A fist smmed down on the table in the meeting room for the Windfury Guild. A man’s voice roared: “Who the hell pays 500 grand for a C-rank gate?” Several other men in the room shrank back, their shoulders and eyes shaking. The majority stayed silent; few wanted to answer the angry guildmaster’s raving. “It makes no sense, dammit!”
“It was a st second desperation bid. Could be someone who needs to dump some bodies in a hurry.” One man in the room had the gumption to speak up, but his nasally tone only made veins bulge on the guild master’s forehead.
“Why the hell would you drop 500 G on dumping bodies in a Gate when a good cleaner only runs 20? Jeremy I swear I’ll rip your tongue out if you say something stupid again.”
“Easy, boss. I was just joking around.”
“The better expnation is they know something. I bet the Association is using a proxy bidder to avoid corruption charges again.”
“You think it’s a subjugation?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense.” The guildmaster rubbed his chin. “Get IT on the line. See if they can find out who the bidder is. If not, I’ll call in a favor from…”
Bring
Jeremy looked at the text message from the IT department and started cackling. “Boss, I already know who won the bid.” He waved his phone, showing the profile picture of a young woman with white hair. “Remember that support css girl from Toronto we were looking for? Don’t know why she’s putting up for this gate, but we can just go find out, can’t we?”
“Isn’t that the one who’s neighbors with Heavy Tomtom?”
“Yeah but there’s no way that fatass would be taking some D-rank into a C-rank gate. She’s probably recruited a team using her support ability as leverage. Give me five guys C or higher and we’ll convince her to give up the gate to us and to join the guild. Two birds, one stone.”
“And the rest of the team she hires?”
“You know better than anyone, boss.” Jeremy shrugged. “What happens in the Gate stays in the Gate.”
“Get changed.” Scale set the pile of clothes down and turned to leave the bathroom. The mirrors and windows were fogged over and the kid was clean. It seemed Scale didn’t need to scrub the child herself.
Harper didn’t say anything. She was as quiet as a mouse, her eyes hidden under the towel that wrapped her hair. She took the clothes and shut the door.
Scale didn’t have much to do for prep work. She changed into her special association-provided uniform and was ready to go. She met Harper’s dark stare as the two left the house with a chuckle. The two walked together for a while in silence. The Gate they were going to was uptown, near a Nile Company warehouse in the east. At a leisurely pace it would take them about an hour.
“Keep staring and you’ll hurt your eyes,” said Scale, deciding to break the quiet standoff.
“Did you say anything?” Harper clearly didn’t want to banter.
"I said keep staring and you'll—"
"Did you say anything to my mom?"
“Ah.” Scale paused and rubbed her head, trying to think of a way to word what she needed to say. Finally she settled on: “Didn’t need to.”
“Didn’t need to?”
“I wanted to spoil your dark, shameful secrets, I truly did, but your ma’ beat me to it.”
“W-what are you saying?” Harper started shaking.
“Kid, do you really think you’re the first person to get bullied in highschool?”
Harper stopped walking. Her breathing quickened. She closed her eyes and tightened her trembling fists.
“I’m not being bullied.”
“Sure, sure,” said Scale. She waved her hand dismissively and kept walking. “But if you were—”
“I’m not.”
“If you were… It wouldn’t be anything to be ashamed of. It’s the ones doing the bullying that are in the wrong.”
Harper grit her teeth. Like she was trying to spit venom, she said: “I’m not taking life advice from a fucking lizard.”
Scale stopped walking. Harper covered her mouth when she noticed Scale’s shoulders were trembling. Harper's head cooled off. She immediately regretted saying something like that.
“I-I’m sor—”
“Bwahahahahaha!” Scale’s howling ughter drew looks from other passerbye. With a spin, Scale wrapped Harper into a (for the teenage girl at least) very awkward hug. “You really are a good kid.” Scale gently pat Harper’s back. She wanted to pat the kid’s head but Harper was a little bit taller and it would be hard to do that naturally.
“W-what?”
“Let’s move a little faster!” Scale’s mood seemed much brighter as she started moving again, bouncing like a dog that just got asked if it wants to go for a walk. Harper flinched and, realizing how far apart they suddenly were, started jogging to catch up.
“W-wait!”
