Chapter 10-3 Deception’s Architecture
Potentiate Draus has it. I recommend we pass her and boot the rest. We can assign her to a Suicider-Unit and accelerate her conditioning. Within a year, I foresee
Sure? Im beyond sure about her. Did you see what she managed to do that last assignment? Ha! It was beautiful. Never seen a trainee kill a nu-dog by lodging its own body down its throat, just kept stuffing until it choked. Pissed myself laughing at that, not gonna lie.
What about what? Murders? Who did she kill?
Ohhh. The incidents. But does it really matter? They came back, right? They didnt stay dead
Well, did she do that to their bodies after she finished killing them? Before?
Ah. A bad habit. These things can be fixed
Ah.
Yes.
Sorry, Higher, I didnt realize you were criticizingwith respect, Higher, I still dont see why the murders matter. They provoked her.
How? You saw how they were behavinghow they kept missing and hitting those FATELESS the last gutter evaluation. Combat Skins off in hostile territory as well. Shameful, really. Thank you for reminding me, I will need to write a report about this.
Favorites? [Laughter] Of course Im playing favorites. She's my favorite because she's what we need. All that matters is killing the enemy with her, and by the dead gods is that rare.
Listen. Let me speak with candor: the Regulars are not some prestigious outfit to dump those who failed their Trials and wont be getting a Frame. Those House-kids didnt make it there, and they wont make it here. Theres too much glass in them.
Draus Me Were more weapons than people. When you arent willing to abandon the brittleness of your own uh, fixations All its doing is adding more work for our Necros with their little [Snort of laughter] traumas.
Just approve her. I have never chosen wrong.
-Commander Winston Nicoma, Highflame Regular
10-3
Deceptions Architecture
Avo left Jhred Greatling kneeling in the sand, gibbering like the child he was.
Enlightening as the moment was, the dagger wasnt deep enough in Conflux, for there remained lies to weave and minds to twist. This sanctuary, infiltrated as it was, could be looted later. Checking his DeepNav, the ghosts offered only errors when he inquired about his location in the city.
Just as well. He would take this place from Greatling when he was done. This, and the rest of his Frame.
There would always be use for demiplanes, if only for storage.
The innermost realm of Jhred Greatlings mind was a dim place glossed over by mist and shadow. An atmosphere of myth and lore clung to the air within his innermost palace like a tangible wetness, with towering structures shrouded by the rays of sunlight blunted off the mask of soft drizzle.
Glass remained a motif even inward. Flying mirror-bright blades drifted and shattered, the pieces fusing into new shapes intermittently under the sway of straying ghosts. Between buildings, ravines of traffic ran from street to sky, the touch of marble, gold, and metal outlined all in filigrees of resplendence shining through the haze.
The last thing of noteas always when it came to the Heaven-touched districts of Highflamewas the faint shimmer of dancing fire flickering at the heart of their shadows.
Pulling himself away from being too distracted by the architecture, Avo copied over all the critical mem-data Jhred held on his own Heaven, his organization, general knowledge regarding Highflame, details on his extended family, and the mem-key for a trigger-implant installed in the back of the Guilders mind.
A trigger implant for all the cortex bombs floating in the skulls of every Conflux employee.
Ah. Not something Avo enjoyed remembering.
Carefully, Avo edited all memories connected to the triggers activation. If Mirrorhead wished everyone in Conflux to drop dead, it would be hope instead of manifestation.
This also meant another thing: Essus was free. In fact, most of Conflux was free, but they were food for his Frame.
And it was with that hunger that Avo jacked out from Mirrorheads mind. While the Guilder wallowed in the past, Avo disappeared, sinking through the clefts of his updated session back into his own body.
He had a slaughter to prepare for.
***
Exiting the dive, Avo sequenced his memories into phantoms and fed them over to Draus and Kae. They studied the primer on Mirrorheads condition while he reviewed his next course of action.
With the Incubi bested or, at the very least, in hiding, he had an opportunity to re-establish his influence within the block. Of the thousands operating under the Conflux banner, the Necros were disabled and the Enforcers were more like an explosive defense grid than jackpoints of entry.
With the strike cell inactive, other options presented themselves to Avo, considering he had a few new sequences to apply along with new mem-cons to prepare.
