"Attention," the intercom blares. "A breach has been detected in south wing, sublevel two. Please investigate. I repeat…"
"The others are already breaking stuff? We gotta step up our game," I remark.
"Well, the subgarage is just ahead," Marc points. Sure enough, the hall dead-ends into a pair of metal doors.
"I bet it's locked. Marc, blast it," I command.
"Hold up, Kit! Let's test them first."
Unfortunately, the doors aren't locked. The security here really sucks once you're actually inside.
As we enter the subgarage, Marc surveys the spread of acrobuggies parked in neat rows. "There's the outer door… only one, huh," he observes. "Easy enough to destroy. The fewer escape routes, the better."
I point finger guns at him. "Gonna handle demolition?"
"Yep. Check this out." After a moment's concentration, he fires off a void bomb that shatters the outer door, causing the wall and supports around it to collapse and seal off the exit completely.
"What the – crap!" A frazzled-looking man stumbles out from under an acrobuggy. He looks to be a mechanic. "A-are you the intruders? Don't kill me! I'm just a hired hand!"
"Oh yeah?" I cross my arms. "Who hired you?"
"Atticus. I-I'm only in this garage once a week," the mechanic stammers.
"Meh…" I twirl a ponytail, then look at Marc, who only shrugs. "Whatever. Just get out of the way."
"Aaah!" He quickly clambers onto a raised platform and activates its barriers.
Then, BWOMMM!
Marc's hyper beam cuts through the subgarage, causing chain explosions that destroy most of the acrobuggies in an instant.
The mechanic freezes up, eyes wide.
"Oof," Marc grunts. "That one really takes it out of me. Give me a moment…"
That's when the mechanic activates his comm – "Hey White Knight, this is bad! I think one of the intruders is an emanator."
Travis's voice crackles through – "A what?"
"Never heard of it," I say, hovering over the barrier. The mechanic flinches as I land next to him. "You seen people like Marc before?"
The mechanic hesitates, then seems to realize I'm not interested in killing him. "M-my wife knows about 'em," he hastily explains. "She's one of Atticus's spellmasters, you see. According to her, 'emanator' is just a special name for people with overwhelming magical power. Apparently they're a danger even to themselves."
"Oh, rad." Travis sounds hyped. "I wanna throw down with him."
I take the comm from the mechanic. "Gonna come over here?"
"Meh, hopefully. I'm actually en route right now, so if…" Travis stops for a moment, then it finally hits him. "WAIT! Kit, what are you doing on the line? This is a restricted frequency!"
"Took you long enough," I snicker. I can't really call him evil or the like, but he did leave our team in favor of the enemy's, so it's not like we're friends right now either. The least he could've done is explain himself, but he never explained his obsession with helmets either, so maybe there's no point.
"Um, if you're the intruders, which one is the emanator?" Trav asks.
"Marc. I mean, the Guy. His void magic is really cool."
"What! Why'd he join up with you?"
"Why'd you join up with Torblan?"
"Didn't I tell you already?"
"Hmph, whatever. By the time you arrive, this place will be a dump," I retort.
"Oh yeah? That oughta be fun," Trav replies. "Anyhow, even though the underground facility is our biggest asset, it isn't all we've got left. Honestly it's kinda scary how many secret weapons and trump cards Toris has."
"Who?"
"What, you don't know 'im? Don't worry about it then. See ya later." Travis cuts the connection.
"Bleh." I toss the comm back to the mechanic. "Hey Marc! Where are Hal and Zoë?" I call.
"Probably still with Master Lee," he replies. "Wanna regroup?"
"Yeah. Oh, one more thing! Hey, mechanic," I say. "I recall Master Lee saying something about a distress call coming from here. Any idea what it could be?"
"Um… well, if you're talking about that independent healer mage..." The mechanic thinks for a moment. "Generator room Z, maybe? It's the only generator room here I can't access, and my wife complains about it a lot when we drink together; going on about magic abuse and unethical containment. Maybe it's some kinda creature."
"Hmm… another biotool, maybe?" I jump over the barrier and descend to where Marc is. "Alright, let's… oh."
"You took too long." Marc looks back at at the guards and Deltas now blocking the subgarage's entrance, their weapons all pointed at us.
The captain slowly steps forward. "Intruders confirmed. They're all wearing Qinn disguises. Do not move or we'll shoot!"
"Man, look at those wings," a flanking guard murmurs.
"Keep your head on. Deltas, detain them."
The two Deltas begin their approach, then stop short. "Biometal detected!"
"Biometal detected." Their weapons retract.
"What?" The captain looks over, confused.
"The override isn't working," a guard in the back grumbles.
