Chapter 18-5 Seize the Roots (II)

Chapter 18-5 Seize the Roots (II)

Two-Mag: Where the hells are you? Its almost morning. No-Dragon Nimbuses are going to be passing through soonthey tag us and that barge is for the slagging.

Moment: Calm down. Nine kilometers [5.59 MILES] out. Flying low. Had to duck another Guilder drone patrol. Highflames really coming out in force these days. Thats almost a month theyve spent grid-sweeping the Maw. Wonder what the fuck they lost.

Two-Mag: It doesnt matter what they lost, how's our cattle doing?

Moment: Yeah, yeah, good haul this time. About six hundred people in the hold. Gonna be breaking from real space soon. Going under. Somethings wrong with our reactor. Every time we bright-jump the thing whines. Its been getting louder

Two-Mag: I cast the techs about that. Just getFuck! Nimbuses. Theyre here! Already here! Shit! Fuck! Jump now! Jump now! Course to secondary coordinates.

Moment: Yeah, okay, Its gonna be an ugly jump! Just make sure the room is dark when we get there.

[SESSION DISCONNECTED]

[ACCESSING SESSIONJAID RIVERSON (DOCKING)]

Two-Mag: JaidAugwhgh, fug! [ERRORrrr] Hugghh! Awarrgguh!

[SESSION LOST]

-Thoughtcast between smugglers under the Forgotten Lances Syndicate

18-5

Seize the Roots (II)

+...Hugghh! AwarrgguhAgh. What the fu-huh? What the hell just happened? What oh, gods. No. No. No no no! I cant be dead I cant be!]

A detonation of trauma passed through their mind, but Avo undid the damage and fused the mans mind back together.

Two-Mag wasnt taking their subsumption very well. Most people didnt. Flashes of another life passed through Avo, the experiences his and not at the same time. He remembered the block that was his childhood homea gnarled Sang-grown organism called the grovel. He remembered the chittering creatures that clung to the walls and ceilings, serving as wardens and defenders both. He remembered the squires they captured and seeded during the block war, butchering and dying in equal measure.

The memories spiraled up from there. The death of his mother at the age of ten during the chaos of the Fourth Guild War. Starvation and pain followed. He hid in hovels. Survived by catching aratnids and purifying his body by only eating at midnight. He thought of the first apartment he truly rented, of the joy-fiends that broke in and forced him out. Of the organs he had to sell and the favors he did just to survive. The time after was a blur, misery at the front and pleasure at the back. Gang after gang. Fight after fight. Job after job. Two-Mag had no gift in the ways of violence, but he was a good organizer. A manager of people and things.

A quality that elevated his gang from the rabble.

Something that saw them consolidated into the Forgotten Lances Syndicatea militia of Ori-Thaum loyalists formed initially to ensure their blocks survival during the ghoul Uprising.

For the last eight years, he served under them, and his most recent promotion placed him as a lieutenant in charge of procurements and smuggling. He ran three different barge crews and was the direct liaison to each of their captains. Never once were his deliveries late. Never once did he fall short of monthly projections.

Until today.

Everything was going to hell today.

Disgesting his new template in an instant, Avo let out a quiet sigh and studied the carnage his cadre inflicted on their newest victim.

The Forgotten Lances were expanding. Swelling in numbers and resources after overcoming their district rivals, they made to spread their influence across the Leser-Tannan Sovereignty itself. So great were the waves they made that squire lobbies buzzed with gig after gig, the requests supplied by rival powers to stymie the growth of their foe.

Chambers caught the noise then, using her reputation and connectivity, Quail managed to set them up for a sabotage run. Apparently, the Forgotten Lances managed to completely occupy an unfinished gutter-level arcology and reactivate what little of it still functioned.

Serving as a source of commercial aero production before the war, the Syndicate instead repurposed the production facilities within the block to serve as a combat drone production line. The dormant waste disposal system was also hollowed out, widening the entrance of their dump port overlooking the Maw itself, they retrofitted a crude dock large enough to accommodate Maw barges and ensured their place as an essential smugglers nest in the city.

One that now belonged entirely to Avo and his cadre, along with all the other bounties it conferred.

THAUMIC OUTPUT - 9,001 THAUM/c

GHOSTS - [91,334]

HEAVEN OBTAINED: SANGEIST (BLOOD/MATTER) x6; SPRINGSTORMER (BIOLOGY/LIGHTNING) x3; GALESLITHER (AIR/SPACE) x3; FULGERHOUND (LIGHTNING/MATTER) x3

I must confess to being envious, Sister Ruveca, Elegant-Moon said. If not for our void-bound cousins, I would not even know the flesh to be capable of such a thing. I despise them for earning my envy. Ah, how I wish I could feel their suppleness part between my fingers. What else do you know? Do the furrows of your brains run deeper?

