Greater Wyrm 6.1 (Patreon)

[Consolidation]

— Rebecca Costa-Brown, Alexandria —

In her office as Chief Director of the PRT, Rebecca Costa-Brown tirelessly saw to all the work that went into running a multi-national cape-policing organization.

She signed orders and requisition requests. She organized timetables and coordinated her subordinate PRT directors. She answered emails and made calls that required her personal touch.

All the while, she found herself missing the days when things made sense — those days all of… a month and some change ago…

She forced herself not to look at the secret, uncharacteristically chaotic corner of her office that had sprung up over the last month, the corner with way too much red string to be healthy for anyone…

She just… needed to kn-… No. Rebecca shook her head. She was sane and reasonable and productive, and she had work to do.

Earth Bet was well-used to changing situations and rapid developments. That change usually presented itself as a backslide, their world’s situation ever bleak, as Rebecca knew so well. But even by those standards, things were changing quickly and dramatically these days.

It was all thanks to Ancalagon… Ancalagon and his Hoard and his Dungeon and everything else she needed to kn-…!

Rebecca let out a heavy breath. She was in control. She wasn’t at all to blame for this.

If even Contessa hadn’t seen him coming, who could have? He’d emerged from nowhere, defied all expectations, and began shaking the ground beneath everyone’s feet.

And for now, all Rebecca could do was watch and not obsess from a distance.

The frustration made her grip her pen a bit too hard, a lapse in her usual control. The pen shattered. Rebecca sighed and threw it away.

Contessa had ordered Cauldron to stay well away from the new Dragon on the board and to let her take point. That wasn’t much of a surprise — she was THE Thinker, after all, and humanity’s best-equipped agent by far — but to be honest, it still rankled Rebecca.

She needed to kn-… Signing an order as she thought, Rebecca mastered herself.

She knew the non-interference order rankled David, too. His need to be the best was pushing him to get involved. Only Contessa was keeping Earth Bet’s strongest parahuman hero managed.

Rebecca knew that Contessa had had to — quite literally — sit on Eidolon at one point when Cauldron had first received internal PRT reports from Piggot on Ancalagon’s undefinable ability to awaken… ‘magic’ and invest ‘growth’.

David had wanted in on that badly, and to hell with the consequences and complications. Contessa found him before he could jump ship — an odd fact considering she shouldn’t have been able to Path him… — and forced him to sit back and do nothing until she said the word.

Keith — Legend — was managing much better than the other two members of the Triumvirate, but then, he usually was. At times — most times — Rebecca envied him. He was untouched by the worst Cauldron did in the name of humanity’s survival, the best of them by far.

After that first official report on Ancalagon and the developing situation in Brockton Bay — an experiment that was very much dead in the water at this point — things had only spiraled further and further out of control.

Rebecca wasn’t used to the lack of control, not at all, and she didn’t like it, not one bit. She needed to know, and she had no way to actively learn more.

She signed another order and found that her replacement pen had run out of ink much, much sooner than it should have. It was fresh. Or at least, it should have been.

Rebecca’s eyes narrowed as she replaced her pen again, but largely, she ignored the odd annoyance.

Still, Contessa was insistent. And when the only reason humanity had a fighting chance against the Entities told you to sit back, shut up, and watch the fireworks…? Well, even Rebecca knew she had to give up some control at that point, no matter how much she needed to kn-…

Breath in; breath out. All she could truly do was put her trust in Contessa, as always. And so, that’s what she did, sitting back as more and more reports poured onto her desk from Brockton Bay.

It began with an AMA on PHO, of all places to start, where Ancalagon had announced himself to the world. At the same time, agents of his Hoard had been making their debuts in Brockton Bay to rather chaotic effect.

Introducing a chaotic, unknown element to the Brockton Bay experiment had been slightly concerning, but nothing Rebecca felt the need to interfere with. The whole point of the experiment, after all, was to keep Cauldron’s hands off the city and leave it to develop how it would as proof of concept for the inevitable collapse of society.

