CLXXXII. | 'O, resolute Iron...'

'You'll "take care" of it?!' said Voreese. 'Are you fucking kidding me?! I already asked before, didn't I?! How the fuck do you plan on pulling that off, huh?!'

That was a very good question. And since Hector wasn't entirely sure of the answer, he instead decided to say, "Don't worry. I have experience with this sort of thing."

'What the fuck?! You have experience with--?! Are you--?! Wh--?!'

Amazingly enough, she seemed to be lost for words. Perhaps she was suddenly remembering what Garovel had told her about their recent adventures.

Hector was more concerned about how the Rainlords would react, however. He genuinely had no idea what they were going to do.

Currently, they were simply looking at him, not moving or saying anything.

'Hector,' came Garovel's private voice again, 'what the fuck are you doing?'

Again, another very good question. He answered it with the only thing that came to mind. 'I'm not leaving Roman behind, Garovel. It's my fault he even came here in the first place.'

'Agh--that's true, but--'

Now Garovel seemed lost for words as well.

Hmm.

Two for two. Hector felt pretty good about that.

Melchor was the one to break the silence. "...Do you truly believe that you can defeat Leo on your own?"

Absolutely fucking not. But admitting that so bluntly was probably a bad idea, Hector felt. He had the feeling that they wouldn't let him go if he didn't act like he knew what he was doing.

So the lie here would have to be convincing. And acting overly confident in his own power would not be convincing, Hector felt. Strong people like Evangelina, Dimas, and Melchor wouldn't be swayed by boasting. No doubt, they'd seen plenty of people talk a big game in the past and then not be able to deliver.

No, in that moment, Hector felt like he had to strike a particular balance between self-certainty and pragmatism. That was what he had to project, if he was to have any hope of being allowed to go after Roman on his own.

Which meant the question of whether or not he believed he could defeat Leo by himself was a crucial one.

"Maybe," Hector decided to say, "but I probably won't bother fighting him. My goal isn't to test my strength. It's to get Roman back. And fighting isn't the only way to accomplish that."

Darktide just stared at him, not saying anything.

Was that good? Did he buy it? Hector couldn't tell. Agh. It seemed like every old servant had an incredible poker face.

Evangelina chose to say something now. "If not by fighting, then what do you intend to do?"

Oof. He hadn't fully figured that out yet, but again, admitting as much seemed like a bad idea.

"I... can't tell you," said Hector.

"Excuse me?" said Evangelina, sounding irritated. "Why can you not tell us?"

He decided to borrow a tactic from Asad and Qorvass again. "Trade secret," he said.

"Ridiculous," she said. "Tell us your plan now."

"...No."

It was a bit hard to tell through her faceguard, but she did not look happy.

Okay, maybe saying all of that was a stupid thing to do, but Hector couldn't help feeling that, of the two options available to him, it was better to come across as cagey than as lacking a concrete plan.

Everyone was being quiet again.

Hmm. Maybe they needed some reassurance.

"I won't do anything stupid," Hector lied, knowing that he was already doing that. "You don't need to worry. And besides, er, it'll be easier if I go by myself, because Leo won't know who I am. If I bring you guys along, he'll recognize you immediately and probably just attack us." Huh. That seemed like a surprisingly good point, Hector felt. He had kind of been thinking that all along, he supposed, but it sure would have been nice if he could have articulated it earlier.

'Does that mean you intend to negotiate with him?' said Orric.

Aw, shit. Why did they have to read so much into it?

"Ah... maybe," said Hector again. "If I have to. Look, uh, that's not important. Just let me handle this, okay?" And one more lie to top it all off. "I know what I'm doing."

He was starting to feel like a really bad person with all this lying. And also maybe a dumbass.

One of the several other servants who had been watching but not saying anything up to now decided to speak up. "Well, if Lord Goffe believes he can do it, then..." It was one of the Blackburn women. Silvia, Hector was pretty sure.

He was surprised to hear her say that, as well, considering she'd actually seen him fight, all the way back in Luzo. She couldn't have been very impressed by his prowess back then, either, considering Asad had done all the heavy lifting in that battle.

