Cicero wanted the deed badly, and I half expected him to try to take it, but knowing that we'd beaten the maze that had killed all his other participants definitely made the smug backstabber think twice before deciding to pick a fight with us. When he reached for the deed, I didn't hesitate at all to pull it back away from him. "Nope. We got the item, which means we completed the task. You said retrieve it and bring it to you, which I did. You never said anything about surrendering it to your custody."

A slight technicality, but he knew as well as I did it wasn't the real reason. I didn't trust him as far as Cass could throw him, and I wasn't giving him shit until he confirmed that we were getting our damn gear. He seemed to know it too. He sighed. "I already signed the contract, as long as you passed the test I'm bound to give you your prize if you accept the job. I can't deny you accomplished the test, so you're eligible to hear the details of the plan. Assuming that you're still interested and aren't just going to give up?"

He smirked at me, and I was annoyed because I knew either option would be beneficial to him. Sure having us do the mission would aid him, but even turning him down would benefit him at this point, since the deed was his, and even if we denied his help we'd still have to give it up. I needed to think this over like Callie would, or preferably delay it until she was awake. I tossed the paper up, catching it before it hit the table and keeping a sharp eye on Cicero, who was obviously worried about what would happen if I dropped the thing.

I raised an eyebrow at the older man. "If you want us to do a job we need details. I want the full story behind the whole mess. Informed decisions are made with consideration and knowledge. Tell me about Melissa, about Abel, about what happened exactly that screwed up your relationships with them and drove Abel out of this place. He didn't strike me as the type to take off running at the first sign of trouble. If Abel left I'm betting it was because of something more serious than a random circus act you didn't want him to start."

Cicero frowned, looking genuinely upset, before he finally nodded. "Fine. I wish you weren't all such busybodies. As I mentioned Melissa, Abel, and I were childhood friends. Abel was much more talented than either of us, so we didn't even try to compete. We all went out of our way to try train ourselves up too. We were considered cream of the crop originally, but with the training from Abel all three of us quickly managed to get to a point where we posed a genuine danger. It was part of how we managed to get this deed to begin with."

He gestured at the deed. "Abel left because he was concerned that I was going to use the defenses enabled by the deed to start expanding. I wanted to push our territory out using the defended perimeter as a fallback point. In retrospect I might have been slightly overeager. Melissa sided with Abel, but he didn't want to rob the cavalcade of one of its strongest defenders, so he had her stay behind. Abel himself left, because he knew that defenses or not, with him to here hold things up this place was basically unbreachable."

I didn't know Spruce Bunny well, but the Abel I met down there I could see being the type not to want others using his name to scare off enemies. He was very much a 'do it yourself or not at all' type of person. The fact that he forced us to fight and then honored the terms despite not being thrilled with the outcome was evidence. Unless he was thrilled with the outcome. I still wasn't entirely sure what side of this the guardian had come down on. He'd said a few things that made sure he wanted us to get it, but hadn't wanted us to win the fight. Who knew how people like that thought though?

I groaned. "Ok, but what does this have to do with what's happening now. You keep talking about this plan, but what the hell are we supposed to do to get the information from her. Because if she was someone who trained with Abel, I somehow doubt a straight fight will go our way. We barely survived that damn guardian, and with years to practice I sincerely doubt even a sparring partner of his will be within our capabilities." Abel had been a monster, I didn't even want to see what a current version would look like in a fight.

He waved a hand dismissively. "You're overthinking this. I told you the trial was to determine your suitability for the mission, and I didn't lie. Melissa and her thugs prioritize martial prowess. They want talented fighters and recruit them for their little faction whenever possible. If you go in there and show off skills that could best or even equal a past version of my brother they'll snap you up. You get in good with them and you should be able to scope out who they're working with and get the answers both of us want."

I blinked. "That's...not a plan. That's an extremely optimistic goal that you're going to be expecting us to accomplish all on our own." My head hurt. I couldn't tell if we'd been screwed or lucked out. On one hand this is how we probably would have had to do this anyway if he'd told us, and now we got paid for it. On the other hand jumping through all these hoops was bullshit, even if I kind of understood what he was testing for now. I glanced down at Cicero's throat, but realized punching it should probably wait until after we got paid.

