"No."

"You can't be serious."

"No."

"I mean, Aqwen is a hell of a lizard and a wonderful second. You can't just pass her off."

"No," Aqwen said for the third time, glaring at Wulkun.

The old lizard sighed and let them say their piece before raising a hand, palm out to them. "Please, silence yourselves while I explain. Aqwen, get that look off your face as well. I whooped you as a child for glowering at people, and I shall do so as an adult if you wish."

Kaleb bit back a snort as Aqwen cleared her displeasure from her face. The other elders around the table watched on with looks of amusement as Wulkun turned to address them. He stayed in his seat, but his beady eyes pinned Kaleb and Aqwen in place as he intoned.

"Aqwen, you have been my chief of security and bodyguard for many years now. It is past time that you received a promotion."

"Promotion?! How the hell is this-"

CRACK

The edge of the wooden table cracked under Wulkun's fingers as he gripped it. His eyes flashed with murder, and Aqwen shut up. The old lizard got a hold of himself and blew out a breath before continuing.

"Yes. A promotion. I'd wager that the young Professor has many more duties topside that will take his attention. In his stead, he will need a competent and relentless second-in-command."

One of the other Brute Clan Elders, Jerald, spoke up at that. "Now wait a minute. Aren't you just planting one of your own in another Clan then, Wulkun? How can we be sure that Aqwen would speak with her Clan Elder's voice and not yours?"

"You doubt my honor, Elder Jerald?" Aqwen hissed.

The slim lizard curled in on himself under Aqwen's glare. But a cough from the other end of the table stole everyone's attention. It was V'alla who held up a hand as she locked eyes with Aqwen.

"It is a valid question, Aqwen. You have served Wulkun loyally for many years. No one would fault you for taking his side in our debates."

"A problem that shall be done away with once I retire." Wulkun interrupted. "As you all know, I am getting a little long in the tooth. But before my time comes, I should at least select an heir, correct? Well, my choice is obviously Aqwen."

The entire table shook their heads in confusion. If Aqwen was going to lead Clan Wulkun, then why should she serve under Kaleb in his own Clan? A horrifying thought entered Kaleb's mind. But it was quickly chased off by Wulkun's next words.

"However, that shall not be for some years now. Before then, she should cut her teeth as the second in command of another Clan, no? Who better than someone who has proven a true friend to the Clans? Professor, during this short time I ask that you teach young Aqwen well on how to lead. Not just like a member of the Brute Clan, but as something more."

Kaleb sighed internally as he looked around. Jerald and V'alla were clearly unhappy with this. Rhot was holding in laughter as he rocked in his tiny chair. Aqwen had her arms crossed and was pointedly not looking at him. This is what Kaleb had been afraid of. Inter-clan arguments and intrigue. A bunch of nonsense and power plays going on that he wanted nothing to do with. Granted, Aqwen was a solid lizard and would make a brilliant choice. Not to mention, it would free him up to return topside. But it all reeked of being too good to be true. That was never good.

"Professor?" Wulkun prompted.

Kaleb groaned loudly as he rubbed his eyes. Looking between Wulkun and Aqwen, he waggled his head noncommittally.

"Fine. But I'm not doing a contract. If Aqwen wants to join, that's her choice. You make some good points, and I would be lying if I said they didn't appeal to me. But I won't have her beholden to me under contract. That's just… icky."

"Icky?" Aqwen scowled at him.

Kaleb shrugged. It was the only word he could think of. "If you're in my Clan, then it's by choice. That's part of the reason I released everyone under contract."

"How… human of you, Professor." V'alla smiled at him.

Kaleb couldn't say anything to that, so he stayed quiet. Although Roy chuckled into his palm behind Kaleb's chair. Aqwen glowered at both Kaleb and then Wulkun before shifting toward Kaleb slightly. The thin lizard woman still looked pissed, but clearly agreed with Elder Wulkun's words. The Elder smiled at her before nodding his head.

"In that case, let me abolish Aqwen's contract with me. From there, she shall make her own choice in this matter."

"If that is to be the case, I could offer a counter-arrangement," Jerald said slowly, drawing both Aqwen and Wulkun's ire.

"Jerald, I would have you challenged and out on your tail within the day." Aqwen said through barely moving lips.

Kaleb briefly worried that was what was going to happen to him. But then he remembered he had a month as the new Elder before anyone could contest him. So he was saved from her wrath at least for a month, anyway. Wulkun made a big show of pulling out and ripping up a paper contract in front of the Elders. Once that was done, Aqwen fully left his side and stood beside Roy behind Kaleb. He wanted to ask her so many questions right now. But it seemed that the council needed to talk about other things. Particularly about the constant Player attacks.

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"They've slowed. But we all know that the denizens of Under-Town shall be back." Wulkun stated. "We must prepare for the next wave."

"My people need some rearranging first. But I'm sure Elder Rhot's Clan stands ready." V'alla said simply.

The largest lizard at the table grinned before pounding a fist to his chest. Rhot was clearly willing to go. But Kaleb also wanted to look in on his own people. He had only twenty, but he should at least get a look at them before he tossed them into a fight, right?

"Perhaps we should parley with the other gangs in the area. Our agreement with the Legion has benefited us greatly. Maybe we should reach out to the UGB or even the Raks."

"Trusting one snake is risky. Trusting three would be downright foolhardy, Jerald." Wulkun shook his head.

