“Alive?” Kari asked, with everyone except for the Doc sharing her surprise. “Shouldn’t we kill that monster before it causes Dungeons to produce more of its kind?”

  Crypto shook her head. “I’ve considered the matter, and I fear we’ll soon reach a breaking point of some kind when it comes to Dungeon proliferation. We need information that only a sentient monster might be capable of providing. I want you to establish peaceful communications if possible, and capture it for interrogation if not.”

  Liv snickered. “We’ve already tried interrogating a sentient monster before, Riley, remember? It cost us lives.”

  Matthew and the Doc looked away without a word. The latter had pushed for that possibility in the Association’s early days and lived to regret it.

  “Tarantulas is nowhere near as dangerous as the Mall’s protector,” Crypto argued. “In fact, based on its behavior, I suspect it’s not even naturally hostile to human life.”

  Liv’s jaw tightened into a dark scowl. “We have three corpses outside this room that beg to differ, Riley.”

  “Tarantulas nearly killed us!” Kari protested. “It’s dangerous!”

  “I won’t deny that,” Crypto replied with a calm tone. “Nonetheless, after observing its behavior, I am now convinced that Tarantulas prefers to hide rather than fight. It has shown no sign of attacking humans unless provoked first.”

  “Hey, it attacked us first!” Matthew complained.

  “Did it?” Crypto raised an eyebrow. “From what you told me, you fired the first shot.”

  “Because it was sneaking up on us!” While he rarely doubted Crypto’s decision, this one rattled Matthew to his core. He had seen where that kind of thinking led. “Sentient monsters should be exterminated!”

  “I must admit that I find this plan fraught with peril, Riley,” the Doc said. “Tarantulas’ ability to ignore Disbelief makes him an existential threat to mankind. The risk that its host Dungeons pick upon this adaptation and popularize it among their monsters outweighs any intel it could provide us with.”

  “Do you want me to spell it out for you all?” Crypto’s gaze hardened. “We’re losing the war.”

  Her words hit Matthew like a slap to the face. Everybody around him winced, even the Doc and the usually unflappable Liv. Crypto had raised a truth all of them had long feared to acknowledge.

  “According to your own findings, the rate of timeshifts keeps quickening and Dungeons exponentially multiply with each one,” Crypto stated plainly, coldly. “While we managed to keep them contained in Evermarsh, the war is worldwide; and many areas lack Crawlers capable of stamping out Dungeons that grow too large. It is only a matter of months until another timeshift causes another increase in them, and another, and another, until all of Earth is overrun.”

  They were all running out of time; figuratively and literally.

  “Hence we need a permanent solution to the Dungeon problem, and it begins with discovering where they come from and why,” Crypto explained. “A sentient monster capable of moving from one Dungeon to another might be the key to unlock that mystery and secure our victory.”

  “Why would it even tell us anything?” Liv countered. “Can’t we simply dissect it?”

  “Previous monster dissections led us nowhere,” Crypto replied. “Moreover, based on various testimonies, it appears that Tarantulas never attacked a human on its own volition. It only struck the Old Town team and Matthew’s group when they saw through its disguise.”

  “Yeah, because my Doom Sense buzzed up in its presence!” Matthew protested. He couldn’t believe his own ears. “It was a threat to us from the start!”

  “The video feed theft would also point towards malevolent intentions,” Kari added.

  “Then why didn’t Tarantulas drag humans into Dungeons, even though it had plenty of opportunities to do so?” Crypto countered. “I’m not convinced that this creature stole those videos to better hunt us. Rather, I suspect that these forays were motivated by curiosity, not hostility.”

  “You can’t confirm that,” Liv snapped back. “You’re playing with fire, Riley.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Each day Tarantulas spends alive and free increases the chance that its resistance to Disbelief spreads,” the Doc retorted. “At which point Dungeons will send monsters out to collect victims and likely grow exponentially.”

  Crypto let out a heavy sigh. “I understand the risks, but we are running out of options. What happened to Matthew’s home was a terrible warning that we should heed. We need to turn the tide of this war around, or it will sweep us all away.”

  Matthew understood the risks more than anyone, but what Crypto asked for was madness. All monsters were remorseless killers and predators, even the smart ones. Parlaying with one wouldn’t earn them anything except a one-way trip to Killville!

  Kari, who looked equally horrified, turned to their last teammate. “Say something, John.”

  John shook his head. “She’s right.”

  Matthew blinked at him. “You’re kidding?”

  “No. Crypto’s right, things can’t stay as they are.” John crossed his arms, his gaze resolute. “We’ve tried to win this thing one way, and it’s not working. We can’t defeat what we cannot understand, so capturing that creature could give us a decisive advantage.”

  “Even so…” Kari bit her lip. “We can’t let Tarantulas get away with murdering three of our own.”

