Rise of the Phoenix King (Shadowrun/Exalted)

[Erenthia]

Tabitha's evil smirk and crazy eyes left me wondering if perhaps she was actually happy about this turn of events, but her actions made the point moot.

"All me to demonstrate the scope of your mistake," she said.

And the giant sword - a Diaklave I suddenly remembered - began spitting out copies of itself, twirling into the air above them. Soon there were a dozen. And then two dozen. And more. And more. A hundred strong. Even as sparks began to fly from the point of contact between Theo's powerblade and the instance of her Daiklave that blocked it. I flinched, not at the display before me, but rather at the sharp intake of breath from Masaru. The absolute last thing we needed right now was a Great Dragon flying off the handle and doing something crazy.

"Fiend! You do not belong in this world! Return from whence you came!" Masaru roared.

Some of the twirling copies of Tabitha's Daiklave had taken up a sort of collection of orbits around her in what felt a bit like a defensive pattern, but Masaru's words still reached her. Theo continued in a series of expert strikes, attempting to penetrate her defenses and moving as quickly now in combat as I could, but to no avail. Theo darted in and out of the manasphere to try to take her from a surprise angle, but the floating Daiklaves spun and twisted too quickly for him to bypass and they blocked and parried his every move. Tabitha simply stood there as if nothing important was happening as she answered.

"Fiend? Well, someone's memories are still a little foggy I see. But no, you needn't worry, little lizard. The ancient pacts still stand. It's simply that they do not apply to me. For I am no Prince of the Green Sun, although I admit I do bear some resemblance. An intentional choice of fashion you might say,"

Theo finally got the message that a direct assault would go nowhere, and paused his attack. His breathing now heavy enough to cause his chest to heave, he glared at her with a hate that even made me take a half-step back.

"What are you?" he growled.

Tabitha raised an eyebrow, "Really? I'd assumed your first question would have been, 'Why did you do it?' or 'Why her?' or something similarly inane. It's too bad, I suppose. I had such a good answer prepared for you,"

Theo lept back several meters, but I could feel the manasphere bending to his will before he even landed. I knew he'd switch to Direct attack spells in an effort to bypass her daiklaves but before he'd even landed, every member of Robin's team opened up on Tabitha in a veritable hail of bullets. Thug, in particular, had brought what was normally a vehicle mounted machine gun with him.

The bullets never reached her. Instead, the blades of two of the daiklaves in her orbit flicked back and forth too fast to be seen, blocking every single one.

And I felt tidalwave of mana pour from Theo in Tabitha's direction, but if it had any effect she made no sign. Instead she ignored him and decided to address Robin's team.

"Oh? Are you children participating as well? In that case..."

Several of the idle daiklaves overhead stopped spinning and pointed in our direction, tiny green balls of energy appearing at their tips before firing beams of energy in our direction. I hadn't sensed any interaction from the manasphere in them, so I raised a hand in their direction and conjured together the strongest Physical Barrier spell I could in wall-form between us. And much to my surprise, the barrier held.

Tabitha raised an eyebrow, "Interesting," she purred, and tripled her efforts.

"Run!" I shouted, and all except Masaru scattered immediately.

"My liege, if I may?" he said.

Theo growled loud enough that it doubled as a shout, "Fine! Cover me!" and he closed his eyes and burst immediately into a golden bonfire of his own.

Half-a-dozen more of Tabitha's floating daiklaves began taking pot-shots at the members of Robin's team as they scurried around the rock garden taking the occasional shot at her even as they were forced to put the bulk of their efforts into trying to avoid Tabitha's energy blasts. I got the distinct impression she wasn't even trying to hit them though, just humiliate them, like a villain from a old western flatvid shouting, 'dance!' and firing at his victim's feet. In particular, she hadn't fired a single shot at Theo or Masaru. Even so, I still rolled out of the way when my Barrier spell finally went down.

My theory proved true when Masaru took his true form, an Eastern style dragon of course with a body and tail about 35 meters long taken together, and half of Robin's team stopped dumb struck for several seconds before a few blasts hit the ground near them and refocused their attentions. Masaru's body was black although fading to a dark blue on his underbelly contrasting starkly with his white horns.

Gregor beat him to the punch. I could feel the manasphere welling up near him just before a jet of white hot flame tore through the air in Tabitha's direction before taking a sharp bend as if ricocheting off an unseen wall and missing her entirely.

Tabitha turned to regard him, disgust evident on her face, "Are you still here? Well, perhaps then you'd like to see a what a real spell looks like, hmm?"

She raised her left hand and I felt nothing in the manasphere, but rather I could feel the very essence of the universe respond to her. Not quite like when Theo called on his power, though I could certainly feel him doing that now, but almost as if she was reshaping the universe itself on some fundamental level.

A bird of pure fire three meters across appeared about ten meters above her head, though it bore little resemblance to Theo's Iconic Aniima. This was more like a pterodactyl but made of crimson flame.

"Flight of the Thermobaric Raptor," she intoned with a mechanically precise enunciation.

And that's when I discovered that study and contemplation were not the only ways to undercover the hidden truths of the universe. And really, that's what Spirit Charms were on a fundamental level when you thought about it. Desperation and Need also serve when the moment is right. And I was in desperate need. So it was in that moment when one of the fundamental truths of the universe opened up to me like a blooming flower. And I understood the Principle of Motion.

With an act of raw will, I poured my Divine Essence into my flesh and the world itself seemed to slow to a crawl. I raced to Gregor, outrunning Tabitha's spell as it flew towards him, fluidly hoisting him up into a fireman's carry - infection be damned - and raced as hard as I could to get out of the spells blast range.

I didn't make it.

The explosion sent us flying. But my accelerated perception persisted and I could see the horrifying burns covering Gregor as we tumbled in apparent slow motion through the air. I didn't waste any time. I reached out and grabbed him by his chest armor pulling him back into my grip and channeling the most powerful healing spell I could and I could feel it take root in his body. And much to my surprise, my speed still persisted, so I looked around and saw Opticon and Fabio also flying through the air. In another moment of combat satori, I kicked off the manasphere itself and managed to grab Fabio, who'd been closer and repeated the process for Opticon and bringing the three of them safely to the ground.

Just in time to see Masaru do the dragon equivalent of a spinning "kick" swiping at Tabitha with his tail. Great Dragons had been known to kill metahumans on accident with an absent flick of the tail so this would have left a mortal with fewer remains than even Robin. The attack came in from Tabitha's left.

So obviously she caught it in her right hand. What did you think would happen?

"Did your elders really never warn you about meddling in the affairs of our kind? Here, perhaps I can provide you with an education," she lectured.

With an overhand swing of her arm, Masaru went flying in an arc over her head, with a landing that probably registered on seismographs over a hundred kilometers away. None of us lost our balance, but the earth shook in terror at Tabitha's power. And so did we.

But he'd given Theo enough time apparently. I could feel the well of power radiating from him as his anima banner took its iconic form and heard its eagle-cry.

"Spirits of the Netherworld! Hear my call!" he shouted, "Know the voice of your true master! And flock to the banner of the Phoenix-King!"

A dozen spirits manifested immediately. And a dozen more. A constant influx of spiritual reinforcements swarming above and about us and of every kind, save any dark manifestions. An army of spirits a hundred strong to counter Tabitha's army of swords. And the very air around us erupted into a terrifying battle hymn.



I saw Masaru rallying, so I decided it was time for me to go on the offensive. I reached out to the manasphere and caused as much chaos as I possibly could, pouring divine energy into the area around Tabitha. Etheric clouds formed above her immediately out to a range of about ten meters, sparking electricity, and other random elemental manifestations coalesced in unpredictable ways and places though some certainly targeted her. It was the biggest manastorm I could make.

Tabitha leaned back and cackled like a goddamn witch. Like she'd conjured the thing herself.

But Theo's spirits were keeping her daiklaves off our backs and I could feel Masaru building up to something. For all we knew she was posturing and we were winning.

Yeah...I knew it was bulldrek the second I'd thought it.

"A good effort, my son. I'm surprised to see you come so far so quickly. Who knows? If Miho hadn't drug her feet in bestowing Luna's Treasure on you, you might have grown enough by now to have a real chance. I certainly wouldn't have felt the need to force the issue. That, incidentally, is why your dear Robin had to die. Your precious Miho was simply wasting too much of my valuable time,"

Before Theo could answer, Masaru threw wide his jaw and an enormous cone of flame burst forth engulfing Tabitha entirely and for several seconds.

When the flames finally cleared it was like it never happened. Tabitha just glared at him and a dozen of her daiklaves fell from the sky at speed, burying themselves in his back. His roar of pain forced Robin's team to cover their ears and I could see blood trickle from one of Fabio's elven lobes.

"You should show more deference before a Solar, you insignificant bug," she spat.

What?

Wait, no. Wrong reaction. Tabitha had actually responded to that attack in a way that wasn't just a sadistic game. He'd put real pressure on her. And if God could bleed, she could die.

"You are no Solar!" Masaru groaned.

Tabitha shrugged, "The reality is more complicated than you believe. I certainly was a Solar,"

"Liar!" Theo screamed with such hate that it seemed to affect her even more than Masaru's flames, "There was never anything in you that ever cared for anyone other than yourself! You're a monster! That's all you've ever been!"

Tabitha's wrathful sneer matched the black bitterness in her eyes and I could see as she lost all control. In a blur she had left her protective shell and now had Theo by the throat, tilting him in such a way as to be half-way into a fall onto his back and only held up by her grip on his neck. And the unhinged madness in her voice chilled me to the bone.

"You know nothing you ungrateful child! I stood at the border of this world for untold ages holding back the darkness! Only to be stabbed in the back! My only allies were clowns and wretches and wyrmlings who betrayed their every promise to me! "

She tossed him to the ground and seemed to master herself. And I got the distinct impression that she was embarrassed...or something like it.

"Enough of this. I grow bored," and another wicked smile spread across her face, "You know, this may surprise you, but your inclination towards music and singing was not something I needed to engineer into you. You got that from me quite naturally. So I will sing you a song. And before it is over, you will either have bent the knee or everyone else here will be dead."

With only a relatively minor fluctuation in the manasphere Tabitha rose into air. Theo's spirits attacked her or attempted to, but her daiklaves came to the rescue and sliced any in half before they could reach her.

"Tell me if you've heard this one, little one. It's called the Cantata of Empty Voices," she called out.

There were no words to Tabitha's storm song. Her voice...her terrible voice - just ripped away at everything, body and soul. I can't describe the experience except as emptiness and pain. And I shudder to think how Robin's team must have experienced it. At least Masaru and I had some protection from it due to our natures, but they took the full brunt of the assault. So did the scenery. No winds blew, but the song acted on the land around us like a tornado, ripping and tearing. And for the first time since I Awakened, I was utterly powerless.

The song cut off abruptly and I immediately felt sick. Theo's spirit army faded from the world shortly followed by Tabitha's sword army as well as my mana storm. I was on my back, I suddenly realized. My face felt slick with blood that had poured from my eyes, ears and nose. I didn't want to sit up. I didn't want to see it. I had a perfect excuse after all. My body ached worse than any time I could remember. My soul ached. And I knew that Theo wouldn't want me to see him bowing before his mother. But there was simply no other way we were still alive. Assuming any of Robin's team had survived.

Finally though, with a truly herculean effort, I pulled myself into a sitting position. And what I saw was even worse than what I'd feared.

Nothing.

They were gone.

I'd never prayed before that moment, but it seemed appropriate.

Isis...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know we should have listened...but please...please help.

And with that, my strength failed me. I felt my torso falling, but mercifully, the darkness took me before my head hit the ground.

 

[Erenthia]

I'm actually relieved to find out that Tabitha is an exalted also. The way she was always ten steps ahead of Theo was starting to bug me really bad. As in there is no way any mortal could be that competent actually. But it all makes sense since exalted are ridiculous.

Click to shrink...

I know well how difficult it is, as a reader, to be able to distinguish hints and foreshadowing from bad writing. And I will certainly make some mistakes in this story. But I also do lay down hints in advance. Keep your eyes open

 

[GAMB42]

I kind of expected for her to be a exalted. No other way it made sense for her to always be ahead. From what I read this entire thing was about bringing Luna's treasure out to play. What actually weirds me out is how little impact Tabitha had before the beginning of the story. If she was a solar or green flame Prince or whatever and was part of the shadowrun setting for so long I expected a lot more of deviation and AU. As it is I assume there is some explanation for how the setting has the same timeline of events ?

 

[Erenthia]

I kind of expected for her to be a exalted. No other way it made sense for her to always be ahead. From what I read this entire thing was about bringing Luna's treasure out to play. What actually weirds me out is how little impact Tabitha had before the beginning of the story. If she was a solar or green flame Prince or whatever and was part of the shadowrun setting for so long I expected a lot more of deviation and AU. As it is I assume there is some explanation for how the setting has the same timeline of events ?

Click to shrink...

That is something to think about, yes. And there's more than one answer to that question. Also, regarding the timeline, while it's not really an answer to your question, since you brought it up it will probably have some differences from the canon timeline, but that's not necessarily Tabitha's influence. Some of it is just me stretching and squeezing and reordering things so they fit with my narrative.

 

[Erenthia]

I awoke in our Bellevue estate's infirmary lying in a hospital bed. We'd never really needed the infirmary, certainly not one this large, but it had been an opportunity for Theo to 'launder' money for The Game which he'd turned into an excuse to provide the estate staff with an added benefit. I was wearing a hospital gown but with no I.V. or monitors attached to me. My body still ached though not as much as it should have. I had dozens of burns and bruises and cuts that I didn't remember receiving and I could feel the lingering effects of a powerful healing spell, probably to block the pain.

Robin's team shared the room with me, though none of them were awake. Thug looked to be in particularly bad shape. I hadn't been able to save him from Tabitha's first super-spell and he'd taken the brunt of it so he was lucky to be alive at all. If you could call it 'lucky'. The outer layer of his skin had been turned black like overcooked meat. I couldn't see much of the others under their blankets, but at least they looked like they were resting peacefully. Still, I dragged myself out of bed to check their charts. I didn't really understand what I was reading, but apparently, neither had the doctors. They didn't look awful - except for Thug. Based on what I was reading, it seemed like they were waiting for me to wake up to discuss whether or not to risk dosing him with Immortal Flower.

Because while Immortal Flower certainly could cure most forms of damage, if you gave it too much work to do it would shred your essence as surely as any cyberware.

"This isn't your fault," came a voice from behind me. The room had been empty except for Robin's team and I hadn't heard anyone come in, so even if I hadn't recognized the voice I wouldn't have been surprised when I turned around to see Isis.

"We should have listened to you. I should have listened to you. I should have pushed him harder not to do it,"

Isis put a hand on my shoulder, "This, or something like it, was always going to happen. I only sought to delay the inevitable,"

I turned back around to regard Thug. I didn't want to be comforted right now, "I don't suppose you can tell me where he is? Or if he's ever coming back?"

Isis stepped forward to stand beside me, "I cannot reveal the secrets of the Celestials. But I can repeat what she already told you. You will see him again,"

I turned to look at her in shock, "She said that?"

Isis smiled, "She said she enrolled him in a university, did she not? That was no lie. You can check for yourself soon,"

I looked back at Thug, but I was thinking about Theo. What horrors would he endure? Even in only a couple of months, I didn't put anything past Tabitha. But there was nothing I could do about it. I wasn't even sure what I could do about any of this.

"How did we get back?" I asked after a moment.

Isis smiled, "You asked for my help. I bore you no malice for ignoring my warnings. Those were for your benefit. And now that you have awakened, I have returned to provide you with my guidance,"

I shook my head but without meeting her gaze, "I don't know what to do. But I've learned my lesson. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it,"

Isis reached out and placed a hand on my chin and gently pulled my gaze to her, "No, Miho. That isn't how this works. One of my Domains is Wisdom and simply giving you a list of instructions would not increase the amount of Wisdom in the world and there is already so little. You must ask the right questions,"

"Where do I even start?" I asked after a moment.

"Where one always begins: where you can," she replied.

I looked down at Thug, "Would you be willing to heal him? Or all of them?"

Isis smiled again, "I would, but I can do better than that. Reach higher, little sister,"

I looked at her in confusion for a moment, but after being around Theo for six years I was starting to learn a few things about ambition, "You mean...you'd teach me how to do it?"

Isis nodded, "I will teach you the Touch of Eternity. And with the Domain we share, it will be far more effective,"

It's hard to explain in words how it went. Isis demonstrated for me how to manipulate my Divine energies to infuse mortal flesh with strength and resilience. And further, how to integrate mana itself into the process. The teaching process went far faster than learning such things on my own had, but I suppose one of her Domains being Wisdom had something to do with it. I could now grant powers normally associated with magical creatures as blessings, though only ones that bolstered the flesh or healed.

So I gave him the Regeneration power, though I couldn't let him keep it for long. He had some considerable enhancements, most notably the intelligence enhancements that Theo had gotten for him all those years ago, and I didn't want them to get rejected. But it was safe enough in the short term, especially since having the power 'naturally' rather than via Immortal Flower posed no risk to his essence. And Isis was more than willing to provide assistance with the timing. I ran out of energy pretty quickly though and Isis had to finish the job on the others.

"Thank you for this," I told her when we were done.

"There is more yet that I can do for you, but as I said, you must ask the right questions,"

I didn't say anything at first. I'd been too quick with my last question, but I had been in a place of desperation. Now with the worst possibilities off the table, I could focus. Theo would be coming back in a couple of months and Robin's team would be fine, at least physically. They'd have questions though, but I could handle that. Or maybe just have Masaru do it.

My eyes went wide, "Did Masaru survive?"

Isis nodded, "I delivered him to those most loyal to him. He will make a full recovery in time, but do not expect his aid before your husband's return,"

I shrugged, "I mean, couldn't I go help him?"

"I would advise that you do not," Isis said, flatly, and I knew well enough by now not to argue with a Goddess of Wisdom.

So what should I be doing? Anna had Squatter's Mall under control, though the wider Redmond Program was currently without a manager, but I wasn't sure what I could do about that. Robin's team would be taking over as Lucifer soon, at least hopefully. There were probably plenty of preparations I could be making for Theo's upcoming move to Boston, but I didn't need Isis's help with that. What did I need her help with?

"Is there any more help you'd be willing to provide me with? And I don't mean to be impertinent but...may I ask what your help will cost me?"

Isis smiled, "I seek to put good into the world, it's true, but there are things I could use your help with, certainly. The number of my faithful has dwindled as I slept, but I'm willing to wait on that. I have priests of my own, after all, and they will prove sufficient for the time being. You, on the other hand, have but one worshipper, and I would see you increase that number,"

I shook my head, "Oh no...Isis, I don't know about that. I'm not fit for that sort of thing. And I'm afraid of how it would change me. You've probably always been a god, so maybe you don't have to worry about that, but I'm still a mortal under all the strange powers. I don't think I could handle that without becoming corrupt,"

Isis sighed, "No, little sister, you are not just a mortal with strange powers. You are divine. But if the thought unnerves you so, then I suggest you ask Gregor's advice. But I must leave you now. Call to me when you are in great need and I will always answer,"

And she was gone. No fanfare or flash of light. She was just there one moment and not there the next.

The door opened and I instinctively reached to hold the back of my hospital gown closed. A man entered, a tall caucasian elf in a business suit with black hair and blue eyes, and he carried a high-security metal suitcase with him.

"Oh...Miss - err, Tanaka-san, I didn't expect to find you out of bed. I have a package for you if you'll sign for it,"

Some colloquialisms never went out of fashion. I 'signed' by pressing my thumb to his commlink and he gave me the suitcase. And he was gone as quickly as he arrived. Couriers never stayed to chat.

With Robin's team still sleeping, I opened the suitcase to find a vidscreen on the upper portion, an envelope, and a small metal box. The vidscreen started playing immediately.

It was Theo.

"Hey, Miho. If you're seeing this, then things went bad. With everything our Egyptian friend kept saying, we both knew this could happen and I'm sorry. Because if you're seeing this, then that means I should have listened. But I did the next best thing. I gave her a call and talked to her on my own. I couldn't let go of this, but I asked her for some advice on something else. I asked her to help me come up with one final backup plan, should everything else fail. And she told me that I should prepare you for my absence. So that's what I did,"

He looked down for a moment, then back at the camera, "So it's yours now. Everything. I've set up a time delay, but by the time you're reading this my will should have been updated to make you my sole beneficiary and - if I'm not dead - I've also granted you power of attorney. You have access and legal rights to all my accounts and properties, my social media, everything. Congratulations, you're now Theodore McWellan. I hope you enjoy it more than I did. Of course, I'm not going to remember this plan but it's still legally binding. Oh and one more thing..."

He held up his hand with Luna's Treasure on it, "I'm getting a counterfeit copy made. Not for you. For me. Check the box. And Miho? I love you,"

The screen went blank. And my eyes went to the metal box, staring at it the way people stare at a spider or wasp that had snuck into their room. He couldn't have. But...certainly, if he'd made himself forget the plan he would have noticed the big guy not talking to him, wouldn't he? Had he found a way around that? How?

I checked the envelope first. It contained a plastic card the same general size and shape as the kind used by people a hundred years ago to pay for things. The very wealthy sometimes still used them to hold important datachips. I couldn't slot it now, without my commlink, but I knew it must have been the paperwork certifying me as Theo-on-paper-at-least. Which pretty much solved the Redmond Program Manager problem. That was me now, which explained the Improved Business Skill focus.

And that left me with no more excuses. I opened the ornate metal box and sure enough, Luna's Treasure was inside. Even after Theo had told me it would be okay, I still had some reservations about putting it on. But I was following my Lord's command, so there was no reason to think the big guy would be opposed to it. Or Luna.

But still...

With no small amount of trepidation, I put the ring on. Nothing happened at first. There were no giant golden bonfires or reverberations throughout the global manasphere, and for a moment I thought maybe it just wouldn't work for anyone but Theo.

"Hello, Miho-san. Theodore said we'd be meeting soon. I am all that remains of Ignis Divine and I am happy to finally meet you,"

I flinched, "Um...hello. Listen I uh...I don't really know what Theo wants out of this, or how I should address you or...anything,"

help​

"Be at peace, Miho-san. Theodore said you would be nervous but there is no need. I am here to assist you in any way I can. How may I be of service?"

And then it all came in like a flood, "Theodore's been taken by his Mother and I don't know where. She's some kind of Exalt but I don't know anything about her or what she can do. She said she used to be a Solar but her anima was Green. Do you know what that means?"

"Hmm...interesting. A green anima banner usually indicated an Infernal in my time. But I am given to understand that at least 13.77 billion years have passed since then. Still, a former Solar with an Anima like unto an Infernal sounds very similar to an Akuma. In my time the process of becoming Akuma did not result in a change to one's Anima, but perhaps the Yozi no longer have any need for subterfuge. Unfortunately, I have no means of tracking Theodore. Do you have any knowledge of why she took him?"

That...why hadn't I thought of that?

"I don't..." then a thought occurred, "but she knew about you, or at least the ring. She said I took too much time giving it to him. That means she wanted him to have your power. If she used to be a Solar...could she be training him?"

"That could very well be the case. In which case she likely would have taken him somewhere to facilitate that process. Theodore told me that time operates differently in the metaplanes. Perhaps she took him to one,"

Great. Could I even find him then? I suppose I didn't have to if she was really bringing him back for the start of the semester - but I couldn't help but feel that was just ridiculous. Why did she even want him to go?

"I spoke to a local goddess. She seems to believe that his Mother will bring him back in a couple of months. But I'm not sure what I should be doing in that time. I have some things I know I need to do...mostly cover for his absence. But none of that seems important compared to everything else that's going on,"

"Do you have reason to trust this goddess?"

"Yes. Absolutely," I replied.

"Then I would say to you that life is not about the great but the small. If you would make preparations, then prepare yourself to be a comfort to him when he returns. If this Tabitha is anything like the Infernals or Akuma of my era, he is in for a difficult time. The power of Solar Exaltation will undoubtedly sustain him, but his mind and heart are not invulnerable. Yet his love for you is strong and I have no doubt you will be able to mend him,"

"That's all?" I asked.

"As I said, though you may feel you are doing no great thing, what truly matters is the quiet moments of pure truth, not the great battles. Though you do not possess the power of a Solar, your deeds are no less impactful. For who saves one life, saves the whole world,"

Wow.

"I...thank you," I said.

I'd been expecting some Great Golden Judge, but I'd been a fool. Theo had told me a story about how The Unconquered Sun had, at one point, given himself over to his enemies during the Primordial War to save a single mortal hostage. I'd thought that was bulldrek, but now that I'd spoken to him, I could believe it. He was like an older and more mature version of Theo. And at the same time, he reminded me of my father in a way. All that kind masculine wisdom.

"You are most welcome, Miho-san. But if I may draw your attention to those you share the room with. I believe they are waking up,"

"Miho?" Fabio asked in a groggy tone and through half-opened eyes, "who are you talking to?"

I took a deep breath, but I knew immediately I'd tell them the whole truth. Theo would want them to know, even if he wouldn't admit it. He needed people he could share himself with, and I needed to have things in place for him when he came back.

"It's a long story, Fabio. But don't worry. I'm going to tell you everything,"

 

[Erenthia]

Again, this is in the Index on purpose. I explained why in part 1

Tabitha McWellan's Theme
I Have The Power - All Good Things


Masaru's Theme
Lacrimosa Dominae - Imperativa


Gregor's Theme
Wrong Side of Heaven - Five Finger Death Punch


Rise of the Phoenix-King Theme
The Phoenix - Fall Out Boy


Theo and Miho's Relationship Theme
Rather Be - Pentatonix cover

 

[Erenthia]

Even with the magical regeneration I'd been able to provide them with, it took Robin's team a few days to get back on their feet to the point where they were ready to hear what I had to say. Oh they certainly knew they'd gotten in deep with something extra extra crazy, but they still needed some time to convalesce. Gregor spent a lot of time communing with his ally spirit, Daisey. I wanted to ask him why he never called her in during the fight with Tabitha, but I decided to save it for later. If at all. Everything had by gone so quickly, and I'd spent so much time on defense, I never tried using Five Dragon Style against her, although based on what the big guy was telling me, it wouldn't have made much difference.

So while they were getting their heads together, I'd been talking with the big guy and sliding into my new role as Program Manager. And I wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in hell without the business focus that Theo had gotten for me. Even then it was a struggle. I eventually got desperate enough to buy an Improved Logic spell and cast it at a high enough force to risk actually hurting myself. And let me tell you, that was a strange experience. Analytics was great, but being significantly smarter than you normally are all the way around is something else entirely. The world seemed somehow smaller. I threw together ideas for five new reality shows for our expansion efforts, all in the edutainment category. In particular, I wanted to focus on Plastic Jungle, a major source of locally grown food in the Barrens. I'd sent out emails to dozens of experts on farming techniques and potential show hosts while sending out a few of Lucifer's agents to touch base with the movers and shakers of Plastic Jungle to see if they'd be willing to participate.

And I'd finally ordered my cultured bioware. Tabitha McWellan was an unstoppable godmonster and I was done holding back. So while I was waiting for my Cerebral Boosters, Cerebellum Boosters, Sleep Regulator, and Mnemonic Enhancers to cook, I went under the knife for an Internal Commlink, Skilljacks, and Skillwires. Hell, I even considered getting a Control Rig, but I wasn't quite there yet. I hadn't dismissed the idea either, but I just didn't know how much use drones would be to me personally in the future. Right now I was focusing on productivity and understanding. I needed a broader understanding of what was possible to bring to bear against Tabitha. Not a deeper one. Not yet.

And I'd even eeked out some time to have a few in-dept discussions with the big guy. One issue came up rather quickly: why didn't Tabitha McWellan rule the world? If she could throw around Great Dragons like she did with Masaru and apparently do so without significant preparation, what was holding her back? Only two possibilities seemed reasonable. The first was that she hasn't been on Earth nearly so long as she claimed so I did some digging.