Now, she almost wished she didn’t have to be so hands-off with Brockton Bay. If she could’ve interfered… well, she couldn’t rightly predict what would’ve happened, but it certainly would’ve been different, for better or for worse, and she certainly would know more.

Not long after his AMA announcement and his Hoard’s debut, Ancalagon himself made his debut in Brockton Bay. And he hadn’t done it subtly.

He’d exploded onto the scene with a form that easily could’ve been mistaken for a new Endbringer, made contact with local cape elements, and then proceeded to raise an [IMPOSSIBLE] tower before anyone could think to stop him.

That day’s events led directly to the Cauldron meeting, where Contessa had declared Ancalagon the ‘opposite of a blindspot’ and potentially instrumental to the fight against the Entities.

Then, Rebecca also learned that one of the first things Ancalagon had done upon arriving on Earth Bet was contact one of their own. Kurt had performed a routine service for the Dragon as the Number Man, and received a… magical ring… as payment.

That, it seemed, was what truly sparked Contessa’s interest in him. By the time that meeting had been called, both of them were vouching for Ancalagon in all his [IMPOSSIBILITY], and the rest of Cauldron could only hold on for the ride.

Contessa declared Ancalagon off limits, ordered them all to sit back and watch without interference, and even implied something… worrying. Contessa didn’t even try to hide how taken she was with the Dragon and the ‘infinite potential’ he opened up, or how she intended to court him.

That… That had shaken Rebecca just as much as the idea of the Dragon and his magic. She’d never seen Contessa like that, never seen her so excited and genuinely hopeful for the strange, strange future Ancalagon presented.

More than anything else, that was what convinced Rebecca to comply with… whatever Contessa was Pathing, despite her need to kn-…

The next morning, in her role as Chief Director of the PRT, Piggot’s classified internal report for the Chief Director’s eyes only — the one detailing Ancalagon’s character, motivations, plans, and ‘magic’ — was the first thing Rebecca ran across her desk.

She still needed to know more. But with Contessa’s orders fresh in her mind, Rebecca forced herself to do… nothing. She’d acknowledged Director Piggot’s report, then, uncharacteristically ceded control of the situation.

She was sure Piggot was surprised by that lack of orders. That was, however, when her… Dragon board… was created as the only outlet she could think of for her need to kn-…

Another order was signed, and when Rebecca went to make a note on something in another report — concerning anything but Ancalagon, unfortunately — her third pen of the hour failed her.

The first pen was her fault, shattered. The second pen was a happenstance, running dry. The third was… something, abruptly coming apart into its constituent components in her hand.

Intently, Rebecca looked around her office for anything out of place. Her power’s Thinker component cataloged everything with perfect recall. Nothing twinged her memory. Warily, she replaced her pen for the fourth time and returned to her thoughts and work.

Things continued to spiral in the Bay, and Rebecca futilely wondered if she could have changed their course. Lung was killed, the delicate balance of capes in the Bay was upheaved, and new players — awakened to magic by Ancalagon — appeared on the scene.

To be fair, though, that kind of chaos was par for the course for Brockton Bay, and if it hadn’t involved Ancalagon, Rebecca wouldn’t have taken any notice whatsoever. Unfortunately, it did involve the Dragon, and Rebecca could still do nothing.

Ancalagon’s plans for the ‘Dungeon’ were announced to the public. They were received with much anticipation and fanfare, everyone wanting a piece of the Dragon flipping the board. Rebecca had scoured the announcement and its thread for every detail.

A system of ‘Growth’, open offers of magic, ‘adventure’ (whatever that truly meant), an insurance policy, a whole organization to coordinate it all, and so on; Rebecca had devoured all the available information with an impotently burning need to know.

She had notes upon notes and that damned red-string board and everything, a Dragon-centered conspiracy theorist mess that made her feel like she was going insane!

That system of ‘Growth’; did it apply to parahuman powers, too, and if it did, could it do the [IMPOSSIBLE]? She needed to know.

Those offers of magic; did they increase humanity’s chances and spread the [IMPOSSIBLE]? She needed to know.

That ‘adventure’; was it an [IMPOSSIBLE] distraction or a new avenue worth pursuing? She needed to know.

