Chapter 16: Chapter Sixteen

The bus ride back to the guild wasn't nearly as awkward, but it also wasn't really noisy. We sat in silence, both thinking about things for most of the ride, until I finally realized we were getting close and asked. "What exactly did Ian want by the way? You made it sound really urgent, did they get a lead or something?" I wasn't sure if I wanted that or not. I wasn't strong enough to deal with this killer bullshit yet, I'd been counting on a long drawn out investigation to give me time to build power.

She shook her head. "No, no leads. But yeah it is urgent. Apparently news of my brother's..." she winced, still having trouble saying it. "What happened to my brother, reached the capital. The guild master there, Nightstrike's dad, sent an F ranker specialized in target elimination to deal with it. We got called in because since we're on the case we're supposed to be meeting them." I blinked. Target elimination. Which kind of sounded like a nice way to say bounty hunter...or assassin. Which was all kinds of intimidating.

I was confused about one thing though. "How do they have an F grade to just send around to help. Aren't they rare? There's only like two or three in town I think." F rankers were top of the food chain as far as I knew. Considering how broad the gap between G and F were that made sense. I could break into G rank after breaking the thousand point wall, but F rank would be ten times that. Considering it would probably take even me literal months to get through H rank one could imagine how long it took to get someone to F rank through normal means.

Jessie shook her head. "F rankers are pretty common in the capital. E rankers are scary rare, there are only about a dozen on the whole planet, but the Ascendant Academy is in the capital, and most of the teachers there are in the high F ranks. The academy spans the entire gamut of students from I to F, with the option to graduate once you break through G rank or stay to become a faculty advisor. The spots are limited though, so usually only people who manage G rank before twenty get invited from the outer cities."

My eyes were wide. "Wait...what? How? You make it sound like there are thousand of Ascendants there. From what I know only one percent of people are born with Impact. Where do they find so many people?" Not to mention the necessary renown to actually rank them up, you couldn't farm that shit. You needed some way to genuinely spread the fame of students to boost their reputation. School competitions or what have you wouldn't be enough, they would have to be out actively saving people.

She shrugged. "The capital is huge. Most of the planets in the Conglomerate were terraformed originally in a single encampment, and the rest of the cities grew out from that as needed. The entire population of Callus lived in the capital for centuries back when the planet was settled. Besides being bigger the whole place is more developed and more organized because it was planned for mass occupation to start. It's literally ten thousand times the size of Valen." She saw me gaping and giggled. "Yeah I had that same expression when I first heard that, but its nothing compared to seeing it for the first time."

That surprised me. "You've been there?" Jessie didn't strike me a traveler, though I hadn't known her brother. I guessing assuming her whole princess in a tower vibe meant she'd never gone anywhere in her life was kind of silly now that I thought about it. "What was that like? Ten thousand times the size of Valen is...big. There's ten million people in the city. What the hell does a city of a hundred billion even look like?" I could hardly imagine anything that size, it just seemed so...insane.

She blew out a breath in remembered awe. "Huge. I went with my brother for a conclave a few years ago. The Unity has gatherings like that when big wigs come on planet as a greeting. Executives only of course. Alan and Lindsey were pretty young for G rankers, so they got pretty good treatment over there. They were past twenty so no Academy invite but the higher ups considered them to have potential and sent them to join the conclave as Valen's representatives." Her voice was soft and wistful when she talked about it, and I felt bad for bringing it up.

Desperate to change the subject I cut in. "So do you know anything about this F ranker? Sound like they work with the guild master down there pretty closely, so they must be higher up in the F ranks right? Or I guess maybe just uniquely talented. I'm not sure why he would send an assassin anyway, wouldn't an investigator have been a better investment?" I knew shit about investigation, and while Nightstrike seemed to know what was what her ability didn't seem geared to that kind of thing, a specialist would have helped.

Jessie shook her head. "Politics. Nightstrike is on the case for Valen, which means if someone swoops in and solves it she loses all the reputation that would earn her. Solving a case like this could pay dividends, while they can't let word spread too far right now, once we have the killer caught or taken care of they can release the news. Then Nightstrike comes off like a hero and gets a ticket to F grade. The assassin is there to take care of the killer and keep an eye on Nightstrike, because since it's gotten this far she can't turn that down, even though I'm sure she wants to."

