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Now he just needs to convince the right people to let him go through with the craziest idea he's ever come up with. One that could get himself, and everyone in Noxumbra killed.\n\n[b]Chapters[/b]\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/2919475]Case 1 - The Wolf[/url]\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/2937556]Case 2 - Noxumbra[/url]\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/2953837]Case 3 - Hydromancer[/url]\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/2964544]Case 4 - The Favor[/url]\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3084693]Case 5 - Ancient Stalker[/url]\n[b]Case 6 - Hoard Master[/b]\n - [url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3246341]Part 1[/url]\n - [url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3246343]Part 2[/url]\n - [url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3246345]Part 3[/url]\n - Part 4 <~ You are here\n - [url=https://inkbunny.net/s/3246348]Part 5[/url]\nEpilogue\n\n- - - - -\n\nA massive thank you to my top tier subscribers:\n[fa]booleangemini352[/fa] | Sedyna | [iconname]typhoonthesuicune[/iconname] | [fa]Kaden22[/fa] | [fa]jafferroshak[/fa] | RoleplayCentral\n\nIf you would like early access to my stories, polls, monthly commission raffles, weekly previews and updates, behind the scenes talks, and other bonus content, please consider subscribing to my [url=https://subscribestar.adult/xp_author]SubscribeStar[/url]", "description_bbcode_parsed": "After the incident at the morgue, Tag starts to formulate a plan of action to take the fight to this new threat. Now he just needs to convince the right people to let him go through with the craziest idea he's ever come up with. One that could get himself, and everyone in Noxumbra killed.

Chapters
Case 1 - The Wolf
Case 2 - Noxumbra
Case 3 - Hydromancer
Case 4 - The Favor
Case 5 - Ancient Stalker
Case 6 - Hoard Master
 - Part 1
 - Part 2
 - Part 3
 - Part 4 <~ You are here
 - Part 5
Epilogue

- - - - -

A massive thank you to my top tier subscribers:
\n\t\t\t\t\tbooleangemini352 | Sedyna | \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttyphoonthesuicune\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t		\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttyphoonthesuicune\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
| \n\t\t\t\t\tKaden22 | \n\t\t\t\t\tjafferroshak | RoleplayCentral

