Cadmi and Siegren Trepidor walked inside of a room bathed dimly in greenish tint. A cursory inspection of this room would have revealed the odd equipment scattered throughout. Beakers which were sealed off, containing granulated Johrei particles in liquified form, sat on tables set full of various lab devices; Bastion plates of different hardnesses were laid out in stacks against a bench, scanned individually by an overhead drone; Notes and blueprints sat in folders stacked up against a shelf nearby, with images of various Enthipids peaking out from the folio.
The brothers had been using this place as a temporary outing to conduct research whenever they weren’t busy handling business with the Revenant’s Forge. Cadmi looked at the messy room, thinking about the convenience the Onyx Technicians afforded him, when he and his brother were last afforded access to their laboratories. Now they had to make do with what they had. Despite the title he gained, Cadmi had never truly been part of the Onyx Technicians, not like his brother, and the history surrounding it had always left a bitter taste in his mouth, which, Cadmi admitted, was one small part of why he defected with the Technicians.
The other reason…the corruption and secrets this city hid for the past century…if not for the truths he learned out in the Fringe, would he have continued to live the way he did? Would he have remained a street urchin, sheltered under the care of his surrogate father Orbis? No. Orbis was the catalyst to all this. An Onyx technician, a former member of the Revenant’s Balance - Orbis was also friend of their father, the former Shogun of the Revenant’s balance. This knowledge had been kept secret by Orbis all the way up till his point of death. Had Orbis not told them the truths before he died, Cadmi would not have been where he is now.
His brother never had to come along, but he knew Siegren wasn’t the type to budge when it came to family, and Cadmi had no choice but to let the matter go. When he finally ventured out into the Fringe to die, Siegren joined him and carried Orbis’ body with them, as per Orbis’ last request. It was a journey of nightmares. Cadmi, at that time, didn’t carry much will to live and only ventured out to honor the last wish of family before meeting his own end. What he came to witness in that long journey was, to this day, something he considered to be his greatest revelation, and his most regrettable memory. He and his brother became Onyx Technicians from then on – his brother true, and Cadmi, a false one. Regardless, Cadmi’s new ambitions drove him to live once more.
After the events at the Fringe, the transition to the now-called Revenant’s Forge was rocky, for lack of a better word. Their predecessor took over the position of Shogun from their late father. What their predecessor didn’t realize was that the brothers had rightful title to the leadership. The discord that followed caused half of the original members to rebel internally, leading to a bloody war of succession that ended with the brothers’ victory.
And yet, the troubles persist. Because of their status as fugitives, they had no choice but to lay low. They were still leaders of the Revenant’s Forge by right, but hunter society heavily scrutinized those who would cause disruption to the power balance set by the districts, especially when the usurpers had no pretext for doing so in the eyes of the public. It was one of the few domains where killing was frowned upon as most Shoguns and Daimyos pass on succession through apprenticeship. The previous Daimyo becomes the Shogun, and a veteran member of a Division is chosen to take up the role of Daimyo. This is how it had been and, save for the brothers’ actions, this is how it was expected to continue.
The brothers’ makeshift laboratory was located deep in the heart of New Celebrant, a religious district which worshipped the Enthipids as deities. The building they were staying in, home to the Revenant’s Balance at one point, was built alongside one of the many canals which ran beneath the district. The adjacent canal was connected directly to the base of a local Church of Voices, ran by the Clan of Voices, who were the main political force in this city. Though this district was considered a sanctuary city, the city itself had a very transparent reporting system which most locals could check through the hunter boards. It is in this system which granted the brothers a measure of security, as members of their Division are keeping a constant check on incoming migrants or hunters who may pose a threat to the brothers.
There was, however, another problem they had to deal with, in the form of the other main Division registered with the Clan of Venerers in this district, but Cadmi put that out of his mind for now. They managed to sneak into this district, and Cadmi planned to keep their anonymity at all costs.
“You finished with the repairs?” Cadmi asked, not turning to look at his brother, who was tinkering with his broken drone.
“You know,” Siegren started, twisting a few screws with his screwdriver, “I’m starting to think that we should implement some extra security measures for these things. I mean, a few stray slashes took down its shield and its only real purpose is to act as portable pocket-spaces for equipment swapping.” After tightening the screw, he issued a non-verbal command and the screwdriver head he was using, which was comprised of Johrei, retracted back into the base of the screwdriver.
“It scans for anomalies and hidden presences as well, brother,” Cadmi replied calmly. “You said yourself that these things can’t be retrofitted with anything that any hunter worth their salt couldn’t deal with. Guns are practically useless unless hunters are willing to invest in the extra cost-expenditure in Johrei bullets just to take down a support drone, and the drones don’t have enough accuracy or predictive capabilities to deal with any hunter for more than a second or two.” He looked at one of the juvenile carapaces sitting on the table. It’s Johrei shimmered as a nearby machine scanned the metal, marking the points of incision necessary to separate the Johrei from the shell.
“Although,” he mused, “maybe there’s a way around this issue. Do you remember the experiments where I embedded electrical charges into a Juvenile Enthipid’s Johrei, and the results of that experiment?”
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Siegren raised his head up to look at him, “Yeah but I don’t how blue shards –”
Siegren’s vision suddenly began dimming as a collage of visions began playing through his mind, one after another. His heart rate slowed, and he strained to breathe or move. The white’s of Siegren’s eyes began to flood into his pupils as he began to lose consciousness. He tilted to the side, falling over slowly to the floor.
“That…bitch…,” he whispered, and collapsed to the ground.
Cadmi heard a thump behind him and swung around, wide-eyed. Though his shock remained, he was able to collect himself slowly. His brother wasn’t facing a life-threatening situation. He’s seen this once before. Someone must have overcome his trap and killed him in that world. But Cadmi knew how to wake him up. He would have to, otherwise his brother would be stuck in this stupor for quite some time.
