Argo's eyes flicked up from her menu.

"You're late," she said to the approaching figure.

"I had some things to take care of," Irae responded dully. "Have you had some time to think?"

"I've called for someone I trust to help us out. He should be coming soon."

"As long as he's trustworthy…" Irae seemed distant as he spoke.

"Something bothering you?"

Irae clenched his fists. "Don't mind it. It's not something anyone else should be worried over."

"That's a blatant lie. If it can kill someone at a bad time, they better be aware of it."

Irae looked around the courtyard. It probably wasn't the best place to hold a large gathering of players; it was small and littered with raised troughs filled with plants and lined with benches. When everyone arrived, they would be divided by those features and their view of a speaker would be somewhat obscured. Argo didn't know why he had chosen such a place.

"It's not something that will get you killed," Irae spoke after a moment, still looking away. "I've just been thinking on some memories recently."

Argo bit back more questions. "Now then, the meeting."

"Yes, last night's meeting." Irae looked back to Argo, losing some of the dullness in his tone. "We two are saints set to fight against the others. The third saint is dangerous, and we know nothing of him. I suspect he's the one who invited me into the game—Glitch—but I can't be sure. The fourth saint is a player like us. He's secured the ability to attack players in the safe zone, and he's been using it. I've been tracking him, and it seems he's looking for me as well. It's possible one of the other saints that does know about me sent him to track me down."

"Could it have been Verian?" Argo interrupted. That creepy bald man had a way of getting people to trust him, but she wasn't sure if he dispersed his information.

"I doubt it. Four's been all over the city, but his connections seem to come from the Eastern quarter of the city more than anywhere else. He's likely going to be our first major opponent."

Argo nodded. "We know the fifth saint is Valse. Do you have any idea what he's been doing?"

Irae shook his head. "The game's still new. I won't have an information network for another day at least."

"You're already getting an information network?" Argo was impressed.

"Alexis, who you met this morning, is on our side. However…"

Argo gave Irae a sharp glare. "That's not a word you should be using. Don't tell me you're building a network around someone you can't trust?"

Argo had tried doing just that before, in a different game entirely. It didn't end well then, and here the stakes were much higher.

"Time is the biggest issue right now. Valse and Glitch have been in the game longer than the players, and we don't know what they have going for them. I've been making huge decisions without any information, simply because I don't know how far behind we are. Alexis has her own goals, but working against the fourth saint is also one of them. There's no way we can fight Valse with players alone."

"You're playing a dangerous game," Argo warned.

"Until I have information, I won't know who to trust. I'm not a gamer—I don't have connections like you do. If we fail now, we fail for good. Therefore, we have to get some connections, and fast. There will be consequences, and I'll just have to deal with them.

Irae took in a deep breath. For a moment, his expression seemed to change to one foreign to his face.

"Even if the consequences kill me."

Silence hung in the air for a moment. Argo took the slightest of moments to understand what Irae had just said. He was willing to die to take on an enemy he'd just come across. Or was there some kind of history? Had perhaps Valse been someone from his past? That didn't make sense—Verian had said Valse was from a completely different world. Then, was Irae also from a different world? Probably not. His fists were clenching again, just like when Argo had asked what had been bothering him.

Irae continued as if nothing had happened. "The sixth saint was a little girl. She's also been in the game longer than the players, and seems to be acting through a player. I don't know a lot about her, but I've already sent someone after her."

"Wait," Argo said. "What was that about dying? Why?"

Irae's expression changed about three times in the instant following her question. He seemed to chew on his answer before spitting it out.

"You were asking what was bothering me before. The answer is my mental state. I'm not entirely… whole. Different parts of my mind push in different directions, and a lot of them are obsessive. Right now, the push to stay alive isn't very strong. I don't have to be alive, as long as the twins stay safe. If I die, I leave that responsibility to you and Trick."

Argo wasn't sure what to think of the man standing beside her. He'd just admitted he was insane, and asked her to carry on his legacy. Should she even be associating with him? Could she even be sure he would continue working with her?

Was she really alone in this fight?

Her mind was saved from its spiral into questions by two new arrivals.

"You're late," Argo intoned, hiding the relief that someone she could actually trust had arrived.

One of the newcomers complained indignantly, "You said to come half an hour before the meeting, and I'm even earlier than that. When will you ever be happy?!"

"That will never happen, Eugene," Argo replied. "It seems we're both bringing someone new into our circle. Mine is Irae."