Kaleb nodded. "For all we know, the other gangs are pushing the attackers our way. The Phreaks are clearly working with them."

He was surprised that no one snapped at him for speaking up. But it seemed that defeating Gor'kinak, even as poorly as he did, garnered some respect. Jerald barely met his eye, and V'alla merely grinned at him. Like a cat studying a fairly plump mouse. Neither was great in the grand scheme of things. But at least they were listening.

"Perhaps you could build something, Professor? The walls of the Basilinoid conclave were nearly impenetrable." Elder Rhot said giddily. His smile stretched his face to creepy proportions.

Kaleb shrugged again. "I would need time and materials, Rhot. Unfortunately, most of my time here was spent preparing for Gor'kinak's nonsense. So I don't know what we have to work with."

A cough came from over his shoulder, and Kaleb and the others in the room looked back at Roy. The boy barely glanced at the others as he asked.

"Doc, what about a shield like the one at the Hangar?"

"We'd need something to power it, Roy. At home, we have the solution. Here, all they have is a few broken generators."

"But we could work out a conversion on the generators and then dump the solution from your arm," Roy offered.

Kaleb bit his lip in thought. That could work, but they would have to reinforce and test the generators like crazy. Also, if the solution proved too much for the generators, they'd lose them. It was risky. Kaleb was rubbing a finger under his chin as the others all stared at him. When it became clear he was lost in thought, Aqwen kicked the back of his chair.

"Agh! Whoa! Huh? Oh, Roy's idea has some merit. But we'd risk losing the generators if we improperly prepared them." Kaleb said, snapping out of his thoughts.

"What if you had better technology?" Rhot asked, doing nothing to hide a smile.

Kaleb raised an eyebrow in question. Then he remembered that Rhot's clan was the one with the forge and the freaking genetics lab. Was the lizard hiding something else? The answer was made clear when Jerald nearly had another fit.

"You can't just spill Council secrets like that, Rhot! There's a human present."

"One I have already vouched for, Elder Jerald." Kaleb rolled his eyes before locking them back on Rhot's.

The big lizard was practically vibrating out of his chair as he looked over to Wulkun. The elderly lizard nodded and got to his feet. Aqwen moved to help, but stopped before looking at Kaleb. He waved for her to continue to help the old lizard, and they all exited the kitchen. Rhot ran past them all as soon as they entered the foyer and charged out the door. Wulkun laughed as he brushed off Aqwen's help.

"You'd better hurry, Professor. He's liable to start explaining even when no one is there."

Kaleb huffed, but nodded as he waved for Roy to follow him. Aqwen and the other two Elders seemed less enthused, but hurried along as well. Kaleb and Roy exited the mansion at a run and spotted the large Elder turning the corner at the back of the house. They followed as best they could, dashing around the nearby Brute Clan lizards going about their day. They crossed the small sparring area at a run, following the bigger lizard's wake. Kaleb noted that they passed the Rhot Clan's cave containing their forges and genetic equipment. They passed the other corner of the mansion and headed for the far edge of the property.

Nestled in the corner, between the cave and the wall surrounding the mansion, was an entrance dug into the northern wall. This one was absolutely massive though, and Kaleb could already see multiple large trucks inside the space. They were all from different companies, and all of them were beat up and old-looking. He assumed these were the vehicles Rhot's people used to get to Under-Town. Elder Rhot was smiling as he waited by the cave entrance, waving a massive arm at the fleet of trucks.

"What's all this?" Kaleb asked as Rhot practically scooped him up.

"This is my convoy. Rhot's convoy has traveled across the country picking up and reselling scrap to random cities. But when we heard about this group here in Austin. We stopped selling and started traveling. All while still collecting bits of useful tech."

"Okay, I guess that's helpful. But why is it a secret?"

Rhot thrust Kaleb forward bodily. Sending him skidding toward one of the bigger trucks. At first he thought it was another dump truck or similar. But then he spotted the heavily armored metal plates along the side of the long vehicle. Roy ran up beside him and jumped, grabbing the edge of the truck's roof and pulling himself on top. Kaleb was momentarily confused, then he realized what he was looking at. It was an old military-style APC. It was clearly old, and the wheels had long gone flat. But the metal was still good, and the insides were bound to be in decent shape.

"Professor!" Roy called from on top of the car.

"What are you doing up there, Roy?" Kaleb questioned as he took a step back and jumped.

Pulling himself on top of the metal behemoth, Kaleb came face to face with a deep black hole staring right at him. He pulled his face back and discovered he was literally looking down a barrel of a massive twin-barreled energy cannon. It was a turret that was meant to be manned from inside the APC. But Roy still managed to swivel it out of Kaleb's face. Originally, Kaleb had been planning on using the vehicle's metal plating to shore up the mansion's defenses. But with the reveal of the turret, all new plans danced through his head.

"You know what they say, Doc." Roy chuckled. "A good offense is the best defense."

Kaleb could only chuckle and shake his head. The sentiment was decidedly Brute Clan, and he couldn't disagree with it at all. If he made the mansion such a difficult target for the Players, they'd eventually stop their assaults. Of course, that meant he was going to have to kill players in droves. But it wouldn't be him, really. Just the things he created. Roy tapped his knee, bringing Kaleb out of his mental gymnastics. Looking up, he saw the boy pointing at two more identical APCs parked right next to the first one. They were in similar shape, but Kaleb's brain went haywire with plans. The attacking Players weren't going to know what hit them.

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