Seth followed the security officer through one identical hall after the next. “Curfew is due soon,” the officer said while handing Seth his device. “You should head on back and keep your head down. People will be wanting all sorts of nonsense. It’s best to just keep to yourself until this whole thing blows over. Take it from me, this situation is more trouble than it’s worth, and you’re caught smack dab in the middle. It’ll blow over, if you let it.”

His escort left him when they reached the security floor’s entrance, the part of the office meant for show, designed to awe and inspire. The openness of the main room was accented with a two story glass projection of the map of the military tier of the campus. Streets, avenues, allies, and blocky shapes representing buildings were etched into the glass map, creating a piece of functional art as white dots pulsed their way up and down the avenues.

Seth had seen the map on a few occasions, but the magnitude of the security system had been lost on him. The system tracked every student through their implants and security bracelets. The Academy had to know about his and Astral’s early morning ventures into the program chamber. Though they hadn’t snuck out, he wondered if the behavior appeared suspicious. He had spoken freely, prodded and questioned with the innocence of someone with nothing to hide but his curiosity in things that had been outside of his reach. Each question, he realized, represented a threat to the person who could answer his questions. It’d be easy to see hostility in her silence, in her abruptness.

Through tinted windows, rows of staff huddled in their pods, pushing their audio adapter to their ear, monitoring the feeds. Coffee was served one after the next, without a single head shifting their focus to thank their server. On the other side, Seth could barely make out visual monitoring systems, a dozen screens to a single person, monitoring hundreds of sites with the slightest movement. It occurred to him that there had to be another group dedicated to correspondence and feed moderation. How had Astral manage to send for the E.M.I.? How was she supposed to call for reinforcements? Was she meant to deal with threat on her own? He shuddered. The memory of the crumbling street beneath his feet as the demon ascended hadn’t faded. A memory that was his but wasn’t. Something that had happened but had yet to happen.

He was aware of the Council Academy’s proud reputation in the advancement of security technologies, challenging students to hack the system. Successful hacks were rewarded in credits, scholarships, post-tour education, and notoriety. Many had tried, few had managed.

He pulled his device from his pocket. What happens if the demon’s network integrated with the Academy’s? What if it had already? The countdown to curfew ticked down. He had less than an hour until sunset. He had so much to do. Seth fled the security office.

Would they have removed her from the campus? Or would they treat her injuries first? He pulled his device from his pocket, noted the words ‘no access’ blinking at him. He entered the elevator as he had everyday of his student life and struck the ground floor option. The elevator buzzed at him. “Please select your floor.” His device flickered at him. His apps wouldn’t populate. He struck his device a couple of times and chided himself. He knew better. He pressed the ground floor option on the elevator a second time.

“Option not available. Please select your floor.” That’s right, the Academy had decided to update the infrastructure. Not that it mattered, since neither Astral or Seth could access the program chamber through digital or manual access. The demon had locked them out; an odd coincidence that coincided with the presence of the E.M.I. and Videl’s destruction.

He spoke to his device: “Search for student location: Astral Daamon”. The search triggered with a struggling in-progress icon. He chose the second floor, he’d walk the rest of the way. He had no choice in the matter.

The instant he stepped out of the elevator, his device rattled and chimed for attention. This was not a good sign, but not entirely unexpected. He slipped into the stairwell as he caught Regina’s incoming call. He glanced at the log, finding her name at least five times to every other call he had missed during his stay with security.

He answered. Regina’s face hovered in front of him, their conversation public to anyone who happened by. They were alone, save for the whomever was monitoring the audio and the person monitoring the communications feed. He reminded himself to keep his conversation simple.

Her eyes were red and wet.

“You didn’t even try to reply to my messages,” Regina started, already on the offensive. Seth was tempted to shut down the call, he had enough to deal with.

“Astral Daamon not found,” the device chimed. Regina narrowed her eyes, teeth clenched. Seth regarded the screen for more information. If she wasn’t on campus, where would she have gone? Not to the projection chamber, though she did have an army, so it was possible that she would try for an offensive strike. All that was missing was William’s guidance to the last entry point. Had William given them what they needed while he was stuck fighting for neutrality. Would they engage the demon without him? Of course they would. What did they need him for; he’d just get in the way.

“SETH!”

“My friend was just brutally beaten, you’ll excuse me if I’m a little worried.”

“What about me? Now that I’m married, I don’t matter. It’s like I never mattered! Ever since she got here, all you ever talk about is her.”

That wasn’t true. Was it? He couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter. “Regina, with all due respect, you’re a newly married woman who has a known romantic connection with me. Continued association with past flirtations can jeopardize your contract. That was understood when we discussed it before you accepted the contract. I told you my opinion on the offer, and you took it anyway. That is not my fault. You didn’t want to go to war. Fine. I supported your decision. If I had a way out, I’d take it too. But you have no right, none at all, to dictate who I associate with because of your contract.”

She choked back a sob as tears wet her flushed cheeks. She blinked out.

“Search student location: William Mathers,” Seth spoke to his device.

