Chapter 20: The Priceless Benefits of Fear

"So, when I said handle it, how did you two interpret that?" Endymion asked, arms crossed over his chest, giving both of his biggest and strongest generals a reproachful look, which both served to convey the Prince's disapproval and surprise.

The two generals were seated on the couch in Nephrite's private chambers, somehow managing to resemble school children being called into the academy director's office for reprimanding after getting into a fistfight. Nephrite put his palms out towards the Prince.

"Y-Your Highness, I'd like to second Kunzite's statement on this being extremely unlucky, and entirely the fault of one particularly stupid member of the syndicate that we raided," Nephrite said cautiously.

Endymion wiped his hand across his forehead. "Because, just for future reference, all I was looking for was to take back what we were owed, a little intimidation, teach them a lesson, maybe one or two bodies if necessary." He shook his head, dropping his hands to his hips. "That's it! Gods, an entire gang of corpses?! Forty dead bodies?!"

"We didn't kill them," Kunzite said, trying to keep his voice even and without emotion.

"I understand that," Endymion replied. "But you guys, you're the best the galaxy has to offer! There's nobody in this solar system I'd take over you two if I needed a field mission done properly! How did this happen?!"

"We were leaving," Kunzite muttered darkly. "We had everyone on the compound rounded up, we had enough money and goods to cover what was stolen ten times over, another ten beats and we would have been gone. Three or four secundas, we'd be off their property, disappeared into the trees, mission success, message sent. Two corpses, that's it, almost a perfect operation."

Kunzite glanced over at his brown-haired counterpart.

"One of them pulled a gun," Nephrite continued. "A cripple, had some...arm deformity and stutter, I think. We had let him sit away from the main group of captives so he could be on a chair, his condition made it unhealthy for him to sit on the floor. So we took our eyes off him for a second, and he was sitting right next to a hidden rifle."

"How can you fire a rifle with a deformed arm?" Endymion questioned.

"Not well," Nephrite admitted. "He had the jump on us, but he yelled at us while he was trying to prime it. Not the sharpest guy around, I guess. I shot him, put him down, but he had managed to ready the rifle." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, looking down at the carpet. "Fired wildly as he was dying. Shot up a bunch of barrels of...some kind of fluid."

"Based off the reaction, probably refined turbo fluid," Kunzite muttered.

Nephrite nodded grimly. "It caught fire, and...it wasn't even an explosion. The fire just expanded out, in all directions. So fast, so hot too." He shook his head. "Consumed the whole warehouse. We only got out because we were right by the door. But that fireball crashed down right on top of where we had all the captives. Didn't have a chance, none of them."

Endymion blinked a couple times, then shrugged, giving a long, exhaling sigh. "Well, when you describe it all like that, you do seem to have a little bit of an act of God on your hands," he admitted. "I don't know which God, but I suppose there's not much accounting for something like that."

The three young men kept their mouths closed for a few moments, all of them pondering the unintentional massacre.

"That's messed up, though," Endymion said, shaking his head. "Forty people. I mean, I guess they weren't exactly model citizens, but, wow." He shuffled over to the left armrest of the couch and sat down on it, perching himself atop the furniture. "You're sure they're all dead?"

"Nobody in that warehouse could have survived," Kunzite assured the Prince. "Assuming that was turbo fluid, that fire was burning extremely hot. And we had everyone in the compound rounded up in there. Possibly, some members of the syndicate who were off-site at that time are still out there, but all of their main leadership is gone."

"Their teeth probably popped," Nephrite added, drawing a curious look from Endymion. "When it gets hot enough, teeth explode." He put his right hand up by his mouth in a fist, and then sprung his fingers out in a quick little motion. "Makes corpse identification harder."

"And there were the two that we shot just outside the primary residence," Kunzite recalled. "Everyone on that compound was dead when we left, and there was nothing we left behind that could implicate us." Kunzite leaned back against the couch's backrest. "And, for what it's worth, we did make off with about half a million worth of money and goods."

Endymion nodded, putting his hand up to his bottom lip. "Interesting." His face condensed a bit as his eyebrows squished together, pondering this new information.

"I-if I may, Your Highness, did things improve today?" Kunzite asked suddenly. "The situation with you and Serenity?"

Endymion gave a tiny smile, face relaxing. "That obvious?" He got back to his feet. "She's come around, and I was able to show off my 'survival skills', so I think we're fine now."

