A routine scan through the vestibule granted the imposing man entrance. The inner door hissed as sequences of locks and cylinders began decoupling to open the entrance for him. The faint orange glow of machinery along the walls permeated the room within with a quiet ambience. A soft hum was all that could be heard this deeply underground, away from the raucousness of the black market outside, although muffled shouts could be made out if one pressed their hearing.

Alyx, in her mid 20s, was sitting inside the room adjacent to a work bench, tinkering with a translucent shard shimmering above a board of unfamiliar design. Like a chatoyant, the floating octagon appeared to warp the light of its surroundings into a banded design within. A magnifying lens attached to a makeshift stand was propped up in front of her face. The unruliness of her hair and droopy expression belied a sense of exhaustion. She was a workhorse who cared little for presentation and much for results. But what if neither was achieved? What then? A scary thought, but a necessary one.

As she adjusted a slider on the board, the object began to glow brighter. Her eyes carefully glossed over the results for a few seconds before a hint of a smile touched her face.

“Another one of your Johrei experiments?” a man stated from behind her. The shard shattered, causing Alyx to lurch backward. Splintered pieces lined her work bench before dissipating like vapor into the air above. Particles danced in the air, and all that remained of her hard day’s work was a chromatic visage, faded away into obscurity.

Alyx’s thoughts trailed, her gaze caught in the empty air where the shards had been. Silence. Pain, solemnity, and silence.

It took more than a moment for her to notice the man approaching her.

“Oh, what? It’s you, Caz. Weren’t you, uh, supposed to be hunting an Elite with your team today?” A petite woman, Alyx tried to swivel her chair around to get a better look at the man. Her dark cloak, zipped up to her chin collar, contained luminescent white patterns etched along her left shoulder, which culminated into the image of a curved claw, the symbol of the Onyx Technicians. She swayed her espadrille sandals atop her high seat merrily, and then hopped off, staring up at the tall man with a questioning gaze.

Caz responded, “I have Nyxandria handling the expedition today. They’ve taken most of the crew, including the rookie”.

“Fascinating. You, in your infinite wisdom, had decided to have a rookie…train a rookie. I’m inspired really. Just pure adoration. Put me on your team right now.” The woman eyed a quick glance back at her board, before closing her eyes and sighing. Another failure.

Caz’s forehead creased, but the young woman couldn’t see it. Series of shimmering Johrei shards lined up in neat, collected columns which draped from the ends of his large frustum hat, and circled around his entire head, casting his features in translucent shadow.

“Nyxandria’s new, Alyx”, Caz commented cooly, “but you and I both know she’s far from inexperienced.” He pulled his hat off his head, gently tossing it to the nearby couch. With a design based on an old headpiece called the Jingasa, Johrei shards dissipated from the hat and into the air. A moment later, he plopped himself onto the couch, leaning back. A yawn caught his breath.

Alyx smiled. He didn’t bother to entertain her sarcastic quips anymore, and they could somehow glimpse each other’s surface level thoughts when needed. Signs of true friendship, if they weren’t apparent by now.

“So her part in the Necronova carnage?” Alyx inquired.

“Not exaggerated”, Caz replied.

“Two whole platoons wiped out,” Caz continued. “Took her only two days to quash a rebellion that would have typically required a small army to mitigate.”

“Sending the Valkyries to do cleanup work seems a bit much, don’t you think?” Alyx questioned.

Caz only smiled a smug smile. Alyx raised out her hand, motioning him to continue. What an annoying man.

“Ah, you are mistaken, Miss Alyx. Not all of the Valkyries were sent in that day. Just Nyxandria and Mimi Rainsong. Only two.” Caz placed two fingers up to emphasize the incredulity of it all. He let it sink in, closed his hand, and leaned forward, face stern, “It was a bloodbath. Not a single rebel made it out alive that day.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Caz leaned back again, placing his hands behind his head. “And now she’s with us. The newest member – well, second newest member – of the Blackbirds. So, I wasn’t too surprised her brother recommended her into our ranks after what happened between her and Mimi. Both of the Imeraza twins are monsters in their own right, and he’s always had a soft spot for her.”

“Wonderful. So let me get this straight,” Alyx said, placing her hands under her chin, while getting up and walking towards him, as if in thought. “You recruited a Division defector, which never occurs by the way, who also happens to run a side gig of being a mass murderer. Well, I’d say that’s a win-win.”

