Gloria Fortis Miles,
Adversor et Admorsus.

Glory brave soldiers,
Resist and Bite.

"Ren!"

Percy was off the bullhead as soon as it touched down, speed walking to where Ren and his red haired friend (which he may or may not have forgotten the name of) stood. Like in the picture he'd been shown they were bigger than he remembered, though still a bit small for their age. Or well, Ren was. The other one seemed to be growing just fine for a teenage girl.

"Lord Perseus." Ren began to bow, before Percy's hand grabbing his shoulder stopped him from dipping any lower.

Percy tutted. "I know it's been a couple years, but you should know better than that."

Ren exhaled in what Percy was hoping was relief, and gave up on the attempt to bow.

"You… you said I could call you if I ever needed help." Ren hesitantly began. Percy nodded encouragingly, growing more curious by the second. "I… I had to leave the Clan. We left. They haven't found us, but…"

"You haven't slept." Percy pointed out, noticing the bloodshot eyes and exhausted posture.

"They won't let a slight to their honor slide. You don't leave the clan. You're in it until death."

Percy blinked. Last time he'd spoken to the kid, he'd been just about brainwashed, with loyalty only towards his clan and his red haired friend. What had changed since then?

Percy glanced over at said red-haired friend.

Oh.

Oh.

"They tried to make you kill her, didn't they?"

Ren flinched and backed up a step. His hand floated towards his waist for a second before it jerked away, suppressing whatever reflex he had.

"They found her. Ordered me to prove my commitment to the clan…" Ren trailed off.

"I understand." Percy assured him. "You have my protection. Nobody will hurt you here." quickly, Percy signaled to Shiro to come closer from where he was standing by the bullhead, talking to some assistants. Paperwork jockeys, more likely than anything.

"Boss?" Shiro quirked an eyebrow as he approached.

"Can you have some housing arranged for these two? In one of our buildings, under armed guard. For their protection, they're free to go whenever they'd like."

Shiro nodded quickly and called one of his own people over, quickly relaying the orders.

"What was the name of your clan, Ren?" Percy asked, turning back to the boy.

"The Onyx Vipers." he answered quietly, taking the girl's hand in his own to reassure her.

Percy nodded quickly, and signaled for Shiro's attention. "One more thing." he said. "The Onyx Vipers clan in Kuchinashi. Wipe it out."

Shiro blinked. "Uh, they're on our side, aren't they? They're a valuable asset, if we need them-"

"Shiro." Percy lowered his voice. "You know better than anyone that there are some things I will not allow, and especially not in my name. Human trafficking is one of them. I consider taking kids off the streets and making them killers for your cult just as bad. If I can't use my power to destroy a single, small group performing evil deeds in my own land, then what's the point of any of this? Take a small army if you need to, but wipe. Them. Out."

Shiro nodded. "I understand, but just so you know, these guys are the real deal. The best assassins in Remnant. If we miss any of them, there'll be some seriously dangerous people trying to kill you."

Percy frowned. "Then you better make sure we don't miss any."

Percy leaned on the doorframe to the Nikos estate in Argus and rang the doorbell. He'd try to be quick about this one — his bullhead was grabbing some fuel at the bullhead docks and then it'd be waiting for him — but the thought of some teachers expelling Pyrrha because of something he'd caused… it made him upset.

The door was opened by a maid who looked a bit weary of him, if the way she took a step back as soon as she opened the door was any indication.

"Hello sir, may I help you?"

"I'm here to see Pyrrha." he said. "I'm a family friend."

She seemed put at least a bit at ease, nodding to him quickly. "I'll get the Lady Nikos. She'll be right here, sir."

She didn't invite him in, but he didn't expect her to. With the way things had to be for them recently… He'd see about leaving some officers here.

It was about a minute after she shut the door that it opened again to the familiar face of Pyrrha's mother. She had softer features than her daughter, though that easily could have been due to age. Her glasses were a distinct difference from her daughter as well, but the blazing red hair stayed the same.

She wasn't expecting to see him, it turned out. She gasped as soon as he came within view, looking like she wanted to shut the door in his face on instinct but stopping herself.

"Miranda." Percy greeted, brushing off the reaction as surprise. "I heard about what happened with Pyr. I was just here to talk to her, resolve the situation with the teachers."

