386: The War (Patreon)

‘I was wondering,’ began Nicolai, gazing across the breadth of the isolated hallway at Wu, ‘why you told me that you suspected Zoryth of being the traitor. Were you already planning to turn on him—or did you do it to try and make sure I wouldn’t suspect you of working with him?’

Wu smiled. Or at least, she made her lips move up a bit at the sides. ‘Where would be the fun in me telling you that? Much better for you to work it out yourself.’

‘Oh? I think you owe me the truth. I just took quite a hit for you. The Patriarch…’ He clicked his tongue, shook his head, ‘is upset with me.’

She tilted her head, raised a questioning brow. ‘If you’d like to spend your favour on the answer to such a boring question, sure. Do you?’

He smiled, pleased she’d admitted she owed him. That was half the challenge, much the time. ‘I think I’ll hold onto it. This is a big one. I’ll be expecting you to pull out all the stops when I call it.’

She nodded, all slow and sardonic. ‘You might even be able to earn yourself another, depending on how you perform.’

He nodded back, equally slow. ‘You need to deflect the Patriarch’s suspicions. Fortunately for you, they’re currently aimed at me.’

‘That won’t last,’ she said dismissively. ‘I’m sure you’ll keep on doing things to make him happy. No, I need to pin it on someone else.’

‘Have anyone in mind?’

‘I was planning on the other Spy, Yue. That would work nicely with the evidence I believe Zoryth may have been foolish enough to leave lying around.’

He shook his head. ‘No. That would complicate things for me.’

‘Still eager to make friends? That girl seemed pretty upset with you.’

‘We’ll pin it on John,’ he told her. ‘Think you can make that work?’

She tapped her chin. ‘It’ll be harder, but… I’ll find a way.’

###

‘Well, we’re all part of the same House now,’ said Maverick, armour whirring as he shrugged his little shoulders. ‘So… at least there’s that?’

‘I don’t give a shit about the House,’ said Junko. ‘You all know that—even he knows that—and I don’t care about getting this stupid key! I care about finding The Thing In The Well. I care about saving humanity. All he cares about is getting some stupid reward from the stupid Patriarch. It should be obvious by now that we’ve got very different goals, so… yeah.’ She turned to scowl at Nicolai. ‘Well? Am I wrong?’

‘You’re dead right,’ he said easily, and her face lit up with victory. But he continued before she could start to crow, ‘And also… completely wrong. You see, I’m also very interested in what this thing in the well has to say. And, although you might think I don’t care about saving humanity, well…’

He spread his hands, wishing his helmet was off so he could do one of those sad, winsome smiles like Old Ben used to do, before a baby Skinwalker put a spike through his chest. Psychology told him the smile would’ve gone perfect with his words. ‘I am human. So, even if only out of self-interest, it has a lot more bearing on me than you might think. Plus, since you’ve become Champions of House Thrynn, along with one of its spies,’ he added, nodding towards Yue, ‘it obviously won’t benefit me if you all get yourselves killed out there. I’d be happy simply to travel with you. Protection in numbers and all that.’ The other Houses would all be sending at least three Champions, and he was sure Severin would be out there, too. He’d need some friends of his own when the Assassin came for him.

‘Plus, my friend Serrin here cares about you, and I care about him.’

Serrin nodded along to this. The Hornet seemed to have decided that he ought not say anything, but nodding was fine. In truth, Nicolai figured he and the Hornet would be able to move quite a bit faster through the Dead City, and the benefits of speed might outweigh that of numbers, but he knew Serrin would be far from happy if he didn’t at least try to make it happen, and he needed Serrin.

Junko’s expression went a few ways before settling on resignation. ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘Fine.’ Her Soul banked down from a hot red to a dull orange, a shade he decided to call “defeated.” ‘I should have believed the version of you I saw the first time,’ she added coldly, ‘when you fought in that tournament, covered in blood.’

‘Hey,’ said Marlowe, putting a hand on her shoulder. ‘As soon as we’re done with this, we can just cut ties with House Thrynn, eh?’

‘Although,’ spoke up Maverick quickly, ‘I don’t know whether you guys saw that big list they had, but some of those rewards looked pretty good, and—’ Junko gave him the stink eye, and the dog trailed off. ‘We’ll speak on it later,’ he muttered, with a glance at Nicolai.

‘Getting stronger will help us,’ said Yue, and Junko looked to her. ‘Right now, all we have to rely upon when it comes to saving humanity is ourselves, so we need to be strong. And, though we may opt to cut things off with Thrynn down the line, right now we might as well make use of them. And any others who might end up working alongside us.’ She said this meaningfully, looking to Nicolai, and Junko followed her gaze, lips drawn up in a conflicted little pout.

She reminds me a little of you, the Mask murmured to Nicolai.

In a good way, I hope, he replied, but the Mask didn’t answer.

