My Infinite Investment System

The first falling pebble disappeared inside Mika’s fist before it struck the sleeping boss’s armor.

The stone sat inside her closed fist while six plated ribs rose with each breath below them.

"Tell me we are not waking that," Jun whispered, keeping both heels against Nia’s shield rim.

Ryan measured the sealed shaft, the narrowing walls, and the black cables tied into the creature’s back.

"We avoid it here," he said, keeping his eyes on the cables.

She looked across the sunken arena and asked, "Where do we face it?"

"Everywhere else," he replied.

The maze smelled of damp fur, charged metal, and the bitter solvent still clinging to the evidence sleeve inside his jacket.

Spark Sense spread across every hinge inside the wide sunken room.

Weak gold fractures ran through three rotating walls, then met at a heavy hinge beneath the boss’s left foreleg.

’The maze moves around its weight,’ Ryan thought, tracking each connection, ’so make the room carry the fight.’

He held out his hand.

"Map controls," he said.

The scout removed his annotated trial diagram from an inner pocket and flattened it across the shield.

He had copied every rotation during the first stage, including the maintenance sequence the official map omitted.

"I can turn one chamber from the service wheel," Jun said, tapping a square behind the western wall.

"How long?" he asked.

"Twelve seconds if the wheel behaves, twenty if it remembers the city owns it."

Mika opened her fist without looking away from the boss, revealing the pebble pressed into her palm.

"I have one full discharge," she admitted, watching the boss breathe.

Nia lowered her voice and asked, "After that?"

"My regulator holds, my legs become decorative."

Ryan looked at the black cables along the creature’s spine.

They fed power into the maze whenever its ribs expanded.

One complete discharge through the hinge would travel across every rotating panel.

’One shot, one striker, and a man who cannot afford her recovery meal,’ he thought, ’excellent guild planning.’

"We are not aiming for the core," he said, drawing the arena around the diagram.

Mika crouched beside him and asked, "You want the walls?"

"I want the maze to hit first."

Nia set the tower frame on its side, revealing the field pouch clipped beneath one grip.

A short black-handled wrench protruded beside two spare pins like a careless afterthought.

"Give me the timing," she said, resting both hands on the shield.

Ryan placed four measured points across the dust covering the shield frame.

Jun would reach the service wheel through a maintenance crawlspace beside the sleeping beast.

Nia would draw its first charge onto the center seam.

Mika would release everything only after the western chamber rotated across the cable line.

Spark Step covered misses.

Jun stared at the narrow crawlspace beneath the creature’s rear plate.

"That route is underground."

"Two meters," Nia replied, fastening the repair pouch tighter.

"Underground still counts."

She put one palm against the back of his neck without pushing.

"You can challenge once."

His mouth moved through three silent versions before he said, "My challenge is that this plan sucks."

"Recorded," she replied, removing her hand.

’Two meters in, turn the wheel, get out,’ Jun thought as his left heel pulsed, ’do not imagine the ceiling, I am imagining the ceiling.’

Ryan checked the boss’s breathing cycle, counting seven seconds between each pull of the walls.

"Go on the exhale."

The scout slid from the shield and entered the gap when the nearest plate lifted.

His route boots pulsed against stone, recording the short crawl while his shoulders scraped both sides.

Mika watched his feet vanish and mouthed, "Absolutely not," at the opening.

"You were going to volunteer," Ryan said under his breath.

She pinched two fingers together to show how close he had come to being correct.

Jun reached the far side.

His hand found the iron service wheel above him, where violet ink stained one spoke.

"Control located," he whispered through the team link.

Ryan studied the beast.

The bell-shaped skull carried no eyes, only four sound vents across its crown.

Its front legs were thicker than Nia’s torso across the shoulder.

"Positions," he said.

The tank stepped off the shield and entered the sleeping creature’s arena.

Her boots touched the arena without a sound, followed by the heavy frame settling against her shoulder.

Mika remained on the raised platform with both palms open.

Pink current gathered in threads across her fingers, then vanished beneath her skin whenever it grew too bright.

’One route, clean through the wrist,’ she thought, feeling the regulator answer, ’do not give the camera version, give them the useful one.’

Ryan dropped beside Nia and marked the center seam with two fingers.

"Three breaths," he said, holding up the matching number of fingers.

The boss inhaled.

Walls moved inward.

Its second breath pulled dust across the arena in six curved lines.

On the third exhale, Nia struck the shield boss against the floor.

The impact rang through the chamber and woke the plated creature all at once.

Its sound vents opened with a metal scream, and six armored legs drove beneath its body.

"Center!" he called.

Nia planted herself over the marked seam with both boots spread.

The boss charged with its skull lowered, each step throwing bronze chips from the floor.

She waited through four meters, every shield strap drew tight at two, then she turned the frame eleven degrees at one.

The bell skull struck.

Force drove her boots across the arena, but the angled shield pulled the beast’s left foreleg onto the weak hinge.

