Vivi decided not to come unless we were going loud. Unfortunately, Makesi refused to permit wanton violence. Yet.

  “Alright, since we don’t speak Mandarin, you’ll have to take point—” Makesi said, only to pause when I dropped the language into his head alongside the feeling of my utter reluctance to take that role.

  Just for good measure, I also gave Aisling a copy of Mandarin. It took nearly a minute of perceived time for me to pin her mental conceptualization down so that I could actually transfer the knowledge. She was incredibly resistant to my form of mental manipulation, just based on the fact that her mental conceptualization was so fucking skittish.

  “You were saying?” I asked. There was absolutely no way I was going to be the one talking to people. They were all strangers, and I didn’t have a reason, as per the social contract that I grew up with, to just go up and talk to them.

  I wasn’t sure why I had to follow weird rules like that, but if I didn’t, I’d experience debilitating anxiety to the point I was unable to function.

  Makesi looked between me and Aisling, who froze at the mere implication she’d have to take that role, then sighed, “Okay, since you two are quite literally incapable, I guess I will do the talking.”

  “So what’s the plan? Are we just marching up there and demanding they give Aurin back?” I asked as we left the ‘Modular Transport Habitat’, as Aisling called it. I switched to System Default just in case someone around here spoke English. “Also, we won't really look entirely human to people who have extensive experience working with anomalous entities. Maybe random people on the street won't care what we look like, but I mean, I have glowing pink eyes for fuck’s sake.

  “Even if we did look normal, we’re also obviously foreigners. I doubt the Tiānlǜ would look kindly on people without immigration status showing up unannounced right next to an anomalous area they’re clearly about to plumb for resources.”

  “That’s the point, if we looked like normal citizens, they would likely dismiss us as irrelevant. We’d be shuffled off to someone with no real power, then sent away without ever seeing anyone important enough to actually resolve any of our problems. I’d like to use this opportunity to establish what they’ll be allowed to do within the overlap,” Makesi explained while we walked down the hill towards the village. Guards at the perimeter had already spotted us and were radioing

  “What they’ll be allowed to do? I feel like the response to you making any demands is going to be a bullet to the head. They already have a sniper trained on us,” I said, pointing at one of the cliffsides where a spotlight had trained itself on us very intently. Whoever possessed that spotlight panicked, and it started flickering as they moved. As if that would do anything.

  “Why do you think we brought you?” he replied with a chuckle. “A Whisperer always helps when you’re trying to make people act in their best interest.”

  Ah, that makes a lot more sense.

  “Can you feel where Aurin is yet?” I asked Aisling, who just shook her head in response. I tried to suppress the anxiety building within me by chewing on my lip.

  She was going to be okay, and there was no reason to think otherwise. I just had to do what I was good at and make the people tell us where they were keeping her. I knew I was good at my job; this was just another facet of that, turning the Eightfold command structure into my little bitch.

  A wave of calm moved through me, and this time it had nothing to do with the opioids still lingering in my system. The situation finally made sense. It was a defined problem with a clear objective, and all I had to do was act on the parts I could control. The shift from uncertainty to something I could manage myself was so relieving that I barely reacted when the soldiers began shouting at us to stop and keep our hands visible. I just followed along behind Makesi as he ignored the order and shouted something back in return.

  I wasn't really listening to the exchange because I was too busy scanning the soldiers in front of us. Unfortunately, I couldn't spot anyone in a uniform that looked important enough to actually get me what I wanted.

  So I started with the person shouting orders at us. His mind was like a checklist, so I just penned ‘ask your men to stand down’ as the next item on the checklist, followed by ‘bring us to your commanding officer’. Muttering under my breath what was happening in his mind to make the story unfold with less resistance. I also took a moment to rip some of the already used pages out of the checklist and review them.

  It was refreshing to work with someone who had an organized mind.

