in the room and trying to huddle down and avoid anyone's notice. He did not seem happy that his boss was now gesturing for him to speak. "From what we can tell, the PAD is registering a lower magical yield, but not enough for us to consider resuming normal operations."

As Murand looked back, Clara spoke up. "I thought we had a week to bring the portal down to that level."

The executive gave her a narrow look. "If you had the opportunity to loot an Outpost, then you probably could have brought the levels down far lower than you did. You might have even brought it down to the effective level already."

"We will bring the magic level down, Ms. Murand. You have my word on it." Alex managed to keep most of the iron out of her voice, but the executive's eyes still narrowed as she spoke. She didn't give Murand time to respond, however. "At the same time, we took the actions that we believed would be necessary for the progress and safety of my team."

Murand leaned forward, lacing her fingers in front of her. "Perhaps I simply expected more commitment from such a distinguished Surveyor. I suppose that I was wrong."

Alex let her breath hiss through her teeth, but Sam cleared his throat before she could find an answer. "Maybe you're just not all that familiar with Surveyors, then." Murand switched her stare to him, and he smiled. "We're pretty familiar with executives, though. Maybe you should remember that."

The woman blinked, a hint of surprise flickering through her eyes before it was buried beneath professional neutrality. On either side of her, the technician and lawyers drew back slightly; one of them licked his lips and glanced at the door, as if measuring the distance they'd need to cross to escape.

When Murand spoke again, her voice carried a definite chill. "I am not accustomed to hearing threats from my employees."

Alex felt a grin twist her own lips. "It's a good thing we're contractors, then." Murand looked back at her with another hint of surprise, and Alex continued as she stared right into the executive's eyes. "You hired us to solve your problem. We're going to do that. Do you have any other questions?"

Silence answered her. She nodded and stood. "Then we'll get back to it. Thank you for your time." The others stood and followed her out.

They headed along the hallway towards the exit. Joanna waited until they had reached the lobby before she spoke. "Well, that happened a lot faster than I expected."

Alex glanced at her, and the Adept gave her a raised eyebrow. She grimaced. "Sorry."

Clara snorted. "I don't think that you're completely to blame this time, Alex."

Sam nodded. "It does seem like she is looking for trouble with us. Maybe those flowers cost a lot more than I thought."

"They were a considerable contribution to our funds." Joanna's smug reply was accompanied by a smirk. Alex repressed a smile of her own as the Adept continued. "That said, there's always the chance that she terminates our contract based on that fact."

Alex looked back at her with raised eyebrows. "Wouldn't we still get paid?"

Joanna nodded. "We would, but they'd deny us access to the portal and the training area."

"Which would give us less training time." Alex grimaced. She'd been counting on at least three or four Surveys this week, which would hopefully have taken her most of the way to C rank and had the others in the upper levels of D rank as well. Getting that possibility cut short over a few flowers seemed ridiculous, but it was a risk they couldn't necessarily afford.

She pushed through the front doors of the building and headed towards the shuttle bus. Alex waited until they had already clambered aboard before she spoke, and even then she kept her voice low. "All right, how bad off are we for Skills? Did you reset all of yours this time?"

The others exchanged a look before Clara responded. "Not all of them, but enough. The next Survey might be a bit tougher."

"At least we'll give your healing a workout." Sam gave her a lopsided grin before he looked back at Alex. "Foresight's already into the first ascension, but Fencing is still close to full. I reset Marathoning and my Mind magic too, though."

Joanna looked a little grim. "I have Seraphblade, Concentrate—Thermal, and Weapon Mastery all reset. Flash Scan is almost at max again."

Alex glanced at Sam. "So this next Survey might be a little rough on you." She shook her head. "I have Battle Maneuvers reset, and it's going to take a while to come back, but most of my Skills are still high."

Clara leaned forward, her expression concerned. "So what does that mean we should do for this next Survey? We were planning on just hitting patrols and Outposts when we could, right?"

Sam grunted. "Yeah, but that might not work now. Not if the suits are already breathing down our necks."

"True." Alex hesitated. "So this time, we might need to show better results. We hit the Camps for the whole Survey. That should give you guys plenty of time to bring your Skills up, and it'll keep her a bit further off of our backs."

Joanna nodded. "We might not have to visit quite so many places, either. Less… running."

The sheer disgust in the Adept's voice made Alex smile. "Sure." She glanced in the direction of the office building, which was rapidly disappearing behind some trees. "At the very least, it'll give us a bit more time to experiment and recover Skills. The time after that, we can slow down a little, and then finish things strong on the last Survey. Does that sound fine?"

She saw the others nod in agreement and leaned back with a tired sigh. Motion Trance still only had a handful of levels on it at the moment, which meant she was still feeling a little sore. Hopefully, a bit of sparring would prevent those aches from settling in before they hit the portal again the next morning. They were going to be pretty busy.

Eric Morrison chuckled to himself for a moment. Then he turned to face the camera and folded his arms. "So, the clients aren't as appreciative as you thought they'd be?"

Alex threw her hands up in the air. "No. They're not." She resumed pacing back and forth in front of her phone, which was set to a video call. "What was she even complaining about? We were only sticking to the terms of the agreement, and we brought the portal down by a lot already."

Muriel leaned back in her chair and shrugged. "Maybe they expected you to get it done in a single Survey? You have built up quite the resume lately."

She turned and raised an eyebrow at her mother. "Do I detect a hint of jealousy?"

Her mother snorted and waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Are you kidding? Regulation could never pay me enough to want to have more meetings with a bunch of normals in suits." She shook her head, her eye still sparkling with amusement. "Give me the Grue instead of that any day."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Preaching to the choir, Mom." She looked at Eric, who still seemed to be chuckling. "What about you, Dad? Any advice?"