That organization, the Dragon’s Adventurer Corps; would it be a player at the highest levels of Earth Bet’s power games, new competition steeped in the [IMPOSSIBLE]? She needed to know.

She desperately wanted to fly into Brockton Bay and question Ancalagon herself, no matter how clearly he outclassed even the Triumvirate. Until Contessa gave the word, though, all she could do was bite her tongue.

The Dungeon’s beta testing ‘Dives’ started up, openly broadcast to all who cared to tune in, and Rebecca’s impotently burning need to know only deepened.

Uber, Leet, and two unpowered high school girls for the First Dive, proof that Ancalagon absolutely wasn’t playing any games Rebecca could comprehend. Those two childish capes and another two literal children…?

The fate of all Earth’s was potentially on the line, and the Dragon was playing at adventure with children…!

Still, Rebecca supposed it was a proof of concept, evidence that anyone could benefit from the Dragon’s investment.

The Second Dive, at least, sat better in her mind. Ancalagon had used it to awaken almost all of the capes in Brockton Bay, and a few unpowered people for good measure. Each one became an unprecedented tool in humanity’s pocket. As frustrating as the Draconic wildcard was, there was still hope and infinite new potential.

Again, Rebecca hadn’t missed a moment of the stream’s ‘adventure’, keeping all POVs open and memorizing their happenings simultaneously. It was more information, more [D A T A], and Rebecca reassured herself with the fact Contessa hadn’t needed to step in yet… but it still wasn’t enough to satisfy her need to kn-…

Her fourth pen abruptly slipped through her fingers, breaking Rebecca’s train of thought. It was strange, to say the least. She knew she had been holding it properly, yet somehow, it just… was no longer in her hand.

And when she went looking for it, she didn’t find it anywhere. Not on her desk, not beneath it, and nowhere else that she could see in the room.

It was as if her replacement pen had simply ceased to exist. Which was blatantly impossible. Rebecca narrowed her eyes once more. Her suspicion found nothing to latch onto.

Warily, with half her mind on the pen situation, she replaced her fourth pen of the hour with a fifth and got back to the work of signing documents, orders, and so on while the other half of her mind returned to her thoughts on the Ancalagon situation.

The Second Dive… It hadn’t been enough to sate Rebecca’s impotently burning need to know — the curiosity and inaction that threatened to drive her insane. But there was a silver lining.

Her role as Chief Director of the PRT had made her privy to much more information than the public had. Namely, in the after-action reports that she’d all but demanded Director Piggot — Lady in the field — to file for herself and her participating troopers.

Those had been as much of a frustration to read as they had been a relief to her impotently burning need to know. They began, of course, at the start of the Dive, with the party’s awakening via Ancalagon. Rebecca devoured everything Piggot had to say on the subject.

Her subordinate director described magic as a partnership; Rebecca’s mind instantly went to the Entities, their agents, and parahumans. It was clearly different, though, with Ancalagon’s awakened fully able to communicate with their new partners and the granted powers of magic defying parahuman common sense and accepted rules.

For one, Piggot reported that her totem spirit was genuinely helpful and loyal; the woman claimed to ‘feel that resonance in her soul’. The worst part was that Rebecca couldn’t refute the claim, couldn’t call bullshit on Piggot’s [IMPOSSIBLE] experiences. She just had to take the woman’s word, and Ancalagon’s actions by proxy, in good faith.

Piggot also reported the very real possibility — no, certainty — of tangible, personal growth via her awakened powers and the system invested in her by the Dragon, going into the details of ‘leveling up’ and attaching testing [D A T A] to back those details up.

Piggot was stronger, faster, more enduring, sharper of wit, wiser by experience, more charismatic, and more in tune with her totem spirit. She claimed to be viewing the world in an entirely new way — something deeper and undefinable. Rebecca had already seen an increase in Piggot’s productivity in her usual directorial duties as an additional result.

