The person stepped around a far corner before I could zoom my vision on them, but I'd seen enough. Already that morning I'd found people turned into werewolves and sent back into town to kill. I wasn't about to ignore a corpse masquerading as a person.

So I set my tether point on the roof of the wooden building the man had just hidden behind. The golden chain shot out, linked me to the roof, then dragged me soaring down the street. A lot of people turned to stare, and I waved as I passed. As soon as I landed on the roof, I scanned the area.

There! A man and a woman were running around a Base Camp tent 2 blocks away. I leaped off the roof and activated Mirror Cloak. My Phantomstep Breeches were still repairing after getting mostly vaporized by Ashkaroth, but with my wolf leather hat's added 15% stealth, I risked sprinting around the far side of that Base Camp tent. Slowing as I approached the next corner, I peered around.

The man and woman were standing in an open spot between Base Camp tents, scanning the area, clearly expecting me. Identify kicked in, confirming my memory wasn't confused.

"Martin Briggs. Baby human, level 24. Team Lethal Weapon."

"Trish Briggs. Baby human, level 24. Team Lethal Weapon."

The 30-something couple looked just as mean as before, both scowling as they surveyed the area. The two brief times I'd interacted with them were more than enough to seal their faces into my memory. First they'd tried to kill me to steal Switchblade and my gear until I beat them all senseless with my Fuzzy Shorts of Friendship.

Then I'd seen them die.

While I was flying over the devastation of the stage-1 collapse, I'd witnessed them get swallowed by some kind of ooze creature. Not only did they very much look alive, dying had somehow helped them gain a bunch of levels. They wore better gear too, each with ranger-style black tunics and armored leathers.

"Are you sure he saw us?" Trish muttered.

Martin shushed her before growling, "He saw us. That thunknobber's so full of himself, he won't be able to resist following."

It sounded like Cyrus was messing with their swears in a totally different way than with my team. I retreated around the corner, mind racing. They were alive, and they wanted me to find them. That couldn't be good, but Martin was right. I couldn't resist finding out what was going on.

So I deactivated Mirror Cloak. No sense them learning about another ability of mine. Then I casually strolled around the tent. They tensed, Trish clutching her husband's shoulder, while Martin sneered.

"How did you two survive the collapse?"

"You're not the only one with abilities," Martin growled.

"No, but I saw you get eaten by that slime."

"You lie," Martin spat and Trish took an angry step forward. "You saw, but didn't help? All of our people died!"

"I did try to help, remember? I offered to lead you to town but you were too interested in murder to listen. Those deaths are on your shoulders."

"You still imagine yourself a knight in shining armor," Martin sneered. "Had to interfere with the werewolves this morning, had to save the day."

"How'd you know about the werewolves?" I would have remembered seeing them in the plaza. Had they been hiding somewhere, watching? Why would they know to do that? Were they in league with the werewolves somehow?

"Your time is coming," Trish stated, her tone cold and mean.

That was about as bland a threat as I'd ever heard. Fitting for her, though. I shrugged. "I still have those fuzzy shorts. Want to go another round?"

"You—" she started forward, but Martin grabbed her wrist and said, "Playing the hero attracts a lot of attention. Attention you can't handle."

Vague didn't work for him either. "Clue me in, then."

"I'd rather slit your throat," Trish snapped.

"Do you always hate people who don't let you murder them?"

Martin dragged Trish back beside him and said, "Today we came to deliver a message. You're marked for death."

I'd pretty much had enough of their bull, so I started forward. "How about you explain that to the council?"

Without warning, the two of them flashed with brilliant light and disappeared, leaving behind a tiny black sphere that emitted intense mana pressure.

"Oh, Schumann!" I dove around the nearest tent just before an enormous explosion detonated behind me.

The blast shredded the tent and caught me mid-jump like another Thunder Punch from the Rockslide Ogre. The impact catapulted me right through 4 more Base Camp tents. Each one blinked, then disappeared, barely slowing my progress.

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Shouts and screams followed me as I played battering ram through the residential area. I managed to twist in mid-air before hitting the ground. Landing on my feet, I braced myself and slid another hundred yards down a dirt street, knocking people flying before I finally managed to stop.

Shouts of anger and cries of alarm rang through town and fighters swarmed in from all sides, followed by healers. The blast had occurred in a mostly residential neighborhood. It shredded a dozen Base Camp tents and injured 8 people, but thankfully no one died.

One of the wall watch officers asked for a statement. I explained the little I knew and urged him to send an alert to every watch squad to take the Briggs into custody if they saw them.

That satisfied the watch, but not the unlucky folks whose Base Camp tents got shredded. When damaged enough, the tents disappeared until re-summoned later. They couldn't be permanently destroyed, but apparently the repairs actually cost the owner mana crystals.

"Hey, who's going to pay for all this?" one burly fellow shouted, advancing on me. I recognized him from the big group of teams Burns had led to Stepstone.

"Ray Winstone. Baby human level 16. Team Narnia."

"Hi, Ray," I said with a nod. "Sorry about that mess. It wasn't intentional."