In March of 2058, there had been a total of 43 members of the McWellan family. But the end of the year it was down to 19. All random tragedies and the occasional suicide. By the end of the next year it was six. The year after that? Just one. According to the official records, Tabitha McWellan had been born in May of 2041, so she'd have been 17 when it all started. I couldn't find any records of major manasphere disturbances in that time, at least nothing out of the ordinary enough to seem like an Exaltation Surge. On the other hand, if she had, in fact been telling the truth about being thousands of years old, then she was certainly no McWellan. She'd just taken the real Tabitha's place. It was speculation, but it did provide an explanation of what "Serena McWellan' was: Tabitha's next identity. Eventually people would notice her not getting older, and she'd need to switch identities. Which did seem to indicate that she felt the need to keep hidden, but who exactly was she hiding from? That thought sent shivers down my spine.

Of course, the other possibility was that she just didn't give a drek about ruling the world.

So what was Theo for? What function did he serve in Tabitha's mind? According to the big guy, it would take at least a century before he'd be able to go head to head with her without some kind of trick up his sleeve. So whatever that function was, it didn't have anything to do with power. According to the big guy, Status was the next major feature in line. Particularly among divine entities. Tabitha was tainted and even if being an Infernal-but-not-really let her skate by whatever ancient packs kept the Green Sun Princes from coming here, that didn't mean they'd listen to her. But even with that being the case, what couldn't she get by just bullying them? Of course, it could always be the case that even if she was the most powerful being on Earth, she couldn't stand up to a concerted effort united against her. She could handle one Great Dragon. Could she handle them all?

But even if she couldn't, couldn't she just stealthily assassinate them one by one? Or was that not practical? No, the real question was, what did she want? I might have been able to dig into some of her personal projects or even bribe a few people to get a peek at her black projects, but that was far too risky. Theo had always given explicit instructions to anyone who worked for him to accept all bribes for that kind of information and then give then a bunch of fake drek and then report the inquiry to him later. Occasionally he even ordered them to tell the truth. If Theo could think of that, so could she. So I had no way of knowing if I'd gotten real information or alerted Tabitha to my interest and gotten nothing in the process. I could put some deckers on it, but that would take time. In the mean time, all I knew was that Tabitha wanted her own pet Solar, and I had no idea why.

Except I knew what she had done to him. And if I looked at it with a clinical eye, it really looked like she was trying to create some kind of perfect altruist. The Game had left Theo with not just the skills to be Lucifer, even as a mortal, but with an unrelenting compulsion to help people as much as possible. She'd gone way overboard on that...but that's when she brought me into the picture, and I had bent him back towards being a more complete person. So whatever it was that she needed him for, it had as much to do with who he was as the fact that he was a Solar.

[We're ready] Gregor texted me.

I'd been avoiding Robin's team for the past several days, mostly as a courtesy. Frankly, part of me was surprised that they hadn't up and disappeared. They'd had every opportunity. But they'd stuck it out and I didn't really know why. I'd been working in Theo's office, not that I really needed one at this point with my Internal Commlink, but it helped me feel close to him. I'd even found the hidden stash of nudes that Robin had been sending him since he was 13 on his cyberterminal. I laughed at first. Then I cried. I'd been more that a little overwhelmed by her offer to form a triad with her and Theo, but I think if she and Theo walked in the door right now, I wouldn't hesitate.

But it was time to have The Talk, so I locked up Theo's office behind me with a thought and made my way to the secure briefing room on the third floor. Like most such places, it had multiple redundant security features. A biofiber mesh and warding, wifi-blocking paint and a faraday cage built into the walls, plus about a dozen others. The room itself looked like a typical briefing room. Conference chairs in neat little rows, a podium at the front, and an integrated holoprojector on an air-gapped system with no connection to the outside...all examples of how corporate Theo could still be, at least in terms of aesthetics.

Robin's team were all there, and they'd taken the opportunity to buy themselves some nicer looking clothes. I'd set up temporary expense accounts for them while they were here and while they didn't go wild with it, they now all looked surprisingly respectable. More middle-management than executive, but it was still an improvement. I closed the door behind me, and it suddenly occurred me that I was now in a closed off room with them with no way of communicating with the outside. Silly, I know, but some instincts never go away.

They'd pulled their chairs into a semi-circle, and apparently someone had gotten a troll-appropriate chair for Thug, so I dragged a chair of my own and sat down in front of them. They said nothing, only waiting.

"I'm gonna try not to be too corporate about this. The thing is, there's really two stories to tell. And if you want me to start from the beginning, you're going to have to be patient," I began

"We've been here for days," Fabio said and it came out a bit harsh, though maybe a bit harsher than he'd intended.

And briefly, my mind went back to that first day with Theo in the Panic Room.

"Alright. Quick spoiler though, none of the really crazy stuff started happening until Robin died," I explained.

"We figured as much," Gregor interjected, "just begin at the beginning,"

I shrugged, "Alright. About 18 years ago, Tabitha McWellan completed a major bioscience project to create a Prototype Transhuman. You know that transhuman as Theodore McWellan...."

And I spared no detail, save one. I told them about The Game and the people we'd lost to it. I told them about my increasing involvement as co-Lucifer. I even told them about Theo's mental health issues. But most of all, I told them about Luna and her Treasure and how Tabitha used Robin's murder as a way to motivate me to select Theo for Exaltation. I told them what I was and what I could now do. Hell, I even told them about Isis.

I just failed to mention the part where the mind of the Unconquered Sun was resting on my finger. I had a hard time reading that particular room as I went along, but apparently there was a good reason for that.

"I have absolutely no idea what to say to any of that, " Gregor said, finally, "especially since, according to my magic, every single word of it was true,"

Thug spoke next, "I'd ask you to check her for mind control or memory alteration, but with what we saw back there? Seems legit,"

"I wouldn't say no to a demonstration, however," Gregor added.

I shrugged. Going over the events of the last six years drained me in no small ways, but I remembered my own demands for proof from Theo for a significantly less outlandish story.

I dropped the mana level in the room as low as I could and then raised it as high as I could.

"Please stop!" Gregor shouted, "That's enough, I believe you!"

The rest of Robin's team stared at him, except for Fabio was looking a little queezy as well, and he finally responded, "She...absolutely has control over the stuff of mana itself,"

Fabio nodded and made no attempt to mask his anxiety, "Hell yeah,"

Opticon finally spoke up, "And Theo's really some kind of...super god?"

I shrugged, "As I understand it, he's less powerful than a major god or a Great Dragon for the moment. But there's a sort of caste system and he's at the very top,"

"This is so far above my paygrade, I don't even have words for it. Why are we even here? Why are you telling us all this? What do you want from us?" Fabio asked.

I took a breath, "My best guess is that Theo and his Mother are on another metaplane - "

Gregor interrupted, "Wait, you mean physically?"

I nodded, "My best guess is that she's using the time differential to her advantage, perhaps to train him. If she really does intend for him to attend MIT&T he'll be back in a couple of months, but there's no telling how much time will have passed for him. Or what he'll have been through. But it won't have been pleasant. He's going to need people he cares about, and ones he doesn't have to keep secrets from,"

"And you don't think the batdrek crazy psycho-mom from literally-Hell is going to kill us all for knowing this?" Fabio growled.

I shook my head, "No, I don't. She's always been very explicit about her orders. If she didn't order us to be quiet about all this or use some kind of divine magic to enforce that...it means she doesn't care,"

An uncomfortable silence came over the room for an agonizingly long moment.

Fabio spoke up again, "So that's it? That's all we're for? Group therapy?"

I shook my head, "It doesn't matter how powerful you are. It doesn't matter how rich you are. The only thing that matters in this world are the connections we share. Life is about people,"

And I saw tears welling up in Gregor as he turned his face away, but they remained unshed. I hadn't meant to aim that at him, but I should have known.

"And...what will we be doing," Gregor began, his voice shaking, "until the second coming of Mr. McWellan?"

"We continue the Redmond Program. I'll take over as Program Manager and you'll continue as Lucifer. And hopefully on a permanent basis,"

They all looked around at each other, but eventually nodded.

"And after that?" Opticon asked.

I shrugged, "We'll have to play it by ear. We don't really know what's going on. We'll have to figure it out as we go along,"

"I can't help but feel like there's more that we should be asking. I mean...you think he'd make us demigods? Or cure Gregor?" Fabio asked.

"I have no interest in a cure, " Gregor responded before I could.

"I don't know all the details, but I don't believe the same process would be as effective without The Exaltation Surge. You'd gain a level of mystical enlightenment and I could give you magic or expand your existing magic if you really wanted. You could certainly pick up my own slow regeneration as an Enlightened Mortal and probably Magical Martial Arts and Ancient Sorcery. But we should probably have a separate briefing for that. For now, we need to get back to Squatter's Mall and get back to work. I've schedule a direct flight for tomorrow morning at 7:00 am. Please be ready by then. Unless you have any questions, that's all I have for you right now,"

They nodded and got up to leave, all except for Gregor. The others gave him a few glances but said nothing. Once we were alone he spoke.

"I suppose I should feel honored or humbled at having been singled out by a divine being. But even with Isis's reputation all I can feel is profound anxiety,"

I chucked, "Believe me, I know the feeling,"

He raised an eyebrow, "Do you? You're something of a divine being yourself, as you said,"

I smirked, "There's divine and then there's divine. I'm about as low on the celestial ladder as it's possible to be. And Theo's at the very top,"

Gregor raised an eyebrow, "And yet you are on the ladder, unlike us mere mortals,"

I took a breath, "Yeah, I guess that's fair. But you and I have the same relationship we've always had. Being a demigod doesn't change that. And yeah, after six years of standing next to Theodore McWellan, I know that's not the same as being divine yourself. But now that I'm standing where Theo was standing, I realize I was never as far away as I thought I was. You're my friend Gregor, and I'll never abandon you,"

Gregor had been intentionally infected by another ghoul back when he was college professor, because his entire extended family had all drunk the Humanis cool-aid. So had he at the time. And it wasn't any misguided attempt to teach them to see non-humans in a more accepting light. The ghoul who'd done it knew exactly how they'd respond and done it for the sole purpose of causing pain. And he'd lost everyone. Family, friends, and most of his co-workers. They all rejected him outright and immediately. Even his wife and son. He'd nearly committed suicide. He'd nearly infected the rest of his family. He very nearly went feral. And he would have, if Theo hadn't found him and pulled him up out of the dark, like he always did with everyone. Theo had found Gregor in a sewer starving to death, unwilling to eat what his body now required. Theo wasn't there in person of course, he had drones and agents for that. I remember watching the footage. Gregor nearly attacked when he caught the smell of the 'food' they'd brought, but Theo promised him he could simply have it if he did one thing and one thing only.

He had the agents set up a table with a chair and plate, and Theo told him he could have as much to eat as he wanted, but he had to eat it with a knife and fork.

Slowly, over the weeks that followed, Gregor came back to his senses, and Theo offered to get him his Professorship back, but Gregor declined. Because over those weeks, Theo showed him true kindness, never even mentioning his previous history with Humanis even though practically anyone else would have. So Gregor had opted to become an Agent of Lucifer and had served him loyally ever since.

That was the story that made me understand what Theo meant when he said, Screw jobs are just leaving money on the table. You get more in the long run, even for yourself, by actually helping. Which had reminded me immediately of my father's wake. Even in death, people were still looking to repay him.

Gregor bowed his head for a moment, but then looked back up at me, "I believe I understand what She meant by sending you my way regarding the ethical conundrum of direct worship. I've done extensive research on preawakeing conceptions of Energy Work. Most modern scholars took it to be a scrap of memory regarding the manipulation of mana, but I've never held to that theory. I'm sure you're familiar with group rituals and their ability to target those at a distance?"

"Well, of course, but I'm not sure what you're getting at?"

"Rituals have always been associated with worship. And the main problem you are trying to avoid is the corrupting element at both ends, both for those worshipping and worshipped. I don't know the arcane details or mechanics of worshipping the divine, but whatever process is involved should be something that can be contextualized as participation in a magic ritual designed to aid him without the morally corrupting elements of absolute authority,"

I blinked. Even with the Tabitha Problem I had still been prepared to leave that particular pile of cash on the table.

"Are you sure it will work?"

Gregor shrugged, "We will have to test it of course. And since we don't have access to Theo, there's really only one way to know if it's working. Still, if we can get it right, it's the only aid we can offer him now, wherever he is,"

And that pretty much sealed the deal. I'd have to put together some kind of not-a-cult but wherever Theo was, if I could offer him the slightest help without turning people into mindless fanatics who'd do anything he wanted without a second thought then, I was willing to give it a shot.

"Put something together for me, and we'll try,"

Gregor nodded.

Ten minutes later I was in Theo's office working again when I felt something strange happening. I took a quick peek at the local manasphere, but everything looked as it always did. But the feeling kept getting stronger and stronger to the point where I could start to put it into words. If felt like watching someone you love in terrible pain. And then I heard a voice in my mind.

Please, I need your help! I don't know your name, you never told me. But you gave me magic! Are you there? It's me Jeremy.

 

[Erenthia]

Jeremy was in no small amount of trouble. I could feel it. If I had a way to communicate back to him I didn't know it, so my only chance was to astral project and hope that my connection to him could guide me to his location. So as he continued to pray to me, I focused on his words and slid out of my body...only to find myself somewhere else entirely. There, with Jeremy, I found myself in a dark room. He literally sat there on his knees, palms pressed together, fingers interlaced, calling out in his mind for my assistance. It looked like we were in some kind of janitorial closet, but one that looked like it hadn't been used in years. Not that I could see much. It was nearly pitch black.

But I could tell he'd been beaten, though more from his aura than anything else. I wanted to heal him but I couldn't, though now that I'd thought of it, it would probably be possible for me to learn to cast spells from the physical plane to the astral realm or vice-versa. Maybe even to Materialize like a spirit. Except I had never trained in any of that, or practiced, or even thought of it before that moment. So, all I could do at this point was manifest.

My astral form, I noticed, was fainter and smaller now, I guessed it was due to the damage I'd done to my mortal essence, and therefore my magic, from my recent cyberware upgrades. Which was odd because I was pretty sure that that's not how drek works for mortal mages. Now my astral form was the size of my human form and I imagined it would stay that way until my essence and magic healed.

"I'm here, Jeremy," I whispered.

"Oh thank God!" He whispered back, "or...you or whatever,"

"Just call me 'sensei' for now. Where are we, and how did you get here?" I asked.

I could see him writhe and rub the back of his neck, but that particular tell was nothing compared to the embarrassment and fear I could plainly see in his aura.

"I...I'm sorry. I did something really stupid,"

I folded my astral arms, "Go on..."

He hung his head and whispered, "I tried buying a spell on the black market. I wasn't going to do anything...you know...corrupt with it. I just wanted to have some fun before I registered as a magic-user,"

I didn't smell any deception, and according to Theo the Sacred Oath did give at least some warning before you crossed the line - which was the whole reason we were willing to use it on a teenager - so it wasn't that unlikely.

I sighed, "And then whoever you tried to buy the spell from tried to recruit you. And then you said no. And then they informed you that 'no' wasn't an option. How am I doing?"

Jeremy winced, "Uh...yeah. Pretty much,"

"So what are they called?" I asked.

Jeremy looked away and muttered something I couldn't hear.

"Jeremy, I need to know if I'm gonna get you out of here," I prodded.

"The...the Ciarniellos..."

I instinctively grit my astral teeth, although it wasn't quite as satisfying as the real thing, "You tried to buy spells from the Mafia?"

I'd kept my voice down, but it was a struggle.

Jeremy still looked at the floor as he shrugged, "I...never had any trouble with them before..."

Oh no...

"Jeremy..." I made no effort to hide my dread, "what have you been doing for them?"

And I saw the shame in his aura flare so bright, it broke my heart before he even opened his mouth.

"I'm a...I mean I was...it was sex work," he said, his eyes downcast.

He slumped down and I found myself desperately wishing I could throw my arms around him and hug him, "Oh Jeremy...I'm so sorry,"

He shook his head but the shame in his aura didn't abate, "I didn't really care before. About anything really. I wanted money for something...don't even remember what...so I gave myself to them. That's how I got on brainbenders and BTLs. The first time anyway. I thought maybe they'd put a p-fix in me like a bunraku or something so I could sleep my life away, but for some reason they let me go home after. I guess it was cheaper than feeding me. That's how I was able to buy that gun,"

"Jeremy...not all personafix chips work like that. A lot of them don't. And I knew a bunraku who got loaded up with some pretty nasty BTLs on top of that. They forced her to feel some pretty horrible drek while she was...working. But I'm not here to judge you. We'll get you out of here, and then we'll talk. Is there anything else I need to know right now? Any thing that would help getting you out of here?"

He shook his head, "I think they're just waiting on a magician to get here. But I heard them talking and I don't think that's 'till tomorrow. I think there's only a couple guys out there right now,"

As far as he knew anyway. It was more likely that there were more guards elsewhere. Theo and I had liberated so many of these kinds of "safehouses" over the years I'd lost count, and they usually had 5-10 people. More if it was a particularly important one.

"Alright, I'm going to do some recon. Don't worry, I'm not leaving you here,"

Jeremy nodded and I floated up through the ceiling, releasing my manifestation to no longer by visible as I did. I could see immediately that we'd been in run-down warehouse that probably would have been condemned if it had been worth anyone's time to bother. And it sat in the middle of a rundown industrial park full of other nonresidential buildings, some in better repair and some worse. So in other words I saw nothing that could narrow down my location from 90% of anywhere else in Everette. I came down on the other side of the building looking for windows, and found several broken ones without having to search very long. I could have floated through the walls, but I wanted to be careful. As much of a piece of drek as this place looked there could always been dangers, even for an astral form. I found a total of 6 guards, but no magical security and no other prisoners. Apparently the place wasn't normally used for keeping detainees, because I found several pallets of chemicals - probably precursors for some kind of drug - and a simsense studio. Some pretty expensive stuff too. Having worked with Theo so long, I could estimate the value of the damage I could do here fairly accurately. Only about 200k but a respectable hit, and I'd definitely be bringing this whole place down. Probably literally.

I returned to Jeremy.

"Alright look, I can get you out of here, but I can't protect you directly. There are some rules of magic I haven't learned how to break yet. So I'm gonna need you to lie down on the floor on your stomach until I tell you it's safe to get up, okay?"

He nodded and then whispered back, "What are you gonna do?"

I smirked, "I'm going to make you regret picking Mystic Adept is what I'm gonna do,"

I started pulling in mana and raising the background count even as I attuned it to myself. As I said, my magic was still damaged but I could more than make up for it with my control over mana itself. At my peak I could almost get to triple my mortal strength, but in this situation, double was about all I could do, even with my power focus. But it would be more than sufficient.

"Spirits of Man, if any of you would take vengeance for the crimes done to this boy, heed my call."

Unlike Theo, I couldn't summon more than one spirit at a time, although I'd spent some time talking to the big guy about it. Apparently Theo had been teaching the big guy everything he'd been learning about mortal magic and they'd put together some "Magical Arts Charms" along the same lines as Martial Arts Charms, and the big guy thought I'd be able to learn them to a degree. I hadn't really started in on that though. I figured I'd wait for my magic to heal.

A Spirit of Man dressed in Samurai lamellar armor but with a straw hat instead of a helmet appeared immediately, his daisho at his hip. He kept his head tilted so the hat covered most of his face. The Drain I felt from the effort felt like an enormous, painful ache all over my astral form and I knew I'd be feeling it in the morning, even with my exceptional healing abilities. But for a Force 12 spirit, it was more than worth it.

<I heed your call, Great One. Show me your enemies and I shall replace them with corpses> the spirit's voice appeared in my mind.

"Time to get down, Jeremy," I told him and he did as he was bid without comment.

<Follow me> I told the spirit, unmanifested, and passed through the door of Jeremy's cell.

The slaughter that followed was intensely satisfying. There were two guards immediately outside the closet, playing some kind of AR game with each other, so I had the spirit manifest on the opposite side of the table from Jeremy just in case one of them managed to get a shot off. And one did of course, just as his partner was getting cut into six pieces in the span of a second. He lived a single second longer but no more. My spirit sliced in him half from top to bottom in a single strike.

But I knew the gunfire would draw the others and while there was never any doubt about the outcome of this battle, I needed to make sure they got off as few shots as possible, not just for Jeremy but any other innocents who might be in the area. So I ordered the spirit to use its Concealment power and entirely lost sight of it. Two more guards showed up and did the predictable thing. They'd already had their weapons out, of course, but with no-one in sight, they only had one suspect: Jeremy himself. So as they approached the door, I had my spirit drop Concealment behind them, to ensure their guns would be pointing the way I wanted. My spirit decapitated one before he even knew he was in danger, and like before, his partner got a single shot off before losing his gun arm, and then his life.

The problem now was making sure no messages got out. It took me a second - literally - to find the other two again. They'd taken up shelter in the building's office. One of them held a commlink to his ear, but he wasn't talking, so that meant there was still time, hopefully. With a mental command relayed to my spirit, it came through the wall to my left and cut the arm of the man with a commlink before burying his katana into his chest. The guard had time to fire off a few rounds this time, but I'd instructed my spirit to let any gunshots hit it in an effort to keep collateral damage to a minimum. Which it did, before cutting the last guard in half at the waste.

We returned to Jeremy and took him out the back in an effort to avoid being spotted. Then I had my spirit burn the building down with repeated casting of Fireball. Jeremy and I watched the building burn as we talked.

"Tomorrow morning, you are going to get registered," I told him, "I will check on you by lunch. If you are not a registered magic user by then you will be in serious trouble, do you understand?"

He nodded.

"It's just...I'm actually gonna miss my friends, you know? I never thought I'd say that, but whatever you and that other guy did to me...it...well it really helped,"

A thought occurred to me, "How did you know praying to me would work?"

Jeremy smirked, "Well...I knew I couldn't tell anyone about what happened, so I went on a creative writing forum and told people I was working on a story. I asked them what kind of being could just turn someone into a magic user. A few people said that the Great Dragons might be believable, but most said it would have to be some kind of a god. So when I wound up in the closet...I figured I'd try praying,"

I smiled, "Smart work, kid. Now it's time to get you home. Regret leaving conjuring on the table yet?"

Jeremy smiled back and shrugged, "I mean, I figure once I get trained I should be able to do that stuff myself and that would have been a lot more fun. So no,"

I smirked, "Oh yeah? Let's see what I can do about that,"

<spirit, heal this boy's wounds and then fly him back home under Concealment,> I commanded, and it was a command that would automatically release the spirit immediately afterwards. Bound spirits could be sent on distant tasks and still remain in your service, but regular old summoned ones got to go home after being sent on a remote task.

"Holy Drek!" he shouted as he disappeared into the sky.

Theo was still whever he was, suffering whatever he was suffering, but in this moment, I'd done a good thing so I allowed myself a moment of both pride and joy.

I'd had to send Robin's Team on ahead of me, but the next day I showed up at Jeremy's house in the flesh at noon sharp. His father was at work and he was expecting me, but he still didn't answer the door right away.

"Who are you?" he asked over the intercom.

"Your sensei," I replied. I hadn't changed my face on our second meeting, but with the neighborhood he lived in Operational Security was second nature for anyone living there.

He opened the door and rushed out, throwing his arms around me. I hugged him back. We shared a moment, but then he pulled away.

"Hey! Okay, look I'm only preregistered. I have to get tested in person for it to be official, but that's what you meant right?"

I nodded but then pointed with my head back to the Nightsky, "You wanna get something to eat? We should talk,"

His eyes went wide when he saw the limo. Then he turned back to me, "Frag Yes!"

Jeremy locked up his house and we slipped into the Nightsky.

"Jeremy this is Bruce. Bruce, Jeremy," I said.

"Hey, kid! What's up?" Bruce said, smiling.

"Oh uh...hi. Wow...this is...wow," Jeremy got lost in his reply.

I couldn't blame him. I remembered quite clearly the first time I'd gotten into this particular vehicle. I had been just as overwhelmed, if not more. I don't know if I have the words to explain how happy it made me to be on this end though. This poor kid had been through a lot and I had an unending panoply of ways to blow his mind with all the things I could do to make his life better. It gave me a much better perspective on how and why Theo had chosen to ease the pain his Mother caused him in such a way. I'd always known that doing nice things for people felt good, but this was a heady experience. The possibilities just wouldn't stop pouring into my head. But I had to focus.

"So...I know you said you just wanted to have some fun before having to change schools, but you also said you were going to miss your friends too, right? Were you maybe hoping to wait to register until you graduated high school?"

Jeremy flinched, "I...I mean I wasn't trying to lie to you or anything!"

I smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I know. And I'm not mad about it. So, what if I arranged for you to have private instruction and stay in your current school?"

His eyes went wide, "You can do that?"

I shrugged, "Sure. It might make things complicated for you at school and at home. Given your school record, most of the teachers there are going to have a conniption fit at the thought of it, so you'll have to be extremely convincing about having turned over a new leaf. And you'll have to do it without magic. But I'll make sure you have the opportunity to try,"

Jeremy leaned back into the seat cushion behind him, momentarily speechless.

"Why...why are you doing all this for me?" he asked in a bewildered tone.

I triggered the security mode which locked Bruce out of the conversation and turned on over a dozen anti-evesdropping devices.

"Lot's of reasons, kid. For starters, I didn't just unfrag your mind a little when I made you a Mystic Adept. I also made you my Priest,"

He leaned in and spoke in a hushed whisper, "So you...you really are...?"

I smirked a classic Theo-smirk, "More or less, yeah. Less Zeus, more Hercules. But close enough for this,"

His eyes went wide and I could see him trembling, not with fear, but awe.

"But I have something way more important than that to tell you,"

He sat up straight and his face turned a few shades whiter.

"A much bigger reason that I helped you is because something very bad happened to me and someone I love, and helping you eased my pain,"

His frozen awe turned to confusion, "I...I don't...really get it,"

I leaned towards him, "I just told you one of the most important secrets of the universe, kid. If you find you're feeling truly awful then help some one. Really help them. Not just like doing their homework for them. Help them in as important of a way as you can, and in a way you know for a fact they will appreciate. That last part can be tricky, but if you get it right, no anti-depressant or BTL can compare. But there was an even bigger reason I helped you. Are you listening?"

He nodded his head in obvious enthusiasm, so I drew the moment out staring him in the eyes to build the anticipation.

"Because you needed it. Because it was the right thing to do. Because honor and decency demanded it. And since you're my Priest, I expect the same from you,"

He sat back more slowly this time as the meaning of my words seemed to slowly dawn on him, "....oh,"

"But don't worry. I was never going to throw you out into the world with all expectations and no support. You just got into trouble way faster than I expected. I'm not infallible, and I don't expect you to be. But I do expect you to be honorable, but I'll teach you that too. Now my schedule's pretty booked these days, but we'll work something out. Maybe even take you out and get you on an episode,"

"Episode?" Jeremy asked, clearly jarred by the sudden transition.

"What, you've never watched This Old Mall?" I said, with Theo's smirk back on my face.

His eyes went wide. Again. God I never got bored of seeing that. He literally pointed a shaking finger at me. God it was so adorable, "Y-You're Miho Tanaka!"

My drek-eating grin could not have been wider as I leaned back, with my arms spread out, "The one and only,"

We spent the rest of the day together, until well past sunset. I even let him introduce me to a few of his friends, and they watched on the sidelines while I gave him his very first magic lesson. I made sure his first Adept Power was the same as mine. I even stayed long enough to introduce myself to his father, who recognized me immediately. I explained some of the situation to him, even if I did have to make up a few details here and there, and he agreed to take a day off work so he could take his son to get tested personally, not that I had to twist his arm or anything.

I did a good thing that day, and even in his absence I felt like I'd come to understand Theo better by stepping into his shoes, than I ever had by standing next to him.

When he got back, no matter how bad it was, I knew I could make it better.

 

[Erenthia]

AN: This chapter will NOT be crossing into NSFW territory, don't worry.

---

In all the craziness, I'd gotten out of the habit of practicing daily meditation, but after my cultured bioware finally got installed, I'd felt the need to take it back up. Why, you might ask? Well, honestly I was starting to feel like I was losing my identity. With the damage to my magic and mortal essence from my cyberware installation healed, I'd gone straight for the cultured bioware the moment it became available. Thing is, with the exception of the Internal Commlink, I hadn't been using them very much. Oh sure, I'd slot a knowsoft here and there while I was working when I came across a topic I didn't feel competent enough in, but I hadn't even tried an Activesoft even once. Dumping a little extra knowledge into my brain temporarily only seemed natural since my new job required so much of me, but I'd only picked up the ability to grant myself new physical skills via software just in case. Okay, if I'm being honest, I still remembered that time Tabitha had sent Theo and me to a ballroom dance with less than an hour of prep time and he had to give me a crash course. I made it through without utterly embarrassing myself but still if I could have become a competent dancer in the time it took to download an activesoft, I would have felt a lot better.

