“Lieutenant von Rerugen, welcome to the Northern Rift.”

Erich hefted his duffel higher and returned Fairy’s salute, gaze drifting up to the strange, gleaming gash in the sky high above them. Bright, crystalline chains looped around and over the rift, straining to prevent its further widening. He’d seen images of it before, but…

“A sight you need to see in person to understand, isn’t it, sir?” Fairy asked as she turned to stare up at the rift as well. Her large, gossamer-pale wings fluttered and stilled, agitation squashed as quickly as it arose. “We’ve got it tied down, but nothing we’ve done so far has managed to force it closed. Whatever’s on the other side isn’t happy with us and more than powerful enough to show it.”

“It’s larger than I expected,” Erich admitted as he tore his gaze away from the rift and looked down at Fairy. He took in her pale face and the lines of tension around her mouth and frowned; Degurechaff had always been pale and small, but now she looked worn. “What are your current plans to handle it?”

Fairy shook her head and turned away from the makeshift platform, gesturing for Erich to follow her into the camp itself. “We’re still trying to force it closed if possible,” she reported as they walked. “Evidence suggests that whatever’s behind this one is… bad for our world.” She caught his arched eyebrow and gave him a wry smile in return, pointing to an improvised watchtower nearby. “Climb up and see for yourself. I’ll meet you up top, sir.”

Erich sighed as Fairy darted into the air, then slipped his arms through the straps of his duffel bag and started to climb. He wished he could skip the climb entirely and follow her up the expedient route, but he wasn’t about to endanger his identity — or their plans — like that.

When he reached the top, Fairy was perched on the railing, her legs dangling in the open air and her body canted forward as she stared out at the landscape beyond the camp. He dropped his duffel and moved closer, frowning at the strange, barren land where a verdant field should have been.

“We thought it might be because of the rift at first,” Fairy explained as he scanned the area and took the devastation in. “But Agate Squadron bound a smaller rift a week ago and monitored the landscape around it. Nothing even similar occurred there. Salamander Squadron bound another one three days ago in the east, but again nothing.”

Erich tapped a finger against the railing, running everything he knew through his mind and coming up empty. It matched nothing he’d ever seen or read about, and the report that Rudersdorf had handed him didn’t manage to encompass the enormity of the problem. “Have you gone through it?” he asked as he turned his attention back to the gleaming, violet-black rift in the blue sky.

“Can’t. There’s something flowing out of it that forces everyone back.” Fairy grimaced and shook her head, hands tightening on the railing as she leaned farther forward, only her wings keeping her from falling. “If I stop trying to seal it then I would have the strength to enter the rift, but if I do that the rift will open fully and whatever is inside will be able to escape. My men are good, sir, but I’m the only ranking hero present.”

And if Fairy became trapped on the other side while the unknown escaped here, her men would be nothing but casualties with nothing to show for it. That was the sort of report she tried to avoid at all costs.

(She was a terrifying force, more antihero than hero, but he was starting to see some of the rules she lived by.)

(Wasted manpower and wasted effort, two things that Fairy despised with all her twisted heart.)

(As consolation prizes went it wasn’t much of one, but… it was more than he’d had before.)

Erich started to reach for his pack of cigarettes, then paused and cast a glance at Degurechaff in thought. If she couldn’t reach the rift without focusing all her power on flight, then… “Have you tried pooling power from your men?” he asked. Most of Degurechaff’s unit of mages had some wind-alignment, usually enough to grant them flight with technological assistance. None of them were strong enough to have a hero-form, but all of them were top-tier mages.

The power they could pool together would almost certainly be enough to get Fairy through the rift without letting it open the rest of the way.

He could almost see the gears start to turn in Fairy’s mind as she considered his suggestion. She rocked back and swung her legs, worrying at her right thumbnail as a small, manic grin began to bloom. “It could work, couldn’t it?” she murmured in wonder, shooting a wild-eyed look his way. “Everyone says you can only pool two or three people’s powers together before it becomes unstable, but if your mages are competent and accustomed to working together…!”

Erich nodded in agreement, pleased that she’d once more caught his hint without further prodding. It wasn’t exactly a secret that closely aligned mages could pool power well beyond accepted limits, but it was… unspoken. A quiet indication of skill and accomplishment, especially for the commander who fostered such alignment.

(Giving her more prestige might backfire on him, but at this point there was nothing he could do to prevent it.)

(So long as she didn’t hate him…)

(That was about all he could aim for.)

Fairy huffed a laugh and stretched, arms behind her head and wings fluttering wide. “Well, that’s certainly my little problem resolved,” she said with satisfaction, then shot him a sidelong look and asked slyly, “Is there anything I can help you with to repay you for the advice, sir?”

