Blackvein sat down in a nice lounge with a nice view of the frozen land and lake beyond.

  Carpets and warm couches comfortably filled the space, and the party was just a short walk up three stairs to the main room over there. They were still mostly in the main room, but they were behind the main fireplace, down in a comfortable nook with a private bar over there and enough space and quiet to talk about whatever. There was a second fireplace down here, on the other side of the main one, and it threw out a lot of nice heat into the space.

  Quark marked the large bay window as breakable sugar glass, though, which had implications.

  Platinum Princess sat beside Blackvein, while VeryHuman and Miss Masher got their own loveseats.

  Credenza plopped on a large couch, sitting right in the middle, facing everyone, while Frozenfire had been about to sit down, but he stopped. He sighed and sat on a small chair beside the couch. It was a power play by Credenza, and she smiled to see Frozenfire sitting there, all complacent and shit. Quark helpfully named the real names of most everyone around here, informing Mark that Credenza was actually named Jessica Greywall and Frozenfire was Peter Battlesworth.

  Mark wondered what Kardi’s last name was. Surely he knew it but...

  He’d ask Quark later.

  Credenza smiled at Blackvein, saying, “What are your goals here, Mark? Ultimate goals. Not the petty shit that you’re getting into with Tartu and them, but the big deals, with the empires and the Collective.”

  “… Ah,” Mark said, “So we’re cutting right to the big words. Setting the Hero/Villain Program and the Attack the Gate scenario to the side.”

  “I need to know your ultimate direction before I can begin to entertain the HVP.”

  Mark arched an eyebrow as Credenza’s vectors threaded through the space like whispers of intent. “Is that so you can control that ultimate direction?”

  “I don’t want to get involved in politics far beyond my station. My immediate concern is for my own people. I need to know how far I need to evacuate from your personal hurricane,” Credenza added, “But I’d also like to know if we should interact at all, and if I should just get up and walk away.”

  She was careful with her words and her vector, not letting her intent or desire through at all—

  Oh.

  Threads of intent. Vector control.

  She was a Paladin of Freyala.

  Ha!

  Of course! It made so much sense. Mark smiled a little...

  Oh.

  She was an Inquisitor. Not just a paladin.

  Those thoughts flashed through Mark’s mind, and Mark relaxed a little. And then he tensed right back up. What were Credenza’s goals? She was a Chosen of Freyala, so Freyala had some influence in her life, for sure. What was going on there?

  As Mark thought all of that, he saw Credenza’s face go carefully still. Mark was not making any attempt to hide his own vectors (and he didn’t even know how) so she was reading him.

  Isoko was reading both of them, and Mark was pretty sure, based on the flash of surprise from her, that she had figured out Credenza’s status in the Chosen system, too. She looked at Mark, questioning how far he wanted to go with this, or where he wanted to go with this at all. Mark returned the look, and he wasn’t sure.

  … Mark decided to be honest, and to see what happened.

  Mark listed off, “Kill all monsters; though that’s probably impossible based on the nature of magic itself, as far as I understand. Destroy all demons; but that’s likely similarly impossible. Figure out magic. A lot of magic. Explore Endless Daihoon and be strong enough to do that, of course. If the elves exist and if they have resurrection magic, they’re probably out there in Endless Daihoon, and I want that magic. Personal strength is a big goal, along with making sure everyone else around me is strong, too. Lesser goals include killing kaiju, both personally and in a team, and supplying weaponry to all deserving hands.” Mark paused for a moment, thinking. And then he nodded, and added, “That’s most of it.”

  Credenza stared slightly, letting Mark’s words linger. “Okaaaay…” She asked, “So you’re not trying to be a big political guy? All tyrant dragon king?”

  “It’s a persona that works… I guess?” Mark asked, “What are you trying to figure out, now?”

  Credenza easily said, “Some people want to change the world. Some people want to change other people. Some people want to have fun. The first and third are great. It’s the second one I have a problem with. So I’m over here trying to decide if you’re a big time issue for the security of our fair city with the Collective and others aiming at you, or if you’re merely pulling a heavy weight because of the circumstances around you, and thus individuals are bending around your actions and trying to take advantage to boost themselves. ‘Hitch a ride on a rising star’ and all of that.” She looked at Sally and Isoko, adding, “Like these two.” She looked to Eliot, saying, “And him, too, but less so.” And then she looked at Mark. “Or are they a result of you controlling them to fall into your orbit?”

  Ah.

  She wanted to start a fucking fight, huh—

  No. Wait.

  No.

  Maybe, if Mark hadn’t been exposed to Tartu’s claims of controlling people, then Mark would have been angrier at the accusation of mind control. As it was, he was still pretty angry. It was controllable, though, because vectors of all sorts crowded all around them, trying to see what was happening. To understand. To know what side of the wall they belonged.