"What does that mean?" Kunzite questioned as Nephrite swung up off the couch as well. "Survival skills?"

"I started a fire," Endymion explained. "You know, with sticks? Friction?"

Kunzite's forehead wrinkled. "You actually did that?"

"Hey, don't sound so surprised," Endymion said coolly. "I read about it once. Wasn't that hard actually, didn't see the big deal about it.'

Kunzite gave a modestly-impressed nod. "Good job. So, she's convinced?"

Endymion suddenly looked over at Nephrite. "Nephrite, I think it's time to expand our operation."

The brown-haired general could only offer a quizzical look at this statement. "How do you mean?"

"Right now, we're just slicing off the edges, snatching the crumbs that the other distribution networks leave behind. We need to start selling in more prime locations, move our dealers into places with more people." Endymion rubbed his hands together in front of him. "Go pull up a map of any major city we have a significant presence in, there are tons of high-traffic areas that we're not even touching. We need to hire more dealers, too. Our customers, some of them must be interested, and they're clearly willing to accept some risk."

"Your Highness, we've talked about this," Kunzite reminded his charge, still remaining seated on the left cushion of the couch. "It's not our territory, if we try to sell in places where others are already selling, it'll be trouble, and hiring our customers—"

"Things have changed," Endymion said, putting his closed fist up beneath his chin. "T-think about it, think about it, what just happened earlier today with The Bloody Spears, how is it going to look?"

Kunzite blinked a couple times. "Rival gang hit?"

"Which rival gang? How many organized crime syndicates could even have done that? Storm an armed and guarded compound, round up forty people, burn them all alive, make off with all the valuables you could find, leave behind no evidence of who you are...it definitely wasn't a bunch of teenaged ruffians. The syndicates that could do something like that, why would they?" Endymion went back around behind the couch, placing his hands down on the backrest and leaning forward on the large chair, eyes wide and down towards the floor, deep in thought. "Word is going to get out. These guys tried to rob Tuxedo Mask, and Tuxedo Mask put his foot down. Forty corpses over thirty carats of imperium. An entire crime syndicate, scorched off the face of the Earth, because of some minor theft. That's how it looks. Not what we intended, but we can use it."

"You're theorizing that people are afraid of us?" Kunzite asked slowly. "That, if we intrude on the territory of other distributors, they won't retaliate because of what they think we did to The Bloody Spears?"

"Nobody will steal from us, either," Endymion added. "They've seen what we do to people who steal from us. Or at least, they think they have. This is an opportunity, we should use it." He looked up at Nephrite. "Think about every one of our current dealers having three or four dealers underneath them, working for them, expanding our net multiple times over. All of them kept in line by fear, it's perfect."

"That…" Kunzite trailed off for a second, thinking. "...actually might have some merit to it, admittedly. But, Your Highness, even if the theory is sound, there's still risk involved in expanding our distribution. Our network has only been in operation for a little more than a cycle now, we're making a lot of money and doing very well, do we really need to press now?"

"We might not get another chance like this," Endymion said firmly. "We need to strike, now. You said it yourself, Kunzite, we need to make money faster. We wait, people forget about this, and we might be stuck picking at leftovers forever."

Nephrite paused for a brief beat, and then jerkily nodded his head. "I'll get on that, then. There are certainly some members of my network that I trust with recruiting."

Endymion began to pace over towards the door to the room. "I think we're done here. Let's just try to put this behind us, and make the best of it."

As Endymion departed, however, Kunzite just looked down at the floor beneath his feet, sighing silently so that the Prince wouldn't notice.

"

Kasios pulled the circular silver disc from his pocket, leaning up against the wall right by the door to Endymion's bedroom. He held it up in front of his mouth, using his right thumb to press into the center of the device. A hologram of a soundwave popped up.

"Hey, Naxos, what's up?" Kasios said tersely, unable to keep a little hostility from his voice as he hailed his fellow council member.

"Twenty-two arrests total now related to the Tuxedo Mask case," Naxos immediately said. "Another Class E."

"I know!" Kasios said. "I'm taking the lead on the investigation, of course I know, I'm watching everything, constantly! In fact, you're a little behind, I knew about that arrest this morning."