“Did General Rudersdorf inform you of my reasons for arriving?”

“Permission to speak freely, sir?” When he nodded, Fairy relaxed a bit and swung her legs around so that she was facing him instead of the rift. “The dispatch that General Rudersdorf sent was… informative. I am to provide you with whatever aid you require in your current mission, but somehow I don’t think that mission involves that,” she said as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder to indicate the rift. “If I may inquire…?”

Erich sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “If only, Major. No. I…” He grimaced and looked away from her intent, ice-blue eyes, more uncomfortable with admitting the truth to her of all people than anyone else so far. At least all the others already knew what had happened.

She waited, patient and intent like the predator he knew she was, with a calculating gleam growing brighter with every second that passed.

“During my last combat with Crimson Fox, he knocked me out and captured me.” He raised a hand in admonishment as Fairy began to bristle at his words. “Peace, that is not the issue. He healed me and I walked out the front door unmolested.” In every meaning of the word, given Crimson Fox’s… comments in the moments leading up to his capture.

(He never thought a villain would fixate on him like that!)

(It was… more unnerving than he expected.)

“The problem,” Erich forged on, keeping his gaze fixed on a point over Fairy’s shoulder, “is Lieutenant Aizen.”

Fairy stiffened, cold eyes growing colder. “Aizen,” she repeated darkly. “What did our dear friend do this time, sir?”

“I believe this will explain things well enough,” Erich said as he knelt, retrieved a copy of the incriminating newspaper, and handed it to Degurechaff.

She blinked at the photo on the front page, gaze darting up to Erich and then back down. “A well timed shot, I’m guessing,” she murmured as she started reading the article, her brows furrowing and her lips twisting into a scowl the further she went. “…I see…”

Erich waited, arms clasped behind his back and shoulders stiff with tension. If she didn’t believe in his innocence, the whole plan went up in smoke… and likely so did he. The difference in their powers was measured in orders of magnitude; if she turned on him, he had no chance to escape.

Fairy slid the handful of written papers out of the newspaper and, after shooting him a questioning look, began to read what he’d written down. “I knew he was slime but I didn’t realize the extent of it,” she grumbled, shuffling the papers in her hand.

“Major…?”

“You—oh, you haven’t interacted with him much, have you sir?” She shot him a startled look then gave an almost sheepish smile. “He tried to recruit me a few times, before General Zettour put me in command of Pixie Squadron. He’s…” she paused with a grimace, then shrugged and said, “Sorry sir, but ‘slime’ is the best description I have for him.”

Erich arched an eyebrow, curious to know her reasoning for the description. “Slime?”

She made a face and waved the newspaper at him. “Slime. His words… twist. And there’s something weird about his powers that I don’t trust. He’s recorded as having mid-rank water and nothing else, so either he’s like you, sir, or he’s kept whatever I keep sensing from him hidden from everyone.”

“And you didn’t think to mention this…?”

“To who, sir?” Fairy asked with an arched eyebrow. “Your power doesn’t work on opinions, and without knowing what power he’s hiding we have no grounds to accuse him of anything.”

Erich had to concede her point; the only thing that had rung true to him was that Aizen’s powers were not water-based, and all that meant was that Degurechaff truly believed that Aizen’s dossier was a lie. And no matter how well-regarded she was, Aizen was a senior — and well-loved — military official with the backing of more than a few important people. It would take more than the words of one god-tier antihero to sway opinions.

(It would take more than the words of one mid-ranked hero at that…)

(Was this even possible…?)

(No, he couldn’t think that way.)

“Will you help?” he settled on instead, hand tightening around his opposite wrist.

She barked a laugh and flashed him the sharp, deadly smile he’d grown to fear. “Say the word, sir, and I’ll do whatever you need.”

Tension drained from his shoulders at her agreement and it felt like he could finally breathe. Things were starting to go his way. “Thank you,” he murmured in relief, then gathered himself and said, “I plan to return to Central as Griffin and join forces with Crimson Fox. Erich von Rerugen is still unconnected to any hero-form, however, so if you could pretend for a while that I’m still here…?”

“Easy enough,” Fairy agreed, wings fluttering and legs swinging like the little child she resembled.

Erich cast a glance up at the rift in the sky, then added, “Find a way to deal with that soon. I have the suspicion that we’ll need your strength to take down Aizen.”

Something dark and gleeful flickered across her expression before fading away, and the smile she gave him was all teeth. “I’ll do my best, sir, you can count on me.”

“Thank you, Major Degurechaff.”

(Now if only he had a plan for after joining up with Crimson Fox…)

(He hated winging it.)