Not more than a quarter of an hour later, Siegren woke up in a cold sweat, “I’ll kill her!”, he screamed. Electric shock still coursed through him, and the adrenaline clouded his normally level-headed nature.
“So,” Cadmi said, “who was it?” His brother needed no explanation of the situation. Siegren looked up at the drone hovering above him. It crackled electricity from a mounted rifle point, attached to its bottom end. Johrei shimmered at the twin-pronged barrel, which glowed a bluish-hue, indicating it was Johrei shards of a juvenile.
“That’s what you meant about the workaround,” Siegren said, studying the floating drone. He sat up casually, looking at his brother as if he wasn’t just killed inside one of his quantum traps. Those who died in that world were rendered unconscious and paralyzed in real life, including himself. However, as the host of the ability, if he had won that exchange, he could’ve kept the Shogun he fought paralyzed for as long as his Johrei reserves held out, even after she wakes up from her stupor.
However, it was the armor set’s secondary ability which Siegren wanted to utilize - the ability to sync his perception with the one he killed in the quantum trap. During the state of paralysis, he was able to see, hear, smell, and taste all that his captive perceived, and even feel the emotions that his captive felt, during their time of paralysis. Though it was broken once they break free from their paralyzed state, it proved to be quite useful for Siegren on more than one occasion. That’s why Cadmi often left interrogations to him, except in certain circumstances. It was through this that he was able to break Tor and find out from him that someone from the Clan of Tributes hired Tor’s group to go after them.
“It was Mimi Rainsong. I don’t know why she was there, but it’s clear somebody marked us. I don’t see what connection she has with…the Technicians, but I think the Clan may have been involved.”
“Was it just her?” Cadmi asked.
“I think so,” Siegren responded. Though he couldn’t be one-hundred percent certain, the type of trap Siegren laid out could be triggered by multiple people who walk into its vicinity. Though he would more than likely have lost the ensuing battle by doing so, in this case, it would have offered more insight into who his pursuers were.
Cadmi looked thoughtful before Siegren started again. “Let’s talk about it in a bit. I’m still a little dizzy. Firstly, what’s going on there?” Siegren said, pointing at the drone.
“A breakthrough, of sorts.” Cadmi lowered his voice, even though there was no need. It was strange to see him this excited, “I had a theory about how we can store and release electricity through Juvenile Johrei shards. Remember that?”
“Yes, you already explained that to me before. Also, you weren’t worry that I might’ve been injured by your little stunt?” Siegren asked.
“I kept the voltage relatively low. Plus, you’re an Inner. It’s not like anything as weak as a shock would do much to you.” Cadmi ignored Siegran’s grating expression. He pressed forward with his conversation. “Siegren, it’s not just that Juvenile shards could store natural elements. It’s more than that. It’s a channeling conduit. It channels the effects of various qualities through it, which is why I had the drone push electrons through a conducting loop and run it through the Johrei. It’s able to redirect stored energy as well as natural elements.”
“So? Are you saying we’ll just outfit our drones with what? Portable long-distance tasers in future battles?” Siegren said. “How do you expect us to…wait…a channeling conduit?”
Cadmi smiled. His face seldom did so to Siegren it looked like a demon’s smile. “A channeling conduit. I’ve seen it brother. Not just for elements, or energy, or effects, but…for Johrei as well.” Siegren’s eyes grew wide.
“That – that means that, ” Siegren started.
“What it means, is that Inners like us are about to turn hunter society on its head.” He put his arm out for Siegren, who grabbed on. Cadmi hoisted him up and put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
“This might be enough to take down the Clan of Tributes”, Siegren stated.
“I intend it to be”, Cadmi replied. “Now c’mon, let’s talk about what happened back there at the warehouse.”
*******
Cassandra walked through the streets of Necronova. She decided to try on a sky-blue A-line dress today. The coloration module which swapped out the colors for her in the changing booth of the clothing store she left cost her almost 400 Mon.
What a rip off, she thought, but sighed to herself. She realized she needed to get rid of her purchase tendencies. It’s not like the Valkyries were going to spot this as a business expense.
As she rounded the corner, sun breaking through the noon clouds, she checked out the sign of one of the local bakeries. A second later her comms sounded in her ear. Her watch lit up, projecting Reina’s name. That’s odd. Reina hardly contacted her through an open channel, given the local Auditors’ close watch over all active communication lines within a district.
“Morning boss,” Cassy said, issuing a non-verbal command into her ear, and picking up the call.
“You know I hate it when you call me that”, Reina replied on the line. Reina Igala wasn’t usually the nervous type, but when news actually surprises her, which is rare, she tends to sound antsy.
“Everything good Reina?” Cassy said. “You don’t usually call through this line.”
“That’s because as of yesterday, the ‘machine became faulty beyond repair’”, which Cassy knew, was one of Reina’s many paranoid and cryptic ways of circumventing the actual statement of “The Auditors managed to find another one of my private hunter lines and shut it down, so now I have no choice but to call you on a regulated channel”. Cassy laughed, despite herself.
“You little – ugh – anywho, I’ve got Mimi here looking for you. I know you’re planning on gorging yourself full of pastry, but our leader needs you, like now. This regards last night’s uh, visit, to the business sector downtown in Ecreville. Band stuff, you know how it is. Anyways, I need to take my thirty right now, so I will catch you later! Toodles.”
“You nerd! So it’s okay for you to eat while I have to – ”, but Reina hung up on her. She looked longingly at the store’s sign in front of her which said “Bread and Breakfast”, and shedding a tear inside her heart, she turned around and began walking towards the Valkyrie HQ.