Phong made the call the next morning.
The whole group was going to the surface for two reasons.
First, Camp Stymphalian needed gas for the generator. That alone was enough to justify a trip.
Second, Christmas was getting close, and Phong had not visited either Long or the Vogels since summer. That had started to weigh on him more than he liked to admit.
There was also the same logic Selena had pointed out before: avoiding the public too hard could become its own kind of signal.
If Phong and the others suddenly vanished from normal life, if they stopped showing their faces in places people expected them to be, then someone like Olen's father would only dig harder. Camp Stymphalian was too important to risk over one mistake like that. The safest move was to act normal.
So they surfaced in New York.
And once they did, there was really only one place they could go first.
Hà Nội's Corner.
The familiar little shop sat there like it had always been waiting for them, warm light inside, the smell of roasted coffee already leaking into the street before they even opened the door. For one brief second, Phong felt something in him loosen.
Home was complicated now.
But places like this still helped.
Joanne did not bother pretending dignity.
The instant the bell rang over the door, she dashed in like a pilgrim returning to a holy site. Her love for Long's coffee work had long since crossed the line into devotion, and she wore it proudly.
"Master," she said with full feeling, already halfway to the counter.
Long looked up from where he was working and gave her the sort of flat stare only a man used to worship could manage.
"You are too loud," he said.
Joanne beamed anyway.
Phong stepped in after her with Alex, Dominic, Janet, Jake, Jack, Selena, Séline, Camille, Alexei, Nyx, Bruno, and Little Fireball in loose order behind him, turning the café into a much bigger event than usual.
And then Phong saw Emma.
She was already there.
Sitting near the counter with a drink in hand, dressed simply enough not to scream heiress on sight, though there was still no way to fully hide Emma Tannenbaum being Emma Tannenbaum. She looked up at the group with mild amusement, like this was exactly the reaction she had expected.
Rico saw her too.
And the racoon immediately vanished behind the counter.
Just one second he was there, the next he had ducked down out of sight like a raccoon-shaped crime had occurred.
Phong sighed. "Rico."
No answer.
Emma took a slow sip of her drink. "He still embarrassed?"
That would be because of the incident earlier, when Rico had apparently sleepwalked into Emma's room and gotten used as a body pillow. It had done lasting damage to what little pride he had left.
A paw rose from behind the counter.
"This is strategically repositioned," Rico said.
Long did not even look down. "He is also trying to steal my latest blend."
The paw disappeared at once.
Emma smiled into her cup.
None of them asked Long about the group chat.
None of them asked what kind of encryption he had used to keep it safe from top IT firms run by the elite and backed by the government.
None of them asked how a coffee shop owner knew how to do any of that in the first place.
They gave him the same courtesy he had always given them.
He never pressed them about the farm, so they never pressed him about whatever strange side of his life let him protect their communications better than people with entire corporate teams.
That was simply how things were.
Long grunted at the crowd now filling his shop. "You all look more troublesome than last time."
"That is because we have grown," Rico said from below the counter.
"In number or in problems?" Long asked.
"Yes," Selena replied.
Long accepted that as a fair answer and went back to work.
For a while, the shop settled into a strange kind of peace. Joanne hovered near the coffee making like she was at a live show, Jake and Jack took over one corner, Dominic and Janet sat together like they had been married for 20 years and counting, rather than just newly wed last year. Nyx claimed a chair like royalty, Bruno lay under a table after securing part of a pastry by winning over someone with his face.
Little Fireball peeped from Phong's shoulder and got stared at by two customers who were not sure whether she was a pet, a summon, or a tiny omen.
Then Emma reached into her bag and pulled out a folder.
She held it out toward Dominic.
"Here."
Dominic looked at it, then at her. "What's this?"
"Application form."
That got enough attention that even Rico forgot to hide for a second and popped his head up.
Emma set the papers on the table.
"For the tournament," she said. "I'm joining the team."
That landed hard.
Jake blinked. Jack stared. Joanne turned away from Long's coffee for the first time in minutes. Selena leaned in. Even Alex narrowed her eyes slightly, more surprised than hostile.
Dominic picked up the form slowly. "You're serious."
Emma looked at him like that was an odd question. "Very."
Phong studied her face.
She was calm, but not casual. This was not a whim of a heiress, but a strategic move that had been thought about long and carefully.
Alex crossed her arms. "Why."
Emma looked back at her and answered without flinching.
"Because my family spent a lot of resources getting back at Josh's father for what he did to me." Her tone was even, but there was iron under it. "That kind of fight costs money, time, favors, and influence. They are going to want a return."
Nobody interrupted.
Emma continued.
"The cleanest way to recover is optics. Public ones." She tapped the folder once. "And their daughter winning the national tournament would be very good optics."
Emma leaned back in her seat. "Josh is already out of the question. That door is closed. So if the Tannenbaums want the best chance on the East Coast, the answer is obvious."
