“Mr. Donner, How do you approach collaborating with a team that has a wide range of personalities?”

  “I usually nod and give one-word answers and hope it gives the impression I’m contributing, then go off and do my own thing.”

  Wally and I sat morosely in the cafeteria. I was having some spicy (actually spicy!) noodles, watching my aethervoir slowly stutter up as my absorption skill eased away the effects of the sapsab. Wally was nibbling on a school lunch style spread he’d assembled almost by reflex. A sandwich, seasoned potatoes, even green beans and a brownie for dessert. He’d done it during college before we’d both dropped out, and he hadn’t quite known what to do with himself when we were too broke for proper meal prep. He went back to this habit with, I could tell, no small measure of relief. Even if he rarely felt like actually eating.

  “How’s the runeband treating you?” I asked.

  “Pretty good.” He felt his own arm. “Really good, actually. I’ve started hitting the gym. I even remember to rack my weights, but I have a confession to make.”

  He leaned in and whispered, “I’ve been skipping leg day.”

  I smirked at that, snagging some noodles with my chopsticks.

  He studied me, clearly expecting more of a reaction. “Are you okay, Jett?”

  “I’ll answer if you go next.”

  “Ah, damn it. Fine.”

  “Training’s going well. I’m hitting tier 2 on more and more skills. Importantly, I tiered up my Torch skill, and you know what that means.”

  Wally looked at me flatly. I’d been talking this one up. Maybe incessantly. “You can fart fire.”

  “It’s glorious.”

  [It really isn’t.]

  “It’s only a visual effect, of course,” I continued. “The real source of the fire is aether, not, you know, my body. But it’s hilarious. And being able to torch from anywhere has practical uses. Anyway, my goal is to tier up as many skills as possible before my level caps out at 20. My lecti says it’ll open more options for what comes next.”

  “How’s Valery?”

  “Still weird. I think she actually kind of likes me… I mean as a student, trainee, whatever. But she always stops short of telling me.”

  “And the real problem?”

  I sighed. “I just found out half the sorcerers hate me because, well, apparently when everything went down with my dad and my family disappeared some other people got hurt too. Dante and all of them? That’s their deal. Well, it’s more of their deal than I knew about before.”

  “That’s heavy.”

  “Yeah. It’s making me think about Castillo’s idea to do that interview.”

  “You really want to go on a show and talk about it? I mean Jett, you could barely give me a summary.”

  “Hell no I don’t want to. It was never gonna be about me wanting to. But I don’t know how else to make this stop. I can check in with Squid again, but I have a sneaking suspicion he’ll say the same thing. He already told me to trust Castillo. Do you know anything about that lady she mentioned, Corbin or whatever?"

  “Lys Corwin? My mom’s obsessed with her. Always watches her show with tissues handy, and those are just interviews with A-list celebs. But she’s not melodramatic either. From what little I know, she’s probably a smart choice.”

  I nodded, mulling that over. It probably was, considering the subject matter. “Okay, your turn. I’ll start with the easy part, though. How’s the new design coming along?”

  Wally brightened. “Oh yeah. I think it’s viable.”

  He pulled out his new security compliant tablet–which was, quite frankly, a downgrade–and showed me the schematics.

  “See? Breakaway sections here and here. Goldsilver plating on the edge and threaded through other contact surfaces. As long as your lecti thinks the pieces will still be considered part of the weapon and can be retrieved…”

  [I’ve already said they would be, so long as you choose the right skill modifier. How many times does he need to ask? It’s been done with sheathes and the like before.]

  “He still says yes. Now, the real problem?”

  Wally took his time switching the tablet screen off and setting it aside. He looked down, chewing on his lip. “Jett? I think I like Fushigi.”

  I slurped up a mouthful of noodles. “I know.”

  He gave me the side-eye, obviously annoyed I’d figured it out. As if his eyes didn’t sparkle whenever he talked about her.

  “Go on,” I prompted.

  “The problem is, she likes you.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  I drew my lips to a line. “Yeah, I kind of knew that too.”

  “Dude…”

  “If it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t sure until my lecti pointed it out.”

  “Maybe I need a lecti too if they help with stuff like this.”

  “Oh trust me, he’s not some all-knowing sage or anything. He just has the girl radar of a fifteen-year-old boy. So how did you figure it out?”

  “She asked me if you were single while we were arm wrestling.”

  A chopstick clattered to my plate. “She… you…”

  “It was to test whether my might rune was effective. You should have seen how she tested my alacrity.”

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “I don’t really want to—it isn’t important—she threw a wrench at my face.”

  I nodded slowly. “Didn’t know you were into that kind of thing, Wall.”

  “So,” said Wally, “What do you want to do?”

  “Do? Like, do I want to date her? I mean, she’s cute. She’s kind of got a punk rock mad scientist aesthetic going on. She’s fun to be around if you don’t mind some unhinged conversation about other women’s breasts, or apparently the occasional wrench.”

  I remembered how Fu had twirled Bullet Train like a master, and the effect it had on me. “I mean, she’s ok. But if you—”

  “She won’t start liking me if you don’t date her. Even I know that. And I don’t want us to get weird around her—weirder than we normally are—about this. Because I have to, and want to work with her. She’s an artist with mechanical parts, metallurgy, composites. She’s funny, she’s energetic, she’s—infectious. She makes me happy to be around her. I don’t want us both to avoid her because we’re afraid of each other’s feelings. So don’t pass on her on my account.”

