178 Laying the Groundwork
178 Laying the Groundwork
It had been over a week since we arrived in Markend, and the SRC’s presence had grown thicker by the day. After repairing the multiversal device George showed me, we slipped it into the inventory of a local gang that operated near the outskirts. The goal wasn’t to hide it forever, but to guide the SRC straight to it. They would raid the gang, seize the device, and convince themselves they had uncovered the method used to cross between worlds. It was a calculated risk, something that kept attention away from us.
Whether the plan succeeded because of luck or because Guesswork had seen the outcome in advance, I couldn’t tell. Either way, the important part was that no one would trace our actual arrival to me or to Bunnywork. The SRC would chase ghosts while we worked in peace.
We gathered in the second floor of the safehouse for our first real meeting. Everyone showed up—Amelia standing with her arms crossed, Abner sitting with perfect posture, Diane leaning against her brother, and Jacob chewing something as usual. They’d been adapting well to this world, especially Abner, who treated every new device or concept like a sacred manual he had to master.
I stood in front of the room and cleared my throat. “Alright. Since this is our first formal meeting, we’ll start with an orientation. Please refrain from asking questions until the end. Yes, I’m talking to all of you.”
Jacob raised a hand immediately. I ignored him and clicked the remote.
A slide flashed onto the wall with the word GODSLAYERS in bold text, followed by a simple mission line beneath it: Destroy the Entity.
Diane squinted. “That’s… very dramatic.”
“It’s accurate,” I replied. “And it’s the entire reason this organization exists.”
Amelia nodded. Abner murmured a respectful, “A righteous pursuit.”
I continued, “Now, before we start our work in this world, you all need structure. Expectations. Benefits. And rules.” I clicked to the next slide. “First, everyone gets a base salary every month, even without assignments.”
Jacob blinked. “Wait… you’re paying us?”
“Yes.”
Diane frowned. “Even if we don’t do anything?”
“That would be the meaning of ‘base salary.’”
Abner raised a hand. “Lord Eclipse, if I may… what determines assignments?”
“We’ll get to that,” I said. “Second point: contracts. A subsidiary of Bunnywork Group will process all your paperwork, which means your employment will look legal.”
Jacob whispered to Diane, “Employment?”
“I think it means we’re workers,” she whispered back.
I tapped the screen to get their attention. “Focus. Third point: You will all need to get a GED.”
Blank stares. All of them.
I sighed. “A basic education credential. You need it to function in this society.”
Diane tilted her head. “Why? We already know how to read and write.”
“Because this world has standards,” Amelia said dryly. “And if you want any kind of public identity, you need proof you aren’t illiterate.”
Jacob groaned. “We just escaped school…”
“You escaped medieval school,” I corrected. “This is different.”
Moreover, I didn’t think something like a ‘slave school’ where Jacob and Diane came from would be a good standard for them.
I clicked again, bringing up a slide with two silhouettes, one with a mask, one without. “Next. You all need to understand the difference between public identity and cape identity. You never mix the two. Ever. Once upon a time, my face was plastered across every major city. People screamed and ran the moment they saw me. Even after I got psychic invisibility, I still had to hide in lawless zones for months. One mistake can destroy your life here.”
Amelia sighed. “He’s not exaggerating.”
Jacob raised his hand again. “Hypothetical question. If people scream when they see our faces, can we wear cool masks?”
“No,” I said. “Not cool ones. Functional ones.”
He pouted. “So… cool ones with function.”
“Later,” I muttered.
Diane raised her hand, finally bringing us back on track. “So… what are our assignments? Jacob and I are hoping to settle down. Maybe find something stable.”
The group had gotten comfortable with the new normal far faster than I expected. Maybe too fast. Diane and Jacob had become downright bubbly, probably because they spent half their free time watching short videos on Amelia’s phone. They had also grown closer in ways I hadn’t anticipated. While they called each other brother and sister, they weren’t related by blood. Still, the speed at which they had become romantically involved surprised me. I had caught them making out multiple times this past week. As for Abner, he spent hours buried in SRC training manuals and public guides, reading them like someone studying scripture. I didn’t think he’d be a problem, but I heard he had been visiting local bars and had already started seeing someone. Lastly, there was Keegan. Despite the raw strength caged in his muscles, he remained surprisingly tame, except for his constant desire to fight anything remotely strong.