"She's… not home at the moment." she said, shifting from one foot to the other. "You just missed her. If you'd like, I can call you when she's home."

Percy cursed. "No, I can't stick around for long. I was hoping to be able to talk to her before, but-"

The gods (or God, depending on who exactly was pulling the strings here) were apparently not very happy with Miranda at the moment, because Percy was cut off in the middle of his sentence by a voice calling down the hallway.

"Mom! Who is it?" footsteps drew closer, and before either of them could say anything Pyrrha rounded the corner in a t-shirt and some bloused jeans. "Perseus!?" Pyrrha yelped when she saw him, and Percy couldn't say he was much less surprised.

He threw a harsh glance at her mother, before erasing the look and looking over her shoulder at Pyrrha. "Hey Pyr. I was flying over and thought I'd stop by to talk for a bit. You have a few minutes?"

Pyrrha slowed her gait but approached the door all the same, cutting off her poor mother who looked like she was desperately trying to find a way out of the situation. "You're here? But… I thought dad said you weren't going to be able to talk to us anymore?" she furrowed her eyebrows in an expression of confusion that Percy found genuinely adorable. But instead of being able to tease her, he had to deal with the implications of what she'd said.

"No… no, I don't recall anything like that." Percy said slowly, turning his gaze to Pyrrha's mother. "Is there something I'm forgetting, Miranda?"

Pyrrha's mother opened and closed her mouth a few times before seemingly deciding on a course of action. "Alex and I just knew you'd been busy recently. We didn't want to assume you'd be able to visit or any-"

"Nonsense." Percy dismissed, forcing a smile onto his face and stepping inside, Pyrrha's mother stepping aside. "I'll always make time for Pyr. And speaking of my favorite student, what did I hear about what happened at school?"

Pyrrha had seemed pretty normal — upbeat, even — for someone who'd just been kicked out of a combat academy and had all their dreams dashed, but as soon as Percy asked the question the facade dropped and her shoulders hunched.

"Some kids were… they were talking about dad, and the family, and I got a little…"

"Defensive?" Percy guessed.

Pyrrha shrugged. "I guess so. It's just that them talking about dad like that… about family…"

Percy frowned. A few months ago it would have been close to suicide to air those thoughts in front of the heiress to a major family of Mistral. Alex could have gone into the middle of Mistral and executed someone in broad daylight, and nobody would have done a thing. Now, it was a bit flipped. Because of him.

"And the teachers?" he prodded.

She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. "Wouldn't hear it. It's like everything they did was ignored and everything I did was put on display!"

To be honest he'd be a bit skeptical hearing it from any other kid, but Pyrrha? He wasn't sure she knew how to tell a lie, and she was mature for her age. If she said it had happened, Percy trusted it had.

"I'll make some calls. You're going back." Percy decided. Like Hades they'd just throw her out like that on some trumped up charges.

"What? No! You can't just call some people and make it better. I can fight my own battles!"

"You lost this battle." Percy deadpanned. "Life isn't about fighting your own battles. Your teachers weren't neutral arbitrators that I'm corrupting, they took part in all of this. Made it possible. No normal teacher would have expelled you for a single bad reaction, Pyrrha."

"But- but none of them will want me there! And they'll know that they're forced to let me stay there, and how am I supposed to do well in any of my classes? Or make any friends?"

Percy sighed. She did have a point. While he could very easily make sure that not a single person in the building so much as glanced at her the wrong way, it wouldn't change what they actually thought. As much as the point of a combat school was to learn to fight, it was still a school. She was there to make friends, too.

He cursed under his breath. "Then what do you want to do, Pyr? You're not willing to just throw your dream away like that, are you?"

Pyrrha shuffled her feet. "Well… no, but what am I supposed to do? Signal is the only decent combat school in Mistral. The one in the capital would praise me for breathing. Or maybe they'd hate me now, I have no idea."

Percy perked up. "Yeah, it is the only decent combat school in Mistral…" But, he knew some teachers that weren't in Mistral.

"Hey Pyr, how would you like to spend some time in Vale?"

"Did it go as you expected?" Foley didn't bother looking up from his newspaper to ask.

"It went as I hoped, actually." Percy sat himself down in the adjacent seat as Foley's butler, Bobby, poured him a drink. Percy shot the man a grin, and he nodded back kindly.

"Whiskey? At this time of day?" Foley scoffed, turning a page.

