+Instrument. It’s me. Do you know about what’s happening at Veng’s Stand?+
+I am aware. We have a few Liebreakers monitoring the situation. The Planeshift is there as well. Eh. Wombrash. Nasty way to die. That Kazahara… Did you know about his presence in the area?+
+No...Seeker Kazahara has a habit of… declaring his operations post-hoc.+
[Santanado chuckles] +That’s not an Ori-Thaum habit, now is it? How did he manage to become one of your ‘Clads acting like a Bloodthane?+
+A question certain Elders ask every day. Are the assets he engaged with…+
+No. Don’t insult me, Seeker. None of my forces–or any self-respecting Gold for that matter, would unleash the Rash on a defenseless population. Aedon Chambers is not mine. Is that what you were asking?+
+That was what you answered.+
[Scoffs] +Just use your words. If I wanted to have a non-conversation, I’d be back at Axtraxis teaching the little shits. Chambers is not mine. He’s not yours. He’s not D’Rongo’s… So whose is he? He’s got a Frame. He’s not a Fallwalker–that kit’s sophisticated. Too sophisticated. Third Sphere Frames. Altered Heavens… And they fight better alone than they do together. I doubt whatever line they’re floating about him being a Low Master Acolyte. I fought the Nolothi bastards, so trust me when I tell you they understand natural technology like Omnitech has good sense.+
+We’re… uncertain… The bioform assisting him and the girl… Perhaps No-Dragon deniables?+
+Yeah. Maybe. Or it could be the Chivarlics actively cleaning house, or another rogue Omnitech battle cluster, or and or and or. Pointless to theorize. We need to get our hands on one of them to confirm anything. I’ll put out a gig for some Fallwalkers. See if anyone capable bites the hook down the line.
+We will see if our resources turn up anything useful as well. Do you… suspect this group to be the ones that attacked us as well?+
+...The bioform. That’s… you see that one? Echoheads. Altered biology. Almost looks like a juiced-up ghoul. Manipulates blood on a mass scale… It’s close. Too damn close. It also explains why Elegant-Moon couldn’t just break down its insides. You might be right about them being No-Dragon supported. “Borrowed Blades,” maybe.+
+So, the ambush and the abduction of your comrade–+
+Might just be caught up in bloodline politics. [Sigh] This fucking city… Everyone has an angle.+
-Thoughtcast between Seeker Ikkuoi Rasaga and Instrument Santanado Mondelles
17-18
The Squire
The confines of Layer One came into shape around Avo as he emerged from the deepness of his dive. Nested within Chambers’ battered body, pain screamed from every nerve as more sores tore open across his flesh. Smearing the homunculi with a thought, he found himself looking upon the Paladin, Kare Kitzuhada, and wondering when he fused that protective cocoon around her.
A phlogiston of phantasmal fire spilled from his mind over into hers, connecting them seamlessly in ego and thought, but he found himself entirely unaware of these changes. When had he made them? And why?
The visible material of the haemokinetic fortifications he built around her body was akin to glass, and she lay seated on a specially-made throne–a creation of excess comfort. What’s more, the entire thing was fused into a supporting spine within the Layer, an outcrop of studded red amidst the oppressive glow of their surroundings.
[I think it just happened again,] Benhata said. [You had an episode. A “lapse.”]
+Didn’t kill her. Hurt her…+ Not any more than she was wounded during the battle. Running his Sanguinity across Kare’s form, he realized that not even her yellow and blue combat-skin had been penetrated, the hexagonal cells comprising her armor unbroken. Even the phase shield shimmering across her face was still active.
He combed through his own memories and hers, but found only vacancies in place of answers. No one else could have done this, but he couldn’t recall. He was sure it was a lapse now, but his body’s default response was to hurt–to brutalize when distractions claimed his mind.
This was unprecedented, though not entirely unwelcome.
+Calvino. What do you think? Calvino?+
But the EGI was blinded in his mind’s eye, a single dot still losing threads of data. So very little of the artificial mind remained. Perhaps that factored into the equation as well. No one watching. Just him and the girl. And Chambers.
{Avo,} Draus's profile flashed in the corner of his HUD again. {Managed to make it in. Found Kae and Dice and hit ‘em with a couple of woundhounds–transferred their burns over to me. They’ve vented and are on the Manta now. You didn’t eat the cat, did you?}
He checked and noted the Agnos' position to be moving fast beneath Layer One. That just left him, Chambers, Draus, and the Paladin. {Put it in a small cage on a rooftop in the gutters. Grab it after we resurrect.} He shared his visual feed with her Necrodeck. {It happened again. The lapse. I lost myself again.}
{Then why ain’t she dead? Hells, it looks like you gave her the royal treatment. Got her own little throne and everything.}
{Don’t know. Just did. Didn’t realize until afterward.}
A brief pause followed. The Regular studied the scene as cracking noises sang out from inside her Meldskin. Her biometrics indicated that less than twenty percent of her body was still organic. With a layer of shimmering glass fused over most of her missing skin and hollowed flesh, she now resembled Mirrorhead more than ever. Her head was held up by gleaming shards in the absence of tendons, and with each passing second she broke more of herself to delay the Rash’s spread.