Eugene stepped in front of Irae to give him a close examination. Irae wasn't particularly short, but Eugene still towered a little over him. His height had gone up since yesterday, meaning he was this tall in real life.

"Yeah, this here's Mortimer." Eugene's friend was a strongly-built man with short brown hair and a serious expression. His purplish-brown eyes and something of his loose cheeks seemed to be a copy of Eugene's features.

Mortimer only spoke once he'd been introduced. His voice was gruff and businesslike. "You must be «The Rat» my brother has been talking about. I'm expecting great things."

Argo smirked. "I'm just an information dealer. So, are you here for business?"

"What can you tell me about the boars?"

"I normally charge in Cor, but seeing as that's in rather short supply, you're going to have to pay in a different manner. Let's say two pieces of information—anything from or taking place in the game. On request, by me, any time in the future."

Mortimer smiled cynically. "Already quite impressive. If I don't take the deal?"

"I'm sure there is someone else willing to lead this fight. You just have first access because Eugene brought you here."

Mortimer closed his eyes a moment, probably weighing his options. "How about all my money—it's more than the starting amount—and one piece of information?"

Argo shook her head. Mortimer sighed, and accepted the deal.

Argo began to fill him in on every detail about the boars—their flocking behaviour, how a certain kind acted as the nucleus of each stampede, and how she'd seen three of these elite boars last she'd looked from the wall. Mortimer asked a few questions, but ultimately seemed to internalize everything with stunning speed.

Irae and Eugene listened quietly. It was only after Argo had finished her explanation that Irae raised another point.

"You're going to have to remember when you make your plan that the boars aren't your only enemy. Right now, any large gathering of players with a leader taking charge sends a political message. By taking charge, you're not just the general, but also the president; make sure your platform is stable."

Mortimer nodded, beginning to pace in circles. He opened his menu and began making invisible notes in the air before him. Argo imagined this was how Newton or Socrates looked when they were working on a new discovery, momentarily oblivious to the surroundings they were trying to describe.

"You can't really get to him when he gets like this," Eugene said. "Now, was there a reason you called me here, Argo?"

Argo nodded and led him and Irae away from the muttering Mortimer, heading toward an alley leading away from the plaza. The only other person there disappeared around the corner before Argo could see anything other than a flash of red hair. Anyhow, it was too far away for them to hear.

Argo began with a long sigh. "We've gotten ourselves mixed up in something big."

"How so?"

Argo's throat was a little dry after explaining so much to Mortimer, but she began anyway. "There's someone here, a much bigger enemy than Kayaba Akihiko. From what we can tell, his goal is domination of players and the world."

Contrary to Argo's expectations, Eugene laughed. "If I wasn't absolutely sure you always told the truth, I would have thought that was a joke. Why am I not surprised that it was you who dug this up, and not anyone else?"

Argo remembered now why she liked talking to Eugene. He still took her seriously, but he always brought a humourous humanity to her thoughts.

"I guess he does sound a bit like a comic-book villain when I put it like that," Argo muttered. "Anyway, we happen to know that a part of that goal is to infiltrate the command structure of the players."

"How can he do that if there isn't a command structure?"

Irae responded, "Exactly why he had to force us to make one."

Eugene took a second to understand. "You mean he loosed those boars?"

"Possibly. Knowing that, we need eyes on the people at the top, and still have free hands to stop his agents. What I'm asking is that you keep an eye on your brother for me."

Eugene chuckled. "As if I would leave that guy alone. Thanks for the warning, though. Also, if you ever need help with your… whatever fight it is, I'm here."

Argo nodded, and they returned to the plaza. She didn't lead them far, sticking toward the rear of the area the crowd would come to fill. The primary criteria for a good location were invisibility and lookout-ability. The corner of the plaza, shaded by Eugene's towering form, was optimal.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me anything else about your dangerous guy?" Eugene asked.

Irae answered, "The main problem right now is that we don't know what's happening, and we won't know for at least another day or two. In other words, we could be playing right into anyone's hands right now, and we wouldn't even know it. In that regard, it's a good thing for us that the players can have a leader."

"You're saying your entire conflict is founded on paranoia. Got it."

"We have seen these people," Irae explained uncaringly. "We know what they're trying to do, just not why. It's the people we don't know about, those that might take advantage of the situation themselves, that might be a bigger issue. We need allies to deal with them—I'm not the greatest judge of character, or the greatest strategist."

Following that last point was a subtle vocalization. It could be passed off as a grunt or even a breath, but it reminded Argo of Irae's earlier words. Had a 'different part of his mind' just tried to speak through his lips?