If you would like early access to my stories, polls, monthly commission raffles, weekly previews and updates, behind the scenes talks, and other bonus content, please consider subscribing to my SubscribeStar", "writing": "[center][b][u]Noxumbra Files[/u][/b][/center]\n[center][b]Case 6: Hoard Master[/b][/center]\n[center][u]Part 4[/u][/center]\n[center]By XP Author[/center]\n\n\"She'll live.\" Those two words made him finally feel like he could breathe again. \"But...\" And then she had to say that.\n\nTag braced himself. \"But what?\"\n\nDoctor Sarah looked up at him from her place beside Susan. \"I've neutralized any lingering magical side effects, but the rest of the healing will be up to her. It was a pretty bad hit.\" Tag had called the incident in, and at his request, three very specific people came. Doctor Sarah, to do her thing with Susan, Rachel to investigate the mage, and his mother, for reasons he had yet to explain to her. Thankfully, the director came with little other fuss, and even waited for him to hear news of his old friend. Sarah had spent several minutes tending to Susan's wounds, using some kind of divine healing magic. It was the first time he had watched it in person. He wondered how often it had been used on him.\n\nHe frowned. \"How bad?\"\n\nThe angelic doe reached over to her medical bag, pulling out some fresh bandages. \"It struck her back, and burned through to the bone. Best case scenario, she shouldn't lose the ability to walk, but I doubt she will be running any time soon. And she will probably be pretty much in constant pain from now on...\" Before he could ask, she continued. \"Worst case, she'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Either way, this might be the end of her career as a police officer.\"\n\nHe sighed, his already drooping ears somehow seeming to fall even more. \"I see...\"\n\nSarah applied the bandages, along with some kind of spray that stung at his nose. \"I'll do what I can here, but she should go to a hospital soon. She lost quite a bit of blood, and the burns will need a constant eye.\" She looked up. \"And you know we can't take her to HQ...\"\n\nHe nodded. \"Yeah.\" He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. \"Yeah, I know.\"\n\nShe smiled apologetically. \"I'll call an ambulance once I finish patching her up here. Don't worry, I'll explain there was an explosion. Oxygen tank behind her was leaking and a spark set it off. Burns are pretty consistent with that.\"\n\nTag smiled back. \"Thanks, Sarah.\" He ran a hand over his head. \"I should go talk to Mom now.\"\n\n\"Yes you should.\" He winced as he heard the stern voice from the doorway. \"I need you to explain exactly why you wanted the director to come all the way across town. And bring the head doctor when any medic could have done this.\"\n\nHe motioned to the door behind her. \"Let's go to another room and talk. Let Doc Sarah finish.\" She frowned, but stepped back into the hallway. He joined her and led her to one of the other rooms. As they walked, he explained everything. About the mark, the vision with the horse and the otter, and their apparent plan to use him.\n\nBeatrice tilted her head. \"Why would they want you?\"\n\n\"I have a few ideas about that, actually.\" He sat down on an uncomfortable stool as he started to list off his theories. \"First, my psychic abilities. I touched the big guy's mind. He was pretty surprised about that, something he said should be impossible. So he might fear that ability. Or covet it. Either way.\" He held up two fingers. \"Second, I was probably a bit easier to lure into a trap than a lot of other Nox agents. They already had someone in the morgue, probably supplying the necromancer with bodies. So he had an easy way to set up getting to me through Susan.\" He held up three fingers now. \"Third, I'm already known to work with Ginny, someone else of interest to him. So they probably thought they might be able to use that to get her free and under their control fully.\" He held up another finger. \"Fourth and finally... I'm your son. Easy way to the head of Noxumbra.\"\n\nThe older jerboa frowned as he kept listing. \"Mmm. All possibilities. But that doesn't explain why you called just me out here. If anything, that last part should make me avoid you for now...\"\n\nHe shook his head. \"Don't worry. I'm still me. No sleeper agent stuff. But that doesn't mean there aren't others...\"\n\nShe quickly connected the dots. \"And you called the few people you knew you could trust out here away from other potential sleeper agents.\" He nodded. \"Not a bad call. Though testing every member of Nox for some kind of mind control or whatever would to take ages.\"\n\nTag nodded slowly. \"Yeah...\" He glanced to the doorway. \"I tried getting another vision off of the otter, but it was the same one I got from the mark, just at a different angle and more... smug.