+Hey, hey, creepy meat-suit lady, none of that,+ Jack said. His phantasmal avatar hovered next to Janes, formed from phantoms leaking out from Chambers Meta. The voider grafters had taken to working with Ruveca well, but their relationship with Elegant-Moon proved to be another matter. The ego-torn Sang indicated her desire to dissect a voider repeatedly. Jack and Jane were, understandably, against such a proposal. +When are you getting rid of her? Cant you justI dont knowfill yourself with her god-bits and do what she does? Your whatsit has the capability right?+

+Liminal Frame,+ Jane said. +You know what its called, Brother Jack. Do not agitate without purpose.+

Avo turned to Kae. Destroyed their Knots. They were unprepared. Six Domains of Blood. Three more with Biology. Good grab of matter, lightning, air, and space too.

It should be enough to replicate her strongest canons without expanding your Domains further, the Agnos said. For the counter-plane you wish to design I need to die again and see. This will require delicate modification on a mythological level as well.

Avo grunted. But I will be able to do what she can soon? Could graft that first.

Yes. But I recommend that you reach the Fifth Sphere first. With how many improvements we are going to makeit is best to have a surplus of thaums and not risk over-capacity, yes? And more people must die if we are all to be elevated. Kae tried to shrug away her discomfort. At least we are using those who will not be missed.

Chambers head didnt move, but his eyes glanced at Kae as adjusted his posture to shrug away the awkwardness.

Young miss, I do not mean offense but there always is someone who will miss them. Essus gaze was fixed on the moments unfolding before him, of Draus opening a mirror for Subject One to step through. During my captivity, I saw terrible things. But also life. My captors were beings of a multitude as well. They had friends and loves. Some were troubled by what they did. Others thought nothing of it. His face darkened. It is something that made me hate them more. To know that they were no different from me, yet did nothing to aid me. Or end my pain.

The Agnos winced. Im sorry you suffered so much.

Essus nodded. And I, you. But we can do better now. Or at least try. He turned and faced Avo, letting out a shaky breath. Thank you.

For what?

Not forcing me to go down with them. I know you gave me a gift and the power is beyond most men but I am not ready to see such slaughter again. Thank you for not forcing me to.

Cant do anything to you. You are your own.

Avos words granted more relief than anticipated.

[You are your own?] Two-Mag gasped in disbelief. [Hes hiswhat the fuck about me?]

[What about you?] Abrel deadpanned. [You got a dead kid hiding somewhere? Did my half-strand brother capture, torture, and then make a literal slave gladiator out of you too?]

[What?]

Abrel continued. [Oh. No? No, he didnt? Then quiet, slaver. This whining is pathetic. You smuggle people. Youre the scum of the city. Sure, its part of the economy we live with, but you don't just know about it. You do it. And before you start the whole Im a human too speech, let me tell you: no one fucking cares. Youre FATELESS too, bitch. And youre actively taking peoples free will away from them. It doesnt matter who loves you or what kind of person you are outside your job. Your type makes for good killing, and the ghoul needs more lubricant.]

[Oh, gods,] Two-Mag moaned. [Jaus. Jaus.]

[Hes not here,] Paladin Kassamon said. [But I am.]

[As am I,] Kare added.

The Syndicate goon began to scream.

{Breached,} Draus said as a wall of glass exploded from around the corner. Her cog-feed registered a firing line of contacts, accretions visible before their bodies were. To their credit, the enforcers began firing immediately, losing their flechettes at the unexpected breach. Layering both herself and Tavers in reflective plating, shots punched clean through plascrete, into their bodies, and out from another direction entirely.

Borrowing Mirrorheads gimmick ensured both Regular and Squire were all but impervious to direct kinetics, and with her vulnerable shard hidden, Draus had little risk of facing thaumic backlash.

A storm of fire fell, directed from every point in the silo. Draus looked over her shoulder and Tavers replied with an affirmative gesture. Opening another sheet of glass further down the hall, they released Subject One into the hallway.

The first bits of debris and shrapnel pelted its body. The impacts forced it to dig its leg into the ground for balance.

+Subcutaenous fullerene endoskeletal supports holding,+ Ruveca said. +We should consider increasing its mass. Or adapting its limbs more. It will not be able to plant itself down against heavy forces without a foothold or a gripping point.+

+Agreed,+ Jane said. +Let us put it in the line of fire. See how it deals with injuries.+

Moon, Avo said. Keep it alive.

Of course, the Sang Godclad said, lips twisting into a vicious grin. You should pay attention too, yao guai. Let me give you an illustration of the potential you will soon come to possess.