  The air was a sea of vectors, of attentions and desires slipping this way and that, catching on Mark, and on Credenza, and they would pounce where they found blood or leave if they found disgust.

  Credenza might have even been giving him a chance to get his side of the story out there… Which might not have been her intention. Maybe Mark was projecting—

  Oh.

  Wait.

  Mark glanced from Frozenfire to Credenza and he realized that Credenza was projecting. She had used Frozenfire to catapult her career into the sky, hadn’t she! Frozenfire was a pretty capable superhero, with his own Fire Brigade team, but Credenza was a massive multiplier for all of his random shit. Wasn’t Credenza also working with Glorious Man on something, too? Mark recalled something like that, though he couldn’t remember who had told him about it—

  “But hey!” Credenza said, dispelling all her previous seriousness. “If that’s what you want to do, it’s not much worse than what all the witches in charge of the Empires do. So let’s talk about your team and this group of heroes gunning for you! What did you ever do to that Spherix boy to make him hate you so much?” With a fun attitude, she added, “I’ve never been to one, but surely settlement living cannot abide by that sort of animosity!”

  … She was deflecting, and heavily.

  Well… Mark could call her out on that, or let it lay—

  Quark wrote small on Mark’s lenses, the words passing in front of Mark so he didn’t have to move his eyes from Credenza, “I believe I know a lot more about Kardi’s hatred of you, sir. She is using you to elevate her standing in the HVP, and she is dragging Tartu, Lenny, and Shawn up with her.”

  Well yeah. That made sense.

  Mark blinked, dismissing the notification. The scrolling text so Mark didn’t have to look like he was reading was new. Quark’s understanding that the blink was meant to dispel the words was also new. Quark was learning fast.

  Mark decided to speak for Aurora, and for himself, as he answered Credenza’s public inquisition, “General Aurora Valen is a great leader, but the rules of Empire demand that people be allowed to act on their own, and for settlements to be influenced by outside forces. Spherix took advantage of the rules of the settlement to attack me and mine, to steal from us under the rules signed off on by the HVP, and agreed to by the settlement. Tartu and his people are thieves. Not heroes. They’re deluded.

  “Aurora declared the whole thievery thing to be too much and she put a moratorium on heroic and villainous activities until next month. March 20th. And then I went outside of the rules and punched Spherix’s face in during a street brawl. I and my good ally and friend Isoko then spent some time in a brig for that break in protocol.

  “The animosity has spiraled from there, and now, here, with the Collective deciding to unjustly prosecute me for unfounded accusations of trade in dragon goods, Tartu has taken the opportunity to attack. To steal again. To remove me from the settlement, if he can. Why? I do not know, because Tartu’s given reasonings make no sense to me at all.”

  Credenza instantly replied, “Because of your brother. Because of what you represent. Because of things that are, honestly, troubling. That is why he attacks you. He wants you gone in the ways that he can make happen. He’s no inquisitor. He’s just a young hero. You trouble him. You trouble a lot of people.”

  Mark replied, “Then go ahead and be troubled, because I’m gonna do what I need to do, and I’m not letting anyone stop me. Changing the world is never comfortable, or easy.”

  Credenza did not expect that response at all. For a moment, her Lucky vectors all flinched, frozen. And then she smiled and her vectors flowed in a thousand purposeful directions at once. She sat back on her couch, on the center cushion, and laid her arms on the backrest, like she was laying in a pool and relaxing. Her legs were crossed, and she eyed Mark.

  Other people had a lot more expressive reactions to Mark’s answer. His team was happy. Isoko most of all. The people in the audience, and especially the paladins among the party, were worried but also dismissive, as though Mark were biting off more than he could chew. Some of them, like Punchman standing over there, and Archmage Blackthorn leaning on the railing of the upper floor, looking down at Mark and Credenza, were excited. Worried, yes, but also excited.

  Credenza poised.

  Mark waited for the hammer.

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  Credenza asked, “What is your favorite monster to kill?”

  Mark paused. “… Uh.” He had not been expecting that sort of question, and Credenza chuckled a little at Mark’s reaction. Mark answered, “All of them, but… The more difficult and dangerous they are, the better they are.”

  Credenza’s grin widened a little, and Mark felt her actual emotions leaking out of her control, or maybe she was letting them leak. She was thrilled, in a distant sort of way. Mark didn’t understand that, but he imagined he would soon enough.

  She asked, “Why the difficult and dangerous ones?”

  “Because killing those monsters ensures they won’t be hurting anyone else.”

