Cicero wanted the deed badly, and I half expected him to try to take  it, but knowing that we'd beaten the maze that had killed all his other  participants definitely made the smug backstabber think twice before  deciding to pick a fight with us. When he reached for the deed, I didn't  hesitate at all to pull it back away from him. "Nope. We got the item,  which means we completed the task. You said retrieve it and bring it to  you, which I did. You never said anything about surrendering it to your  custody."

A slight technicality, but he knew as well as I  did it wasn't the real reason. I didn't trust him as far as Cass could  throw him, and I wasn't giving him shit until he confirmed that we were  getting our damn gear. He seemed to know it too. He sighed. "I already  signed the contract, as long as you passed the test I'm bound to give  you your prize if you accept the job. I can't deny you accomplished the  test, so you're eligible to hear the details of the plan. Assuming that  you're still interested and aren't just going to give up?"

He  smirked at me, and I was annoyed because I knew either option would be  beneficial to him. Sure having us do the mission would aid him, but even  turning him down would benefit him at this point, since the deed was  his, and even if we denied his help we'd still have to give it up. I  needed to think this over like Callie would, or preferably delay it  until she was awake. I tossed the paper up, catching it before it hit  the table and keeping a sharp eye on Cicero, who was obviously worried  about what would happen if I dropped the thing.

I raised  an eyebrow at the older man. "If you want us to do a job we need  details. I want the full story behind the whole mess. Informed decisions  are made with consideration and knowledge. Tell me about Melissa, about  Abel, about what happened exactly that screwed up your relationships  with them and drove Abel out of this place. He didn't strike me as the  type to take off running at the first sign of trouble. If Abel left I'm  betting it was because of something more serious than a random circus  act you didn't want him to start."

Cicero frowned, looking  genuinely upset, before he finally nodded. "Fine. I wish you weren't  all such busybodies. As I mentioned Melissa, Abel, and I were childhood  friends. Abel was much more talented than either of us, so we didn't  even try to compete. We all went out of our way to try train ourselves  up too. We were considered cream of the crop originally, but with the  training from Abel all three of us quickly managed to get to a point  where we posed a genuine danger. It was part of how we managed to get  this deed to begin with."

He gestured at the deed. "Abel  left because he was concerned that I was going to use the defenses  enabled by the deed to start expanding. I wanted to push our territory  out using the defended perimeter as a fallback point. In retrospect I  might have been slightly overeager. Melissa sided with Abel, but he  didn't want to rob the cavalcade of one of its strongest defenders, so  he had her stay behind. Abel himself left, because he knew that defenses  or not, with him to here hold things up this place was basically  unbreachable."

I didn't know Spruce Bunny well, but the  Abel I met down there I could see being the type not to want others  using his name to scare off enemies. He was very much a 'do it yourself  or not at all' type of person. The fact that he forced us to fight and  then honored the terms despite not being thrilled with the outcome was  evidence. Unless he was thrilled with the outcome. I still wasn't  entirely sure what side of this the guardian had come down on. He'd said  a few things that made sure he wanted us to get it, but hadn't wanted  us to win the fight. Who knew how people like that thought though?

I  groaned. "Ok, but what does this have to do with what's happening now.  You keep talking about this plan, but what the hell are we supposed to  do to get the information from her. Because if she was someone who  trained with Abel, I somehow doubt a straight fight will go our way. We  barely survived that damn guardian, and with years to practice I  sincerely doubt even a sparring partner of his will be within our  capabilities." Abel had been a monster, I didn't even want to see what a  current version would look like in a fight.

He waved a  hand dismissively. "You're overthinking this. I told you the trial was  to determine your suitability for the mission, and I didn't like.  Melissa and her thugs prioritize martial prowess. They want talented  fighters and recruit them for their little faction whenever possible. If  you go in there and show off skills that could best or even equal a  past version of my brother they'll snap you up. You get in good with  them and you should be able to scope out who they're working with and  get the answers both of us want."

I blinked. "That's...not  a plan. That's an extremely optimistic goal that you're going to be  expecting us to accomplish all on our own." My head hurt. I couldn't  tell if we'd been screwed or lucked out. On one hand this is how we  probably would have had to do this anyway if he'd told us, and now we  got paid for it. On the other hand jumping through all these hoops was  bullshit, even if I kind of understood what he was testing for now. I  glanced down at Cicero's throat, but realized punching it should  probably wait until after we got paid.