So the basic cyberware hadn't challenged my self-identity much, even if they were convenient. But frankly, somebody should put a warning label on these mental augs. Something like: Warning: too many mental upgrades too quickly can leave you wondering if you're still you. That bizarre feeling I got from the Improved Logic spell? That was all the time now, even if it wasn't as intense. And the combination of the Cerebral Boosters and Cerebellum Boosters created an almost gestalt effect. I understood things more instinctively now and formed connections far more easily, which meant together I was forming connections between multiple things I would never have noticed. And one of the first things I noticed was how inefficiently I'd been using my resources. Ten minutes after I left the clinic I got myself a Platinum Subscription to a wireless skillsoft network, which gave me access to essentially any skillsoft imaginable and I could swap them on the fly. And then I noticed immediately, that I could do even better. Because there were simply too many skillsofts to keep track of. Oh sure, my Mnemonic Enhancers meant I could memorize a list of them all, but frankly that was beneath me at this point. So I commissioned a custom knowsoft to function as a catalog of all known skillsofts along with the ability to recognize which skills would be useful in which situations, and then licensed it back to the subscription company, which brought in significantly more money than the platinum subscription level cost. Yes, it was that popular. Especially with executives, it turned out, because it helped them figure out what sorts of experts they needed on a project. How had no one thought of that?

I kept that one loaded at all times, which meant as I walked around in my everyday life I could immediately know which skillsofts would be useful for a particular task that needed doing and switch to them in a handful of seconds. From an outside perspective, I essentially had a Master's degree in everything and could competently perform any physical task. Skillsofts for explicitly magical skills like Conjuring or Enchanting simply couldn't be made, but they had one for the kind of magical knowledge you could learn in a classroom called, 'Arcana' which served to help direct me in how I should develop my magic and augs as well as giving me a decent understanding of where to focus my energies on developing my divine power. But then I hit a dead end. Not a technical one, but an emotional one.

Because I was starting to forget who I was. I loaded up some psychology and therapy skillsofts and immediately realized the problem. Boundaries provide definition. And while it's heroic to struggle against your boundaries, not having them at all can lead to serious identity crises. No wonder rich kids ended up as BTL addicts all the time. It wasn't always that they were spoiled. For many, without boundaries, they didn't know who they were and it was literally killing them. Theo had never had that problem because Tabitha had constantly pushed him to the limits of his abilities, and quite often, beyond them. He had developed other neuroses of course, but I was becoming increasingly suspicious that they had been intentional on Tabitha's part. His desperate need to help and to give and to share were things she'd programmed into him, even if I still couldn't guess why. My problems laid along a different path. I'd had boundaries, but almost all of them had gone up in smoke. I was rich, connected, my magic broke every conceivable rule, and now I was a borderline genius and had access to literally all the skills. I could, if I wanted, just change my entire life and become a security decker or a librarian, or a bartender or a rocket scientist or a poet or...well just about anything. I was still better at punching and I was making good progress on my magic, but that was entirely beside the point. The limitations that had defined my identity didn't exist anymore. And the more I thought about it, the more ways I could think of to push myself even higher.

So I'd gone back to meditation. I couldn't afford to impose artificial limits on myself, at least in terms of practical ability. The stakes were too high now. But I needed something. I needed an anchor. I focused on a physical image of myself or imagined doing various tasks. Eventually, I started a roving mantra starting with, "Miho Tanaka is not..." and then trying to fill in the blank with as many things as possible. A pattern quickly emerged. Most of my boundaries were now ethical or moral or couched in the traditions of Bushido. Oh, I'd probably never be the world's greatest cook or fashion designer, but as much as skillsofts had hard limits in terms of depth their limitless breadth was far more of an issue.

<Miho-san? I've completed the work you've requested> the big guy interrupted my thoughts telepathically.

We'd had our very first conversation out loud, but telepathy was far safer. And after the installation of my cultured bioware, the second thing I'd thought of was seeing if I could put the big guy to work.

<I appreciate you're hard work, Ignis Divine. I don't know what I would do without you> I replied.

Because while he had no physical form, he still had a mind and knowledge and the ability to process information and learn. And the Redmond Program needed as many sources of income as possible. So I taught him everything I could about modern magic - and he'd already learned a lot from Theo - and put him to work designing new spells. With Theo's access, it was trivial to put together a fake R&D department staffed with fake people. And we'd be collecting royalties for the Redmond Program indefinitely if it paid off.

<I require no flattery nor am I quick to offense. Further, I am aware that you and Theodore refer to me as 'The Big Guy' and I find it quite amusing,>

I exhaled, <I appreciate that...big guy. I'm sure I'll adjust soon. So how many did you finish?>

<As I said, my work is complete. All twelve spells are ready for initial testing>

I can't tell you why I was so surprised. And really, I was starting to not be. I'd come up with a list of spells that my Arcana skillsoft said should be relatively possible and that my enhanced business skills told me would be quite profitable. And then I'd come up with a second list of spells that I thought I might be able to cast even if others couldn't. That second list included a spell for materializing my astral form and temporarily pushing my body into the manasphere the way Theo could, while the first included things like a Heal spell useable at range, a permanent Alleviate Addiction spell, and a permanent Alleviate Allergy spell. We couldn't know if any of them would work until we tested them, but if even half of the for-profit spells worked out, we'd never have to worry about funding ever again.

<Again, thank you. Umm...are you physically capable of not listening in on my conversations?>

<Technically no, but if you wish, I can proceed as if I heard nothing. And if it is your intention to return me to Theodore, I'm sure he will respect your privacy,>

I sighed. It's not that I didn't trust the big guy to be discreet, it's just that the conversation I was about to have would be profoundly more awkward if I knew someone was listening in. And I didn't dare just put Luna's Treasure in a box or a safe, at least not for so trivial a reason.

<I appreciate that. Also if you could uh...>

<I will not interject my thoughts unless directly asked,>

The knock came at my office door and I didn't even need to check the time. Anna was to-the-minute prompt so the very fact that she was here told me what time it was. I sent the Open command to the door over my internal commlink and sure enough, it was Anna. She dressed less like a Madam now and more like an executive, at least most of the time. She still wore her kabuki mask when going through any public areas though. I could see it in her left hand right now, which meant she'd worn it on the way over.

"You wanted to see me?" Anna asked.

I'd told her it was a personal matter and not an emergency, but also something important. That seemed to leave her a little confused, but we'd grown closer over the year-and-change we'd known each other.

I stood up and moved to my office's sofa and gestured for her to do the same.

"So uh..." I began, not really sure how to begin. And immediately my index-knowsoft brought to mind skillsofts for Etiquette, Leadership, and even Con Artistry...and I kinda didn't want that. I considered using one, but then I realized my reason for doing so was fear, and then I couldn't.

"Is this about sex?" Anna asked.

My eyes went wide, but she didn't give me time to respond.

"Oh uh...I was joking there. Look, I'll tell you the same thing I told Robin. I know you want to do something special for Theo when he gets back, but I never frag guys if there's the slightest chance my father might approve of them, and Theo - "

"What?" I shouted.

She looked at me in obvious confusion, "You mean you weren't looking to...?"

"NO! I...wait, you mean Robin...no what am I saying of course she did," I rubbed my forehead for a minute then turned back to her, "What...about your girls? Did she try to hire any of them?"

Anna smirked, "Pretty sure it's in my contract that I can't talk about that...." then she leaned in and looked both ways before saying, "but yeah, she totally did. He didn't like the idea at first, but then they came up with the idea of him co-domming Robin with them and he seemed to like it, but he never actually fragged them,"

I sat back. I wasn't sure if I wanted to hear this, but I also really really wanted to hear it.

"I...I mean, Robin would never shut up about how kinky Theo was. And honestly, that's mostly why I asked you here,"

Anna tilted her head slightly, "Wait...you and Theo never..."

I winched, "Actually..."

"Holy drek you're a virgin!" Anna shouted, and I struggled not to punch her in her goddamn face out of sheer embarrassment.

"You remember I'm a physical adept, right?" I said through clenched teeth.

And yet she still seemed to be struggling not to laugh, "No no no, I'm not laughing. It's not funny at all!"

And yet the smell of raw sewage...

"I. Can. Smell. Lies."

"Okay okay okay, sorry," and she started to calm down a little, "So you want, what? First-timer advice? Something more personal than you could get off the matrix? Something specific to Theo?" Anna asked.

I shrugged, "I...don't actually know. Honestly, if Robin could have just kept her mouth shut this probably wouldn't be so difficult,"

"You mean the 'Theo's a saint because he keeps all his evil in his penis' line? God, she thought that was so clever,"

God, I missed her. We all did.

"Yeah...that. And about a million other things. As long as I've known him, I never would have pegged Theo for a sadist," I told her.

"I mean, I was pretty relieved actually," Anna said learning back and placing her arm along the back of the sofa, "I mean, that he was a sadist in the kinkster sense. Made me stop worrying he was hiding something awful,"

I raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Oh yeah. I mean, my first worry was that he was your standard corporate prince douchebag. Then I worried he was super repressed, which frankly can end up a lot worse. But when I found out he had an outlet that was safe, controlled, and ethical, I realized he had a decent handle on himself,"

"Huh..." I said and paused for a minute thinking.

"So...you're worried both about either jumping into the deep end of the pool when your feet have never even touched the water, or about not making him happy. Am I right?"

I took a deep breath, "Yeah...that's...yeah,"

Anna leaned back in and put one of her hands on top of one of mine, "Don't worry, this one's easy. He's your sensei,"

I felt my brow furrow as I said, "Uh...what?"

"Just like you were his martial arts sensei. He's your sex-sensei. And you're welcome," and something about Anna's big goofy grin actually made me feel reassured, even if I didn't quite catch her meaning.

"So where is he anyway? If you're allowed to say. I assume his absence has something to do with your project?" Anna continued.

Oh that's right. I hadn't told her.

I squirmed, "No uh...we already took our shot. It went south pretty hard. Now he's with his mother,"

Anna froze, and I mean like Paralysis spell froze.

"Anna?" I asked.

Her tone shift scared me even more. Every word that came out of her mouth sounded like tightly controlled terror, "Do you know where they went? How long they'll be there?"

"I don't know where but she said she'd enrolled Theo in the upcoming semester at MIT&T so...about a month and a half at the latest at this point. Anna, what's wrong?"

"Miho...do you know what ASIST is?" Anna asked with a tone like she was getting ready to tell a horror story.

My index-knowsoft brought to mind a number of skillsofts which I loaded immediately.

Artificial Sensory Induction Systems Technology was the underlying technology that led to simsense recordings, and by extension BTLs, and even the skilljacks I was using to know about it, along with lots of other technologies but it was more than that. Because there was also Programmable ASIST Biofeedback which allowed for terrifyingly precise forms of brainwashing.

That wasn't the real issue at all, of course, but it did serve as an analogy for the real problem. I didn't know for a fact whether or not Theo could resist the PAB process, but it was irrelevant. Because Tabitha McWellan could just as easily have her hands on some kind of Divine equivalent.

<Big Guy?>

<Yes, I'm afraid there are many such possibilities. The Saphhire Circle Spell Three-fold Binding of the Heart comes immediately to mind. And there has been a great deal of time for more such things to be invented, however I will point out that she has had ample time to use such things already and has not. There may be no need to worry,>

"I mean...don't you think she would have done that already if she was going to?" I asked Anna.

She gave me the most diminutive shrug I've ever see. I'd never seen her this lacking in confidence, "Maybe. It depends on how bad it went. Did she seemed surprised by his...misbehavior?"

I sighed in relief and shook my head, "Oh...uh, no. Not at all. In fact she seemed to have factored it into her plans,"

Anna winced and scratched the back of her head, "That...might just mean she decided to do it earlier. Look, I can't tell you one way or another if you need to worry. Just...just keep your eyes open when he gets back,"

I nodded. I needed to get Anna out of here so I could concentrate on my conversation with the big guy.

"I um...might want to check a few things now that you mentioned it. See what I can find,"

"Yeah. Definitely. I'll get out of your hair," and she was gone, even without a formal goodbye.

<Hey, so uh...did you and Theo ever talk about spells like that and ways to get around them?> I asked.

<I believe I mentioned that one in particular during a general overview of Exalted Sorcery.>

<What and he didn't jump on it immediately? It's definitely the kind of thing he'd want to know more about. How to defend against it. If it had ethical implementations. I'm sure he would have wanted to spend a lot of time on it,>

<Hmm...interesting>

<What? What is it?>

<There appears to be a gap in my memory,>

 

[Krule]

For a solar, the best defenses against altering your personality, motives and desires can be found under integrity charms, rather than sorcery

 

[Erenthia]

It was all starting to be too much. Again. Even with all my divine power and new augmentations, this just wasn't my field. There was this one time, on Theo's 15th birthday in fact, after Tabitha had burned someone and we'd failed to save them, Theo had suggested we run off and become shadowrunners. He could be 'Theseus' and I'd be 'Selina'. But I just wasn't built for that and neither was he. And it wasn't just a matter of spending your life looking over your shoulder and never knowing who to trust. Theo and I were both the type to put down roots and get involved in a community. And as shadowrunners we'd not only have to stay anonymous, but we'd also have to overlook too many of the world's ills just to stay off Tabitha's radar. We couldn't get involved. That wasn't who either one of us was.

And as much as my abilities and capacities had expanded, I'd spent too much time internalizing the Code of Bushido to wrap my head around all this devious plotting. The big guy and I were fairly confident that the gaps in his memories were Theo's doing, directly or indirectly, but we weren't sure why. It could have been that he was doing something he knew I wouldn't approve of or it could be that knowing his plan could be dangerous or it could even be that he did it because he wanted me to investigate for some reason. I needed help, but before that I needed rest. Eventually, I knew, I would get help from Robin's Team, and even seek out Isis's wisdom. Maybe I'd even invite Anna into the circle of trust. After all, they came from similar spheres and she could have critical insights into Theo's motivations that even I wouldn't have.

But first: rest. And by 'rest' I meant getting back to work I knew how to do. And today's task consisted of one of Theo's pet projects: The Infrastructure-In-A-Can Megamachine. Theo had gotten a design team working on the thing years ago in hopes of one day getting the Redmond Program going. In concept, the Megamachine seemed pretty simple. You take an unfolding array of Sun-Cells, as big as you can get, an industrial water purifier with a rain capture system, a campus scale satnet uplink and a drone rack for some lighter-than-air drones (we'd gone with Horizon Mini-Zeps for obvious reasons) to act as range extenders and stuff them all into a shipping container. In practice, that had taken some time and research to get just right. It didn't provide anyone with food or shelter, but it was a big step up for large swaths of the Barrens. And it also acted as a means of concentrating authority. Whoever we gave them to would have a much greater ability to get people behind them, and they would owe us.

Combine that with a few shipping containers of inflatable semi-permanent emergency shelters and desktop aeroponics chambers and you could really get something going. It wouldn't be as productive as the industrial aquaponics facility we'd set up on the first floor of Squatters Mall for producing fish and real coffee, but for most of the people of the Barrens it was a major step up. The Agents of Lucifer had been in talks with leaders of The Plastic Jungle, that haphazard pseudo-farm that had started out as a series of kilometers wide mega-tents built by some wealthy industrialist but had long since been overtaken by neoprimitive human-skeptics. Lucifer, of course, had never revealed what metatype he was, and plenty of our agents weren't human so getting in the door hadn't been the hard part.

No, the hard part was that they were neo-primitives and thus, wanted to avoid technology wherever possible. It's not that they didn't use guns, of course, but they preferred to avoid using tech wherever possible. To be fair to them, that mostly meant not using commlinks even if they could, in principle, get their hands on them. Or other forms of entertainment tech. Depravation and Pain have ways of making people practical, but ideology isn't so easily defeated. Convincing them to make use of our tech wouldn't be impossible, but it was proving to be a hard sell. Trading more old-fashioned farming equipment had gotten things started though, and since they'd suffered almost continuous raids on their food stores practically since the place had gotten started, they were interested in surveillance drones for security purposes, even if they didn't like that they were interested.

So I pulled a Theo. I got them to agree to microtransmitters instead of commlinks, and stationed a Rigger there full time to do the surveillance and act as front line deterrance. That way they didn't have to get their hands dirty with tech directly but could still benefit from it. In return, they agreed to grow some cash crops for us. It wasn't everything we'd been hoping for, but it was progress.

The Rats Nest was...a different kind of problem entirely. As a community of a thousand people living on an old landfill where toxic chemical had been seeping into the ground for nearly a hundred years and eking out a living through scavenging, the leaders there were more than happy to accept any assistance, especially if it had Lucifer's stamp of approval on it. But much like Squatter's Mall, their leadership had some significant corruption to it. I didn't have the time to focus on it, the way Theo and I had at the beginning of the Squatter's Mall project, and we were stretched too thin to just go in and kill whoever we had to and replace them. (Although I was looking into it). In return for our assistance, the people there owed us their time and we put them to work educating themselves. Also they had to let in a film crew. While Plastic Jungle had turned out to be a non-starter on that front, the people of the Rats Nest were mostly happy for the attention. As Theo's stand-in legally speaking, I had full editorial control over all these trideos now, and I made damn sure people were getting a real look at what life in the Barrens was really like.

Also, the Mafia and Yakuza were starting to put out peace-feelers. In Theo's absence, I had stepped up operations against them personally. You might have heard things about the Yakuza being sort of "street heroes" and that could be true from time to time. So I went out of my way to leave those who were known to help alone. But I absolutely crushed the rest of them. Anything of theirs in Redmond was fair game and I was bringing down buildings every day. Force 12 spirits were nice like that. They retaliated here and there, but everytime they did, I'd show up at an Oyabun's or Don's house, rip through their magical security like it was nothing and show them just how vulnerable they were. Our analysts projected they would go bankrupt in a year at this rate, and they must have known it because they pulled absolutely everything out of Redmond.

It was mine now.

But it had been a clever play on their part. Because pulling out so quickly left a huge power vacuum. Oh we were certainly poised to fill it, but that required extensive resources and our actions against the nastier portions of their sex industries, the Bunraku parlors and child brothels, suffered a significant slow-down. And while we would be working to solidify our hold on Redmond, they could rebuild their assets outside it with less interference. And on top of that, they'd doubled down on Pullyap Barrens, Seattle's other, slightly less famous post-apocalyptic wasteland. Plus they could send in assets to disrupt and slow down our efforts.

It was shaping up to be a long war, so they'd offered us an arrangement. In an uncharacteristic display of unity, all the Mafia families and Yakuza gumi in Seattle got together and promised they'd acknowledge our claim over Redmond if we - or rather Lucifer - would halt all actions against them outside of Redmond. We'd still be able to send deniable assets against each other, that was a given, but it would bring down the level of hostility and the amount of destruction to the "cost of doing business" levels for both of us.

There wasn't a single skillsoft that could make this decision obvious. I needed truly expert multidisciplinary advice, so I called in The Deliberative.

So, now I was sitting in the Deliberative's secret Host, in a private virtual room designed to look like a comfortable study. A fireplace spread virtual warmth throughout the room and bookshelves covered every wall. But unlike a study, it had a fairly basic conference table instead of a desk and I was sitting at the head. To my left were Alex and Izaya and to my right were three members of The Deliberative I'd never met.

"Hello again, Tanaka-san. Any word on Theodore's return?" Izaya asked.

Theo's mandated therapy had meant there was no hiding his departure from them, not that I would have wanted to anyway. Just a few days after Tabitha had taken him, I'd gotten a call asking if everything was okay. Theo's no-call no-show for his scheduled therapy didn't match his usual behavior and they were worried something was up.

I shook my head, "No, nothing. But there's still time before the upcoming semester at MIT&T so I'm hoping to hear from him soon,"

Alex nodded, "I did some digging myself. Apparently Tabitha is listed as on sebatical with an expected return date compatible with that theory. Also, we've gotten our hands on some portable scanners that you should be able to use on Theo to see if she's used PAB to mess with his head,"

I nodded, "Thank you,"

It wasn't any kind of relief, but I wasn't quite ready to loop in the The Deliberative on Tabitha's true nature. I'd leave that one up to Theo.

Alex continued, "Oh and this is Derick Cox from Evo, Jonas Durst of Saeder-Krupp and Nobutada Saji of Renraku,"

He gestured to each in turn. I'd never met them before, but I had a knowsoft for public figures. Derick was a dwarf whose family had bought into Evo in the early days and rode the lightning to fame and fortune. He'd focused most of his public life on pushing a transhumanist agenda with a specific focus on things like ending disease, aging, and starvation. One of his more notable projects involved gene therapies to give the body the ability to manufacture it's own vitamins. Jonas, a human, descended from nobility, but his ancestors had caught on to the fact that corporations were the future and had no intentions of being left out of that. In fact, one of his ancestors had personally negotiated with Lofwyr back in those early days when the Great Dragon had first awakened. Saji, another human, didn't come from ancestral wealth, but had been hand picked by another Deliberative member, just as I had been by Theo, so the Deliberative could gain a member in Renraku. He wasn't on the board, but he was the COO, which was still rather significant. More significant than my position in Horizon, even with my vaunted Pito score.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you," I began, "have you all been briefed about the nature of this meeting?"

A round of nods told me to continue.

"So as you know, the various Mafia Dons and Yakuza Oyabun have offered me - or rather Lucifer - a treaty. They'll stay out of Redmond and we will leave their operations outside of Redmond in peace. And I find I'm having some difficulty is parsing all of the strategic and ethical implications. Further, with Theo being MIA, I don't have anyone to work through this with. So I appreciate all of your help in coming here today,"

Saji smiled, "We are glad to provide you with whatever assistance we may, Tanaka-san. But first, if I might ask, what have Lucifer's advisors suggested. Surely, they've been able to advise you on the strategic elements?"

I nodded, "We believe the offer is genuine, but there are concerns. First, it will result in a major build-up in their Pullyap operations, which is an area we had been planning on expanding into. Secondly, there's the issue of uniting the Yakuza and Mafia, and although our actions have led to that to a degree, we're not entirely certain whether a temporary peace will unite them more or less than pursuing conflict. But it can't be denied that having them out of Redmond entirely would almost entirely cement our control over the area,"

Jonas raised an eyebrow, "What about the Triads? The Ancients or the Seoulpa Ring? Seattle has no shortage of criminal organizations."

I tried not to laugh. Not that he was wrong, oh no. It's just that that was a good candidate for Understatement Of The Year.

"We've been doing this for a long time, Mr Durst. Most of the other Seattle-wide gangs or syndicates don't bother trying to make a profit in Redmond. They tend to use it primarily for warehousing and headquarters, although they certainly do snatch people off the streets for sex work or unskilled labor manufacturing drugs or BTLs. But they've seen our war with the Yakuza and Mafia and if we do choose to make peace, they'll know they're next if they don't stop. We'll allow them to operate in our territory so long as they leave the people who live there alone,"

Saji raised an eyebrow, "Interesting. Is that not the Yakuza way? At least the Yakuza I am familiar with already tend not to involve themselves with those who do not involve themselves first. Furthermore, do they not provide services to the common man that cannot be acquired through other means?"

I cringed slightly, "It's been my experience that the honor of the Yakuza has been largely overstated, though I admit that my experience is limited to Seattle. And Theo and I find Bunraku parlors to be a blight on the metahuman races only surpassed by child prostitution. Whatever help they do provide, is far beneath what we have been able to do,"

Saji seemed shocked with his mouth hanging slack-jawed like that. It was a very undignified expression for a person of his station. And something in his eyes looked...hurt?

Derick stepped in to fill the silence, "It almost sounds like you've already made your decision,"

"Not at all," I responded immediately, "I can't overlook the good we can do in Redmond by making peace with them, but it could sacrifice our long term prospects in the greater Seattle area if we do. And that's to say nothing of turning a blind eye to sexual slavery, particularly of children. And yet if we don't, I can't guarantee that this program has any long term prospects at all,"

"I recommend you take the deal, " Izaya said, "If necessary, we can always fabricate a new player in the Seattle arena once your position there is more secure, and have that fictional gang leader apply pressure in Pullyap and beyond. In the mean time, we can work on bringing the costs down for realistic sex robots. Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't put more effort into that. Theodore should know that to a destroy a market, you must attack both supply and demand,"

I sat up slightly, "I...yes I suppose we should have. But in our defense, we've had our hands full with our existing operations,"

Derrick shrugged, "It's a hard project to defend. No-one wants to publicly cater to the pedophile market, in particular. Terrible PR. But if it saves even a few children, it's worth doing if you ask me,"

"I...believe I can assist with market penetration efforts, at least in the Japanese Imperial States where I reside," Saji replied, though he seemed fairly distracted. Had I offended him that much? As a C-Suite member of Renraku, he was surely in deep with the Yakuza, but surely he didn't have any illusions about what they were. Did he?

Jonas frowned and nodded, "It's not like a robot can't run a p-fix, and the corps have used the 'more real than real' line in marketing so often people hardly question it anymore. But I believe we gotten off topic. Tanaka-san, if this were an easy decision, you would not have come to us. I'm afraid, at least on ethical grounds, all I can say is that none of us will judge you harshly no matter what you choose, but Izaya is right. The best plan, strategically is to solidify your grip on Redmond. This is a long game we play, here in the Deliberative, and you have to adjust your thinking accordingly,"

I nodded, but said nothing. It didn't feel right leaving the people of Pullyap and the wider Seattle area to the tender mercies of the syndicates, but we had to solidify our position. And we could help them in other ways once we were secure.

"But if I may ask a question, Tanaka-san," Saji said after a moment, "Are the gumi of Seattle truly so despicable?"

I took a breath and tried to keep an even tone, "I had a friend named Robin. She didn't die at the hands of the Yakuza, but she did live under them. They took her off the streets of Redmond at the age of six to work in their Bunraku parlors. They loaded her up with shame and fear BTLs so often she lost the ability to experience those emotions. She lived that way for ten years until Theo freed her and made her one of his Agents. I've certainly known individual Yakuza who did the occasional nice thing for people. Even an Oyabun or two. But mostly only for Japanese people. And even then, mostly only to soothe their consciences. Which, in the end, just makes them another corp. At least to me. But since I have answered you're question, I would like you to answer one of mine. What are they to you? Beyond useful puppets from time to time?"

Saji sat up and took a deep breath and held it for a moment, "The Yakuza saved my life as a young man. I will not lie to you, Tanaka-san. When I was with them, I did many things I now regret. Many things I regretted even as I did them. But at the time, they were the only ones who would accept a Burakumin into their ranks, or treat our families with respect or protect us at all, even for pay,"

My eyes went wide. Saji's past would have had to have been a complete fabrication for that to be true. The Burakumin were the decendents of the Eta, the Japanese untouchable class from fuedal times. And we Japanese? We have long memories. There was simply no way the Japanacorps would let a Burakumin that high up the corporate ladder.

What made matters worse, at least for me and in this situation, was that I was Samurai. I was descendant of the highest caste of fuedal Japan, regardless of being born a Barrens Rat. My thoughts flickered to Theo for a moment and I thought I felt a tiny glimmer of the shame he must have felt every time he had to face the fact that society said he was a higher order of being entirely from those born in the Barrens. My god, no wonder he turned out the way he did. I knew now how desperate he must have been for people to know he didn't feel that way, because I was feeling it now.

"I..." I began, but hesitated. I had absolutely no idea what to say except, "I'm sorry,"

Saji smiled, but I saw the pain in his eyes, "I hold you no animus, Samurai-sama. I know the Yakuza make many compromises. And I will use what connections I have to gentle the gumi of Seattle. I can make no promises, of course, but my voice still has sway even as far away as the UCAS."

And there had been no bitterness or irony in his voice when he'd referred to me as a Samurai.

"Uh...thank you...Nobutada-dono," I replied.