  Credenza activated her Lucky Power. It was subtle, and Mark was sure he missed 95% of what was happening, but he saw some of it. He heard most of it, though.

  The music lulled right as Mark gave his answer, allowing his voice to rise. Chatter ceased, and Mark filled the void. The hearth crackled, sparks flying, illuminating Mark’s face for the cameras a bit more, and probably sparkling in his eyes, too. The snow flurried outside of the window, cold and silent in the night.

  And Mark faced a turning point.

  In the crackling silence, Credenza said, “Sounds more like a hero than a villain.”

  It was an open invitation to change his fate, to go down the path of the hero, like Mark had wanted, in a distant sort of way. He had never planned on joining the Hero/Villain Program at all, and especially not on the side of the villains. Addavein had forced Mark to be a villain so Addavein could be a hero, though Mark still didn’t understand how, exactly, that would ever work out.

  For a moment, Mark almost switched paths.

  It would be easier to be a hero. Less confrontational… But.

  No.

  Heroes only supported the status quo, and Mark wanted to change the world. And yet, at the same time, heroes were still needed. The status quo was, after all, the continued triumph of humanity over the monsters, demons, and all the rest.

  Mark recalled the words that had shaped all of his life decisions since he was 8 years old and sitting on the living room floor, watching the screen, watching a hero be a hero.

  Mark quoted Glorious Man, “Humans help other humans. That is how we survive the monsters.”

  Almost every single person there felt something primal upon hearing those words. They were pretty famous words. Iconic, really. And Mark was using them in their original intent. No sarcasm here!

  Credenza seemed quietly vindicated, but she put on a face of dismay for the cameras. She was still a villain, after all, and she was currently ‘fighting’ Glorious Man on some HVP program that Mark had not seen at all. Frozenfire was quietly observant, and also, weirdly enough, thankful toward Credenza, and for being here. Mark might have gotten that bit wrong, but he was pretty sure he had it right.

  And then Blackvein added his own words, a bit softer spoken, “But power scares others and I plan to have a lot of power in every way a person can have power.”

  That resonated with most of the people here. This was a lair of villains, after all. Blackvein’s words even resonated with Frozenfire and a lot of the paladins.

  Credenza was untouched, though.

  Mark got the distinct impression that Credenza had a lot of power though she pretended to be a party-trick kinda woman. That was because she wanted something else—

  Oh. Right. She wanted fame.

  Credenza didn’t really want power at all, so she did not appreciate Mark’s pursuit of power… Which was fine, he supposed.

  Blackvein said, “Now I’d like a question answered, if you can.”

  Credenza arched an eyebrow. “Shoot!”

  “What’s your relationship to the hero, Lu—”

  In that moment, Mark recognized several things that had already happened for what they were. First, he noticed a vector aiming at him from far, far away, that suddenly shot up in priority because the people controlling the cameras all around the gathering, directed their vectors, inside the cameras, to the very breakable sugar glass windows. Also, Credenza’s request to ‘shoot’ was not an acknowledgment that she was accepting questions at this point in time.

  It was a cue for someone else, far away.

  Mark angled a layer of his floating adamantium between him and the window as he remade his helmet, pulling his collar of adamantium around his skull. It was just in time.

  The window burst as a trio of bullets cracked through the sugar glass. Two bullets hit the layer of adamantium. One slipped through some gap Mark shouldn’t have left in his protective layer, but the bullet stopped at his helmet, knocking his head slightly left.

  Mark slammed on a Union of adamant and weakness, flowing into the world and bringing back power to him and his team. Isoko was right there with him, but she was doing protection and weakness—

  And then Frozenfire blasted Credenza with fire.

  But the winter outside brushed in fast, turning all of Frozenfire’s flame into just a gust of tropical wind, and Credenza casually flipped into that tropical wind. From sitting down, relaxed, to fully evacuated and out into the frosty night, in one quick flip. Or at least that’s what it looked like to most viewers.

  What had actually happened was that Frozenfire's fire, taken from the hearth, was focused onto Credenza, but Credenza had forced some Luck into the wind a while ago, and that Luck had driven an unexpected gust into the space, ruining Frozenfire’s sneak attack. The flipping and escaping was completely her, though. She did not lack for physical strength. Mark was pretty sure, according to the small vectors he saw where she had gripped the couch and flipped up, that she was a brawny of some flavor. So a bi-talent. And with Union. So… A lot of Power there, for sure.

  Mark stood. Everyone stood.

  And then Frozenfire’s jailbird suit condensed around him, turning into a trap, holding his arms behind his back as it curled his legs together and backward. Frozenfire toppled to the ground, onto his stomach, his suit tightening, as he called out, “Get me out of here and my team won’t assault you at the gate!”

