Chapter 101: Retreat

"I want to know what we’re dealing with. Right now, we’re fighting blind. We know there’s a threat. We know it involves the winter solstice. But we don’t know the specifics, and without specifics, how do we even begin to prepare?"

Sera was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was thoughtful.

"Greta mentioned something. A meeting. Consortium leadership gathering at a location about four days from here, supposed to happen in the next week or so."

"I caught that too."

"It’s a trap. Has to be. They know we escaped, they put out a notice describing us, and suddenly we hear about a perfect opportunity to learn everything we need to know?" She shook her head. "Too convenient."

"Maybe. Or maybe they don’t know Greta has this information. Her husband was connected before he died. She might have access to things they don’t realize she has access to."

"That’s a lot of maybes."

"Everything’s a maybe right now. We’re operating on guesswork and hope. At least this gives us something concrete to investigate."

The bed creaked behind them. Both of them turned to find Vael pushing herself up on her elbows, her eyes still foggy with sleep but focused enough to follow the conversation.

"Stop talking about me like I’m not here."

Sera moved to her side immediately. "You should be resting."

"I’ve been resting for six months. Resting is all I did in that cell, when they weren’t asking me questions I couldn’t answer." Vael’s voice was hoarse, but there was iron underneath the exhaustion. "I heard what you said. About the meeting. About investigating."

"It’s too dangerous. You’re in no condition to—"

"I’m in exactly the condition I need to be in." She swung her legs over the side of the bed, wincing as her muscles protested. "I spent six months in that facility. I heard things. Saw things. I know faces, voices, patterns of behavior that might help us identify who’s who in the Consortium hierarchy."

"Vael—"

"Don’t." The word came out sharp, cutting through Sera’s protest like a blade. "Don’t try to protect me from this. I’ve earned the right to be part of it. Whatever they’re planning, they used me to help make it happen. Every question they asked, every piece of information they pulled out of my head, it all fed into something bigger."

She stood, swaying slightly before finding her balance. Her hands were shaking, but her eyes were clear.

"I need to see this through. I need to know what they were building with everything they took from me."

The room went quiet. Nacho watched the two of them, the unspoken communication passing between them in glances and half-gestures. Years of history compressed into a single moment of understanding.

Finally, Sera nodded.

"Two days. We rest here for two more days while you rebuild your strength. Then we move on the meeting, gather what intelligence we can, and head back to Lumen with something concrete to present to the Elders."

Vael’s shoulders sagged with relief. "Thank you."

"Don’t thank me yet. If this goes wrong, I’m the one who’ll have to explain to the military council why I got their most decorated officer killed after finally rescuing her."

"If this goes wrong, I’ll be too dead to care about explanations."

Nacho snorted despite himself. Both women turned to look at him.

"Sorry. Just... you two are perfect for each other."

Sera’s face flushed slightly. Vael looked amused.

"He’s observant," she said to Sera. "I can see why you kept him around."

"He’s a tentacle monster who steals Talents through lewd acts. Observation is the least of his unusual qualities."

"You mentioned that." Vael’s gaze shifted to Nacho, appraising. "I’ve been meaning to ask. The Talents you’ve collected. How many, exactly?"

Nacho pulled up his mental inventory, scanning through the list of abilities he’d accumulated over the past weeks.

"Legendary tier: two. Epic: four. Rare: five or six, depending on how you count merged skills. Uncommon and Common... honestly, I’ve lost track. A lot of them combined into higher-tier Talents, and the individual ones that didn’t merge kind of blur together."

Vael’s eyebrows rose. "In how long?"

"About a month. Maybe a little less."

"That’s... not normal."

"Nothing about me is normal. I’m an Evolving Tentacle Monster from another world who got here by being struck by lightning in a parking lot. Normal left the building a long time ago."

She stared at him for a moment, processing this. Then she laughed. It was a thin sound, still scraped raw by months of suffering, but genuine.

"Sera, where did you find this person?"

"He found us. Walked into Lumen naked and got arrested for public indecency. It went downhill from there."

"Uphill, I’d say. From my perspective, anyway." Nacho grinned. "I opened a massage parlor, made some friends, accumulated enough power to be useful in a fight, and somehow ended up rescuing prisoners from a Consortium fortress. Not bad for a month’s work."

"The massage parlor." Vael’s expression shifted to something more complex. "Sera mentioned that too. Said your methods were unconventional."

"That’s one way to put it."

"She also said you never hurt anyone. That the women who came to you left feeling better than they had in years."

Nacho felt something tighten in his chest. An unexpected vulnerability that he wasn’t sure how to process.

"I tried not to. Hurt anyone, I mean. The Talent Stealing works best when the target is... receptive. Relaxed. Feeling good. Forcing it would probably work, but it would also be horrific, and I’m not interested in being that kind of monster."

"That’s a distinction most people in your position wouldn’t bother making."

"Maybe. Or maybe most people in my position don’t have tentacles that amplify charm by fifteen times. Makes it pretty easy to get what I want without having to be an asshole about it."

Vael studied him with those deep water eyes, seeing something that Nacho couldn’t quite identify. Whatever conclusion she reached, it seemed to satisfy her.

"I think I understand why Sera trusts you."

"That makes one of us. Half the time, I’m not sure why I trust myself."

"That’s the most honest thing you’ve said since I met you."

He didn’t have a response to that. Fortunately, Sera intervened before the silence could stretch too long.