Over the next two days, Alex continued to train the E ranks and watch them go through the portal. She kept up her own rigorous schedule as well, running around the perimeter in faster and faster times while the E ranks sparred. Her own team indulged her in a few spars as well, near the end of the day, and although some of them—mostly Joanna—grumbled about it, Alex could tell that they appreciated the chance to work on some of their own Skills without having to worry about hurting an E rank.

Still, the creeping feeling of stagnation continued to grow as the days went on. Her Skills were increasing, but there would be no way to Chain them without going through the portal again, and there would be no way to progress any further. Even worse, to her mind, the Skills that needed the most to increase, Battle Maneuvers and Combat Balance, were going to take years to reach their limits at the rate she was going.

By the end of the second day, she flopped on her bed and groaned at the soreness in her muscles. Both Running and Recovery had grown by leaps and bounds, at least, but that didn't mean she wasn't pushing herself hard enough to feel the workout, regardless. As she tried to convince herself to go change into something she could sleep in, Alex heard her phone go off.

She rolled over and answered it almost without thinking. "Yeah?"

"Well, yeah to you too, Alex." Her father's amused voice brought her back to full alertness. She levered herself back to a sitting position as he continued. "It's been a few days since you last called. We were getting a little worried."

There was a small edge to his voice, and she winced. "Sorry. I haven't been going on Surveys lately, and since I usually called you after that…"

Eric's voice grew a small amount less testy. "Ah, that makes sense. Your mother did mention something about that." Then he brightened. "She said you reached C rank! Congratulations!"

Alex smiled. "I'd be a lot happier about it if it didn't mean I couldn't go through the portal here anymore. The others are running themselves ragged trying to cover for me, and all I can do is spar with the E ranks and run around the building a bunch of times. Not exactly what I signed up for."

"They aren't letting you go through? Why? Is it some kind of rule at Brownhat?"

She sighed quietly. "No. It's just that I'm now a high enough rank that when I go through, Shifters come looking for me. If I take E ranks in…"

Eric grunted. "Yeah, I'm not sure what a Shifter might be, but they do sound unpleasant. No way around that, huh?"

"Not unless I get a lot stronger a lot quicker. Which I also can't do without going through the portal." Alex let her head rest back against the wall. "It means I'm kind of stuck."

Her father paused for a moment. "Well, maybe you should take the chance to get ready for your next job. Did you have something lined up?"

The question blindsided her, like a Brute that had gotten far too lucky. She thought about it and sat up slightly. "No. No, we don't."

"You might want to think about finding something, then. After all, your contract only gives you a guarantee through the end of the week, right? Or was it two?"

Alex forced her weary mind to work a bit harder, calling up the details of the agreement. "One week minimum, two weeks at maximum."

Eric's voice took on a more leading tone. "Which means you have two days before the Brownhat folks can just get rid of you whenever they want, right? And about a week before they definitely give you the boot?"

"Yeah." Alex felt a sinking feeling spread through her. "That does sound about right."

Her father chuckled. "Then might I humbly suggest you start thinking about your future employment? We'd love it if you came back home to visit, but you do tend to eat a lot of food…"

She snorted. "As if I'm anywhere near as bad as you and Mom. You're both black holes."

He laughed. "Maybe, but the point stands. Especially if we need to move soon."

Alex sobered up at the thought. Then she nodded. "All right. I'll get started on that tonight. Thanks Dad."

"Anytime, daughter, anytime." His voice grew grandiose. "After all, the font of fatherly wisdom runs deep, and the young and foolish will always benefit from my—"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Go light something on fire."

"Well, if you insist…"

"Love you, Dad."

Her father's voice warmed. "Love you too, Alex. Stay safe out there."

"We will. Goodnight."

Alex shook her head, still smiling as she ended the call. Then she glanced at the clock and sighed. There was still enough time to look a few options up, maybe send a few emails. It wasn't exactly what she wanted to do at this time of night, but if the alternative was starving, she'd need to do it.

She started to tap away on her phone, hoping against all odds that the problem wouldn't really show up until a little over a week from now. Somehow, she couldn't quite convince herself that would be the case.

