"So, are you two with customer service or troubleshooting?"

"Troubleshooting," Mirome said, emphasizing trouble as he made eye contact with her in the rearview mirror. "The customer service team were on their way, but we got here first."

"Lucky me," Pre muttered. She leaned her forehead against the window.

They were driving towards the shell, but Pre didn't know where. The late hour and alcohol/sugar crash were catching up with her. All she wanted was to be at her shitty apartment in her shitty bed.

Funny how fortunes turned. Yesterday Pre would have given anything to be a Diamond. Now that she was one, it was proving to be pretty inconvenient.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked.

"Connext headquarters," Mirome replied. "There is some paperwork you need to complete and some people who want to meet you."

"Really? Why do they want to meet me?"

"You're the first 100% rating there's ever been," Mirome said with a shrug. "I imagine many people will want to meet you."

"You two don't seem very impressed by it."

"That's the best part of the job," Axial said flatly. "You see all kinds of strange things at Connext. Especially around you Diamonds." They turned to look at Pre. "But you should know that, right? Now that you are one?"

Underneath their malevolent little face was something new Pre hadn't seen in her before: curiosity.

The abilities must come from having a Diamond rank, Pre surmised. And she wants to know what my power is.

"Seems the same," Pre said evenly. "Had a disappointing night. Made poor choices. Now I'm stuck with bad company and heading somewhere I don't want to go."

Axial kept looking at her. They had bright silver eyes, rapt with attention but empty of anything else. And the aura was still there. Twisting, leering snakes wrapped around her entire body.

"Hm," they said. "Sucks to be you, I guess."

Sure does, Pre agreed.

Toran became more crowded the farther you got from the core. Buildings became larger, taller, wider - anything to cram more people into them. They were in the hub now, the area where Bronzes and Silvers lived. Since those were the two most common rankings, this district was the most populated area in the city.

The collectives were out here too. Long, glass buildings that raised fifty children each. It was where she had met Xinder, her best friend, only a bunk bed away. Close enough to touch his fingertips if she got scared at night.

Well, they weren't kids anymore. And this nightmare, or dream, or whatever being a Diamond was, was only just beginning.

"We're here," Mirome said, parking the car in front of a completely nondescript building. Cement, windows, doors. Nothing to distinguish this as the headquarters of Connext, the company that operated multiple cities all over the world.

Keeping her skepticism to herself, Pre got out of the car and approached the front door.

"Not there," Mirome said. He was standing in front of the window with Axial.

"Another holo screen?" Pre asked, moving over to them.

He smiled. "I think you'll find this is much more advanced." He held up a finger and Pre noticed for the first time that there was a small apparition there. Jagged, crystalline light throbbed from it.

With the same finger, he tapped the glass on the window. And the world exploded into dust.