I clicked the pointer and the slide changed to an image of SRC agents and trucks rolling into Markend. “Alright,” I said, drawing their attention. “Let’s continue with assignments. Abner, your job is simple. You’ll apply for the SRC, get in, take missions, and climb ranks as quickly as you can.”
Abner straightened in his seat. “You want me to infiltrate them?”
“Yes,” I answered. “We’ll need someone in a position we can burn when the time comes. You’ll be wanted afterward, so prepare for that. Guesswork will help you with the career fast-tracking.”
“I understand,” Abner said, his voice steady.
I clicked to the next slide, which showed two symbols: a red cross inside a triangle and a blue sun. “The gangs dominating Markend,” I said. “Markers and Enders. Keegan, you’re with me. We’ll clean them up, take over whatever remains, and use the territory to push Bunnygroup’s agenda.”
Keegan grinned. “Finally, some action!”
I ignored the enthusiasm and clicked to the next slide: Mirch University. “The reason Markend matters to us is this place. There are rumors of research involving the Entity. Diane, Jacob, you two will infiltrate the university. Fortunately, you look close enough to college age.”
Jacob leaned forward. “Should we expect trouble?”
“Yes,” I answered. “The campus has a suspicious amount of security. Be careful.”
The slide changed one more time, revealing a stark black screen with a single word at the center: The Box. “A super-prison,” I explained. “Hidden, off-records, and the most advanced facility in the Council of City-States. Even the SRC treats it with reverence.”
Diane raised a hand. “What about Amelia’s assignment? You mentioned everyone else.”
I clicked the final slide, a simple image of the New Vanguard’s emblem. I looked at Amelia. “Your mission is to join New Vanguard,” I said. “Win back their trust. Reclaim your public standing. And when the time comes and everything is in place, you will arrest me and send me to the Box.”
The room fell silent. Only the low hum of the projector filled the background.
“That's your assignment,” I said quietly. “And it’s the most important one.”
There were two goals tied to Amelia arresting me. First, it would raise her status, give her fame, and restore her credibility with the public. That kind of reputation was something we needed. In the future, I wanted her to use her identity as a hero to move the hearts of millions, turn them into a force willing to stand against the Entity. Second, getting thrown into the Box would grant me access to people worth recruiting. I could find those broken enough or strong enough to still matter, and while I hated to admit it, Windbreaker was one of them. For all his immaturity, he helped us destroy Continuity, and he was now rotting inside that prison.
“That’s all I have for today,” I said, lowering the clicker. “Any questions?”
Abner raised a hand. “My lord, why do you want to kill the Entity so much? You spoke of its threat, but your resolve seems… personal.”
I hesitated. Telling them wasn’t easy. Out of everyone in the room, only Amelia knew the truth. Windbreaker knew some parts and George knew enough. Guesswork probably had his theories, because it was obvious that removing the Entity aligned with my best interests. But explaining the details to these people… that was different.
Still, if they were going to follow me into hell, they deserved to understand at least the surface of it.
I sighed and began removing my long sleeves and turtleneck. “You want to know why?” I said quietly. “Fine.”
Their eyes widened the moment my skin showed. Dark cracks spidered across my torso and arms like fractured porcelain, each line pulsing faintly. Diane flinched. Jacob covered his mouth. Keegan leaned forward, fascinated. Only Amelia remained calm, since she had seen this before.
“This,” I said. “This is what I got from encountering the Entity. An affliction I can’t heal, remove, or suppress. I have reasons to believe that killing it is the only way to stop whatever this is.”
I slid my shirt back on.
I had examined the condition countless times. My Researcher ratings weren’t the most creative, but I wasn’t incompetent. The problem wasn’t what I found. Instead, it was what I didn’t find. Every test, every scan, every technique I tried led to the same conclusion: there was something alive in the cracks, a presence that wasn’t mine. Worse, I shared a faint Empathic connection with the Entity now, something neither distance nor dimension could sever. I could ignore it, but it was always there.