Checking the DeepNav, Chambers was in position, traversing the waypoints up toward where the Blockcrawler was supposed to be. Warnings pinged Avos Metamind every few seconds while the former enforcer stumbled over collapsed walls and clambered up industrial chutes. Mem-cons were burrowing into Chambers cognition, but most of the warnings were for naught: Half these afflictions he already had, and the rest were instantly assimilated by those which already dominated his mind.
If anything, the added sequences and mem-data they provided would serve use for newer subversive constructs.
It was something he could work on while waiting for Chambers. Once in the Blockcrawler he could traverse the rubble of the inner confines of the building with better speed.
After that, Avo had to see about a promise he made.
The father had as much of a stake in Mirrorheads death as any of them. Perhaps even more, considering what was taken from him.
A low scoff broke his contemplation.
Jaus, Draus said, chuckling as she shook her head. The sight of Jhred Greatling on the beach was playing out via phantoms, and more than anything, she seemed insulted. What a half-strand.
Kaes wince did not escape Avos notice. On the far edge of the table, her already fractured focus split further as the whimpering noises coming from Mirrorhead wrenched pity from her mind. Her sympathy only grew when she beheld the part with his mother.
Avo had given her details on the two newer golem models for her initial research and review. The EGI Core and the Elder Mythos volumes made her work exponentially easier, but still, the work strained her and she needed moments of reprieve.
Her vulnerability fascinated him more than it taunted the beast. Near baseline in flesh and maimed of mind, there was undeniable perseverance in her, to linger in alienation. Again, he wondered how things came to be for an Agnos to fall to the depths of the Warrens, to find herself among good company with a dishonored soldier and a monster sculpted for cruelty.
But this also seemed to be of her own choosing.
She didnt belong here. It shone in her mannerisms, in the naked wound that was empathy and decency on her face.
The waters of her mind yet remained clear of judgment.
Ultimately, she felt for the boy Jhred Greatling was no longer.
D-draus, Kae said, bothered by the Regulars schadenfreude. Thats uh thats a bit?
Too mean? The radiance dimmed down to embers on Draus face. She wasnt laughing anymore, but her lips remained quirked. Fuck his mom. She didnt care when she got us killed. I aint gonna care when her sad half-strand son rains salt-piss from his eyes. She was a piece of shit commander, a piece of shit Godclad, and a piece of shit person. Fact she hugged her boy a few times extra dont light the wick.
Silence followed from the Agnos. She breathed out. I I'm the sameuhsame way about the Ori. The the Incubi. I wasI was gladglad that Avo h-hurt them. She paused. B-but after I still feelfeel
Yeah, Draus said, a slightly apologetic expression on her face. Nothin wrong with you. Im afraid, She flicked a wry gaze and grinned at Avo. You're just in bad company.
He let out a low hiss of dry amusement. Similar habits. Similar thoughts. Ghoul and Regular. Both killers. Maybe the gulf of their thoughts was closer than even he assumed. Kae. Did you parse mem-data on golems? Mirrorheads Heaven?
The Agnos perked up, startled. Oh! O-oh! Sorry, with a wave she pulled the phantoms bound to her fingertips back to full activity. He hadnt connected her mind to the structure of the core for the damage crackling within her deeper mind, but the ghosts could heed tactile controls as well. Immediately, information began to flow across her eyes. Her brow knitted in concentration as she dove back into the work.
Real slave-driver there, Avo, Draus said. Seems theres a bit more of your fatheror fathersin you than I guessed. The sudden urge to suckle out one of her eyes as a retort tempted. She hadnt had the time to get new augments grafted so she was mostly organic there. Rolling her neck, a series of cracks rattled as she flexed her chitinous arm. Alright. Things gonna go down soon, right?
Yeah, Avo said. Soon. Sooner than I thought.
Best laid plans and all. Good thing is that hes gettin forced. Bad thing is hes makin' a hard run at Nu-Scarrowbur. We still got Exorcists and Paladins around since whatever mad-shit Zeins cookin' up hasnt gone off. I aint seen how well the Greatling boy fights but less hes packing a Sphere Five or higher in terms of his burn, it aint gonna go well.
He grunted in agreement. Suicide run. Hes not going to make it. He paused and found himself careful of his next words. Draus. Do you want to operate. Outside?
One of her eyebrows rose the barest of an inch. Well. Keep goin. How am I gonna do that with all the Specters drifting around?
