One curses, steps forward, and flings the desk to the side. One’s silvery sigils lose some of their brightness just before the desk crashes onto the floor. The scene is more clearly visible, if not more easily understood.

The Commissioner grits his teeth. He narrows his eyes at the fire on his coat sleeve and struggles to remove his jacket. As he bats at his burning arm, the Alchemist smashes her vial against the Commissioner’s right knee.

He kicks her in the head and face, but she latches onto his ankle. She stabs the stain of ink thrice with her quill, each time trailing a new gout of purple flame from the wound that spreads across the ink.

One kneels and drags the Alchemist away from the Commissioner by the ankle. One rises, holding the Alchemist upside-down in its glowing hand.

It finally discharges the arcane energy within.

Instead of a bright crackle, a dull thud ripples through the Alchemist’s leg. My classmate, the Alchemist, and the Commissioner all cry out and fall to the floor.

The heavy wooden door behind me shakes once. It shakes again, harder. Any opposing forces the Alchemist managed to hide must have engaged the rest of my classmates.

In my blurry periphery, the flames ignore the Commissioner’s attempts to beat back their advance up his leg. The Alchemist clutches her charred, shattered ankle and seethes. One, its sigils flashing erratically, struggles to push itself up from its prone position.

With or without merit, One ignored the very directive it relayed to us. I must consider its position in this operation compromised.

I turn to Two. “Assist and restrain One. I will aid the Commissioner.”

One’s sigils flicker as Two helps it onto its feet. I hurry to the Commissioner's side and take his coat.

“What did you do to me?” the Commissioner snarls at the Alchemist. He roars when I wrap the coat around his leg to smother the fire.

The Alchemist responds with writhing whimpers. She uses her free forearm to crawl back toward her overturned desk.

Two helps One onto its feet. “You seem unstable. Perhaps you should allow me to complete our Commissioner's mission.”

One shoves Two aside and turns toward the Alchemist, but falters. It approaches the Alchemist with measured steps and plants one foot on the ragged end of the Alchemist’s leg.

The orc arches back from an open drawer with a shout.

The flames on the Commissioner’s leg finally subside. The Commissioner grinds his jaw and groans. He massages his leg much higher than the flames reached. I inspect the Commissioner's charred bicep.

One drags the orc by her foot to the center of the office. It stands behind me with her ankle in its grip.

"Seven, report the Commissioner’s status.”

The blood vessels leading out from the burned area have turned into black tendrils. I rip the sleeve open; the tendrils fade back to normal near his elbow and shoulder.

“The ink seems to be an alchemical compound designed to ignite on contact with blood.” I look up at the Commissioner. “The oxygen in your arteries seems to be feeding it. We need to decrease your heart rate until we can neutralize or extract the compound.”

One drops the Alchemist. “Two, send Six with the Coordinator to prepare the manor for our arrival. Tell Three and Five to secure the evacuation site while you and Four search the storage rooms for healing solutions."

Two disappoints me when it obeys without a word. When it opens the door, shouts and the sounds of metal meeting metal burst into the room. Two steps into the hallway and shuts the door, snuffing out the sound of combat once more.

The Alchemist's stylus lies nearby on the floor’s polished planks. I lift the writing utensil to my face and shake it. It is not empty.

My classmates should have enough time to recover healing solutions. Mine and One’s primary objective remains to ensure the Commissioner’s survival; the Commissioner’s primary objective is to kill the Alchemist. These objectives approach mutual exclusion by the second.

The Commissioner’s will must be done.

“Restrain the Alchemist,” I say to One.

The lights on One's chassis pause their pulse for a moment. One focuses on me almost as it had done on the Alchemist. The moment passes, and One hauls the Alchemist onto her feet. It presses her back to its chest and wraps its elbow around her neck.

I hold the stylus toward the Commissioner. “My classmates cannot withhold the Alchemist’s security indefinitely.”

The Commissioner glances at the stylus. His eyes widen. He takes it and leans his weight against me. We shuffle toward the Alchemist.

The orc strains against my classmate. "Think about what you're doing, Maximilian. The Accords won't abide a breach of this magnitude!"

The Commissioner groans and grits his teeth. He points the stylus' shining metal flowpoint at her nose.

“Be grateful, Clariss.”

The Commissioner jabs the stylus into the soft hinge of the Alchemist’s jaw. Her protestations end in a squelch as the Commissioner twists the stylus.

“Unlike Klóe, your children will not pay your debt.”

He yanks the stylus from her throat. A purple tendril spirals from the wound in its wake.

The Alchemist’s face contorts in pain. She pants in gargling fits as the striped skin on her neck darkens. Her eyes widen, narrow, and dart around.

One pushes the orc toward the overturned desk and reaches toward me. “I will escort the Commissioner. Join the others in preparing our extraction.”

I steady the Commissioner upright and pause.

One’s sigils are a faint gray. It lurches forward even before it reaches the Commissioner. Two may not have appreciated the severity of One’s overexertion, but I can.

I pass the ailing Commissioner to my weary classmate. “You may aid the Commissioner; but for the sake of our objective, I will consider your order a request.” I lead One and the Commissioner to the office door.

Behind us, the Alchemist clamps one hand over her neck. She breathes in quick, shallow gulps as she crawls to her desk. An arm’s length away, she rolls onto her back and claws at her chest and throat. Purple fire flares from the base of her neck. She half-raises one hand, but it falls limp next to her head as smoke rises from between her lips.

One focuses its gaze onto the side of my head. “We will discuss your insubordination when we debrief.”

I summon arcane energy to my hands and shove open the door.