Her gaze shifted to Alex.
"Alexandra Vogel."
The shop went quiet for a beat.
Alex did not look flattered.
Mostly because she understood exactly what Emma meant. She was strong, she was well-known in the divers community, she had some influence here and there, but there was more to it. The Tannenbaums viewed Alex in the same way as the Ellisons. Alex was rare, was marketable, and with enough optics and media backed narrative behind her, she could be made into the face of the new age to rival Josh.
Emma went on anyway.
"I'm not saying this because I suddenly enjoy family strategy." She gave a dry little smile. "I'm saying it because the logic is solid. Joining your team gives them a path back into public favor, and it gives me a better shot at something that matters."
Dominic set the form down, still watching her.
"And what matters to you."
Emma's smile faded.
"Winning," she said simply. "And making sure the wrong people don't control the whole stage."
That, at least, sounded honest.
Phong believed it.
Alex still looked wary, but not dismissive. Emma and Alex were not friends in any easy sense. They had history, friction, pride. but they also shared enemies, and more than that, they shared enough self-awareness to know when alliance beat ego.
Joanne leaned one elbow on the counter. "So the celebrity rival joins the team for politics, revenge, and good optics."
Emma glanced at her. "When you say it like that, it sounds shallow."
"It is a little shallow," Selena said.
"It is also practical," Phong added.
Emma pointed at him. "Thank you."
Alex gave Phong a look. "Do not encourage her."
"I'm not encouraging. I'm simply stating the truth."
Long set a cup down in front of Dominic with a quiet clink, then another in front of Emma. "You all talk too much. Drink first. Scheme after."
That ended the argument for a moment, mostly because nobody in Hà Nội Corner was stupid enough to ignore coffee placed in front of them by Long.
Dominic looked down at the form again.
Manhattan moved on like normal.
But here, around coffee and heat and too many strong personalities in one room, something new was taking shape.
Emma's phone buzzed while the coffee was still hot.
She glanced down without much interest at first, then paused.
Her eyes moved once across the screen.
Then she looked up at the group with a slow, knowing expression that immediately made Phong suspicious.
"What," Jake asked.
Emma lifted the phone slightly. "The Diver Association app updated the roster entry."
Dominic leaned over from his seat. "Already?"
Emma ignored him and kept looking straight at Phong.
"Team Nemean," she read aloud.
That got a few smiles.
Emma's mouth curved. "I know exactly which nerd came up with that."
Alex made a pleased little sound.
Phong looked down at his coffee. "It was a practical name."
"Of course it was," Emma said.
"That doesn't mean he wasn't being a nerd," Joanne added.
Rico popped up from behind the counter just enough to contribute. "Farm nerd."
Phong chose not to dignify that.
After their usual stop at Hà Nội Corner, the group split up.
Dominic, Janet, Jake, Jack, and Joanne headed off to collect the dirt, seeds, and fertilizer they owed the Greencap Knights. Dominic had made the trade agreement, and none of them planned to show up empty-handed after asking for new gear.
Selena peeled away in another direction to meet Vanessa.
That left Phong, Alex, Séline, Camille, Alexei, Nyx, Bruno, Little Fireball, and unfortunately Rico heading toward the Vogels' bakery.
Emma came with them.
Not because anyone invited her, but because she said she wanted the pastries.
That was hard to argue with.
The streets of Manhattan were busy, loud in the way only surface cities could be after too much dungeon fear and too much forced recovery. Christmas was close enough that lights already glowed in windows and decorations hung where they could. The city was still itself, even with the scars the world had put on it.
Phong kept his hood up and tried not to think too hard about how public all of this felt.
That became harder when Emma decided to amuse herself.
She pulled a can of energy drink from her bag.
Rico, who had been pretending he was still maintaining distance on principle, froze in place the moment he saw it.
Emma shook the can once.
Rico's eyes widened.
She smiled, slow and evil. "Come here."
The raccoon lasted less than two seconds.
He scrambled over without shame, accepted the drink with both paws, and then, as if this had always been the natural order of things, climbed onto her shoulder and perched there while drinking from it with full concentration.
Phong stared, then groaned. "You got bought so easily."
Rico pulled the can down just enough to glare at him. "You introduced me to caffeine."
Phong opened his mouth.
Rico continued mercilessly, "Also the only reason Rico tolerate shampoo."
Silence hit Phong so hard it almost felt visible.
Alex looked at him.
Emma looked at him.
Séline and Camille looked at him.
Even Alexei looked interested.
Phong stood there like a man who had just been mugged by truth.
Rico took another sip with great dignity from Emma's shoulder.
For one truly cursed moment, it did look like a celebrity diver and her raccoon sidekick had always belonged together.
And because the world hated Phong specifically, people noticed.
Phones came out.
First one. Then several.