Her father glanced at the camera; he'd turned back to continue preparing the food he was working on. "I think you're going to find that a lot of people sign things, and then get very offended when they have to keep their word. Especially people who aren't accustomed to hearing the word no."

Muriel looked back at him, a hint of mischief in her eye. "I can't imagine where you'd have experience with that kind of thing, dearest."

"Oh, it will always remain a mystery, honey." The irony in his voice only made Muriel laugh, but Eric continued as if he hadn't noticed. "Clients who are under stress are probably even worse about it. I never did any contract work without hearing some complaint or another. You'll get used to it, and when they really need you, they'll tend to get very quiet."

Muriel snorted and shifted on her chair. "We heard that sort of thing all the time in Regulation, too. Everyone's a critic when things are quiet, but when the portal's spinning out of control, they're suddenly on your side." She shook her head. "Still, you should probably watch your back out there. It sounds like this Murand might do whatever she can to get even in the end."

Alex nodded. "I guess we'll just have to give her nothing to complain about, then." Her parents exchanged a look, but she pressed forward before they could talk about it further. "Has there been anything to worry about at home?"

Eric shook his head. "No. Nothing concerning on our front." He flipped something that looked like a pancake, and Alex tried not to let her mouth water. "We had to fend off a few reporters, but they were all in public. Nobody's been by the house at all."

"Disappointing, really." Muriel tilted her head back and sighed. "The Royal Purple complex is completely locked down. Nobody but Regulation and their trusted contractors around, and they mostly keep to themselves. Most of them don't even come into town all that often."

Alex rolled her eyes. "You're just mad you don't have any Surveyors to beat on anymore."

Her mother placed a hand over her heart and aped a shocked expression. "What an accusation, and from my only daughter!" The false offense fell away as Muriel grinned. "I will admit that it was… refreshing to have a fight like that again, after so long. I might have even been tempted to stick around and reset a few things if everyone else hadn't been rushing me."

She gave her mother a flat look. "Sorry that our impending interrogations weren't going to happen on a convenient schedule, Mom."

"Apology accepted, daughter." Muriel's smile grew a little more. "Maybe you can make it up to me by arranging for a little run?"

Alex let a little of her exasperation leak through. "I can't just produce a portal for you to go through, Mom. Especially not one where you can run to another portal nearby."

Muriel frowned, her disappointment only half-pretend. "But I have Dreamseer already, don't you know! Surely once I have Realmwalker, we can arrange for Greylight to have another little incident."

"No, we can't." Alex resumed her pacing. "If Sam figures something out, we'll let you know, but for now, just be patient. We'll let you know the moment we have a way to reach Pioneer, okay?"

The Crimson Blade grumbled something too low for the phone's microphone to pick up before raising her voice. "All right, all right. I suppose I will hold off for now." A spark of mischief returned to her eye. "I might start to make my own plans if you take too long, though."

Eric looked back at her. "No, you won't." Muriel glanced back at him, her eyebrow arched, and he met her gaze with a stubborn one of his own. "We're going to bide our time. Just because you know who they are now doesn't mean you can take them on your own."

Muriel grimaced. Her expression grew cold for a moment. "They deserve what's coming to them, Eric."

He turned away from the food and crossed his arms. "Sure. And we deserve to get them all, not just the first one. So be patient and let our daughter do what she's trained for."

They stared at each other for a moment. Alex felt the sudden temptation to end the call. Then Muriel cracked a smile and looked away. "It might be a bit easier with some more help. You sure you don't want to become a Surveyor, dear?"

Eric snorted and turned back to the food. "I think I do better work without the distraction of being another leg breaker. I'll leave that to you two."

Alex couldn't quite resist the bait. "Even if you could control fire?" She saw her father pause for a moment and exchanged a grin with her mother. "You should see the kinds of things Joanna can do with a little magic, Dad. I'm surprised you aren't jumping on the opportunity."

He gave her a stern look. "Oh please. A little magic compared to my artistry?" Eric flipped another pancake and poured out the batter for yet another. "Besides, I'm not about to sign up with any corporation that'd have me. You two should keep focused on your own problems."

"Oh fine, spoilsport." Muriel rolled her eye and stretched. "You know, you really should just take over a portal for us, Alex. It would solve so many problems."

Alex chuckled to herself as she walked over to the phone. "Sure, Mom, I'll get right on that."

"See that you do." Muriel paused, and her eye grew serious. "All joking aside, be careful. We haven't heard anything from Warner, but there has to be something in the works to deal with you. Greylight doesn't forgive, and they definitely don't forget."

She nodded. "We're keeping our eyes open, Mom. Don't worry." Muriel nodded, and Alex glanced at the clock. "All right, I have to go. Let me know if you hear anything."

Eric looked back at her over his shoulder. He saluted her with the spatula and gave her a grin. "As ordered. Let us know how the next Survey goes."

"I will. Goodnight." She waited for her parents to echo the farewell and then hung up the phone. Alex left it propped up on the desk and walked over to her bunk. It creaked a little as she practically fell into it.

She spent a few moments staring up at the ceiling, thinking over the work they'd have to do the next day. It was just another Survey, but she wondered if Sam's experiments were going to lead anywhere, or if Murand was going to have a surprise of some kind waiting for them.

At the very least, she'd be able to bring the portal back down to size. Even just seeing the gratitude on Jonathan's face would be worth it, though Joanna might disagree.

Alex was still chuckling over that thought as she turned the light off and drifted off to sleep.

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