"Yeah, that does sound like it would be tricky." Sam danced aside as she lunged at him, executing an irritatingly perfect counterthrust. Alex had to bring up her shield to avoid getting skewered—or at least punched in the stomach by the blunted practice spear. The impact jarred her arm a little, but she got the brief satisfaction of seeing him slide back a bit.

Then he moved forward, his spearpoint bobbing and weaving as he sought an opening in her defenses. She slashed at it, trying to knock it aside or trap it, but he avoided the trick and dodged aside to give himself some space. They circled each other warily, though Sam had a little smirk on his face that let her know he was enjoying her relative lack of striking power.

She narrowed her eyes as they stalked each other, trying not to let him distract her. "Do you really think they'll get rid of us that quickly?"

Sam shook his head, though his eyes didn't leave her. "Not after tomorrow, no. The E ranks are only going to reach level three by then, so the Brownhats will still have to admit they need an escort in a D rank portal." He paused. "Or at least, I'd say that about most of us…"

He trailed off, and Alex blinked. "You really think—"

She barely got the word out before he lunged at her again, his spear heading straight for her barely protected flank. Only a quick shift in her stance let the spear slide past. Alex smacked at it, knocking it a bit further out, only for Sam to duck below her guard and sweep the butt of the spear into her knees.

Alex dropped as her legs went out from under her, but she didn't just fall flat. Instead, she rolled, abandoning her axe to push off the floor with one hand. The delay it cost Sam to bring his spearpoint around bought her just enough time to get her shield up between them. She still had to back away as he committed to the attack, keeping her from getting back to her weapon.

She let him continue the flurry of blows and then lunged in close. He didn't quite manage to avoid her as she latched a hand onto the collar of his uniform, and she twisted to yank him over and across one of her legs. Sam tumbled to the ground and rolled, coming up into a crouch with his spear pointed in her direction, just in case she'd chased him.

Yet she hadn't charged in. Instead, she focused, bringing the power of the Storm into sharp perspective. Wind burst across their small battlefield, and her axe spun across the ground towards her. She channeled a small burst, and it leapt from the floor, letting her catch it easily. Alex smiled; Concentrate had done wonders for the fine control and power of her magic.

Sam simply rolled his eyes at the display. "Are we using magic, then?" His eyes hardened, and Alex blinked as she felt what could only be described as a mental cuff to the back of her head. It didn't cause pain, but it was certainly disorienting enough, and that was when he was taking it lightly.

She shook her head, clearing it. "No, sorry. Just showing off."

He snorted. "As if you're ever not?"

Alex gave him an arched eyebrow. "This from the chief of dirty tricks? Like maybe attacking me mid-sentence?"

"All's fair in war, right?" Sam started to circle again, his dark eyes dancing. "You know, you really should get some Zeal or something. I'm not the only one with Mind as a magic set."

Alex nodded. Rakesh Gupta, one of the people on her target list, supposedly specialized in the same sort of mental attacks. Given that he was also stationed at Blackmist… "I'll think about it."

Sam faked a charge before retreating again. "Like you were thinking about the next job?"

Reminded of the question she'd had before he interrupted, Alex nodded. She kept a very careful watch on him as she tried to ask it a second time. "Do you think that they'll really send me off and keep you?"

He nodded. "Yeah. From their perspective, we are necessary, but you aren't as much. After all, we're guarding them inside the portal. You're just making them better Surveyors. Which is a secondary consideration when it comes to costs."

Alex grimaced. Given what she'd already seen at Emerald Bay, she couldn't disagree. "I'd probably need to find something for just me, then. That might be a bit awkward."

Sam shrugged. "We'll make it work. After all, we need to catch up to you a bit, anyway." He smiled. "Though if you found something at a portal close to another one…"

She didn't roll her eyes, because she saw the way his spear twitched when she started the motion. Instead, she smiled. "I'll do my best, Sam."

"That's good, because I can only shudder to think of what kind of trouble you'll get up to without us around." Sam's grin grew wider. "For all I know, you'll somehow manage to get in a fight with half of Regulation. We'd have to stage some kind of jailbreak just to—"

Alex let him get about halfway into the little imaginary scenario before she charged. His surprised yelp nearly made her cackle as she batted his shield aside and tried to smack him across the head. Only his desperate dodge avoided the hit, and then they were chasing each other across the training grounds, exchanging blows as they went. By the time it ended, she'd smashed his spear and pin him against the wall with her shield; he surrendered a moment later, a rueful expression on his face.

