Chapter 95: What Did It Offer You?

"My system wants yours."

Liam said it before he could find a less direct way to explain. Clara remained still beside him, watching his face while the line went quiet. He could hear Lin breathing, then the faint sound of a chair moving. There was no angry reply, no immediate demand for an explanation. Somehow, that made Liam sit straighter. Lin had gone from being mildly annoyed about a late call to listening carefully, and Liam knew exactly which part of the sentence would have caught his attention.

"What do you mean, wants it?"

"It says it can consume it to recover energy."

"And you’re telling me because?"

"Because I should have told you before."

Lin laughed once. There was nothing amused about it.

"How long?"

Liam looked down at his free hand. He could remember the excitement of hearing what Red might regain, the possibilities that had opened when another system became something he could take. Back then, Lin had been a dangerous man standing between him and an opportunity. Training together hadn’t erased that thought. Liam had simply become comfortable leaving it unanswered.

"Since before we started training."

"Did it send you to help me with the sword?"

"No. The sword was draining you. We both saw that."

"That wasn’t what I asked."

Liam stopped. Beside him, Clara shifted slightly, but she didn’t speak. He had been ready to explain the good things he had done as though they answered why he had remained close. Lin wasn’t going to let him. After Shen, he had every reason to examine somebody who had helped him while keeping a private interest in what he carried.

"I knew helping you would make it easier to stay close," Liam said. "I also knew leaving that sword alone could get somebody killed."

"Convenient."

"Yeah."

The silence lasted long enough that Liam checked whether the call was still connected. Then Lin asked where he was. Liam told him he was at Clara’s apartment, but didn’t offer the address. Lin had barely finished saying he wanted to speak in person when Liam stood and reached for his keys.

"I’ll come to you."

"Alone."

Clara shook her head immediately. Liam looked at her, then toward the bag beside the table. Going alone would make Lin more comfortable. It would also mean walking into a room with someone who now had a reason to consider him a threat and enough strength to do something about it.

"Clara will drive me. She can wait outside."

"You think I’ll attack you?"

"I just told you something worth getting angry about. I’m not going to pretend otherwise."

Lin gave him a place to meet and ended the call.

Clara stood before Liam had put the phone away. She changed her shoes while he pulled on a jacket, then waited by the door as he collected the cape and screwdriver. Neither of them mentioned the guitar case still resting beside the couch. Less than an hour ago, his biggest concern had been whether Megan liked the recording. Now he was checking that the screwdriver was awake before going out.

’Good. At least I finally stopped avoiding the fucking problem.’

"That doesn’t mean you have to give him everything," Clara said.

Liam looked up.

"What?"

"An explanation. He needs one. That doesn’t mean you tell him every skill you have."

"I know."

She held his gaze until he nodded properly, then opened the door.

The place Lin chose was a small parking area beside a closed row of businesses. There were streetlights, a road close enough for passing traffic, and nowhere to sit that would make the meeting feel friendly. He stood near the far end with his hands in his jacket pockets. Liam checked for the sword case before getting out, then caught himself. The absence of a case wouldn’t stop Lin from producing the weapon if he wanted it.

Clara parked facing the exit.

"I’ll be here."

Liam nodded and walked over. Lin watched him approach without moving, his expression becoming easier to read beneath the light. He was angry, but there was something more calculating behind it now. Liam stopped several feet away and kept his hands visible. He had spent enough time training with the man to know how quickly that distance could disappear.

"What did it offer you?"

"Energy recovery for the system. Enough to restore some of what it’s lost."

"And for you?"

"Whatever becomes available afterward."

"So you don’t even know."

"Not everything."

Lin looked toward the Bentley, then back at Liam.

"You were willing to consider it anyway."

"Yes."

The answer cost him more than he expected. Lin’s jaw tightened, but Liam didn’t try to soften it. Saying he had never meant to hurt him would be easy. It would also leave out the part where he had not bothered finding out whether taking the system would hurt him until tonight.

"I asked whether you would survive," Liam continued. "It said your death wasn’t required. When I asked about injury, it admitted it didn’t have enough information."

"And now you want me to stand still while it finds out?"

"No."

"Then why are we here?"

"Because you should know what it wants before you decide whether to keep dealing with me."

Lin studied him for several seconds. A car passed on the road behind them, throwing light briefly across his face. Liam expected another question about the sword or the training. Instead, Lin took one hand out of his pocket and rubbed his thumb against the side of his finger, staring at a point slightly beyond Liam’s shoulder.

Liam recognized the look.

"What’s yours saying?"

Lin’s eyes returned to him.

"That you’re dangerous."

"That part seems fair."

"It has more to say than that."

A green panel opened in front of Liam before he could answer.

[Foreign system activity detected.]

He kept his face still and read the single line. There was no explanation beneath it, no convenient list of what Lin was seeing. Across from him, Lin’s attention shifted again, following something Liam couldn’t see.

’Can you read its messages?’

[No.]

That answer was useful. Liam dismissed the panel and waited. He wasn’t going to make the mistake of treating Red’s awareness as complete just because it knew another system was present.

Lin lowered his hand.

