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To make matters even stranger, there didn't appear to be many people around, either. Hector only spotted a single receptionist, a petite secretary, and an apparent errand boy who looked even younger than himself.

Sermung even commented on it. "Keeping everyone busy, aren't you?"

"No sense in having them all cooped up in here," said Jackson's fiery avatar. "I can't stand this place when it's crowded."

Hector had to hold back a scoff. So not only was this building ugly, it also wasn't even functional, either. It was too small for their needs, so everyone just stayed away.

Aw, shit, he noticed Sermung side-eyeing him, probably reading his aura again. What a smug face, too.

Gotta be more careful, Hector told himself.

It didn't take long to reach Jackson's real body. It was one short elevator trip down into a basement, then through a pair of double doors into a large, warehouse-looking chamber filled to the rafters with metal shelves and containers. The human-shaped flame that had been guiding them vanished into thin air, and only a man reading a file in the distance remained.

"Welcome," he said, closing the folder in his hands and looking up. He wasn't very tall, but his dark features were about as chiseled as Hector had ever seen. If he turned out to have a history as a movie star out of Bellvine, then Hector would not have been surprised.

"Can we speed this along?" said Sermung. "I'm not in the mood for another lecture."

"When are you ever?" said Jackson.

Sermung had since removed his crystalline armor and now looked like the most normal dude Hector had ever laid eyes on. Brown hair, brown eyes, plain gray shirt with scuff marks on it, dark slacks with a few tears in them. No shoes, either. Just bare feet.

Meanwhile, Jackson over there was looking like a proper military officer, fully suited up, if only missing the coat.

Which one of these guys was the leader again?

Sermung tossed another glance his way.

That time hadn't been an accident on Hector's part, though.

"So we know that Jercash is somewhere in the northwest," said Jackson, walking closer. "He clearly has multiple camps that all keep moving, and we can only assume that he is traveling between all of them."

"Northwest, you say? I couldn't sense him in that direction when I checked recently, so either your intel is wrong, or he is concealing himself quite well."

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Daro paused again, scratching his chin. "Is that true? That might explain why he sometimes does not appear in the footage when I know that the camera was looking right at him..."

Zeff tilted his head at the man. "How am I more informed about the nature of psychics than you are, Black Artisan?"

Linus and Kristof exchanged amused looks. It wasn't often that they got to see Daro getting scolded for not knowing something.

Daro scoffed. "This is hardly my area of expertise."

"A poor excuse," said Zeff.

"In fairness," said Kristof, "psychics are notoriously reclusive. They go quite far out of their way to conceal such information. Which begs the question: how did you learn of it, Water Dragon?"

Zeff shook his head. "Doesn't matter."

"It matters if there's still more that you can tell us about them," said Daro.

Zeff looked at them a moment. "Perhaps there is."


Chapter Three Hundred Thirty-Two: 'O, beating heart of the protectorate...'
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The Vanguardian headquarters in Andeyal was honestly a bit disappointing, Hector thought. Given how much incredible architecture he'd seen elsewhere in the city, he'd been expecting this place to be similarly impressive, but apparently, that had been a mistake. The HQ was little more than a blank slate of an office building, indistinguishable from those around it. Moreover, it wasn't even tall enough to reach the lowest of the elevated highways that ran all over the city.

It was like a little tree stump, sitting in the shadow of the forest around it.

'That's because Vanguard HQs have a long history of getting attacked and destroyed,' Garovel was telling him privately as they were walking through the featureless main lobby. 'At some point, they got tired of putting so much effort into rebuilding them. Plus, blending in has its perks.'

Hector remained unconvinced. 'If it gets attacked so much, then that's all the more reason to build a super cool fortress, instead.'

'What, you think they never tried that?'

'Hmph. They should've kept trying until they succeeded.'

'Of course you'd think that way.'

'The right way? Yeah, I would.'

Before coming here with Sermung and Jackson, Hector had stopped off to talk to Roman and the others, bringing them up to speed as best he could. He'd wanted to have them come along, too, but Garovel advised him against it, telling him not to push his luck too much with these two friendly juggernauts.

Even Voreese had implied something similar. 'When you get invited to dinner, it's impolite to bring a bunch of strange guests.'

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Linus didn't know the full details of that mess that had gone down between the Vanguard and the Rainlords in Sair, but he knew enough to realize that he shouldn't have been surprised by Zeff's attitude here.

Daro was the one to break the tense silence. "Well... if that's the case, then there is little doubt that there must be more to Graves' objectives than we can currently see."

"Have you no ideas?" said Linus. "You have been spying on him, have you not?"

Daro gave the Linebreaker a look, then smacked his lips. "What makes you think that?"

Linus just returned a flat expression.

Kristof gave voice to Linus' thoughts. "You've been spying on both of us for years, but when Graves shows up, you suddenly give him a free pass? Please."

Daro looked between them. "I..."

The two of them just waited, ready and eager to counter whatever protestations to the contrary the man might be about to attempt.

"I... haven't spied on you that much."

Linus and Kristof shared a chuckle.

"We know you're paranoid beyond all reason," said Linus. "And we've accepted it."

"For the most part," said Kristof. "That drone watching my lady friend was a bridge too far, though."

"Hey, she was cheating on you."

"Yes, and I appreciated the information, but it was still rather creepy, no? Why was that drone outside her window in the first place?"

"Because I'd had suspicions for a while and was keeping tabs on her!"

"So you've said..."

Linus recalled the woman in question. "She was quite the looker, wasn't she?"

"She was, damn her," said Kristof.

"The level of ingratitude here is astounding," said Daro.

Zeff broke in with a question. "Do you have extra intel on Graves or not?"

Daro exhaled a breath. "I've been trying. He's very difficult to spy on, I'll have you know. The fact that he can be in multiple places at once is quite the problem. And I'm certain he's noticed some of my cameras and microphones."

"Obviously," said Kristof. "But has he noticed all of them?"

"No, but it means he's constantly on guard, because he already suspects that someone is always watching him."

"I was under the impression that cameras could see through psychic trickery," said Zeff. "Their illusions work by manipulating the mind's perceptions, but a camera has nothing to manipulate, no?"