He smiled and waved me off, "No, Tanaka-san. The only Samurai I let call me that is my wife,"

I smiled and I saw Izaya take Alex's hand. Jonas and Derrick seemed a little uncomfortable, but we were basically done here. The ethics were a coin flip and the strategy seemed clear. I knew which way to go. So we said our overly formal goodbyes. I exited VR and jacked out...

...only to find Squatter's Mall in bedlam.

 

[Erenthia]

Just some random thoughts I had at work today.

Spoiler: Theodore McWellan

Spoiler: Miho Tanaka

Spoiler: Tabitha McWellan

 

[Erenthia]

So when reading through previous chapters I noticed a pretty major narrative error in Book 2, Chapter 2. It didn't take much to fix, but to see the revision, do a search for "So where is he"

Next chapter should be in a couple of hours

 

[Erenthia]

I heard gunfire and screaming and ran towards them. I had been in Emergency Only mode on my commlink while in the Deliberative's Host, but emergency texts should have still gotten through. By the time I'd gotten to the main area outside my office, I'd already figured out why. All wireless matrix communication had been jammed. And while the various floors of Squatter's Mall were mostly cut off from one another, each floor a ceiling and each ceiling a floor, the central area was open all the way to the skylights above. So from my current position, I could look down and see a small platoon of soldiers firing indiscriminately into shops while standing in a field of shattered glass. At least half a dozen residents were dead.

It's hard to explain my state of mind in that moment. A small but distant part of me noted that an attack like this was almost certainly a distraction and that the main action - their real reason for coming here - would be somewhere else. But most of me was panicking. I'd never responded to danger quite like that before. I had this deep sense of dread and horror unlike anything I'd ever felt and I didn't know why. But I didn't have time for introspection.

So I jumped.

As I fell, I called on the manasphere to protect me with the most powerful Armor spell I dared, coming right up to the limits of where I'd be risking myself real harm. I contemplated using an area spell, but I didn't know for a fact that the people on the ground at their feet were dead yet, so I switched to Astral Perception and discovered I'd been right to be conservative. Several of them were centimeters away from death but if I could get to them in time, I could still save some of them.

Three stories later I hit the ground with my katana drawn and the armor spell taking the majority of the impact. That's when I realized just who I was dealing with. In retrospect, I should have used the Visual Magnification power that I'd gotten from the collection of foci Theo had given me, but I simply hadn't had cause to use it much and so it hadn't occurred to me. Or maybe it's better that I didn't. I might have hesitated to jump into the middle of 20 Red Samurai.

This was about Anna.

I remembered thinking that I wasn't a match for even one of them back when Anna had first brought them up. But I'd still been mortal at the time. Now I was going to rip these assholes apart. You come into my town and start shooting up the place? You don't walk out alive.

Principle of Motion

I slipped in and out slicing off limbs and heads but the carnage did nothing to alleviate my rage. In fact, it only grew. Killing them wasn't enough. I needed to humiliate and terrorize them. So I started getting fancy. I saw one of them raising his assault rifle towards me. I could have reached him before he got off his shot, but instead, I pulled one of his friends between us to take the burst fire, then pushed him into the gunman and ran both of them through with a single thrust. That left me in a bit of a vulnerable position, but it didn't matter. I released my grip on my katana and somersaulted into the middle of them, manifesting a Powerblade as I did. They tried switching to their own katanas...the morons, but it meant less than nothing. I couldn't manifest a tank-destroying blade the way Theo could, but my magic was more than enough for this. They hesitated, which gave me enough time for a second Powerblade and I was off to the races. I spun in circles while tracing out a larger circle along the floor like I was rolling along inside it, my strikes going both low and high as I ducked and jumped to dodge their return strikes. I was a blender. I was the Storm. And as my enemies fell to literal pieces before me, I felt no satisfaction. I needed more.

They'd fought me to the last man. In another situation, I would have called that bravery, but now it only seemed like they'd done me a convenient favor. It took me a moment to realize the fight was over, which is often how it feels when you win a fight, especially against multiple opponents. Then I remembered.

Looking around, I suddenly realized to my horror that those who had been hanging on to life when the fight started were now well and truly gone. Some had been hit by bullets that had been meant for me. Some simply faded away in the background, unable to hold on while I was busy showboating and indulging my wrath. I put a hand over my mouth in shock. They were all dead.

They were dead and I had killed them as surely as if I had pulled the trigger myself.

Because I could have ended that fight a lot quicker. I could have used area affect spells carefully enough to avoid innocents. I could have slipped in a healing spell or two into the middle of my assault. I could have summoned a spirit. And probably a lot of other things. But no, I had seen red and indulged myself and people were dead now because of it. I had lost students before. And it wasn't the first time since coming to Squatter's Mall that people had died. But I hadn't been running the place at the time. And even back when I ran my dojo, some of my students sometimes died, but it had never been because of me.

And there, in that moment, I felt a deeper shame than I had ever known. It wasn't guilt. I wasn't mopping. Instead, I felt an overwhelming wrath made of pure flame the size of Squatter's Mall itself all compressed into my heart and gut, and every last bit of it was directed at myself. I couldn't take it. I could handle that. I desperately, desperately needed to point that flame at someone else. So I focused on the attackers. These had only been distractions, so surely some were left. And then there was whoever ordered this...probably Anna's father. And I felt my heart turn from shame to a dark resolution.

And for the first time in my life, I understood what it was like to want to have someone crucified.

The wireless came back on as I extracted my katana from the corpses I'd made. Delucca told me what I already knew. While I had been with The Deliberative an armored transport aircraft had landed on the roof, taking out our anti-aircraft turrets out in a single volley, while simultaneously jamming all our wireless I asked, but no one knew where Anna was.

But I knew where she was going.

I cast a Levitate spell on myself to take me up through the hole in the skylight where the Red Samurai had come through. I didn't recognize the style of the aircraft, so it was probably something custom. Half-a-dozen Red Samurai were trailing behind an Eastern Drake - a humanoid dragon lacking any wings. And he was dragging Anna behind him. The Red Samurai opened up on me, but I wasn't going to waste time with them. I dismissed my Powerblades and hit them with a Manaball hard enough to get through my Drain resistance and wrack me with pain that very nearly made me pass out. But I endured. The Red Samurai on the other hand simply fell down dead in their tracks.

That got the drake's attention. I felt a huge surge in the manasphere as he conjured a ball of white fire and lobbed it at me.

"No," I said and backhanded the fireball off into the horizon.

His eyes widened and he grabbed Anna by the neck, but it was an empty threat. I knew precisely who sent him. So I floated myself closer but didn't quite land.

"I will leave this place now, and she is coming with me!" The drake growled.

"Thou shalt not," the theatricality was the only thing that let me contain my rage at this point.

"Miho!" Anna shouted while still trying to pull away from him, "he's my brother!"

I growled in loud frustration. That complicated things. I couldn't just kill him. I took a second to breathe. That's when I noticed he had a full daisho at his waist.

"A duel then," I offered.

The drake sneered, "Deception. The moment I release her she will run,"

"I won't!" Anna said and finally stilled herself.

The drake turned to her, "If you are deceiving me, I will kill many more people here before leaving to track you down again. You understand this?"

Anna nodded.

The drake let released her, "Then I agree, but we will fight unarmed."

I smirked as I landed. I couldn't help myself. He probably thought that was some kind of advantage for him.

"Agreed,"

I felt the manasphere moving and knew immediately he was casting a spell or two on himself, so I did the same. I canceled my Levitation and put everything I dared into an Improved Strength spell. I had every intention of making this fight a short one.

The drake took a tiger stance, which even for me as someone who likes things that are straightforward, seemed a little obvious to me. I took a horse stance, my right arm extended and my left arm chambered, both fists unclenched.

"Begin!" he shouted and rushed towards me.

I ducked under his first strike, and dove passed him while landing a body blow, "FIVE DRAGON FORCE BLOW!"

He flew into the air and sailed a couple of dozen meters before landing and skidding several more. I checked his aura to see if I'd killed him, but drakes were actually quite hardy. Still, he was out like a light though. Anna rushed to his side but quickly came to the same conclusion. Then she rushed to me and threw her arms around me.

I felt the rage drain out of me, slowly and incompletely, but I no longer felt the desperate need to destroy. I put my arms around her.

"Thank you for not killing him," she said.

I could see the intense shame in her aura, and that had put my own shame into context, "Anna, this isn't your fault. You can still stay and be part of this community. We just need to work quickly,"

She looked away, "How many people died?"

I sighed, "I don't know yet, but it looks like the evacuation protocols did their job. I'd be surprised if it was more than ten. Not counting the Red Samurai of course,"

She looked back at the group I'd taken out with a manaball before looking back at me, "I...what are you?"

And something about the possibility of sharing my secrets with her drained the last of my shame and even gave me a little hope.

"Promise you'll stay and I'll tell you,"

There'd been no one else on the aircraft, so we confiscated it and Robin's team started looking into having it auctioned on the black market. Anna's brother Daitan took some difficulty to restrain. We had jails of course, but nothing specifically for the Awakened and certainly nothing for a drake. So we had to rely on modern medicine. Dr. Fadil kept him unconscious for the moment while we figured out what to do. It hadn't been difficult for Opticon to extract the commcodes from Daitan's commlink, so we could contact Anna's father if we wanted to. But did we?

"Do you think he'd agree to a trade?" I asked Anna when we finally made it back to my office.

Anna shook her head, "Give back Daitan in exchange for letting me stay? I doubt that would work. You could probably get reparations for the Mall though,"

The casualty reports had finally come in. Delucca had managed to sound the alarm pretty quickly and Theo had been arranging escape routes since he was a little boy. And on top of all that, we'd been running drills almost since we got here. People hadn't really taken them seriously until after the Christmas Massacre, but by now everyone knew where to run when the alarms went off. Fewer than a dozen people had died.

I sighed. This was looking like one of those situations with no good options.

"What does your father really want from you? Just to control you? Or does he want an heir or something?"

Then Anna sighed, "Probably both,"

A wicked grin spread across my face, "And didn't you say he'd approve of Theo?"

Anna's eyes went wide, "You're kidding, right? Tell me you're kidding."

I shrugged, "Blame Robin, but no. But it doesn't have to be real. But we can use it to stall for time, can't we?"

"But Theo's not here!"

I smirked again, "Before he left he gave me power of attorney and access codes to...well everything,"

Anna's mouth dropped but she said nothing.

"So yeah, I can enter into a formal engagement on his behalf,"

Anna leaned in, "Miho that's not...that's not something to do lightly. If my father believes I'm engaged to Theo, we might not be able to get out of it. What about the two of you?"

It was like Robin's spirit had returned from the grave to possess me, "Horizon allows for polyamorous marriage contracts. We'll make it a three-way wedding,"

Anna sat back and paused, "I...I mean, does Theo even like me?"

I shrugged with only my left shoulder, "Worst comes to worst, he can just politely ignore any relationship you choose to have in the future. But I imagine he probably does find you attractive. I have it on good authority he has a thing for Asian women," I smiled.

Anna looked off, with that unfocused calculating expression she sometimes wore, "I mean...I could make it extremely difficult for my father to find me a husband. All I have to do is be open about my past,"

"Do it now," I offered.

"What?"

"Look, you're a known character in our ongoing reality series. Just get on a stream right now and reveal your identity. Leave out the part about your father killing the man you loved, but tell the whole world just how much of a whore you've been. It'll make our negotiating position stronger,"

Anna smiled for the first time I'd seen in a long while, "You're getting pretty good at this,"

I emailed her a link to the Squatter's Mall main streaming portal and I saw her take a deep breath. Then she put on her Kabuki mask, looked into her commlink and got started.

"Hello everyone. You all know me as Anna Wu. I've tended to stay behind the scenes and a lot of you have speculated on why. Well, today I'm going to tell you,"

She took off her mask, "My real name is Julia Ling. I'm a citizen of Renraku. And this is my story..."

 

[Erenthia]

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Dr. Fadil asked.

Anna and I had made our way down to the infirmary where Anna's brother Daitan still remained under sedation. We'd long ago moved Dr. Fadil to one of the larger spaces in the mall to accommodate all the autodocs and other medical equipment we'd had brought in. And like any other hospital, the place was organized around trying to waste as little of Dr. Fadil's time as possible. He had about half-a-dozen assistants he'd been personally educating for years to do initial diagnoses and could handle a lot of things on their own, especially now with access to real equipment. They were as well educated as licensed nurses, but only a few of them had had the time and inclination to get certified. For the vast majority of operations, they just dumped people in one of the autodocs even if they weren't using the actual software. As a self-contained, self-sterilizing environment there was hardly any reason not to use them. Occasionally, the nurses would need to fall back on the built-in software or call in Dr. Fadil himself, but that was pretty rare these days.

Instead, the good doctor spent most of his time with more difficult cases, doing administrative work, or training the nurses. And one of the more important techniques he'd taught them was medical restrainment, the use of chemicals and drugs to render someone incapable of resisting. Fairly common back then really. But drakes were a bit beyond their paygrade. Even Dr. Fadil wasn't entirely certain how long he could keep this up without either the techniques failing or going too far and doing lasting damage to him. So we'd moved him to our jail, gurney and all, and asked Dr. Fadil to set the wake-up routine

"We don't have a lot of options," I replied, "we need to know what he knows. Besides, I beat him once before, I can do it again,"

Dr. Fadil sighed and something about that made the lines and pockmarks on his face stand out against his mostly gray hair and tired eyes. Clearly, this job had aged him more than time ever had.

"And now you're on three different kinds of antibiotics as well as two stimulants just to be on your feet. Just because you don't seem to notice pain doesn't mean that you're damaged any less. And don't even begin to start making excuses about your strange healing powers. Those may make long-term consequences of injury less of a problem for you, but this is happening right now. Will you - "

"Thank you, Doctor, but for the time being, he's not going to be in any shape to fight. And I'm confident I'll be back in fighting shape before he is. Please, just get on with this," I interjected.

He wagged his head in frustration but said nothing. Instead, he simply tapped an AR Icon floating over Daitan's bed and it looked for a moment as though he'd leave in silence. But then he stopped as he passed me and turned to look me in the eyes.

"If he escapes - " he began.

"I know. Believe me. I know," I replied.

And then there were three. According to the doctor, it would be impossible to tell how long it would take for Daitan to wake up. So little medical information was publicly available about drakes we didn't even know what it meant that he hadn't reverted to human form. So, I started perceiving astrally. Even if he had the ability to mask his aura, there should be a brief moment of disorientation when he first woke up that would let me know he was awake and prevent him from tricking us that way. And once this part was over and we knew what we were doing next, Gregor's ally spirit Daisey should be enough to handle him. Like I said, people didn't know much about drakes.

For a while, Anna and I sat in silence. We'd expected to have been contacted by her father by now, but we'd had no word. Opticon was still trying to break into the stealth aircraft they'd flown in on - as well as Daitan's commlink - but so far no luck. Meanwhile, we had people assessing damages and scooping up the bodies of the Red Samurai. Some of Delucca's boys wanted us to sell them to ghouls as food, but that was mostly because they'd suffered the vast majority of the casualties. And frankly, I wasn't taking that off the table, but returning their remains was an option I wanted available when we started negotiating. I'd even balked on selling the flying stealth craft they'd flown in on. I was still taking offers, of course, but I wasn't committing to anything.

Anna looked worried, but she wasn't saying anything, so I decided to break the ice.

"So tell me about your brother," I began, "What's the best approach here?"

Anna winced, "Daitan...was always the loyal one. I was the one who couldn't stop rebelling. Aside from that, we were inseparable. He'd never hurt me. Any claim to the contrary is a bluff, like on the roof. It's going to be awfully hard to get him to cooperate without either threatening me or somehow making it seem like doing what you want is serving Father's interests. And I really don't recommend pretending you're going to hurt me. Daitan has a temper. A...well let's just say when he first transformed it was less of a shock and more of an 'oh that explains it' kind of experience,"

"But he never hurt you?" I asked.

"Only physically. But that was everyone really. It's probably the thing he's most ashamed of. He eventually did get himself under control. I remember when he was little though, seeing the horrified look in his eyes after he lost his drek and did something crazy. I think that's why he's so attached to our father. Daddy really laid down the law when he realized how bad the problem was. Personally put him through training-from-hell type stuff. Now he's a lot more disciplined, but the rage is all still there,"

I sighed. She'd given me a great lever for manipulating him, but I'd have to walk an awfully fine line.

"Anything else?"

Anna looked down at the floor for a moment, "He's probably pretty lonely. After I left...I mean he had mother and father, but most people kept him at a distance. We kept the fact that he was a drake secret, but they all knew he could fly off the handle at any moment. He had a very hard time connecting to anyone. And growing up, our parents weren't exactly available. For a while there, I was all he had,"

And since I was astrally perceiving this whole time, the shades of regret and sadness in her aura could not have been more obvious. I didn't exactly know what to say after that so I let the silence hang in the air for a moment.

Daitan's aura began to shift. He went from confused to irritated to afraid in a fraction of a second, but it looked like he didn't have any intentions of deceiving us on that.

"And now you have captured me as well,"

He pulled the medkit sensors off and sat up, and I knew immediately I could not show fear in this situation.

"I have no intention of keeping you here forever," I began, "I'll be sending you back to your father presently. So long as he agrees to grant Julia her freedom,"

He growled in rage, "YOU are the ones who have denied my sister her freedom! I came only to liberate her!"

And he believed every word. Anna looked at me, and I nodded.

"Dai, daddy's lying to you," she replied, "I'm here of my own free will,"

"You are under duress! Or you have been altered by ASIST feedback. I cannot believe anything you say!" he roared, but at the same time I could see in his eyes and his aura how deeply he felt for his sister.

"She is not," I interjected, "if I thought An - Julia wanted to go home, I wouldn't try to stop her,"

Daitan rushed for the bar but thankfully he didn't try to reach through them, "LIAR!"

Anna shook her head, "Dai, you know me. I was never the good little girl. How did you think I'd react to what father did!"

Daitan let go of the bars, "Father? What do you mean?"

Anna stepped right up towards the bars and put a hand through them to lay it on Daitan's shoulder, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised he didn't tell you. Daitan...father had someone killed. Someone I loved very much. I just couldn't stay after that. The people here...]I only met them about a year ago, and they aren't holding me against my will,"

His eyes went wide and I could see a truly massive flare of shame in his aura the likes of which I'd only ever seen on Theo. He pulled away from her and faced the far wall.

"You refer to Mr. Grimes?" he said in a quiet tone.

I looked at Anna. She hadn't given any information about her dead lover in the livestream, but I had to admit it was an odd name for someone living in the Japanese Imperial State.

"He told you?" she asked.

Daitan's whole aura turned to solid fear and nothing else. Almost nothing. I could see tiny strands of hope begin to flicker into existence.

"And if father had not done such a thing? Would you return?"

Anna dropped her hands from the bars and sighed, "Dai, he did do it. He told me himself! He went on and on about how unworthy Morgan was and about the purity of our bloodline. He wouldn't shut up about it!"

Daitan turned his head so he could see us even with his back still facing us, "It seems he lied to both of us then,"

Anna looked at me and I nodded. I'd never made my truth detection abilities public, and while our enemies might very well know about them, it would have just been stupid to make it blatantly obvious.

"What are you saying?" Anna said, looking back to Daitan.

He turned his face back to the wall again, "Father did not kill Mr. Grimes,"

It was the truth, or so he believed, "How do you know this?" I asked.

"Will you return?" Daitan asked, ignoring my question.

Anna clenched her jaw and her face turned to a stone mask, "Not of my own free will. I have a life here,"

I heard him take a heavy breath, "Then there is little point in telling you,"

"Dai, don't do that to me. What happened to Morgan?" she pleaded with him.

He said nothing and for a moment we found ourselves at an impasse. So I stepped in.

"Just because she likes her job and doesn't want to leave it doesn't mean she can't have a relationship with you. If you can convince your father to let her have her freedom you can still be part of her life,"

Even with his back to us, I could still see him shake his head, "That is impossible now,"

There were multiple possibilities here, but if Daitan knew for a fact that his father had lied about having Anna's lover killed, that meant he was covering for someone. Someone he loved. Someone he felt so close to that he was willing to endure his daughter's hate for years to protect them. Someone who, perhaps, had a history of violent anger issues. Someone who now believed that a relationship with Anna was impossible now that the truth was coming out.

"What is it?" Anna said, looking at me. She must have picked up on the fact that I'd put it together, even though she hadn't. The fear and vulnerability both on her face and in her aura rooted me to the ground, but I knew I couldn't keep this from her. I shut off my astral perception.

"Did you see him die?" I asked. I had to cut off any possibility of miscommunication or misunderstanding before I shared what I knew.

"Oh yes," he replied, almost absently.

Anna looked back and forth between us, but apparently she couldn't bring herself to speak.

"Tell her what happened. It's the only hope you have that she and your father will ever have any kind of relationship," I ordered.

Daitan finally found the courage to face Anna again, "You remember how we often liked to sneak out and explore the city without our security? Sometimes I would do this alone, even without you. And as we often did together, I would pretend to be a common street urchin. The day Mr. Grimes died, I had run afoul of some random street thug. He saved me, but when I offered my thanks he told me that no thanks were necessary because, in his estimation we were practically brothers. He knew who I was, but I refused to believe that he knew you at all. I could feel the rage building up in me with every word he uttered. And when he told me that you and he were lovers..."

He broke eye contact with Anna, looking down at the floor for a moment, before looking back up at her, "I lost all reason. When I came to my senses, he was dead at my feet."

Anna put a hand over her mouth and stepped back and in a brief moment of cowardice I was very happy that I'd turned my astral perception off.

"Father told me, of course, that he knew of your relationship. He had chosen to do nothing because he expected you to grow bored of him in time, but had plans to bribe him to leave you if it became necessary. I never knew he took the blame for my actions until today. Nor did I know he lied to me about your extraction. I do not expect your forgiveness, but I beg you to forgive father. He has done nothing but cover my shame,"

And now Anna was staring at me, "It's a lie right? Tell me it's a lie. It has to be a lie,"

I shook my head.

With what must have been a herculean effort, Anna managed to maintain her dignity as she walked out of the room. A moment of silence passed.

"And now?" Daitan asked.

"I'm going to have to negotiate with your father for reparations for this attack. This is Anna's home now and she wants to be here. You owe it to her to not interfere with those negotiations. Submit to imprisonment and you will be returned to your father unharmed,"

He shook his head, "I care not for my freedom. Only for my sister and my parents. Will they be family again?"

I shrugged, "I can't see the future, but if there's to be any chance of that, then they have to give her her freedom. Is there any chance of that?"

He took a deep breath, "That I do not know. But if you return my commlink to me, I will beg them to do so. Further, I will make reparations for this attack with my own funds, if I can meet your demands,"

His words were true, so I sent a text message off to Opticon to bring Daitan's commlink down to the jail.

I sat in on the conversation of course, and it turned out that Anna's father hadn't sent Daitan at all. He'd been running his own investigation into his sister's whereabouts indepent of his parents and when he'd found her he'd simply run in head first, hoping to bring her home as a conquering hero. Anna's mother left the call early on - apparently Anna had called her. So it was just the three of us after that. I made it clear that I had no intention of revealing Daitan's secret dracoform or selling him to any kind of black lab, but I wasn't letting him go until reparations were made. His father immediately offered me 20 million nuyen, and I tried not to agree too quickly.

And he agreed to let Anna stay. Over a commlink, I couldn't tell how much of what he was saying was the truth, but it really did seem like he wanted a relationship with his daughter more than anything else in the world. Even if it was just the occasional commcall.

Half-an-hour later, we were all back on the roof, the remains of the Red Samurai being loaded onto Daitan aircraft. I can't say I felt nothing over having killed 26 people over a misunderstanding, but at least it hadn't been my misunderstanding. You had to take comfort where you could find it.

"Goodbye my sister, "Daitan began now in his human form, "And though I do not ask your forgiveness, do not take that to mean I do not regret my actions. I would do anything to undo what I have done. But I would never - "

Anna practically leaped onto him and threw her arms around him and held him silently for a moment.

"I forgive you," she said, finally.

I could see the tears streaming down Daitan's face, but he said nothing at first.

But after a moment, he spoke,"Thank you,"

It was a profoundly bittersweet moment. Good people had died today and probably on both sides. We couldn't do anything about Daitan's side of things, but here in Squatter's Mall? We'd make it right. We'd find a way. And Anna had her family back. But it was more than that. With Anna able to operate in the open - I probably needed to start thinking of her as 'Julia' now - we had a lot more resources now. And as awful as it was, I couldn't deny the funds and allies in Renraku that she'd be able to call on now would help those still living in a meaningful way, not just in Squatter's Mall but throughout Redmond.

I wouldn't have ever wanted it to happen this way, but it had and I would weild any weapon life gave me against the darkness, even one forged in tragedy.

"So," Anna began after Daitan's stealth aircraft was out of view. She was smiling through the pain, but I didn't need to assense her to know that part of her knew true joy.

"Do I still get to marry Theo?"

 

[Erenthia]

It was, in a way, a sign of progress how poorly people were taking our response to the attack. The Christmas Massacre and other attacks had resulted in significantly more casualties, but at the time the residents of Squatter's Mall had responded to them with an almost hopeless stoicism. Of course, in those cases, and especially in the case of the Red Hot Nukes attack, they'd been given no small amount of closure due to the vengeance Theo had gotten for them. Now, the residents of the mall weren't feeling like they had to just shut up and take whatever life threw at them. And our miscalculation about how to deal with Anna's Julia's parents had resulted in the entire population of the mall taking roughly two seconds to realize that the attack had had something to do with her. And we hadn't been willing to lie about it, which led to some serious tempers flaring, albeit among a fairly small number of people. Many were upset we'd given Daitan back so quickly. Some wanted him executed, although most understood how infeasible that was. More wanted Julia fired and removed. We'd ended up giving the families of the victims a million nuyen each as a settlement, which when combined with Crimson Crush's cut, left just under four million for the general fund, which was just fine with me. We weren't expecting that money, and I still got queasy thinking about how we had turned a profit on the Nuke's attack. Although in retrospect, some of that money might have come from The Deliberative. The settlements eased the tensions, but a number of people still resented the fact that Julia wasn't being kicked out.

The only thing left to do was to get back to business as usual and hope tempers would die down. And since it wouldn't be long before Theo got back from whatever hell his mother had taken him to, I finally got off my ass and asked for Isis's help. I knew she'd be limited in what she could say, so I took a page from Theo's book and just asked her how to prepare for his return. The answer I got back was less than reassuring.

She didn't know.

And it wasn't that she couldn't tell me. She was surprisingly straightforward on the matter. She simply had no idea what to do, other than what the big guy had already told me to do. I needed to be ready for Theo to be a mess, but other than that, she had no idea. Also, she couldn't tell me any of what she'd discussed with Theo because he was also a Celestial and considered the matter secret, making it impossible for her to tell me.

So I got back to work. We were making headway in Rat's Nest and the Plastic Jungle. The Jungle's productivity was up and our projections suggested that they'd be able to put a much bigger dent in Redmond's foodstuff deficit after the next harvest. The Rat's Nest trid-show was getting excellent ratings, but the population was too scattered and the leadership too diffuse to make it a sensible place for our next big move. So I started looking elsewhere. Bargain Basement looked promising. As a cluster of apartment buildings and condoplexes it had an ideal level of centralization, but it had the same legal issues Squatter's Mall had before Theo had worked his magic there. And we weren't getting away with the same trick twice. In fact, we'd already gotten plenty of offers to "help" us purchase the place...and all they wanted was a 40% commission. Frankly, I was still considering it, even with the exorbitant rent-seeking bulldrek, but I wasn't quite ready to pull the trigger on it without Theo looking over my shoulder.

Then I remembered Life-Eez Appliances, one of Redmond's only "legitimate" factories. They made household cooking and cleaning appliances - largely semi-autonomous drones - and the place was an absolute hellhole for the employees. So I pulled some analysts from the general labor pool and got them working on an estimate of the place's financials, and if the numbers I got back were even close to being right, it was a miracle the place was still in business. There had to be some sort of off-the-books alternate income. I'd been prepared to order a shadowrun on the place to find it and destroy it but that turned out to be unnecessary. My initial low-ball offer just to test the waters got accepted by the owners immediately and with no haggling. The email had come back in less than an hour.