I stood, lifting Callie's unconscious body. "My girlfriend is the one who makes the calls, so I can't answer you now, plus she needs to be involved in the set design just like I and my other teammates. So I'll call you with the details once we've made our decision, but for the sake of the contract consider this a tentative yes and get started at least trying to find an artisan to work with us on our new gear. If we do accept we'd get started after we get the new equipment, as we mentioned."

I could tell he wanted to stop me and get a commitment about the job, but I could also tell he knew he wasn't capable of keeping me here. I didn't know what his ability was, but we'd just beaten Abel (not really, but he had no way of knowing that) so he probably considered us both absolute beasts. I wasn't in a hurry to disabuse him of that notion if it kept him out of my way. I'd had about enough of Cicero Castleton for the day, and I just wanted to get my girl home and let her sleep off the backlash of a stupid reckless move I should have been more careful about.

I hadn't even stopped to think about how much damage pumping her up with all those skills would do. I was pretty sure she was ok thankfully, her pulse and breathing were stable, and her face wasn't pale or anything, but I wanted to get her back to Jessie as soon as possible so our healer could take a look or at least top up her energy. It was worrying she was still unconscious at this point given what Vitality could do.

I messaged Cark on my scan ring as I left, and once I told him we had a lead and searching was pointless he dispatched the others back to the bar and came to meet us to head back up. When he ran into us, he took one look at me holding Callie, a small bit of blood still on her face, and his expression grew serious. "Ok, what the hell happened to you two. Last time I saw you the two of you were snuggling and walking off together like you were auditioning for a teen romance movie."

I realized from his tone and looking down that I wasn't in much better shape. The labyrinth had been annoying and long, and I was pretty much in tatters after it. I'd had plenty of holes in my armor already, ones I'd been patching with stopgap materials so they weren't obvious, at least until I could upgrade, but at this point my gear was more hole than outfit. I winced. Guess the timing on the replacement duds was good, because I was absolutely not going to be able to wear this set out into the field again. I felt a pang of sadness at the knowledge that my old familiar costume was now officially dead.

As we climbed onto the elevator back, Callie finally began to stir, and I was relieved to see a complete lack of pain or soreness in her actions as she woke up. She squinted a bit at the light, but otherwise seemed like she'd just woken up in the morning, albeit before she had a chance to have her coffee. I pulled her close, hugging her to me since I couldn't take my mask off on the elevator, and I felt a slight shaking as she chuckled warmly. "Hey there, I'm glad to see you too, but give a girl a minute to put her face on."

I chuckled slightly, my face still buried in her shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I was an idiot, I should have asked, should have warned you how much I was going to do. You could have been killed, just because I made assumptions. I know we're usually in sync but just assuming you know what my moves are going to be and can handle them is pure idiocy. Hell, I've never even use Afterburner on another person." My head was still pounding from the effort too. My brain felt like someone was hammering a railroad spike through the stem.

Which was not helped by the sharp knock Callie gave me. I winced, but she wasn't even a bit sympathetic, just glaring into my mask. "Excuse me? I know you weren't just second guessing a solid combat decision that led to a victory because you weren't sure I'd be tough enough to handle it. Do I need to kick your ass in a sparring session to remind you which of us is stronger? Because I've got over sixty points of Might on you." I winced. She glared a bit longer and then relaxed. "It's fine Solomon. Really. The labyrinth pushed us both. You made a judgement call, and I trust your judgement so I'm fine with it."

That made it even worse honestly. "What if I don't trust my judgement." Seeing her like that, unconscious and vulnerable, was absolutely terrifying. There was no possible way I'd ever want to go through that again, much less when I had caused it. If I had to make the same decision again I wasn't sure I could go through with it. It had been reckless and stupid and I didn't know what I was thinking.

I got another tap on the skull and then a kiss on the mask. "Then I'll have to kick your ass for bad mouthing my boyfriend. I love that guy you know?" I grinned, not that she could see it. "But really. If you hadn't done it we could have both died. It was the right call and I'm proud of you for taking the initiative. If you'd stopped to ask we might both be dead. Partners consult each other, but they also trust each other. You didn't have time to do anything but act and so you did. Thank you." She leaned up and kissed my mask again, where my cheek would be, and I smiled. I was a pretty lucky guy.