Incog, he said. He didnt mention he procured it from one of the Incubi he nulled. Already, she was hesitant about altering the architecture of her mind. He didnt want to risk incurring more resistance by him offering sequences from an Incubus.
She snickered a few dry, joyless notes. Should I ask where it came from?
Depends. You want it?
Her turn to hesitate now, but her beat was shorter than his. She took a breath in through her nose and waved him over. Alright. Graft me.
Not really a graft. Sequence or install is
Shut the fuck up and jack. But Her eyes went empty. She pointed an index finger at him. Dont take no memories of mine from me. We synced? Dont even touch them if you can. You put the Incog down and you make like a thief and fade to dark.
Yeah, Avo said. Wont change you.
She snorted. Right. A shiver ran through her. A few twitches more followed thereafter. There was a tautness to her thoughtstuff. A strain. Her allowance had come with a struggle. Clenching and unclenching her fist, she let out a slow breath. Im trusting you, rotlick. Dont turn this into a snuffin.
He guessed this made them consangs now.
Well, as much as two people like them could be consangs.
Extending out a tendril of blood to the ports beneath his Necrojack chair, he accessed his blood and flexed. As time slowed, he threaded his ghosts into her mind and watched as his link request flashed green across his cog-feed.
It felt strange. No need to spoof or null his way in. It was not a bad feeling, the invitation offered a reprieve for him as well. A recalibration from all that he had done. Not a bad guy at the door. A welcome monster.
Her palacemore like a war-torn fortresswas a far more intimate affair than his district.
Fire was traded continuously, flechettes threaded through the smoke and burners flaring like combustions in a sandstorm. Combat was constant and brutal, and along the walls, thickly-coiled light assault drones fired an endless surge of arcing electricity as vertical anti-air emplacements, lashing incoming missiles and aerial bombers beyond the range of baseline sight.
Out from the heights, Draus had eyes on four other blocks below. She had all her phantasmics close and compact, their presence simulated by weapon platforms and guns strewn about a ruined room.
The core of her Metamind was centered in the savaged remnants of an apartment cell. Part of the walls had been flensed clean through, exposing much of the interior to visual sight from the outside. Leaned against the edge of the shredded exterior, a heavy-kinetic sniper some seven feet long took up much the space in the room, while quick-fabbed plates of armor lined the insidesa makeshift endoskeleton to hold against artillery barrages.
Avo loaded himself into the room and released his Heaven to let time flow. Draus manifested behind him.
+War?+ He asked. The symphony of gunfire and explosions was constant. He wanted to ask her if this was a day she spent massacring his kind but he knew the answer.
Ghouls didnt have air support. Always they were meant to be fodder by the Low Masters.
+Yeah,+ Draus said. She didnt seem very interested in talking about it. He wasnt going to press.
+Incog I have. Its sequence is the analogy of a sun. Could alter it to be smaller+
+Suns fine. Nothin wrong with that. Just plant it and get this done, alright? I uh+
+Dont like someone else being in your head.+
+Yeah. Somethin like that.+
Installing the Incog into her wasnt a major undertaking. All of her present phantasmics aside from her twin-layered Buckler wardsa pattern of defensive traumas Avo detested and struggled not to change due to how exposed it left one to spoofingwere dedicated toward improving her abilities as a soldier.
She had an infantry-specialized Phys-Sim; a Specter; a triangulator of some fashion; time-dilation adjustors paired with her Accelero implant; and an object-surveillance possessor bug.
This, and a dozen more small improvements made her a menace in mid-to-close quarters.
Even better, she was getting it to run with just three hundred and ten ghosts with plenty of sequences still unused. Quiet. Efficient. The Incog wouldnt be overtaxed by any means.
Fusing the gleaming sun into shape, he activated it and watched as its light fell, a slick rain that obfuscated her Metamind against outsider awareness.
+So,+ Draus said. +Im a ghost now.+ She laughed in the shining rain.
