Sometimes, solving other people's problems helped Marcus make progress with his own problems. In this case, Marcus was crouching on the ground in the courtyard with a bunch of weird objects around him. Stones, bricks, pieces of wood and metal of different sizes and forms, nearly all of it from Kou's workshop. Marcus took one large stone and placed it in front of him and gave it a small push with Impulse Hammer. He repeated it a few times to get the power right, then he added a small amount of compressed energy. The stone jumped forward a lot more.

This was working, Marcus thought. Because Kim and he had fooled around with high powered attacks Marcus had completely overlooked that he could just train his new ability on a much smaller scale. Once he had a handle on things he could scale it up anyway. It was Fin's training that made Marcus realize that.

"I'm done," Fin said and Marcus looked up. "Okay, then start with the next set," Marcus said. His disciple nodded and continued his strength training. The little blob of Shadow Mass was moving over Fin's body and his clothes, while the young man pumped iron. In only two days Fin's control over the blob had increased greatly, more than even Marcus had hoped. 'Playing' had unlocked Fin's creativity and increased his familiarity with his Shadow Mass. Marcus smiled and returned to the task at hand.

He pushed small objects around and changed the power and form of his pushes. He alternated his mental pictures and tried hard to get to know his new ability. Because that was the core problem. He didn't know this ability at all. He had used Impulse Wave (name is pending) like a crude hammer, smashing stuff up, without understanding the ability at all.

Sometimes I am just baffled how you make those mental jumps. One moment you look like a fool and then you skip a whole lot of steps and end up with great insight. By the way, somebody important is waiting for you.

Your ability to detect class holders has markedly improved Xeen, Marcus noted.

By now I had a lot of practice. It would be strange if I didn't improve. Reading Astral Bodies is another matter.

I am confident you will overcome this hurdle too.

Marcus turned around and saw Cherry standing on the other side of the courtyard. Rin was especially good at causing little noise with her teleportation, if she put her mind to it. Marcus stood up and looked at the waiting woman, he had been wrong. This wasn't Cherry, it was the Queen of Hearts, leader of Cerberus. She wore her whole combat gear and looked at Marcus with a serious face. It was about time, Marcus thought.

He walked over to her and greeted her, "What can Colors of the Wild do for Cerberus, on this fine morning." She showed a faint smile. "We would like to hire your seniors to go after a bunch of rotten criminals. I already gave the contract to Kou," she said and now she smiled. Marcus couldn't help but smile, too. "How is the little demon?" He asked and Cherry laughed, "Impatient, I didn't let her join the fighting, and told her she would have to wait until your clan starts moving officially."

They walked into the villa to find Kou in his office. "25 million dollars for a two week contract with our top squad?" Kou said and looked up from the electronic document. "You are worth it. Given Marcus' rising standing and Janette's fame it is a reasonable number," the Queen said and Kou nodded. "How bad is it?" Marcus asked bluntly.

"Worse than we had hoped for. That organization is massive, with operatives in basically every country and they have mountains of money. Half the people we have been fighting were just mercenaries. Even with four large clans we struggle to control the war," she said and Marcus furrowed his brows, "Four clans? Who joined you?" The Queen answered, "Besides Cerberus and Sleeping Sky, Ravens! and Fuego Verdadero have joined hands with us." Marcus nodded as a sign he understood. He had heard about both clans and they shared a strong sense of justice, for different reasons though.

While Marcus was thinking about the news, the tall woman continued to talk, "From the intelligence we have gathered we know this is an international organization, but we are only engaging the European part, if you can believe that. Their leader calls himself 'Source', an illusive son of a bitch. Most baffling, this organization is old for a class holder group. We believe they have existed for over 20 years." Hearing this, Marcus made big eyes and gasped, "Wait, is this not something the authorities should start to act on? This sounds more like a large-scale problem than something a few clans should take on."

The Queen of Hearts nodded. "You would think so, but ask yourself how did this stay under the radar all those years? Money and influence, this is how. We can be lucky that no government had tried to stop us. The one thing we have on our side is the public opinion," she explained and Marcus felt sick. You can buy anybody with enough money, it seemed. "For now, the enemy seems to be only the local branch. Which is good, but also means we have little information about the rest," Amelia said with a strained look. Marcus knew this was eating her up on the inside, she hated injustice and criminals.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"What are you going to use us for?" Marcus asked, getting to the core of things. "Taking down the command of the enemy. Not alone, of course. I and a lot of other top level class holders will be there too. Later on, maybe some clean up actions to take care of smaller operations," she said and Marcus understood what she meant. "Janette will not stay home for this," he said, knowing Janette very well. Now Cherry smiled at him, but said nothing.

