"Gabriel, you're forgetting something."

  The portal, apparently opened by Lieutenant Fatima Tagore's tech, made Gabe's silhouette resemble a shadow.

  "Huh?" Gabe asked Iggy.

  "Your firefly jar," Joaquim said.

  Even though he had been confident to step into the portal, Gabe's entire posture stiffened. "Crap! I don't even know if it's in Iker's house or inside the barracks..."

  "Either way, Monica's getting it," Iggy reassured. "Just don't leave."

  If Joaquim had to describe the landscape within the portal in which Gabe interposed, it looked cyberpunk-ish. Likely at the tail of the twenty-first century. While tightening his eyelids to observe the wide and brutalist skyscrapers leaving barely any sidewalk at the edges of the city blocks, a familiar ghostly hand passed Gabe his knapsack before vanishing.

  "Was that Monica Iker?" Joaquim asked.

  "Aye," Iggy answered.

  "Who is she?" Joaquim asked.

  Iggy paused before replying. "She's Primetime. I am sure you know that name."

  Joaquim glared at the undead centaur. "How... how could you trust her? She's in one platoon."

  While Liesar roared in agony behind ver, Spiderland's thoughts processing vis next steps were passing faster than any time measurable by mankind.

  That was my only chance to kill Muhammad... for now.

  He would not fight me here without a field advantage. I need the battle to take place somewhere where I have the advantage.

  The variable that cannot change...

  Ameen was not only a prophet, but he was every desert that ever was and ever will be.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  So much was happening within this second that the existing one would have to be an immortal to record it all, and in a way within the story, within this simulation, he indeed was. However, to the human eye, the translucent-flesh expanding Spiderland, the split open Liesar, and the pierced Ameen had yet to move.

  Gabe had already left.

  "Every timeline where Monica didn't switch sides... we basically lose," Iggy explained. "Either way... unless all of our plans fall apart, you won't have to work with her. However, if all these plans do indeed fail..."

  Joaquim waited.

  "We are out of gimmicks at this point," Iggy added. "If Ameen wins this time, we are done for. This is it. There's no going back now. I mean it literally this time."

  "You said time goes by more slowly here," Joaquim said. "So we are in some kind of hurry right?"

  "Yes," Iggy said. "However, Joaquim, there have been timelines you stayed on Ameen's side, and other ones where you stayed on one platoon's side. Would you allow me to plead to you one more time to choose two platoon? To save the innocent people of Ember City?"

  "Are they innocent?" Joaquim asked with a slight glare.

  "Do you remember any instances of us having this conversation? Not me as Iker, but as Iggy."

  "No. This is my first time talking to you for all I know," Joaquim replied.

  "We did waste a lot of time in other resets, but now I think I have this conversation down to a science," Iggy said. "I want you to think about the innocent kids that are going to die. You were always willing to save Fornia, but you and Gabe would let Ember City fall, even letting those who were not old enough—"

  "Ember City never cared about children," Joaquim interrupted. "Why should we?"

  "I know you're not heartless enough to stoop to their level," Iggy said. "Please believe me when I tell you that you regretted every time allowing it to happen."

  "Why is there so much hinging on me and my brother?" Joaquim asked, his glare becoming a frown. He sat himself gently on the invisible floor.

  "I don't know if I should open this can of worms," Iggy said. "We ended up losing a lot of training time saying this to you."

  "Tell me," Joaquim said. "There's nothing to excuse having a bunch of teenagers decided the fate of a flying city."

  "Well," Iggy said.

  "We're in a science fiction story Joaquim."

  This four-dimensional battle was taking place in every desert that ever was and ever will be.

  The way Spiderland was flicking through deserts regardless of planet or aeon was like vis imagination was a cosmic rolodex. Assets of antediluvian cities, freshly-laid pyramids, and ancient skyscrapers were loading and fading like virtual phantasms. Despite this power to choose the time and place, Liesar and Ameen were always right there ready to battle the god. They sometimes changed names, appearances, and even ages, but the pair were always there.

  It's clear you have no experience with four dimensional battles Spiderland, Muhammad said. Give up now.

  Spiderland already considered this a possibility and had a contingency plan ready.

  Spiderland was changing the genre the three of them were in.