Not long after their talk, Alice and John had both fallen asleep as they cuddled. 

The next morning, John’s eyes sprung open with the first notes of Alice’s alarm, but before he got out of the bed and rushed down the stairs again, he decided to say goodbye, “I'll see you as soon as I can, and I promise to call,“ he whispered to Alice as she slowly woke up from the alarm and his arms leaving her back. She then trapped him in a kiss, which lasted almost a minute. Eventually, she let go and John ran off, equipping his clothes as soon as he was out her door. 

“You better!“ she shouted after him as he left the room and sprinted down the stairs. 

Luckily, Hanna wasn't waiting for him in the kitchen, and John wasn’t inclined to question where she was instead. He was far more busy hurrying to leave as fast as he could, since according to his phone it was already eight. That meant he’d probably be late to whatever lesson they had this morning.

---

He got back to the Council’s HQ about half an hour later, and decided to head to the dormitories since he wasn’t sure where their lesson was, hoping the other’s were still there. Instead, he found someone waiting for him when he got to his room. 

“It's good to see you again,“ the purple haired spy said as she appeared from one of the hallway's shadows. Her tone was unusually warm.

“I'm glad to see you too Ember… Even with what happened last time. Still, any particular reason you're here?“ John asked in response, his tone more unsure than hers. 

“Yes, Lady Ingrid asked me to gather you and your team for a briefing in your classroom. I can take you there now if you want,“ she said almost curtly. 

“Lead the way then.“

They walked through the Victorian corridors in complete silence for a few minutes before either of them spoke up.

“I'm sorry about how I asked that of you last time, I should have told you why, but I still can't…“ her voice was far softer than normal, “either way, you were in your right to say no because of that,“ she sounded like she had accepted the unfortunate circumstance, but her face still showed no emotion. It bothered John, he didn’t want to hurt her either, but he was glad she understood. 

“Thank you,“ was all he could think to say with all the different thoughts running in his mind. 

“You all did well on your mission yesterday, John. I'm surprised you managed to take out the alpha by going into its Mindscape,“ her tone was colder again. 

“How did you know that I took it out?“

“I'm acting as your teacher, it's part of my responsibility to know,” Ember said, telling him he should have expected. Then in a more friendly tone, she explained, “but I heard from your team.“

“Well, thank you, but it wasn't really that simple…“ John trailed off, shaking his head. He wasn’t sure what more he could say. It was nice to be congratulated, but he was still angry at himself for the Alpha not surviving the encounter. 

“I heard about the Shadow comment too, I can't tell you much about that. But when I reported to Lady Ingrid she did look surprised,“ the spy shared the information without any clear intent.

’Strange… I wonder if Ingrid knows something. Another question on my list to ask her…’ John drifted into thought and the conversation died down again. A while later, Ember poked his shoulder when they had arrived outside the classroom. Talking could be heard from inside, John wasn’t sure what she was saying, but it was definitely Ingrid speaking. 

Ember then opened the door and entered, and Ingrid’s voice stopped for a moment. The spy walked through the door first, followed slowly by John, who was met by greetings from the others.

“Hey boss! Finally found the time to get here?” Bass laughed as she spoke. 

“Seems that is exactly the case, have a seat John,” Ingrid said, her tone professional but curt. 

’I should probably do that,’ John thought to himself, and sat down next to Bass in the front row. 

“Ingrid was briefing us on our next mission,” the sound mage told John, and Ingrid continued speaking.

“Yes Bass, this will be your next mission. Think of this as the preparation for your final test. You will be sent on an expedition to XR2 under John’s leadership and with Ember acting as your supervisor. To summarise what I’ve already said,” she looked at John, “you will have the goal of investigating the surroundings of the Gateway and finding a suitable location and local resources to establish a Forward Operating Base within three days,” her gaze then moved back to the center of the room, looking at the five trainees from above, “you will be given the next three days to prepare as you wish,

“In that time you may approach the professors to attend classes at the times suiting your original schedule. Only one person can study with a teacher at one time, however. In addition, you will be responsible for acquiring your own supplies either by your own means or by obtaining them in exchange for work in our warehouse. The training rooms and libraries of the HQ will be open to you at all times, as well. Beyond that the Council will not grant you any assistance, and the only official Council presence there will be Ember. You will be graded on your performance both individually and as a team according to her reports. That will decide both the subjects and difficulty of your final test. Any questions?”

“Why are you sending us on this expedition?” John inquired, unsure of the purpose behind Ingrid’s actions. He knew he probably couldn’t change her decision, but it bothered him.

’I’m getting tired of them sending us on missions that could very possibly kill us again and again. Maybe that’s just how it goes in the Abyss, lives are disposable. But it still pisses me off, and this is far more dangerous than anything we’ve done before. At least Ember is with us there this time…’ he thought to himself, worried about what might happen, given what he had already seen. 

“This expedition is designed to simulate a regular operation you might embark on when you become an Explorer. You will be required to source most of your own supplies and crew, and manage their training and skill development through the channels the Council provides. This is a direct example of a situation you will very likely encounter, John,” Ingrid explained, her tone somewhat cold. 

’I suppose that’s an answer, just not sure it’s a good one yet. Hopefully things won’t go sideways,’ John stayed quiet, and the rest did the same.