I stood, lifting  Callie's unconscious body. "My girlfriend is the one who makes the  calls, so I can't answer you now, plus she needs to be involved in the  set design just like I and my other teammates. So I'll call you with the  details once we've made our decision, but for the sake of the contract  consider this a tentative yes and get started at least trying to find an  artisan to work with us on our new gear. If we do accept we'd get  started after we get the new equipment, as we mentioned."

I  could tell he wanted to stop me and get a commitment about the job, but  I could also tell he knew he wasn't capable of keeping me here. I  didn't know what his ability was, but we'd just beaten Abel (not really,  but he had no way of knowing that) so he probably considered us both  absolute beasts. I wasn't in a hurry to disabuse him of that notion if  it kept him out of my way. I'd had about enough of Cicero Castleton for  the day, and I just wanted to get my girl home and let her sleep off the  backlash of a stupid reckless move I should have been more careful  about.

I hadn't even stopped to think about how much  damage pumping her up with all those skills would do. I was pretty sure  she was ok thankfully, her pulse and breathing were stable, and her face  wasn't pale or anything, but I wanted to get her back to Jessie as soon  as possible so our healer could take a look or at least top up her  energy. It was worrying she was still unconscious at this point given  what Vitality could do.

I messaged Cark on my scan ring as  I left, and once I told him we had a lead and searching was pointless  he dispatched the others back to the bar and came to meet us to head  back up. When he ran into us, he took one look at me holding Callie, a  small bit of blood still on her face, and his expression grew serious.  "Ok, what the hell happened to you two. Last time I saw you the two of  you were snuggling and walking off together like you were auditioning  for a teen romance movie."

I realized from his tone and  looking down that I wasn't in much better shape. The labyrinth had been  annoying and long, and I was pretty much in tatters after it. I'd had  plenty of holes in my armor already, ones I'd been patching with stopgap  materials so they weren't obvious, at least until I could upgrade, but  at this point my gear was more hole than outfit. I winced. Guess the  timing on the replacement duds was good, because I was absolutely not  going to be able to wear this set out into the field again. I felt a  pang of sadness at the knowledge that my old familiar costume was now  officially dead.

As we climbed onto  the elevator back, Callie finally began to stir, and I was relieved to  see a complete lack of pain or soreness in her actions as she woke up.  She squinted a bit at the light, but otherwise seemed like she'd just  woken up in the morning, albeit before she had a chance to have her  coffee. I pulled her close, hugging her to me since I couldn't take my  mask off on the elevator, and I felt a slight shaking as she chuckled  warmly. "Hey there, I'm glad to see you too, but give a girl a minute to  put her face on."

I  chuckled slightly, my face still buried in her shoulder. "I'm so sorry.  I was an idiot, I should have asked, should have warned you how much I  was going to do. You could have been killed, just because I made  assumptions. I know we're usually in sync but just assuming you know  what my moves are going to be and can handle them is pure idiocy. Hell,  I've never even use Afterburner on another person." My head was still  pounding from the effort too. My brain felt like someone was hammering a  railroad spike through the stem.

Which  was not helped by the sharp knock Callie gave me. I winced, but she  wasn't even a bit sympathetic, just glaring into my mask. "Excuse me? I  know you weren't just second guessing a solid combat decision that led  to a victory because you weren't sure I'd be tough enough to handle it.  Do I need to kick your ass in a sparring session to remind you which of  us is stronger? Because I've got over sixty points of Might on you." I  winced. She glared a bit longer and then relaxed. "It's fine Solomon.  Really. The labyrinth pushed us both. You made a judgement call, and I  trust your judgement so I'm fine with it."

That  made it even worse honestly. "What if I don't trust my judgement."  Seeing her like that, unconscious and vulnerable, was absolutely  terrifying. There was no possible way I'd ever want to go through that  again, much less when I had caused it. If I had to make the same  decision again I wasn't sure I could go through with it. It had been  reckless and stupid and I didn't know what I was thinking.

I  got another tap on the skull and then a kiss on the mask. "Then I'll  have to kick your ass for bad mouthing my boyfriend. I love that guy you  know?" I grinned, not that she could see it. "But really. If you hadn't  done it we could have both died. It was the right call and I'm proud of  you for taking the initiative. If you'd stopped to ask we might both be  dead. Partners consult each other, but they also trust each other. You  didn't have time to do anything but act and so you did. Thank you." She  leaned up and kissed my mask again, where my cheek would be, and I  smiled. I was a pretty lucky guy.