Strange. Hector wondered what had changed her view of him.

Though, perhaps it would make more sense if nothing had. Maybe her view of him hadn't changed at all, and she was simply saying that because she didn't give two shits about the current situation and just wanted to move things along so that her family could get to safety.

Yeah, Hector found that much more believable. Aside from Melchor and occasionally Horatio, the Blackburns were noticeably different from the other Rainlords. More withdrawn. Even now, Hector could see it in the way they were standing so close together, especially around the Lady Nere. She was wearing full iron armor like everyone else, but Hector could still easily pick her out of the crowd from her body language alone. That slumped posture, the frequently downcast gaze. From what he'd heard, she'd been that way ever since leaving Dunehall.

Dunehall, where her husband Ismael had been killed, and her son Ibai had gone missing, in addition to all of the other casualties her House had suffered.

Hector certainly couldn't blame the Blackburns for seeming that much more protective of her now.

A few other voices arose in agreement with Silvia, more Blackburns and a few Sebolts as well, until at length, Evangelina Stroud spoke up again.

"Fine." She tapped Hector on the pate of his helmet with the iron knuckle of her own gauntlet. "We will go. But do not tarry long. Else you give us reason to come looking for you." She turned and started walking away.

Hector was too busy blinking to come up with a response. She'd actually agreed? He'd expected her to be the most difficult to convince.

The other Rainlords began following her, reapers included, but Dimas and Melchor lingered a bit longer, as did Voreese, Garovel, Iziol, and Orric.

'This is moronic,' said Voreese. 'You can't possibly... agh, I mean, I'm grateful, but... Hector, what the fuck?'

"I'll need you to point me toward Roman," said Hector. "I hope you won't mind coming with me part of the way, at least."

'Of course I won't mind, you piece of shit! But--! Argh!'

Melchor stepped closer to him. "What if you do not return?"

Hector didn't know how to answer that.

"If you are captured," said Melchor, "and if we are unable to locate or otherwise retrieve your brain... in such a circumstance, is there something you would like us to do for you? As a final request?"

Oh. Hmm.

Hector thought about it a moment. "If that happens, then... please look after Warrenhold for me. There are, uh... only three people living there, right now. My mother, a woman named Amelia Carthrace, and a man named Jamal Easton. But... ah..."

"I understand," said Melchor.

'It would be our honor to protect them,' said Orric.

"But not our preference," said Dimas, which was perhaps the first thing that Hector had heard him say since Capaporo. "Please do not get captured."

Hector just gave him a nod.

After that, Melchor and Dimas turned to leave, and Orric and Iziol followed suit.

Mr. Easton was probably going to be quite overwhelmed with all of these guests. Hector had never actually told the man directly they would be arriving, but he was fairly certain Mr. Easton already knew. Asad's wife and son should have conveyed that message when they first arrived.

Probably.

One more thing to worry about later, he supposed.

Only Garovel and Voreese now remained.

'Huh,' said Garovel aloud. 'Shall we head back to Capaporo, then?'

Hector eyed him. "Garovel..."

'They don't need me to guide them. They know the correct direction now, and from here, it's a straight shot back to Warrenhold.'

"That doesn't change the fact that it's too dangerous to bring you."

'I'll keep my distance and observe from afar,' said Garovel. 'It's like you said. Leo doesn't know who you are. He won't know who I am, either, or that you're my servant. Or that you even ARE a servant.'

Hector frowned.

'And considering how apparently reluctant you were to share your plan with everyone, I have a feeling that you don't actually HAVE a plan. Or, at least not one that doesn't sound completely insane. Am I close?'

Hector didn't say anything and just glanced at Voreese.

Voreese was already looking at Garovel, though. 'You're not exactly filling me with confidence over here, sayin' shit like that.'

'All I'm saying is, it wouldn't hurt to come up with a sound plan.'

"Do you have some suggestions?" said Hector.

'Let's move while we talk,' said Garovel. 'It'll take a few hours to get back there.'