‘What she’s trying to say, girl, is that a guy like him will probably come in pretty useful out there,’ said Marlowe, with a sympathetic sigh. ‘I think you’re a vicious bastard,’ he then added, looking up at Nicolai, and the sympathy vanished as his eyes narrowed to little slits, ‘and you can bet I’ll be keeping a close eye on you. We ain’t friends, and Junko’s entirely right to feel the way she does. But for now, since our interests are aligned, you can come with us.’

Nicolai bowed his head. ‘Fair enough,’ Mr Reasonable replied.

I don’t think these people are ever going to like you, the Mask murmured sadly. And perhaps they’re right not to.

Do not be dismayed, Psychology replied. Going out together on a perilous adventure will provide plenty of opportunities for him to save someone’s life and continue being hugely reasonable. Although I should note that the reasonable act seems, if anything, to be making Junko even angrier. Perhaps you ought to try something more nuanced.

Maybe you should try being honest with her, the Mask suggested.

We’ll see, said Nicolai, who saw little reason to place all that much stock in what Junko thought of him, nor to trust her with anything approaching truth if he could avoid it. Still, by and large he hadn’t been lying.

###

A distant roar rolled through the Dead City, shaking Nicolai free of the memory, returning him to the ruined avenue. They’d come onto a street that at one time would’ve been grand, and the others were slowing to take it in, and frowning off in the direction of the roar. The street was broad and straight, the kind of thing armies on parade would march down, but the paving had heaved up into cracked mounds as though a colony of gigantic moles lived beneath, and the large buildings either side were as slumped and crumpling as ever.

He used ground-penetrating radar and Threat Analysis’s ripple scans to check for gigantic, murderous moles below, and they did find some interesting tunnels, but outside of his imagination, there was no sign of movement or life.

He still wasn’t entirely sure how he should have acted, back in the argument, but it seemed to have worked out, mostly because there were legitimate reasons for the group to trust him. Still, for now, he intended to do his best to worm his way more properly into their confidences. Alternatively, if he couldn’t do so, he needed to start taking steps to poison the well of Serrin’s relationship with them.

The young Hornet was important to his plans, and as Nicolai watched him through the cameras set into the sides and back of his helmet, saw how he had positioned himself protectively near Junko, he knew there was a real risk here. He needed to get to the bottom of Serrin’s inexplicable interest in her.

For now, though, the easiest path was simply to project that charming, affable persona and win them over. The Mask had suddenly risen to glare when it sensed his thoughts about poisoning the well. It would see that as an act against Serrin, and he wasn’t sure he could convince it that he was actually trying to protect him—because, well, he wasn’t. He didn’t like the complication of Serrin’s attachment to these people.

They had been walking through the Dead City for a few minutes now, and there was very much a sense that it truly was a dangerous place. That in mind, he decided it was time to bring them to a stop. The others seemed unwilling to break the silence, with Junko still simmering there like a little volcano, but they needed to discuss how they were going to move through this place, and he also felt this would be a good opportunity to begin slightly altering his persona.

Perhaps a little less reasonable, a little more driven. A man of action. A man looking to get things done. But perhaps also a man who, due to some tragic backstory, did not quite understand violence. Yes… a man who, really, you could hardly blame for the things he did.

He could have raised the subject back outside the walls, on safe ground. But back there they would’ve had time to second-guess everything he said. Here and now, with the Dead City a threatening weight all around, his suggestions would be far harder to dismiss.

‘We need to stop and discuss how we’re going to proceed.’ He shot a look at Junko. ‘The creatures out here, along with any groups from the other Houses nearby, can likely sense ripples. And right now, there are quite a lot of ripples coming from one of us. We need to make sure everyone is controlling their Soul and not emanating their emotions too powerfully.’

The group came to a halt. Junko was glaring, but the others exchanged concerned looks.

‘Look at Serrin,’ Nicolai added offhandedly. ‘His Soul is perfectly controlled. If only we could all follow his example.’

‘Uh, what?’ put in Serrin, confused, as Junko’s glare flickered over to him.

What are you doing? hissed the Mask.

I’m just saying. He really is very good at controlling his Soul. What other example should I use? The Mask swelled across his face, and he felt it digging deeper. He would have to watch what he said.

At that moment, to his utter joy, something in the distance howled menacingly. It sounded markedly closer than whatever had roared earlier, and the group all twitched, peering in that direction. Seizing the opportunity, Nicolai added, ‘If you don’t get control of yourself, we’re going to have to deal with whatever that is.’ He kept his eyes on Junko. ‘Assuming you’re capable of controlling yourself.’

‘Of course I am,’ she snapped, and her Soul began to shift as she clamped down upon it.

