In hindsight, listening to the first thing that came out of James' mouth might not have been the smartest move. Sure, putting almost 30,000 people into a single group chat solved the "contact everyone quickly" part of the problem, but it didn't help much with what followed.

Hundreds upon hundreds of messages filled the chat mere seconds after its creation. And again, in hindsight, they really should have expected that people would ignore the polite "Please do not respond to this message" note at the bottom. Really, it was just human nature to go against the rules or to act without thinking.

This alone wouldn't have been that bad, though. As long as everybody read the first message from James in the chat and followed it, they would still be fine. Only, that didn't happen.

The whole idea behind the chat was simple: to explain the basics of the invasion plan and have volunteers confirm whether they wanted to participate for sure. And if they did, they were supposed to send a short private message to either James, Carmela, Isaac, or Harry with a quick rundown of their abilities. This was supposed to be the start, a way to sift through the thousands of names on the papers.

To some degree, it even worked. Keyword "some."

At worst, Isaac had ever handled two or three private messages at a time. Nothing too hard. But turn that into dozens, or maybe even hundreds? His head almost exploded from the sheer amount of text that appeared before him right then.

Even worse, most of the messages didn't include what they had asked for. Some were filled with simple "Hi" or "Hello," while others didn't make sense at all. There were also a few that… well, those were better left forgotten. Those people needed help, and that was coming from a guy who had slaughtered hundreds of sapient aliens.

Still, what was done was done. Isaac and his friends had made this mess, and now they had to deal with it unless they wanted to look stupid and incompetent. Which, to be fair, the latter applied pretty well to them anyway. Hell, even Carmela didn't have anything to say. She was just as out of her depth as everyone else.

Apparently, her high-class training didn't involve organizing large-scale invasions on enemy territory.

Go figure.

As such, determined to make something out of the chaos, the four of them got to work. For over two hours, they sat huddled around the table, crossing off names or scribing down some details. It was far from a quick or easy task, but they didn't really have much of a choice.

That was until James decided to break the silence.

"All right, enough of this," he said, rising to his feet. "You three—get the hell out of here."

Isaac froze, his gaze going to Carmela and Harry for a split second. The woman looked just as startled as he felt. His strange British friend, though? Aside from a light frown, he barely reacted.

"Excuse me?" Carmela asked, her shock forgotten.

James crossed his arms. "You heard me right, Sunshine. Get out of here."

"Sunshine?" Isaac echoed under his breath, making the older man color a bit.

"Nickname is still a work in progress." James cleared his throat. "Anyway. Like I said, you three should go. We're wasting time."

Carmela arched an eyebrow. "We're organizing a raid involving thousands. I wouldn't call it a waste of time. We have come too far to give up now."

James rolled his eyes. "Not what I meant. Leave the tedious part of the job to me and the others. You three are Earth's Pioneers—our strongest fighters. We can't have you falling behind because you were busy playing call center."

When he put it like that, Isaac had to admit it was hard to argue. Spending the last three days in the arena had at least helped him improve, but this? This would take just as long and do nothing but maybe leave him weaker than Reprizem's elites.

He couldn't let that happen.

Still…

"Are you sure?" Isaac asked.

James' gaze flicked to the mountain of papers on the table. He grimaced. "Not really. So you better redirect all your messages to me and get the hell out before I change my mind. This is a one-time offer."

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One I wouldn't dare to refuse. Isaac chuckled and stood up. He glanced at his fellow Pioneers. "Well, you heard him. Time to hunt. We can go together or alone, your call."

"I will gladly join you, friend," Harry said before turning to James. "Thank you for your sacrifice, fellow warrior. I shall not forget it."

James snorted, waving him off. "Yeah, whatever. Get me a beer or two, and we will call it even."

Like always, Harry took it literally and nodded. "Consider it done." He started for the door, throwing Isaac a quick look over his shoulder. "I shall see you in an hour at the border nearby, friend."

Just like that, the man left the building.

"In that case…" Carmela muttered, also rising to her feet and straightening her battledress. "I will join you two. It should be a… unique experience."