That made me even more suspicious, but I needed the land more than the building so I went through with it figuring what was the worst that could happen? I gave the employees a week of paid time off - and then had to explain the concept to them - while I flew in an inspection team also pulled from the general labor pool. I even asked for a mage in case the place was literally cursed, which I considered a distinct possibility given how easily the purchase went.

And wouldn't you know it? It was.

There were half-a-dozen angry spirits that called the area home and absolutely loved using their Accident power on anyone and everyone, and the owners hadn't wanted to hire the mages necessary to exorcise them because it would have left a paper trail and made selling the place more difficult. Also, it was only really killing the employees, so why bother? I could practically hear Theo screaming in the background about how a publicly successful exorcism and subsequent increase in worker productivity would have increased the potential selling price and quarterly profits, and frankly, I was starting to sympathize with him. The more I learned about business and economics the weirder the world became. I'd thought the main problem with the world was corporate greed, but the more I looked at it, the more...well...stupid the corps all seemed to be. If the owners of the Life-Eez factory had been greedy, but also smart about it, it would have been better for everyone, even the employees. But then, when I was growing up I couldn't help but feel a lot of my neighbors in the Barrens were also the main source of their own problems. I guess just having money didn't make you any less of an idiot.

The exorcist team gave me a rough estimate of three weeks before the place was safe for the workers to return, so I waited for them to leave, astral projected over, and tore the spirits to shreds myself. The next day the place was declared safe and I got repair and construction crews brought in. I'd had to sit down for a few hours and talk it over with Julia to figure out what exactly to convert the place into. The Redmond Program had two main strategies. You had things like the coffee/fish aquaponics facility on the first floor of the mall. Since those were both extremely expensive luxury items, that was there for pure profit, which is to say, to divert funds from outside Redmond into it, to be spent on things that would help people. Then there were things like the Squatter's Mall Library or School. The Mission. So we could convert the factory into something that would build stuff for sale outside Redmond or to lower the costs of things we wanted for Redmond.

That's when the big guy chimed in, telepathically of course. You see, Creation had something called Seven Bounties Paste that did not, in fact, require any magic to create, old or new. It did require some exotic ingredients, but creating the magical plants that produced the precursors would be easy, at least within the realm of Ancient Sorcery. Actually learning that kind of sorcery wouldn't be easy, but the big guy was confident he could teach me.

And, at least in Creation, Seven Bounties Paste could cure almost anything. If we could mass-produce it, we could become one of the Big Ten megacorps in our own right, although we'd need Theo's help on the legal end to make that work. So I got to work ordering the machines necessary for the processes the big guy described. And I got to work on learning Ancient Sorcery almost immediately.

And holy drek was it cool. There were spells that could turn my whole body into bronze, pull buildings out of the ground, make ships fly, summon up extremely powerful magical minions, and part the sea like fragging Moses. And those were just the ones within my reach. That didn't even begin to cover all the crazy drek Theo would be able to do with it. But the real money was in Sorcerous Workings. They were like Rituals in that they weren't just spells you conjured up in the moment and flung at people. Though, unlike Rituals, they were ad-hoc and took weeks rather than hours. But they could do essentially anything if you dumped enough power into them and had enough skill. Want 300 tons of palladium? No problem! I could do that easily (once I learned how). Sorcerous Workings were also the means by which someone as powerful as Theo could make their own gods.

So I knew what I was doing for the next few weeks, aside from nursing Theo back to health, mentally speaking. Or figuring out how to de-mind control him. Or both.

The learning process began with developing a Shaping Ritual. You see, much like mortal magic, I wasn't using my internal power for Ancient Sorcery, but rather pulling at the underlying Essence of the universe, gathering it up, and literally shaping it to a form of my own choosing. There were any number of little tricks you could pick up to help with this process, collectively called "Shaping Rituals" and since the manasphere was kind of my thing I opted to try to combine the two. And I'd almost gotten the hang of it when I got the call.

The commcode ID said, "Gary Cline"

I hesitated, but I couldn't keep him waiting too long, "Uh..hello? Mr. Cline?" I asked, almost hoping he'd accidentally butt-dialed me.

"Miho-san!" Gary nearly shouted, "Great to hear your voice! How's Redmond these days?"

"It's uh...a work in progress, but we're getting there," I said, trying to manage his expectations.

"Oh don't be so modest!" he replied with infectious enthusiasm, "I hear you're working miracles! And you just bought a new factory! You know I did a trid-film set in Life-Eez once, got me my first Academy Award,"

"I...had no idea..." I said, still trying to figure out why he was calling.

"Nah, I'm just fragging with you. The real reason I'm calling though is about these spells you sent to R&D. Girl, those things are amazing. Some of them still need to get the kinks out, but the mages who looked at them said they were truly inspired! Whatever team you put together, give 'em a raise! They'll be major money makers and I mean indefinitely. Especially the one that cures soy allergies. In fact, the board's been pretty impressed by how you've been handling things in Theo's absence in general. We want you to come by and have a sit down so we can discuss your future,"

My eyes went wide, "You...you do?"

"How's Friday work for you?" he asked.

It was Wednesday, but I had Theo's private jet which meant L.A. was less than three hours away.

"I...sure. Absolutely!" I replied, nearly dumbstruck. In retrospect I shouldn't have been, I knew those spells would be major money makers. That's why I asked the big guy to design them for me in the first place, but there's an old saying: the difference between Theory and Practice is that in theory there's no difference between Theory and Practice, but in practice there is. Knowing it and having it happen were two different things.

"Great!" he replied, "let's pencil you in for 10:00 am. If it all goes well I'll take you to lunch after. Sound good?"

"It's a date!" I said, immediately regretting it. But the upper lever corporate types all seemed pretty corny. It almost seemed like an integral part of high level corporate culture, at least at Horizon.

"I won't tell Theo if you don't!" he said, and it was like I could hear him winking.

The moment the call ended I ran for Julia's office. Literally ran. I'd been in the private basement training area and her office was on the third floor like mine, so it took me nearly a minute to get there. And I nearly knocked over Opticon when I rounded my last corner, but I managed to hop over him at the last second.

"Miho!" he shouted, "you nearly have me a heart attack!"

I chucked,"Sorry, just got some exciting news and...hey wait, were you just talking to Julia?"

He hunched his shoulders, "Oh...yeah just uh...you know, business stuff,"

His words were technically true, but it was clear he was hiding something. But then I remembered how Theo had recruited Opticon to begin with. For a lot of Lucifer's Agents, we had limited information about their pasts. We had a lot but we didn't always have everything. In Opticon's case, he first showed up on Theo's radar when he moved to Redmond and set up shop as a cyberware mechanic, but he had a quirk in that he worked from a large industrial drone that he stayed jumped into 24/7. He had - no pun intended - rigged up a special long term life support to a standard rigger cocoon and stayed in it for weeks or months at a time, living his life as a robot. Lucifer had done business with him for a while, but eventually, between Theo's psychographic profiling software and his own intuition, he'd picked up on Opticon's social isolation and how it had a major sexual component. In other words, he was lonely and starved for touch.

Theo had already liberated a few bunraku parlors by this time, but he'd quickly discovered that not everyone had a place to go back to after that, and unlike Robin not all of them had the wherewithal to do something different with their lives beyond sex-work at that point. So for the ones who couldn't move on, he supported their forays into independent work as Joygirls or Joyboys. He didn't know why Opticon had never done it himself but one day Theo had sent a "present" Opticon's way in the shape of four Joygirls. That's when Theo found out about Opticon's body dismorphia problem. He had a mental health condition wherein he believed he was so disgusting that he couldn't even approach a sex-worker, no matter how lonely he was. Opticon ended up spending an entire week with those girls, and they did a lot more than just sleep with him. They bathed him and groomed him and some just spent a lot of time holding him. They eased him back into the world. Afterwards he started spending more and more time outside his rigger cocoon and in the real world.

I looked side to side to make sure no-one else was in earshot, "Opticon...it's fine. I know how you were recruited and it's nothing to be ashamed of,"

He winced and flinched at the same time. I understood. Outside of Redmond sex-work could be looked down on to a degree I still didn't understand. I mean, forced sexual slavery was obviously disgusting, but for those who chose it, I could never see the problem. And I especially didn't have a problem with the people who went out of their ways to find indepents to buy from. It was a lot more expensive that way and that meant you were doing it because you gave a drek. People who didn't get that were just blinded by their privilege. And for the independents, if nobody bought what they were selling, well it was Redmond so they didn't get to eat that day and it would rapidly get worse if they couldn't afford their protection. Their customers kept them alive.

Also a lot of my students were independent Joygirls at one time or another.

Opticon rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, "It's...still difficult though," he turned to look at me, "just...please don't tell her you figured it out. She doesn't want people thinking she still does that kinda thing,"

Wait...Julia? She was the only sex-worker who wasn't a sex-worker anymore that I knew about in the entire mall and we were right next to her office. That was strange, but I didn't see the need to press. Even if I was really curious how that got started.

"Won't say a thing," I promised.

Opticon slunk off and I felt bad that I'd left him in such a state. Squatter's Mall being in the Barrens it's not like he'd face the same level of social censure he might face elsewhere, so it probably had something to do with his dismorphia. I stepped into Julia's office and she beat me to the punch, speaking without even looking up from her commlink.

"Yes, I still do tranrika work, sometimes. Please don't tell anyone,"

My eyes went wide, "I...but I didn't, I mean how did you...?"

"Rich-people magic, " she said, looking up at me and smiling.

I looked to the door and then back to her, "You have enhanced hearing, don't you?"

She placed an index finger over her lips in a shushing gesture.

"So what's up?" she asked.

"I need your help. And before you make the joke, not as a trantrika."

She folder her arms in front of her, "Oh spoil all my fun, why don't you?"

"I just got a call from Gary Cline. He wants me to talk to the Horizon Board of Directors in two days. And all he said was, it's about my 'future' whatever that means,"

That got her attention. She sat up straight and focused on me, "Did he sound happy?"

I nodded.

"Oh. Oh wow. Sounds like your up for a promotion," she said, smirking.

"Wait, really?" I asked.

Julia nodded, "They'll probably grill you first. You don't have a formal education, but you've been hanging out with Theo for over six years, and if they like what you've been doing in his absence...then yeah, that's almost certainly what they want,"

I paused for a moment, "That...that doesn't mean I have to leave Redmond does it?"

Of all the things I never thought I'd hear myself say...

"It might, but you're lucky. They gave you time to prepare. Of course, they know I'm here, so that could be why. If you want to stay then you're going to need a counter-proposal,"

"Like what?" I asked.

Julia smiled and leaned in, "Something...ambitious,"

She told me her idea.

"Holy drek! Really?"

She leaned back and spread out her arms, suddenly taking up a lot more space, "You're so lucky to have me,"

We spent the next day and a half cramming. I had to put everything else on hold, even my studies into Ancient Sorcery. I pushed my mental augs to their limit in that time, and the extra five hours a day I got from my Sleep Regulator might have been the most critical. In the end, I even decided to bring Julia with me as my executive assistant even though she was already the official Administrator for Squatter's Mall. So there we were, sitting in the waiting room, waiting for our turn to face some of the most powerful people in the world and convince them that what we wanted was better than what they wanted.

I hadn't been this nervous since I first laid eyes on the McWellan Bellevue estate. Oh I'd been more afraid at times. Like when Tabitha had slammed a Great Dragon into the ground by the tail for its impertinence. But nervous like this? No, apparently only meeting super-rich people for the first time did that to me.

"It'll go fine, Miho. I promise. I know how these guys think," Julia said, clearly trying to calm me.

I shrugged, 'I'm sure you're right it's just...I'm fine eating out at a place like Greyline or meeting Theo's friends, but I've always had him with me until now. And I'm feeling a lot more like an imposter right now,"

Julia took my hand, "You walk our earth, Miho. You breath our air. Remember?"

I squeeze her hand, "Thanks,"

The door to the Board Room opened and a caucasian human man in clothes almost more expensive than mine - and I'd dressed up considerably with Julia's help - stepped out of the Board Room into the waiting room with us.

"Tanaka-san? The Board will see you now," he said.

I stepped into the room and froze. I knew Gary Cline would be there so that was no surprise, and Julia and I had done our research on the other Board members so there were no surprises there either. But there was one thing that I hadn't expected in a million years and to say it threw me off my game was more than mere understatement.

Tabitha was there.

She'd come home early.

 

[Erenthia]

Frag the bitch. I wasn't going to let that distract me. Even knowing that it meant that Theo was out there somewhere and he hadn't called or texted. Even knowing that an early return could mean all kinds of things and most of them bad. I couldn't do anything about it right now. I was in this moment and that was where I'd stay.

"Thanks for coming, Miho! Have a seat!" Gary said, waving at me from his seat at the head of the conference table. And words smelled like cheap cologne which is pretty much how all corporate executive's words smelled. Rife with half-truths too entangled to make sense of. And my truth detection abilities were a matter of record, so I doubted they'd be any use here. Especially if Tabitha was somehow shielding them.

The room itself loomed over me, reminding me in many ways of the various dining halls at the Bellevue estate that never saw use. There were easily three meters from the table to either of the nearest walls, with smaller tables here and there with various kinds of refreshments - mostly alcohol - and all the meaningless, perfunctory decor I'd learn to ignore when spending time in spaces crafted by the uber-elite.

The only free chair sat at the other head of the table, with the board members not making it past the halfway point between Mr. Cline and myself. And perhaps in some sort of private irony or inside joke, Tabitha had an unremarkable spot in the middle on Gary's left.

I sat and waited for what Julia had told me would come first. The part she called, 'Opening Compliments'

"I just wanted to start by saying how impressed we all are by how you've been handling the Redmond Program in Theo's absence," Gary continued.

And, according to Julia, the proper response was modesty which dovetailed nicely with a technique for putting them on the backfoot immediately: sincerity.

"It's only been two months," I replied, "I like to think I've kept the trains running on time, but I don't know that I've done anything particularly special,"

Gary sat back, "Two months, true. And in that time you've kicked out both the Yakuza and the Mafia, solidified your hold over the area, held off an attack by Red Samurai, and somehow managed to parlay that into a partnership with Renraku. Don't sell yourself short,"

Of course, the real purpose of an initial modesty play was to get them singing your praises for you. Which would make future negotiations easier.

I shrugged, "I've done my best. Theo was a good teacher,"

"And that's to say nothing of the magical research you spearheaded," Gary added.

And there it was. The real reason I was here. Of the spell the big guy designed for me, eight had been for-profit and fully half of them had worked right out of the gate. The permanent Alleviate Soy Allergies one, in particular, would make truly absurd amounts of money over the coming years and they probably wanted me on that full time. Fortunately, I was prepared.

"Well, I can only take so much credit there. I didn't do any of the research myself. It's really just proof of the underlying concepts that went into the Redmond Program,"

Make them ask Julia had told me. Making half-finished statements and forcing them to ask for clarification let me direct the conversation.

"Oh? How so?" asked Marty Bateman, a plain-looking brown-haired human, and the company's Chief Operations Officer. Not that that information was public. In fact, I'd had to use Theo's access just to get their names.

I settled deeper into my office chair, "Really, the Redmond Program is just Horizon getting back to its roots. Just like how we rebuilt so many places after Crash 2.0 rebuilding Redmond lets us dig out the diamonds in the rough amongst its people. Or maybe panning for gold is a better analogy. The point is, it's the people who are valuable. You just don't know which ones will be the most valuable before you go looking,"

Tabitha decided it was her turn, "And in fact, we still don't know, do we? At least not as a matter of public record. I must commend you for your skill in hiding their identities. Even we couldn't figure out who those SINs were supposed to be linked to,"

And I recognized clearly the barely contained intensity behind that casual smirk she was always wearing. The eyes gave it away.

Gary stepped in to play good cop, "Not that we're upset about that or anything. We all know what it's like to have rivals. You've gotta protect your accomplishments after all, and this was one hell of a find,"

I needed to keep this on topic, "For the most part, I was protecting the Redmond Program. As I understand it, a significant portion of the licensing fees and royalties goes to our general fund. And that's money the people of Redmond in general and Squatter's Mall in particular really need,"

So far so good. I wasn't born to play politics or anything, but I seemed to be holding my own.

Except they were all looking at each other in confusion.

But it was Gary that spoke up, "Look, I know you're from Redmond and all, but how attached are you to the project really? You can't tell me you didn't spend most of your life growing up wishing you could escape, can you?"

When someone makes something sound like it would be ridiculous to contradict, counter hard, Julia had told me when coaching me for this meeting.

"I can absolutely tell you that. In fact, Tabitha probably recalls quite well how difficult it was to recruit me. And it would have been much harder if I'd had more experience with those kinds of negotiations...or if I hadn't been a teenager at the time," I replied, but I couldn't stop there. I had to keep the conversation where I wanted it, "And since returning to Redmond with the full force of Horizon behind me, I've managed to do great things, just as you pointed out at the beginning. But I have more to give to Horizon, right where I'm at. Because Redmond itself has more to give,"

Usually, when people feel they're losing ground, they'll peel back a layer of pretense in an effort to start over.

Gary looked around at the members of the board, smirking, "She's good isn't she?"

Then he turned back to me, "Alright, so it's pretty clear you know we want to transfer you and you don't want to go. But if you're worried we're gonna shut the project down, we won't. You can even pick your successor. Hell, we'll even give you some time to train them, assuming you don't just go with Julia out there. But the thing is...even if we couldn't link those SINs on your R&D team to real bodies we still know who designed those spells...because we saw what you did to that Red Samurai team,"

How? The wireless had been down. And then I remembered what I did after it got brought back up...and where I'd been standing when it had. God, I really needed an Opsec expert.

Laura Byrde, a blonde human in her 40s and Chief Analytics Officer spoke up next from Cline's right hand, "You're not heading for a black lab, no matter your answer, but you're being seriously underutilized. And we're ready to make you any kind of offer you want. Salary, job title, voting shares...name your price,"

And she'd given me the exact opening I needed. I felt the anxiety in my gut, but I had to strike, "How about...CEO for a job title?"

And that was the moment when Miho Tanaka, the Barrens Rat, left the board of directors at one of the Big Ten megacorps utterly speechless. At least for a moment.

"You want my job?" Cline asked, incredulously.

When you pull the trigger, make them wait as a long as possible for an explanation

I leaned back in my chair, "Look, I understand why you want me on magical research. It makes sense from a certain point of view. It's a direct solution to an obvious problem. You're probably thinking about giving me my own building and staff, and that's great and all, but I have my own ambitions and goals outside of just coming up with new spells and rituals. And as flexible as Horizon is, I don't think I can meet those goals as a simple research director,"

They all seemed rather baffled...except Tabitha of course, who was currently looking at me like a starving, horny man would look at a sex robot made out of steak.

Gary noticed as well, "You understand what she's getting at?"

She nodded without taking her eyes off me, "It appears Tanaka-san would like her very own wholly-owned subsidiary, or perhaps a joint venture with Renraku, and likely to fold the existing Redmond Program into it as well. Do I understand you correctly, Miho-san?"

I nodded, "I understand that it would not make me immune to oversight and that I would have certain goals I'd still need to meet but with Theo's help - "

Tabitha cut me off, "No. Theodore's efforts for the moment must be focused on his education. If this happens at all, it will be without him for the time being. Although I'm sure he'll be happy to see you once this meeting is adjourned,"

"You sure you're up for something like that on your own? I've heard the kid's been training you, and you've been making it work at Squatter's Mall, but you don't even have an MBA," Gary added.

I took a breath. I hadn't expected this at all. Why was Tabitha so hell-bent on Theo getting a degree?

"I'm willing to pursue academic legitimacy if it's a necessary condition, but yes, I think I can do this without him," I told them, finally.

Laura waved me off, glaring momentarily at Gary, "We can have one of our universities issue you a degree. And I believe Ms. Ling already has a significant education, and after the situation with her brother, I'm sure she's quite loyal to you,"

Gary chuckled, "I mean, she's no transhuman, but she'll do,"

My eyes went wide. They'd managed to turn the tables on me. Now I was speechless.

"What?" Gary continued, "you think Theo's the first non-military prototype we've ever made? World's probably full of them,"

With an effort of raw will, I wrenched myself out of my shock and kept going, "Yes I...I believe that would work,"

Tabitha went on, "We'll still need a basic summary of your abilities in order to set appropriate goals for your new corporation. And think twice before holding back on us. You may not like having an additional workload, but we will be quite put out if you withhold anything substantial from us,"

I nodded, "I'll...I'll email you a report by the end of the day,"

"Oh, hey," Gary chimed in as if it were an afterthought, "Since you came in here with this already in mind, I assume you have a name already in mind? It'll help with the paperwork,"

I smiled.

Because that was the moment I became the CEO of Sol Purpose.

Julia wanted to find somewhere in L.A. to celebrate, but I was anxious to get back to the Bellevue estate. I'd texted Theo moments after I'd gotten out of the meeting, and gotten back and auto-response claiming he was asleep, but since I had access to literally everything of his, I was able to get his commlink to send me his location.

"Don't worry, Miho. We'll make it right. Whatever happened, we'll figure it out. And we should still celebrate," Julia told me with a hand on my shoulder before the jet had even taken off.

I smiled. It was a struggle, but I did it, "I mean, I wouldn't mind going to Gray Line once I've seen Theo. Maybe we can all go,"

But Julia was already digging through her purse. She pulled out a hand-rolled joint and a long, black cigarette holder.

"Please don't judge me. I know these things make me look snooty, but I fragging love them,"

I shrugged, "It's not like I'm one to judge. I sleep on a fifty thousand nuyen mattress. But I don't know if Theo would appreciate you smoking on his jet,"

She'd been about to light up but my words had somehow jarred her and she started laughing, "Holy drek! Miho Tanaka sleeps on a Klein Star? That's just too rich!"

I rolled my eyes and made a show of droning on in a monotone voice, "Oh...yeah....how New Money of me,"

Julia took a puff from her joint, "Oh honey. New Money doesn't even know what a Klein Star is. They probably think it's some magical device for storing mana or something. Here, take a puff,"

She offered me the joint, cigarette holder and all, but I waved her off, "I'll pass,"

She rolled her eyes, "Ugh, no wonder you and Theo never got it on. No room for his dick with that stick up your ass,"

I slumped. Because having spent the last couple of months being Theodore McWellan, I'd learned more about him than in the six prior years of standing next to him. And I knew what it was going to take for our relationship to go to the next level.

"You know...now that you bring it up...I don't think the whole letting Theo take the lead thing is going to work," I told her.

When I'd first tried to get sex advice from Julia, she'd suggested I think of Theo as my sensei in sexual matters. I didn't quite get that at first, but I'd eventually realized she was trying to provide me with a context I understood well. And from what Robin had let leak into the wild about his sexuality, the Master-Student relationship wasn't a bad match. But I understood now that it was infeasible.

"Why do you say that?" Julia asked.

"Well...basically I don't think he has it in him to initiate a sexual relationship. Too much shame. Having filled his shoes and seen the world from his perspective, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need to take the Robin approach,"

Julia took another puff, "Full court press megaslut? And you want some advice on how to pull that off?"

I nodded.

"Well, contrary to popular belief, guys don't want it 24/7. Frankly, I think Robin just got lucky and caught him at the right time. So really, my advice is don't go megaslut. Not with Theo. If you catch him at a bad time it could make things awkward and that could color things for a while. You wanna go aggressive? Do it like a guy does. A competent one anyway. Test the waters, flirt, and just keep escalating a step at a time. Be sensitive to bad vibes though,"

"Is it weird that I'm already getting them?"

Julia raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"He's apparently been back for almost a full day and he hasn't texted or called. And yeah, I'm worried about PAB, but I'm also worried about PTSD. Who fragging knows what she put him through. And the fact that Tabitha came back early...she basically always keeps her schedule. It would take something pretty big to make her alter it. And I'm worried that she might have finally broken him this time,"

Julia shrugged, "No way to know until you see him. Let me know if you want me to come along,"

Somehow those words hit different then when Robin had said essentially the same thing. Apparently the revelation about her father's innocence in Morgan's death had lifted her ban on men her father might approve of. But she wasn't being pushy or weird. Just making an offer. And I was considering it.

When we finally made it back to Bellevue, Theo wasn't in his room so I checked the estate's mapsoft and my heart fell into my stomach. Stowly and methotically, I made my way down to the basement, and found him curled up on a cot in the Panic Room. His back was to the entrance, but if he'd noticed me opening the vault door, he made no sign. Still, if it had been anyone else I was sure he would have. So I pulled the door closed, took off my shoes, and crawled into the cot with him. Now that he was taller than me, being the big spoon was a little more awkward, but I didn't have much of a choice.

"Hi," I whispered after a moment.

"Hey," he whispered back.

I put my arm around his stomach and held him for a few minutes until he was ready to talk.

"Mother didn't mind control me. I was surprised too," he said.

"Uh..." I started, but he interrupted.

"No, I get it. That's exactly what I would say if she had. Do whatever tests you want. I'll go along with it,"

"Maybe later. I think you've been through enough for...for however long it's been for you,"

"Two years, give or take," he replied.

My god. Two years? I didn't know what to say to that, so I said nothing...for a while at least.

"I never thought we'd be here like this again, you know?"

He nodded.

"You know, it took me six months after I moved here to stop searching my shower for hidden cameras?"

It wasn't a joke either, though at this point it was just a funny story.

"Oh? So you never found them?" Theo replied, and it was the first positive emotion I'd heard in his voice since he got back.

I laughed, "I always knew you were a good kid. I was just freaking out over nothing. I knew I was freaking out over nothing. But I didn't understand until now how that must have made you feel. I'm sorry,"

He shook his head, "You don't need to apologize. I mean, you didn't have any recourse if I decided to do something crazy, like making saying no to sex a contract violation,"

That hurt, but I couldn't have told you why at the time. I wasn't insulted or anything. But it was painful to watch him excuse other people - even me - for being mistrustful of him. And right then, more than anything else, I needed him to know I trusted him completely. Even if he had been mind controlled, somehow I didn't seem to care.

"Do it," I told him after a moment.

"Do what?" he asked.

"Put that in my contract. And anything else you want. I trust you, " I wasn't coming on to him. Now didn't seem to be the time, but at the same time I wanted him to know I loved him.

"Miho..." he began, but couldn't finish.

After it was clear he wasn't going to go on, I sighed and said, "I've been asking Julia - er I mean Anna, for sex advice while you've been gone. When you brought me back from the dead I told myself I'd stop wasting time. Then you're Mother took you and I realized that was all talk. I don't expect you to be in the mood after whatever hell you've been through, but I'm yours whenever you want me. And I'm serious about you putting that in my contract if you want. I'm done holding back,"

An eternity of silence followed, but eventually Theo said, "Malfeas. She took me to Malfeas,"

My face screwed up in pain, but it kept silent so he wouldn't know. I wanted to say something but I didn't know what, so eventually he continued.

"The demons there are in a war...against something worse. Mother had me fighting on the demon's side. And after what I saw, I think I would have done that anyway..."

Malfeas was the prison-realm that gods had locked their former masters into after defeating them. It was not the place sinners went to in death...but it was Hell. As an Akuma or whatever she was, presumably she would have been some kind of queen there, but whether or not that translated into any kind of mercy or benefit for Theo was entirely up in the air.

Theo rolled around to face me, "I know what she wants from me now,"

I waited but no answer came. Instead he just said, "And I'm sorry...but I can't tell you,"

I nodded, "Okay,"

"Really?"

I nodded again and pulled him close, putting my arms around him, digging my left under his neck in the process.

"I spent a lot of time in your shoes in the last two months. And I'm still going to check the drek out of you for mind control techniques, but only because I don't trust your mother. But you? Theodore McWellan? I trust you completely. There are still things you don't understand, still things I need to teach you. But you're the best man I've ever known. So you're allowed to have power over me. Because I say so. Because I want you to. And I never ever want you to feel ashamed about that,"

He put a hand on my face and locked eyes with me, "Miho,"

It was finally time for me to say it.

"Shujin,"

 

[Krule]

Hmm, it's sort of hard to imagine something worse than the demons of malfeas, even if they aren't outright evil, as a society that are 'power over morality' as in the more powerful make the rules.