When Argo looked more closely at Irae, she saw no emotion in his eyes. His hands were curled into fists again, turning almost completely white from the pressure. Just how unstable was he?

What shocked Argo most of all was that she'd hardly noticed before she pointed it out. He'd seemed mysterious, perhaps alien, but not unstable. As she watched Eugene try and ask more questions, she realized he didn't notice anything either.

How long had Irae been hiding this?

It was already getting close to the appointed time, and people were drifting into the plaza. One party of those people quickly spotted Argo and darted over. They were the girls from the North Gate. The one at the front, the slim and black-haired girl a few years older than the rest, seemed quite irate, the others simply dragged along in her wake.

She marched right up to Argo. "You." She paused, glaring down at Argo. "You ran away, when you owed us money for running into that shitshow this morning."

Eugene looked at her, confused. Irae stood impassively, ignoring this new disturbance. There was to be no support from those two idiots.

"Sorry about that. Trick, was it?"

The girl glared at Argo. "It's Tori. Never use that name again."

Argo glanced to Irae. He simply shrugged.

Tori seemed to notice Irae for the first time. "And what are you doing here? Don't tell me you and «The Rat» are buddies now or something?"

Irae shook his head. "Just business associates. Anyhow, I would advise you to allow our little Rat a chance to speak."

Argo cleared her throat and straightened a little. She was still the shortest person in the conversation, but she could conduct people's attention when she had to.

"I promised you enough to last an extra day, if I recall." Argo manipulated the menu to send an appropriate sum of Cor.

"By the way, Tori," Irae said before she could leave. "Are you planning on staying here for the crusade?"

Tori glared at him. "Not if you're around."

Irae turned to Argo. "In a few minutes, our friend Mortimer will ask everyone to party together. How about you party with these three young ladies while I attend to our red friend."

Argo might not have thought too much about his words not long ago, but now she thought about it, hadn't Irae called the other «Saints» by their numbers earlier? Wait a second. This morning, at the gate, he'd called him the red saint. Was there anything to this?

Eugene laughed. "Argo, I can see the gears turning. Don't overthink these things."

Argo almost laughed herself. Eugene was right; she was thinking way too much about this. There probably wasn't anything special about Irae's diction in particular. Argo told herself to focus on what she thought the best indicators of his mental state were. His mannerisms—he clenched his fists when he wasn't doing well. When Argo looked to him again, she saw that his eyes were a little unfocused. His hands were curled, but not tightly. That was a bad sign.

It might be better to have him leave for a while.

"I don't mind," Argo said.

Irae nodded and marched off. Argo watched him go for a while before he was stopped by some other players asking for additions to their party. Irae slipped away into the crowd, with the players still chasing after him.

For all that was wrong with him, he seemed like a certain solo player for those few moments.

"I assume you're fine with this arrangement?" Argo asked Tori.

"I suppose."

Their group was silent for moment. Eugene attempted to resuscitate their conversation by asking a question. "So I'm guessing something happened between you and Irae in the past?"

Tori glared at him, and even the Eugene's tall form crumpled under the force of that glare. "Don't talk about him again if you want to live."

Argo decided it best to save her companion from annihilation. "Now I think back, your friends never introduced themselves last we met."

Behind Tori were two other girls—one slightly taller and skinnier, with shocking orange hair and kind hazel eyes, the other slightly shorter and curvier, with eyes darker yet more exuberant than her friend's.

The orange-haired girl stepped forward with refined movements. Argo could see right away that this was someone from a rich family that had proper introduction etiquette hewn into her mind.

"Hello. I'm Asuna. Please take care of me."

The other girl was almost painfully casual by comparison, introducing herself as "Lisbeth, Tori's sister."

Then again, that impression might have come from Argo's lingering state of hyperawareness.

"Is that supposed to be some set name?" Eugene asked, still trying to seem friendly. "Out of Queens Elizabeth and Victoria or something?"

Tori just gave him a tired look. Her name probably came from Trick (Torikku) being shortened. Even if she'd hated that name, Argo wondered why she still used a shortened version of it.

Eugene continued, "I'm Eugene. I work part-time as Argo's conscience. Let's work together today."

"So," Argo said, "I suppose you'll be our party's leader?"

"I don't have a problem with that." Tori sent party invites to Argo and Eugene.

It was already around noon, and it seemed Mortimer wasn't one to wait. The crowd grew silent as they noticed someone had risen above the crowd, standing on the edge of one of the raised troughs from which thin plants grew. The crowd reshaped itself as everyone pushed their way to a location from which they could see Mortimer.