"I'm just letting you know, people are getting antsy. Patience is thin. The other council members, they're tired of hearing about these dealers basically telling the local interrogators to kiss their ass, knowing that they have nothing to be scared of. This distribution network, it's been around for about two cycles now, and we've got nothing but some scraps."

Kasios gave an annoyed huff. "Well, this is how it is sometimes, you know that! You don't just wave a magic wand and get a bunch of imperium dealers to show up in front of you in chains, it takes time. These people, they know what they're doing."

"Kasios, I understand that. It's not about what I think, though. I'm not calling to advocate for my position, or something like that. This is a courtesy call, nobody else knows I'm doing this. You're running out of time before either you change the Earth laws, or the agency involves themselves directly. Right now, all the council sees is a parade of dealers being herded in and out of prison so quickly they barely have time to get their fingerprints on file. And that lead you had on maybe finding the ship they were using as a lab? Looks like a total dead end."

"Thank you for your interest in my investigation," Kasios said, agitation evident in his voice. "Believe me, I'm aware of the pressure. But I've already said it, if I change the laws, if he's got any sense, he'll disappear. That should be a last ditch effort." He looked up at the door next to him. "Now I actually have to take care of something right now, so if that's all you wanted to say…"

Naxos sighed, his resigned little breath coming through loud and clear on the little communicator. "Kasios, it's been estimated that at least a couple libras worth of this clear stuff is being sold every day on Earth. It's probably more. We have no idea how much of this stuff exists, but that number is certainly going down every day. E-even if you're right, and he just ramps down his operation when the laws get changed, at least that buys us more time. Just think about doing it before you're forced to, it'll look better."

"Thank you, Naxos. I'll be back on The Savery in a few days," Kasios said, tapping the center of the disc and pocketing it. Clearing his throat and rubbing at his temples, he gathered himself. "At least I finally got him to stop with that Highness nonsense," he grumbled.

He wheeled around and opened the door, striding into the room. Endymion and the very-pregnant Serenity were on the bed, Endymion sitting on the edge and Serenity laying down in the middle. A tall thin man with a bald head, wearing a white form-fitting jumpsuit, was standing next to Endymion, a thin circular tube in his right hand.

"Alright, kids, we're doing this?" Kasios asked, immediately plastering a smile onto his face. "You guys excited?"

"Excited doesn't even cover it," Serenity said, rubbing at her belly.

"Your Highness," the bald man said, bowing over towards the High King. "We'll do the scan in a moment, I'm just going to inject these new suppressors into the Prince first. Whenever he's ready."

Endymion had his hands in his lap, tightly squeezing them together, grimacing.

"Oh, give me a break," Kasios said, a bit of levity in his voice nonetheless. "Come on, what are you waiting for, let's go! Don't tell me…"

Endymion's face went a little red. "It's not like phobias just expire when you turn twenty or something," he protested, looking over at the tube in the man's hand.

"Son, you need these new suppressors, trust me," Kasios urged. "It's just a needle."

"Oh, just a needle," Endymion repeated dryly. "That helps so much, I feel so much better. The fact that it's a needle is the whole point!" He looked up at the doctor. "Dennis, can I take a belt of liquor first, maybe?"

"I'm afraid not, Your Majesty," Dennis answered.

Endymion gave a rattled sigh, then turned his body slightly away from Dennis, looking over towards Serenity. "Alright. Go ahead."

Dennis went over behind the Crown Prince, pressing the edge of the tube to the back of Endymion's neck. Endymion tensed up, swallowing down hard, closing his eyes. A beat later, with a little moan, a tiny needle had been popped out from the end of the tube, penetrating Endymion's skin on the back of his neck and injecting a quick shot of a liquid. Endymion winced down hard as the royal doctor backed away.

"A new mystic showed up about six or seven days ago," Kasios explained. "Never seen anything like this one, her powers are beyond even the understanding of the most powerful mystics on Mars. Managed to cause a riot in Zanzibal, you heard?"

Endymion nodded. "A little bit. They said she can take control of a person's mind. Dictate their actions and thoughts. Make them do whatever she wants them to do." He blanched. "Terrifying."

"Like, mind control?" Serenity asked, the smile fading a bit from her face.

