Despite the hours that had passed, Maren was still thirsty. 

She sat hunched over on a hospital bench, sipping what was probably her hundredth glass of water. Hours of waiting, talking, waiting, interrogations, waiting, interviews, waiting, and more waiting really made a girl parched. 

That and nearly killing herself twice over with her Gift. 

Though, honestly, she hadn’t been as close to death as Mav. He’d more or less stabilized by the time Koda had found them, then he was in safe hands after the ambulances arrived. Now she waited outside his room, where he lay in a warming bed. He’d likely spend the night there and be free to move about tomorrow. 

And all twenty-three kidnapped people were safe, recuperating from their ordeal in the hospital, their relieved families either in their rooms or talking to one another in the halls. The only deaths from this endeavor were those men working for Sekko Research who were involved in the experiments or those trying to contain them. 

Quite frankly, the end result was a miracle. 

“One hell of a first mission.” 

It was Koda, appearing as if from nowhere. He didn’t sit by her on the bench, instead adopting his normal arms-crossed pose while standing several feet away. 

Maren smirked. “I wouldn’t mind if the next few are a little less intense.” 

“Probably was thrilling down there, even with all those lives at stake. That your first life-or-death situation?” 

“Not exactly.” 

Koda eyed her, then resumed staring at the door. “At least you’re off to a good record for your nameless guild.” 

“One successful case and one dropped case isn’t exactly a good start.” 

Entering Sekko Research through the sewers had been one of her last-resort plans, but she’d needed to think of all the possibilities. While the boys left her for those couple hours, she talked to some Linick citizens – sometimes in areas with public cameras, but far enough away so they wouldn’t pick up her voice. She documented a fake request that would bring her into the sewers. As she was the leader of an interim guild, documentation policies were lax: Requests for her weren’t officially documented with the government, but personally documented for tax reporting. That meant her documents could be a little less detailed. Who needed inane details like the name and contact information of a client when the government only cared about how much credit it could take from her?

Unfortunately for Maren, because that case never existed, she had to file it as “dropped” in her official records.

“Not to mention I can’t even take credit for my real, successful mission,” Maren said. 

“The ‘dropped’ case was a clever, if somewhat flimsy, excuse,” Koda said. “Were the justice system fair, it wouldn’t hold up.” 

“Were the justice system fair, we wouldn’t have needed to circumvent all these detours.”

“Point taken.” 

“So what now?” 

“It’s a mess out there, but everyone’s trying to spin it as a win for themselves: the police, the governor’s Peace Keepers, the Ardent sect, and even Sekko’s CFO.” 

Maren’s stomach churned. Koda had informed her a little of what he’d discovered earlier in the CEO’s office. The monsters she’d been fighting all day had been magically anthropomorphized puke!

No wonder she’d wanted to hurl upon first seeing and smelling them.

“What’s gonna happen to her?” Maren asked, trying to get her mind off of vomit. 

“Natasha will take a plea bargain, rat out everyone involved. But we only gathered proof of the Titan torturing and human experiments, so David Fujita and his inner circle will likely only be executed instead of being brutally tortured and then executed.”

David Fujita’s inner circle, or at least the ones who’d survived, would likely get as harsh a punishment as him. Most of the lead scientists on the program were determined to be killed by the abominations. To Maren’s knowledge, the only one who’d survived was the lone scientist in the room with the Baby Titan.

Maren hadn’t been privy to any interrogations the man had incurred, so she knew nothing regarding how he survived while everyone else had died, how he’d gotten involved with the program, or even his name.

Not that it should matter. In the end, he’d face his punishment. Funny. Finally a morally corrupt scientist was facing payment for the twisted things he’d done. If only that could be true for all who desecrate beautiful things in the name of progress.

Maren shook her head. Now her thoughts were heading toward dangerous territory.

“It’s hard to believe that David Fujita was funding terrorists,” Maren whispered, hoping to take herself out of her own head.  

“Unofficially. He wiped that Rise file clean before I finished downloading the information about the experiments.” 

