Cal was a bit disappointed in the car ride, as the weird aliens and shop fronts he could see through the windows made him wish this had been a nice long walk, seeing just what all existed. Instead, he had been stuck watching the sights fly by at a rapid pace, only barely able to discern what wonder he might be missing. This meant that by the time the car came to a stop in front of one of the buildings, Cal was more than ready to do something. Twonger’s moody silence, while understandable wasn’t helping anything either.


    “Here,” the driver called from the front of the car. Twonger immediately pushed the door open and hopped out.


    “Y’all ready for some violence, ‘cause I doubt this is going peacefully, and frankly, I’d rather it didn’t. I wanna hit something,” Twonger said, anger evident in his voice as his fingers kept balling into fists at his side.


    “I assume talking has no real chance of working then? Because I would prefer that,” Andy asked, looking around the street as he stepped out of the car after Twonger.


    “What Andy said. Well, kind of. I don’t like slavers at all, but how well will this place take to us starting a giant brawl?” Cal asked, remembering how much Twonger had initially emphasized not doing exactly what they were about to do.


    “Poorly, really damn poorly, but I need to test how far Klorn is really willing to go to protect us, and what better way than working out some aggression, don’t worry about it too much; I got an escape plan in mind if it all goes wrong. So if I yell about Bug suddenly being here, that means stop what you’re doing and follow me. Got it?” Twonger asked after his terrible explanation. Cal wasn’t remotely satisfied, but also wasn’t sure what other option he had.


    “And the escape plan doesn’t involve ending the loop, right?” Cal asked firmly, making it clear this one wasn’t a joke. They absolutely could not do that right now. He was starting to regret personally coming on this mission.


    “Nah, I’m sure I can get us out of here, now, come on,” Twonger said, walking up to the front door of the building and pushing his way in.


    “I guess we’re doing this?” Bill said, looking toward Cal. He was shaking a bit nervously but not looking overly scared. Cal understood the feeling. What would happen if this all went wrong? Then again what happened if this all went right? Taking the ogres away from the Agency was a big move in their war.


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    “Yeah, come on, before he gets himself killed. For now, we follow his lead. Let’s treat them as hostile and expect some serious counter-attacks as soon as it gets bad,” Cal said. How would his earth powers work here? He wished he had taken Sleek back from Mother Scrump, but it was too late for that worry now. He’d just have to do this with the magic he was most used to.


    Walking through the door, the first thing Cal spotted was Twonger at a front desk, staring down the person behind it. His hand had already made a giant dent onto the surface of it. “Look, sir, I don’t know who you are or what you think we do here, but be assured we have nothing to do with any sort of enslaving collars, as you called them,” the weird broccoli-looking receptionist said nervously.


    “Uh-huh, and I said you have two minutes to get me the person in charge before I go to find him myself. By my count, you’ve got a minute left, so I strongly suggest you get on that,” Twonger said, smashing his hand again into the desk. This time is shattered below his blow.


    “Sir, you’re forcing me to call security,” the receptionist replied.


    “Yeah, obviously. Damn, was that so hard to do?” Twonger asked, looking at the man angrily.


    “Hey buddy, are you just working here for the money?” Cal called from behind Twonger.


    “Yeah, isn’t everyone?” He said back nervously.


    “Alright, you should just run away now then. It’s for the best, trust me. You have no idea what your bosses have gotten you into here, and I don’t have my dog with me to tell who we really want to save, which sounds insane now that I say, so just leave, please,” Cal said. He knew that look and tone of voice once he really remembered it. It might have been a very long time ago, thanks to the loops, but he still remembered what it was like to be in customer service being screamed at by someone to do something you couldn’t possibly do.


    “Uh, yeah, thanks, gotta go,” he said, running out from behind the counter and fleeing the building.


    “Was that one of the whatever you said they were?” Cal asked once the man was gone.


    “That was a Borlinian, whether he was actually part of the Grelsh syndicate or just working for them, couldn’t tell you. They wouldn’t let his kind near the upper ranks, though. That’s reserved for the purebred Wirns. Good thinking on getting rid of him. Now we get to have some more fun,” Twonger answered, smiling again as he walked toward another door in the room.


    “Good, thanks for the info, I guess,” Cal said, shaking his head and following after the Cyclopean.


    “Hey idiots, who is in charge here?!” Twonger yelled as he kicked open the door and charged in. Cal spotted several people in the room. They all reminded him of earthworms with arms and legs. It was an odd sight, to say the least.


    “Who the hell are you?” one of them yelled back.


    “I’m the man who is here to discuss your enslaving collars. I want the removal codes for all of them!” Twonger yelled. That was a bit more than we had initially planned on, but Cal could live with taking them all offline. That was almost a good trade-off for this new mess.