"We asked Mars about it, they say that they've never seen anything like it before," Kasios said darkly. "I mostly believe them. I feel like if they had mystics who were able to control people's actions, we would have heard about it by now. Had every scientist and doctor on the planet working on a way to suppress powers of that magnitude, we needed a way to quickly inoculate critical people." He looked over at Serenity. "You'll get yours right after you give birth. It seems like there's some sort of limit to her powers, or else I don't know why she wouldn't already be brainwashing every rich person and royal on the planet." He cleared his throat. "Alright, enough about that, let's do this."

Dennis reached down into a brown briefcase at his feet, pulling out a square piece of glass with a metal border around it. "Alright, Your Highness, just hold this over your stomach. Right on top of the navel is fine."

Serenity took the device and placed it right near her belly button, the glass just barely above the skin. "Like this?" she asked.

"That should be good," Dennis answered, grabbing a tablet from the suitcase and activating it. "I'm assuming you all want to know?"

"Definitely," Endymion said, standing up and rubbing at the back of his neck. "I want to know."

"Me too," Serenity replied, the doctor squinting down at the screen in his hands.

"Your Highness, move it down just a tiny bit."

Serenity did as she was told, placing the glass pane downward ever-so-slightly.

Dennis nodded. "Alright." He turned the screen off, reaching over towards Serenity, taking the square out of her hands. "Prince Endymion, Princess Serenity...you're having a girl."

Serenity gave a puffing little exhale, her body immediately slacking a bit against the blanket beneath her.

"A girl," Endymion repeated, gently leaning up over his wife and placing his palm on her stomach. "A girl." He looked up at Serenity's face. "You know, I really like that. That feels right."

Serenity nodded, wiping a bit underneath her eyes. "Yeah, me too."

"I'm getting a granddaughter!" Kasios said. "Wow, that's...I'm going to have fun with this, I'll tell you that."

"Well, I suppose the name becomes a simple matter," Endymion commented, standing back up straight. "No need for a debate or decision."

"So, about that," Kasios started. "How are we going to make that work?" He pointed over at Serenity. "I just mean, we've got you, Serenity, and then we're going to have your daughter, Serenity? Doesn't that get confusing? Especially when she gets a little older, won't that be a problem?"

Serenity swallowed down hard, quickly disposing of a couple of small tears with her fingers. "W-when I was little. Before I turned ten, I had a nickname in the palace. It was sometimes a little strange, having the same name as my mother, and then sometimes my grandmother would be there, so...before I turned ten, people would call me 'Chibiusa'."

"Small bunny?" Kasios said. "I have the translation right? That's from the old tongue."

"Yeah," Serenity said, nodding. "Everyone called me that. My mom, guards, midwives, servants, maids. Until I turned ten. So, we could just do that?"

"Small bunny." Endymion cocked his head slightly. "Chibiusa. I could do that."

"Chibiusa, then," Kasios agreed. "I like it. Dennis, when's our due date?"

"I would say three-quarters of a cycle, Your Highness," the royal doctor answered quickly.

"How sure are you that she'll be out sometime in the next cycle?" Kasios asked.

"Well, we can effectively guarantee that if we're willing to do an externally-assisted birth," Dennis said. "I am quite confident that she'll be ready to come out in twenty days, it's just a matter of if she actually does or not. Should she be a little stubborn, at that point we can just give her a little push."

"If it comes to that," Kasios said quietly. "If that ends up being the case, I think we'll probably need that push."

"Why a cycle?" Serenity asked, putting her arms down at her sides.

"Well, I got a letter from Neptune earlier today," Kasios explained, reaching into his inside jacket pocket and pulling out a folded piece of blue paper with white fringe. "Queen Neptune hand wrote it herself, or so I'm to believe. Sent it the old fashioned way too."

"That's an interesting way to propose a new trade agreement," Endymion muttered.

"No, actually. We've been invited," Kasios explained. "The finest writers, actors, and artists on Neptune, which she reminds us consist of the best in the galaxy on all three counts, have come together over the last year to put together a new opera. The most expensive opera ever constructed to date, and the royal family of Earth is invited to watch the grand premiere on Neptune."

"How sure are you it's not just a ploy to poison all of us?" Endymion asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed and crossing his right leg over his left.

Kasios gave a tiny smirk. "Queen Neptune's really not that bad, I promise. She can be cold and snobbish, but trust me, she's not our enemy. And I've been told that the other royal families of the galaxy have all been invited, so we really should be there as well. The premiere is in a cycle-and-a-half, so I'd like the Princess to have given birth and be in good enough condition to travel to Neptune by then."