Percy checked the time and it was, indeed, late morning.

He shrugged. "Timezones. I'm near the end of my day. Haven't slept since I left Menagerie. "

Percy could imagine Foley resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Don't drink for the sake of drinking. Drink for appearances. Powerful men don't drink for the effects, they drink to get the guard of whoever they're meeting to lower. Sip whiskey in the sitting room of anyone else at eleven in the morning and they'll think you a drunkard." Foley huffed and set aside his paper. Percy slowly and awkwardly sat his drink down. "Now, what happened."

Percy explained the events of the last week or so, or the important bits at least. He'd decided — after quite a bit of hesitation — to come clean to Foley about everything he was doing. Everything. The man had another half a year to live at most, he had nothing to gain by spilling Percy's secrets. As far as he could tell Foley only wanted to help Ozpin achieve whatever… goal their cult was trying to move towards. And Ozpin already knew about Percy's other exploits. He didn't know how the old man knew, but he figured if anyone would then it'd be Ozpin. It was actually a bit scary, how even Percy's own information network (which he'd thought to be the largest on Remnant) didn't even know how Ozpin knew what he knew.

When Percy got done telling Foley about the events of the last week, he remained silent for a few moments.

"Well, a bit brutish for my tastes." Foley said eventually, "But you did well. You didn't allow… sentimentalism to get in the way of your decision making, and though our methods differ I must admit you did accomplish what you came there for. Now, to hold onto it."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "That was… most of what I was there to do. Both the White Fang and Menagerie are pretty intricately tied into my influence."

"No, you've done the bare minimum." Foley corrected. "What you've done is made it so that if both parties are acting rationally then everything will go to plan. You cannot plan for anyone you work with to act in their own self interest. Especially the animals."

Percy grimaced, not quite able to hide his distaste for the term. "Well, even if they don't act rationally, there's still not much of an issue. If Menagerie breaks away they lose their imports and any lien they could possibly make. They wouldn't quite starve to death but all of their industry would be useless. And the White Fang would starve to death if it broke from me. Without me they have no way to get income, no way to buy food or weapons or ammunition or explosives or a dozen other things they need not only to fight, but to survive. They have what, a few weeks before they'd starve out? Not to mention they'd lose Menagerie as a base of operations, I'd force them out."

"And what can they do in those few weeks?" Foley challenged. "Your dog is on a very long leash. It just might do some damage before you can get it back under control. And if Menagerie separates from you they may not be able to thrive, but they will survive. They will eat and drink as they had before. And you will have lost one of the largest investments you've ever made, as well as the support of the race you now rely so much on. And what about in the scenario where both decide to interact irrationally at the same time? They conspire to use Menagerie's industry to support the White Fang for a longer time, and all of your plans fall to ruin."

Percy frowned, but he didn't have a response. Why would he plan for them to act irrationally? He considered himself a pretty good judge of character. Isn't that what being powerful was about? Reading people, predicting their responses, and using it?

"I know Taurus, and I've gotten a good read on the Belladonnas. They're competent. They won't act stupid."

"Leaders change." Foley chastised. "What if this Taurus has a genetic condition, and he drops dead of a heart attack tomorrow morning? What if the Belladonna residence goes up in flames from an assassination next week? Will the next leaders be quite so reasonable?"

Percy said nothing.

Foley hacked out a cough. "As I thought. I waited until you were back at your insistence, but now it's time to learn what may well be your final lesson from me. If every business in Mantle suddenly declared open revolution on me — which they cannot because most do not know I exist — then they would be gone by the morn, escorted out by the police or by a union revolt, whichever happened first. I control the people, the money, and the law in this town. You need to find a way to do the same with your investments, or they'll disappear overnight. Your investments in Vale, for example. What exactly is stopping this Xiong clan from slipping from your grasp whenever it so chooses?"

"I have a grip on Junior." Percy insisted. "He's well within my influence and control, his is mine, he'll do whatever I ask."

"And yet." Foley said. "All it takes is one assassination, one heart attack, one twist of fate to change all of that in an instant. And your hard work is gone. Tell me, Perseus. If you knew that your opponent's influence over Remnant could be wiped with the death of a single, vulnerable person then what would you do?"

Percy didn't respond. He didn't need to.