I shot her a questioning look and she sighed. "Nightstrike and her dad don't get along. The old guild master was powerful, but from what I know of him he wasn't a great father. He cheated on her mother with one of the guild members and then took his mistress and Nightstrike's half brother with him when he left. She's actually considered an Academy level talent, even the capital wants her, but she refuses to be associated with him at all." I had no idea how she knew any of this, and it must have showed because she giggled again, smirking at me smugly. "I'm friendly and cute and a good listener. People aren't careful when I talk to them. It comes in handy for getting gossip."

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I was more and more impressed with Jessie the longer I knew her. She was whip smart, and even though she played the perky airhead and was even genuinely a happy person, she knew how to use people's perception against them. Finally the bus stopped and we got out, heading into the guild. We separated for a bit when we got there. I was carrying my costume in a backpack just in case, they made sure we had them on us at all times. I found an empty room to change, the guild had a few of them lying around for just that purpose, and Jessie went back to the room she was staying in.

We agreed to meet up at the conference room Ian was waiting in, so after Jessie gave me directions, we split up and got changed before heading up to meet the new backup. We met back up at the invisible stairway and headed to the room in question in full costume about twenty minutes later. I admit to being a bit nervous. I was starting to get that this was just the tip of the Unity iceberg, and meeting the F ranker the capital branch had sent would in a way be my first introduction to the wider organization.

I'd long since decided to take advantage of the Unity for as long as I could. They had a valid and well thought out method for raising low grade Ascendants, plenty of resources they could give me, and were a viable cover while I was in the early days of my growth.If I got stronger as an independent it would draw tons of attention to me and raise all sorts of questions, plus I would miss out on perfectly viable points. Might as well get the best of both worlds, I could use the Unity for resources and cover and use the WCP for information and trading.

Which meant this meeting was going to be incredibly important. I needed to keep climbing the ranks as best I could, so I needed to make an impression on the higher ups. Which was why it was somewhat off putting when we entered the conference room to find Nightstrike glaring daggers at the small, graceful woman who had to be the F ranker from the capital branch. Cap looked so relieved to see us when he noticed us come in I had the inexplicable urge to run away. He smiled widely at us. "Hey! Come on in you two! I'd like to introduce you to someone!"

His eyes were practically screaming at us to help, so I glanced at Jessie and we walked inside, closing the door behind us and feeling like we were on death row. He gestured to the tiny, lithe form of the F ranker. "This is Shadowthorn. The capital branch sent her to help us with the investigation." He put on a very fake smile that made me almost positive I was missing something. That feeling became much more severe when Jessie stiffened, staring at the other woman in what I could only describe as a sort of fascinated horror.

Nightstrike sneered. "No. She's here to babysit me because my father knows it will make me angry and I can't actually do anything about it. It's the only reason he would send HER here." Her tone was poisonous and so cold I felt like I was trying to eat a cyanide popsicle. Cap winced, trying to keep his smile on his face as he basically oozed discomfort, and I got the feeling that this person and Nightstrike had some serious history. A feeling she confirmed seconds later when she said scathingly. "I'm surprised you didn't bring Eric along. Why not show the little prince how mommy works."

That was when the situation clicked. Based on the various ways people were acting I had to guess this was Nightstrike's stepmother, the younger guild member her father had left her mother for when he was promoted to the capital. I wondered briefly what kind of asshole would send his mistress to bodyguard his daughter from his first marriage, but then I had to admit I had no knowledge of the situation. Family drama aside she was an F ranker. He obviously cared enough to want Nightstrike protected, even if she seemed to wish he didn't.

Shadowthorn sighed. "Because this is no place for a child right now, Calliope. Look, I'm not your enemy here. I understand you don't like me. I understand why, and I'm not stupid enough to try to change that, though I do wish you weren't so hostile to Eric, he's still just a kid, and what happened wasn't his fault. Regardless you ARE my son's half sister, and even if you weren't I'm here on orders. You find the killer and I'll take them out. The faster you do that the sooner I can go home and leave you in peace. I'm no happier to be here than you are to have me around."

Nightstrike glared at her, unwilling to budge in her obvious hatred. Which I supposed was fair, I didn't have any idea what had gone on between them. It sounded like the guild master in the capital at least cared enough to want someone looking out for Nightstrike that he sent somebody with a vested interest in her survival. I had to admit it hit a bit of a sore spot. She was in the same position I was, or at least close. A deadbeat dad who sent a bodyguard and thought that made things ok. I hadn't dealt with my anger at my old man over just bailing like that, but seeing it someone else I was pretty sure I would need to soon. I sighed and stepped further into the room. Regardless of the drama we had work to do. Hopefully.

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