"Opera?" Serenity's face wrinkled. "Those never make any sense. Is this one supposed to be so amazing because it actually makes sense?"

Endymion chuckled a bit. "You're going. It's culture, it'll be good for you."

"It has been a long time since I've seen Queen Neptune," Serenity mused. "In fact, last time I saw her, she was still Princess Neptune. So that would be nice, at the least."

"So, if 'Chibiusa' isn't out of the cave in a cycle, I'd like to give her a little nudge out," Kasios said. "Should be perfectly safe, most births these days have outside assistance. Obviously, I would only ask it if she's definitely ready to come out, but assuming that, I'd like to have you able to travel for this." He turned towards the door. "Now, I have to go put out an order for a thousand different baby tiaras."

"

Cyprine violently shoved a few of the deep-fried potatoes into her mouth, obnoxiously chewing the small mouthful of food, furtively glancing around the restaurant every few beats.

The large, dimmed room was buzzing with assorted quiet conversation, the various round tables of varying sizes playing host to assorted individuals. All different sorts of food and drink were present on the tablecloth-covered surfaces. A soft, quiet, stringed tune was lilting through the air, meant to relax, but proving entirely unsuccessful on the blue-haired woman, who was clearly agitated and upset.

"You go to a fancy restaurant and you order that?" Ptilol said mockingly, coming up behind her sister and looking down at her plate. "What, they have a kids menu?"

"I'm stressed!" Cyprine retorted. "I need comfort food!"

"Alright, alright." Ptilol sat down at the chair on the other side of the table, the surface small enough to allow easy conversation. "What's going on?"

"I'm sure you already know!" Cyprine hissed. "Could not have backfired more! We've basically helped him! In fact, Tuxedo Mask should be paying us after what we did for him!"

"Keep your voice down!" Ptilol whispered harshly. "Just walk me through it. I know The Bloody Spears got raided and basically everyone's dead, that's all I know."

"Well, I'm sure you can fill in the gaps," Cyprine muttered. "The Spears robbed a few dealers that had the clear stuff. Like, thirty carats, less than fifty grand worth. I did exactly what I was supposed to do, I tipped them off on the areas where the dealers operated, and they did exactly what we wanted. And then...Tuxedo Mask, or whoever the hell this is, found out who robbed him, had a crew raid the compound they operated out of, rounded everyone up into one of their warehouses, stole whatever they could get their hands on, and then burned the warehouse to the ground with everyone still inside!"

Ptilol nodded. "I figured as much."

"So now, he's hiring more dealers!" Cyprine leaned forward, chin almost touching her plate of food. "And—"

"Welcome to The Glass Onion!"

The two twins practically started right out of their chairs, looking over to find a blonde waitress standing right next to Ptilol, beaming down at the redhead.

"Wow, I love the hair coordination you two have going on!" she said cheerfully. "Really cool. So, can I get anything started for you?"

"U-uh, no," Ptilol responded. "I'm fine, thank you."

"No, she'll be having the special," Cyprine quickly interjected. "With soup."

"Um, no, I won't," Ptilol said. "I'm not having anything."

"She most certainly is," Cyprine continued to press. "In fact, she's very interested in having the starter platter, hold the spice on the buffalo meat."

"She's very mistaken right now, I'm not having any platter, starter or otherwise," Ptilol said through gritted teeth.

"I'll just...give you some time to sort this out," the waitress said, slowly backing away, then spinning around and beating a hasty retreat after a few steps.

"You need to order something," Cyprine hissed across the table.

"I'm not hungry," Ptilol insisted stubbornly.

"This plays better if you order something!" Cyprine scooped another fried potato into her mouth. "You're in a restaurant, it's weird to go into a restaurant and not order anything. Just get a drink, at least!"

"I'm not thirsty!" Ptilol protested. "Now, finish your story."

Cyprine rolled her eyes in annoyance. "So, the compound raid was, I think over twenty days ago, twenty-one maybe, and now he's hiring more dealers! And trust me, nobody is going to cross him now, not for anything. He can hire with impunity, knowing that none of them are going to betray him or steal from him, because none of them want to end up a mangled, burned-up corpse. He's literally hiring his customers! People who buy his product, he's taking them on, because he doesn't have to worry about them getting out of line. He's growing exponentially, and now he's selling on our territory!"

