"Luke! Come in!" Alan said, his voice booming from behind his desk as he gestured to the people sitting in plush chairs in front of him. "This is the young man I told you about. I'm sure he'll be able to help you."

  Luke approached and shook their hands, introducing himself before turning to Alan. "You wanted to see me?"

  "Oh?" Alan said, with a confounded look on his face. "Oh, yes. Of course. Perhaps you could help my friends first? They'll make it worth your while."

  Taking the empty chair next to the three strangers, Luke examined them. They looked Latin. All three, two women and a man, wore matching deep blue suits with matching ties. New clothes, but ill-fitting. They were nervous, sweating even, and Luke didn't even need Weaver's Perception to see it.

  "What do you need help with?" he asked.

  Alan gave him a look. "Can't you tell?"

  Leaning back in the chair, Luke crossed his arms. "I don't like to make assumptions."

  "I-I'm sick," the man in the middle said.

  "Bone cancer."

  He swallowed hard. "That's right."

  Luke glanced over at Alan. "How do you know him?"

  "Luke," Alan warned.

  "M-Mr. Schmidt contacted us regarding our company."

  "Can you help our brother or not?" the woman on the left, the youngest of the trio, asked.

  "Of course," Luke said. "Give me your hand."

  It didn't take more than a minute to deal with the illness. With Weaver's Renewal, the challenge of it was gone. If he were being honest, it sort of took the fun out of it. While it was faster, the skill ate through almost all his mana, so he couldn't use it often in combat situations, but even the difficult things that'd stumped him before were now about as simple as flipping a light switch. Boring. Luke supposed he would have to find a new set of challenges.

  "That feels... better," the now cancer-free man said, his mouth falling open.

  His sisters' eyes teared up, and they went in for a hug.

  "You did it, you really did it," one of them said. "Thank you so much!"

  Alan cleared his throat and pointed to a stack of papers on his desk.

  "Yes, yes, of course," the other sister said, grabbing the stack. All three thanked Luke again, and then they were off, almost as fast as the last one. Miss Takanawa, was it?

  Once they were gone, Luke turned to Alan. "What did they give you for that?"

  "They gave me nothing. I am an investor in their company. An influx of capital means they will get to production sooner rather than later, and now they have a supplier of the raw materials they’ll need."

  "Corpo speak, choom."

  "What was that?" Alan asked.

  Luke shook his head. "Nothing. I'm just not sure how I feel about being whored out as a way to close business deals."

  Alan poured himself a drink of whiskey from a clear glass decanter. He did not offer one to Luke. "You haven't complained about the money transfers you have received with each such deal. Why start now?"

  "I don't know. Makes me feel cheap. Dirty, almost."

  "Is it more money you need?" Alan asked.

  "No."

  "Then what?"

  "I don't know," Luke said. "Forget it."

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  "Perhaps Ms. Marlene will be able to help soon?"

  Luke sat up a little straighter at the mention of Dot. "Dr. Marlene, she's a doctor. And no, I wouldn't think so."

  "No?"

  "My level is pretty high now, and I just got the ability to deal with things like that. Her leveling will be slow, since she's not going into dungeons."

  Alan looked thoughtful. "She'll be healing a lot of people."

  "Still," Luke said with a shrug.

  Letting out a small sigh, Alan sat down with a thud and took a large swig of whiskey. After that, he gave Luke a calculating look with little warmth behind it. "What were you thinking?"

  "I needed to kill a huge dragon, or it would've come here and killed everyone."

  "There are devices that prevent that. You used one yourself before going into that pink portal. Remember?"

  "That was a temporary stop," Luke said.

  "We have better options."

  Luke sighed. "Could've told me that."

  "The government isn't pleased."

  "Do you care?"

  That made Alan smile, but he didn't answer the question. "What is your level now?"

  "That's private."

  "Mhm," Alan hummed. He sat there in silence for a few breaths, then seemed to come to some sort of decision. "I'd like you to be one of the three people heading up our New York office."

  "Because of my impeccable decision-making skills?"

  "It is not a decision to be taken lightly, but there is a lot happening there."

  "Like what?" Luke asked.

