I Wasn’t Gone For a Minute

"Fairy, Alysha," John called out, "meet me at the training room." Both vanished without a word, though a high-pitched giggle of joy could be heard escaping Fairy as she departed. Power hungry as ever... well, she's earned her keep.

"You realize you're not going to convince the Order, right?" John didn't bother to look back at Juniluny; calmly, he walked back out of her room. The hobbit followed, her fat chest carried in her arms, as she continued, "You've kicked the hornet's nest and only one of three queens’s in it! You're better running off than carrying out this fool plan-"

"I need to try, at least... for their sake," John added.

"What, Collide? Your mother?"

Tita waddled over, carrying her massive belly in her arms as she tried to hustle towards her husband. "My love," she called, "oh, we were all so, so worried!"

The Almiraj in the corner, busy in the midst of pestering their youngest upon the latter's return, seemed less so. Vok, who meditated in a knot of his own snake-like body, didn't so much as lift open an eyelid to acknowledge his master's return. His new hires, meanwhile, were still busy taking in the Temple: his two unnamed minions--the globe of light whose name was a choir of Latin and the girl-creature of black fur--both hovered near the edge of one of the bathing pools, with the former encouraging the latter to bathe. Uulosootas, the model-bodied blonde of a succubus, lazily swam through the air as she hungrily eyed John. The mimic drone was nowhere to be seen, or else hid in plain sight; Ju was simply nowhere to be seen. Overall, the Temple's denizens were in their usual state: with the few exceptions, none approached their master.

"I can tell," John replied dryly.

If Tita registered his sarcasm, she hid it as she did most negative emotions. "Moreover, the plant... pet... has started to move and vibrate! I think it knows its owner has returned, unfortunately..."

"So... you're 'Fairy'?" The succubus floated into Fairy's path towards the training grounds. Her allure was almost commercial: thick thighs that still managed a thin gap where her bare, hairless slit remained youthfully tight, D-cup tits that defied gravity as much as could still pass for natural, thick, pink lips that curled into a menacing smile, and blonde, curly hair that bounced with her every movement. If not for the leather bat wings that framed her torso, each a full eight feet long when she didn't fold them in, her black, twisted horns topped with a bundle of black roses might've passed for a cute accessory. She looked past her diminutive prey to John, as if to question his choice. "Well... enjoy your time near the top while you can."

"Oh, I'm really impressed, has-been," Fairy scoffed, "but your cunt stinks like **** and it's mounted on your face, so why don't you wash-"

"Fairy is your superior," John flatly declared, "so treat her as such."

Fairy turned with a grimace. "I just told her that."

"That..." John paused as he tried to figure how that worked.

The succubus pouted angrily as she shot towards the ceiling, her hands caressing her body for as long as John looked at her. "Well, if you need a real demon at the top... I'm always here, Master."

"We don't have time for this. Fairy, Alysha: I'm training you two up as far as you can go, putting on my gear, and then I'm taking the strongest three of you back down to join the others. Got it?"

The prospect of power quieted the twisted fae.

A moment later, she stood in the middle of the dirt ring, her wings no longer fluttering as she calmly waited. John's interface for the training pit came anew, showing her ridiculous pool of 1,270,692 training points, nearly identical to the ones brought by the equally tireless Alysha and Greenpaw. John looked at his master experience pool: a meager 328,392. He put his finger on the color-coded slider of Fairy's interface... and dragged it as far as it would go.

She'd be level 28... his strongest summon yet, but at the cost of nearly all of the "free" master experience he was willing to let her have. He looked once more to Alysha and, at the far corner of the plaza beyond the training pit entrance, to Greenpaw. Was this his best choice? He shook the doubt away and looked again to Fairy. She met his gaze with a hopeful glint in her small, greedy eyes... but then, that was what she always had been, even when she worked so hard to organize his rescue. The two shared a smile; despite being master and ****, they both knew the score. Confidently, John slammed on the OK button.

Fairy is now level 17!
Fairy is now level 18! ... 24!
Fairy is now level 25!
Fairy is now level 26
Fairy is now level 27!
Fairy is now level 28!