"His dealers are selling where our dealers sell?" Ptilol whispered.

"Territory that we've owned for nearly ten years, and they're just moving in on top of us." Cyprine's eyes flashed with a snap of anger, expression hardening. "And his product is so far beyond anything we have, it's not even a competition. Ordinarily, our guys would have just taken them out on their own, but...well, they like being alive." She sighed. "And frankly, I don't know what to do. If I directly order them to take the intruders out, I'm sure they'll do it, but there's no way we can contract this out. No syndicate is going to mess with Tuxedo Mask's network right now." She grimaced. "I think we underestimated him. He must be powerful to have pulled off something like that massacre." She looked over at her twin intensely. "If bossman wants us to knock off his dealers, then I'll give the order, but I can't help but wonder if it ends with me getting set on fire."

"Alright." Ptilol blinked down at the tablecloth a couple times. "Calm down. It's a setback, that's for sure, but I spoke with the boss a couple days ago, and he—"

"W-wait, you spoke to him? In person?" Cyprine interrupted. "What did he say?!"

"Not a lot," Ptilol admitted, quickly glancing to the left and right to make sure the immediate area was vacated. "He just told me what to tell you. But, he must be generally aware of what's going on, so I'm sure his orders are taking this into account. He knew that our first attempts to sabotage Tuxedo Mask's distribution could end up failing, he had multiple levels to his plan."

"Well, did he anticipate level one would end up helping him immensely?!" Cyprine snapped, squeezing her fork in between her small, slender fingers. "And by the way, I don't really appreciate just being hung out to dry for over twenty days. I've just been standing around with my thumb up my ass, having no idea what to do!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but the boss wants this operation handled the old-fashioned way. No communicators, no recorded messages." Ptilol paused for a moment, taking time to think. "He said nothing about taking out his dealers, so hold off on that for now."

"Did he at least tell me what I should be doing?" Cyprine asked.

Ptilol nodded. "Just listen up, okay? Forget the massacre, forget his dealers selling on our territory, if this works none of that will matter. The boss gave me a location. I don't know how he found it, probably Eudial's doing, but your orders are simple." She reached down her leg, pulling back her skirt a tiny bit underneath the table and removing a small glass vial from it. "We use this location to get Tuxedo Mask in hot water. Should be easy, and the best part is we don't have to put ourselves in any danger, and we don't require the cooperation of any crime syndicate."

Cyprine leaned forward again. "Go on. Tell me more."

"

Queen Mars held the blue-and-white folded piece of paper up in her hands, looking over the finest curated writing along the front of it. The design of the invitation was, in its own way, an impressive accomplishment, managing to come across as a piece of art despite being a disposable piece of paper. The hand drawings on the front were clearly done by a skilled artist, and the way in which the entire invitation was constructed almost seemed to tell a coherent story with both the words and the pictures.

"Yes. I got it too." Queen Mars said, looking down at the active communicator on the table in front of her. She was reading the invitation by candlelight in her private chambers, a rather plain and unremarkable room despite the massive importance of the one who used it. You could have fit perhaps ten of this room into Endymion's bedroom. However, the chamber was thick with remarkable, rare, and valuable artifacts of Mars's long, storied history, speaking to the deep connection she held with the Kojiki.

"I believe all the royal families got invited," Princess Mercury's voice came through the communicator. "I would expect so, anyway, Neptune is awful proud of their theater productions. And this one seems to be quite a big deal."

"So, you're thinking this is it?" The Queen asked, looking at the inside of the invitation, which contained a long list of details of the event.

"I think so, yes," Mercury replied. "He'll be there, of course. Between the opera itself, the pre-party, and the post-party, it should be quite an extended event. At some point during it, I'll find a way to get him alone with us. Just promise me you'll be ready."

"How are you going to get him away from his generals?" Mars inquired. "Especially at an event like this, they'll be joined to his hip, I'm sure."

"I'll figure it out," Mercury said sternly. "I have plenty of time to figure it out, I'll do it. You just be ready to read him."

Mars nodded, although her conversation counterpart couldn't see her. "I'll be ready."

The line went dead, leaving Mars to contemplate the invitation, as well as the potential trouble she might end up getting herself in with one of Mars's closest allies.