Marc rests his hands on his hips. "Maybe there really is biometal around here," he suggests. "Wanna do a search? I'll wait."
My eyes glint, and my vibroblades flash – a moment's distraction is all I need.
"Grah! Kill the–" Before the captain can finish, I cut her down. The rest of the squad opens fire, but my wings are up and they only have regular guns. Small fry.
As I fight, my mind begins to wander.
Sometimes I wish I didn't have to be on the frontlines all the time. It gets tiring always having the aggro. I've been meaning to get a ranged weapon of some kind so I don't have to worry about getting run down, but nothing's really caught my eye so far. Ranged magic, maybe? I never did figure out how to make my crosswave slash go farther than like a couple of meters.
I mean, sure, these guys are easy enough to solo, but for once I'd like to fly out of the fray once things get hairy and pick off the remaining foes from a safer distance.
Hum, safe? Look at me, thinking about safety! That's a first, actually. Maybe it's a sign of growth. Mental growth. I was kind of hoping I'd physically grow, too, but at this point I feel like it's wishful thinking. I mean, it's not like I hate being small…
"Kit!"
"Muh?"
"You, uhm…" Marc looks concerned, for some reason. "Are you feeling okay?"
My clarity starts to return. The entire squad of guards is dead, and I'm sitting on top of the wrecked Deltas, absently stabbing them with my vibroblades.
Now embarrassed, I jump down, trying to act casual. "Whoops, haha. Got a little distracted there. I, ah, meant to leave at least a couple of them alive."
Marc wordlessly hands me a wet towel, and I realize I'm also covered in blood. None of it seems to be my own.
"You really are a living weapon," the mechanic murmurs.
"Wh-hey, don't say it like that," I protest as I wipe off my face and wings. "I was… uh… th-that was… was… autopilot."
"I've… never seen you use your wings like that before," Marc carefully observes.
"Mmmgh!" Seriously, stop looking at me like that! I know I'm basically a monster, you don't have to remind me! Or maybe I reminded them when I cut loose without really thinking about it? It's not like I have an image to maintain, so why…
"Sorry," Marc tells me. "Didn't mean to make you all self-conscious."
"Whatever," I mumble. "My disguise is ruined."
"That's fine. I don't think we'll need them anymore." Marc turns away for a moment, then exhales. "I'm really glad they never caught and integrated you."
I twirl a ponytail, now thinking about something else. Meanwhile, the mechanic carefully steps through the carnage and runs away, disappearing down the hall.
"Hey, Marc."
"What's up?"
I gesture at the dead bodies. "How many of these guys do you think had families?"
Marc doesn't answer, instead fixing me with a strange look.
"What? It's a genuine question," I protest.
"No, that's not it. I just… realized I was wrong about you," Marc replies. "Heh, I really was wrong about a lot of things."
"What things?"
"Don't worry about it. I knew I was right to put my trust in you."
Huh? I remember Dia said the same thing once. And Lee too, that one time… I don't really know what I'm doing right, but I guess it's nothing to complain about. "I like your attitude," I nod, trying to appear confident. "Let's go find Hal and the ladies."
We run back through the hall. I guess we need to find generator room Z next, but this base is massive. Where would it even be?
"There." Marc points down a connecting corridor. Hal is standing there, looking bored.
"What? Did he get lost?" Honestly, I wouldn't put it past him.
"No! Look, he's standing watch. That must be the place."
"Um…" As we approach, I notice that the door behind Hal has a large Z crudely painted on it. "Weird," I mutter. "We passed through this hall earlier, didn't we? I feel like I would've remembered a door as distinct as this one."
"Yeah, turns out there was some kinda barrier over it that stops people from noticing it if they aren't searching," Hal explains. "I think she called it… null perception? Null perception. That sounds right. I hope she doesn't quiz me on it later."
Lee's voice echoes from behind the closed door: "Hal, who are you talking to?"
"My son. And Shurikit," Zoë's voice confirms, also behind the door.
"Aha. I'll drop the ward, then." Lee says.
I give Hal a quizzical look.
"Basically, don't enter the room while it's up," Hal supplies. "My face still hurts and she won't teach me how to do it."
"Come in," Lee calls.
"Don't freak out, okay?" Hal slides open the door.
Inside, Lee and Zoë are standing in front of a tall, obelisk-shaped thing that has a bunch of thick cables hooked up to it.
"Hm?" I look around – nothing else of note is in here. "What's there to freak out about? The pillar thing?"
"Yeah! She started treating it and kicked me out when I started getting excited," Hal explains. "I'm calm now, by the way. No more disruptive vibes, promise. Lemme tell ya, there's a reason people call her master. Also, the generator isn't really a generator, as it turns out. It's a Zaltruvi. I said it right, right?"