Achievement unlocked! "The Hand That Feeds"!
Level up a single minion more than 20 times! Now that's dedication!
+10,000XP
+1 level to Grand Summon

Grand Summon is now level 3!

John began to swat down the various pop-ups as he tried to keep an eye on Fairy... but her body had become a silhouette of prismatic light... and then a pillar of fire that shot up from the dirt to slam into the black stones of the ceiling.

Fairy is evolving! Fairy was a Greater Fae Daemonica...

John's eyes followed the silhouette in the dark red flames, watched as the gear he had so carefully crafted was burned off the tender body within... and continued to marvel as the body grew. The flames began to shrink and coalesce; new lines of something like clothes began to wrap upon the body trapped in the fire. Fairy writhed as her wings seemed to burn upwards and away, and the fire turned black... leaving a pale silhouette that emitted light upon its master and the wide-eyed dark elf by his side. New wings, glowing bright yellow, suddenly blossomed in the black... and the entire pillar joined its natural fire color before glowing chains erupted in a tornado of hellish steel. John flinched as they drew near; the fight with Reginald was still fresh in his mind, and he glowered at the creature that began to take shape in the radiant heat... and the creature smiled back as she laughed gaily.

... and Fairy is now a Dark Fire Hellion!

John didn't read the pop-up immediately; he kept his eyes focused as the chains suddenly shrunk into the flames and seemed to wrangle it like a living thing. The chains multiplied as they fucked the fire into submission until, with a sudden quieting of the awful light it produced, all that remained was a pillar of red-glowing links. John waited... and for ten beats, nothing happened.

The chains slowly fell away... and then suddenly rained down into the earth, bursting into sparks before fading entirely, until all that remained was a petite, human-like woman. Fishnets of steel wrapped around her thighs and flesh where strips of shimmering leather failed to hide the gray flesh of the demon fairy reborn. Gone was the animalistic fur and the pixie cut, perhaps coalesced into the huge head of straight red hair that streamed from her head down to her thighs all around her. Gone were the horns, replaced by metallic patches that tattooed her cheeks, cheekbones and forehead, each shimmering by the orange light emanating from her eyes. Her wings flapped open: a mixture of leathery bat wings and feathers, each a deep crimson to match her dress and markings. Glowing chains wrapped her thighs like garters, her waist like a belt, and snaked down the lengths of her arms as she held the loose, burning ends of each in an easy grip. She moaned with an ecstasy that she had seldom let John hear: this was true pleasure for her, a high that was difficult to replicate, but owed entirely to her master. She very nearly seemed grateful... but mostly, she looked unnaturally randy.

"I... could fuck you until your dick burned off right now, Master," offered the sultry beast that nearly came up to John's height. He looked to her information, suddenly wondering if Fairy was still here.

Fairy
Level 28 Dark Fire Hellion
HP: 2,440/2,440
MP: 1,956/1,956
XP: 0/42,050 (TP: 976,642)
Stats: Str 32, Agi 42, End 24, Int 39, Wis 31, Cha 58, Lib 31
Skills: Arouse lvl12, Blink lvl13, Charm Person lvl22, Command Chain lvl23, Darkfire Calamity lvl2, Detect Life, Enchant Weapon (Hellfire) lvl14, Enfeebling Kiss lvl9, Faerie Fire lvl18, Greater Disguise Self, Hellfireball lvl16, Instant Dungeon lvl27, Invisibility lvl20, Mana Blast lvl18, Mana Bolt lvl27, Meditation lvl8, Mirror Image lvl16, Move lvl24, Sandman's Slumber lvl13, Shape the Flesh lvl5, Summon Chain lvl10, Theft lvl22
Qualities: alluring, darkfire, flight, fey, noble, pain-eater, tainted

"I... bet you'd try," John muttered, "but for now: swap places with Alysha... and get me a sample of your 'secretions' before I let you loose anywhere."

Fairy let her new hips sway with almost comical effort as she tried her new body, and her wings folded just in time to not slap Alysha in the face as she passed. The dark elf stared at the empowered monster with some naked curiosity... and a worried glance at John. "The plant monster... and the fairy... both changed dramatically. I will retain my form, correct?"