Ray didn't seem as friendly as I'd hoped. The big guy looked to be in his mid-30's. He stopped a few paces away and folded his burly arms over his chest, scowling. "Heard your report to the watch. You say Martin and Trish Briggs triggered that blast?"

I nodded. "You knew them?"

Other folks started gathering around us. As I scanned the crowd, most of them were still below level 25, so I didn't get info about their classes. One interesting fact was that most of them came from different teams. I'd assumed teams set up camp near each other like we'd done, but that must not always be the case.

Ray said, "Martin was a trucker, part of the Teamsters union with us."

I looked around again. Most of the gathered men and women looked pretty solid, with faces and bodies that suggested a life of hard work. Some truckers got pretty overweight driving all the time, but most of the ones I'd known in my life had been hard-working, rugged people.

"You were all teamsters?"

A tall fellow with thinning hair asked, "Got a problem with that?"

"Randal Thorson. Baby human level 20. Team Wheel of Time."

"Not at all. Just trying to clarify why folks from a bunch of different teams all set up your tents in this sector."

"We can set up our tents wherever we like," Ray said, taking a half step forward. "Some of us don't abandon our connection to our home world like you, freak."

"We're all fighting to save Earth."

Ray scowled. "We are, but what are you doing? Fraternizing with the AI responsible for killing everyone, winning favors for colluding with the enemy."

"Did you forget to put any points into Intelligence?" I tried to keep my voice calm, but again with the stupid accusations. My patience began to evaporate.

Randal said, "Did the AI tell you to blow up the teamsters' neighborhood because we dared break with the teams he tried to impose on us?"

I chuckled. "Do you always blame the guy who's been punched in the face for bleeding near you?"

"No. I blame the guy who chats with the AI like old friends and who also admitted he was chasing a fellow Teamster for the blast that hurt a bunch of my people and caused us a lot of expensive damage."

"Again, that wasn't intentional on my part. If Martin was one of you, then you'll have to ask him why he triggered that bomb. Have you actually seen him since we all came up to this stage?"

"What's it to you?"

"That's the second time they've tried to murder me."

Ray shrugged. "Maybe he's got his reasons."

"So what reasons would he have for triggering a bomb that big in the middle of a group of his friends?"

Nothing. No murmurs, no doubts. The solidarity of the group would have been impressive any other day.

"We've just got your word that it was Martin who triggered the bomb," said Ray.

A thick-set woman with biceps bigger than most men I knew added, "Makes a convincing cover-up, don't it? You kill ol' Martin and play the victim. Blast that big shoulda injured you a lot more if'n it was real."

"Carrie Nowak. Baby human level 15. Team Matrix."

Her comment triggered a round of angry muttering from the gathered teamsters. They were all insane!

I forced down my growing frustration. "Sorry about your tents. If you weren't all acting like a bunch of Amadeus, I would have even helped cover some of your repair costs since the blast targeted me."

The mood darkened and Ray growled, "Not the first time you've made a mess, and this time you even admit you're at fault."

"I admit you're a bunch of morons. If you see Martin or Trish again, watch yourselves. They're not your friends."

Carrie cracked her neck and an impressive flanged mace appeared in her hands. "I don't mind collecting damages the hard way."

Other weapons appeared and the group moved to surround me. I sighed. Idiots knew no bounds. Fighting them would be such a waste of my time.

So I said, "You're lucky I'm in a hurry. Here."

I tossed handfuls of tier-0 mana crystals into the air. There were barely 50 of them, but even I had to admit the sparkling blue crystals looked pretty impressive as they tumbled high above the group in a spreading cloud.

Everyone forgot about me as they scrambled to snatch mana crystals from the sky. Despite all their claims of solidarity, more than one blunted weapon came into play as they swarmed the crystals, every man and woman for themselves.

It was a sad display on so many levels. I activated Mirror Cloak and jogged away, leaving the shouting tumult behind. That had been a waste, but I still puzzled over the weird encounter with the Briggs as I headed out of town.

What was that explosion? How had they survived and even managed to level up a ton? Maybe it was possible they'd somehow survived the slime monster and escaped the collapsing level, but I didn't buy it.

What other option could there be? Identify said they were still Martin and Trish, and they acted just as ornery and stupid as I remembered. That probably ruled out another Puppetmaster using their skins. I didn't pretend to know all the monsters who could masquerade as people, but could a monster mimic their behavior so well?

Something weird was going on, and I suspected I'd probably run into Martin and Trish Briggs again. Next time, I wouldn't waste time chatting. For now, though, I had hunting to do. Dealing with the council had been productive, but the teamsters reminded me that so many of the survivors still didn't get what was going on. They intentionally limited themselves. That mentality was going to get them killed.

I needed to do some hunting. So I called Nigel to my side. The tiny murder kitten jumped to my shoulder and nuzzled my neck.

"About time. Where are we going?"

"Into the mountains. It's time to hunt."

"I hunt better after steak."

I tossed him a huge steak, summoned Switchblade, and jumped on. Nigel bounded into place in front of me, quivering with excitement. I rolled on the throttle and we shot off through the trees.

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