That was a good point, Hector supposed. He still didn't really want to bring Garovel along, but as long as the reaper intended to keep his distance when the time came, there wasn't much actual justification for leaving him behind.

This time, he pushed himself for a faster pace. Without all the climate pods in tow, he no longer had to worry about having a delicate touch. He simply let the two reapers attach themselves to him beneath his cooling variant armor, and then they blasted off toward Capaporo again, as fast as his iron could carry him.

'So the fact that Leo doesn't know who you are may be our greatest advantage,' said Garovel.

'Are you thinking Hector can just sneak up and yoink Roman away from him?' said Voreese.

'That is exactly what I am thinking, yes,' said Garovel. 'If Hector can find a good opening, he might not even have to get very close to Leo in the first place. Assuming that Roman is just a frozen head or brain at the moment, then Hector could use materialization to punt Roman over to himself like a kickball.'

'And then we all escape without ever being noticed?' said Voreese.

'Ideally.'

'Yeah, sure, sounds great. In theory.'

'Yes. In theory.'

Hector might have said the same thing, if not for the howl of the wind rushing past.

The reapers continued to strategize for the length of the journey, and Hector mostly just listened while occasionally sharing his thoughts with Garovel. The consensus seemed to be that it would be best if Leo never even noticed they were there in the first place, but that was also where the main concern lay. If, for whatever reason, Leo did notice Hector, what the hell was he going to do?

They came up with a few different plans for that, though neither of the reapers sounded terrifically confident in them. Part of the reason for that was probably because of how little they actually knew about Leo. None of them had ever even met the guy, so it was hard to guess how he would react to any hypothetical situation.

They did know that he hadn't permanently harmed any of the Rainlords, however. And that was important, Hector felt. Leo had gone through a fair amount of trouble to make sure that the non-servants were taken care of during their captivity. Even some who were servants, like Marcos Elroy, had not been harmed. Though, perhaps Leo simply couldn't tell that Marcos was a servant just by looking at him. The boy was extremely young and probably hadn't participated in the fighting, after all.

All in all, that spoke quite a bit about Leo's character, Hector thought, when it probably would've been so much easier to just kill them.

Unless, of course, Leo knew that Sai-hee would want them all alive for some reason.

Bah.

Best not to assume too much, Hector supposed. If nothing else, though, at least he could take mild comfort in the fact that he wasn't dealing with another one of those maniacs from Abolish.

When they finally made it back to Capaporo again, Hector eased to a stop near the narrow staircase that led down into the city and looked over the enormous pit again. "Can either of you sense Roman's location yet?"

'If he's really just a brain right now, then it'll be tougher to sense his soul,' said Voreese. 'But he should be closer to the bottom of the pit, at least.'

Hector took the staircase, trying to keep a brisk pace as he looked for the same path downward that they'd used earlier. "Why would his soul be more difficult to sense? Is there, like, less of it or something?"

'Sort of, but not exactly,' said Garovel. 'It's tough to explain in physical terms, but you can kind of imagine the soul as being like water, and the body being like a vessel that it conforms to the shape of. Or in other words, as reapers, we "see" souls in the shape of the body they reside within. So the smaller that body is, the more difficult it becomes to notice, especially in a crowd.'

"Huh..."

'Also, that's not a perfect analogy, by the way, because water still has physical volume, and souls do not. At least, not as far as I know. So a smaller vessel would be able to contain less water, but it's not the same with souls. Your soul doesn't start leaking out of your arm if you get it chopped off. It just conforms to the new shape of your body.'

"Oh. Right..."

Hector navigated his way downward again. There seemed to be more Hun'Kui on these upper levels than there were the last time, and they didn't all look like they were in the middle of going somewhere this time, either. Many of them were simply loitering and chatting. Maybe they'd all been at work earlier. Or school. He couldn't really tell if any of the Hun'Kui were teenagers or adults.

Regardless, it was a bit of an inconvenience for him, because it meant more eyes on him. It seemed like he was drawing much more attention than he had before, despite the fact that he'd been part of a rather large party the last time. He would've thought it would be easier to keep a low profile, not harder.