John paused as he filled Alysha's meter with all of his remaining master experience. "I... I'm not sure. But this is the only way you can get stronger." He hesitated...

... but Alysha, with her earlier defeat still fresh in her mind, did not. She nodded curtly and looked straight forward, beyond John and the Temple... "Do it," she finally declared. “Even if it is through you... I will make such power mine."

Without reason to hesitate, John pushed what remained of his master XP into Alysha. Her body shimmered as Fairy's had, and for a moment John thought he saw... something... changing in her silhouette.

Alysha is now level 11!
Alysha is now level 12!
Alysha is now level 13!
Alysha is now level 14
Alysha is now level 15!
Alysha is now level 16!
Alysha is now level 17!

Her pop-ups slowed... but did not stop before a screen of white suddenly shot out from the well of energy Alysha had become. The ejaculate stuck onto the wall to John's left in stringy waves... and its similarity to a thick and sudden spider's web quickly became apparent.

Alysha is evolving! Alysha was a Dark Elf Warrior...

"Guh... what is... happening to me-?!" Alysha's voice cried out as her silhouette of light twisted and spasmed... and seemed to grow in unnatural ways.

John shook his head as he tried to find some way to stop whatever was happening. Fairy simply whistled, impressed. "Well... looks like you brought out her real heritage, Master."

He glanced back up as more errant blasts of webbing coated the walls and pulled on all the surrounding stones in futility. The webs eventually snapped away from the surfaces they found, leaving small trails behind before coming back to wrap a layer around the odd mess of light that Alysha had become. John continued to scroll through his interface until he suddenly recalled Fairy’s description of Alysha’s people. "So the thing about spiders, I mean... were you serious?!"

"Well," Fairy declared with a shrug and a flick of her massive hair, "I told you her people came from a mix of humans and-"

John had no reason to raise a guard in his own temple... and so he had not been prepared to resist the pull of a hundred threads hastily attached in a single spurt. His body flew towards the growing knot in the center of the ring. The webs opened as the creature in the center of the cocoon emerged with Alysha’s face... and black chitin wrapped against her body.

John’s body slammed against hers... and her gaze, now red-eyed and lost in some kind of trance, finally focused on John as the webs closed around them anew. Claws like steel tapped on his body as she hugged him... and ever more web spurted onto his back from her arms.

The air became thin in their intimate pocket of web. Alysha’s arms continued to grip John, each of her wrists spewing knots of strands on his back until their were both engulfed. The sticky, suffocating material rang alarms in John’s head, but he willed away his panic; he could blink away at any time, after all. More concerning was the condition of his first wife, the woman who had seemed worried at being changed... and, mixing with that, John’s childhood disgust with spiders.

The light was snuffed out as the strands thickened to blot it out. Minor phobia and concern mixed until it left John simply tense in Alysha’s grip. Only Alysha’s red eyes provided light, and only enough to light the edges of her dark cheeks and the chitinous helm that grew instead of hair upon her head. John’s face was less than an inch from hers. Her voice came low, a whisper that sounded nothing like his proud elven wife.

“Please... not like this...”

... and Alysha is now a Primal Dark Elf!

The transformation was evidently complete. He looked to the tiny information that opened near her forehead.

Alysha Newman
Level 17 Primal Dark Elf
HP: 1,105/1,105 (1,275/1,275)
MP: 192/192 (392/392)
XP: 1,992/ 11,850 (TP: 1,229,914)
Str 26 (39), Agi 36 (72), End 22 (33), Int 18, Wis 15, Cha 17 (25) Lib 31
Skills: Dark Elf Spiral Sword Dancing lvl14, Invisibility lvl8, Instant Dungeon lvl10, Shadow lvl12, Whistle Teleport lvl1
Qualities: Blooded, Fey, Primal Forms II
Status Effect: Primal Form (Noble)

Primal Forms II: special dark elf racial. Almost never born naturally, a primal dark elf retains much more of their heritage from their transforming spider forefathers, able to change between forms that vary based on how much of their ancestral blood they can access. This primal dark elf possesses three forms: ****, warrior, and noble.