Whatever hasty burns she inflicted on herself earlier wasn’t enough. It was still spreading. Same for him.
{Alright. We’ll figure it out after action. Vent. Break contact. Resurrect. Drop a ping for the cat. I’ll grab it and you after I come back.}
He grunted. {Synced. I’ll–}
+You really should be gone by now,+ The voice that echoed over his mind from behind was weathered and hoarse, the sound of a lifelong smoker in no hurry to quit the habit. Her presence manifested in his Sanguinity at the same instant, and Avo’s first thought was to liquefy the threat.
Yet, he found his hand stayed.
The stranger held a strange posture within the tactile map his Woundshaper and Echoheads fed into Avo’s mind. She was armored, aspects of her kit reminding him of the Ashthroner soldiers he killed a few days prior. That, however, was a secondary detail to how she had her gun pressed against herself, prepared to end things on her terms before he would have a chance.
Turning, he found himself faced with a hovering figure, her ebony exo-rig a machine of hissing vents along the arms while four crescent plates of interlocking whorls became the key details of note on her chest piece. Her pauldrons rose like pointed halberds and he could feel a thaumaturgic presence in her gun–the same Domain as that which fueled his Woundshaper’s withering gale.
Blood-cast wavelengths fluctuated about her person as currents of lightning pulsed through his veins and Avo drew brightness from the spark. A luminous shroud rippled over him, ensuring no physical harm would come from an unexpected source while he observed the unknown individual.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
REND CAPACITY [WOUNDSHAPER] - 99%
VENT! VENT! VENT!
+You followed me?+ Avo asked, uncertain as to why they betrayed their covert advantage or had a gun up to their own head.
+I followed the tunnels. And one of your consangs. The Godclad with the Heaven of Winter. Or something like that. Ended up catching sight of her while diving down through the puddle you made topside. I really didn’t wanna be around for when all the Paladins broke through.+
Draus growled with uncharacteristic frustration. {Godsdammit, shit! Fuckin’ Incog…}
Incog. It’s why perception checkpoints and focused thoughtwave disruption chambers were growing to be standard practice for the Guilds.
+Who are you?+ Avo asked.
+Just a squire,+ she said. +One hired by a mutual consang.+
Mutual consang?
White-Rab.
He realized the answer in an instant, mind sharpened to such things by Abrel’s template. Who else could it be? Green River? Possible, but not likely. One of the Columners? Maybe, but not on such short notice.
And the squire. It was like he, or some of his templates, knew her.
[Wait,] Corner said, frowning. [I… huh. I know her voice. That sounds like–]
[Quail Tavers…] Glitch chimed in. The renegade Omnitech Fallwalker was usually a quiet template in Avo’s mind, her own ego whittled almost to nothing by drugs and psychosis. At present, an unusual clarity infused her thoughts and she muttered. [She saved me from the labs… she did… it’s her. It’s her…] Glitch tried to reach out for their savior, but suddenly remembered they were dead. A spark of sadness followed. [I–I really wasted the life she gave me, didn’t I?]
[Holy fuck,] Abrel gasped, ignoring Glitch’s breakdown. Her mind was throbbing with excitement. [The Squire! Quail Fucking Tavers. And we’re speaking to her!] The Greatling squeaked with excitement and Chambers turned to look at her slack-jawed. [What, I’m allowed to have personal heroes too. I mean, what self-respecting Highflame girl doesn’t like Quail freaking Tavers. I must’ve listened through the “School of the Warrens” series a hundred times!]
[Fuck her,] Corner said bluntly. [Stole a gig from me.]
That was all he said.
+Quail Tavers,+ Avo said, throwing the name out just to see how they would respond.
The squire threw her head back and laughed. Her armor was all body and limbs, lacking a head or helmet, so it looked like she was just leaning. +Ah. Being famous really ain’t an advantage in this line of work. Knew I would regret publishing those mem-logs.+
A sharp intake came from Draus. {Quail fuckin’... Wait, how’d you know it was her? Avo?}
+How did you find me?+ Avo asked, walking through the forest of his mind again, looking for clues. +Did our “mutual consang” mem-lock me somehow?+
He got the distinct impression Tavers was smirking at him. The expression made him think of Zein, and a shudder ran through his body. He had enough of hyper-lethal crones for one life.
