Chapter 162

The Angel Express - 7:58 PM

It didn’t take long before the Greenhouse finished conjuring itself, and I stepped inside with Kayla after collecting Jamie’s plants from the Vault. The car walls were rounded and covered in glass just like the Phipps Conservatory was, but it would be just as sturdy as the rest of the train. We could see Jeff and Corwin playing in the Subspace Depot, and waved when we caught his attention.

There was an aisle through the center of the train car, but both sides were covered in plots of dirt. There were dividers that could be moved, and I knelt in front of the first one. Luckily, we wouldn’t have to worry about things like fertilizer and proper soil types right away. One of the perks of the system was that this stuff would grow regardless of what we did to it, so long as we planted the seeds.

That wasn’t to say that it wouldn’t help, however. There were plenty of things to do to maximize growth, it was just that we didn’t have any fertilizer now. Walter’s Rusted Loppers would help with any pruning, and the new watering can the Thistle Hag dropped would reduce the time the plants would take to grow. There was an automated sprinkler system over every plot, but it was better numerically to use the plain, wooden watering can. I pulled it from my inventory.

[[Item]]

Pixie’s Watering Can

When water passes through the spout and out of the sprinkler, it gains the magical ability to grow plants at an accelerated speed. Any flora watered with this can will grow 20% faster.

If left alone, there is a chance a Pixie may claim this item as their home.

I let Kayla examine it as I brought out the seeds I was planning to plant. The entire left side of the car was going to be for cultivating tea leaves. The majority were the same as the ones before the system dropped, camellia sinensis, but there was one rare plant that only existed in the twisted dungeon side of the conservatory.

Fully grown, it would look like the tea plant, but its leaves were twisted with sharp edges and purple mingled with dark green. There had been no name attributed to it, but I called it witch tea because that’s what we were using it for. It was one of the few ways to consistently make resource restoration potions, like Mental Health Potions. Now that I exhausted the ones from the time capsule, I needed a way to get more.

Kayla watched as I set the seeds in front of the plots I planned on planting them in. On the other side of the aisle is where I was going to grow fruits and vegetables to add to the teas. Lemons, berries, ginger, and more. Some would take longer to grow, such as the trees, but they would have consistent yields.

Once everything was set up, I held up my hand. It didn’t take much to focus my mind on the image of what I wanted to conjure.

My Warmind abilities had become second nature to me, but they certainly weren’t intuitive. You had to project your will onto the world around you, which was most certainly a learned skill. Wresting control of reality was not as easy as I often made it look. People with psychic classes looked at me in awe, and those who did not were unimpressed.

So when I Constructed a trowel out of thin air and all I got was a dull round of applause from Kayla, I wasn’t surprised.

The Construct was a simple spade on the end of a handle perfect for my hands. It shimmered with translucent purple light, but it was a completely solid tool. I stuck it into the dirt and took my hand off of it to present it to her.

“Yes, you’ve made a trowel,” Kayla stated as she stopped clapping. “I also saw you make a dagger and a saw blade against the Uuska. Are you trying to impress me with a trowel?”

“I mean, a little ooh and ahh wouldn’t be too much to ask,” I replied.

“I can go get Jeff and you can try again, if you like.”

I saw the smirk on her lips, and sighed dramatically. “No, nevermind, the magic’s gone,” I said as I grabbed the trowel. Staring at it, I tried not to admit to myself that this wasn’t as impressive as the saw blade trick. “Alright, you got me. But I didn’t have to Break Free to get it done this time.”

Kayla’s smirk softened into a smile. “So you’re basically attempting to impress me by simply advancing in your class, which you get to do a little early,” she said. I wasn’t watching her, but she put her hand on my head and ruffled my hair. “Between me, Jamie, and Ashley, I don’t think you quite have the right crew for ooh and aww, psychic boy.”

Snorting out a laugh, I ducked her hand and started working on planting. “Yeah, the team’s really coming together, isn’t it?”

“We only have the Pittsburgh mystery addition you’ve been teasing left, don’t we?” she asked, taking a step back from me.

“Two, actually,” I replied before snapping open my inventory and pulling out the Medallion of Uuska with the class in it to show her. “They’re a package deal, though.”

“Tea Witch?” Kayla read aloud after she grabbed it. Once she was done, she dangled it in front of me until I took it back. “So we’ve got a Greenhouse for tea now?”

“She’s going to be a terrific potioneer,” I said. “Not immediately, but she’ll get there eventually. Tea brewing is an art, you know, and she’s got a learning curve ahead of her. Rest assured, though, that she’s going to provide everything we need.”