John tried moving his hands in the web; his body strained even at his level of strength, but the webs eventually snapped to let him move his hands around his second minion. He felt more of the black chitin on her lower back... and twitching there, thicker than a human arm, were the thighs of yet more chitinous limbs-

“No-!”

Alysha jerked in his arms, the limbs on her back suddenly spasmed, and her arms swung out, each razor-tipped finger sundering the coffin of white until, as one, the cocoon fell away in five pieces.

John blinked back to his original position... and marveled at the mess of gray that bathed every surface of the training pit. As if a surplus of Halloween decorations had exploded therein, he couldn’t imagine anyone but the cleric spirits cleaning up the absurd mess... and at the center of this nova of web, coated in a layer of it herself, was a version of Alysha: she still had her humanoid body, for as much as that meant for her new shape. Gone was her battered armor and effects, replaced with black chitin that covered her waist, the tops of her breasts, and the full lengths of her arms. Her humanoid legs were sheathed in thigh-boot-like renditions of the same, leaving her crotch exposed just beneath the lip of plates over her belly. The additional legs John had felt earlier protruded from her lower back and presently spread to frame her; where her armor gave her legs a chitinous, segmented appearance, each additional limb was entirely arachnid, ending in vicious barbs with fine, gripping hairs that glistened in the fire light. Her head no longer had any hint of hair upon it, replaced instead with a spiked and vicious helm of black.

She was... elegant, in a terrifying, monstrous way. She knew it as well... and by her will, transformed before John's eyes: plates sunk into flesh, the helm burst into white hair now caked with webbing, and her red eyes returned to their old, pure black forms; for a moment it seemed she had returned to normal.

Alysha has changed into her warrior form!

Shaking, Alysha held her elven hands before her... and then her other pair of elven hands, and then the third. She recoiled, first mentally then physically, as her clumsy six arms tried to bash each other away as she cried out... until, at last, they melded together into two.

Alysha has changed into her **** form!

John marveled at her transformations as she continued to stand, naked and terrified, in the middle of her own catastrophe. She hugged herself... and shook her head as she tried to control her emotions again, tried to return to everything that was proper for her people. She was keel-vorsh'ek; she was a noble daughter of a noble home. Her disgrace could yet be healed... she was not yet... permanently...

Her new power had taken John’s attention... until Alysha, who mocked emotional outbursts as a matter of course, who felt such shame at showing them... began to break down before him. The Gamer quickly approached, leaping over the path of webbing and webbed-up remains of Alysha's old armor, and nearly tackled the dark elf as he drew her to himself. Her body was stiff, and she hated him for this pity or affection, for this curse, for everything... but she buried her shameful expression into his chest all the same. The two took the rest of the time John would allow himself: a smattering of minutes.

"Here you go," came the nonchalant declaration of Fairy as she walked into John's field of view. He eyed her, somehow stumped at her crass timing... and then at the sparkling mess she still managed to shlick onto her fingers as Alysha broke down.

Tainted Dark Fairy Dust: demonic dark fairy vaginal lubricant. Causes **** sexual pleasure and arousal on contact and inspires dark and violent urges to continue obtaining the same. Every gram of fluid consumed immediately inflicts -5 WIS and +15 LIB on the consumer, and such consumer will be subjected to compulsions to obtain sex by any means for up to one hour.

"..."

"... C'mon, you're curious at least, right?"

Alysha resisted John's grip only enough to let him know she wanted to be let go. Ignoring Fairy, John released Alysha and looked down at her face. If she had been crying, he couldn't tell; her eyes remained the same pitch black they always were. Though she bore a deep frown, despair had been replaced with a furious demeanor. "Did you know?"

John shook his head. "I was going to swap you out with Greenpaw just to be safe-"

"Then it's fine," she interrupted, "because this was my choice." John let the words hang there. He knew she couldn't lie; was it technically her choice, branded as she was? Before he could contemplate it, Alysha took another step away from him, onto the webbing that somehow didn't stick to her feet like it did to John's, and began focusing. Behind her, all the cleric spirits of the temple began their thankless work.

Alysha has changed into her warrior form.