"Oz has grown content throughout the years. Your coup pulled a number on him. You replaced Lionheart and didn't even think about it, and his absolute control over Mistral disappeared in the blink of an eye. The day before he'd had the world in the palm of his hand, the most powerful schools and huntsmen eating from its palm. The day after? He had but three fourths of the world." Foley paused to stifle a cough with a napkin, "That's what makes you special to him, I'm sure, and why he wants you so bad. But that's neither here nor there, my point, boy, is that the same could happen to you just as easily. One brute who's skilled with a blade taking it to Hei Xiong's throat and your impressive control over Vale which is worth more than my entire empire turns to nothing. And the Tammany hall? We'll still be here."

Percy frowned. He… did have a point. Percy didn't like it, but if someone — a real threat — was actually trying to weaken him right now… it'd be trivially easy. Just one bullet in the head of Junior. Or Adam. Or Foley. Or Ironwood. Or the Asturias'. Or Jacques. Or the Belladonnas… his empire would begin to crumble.

"So how do I fix it?" Percy asked. "How do I keep them under control?"

Foley smiled slyly, and unfolded his newspaper. "That's for you to figure out. But… I do happen to have a few ideas."

"Roman." Percy grasped the man's forearm, stepping into his grip.

"Boss." Roman nodded respectfully, grasping his forearm back.

"Kid around?" Percy glanced around the room, looking for Roman's… sidekick, for lack of a better word. It was a bit of showmanship, as he couldn't feel her in the room so he knew she wasn't here.

"She's around the periphery, keeping an eye out for our incoming client." he said, jerking his head towards the window.

They were in one of the thief's homes, though this one was a hotel close to the center of the city which he'd presumably bought.

Percy shrugged. "Fair enough. I did arrive a bit early. How are things for you, Roman?"

Roman motioned to the coffee table and took a seat, pouring them both a drink. Percy was reminded of Foley's words at the action. Drinking was to build comradery, not to get buzzed.

"Things are going well." he said. "Business is clean, cops are mostly staying off me, and I'm able to plan a lot of larger heists without the heat that comes with it. I barely notice the kickup I have to pay you anymore, to be honest."

Percy snorted, grabbing his drink. "You're an adrenaline junky through and through. If the banks you're taking from had twenty lien you'd be content."

Roman rolled his eyes. "Lien lost its gleam when I realized how easily I could get it. Without anything to worry about outside of heist night, I'm relying on them for my excitement." Roman leaned forward with a gleam in his eye. "But there is something that's a bit more valuable than lien that's up for grabs."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows, before shaking his head. "No. I told you no dust."

The SDC was selling it to these Valean shops, which were all insured. If Roman stole the dust the insurance companies would cough up the money and the SDC would get a repeat order. Though they weren't exactly wanting for money, he didn't want to help them get any more either.

Roman shook his head. "You told me no dust shops. I reached out to one of your guys recently for some info." he reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a rolled up map of Vale and unrolling it on the table. It had several large red 'X' markers across it, mostly towards the west where the docks were. "This is a map of all of the routes the SDC uses to ship dust into the city."

Percy's eyes widened. That was… not a bad idea. Or at least, it wouldn't be ordinarily. Ozpin could put up with a lot of petty crime, but the damage that a large chunk of Vale not being able to heat their homes would cause? That would get Ozpin's attention, and ire. It was one of the main reasons — scratch that, the main reason that the White Fang didn't operate in Vale outside of a couple recruitment centers. As nice as it'd be to really hit the SDC where it hurt, he didn't like the prospect of making an enemy of Ozpin. He really didn't.

"Give me some time." Percy finally said. "The heat that'll bring down on you isn't something that even I can get you out of easily. I'll find a way to diminish that, though, and then you can go for that payload."

Roman looked like a kid at a candy store. Depending on the type, dust could be worth more than its weight in gold. Nobody had ever attempted a heist on that kind of dust in Vale because of the attention it would bring, but if Percy could keep him from being public enemy number one…

"I knew I made the right decision deciding to stick with you." Roman grinned, "Cheers."

Percy raised his glass to clink to the thief's and rolled his eyes. "You didn't exactly agree, Roman."

"But I didn't run away, either." he pointed out cheekily, downing his own drink.