“If that’s all, I’ll leave you to plan what you do from now on as a team. If you have any further questions I’m sure Ember can answer them,” she continued, leaving the room with steady steps.

“Where do we even start?” Yan asked immediately once Ingrid left.

“Make a list of what we need, prioritize what’s essential, and divide us in such a way that we do as much of it as possible,” John stated, confidently. For once his skillset was entirely of use. 

’Time management in games has prepared me for this my whole life,’ he chuckled in his mind. It was in fact odd how similar this was to something out of a game.

“That means we require information about what we might face on the expedition. And we certainly don’t have any,” Matthew said, clearly annoyed.

“Nope, I know for a fact boss was already there. Orianna told me. So he can tell us what we need to know,” Bass looked at John and smiled.

“She’s right, I was there, but that doesn’t mean I know that much more than you guys…” John was unsure how much of what he saw would prove useful to them. 

’I need to try to remember as much as I can about XR2, any detail could be incredibly useful,’ John thought to himself, a bit annoyed it wasn’t coming to him straight away. He pinched his hand, and despite all that had happened since the life threatening experience he had suffered there came back to him. 

“I knew it, you don’t have any information after all,” Matthew spat towards the others. Charlotte was sitting uncomfortably, still silent, Bass looked back at the ice mage indignantly, and Yan was staring at John, waiting for a response. 

“Don’t rush to conclusions Matthew,” John stood up a moment later, “I do know a few things. First of all, the atmosphere of XR2 is not entirely suited to humans, it causes a sort of Nitrogen Narcosis, and the air pressure is too high for us to breathe normally. I was able to survive that for some time due to my powers, but I’m not sure how it would affect you all. So we need to find some way to solve that before the start of the expedition. Also, the world is a giant desert and we should assume we'll need to find shelter or resources there, so any supplies we need we have to bring from here. Third, I saw various creatures there, some kind of rock based predators and living sand pits. We should be extremely careful with the ground we walk on and with any hostile fauna and flora we encounter there,” John stopped for a second and looked directly at Matthew, “I think all of that will be useful enough, but unfortunately that's all I can think of from what I saw.“

“Some of what you said is probably helpful… John,“ Matthew looked back at him and said, his tone showing how begrudging it was. 

“How do we handle all that? That's a better question for you, John,“ Yan questioned next. 

John sat back down again, and started again, looking at the rest one by one, “I'm not sure yet… We need more information about the resources we can get through the warehouse, the schedules of the possible classes, and what training you guys feel like you need. I think we should focus on the first two, easier to handle.“

“Let's split up then, that way some of us can talk to our teacher's to get the schedules and some of us can go to the warehouse to look there,“ Bass suggested, “what do you think, boss?“

“Sure, let's do it,“ John responded. 

’It's good that I have Bass on my side, I still have no idea how I would manage without her.’

---

“Of course those two sent us to do the dirty work!“ Matthew grumbled as he, Yan and Charlotte walked through the now bustling hallways in the deeper bowels of the HQ.

“It's just seeing what's at the warehouse,“ Yan retorted and shook her head at him. 

“And do you know how filthy that place is?” he asked back, sounding repulsed by the thought of it alone. Neither Yan nor Charlotte responded, but they didn’t stop walking either. Soon enough, they reached their destination. 

The directions to the warehouse itself were marked by arrows on the various corridors surrounding it. Its door was made of green metal and “Warehouse” was written above it in black paint on the concrete wall. Even from almost a corridor away Yan clearly heard crates and other heavy objects being moved. Once she saw it she walked over to the door and tried to open it, but there was no obvious way to do so. Instead, she tried knocking, and footsteps heading for the door followed. It then slid open with the sound of metal scratching against concrete. Beyond it appeared the quartermaster, a figure Yan had only met once before.

“Oh, you trainees are finally here? Lady Ingrid told me to look forward to your presence,“ the older man, who was dressed in a red military uniform that looked like a combination of modern camo and Victorian style naval outfits looked them all over, “Miss Eden and Mr York, nice to see you both again. I assume you're here to check on our stock?“ he winked kindly at both of them. 

“Yes, we are, thank you lieutenant,“ Matthew said. 

’Odd, never thought I'd see him show respect to anyone…’ Yan thought to herself. Despite the fairly long time she had known him that was a clear surprise. 

“Well, come on in then, I'll tell you what you can find here and what you need to do to get it,“ he walked back through the door at a steady pace, a smile still stretched across his face.

“I'm surprised you remember my name, Lieutenant Brown,“ Yan showed her curiosity as she was reminded of her last encounter with him. He still looked like the same kind old man he was when she came here to officially join the Council. At the time he had given her their badge and uniform, though she almost never used either. 

While they were walking, she looked around her and noticed the door leading into a large open space, with hundreds of crates and shipping containers placed around the room. It almost looked like it was bigger inside than outside. A portal was activated on the other side of it, and a stream of containers and personnel walked back and forth through it. Most of the containers were floated in, but some of them were placed on vehicles. On their right, next to the entrance was a large counter and guard post. 

“I try to remember the names of everyone who comes here, it's my job to know that sort of thing, at least. And I have heard quite a few things about you all since,“ the quartermaster laughed heartily. 

Yan didn't have any response for him, and a moment later he had gone behind a wall and appeared back behind the counter. 

“So, what do you guys need?“