"Oh?" Dot said, turning her head sideways to look at him, a smile creeping onto her face. "You didn't come to give me another kiss?" The seriousness in Luke's expression made her blink and sit up. "What is it?"

  He went over and sat opposite her in the chair the patients used. "Remember Leslie?"

  Alan wasn't going to hold that over his head. With the authorities, sure, but not with Dot. Not with her. Luke told her. Rather than choose his words with care, he just came out with it. There was no use hiding what he'd done behind flowery language and well-thought-out motivations. Luke did it because he didn't think that a man like that deserved to walk the Earth, not after what he'd done and what he had promised to do in the future. Simple as that.

  Her eyes watered, and tears formed in the corners of her eyes. In those tears, Luke read the end of their relationship, be it romantic or platonic. Dot wet her lips, blinked, and nodded. "Okay."

  Luke frowned. "Okay, what?"

  Wiping the tears away with her bare arm, she nodded again. "Just that. He deserved it."

  "You agree with what I did?"

  "Of course I don't. You killed him, Luke. If it were in self-defence in that dungeon, that would be one thing, but you killed him in cold blood. This is horrible, but I can see where you're coming from. The world is changing, and as far as I know, there is no such thing as a jail for Integrated."

  "So, we're... cool?"

  The way her face changed in that instant showed that they were, in fact, not cool.

  "I... I need some time, Luke. Some space. I don't know what to think about this. How do we move forward? I understand that you did it in part because of his threats against me, but I just don't know how to feel."

  Shit. Luke knew it would turn out like this. From the brief time he'd spent with Dot, he knew enough about who she was as a person that he'd almost been certain about how this talk would play out. Still, he couldn't just keep it secret forever, and not because Alan used the fact as a string to pull on Luke to make him dance.

  "I understand," Luke said, getting to his feet. "I'll leave you alone. In about two weeks, I'm leaving for New York."

  "You're leaving?"

  He nodded. "I was sort of hoping you'd come with, but I see now that it was nothing more than an impossible dream."

  Luke waited for her to answer, but she just hung her head, the strands of her long, red hair hiding her face. He left her in there. If she'd wanted to come, Alan wouldn't have been able to stop Luke from bringing her, but that wasn't what she wanted, and he'd respect that.

  The lightness in his chest he'd been feeling for the last day or so vanished the moment he left that room and headed to the elevators. A new weight settled in there, like a stone. Dammit. Riding the elevator down using the tag Viola gave him, he descended past the first floor and kept going down into the basement, heading for The Gauntlet.

  Even with this outcome, he didn't regret what he'd done. Leslie needed killing. There had been no other way. Dammit.

  Dammit!

  The doors dinged open, and there they were, Luke's party. Well, most of it.

  "About time!" Nash shouted. "Let's go!"

  Sam and Mas stood there, staring at him with blank expressions. Today, they wore matching jumpsuits in beige. Priyah had chosen more loose-fitting clothes, with a bright red T-shirt and a pair of black athletic shorts, and white sneakers.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  "Hey, everyone," Luke said, looking around. "Where's Tom?"

  "Viola subbed him and the new guy out of The Band, since neither of them wanted the transfer to New York. We've got a new gal waiting for us at The Gauntlet."

  Luke nodded. "Thank you for coming with. I know we haven't known each other long, but it means a lot to me."

  "Ahaha! Don't go and get emotional on me now!" Nash half-shouted. "New York has a great rock scene, that's all!"

  Priyah let out a short giggle. "Nash cried when you said you wanted us to come."

  Nash's face reddened. "I'm an emotional guy!"

  "So?" Luke asked, gesturing toward the hallway. "Shall we?"

  Being around people eased the weight of the stone in his chest. Eased it a little. Dammit.

  Once they entered the large underground chamber, it was clear they'd made a lot of changes, which was impressive considering they'd been down there just the day before. The large town-like area with geometrical shapes, buildings, and the like was still there, but off to the side, along the wall, they'd constructed what looked like more rooms. From this distance, they looked like empty barns, almost, except for the ones in use. Several barns shone, the light going from light to dark blue. Portals. That was the sheen and drifting motes of portals.

  "They figured it out!" Trevor said, spreading his arms to the side. "We've got monsters!"

  "You're opening your own portals?" Luke asked. "To dungeons?"

  Trevor dropped his arms, deflating a little. "No, no. Nothing like that. We can't go through them. The portals, I mean. Monsters can come out, though."

  "How?"

  "Hell if I know," Trevor said with a grin.

  "That doesn't sound safe, Priyah said.

  "Sounds like you won't be satisfied without a proper explanation," Trevor said.

  The explanation, it turned out, was brief. A class called Architect was able to construct devices that somehow opened portals. Trevor was real light on specifics. These portals were controllable to an extent, allowing Trevor and his crew to dial in their difficulty, even if it wasn't a precise science behind it.

  Once through, they all fell silent for a moment, even Nash. Luke wanted to meet one of these Architects. If they were able to manipulate the system to such an extent, he was sure there were things he could learn from them.

  "Hey."

  Luke jumped and turned, coming face to face with a short and thin woman who couldn't be older than eighteen. With hair colored black, dark makeup around her eyes, and somber clothes, she looked like the picture of emo culture. Even with that getup, he'd missed her. Now she stood there, staring at him.

  "Hey," he said. "You the Architect?"

  "That's Savannah!" Nash said, his voice booming. "The Band's newest member! You've got the look, girlie!"

  She gave Nash a look that seemed to threaten him with loss of life if he called her 'girlie' again, then went back to staring at Luke without blinking, her gaze intense.

  He cleared his throat. "Welcome."

  "You are going to New York."

  "We are," Luke confirmed.

  She nodded. "Good. I'm coming too."

  Nash went up and threw his arm around her shoulders. "Glad to have ya! You've got some big shoes to fill! What's your thing?"

  Some invisible force pushed Nash back. Savannah rose to hover over the floor, and a ghostly full plate armor formed around her, its legs reaching down to the floor. Her helmet was a good foot above her head, and its arms had a much longer reach than hers. It held a weapon Luke didn't know the name of, like a long haft with a tall axe-head at the top, a spear tip reaching up from the top of the weapon, and it even had a spike opposite the axe blade.

  "Halberd," Mas said.

  They all looked at him, but it didn't seem like he was going to say anything else. Savannah took a few steps. The armor she wore didn't make a sound, not even when Nash reached out and knocked on it with the back of his fist.

  "You're some sort of ghost fighter then, are you?" Nash asked.

  "Ghoster," Savannah said. "People don't notice me unless I want them to, but it’s a summoner class."

  "Because you summon the armor?" Luke asked.

  Savannah dropped to the floor, her armor having disappeared in an instant. "That is one thing I can summon, yes." More apparitions appeared in the air above her. A sword, a couple of daggers, a mace, and even a bow, all of them hovering, near translucent.

  "Those can fight?" Priyah asked.

  "Yes," Savannah confirmed.

  Nash looked like he'd seen his favorite guitarist. "That. Is. Awesome. We need to test this out right now! Let's go, Trevor!"

  "Ready to get to work?" Luke asked Savannah.

  Her weapons seemed to shudder with excitement. And just like that, The Band was back together. They set off toward an empty barn with Nash urging Trevor to hurry the hell up so they could get going. Luke would make sure nothing happened to them, he decided, but wouldn't get involved in the fighting. If his party members were going to make it in New York, they needed to gain a whole lot of experience and power.

  He wondered how much they would be able to grow in two weeks' time.