Maybe that was just a feeling, though, and not the actual truth. Maybe there'd been plenty of people noticing them last time, but they'd just been too afraid to stare, and now that he was alone, he was much less intimidating.

Hmm.

It only got more crowded as he descended. The elevators were even more jam-packed than before, so he avoided them. He briefly considered leaping over the edge of the pit and catching himself with his iron, but he didn't think that would help him keep a low profile, which he was having a hard enough time with already.

'Ah,' said Voreese at length, 'I can sense Leo.'

"Leo?" said Hector, trying to whisper so as not to draw the attention of a big Hun'Kui family walking by. It didn't work. "Not Roman?"

'Hmm. Ah, yeah, I can sense Roman, too. He's with him.'

Hector was still confused, though. "But how can you sense Leo? I thought you never met him."

'Those warehouses that he used to imprison everybody,' said Voreese. 'He soul-strengthened his material there. I memorized his soul based on that.'

"Oh..." Hector wouldn't have even thought of that.

'Follow me,' said Voreese, taking a path to the right that wasn't even visible because of the crowd.

Hector gently pushed his way through and went after her.

Another long staircase awaited, and Hector descended toward another of the climate-controlled zones. Garovel hovered by his side, and Hector tried to keep him in his peripheral vision, right at the edge of the eye slit in his helmet.

'By the way,' said Voreese, slowing her pace to match Hector's, 'there's something I forgot to tell you.'

Garovel answered for the both of them. 'What's that?'

'Um. Well. Okay. First, you have to promise not to get upset.'

'Voreese... What did you do?'

'Excuse me, but that doesn't sound like a promise.'

'And you're not gonna get one. What did you do?'

'Agh. Well. It's nothing, really. It's just. You see. I may have. Um. Told Roman to. Tell Leo. A few things.'

'Uh-huh. What things?'

'Things about Hector.'

Garovel stopped. 'What?! Why?!'

Voreese and Hector both stopped as well.

'It was supposed to be part of a backup plan,' she said, 'in case Leo caught us in the middle of trying to free your Rainlord pals. I figured fighting in that situation would've been less than ideal, so it might've been worth a shot to just bluff our way out. If we got him to believe that Hector was some sort of super badass, then maybe Leo would back down. Or join us.'

'Join us?!' said Garovel.

'Yeah, Roman tried to hire him earlier. Did I not mention that?'

'No, you didn't!'

'Ah. My bad.'

'Voreese!'

'Leo said he didn't want to work for someone who was weaker than him, so I figured, maybe, y'know, with all that crazy shit you were tellin' me earlier, we could preemptively build Hector up as someone who Leo might think was strong enough to work for.'

Garovel groaned but steadied his voice. 'Why didn't you tell us this earlier?'

'I'm telling you now.'

'This might've been nice to know while we were brainstorming on the way here.'

'Oh, I doubt it would've helped. You'd have just gotten mad at me like you are right now, which would've made it harder for you to think rationally.'

'What a load of horseshit.'

'Look, I'm sorry, okay?! It seemed like a good plan at the time!'

'How much did Roman tell him, exactly?'

'Not that much. Just, y'know, about those things you told me. Meeting Ivan. Killing worms 'n stuff. Also, Leo might be thinking that the Rainlords are, um... following Hector as their new leader.'

Hector's eyes widened, and he stared at her.

'Voreese, are you fucking kidding me, right now?' said Garovel.

'Well, Leo had already fought the Rainlords! So obviously, I had to make Hector more powerful than them! Wouldn't have been believable otherwise!'

'Ugh...' Garovel paused for another sigh and perhaps also just to think. 'Did Roman tell him what Hector looks like?'

She hesitated. '...A little bit.'

'Elaborate,' said Garovel flatly.

'I just had Roman mention that Hector looks super young for his level of strength, and... that he's black.'

Garovel lost his composure again. 'That's NOT a little bit, Voreese! Hector's probably the only black person in Capaporo, right now!'