‘We need to think about how we’re going to move through this place, plot our route,’ he continued while she was focused on that. She was actually managing quite well, surprising him. ‘Of the locations the Patriarch listed as likely to hold a key, I’ve picked out the most promising. The only issue is that the groups sent by the other Houses will likely be thinking the same thing. All the strongest will be heading there. Still, if we move fast—’

‘There’s no need for us to bother with any of that,’ said Junko coldly. ‘You might be here to get these keys, but we are here to find the thing in the well, and I know precisely where it is.’

‘Would you be willing to share that information?’ he asked, after a moment in which she glared at him while his featureless helmet stared innocently back.

Her face twitched as she considered, but ultimately she shrugged. ‘Fine. I suppose you’ll realise anyway, since you’re travelling with us.’

She tapped on her Mark, and after a few deft movements, her map sprang up. Nicolai eyed it with significant interest, and took a picture. Then came mutters from everyone as they all noticed the same thing, which, shown there clear on her map, was suddenly obvious. Beneath his helmet he began to grin.

‘One of the key locations is right next to the well,’ Marlowe said at length.

Serrin glanced around them all, then finally looked at Nicolai when no one else spoke. ‘Is that…?’

Nicolai nodded, delighted, though he did his best to hide it behind grim stoicism, the way he figured Mr Reasonable would act about now. ‘That’s the one. The best prospect. The place all the strongest will be heading.’

‘Well, it doesn’t change anything,’ said Junko. ‘We’re not going there.’

‘It does change things,’ murmured Yue. ‘They really are very close. We’ll be travelling toward roughly the same location as many of the other groups. Even if we don’t go after the key, well…’ She looked at Marlowe, who frowned back at her, then at Maverick, who pawed at the ground, resigned.

‘They won’t know that,’ the dog finished.

‘How unfortunate,’ Nicolai murmured sadly.

‘Oh, fuck off,’ Junko snapped at him.

‘Still,’ he added brightly, her reaction feeding a wonderful burst of energy into him, ‘it’s a good thing we have one another. Considering the dangers we’re up against, it will be useful to travel as a team.’

‘You sure?’ put in Marlowe, glancing at Junko from the corner of his eye. She looked almost as though she were vibrating with anger.

‘It really will be,’ said Serrin, his words entreating and aimed at Junko, ‘and we are a good team. All of us, we proved it in the trial! We can handle this, no problem.’

Nicolai sniped this attempt to calm her with a rapid interjection. ‘Your Soul is starting to leak again.’

Junko’s face passed through several interesting configurations while Serrin sighed and stared irritably at him. He ignored the Hornet, capitalising on her loss of composure to continue stating his case, his control over the conversation and thus their future ever-rising.

‘Now, Serrin and I are experienced in this sort of thing. I suggest that we scout ahead.’ He nodded to the Hornet, who straightened.

‘Yeah, that’s true,’ said Serrin, ‘We’re quick and quiet—we can check the route and warn of any dangers.’

Nicolai’s lips curved in a smile. Serrin’s eagerness to prove himself was coming in useful. ‘Shall we link up?’ he asked rhetorically, already pinging Junko, Maverick, and Marlowe over Local, in a move that would turn his surging momentum into total victory. And this victory would domino into others, until he spoke and they acted, and he was able to steer them right at his enemies, and—

‘Ha!’ barked Junko. Her Soul was abruptly quite well controlled as her mental state shifted. ‘No. No, there’s no need for that. We don’t need to rely on your scouting, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to take charge. We’re a team.’ She looked at the others, who nodded back at her, straightening up and smiling in a way he didn’t like, that told him they were anticipating something.

‘And we’ve been working together for quite some time. We know what we’re doing, and I know exactly how we’re going to reach our destination. We’re going to arrive well before any of the other groups.’

She raised one hand, victorious. It began to glow gold as she turned away.

‘I will simply summon,’ she called as she strode toward the centre of the street, ‘some transport!’

Her hand flashed with brilliant golden light, and the street was full.

‘A dragon,’ she added casually, smirking back at Nicolai.

The dragon was enormous, large enough that it barely fit within the street and far bigger even than Striker the killbot. Its scales were a lustrous silver and it had big pale-green eyes, slitted like a cat’s. Great wings lay folded across its back, while its tail stretched dozens of metres down the road. When it lowered its head towards Junko it became clear its skull was many times larger than her entire body. She smiled, reaching out to rub the scales between its two broad nostrils, its slow exhale ruffling her clothes. A grinding sound came from the street as the stone shifted beneath its heavy, clawed feet, its talons digging effortlessly into the stonework.

‘Guess we’re flying,’ grunted Marlowe, giving Nicolai a faintly amused look, one eyebrow raised.

‘It’ll be fun!’ said Serrin, clapping Nicolai on the shoulder, like one would to the runner-up of a race.

Nicolai shrugged easily. A vein bulged on his forehead with the effort of remaining Mr Reasonable in light of this total, miserable defeat. ‘I suppose we are.’ The battle was lost, but the war was only beginning.