+That would be telling. Word of advice for that runner you got. “Dice,” was her name? She’s got the potential, but she needs to change up her patterns. Judging from how the girl moves and kills, she’s a wilder isn’t she? And new Godclad at that? Maybe it would’ve been better to keep her in the gutters for a while.+
Ah. Might’ve ended with her dead and snuffed anyway. Listen, I bought you some time by snuffing two Paladins earlier. I think they were the ones we ended up killing before the actual cadres started showing up, so they weren’t bottled on the other side of their planesgates like the rest.+
+We?+ Avo asked. He cycled back through his memories and recalled. Kassamon was one. The other–the partner. A beam cut past him to slice up another while he was dueling Shotin, the projectile black and string-thin. That was her. She had been helping him this entire time. He grunted with surprise. +Suppose I should thank you for that.+
+Nah. I already got thanked by being paid. You can show me gratuity by taking me out with you. My exfil strat is fucked and you know how things are when you’re improvising.+
She sounded too calm for someone in dire circumstances. Avo frowned. Maybe Tavers was like Draus, with violence, bloodshed, and death being no different than picking up a cup of coffee. But he doubted it. She exposed herself–identified him by his Conflagration, seeing as she knew who he was despite being anchored to Chambers’ body.
This was her establishing contact. Maybe trying to find where he operated from. Or get more insight into his cell.
The thought of just burning her into his gestalt passed through her mind, but over half the templates inside him screamed in outrage.
[Don’t you fucking dare–] Abrel hissed.
[Please don’t. Don’t.] Glitch begged. [Burn me again. Put in a body and hurt me. I’ll scream for you. I’ll scream good. Just don’t do her. Don’t put her in here with me. I can’t face her.]
More than a few of the Incubi he subsumed were actively prodding at his consciousness, trying to sequence deeper into his base mind, turning him away despite knowing of his internal omniscience. Across all these minds was a natural unity he had never seen. A moment of community conducted in futile defense of a woman who fought, bled, and served them in one function or another before.
Most squires died within three months on the job. Veterans made it over two years. Legends ten. Quail Tavers was rumored to be over four hundred.
There was something to be said about an ancient still thriving in a profession that butchered the young by the billions.
[“Remember, Avo, use Suncloud to nullify your nanos first before the other drugs,”] Chambers said, doing his best to mimic Zein’s voice. Avo turned a giant glare inward. [What? No doubt she would say some shit like that.]
{Draus,} Avo said. {New detail to our plan. Got another guest we need to handle.}
{Yeah, and a damn dangerous one at that. Tavers... And what’s this shit about a ‘mutual consang.’}
He sighed. He really wanted to keep his personal cells separate, but lying to Draus felt… {Feed you the details after I resurrect. Got to do with Walton.}
{Jaus. Don’t tell me that half-strand’s got another node stashed somewhere.}
{No. Messier than that. Good reason why I didn’t want to talk about it.}
{Wonderful. Very much not lookin’ forward to hearin’ about this shit.} Draus frowned and shook her head. {You watch yourself with her. She ain’t a ‘Clad but… just keep your fangs close around her neck. Ain’t no tellin’ with that one.}
Draus disconnected, and Avo found himself alone with Tavers. Her relaxed posture and the smooth oscillation of her thoughtstuff annoyed him. He had to burn his ire away before he grew to feel insulted. His base mind enjoyed making others fear him. No such validation came from Draus, Tavers, or Zein. No validation at all.
+I’ll bring you out with me,+ Avo said. +Need to talk afterward. About a few things.+ He found himself hesitating before he asked the next question. +White-Rab… he told you about his Ensouling?+
+Oh, that.+ Tavers hummed. +Don’t you worry. I knew that little shit since he was a boy. Caught him stealing paydata from my mind to scourge up imps. Kicked down the door to his hab-cell expecting a Necrojack. Found a desperate kid trying to buy some block girl he knew back from the local org-harvesters instead.+
Avo didn’t know about this. Walton’s memories showed him nothing. And he hadn’t… +...Did he do it? Buy the girl back.+
Tavers paused. +Yeah. I gave him the imps he needed. The org-harvester returned the doll. Completely. In separate installments. My imps and then some came back to me in the form of a direct gig afterward. Wetwork. Dirty and simple. Told him to keep it. Told him I was using it to hire him instead, and that I needed a new Necro after my last one got nulled.+
She let him fill in the rest of the details.
A lot more than just one person was looking out for Raldi, it seemed. Lucky man. Lucky, lucky man.
But then again, couldn’t the same be said for Avo himself?
+Are you here for a Soul, Quail Tavers?+ Avo asked.
She finally pulled the gun away from herself. +Yeah. Suppose that was the part that intrigued me. That, and your… mind. But I don’t need it for me.+ Silence followed, and he knew she was done talking. +Get what you need doing done and let’s pull a runner. We don’t got long left before the other Paladins arrive.+
Avo turned and gave Kare one final look. +Good.+