'Eh, I mean, that's debatable, isn't it? The Hun'Kui sort of count as black, right? Ashy gray tones 'n whatnot.'

'I can't believe you.'

'Hey, it's not like Leo knows we're coming. Or what you and I look like. As long as Hector stays out of sight, we can still get the jump on him.'

'This means that if he DOES spot Hector, then Hector can no longer pretend to be someone else. Someone who, for example, is NOT connected to the Rainlords whom Leo is probably very upset about losing track of.'

'Yeah, that would be a problem,' said Voreese. 'But on the bright side, Leo could be too scared to fight Hector now.'

'Oh, sure, and he might also decide to give us a trillion fucking troas for no reason.'

In spite of everything, the party of three soon continued onward and entered the climate-controlled zone. Hector removed his cooling variant armor and decided not to remake it in its normal form. It would be too noisy, he felt, and considering everything that they had just learned, stealth seemed more important than ever. He did remake a few pieces of the armor, though, for modesty's sake. Walking around half-naked wouldn't have been very stealthy, either.

After a few more flights of stairs and several white-and-silver corridors, Voreese finally began to slow down.

'Leo's just up here to the left,' she said.

Hector reached the apparent corner in question and took a breath to gather himself. He poked his head around for a peek.

Thankfully, the crowd wasn't nearly as dense in this area, so it was easy to discern who Leo must have been. There was no one else around the man with dreadlocks as he sat on a bench in front of a glassy wall.

No. Not just a wall, Hector realized after a moment. A water tank. So big that it spanned that entire side of the chamber. Hector could just barely make out tall shadows in the water. Some type of plant, he was pretty sure.

He searched for Roman but couldn't see him anywhere. Unless... that pitch black lump under Leo's hand...

'Is that Roman's head?' said Hector.

'Yep,' the reaper said privately.

Great.

This was also a very bad location for a fight, Hector thought. He'd been wondering where all the normal people down here were getting their water, and now he had his answer. No doubt, water was an extremely difficult commodity to come by in the Undercrust. The Hun'Sho and the Hun'Kui hadn't seemed to need it much, if at all, but everyone in these climate-controlled zones obviously did.

So if that tank ended up damaged, somehow...

Hector didn't even want to imagine how bad the collateral damage might be.

At least Leo wasn't looking in this direction. He was just staring at the tank. Perhaps he was thinking about something. Or sleeping, maybe. Hector couldn't see his face.

Hector considered his options. He had the element of surprise, still. Therefore, the plan to get Roman and escape without being noticed was at least possible. The problem was that hand on Roman's encapsulated head. As long as that hand was there, Leo would immediately notice if Hector tried to use materialization to move Roman.

So, then... a distraction. How could he distract Leo without revealing himself?

Hector looked around another time. He needed more information.

The Scarf of Amordiin revealed the geometry of the room to him, as well as that of the corridor from which Hector was looking in. The room had a half-circle shape but was mostly featureless beyond that. It seemed to be a gallery of some sort. Paintings hung on all the walls, save the one that was the water tank. A few people dotted the area, apparently admiring said paintings.

Ugh. Not much to go on.

Hector concentrated. Maybe the Scarf could tell him more about Leo himself. He tried to sense the movement of the air around the man, wanting to discern the shape of not just his overall figure but his clothes, too. Was he carrying anything on him? In his coat?

Yes, he was. Something in the inner pocket. A pen. A small key. And some coins. Hmm. What about the other pockets? All empty, as far as Hector could tell. Hard to be sure, though, since the man's pants seemed to fit him pretty tightly.

Wow. Such useful intel.

Hector wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. What could the man possibly have been carrying that would help Hector rescue Roman?

Agh. Getting distracted. And discouraged. Not the time for that.

He tried to think. To concentrate. To try again. He just needed a distraction. Something that would make Leo move his hand away from Roman.

As much as Hector thought about it, though, he couldn't think of anything that could guarantee that.

Except maybe attacking Leo. Cutting the hand off. Or decapitating the guy.