  I pondered for a moment. “Has she mentioned why she’s interested in me?”

  “Well,” Wally said apologetically, “She’s mentioned how she likes people who do whatever they want and don’t care what other people think?”

  Wow. Sometimes I forgot just how good I was at faking it. “So it’s the ‘bad boy’ mystique?”

  “I mean, you did spend years playing a devil-may-care rogue who gives cops the finger. Sorry if that earned you a reputation.”

  “That’s true, I did do that. Unh, I just don’t know. I don’t know if I want that to be the reason a girl is attracted to me. Plus, Fu is Jessie’s best friend, which makes it even more weird and complicated. I mean, aren’t they living together now? I’m trying to imagine knocking on Fu’s door to pick her up for a date and having Jessie answer instead. Shit, that’d be twice as awkward as meeting a girl’s parent for the first time, and ten times as scary.”

  Wally took a bite of his sandwich. “So what kind of girl would you want?”

  “Jessie?”

  “I mean, I wasn’t gonna actually say it—”

  “No, seriously, Wall. She’s here. I just uh, wanted to ask her something. One sec.”

  “Jessie!”

  Team Snowcrest was waiting for the elevator. Jessie’s blue eyes widened at my approach. She waved for the other team members to move on without her, and I was mildly relieved that she even directed a hesitant, slightly pouting Fu to give us a moment of privacy.

  “Well, look who it is,” she said, glancing me over. “You’re looking… huh. Really well.”

  “Thanks. Uh, you too.” I glanced down at myself, blushing slightly. It was true. Valery really knew how to crack a whip, but her training regimen was paying off. My might and alacrity were both at almost 150. More to the point, for the casual observer, I had more definition now than I’d had at the peak of my pro career. My arms were noticeably thicker, my chest and shoulders broader. I felt suddenly exposed in the tight grey uniform.

  “So,” I asked, “How goes the hunt?”

  Jessie grimaced. “Ugh. They’re good at vanishing before we get there. Chris managed to engage Mantis once, but she quickly broke off and ran. Still, it was enough to give us some clues. She’s getting a lot more powerful. A lot more. I’m afraid she was lower level than I assumed when we fought her at the precinct, and her class is much stronger. Also… she seems almost completely immune to ice. Chris’s skills don’t even phase her. She might even be able to absorb them like a Guardian.”

  “Sounds like you guys need me out there.”

  “Yeah.” Jessie crossed her arms and looked over at Chris’s ice sculpture of the day. It was Cryos, the first Ice Guardian, presumably before he fell from grace. “It does sound like that, doesn’t it?”

  “Unless you’re afraid I’d steal all the glory, huh?” I tried.

  She glared at me, annoyed. Only it wasn’t… “Jessie” annoyed. It was normal person annoyed. Which was concerning.

  “You know,” I said, “we should catch up sometime. You, me, Wally, even Fu. Let’s not call it anything but a bunch of friends hanging out. Maybe you two ladies would be enough of a ‘bodyguard’ for me to get a pass, since they’re still paranoid as hell about me around here.”

  “Maybe,” said Jessie.

  “Ok Jess. What the hell is going on?”

  Why was everything so weird between us all of the sudden? I had an inexplicable craving, in that moment, to hear Jessie insult me and tell me I was irresponsible.

  Jessie bit her lip. “There’s some shit going on here, Jett. I can’t go into details. There’s been a lot of back and forth about… certain events in your past.”

  Ah. I had a pretty good idea what that meant.

  “Some bad assumptions are being made,” she continued, “and some bad decisions are coming out of it. It’s not right, but don’t worry. Many are against it. Chris is adamantly against it. I’m against it too, but my word only means so much because I just got here and I’m technically just a consultant.”

  She looked like she wanted to say more, but she set her jaw. “My only advice, Jett, is train as hard as you can and do your best. And don’t, you know, piss people off too much in the meantime. You’ve already got a bit of that wild look about you, and I don’t blame you, but don’t do anything stupid or reckless.”

  I put on a fake smile. “I would never.”

  “I mean it. Don’t screw us both.”

  “I won’t. Actually I know exactly what I’m gonna do about this. And it’s gonna be a big deal. But you know the weird thing about it? You don’t need to worry this time, because it’s not even my idea. It was recommended by one of the higher ups here, one who I’m pretty sure has nothing to do with… what you’re talking about.”

  “Really?” Jessie looked at me quizzically. “You’re going to take advice from an authority figure? I’m watching history in the making?”

  “Yep. So run along and play with Fu and Team Snowcrest, and I’ll go do my thing.”

  She studied me for a moment, still concerned.

  “If you’re sure.”

  “I’m not. I’m actually not looking forward to doing this, like at all.”

  “Okay.” She gave me a faint smirk. “In that case, maybe it’s a good idea after all. Good luck.”

  Jessie summoned the elevator and headed down, probably following Team Snowcrest to their next port of call.

  Wally tromped up beside me. “What was that all about?”

  “I need to head back upstairs,” I said.

  “What are you doing?” Wally asked.

  “I need to get ready for an interview.”