John let the pop-up hang before him as he watched: it almost seemed like an illusion how her arms slowly rose and left echoes of themselves behind, but every echo was real and, as she experimented, danced and touched here or there on her body. Her topmost arms twisted so that they could nearly rotate a full 360 degrees; she couldn't accomplish the same with the other four, but she began swaying and toying with some martial forms; anger slowly became curiosity. By the time she drew still, after an almost hypnotic dance of her new limbs, John could almost suspect she was... happy? No, he decided that was unlikely... but she seemed to have returned to her stoic, passive self, at least. Outside, the sound of chains striking stones could be heard as Fairy did her own experimentation.

"Tell me what you're thinking and feeling, Alysha," John commanded.

The dark elf's expression did not change as she spoke, "These limbs are not only compatible with the forms of the spiral--the way my people have always fought--but in fact... almost seem naturally fitted for them. Even the vulnerability of the spiral, the turning backside," she explained as she reached down and, from her armor, extracted two knives with her lowest arms, "is alleviated by the range of motion of the topmost arms. The low-guard and high-guard alternation is made obsolete; with four remaining arms, I can do both." She extended her arms as she bent her knees, displaying the new range of coverage they gave her. While maneuvering, her topmost arms took the knives from the lowest and began similar forms, albeit hinged backwards and providing a threatening front behind her.

"This is the 'warrior' form," John struggled to reply as he watched her mesmerizing dance in the buff, "so that adds up, right?"

Alysha, perhaps for the first time, looked up at John's interface. Translucent as it was, she could read the Gamer interface backwards. "... I see." Still holding the knives, she let her arms merge once more; the knives remained comfortably gripped in her two remaining hands.

Alysha has changed into her **** form.

The knives clattered to the ground. John dismissed the menus as he muttered, "If you don't feel ready for combat, then I'll leave you h-"

"I'm ready," Alysha quickly answered, still shaken by John's interface. "I... I cannot let my defeat go unanswered."

To that, John grinned. "You and me both."

The dark elf looked to her master with a troubled sense of kinship... but shivered as she dismissed the notion.

---

Travolta remained inside the mouth of the vault, and Tricia just outside of it; Rave stood apart from them both in the hall. All could see or hear Kim, and Collide kept their guard up. But Tricia had witnessed--tasted, in a sense--the horrific state of this mangled woman’s being... and the murderous need the same had for Tricia.

The Gorbachev froze as that tormented Slayer became airborne. Terror bubbled inside the blonde, more than she could control, and the Eye of the First Truth fluttered as it tried to eat it all. Strategic thought, to focus on pain or anger to call upon her Eyes of Hate, to blow the limbs from this girl if only to stop her, fled before the nightmare visage of this preternatural murderer. Tricia could only form those Eyes that fear fed, and did so only as she desperately, futilely, fled backwards. Hunter green orbs, topped with irises and pupils like emeralds sunken into flesh, opened to confront the Slayer. Kim's mind filled with commands:

You don't want to hurt Tricia Gorbachev. You want to calm down and think about it.

Kim fell to the ground in a heap as she tried to stay focused on the backpedaling Tricia. Travolta and Rave kept their guards up, though neither knew what to make of the lame-legged beast before them. Tricia's back slammed against the vault door's edge while her dominating eyes continued to push her wish into Kim's thoughts.

You don't want to hurt Tricia Gorbachev. You want to calm down and think about it. You don't want to hurt Tricia Gorbachev. You want to calm down and think about it. You don't want to hurt Tricia Gorbachev. You want to calm down and think about it. You want to hurt Tricia Gorbachev. You don't want to calm down and think about it. You don't want to hurt Tricia Gorbachev. You want to calm down and kill about it. You don't want to hurt Tricia Gorbachev. You want to destroy Tricia Gorbachev, think about it. You don't want to hurt Tricia **** Gorbachev. You want to calm down and kill the Outsider. You want to hurt Tricia Gorbachev. You want Tricia Gorbachev. You want to destroy the Outsider. YOU WILL DESTROY THE OUTSIDER.

The green light of Tricia's will faded from the monster's eyes seconds after it had appeared... and Tricia was no less terrified when Kim surged forward. The Gorbachev put a poorly practiced guard up, Travolta flinched enough that he couldn't catch Kim on her path, and Kim's left arm surged and visibly grew with enough power to pop a human head from its shoulders.