Caz glared but put his feet up on Alyx’s desk, leaning back. Alyx pouted. He really was far too nonchalant with her. She plopped herself down next to him on the couch, imitating Caz’s lazy pose. Amusement crossed Caz’s face, although he did his best to hide it.

He commented, “Not like I could’ve done much. The crew’s taken a liking to her. They propped Nyxandria – well I guess I should start calling her Nyx like the rest of ‘em – they propped her up to becoming the next Daimyo before I even had a chance to get a word in.” Caz gave a mirthful laugh. “Haha, what a bunch of disobedient ingrates. I love ‘em. Still, if it was up to me, I would’ve wanted her brother to take over as my right-hand man instead, but – well, beggars can’t be choosers, I guess.”

Alyx smiled, “Is that why you’re testing her? By sending her out into the wastes to fight against those…things? With the rookie no less. I mean, I guess it’s good that Nyx is the one leading the team at the moment. Not that you would’ve helped much anyways. Monster-hunting expeditions into the Fringe were never your thing.”

Caz ignored her comment and eyed her setup, “Say, you know what? Alyx, I notice that you failed to answer my first question earlier - about your little exploding experiment just now.” He pointed at the bench. Alyx blushed. Ok, maybe he did entertain her sarcasm after all. She lowered her eyes before responding.

“My bads. Yeah, um, so I’m currently researching the Johrei shards taken from the carapace of juvenile Enthipids”.

“Juveniles? Isn’t that kind of worthless?” Caz asked. The young versions of those monsters never held much value to Division hunters, or even hunters outside the Clan of Venerers, due to their weaker carapaces and smaller Johrei capacity than their more mature Enthipid counterparts.

“Perhaps”, Alyx said. “But something unusual about it caught my eye recently.” She looked back at her board again. “I don’t know, there’s something there. Juvenile shards react differently from other type of Johrei shards. However, what that means is still somewhat unclear to me right now and my experiments so far have been pretty unfruitful. I just need some more time to look into it.”

Caz only raised an eyebrow at her.

“Look, asshole, don’t forget who’s reaping the benefits of my work for free, so I expect you to be more grateful”, she chided, poking Caz’s armor-lined stomach. “Last I checked, I’m still a leading figure of research and development of the largest black market in the underground. None of ya’ll hunters would have even lasted a minute out there fighting those army-killing leviathans in the wastelands if it wasn’t for my gear.” She crossed her arms, eyes staring daggers at Caz.

“Of course. Ms. leading tech expert”, Caz voiced casually. “Thank you. How could I have forgotten?”

Alyx closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, ignoring the sarcasm. Payback huh? “Well, as long as you understand”, she said gently. She opened her eyes, uncrossed her arms, and leaned her elbow against the arm of the couch, looking at nothing in particular.

“Johrei’s the lifeblood of the Onyx Technician’s work. It’s what keeps us going. The essence of those leviathans…” Alyx looked at her open palm, before clenching her fist at nothing in particular. “There’s something there in those shards, more than just the special abilities and equipment perks we can extract from from it. Johrei is breathing…organic, and yet the Clan of Tributes and most of society is so quick to disregard its biological nature so long as it provides practical benefits in Fringe warfare and bounty hunts.”

Caz kept silent as she went on. He did agree, although he didn’t quite understand, that the Johrei shards extracted from those Fringe wasteland monsters were part of the creatures themselves – a shield of scales, a second skin, the thing that gave the Enthipids their unique powers, and some even claim it housed parts of their soul in it. Hearing that the shards themselves were alive – well, that was new to him, though not entirely surprising. The nature of Johrei is still a hotly-debated topic amongst the more technical and scholarly types.

“Coincidentally”, Alyx continued, “the person who inspired me to look into juvenile shards is probably related to the reason you’re here. Since you’re not with your buddies, I’m assuming you’ve received my request?”

Caz chuckled. Sharp intuition as always. “Yeah. Cadmi, right?”, he replied. “I saw your bounty on the hunter boards. And I have a hunch why you sent us a personal request in particular. Perfect timing too,” he said, stretching before standing up. He picked up his hat again and placed it on his head.

“I was already planning to stop by for some tuneups and gear upgrades before the next hunt anyways”, Caz stated, adjusting his wrist gauntlet, which whirred slowly.

Alyx nodded. “More than a tuneup it seems. Follow me”, she gestured and walked to another door opposite the room. Caz stood up and followed her into the armory, ready to kill a man.