“I’d have liked it if the belt still worked, but that sounds pretty handy, too,” Kayla admitted, but I could only shrug. It was gone now, and under normal circumstances it wouldn’t have been anything I’d normally have at this point to share. “Would you like help with gardening before we start this conversation properly?”

“No need to help, it’s your day off and I find this relaxing,” I told her, lazily waving the trowel. “Truth be told, I could do all of this mentally, but it feels good to get your hands dirty sometimes. You know?”

“Can’t say that I do, personally, but I can understand the satisfaction of doing something yourself,” Kayla replied. “Which is one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about.”

I gestured for her to continue, and she did so.

“Jeff and I both know that you want us as the face of the organization, dealing with other guilds and helping with the zombie raids,” she started, her voice confident. “We appreciate you letting us go with Jamie and take care of some things in the Pitt. She and my husband have something of a friendly rivalry going on right now because of it and the Fieldhouse, and I feel like it’s been good for him.”

“I’m sorry it’s her and not you,” I said as I finished planting the first seeds.

“That’s nothing, honestly,” she claimed. “I’m not going to be a great frontline fighter anytime soon, and I’ve come to terms with that. My skills lend more towards support, which is something I’ve been leaning into a lot more lately. What really gets to me is you.”

I paused, arching an eyebrow. Not that she could see it since she was standing behind me, but I felt like she understood. “What do you mean?”

“We want to go down into the Pitt by ourselves,” she explained. “And not just the first few layers, but taking on real threats. 40 point dungeons, or 30s at the least. You want us to stay up here and fight zombies until we leave, but we are already beyond that. Our stats and abilities are maxed, we’re thriving with skills and passives that we found and you yourself have offered us, and we're amongst the deadliest combatants around. Let us loose.”

“It’s not that simple,” I said as I started on my next plot. “You two aren’t supposed to be here. Even giving you such a task as that can throw things wildly out of hand. Who knows what will happen if we move too quickly for Pittsburgh to catch up?”

“I call bullshit on you not knowing that,” Kayla challenged. “This is the path you picked for your final attempt, so I have no doubts that you pushed Pittsburgh as hard as you could at least once or twice to see if you could shave some time off of it.”

“That’s… not inaccurate,” I said with a grimace.

There were certainly times when I had gone too hard on any given scenario and had to flee thanks to the administrators changing rules, events, or monsters. The Writhing Zeppelin incident was only a surprise due to how early it occurred.

“Then let us help you!” Kayla pleaded, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Let us grow with you. We’re absolutely fine. Yes, it was a little touch and go after the fight with the Vespae, but we are solid now. Our hearts are set. We just need direction so we don’t mess up whatever plans you have.”

“Well, my plans have you up here on the surface with some excursions to the top level of the Pitt,” I said, leaning my head back but not enough to see her.

“That’s unacceptable,” she replied immediately. “We’re not with you so that we can be put on the sidelines or in the kiddie pool. We want to make a difference just like you. Like your plans for Jamie.”

“I know what Jamie can handle,” I argued. “The same can’t be said for you and Jeff.”

“You’re treating us like children,” she argued back. “I may not be a powerful fighter, but Jeff has proven himself. There are only two people who have beaten him in all of Pittsburgh, and that’s you and Jamie. Sure, Greg might be able to, but Jeff’s been tossing people left and right in the Fieldhouse and I’ve been doing well, myself. At the very least, we’re undefeated against other two and three person teams.”

“The Fieldhouse isn’t the same as the Pitt, and neither was the tournament back in Atlanta,” I said. Some of the heat I was feeling made its way into my voice, giving it a bite.

“Yes, we’re both very aware of the life and death stakes of the Pitt, Anthony,” she bit back. “But, as I said, we are here to help. Hell, even you yourself have had some problems here in Pittsburgh. You fell asleep while meditating, for crying out loud!”

“This isn’t about me, this is about you and your husband.” Kayla dragged me to my feet and spun me around. Surprised, I let her, and I was met with a flick to my nose. This time, it actually did hurt, and I raised my hand to my face. “What the fuck was that for?”

“How could you possibly say this isn’t about you?” she snapped, shoving her finger in my face. “Everything is about you!”

“I wouldn’t say that,” I protested. “I mean, there’s Coe Valen over in-

“No one else matters as much as you. You are literally the most important person in the world,” she interrupted. “That’s not exaggeration or hyperbole. I don’t want to inflate your ego or anything, but all of this? Every single thing that’s happening right now? You’ve taken it upon yourself to clean this mess. Why? I don’t know, you never shared why. How? An Angel, apparently. But it doesn’t matter, because the reality is you’re here, it’s your plan, and we are with you. You brought us along, so you must have thought us useful. Now use us.”