Marcus took a deep breath and said, "Okay, let's get this signed. When do we start?" The Queen of Hearts' face hardened "Tonight. We have to move fast, because the enemy doesn't know yet we have found their HQ. This is our chance to wipe out the command of this branch," she said and Marcus steeled himself for what was to come.

An hour later Cherry had left again with Rin and the elite of Colors of the Wild had gathered in the official office of the clan leader, which for now was a mess made by Janette. Marcus had explained the state of affairs and looked around the room for opinions and thoughts. "If any of you wants to stay home, I would understand it." He looked at Kou and Achara. "We will both go or not at all," Achara said and Kou nodded. "The second squad will look after the estate and Rian is very good with Sophon. He can take care of him for a few hours," Kou explained. Somehow Marcus wasn't surprised to hear Rian was good with children.

"What do we know about the enemy's strength?" Grace asked, and Marcus thought for a moment before he answered, "We are bringing a whole bunch of level 100+ class holders to this gig." And Grace understood. "We aren't the cavalry here, we are the lowly foot soldiers who support the big shots," Marcus said, to make it clear to the rest of them. "Our priority is to leave that place without any losses, understood?" He added and the rest laughed. "What?" He asked, confused by the laughter. Kou patted his back, "You sound exactly like Janette before a mission." The rest nodded and Marcus got red ears. "Just get ready, you lot," Marcus said and stomped out of the room cursing them in German.

Marcus walked out of the villa, but he already knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate on his little experiments. He saw Fin still working hard and walked over to him. "You can take a break now. Play a bit with your blob," he said and Fin put down the weights. "Is everything okay, sir?" Fin asked, and Marcus didn't know how to answer at first. "We will leave on a mission tonight. I might be back later tomorrow, join your comrades until I return," Marcus said. Fin nodded, but didn't move. "Can I show you something new?" Fin asked, and Marcus agreed unsure what to expect.

Fin moved his blob into the palm of his hand and then concentrated, the mass shivered and then jumped three centimeters into the air. A sun-like smile formed on the young man's face, and Marcus was unable to resist the smile and joined in. "You can make it jump now. Great work," Marcus said, genuinely impressed. He looked at Fin and the natural happiness of the young man pushed away the dark clouds on his mind.

"Thank you Fin. Now go and entertain the other rookies," he said with a smile on his face.

He did that on purpose to cheer you up. I know. Fin has a natural gift for understanding people and he has a good heart. It is a shame he had to become a class holder.

Does that mean you think somebody who has accepted a framework can't be a good person?

No, of course not. But being a class holder exposes you to certain types of events and circumstances, which I wish Fin would never have to face.

Like killing people.

Yes, like killing people.

Around midnight Rin came to bring them close to the target area. It was also Marcus' first chance to see his old team in full gear. They all had better armor, Achara had even an enchantment pushing her light armor in the defense rank of a medium armor of the same quality. Integrated communicators, position trackers, top line first aid packages added to the picture. Weapons wise, Marcus had already seen Grace's two blades and Janette's space gun. Achara had moved back to a hybrid style, with her black sword and a nasty looking heavy pistol. Kou and Candis were unarmed, but that was okay. One had other options and the others didn't fight. Overall they looked professional and comfortable in their gear. Four years of fighting together had made them a real unit.

With everybody ready to go, they all teleported together. A great feat from a Spatial Mage, but Rin made it look easy. They reappeared about 20 meters above an empty parking lot. Kou floated down with Achara, Candis was in the care of Rin, and Marcus and Grace just dropped down, absorbing the fall with ease. Marcus looked around and saw at least ten squads with different uniforms and emblems. He tried to orientate himself and beyond the nearby houses he could see a bright skyline. "Wait, isn't that London?" He exclaimed. For some reason he had expected a hidden lair in the wilderness or at least a volcano, but the City?

"They hide right under our noses with the rest of the corrupt bastards." Janette's voice came from behind him and Marcus greeted her with a hug. "Not that we will see a lot of the action. Cherry has moved us to a support roll. The big shots will have all the fun, while we will at best take care of some stragglers." Janette looked pissed, but Marcus was completely okay with that decision. "Not to steal your line Janette, but isn't that a death flag?" Kou said with an innocent face. They both looked at him and realization hit them at the same time "Shit."

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