"Uh…" I toss Marc a look, and he shrugs.
"Do continue, Hal," Lee says with a courteous gesture. "Let's call this a pop quiz."
"Aw, what? Haha, pressure's on, I guess," Hal says. "Anyway, Zaltruvi. That thing right there. Super cool, super magical. Its main purpose is to awaken a person's latent energies and attune to your affinity in an instant, instead of spending a bunch of time and energy figuring it out yourself."
"Hmm…?" I look at Marc again.
"What? I'm new to this too," he replies.
"So this Zaltruvi's here, but this is a generator room," Hal continues. "That's because, hey! The Zaltruvi's the generator. It's asleep right now, and when it sleeps it produces magic energy. So they had these cables attached to it to siphon the energy to other parts of this facility, effectively keeping it asleep at all times. Though what parts of this place would use magic instead of electricity? Judging from the size of these cables—"
I quickly raise my hand. "Oh! I know this one! If we cut them, it'll deplete this base's power!"
"Some of it, yes," Lee replies. "But these cables are very thick, as you can see, and highly resistant to conventional weaponry. If we had someone here who was better-versed in attack magic…"
"Oh!" I point at Marc.
"What? my blasts are way too destructive," he objects. "You're the one with the magic razor blades; you do it."
"Oh yeah." I activate my vibroblades.
ZATCH, ZATCH! The cables are cleanly cut away with almost surgical precision. As they fall off, the etched lines covering the Zaltruvi's surface begin to give off a dim glow.
"Such refined energy," Lee notes. "It seems I underestimated your innate ability."
I proudly deactivate my vibroblades, fists high. "Hm-hmm, that's just how I've always done it. Hasn't failed me yet."
"At your current level of proficiency, you can do it without your magic items," someone else says. "Give it a try."
"Hm?" I look around "Who…?"
"Me. The one you saved." The voice is coming from the pillar thing! I mean, Zaltruvi. It sounds friendly, at least. Vaguely feminine. "Hi, hello. I am Suum. I appreciate your help, so I thought I'd give you some pointers."
"How are you feeling?" Lee asks it.
"I'll need more time to restore all my functions," Suum replies. "Have you ever gone to sleep but couldn't recover any energy? That was me for the past couple of decades."
"You… sound fine," I point out.
"Talking is the easy part. The rest of my abilities…" The Zaltruvi's glowing lines flicker in and out. "Maybe if I sleep for a few months, I'll be back up to snuff."
"Wait, don't do that yet," Lee tells it. "We're going to get you out of here first."
Suum's lines begin rhythmically strobing. "Hmm… small miss."
I look over at it. "Me? I'm Shurikit."
"Not many exist who have magic energy so deeply ingrained in their bodies," it observes. "The way your sinews and organs are bound… you're like a flesh golem, or maybe a chimera. Wait, that sounded rude. Sorry. Just make sure to avoid qentic at all costs."
"Chimera…" Not sure what a flesh golem is, but doesn't this basically confirm aeronauts aren't human? I thought I was over it, but…
Suum's lines shift to a different color. "As for this metallic young man… you seem to have awakened to your cosmokinesis a long time ago, but it was sealed away for some reason. Pent-up energy will always 'explode' when it's contained for too long. Sort of like a volcano. It should subside to normal spellcaster levels after a few more eruptions."
Marc scratches his head. "What, so… I'm not an emanator?"
"Thankfully, no. They're incredibly rare for a reason," Suum confirms. "I recall a couple of cases in the past few centuries where an emanator lost control of their extremely high energy and… died young. I'll leave it at that."
"Yikes," Hal mutters.
"Centuries?" Marc looks flabbergasted.
"In any case, you guys are fortunate." Suum's glowing lines return to their dimmed state. "At your current power level, you are more than capable of destroying this place and everyone in it with relative ease."
The Zaltruvi's barely-restrained rage surprises all of us into silence.
"Ahem. This of course is not accounting for outside factors, like other biotools or armored executives, so I recommend staying on guard anyway," Suum calmly finishes.
"How are you gonna get out, though? You're a giant pillar thing," I point out.
"Zaltruvi."
"Yeah, Zaltruvi. Can you even move? I don't see any legs or wings."
"Leave Suum to Hal and me, Shurikit," Lee states. "Jetta should also be able to… where is Jetta?"
"I think she's with the other team," Hal says.
"Hm?" I rub my chin, trying to remember how we split up. "Was she?"
"Don't worry about it, I suppose," Lee sighs. "I can handle it well enough with just the two of us."
"We'll keep moving, then," I nod, tapping on my gauntlet. "I just got the signal from Verni."
Zoë spins her ice gun. "Good."