"Mine wants me to defeat you."

Liam felt his shoulders tighten.

"Tonight?"

"It didn’t specify."

"Kill me?"

"No."

That was reassuring only in the narrowest sense. Liam glanced toward Lin’s feet, then made himself look back at his face. There would be no controlled pace if this became a fight. Lin knew about the reflection, had seen the cape move him, and had helped him construct the technique he would probably reach for first.

’And I showed him exactly how it works. Brilliant.’

"What does it give you?" Liam asked.

Lin’s expression hardened.

"Enough that you should stop asking questions like you’re the only one with something to gain."

There it was. Liam had spent too long thinking of Lin as the person Red wanted something from. The man had his own rewards, his own reasons to act, and a system capable of putting Liam on the other side of a mission. Friendship, if either of them had earned that word, didn’t make those things disappear.

"Are you going to do it?"

Lin took a step closer.

Liam stayed where he was. The screwdriver pressed against his pocket through their connection, waiting for an instruction. He left it there. Near the Bentley, Clara opened her door and got out, drawing Lin’s eyes past him. She didn’t approach, but she no longer looked like someone waiting for a conversation to finish.

Lin stopped.

"Is that why you brought her?"

"I brought her because I’m not stronger than you."

"At least you remember."

"I remember every time I hit the mat."

The familiar reply almost settled into their usual rhythm. Neither smiled. Lin looked away first, breathing slowly through his nose before stepping back to where he had been standing.

"I’m not giving you my system."

"I heard you."

"Have yours hear it."

Liam didn’t look away from him.

’You heard him.’

No panel appeared.

Lin watched his face carefully, apparently waiting for a visible reaction. Liam wondered whether he had expected Red to threaten him, make another offer, or punish Liam for repeating the refusal. He didn’t know what Lin’s own system did when ignored. Until now, he had known remarkably little about it beyond what he could see in the man’s status.

"Has yours told you what happens if you refuse?" Liam asked.

Lin’s eyes narrowed.

"You first."

Liam considered the question. Missions had conditions, rewards, and sometimes ways to skip them. Red had wanted Lin’s system, but wanting and compelling were different things. He had allowed the possible reward to occupy more space in his thinking than any actual instruction.

"It hasn’t given me a punishment for leaving yours alone."

"Then leave it alone."

"I will."

The words were plain enough. Lin still didn’t relax.

Liam couldn’t blame him for that either.

They settled the immediate matter in less than five minutes. Sunday’s training was canceled. Neither would approach the other without calling first. Lin wanted time to examine what his own system had told him, and Liam agreed without offering to help. That would have sounded ridiculous now. Before leaving, Liam asked once about the sword case. Lin’s expression turned cold enough that he immediately wished he had chosen different timing.

"It’s closed."

"Good."

"You don’t get to use that every time this conversation becomes uncomfortable."

Liam nodded.

"You’re right."

He walked back to the Bentley without turning his back completely until he had put some distance between them. Clara remained beside the open driver’s door, watching Lin until Liam reached her. Only then did she get in. Liam fastened his seat belt while she started the engine, and neither spoke until they had left the parking area behind.

"Did he threaten you?"

"His system gave him a reason to fight me."

Clara’s hands tightened around the wheel.

"And him?"

"He hasn’t decided to take it."

"That isn’t the same as saying he won’t."

"No."

Liam looked out through the window. Shops passed in dark stretches between traffic lights, and his own reflection moved faintly across the glass. He had expected telling the truth to make something clearer. It had. Lin was no longer an unfinished opportunity he could keep beside him until convenient. He was a man who knew what Liam had considered taking and now had something to gain from defeating him.

At the next light, Liam addressed Red again.

’Did you know his system might give him a mission against me?’

[A defensive response was possible.]

’You could have mentioned that.’

[You did not request a response assessment.]

Liam stared at the words until the light changed.

He had heard enough carefully limited answers lately to recognize another one. Red could tell him what a reward did in considerable detail when it suited the situation. Apparently, information that might make him hesitate required the correct question.

’From now on, when you ask me to take something from another system, include what it can do in response.’

The panel remained for a moment before changing.

[Noted.]

Clara glanced toward him.

"What?"

"It knew this could happen."

She looked back at the road.

"Then stop treating it like it tells you everything."

Liam had no answer worth saying aloud.

Back at the apartment, he put the keys down and took the notebook out of his bag. The page with Side Step still had corrections around the drawing and Clara’s original joke crossed out beneath it. He turned to a clean sheet and wrote down what Lin had seen him use. The cape. The screwdriver. Grappling. His reflection. The way he looked before shifting sideways.

The list was longer than he liked.

Clara brought two glasses of water and placed one beside his hand.

"You’re not going after him."

"I’m working out what he knows."

"And afterward?"

"Afterward, I work out how to fight someone who knows it."

She pulled out the chair opposite him. Liam moved the notebook between them, leaving enough room for her to turn it around. He would not ask her to pretend the meeting had ended well, and she didn’t try. She read the list, tapped the line about Reversal, then looked at him.

"Start with someone who doesn’t give you a skill to reflect."

Liam picked up his pen.