Percy grunted, a habit he would never admit he might've picked up a little bit from Adam. He'd have called the man on his bluff if he hadn't discovered almost a year ago that his semblance helped him escape from almost anything. It wasn't magic, however. It couldn't affect anything to help him escape, just… show him how. When Percy had had a sword at his neck, for instance, it hadn't been very helpful. But to escape Percy's grasp when he wasn't even in the city? It'd be trivial.

"One other thing." Roman said, the smile dropping from his face. "I'll admit I get the occasional good idea, but this isn't one of them. The client that I wanted you to meet is the one that requested it. Said they'd pay top dollar for the dust if there were no questions asked. They want a few other things as well, but this was a bigger one. But whether or not you decide to do business with them, it's still a workable idea."

Percy hummed. "And this client, you said they're… on the younger side?"

Roman shrugged. "Some trust fund kid, probably. Maybe screwing around with dad's credit card, or maybe they're on the more competent side, like you. They could be from one of the old noble families of Vale, or one of the newer families. They're not nobility but they may as well be with the wealth and influence they claim to throw around."

Percy nodded he understood. "And they're from Vale?" he asked. It would explain a lot if they were Mistrali. A kid running around asking to buy billions of lien worth of dust from random criminals sounded exactly like what a noble kid from Mistral would do if they decided they wanted to make a name for themselves in Vale.

Roman shrugged. "So they say. Not really a reason to lie and their features are at least indistinguishable from a Valean."

Percy pulled out his scroll and was about to call someone to start digging into some of the richer Valean families when there was a quick rap on the door.

Roman grabbed the map and quickly rolled it up, stuffing it into his coat just as Neo opened the door.

She stepped in and to the side, allowing their potential client to step in.

She… was on the younger side, for sure, but not quite as young as he'd expected. Instead of being someone who might've been Pyrrha or Yang's age, she looked like she was around his or Adam's. Percy had to admit he was getting a bit used to all the strangely young people who were playing large roles in geopolitics.

Well, it was just him and Adam for now, and he supposed Ozpin and Jacques' age helped balance out the scale a little bit.

Percy and Roman both stood to greet the new arrival, setting their drinks down. Neo walked out the door and closed it behind her, out to keep a watch on the perimeter. Supposedly, at least. Percy knew from experience she'd actually immediately activated her semblance and walked right back in, for some extra security if things went wrong. Percy knew they didn't need it, but Roman wasn't quite as assured.

"Perseus, I presume." The girl, dressed in a shockingly high cut red dress, held her hand out in a gesture Percy only recognized from the little time he'd spent in Valean high society.

Percy took it and laid a chaste kiss on her hand, shortly after rising and allowing her hand to fall back to her side.

"I see you have me at a disadvantage." he said, slipping into what he considered his fourth language behind Greek, Latin, and English. High society bullshit.

"How discourteous," Ah, she spoke it fluently. "My name is Ella Fall. It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance." she said, and something in the golden-amber eyes of hers seemed to hint at a joke between the two. Percy almost wanted to know what it was.

Something about her… He wasn't completely convinced she wasn't Mistrali after all. He took a moment to study her features, from her long black hair to the (still incredibly short, even for the weather) dress, to the golden symbols woven into said dress, and the almost glowing matching eyes. Despite the humor in them, those eyes hinted at a danger underneath.

Damn it. She was his type.

"How about we take a walk while we talk business." Percy suggested. "It's a nice day, and I feel like I've been cooped up for too long inside."

Ella blinked and recoiled slightly, surprised at the suggestion. Percy smiled internally. She'd seemed like the aloof and unflappable type. Either he was wrong, or he'd surprised her enough that quickly. He liked both options.

"We- we won't exactly be talking about strictly legal services I'm purchasing here, if one of us is followed then speaking about it in public is an unnecessary-"

She was cut off, much to her apparent ire, by Roman guffawing behind Percy. Noticing her glare after a few seconds, Roman cut himself off and straightened his jacket, awkwardly clearing his throat.

"Perseus can walk into the city square and hold up a food truck in broad daylight, and he wouldn't get convicted. I've been working with him long enough to know that unless you cross a very serious line, you'll be fine. If someone was assigned to tail him at breakfast this morning, the one who ordered it will be under administrative review by lunchtime."

Percy shot Roman a look, and he shut up. It wasn't exactly the most damning or revealing secret Percy had, but he still preferred to keep things close to the chest, especially with people he didn't know yet.