Keegan spoke first. “Are you going to die from it?”
“Probably,” I said. “But that’s not the part that worries me.”
Abner folded his arms. “There was no need for you to tell us this if it troubled you. But thank you.”
“I’m not hiding anything,” I replied. “You’ll only know what I want you to know. If you want the truth, you’ll hear it. If not, that’s fine too.”
Diane looked at Jacob, then back to me. “We trust you,” she said. Jacob echoed her words. Keegan followed, nodding firmly. Even Abner bowed his head in agreement.
“Good,” I said. “Then let’s proceed.”
I picked up a stack of envelopes from the table and handed them out one by one. “These are your identities. Don’t lose your national IDs. If you get into trouble while using your civilian identity, call George first. If you can’t reach him, call me or Amelia.”
They looked through the documents, flipping through pages, studying names and birthdates that didn’t belong to them but would now define them.
When I reached Amelia, I held out a separate envelope. “For you,” I said. “A recommendation letter from a retired hero. One of George’s old friends. This should make it easier for you to rejoin New Vanguard.”
She took it and gave a small nod.
“Thanks,” Amelia said as she skimmed the letter’s contents. Her eyes moved quickly, brow lifting in recognition at the retired hero’s name. After a moment, she looked up. “Do you… have plans tonight?”
I blinked. “Why? We just hung out a couple days ago.”
She hesitated, gripping the envelope. “I wanted to tell you something.”
Before I could ask, my phone buzzed. Guesswork’s ID flashed across the screen.
“Hold on,” I told her, stepping aside. I answered. “Long time no hear.”
“Likewise,” Guesswork replied, sounding winded. “Just came back from a mission. You know how it is.”
We talked briefly of surface-level things and nothing important, but I could tell by the way he kept pausing that something else was coming.
“So?” I asked. “What’s the real reason you called?”
He exhaled sharply. “Members of the SRC upper brass are dying one after another. Quietly. No cause of death. No traces. We don’t know who’s doing it or how. So, yeah, keep your head down.”
My grip on the phone tightened. “Any ideas?”
“Probably not something we should talk about on the phone—”
Gunshots erupted through the line. Metal clanged. Someone screamed in the background. Guesswork cussed so loudly I had to pull the phone away.
“We’ll talk soon—meet—” The call cut off.
I stared at the screen for a second before sliding the phone into my pocket.
Amelia was waiting, concern in her eyes. “What was that? What did he say?”
“Nothing helpful,” I said. “Anyway, what were you about to say earlier?”
She shook her head. “Never mind. It’s fine.”
It wasn’t fine, but pushing her wouldn’t get me anywhere.
“I have somewhere else to go,” I told the group. Abner looked up from his folder.
“At lunch?” he asked. “Where are you going?”
“I already ate,” I replied. “I’ll be back soon. I’m just going around the city again, memorizing the layout, gang territories, and New Vanguard’s patrol routes.”
Truthfully, it had been years. I remembered most of Markend, but not all of it. I wasn’t a machine. I didn’t have perfect recall, and memory faded whether I liked it or not. I grabbed my helmet and jacket from the rack, heading outside. My bike waited by the curb. It was matte black, discreet, and the closest thing to neutral transportation we had. I had George to thank for the bike. It wasn’t as good as the super bike I used to have, but it was quite powerful for a civilian’s bike.
“Wait!”
I paused and turned. Amelia hurried out of the doorway, tugging on her jacket and carrying a second helmet under her arm.
“I’m coming too,” she said.
“I’m just doing reconnaissance,” I replied. “I’m not expecting any action. Also, you have your own assignment.”
“Still better careful than not.” She handed me something. It was thin, rectangular shapes wrapped in linen. “You forgot these.”
My tarot cards. My projectile weapons. I slipped them into my inner pocket without a word.
Amelia climbed on behind me, the seat dipping under her weight. “Go fast,” she said, tightening her arms around my waist.
I revved the engine. “We can’t risk cops.”
A beat.
“But I’ll do it anyway. Only because you asked.”
She laughed softly, pressed closer, and the bike shot forward, roaring down the straight road as the city blurred into streaks of grey and neon ahead.