Laurence knocked on the door.

No response.

He wished he still had a working phone, but his had given up its last ghost days ago. The sacrifices one must make for magic.

"Come on, Rachel, it's me."

He knocked again, more insistent, then pressed his ear against the door.

This time heard a distant squeak. Then, a grumbled, "Coming!"

Rachel opened the door, then blinked and stared as though unsure what she was seeing.

Laurence glanced up at her name hovering above her head. Level 7. So she'd continued to improve, even if not as quickly as him. Good for her. He'd worried that without himself or Charles to keep them focused, the rest of the Doom Raiders would have stagnated. It was good to learn that wasn't the case.

"Laurence?" Then she was hugging him, a sort of desperate hug that he wasn't sure how to interpret. "You're back!"

He chuckled uncomfortably, not sure what he should do with his hands while she clung to him, so he just kept them awkwardly out to the sides.

"Thank goodness. I'm about at the end of my rope here trying to keep things running alone." Rachel finally let go and stepped back, her eyes flicking up to the 'Level 11 Mage' Laurence knew hovered above his own head.

"Oh. Sorry, I'm not here to take over management of the guild, I'm actually here to ask for your help."

"Really? What could you need me for, you're already four levels higher. And a proper Mage, at that. Congratulations, by the way!" She grinned and put out her fist for him to bump, which he did, but she seemed to catch the seriousness in his mood because her smile faded. "What's wrong?"

"I need help dealing with Charles."

"Ohhh..." Her tone clearly conveyed understanding, and reticence.

"I know." Laurence sighed. "It won't be easy, but... I think I have a lead on where to find him now. We can set things right."

"You sure it's wise to pursue a grudge? I mean, yeah, he's an immature over-the-top jerk, but he left. Good riddance, I say. No need to go poking that hornet's nest again."

"He shamed our guild with his dishonor! Don't you care about our reputation?"

Rachel tilted her head, one shoulder shrugging. "Not especially. We're doing just fine, and whatever the kind of people are who trust Charles, what they think of us doesn't matter to our goals in the least."

"But... this could be really important."

Rachel scoffed, hand resting on her hip. "Yeah? You went after him once already. How did that go?"

"He wasn't there, but that's fine. We needed the time to train and grow more powerful. Now we're ready for him." Well. Not exactly. But he had a plan for that too. He just needed a team.

"If I help you with this, you have to come back. I can't run this on my own, and I don't want to see it fall apart like so many other groups." Though she put on a strong front, there was a note of pleading in Rachel's voice. "Please, Laurence, you've been gone too long as it is. People are starting to drift."

"Yeah..." Laurence wasn't unsympathetic, he fully understood the way even something as awesome as magic dungeons could start to feel less like an adventure and more like a chore. He'd watched it happen to one Doom Raider after another. He had the drive to hold them together, if not quite the personal charisma. He could do it if he tried.

But...

He shook his head. "I can't. I have bigger obligations now. If you want to join us, I can help you. If you want to bring the whole guild, it'll take less than a week--"

"I told you, I have a job. I can't just disappear." She paced across her front step, one hand flicking through her hair in a quick unconscious jerk that sent it flying out behind her. "I would like nothing more than to go on a grand quest with you, you know that. But this is the real world. I can't walk out with no one to cover my department."

"Sure you can. It's easy. Just... walk away. We're magical superheroes. No one can force you to do anything anymore unless you let them."

"No one else even knows how to do half the stuff I'm responsible for. Even if I asked for vacation time, it's on too short notice, and there's literally no one to cover me. If I leave, they'll be in a rough spot. I like my boss, I couldn't leave him in the lurch like that. Especially with the whole employment crisis lately."

"Is there one of those again? Been a little busy."

"Well, there's an increasing number of people all across the country just... not showing up."

"Then you'll be only one more number on a spreadsheet." Laurence smiled faintly. How many of those were ones who'd stumbled into Awakening their mystical powers and taken up the greater cause?

His smile faded as he thought of the other alternative; that they'd stumbled into dungeons and, instead of Awakening, been killed before they could grow strong enough to survive or escape.

He opted not to mention either his hopes or fears. "I promise, I'm not going to lead you astray, this is really, incredibly, life-or-death important."

"Yes, I know, everything's a crisis with you." Rachel sighed. "I'll send out a memo to the guild, but I won't officially endorse the endeavor and won't try to force anyone who doesn't want to volunteer."

"I... I'd hoped you would volunteer, to be honest." She'd always been one of their most enthusiastic members. If anyone could be his equal, rise to be a great mage to teach at his academy someday, he'd have guessed it would be her.

"If I didn't have other obligations, sure, I probably would have. But this isn't a few hours through a dungeon, this is a major trip. We'd be gone for days, and there's real risk involved. You really imagine Charles wouldn't be ready for us? Or that he'd play nice?"

"No, but we don't have to play nice either." He knew he was grasping at straws now.

She snorted a laugh and shook her head. "We're gamers, Laurence. Not vigilantes. I'm sorry. I can't help any more than that."

"I'll take what I can get." But he couldn't hide his disappointment. He'd been counting on her help. On all their guild, if possible, but he'd known there was a good chance the others would wimp out. But to have her dismiss his whole grand quest so casually... he was surprised how much it hurt.

He'd need to recalculate. If he couldn't even count on Rachel, who else could he get? Not anyone with a job, not anyone too young, and that narrowed the field drastically. Was there any other alternative?

He didn't want to nerf his own Mage build, but it was tempting to spec a level or two into the Tamer subclass just so he could have his own minions. Being reliant on others for his backup was frustrating. But even for that, he'd need to find someone willing to run some tests for him to figure out the exact viability of subclassing before he'd be willing to commit to either build.

"I really am sorry." Her voice snapped him out of his contemplation.

Straightening, he nodded. "I know. Sorry to bother you. Please do let the guild know. For now... I'll have to see if anyone else will give me a chance." Even as he spoke, he realized what he had to do, the understanding giving his words a determined edge.

"Laurence, I don't like the sound of that..."

"Don't worry, I can handle myself."

"But are you... really planning to...?"

"Yes. I'm going to ask our rivals. If the other Doom Raiders aren’t willing to help, then I’ll talk to the Frires."