Tristan watched the fearless leader as he flailed, missed, and fell. If it wasn't for the dangerous terrain that Sparks decided to nap in, the shadowmancer would've let him rest and went to find Diana. As it stood, though, even with increased heat resistance, lava was probably still fairly unsafe and should be avoided. He had come to know all too well how burning felt, and he'd not wish it on his worst frenemy, as it were.

"You're clearly in no position to not listen to me," he gently pointed out. "You can try to zap me, but I'd be lying if I were to say that I care enough about that to have it stop me. We need to be able to prepare for the next one, and I'm already almost willing to put money on there being another one, and I've yet to go full conspiracy mode on this. I need you to come with me and be helpful, and you're going to whether you want to or not. You can take a lava bath on your own time."

As Tristan reached down to lift Vieri onto his back, compliance neither required nor expected, he momentarily considered giving voice to his ulterior motives before realizing it was a moot point. The kid was a mind reader; he would already be aware that Shanghai and plans for the future would be brought up at some point. He'd go ahead and save his breath for when it would be important, given how this was his first real opportunity to prod the mind of the violent generator about those.

"I didn't pull out the big attacks, sure," Tristan said as he started marching towards the nearest portal, his squirming companion safely secured, "but I was also: rescuing civilians, putting out fires, coordinating with some of the other mages, providing openings for them to attack, and still finding time for peppering the monster with small attacks when I wasn't busy with everything else. Versatility is exhausting. But, hey, yeah, let's say you did more. I'm a nice guy, I can live with that."

As the duo approached the portal, Tristan recalled the civvies currently taking shelter in the Academy. They'd probably be safe, he reasoned. Most everybody showed up to fight the unknown thing, and those that he knew and didn't see probably weren't the type to just attack people. Nobody else was likely to have the energy for stabbing mundanes. He decided he'd leave them to the staff for now, let them earn their luxurious suites for once. They'd still be there when science was over, but who knew if the same could be said about whatever the monster was.

Tristan happily stepped through the portals to get to Cairo, only to stop short once they got a good view of the surrounding landscape. The destruction was one thing, but more immediately pressing, the corpse was nowhere to be seen. Just the giant, golden rings.

"What the - well, shit. Where did it go?" He asked aloud, but not really expecting an answer. "Better yet, where should we go?"

Tristan practically didn't notice the electricity flung at him. He was on a mission - multiple missions at once, as it was - and he hadn't been lying when he said a bit of static was going to deter him. Neither was any amount of squirming or threats. Vieri was coming along, and Tristan wasn't going to risk letting the kid pass out standing up. There would be no setting down the boss, no matter how adorable the protests made were.

"Hey, I'm not bragging by pointing out what I did. No, bragging would be me pointing out that you were wailing on it the entire fight, but the second I started focusing solely on fighting, I put the thing on its last legs," he unabashedly boasted, with just enough humor in his voice to hopefully convey that he wasn't completely serious. "And no, I'm not setting you down any time soon. I'm relying on my natural chill to make sure you don't try to take a nap someplace inconvenient again."

"I saw it dying," he said with an edge of frustration taking over for humor. The thing had been on fire and plummeting to the ground before it teleported. There was no way he would have been able to stick on it to make sure it died proper, so he bailed off before it completely transitioned between locales. "This isn't physically possible, right? Law of conservation of mass or whatever?"

Approaching the golden rings, Tristan pulled a shadow knife from the inside of his sleeve and offered it to Vieri. "There ya go, Sparky. That should help with gathering samples." Unfortunately, in spite of his original intent, his mind was starting to wander. Specifically, to what he wanted to know about Shanghai. He was aware that if it was anyone else but Vieri, he probably wouldn't bother to ask, but something had been quietly napping at him since the incident, and seeing Vieri prioritize the safety of the Florentine civilians over immediately joining the fray only served to make it more clear what it was.

"Vieri, man, put away the tough guy act so be honest with me on this, please. Was Shanghai intentional? I need you to tell me, because I have a hard time believing it was. I've seen you in action. There have been plenty of times where wanton murder would have been the easiest way to go about things, but you refrained for whatever reasons. Hell, just on the basis of the animals that undoubtedly got caught in the blast, I'd bet it was unexpected, but the people as well. The first time we met, you were trying to convince those geezers to accept your terms as opposed to just killing them and asserting your dominance that way, just to name an example. I mean... More than just working together, we're friends, yeah? You can tell me if it was an accident. You know I won't hold it against you or breathe a word of it to anyone else."