"Thank you Roman. You and Neo can go take care of your own business, I'll be fine for the rest of the arrangement with Ms. Fall."

Roman nodded, "You got it boss." and walked over to the door, opening it to the smiling face of his sidekick like she'd been there the entire time. "Let's go Neo, we're good for the rest of the day. We gotta go plant those stolen paintings in that candidate's penthouse, remember?"

Neo nodded happily and followed him down the hallway, trotting along behind the redhead.

"Well," Percy turned his attention back to his own companion for the evening, extending his arm to lead into the hallway. "After you."

The streets were bustling as they always were when they got out onto the sidewalk to take their stroll. Cars honked, people walked, and vendors sold on every corner. It reminded him… too much of home. It was a remake down to the way you could hear honks every time a light transitioned to green or a pedestrian jaywalked.

Percy began leading them away from the center of the city, into the less populated — but still relatively crowded — outer city.

"So," Percy began, "I've heard a little bit about what you might want from me, but I'd like to hear it from you."

Ella nodded confidently. "My requests are threefold, for now. Firstly, information. I'd like access to some contacts in the city — other gangs and clans which may provide what you and your… employee, Roman, may not, as well as any information brokers you use. You'll be paid a finder's fee, of course."

She didn't know, but none of the underworld in Vale answered to anyone but him anymore. Or nothing significant, at least, and certainly not any information brokers. He'd owned those before he'd even come here.

They reached a crosswalk with a stop sign, cars flowing through the heavily crowded streets in a frustrated mass. He could always hide that, presenting Junior as if he didn't work for Percy. That might be a good idea, but he was reminded of Foley's words. Introducing a potential threat to Junior would put him at some level of risk, and threaten Percy's entire powerbase here.

He pulled out his scroll absentmindedly to text Junior, humming. "And the other two?"

"The second is more… discretionary. I need to find someone. I'll be asking any informants you can show me as well but if you can find her for me before them, the bounty is yours. A million lien"

Percy whistled as the light turned red and they started walking across the street. That was a lot, for information on someone.

Even this close to the center of the city, the crowds were beginning to thin so that they could walk side-by-side without having to move out of anyone's way. "A name and picture would be a good start." he said. "A last known location helps too."

She pulled out her scroll and showed it to him. Percy pulled out his own and tapped it to hers, making a request to download the image which she quickly granted. "Her name is Amber. She likes traveling the settlements around Vale, but the last we saw her was months ago."

Percy nodded, sending the photo with the name to the Malachites. "And the last?"

"Dust." she said simply. "Mass quantities of dust."

Well there we have our introduction to 'Ella' and we start to see the main plot creeping in. You'll be seeing more of that, and more of Ella. Shout-out to kathryn & old man in the mountain on discord for editing chapter 38 so I can get out chapter 36 in a reasonable amount of time.

Speaking of which apologies for the late-night update. I've been tryna do it in the mornings recently because I usually have em' prepared, but this chapter and chapter 37 go really well together so I just gave pat-reon 2 chapters ahead. Needless to say my school, personal life, and work picked up more than I thought they would, all at the same time, and so I'm currently writing this at three in the morning, still working on finishing some half eaten french toast from when I woke up and got breakfast. I have spring break friday, so I should be able to catch up a bit and get you guys your chapters early again.

Thank you all for your support as always, it's why I do this. Every day I wake up and see a gushing review thanking me for writing, I'm reminded why I put myself through this. And for the record, I do read the reviews. All of them. Every single one. Usually I don't reply either because I forgot, don't really have a good response, or... you didn't ask anything. Or, sometimes there's a very detailed, thorough review that brings up good points that I want to respond to but 9/10 times it's inevitably a guest account, so I cant respond. If you're gonna spend 2 hours giving me some incredible feedback at least take the time to make an account for Christ's sake. But either way I do read them, and I do appreciate them, and I hope you all have a good night.

Discord and pat-reon are on my profile, and the next chapter will be on March 15th.

Before I go, I wanted to at least mention (albeit briefly, because you guys don't come here for my hot political takes) that since the last chapter I posted, there's been a bit of an international tragedy in the form of the invasion of Ukraine. Despite how late it is I spent a good amount of time looking for a quote to start the chapter off with that I thought was appropriately relevant, and well... I think I accomplished that goal.

Gloria Fortis Miles.

Adversor et Admorsus.