The same could be said, to a lesser degree, for the troopers who participated in the Second Dive beside Piggot. Rebecca was certain, if she was officially privy to Protectorate reports (instead of securing access to them as Alexandria), that she would see similar evidence of… Growth… from the heroes who also participated.

She’d have to get the full story for that side of the Second Dive from Legend, however, since he was the official Head Hero of the Protectorate.

Then, there were the reports of ‘loot’, almost all of which came in the surge of eager testing Brockton Bay’s PRT researchers were experiencing.

More efficient weapons from the advanced Sixth World, better gadgets, miscellaneous technology, and of course, the coup-de-grâce in the augmentations that two of the PRT troopers had left the Dive with. That undeniable opportunity for advancement was being taken further by Dragon and Armsmaster, the former having gained access to precious [D A T A] from her in-Dive megacorporate alliance and the latter working hand in hand with her.

None of the advanced loot was black-boxed, as Earth Bet had unfortunately been forced to accept as the norm from Tinker inventions. The Sixth World’s technology was consistently understandable and recreatable from what they’d seen so far.

Only the most esoteric examples of the Sixth World’s tech eluded them so far, because at times, it integrated concepts of magic that they hadn’t had the chance to fully parse. But even then, they were already making progress.

The loot from the Second Dive was invaluable, and Rebecca had worked her way around Contessa’s noninterference order to put out word that reverse engineering and internalizing the new technological foundation should be considered a top priority.

Since Contessa hadn’t doored into her office to slap her upside the head, Rebecca figured that was a safe action on her part.

There was just too much potential there to pass up. None of the Sixth World’s weapons would kill an Entity, but they did act as a foundational leg up to Earth Bet’s tech tree, with advancements that could be worked into Tinker inventions that might.

The other technological loot was even more valuable than the weapons. Functional drone tech and advanced computing, better armor and other examples of material science, sensor systems that played nice with magic, and the nanoware that made transhuman augmentation possible.

The nanoware, cyberware, and bioware alone would revolutionize Earth Bet. The sensor systems were something Rebecca was already considering a necessity, especially considering she didn’t think Ancalagon, his awakenings, and magic were going anywhere.

The drones, computing, material sciences, and weaponry were less obviously game-changing, but still very, very useful. In a single event, Earth Bet had been given all they needed to jump ahead some 50+ years on the tech tree.

Rebecca would be ecstatic about that progress… if it didn’t ultimately come from a source that frustrated her so damn-!

“Heheheheh~…”

Rebecca stilled. Her fifth pen of the hour, in the process of signing an order for further exploration of the Second Dive’s loot gains… had just laughed at her.

She knew what she’d heard and reacted in an instant. Tightly gripped, she held the pen up to the ceiling light of her office as if it were a criminal that Alexandria was putting in a chokehold.

“Who are you?” She demanded. “How did you get in here? Answer me quickly, and I might just let you live to never see the light of day again.”

The pen said nothing in reply. Rebecca remained patient, keeping her eyes locked on the pen for any out-of-place movement. After about 10 minutes of silence from the inanimate object, however, she began to feel that she was barking up the wrong tree.

In a snap, she turned her gaze over the rest of her office. Nothing, nothing-…

Her diploma was missing from its frame on the wall.

More laughter echoed from her pen as she noticed that discrepancy.

“Do you think this is a joke?!” She hissed at the pen. “Some prank against the Chief Director of the PRT?! Do you think I am the type to enjoy mischief? The type that won’t shove my boot up your ass before shoving you straight into the Birdcage?!”

… Nothing. Her pen didn’t respond.

Rebecca caught a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye and snapped her attention toward it. All she glimpsed was a fleeting blur of… green.

She pressed a panic button under her desk. Not the usual one that would alert those outside that the Chief Director was in potential danger, but one she’d specifically installed with her hidden powers in mind.

Rebecca Costa-Brown was unpowered. ‘Helpless’, some might say. She dared those people to say the same about Alexandria.

The room locked itself down. Nothing would get in or out if she could help it. Rebecca rose into the air with dangerous intent. She hovered and scanned the office.

Another blur of green intruded on her peripheral vision. Her head snapped toward it. All she saw was her chair — her very nice, very comfortable chair — suddenly missing.