\"\n\n\"Any idea [i]where[/i] it happened?\"\n\n\"No. It was pretty dark in both versions. Unnaturally dark. Even the... fire or whatever... that heated up the branding iron didn't seem to cast a light. I think there was some kind of masking spell done.\" He sighed. \"This was set up as a trap for me, so they took precautions to limit what I saw.\"\n\n\"But you saw the necromancer, right?\"\n\nHe nodded. \"Yeah. Mostly. He's a tall lion, but looks ancient. All gaunt and skeletal, his fur faded to grey wisps. Freaky eyes, too. Black with red irises.\"\n\n\"Ancient, gaunt, and skeletal?\" That part seemed to interest her. \"How gaunt? Just really thin, emaciated, or like a mummy?\"\n\nHe thought. \"Uh... I dunno. I guess emaciated. Not quite full mummy, but kinda close, I guess. Why?\"\n\nShe scrunched her face into a scowl. \"Shit, I was afraid of that.\"\n\n\"Of... what?\"\n\n\"With a description like that, we're probably not dealing with just a normal necromancer.\"\n\n\"Then what kind are we-\" He stopped. \"Oh shit.\"\n\nShe nodded. \"Yeah. He's probably a lich. And whatever you think you know about how powerful they are from pop culture, they probably undersold them.\"\n\n\"Well. Shit. I guess that explains how he was able to still have a connection to Ginny while she's in Zeta.\" He looked down at the floor. \"So... how do we handle a lich?\"\n\n\"We find his phylactery and destroy it.\"\n\nTag looked back up. \"His... what?\"\n\n\"A phylactery is a vessel that holds the essence of a lich.\" He looked at the door as Rachel walked in. \"Though it can hold it for anyone, really. Usually it's blood, but for a lich, it can be anything. An object that houses their soul after they removed it from their body in the process of becoming a lich.\"\n\n\"She's right. Normally it is blood, but that is for blood magic uses. Blood control, tracking, and variations of sympathetic magic. Though how effective it can be is among the most debated topics for magic schollars.\" She looked at the mouse. \"Did you find anything?\"\n\nShe shook her head. \"Traces of fire magic, and the necromancy used on the horse, but nothing else. No big spells on the area. And none of the other bodies in cold storage have any traces of magic on them.\"\n\nTag frowned. \"Kinda surprised by that. You'd think if he wanted to guarantee getting me, he'd have raised a small army of undead, not just one horse.\"\n\n\"Oh, he probably couldn't.\" She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. \"Doesn't look like he was very powerful. Though you didn't leave me much to examine. Turned him into a crispy critter.\"\n\nHe chuckled apologetically. \"Sorry. But he was trying to burn me alive at the time. I did what I had to so I didn't end up the one cooked to the bone.\"\n\n\"Mmm.\" She grunted. \"Anyway, from what I can tell, he probably wasn't very well trained. More of an acolyte than a full on mage. Wouldn't surprise me if the flames and raising the horse was all he knew how to do.\"\n\n\"Yeah, Art did mention that the otter could do whatever he wanted with my soul once it was pulled out. Use it to gain power?\"\n\nRachel nodded. \"Pretty common necromancy stuff there.\"\n\n\"So he sent a newbie after me. Couldn't be that he didn't know I could use magic. And there was no way he could know if I was bringing you or any other agents with me.\" He shook his head. \"This was more of a message. That he has people anywhere. And that he's willing to sacrifice them without mercy.\"\n\nThe mouse frowned. \"If that's true, then we need to find the big guy and take him out fast, before the whole city is overrun by his cultists and he starts the zombie apocalypse.\"\n\nBeatrice shook her head. \"I doubt he's going to rush starting that until he's destroyed Noxumbra first. But we do need to hurry before he gathers the forces to do it.\"\n\n\"But we have no idea where he is. Or how to find him?\"\n\nTag spoke up. \"Well... we have one way we might be able to find out.\"\n\n\"NO!\" Beatrice shouted. \"We are not just going to HAND him someone as powerful as Genevieve!\"\n\n\"I'm not saying we hand her over. But he's calling for her. If she follows that call, it will lead us right to him.\"\n\nRachel spoke up. \"And right into a trap. You really want to walk into the den of a powerful monster AGAIN!? We barely got out of the vampire den, and this is a thousand times worse!\"\n\nHe smiled. \"Trust me. I have a plan.\"\n\n[center]* * *[/center]\n\n\"That's a stupid plan.\" Ginny had her arms and legs crossed as she sat in the corner of her cell, scowling at him.\n\nHe chuckled. \"You haven't even heard all of it.\" He was standing on the other side of the thick door, speaking to her through a tiny hole food could be passed through. Not that she needed food.