One black-handled wrench jumped halfway from her repair pouch like a loose tooth.

She jammed an elbow against the pocket and shouted, "Now!"

Jun hauled the service wheel.

Nothing moved.

"City memory!" he shouted, bracing both boots against the crawlspace wall.

He reversed the wheel one quarter, kicked the locking pin free, then threw his weight forward.

The western chamber rotated.

An entire bronze wall swept across the arena behind the boss and caught three cables in its teeth.

The plated body reared over Nia as the trapped cable line pulled tight.

"Opening!" she called from beneath the raised skull.

Ryan saw one clean path through the hinge, the cables, and every rotating panel beyond them.

"Mika, full route!" he called, cutting one hand toward the hinge.

She stopped performing.

Her chin lowered.

Both hands went still at her sides while pink current climbed from the regulator across her ribs.

The full discharge hit the exposed joint without a shouted attack name.

White-pink lightning crossed the arena in one solid line, entered the broken joint, and burst through every black cable at once.

The entire shifting maze became an electrical cage around the trapped boss.

Each wall flashed in sequence.

The current lifted the boss from its front legs and threw it sideways into the rotating chamber.

Nia went down beneath the heavy edge of its shoulder plate near the rotating wall.

Ryan used Spark Step.

Four meters vanished.

Nausea struck as he caught the back of her harness and pulled her clear before the armor crushed the shield rim.

The black-handled wrench tore free from her damaged field repair pouch.

It spun once through the charged air and disappeared between two plates behind the creature’s foreleg.

Ryan saw the handle vanish.

The boss rolled into the western chamber while Jun forced the wheel through another quarter turn.

"Again!" the scout yelled, both arms shaking.

Nia came up on one knee and drove her shield into the creature’s exposed side.

That shove gave the wall enough room to complete its rotation.

Bronze panels closed around the boss like a moving fist.

Its metal scream became a heavy vibration traveling through the arena floor.

Mika remained upright on the platform for half a second after the last current left her hands.

Then both knees folded.

Ryan crossed the distance without Spark Step and caught her beneath the arms.

"Regulator?"

She pressed two fingers to her ribs, eyes unfocused, then answered, "Stable, dignity unavailable."

He lowered her carefully onto the tilted shield platform near the wall.

’She spent everything after they changed the route,’ he thought, checking the pulse at her wrist, ’I am going to make that observer regret owning a phone.’

Jun released the service wheel.

It spun backward with enough force to tear skin from both of his palms.

The western chamber began reopening.

"That was not in my plan," he said, scrambling from the crawlspace.

"Your plan ended at turn the room," she replied, breathing through a bruised shoulder.

"I assumed the room would respect the achievement."

"Buildings rarely do."

The boss forced one plated foreleg through the widening chamber seam alone.

Lightning had split its outer armor, yet the core remained buried beneath the bell skull.

Ryan counted the damaged hinges as the live boss tore through their temporary trap.

"Exit route?" he asked.

Jun checked both boots, then pointed toward a doorway rotating into place above the eastern wall.

"Nine seconds," he said, checking the route beneath both heels.

The tank stood beneath Mika and said, "Put her on."

"I can walk," the striker protested, trying to rise.

Her left leg moved.

The right stayed folded.

Mika looked down at it, offended, then allowed Ryan to lift her onto the tank’s back.

"This remains private," she said into the tank’s shoulder.

"I charge for secrecy."

"Put it on my impossible tab."

Jun reached the eastern wall first and jammed his marker into the door track.

The violet casing cracked, holding the gap for one extra second while Northstar climbed.

Ryan entered last.

Behind him, the boss tore its leg free from the western chamber and drove its plated skull into the turning wall.

The impact drove a widening crack across the bronze arena ceiling overhead.

"Move," he called.

The jokes died.

They ran through a corridor that shifted beneath each step.

Jun called each turn from his recorded pattern without slowing his pace.

Nia carried Mika without losing pace, while Ryan stayed behind them and watched the closing route.

The boss struck again.

This time the maze answered through the stopped walls with one deep bell note.

All walls stopped.

Rows of dead black panels unfolded across the corridor, each one stamped with the guild office seal.

Jun slowed near the first screen and asked, "Were those always there?"

Power traveled through the maze along the path Mika’s discharge had burned.

One panel woke.

Then twenty.

The live spectator feed opened on every surface, showing Bartek at the guild desk and Priya standing behind him with one hand over her mouth.

An evidence replay appeared in a smaller window beside the trial score.

Violet ink still marked the attendant’s discarded glove on the gallery floor.

Northstar’s blast replayed across the entire office from six angles.

She lifted her head from Nia’s shoulder, saw the audience count climbing, and whispered, "So much for no cameras."

Ryan watched Bartek’s face lose every trace of satisfaction as the replay reached full discharge.

"Keep moving," he said, turning toward the next sealed door.

Behind them, the boss struck the maze again, and every spectator screen woke with it.