Jason gestured with his hand and Gordon vanished again. Hiro, Taika, Victor and Vermillion all stared at the space it had just occupied.
“I speak from experience when I tell you that standing up to vastly more powerful forces comes with a price. If you’re willing to pay that price, then I won’t stop you. But if you try, expect to fail. You pay the price either way. Vermillion can’t tell you, Victor, but I can. There are forces out there far more powerful than you know, and sooner or later, the world is going to find that out.”
“Victor,” Vermillion said, “You have three options here. Option one is fight and die. Option two is to take the money and run. Grab everything you can and get to high ground before the wave hits. Option three is throw your lot in with the EOA. If you want to go deeper into the world you’ve only caught glimpses of, they’re the only ones who can offer that.”
Victor frowned and Vermillion turned to Jason.
“I think you’ve done as much as you can,” Vermillion told Jason and Hiro. “Leave me with Victor, for now. Mr Asano, I’ll contact you to sort out the specifics of your own arrangements with the EOA.”
“How long will it take you to put your affairs in order?” Jason asked Hiro.
They were driving back to Hiro’s apartment building, once again in the care of Shade’s car form. Taika and Hiro had shown some hesitancy when the car appeared from a swirling mass of darkness, but they had, after all, ridden in it before. Jason was in the driver seat, with Hiro and Taika in the spacious and comfortable rear.
“I keep my business affairs legitimate and well-administered,” Hiro said. “If they are really going to come in and take over, the process involved is quite legal and organised.”
“You’ll be fairly compensated for everything,” Jason said, “or they’ll find my next negotiating position to be significantly more aggressive.”
Hiro and Taika shared a glance at the sinister expression on Jason’s face.
“My real concern is my people,” Hiro said.
“I made it clear that they were to be treated well,” Jason said. “Whether they want to stay under the new management or move on, they’ll be taken care of.”
“It won’t be just a matter of signing some papers and walking away,” Hiro said. “I need to speak to my people, explain the transition to them in person. Even if I get out of Sydney, I’ll need to make repeated trips back to go through it all.”
“That’s fine,” Jason said. “You just need to get the ball rolling well enough that we can leave town for the moment.”
“I can get the administrative affairs ready today and take tomorrow to talk to my people. I can be ready to go the day after.”
“Alright,” Jason said. “I need to deal with the ramifications of today’s excitement. We leave in the morning, the day after tomorrow.”
18
BROWN TROUSERS TIME
Jason was perched on a rooftop, looking at his uncle’s townhouse from across the street. Shade appeared next to him.
“Find anyone else?” Jason asked.
“No,” Shade said. “Just the one iron-ranker inside.”
“So he’s either alone or whoever else they sent is powerful and capable enough to escape our senses.”
Jason had no intention of staying in the townhouse under current circumstances but wanted to retrieve his mana lamps if possible.
“I only spotted one silver-ranker during my investigation of the Network’s personnel,” Shade said. “Her aura control was insufficient to avoid my detection.”
“It’s the ones who can escape your senses we need to worry about,” Jason said.
“I agree,” Shade said. “I would recommend either having me go or sending Taika.”
Although incorporeal, Shade’s bronze-rank vessel could exert enough physical force to manipulate objects. He could also store limited amounts in his own dimensional storage space.
“You go,” Jason said. “I can use you as a conduit to talk to whoever’s in there. It’s possible they sent an iron-ranker in the open to show they want to talk without applying pressure.”
“The influence of Mr Vermillion?” Shade posited.
“Or wariness. They don’t know what I can do.”
“I don’t think finding out will make them any less cautious.”
“No.” Jason chuckled. “Probably not.”
Shade sent one of his bodies into the townhouse, silently collecting the mana lamps. The iron-ranker didn’t sense Shade but noticed the change as the lamps stopped absorbing ambient magic. Standing in the middle of the townhouse, he looked around. Suddenly, there was a shadowy figure that hadn’t been there a moment earlier.
“Did the Network send you?” Jason asked, speaking through Shade. There was no friendliness in the cold flint of his voice.
“Yes,” the man said, looking over Shade. “Am I addressing Mr Asano?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Michael Aram. Annabeth Tilden asked me to speak with you. We didn’t think you were likely to come back here but hoped you might.”
“I came to retrieve something I left behind.”
“I did notice a change in the magic. May I ask what that was?”
“Mana lamps,” Jason said. “Is that a thing you have here?”
“We do,” Aram said. “So, you really did… go over there. The other world.”
“What do you know of other worlds?” Jason asked.
“Wait, worlds plural?”
“Not that much, then. What do you want, Michael Aram?”
“Mrs Tilden asked me to open a dialogue. If you really are an outworlder, you no doubt acquired knowledge and resources along the way that would be of immense value to us. We, in turn, are essential to you.”
“Is that so?”
“We are the only source of monster cores.”
Jason let out a murderous chuckle.
“You think I need monster cores?”
“If you want to get stronger.”
“I don’t need cores to get stronger, just sufficiently powerful enemies to fight. Which means I might have some use for your organisation, even if you don’t like what I do with it.”
“You’ve only been gone a year and a half,” Aram said. “How can you have gotten as strong as you have just from fighting? We have a member who refuses to consume cores, and it’s taken him eight years to reach category two. Since then, he’s been bottlenecked.”
“You really do need what I know, don’t you?” Jason asked, his voice becoming more relaxed. “There are things you can help me with, and I am inclined towards collaboration. My concern is that your organisation will try to hold me upside down and shake all the goodies out. I’m not going to just waltz into that spider’s nest of enchantments on your headquarters, without a care in the… what the…?”
The shadowy figure of Shade’s body dashed away, leaving Aram alone.
“Mr Asano?”