“I’m having your armour brought down before we move you back to the rest of the Academy students. In the event someone too strong to stop quickly comes through a still open portal, or there are sleeper agents in Wayfaire, we want you all geared up,” the B-1945 said flatly.

“We want-” Ryn began.

“I know. This is my domain, girl, there isn’t much I don’t hear. I’m not saying we won’t look to help Armand go home but it will be under heavy escort if we do,” Bob cut the girl off and shrugged mechanically. “Sorry Ryn but it’s a warzone.”

“What about the other Sigs?” asked Sally. “Surely they’re freeing some people to come and suppress the fighting!”

“The Wall is in a bad position. The Swarms are cycling again so most of the Raj, Caliphate and Khanate Sigs are tied up there. Belisarius is holding the North American Sigs back, ostensibly due to a lack of Sigs to rotate onto the NA Lines. The Bedouin Federation doesn’t have Sigs but their troops are freed up and have moved to reinforce the Court in northern Spain, hoping to hold them at the Pyrenees mountains. The Reich are staying out of it but Breaker has gone to war. That bloke is scary when he gets going. Most of them have enough local problems on their plates anyway, this is the kind of thing that’d be left to us, like the last time the Imperium got all uppity but we’re largely tied up.”

“Britain has always benefited from strife on the continent. A thousand year tradition of selling to both sides and prolonging the conflict among their enemies can’t be forgotten in a hundred years!” Armand sounded bitter.

“No. Well perhaps the old guard of Britain would have thought that way. They are all dead and gone, Armand. Now these islands are ruled by the likes of Mindscar, Sylvia and Traveller,” Andrea said quietly. Armand shot her a glare and she shrunk down slightly. “If they could act they would!”

“I’ve got nearly fifty thousand drones engaged at the moment and thousands more are prepping to move as we speak. My bots don’t do so well against high level humans. They don’t benefit from the level advantage and my only effective option is plasma cannons, which are a bit indiscriminate. I don’t get Essence from kills unless it’s Doris that does the job anyway,” said Bob.

“This is madness! You’re worried about wasting Essence?” snapped Armand, rising to his full, if still very short, height and glaring at the drone.

“It might look like I’ve got infinite bloody resources kid, but I don’t. And my tech can be harvested by other tinkers just as easily as I can do it to theirs. Every lost drone weakens me, especially if I don’t get the materials back. They’re meant to fight monsters, not people. The Imps will be gunning for people with the psyker immunity implants. If that tech gets loose we lose a huge part of our security”

“But we would be safe from the ever elusive Minders, as well as people like me and Jasmine,” said Kev thoughtfully.

“It’s not worth it, in the long run.” Bob was losing patience. “Your armour will be here in a couple of minutes. Just have a little faith, we’ll do what we can to help Armand.” Bob carefully didn’t point out the post system equivalent of war crimes that were being carried out in the boy’s homeland.

When a human killed a human all of their spent Essence was gained by everyone on the murderers team. If your troops aren’t quite matching up, slaughtering civilians to boost them up was sadly a very tempting choice to make. It meant a death sentence was in your future when the Sigs caught up with you though. Now that deterrent was otherwise engaged and the darker side of humanity was on full display.

Bob was glad he could disable the physiological reactions on his bio units. Otherwise there would be vomit running through the corridors of his Bunker. He’d seen some bad shit, both before and since the system arrived, and had thought himself largely immune to man's inhumanity to man. Especially after the Scunner atrocities he’d witnessed the aftermath of. The footage he was getting from southern France, and the various other fronts that had developed, had thoroughly shattered that conceit.

Whole towns had been gathered up and harvested for Essence, the bodies either incinerated or left to rot. Children… Bob was planning his revenge for everything he’d been forced to see after the Imperium had launched its blitz. With most of the Carnival, and critically John, tied up keeping the Thing from exploding across a vast chunk of Africa, potentially the whole world if some of the other tinkers were to be believed, his options were for once sadly limited.

You need a hand mate? The message was logged by a server Bob and passed to the oversight committee, a collection of archaic seeming B-800s with psychedelic paint jobs that stayed buried deep underground smoking cigars and formed the core of his collective consciousness. They immediately flagged it as a priority over the tens of thousands of other decisions he was making every second.

Starfall. Belisarius said your lot were staying out of this. ‘Old world problems’ is how he described it.

Not all of us feel that way. I’m in Wayfaire now with Vic. You guys are just holding the fort? We can’t let this stand, old mech, Starfall replied.

We won’t but we’re a bit busy in other areas at the moment. I’m sending a drone up to the pair of you so we can talk more comfortably, Bob sent.

The drones attention snapped back to the kids in the room who were quietly talking among themselves, shooting glances at the chassis that had gone very still for a few moments. The door swung open and a spider drone dragged a pallet laden with equipment into the room before pivoting and hurrying away to its next task. As the door closed behind the many limbed drone it was shoved open again and Claire burst through wearing her armour.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“Thank the Saints! I thought you might have moved off before I could catch up!” she gasped, putting her hands on her knees and bending forwards to catch her breath.

“Who the hell are you?” snapped Jane. “Oh, Claire the healer. Sorry. Nice to meet you I guess!” Simon and Andrea both waved at her as Claire stood back up and glanced around. She rushed over to the pallet and began tossing peoples armour at them.

Ryn caught hers and began stripping down to her undies to pull it on. Now was not a time for modesty. In less than thirty seconds the team were all adjusting the armour and some surprised exclamations went round the room.