“Was that all that happened up there?” 

“Basically, yes. I’d wanted to interrogate the CEO further, but he never showed up. I saw him coming up the elevator, but something must’ve distracted him before he reached me. In that time, he got rid of what I hadn’t already downloaded.” 

Koda’s demeanor never changed. Bringing in a heretic who’d harmed a Titan was a big deal, but mostly for the church. The Peace Keepers would have promoted Koda several ranks if he’d given them a terrorist funds-supplier, as well as hidden locations of terrorist bases. 

Yet he talked about that failure as if he were discussing the weather to a stranger on the train. 

“Regardless, count yourself lucky,” Koda said. “This bargain the governor’s office is giving you is a good one.” 

“Good, if unhelpful,” Maren said. “It would’ve been a great start, saying my first win was against a frickin’ scientific monster. Now the most I can say is I aided the kidnapped people after they were brought to the hospital.” 

“But now you don’t have to come back for court. Trust me, it’s best that you pretend you weren’t involved in this.” 

Not that it was surprising for the government to offer this deal. Despite the governor’s office and several Peace Keeper majors working to keep this investigation nonexistent until after the day’s festivals, they were now trying to claim all of the credit. 

But why had they been so determined to keep every able body away from this case? 

That would have to be investigated later. Right now, it looked like they had something else to deal with as a nurse approached them. 

“You may visit your friend whenever you want now,” the nurse said. “His readings show that he’s waking up. But, I’m sorry Holy Wave Leaper, I’m afraid only our Venerable Ethereal Leader may see him.” 

“That’s fine, thank you,” Maren said, then the nurse left. 

“I assume you have a few more things to say to or ask me,” Koda said. 

“Two things,” Maren said. “What’ll happen to you guys? You disobeyed direct orders.” 

“Technically, we saved a civilian. We just so happened to save twenty-three more and uncover illegal activities in a corrupt company.” 

“Won’t the Peace Keepers see through it?” 

“Most likely. They won’t care. Especially not our cohort.” 

“So...” Maren’s knuckles clenched. “You both will go back to them?” 

“That was never a question for me,” Koda said. “But Mav’s a different story.” 

“I don’t think he’d leave without you.” 

“Mav’s a little slow, but he isn’t truly dumb. Most importantly, he’s a good guy. And he actually wants to do good. He’s known for a while the Peace Keepers aren’t for him, but he stayed because he figured that was where he could do the most amount of good all across the country. 

“But he has a different option now, doesn’t he?” 

Maren tried to keep her hopes in check. This was by no means a confirmation. However... 

“Then tell Mav to come to the park near the hospital at ten tomorrow morning,” Maren said. “If he wants to make history and become the vice president of Talam’s first traveling guild.” 

Koda actually smirked. “I’ll be sure to do that. The second thing?” 

“If we ever work together again and you want to use me as bait, let me know beforehand,” Maren said. “I wouldn’t have fought so hard and I could’ve been a better help to Mav and the civilians.” 

Koda eyed her, as if evaluating her yet again. “What makes you say I –?” 

“You said you couldn’t see in the basement because of spatial tech, but then accurately said the number of people and monsters coming after us. Then, after you got what you wanted, you waited an awfully long time to tell me the monsters and Sekko thugs were close to me. Also, why was Mav so far away? Why did it take him just enough time for me to be thrown with the civilians before he knew where to go?” 

Koda didn’t respond, but he didn’t look away, either. There was no shame in his stare. 

“So, if we ever see each other on the road and we work together again, we’ll have a different dynamic,” Maren said. “I’ll be a partner, not a pawn.” 

“I’ll consider it.” Then Koda entered Mav’s room. 

Maren grumbled. Guess that was the best she could expect from him. 

Now, however, it was time to find a place to sleep. She had already woken up much earlier than she usually liked today, which was tiring enough. But after all this, despite only being eight in the evening and long before her bedtime, she was exhausted. 

And she needed to be rested. Tomorrow would be a very important day.