  That’s what Frozenfire had been trying to say back there, back before Credenza got involved and interrupted all of that?

  Credenza was in the snow and two more bullets came out of nowhere, one of them slamming into the lower frame of the window to ricochet into Mark’s stomach, the other cracking off of one of Mark’s floating bits of adamantium to ting off of Mark’s helmet again. Right off his right temple. Close to his eyes.

  The one that struck his stomach ripped right through his suit but stopped at his skin. It probably left a mark, but that mark was already gone. If he had been running his normal ‘wait and see what happens’ Union of resilience and weakness instead of adamant/weakness, then that bullet would have gone into his body. Those bullets were alchemical silver enhanced, for sure.

  Tartu either had not been able to control Kardi from shooting her sniper shots, or he agreed to it and helped it happen. Mark still couldn’t really sense Kardi’s vector out there, though she was closing in. Either way, the talk they had had in Blackthorn’s tower about what sort of fight they wanted to have (something good for the cameras) was right out. So Mark decided to pull out all the stops and…

  Wait.

  If he showed off true power again, then Tartu might be able to rally more troops to his side, and Mark did not need that, so… So yeah. Sandbagging and probably running away, ‘defeated’. Sure. That was the original plan, and that would remain the plan.

  They didn’t need to win the night at all.

  They had bagged Punchman and maybe Grey Phantom for assistance at attacking the gate, and right here was more assistance, waiting to be had.

  Mark created a few hooks of adamantium and ripped through the backside of Frozenfire’s entire jailbird suit, making sure to not cut him his flesh. Frozenfire still freaked out when the black knives came for him, but Mark had pretty good control and the entire operation was over in a ripping second.

  Mark smiled for his team as Frozenfire’s suit fell onto the ground, exposing a very naked man. Oh well! Chalk it up to comedy!

  Isoko, Eliot, and Sally were all pissed as fuck, though.

  But Mark said, “We got what we came for and we’re not ruining the party for these fine folk, so we’re doing a slapstick escape. Try to have fun with it.” And then he turned to Credenza, saying, “Because that’s what you want, right? To have fun? To not be burdened by the mundanity of life?”

  Credenza looked like she had been Seen. Her entire body was stiff. Her intense eyes slightly wide. Her mouth opened, just a little, as the snow flurried around her, flowing into the space. She was like that for a solid 5 seconds.

  Frozenfire escaped during that time, running out into the cold, ass-naked and not caring at all. Laughter followed him and someone made a joke about it being cold as Frozenfire turned on the fire and blasted off into the night, up and away and then gone, out of sight.

  Credenza finally glanced at the side, to where Frozenfire’s jailbird costume lay in tatters, and then she laughed, walked back into the room, and sat down. She took her previous position, on the slightly scorched couch, and said, “Maybe if you’re lucky I’ll show up and help you with the gate.”

  “Sure thing!”

  Mark led the way out into the night—

  Archmage Blackthorn called out, “Can you put the window back, VeryHuman!”

  VeryHuman called back, “Sir yes sir!”

  “Couch too, please,” Credenza softly ‘suggested’.

  Blackvein walked out into the night, followed by Miss Masher and Platinum Princess, while VeryHuman gathered up the black and white cloth remains of the jailbird outfit and he did a pass on the couch. Simple black cushions gained white highlights, the fire damage evaporating, and then the sugar glass evaporated. The sugar glass went away somewhere. Other glass came up from some hidden recesses down below to fill in the big picture window.

  “Thanks!” Blackthorn called out.

  A few people clapped.

  Blackvein, Platinum Princess, Miss Masher, and VeryHuman, stood on a snowy field under the bright lights from the black pyramid.

  A transport fell out of the sky and landed on the snowy field ahead. The bay doors opened and Spherix, Luckygun, Reflectman, and Earth Defender, leapt out of the vehicle and landed on the field. They walked forward and stopped 40 meters away.

  Two people remained on the ship. Inquisitor Saikou of Aluatha and Executioner Walter of Okauna. They wore black and yellow guard outfits, pretending to be a part of the local Memphi Guard; the bees.

  Over there lay a frozen lake. It took up most of this space outside of the pyramid. Mark expected this fight would rapidly move onto that open area, as soon as it started.

  Isoko whispered, “We sure we want to do a slapstick escape?”

  Mark told his team, “Try to be fun, but we’re doing what we need to do to escape.”

  But then Credenza’s voice instantly came over a speaker system, “They’re heroes invading a villain party! You gotta drive them off, Blackvein, or else your villain card is revoked! If that should happen you might get supremely unlucky at the gate attack!”

  “Or we could take a strong stand,” Mark said.