  “Who said we will?” John raised an eyebrow. “We’ll just keep Tarantulas alive long enough to learn everything we can, and then we can dispose of it.”

  Sometimes, Matthew forgot that John was one hell of a ruthless jackass.

  “Tarantulas’ survival will be directly correlated to its usefulness,” Crypto confirmed with a sharp nod. “I understand if you want to sit this one out considering your past experiences and what happened to the Old Town team. Believe me when I say I wouldn’t put this plan forward if I didn’t believe we required it. I would have sent another team if we had any to spare for now.”

  “And if capture proves impossible, Riley?” Liv asked. “What then?”

  “Then… then I’ll understand.” Crypto glanced at each member of Matthew’s crew. “Do not misunderstand me. I want you to prioritize capture, but not if it comes at the expense of your or any civilians’ safety.”

  “I… see…” Kari shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable with the plan but dutiful enough to follow orders. “I suppose we can at least try to capture it.”

  With his teammates both agreeing the plan, Matthew knew that he was now outvoted and would have little choice other than to go along with it. Besides… even if the plan sounded insane to him, what happened at his house only convinced Matthew that the danger Dungeons represented would reach critical mass sooner or later. Reality might not survive another timeshift.

  John had a point. Their current methods only delayed the inevitable. They needed an edge of some kind.

  Crypto’s gaze lingered on him, awaiting his decision. Matthew took a deep breath as he sensed everyone turning to look at him.

  “Crypto,” he finally said after taking a deep breath.

  “Yes?” she replied.

  “If I’m put to the choice, and Tarantulas is about to hurt one of my teammates, or anyone else… then I’ll never hesitate.” Matthew squinted at his superior. “Not even for a second.”

  “I know.” A sharp smile formed at the edge of Crypto’s lips. “That’s why I’m sending you.”

  Of Evermarsh’s many districts, none looked near half as miserable as Chemtown. Not even the Dumps.

  It used to be the industrial center of the city back when this side of Europe still had an industry worth its salt. Years of economic relocation had slowly transformed it into a graveyard of closed factories, rusting junkyards, abandoned warehouses, and isolated islands of chemical plants on their way out like the dinosaurs before them.

  On one hand, this state of affairs made this district the most sparsely populated and thus least likely to host fast-growing Dungeons; on the other hand, the fact many of its locations were closed to the public limited the reach of the Association in the area. This area had always been the one at the bottom of their patrol shifts. They never managed to fit a regular team there.

  Matthew wasn’t too surprised when Mr. Auguste drove his team to the Plane Graveyard; a nickname which the locals gave to the Airbull Aerospace Maintenance Yard. The place was originally opened to provide actual maintenance for planes before the government realized it was cheaper to dispose of them.

  The junkyard housed more than dead aircrafts nowadays; it had become a resting place for automobiles, buses, old factory parts, and even scavengers accidentally buried under old wrecks. Matthew had heard rumors that Charlie’s criminal syndicate used to dump bodies there before his Key let him dispose of them without a trace.

  And from the whiff of Red and Blue Flux hovering in the air, the place had found a new resident.

  “I knew this place would host a Dungeon one day,” Matthew said as he and the others stepped out of Mr. Auguste’s Porsche. “Look at this maze of stacked cars! It’s already a modern-day labyrinth!”

  “I would have bet the same, young man,” Mr. Auguste replied with a wide grin. “I can almost imagine myself wrestling with an iron minotaur or a car centaur!”

  “I thought a Dungeon taking over this area would choose Orange over Blue and Red,” Kari said with a worried frown. “This place looks dangerous even without a Dungeon.”

  That was quite the understatement. The large piles of wrecked cars and debris forming this maze’s walls appeared ready to topple over at any second, and some of the glass covering the ground included drug syringes. The smell of rot, rust, and chemicals would have made most people feel nauseous, though Matthew had grown used to the scent of death from his many Dungeon excursions. The cyclopean carcass of a large aircraft overseeing the maze like a great whale looming over fish was only the cherry on top of the iron cake.

  “The Flux aura is potent,” John noted. “It has already reached its second stage?”

  “I found it like this,” Mr. Auguste replied with a shrug. “Crypto and I are keeping watch of the entrances, so we’re ready to intercept the spider as soon as it comes out, but somebody will have to smoke it out of its hole first.”

  “Don’t worry, Mr. Auguste.” Matthew smiled ear to ear. “Holes are my specialty.”

  Tarantulas would leave this Dungeon in a cage or not at all.

  Hesketh has recently published a really cute cat-focused fantasy novel on Amazon, Liches Get Scritches: A Cat Cultivation. I'm leaving a link here in case anyone is interested in some fluffy feline adventures ;)

  Amazon.com: Liches Get Scritches: A Cat Cultivation (Liches Get Stitches) eBook : Tolson, HJ: Kindle Store

  (access to advance chapters, arts and other bonuses)

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