Eugene and Tori looked to Argo expectantly, but she stayed put. They could see and hear clearly from here, even if they were somewhat distant.

"You sure like sticking to corners," Eugene complained.

"Center stage can only see half the actors at a time."

"At least they're not so far away."

Argo quickly looked to the other girls of Tori's party. Neither of them nodded back, but Argo guessed it was because they couldn't pick up on her cues rather than being unable to see.

Once the crowd was done jostling, Mortimer began to speak.

"Hello, comrades, and thank you for coming to this strategy meeting. As most of you may know, we are currently trapped inside the city."

Argo coughed. Technically, there were still ways out, even if most people didn't know of them.

"Outside the North Gate, right now, we are being insulted by Kayaba Akihiko. He's sent an army of plains boars—the weakest enemies in the game—to box us in. I don't want to take that, and I'm sure you don't want to be told by the man who trapped you here that he can tell you where you can and can't go, and what you can and can't beat. Anyone who's played «Sword Art Online» for five minutes has taken one of those boars down, and I know we've all been here longer than that!"

"He sounds like a coach giving a pep talk," Argo said.

"He'll get better," Eugene brushed it off.

Tori added, "Not the best speech, but he's definitely riling them up. He's avoided talking about beating the game, and made this a matter of pride instead. In other words, his platform is empowerment of players."

Mortimer continued his speech. "Luckily, we've learned how these boars act, and I'm here today to present to you a plan. I would ask that you group yourselves into parties of five or six, with at least one ranged weapon user. As damage will be coming from a stampede rather than an enemy's blows and no one has much armour yet, our tank groups will have to be excellent at dodging. If your party feels confident in your speed, teamwork, and dodging ability, come to me. Otherwise, form your parties."

Before the crowd could pull itself into motion, another player jumped onto the impromptu stage. He was slightly taller than Mortimer, with spiky brown hair and a face that seemed to perpetually frown. Argo recognized the sword strapped to his back as a fairly expensive one gotten from a hard-to-find merchant. He would have had to farm all of last evening to afford it; he probably hadn't had a chance to actually use it yet.

"Oi! I have something to say to you all!" the man roared.

The crowd paused, giving him their attention.

"I'm sure we've all thought a little about how we got to where we are now, and I'm sure that some of us have come to the same conclusion—not everyone here is innocent. I don't care if you worked on the game, or if you're a beta tester—you should come forward and give up your money to those that you hurt!"

Tori, standing next to Argo, sighed. "Why is there always a fascist xenophobe? I give him two weeks, tops, before he's stabbed in the back."

On the stage, Mortimer seemed to have collected himself. "Do you really think that's the right decision…"

"It's Kibaou."

"Kibaou? The beta testers are in the same boat as us, and I'm sure that if the game developers knew what would have happened, they wouldn't have logged on. What does neutralizing our most experienced players do for us?"

"It makes up for the beta testers that up and ran out of the city, abandoning us, right after the opening ceremony! For all the experienced people that haven't come forward to help!"

Tori spoke again, "Why is he opening a dialogue with that fool? It's only going to draw more attention."

"Any idea how to shut it down?" Argo asked.

"Idiots like him aren't easy to shut up. If you have some numbers or solid evidence, that could work, but you really have to find a way to destroy all public opinion of him."

"Numbers, facts, make him look stupid. Got it." Argo had already opened her menu and was typing out a message to Mortimer. He was at that moment trying to explain that not all beta testers belonged to the same group, and that punishing the ones that stayed behind didn't make any sense.

"Your brother seems a bit too straight-laced for this," Argo commented when she'd sent the message.

Eugene shook his head. "He's probably already got the assassination planned out. You're not the only person I have to be a conscience for."

He didn't seem to be joking. Argo wasn't sure if she should respect or fear either of those two brothers.

Mortimer got the message, and he did a very good job disguising the fact that he was reading.

"Now, I'm also sure that someone as knowledgeable on this topic as yourself also has some statistics to support your claim?" Mortimer asked.

Kibaou clearly didn't, but his argument didn't change. "Who needs that, when we know those people are out there, and they've done everything to get us in this mess?"

Mortimer stood a little straighter and addressed the crowd. "I'm sure you've all heard that. Our friend Kibaou is proposing that game developers and beta testers sacrifice their money to atone for stranding us in the game and in the city. Have I heard correctly, Kibaou?"