+Not fully. Wont be noticed in most cases. Has limits though. Strains under passing perception. Stay away from crowds. Avoid being stared at. Dont stay near Specters. All that will increase cog-cap. Last thing to deactivate are wards. Or the Incog. When sequence demands are too high you cant have both. By that point+
+By that point Im fixin for a nullin,+ Good. She understood. +Alright.+
+You can get your barge now if you like.+ Avo added.+Circumspect. Command aero with equipment. After, you lead. Nether will be compromised. Mirrorhead is compromised. Have access to his cortex bombs. Assaulting Conflux Need to make sure he doesnt escape. Dont want him close to ascending either. Need to be fast, before too much attention is drawn.+
She nodded. +Nova. Ill take a peek around the block. Nu-Scarrowbur too while were at it. Ill dry-run us out some options soon.+
He grunted. +Good. Finally off snuff-the-ghoul duty. Must feel like a promotion.+
+Shit. I enjoyed snuffin the ghoul. Easy gig. Free housin. Whats not to like.+
+Long increments between killings?+
+Its just been a couple of days Avo, damn. Well get our slaughterhouse soon enough.+ She paused then. +Listen. You saw the father+
+Essus,+ Avo corrected. +Hes alive. Still there. Going to go find him. Free him. He deserves a chance at this as well. For what he lost. What was taken. I promised.+
He ended the dive and exited from her Meta. Blinking away the yet-faded flashes of mem-data, he found Draus staring at him, a peculiar look on her face.
You gonna find him through the uh the rash-risk.
Chambers, Avo said. Yes. Hes still alive.
Does he gotta be?
Avo checked the position of the former enforcer. He was close now. Eight feet away from the Blockcrawler. All he needed to do was climb through the last of the shredded air filtration channels running over several uncontaminated areas.
Yes, he said. Need to keep him unsnuffed. For now.
***
It didnt take Chambers long to realize his piss-stick didnt like being dragged against the cold, rusted metal of the fucking air tubes.
The godsdamned war really did a number on the block. Open beams of light threaded open wounds through even the filtration system. Light speared in like needles; damage-acupuncture for the entire block. With each hiss and thrust, he wormed along the space barely large enough for him to crouch through, his knees sore from the half-hour of sneak-shit he was doing.
Why the fuck did I park that fucking shit all the way up here, Chambers muttered. Shit was hard to rememberhells, his natural memory had never been all that good, and after Mirrorheads examination and all the seizures that followed, it was even worse.
Half-strand voice-guy making me climb up this shit and not replying to me. Half-strand headaches making it hard to think. Half-strand Mirrorhead being a fucking Chambers froze after the words left his careless lips. A flash of something caught his attention. Ahead of him, a gleam of light hit the reflective shine of a shard of shrapnela piece of an aeros bumper.
Reflexive terror clenched his guts. Ohshitohshitohshit.
Chambers looked into the murky translucence and choked on his own fear. Something was moving behind himskittering up between his legs. Holding his breath and bracing for death, he expected the weird bullshit glass monster to get him.
But as he went rigid, so too did the movement, the shape suddenly going stiff in the murkiness of the metal, a few inches behind him as seen through the arch of his kneeling legs.
Meeping a note of pure terror, Chambers swallowed. Death didnt come. However, he did hear a skittera squeak.
His senses returned to him. Mirrorhead wasnt here. The mem-cons were activeentering and protecting Chambers. He was the sole walker of this placethe only one.
Maybe he should have a cool title like con-walker or something. You know. Like the Fallwalkers. But immune to mem-cons.
Maybe he was immune to the rash too?
A hissing squeak pulled at his attention as he heard what sounded like soft pattering skitters. The noise was familiar. Where had he heard that before?
Between his legs, a dark shape drew closer. A sudden tickle flicked down that which dangled.
Suddenly, the dread returned twice fold.
Another squeak followed.
Inching his head down, Chambers prepared himself for a fractal of glass pushing through his balls or something. Maybe even the monster pressed up against him.
What he saw was considerably less worrying.
Poking at his privates was a brown-furred, brown-legged aratnid, its rat-like body emaciated and weak. It was weakly prodding at Chambers sensitivity with a twitching palp. Hunger sang from its simple mind, and through its eight beady little rat-eyes, it blinked weakly at him as the puss of sickness leaked from its split mandibles.
Jaus, Chambers said, letting out a breath. Hey, there little consang. You scared the fuck-shit out of me. I thought
A noise suddenly crackled loudly in his skull. +Chambers.+
Reactively, Chambers jumped in fright. He stood up and struck his head on the ceiling. Also, reactively, the arantid squealed and did what instinct told it to do.
It bit him.
It bit him where no man should ever be bitten.
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