Probably a horrible idea. Probably the literal worst idea, in fact.

Part of Hector felt like he might actually be able to pull that off, though. With the element of surprise on his side like this? Maybe. Hector still recalled Lord Abbas' fight with Ivan. More specifically, he recalled how quickly it had ended and how Abbas had attributed the victory to catching Ivan off guard.

Oftentimes, with the kind of power that Hector had borne witness to, he felt like defeating a significantly older servant was simply impossible, no matter the circumstances. But perhaps that wasn't truly so. Abbas had overcome an incredible power gap, thanks almost entirely to favorable conditions. To strategy.

It was an encouraging thought.

And a dangerous one.

Hector didn't want to attack the guy unless he had no other choice. But that was also a problem, wasn't it? If it truly reached a point where he had no other choice, then it would probably be too late. In a straight fight, Leo would obviously obliterate him.

Agh...

The reapers were being noticeably quiet all of a sudden, Hector thought. When he turned to look at them, he realized they weren't there anymore.

Oh, right. They'd said they would keep their distance.

'Where'd you guys go?' thought Hector.

'We're about a hundred meters to your right,' came Garovel's private answer.

Well, at least they were keeping themselves safe. He still didn't really like them wandering around on their own when the Undercrust was known for having ardor-fueled weaponry, but Capaporo seemed peaceful enough, he supposed. And they were probably even more wary of such things than he was.

'Any idea what you're gonna do?' said Garovel.

'Not really,' said Hector. 'Open to suggestions.'

'Voreese and I recommend patience. Take your time and wait for an opening to present itself. And stay out of his line of sight.'

Not the most compelling plan but probably most reasonable, Hector figured. Certainly more so than attacking Leo in a location where one of the city's most valuable resources would be put in jeopardy. And that wasn't even considering what would happen if the attack failed, and Leo counterattacked. Which seemed incredibly likely.

So Hector waited. He waited, and he watched. People came and went from the gallery, often staring at him as they passed. Eventually, Hector resorted to leaning with his back to the wall. He shut his eyes and relied entirely on the Scarf for information instead of staring at Leo around the corner like an idiot.

He wasn't sure why he'd ever been doing that in the first place. He was just accustomed to relying on his eyes for everything.

Then again, there was certainly still utility in using his eyes. He couldn't see color with the Scarf, obviously. If he concentrated, though, he could vaguely discern the shape of Leo's face. The guy seemed to have a pretty big nose. And a trimmed beard.

Most importantly and obviously, however, the Scarf didn't let him see reapers. Air would simply flow right through them. Definitely still needed eyes for that.

After a while, Hector began to wonder what the hell this guy was doing here. Why was he just sitting there like that? His eyes weren't closed, according to the Scarf, so he probably wasn't meditating. He was just staring at the water tank.

Was he waiting for something?

Hold on a second.

...Wasn't Sai-hee supposed to show up? Or, maybe not her, but at least someone who represented her? That had been Leo's plan, hadn't it? To turn the Rainlords over to her and earn her forgiveness?

But Leo didn't HAVE the Rainlords anymore, so what the hell was his plan now?

Or...?

Hector blinked, remembering Rasalased's words.

"A lost sheep," the Dry God had said.

Leo was the lost sheep, clearly. Which meant...

Had Leo simply given up? Was he just waiting for Sai-hee to show up and either kill or capture him?

It made almost too much sense, Hector felt. And worse, whether he was killed or captured hardly even mattered at this point, didn't it? Voreese had of course informed Hector and everyone else of Leo's troubled relationship with his reaper. So if Leo was captured as a brain, like Roman currently was, then the man's reaper probably wasn't going to bother reviving him. Unless Sai-hee ordered it, perhaps.

Regardless, Leo's circumstances were looking more than a little grim. To Hector's mind, Leo should have been running for his life right about now, and yet he wasn't. He was just sitting there, instead. Waiting for judgment and whatever came after.

Hector didn't know anything about the guy, but he still felt a little bad for him.

And in a strange way, he related to him.