His device rattled with new messages. He glanced at the indicator and deflated. “Sort messages by sender,” he ordered. He triggered the multi-screen option, shifting message priority. Hope had eighty seven messages, but she was in the habit of sending her thoughts line by line, the sign of someone who wanted to be heard but needed time to get their thoughts together.

“Did you hear Astral’s Enhanced!

Like my mind is just b.l.o.w.n.!

I wonder what kind of super powers she has? Do you know? Did she tell you?

Is she a super hero? Like mild mannered student by day, crime fighter by night?

That would be so cool!

Can I be her sidekick?

Wait.

Are you her sidekick?

Can she have two sidekicks?

I’m sure that’s fine. Two’s better than one.”

He smiled and shook his head. Thanks, Hope. She didn’t care about the Enhanced situation. She didn’t care about how it would affect the games. For whatever reason, Hope had taken a liking to Astral, but he supposed so had he. Granted he didn’t pester the Hunter to braid her hair. Astral had found it easier to just let Hope do her thing. Maybe Regina had heard about their new acquaintance at length from their enthusiastic explosives expert, so much so that she felt like that’s all she ever heard about.

“She doesn’t even have those weird tattoos.

I guess she wouldn’t.

I mean, like, wouldn’t that sort of advertise the fact.

I mean, I always wondered who would actually deface themselves like that and like tell the world that you’re Enhanced.

I mean, I suppose if you think about it, you could hide an Enhanced like a regular person.

But that’s not possible right?

She’s like too young to be Enhanced anyway.

Like isn’t there some legal stuffs that stops parents from selling their kids to the program or something?”

That was an interesting leap. He adored Hope. Her streams of consciousness were often overwhelming in person, but there was always some new angle to see the problem from. In Hope’s world, there were no problems, just more games, more tools, more toys. Her free time was spend ‘playing’ in the abandon warehouses looking for scraps and old tech. When she had first joined, she had been shy until she had crossed Seth’s path raiding the junk boxes. Their ‘treasure hunt’ expeditions had created in her a fierce and loyal ally. He wouldn’t trade her for the world.

“It’s a shame we can’t have Enhanced on our team.

That’s like breaking a rule or something right?

You know, I’m going to look it up.

Erik is being an asshat…again. It’d be nice to tell him to shove it.

You think it might be enough to get him to walk?

Oh that would be great.

Bye-bye wall of resistance!”

Another great idea, but much harder to execute in reality. The individual players had too much too lose by associating with the Enhanced. As a team, incorporating the Enhanced element into their strategy was perceived to give them an un-sportsman like advantage.

“I think mind reading would be a super cool ability….” And on and on she went.

He spoke to his device, who recorded his words. “Hope, never change.”

“Seth! Erik’s up-to-something. He’s called a meeting, but like all unofficial and stuff. He wants to make it quick cause of curfew. Where are you?”

“Just getting out of the security office,” he lied.

“Don’t think you’ll make it. At least we can’t do anything official without you anyway.”

The seconds ground past. This was it. Erik was going to make his move. What play did Seth have left to counter the guy who wanted his job and title? Everything was happening so fast. He needed to find Astral, warn her that everything was coming apart. Or maybe he could get ahead of the problem for once…

His screen blinked: Student: William Mathers located at the Administration Building: detention center.

At least the bastard couldn’t do any damage from there.

“Search Student Registry: Astral Daamon” was she registered? She had to be in order to be included in the game. Not being registered meant she’d never make it past the security shields in the Administration Building. Unless…

“Student not found.”

“Contractor registry...” he hesitated. His feeds were monitored. Every search, every command. If she were employed by the Academy she’d have to register just like a student, only she’d be on a pay roll. She could integrate with the students, explore their world, and no one would think anything of it. Her comment about not being able to afford a fresh meal had struck him as odd at the time. But if she were operating within a budget, her meals would be paid for by the Academy or possibly by the Council. Was she conscientious enough to consider the impact of the cost of her investigation?

His device chimed: Regina was ready for the next round. Seth snarled at the name, composed himself and answered.

“I’m sorry,” Regina said. “You’re right. It’s not fair.”

He had never said anything about being fair. “It’s just a rumor. It’ll blow over. William has an axe to grind because I rejected him in favour of Astral. It’s no big deal. William’s being expelled as we speak. It’ll blow over.”

Regina tilted her head and gave him that pitiful idiot look. He had no problem with the look when it was directed at Erik, but when it was directed at him… He mimicked her expression, engaging in a battle of wills that he had no time for.

She conceded, “It doesn’t matter what the truth is. It impacts us all.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, and fought to steady her voice. “I think Erik sent a message to my husband. He’s been screaming at me for the past hour. The whole reason why I’m here is to finish my last term. As a fourth year victor, I can get more funding for a better program. My husband wants me to come home, or else it’s breach of contract! I don’t want to be a breeder! I told him it was all nothing...It’s either me or her, Seth.”

He had an inkling that what she was asking, wasn’t exactly what she was asking. It hurt to think about. “Go home, Regina.”

She sobbed her words muddled in her despair. “It doesn’t matter! That rumor will never go away. Everybody she comes into contact with will be ruined. Yours too! You can’t see it now, but I’m trying to help you!”

“No Regina, you’re helping yourself.” He ended the call.