"Does anybody know why I am here?" He stood next to the window front and looked at the illuminated city beneath. His eyes focused on the reflection of the room behind him. They were all afraid, and they should be, he thought. He turned and gave the room a faint smile and their fear increased even more. Eight men and women, representing the efforts of his organization here in Europe, looked at him with terror. "Because we have failed to perform to your expectations Source," Lorelei said and he nodded. She was the only exception, she was not afraid of him, and he found this fact extremely exciting. He slowly walked through the room and the eyes of the executives followed him. "Asia, Africa, South America and of course North America. All the other regions run without major problems, but Europe is deeply disappointing." At the last word their faces turned white. Good.

"Do you have an explanation?" He said and met the eyes of his subordinates. "There have been several unexpected incidents which caused unpredictable disruptions in our operations. With enough time we will-" He moved and grabbed the talking man by the throat lifting him effortlessly into the air and slowly drained the life out of him. All of the executives were high level class holders, but the man in his grasp was unable to defend himself at all. He took his time and enjoyed the effect of this little demonstration on the morale of his subordinates. The useless corpse of the man dropped to the floor, like the garbage he no longer needed. He stepped over the heap and said "Lorelei could you please try to explain?" He asked without looking at the woman.

"We allowed external forces to disrupt our operations without adapting to the changed circumstances. Instead of improving our security, we hoped no further problems would arise. A miscalculation that caused significant losses," Lorelei said and watched her insane employer. He continued to walk through the room, getting a kick out of killing his own subordinates. He motioned her to continue "We valued secrecy over actions. This must change from now on. I propose an increase in manpower and active engagement with competing and disrupting forces," she said, and was sure this was what he wanted to hear. "This is how you give an explanation. I hope the rest of you will learn from Lorelei," he said with a smile, and she just knew he did it only to cause dissonance between the other executives and her. "Very well, while I am here, what was that latest problem?" He said and for the first time he took his seat.

Lorelei got up and moved to the screen and quickly called forth some pictures. "Last month, one of our expeditions crossed path with a raid team from Cerberus and got annihilated. This loss alone would not have been a problem, but Cerberus used significant resources to trace the team back to its origin and destroyed the locale operation completely. They are still searching for us at this moment," she explained and the bastard who liked to be called "The Source" nodded.

"Cerberus, that name feels familiar. Why are they so interested in our activity?" He asked and she showed some more pictures. "Cerberus sees itself as some kind of police for class holders. Keeping the law. We had a minor problem with them a few years ago in eastern Europe," Lorelei said and the man focused on the pictures. She saw his interest in the stunning, red haired woman in the middle "Cerberus has three leaders. Most well known by the public is this woman, Amelia Long aka. 'The Queen of Hearts'," Lorelei explained and he nodded again.

After a few seconds he got up and dramatically walked back to the window "Nobody crosses me twice and lives. Kill her," and with a smile he added "and Lorelei, be thorough." The woman who used the name Lorelei smiled and nodded. That maniac is going to bring the whole fucking world down on us, she thought. Killing the Queen of Hearts was possible, every class holder could be killed, with enough preparation and money. But the fallout would not be easily contained.

The man, who called himself the Source, left the room satisfied with his trip to Europe. Morale had been restored and operations would recover. Lorelei was the most capable in the region, it was a shame he would have to kill her soon. He did not like it when people failed to fear him. It made them unpredictable, a liability really. With a slight arousal he wondered how she would taste like.

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In the early hours of the next day, Marcus made his way into the estate. There were still reporters around, but everybody was still asleep. Not so much the rookie, who had guard duty at the gates. Marcus greeted the young man and walked into the villa uninterrupted. The journey back had been exhausting. His hopes, that the hype around his person had reduced a bit, was shattered when he learned his victory over the albino monster spider had reached the media. His solo victory over an evolved monster was discussed all over the internet, and even more people recognized him on his flight. He would have to bring autograph cards in the future. What a bizarre thought.

He made his way into the building and saw a light in the kitchen. He silently opened the door to the kitchen and saw Achara working "Good morning," he whispered and put his bag down. Achara turned and welcomed him with a short hug. "You are already preparing breakfast?" Marcus looked over the counter. "At least once a day I try to cook for the gang. We have a cafeteria now, but I think this is important," she said already cutting vegetables again. Marcus washed his hands and aided her. "You should just come home," Achara said but he shook his head. "I sat around long enough, I can help you."

They worked in silence for some time until Marcus spoke. "Making food for us, taking care of Sophon and also working on your combat skills. Is it not too much?" Achara stopped and looked at him "Do you want me to quit?", "No!" His reply was far too loud for the early hour. "Of course not. But if you want to slow it down for a bit, I want you to know that you can take all the time you need. Your place will always be with us. Don't overwork, is what I wanted to say," Marcus said with a worried look but she smiled. "Kou helps a lot with Sophon. Some of the gang show up and help with the food all the time, too. And I really do not want to stop my training, staying active was one of my conditions before we decided to have a child," she said. He nodded and continued to work on some tomatoes.

Achara smiled and poked him gently with her elbow. "But thank you for caring." "It is all part of the job," he said with a cheeky grin and they laughed. "What is so funny in the morning?" Janette walked in the kitchen in her pajamas. She was half asleep but managed to hug Marcus "Did you two do it?" She asked holding on to him. "No. But it was nice anyway. I will tell you later," he said and Achara snickered. "Okay, I will lie down again. I want fried sausages," she said and shuffled back into her bed. Achara took out the sausages and rolled her eyes "The English." Marcus made a face "I want some too." And Achara rolled her eyes again. "The Germans."

Candis, Grace and Rian showed up not much later, and breakfast was prepared in no time. The large table in the common room was packed with the Colors of the Wild officers; the old gang, Rian and Luca. Everybody wanted to hear about Marcus journey, and he spent more time talking than eating. After some time he announced "I want to get to know our rookies and also the second squad in the next days." An idea that was welcomed by everybody. "That is a good idea but we have to manage that together with your duels," Janette said with half a jam toast in her mouth.

"Duels?" Marcus jaw dropped. "Yeah, I took care of the matter as I promised, and lined up five duels for you over the week. That should be enough to give you a reputation," Janette explained and Grace nodded. "I helped and we chose some good candidates, people in your level range. Various classes and of course some big mouths that need a beating." The two women looked rather proud of their work but Marcus felt like a bus had just run him over. "First I thought we should put them all on one day for increased effect, but then we decided to spread them out over the week. The first guy tomorrow will be a Paladin. He has announced to his 13 million followers that he will cut you in half. So don't feel the need to hold back and put him into the ground," Janette said and fist bumped with Grace.

This was not at all what Marcus had expected when she said, she would take care of it. Grace saw his hesitation "That is something you have to go through, and it is a good idea to get it over with as fast as possible. You know how many people Kim had to put down at the start?" She was right, Kim had to fight a lot of duels because he got famous so quickly, Marcus thought. Only after proving his skill against strong opponents, people stopped bothering him. Marcus looked at his hands, it had been a long time since he had seriously fought people.

Would you like to hear my opinion?

Of course.

I think your friends are correct. In this world governed by power you will need to prove your capabilities. I had my own share of duels in my time. I even missed them, once I got so powerful nobody wanted to fight me anymore.

That is a nice problem to have. "Okay, what can you tell me about that Paladin?" He said, steeling his determination.

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