  The section leader hadn't seen Aurin, which was a shame, but he was already telling his men to let us pass. Maybe I had laid it on a little thick with that manipulation because the soldiers around him seemed confused.

  Luckily, the chain of command was rigid enough that, despite his orders making no sense, we were able to walk on through with no issue.

  Then the sniper decided to ruin everything by shooting his section leader, and it all went to shit.

  “I think maybe bringing Vivi was the right idea,” I said, as half the soldiers around us ducked for cover.

  “No, that was an impulse decision on the snipers' part,” Makesi replied, his voice was calm considering the situation, and I trusted he knew what he was doing. “Calm the sniper down before he—”

  There was a flash of blue liquid that came out of Makesi and formed into a metallic barrier just in time for the second shot aimed at him to be deflected into the ground.

  “Does that…” he finished while the blue liquid was reabsorbed into his skin.

  That didn't look like his Aspect. Did he have a magic system that he bought like Vivi?

  I nodded and turned towards where the spotlight of the sniper was coming from. I caught her surprise when she saw me look her way, but that was the last emotion she would feel tonight. Her mind being sandblasted clean would take a while to reboot.

  It was nice having a lot more lucidity to work with; I barely even felt dizzy.

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  “Dealt with, is there any way you think this would go cleaner? I can't overwrite everyone here unless you want to lug me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes when I'm done,” I asked.

  Makesi pointed out two people who were shouting out orders, trying to wrangle some facsimile of discipline back into them. This time, instead of completely subverting their wills and giving them directives to follow, I was a little more subtle.

  Pulling out their aggression towards us until it flipped, and they no longer saw us as threats. Then, pushing endearment for us, and a desire to gain goodwill.

  One of them realized what was happening and decided to try to kill himself before I could fix him. With a twinge in his mind, I prompted him to look my way, then locked eyes with him. I could feel his mental model soften under my gaze, and I just shook my head at him, fluttering my eyes slightly to make myself less threatening.

  He relaxed and removed his hand from his gun, then started walking towards us, which I had not prompted him to do, and I didn't know how to handle the situation anymore. I didn't want to have to talk to these people, so I put a hand on Makesi and pushed him to intercept the officer.

  “Little miss, are you doing okay? I'm sorry, I'm not sure what's going on, but I can get to the bottom of it if you'd like,” he said while I was staring at the floor and trying to control my breathing. God, I fucking hate doing that.

  “Is there something wrong with him?” Makesi asked in System Default.

  “His threat perception is currently broken, which is why he’s clearly confused about what just happened. I just glamoured him because he was going to kill himself, small mercies, I suppose,” I said before turning to the man who was looking at me with doe eyes and switching languages. “Yes, I'm fine. Please listen to my colleague here. He has something he needs to speak to your commander about.”

  “Are… you sure?” he asked, to which I returned a nod, and Makesi took over to my immense relief.

  I looked around, checking the mental state of the soldiers, occasionally applying small tweaks every time one realized mental compulsion was in play. Which was happening with increasing frequency, up until the officer I glamoured got approval for us to talk to his commanding officer and announced where he was bringing us.

  At which time it seemed like everyone forgot about our existence and started dealing with the dead section leader. Their cognitive whiplash confused me, but I didn't press on it. We got what we were after, and that was all that mattered.

  Aisling didn't even get to try out her gun. I felt bad for her and patted her head in remorse. When she flushed and stared at me, I mouthed ‘maybe next time,’ then focused ahead.

  “...hn?” Aisling hummed, and I completely understood her. I'd make sure she got to see some violence eventually.

  I know I was excited for it.

  With a guide bringing us back through the village towards where they were setting up their encampment, it was smooth riding from there. You'd think that we'd have to be brought up the chain of command, but it seemed like they were just letting us through. Checking the guide every now and then, he never seemed to need any mind alterations to keep him on task; he was actually becoming more reassured that this was the right move over time, despite that seeming counterintuitive. Everyone we passed avoided looking at us entirely as we were ushered into what appeared to be a command vehicle. There was nobody here yet.