Her flight, however, was cancelled as Rave dove in with a blinding fist of light.

Kim's wide-open eyes took in the whole flare of Rave's soul... and the Slayer's nose imploded as the same smashed into her face.

The Slayer's leap went no further before being launched backwards. Her body slammed against the floor and bounced, spinning, towards the staircase.

“Gonna to be honest, Blondie,” Rave grunted as her fist dimmed, “I thought you had that one.”

Tricia struggled to regain her self-control... but her breath caught again when Kim stood.

“Stay out of my way,” Kim hoarsely demanded. Her nose had reformed, somehow.

“Rave,” Travolta muttered as he joined his partner to protect Tricia, “we can’t keep this up. If we don’t bail soon-”

Kim didn’t wait; the Outsider certainly wouldn’t. The Slayer dashed down the hall on working legs and was nearly upon the bald enemy in the space of a blink. Rave readied another fist, Travolta readied to kick the fast-moving girl out of the air, Tricia found herself paralyzed anew as she tried to overcome the new, unnatural fear of this enemy-

John reappeared. He watched as Travolta’s legs caught a naked, blood-painted Kim in the crotch... and then watched as Kim shattered that same knee with an unnatural swollen arm. Without his new reaction time, he wouldn’t have caught the fist before it travelled towards Rave’s face. The Lightbearer once again shattered Kim’s face with light, but the monstrous counter-attack continued on-target... and punched through the tunnel John opened on the side of Rave’s face.

The fist crunched against Kim’s own sternum through the other end of the tunnel opened there.

With the portal snapping closed, Kim’s arm was dumped safely back into reality as she was sent flying by the combined **** of attacks. John scanned Kim as he tried to figure out the situation.

Kim Moon
Level 20 Slayer
<The Silver Crane of the North>
HP: -129/2,020 (BL: 3,220)
MP: 20/20
Str 120 (180) Agi 101 End 140 Int 20 Wis 8 (1), Cha 13 Lib 33
Status Effects: Slayer’s Trance
Qualities: Reconstructed Soul, Slayer
Kim Moon, once the disciplined Slayer of the Silver Crane clan, was nearly destroyed before being saved by you and subjected to the natural course of things. Healed now by ambient anger, hate, and suffering, Kim can no longer control the Slayer Trance upon entering it and has a twisted attachment to both you and the undisciplined channeling of the Slayer specialty: killing.
R/S: +119

“S-She’s not well,” Tricia finally managed.

A beat passed. "You don't say?!" Rave started.

"I mean her... her spiritual matrix is completely scrambled-"

John didn’t turn as he watched Kim, who by her stat sheet appeared to be dying, stand with a furious twist to her battered features. Tricia's explanation for what John already knew--that Kim had somehow been rebuilt in some terrible way--was less worrisome than Kim's status effect.

Slayer’s Trance: active skill. -90% Wisdom, +50% Strength. Entering the Trance lets the Slayer ignore her wounds and gives the Slayer a Bloodlust pool. Bloodlust is gained equal to the amount of damage dealt or received. Bloodlust is converted into healing HP at a rate of (level x 10) per round. The Slayer can be overhealed in this manner. This rate is tripled when the Slayer has dealt or been dealt damage in the round. The Slayer can also spend up to [level x 10] Bloodlust to gain +[Bloodlust spent / 5] Strength or Agility for a round. The Slayer cannot die as long as she has any Bloodlust remaining and more than -[HP x 5]HP remaining. Bloodlust and overheal are both capped at [HP x 5]. If there are no identifiable threats in the Slayer’s presence for one minute, the Trance ends and all Bloodlust is converted to healing.

Kim's bloodlust heals her for 600HP.

Kim's face reformed as she snarled. Jesus, how the Hell did she-?!

Kim was already leaping through the air when John finally reacted.

Sovereignty: you suppressed Kim's Slayer's Trance!