I suppose beings of the wyld and horrors might be worse, but only because raw chaos and pure malice made manifest could potentially be quite horrific. The Yozi's aren't quite as bad as eldritch horrors either, though they can come pretty close.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Engine of Extinction.

 

[Erenthia]

Engine of Extinction.

Click to shrink...

ohhhh I like this theory. Here's a hint.

Spoiler: Just a hint

https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Dissonance

 

[Erenthia]

We stayed in that cot for several hours, but eventually, physical proximity did its work to penetrate the haze of pain and grief. I could feel it building up in him. The need. The hunger. I would have gone for it right then and there, but Julia's advice echoed in my mind. She'd been wrong about Robin, of course, but that wasn't her fault. There were things she just didn't know. Robin had bridged the gap between them by showing that she understood his pain on a level that even I hadn't. She understood his needs, and she made him understand hers. Looking back on it now, there was so much she could have told me, but I might not have been able to understand even if she had.

"Did...did Robin ever talk to you about...me?" Theo said finally.

I took a deep breath, "Girls talk, Theo. You know that,"

He winced and tried to look away - not an easy task in that cramped space.

I placed a hand on his cheek and gently pulled his gaze back to me, "Don't. I don't think less of you. You shouldn't either,"

I'd always hated romance novels. All that he gazed longingly into her eyes drek. I'd been a fool. Oh sure, anything could be done poorly, and most things were. But the real reason I'd hated them is because I had no idea what they were really about. I didn't know what they were trying to say. But looking into his eyes now, I understood. I got it.

"Can you...I mean, could you...not though? Please?" he pleaded.

"Hai, Shujin-sama,"

When Tabitha's drone first descended out of the sky near my home in the Barrens, I'd worried that she was looking to pick up a sex-toy for her son. And as much as I'd taken his side over hers almost immediately, that fear took a while to fade. And he'd known. Hell, he even even tried pretending to be gay for a while, just to make me feel safe. It had back-fired spectacularly, of course, not because it had failed, but because he'd managed to succeed in deceiving me for months before the deception fell apart. I didn't react very well to that. Not at all. I freaked out to such a shameful degree that I'd left him severely injured. He had to set off an EMP in the house just to make sure that his Mother never knew I'd raised a hand to her son. And with everything that needed electricity destroyed, we couldn't get him fixed up in-house. And he absolutely refused to go to a hospital. We ended up going to a street doc who made jokes about, 'not pissing off your girlfriend when she's a physical adept,' I hated that guy.

I didn't know what was going on back then, but it was plain as day now. That Miho Tanaka could never had said the words I'd just said to Theo. She would have been too afraid. Now, I knew the only place in the world where I had nothing to fear was when I was alone with him. And I wanted him to feel the same.

He reached out a hand and put it behind my neck, pulling our heads together so that our foreheads touched.

"I need you," he whispered.

I sent a quick command to the vault door and it closed.

"You have me," I replied.

Even as I'd been warming up to the idea of being with Theo, becoming his lover, for quite a while now, I would not have predicted our first time would have been be in the Panic Room. I assumed he'd plan out some over the top tropical vacation and we'd make love under the moon light on a beach on the other side of the world. Instead, we were here, in the heart of his pain. But also in the place we'd first connected. We'd met over comms and gotten to know each other for a couple of years, and we'd first laid eyes on each other in my apartment two floors up. But this place was where I first came to understand who he was. It was the place he first shared his secrets with me. I'd tell you how it went, but I promised him I'd never talk about that. And I never will.

But I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised he wasn't in the mood for anything other than vanilla.

Some, strictly classified amount of time later, he sat up from the cot, facing the door in silence. I watched him, my eyes taking in both his delicious back muscles and the heart-rending scars I knew he must have picked up in Malfeas. And since I knew scars never lasted on an Exalt, I knew that meant they had to be relatively fresh. I was about to say something, but then he took a deep breath, and I couldn't bear to interrupt him. I never could when we was singing.



He was pouring his True Power into his voice, but I suspected only to improve the skill of his delivery, and boy did it ever. I sat up next to him and just listened until he was finished, and my god...his voice. There was something magical and divine about it, and it almost seemed distinctly separate from the rest of his power. I knew that true Artifacts worked that way sometimes, but apparently a voice could too. Had he gotten that from his Mother as well?

"I want to show you some things," I told him when he finished.

Bruce took us to Renton, though we took the Bentley instead of the Nightsky in order not to stand out too much. There on 132nd Avenue we found the Temple of the Book, a combination Church/Synagogue/Moque for the People of the Book. The Leviathan religions had taken a bit of a beating after the Awakening and old rivals had become friends-in-need. Not always, but in a lot of places. We didn't go in. Instead we astral projected out of the car and into the building. The people there couldn't afford much in the way of warding, but I'd been keeping an eye on them for a couple of weeks now. Someone had to watch over them.

"See him?" I whispered to Theo and pointed out a particular human. One he'd seen before.

Barry Stackhouse was sitting in a pew right between an ork and a dwarf. Theo's mouth fell open.

"In fact, if you look around, you might see a lot of familiar faces," I said, smiling.

More of than half of that particular humanis-gang had made there way here. They were probably still afraid deep down, but they'd been able to make common cause with metahumans by turning to faith. I didn't share that faith and Theo didn't either. We knew too much about the true secrets of the universe. But there was truth here too, if you didn't try to take it too literally. Peace, Hope and Love. It made me wonder how much of the current darkness in the world was our fault, collectively, for deciding those things were corny. That the message the true faithful were trying to get out could be ignored, just because they got too many of the facts wrong. Or when people had decided that bigots, charlatans and predators that infest every community somehow defined theirs.

They could be stupid sometimes, but they had a point.

Theo took my astral hand, "Thank you,"

I smiled, "There's more,"

We got back in our bodies and Bruce took us Downtown, to the University of Washington. I'd been using Lucifer's resources to keep track of a lot of people these days, and according to the itinerary I had, we should be right on time. I'd gotten used to being around older buildings or buildings designed in older styles since that's what Old Money tended to prefer, but I'd never actually been to a college campus. The AR kept us from getting too lost though, and we soon found ourselves in the student center. Dozens of people from Theo's age to mine were lounging around, watching trids or playing all of the classic college games. We'd dressed down in hopes of no-one seeing us. But some one eventually did recognize us. And it was exactly who I'd hoped to find.

"Theo!" shouted Becky Cartwright.

We turned around just in time for her to practically tackle him with a two-armed bear hug.

"Oh my god! What are you doing here?" she asked after letting him go.

Theo was dumbstruck, so I answered for him, "We just wanted to see how you were settling in. The new semester about to start?"

She looked to me, "Oh! Yeah! Just finished moving my stuff into the dorms," she turned back to Theo, "Thank you so much for everything! My mom was able to get her job back and we got dad the surgery he needed! They're both working again! It's amazing!"

Theo smiled and I could see the tears welling up in him. He nodded, "You deserve it. You all do,"

Beck hunched her shoulders, "I'm sorry I got mad at you before. Mom explained...I mean, she watched our fight and...well, I hope you're doing okay. I know you didn't mean to let me win and...I hope you know, I think you're a really good guy,"

Apparently Beck's mom had put some things together about Theo's psychological state during that last round. And probably from the information he'd given them.

Theo looked away, centimeters from crying, "I...um...thank you,"

"You should come by. We have family dinner every Sunday. Mom would love to set and extra place or two," Beck offered.

He looked at her in no small amount of shock, "Really?"

Becky nodded enthusiastically.

"You know," I added, "I think we will. Theo's starting at MIT&T soon, but we can make time for that. We'll call ahead though, don't worry,"

Theo managed not to break down crying until we reached the car. But it was happy crying.

Eventually though, he spoke, "I haven't felt like this since after the first time we spoke,"

I raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

He turned to me with that boyish smirk of his, "I had your commlink hacked. After we were done talking I wanted to see your reaction,"

My mouth fell open, "Oh god. I was literally bouncing off the walls and cheering. You must have thought I was so silly,"

Theo shook his head, "No. I was so happy I cried for hours,"

I smiled and put a hand on his shoulder, "Well...I bet I can beat that. Hey Bruce? Last stop,"

A few minutes later and we were in one of the nicer parts of Everette. The house we stopped in front of was also one that Theo knew well. A two story brick building, aging but well kept, Theo had never actually been here, but it was a place he'd always wanted to go as a child. Even so, he'd poured a lot of money into this place over the years, both on security and amenities. Both as Theodore McWellan and as Lucifer. There were Agents of Lucifer and legitiment private security watching the place 24/7, guardian spirits, stealthed security drones and every person living there had a Super Platinum DocWagon subscription and not a single one of them knew it. The gangs in the area were especially well paid to leave the place alone or to defend it if necessary. Theo spent millions every year on these people, but probably only a single one of them suspected anything.

Theo shook noticeably as we approached the front door. He didn't ask any questions though. Or speak at all really. He just activated the doorbell icon and waited.

An ork answered the door that, to all appearances, looked like a teenager. But she wasn't.

"Meela?" Theo asked.

"My boy!" Meela shouted and dove towards him and wrapped him in her arms. We'd kept her relatively informed about Theo's overall status, including his 'disappearance' even if the details had to stay private.

Theo's relief and joy poured out of him in the shape of tears and he sobbed.

"You know, you've made my husband a very happy man," Meela said, still holding on to him.

"Well yeah..." Theo said, trying to be respectful in his confusion, "I mean, now he doesn't have to lose you,"

Meela finally let go of him, "Yes, that too. Now come on inside. Dinner's almost ready,"

"Oh I..." Theo began, but Meela cut him off.

"Oh no you don't! You are absolutely not just dropping by. I don't care what you have planned. You're staying for dinner and that's final. Now get on inside,"

Theo smiled and nodded, "Yes, ma'am," and I took his hand as we crossed the threshold.

Meela raised an eyebrow, clearly noticing, "Well finally,"

Dinner at the Jenkins house was a fairly chaotic affair. Three generations lived in that house but it felt like four. Mixed metatype marriages never resulted in anything half-way between types. So about half of Meela's children were human and the other half were orks. The orks matured noticeably faster, of course, and two of them had children of their own. The economy being what it was, and life just generally being more dangerous than it had been a hundred years ago, it just made sense for everyone to stay at home as much as possible.

We stayed for hours, well past just diner. And it was one of those rare occasions Theo got to be just another person. You see, Meela wasn't the only person here he'd ever met. Before Mother had banned children from the house, he'd gotten to know several of her kids. That was before my time, of course, but I'd heard the stories.

"I still can't believe you let me smash that thing. What was it worth? 200 million?" Meela's son, Chuck said. One of the grandkids had asked the story about how they got banned from the estate and Chuck and Theo were competing to take the blame.

Chuck who was also an ork, was a school teacher now, and his clothing matched it. All formal and buttoned down without being corporate.

Theo shrugged, "It was stupid of me, yeah. Probably never would have happened if I hadn't lied about who I was. Sorry about that,"

"Wait, what happened?" I asked.

Chuck turned to me with a smile, "Hang on, how many years and you haven't heard this story?"

I turned to look at Theo who just winced and said, "It's...embarrassing. Not one of my finer moments. When I started letting the staff bring their kids to the estate I...pretended to be one of them,"

Chuck waved him off, "Bah, we all know why you did that. I just had anger issues back then,"

Chuck turned to me, "Theo was pretending to be an ace decker to explain how he could control the estate's systems. And I wanted to destroy a priceless piece of art to hurt the stupid fra - err, spoiled rich kid who wouldn't show his face to us. So he let me. Smashed some priceless vase to bits. Probably centuries old. Pretty lucky Tabitha didn't decide to take that personally,"

He had no idea.

I sighed, "Yeah, that sounds like something Theo would have done back then,"

Theo winced and shrugged, before turning to Chuck, "You know...I still have the arcade. If you want you can show it to your kids,"

"Arcade?" I asked.

Meela chimed in, "Oh just some play room Theo set up before he got the Host installed. He told the other children that the 'spoiled brat' who lived there got tired of it immediately and wouldn't notice. I'm glad you stopped talking about yourself like that. It was making momma sad,"

Chuck jumped in to save Theo, "You really serious about that? I've been telling my kids stories about that place for ages,"

Theo smiled, "The estates mine now. Heck you can live there for all I care,"

Everyone laughed. Well, everyone except Theo, Meela and myself. Because we were the ones who knew he wasn't joking.

"I suppose that would save you quite a lot of money, wouldn't it boy?" Meela replied.

That raised some eyebrows.

"Uh..." Theo started, but Meela cut him off.

"Oh, please. You think Simon and I don't know what you're doing to keep us and our children safe?"

Simon was Meela husband. Theo looked back and forth between them, like a deer caught in headlights.

Chuck rescued him, "We've got our own lives, buddy. But I wouldn't mind dropping by. Bet I can still kick your ass at Laser-Phoenix too!"

Theo turned to him with an almost wicked grin.

"You're on,"

 

[Erenthia]

Opticon's Theme
All You Wanted - Michelle Branch


Fabio's Theme
The River - Blue Saraceno


Mary's Theme
Isolated - Chiasm


Theo's Love Song to the Sixth World
High Hopes - Panic At The Disco


Setting Theme
Make a Move - Icon for Hire

 

[Erenthia]

AN:

So...the official shadowrun timeline is not in effect. It's not that I ran into specific problems with fitting this story into it, rather I'm just too lazy to let myself be bossed around by a canon timeline. That said, most things that are supposed to happen will still happen, it's just that they'll happen when I want them too.

---

Tabitha's itinerary, as stolen by Alex, suggested that she'd be bringing him home literally on the day classes at MIT&T were to begin. She'd already registered him and chosen his class schedule, and much to my shock, she'd arranged for him to be living on campus. Alex was of the opinion that universities were more about networking than education for people in their position, so maybe that made sense. Although from my experience, people were falling all over themselves to do business with Theo already but whatever.

As it turned out there, she'd brought him back a week early, which gave us seven whole days we hadn't planned anything for. So I decided it was finally time for that Hawai'i trip. It had taken me a while to grow accustomed to having full access to Theo's resources, and since we'd never really gone on vacation, I'd still been thinking about the whole thing from a Barren's Rat perspective. Oh sure, I'd been growing steadily more wealthy and powerful for the last year and change, to say nothing of the five years previous to that. But those first five years had done nothing to change my perspective on the kinds of things I could accomplish, and the time since then had all been tightly focused on Squatter's Mall and Redmond. But when I opened my eyes to consider the rest of the world, I realized the Kingdoms of Hawai'i weren't some far off impossible fantasy. They were a five hour plane ride and little else.

It really made me wonder what else I'd been looking at all wrong. Though to be fair, my perspective had been one of the main things the Deliberative wanted out of me. And it was one of the big things Theo had looked at when recruiting advisors for Lucifer. So, while I didn't want to lose my old perspective, I now realized it needed to be broadened. In fact, I had a lot of horizons to broaden when I thought about it. So, I got some advice from Julia for how to dress. I wanted to push my limits, do something daring, and keep Theo in a constant state of shock. The more surprises I could distract him with the more I'd keep him from getting stuck inside his own head and dwelling on things I didn't want him dwelling on.

So, just before we landed at the Horizon-owned landing strip on the island of O'ahu, I stepped out of the jet's bedroom wearing high-heel sandals with straps that went all the way to my knees, a double loincloth, front and back with nothing underneath, and a slingkini that wrapped around my neck and hooked into the same tiny belt the loincloths hung from, though I still had all my moonsilver foci. To say I was embarrassed to be wearing such a thing, even in private, would have been an understatement. But that was the point. I was dating a sadist after all, and nothing would get him off more than me willingly humiliating myself.

Theo's eyes went wide when he saw me and his mouth dropped open slightly, "You..you don't have to..."

"I want to," I interrupted him.

He took a deep breath and the intensity of his eyes reminded me of Tabitha. He really was his mother's son. Except he had control over his darker impulses, and that made all the difference. In fact, he once told me that his instincts for how to help people were ultimately the same as his sadistic drives only run in reverse. He had a natural instinct for understanding people's vulnerabilities and he used it to help them. You know...unless he was currently in the process of fragging them. Then the blades came out. Well, not literally. Usually.

Theo, for his part, had dressed in a short-sleeved white polo and matching shorts and shoes, an outfit I'd only ever seen him wear on a tennis court, although he swore it wasn't a tennis outfit at all. I guessed Old Money fashion was harder to pull off in hot weather.

When the airstair finished unfolding, and we started walking down I felt more exposed than I ever had in my life. I'd wanted to push myself and it had been massive success on that count. Part of me wanted to run and hide, but that would have been cowardly. And then I started to wonder if any of this was even worth it, so I took a quick peak at Theo's aura...and immediately realized he was assensing me back. Putting those emotions into words were impossible for me back then. I didn't really have the context, but I knew he was enjoying the whole thing a lot more than he was letting on through mere physical expression. As we walked down the airstair the best I could understand of his emotions was that of visceral satisfaction and a surprisingly large swell of relief, which I thought was strange. Of course, when saw that I was assensing him no small amount of sadistic glee worked their way in as well.

What about this made him feel relieved? I made a note in my commlink to ask about that later.

But it got weirder. Because I kept assensing everyone we saw for the next hour, and while a fair few of the women we came across had noticeable amounts of contempt in their auras, most people didn't. It shouldn't have been a surprise that most of what I saw in people's auras when they saw me was desire, but it kinda was. That might be hard to understand, but being sexually desirable just wasn't part of my identity. I'd known Theo wanted me long before I was okay with it, but that was a lot deeper than just sex and part of me had always known that. Robin had said that I didn't see how lonely he'd been, and that wasn't untrue but it would have been more accurate to say that I was pretending not to notice, even to myself. But being objectively attractive? This was new to me and I didn't know how to respond to it. I mean, it's not like I'd never assensed someone and discovered they were attracted to me to some degree or another, but the difference here was scale. Once or twice, here and there, and I could dismiss it. Not anymore. Although there was one thing I was seeing that I absolutely didn't understand and had to ask Theo.

[So...why are some of the guys who find me attractive sad when they see me?] I texted him.

[Seriously?] he gave me the old raised eyebrow, [It's because they know they can't have you. 'Unattainable' isn't a turn-on for everyone,]

We'd gone for some al fresco dining in a local bistro for tourists not too far from the Horizon offices. The place looked just like how you'd expect from the trids and that was no accident. It's not that the trids were anything like accurate, but rather that places that catered to tourists had shaped themselves based on what tourists expected. The place had a faux-grass roof, pretty polynesian waitresses in grass skirts with coconut bikini tops, a heavy-set ork in an unbuttoned hawai'ian shirt behind the bar and not a single local in sight. I didn't expect this place to represent real local culture, just to be a place to sit and talk while we finished planning out our vacation. We'd already rented a small house on the beach, but we hadn't put much effort into it beyond that so far.

"So, why the Kingdoms of Hawai'i?" Theo asked, finally.

I shrugged, "Oh, I don't know. I guess growing up in the Barrens, a Hawai'ian vacation always seemed like the ultimate dream of success. I know it must sound so very New Money to you. But I figured it would at least be relaxing,"

Theo smirked, "Nah, New Money would look down on a Hawai'ian vacation...usually. Their idea of an exotic locale is typically Europe," and he rolled his eyes.

I leaned back in my chair and put my left arm over the back, "Oh yeah? And what's Old Money's idea of exotic?"

He locked eyes with me and without the slightest hesitation said, "The past. Why do you think we collect so much old art? It's not just the rule of thirds. We're the most jaded people in the world. And once everything in the world is old and boring...well most of us start getting real nostalgic and for times we never lived in,"

"Why do you hate your own people so much?" it was a question I'd wanted to ask him for a very long time, but only now had worked up the courage to do it.

"Occam's Razor," he said, again without delay, "However the world is, it's most likely that the most powerful people in it want it to look that way,"

"What about our friends? Alex, Izaya, and the others?"

Our conversation paused a moment as the waitress brought our food. Grey Line this was not but it catered to tourists and tourists had to have at least some money, which meant real food on the menu rather than 3D printed soy. So Theo had gotten the Lomi Lomi Salmon, a dish of diced tomatoes, green peppers, onions, and salted salmon. Whereas I'd gotten the Kalua Pork. And just to complete the image of us being tourists, we'd gotten a couple of Mai Tais.

"They're fighting an uphill battle, mostly against their parents," Theo replied when the waitress had gone.

I sighed. I'd brought Theo here to relax and this conversation wasn't going anywhere helpful.

"Okay, new topic. We've got basically six days. What are we doing for fun?" I asked.

Theo took a deep breath and let it out, pondering. The way he normally relaxed usually involved pretending to be someone else. Once, when he was 15, he'd snuck out with an altskin disguise just to volunteer at a soup kitchen in Everette. And then, at the end of the day, all the other volunteers found credsticks with 50,000 nuyen on them waiting for them at home. He loved that 'king in disguise' drek.

"I mean," I jumped in before he could answer, "if you want to do your Santa Claus thing, I won't pitch a fit, I promise,"

He shrugged, "I mean...this is your trip. If you want to know what I want to do with a week off, it doesn't involve leaving the bedroom,"

I wilted slightly under the attention, especially with that boyish smirk on his face, "Oh come on. There's got to be something else you want to do besides..."

"You?" he interrupted and his face continued to brighten, "Is that really so surprising?"

I didn't need to see his aura to know that he was getting turned on by how embarrassed I was.

"You're terrible," I said, smiling, "I bet you packed more shibari rope than clothes. Pervert,"

"Oh yeah, " Theo replied, voice dripping with sarcasm, "the incredibly hot, wealthy, and powerful Theodore McWellan has a dark side. I'm sure that makes me way less attractive,"

My mouth dropped open in shock. He wasn't normally this audacious, "Oh frag you!" I said in a playful tone.

"Here? I thought you'd want to wait for the beach house?"

But if he could do it, so could I, "Okay, I get it. You're horny. Not much of a surprise there. But what are we doing on our vacation,"

His face turned dark but with a wicked grin. It was an expression I'd rarely seen on him, "Well...I suppose I could stalk you down a dark alley somewhere. Then when I catch you - "

A sharp cry took us out of the moment, "Polunu!" a deep feminine voice shouted in a tone of naked fear, grief, and despair.

We turned to see a Polynesian ork woman running in from the street into the interior of the bistro, so naturally, we followed her in.

"It was the Night Marchers! It had to be!" she told the bartender, "The Astral Advisory Commission put out a warning that they were on the east side tonight!"

We'd gotten that same advisory on our commlinks even before we'd landed. My knowsofts had made me aware that the Night Marchers were a group of free spirits that patrolled the various islands of the Kingdom of Hawai'i without regard to metahuman authority. Many Awakened had tried to interview them to figure out what they wanted or what they were about in general, but they never seemed up to giving interviews. Nor could the people observing them figure out any pattern to their behavior. They just roamed around, from one island to the next, never appearing to do anything. Unless of course they were approach in person by a metahuman. Then things could get ugly.

"Maybe I can help," Theo offered, "I've worked with spirits before. And I've read about the Night Marchers,"

Now that we were no longer in flrity date mode, my outfit suddenly made me feel ridiculous again, so I decided to stay in the background.

Both the bartender and the woman turned to look at Theo, uncertain and skeptical. They turned back to look at each other for a moment, but it was the bartender who spoke.

"Uh, look bruddah, don't matter what kinda kahunah you might be, meetin' the Night Marchers is a quick way to make loa. The Na Maka'i take care of us around here. They'll handle it,"

He trusted the police? Wow, Hawai'i really was a different world.

The ork woman slapped him on the chest, "Bah! Na Maka'i won't help with anything but finding the body!"

She turned to Theo trying fiercely to control the desperation in her voice, "My boy's name is Keona, he's 16. He has a girlfriend he thinks we don't know about in Kailua. He went to see her today, but he was supposed to be back hours ago. Then I got this:"

She held up her commlink, which looked like it was supposed to be playing some kind of flatvid, but the screen was black. There was, however, sound. Terrifying sounds. First, what sounded like a young man groaning and crying...and a raspy feminine voice both crazed and unhinged.

"Why? Why? No no no no! Not again! Not again!"

Theo looked at me and back to the woman, "That...doesn't sound like what I've read about, but I'll look into it. Is his commlink set up to share his location with you?"

It turned out that the real-time tracking on the Night Marchers lined up pretty well with Keona's location. Or it had when she'd checked last. They'd moved on now, but he hadn't. And while a manifesting spirit wouldn't be audible to a microphone, it was possible for a spirit that had fully Materialized to show up on technological sensors, but the Night Marchers weren't known to do that very often. And they were even less known for leaving survivors behind when they did. They took a dim view of people so much as seeing them. Preawakening traditions said that if you sensed their approach, you were supposed to lie down on your stomach with your face toward the ground and "think humble thoughts" or something like that.

So once we got the coordinates, Theo paid for the meal and dragged me around the corner into an alley and then into the manasphere. God, I really needed to learn how to do that.

"So what are you thinking we'll find?" I asked him as we zipped through the manasphere at speeds impossible by any technological means.

"Whatever hurt him didn't mean to, but she's done that kind of thing before. And it keeps happening, so there's probably some kind of compulsion there. Probably a newly infected that doesn't understand what she is,"

Before I could even ask a second question, however, we were there. Theo pulled me back into the material world and we found ourselves far outside any city near the mouth of a small cave that didn't appear on any map. I activated my enhanced hearing and immediately heard what sounded like a girl crying.

"You have you thermographic vision focus attuned?" Theo asked, while staring into the cave.

Oh. Right. Just like with the Vision Magnification focus, I'd forgotten I had it. That was the problem with dumping too many abilities on someone all at once and then going on vacation to...well, hell. I'd been too busy doing all the stuff he normally did to train with them all. But the power was there when I called on it. The world around me expanded into colors I'd never seen before. Infrared goggles just translated the light up into the visible spectrum, which was usually fine since if you were bothering with infrared it meant the visible range wasn't giving you anything useful, but cyberware and magic opened your mind to new worlds entirely. God, it was beautiful. I could see clearly into the mouth of the cave, and it was clear that the source of the sound was deeper in.

So in we went. Spelunking was a notoriously dangerous activity to be doing under the most favorable of circumstances and these circumstances were anything but favorable. But right now, the natural dangers of caves were the least of our problems. Eventually though, we rounded a corner and found what certainly appeared to be a girl in her nearly 20s dressed in local fashions and on her knees holding a teenaged boy. I immediately assensed him and saw that he was still alive, but barely. She on the other hand, well...

I couldn't tell their ethnicities just by looking at them, but the boy was certainly an ork and the girl looked human, but by the bite marks in the boy's neck and the obvious signs in her aura, she clearly wasn't.

She looked up at us, bloody tears streaming from her eyes and begged for an answer, "Why does this keep happening?"

Theo stepped forward and squatted down in front of her, "He's not dead yet. I can help him, if you let me,"

She nodded, and Theo placed a hand on Keona's forehead. And yet I didn't feel anything in the manasphere, only Theo calling on the deeper powers of essence. I heard him take a deep breath and then felt the manasphere react just as the bite wounds on Keona's neck closed up.

"Well, the good news is, I managed to stop the infection from passing to him, but it'll take several more treatments to get his essence back to where it was," Theo explained.

"Essence? Infection? What...what are you talking about?" the girl asked.

Oh boy.

"Uh...how long have you been in this cave?" Theo asked.

She shrugged.

"If I told you magic was real, what would you say?" Theo asked again.

"That your crazy?" she replied.

Ohhhh boy.

Theo took a deep breath and exhaled, "Okay look, we...we have a lot to talk about, but first we need to get this boy back to his parents. But we'll be back to help you very soon. My name is Theo. This is Miho. What's your name?"

"Mary," she said.

"Alright, Mary. We'll be back in a few hours. Just...just sit tight,"

She nodded.

It took us considerably longer to get back to the bistro since we had to use conventional transport and to do that we first had to trek through the wilds of O'ahu. Theo used the time to apply whatever 'treatment' it was that healed essence drain. Which I just needed to know about right then for some reason. And since we were in an automated taxi I could speak out loud.

"Is that some new charm you picked up in hell?" I asked.