Isaac nodded. Unique experiences aside, he really wanted to see just how the woman fought in the wilds when nothing held her back. Also, he had yet to see her Legacy form. She only ever used the wings of her Origin to fly, but that couldn't be all, right?

He shook his head. Now was not the time for this. He would find out soon enough.

"Prepare accordingly," he told her. "This most likely won't take less than two or three days."

Carmela smiled faintly as she moved toward the exit. "Don't you worry about me. I'm always ready.

With that, she stepped out of the building, leaving just him, James, and the sleeping Elaine behind. A moment later, the older man clapped him on the back.

"Big leagues, eh?" James grinned. "Three Pioneers going out together. Damn… Kinda makes me sad. Not that long ago, it was just me, you, Ari, and the princess. Now… so much for sticking as a team."

Isaac stifled a sigh. He wouldn't lie. He also somewhat missed the constant company of his friends in battle. Fighting alone or alongside new allies wasn't bad, but it still wasn't the same. Those had been his first real friends, after all. Still, war demanded its share of sacrifices from everybody.

Not everything has to change, though.

"When this is all over," he said, turning to James, "why don't the four of us go on another trip? Maybe try reaching another Safe Zone?"

James laughed. "Now that's an idea! I'm sure the others will love it." His grin faded. "Gotta win the war first, though." He groaned as he glanced at the papers. "Which means I gotta get back to work. Shit…"

Isaac grimaced. "Maybe ask Daryl and Marie for help?"

"Already did. My Uncle, too. He might as well bring the girls, too. Gotta earn their keep, right?"

Isaac arched an eyebrow. "You're making your sisters work on this?"

James shrugged. "Why not? Times are changing, boss. Besides, they wanted to spend more time with me. Isn't this perfect?"

"I don't think this is what they had in mind."

The man waved a hand. "Ah, whatever. They will complain for an hour, then help anyway. Trust me."

"Right…" Isaac muttered, unconvinced but unwilling to argue. "I will be going then. Have fun. Oh, and keep an eye on Elaine, please."

James shot him a thumbs-up. "You got it, man. I will force her to rest if I have to. Or well, Ari will."

Isaac chuckled and headed for the door. Even if he agreed to meet the others in an hour, he still had a few places to visit before that. At the very least, he had to buy some food for the road.

Finally free…

Resupplied and ready for the journey, Isaac returned to the border near his Battleworld house with five minutes to spare. To his surprise, Harry and Carmela were already waiting for him there, both surrounded by a small crowd.

He grimaced. They probably should have chosen a meeting spot outside the Safe Zone to avoid this. Too late now. Though he sure wasn't getting involved in this mess. After the last few days, he had enough crowd interactions to last a lifetime.

As such, he opened the communication menu and shot his fellow Pioneers a quick message.

'I'm here. Step outside, transform, and follow me once you see me.'

He received two affirmatives within a few seconds. That left just one thing to do.

To march past the growing crowd and pass through the glowing barrier. Once outside, he pulled on his Legacy, transformed, and shot into the sky while ignoring the nearby gasps. It didn't take long for his new teammates to notice him.

They both leapt over the crowd, landing beyond the Safe Zone before transforming.

Harry's form was the same as ever, so Isaac barely spared him a glance. But Carmela? Her Legacy was anything but normal, just like her Origin.

A Wyrm, or at the very least something very similar.

She had its serpentine build, covered in silver-golden scales from top to bottom. A row of short, matching spikes ran along her spine. However, unlike any Wyrm Isaac had faced before, Carmela's form bore a pair of leathery wings. No legs or arms, though.

She was also smaller than expected. When she joined him and Harry in the air, her full length barely matched the span of his wings. Her draconic head, though, was softer than he imagined—smooth lines and curves. Elegant, his mind supplied.

Interesting, Isaac hummed, glancing between the two. "Ready?"

His fellow Pioneers nodded, and with that, they were off. There would be no stops until they at least reached the yellow territory. Broken Hopes, after all, had nothing to offer to them.

Maybe I can convince them to take on one of those Unregulated Quarantines in the desert

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