“This is the latest version, isn’t it?” asked Bad as he adjusted the collar at his throat. His hands leapt away as a silver mask slipped over his head. “Ohh nice!”

“Yes. And I’ve updated your equipment a little. None of the noobie stuff. There’s some grenades and defensive trinkets in there as well. Divvy them up then we’ll head over to the main holding area for the students,” Bob began passing out much more powerful sidearms than they had been given before, essentially plasma hand cannons, and metallic eggs half the size of the Ryn’s fist. The grenades slipped into the pockets lining the side of the plates across her chest and torso.

“Is it really that serious?” she asked, looking up at the drone as the last egg slotted away and her plasma pistol rode on her hip.

“We’re not taking any chances. This could spiral quickly if anyone else decides to go their own way. We’re going to a full war footing. Come on. Let’s go,” Bob said as he led them to the door and out into the warren of tunnels he called home.

They made it to yet another identical series of corridors with rooms with ever more corridors branching off to either side into the distance. The drone led them to a door that opened into a large open space. Inside was a collection of students and staff. The hubbub of worried conversations stopped as Ryn and her friends entered, all eyes turning to them. After a tense moment the onlookers relaxed and the talking went up a notch in volume at seeing a team decked out in Bob’s latest gear.

Muttering followed them as they passed. The new suits enhanced noises based on perceived threat levels and the snarky comments, fuelled by jealousy no doubt, kept being brought to the forefront of the audio input as they passed the huddled students. Many of them lacked an Essence so wore simple clothes. The other teams made up of the older kids tended to nod respectfully rather than grumble.

Teamchat:

Healbot: I’ve got a surprise for you all. Let’s find somewhere to sit and I’ll explain.

Ryn: Unless it’s a few teams of high level Orions I don’t think it will change things, Claire.

Healbot: Oh it’s better than that. Besides, they’re all on their way to France already.

The Big Bad: Why aren’t you just talking about it?

Healbot: Because it’s a gift and Bob is always listening in this place.

Ember: You don’t trust the mechs?

Healbot: I trust Bob but this is from Gemini and nothing to do with him. I don’t know you Jane, but I’m willing to trust you if you will trust the Prophets.

The kids moved over to a corner. They pulled over some free chairs and huddled up. They were all wearing their masks to hide their expressions as they talked.

Teamchat:

Healbot: Remain calm and don’t react, ok?

Best Boy: To what Claire?

Bolf’s tail was wagging, making a thwacking noise as it hit the chair legs to either side of him. The only one not in armour, he was the focus of a lot of attention, especially from the younger kids in the room. Some of the faculty were scowling but otherwise the level of interest was falling.

Claire Everett wants to donate 121304 Essence to Kathryn Borrows. Accept Y/N

Ryn bounced to her feet, pulling eyes their way, as she suppressed a strangled squawk. Bolf jumped to his feet and scanned around frantically. Kev saw the shock, joy and fear pulse through Ryn’s aura.

Teamchat:

Teamleader: Ryn, What the hell? Claire what did you do?

Healbot: You picked Teamleader as your name? That’s kind of lame Kev. I offered Ryn some Essence. I’ve got the same for everyone.

Ryn: That’s over a million bloody Essence Claire! How have you got that much?

Healbot: Gemini and the Prelates decided in light of the risks at the moment we should all get some levels. It’s a gift taken from the donations of the faithful.

The Big Bad: How much?

Healbot: Enough to get ten people to level twenty four.

Ember: Fuck yes! I’ll take it!

Best Boy: We shouldn’t use it right away. If we want to get to the Loire we can’t suddenly jump so many levels.

Ryn stared hard at the prompt floating in golden letters before her eyes. That was power. That was enough to put them at the edge of becoming Signatories. She thought about her mum and dad. Would they be angry if she power levelled like this? It was generally frowned upon in Wayfaire. People were expected to earn their Essence. However other cultures had different views on the subject.

The Court considered it de rigueur for the Nobles to boost their kids to high levels. One of the reasons a lot of the teenagers Ryn’s dad had to hunt down came from the Court was, according to him, this habit of boosting children to godlike power.

This was a life changing decision. She would go from being a relative weakling to one of the strongest non-Signatories on Earth. Having that much Essence on hand would make her rich beyond the dreams of most people if she chose not to use it to level.

Teamchat:

Ryn: We can’t. It’s too much.

Healbot: Freely given with no strings attached. You’re the daughter of the Saint, we are your team. The whole church supports this gift.

Andrea: They all know?

Healbot: No, the Twins and the Prelates know but there is no doubt this would be a canonical decision. The Saint has a further role to play in fending off the coming darkness. As do we. This gift is an investment in that future.

Healbot: Ryn, you’re the only one who hasn’t accepted.

Ryn glanced around at her friends. She focused on Kev. His mask had pulled back and he met her eyes with a bright gaze. He nodded to her and smiled.

Teamchat:

Teamleader: Take the gift Ryn. We might need it. I can see all your aura’s. There’s hope there now. This gives us a chance to make a real difference.

Ryn sat for a moment before mentally accepting the offer. There wasn’t a sense of anything changing. When she checked her status she saw she was now in a position to go up fifteen levels in one go. As soon as she did, anyone Identifying her would instantly know. Despite her reservations she fought down the urge to immediately spend the Essence. She would hold onto it until the right moment, then rapidly jump in power and maybe become something approaching the Signatory heroes that had defended humanity, not only from monsters but also from itself, since the Advent.

Teamchat:

Loire: Thank you Claire. Now we need to get to my home and take the levels. Then we’ll see how my uncles fare against us.