He nodded, "Technically. It's called 'Craftsman Needs No Tools'"

I raised an eyebrow, "Uh, that doesn't sound like it has anything to do with essence recovery,"

Theo shook his head, "Not directly no. I'm using it to apply a genetech treatment to him and that's what's healing his essence,"

My mouth fell open, "You can do that just by touching him?"

Theo smirked although his eyes only looked tired, "That's the 'Needs No Tools' part,"

<Interesting. That Charm requires a fundamental basis of knowledge to make use of. His mother must have seen to his academic education during his trip to Malfeas>

"Sounds like you were pretty busy for the last couple years," I told him.

Theo looked away, "...yeah,"

I'd had to resort to the Touch of Eternity to get Keona back to full health by the time we got back to the bistro, just before closing time. Polunu, the bartender, immediately rushed towards Keona and wrapped his arms around him, "You had your mother and I worried sick. What the frag happened to you? No, hang on. I need to call your mother first,"

"Hey, guess who I found!" Polunu said into his commlink after a moment, "Keona! Obviously! What do you mean he - what? What are you talking about, you were out of your mind when you were down here before! What the...yes you were!"

They continued to argue for a few more moments before he finally ended the call in frustration. Polunu looked at us in both confusion and a little fear.

"She...she said she never came down here..."

 

[Idoneior]

"Hey, guess who I found!" Polunu said into his commlink after a moment, "Keona! Obviously! What do you mean he - what? What are you talking about, you were out of your mind when you were down here before! What the...yes you were!"

They continued to argue for a few more moments before he finally ended the call in frustration. Polunu looked at us in both confusion and a little fear.

"She...she said she never came down here..."

Click to shrink...

Well, that's distinctly odd. It raises the question: has Keona's mother forgotten he was missing, or is there a Keona who's not actually missing?

 

[Erenthia]

Even with everything going on I was still a little miffed at not getting the Beach Episode I wanted. Theo managed to convince the bartender to check into his wife's whereabouts to see if she'd been mind-whammied or if the person we'd seen earlier was some kind of imposter. Meanwhile, he sent me off to the beach house we'd rented and promised to meet me there with our new friend. The sun had just gone down a while ago so there wasn't a huge hurry, but I was still fairly sure the reason he'd sent me off alone was because he couldn't drag more than one person through the manasphere with him, and sure enough, he beat me there, Mary in tow.

Even so, I took the time to change clothes. Going that far out of my comfort zone had been a worthwhile experience and I knew I'd give it another go, but I didn't want to give Mary the wrong impression of what she was doing here. But I was still on vacation, so I went with regular sandals this time along with jean shorts and a tank top. Casual but not remotely sexual. Mary's clothes looked relatively new compared to how old she probably was. Whoever it was that had sent us Mary's way had implied that she'd had some kind of relationship with Keona, and his father had confirmed it. The boy had certainly been smitten and had been sneaking off at odd hours, so he'd likely been providing her with basic essentials. And based on the question she'd asked us when we first arrived, he probably wasn't the first.

Mary's memories of her life post-infection were spotty, to say the least. She remembered being chained to a metal chair along with three other women for what felt like - and likely was - a lifetime. She'd descended into an animal state having been forced to fight for scraps by the man who'd kidnapped her, almost certainly the vampire who'd infected her. But she didn't remember coming to Hawai'i at all. The last thing she remembered was going into a shady nightclub in 2012 in Los Angeles before her life turned into hell. And she was having a hard time adapting to the fact that she'd just lost sixty years of her life.

The living room had been furnished fairly well, designed to feel homey and not cookie-cutter, though it lacked the personalized touch of an actual home. Mary sat on the sofa alone while Theo had taken the recliner and turned to face her. I stayed at the bedroom doorway, waiting for an appropriate moment to really enter the conversation.

"No, I'm...I'm not eighty years old!" she said, emphatically.

Theo sighed, "You don't look eighty years old. You probably don't feel eighty years old, but I assure you the year is 2072 and...quite a lot has changed in that time,"

She looked to me and I nodded.

"And I'm a vampire..." it wasn't a question. She had to have known at some level. She'd been awake for a while now so she had to have been drinking blood, and it would have been fairly obvious the pain the sun caused her.

Theo nodded, "Your condition can be managed...to a degree. Your allergy to sunlight can be mitigated significantly as well as your wood allergy, and I can help you find a supply of blood. There are other issues though, and one in particular that we're going to have to talk about,"

She looked up at him with those doe eyes and combined with her ragged black hair and hunched demeanor she looked particularly vulnerable for a super-predator. She was not going to like what Theo was about to say.

"Vampires need more than blood to survive. The world's knowledge of things magical is still limited, but this much we know: metahumans - that is to say, humans and other sapient, human-like beings - have what's generally referred to as 'essence' which is largely a way of avoiding saying the word 'soul'. And the essence of vampires degrades naturally over time...and has to be replenished..."

Mary stared at Theo as if he'd just uttered some kind of terrifying threat, "I need...to eat...souls..." and again it wasn't a question.

Theo nodded, "I know that's a lot to take in, but there are options - "

"Options?" Mary interrupted, "Options? You just told me I need to eat souls! What the fuck kind of options are there? Who could be so bad that they deserve having the soul eaten?"

I took that as my cue. I stepped into the room and sat down on the sofa next to her, "More people than you think. But unless I miss my guess, he's got another option for you besides picking acceptable targets,"

Theo made an exaggerated sigh, "I was working up to that. Given that you just fed on Keona it'll probably be a while before it becomes pressing but there are actually a couple of possibilities. For starters...my soul grows back. So does Miho's. You'd have to stick around us though, and if something happened to both of us, you'd be back to square one."

Her gaze turned skeptical. Theo had mentioned two possibilities but had immediately left one out and she was probably wondering why, "And the other one?"

"The other one is frankly something I'd like to wait on discussing," he told her.

<You think Enlightening her essence would help?> I asked Theo telepathically.

<Sort of. I don't think she'd be compatible with the normal process, but I picked up something in Malfeas that might work> he replied.

"Also," he continued, "I'm working on alternative means of providing food for vampires and other kinds of Infected,"

"Other kinds?" Mary asked.

I jumped in, "Ghouls mostly. They don't need to drain people's essence, but they can only eat metahuman flesh, which is still a rather large problem for them. And there's actually a lot of different variants out there,"

Mary looked back at Theo, "You...you can do that?"

Theo nodded, "Please don't tell anyone but...pretty sure, yeah. It'll take me some time and I have other things I'm...required to be working on. It's certainly near the top of my priorities though. And we also need to see to your training,"

"What training?" she asked.

"Well...you've been operating on instinct ever since you washed up on that beach. At this point, you probably don't even know how to control whether or not you're feeding on essence or just blood. That part I can help you with. But for the more advanced stuff, we might need to hire you a tutor, " Theo shrugged, "although I understand most vampires do learn how to use their more advanced powers on their own eventually. But I'm sure I could find you someone, sooner or later,"

I glared daggers at Theo.

"No not...not them. I learned my lesson okay?" he whined.

Mary looked back and forth between us, so I made sure I was the one who answered, "Theo hired a group of vampires a while back...and they weren't the type to struggle with the ethical conundrum of their situation, and it went nasty,"

He took a sharp breath, "I know it was wrong. We've been over this," he turned back to Mary, "the upside is, you will be a lot more powerful than you are probably thinking. I know that makes the moral dilemma even harder, but at least there's that. Also, you need to know that not every place in the world will recognize you as a person with legal rights. But don't worry about that right now. That's something I can help you out with, once you understand enough about the world to operate in it at all. Which is probably what we're going to focus on for the next few days at least,"

Mary looked back and forth between us, "I'm...gonna end up owing you guys a lot aren't I?"

I put a hand on her shoulder, "Mostly we want you to be in control of yourself and not a blight on the world. Once you get your feet under you, you're going to want to do something with yourself anyway, and Theo and I can always find work for powerful people. Which you will be. But if you want to go your own way, you certainly can,"

She took a few seconds to process that.

"So...2072 huh? Sounds like a lot to get caught up on," she said after a while.

Theo smiled, "Yup. And since Miho and I are technically on vacation, I know exactly how we're going to do it. Good thing I'm an efficiency expert," and he fragging winked.

Theo snapped his fingers and a holographic image of a vidscreen appeared over the coffee table.

"What? Movies?" Mary asked.

"They're called Trids now, mostly. But yes. So what do you want first? Best cinema experiences of the last 60 years? Or a documentary?" he answered.

Huh. Looked like I was getting my Beach Episode after all. And we spent more than a few hours watching some of the most enjoyable and informative media I'd ever seen. It was almost like Theo had paid an older vampire to come up with a...list of...hmm.

[Did you by any chance hire an expert to give you trid recommendation?] I texted him.

Theo smiled, [His name is 'Red' He's a shadowrunner and was more than happy to help. He even did it for free, so I hired to him to train her when we get her back to Seattle] he replied.

Because of course he did. I was about to reply with something snarky when I noticed the sun was coming up and now that I thought about it, I noticed Mary looking like she was getting pretty tired. So I excused myself from the living room to get her room ready. We'd had some basic supplies delivered during our marathon so blacking out the windows was pretty straightforward. Luckily we'd rented this particular beach house for it's proximity to the beach without consideration for other, more trivial things, like how much it cost. So we'd ended up with a two-story house with five bedrooms. And yes, there were some pretty spacious closets as well, but frag that. Sunlight allergies or no, we were treating her like a person.

And since being Infected didn't mean she didn't need sleep, and Theo and I only needed three hours, it would give us a chance to talk in private.

"So what are you thinking?" I asked him after Mary had gone to bed. We'd made our way to the kitchen because Theo wanted to try his hand at cooking us some breakfast.

"You think you're Mother did this?" I said, finishing my question.

He shook his head, "No, we're sort of...past that part of our relationship. At least that's what she said when I asked. She said it smells like dragon manipulation. Maybe they want to see what I'll do,"

I ran a hand through my hair in a self-calming gesture, "You asked her? Why?"

Theo winced as he took a pancake off a skillet and transferred it to a plate before pouring more batter for the next one.

"Well...the main reason I could see her doing this is to send more resources my way, but she wouldn't be so round-a-bout at this point. Frankly, I have to agree with her. It's looking like a test of some kind,"

He'd failed to answer, but I didn't feel like pressing so instead I leaned up against a cabinet and folded my arms, "If that's the case, what do we do about it?"

He shrugged, "Well, we can run ourselves ragged trying to figure out who did it, but I'm sure they're ready for that. If so, we'll probably run into more tests, cryptic bulldrek, get strung along like fools...you know, the usual. I say we skip it. Someone wants to learn about how we operate? They're welcome to watch, but I'm not jumping through a single goddamn hoop, "

I snickered, "Yeah, and I know the feeling, but it seems like it could be dangerous in the long term. What if they escalate?"

Theo added another pancake to the stack and said, "You're not wrong, and if it's really a Great Dragon we could be looking at reverse psychology, double-reverse psychology, or triple, or quadruple. I think the best thing we can do right now is just go on with our lives until we have to respond. At least that's what Masaru suggested,"

I stood up straight, "Oh drek! I was supposed to get in touch with him when you got back! I was so worried about...I mean - "

"You were worried about me, it's fine you can say it. But it's alright, I called him...well...I called him before you caught up to me in Bellevue. He's fine. He said he had a crisis of faith after what happened with Mother, but he was happy you gave him some privacy during his recovery. Probably some Dragon pride thing. I called him after I called Mother and he seems to agree with her. I asked him to look into it, but he said that was something they would certainly predict. So I told him nevermind. I figure if nothing else we can screw with their heads,"

"And if they escalate?" I pressed.

He shrugged again, "Look, we can't control the whole universe. And yeah, maybe playing along would keep things contained, but I'm nobody's puppet and neither are you. Besides, I need this vacation and so do you. If we're going to be damned, then lets be damned for who we really are,"

I smirked, "Captain Picard. Encounter at Farpoint,"

He turned and looked at me with those mischevious bedroom eyes of his, "God, you're sexy,"

And he leaned in and kissed me long enough to burn one of his pancakes, which he somehow managed to toss all the way across the kitchen into the trashcan without pulling away.

The next few days went almost how I'd originally planned. Mary obviously felt like a bit of a third wheel, but we tried to make her feel as included as we could. Theo got his hands on some UV-opaque body paint in her skin tone, some imagine goggles - not that she had any use for the enhancements - some specially designed Second Skin with even more UV blocking, an Alleviate Sunlight Allergy spell for back up, and a whole host of other things. By the time she'd woken up after that first day with us she had a SIN, an entire wardrobe, and all the rest of life's essentials - most notably a commlink. Red had even thrown together some essential reading for her, along with some he'd written himself.

But even if Theo could leave it alone, I couldn't, so I'd checked in with Polunu. His neighbors had been able to confirm that his wife had been at home the entire time we'd been at the bistro. Which made it all but certain whoever that had been wearing her shape had been an imposter. I even bribed the local police to let me look at local security cam feeds and watched the imposter snake through the streets and alleyways of O'ahu before slipping into a talismonger's shop.

And you know? That's when it hit me. This really was a game that we were expected to play, and this was my goddamn vacation. Theo was right. Frag this drek.

So we did the whole tourist things full throttle. We went on a few hikes, went to a luau, took in a few shows, saw the sights, the whole thing. We even went out of our way to bring Mary on each and every one, since, as Theo pointed out, the quickest way to get us back into the "game" for whomever it was that wanted us to play, would be to snatch Mary from under our noses. We even set up powerful Guardian spirits to watch over her when we slept. Only needing three hours, we certainly could have slept in shifts and still had plenty of time together, but actually sleeping together - yes I mean that literally here - was a luxury we were absolutely not going to deny ourselves just because someone out there wanted to frag with us.

And frag with us they did. Mysterious occurrences seemed to plague us everywhere we went, especially on those hikes, but we turned a deliberately blind eye to each and every one. There were times we couldn't of course. If we saw people in need we helped them, but beyond that we refused to get involved. Strange noises coming from outside? White noise. Mysterious figures dropping hints they knew about Creation? What's Creation? And the more subtle attempts we just pretended not to notice at all. I'd thought it would get old, but honestly, we were starting to have fun with it. Whoever was doing this had to be getting frustrated, and the long distance schadenfreude was palpable.

We were pretty happy with how Mary was coming along as well. She'd learned how to not drain essence while she was feeding, started to adapt pretty well to modern times, and was showing signs of being able to become a full magician. She had a long way to go, even to get a handle on her innate powers, but this wasn't boot camp so we only did whatever training was absolutely necessary or seemed fun. But all good things must come to an end and all too soon, and much sooner than I would have liked it was time to go. Of course, whoever had been fragging with us would probably have one last card to play before we left, and while we had considered sneaking out the backdoor so to speak - Theo ferrying Mary and I to Seattle via the manasphere and having the jet fly back to Bellevue on its own we ultimately decided against it. After spending some time talking it over, we didn't want this drek to follow us home if at all possible, so we decided ahead of time to meet whatever was coming head on and make our displeasure clear.

We'd kept Mary in the dark about all this, because why tell her? And it had been the right call. Despite still being in shock about her "jump" forward in time, and only just beginning to process the torment she had lived with for likely decades, she still managed to enjoy herself. Frankly it was goddamn heroic in my book. We still heard her crying in her room during the day and she was having nightmares every time she slept, but every evening when she woke up she put on a brave face and went out to meet the world. She even managed to get laid a few times, much to my and Theo's relief. We'd never said it out loud, but Theo and I had been worrying that as her rescuers she might throw herself at one or both of us. She even managed to track down Keona and apologize, which I thought was sweet.

So here we were at the end. Theo had rented another Nightsky to take us back to the Horizon airfield, the two of us bracing for whatever crazy bulldrek that would fall on us like an anvil from the sky. But somehow we made it all the way there with nothing happening. If you thought that was any kind of relief, it wasn't. That left us standing in front of his jet's airstair, just staring at it. Something would be inside. We just knew it.

"Something wrong?" Mary asked, innocently.

Theo and I looked at each other but he was the one who spoke, "Oh no, sorry. Just distracted,"

We reached the top and I heard Theo groan before I saw it. Someone was sitting in one of the seats facing away from the passenger door. A woman by the bits we could see of her, mostly her hair and everything below her knees.

"Don't you have you're own private jet?" Theo groaned.

"Yes, but it seems I've had some difficulty in piquing your interests. Come. Sit. We have much to discuss," the woman replied without turning to face us. And it certainly wasn't Tabitha. Her clothes had actual color, from what little I could see of them anyway.

Theo shrugged, "Alright fine. Ladies, if you'll join me,"

"Uh...what's going on?" Mary asked.

"It's...nothing you need to worry about. The bedroom is that way if you want to bow out," I replied.

"Stay if you like though. It's not everyday you get an opportunity to meet a Great Dragon. You know, unless your me," Theo quipped.

I took a deep breath through my nose in spite of myself. Who was it this time? Mary didn't know much about the world, but we'd talked about dragons in general and Great Dragons in particular, so she made the obvious play.

"I um...you said the bedroom was that way right?" Mary said, and slunk off without waiting for a reply.

Theo sat down at the opposite side of the little table and I knew I wasn't getting out of this. When I finally got a view of our visitor, I saw a woman with full auburn hair, but with a grey streak coming out of the top of her forehead. She wore an off-white cashmere sweater with deep blue pants and dark red stiletto pumps. I'd seen her before on trids many times, in this form and her true one.

The Great Dragon Hestaby.

She nodded to me as I sat, "Hajimemashite, Tanaka-san,"

I nodded, "It's a pleasure to meet you,"

She turned her gaze back to Theo, "Before I begin, I suppose I should ask if you need me to explain my presence?"

"No," Theo said flatly, "and I'd prefer to get this over with as quickly as possible. You've been trying to get my attention all week, and you nearly ruined my vacation in the process,"

Hestaby raised an eyebrow, but if she was offended she didn't show it, "Very well then, I shall be succint. It had been my hope to take your measure in lesser ways, but there is no longer time for such games. So now we are here. And I must risk far more than I would have preferred,"

"I believe you said something about being succint?" Theo pressed. And I really wished he hadn't.

Hestaby looked him over with an assessing gaze for a moment and then said, "While you were relaxing here in O'ahu, Aztlan and Amazonia have declared war on one another. And I have it on good authority that Sirrurg is intending to become active again. Almost certainly to take vengeance on Aztechnology for the execution of Dzitbalchén. And I am curious to know what you will do about it."

"Perhaps I'm not yet powerful enough to do anything about it. Nations clashing against nations. Great Dragons clashing against megacorps. You know when I exalted. What makes you believe I consider myself capable of interfering at all?" Theo replied.

Hestaby's face could have been a stone mask, "There are many things you might do. Even with only the resources you possessed as a mortal, you have significant wealth and a high position within Horizon. Perhaps you will bring them into the conflict. It would not require much in the way of power, at least as a Solar reckons, to sway your mother and her peers. And unless I miss my guess, you possess supernal skill in the scope of bureaucracy. Perhaps you believe you can manipulate the conflict from afar to your own advantage with none of us being the wiser,"

Theo rolled his eyes and scoffed, "I'm not stupid. And if the last week is any indication, involving myself in the affairs of your kind seems pretty tedious. I may not be able to avoid it forever, but I intend to do my best,"

"And what of the innocents who will suffer?" Hestaby asked.

Theo looked down at the table for a moment and said, "From what Masaru has told me, some of your kind are inclined to follow me. Others are not. That sounds like a recipe for a civil war. And I'm not sure if the world could survive a civil war among the most powerful beings in the world. If I try to throw my weight around, a lot more innocents would suffer. "

Hestaby raised her chin, and there was something in her eyes that I couldn't quite place, "I see. And if you could involve yourself without such fears?"

Theo sighed and looked at me. I knew what he was thinking so I nodded.

He turned back to Hestaby and shrugged, "Then if it would save innocents, how could I say no?"

Hestaby paused for an uncomfortably long moment. She didn't seem like she was pondering anything, but I didn't know if metahuman expressions really applied to her kind. But for just a second, I got a tiny glimpse of something that looked like sadness.

"I have managed to convince Sirrurg that I will support him in his efforts. Instead, I will deliver foreknowledge of the times and places of his attacks to you. Do with that knowledge as you will,"

Theo glanced at me once again, but only for a moment, "And if the other Great Dragons discover my interference?"

Hestaby took a deep breath, "You have Masaru. He can confirm what I am about to say. Sirrurg has lost a great deal of face with us. And further, you may have him claim responsibility for your actions. Even the pretense of such will send a signal to the others. Most will not be quick to move against you in such a situation,"

Even I had heard some of the loopholes in that.

Theo took a deep breath and exhaled, "You know what the third rule of shadowrunning is right?"

Hestaby smiled, "Are you a shadowrunner?"

Theo locked eyes with her for a long moment before replying.

"No. I'm not."

 

[Erenthia]

I'd brought Mary to her new house in Everette while Theo got in some last minute preparations for some Squatter's Mall project he wanted to surprise me with. He had to be in Boston by tomorrow morning, but with his ability to travel via manasphere that wasn't any kind of a problem as long as he didn't make his traveling ability too obvious.

I took a deep breath. I'd worn a lot of hats in the last six years, but Realestate Agent wasn't one of them. Until now.

"So...it's your basic townhouse. Two bedrooms upstairs, kitchen, living room, etc. Pretty sure it's mostly the same as in your time. Oh, but you control basically everything through your commlink. Any questions so far?"

Mary shook her head, "Not yet but...wow fashions have really changed. Am I allowed to redecorate?"

"Eh...most people redecorate using AR these days. You can if you want, but please be careful. Anything odd gets attention. Attention is bad. You need to be as boring as you can," I sighed, "Look, are you sure you're ready to be alone? Theo and I are only a commcall away, but this is really soon."

Mary smiled, but it was pained, "Red said I need to jump into the deep end as fast as I can or I won't ever want to. And I think he's right. I'm sure it'll be rough, but it's the fastest way. He's uh...not going to be staying here right? You said two bedrooms..."

I shook my head, "No, he shouldn't even know this place exists and if he so much as asks about it, text me, Theo and your handler about it and then find a public place you can stay in as long as possible. It's not that we don't trust him it's just...well...by the standards of your time, nobody really trusts anyone anymore. Operational security is just a way of life. That reminds me, you're going to need to keep your kitchen looking used and try to be seen in the daylight by your neighbors as often as you can. I know that'll be painful even with all the UV blocking, but you have to avoid suspicion as much as possible. And don't pretend to have anything like a albinism or other mundane sunlight allergies. That works in the short term but the moment anyone gets a second data-point it starts to look really suspicious. And vampire hunters aren't something we can necessarily protect you from. They tend to stalk and pounce. We might not know about them until it's too late,"

Mary nodded, "Red talked to me about some of that. He also said if I was going to be living in one place that I shouldn't eat where I sleep,"

"True in general," I told her, "but you shouldn't need to worry about blood or essence. Theo and I can keep you stocked up while he works on a more permanent solution. But do keep your eyes out for activity from other vampires. The last thing you need is someone else's sloppy behavior bringing the heat down on you. But don't try to handle it yourself. Not yet. If you find evidence of a vampire attack tell us immediately and we'll handle it. And..."

I turned to face her and put my hands on her shoulders, "If the worst happens and you do something you regret, please know that we aren't going to just abandon you. These are early days and you're still learning to control your instincts. That's not permission to cheat here and there, but we aren't going to throw you to the wolves over a genuine mistake,"

I dropped my hands and shrugged, "And in the future, if our long-term solution doesn't work out and a rapist or child molester goes missing here and there, you might find that we were looking the other way at the time,"

Mary clenched her teeth and hunched slightly. It was a good sign really, that she wasn't jumping in with both feet on the being a killer part. She took a deep breath and changed the subject.

"So...you said you had a job for me?" she asked.

I nodded, "We'll get to that in a second. First, let me show you around the place a little more and show you how to operate the house's system,"

Mary was adapting to AR pretty quickly, but there was a lot to adapt to. And for all that I'd heard Theo talk, ad-nauseam about how the lower-middle class of today wouldn't want to trade places with wealthy one-percenters a century ago, I'd never thought that was anything other than a talking point before now. It was a bigger place than most people had, especially when living alone, but the way she marveled over trivial things like the integrated holo-projection systems, the cleaning drones, and even cheap kitchen appliances made me start to reconsider my position. And the moment she found out about anthropomorphic drones she squealed like a little girl and immediately put herself 8,000 nuyen in debt on the credit card we'd just gotten for her.

"Wait, was that the doorbell?" she asked. I'd set the house's systems to alert via commlink only for security purposes.

I nodded and checked the door camera, "Yup, he's here. Let him in,"

Mary started to head for the stairs but I stopped her, "Let him in from here,"

She looked at me for a moment in confusion followed by realization, "Oh! Right!"

I tried not to grin at her very obviously moving her head while going through an AR display to find the option to unlock the door. Only then did we make our way down the stairs.

Jeremy stood the moment he saw me...and bowed at 90 degrees, "Kon'nichiwa sensei,"

I couldn't help myself, I laughed, "Kid, look. I used to be a martial arts instructor and back then I did insist on that kinda stuff, but you're not wearing a gi and we're not on a mat. 'Miho-san' is fine,"

Jeremy rubbed his neck, "Uh...sorry, sens - err sorry Miho-san,"

I smiled, "Let's all sit down,"

Once we were all sitting comfortably in the living room I began again, "Alright, Jeremy Delle, this is Mary Jenkins. Mary meet Jeremy. Mary is going to be your bodyguard. She's a bit new at the job, and she won't be starting right away. Mary here is a full Magician, though she's not quite as far along in her training as you are. Mary, Jeremy here is a Mystic Adept, which means he can do some things you can't and you can do some things he can't, but you both share spellcasting so you can and probably should study that together. Jeremy, this is also your safe-house. If there's an emergency, come here, but under no circumstances should you bother Mary if she needs to be alone for any reason. You got that?"

Because if there was an emergency then there would be a high chance Jeremy would be bleeding. But even as I was thinking this, I could see Mary bobbing her head, clearly texting.

[Aren't we going to tell him?] she asked.

[Do you want to trust a teenager with something like this?] I replied.

The simple truth was, Theo and I were all Mary had, and she knew it. Mercenary as it was, we were pretty sure we could trust her with him on that basis alone.

"Yes! Absolutely! Perfect gentlemen, right here!" he responded.

[Would it be stupid if I said yes? I really really don't want to lie to him about this. Not if I'm supposed to be taking care of him,] she texted back.

I sighed. She had a point, and I had shared a lot with Jeremy already, but this was dangerous information and he didn't have a Sacred Oath hanging over his head in her case.

"Alright Jeremy look, I have something else I might want to tell you. But this is a secret as precious and as dangerous as any I've shared with you before. Can you convince me you know how to keep it to yourself?"

Jeremy rubbed his neck, "I mean...my dad never found out about...my after-school job,"

I felt a twinge of pain as he reminded me of his time as a child prostitute, "That's...fair. But this is a much more dangerous secret. Life or death. Literally,"

"Whose?" he asked, which was surprisingly wise for a kid his age.

"Mary's," I said, flatly.

He looked at her and back to me, "Oh...um, do you want me to know? I'm okay with not knowing everything if that's important. I don't want to put anyone in danger,"

I looked at Mary and I could see the weight the decision put on her. I was starting to wonder if maybe I shouldn't have left this up to her in the first place before she obviated the whole line of thought.

"I'm a vampire," she said.

His eyes went wide, "Oh...oh...um," his eyes darted back and forth, "I'm gonna need protection from mind-reading like...immediately,"

Mary held up one of her palms, "No no, I would never do that to you! I owe Miho and her boyfriend like everything so - "

Jeremy cut her off, "Huh? No, not for you. If Miho-san trusts you then I trust you. End of story. But like...hey, Miho-san, do you have any Opsec tutorsofts? I'm really gonna have to up my game here,"

I smiled. Jeremy was taking this way better than I hoped and more responsibly too, "For you, kid? Plenty,"

"Hey are these windows UV-opaque? Oh, and what's your kitchen look like? You need to keep it looking normal," Jeremy said.