Then they found another spear and did it again. After all, what were friends for?

Alex got the phone call just as she returned to her room for the night. A check of the number told her it wasn't from her parents or any of her friends. She frowned as she answered. "Hello?"

The voice on the other end of the line was familiar, but not in a way that made her smile. "Alexandretta, I'm glad I got ahold of you. This is Obadiah Hamilton, from Ochre Star Solutions."

She blinked as she remembered him. He'd been the man in charge of the portal at Ochre Star. They had saved his son when they went in to fix the problems that Royal Purple had caused, and the man had been convinced that she was some kind of Regulation agent. Even after the Royal Scandal had broken, she'd still attracted his interest somehow.

Alex grimaced, glad the phone wouldn't show the expression. Even though he hadn't said or done anything hostile, she just didn't feel comfortable around him. "Yes, I remember you. How can I help you?"

Obadiah answered in a voice that carried a hint of amusement. "That's something I've always admired about you, Ms. Morrison. You are always so willing to help." He paused. "In fact, I'm actually calling because of an opportunity that we have to help one another. I understand that you will shortly be looking for work?"

She nodded slowly; he had to have seen her posts on a few contracting sites. "Yes, we are. Though I do have to warn you that we're probably all going to reach C rank soon."

"So I gathered." Obadiah paused again. "Although, as I understood it, you're the only one on your team who has achieved that rank so far, correct?"

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Alex restrained a burst of suspicion. "So far, yes."

"As it so happens, my company has just acquired a C rank portal, and while we do not have many C rank Surveyors in our ranks, we are extremely interested in beginning exploitation of it." Obadiah coughed. "Coincidentally, my son has also recently become a C rank Surveyor. He will be leading our first teams into this new portal."

She felt a hint of relief. "So you're looking for someone who can provide support."

"That's right. In fact, we'll be bringing in several other contractors as well, all C ranks with experience." He paused for a moment, and his voice grew a bit deeper. "Still, I would be more comfortable with the situation if you were involved. I feel I can… trust you to look out for our interests."

Alex tried to scrub the resignation out of her voice. It was a job, and even if it meant she'd be escorting a CEO's son around the other world, it would still be a C rank portal. It was the kind of opportunity that she'd have to be an idiot to refuse. "I would be glad to help you out, Mr. Hamilton. I have at least another day on my contract here, and I'd like to discuss it with my team, but—"

"Of course, of course. Just let me know by, say, noon tomorrow." He tapped a few keys on his end. "I've sent the details to your email. Let me know if there are any terms that you'd like to change, and my office will work with you towards an agreement we both enjoy."

Alex felt a burst of triumph. "Thank you, Mr. Hamilton. I will."

The executive made his goodbyes and hung up the call, leaving her to check her email. Sure enough, there was a contract waiting for her, full of all the usual terms that she'd gotten used to seeing. She hesitated, checking the time. If she was lucky, the others would be back soon. As fun as diving into another contract without getting some eyes on it first might have been, she would rather have Joanna's input first.

Joanna finished her perusal of the contract and looked up. "I think you should take it."

Alex blinked. "You're sure?"

The Adept nodded. They were still in their bunkroom, with Clara flopped on the top bunk and Joanna sitting on the bottom one. Alex was perched on the desk, kicking her feet idly as Joanna read.

Now she watched as her friend tossed the phone aside and sighed. "Absolutely. Did you see what they are paying you? It's like twice what you'd make here, easily." She shook her head. "And that's on top of you going into a C rank portal. You'd have to be an idiot not to go."

Alex frowned. "But what about you guys? What if something happens here?"

Clara rolled over on the bed to look at her. "No offense, Alex, but you can't exactly help with that, anyway. Unless you think Blackmist is going to drive all the way out here to attack us." She shook her head. "If anything, I'm a little worried about what you'll get up to without me there to heal you. Maybe you should take some of the potions when you go."

