Chapter 388
When Matt arrived back at Palustris he was immediately greeted by Liz, who hugged him before they shared a long kiss just enjoying being back near each other.
They didn’t give themselves the time they would have liked to enjoy each other's presence, however, and Liz got right to business just a moment later. “Anything you didn’t mention in the Ascender chat?”
“Not really, but I have been thinking about everything as I flew back. Something that Rhea said stood out to me about these mystery enemies. They haven’t shown themselves, which makes it impossible to strike out at them but it also ensures they can strike out at us with far more impunity. On the surface that makes sense, but if they were just trying to prevent me from taking some of their profits they would have probably made entreaties. Or at least historically the ones who attacked Lila and Aiden did so, many times in fact. For obvious reasons, directly confronting an Ascender is a last resort, but we didn’t get a threatening anonymous letter to back down.”
Liz’s expression told him she understood where he was going as he finished with a grimace. “My gut tells me that's because we already stepped over their bottom line and they are willing to fight to the death.”
“That, or they wanted to probe us with a way for them to slink back into the dark. That said, I agree with your assessment, and we should prepare for the long haul.”
Matt snapped his fingers and said, “That reminds me, I told your people at the research station that they should increase their security measures and to go into pseudo lockdown if we go out of communications for any length of time.”
He had swung by when he checked in on his guild and the lawyers who were battling it out. Even with the mortal clause, the actual case could take upwards of a decade as the cogs of bureaucracy churned, but Matt wasn’t too worried about the outcome.
They had enough proof to ensure at a minimum a very short patent, and this was an opportunity to dig into Falker’s guild’s information. It was doubtful that anything pointing to who was pulling their strings would be easy to find, but it was information all the same, and more than they had now.
As he took Liz’s hand, a phoenix formed on her shoulder and hopped over to her customary perch on his.