The sight of Emma Tannenbaum walking through Manhattan with a raccoon on her shoulder drinking an energy drink from a can was apparently too strong for the public to ignore. Her walking together with Alexandra Vogel made it worse. By the time they had gone another block, people were already whispering, pointing, taking pictures, posting clips, going live.
Phong saw it happen in real time and knew exactly what came next.
"Great," he muttered.
Alex glanced sideways at him. "You say that a lot."
"Because a lot of things are great in the worst way."
By the time they reached the district near the bakery, the small crowd had grown.
Interviewers had joined the chaos.
The questions started fast.
"Emma, is this about the national tournament?"
"Alexandra Vogel, can you comment on the rumors around Joshua Harlan's statements?"
"Is Camp Stymphalian real?"
"What about the claims involving mutated plants in the dungeon?"
"Miss Vogel, what is your response to Olen's public interest in you?"
"Are you and Phong Tran actually dating?"
Phong felt his social battery begin dying in real time.
Alex saw it instantly.
So she stepped half a pace ahead and took control before he had to.
Her posture straightened. Her face smoothed into something calm, distant, and very hard for strangers to push through.
When she spoke, her voice was clear and sharp.
"Joshua Harlan has already shown he is willing to lie to protect his own image."
That quieted things enough for the next words to land harder.
"There is no Camp Stymphalian," Alex said. "And there are no secret mutated plants waiting to rewrite the rules of the dungeon because Josh says so."
Emma crossed her arms beside her, clearly content to let that stand. It fit the story already built around Josh after his failure and public mess. The more Alex denied it, the stronger Emma's earlier framing became: Josh had been cowardly trying to hide his own actions by pushing fantasy onto other people.
Alex continued without hesitation.
"As for Olen, I have nothing to say about a man who mistakes obsession for worth."
That got a few immediate reactions from the crowd.
Then came the relationship question again.
This time, Alex answered without even pausing.
"Yes," she said. "I'm dating Phong Tran."
That brought a fresh burst of noise.
She did not let it grow out of control.
"I didn't choose my partner based on net worth, public influence, or what other people think looks convenient. I chose him because he is the person I want."
There was no drama in how she said it.
That made it hit harder.
Just plain truth. Clean and unashamed.
Phong stood there looking at her, tired and a little overwhelmed and more grateful than he wanted to admit in public.
The questions kept coming, but Alex handled them with the same smooth pressure. She moved the topic when needed and shielded him from the worst of it without making it obvious.
She knew this sort of thing drained him.
That alone made Phong try to stay quiet and not getting in her way.
He managed for a while.
Then one interviewer pushed again.
"Mr. Tran, if there is no Camp Stymphalian, why do so many people keep linking your name to these claims?"
Phong exhaled slowly.
He really did not want to do this.
Television cameras, microphones, strangers, public interest, all of it felt like his soul getting peeled off in thin layers.
But he also knew when silence started looking worse than speech.
So halfway through the chaos, Phong stepped in.
Alex glanced at him at once, reading the strain on his face, but he gave the smallest shake of his head. He had this much, at least.
He looked at the interviewer and answered.
"Because people like making stories when reality is boring."
That got a few surprised looks.
Phong kept going, despite how clearly this was chewing through his social battery.
"Josh made claims because it helped him, other people repeated them because scandal spreads faster than facts." He shrugged once. "A level one farmer connected to dungeon rumors is more interesting than a guy buying gas and visiting family before Christmas."
There was a touch of dry humor in it, tired but real.
Helpful in this situation.
Another question came at once.
"What about the mutated plants."
Phong answered this one too.
"There are all kinds of strange things in the dungeon, that doesn't mean every rumor attached to my name becomes true." He looked straight at the cameras now, steady even if it was taking effort. "People should be careful about trusting loud men with something to hide."
Phong didn't mention Josh directly, but he didn't need to. The media was too good at twisting people words and taking them out of context anyway, and the media would sure love a "David vs Goliath" rivalry between a farmer and a powerful public "hero".
Emma smiled faintly beside him, approving.
A woman from another outlet jumped in. "And your relationship with Alexandra Vogel? Do you think the public reaction has been fair?"
Phong looked at Alex for half a second.
Then back to the cameras.
"I think people can think whatever they want," he said. "I know her enough to know she doesn't let the public influence her decision."
Alex's mouth softened at that.
He was obviously tired now, in the way his shoulders slumping down whenever he thought no interviewers were looking his way, and in the way his voice grew more hoarse after every question. But he stayed there anyway, trying his best to make it clear he could stand in front of questions too, even if he hated every second of it.
Rico, still on Emma's shoulder, took another loud sip of energy drink and whispered, "Farmer evolved."
Emma nearly laughed.
Alex did smile this time.
And with her beside him, with the cameras focused and the city watching, Phong endured the rest of the questions as best he could, drained but present, while Manhattan turned another strange little moment of his life into public spectacle.