  “Did either of you also feel like it was weird how easy this was? We got past the people at the perimeter, then suddenly it was all peachy and nobody seemed to even care that we existed,” I asked the more experienced Contractors.

  “He kept insisting that we not come here, but refused to elaborate why. Did you not rustle around in his head to figure out why that was?” Makesi asked in return. “He was really concerned about you coming here specifically.”

  “I wasn't listening. All that work I did trying to stop the grunts from shooting us while he radioed us in left me kind of spaced out. I can check the commander's mind when we meet him,” I sheepishly lied. In truth, I had completely forgotten to search for information besides anything relating to Aurin. Nobody had seen her, unfortunately.

  I was beginning to think this might have been a bad idea.

  “Any luck on your end?” I asked Aisling.

  “No…sorry. It's like she isn't even on this plane of existence anymore,” she replied, lowering her gaze to the floor and blushing.

  “Are there other planes of existence besides this one we're on right now contained within this dimension?” I asked.

  “Well, you can sometimes get pocket spaces—” Aisling was interrupted when the door to the command vehicle burst open and a bald man strutted inside.

  Peering behind him, there was no security around him. He had come to meet with us, three people who were clearly anomalous, completely alone.

  “Ah, it's a trap, isn't it?” I muttered to myself and peeked at his mental concept only to recoil in horror at what I saw. What the fuck is that?!

  It was like his mind was consuming itself in some kind of endless orgy of blood and misery, yet he was standing there with a soft smile on his face.

  I tried poking it, and winced when it bit me. It bit my mind? How did that even work?

  The man winked at me before turning to Makesi and speaking in Mandarin, “You walk into my land, planning to make demands of us, and manage to get one of my men killed. I'll write that off as idiocy on their part, but if you could attempt to explain to me why I shouldn't end your lives, that would be wonderful.”

  One of his hands tapped the pommel of a sword he was carrying that appeared to be a modern variant of a jian. The hilt was a sleek matte black, and there was a soft blue glow coming from where the blade was peeking out of the sheath.

  While he was speaking, I sent a message to our group chat.

  Ren: Can't alter his mind. Sorry, it's all kinds of fucked up, I don't even know if I can call it human anymore.

  I saw Makesi’s eyes dart to the message before returning to the thing in front of us, a frown on his face, “I can’t say I’d advise it myself, but you are certainly welcome to try.”

  Makesi: Change of plans, we’re leaving.

  Ren: Can I just shoot him?

  Ren: Actually, why did I even ask? I’m just gonna shoot him.

  Before I had even sent the second message, I had already unholstered my gun, and with a grin on my face, I unloaded my magazine into him. The first shot, he reacted incredibly quickly. His sword was drawn so fast that there was a crack as he smacked the first bullet out of the air. The second shot, he also countered as I was pulling the trigger as fast as I could, and my mind hadn’t caught up to the fact that he had deflected the first yet.

  By the third, I realized what he was doing and decided to take advantage of the fact that I was shooting a smart gun by firing off to the side and encouraging the bullet to find its way to him. It whistled in the air as it redirected itself on a dime to aim for his skull when it would have completely missed. He also deflected this one, but I was getting a read of his pattern by now. The fourth bullet, I added a bit of extra spice by making it redirect itself multiple times based on a die roll by altering the mental concept attached to the bullet itself, turning the bloodthirstiness into a sort of desire for a never-ending russian roulette.

  After a quarter second of it cracking multiple times in the air randomly, it blew through the back of his head and out the front.

  “Got him!” I said, raising my hands into the air. Finally getting to use my gun was even more fun than I thought it would be!

  Makesi let out an exasperated sigh and pointed to the sword that had fallen to the ground. It was dissolving into blue mist and leaving through the door.

  “I, uh, what does that mean? I got him right?”

  “You did not, in fact, get him,” Makesi replied, as he buried his head in his hands.

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