In truth, Tristan wasn't entirely certain that "friends" was the right term, but it was the closest he could think of. "Rivals" seemed to fit better, but it generally held a negative connotation that simply didn't work in how Tristan felt about his technical superior. Not that that was what mattered. He just wanted confirmation, in one way or another. There was only one answer he'd actually accept graciously, but he doubted he'd be lied to either way. It didn't even really matter, he supposed. It wouldn't change the fact that it happened, or even that he'd continue working with the Isabello's until something more suitable to him came along. All it would affect would be his opinion of Vieri.

With the adrenaline finally starting to leave his system, exhaustion was settling into Tristan's movements. He'd have been lying if he were to say that he hadn't understood why Vieri was so tired anyway, but getting a dose of it himself just made sure he got the picture. It would probably be for the best if they just did what they could quickly and got moving, but he wasn't about to rush Sparky after dragging him to the site in the first place. He'd be able to get them to the Academy no longer how long they spent chatting anyway, he was pretty sure.

With a small chuckle at being threatened with losing an ear, of all things, Tristan nodded to himself as Vieri confirmed his suspicions. The explanation on why he wouldn't be lied to wasn't strictly necessary, but it was appreciated all the same. He also caught that there wasn't any protesting against being considered friends. After a moment's consideration and a small, wistful smile, the shadowmancer decided he could get away with keeping it in his head that he was sorry about even bringing it up. Trying to find the proper words was nigh impossible, and he was pretty sure his throat had dried up to the point where actually speaking was a pipe dream.

The ability to talk came back pretty quickly once Vieri was done with his voicing his own issues, though. They were admittedly valid problems, and Tristan couldn't find any fault with that train of thought. If there was any blame to be had, it was probably on him for having never been clear with why he'd joined in the first place. Given this was probably the longest conversation they'd had without somebody being punched, it would do for being the right time and place.

"Hey, boss, don't misunderstand me," he said with a sad sigh. "Yeah, if a better option comes along, I'm throwing in my lot with them. I'm not going to try and say differently, that's simply how it'll go. But that's a big if, not when. There are absolutely no indications of there being anything better even in the works, let alone existing. And, honestly, I'm not entirely certain that there ever will be anything better than your organization, sad as that may be for the multiverse.

"Look, lemme put it this way: throughout history - or histories, if you'd prefer - there have been countless organizations and governments and what have you that have taken power. With very few exceptions, it's easy to believe that almost all of these have been formed with good intentions at heart. They usually accomplish good things, but as time goes on, every single one of them end up being corrupted and abused. The more disorganized an institution, the quicker dissent sets in, yeah? And the more arguing that takes place between leadership, the less that's actually accomplished. So, obviously, if there's a unified voice - like a single leader, as is the case with you - then the more good that'll actually be achieved before the inevitable fall. Whether that'll be after you're long dead or while you're still in charge, I can't say, but it doesn't particularly matter. I don't agree with your methods a lot of the time, but you're more likely to have tangible, long lasting accomplishments than the amorphous, structureless blobs that are the rest of the power players."

He nodded confidently, certain that he had addressed everything important, and then promptly regretted it. There was one last matter that needed mentioning. "And what do you think I actually do with your resources, Edison? I don't touch anything that's not available to the standard mooks, aside from going into the labs every once in a while to see what's going on there. I barely have anything to do with anything of yours, precisely because I might find something more to my tastes in the future. I might be an ass, but I'm not the sort of prick that'd mooch off of someone. That's what the Academy is for, dumbass. I'm here for your benefit, not for mine."

The knife being snubbed was worth noting solely for future reference, but ultimately unimportant. He stopped himself from shrugging and dissipated the blade, then quietly watched Vieri work. Once the teen cyclops was done and gave his order, Tristan reached down to hover his hands over the molten metal to cool it quicker before handing the chunk to the kid.

"So, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess your power isn't precise enough to tell you what a substance is by it's ability to conduct electricity?"