I put a hand on his knee, "You can assume we've handled the basics,"

He nodded but I could still see the gears turning in his head, "Right right. Hey is there a spell for protection from sunlight or anything? If so I should probably learn it for backup. And something to keep vampire-hunters from reading my mind. Oh hey, is there an adept power for like...replenishing my blood if there's an emergency? OH! There's a Detect Lifeform spell for Vampires right? Is there a way to counter that?"

Looking at Mary now, seeing what I saw in her eyes, I knew there was no way she'd ever harm him. And really, she didn't even know how significant it was that he'd dropped an entire lifetime of fearing the Infected for her. But she didn't need to. She'd defend him with her life, regardless. That, combined with the unending stream of machinations spewing forth from Jeremy reminded me so very much of Theo and me. However their personal relationship developed, be it brother and sister, eventual lovers, or both as in the case of me and Theo, these two were going the distance.

"Alright kid look, let's slow this down," I said after several minutes of him retreading territory Theo and I had already gone over days ago, "Just...just write all this down and we'll look it over. But we know our drek, okay? It's okay if you can't come up with anything we haven't already thought of,"

"Oh...I need better encryption on my commlink, but no that'll look suspicious. Is there a way I can have like a fake outer layer on my commlink and a hidden inner encrypted one?"

I sighed in exasperation, even while Mary smiled ear-to-ear, "I'm...just gonna give you Theo's commcode. You can talk it over with him. But for now, I need to head out. I'm about to be CEO of a new major corporation and that's not the kind of job you want to be late for on the first day,"

Mary immediately jumped from her recliner to sit next to Jeremy on the sofa and he didn't so much as flinch, "So...I've sort of been out of the loop for the last sixty years. Still getting caught up on stuff like history and technology and modern stuff. Wanna help me out?"

I stood up, "I'm leaving now,"

While Jeremy hadn't flinched at her approach, he was certainly breathing harder and while he wasn't ogling Mary, there was a certain intensity to the way he was looking at her.

"You uh...ever been to a simsense theater?" Jeremy asked, smirking.

I should have been annoyed, but I wasn't. Okay, maybe a little but these two needed each other. Mary had been through quite a bit more than Jeremy had, but they'd both suffered, and in helping each other they'd be healing themselves. So I made my way back to Squatter's Mall, and when I was still a kilometer out I could feel the reverberations of the raw essence of the universe and I knew that Theo was working on something Sorcerous in nature. I texted him to let him know I was here and he told me he wasn't quite ready but that he would be soon. So I thought I'd give Julia a quick visit. When I got to her office, she was arguing with someone on her commlink but waved me in any way even as she argued with whoever was on the other end in a rapid-fire conversation I could barely follow even with my augs. But I figured I'd sit down and enjoy the show.

"No, daddy, I'm sorry but you're wrong. The numbers back me up here! Worker productivity starts to go down after 35 hours a week and it falls off a cliff after 50. People have known this for decades! What? Like you don't buy the highest quality of everything when you get drek for yourself? Well, then why wouldn't I buy the highest quality labor? Oh, who cares about that! No, I don't care. Oh, come on! There's plenty of potential labor out there! Daddy, look...this is my job and my bosses are very happy with my work, and I appreciate your advice, but if you're so concerned about corporate culture you should know that this is ours. Okay look, my boss is here, she wants to talk to me. No, I will not put her on the comm. Ugh...bye daddy. Yeah, I...I love you too,"

She took a very deep breath before explaining.

"Sorry, my father thinks we're insane for only mandating a 35-hour work week and I think he almost had a stroke when I told him we brought back overtime,"

I chuckled. It was one of many things I just plain hadn't believed Theo about at first when he'd told me that the corps practices were all insane from an economics standpoint. In that first year when we met he'd gone on and on about how all their business practices were insane and how anyone with a basic economics education would totally eat their lunch if the world had any kind of protection for competition like it used to. Instead, he'd told me, the evolutionary neglect of the Big Ten's oligopoly had driven efficiency down and reduced growth to a crawl compared to where it would be if nations still had the power to regulate them, and even the wealthiest of the wealthiest like him were poorer for it, to say nothing of the bottom 50%.

The solution? According to Theo at least, was to bring back Capitalism. I'd literally worried he'd had some kind of psychotic break when he said that, and I'm not exaggerating. But according to Theo, the Sixth World actually ran on something called "Mercantilism" at least if you classified the megas as states in their own right, which they basically were. He was still working on how to do that though, and even as a Solar, it wouldn't be easy.

I shrugged, "I think...basically everyone thinks we're crazy. Frankly, I don't think any of this drek would have gotten off the ground if it wasn't for Tabitha letting Theo have the original pilot project basically as a toy to play with. We even got a pretty easy start what with everyone assuming it would fall apart in a few weeks,"

Julia sighed and shook her head, "Well that's over. When you guys were in Hawai'i we had like half-a-dozen incidents, mostly shadowrunners. Damage to the aquaponics facility, damage to the computers and security systems, attempts at data-steals. Nothing out of the ordinary, but we're definitely being taken seriously now. You don't need to worry about it though, I'm on it,"

I let an awkward moment pass but finally spoke, "So uh...how's the restructuring going?"

She looked at me in wild-eyed confusion for a moment before letting out a relieved breath, "Miho...you need to be careful how you use that word. It has...implications,"

I winced and groaned, "Oh you know what I'm talking about! The Redmond Program getting spun off into Sol Purpose. I know there's a lot of work going into all that. And I felt pretty bad when I realized I'd dumped it all on you. It's just...after Theo got back from his time with his Mother...well, he needed..."

"A little sexual healing?" Julia smirked.

"Um...I sorta promised him I wouldn't talk about that,"

"What? You can't do that! You're breaking the Girl-Code!"

I sighed, "I mean, I can tell you about anything that happened when we were verticle. But I promised him I would keep our bedroom fun private. And I'm going to,"

Julia crossed her arms and pouted for a moment, but then I saw a gleam in her eye, "Did you at least wear that little number I sent you?"

"The slingkini with the double loincloth? Yup, even in public. And it was as humiliating as I thought it would be from the picture,"

"I bet he liked that," Julia said with a mischievous half-smirk.

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, "You know, he's a little sensitive about people knowing about that stuff...but you know...if you have any other suggestions, I'm definitely listening,"

Julia leaned in, "Worked out well, huh?"

"Very very well,"

"No collar yet though?" Julia asked.

"Collar? You mean like a choker or something?" I asked in return.

Julia drummed her fingers, "Knowing him, he's either waiting to ask, or he's planning to just never ask. Do some Matrix searches, you'll figure it out,"

[It's time, please come to our room] Theo texted me.

"Alright, looks like he needs to see me right now anyway. Keep up the good work,"

"You too," Julia said in a suggestive voice.

I rolled my eyes.

As I approached Theo's room - now our room - in Squatter's Mall, I could feel the tension in the essence starting to bubble into the manasphere. It didn't have any particular character to it that I could identify, so I assumed that meant it was incidental. Ancient Sorcery could in principle force the manasphere to do things, and probably things conventional sorcery couldn't, but truly powerful expressions would cause ripples in the manasphere even if they weren't intending to. Although this didn't seem like too much, since the disturbance to the local mana felt relatively minor by comparison.

I opened the door and immediately froze, too shocked to even close the door. I just stood there like a statue.

Tabitha was there. Her palms out level with her waist, balls of green energy in each.

"Miho," Theo said, "close the door, we can't let anyone see her!"

It took me a second to yank myself out of the ice, but eventually, I did as I was bid.

"A pleasure to see you again, Ms Tanaka," Tabitha said as if she meant it. And maybe she did. Maybe our attempt on her life meant so little to her that it may as well have never happened. I'd seen her a week ago in L.A. but that had been the presence of the rest of Horizon's board members, but even then I'd felt the pressure of her presence bearing down on me.

"Mother is casting a spell for us. It's technically one I can cast, but she can do it faster and quieter. She's almost done," Theo explained.

I glanced at her for a moment but didn't dare make eye contact, so I switched to looking at Theo, "Why...is she helping us?"

Tabitha answered for him, "Theodore has agreed to undertake a certain task for me. One of the few I cannot do on my own. For this, I am rewarding him handsomely and in advance, in full faith that he will meet his obligations when the time comes,"

I kept looking at Theo, "Does that have something to do with..."

I stopped because I suddenly wasn't sure if I was supposed to know about his trip to Malfeas.

"His trip to Hell, yes," Tabitha said, hopefully not reading my mind.

"Look," Theo added, "I've got a briefing prepared for you and Robin's team and Masaru, but first I wanted to get some modifications done to - "

Tabitha interrupted and I could feel a swell of sorcerous essence explode out from even as the balls of green essence expanded and dissipated, barely causing any ripples in the manasphere.

"Complete the Puissant Sanctum!" she intoned.

Theo looked at her with excitement in his eyes, "Did it work?"

"Of course it worked, child. I'm your Mother. I know what I'm doing,"

And for the first time in the entire time I'd known them, it was almost like they were really mother and son.

I looked at Tabitha and couldn't help but wonder if this newfound camaraderie wasn't sorcerously inspired.

"Can I speak to you in private?" I asked her.

Theo's eyes went wide in fear, even as a half-smirk spread across his Mother's face.

"Why of course, my dear. Theodore, would you give us the room?"

Theo, for his part, looked like he wanted to say something, but he swallowed it down and simply replied, "Yes, Mother,"

The moment he was gone, I spoke, "You two seem to be getting along well. Better than seems realistically possible in fact,"

Tabitha raised an eyebrow and her smirk still remained, "Are you accusing me of something, my dear?"

"Have you mind-controlled him in some way? Or in any way abrogated his free will?"

Tabitha clucked her tongue several times, "Silly girl. Of course not. The task I have set before young Theodore is not one that can be forced, even by the strongest magic. It must be chosen. And so I have and will continue to order the world in such a way as to cause him to want to choose it. And before you start whining about the loss of Robin, do remember that I also gave him Meela...and you. I have never been beyond using both the carrot and the stick, and it might surprise you to know that I have largely retired the stick. And so long as Theodore continues along the path I have laid out for him, I foresee no need to take it back up,"

I folded my arms, "And what path is that?"

"Oh, you'll have to discuss the matter with him. I have not forbidden him from doing so, but if he has not...well I hardly find that surprising,"

I stared at her for nearly half a minute, just trying to control my breathing. I'd have to discuss what she'd said with him later, but for now, I had one more thing I needed to try to dig out of her.

"Why don't you rule the world?" I asked, finally.

She raised another eyebrow, "What makes you think I don't?"

I just glared at her.

"Oh fine. You'd ruin all my fun if you could, I suppose. Well, if you're really curious about me then I'll give you a few hints. The truth is this. I once did rule the earth, in what you would call the Second World. Little knowledge of that time remains of course, but there is one scrap of record about my time as Earth's ruler, hilariously inaccurate though it may be. It seems the modern mortal mind simply cannot contain the Glories of the Past. What little record there is of me claims that I ruled a simple valley region between two mountain ranges. I suppose that might be some sort of analogy or metaphor for the material world's position between the Resonance Realms and the Astral Plane, but that may be giving them too much credit. The truth is, when I was a Solar, I ruled all. And it was a time of peace and prosperity, for I alone could hold back the Night. But I no longer have any desire to rule the Earth, or even to remain here. When my task is done, I will return to Malfeas, a place I much prefer,"

I unfolded my arms and made no effort to disguise my surprise, "You're...going to leave us alone?"

"Do you see now, why Theodore has swallowed both his pride and his rage? If our project succeeds, he will be rid of me. And the Earth will belong to you,"

I nodded absently, "I...I suppose that makes sense. But how can I know any of this is true?"

She shrugged, "There are methods by which my words can be verified, but if I suggest them to you, they will immediately become suspect, so I'm afraid I will have to leave you to your own investigations. Know that you have my permission to investigate anything you like about me, by whatever means you can find. I know you've already investigated my infiltration of the McWellan family and I hold you no animus for it,"

I took a nervous breath. I really had thought I'd kept that from her...but if she didn't mind then why not ask.

"What happened in 2057? Why come to Earth then?" I asked.

"That was around the time I received the Investiture of Infernal Glory...or the 2.0 version as modern mortals would call it. You know of the Green Sun Princes? And the Akuma?"

I nodded.

"Well...despite the Ebon Dragon's treachery the Green Sun Princes were largely considered a success, so the process of creating Akuma was reformulated to more closely mimic them,"

"Wait! You were a Solar as recently as 20 years ago? Where were you for the past few centuries?"

Tabitha's face turned dark and I immediately regretted asking, "I spent much of that time...imprisoned...though it was a prison of my own making just as much as it was made by another. I was freed from that and those who secured my release begged me to return to my old task of holding back the Night, which I felt obligated to do for many reasons. Yet another prison of my own making in a very real way. Ironically, I was freed by an act of vile betrayal which in no small way contributed to my accepting the Yozi's offer of salvation and power, "

I wasn't sure if I dared ask, but honestly, how could I not?

"Who betrayed you?"

Tabitha grinned, but it was the most wicked and terrifying thing I'd ever seen.

"Metahumanity,"

 

[Erenthia]

About five minutes later I found myself in front of Squatter's Mall's main freight elevator. Theo had sent out a text message to me and Robin's team to meet him there as soon as possible. So, while it was no surprise to find Theo there waiting, I hadn't been prepared to see Masaru.

"Tanaka-heika," Masaru said bowing.

I wanted to correct him. The honorific he'd used was explicitly and only for the Emperor of Japan. Even the Emporer's wife would have merely been, '-denka' but then Theo had ordered that I be treated in all ways as him, so maybe that was on purpose?

I bowed in return, "A pleasure to see you again. I hope you're doing well?"

And...it kinda was a pleasure to see him. For all that I was pretty comfortable in myself as a Divine being, Great Dragons had still seemed as far above me as they always had been. But then I'd fought by Masaru's side, and then had a quick chat with Hestaby. They were still more powerful than me, of course, and I wasn't sure if that would ever change, but I was starting to get accustomed to rubbing shoulders with them just as I'd eventually gotten accustomed to rubbing shoulders with Old Money after moving to Bellevue.

Hopefully, that kind of thinking wouldn't get me killed.

"Indeed, I am, Tanaka-heika. I appreciate your discretion in allowing me a time of solitude after fighting at your side,"

No mention of how badly we'd lost or the fact that he'd been hurt worse than the rest of us. Or that he'd been hurt at all. I made a mental note to never ever forget about a Dragon's pride.

"I received some advice on the matter. I'm afraid I don't know enough about your ways yet to act in your interests on my own, so please let me know if I'm stepping on your toes at any point in the future,"

I learned a lot from the fancy parties Tabitha had constantly sent us to, and there was no better place to put it to work.

"That is hardly necessary - " Masaru began before Theo interrupted.

"Consider it an order, Masaru. It matters a great deal to her, that she have the opportunity to treat you with respect,"

Masaru bowed to Theo before turning back to me, "Then if it would please you, I shall provide you with materials relating to our kind's etiquette,"

"I would be most grateful," I told him.

It was around that time that Robin's team rounded a corner. The moment they saw us, though they flinched, almost certainly because of Masaru's presence. Theo pretended not to notice and waved them into the elevator. After a short hesitation, and absolutely no words uttered allowed, they crept in. The elevator door closed and I didn't bother with Astral Perception. I knew Robin's team was straining to go along with being stuffed into what was essentially a cage with what they knew to be a Great Dragon, and yet they'd done it. Even if every single one of them was straining to keep me or Theo as a buffer.

"Alright, guys," Theo began, "I'm gonna need you to pay very close attention. You can't keep a copy of this information anywhere. Just memorize it,"

Theo summoned up the AR interface for the elevator, but instead of selecting a single floor, he used the interface as if it were a keypad and typed a six digit code. The elevator shook slightly and then opened. For a moment it seemed like nothing had happened, but as Theo led us outside it quickly became apparent that we weren't at all where we were. While the real Squatter's Mall didn't look too bad these days due to the nonstop refurbishment and repair, this Squatter's Mall looked entirely new, no damage from gunfire, no aging structural pillars, nothing. All shiny and new. And there was no one else here. And it was daylight outside, apparently.

"Spooky," Thug said because no one else would.

"And...why are you showing us this?" Fabio asked.

Theo looked at Fabio like he didn't understand the question, "What? Come on, you're my top guys! Besides this stuff'll be essential to Lucifer moving forward,"

"Uh..." Opticon spoke up, "I think what Fabio is saying is that some of us aren't sure we can follow you this far into the deep end. We'll never forget what you've done for us, and we're more than happy to keep doing what we're already doing, but if you want us to go further...I don't think..."

He looked away, and suddenly I remembered how frightened Theo had been, when I'd first woken up after his Exaltation and he'd had to tell me I was now a divine being. Would I have balked if I'd had the choice at the time? The way things went down it just seemed like a side-effect of getting to not die, but the more I thought about it, the more I was starting to wonder if perhaps Tabitha has lied - or at least omitted some rather large and important details - about why she'd killed Robin. She'd orchestrated so much, and I'd never thought of myself as more than Theo's accessory, at least in the context of matters Divine. Had Tabitha McWellan of all people put more stock in my agency and importance than I had?

Theo walked up to Opticon and put a hand on his shoulder, "Buddy...it's all bulldrek,"

Gregor piped up immediately and there was something distinctly disappointed in his tone, "You're saying Miho lied to us?"

Theo shook his head, "Oh no, that's not what I'm talking about. It's all this mysticism nonsense. It's not at all what it's made out to be. I know that'll probably disappoint you most of all, Gregor, but the sad fact is, Divinity is just another empty mystery box. Once you break it down into it's core elements, there's no 'specialness' left. I mean, yeah sure, I have a bit of a different perspective now, but not by as much as you think. And I'm sure Miho would tell you the same. Ultimately the main reason to keep something mysterious is to get people to pay attention. But nothing is inherently mysterious. And that's probably what you're afraid of experiencing, am I right?"

Robin's team all shared a number of glances while Masaru waited patiently in the background. So I decided to jump in.

"They don't know what they're afraid of, because they don't know what there is to be afraid of. Aside from getting on the radar of the most powerful beings on the planet. And look, guys, I can imagine how you're feeling and looking at you all right now, frankly, I'm glad I never had a choice. Because right now I'm happy to be where I am, doing what I'm doing, being what I am. I wouldn't trade it for anything,"

Gregor looked like he was about to say something but Theo got there first, "Right now, though, I'm just showing you the building. After that, we'll talk about the mundane operations. How and if we can roll Lucifer into Sol Purpose. After that...well...there are some things you all need to know. And I'm sorry, but it's not an optional briefing. Because the truth is, I need you guys as much as I always have,"

So we let Theo take us on the tour, and it was only in retrospect that I realized the magnitude of what Tabitha had done. Not only had she created this place, but she'd done it with hardly a whisper in the manasphere. And what a place it was. Apparently, according to Theo, there wasn't a strictly limited amount of space on "this side". The building didn't have a fixed volume or number of rooms. Rather, it had a fixed capacity for people and objects it could store. And the layout could be changed. Furthermore, the manasphere within the building could be tweaked and changed from the central control room. There were even aids for Ancient Sorcery, though we didn't have much time to go into it. Or not as much as I would have liked anyway. Theo called it a Rainbow Tabernacle and I made a note to ask the big guy about it, later.

As Theo eased them in, everyone started to look just slightly more comfortable. All except for Fabio. He kept getting more nervous and uncomfortable and - with a quick peek at his aura - ashamed for some reason. Eventually, we wound up in the conference room for the Advisory Board, or rather its 'reflection' as Theo called it. And when we were all seated, Theo got right down to business.

"So, Miho and I discussed things while we were in Hawai'i, and we'd like you guys to be involved in keeping Sol Purpose on mission. I know that's new territory for you all, but the day-to-day stuff you can learn. And I'm sure Masaru would be happy to provide executive assistants and training, and - "

Fabio interrupted him, "We don't know how to do C-suit drek! You're crazy! And why us?"

There was no small amount of contempt in Fabio's tone, but it was a smoke screen for the fear and...something else he was keeping well hidden. Theo just looked at me. So I took a deep breath before diving in.

"We're not looking for anyone from Squatter's Mall for C-suit positions...except maybe Julia. She's probably a shoo-in for COO at this point. Theo and I would like you all to sit on the Board of Directors,"

Fabio just threw up his hands in disgust and double-face-palmed. But he said nothing, so I continued.

"As for why...we want you for your perspectives. You all rose so high in Lucifer's operation that you became Lucifer. That wasn't just about competence. That was about our trust in you and that you are all some of the most moral and ethical people we know. And as far as we suspect Sol Purpose is going to go, it desperately needs people who will keep it grounded,"

Fabio folded his arms and looked away. It was no surprise that he was the main holdout, and not just because he'd been a con artist before becoming one of Lucifer's agents though that was no small part I was sure. Fabio had never forgiven himself for his past. And while on the one hand, that had pushed him harder and harder to become a better person and to help others to make up for the things he'd done in the past. On the other hand, he'd never allowed himself the luxury of thinking he'd improved, no matter how much he actually had.

"I..." Gregor began, "have worked in a university, which I suppose makes me the closest to being qualified to work in that kind of environment, but I share Fabio's disquiet. We all know your penchant for sharing your good fortune, but not all of us feel as though we've earned the right to go even that high,"

The subtext was clear. Back when I'd told them about Theo's Exaltation and how he'd uplifted me one of the first questions was if he would or would want to do the same for them. At the time, they weren't really asking. They were just trying to get a handle on what the frag was going on. But I'd already hinted at the possibility of them becoming Enlightened when I'd told them I was glad to be what I was.

Theo responded before I could, "You don't think there are people in similar positions who deserve to be there less?"

Gregor folded his armed and glared at him, "That is not an argument as you well know,"

"You'd be in a better position to make amends, " I offered.

"You don't get it!" Fabio growled at me, "You're not tainted like the rest of us. Neither of you are!"

"Speak for yourself, chummer," came Thug's indignant reply.

"This is bigger than any of you realize," Theo interjected before anything could get heated between the two of them.

I looked at him and sighed, "So I guess it's time for that?"

Fabio placed the tips of his fingers all around his face and shook his head, "No, no no, no more of this crazy bulldrek - "

"It's the end of the world...literally," Theo interrupted him.

And finally, he had Masaru's attention. And mine.

Theo turned to me, "You said you told them everything about Creation that I told you, right?"

I nodded.

Theo took a deep breath, "Well, I picked up a little more information on the field trip Mother decided to take me on. She took me to Malfeas...that's Hell if you don't remember,"

Even Masaru looked shocked.

"So...it turns out that after the Primordial War, when the beings that became the Yozi were locked inside the body of their king, good old Autochthon had a secret last line of defense against their escape. When they circumcised the Shadow Of All Things and turned him into the Ebon Dragon Autochthon did more than just mutilate him. He made it so the Ebon Dragon's very nature was to ruin everything. I guess the idea was that he'd ruin any escape plan they came up with, which sort of worked, but it turned out not to be enough. And after the Unconquered Sun died and the Ebon Dragon took over Creation...well he ruined Creation pretty quickly too. His mismanagement ended up being worse than the Great Contagion,"

Theo took another deep breath and continued, "Which prompted yet another invasion by the Fair Folk, but unlike the Balorian Crusade...they won. And in fact, they ended up devouring the Ebon Dragon,"

He rubbed his neck and looked away for a moment before continuing, "You see, the Raksha were always pretty nasty for mortals to deal with, being soul-eating monsters and such, but ultimately what they are at their very core are stories...stories incarnate. But after devouring the Ebon Dragon...well...now they're all Horror Stories,"

"Or simply Horrors," Masaru interjected, "as those few alive in this world who know would call them,"

"That's what I was doing in Hell. Fighting the Horrors. Hell has been fighting a nonstop war with them ever since. And...they've invaded Earth before too. But we have an opportunity now. We can put both Realms at peace and prevent the inevitable conflict between Earth and Hell that would come from that. I brokered an agreement with the Yozi. If I can get the Horrors off their back, they'll leave Earth alone,"

"Wait," I added, "I thought they were imprisoned,"

Theo shook his head, "The Horrors destroyed those bindings when they broke in. And if the Yozi defeat the Horrors on their own then God help us. That's why I need you guys. There's only one of me, and I've got a lot to do now and I need people I trust. Someone needs to represent the interests of metahumanity, and not just me. That's why I'm also inviting you to be the metahuman delegation at a deliberative body I'm putting together,"

"Oh god," Fabio placed his elbow on the table and rested his head in his palm, "what now?"

"Twelve delegates in three groups. One delegation for metahumans, one for dragons, and one for...spirits. Plus Miho and I. Masaru will be one of the dragon delegates of course,"

Opticon finally piped up, "More Great Dragons? Jesus. Who are the other three?"

Thing was, he was focusing on the wrong thing. I'd heard the delay in Theo's voice when he'd said, 'spirits' and while it didn't register as a deception - if that power of mine still worked on him - I knew him well enough to know that he really meant gods.

"One is Hetaby," Theo replied, "the other two I left to her discretion. But we'll be finding out pretty soon. They're scheduled to arrive in about an hour and a half,"

Literally, every single one of them slapped their foreheads, even Gregor.

But it was Fabio who spoke, "You think I can't recognize a high-pressure sales pitch? You're not giving us a chance to say No,"

Theo leaned in, "You can walk out right now and I'll never bring it up again. But in my estimation, you have every right to be here. So Sayeth The Lawgiver,"

Fabio folded his arms again but settled down a bit, "I...what are we even supposed to do?"

I smiled because I knew this one. Even if Theo had kept this from me, which I would have words with him about later, I knew exactly what their job would be in this situation.

"Give metahumanity a voice," I told him.

"Why can't you do that?" Opticon asked, glaring at Theo, "isn't that what you're for?"

I smiled. Theo had said those exact words to Isis in that exact tone, and as much as I loved him, I did still occasionally enjoy it when he got his words thrown back in his face.

"I have to present at least a degree of impartiality," Theo explained, "And metahumans aren't the only ones in danger here. I have to represent everyone,"

"If I may, my liege?" Masaru said finally entering the conversation.

"Of course," Theo replied.

"While I do not question your choice of delegates, it is my duty to make you aware of another option. Dunkelzahn, in his superlative foresight, places provisions in his secret will for the creation of a body of metahumans to serve a similar purpose. And while I encourage the ones you have selected to have faith in your judgment, these may also be of use. Had I understood your requirements in having metahuman representatives, I would have made them known to you already. Please forgive my lapse,"

Theo and I stared at him.

"Uh... you're forgiven," Theo said, finally, "But please do make me aware of anything else of that nature in the future,"

"Who are they?" I added, not even attempting to disguise my shock.

Masaru lifted his head slightly, "They are called...The Deliberative,"

 

[Krule]

Oh, now that's an excellent way to connect the Horrors of Earthdawn/Shadowrun with the universe of Exalted.

 

[Erenthia]

Oh, now that's an excellent way to connect the Horrors of Earthdawn/Shadowrun with the universe of Exalted.

Click to shrink...

I appreciate it. I know the demons of Malfeas are the more likely suspects to be the Horrors, but every description I read of them sounded more like the nastier end of Raksha to me, and I've always preferred the interpretation that demons are more alien than malevolent, at least at the lower end (first circle). Also, demon summoning and interacting with Malfeas are two of my favorite things to do in Exalted, and I didn't want that to be off the table in this story. The Surrender Oaths may be gone, but demonology is still going to be a thing, it's just going to be more...complicated.

While I'm here, I also want to mention that my slower releases schedule recently has everything to do with my work schedule becoming more intense and does not in any way represent a reduced enthusiasm for this story. Though I do still suffer from writer's block from time to time. This chapter was especially hard for some reason. But hey, we're past it now. *shrug*

 

[Squid]

The Horrors as the remnants of the biggest, most killiest Fairies? I like it.

I've read fics where an Exalt is inserted into another setting, but this actual setting crossover is fantastic. Creation is a hard universe to do that with, so props.

I have to wonder if Autobot has managed to stay alive all this time, becuase if not the Engine of Extinction is a BIG BIG problem. I also have to wonder what happened to the rest of the Celestial Exaltations. There should be 148 (or 298) more Solars, 300 Lunars, the Sidereals probably went down with the Loom, and the Dragonblood bloodlines are extinct obviously. Are there Green Sun Princes in Malfeas, or are they all gone too?