A tunnel completed her charge inside the vault... going up. The **** was enough to softly tap her outstretched arms on the ceiling, and John closed the portals before she fell back through. Kim, now deprived of the trance, was no less furious. "John Newman," Kim growled, "the blonde one... is an enemy of all of mankind-!" Deprived of the trance or not, Kim's calling remained... and she was closer now to the Gorbachev than she had been a moment ago. She lunged once more-

Your serpent's lunge deals 630 subdual damage to Kim Moon!
Kim Moon is ****! Kim Moon is capturable!

Like Hell she is.

John barely managed to catch the limp, naked body of the Slayer... and instantly regretted doing so as she caked him with the half-dried blood that covered her.

The members of Collide nearly lowered their guard... right until John opened a tunnel to yet another room, somewhere in this fortress... and a scene of some bunches of tied-up, **** Order personnel therein. Watching over them were three new strangers to them all: an oddly calm-looking woman fitting herself with a Knight's armor, a hairless ogre finishing a knot on some rope binding four Order goons together, and a Spaniard in the midst of adjusting the clothes she had just stolen from the **** Captain at her feet.

"I look away for one less than a minute... and-“ The Gamer sighed his frustration and, with a hand, ushered all three towards his side of the portal.

Tricia looked between them as she tried to find some moment to raise her concerns... but it seemed so petty, now. Survival and strategy... what was her confused emotion before such obvious concerns? She remained silent... and the Eye drank her self-doubt.

Rave caught Tricia's pose. She said nothing more; it had to come from the blonde herself. "So, let's go, Gamer. How far can those portals of yours take us? They already know who we are, so we're fucked if we stay in Springfield. The Fateweavers can't help us either, but Blondie tells me those portals of yours are better than most-"

"We're not leaving," John declared.

The room fell quiet...

"You're turning us in," Travolta concluded as his expression darkened.

"Wha- No, of course not!" John sputtered. "If we- look. If we leave now, they're just going to chase us... and if the hype is real, there aren't that many places we can go to outrun them. So we need to make it clear that we’re not to be touched or bothered... and so far, the only way I'm seeing us getting that... is by ****.”

Travolta was the first to slowly ask, “You... really don’t know who you’re fucking with, do you?”

"That theory... has no precedent whatsoever," Tricia concluded.

Kim, who now slept next to Lily, said nothing.

"Idiota," offered Rosa.

“I like it." All but John snapped their gazes onto Rave, who shot back with a shrug. "I mean, it could be done, right? We win the war here... and we sign a peace treaty to stop it.”

“The Order would never recognize such a contract with a warlock,” Tricia interjected, “and they would be strained to recognize it with an organization like Collide-”

“Then we make it with Collide,” Rave offered. Travolta's eyes widened at the bold suggestion by his subordinate... followed swiftly by an inspired twinkle.

“That doesn’t do anything for Tricia or me,” John began.

“Then join up.” The bald punker slammed her fist and hand together with a grin. “I already recruited Blondie like a month ago... or a few hours ago?" John looked between the ladies, dumbfounded. "Yeah, we bonded; she's going to need a new home after all is said and done... and so are you and your mom, I bet. So join up! They can’t treat all of us like pariahs just because you’re on the team, right?”

"There is substantial evidence that such is precisely what... they'd..." Tricia's words trailed off as John met her gaze.

He had an infinite confidence there... a dangerous thing, an illogical thing given the last day he must have suffered. Tricia felt like she might be consumed by him... which was why she had to confront him, to talk to him, to finally figure out-

"Fine," John declared, "I'll join Collide if it means this peace treaty idea works. Else... well, we'll figure it out from there."

NEW QUEST!
-PEACE AND ORDER-
Objective: The Order no longer considers you an enemy. 0/1
Bonus Objective: The Order rescinds their declaration of Warlock on you. 0/1
Rewards: +100,000XP, +300 soul gems, +1 major magical item, +5 stat points, +1 paragon point
Bonus Rewards: +50,000XP, +10 CHA, +1 paragon point

ACCEPT? Y/N

John's smile finally returned in full as he accepted the quest. Someone could be heard racing down the stairs, however, and the barrier was destroyed; if he had to guess based on Fairy and Alysha's joint debriefing, more Order reinforcements would be en route. "Alright..."