She gave the Acolyte a half-irritated look. "I haven't been that useless here, have I?"

Joanna shook her head. "No. You've already put the E ranks far beyond where they would have been on their own, but Clara's right. At this point, it's going to be mostly in our hands and theirs to determine if they get out of the next week or so alive."

Clara nodded. "That, and if we do get kicked out early, we might need a new job to tide us over. Would be nice if someone had a C rank slot all ready to go…"

Alex rolled her eyes. "So you're sending me to get my foot in the door."

"And maybe so you can stop wearing a trench in the perimeter of the school." Joanna gave her a rare smile. "Besides, there doesn't seem to be any downsides to the offer. Nothing that stuck out to me, anyway."

As she watched the Adept, Alex felt her eyes narrow. "Nothing that stuck out to you. Is there anything that maybe would have stuck out to me?"

A slight smile tugged at Joanna's lips as she looked for the right words. "Hmm, perhaps. Just a commitment to attend a few press functions, maybe a banquet of some kind…"

She let her head drop into her hands as Clara laughed. "They want a C rank to show off for the cameras? Even after what happened at Goldiron?"

"Apparently that wasn't enough to discourage them." Joanna grinned openly now. "They are trying to show off for their investors that they are handling the new C rank portal seriously. That means they want to trot the contractors out in front of a few reporters, especially if it makes Jason Hamilton look good. He's the heir apparent for the company, and if he is seen taking care of the new portal personally, it'll be a big boost for the company image."

Alex peered at Joanna through her fingers. "How long?"

Joanna picked up her phone again and scrolled through the document. "Looks like at least a month, unless someone terminates early. Given that we could probably join you in less than a week…"

"It really is a good option." Alex shook her head. "No training conditions or specific goals?"

The Adept shook her head. "No. Just stabilize the portal, keep the members of the team safe, and train regularly. And show up for the cameras, of course."

Alex winced. She looked at Clara who gave her two thumbs up. "Just make sure to look good! The better you do, the happier they'd be to bring all of us on."

She heaved a much-put-upon sigh and picked up her own phone. With a quick few taps, she agreed to the contract and sent it off to Ochre Star. "All right. Now we just need to get through the next day or so."

Clara shook her head. "No, first we need to tell Sam." She sighed and rolled onto her back on the bed. "Poor guy. I think he was looking forward to finally catching up to you."

"Hmm?" Sam stuck his head into the open door of their room, his expression quizzical. "Tell me what?"

"Alex is going to go babysit a CEO's son in a C rank portal while we are stuck here." Clara laid out the situation in far less gentle terms than Alex would have used. She saw surprise and something else flicker across Sam's face as he absorbed the information.

Then weary resignation filled his expression instead as he walked over to the chair instead. "Well, that might be for the best." He slumped into it and gave Alex a tired grin. "Tollworth caught me in the hallway on the way here. He was full of questions about how well I thought the team would do without your 'aggressive leadership'."

She winced. "So he really was going to pull the trigger on me Monday."

"Looks that way, yeah." Sam shook his head. "You aren't going to fry yourself on a Camp again, right? Or get backstabbed somehow?"

The genuine concern in his voice undercut the teasing tone. She paused, surprised at the way it struck her.

Then she grinned. "No. Or at least, I'll try to delay it by a week. Okay?"

He nodded at her. "Okay. Then I guess the only thing left is to tell the trainees and try not to phrase it like you're abandoning them to their deaths." Sam smiled at her, his eyes once again filled with mischief. "Good luck!"

Alex watched as the taxi came rumbling down the road towards the school. The car was only visible thanks to its headlights; night had fallen some time ago on her last day at the Brownhat school.

She had spent that last day well, she hoped. Once again, it had been a morning full of sparring and training. The trainees had been full of questions about how to continue developing their Skills; all of them had managed at least one third tier ability, and a sizable number were on their way to gaining a second. All of them had been taking advantage of the opportunity to fight more inside of the portal, and none of them had complained when they were asked to continue training on their own.