  "Like things that fit your talents. Also, I'd be more comfortable if our two Lifeweavers aren't in the same building, city, or even state."

  "No one can protect Dot better than I," Luke barked, surprising even himself with the fervor in his voice. That wasn't the kind of guy he wanted to be.

  "You'd be surprised at what we can do," Alan said, his voice calm and collected. "It would do you good to get away from here for a while. Make some new friends and meet some new ones. Curtis is in New York as we speak."

  "He is?"

  Luke: "Curtis, are you in New York?"

  Curtis: "Yep."

  Curtis: "There's something I need to talk with you about."

  Luke: "I'll get back to you in a bit."

  "He is," Alan confirmed. "Ray is as well."

  Name-dropping Ray like that was a way for Alan to show just how long his reach into the government was, to prove what he could accomplish.

  "What is Ray doing in New York?"

  Alan gave him a look.

  "Classified?" Luke asked.

  "That it is. So, what do you say?" Alan asked, reached his hands out to the sides, hands splayed as a white, toothy smile spread across his face. "I could have you on a plane tonight. You should see The Gauntlet we're building over there. It is a beauty."

  "What about Dot? I'm teaching her, you know?"

  "Is that so?" Alan asked, dropping his hands.

  Luke shrugged. "A little."

  "To heal?"

  "Yeah, of course. What else?"

  "And what would she think if she knew you were a murderer? What would the FBI think? They're not too happy with you."

  He knew. If he were being honest, Luke wasn't surprised. "That's it then. Your mask-off moment? The end of the carrot? I've been waiting."

  "I'd rather lead with the carrot, but if it doesn't work, I'm well-versed with the stick."

  "Does saving your life matter so little to you?"

  Alan shook his head. "You did so much more than that. This is for your own good. For all our good. The System integration has changed everything, and we must be ready for the new world order."

  "Do you even need me for something in New York, or do you just need to keep me away from Chicago and from Dot?"

  "I'll always need your services, no matter where you are. The truth of the matter is, you are too reckless for what I'm trying to build here. Chicago has a solid foundation without much competition. New York is different. There, your... sensibilities would shine."

  "What about The Band?"

  "The what?"

  "My party?"

  "What about them?"

  "I don't know... Can I bring them?"

  Alan waved the question away. "There are other Integrated for you to team up with on location."

  "And Dot?"

  "She stays. Ms. Marlene will do wonders here."

  Luke stood. "I'll think about it."

  "This is not something you need to consider. You simply need to do as you're told."

  Turning, Luke extended Weaver's Perception. The man's brain lit up. When Luke healed him, he'd created new mana channels through the restored part of Alan's brain. Those had shone brighter than the surrounding ones. Now, all mana channels were like that, and it led to incredible activity. Other than that, he was the same. His pulse wasn't even elevated. Ice-cold bastard wasn't the tiniest bit afraid.

  "Like you said, I'm a murderer. What if I killed you instead?"

  Alan raised an eyebrow. "A little melodramatic, don't you think?"

  "Well, I am standing in front of a villain."

  That set him off, and Alan barked a laugh so hard he almost spit out the whiskey he'd just sipped. When he calmed down an age later and had wiped tears from the corners of his eyes, he shook his head and got serious. "I am the one who will make sure Earth makes it through this."

  "You're not the first person I've spoken to who said that."

  Alan nodded, thoughtful all of a sudden. "The Fallen Shepherd. We could have learned so much from that man. Think of the knowledge lost now that he is no more."

  "He was a monster. You'd want to meet him? You wouldn't survive that."

  "Don't be so sure. He was a pragmatist. I'd say. Same as me. We went to the site to scour for any remaining pieces of him, but you were thorough in your application of force. Let's hope it doesn't come back to harm us in the end."

  Luke was about to speak, but Alan just kept on going, talking over him.

  "I have another appointment in a few minutes. You leave in two weeks’ time. Until then, I suggest you prepare."

  "The hell I am," Luke said, taking a step toward the desk.

  Before he was able to take another step, five leather-clad, biker-helmet-wearing people appeared out of nowhere, crowding him. The world spun around him, and it felt like he was going to throw up. When the spinning stopped, Luke found himself alone in a bedroom he'd never seen before.

  "What the hell?"