“Time waits for no fucking lizard!”
“Okay so I just show you this QR code thing on my app?”
“Yup. Just open the app and—No open the Association app you bid for the gate on—No not the bank app. How did you even get into the maps? Okay yes that’s the right app now just click on the tab here—no no go back stop stop stop are you doing this on purpose? Just… Just give me the phone.” There was a brief pause as the phone was handed over. “Now I’ll scan that aaaaand—There you go. You’re free to enter the Gate anytime with your team.”
Scale was interacting with the Association staff member posted in front of the Gate and, unfortunately, she was acting like a boomer with her technical skill. She hoped it could be forgiven but she couldn’t exactly tell the random employee she had just come back to Earth. She put on the gentlest ‘I’m sorry for being stupid’ face and smiled at the frustrated worker. He seemed to forgive her, at least. Harper was grumbling off to the side with an embarrassed look on her face.
“Okie dokie. Let’s get this bread.” Scale spped her face and started stretching.
“Someone should confiscate your phone.”
“You don’t like my lingo? I think I’m pretty radical.”
“Know what? You were right. I certainly wouldn't be the first highschooler to get bullied considering you exist.”
“That’s the spirit, choom!”
“Now you’re just mixing in fake sng from video games!”
“That’s from a tabletop. The guide books included lists of preem sng to use…” Scale paused for a moment before her eyes started to sparkle. “Wait, they made a video game?”
“You’re a huge nerd, huh?”
“All the dragons I know are nerds.”
“Really?”
“I only know one other dragon, though—”
The two girls, having overcome the earlier hurdles, continued their recovered banter until they entered the portal.
The association staff member, after watching the girls go into the Gate, picked up his phone and made a call. “Yeah she went into the Gate. Yes. No. No, just one other person. From their conversation it was a Highschool girl… I’ll send you the camera feeds now.”
The inside of the Gate was a forested region full of loud, buzzing bugs. The bugs were, of course, at least four meters tall each, but they were still insects. Scale had a wry smile on her face as she created a small bubble shield around her and Harper. The massive bugs rammed into the transparent golden shield over and over, smudging their blue bodily fluids on it. “Feels like that one time I drove through Louisiana in the summer of 06,” said Scale, admiring the makeshift windshield she had made out of magic. “Awful memory. The hurricane the year before got accelerated to Cat 8 from a Gate in the Gulf and wiped half the seaboard. I had to go help rebuild my company’s entire architecture in New-New-New Orleans in the aftermath. I moved jobs the next year.”
Scale soon realized that her teammate wasn’t listening to any of her hard won life wisdom.
Harper was instead rocking on the ground in tears, completely in the fetal position. “B-b-bugs. Too many,” she muttered.
“Oh come on, you big baby. They’re just monsters like any other.” Scale grabbed Harper’s arms and stood the girl up.
“P-please can we not do this?”
“You keep this up and I’m dropping the barrier.”
“EEEEK NO NO I’LL LISTEN. ANYTHING BUT THAT.”
“Good. Now the atmosphere here is pretty gross, so how about you use that ability of yours.”
“I am using my ability.”
“I meant on me! I’m stewing in this humidity.”
“I-I’ll try.” Harper closed her eyes and started to focus on her mana. She became so hyper focused she never noticed Scale’s hand nd on her shoulder.
“That’s good. Yes, keep your mana rotation up.” Scale’s soothing voice, accompanied by a gentle white glow, seemed to hypnotize Harper.
“You’re doing great, Harper. Just listen to the sound of my voice. Now focus on speeding up the rotations while spreading your mana outwards.”
“I’m trying.”
“Don’t try to send it out of your body just yet. Let it sit near the skin. Keep spinning it faster—just beneath the skin. You’re doing great.”
“It’s hard.” Harper’s skin flushed red. She couldn’t tell but her body took on numerous injuries along her meridians and mana pathways, but those injuries were simply healed too quickly for her to notice.
Scale employed the greatest cheating method she could think of. How hard could mana manipution be if there were no risk of Energy Deviation? The answer proved itself after a few more followed instructions.
Harper’s mana bloomed like a flower, stretching across the entire barrier, unfolding in yers. Scale’s ughter sounded like a church bell ringing when distorted by overpping mana.
