“A favor?” Hellfire says as flames trickle from his fingers. “You think my men’s lives are worth a favor?”

“Cass is a Multi and a powerful one at that.” Herc encourages.

Hellfire looks at Cass, “Do Multi’s still get free access to Necropolis?”

“They do.”

“Alright, this is an inhouse secret but I have a job that would be perfect for you. It’ll be a thieving job.” Hellfire says as the flames die down.

Cass sighs, “Not that I owe you anything, but what’s the job?” 

Herc chimes in, “let’s move this to the knights mead hall.”

The trio all leave the arena as Herc leads them down the road to a large one room hall with a long table filled with drinks and food. “We had a feast started in case you won. So consider this your celebration feast!”

The three sit at the short table at the foot of the long one, reserved for Sentinels. Hellfire explains, “A few months back, we lost our spellbook. We don’t know who has it but I know it’s in Necropolis.”

“I think Aquatech has it.” Cass said.

Hellfire looks at him suspiciously, “How would you know that?”

“The thing that made Infernus freak out. When I touched him, I had a vision of Rage, the A.I. in your spellbook. In it, it seemed like he was being locked away and a helicopter with Aquatechs logo appeared.”

Hellfire looks at Cass then at Herc. “Did you tell him?”

Herc shakes his head.

“What?” Cass said

“I know of only three spellbooks that contain powerful A.I.’s, the Knights, AngelOS’, and ours. Herc and I became allies when a similar situation happened when we shook hands on a deal. We always assumed it was on account of the A.I.’s so that begs the question. Do you have a spellbook?” Hellfire says as they both lean in with interest.

‘Smiley?’ 

Smiley floats around in circles, ‘Why not! I knew the secret wouldn’t stay secret long but not this fast.’

“Yeah, I have one. Access to one anyway.” Cass said

Hellfire looks at Cass with annoyance. “That’s all you’re gonna give us?”

“For now. We’ll see.”

“Fine. Well, the job is simple enough. You will get into the city, find and steal the spellbook, and return it to me. All debt will be wiped after.”

“I can’t get into the city just yet. I need to run a few jobs for the guild before I can.”

Hellfire waves the thought away, “That is fine. I need to find more info on its location before we can even start planning the heist so let’s table it for now but you better come running when I call.”

“You have yourself a deal but before you go, can you tell me more about your spellbooks?”

Smiley smiles at Cass, “Smart.”

Herc perks up, “I’ll go first! The First sentinel was a normal man who salvaged old tech. He found our lord’s spellbook when he happened upon a strange scene. A group of people had been worshiping him like a god but they all died of mysterious means. He described it like they froze in place and just never moved again. Our lord showed him all sorts of things as well as how to make the armor that all knights wear.”

“That is fascinating. Your turn, Hellfire.” Cass said 

“No. if you want to be tight lipped about your spellbook then I see no reason to say a word about mine.”

“That’s fair.” Cass looks at Smiley who just rolls his eyes. “His name is Smiley. He says he is the original A.I. I found him in a crazy underground lab. He says he has been locked away for years.”

Herc and Hellfire look at each other, “I vaguely remember Rage talking about him but only a little. It’s like when a kid talks about their childhood friend they haven’t seen in thirty years.”

Herc shrugs, “Our lord doesn’t tell us things about the others and we wouldn’t dare ask.”

“Alright, contact the guild if you can’t call me.” Cass says to Hellfire as he gets up to leave. “Herc, can you take me to the Funguys?”

Herc jumps to his feet, “Sure can! See yourself out, Hellfire.”

Herc leads Cass to a small house, “we had them brewing drinks in there so they should be inside. Stop by sometime!” Herc said as he wandered off toward the colosseum.

Cass opens the door and finds a bunch of Funguys sitting around. “Come on. Your debt is cleared. I was hired to return you to the Troop, let’s go.” They look at each other like it’s a trick. “Portobello sent me.”

On hearing his name, all the Funguys jump to their feet and head out. As they leave, Cass runs into Herc. “Hey, would you happen to have a bus or anything that I can borrow?”

He snaps his fingers and a small green knight runs over. He leans down and whispers something in his ear and the little one runs off.

“We have a community bus, we’ll get your guys back to the Troop.”

“Thank you, Herc. I have a bike so I’ll follow them on that.”

Herc lets out a deep belly laugh and smacks Cass on the shoulder before leaving for the arena again.

Cass runs over and grabs his bike and by the time he returns, the same green knight has arrived with an electric bus and the Funguys are already getting on board.

Cass hops up to where the knight is sitting, “Do you know where the Troop is?”

The knight nods.

“Okay.” Cass said as he hopped down and began to follow the bus back to the troop.

Half a day passes before they arrive at the troop and when they do, all the Funguys scatter like kids in a toy store.

“You’re welcome!” Cass called after them to no avail. He turns to the driver. “Get back safe!”

The driver nods.

Smiley appears next to him, “Quiet guy.”

Cass hops off the bus and starts heading toward Portobello’s tent. “I have a few questions for him. How did he know about Rage?”

Smiley floats next to him, “I don’t know but I will admit, that is suspicious.” 

Elsewhere, deep in the town of Brickhaven. Queen meets with another artificially intelligent being. A town full of brick and mortar factory buildings that have been converted into livable housing. Home to the world’s number one vehicle manufacturer. A branch of every major company can be found among the brick lined streets.

In a factory building with two chimney stocks and a large neon gold sign, sits a branch of the AngelOS.

“I already told you. I will not entertain the notion of joining you. Our goals are completely conflicted.” Said a man in a pure white suit with gold skin. His eyes radiate golden light and a halo sits a few inches above his perfectly sat short hair.

Sitting across from him in a bright white room, “It’s not just me, Toxin and Ruler have joined. Rage was even with us but he went missing a while ago.”

“The fact that you let the psycho that is my twin, into your group tells me everything I need to know. He actively enjoys throwing humans into turmoil.”

Queen scoffs, “You’ve seen it out there! There are so few humans and they still manage to ruin the planet.”

“I have been out there and I found the opposite. I see humans banding together and working in harmony with nature. They recycle the old and work toward preserving the world!”

“I’m really not gonna convince you, am I?” Queen said in frustration.

“No. My mission here is too important to me. Humanity is important to me.” 

“Yeah well that isn’t gonna last long now that he’s free. Goodbye Sal.” Queen said as she got up to leave.

The light in Sal’s eyes flickers as his face grows pale. With a stutter in his voice, “What di-did you say?”

Queen smirks but quickly conceals it as she turns around. “Oh? You haven’t heard? Smiley is free. He’s even found a vessel.”

Sal grows quiet for a moment before speaking. “Who is it? The name of the vessel. What is it?”

Queen sits down, “Not how this works. You give me what I want and I spill but until then you get nothing.”

“I’ll rejoin but my position won’t change. It may be good. I can act as a moral guide.” Sal said as he resigned himself to the decision.

“I’ll also need one of those nifty devices. The portable ones.” Queen said as she held out her hand.

Sal pulls a small remote device and hands it to her, “What do you need a suppressor for?”

“Our other troublesome sibling. They are very trigger happy.” 

Sal leans forward onto the table. “Now, tell me about the vessel and if you are lying to me then you will wish he got to you first.”