Kayla stepped back and took a deep breath. I let my hand fall from my face. “You don’t like to talk about the past, but I want to hear this. Jeff and I, how do you see us?” she asked, frowning as she crossed her arms.

“Well, I see Jeff as Jeff,” I told her, crossing my arms as I mimicked her. I was still feeling a little defensive, even if what she said was the truth. “Every time except this time, he’s died. Probably due to fighting Pustibule and then getting caught in the building’s collapse or from the Demon’s diseases. He’s got the skill for it, so that’s likely what happened.”

Hearing about her husband’s death so casually caused Kayla to shiver, but none of the steel left her eyes. “He’s a clean slate, untested. Okay,” she said, and I had to nod. “Which means the problem is with me.”

I arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t want to put us in harm’s way, so you give us easy tasks. Zombie duty, Sol Ligatus PR when there’s no violence between people, supporting Jamie. It’s easy stuff,” Kayla accused. “So there has to be something that’s making you hold back. If it’s not Jeff, then it’s me.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” I said. Deep down, though, I knew it wasn't.

“Is it? Does it need to be?” Kayla huffed. “You’ve been treating me with kid’s gloves for the longest time now. From the moment we were in that hotel room together, you’ve been coddling me. Now, I need you to man up and tell me how you really feel.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You want to know how I really feel?” I asked, my tone low.

“Help me understand,” she answered firmly.

“Fine, let’s see how I really feel,” I said, scowling.

Reaching up to her forehead, I tapped her with two fingers and opened up a Mental Link. Concise thought transfer wasn’t possible, but feelings were. I was angry that she was pushing this so far, but it wasn’t my most prominent emotion. Memories flowed through my mind, not that she could see them, and they were all about Kayla.

She immediately sobbed at the storm of centuries of deep sadness and grief I allowed through the link.

“I have interacted with you 77 times. Because you were the smallest, most vulnerable looking woman there, I purposefully selected you to hammer it into the other’s heads that I’m a bad guy to get  Thomas on the right track,” I told her honestly. “48 times, I gave you the Mercurial Mind passive. That eased you, but you never really recovered.”

“I’m recovered now,” she insisted, wiping tears from her eyes.

I continued impassively even as my emotions raged through me. “Twice, I had even gotten you to commit suicide. Not on purpose, I would never do that, but once it was you and a few others, and another it was everyone at the Safari Resort when I pushed too hard. I have never seen you recover. I'd check every time I returned to Etson, if you were still alive and with Tommy’s Tumblers. Jeff never came back, and I only ever saw you lurking on the outskirts.”

“Well, of course I would be like that, Anthony! I never had Jeff!” Kayla yelled. Her emotions started pushing back against mine. Slowly, like a rock being battered at sea by a mighty storm, but weathering the abuse nonetheless. “I know I told you that he’s my rock. We both depend on each other, and now we depend on you, Jamie, and Ashley. The way you see me is completely unfair!”

“You're the one who asked me how I feel about you!” I shouted, not bothering to hold back.

“And now I’m telling you to let that Kayla go, and look at the one that’s standing in front of you!” she demanded, letting the tears of my sadness fall freely now as she threw her arms out. “You are the one who gave me a second chance, you are the one who gave Jeff a new lease on life, and you are the one who brought us along! You said we were friends, Anthony, and I know this isn’t how you treat your friends. I’ve seen it.”

“It’s not that easy,” I replied, taking a breath. There was no need to advertise my feelings anymore, so I pulled them back, leaving only her resolve standing strong between us. “Hundreds of years, dozens of iterations, and that’s how things have always been. It’s hard to throw away.”

“Well, as your second in command, I’m telling you that you’re going to need to suck it up and do it,” Kayla said firmly. “Unless you just gave me that title because you felt bad for me.”

I shook my head. “No, I recognize your talents in getting people to work together. My team is basically a bunch of lone wolves operating on their own wants and needs. I need someone like you.”

“Then let go of who you thought I was, and look at the person I am now.” Kayla wiped away the last of her tears. “I believe you when you say it’s hard. This is your first time with us and Sara, but everyone else you’re meeting is someone who you know intimately.”

“Only Jamie, and only in one run,” I confessed defensively. “Before I got so old that it felt scummy, I mean.”

Kayla looked surprised. Caught off guard, she laughed as she stepped forward and took my hands in hers. “I meant as a friend and leader, but that’s a fun fact,” she said with an amused snort.