Perhaps the reason had something to do with the conditions inside the portal. Sam had told her that Brutes were appearing in the patrols, and her team was allowing the E ranks to challenge the larger Grue on a regular basis on their own. Fortunately, it seemed like the trainees had been up to the task so far, and despite their obvious exhaustion, none of them had needed more than a sip of health potion when they returned.

As she'd sparred and trained them, Alex had quietly told them she was leaving. She had tried to make it sound like Brownhat had already told her she was going; the little spark of frustration and anger in their eyes had been slightly misplaced, but she hoped it would help them go along with Sam's plans. Tollworth had seemed off balance when she'd told him she was leaving, however; she wondered if he had been disappointed he hadn't gotten the chance to throw her out the next morning.

In any case, her time at Brownhat was done, for now. She watched as the beat-up sedan drew up alongside her and sighed. Hopefully, her next assignment wouldn't be quite as frustrating as this one had been.

Time would tell.

The train was a lot emptier without the others.

Alex stared out the window as the world rolled by. Her car on the train wasn't completely empty; to her surprise, she'd found a few other Surveyors on the train with her. There were half a dozen others, all carrying extra bags and secure-looking boxes. Though she'd never really realized it, most Surveyors tended to have their own cars, or preferred air travel to riding the rails. The only ones who didn't were transporting Survey materials, and she was apparently sharing her journey with some of them now.

Just because they were Surveyors, however, didn't mean that they wanted to talk. None of them had sat close to her; let alone spoken at all. Most of them had simply moved past her seat on their way to an empty spot. One had given her a curious glance, and another had stared at her for a long moment, but neither approached. She'd kept a wary eye out for either of them, at least until they had drifted off to sleep or gotten absorbed in some game on their phone. Neither looked the part of some would-be assassin, so she'd slowly relaxed as the hours wore on.

She should have been tired enough to sleep just as soundly as the transporters, but between the anxiety of the unknown job ahead and the presence of strangers nearby, Alex was unable to persuade herself to do anything of the sort. Instead, she pulled up information about Ochre Star, searching for anything that might have been a sign of bad things to come. Any information might prove useful, especially since she was on her own.

Nothing she found rang any alarm bells, however. Ochre Star was one of the older Survey corps, founded by a handful of Surveyors back during the early days of the Fracture. They had partnered with Obadiah Hamilton, who had provided enough funding to bring on other Surveyors; the business had steadily expanded from there. Very few problems seemed to come from portals supervised by Ochre Star. While that was a good sign, it might have come from the fact that none of the portals they worked with ever got past D rank.

The news articles closer to the present told an interesting change in trajectory. Both of Hamilton's founding partners had left the company; one had died in a Survey at a neighboring B rank portal, while the other had been injured and forced to retire. Obadiah had been left in sole leadership of the corp, and he'd immediately set about trying to expand their business.

It had not been an attitude warmly welcomed by other corps. Journalists had spilled an impressive amount of ink detailing Ochre Star's feuds with other companies. One in particular caught her eye; Ochre Star had been competing with a Greylight Industries subsidiary over a number of D rank portals, just months before the company had been targeted by the schemers at Royal Purple. Obadiah, like Alex herself, had apparently attracted enough attention to be considered a nuisance. That fact alone made Alex warm slightly to the man, even though she still didn't entirely trust him.

Of course, the name of the subsidiary had caught her interest as well. It had been Blackmist Enterprises, which had still not acquired anything above D rank for themselves. One article even mentioned that they had been bidding on the C rank portal that Ochre Star had just grabbed. Another mark in the positive for Obadiah.

Other articles pointed to the rise of his son, Jason, through the Surveyor ranks. Plenty of idle speculation had surrounded Jason Hamilton's decision to take a more active role in the company's Survey operations; some had appreciated his more hands-on approach, though a few had thought the younger Hamilton would stop pursuing the dangerous career and take over the company when his father retired.

Those critics had been both impressed and shocked when he had steadily continued to work his way up the ranks, surviving the Royal Scandal and reaching C rank in the past few weeks. The acquisition of the C rank portal, from a failing company that could no longer maintain the teams needed to suppress it, had only fanned the fires of rumor around him. Now the reporters were speculating that Jason was going to be Obadiah's tool to open the doors for Ochre Star to start handling higher level portals. Some even implied the company would be looking for a B rank portal sometime soon.

