The heavy, rhythmic thrum of rotors beat against the humid air at the foot of Mount Deeprock as two charcoal-grey helicopters descended from the clouds, their arrival signaling the return of the Pierce Clan and the Martial League.
Lance Ford stepped out of the lead aircraft, his designer suit unruffled by the gale-force winds of the rotor wash. Beside him, Justin Pierce adjusted his sunglasses, looking up at the jagged, fog-shrouded peaks with a mixture of boredom and irritation. Facing them stood a wall of martial power: two Arch-Grandmasters and one Quasi-Arch-Grandmaster, their auras suppressed but heavy, like the stillness before a localized hurricane.
"First Young Master," one of the men reported, bowing his head in deference to Lance. "Dean Lynch has been off the grid since he went