"Don't forget that they abandoned us, and that even now they could be standing right next to you!"

Mortimer spoke to Kibaou again. "Thank you for repeating your points one more time. Now, I would like to clarify that your accusations happen to be completely false. The game developers, who, by the way, were ignorant of Kayaba's machinations, were actually the first group to begin disaster response, pooling their resources to find shelter for hundreds of players last night and for the coming weeks. Beta testers have made an even greater sacrifice already—they were the ones to gather the information for today's campaign, and many of them died for it. Even now, there are parties of beta testers locating inns and scouting forests outside the city to prepare new players for the dangers of each region. I, for one, am thankful to have these people here, supporting us. You, on the other hand, have just wasted ten minutes of our time that could have been spent preparing ourselves. If any parties had disbanded because of the suspicions you raised, then that would make you the one holding us back."

Kibaou's frown had steadily deepened as Mortimer's speech went on.

"One more thing: you can't draw a sword from a back-scabbard," Mortimer finished. That wasn't something Argo had included in her message.

Enraged and trying to prove a point, Kibaou's hand shot to the sword-hilt over his left shoulder. Just as Mortimer had predicted, he failed to clear the tip from the scabbard, his arm merely getting caught in an awkward raised position.

A chuckle rippled through the crowd.

Before Kibaou could try to save face, Mortimer addressed the crowd again.

"Now, please form into parties of five or six, and could those more confident in their speed come to me." His tone destroyed any idea of further discussion.

Argo looked to Tori. "I think it was handled well, but he's still going to come back and bite us in the ass."

Tori nodded. "The speech probably destroyed a lot of his support, but he's not done. To really finish him, you're going to need some kind of example of how inept he is. Fabricate a huge failure or something, unload the blame on him."

Argo nodded. Beside her, Eugene was muttering, "Why am I always surrounded by psychopaths? Isn't there anyone normal around here?"

"That's how politics works, Eugene," Tori said. Even her sister seemed a little uneasy about her plan.

"Now, do any of us have an inclination to be a tank group?" Tori changed the subject.

Asuna and Lisbeth shook their head furiously.

"I'm not going through that again." Lisbeth looked a little green.

"It wasn't that bad," Argo said.

Lisbeth gave her an odd look. "Well don't forget that we mortals aren't immune to fear."

Argo froze. Didn't Verian say her goddess, as the «Saint of Two», was the goddess of fear? Did Lisbeth somehow know?

Stop. You're overthinking things again. Lisbeth didn't seem to be insinuating anything.

However, now Tori was looking at her strangely.

"Just because I have a lot of experience with games doesn't mean I'm not scared of anything," Argo said.

Eugene laughed. "You better remember hearing that, because Argo's probably never going to admit that again."

Tori smiled, but Argo could tell that she still wanted to ask something. Why didn't she ask here?

Parties were being formed and Mortimer seemed to have sorted out many of the details regarding assignments. Even if they had little time, though, Argo knew that secrecy in their group would have to end eventually, be it hers or Tori's. Irae said he trusted Tori, even if she didn't seem to reciprocate. Tori was certainly capable. She and Argo could very well end up working together in the future, and they had to be able to trust each other.

Irae had basically said that he had no one to trust, and that he might die for that.

Argo made her decision. "Tori, I'm going to let you in on what's going on, but you're going to have to explain some things to me as well."

Tori looked at Argo again, this time with a truly withering glare. Argo was suddenly acutely aware of how much taller Tori was. The sight of an approaching stampede of boars didn't hold the same hostility or the same danger as the look levelled at her.

Then, Tori abated. Argo relaxed. She realized that she was covered in cold sweat. Had Tori really seemed that terrible just a moment ago? No one else seemed to have noticed the invisible exchange between them.

"You're right. It will have to wait, though," Tori said softly.

Mortimer finished his arrangements and stood back on his ledge, and he began to lay out those plans which were not already laid out.

A/N: This chapter, the plot didn't move forward all that much, but I invested a lot of time into themes and characters. If you have the time for a review, why don't you tell me how well that came across—what do you think the themes are, or tell me if the characters are too simple or too crazy.

This chapter also develops politics. Our major parties are now warehouse and plaza. Warehouse is left wing, plaza is right wing.

I've received some feedback recently that everything is very complicated, and I will say that that is partially intended. As Irae points out in this chapter, the players don't have any information, and they could be manipulated by any number of people without knowing it. Things will become more apparent at the end of day 2, which is when the shit really hits the fan.