\n\n\"I don't need to.\" She sighed. \"First, you want to let me out of this box. That's pretty dangerous as it is.\" She held up two fingers. \"Second, you want to let me out of the BUILDING and actually follow this... Archon... whatever's call.\" She put up a third finger. \"And third, you're going to follow me... what, right into his waiting arms?\"\n\nTag shrugged a little, though she could only really see his face through the tiny hole. \"Yeah, that's about right.\"\n\n\"And then what? You'll take on a lich and his army by yourself!?\"\n\nHe shook his head. \"Rachel will be coming, too.\"\n\nShe threw her hands in the air. \"Oh good! Bring the girl I [i]attacked![/i]\" Her scowl somehow got even worse. \"Do you know how fucking stupid that sounds? And you said he still has some connection to me, even with this~\" She generally motioned to the room around her. \"So he's probably listening right now!\"\n\nHe remained calm. \"No one else came up with anything, and there hasn't been a single lead. Just him taunting that he has connections around the city. The longer we wait to do something, the more likely it is he'll just attack again.\" He shifted his weight a little as he leaned against the door. \"If not using you, using one of his other thralls. Or worse, in person. At least if we know we're walking into a trap, we can go prepared.\"\n\nGinny just stared at him in silence for a long time. Eventually, she let out a heavy sigh. \"Well, I'm still against it. You'll only get yourself killed.\" She leaned back against the wall. \"Besides, I'm still locked up in the most secure box on the planet.\" She scoffed. \"Probably about the only way I could be more secure is if they loaded me onto a rocket and shot me at the sun. Might be a good way to permanently kill me. Or him.\" She glanced at Tag. \"Think we can somehow trick this guy to get onto a rocket?\"\n\nTag smiled, glad to see the rat at least a little back to her sardonic self. \"We'll call that plan C.\"\n\nShe quirked an eyebrow. \"C? What was plan B?\"\n\n\"Dropping a nuke. Or at least a very big bomb. Or one of the mages do something. Either way, some kind of massive explosion.\" The idea of blowing up wherever he was had actually come up, but it was thrown out just as quickly. It was about as far as subtle as things could be. Not really Noxumbra's MO. There was also the civilian casualties to consider.\n\nGinny shook her head. \"That won't work.\" She said it with such certainty that it surprised even herself.\n\n\"Why do you say that?\"\n\nShe shook her head again, a little slower this time. \"Not sure. I just know that a bomb won't do the trick... Maybe some feedback I'm getting from the connection.\" She slumped her shoulders. \"Or maybe it would and he's just feeding me some kind of false information. I don't know.\"\n\nTag nodded slowly. \"I'll keep it in mind.\" He pushed off of the wall he had been leaning against. \"Well, in any event, don't worry about the breakout. That's already planned for. I managed to convince the director. She'll get everyone to stations as a lockdown. It'll clear the halls. She can use the excuse that it's practice to keep everyone on high alert in case this big threat does show up. But she'll make sure there's a route open so Rachel and I can sneak you out during the lockdown.\"\n\nThe rat just looked at him, almost impressed. \"I'm surprised you got her to say yes to this.\"\n\nHe shrugged again. \"Well, it wasn't hard when I brought up that Art has been in my head, too. Might still be. And he went after me directly once already. Might do it again.\" He chuckled, though it was almost spiteful sounding. \"For all her many failings as a mother, some part of her still feels that protectiveness. Though she wasn't happy that I'll be the one escorting you there. Took quite a bit of coercing on my part to keep her from sending some platoon of mages and soldiers with me.\"\n\nGinny nodded slowly. \"Alright...\" She took a deep breath, then let it out in a great rush. \"Alright. Fine.\" She then pointed a finger at him. \"Just be sure I have some clothes ready. I'm not walking around the streets naked. Even I have some sense of modesty.\"\n\n\"Really?\" He feigned surprise.\n\nShe scoffed. \"Just go get everything ready.\" After a moment, she added. \"And...\" She stopped herself. \"Nevermind.\" She was going to say something about thanking Rachel, but couldn't quite think of the right words.\n\nHe saw the look on her face and was pretty sure he knew. He also knew better than to push for what she was going to say. \"Alright. We'll do this tonight.\" He smirked as he turned to the door. \"You'll know the signal when the alarms start.\"\n\n[center]* * *[/center]", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "
Noxumbra Files