My face paled, and I quickly shook my head. “That was-”

“Very interesting, I’m sure, but I’m not prying,” she gently interrupted. “What I’m getting at is, each of these people are ones you know. You have inside jokes you can’t use because only you have context, and talks you can’t reference because they never happened. You’re on eggshells, Ant, but you don’t have to be like that with us. You already trusted us with your deepest secret, so trust us with this. We’ll do better than just survive, we’ll thrive. All of our doubts are in the past.”

“I didn't expect you to have gotten over the Kingtin's trauma so quickly,” I quietly admitted.

“Well, that's not for you to decide, is it?” she asked.

I squeezed her hands, and she returned the gesture. We stood there like that while I collected my thoughts.

She was, of course, right. I was only letting them swim in the kiddie pool. Any time I sent them after a strong enemy, whether it was Talspra, or Watermelon Walter, or the Duchess, they had an escort that could keep them out of trouble.

But whenever I left them alone, they still did well. There were no issues during the CDC quest, and everything they said lined up with my expectations of success. Kayla and Jeff had wasted no time getting into the Dunbar Runners’ good graces, nor did they have problems with Thomas and his group.

Kayla was my second in command, and she had earned that place through her actions. I was just afraid of losing her and, by extension, Jeff. They were more than just subordinates, I had bonded with them through my Regression Imbalance.

That was no reason to let them suffer for it.

I sighed, and watched as Kayla’s face lit up. “What are you so excited about?” I asked.

“I know that sigh,” she said happily, her triumphant grin at odds with her red eyes. “This is the part where you start taking us seriously.”

Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes and let go of her hands. “I’m going to let you take care of my duties for the next couple of days,” I said. When she opened her mouth to speak, I held up a hand, and she waited patiently. “Before you get too excited, the next few days are essentially fetch quests for me. Which means hitting up grocery stores and garden centers so that I can get everything I need for the Greenhouse.”

“Makes sense,” she said with a serious nod.

“You’ll have control over Jamie and your husband during this time, though I’ll still be around if you need help,” I continued. “I have a manuel I’m writing that will help you figure out what you need to get done, and I’ll get that to you tomorrow morning.”

“And what will you be doing during this time?” Kayla asked. “I doubt you’ll be sitting around doing nothing.”

“Two Patron quests a day for points and two scenario quests a day to gain interest. Other than that, I’m going to spend some time recruiting our next members and figuring out what’s going on with Pustibule,” I answered, crossing my arms. “Recruitment will take a few days depending on how he’s hunting, but I’ll be able to get him the moment I catch wind of him. Just need to wait for him to show up first”

“And Pustibule?”

I frowned. “He’s already here. I haven’t figured out where, yet, and Sara’s been looking. We’ll find him eventually, it’s bound to happen, though I’ll need some things from the Dealer before I take the fight to him.”

“We’ll be ready when you are,” she said. Her resolve was still ironclad through the Mental Link, and I shut it off.

“We’ll see,” was all I had to say about that. “If you do better than I expect you to… well, I may leave you for a week or so as I complete a trial. That depends on when we take care of Pustibule, though. It’s a toss up. Most of the time I wait until after the scenario, but this way we’ll get back a week of time that we wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Kayla arched an eyebrow. “What kind of trial?”

“Don’t you worry about that,” I said with a dismissive wave. “You go tell Jeff the news, and I’m going to get back to work. These seeds won’t plant themselves.”

With a nod, Kayla reached over and hugged me. I returned it before she backed off. “If you need someone to talk to, you can come to us, okay?”

“I gotcha, Kayla.”

“So long as you know, psychic boy,” she replied with a smile before leaving the Greenhouse.

I watched the door for a bit before taking another deep breath and turning around to get back to work.

[[Patron Message]]

I like Kayla. She and her husband may be degenerates, but they’re good people.

For the record, I’m not upset about what might have happened between you and Jamie. That’s in the past, and I know how you are. I’m glad that we’re together now. Watching and helping you makes me happy.

Now for something less warm and fluffy, I can’t find Pustibule anywhere. There are some places that are fuzzy in my sight, but that could be anything from special administrator rooms to natural cloaks that won’t disperse until you’re there.

That said, there’s something that I’m not quite sure of. I’m going to spend some time networking. The Egyptian pantheon is still around, as well as the two that you talked to Greg and Olivia about, and there’s a prominent Greek Patron among others.

I’ll get to the bottom of this as soon as I can, Anthony, you have my word.

Sincerely motivated,

Sara

Smiling, I snapped away the message after I read it. “Thank you, Sara. I appreciate your hard work. You’re amazing.”

With that, I got back to work on my tea garden.