Hector was no stranger to that feeling of giving up. Of utter hopelessness. He hadn't been letting it win lately, but he certainly remembered a time when he did. In fact, that was probably part of the reason why he hadn't wanted to let it win. Not again.

Ah, but here Hector was, probably reading way too much into the situation. Leo was way older than him, and his problems were probably way more complicated.

Maybe.

Rasalased had definitely called him a lost sheep, though. And the Dry God hadn't told Hector to stay away from him, either.

But Hector had also come to learn Rasalased was far from omniscient. So...

There was no telling what the correct course of action here was.

Shit.

Hector was tempted to just walk over and talk to the guy. Try to console him, maybe. Try to reason with him. And perhaps even try to help him.

He was tempted, but... was that actually a good idea?

Leo would doubtless figure out who he was almost immediately. And then he might just try to force Hector to give up the Rainlords so that he could resume his previous plan.

But... so what if he did that? Hector wasn't going to give up the Rainlords. There was zero chance that Leo would be able to get that information out of him. And if Hector could somehow make Leo realize that, too...

Then...

Hmm.

Oh, and there was also Sai-hee's people to worry about. There was no telling when they would show up. And if they arrived while Hector was just twiddling his thumbs here, then it would probably become even more difficult to get Roman back--if not straight up impossible.

But wait. That wasn't even the worst-case scenario, was it?

No, the worst-case scenario would be if Sai-hee showed up, and then Leo told her... that the Rainlords... were now following... someone named Hector...

That was just Voreese's bullshit, of course, but if Sai-hee actually believed it and then ended up coming to Warrenhold in search of them, then it would still be catastrophic just the same. And if she really did hate the Rainlords, then it would make plenty of sense to go after them now, while they were weakened and no longer had their affiliation with the Vanguard for protection.

Oh. Fuck.

Hector rubbed his forehead and took a deep breath. Waiting for an opening wasn't looking like such an attractive option, all of sudden.

He had to take action, Hector felt. He couldn't just wait around and hope for the best, not when he was responsible for protecting so many people. If nothing else, he had to ensure that the worst-case scenario didn't come to pass.

That really only left two options, then. Either attack preemptively or try to talk to the guy.

Both of those seemed like they could go horribly.

But... Hector didn't really want to attack him. Maybe it was just because he felt bad for Leo. Maybe it was softness on Hector's part. He didn't want to make an emotional decision here, but at the same time, there didn't seem to be a rationally best option.

Except, maybe... well, if talking went awry, then Leo would probably capture him. But if fighting went awry, then the water tank would likely get damaged, AND Leo would probably capture him.

Hmm.

Hector supposed that was about as rational as he could hope for, given the circumstances.

He took a deep breath and tried to prepare himself, thinking over the situation one last time.

A thought occurred him.

'...Does Leo know what my ability is?' said Hector.

'I'll ask,' said Garovel. And there was a pause. 'He shouldn't. Voreese didn't have Roman tell him that.'

Interesting.

Okay.

He stepped away from the corner and into the room with Leo.

'Hector, what are you doing?' said Garovel.

Hector tried to explain his reasoning as best he could. It took a little while, and he was mindful of Leo turning around the whole time, but Hector managed to impart the gist of it.

'This is a really bad idea,' said Garovel at length.

'Yeah, I know,' said Hector. 'But it's like you said. Sometimes there won't be a good option left to choose.'

'Goddammit, don't throw my own words back at me.'

'I'm doing this, Garovel. Wish me luck.'

'Ugh. Good luck.'

Hector took a deep breath and then walked up behind the man. When he was close enough, he decided to armor up fully again. It might conceal his identity somewhat, though he suspected that Leo would be able to guess who he was anyway.

Mainly, he wanted the armor for himself. Heavy as it was, he was somehow more comfortable in it. It didn't make him feel safer, precisely, but maybe just a little more powerful. He could almost pretend to be someone else while he was wearing it. Someone who actually knew what they were doing.

And he was going to need that feeling, he thought.

Then, finally, Hector dared to speak up.

"...Are you alright?" he asked.