Case 6: Hoard Master

Part 4

By XP Author


"She'll live." Those two words made him finally feel like he could breathe again. "But..." And then she had to say that.

Tag braced himself. "But what?"

Doctor Sarah looked up at him from her place beside Susan. "I've neutralized any lingering magical side effects, but the rest of the healing will be up to her. It was a pretty bad hit." Tag had called the incident in, and at his request, three very specific people came. Doctor Sarah, to do her thing with Susan, Rachel to investigate the mage, and his mother, for reasons he had yet to explain to her. Thankfully, the director came with little other fuss, and even waited for him to hear news of his old friend. Sarah had spent several minutes tending to Susan's wounds, using some kind of divine healing magic. It was the first time he had watched it in person. He wondered how often it had been used on him.

He frowned. "How bad?"

The angelic doe reached over to her medical bag, pulling out some fresh bandages. "It struck her back, and burned through to the bone. Best case scenario, she shouldn't lose the ability to walk, but I doubt she will be running any time soon. And she will probably be pretty much in constant pain from now on..." Before he could ask, she continued. "Worst case, she'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Either way, this might be the end of her career as a police officer."

He sighed, his already drooping ears somehow seeming to fall even more. "I see..."

Sarah applied the bandages, along with some kind of spray that stung at his nose. "I'll do what I can here, but she should go to a hospital soon. She lost quite a bit of blood, and the burns will need a constant eye." She looked up. "And you know we can't take her to HQ..."

He nodded. "Yeah." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yeah, I know."

She smiled apologetically. "I'll call an ambulance once I finish patching her up here. Don't worry, I'll explain there was an explosion. Oxygen tank behind her was leaking and a spark set it off. Burns are pretty consistent with that."

Tag smiled back. "Thanks, Sarah." He ran a hand over his head. "I should go talk to Mom now."

"Yes you should." He winced as he heard the stern voice from the doorway. "I need you to explain exactly why you wanted the director to come all the way across town. And bring the head doctor when any medic could have done this."

He motioned to the door behind her. "Let's go to another room and talk. Let Doc Sarah finish." She frowned, but stepped back into the hallway. He joined her and led her to one of the other rooms. As they walked, he explained everything. About the mark, the vision with the horse and the otter, and their apparent plan to use him.

Beatrice tilted her head. "Why would they want you?"

"I have a few ideas about that, actually." He sat down on an uncomfortable stool as he started to list off his theories. "First, my psychic abilities. I touched the big guy's mind. He was pretty surprised about that, something he said should be impossible. So he might fear that ability. Or covet it. Either way." He held up two fingers. "Second, I was probably a bit easier to lure into a trap than a lot of other Nox agents. They already had someone in the morgue, probably supplying the necromancer with bodies. So he had an easy way to set up getting to me through Susan." He held up three fingers now. "Third, I'm already known to work with Ginny, someone else of interest to him. So they probably thought they might be able to use that to get her free and under their control fully." He held up another finger. "Fourth and finally... I'm your son. Easy way to the head of Noxumbra."

The older jerboa frowned as he kept listing. "Mmm. All possibilities. But that doesn't explain why you called just me out here. If anything, that last part should make me avoid you for now..."

He shook his head. "Don't worry. I'm still me. No sleeper agent stuff. But that doesn't mean there aren't others..."

She quickly connected the dots. "And you called the few people you knew you could trust out here away from other potential sleeper agents." He nodded. "Not a bad call. Though testing every member of Nox for some kind of mind control or whatever would to take ages."

Tag nodded slowly. "Yeah..." He glanced to the doorway. "I tried getting another vision off of the otter, but it was the same one I got from the mark, just at a different angle and more... smug."

"Any idea where it happened?"

"No. It was pretty dark in both versions. Unnaturally dark. Even the... fire or whatever... that heated up the branding iron didn't seem to cast a light. I think there was some kind of masking spell done." He sighed. "This was set up as a trap for me, so they took precautions to limit what I saw."