Amused by the apparent fascination with the company's rise, Alex had shaken her head and turned back to the details of the contract. Now that she had a little more background, the things they were asking of her made more sense. Her presence would not just keep Jason safe; it would also reassure any nervous speculators that Ochre Star was going to manage their portals well. If anyone was doubtful about the direction the Hamiltons were planning on taking, having the Valkyrie on staff would make it all that much clearer that Ochre Star was aiming to rise above its humble beginnings.

Of course, if parading her around also happened to tweak the noses of Greylight Industries as well, Alex suspected Obadiah wasn't going to mind. Probably.

She shook her head and sighed, looking back out the window. Maybe she'd actually be able to have some fun in this job after all.

When she finally disembarked from the train, Alex found a hired car waiting for her. Unlike the one at Brownhat, this one seemed far more official. It had Ochre Star's corporate logo pasted on the sides, an orange star rising over a crescent line of grey. Alex had gratefully accepted the offer to be driven to the nearest hotel, where a room had been paid for in her name.

The next morning, after she'd caught a few hours of sleep, Alex heard a knock at her door. She frowned and checked the clock; the driver the previous night had told her that a car would come for her, but not for another hour or so. Her suspicions suddenly rising, she carefully padded over to the door and opened it, bracing herself for the unexpected.

Fortunately, she recognized the man on the other side of the door well enough. He was wearing a familiar Ochre Star uniform, and his face was one she'd already seen plastered on several news releases and photo ops. Jason Hamilton smiled at her, his gaze curiously intent. "Good morning! Sorry for barging in on you early. Do you need a little more time to get ready?"

Alex blinked. She shook her head. "No. Let me just grab my key."

She turned and walked back to the desk, where the hotel key was waiting. When she grabbed it and her phone, she turned back to find Jason leaning against the doorjamb, idly keeping the door open. "Did you get enough sleep? I had wondered if they would put you up here or give you a room at the facility, but I heard the beds here were a little better."

A little uneasy at the questions, Alex shrugged. "I got a decent night's rest. What do we have on schedule today?"

Jason grinned. "Right to business, of course." He stepped aside to let her out, and the door closed on its own. Alex heard it click shut as they walked down the hallway towards the front lobby. "First, we were going to have you meet the team. Then I think April has a few things she wants to go over with you, mostly about the public appearances we have on your schedule."

Alex winced at the thought of that. She held out a faint hope that whoever April was, she would be at least a little bearable to deal with. "And then?"

He chuckled to himself. "And then we are headed into the portal. We're scheduled to go on a Survey for most of the afternoon, actually." Jason glanced at her, one eyebrow arched. "You don't seem worried."

She smiled politely. "I've been through a C rank portal before, at Royal Purple."

Jason nodded. "Ah, yes, so I'd heard." He shook his head. "No wonder you had so little trouble when you came to help us. If you were used to fighting those Shifter things…"

Alex made a sympathetic sound. "Have you been dealing with those already?"

"No way to avoid it, really." Jason made a face as they walked into the lobby. It was blissfully free of any reporters, which was a relief. "They hit us every ten minutes or so. They make it just about impossible to get any rest at all."

She frowned. It sounded like the Shifters were far more active here than they were in the Royal Purple portal. "What level is the portal at? Is it stable?"

He frowned. "It is stable enough. We'll have a bit of work to keep it that way, but nothing too dramatic."

Alex tried not to feel exasperated at the reassuring tone. Of course, he might not know the exact level, but if it was stable, why were so many Shifters popping up? They hadn't gone after them with that kind of regularity before at Royal Purple.

Then again, she'd been a D rank at Royal Purple, and the Shifters had mostly been either hunting Abbott or trying to pick her off while she was alone. If her entire team had been C ranks, would they have attracted that much more attention? The possibility painted an unfortunate picture of her future.

She was still brooding over that fact when they pushed through the hotel doors. There was another Ochre Star car waiting for them—or it might have been the same one, for all she knew. Jason walked over and held the door open, a smile on his face. Alex tried to repress a sigh and tucked herself into the seat. It might be a long day after all.

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