"But you saw the necromancer, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Mostly. He's a tall lion, but looks ancient. All gaunt and skeletal, his fur faded to grey wisps. Freaky eyes, too. Black with red irises."

"Ancient, gaunt, and skeletal?" That part seemed to interest her. "How gaunt? Just really thin, emaciated, or like a mummy?"

He thought. "Uh... I dunno. I guess emaciated. Not quite full mummy, but kinda close, I guess. Why?"

She scrunched her face into a scowl. "Shit, I was afraid of that."

"Of... what?"

"With a description like that, we're probably not dealing with just a normal necromancer."

"Then what kind are we-" He stopped. "Oh shit."

She nodded. "Yeah. He's probably a lich. And whatever you think you know about how powerful they are from pop culture, they probably undersold them."

"Well. Shit. I guess that explains how he was able to still have a connection to Ginny while she's in Zeta." He looked down at the floor. "So... how do we handle a lich?"

"We find his phylactery and destroy it."

Tag looked back up. "His... what?"

"A phylactery is a vessel that holds the essence of a lich." He looked at the door as Rachel walked in. "Though it can hold it for anyone, really. Usually it's blood, but for a lich, it can be anything. An object that houses their soul after they removed it from their body in the process of becoming a lich."

"She's right. Normally it is blood, but that is for blood magic uses. Blood control, tracking, and variations of sympathetic magic. Though how effective it can be is among the most debated topics for magic schollars." She looked at the mouse. "Did you find anything?"

She shook her head. "Traces of fire magic, and the necromancy used on the horse, but nothing else. No big spells on the area. And none of the other bodies in cold storage have any traces of magic on them."

Tag frowned. "Kinda surprised by that. You'd think if he wanted to guarantee getting me, he'd have raised a small army of undead, not just one horse."

"Oh, he probably couldn't." She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. "Doesn't look like he was very powerful. Though you didn't leave me much to examine. Turned him into a crispy critter."

He chuckled apologetically. "Sorry. But he was trying to burn me alive at the time. I did what I had to so I didn't end up the one cooked to the bone."

"Mmm." She grunted. "Anyway, from what I can tell, he probably wasn't very well trained. More of an acolyte than a full on mage. Wouldn't surprise me if the flames and raising the horse was all he knew how to do."

"Yeah, Art did mention that the otter could do whatever he wanted with my soul once it was pulled out. Use it to gain power?"

Rachel nodded. "Pretty common necromancy stuff there."

"So he sent a newbie after me. Couldn't be that he didn't know I could use magic. And there was no way he could know if I was bringing you or any other agents with me." He shook his head. "This was more of a message. That he has people anywhere. And that he's willing to sacrifice them without mercy."

The mouse frowned. "If that's true, then we need to find the big guy and take him out fast, before the whole city is overrun by his cultists and he starts the zombie apocalypse."

Beatrice shook her head. "I doubt he's going to rush starting that until he's destroyed Noxumbra first. But we do need to hurry before he gathers the forces to do it."

"But we have no idea where he is. Or how to find him?"

Tag spoke up. "Well... we have one way we might be able to find out."

"NO!" Beatrice shouted. "We are not just going to HAND him someone as powerful as Genevieve!"

"I'm not saying we hand her over. But he's calling for her. If she follows that call, it will lead us right to him."

Rachel spoke up. "And right into a trap. You really want to walk into the den of a powerful monster AGAIN!? We barely got out of the vampire den, and this is a thousand times worse!"

He smiled. "Trust me. I have a plan."

*     *     *


"That's a stupid plan." Ginny had her arms and legs crossed as she sat in the corner of her cell, scowling at him.

He chuckled. "You haven't even heard all of it." He was standing on the other side of the thick door, speaking to her through a tiny hole food could be passed through. Not that she needed food.

"I don't need to." She sighed. "First, you want to let me out of this box. That's pretty dangerous as it is." She held up two fingers. "Second, you want to let me out of the BUILDING and actually follow this... Archon... whatever's call." She put up a third finger. "And third, you're going to follow me... what, right into his waiting arms?"

Tag shrugged a little, though she could only really see his face through the tiny hole. "Yeah, that's about right."

"And then what? You'll take on a lich and his army by yourself!?"

He shook his head. "Rachel will be coming, too."

She threw her hands in the air. "Oh good! Bring the girl I attacked!" Her scowl somehow got even worse. "Do you know how fucking stupid that sounds? And you said he still has some connection to me, even with this~" She generally motioned to the room around her. "So he's probably listening right now!"

He remained calm. "No one else came up with anything, and there hasn't been a single lead. Just him taunting that he has connections around the city. The longer we wait to do something, the more likely it is he'll just attack again." He shifted his weight a little as he leaned against the door. "If not using you, using one of his other thralls. Or worse, in person. At least if we know we're walking into a trap, we can go prepared."

Ginny just stared at him in silence for a long time. Eventually, she let out a heavy sigh. "Well, I'm still against it. You'll only get yourself killed." She leaned back against the wall. "Besides, I'm still locked up in the most secure box on the planet." She scoffed. "Probably about the only way I could be more secure is if they loaded me onto a rocket and shot me at the sun. Might be a good way to permanently kill me. Or him." She glanced at Tag. "Think we can somehow trick this guy to get onto a rocket?"

Tag smiled, glad to see the rat at least a little back to her sardonic self. "We'll call that plan C."

She quirked an eyebrow. "C? What was plan B?"

"Dropping a nuke. Or at least a very big bomb. Or one of the mages do something. Either way, some kind of massive explosion." The idea of blowing up wherever he was had actually come up, but it was thrown out just as quickly. It was about as far as subtle as things could be. Not really Noxumbra's MO. There was also the civilian casualties to consider.

Ginny shook her head. "That won't work." She said it with such certainty that it surprised even herself.

"Why do you say that?"

She shook her head again, a little slower this time. "Not sure. I just know that a bomb won't do the trick... Maybe some feedback I'm getting from the connection." She slumped her shoulders. "Or maybe it would and he's just feeding me some kind of false information. I don't know."

Tag nodded slowly. "I'll keep it in mind." He pushed off of the wall he had been leaning against. "Well, in any event, don't worry about the breakout. That's already planned for. I managed to convince the director. She'll get everyone to stations as a lockdown. It'll clear the halls. She can use the excuse that it's practice to keep everyone on high alert in case this big threat does show up. But she'll make sure there's a route open so Rachel and I can sneak you out during the lockdown."

The rat just looked at him, almost impressed. "I'm surprised you got her to say yes to this."

He shrugged again. "Well, it wasn't hard when I brought up that Art has been in my head, too. Might still be. And he went after me directly once already. Might do it again." He chuckled, though it was almost spiteful sounding. "For all her many failings as a mother, some part of her still feels that protectiveness. Though she wasn't happy that I'll be the one escorting you there. Took quite a bit of coercing on my part to keep her from sending some platoon of mages and soldiers with me."

Ginny nodded slowly. "Alright..." She took a deep breath, then let it out in a great rush. "Alright. Fine." She then pointed a finger at him. "Just be sure I have some clothes ready. I'm not walking around the streets naked. Even I have some sense of modesty."

"Really?" He feigned surprise.

She scoffed. "Just go get everything ready." After a moment, she added. "And..." She stopped herself. "Nevermind." She was going to say something about thanking Rachel, but couldn't quite think of the right words.

He saw the look on her face and was pretty sure he knew. He also knew better than to push for what she was going to say. "Alright. We'll do this tonight." He smirked as he turned to the door. "You'll know the signal when the alarms start."

*     *     *
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