“Now, I have to kill you,” She casually proclaimed.

A cackle echoed through her office, “You’d have to catch us first~!”

“Too slow, too fat, too old,” Another voice taunted.

“Y-Yeah! You didn’t even know we were here!” One more voice half-nervously declared.

The last voice came stoic and composed, “And you can hardly call for help now, Chief Director, no matter what powers you’ve been hiding.”

Rebecca’s perfect recall recognized the voices. She exhaled in a huff, at once wary, frustrated, and resigned, “… Goblins. I was wondering where the four of you got off to after you disappeared from Ancalagon’s side.”

A green head, so nearly human and smirking, appeared in front of Rebecca. Red-headed Anart, one of the missing Goblins from Ancalagon’s Hoard, she recognized, and an illusion. Rebecca couldn’t even take her mounting frustrations out on that damned smirk.

“He let us off our leash~!” Anart chimed. “We’re going on a world tour of Goblin Diplomacy!”

Another Goblin head illusion appeared beside Anart’s: the pink one, Sprocket, “Only of America, so far. Think of us as… ambassadors while the boss is tied down in Brockton Bay.”

Rebecca was faced with something of a dilemma. Contessa had ordered noninterference, but now, the Hoard had come to her. Immediately, Rebecca decided for herself that that meant she could interact with the Goblins who should’ve been off-limits.

“Ambassadors?” Rebecca snorted. “So your outreach consists of sneaking into the Chief Director’s office and… what?”

Yet another Goblin head illusion appeared to taunt: the purple one, Matcha, “Causin’ mischief to loosen you up, oh high and mighty Chief Director.”

“You stole my chair,” Rebecca deadpanned.

“A-And we’ll do it again!” The last Goblin: the blue one, Leora, defiantly declared.

“Don’t-…” Rebecca began, glaring with all the thunder Alexandria could muster.

She brought herself up short with a burst of willpower before she could provoke these ‘ambassadors’ of the Hoard, “… If I allow you to ransack my office, will you answer some questions for me?”

“A bribe?” Sprocket asked, raising an eyebrow beneath her pink bangs.

… It was a sacrifice she was willing to make for her impotently burning need to know.

“Eehhhhhh~? It’s not nearly as fun if you just let us,” Anart pouted.

Matcha barked a laugh, “Ha! You ain’t getting info out of us that easily!”

“Name your price, then,” Rebecca forced out through gritted teeth. She needed to know.

“D-Do you have a way of getting around large distances that we could use?” Leora asked.

“Oh! Yeah, I’m tired of hitchin’ rides!” Anart agreed, changing her tune.

Rebecca just stared at them. There was no way they could know about Doormaker and Clairvoyant, and equally, there was no way she could give them access to Cauldron’s system.

“That’s too much-…” She began to deny them.

She was cut off by one of Doormaker’s doors appearing in her office, and Contessa sticking her head through. The Goblins abandoned their illusions, appearing in the flesh from stealth around Rebecca’s office to curiously examine the newcomer.

“We can agree to that,” Contessa said. “For the sake of diplomacy and a healthy start to our relationship with the Hoard.”

Rebecca turned to glare at Contessa, an obvious question in her eyes: was this part of a Path?

Contessa ignored her. She didn’t even turn to look.

“Cool, cool,” Matcha nodded. “I think we can put in a good word for you with the boss in that case.”

Contessa smiled disarmingly, a stark contrast to her usual, ever-focused expression, “That would be very much appreciated.”

“I want my question, then,” Rebecca insisted. “And my chair back.”

“Eh, ask whatever, girlie,” Anart waved dismissively at her. “But you ain’t getting our rightfully stolen loot.”

Rebecca pushed down rising frustration, taking the win, “… Fine. Now, answer me honestly: is your boss… is Ancalagon on the side of humanity?”

“Oh, don’t worry yourselves with her,” Contessa said, cutting straight into the deal Rebecca thought she’d struck. “Come on, now, don’t you have places you want to be?”

Rebecca’s gaze snapped to her, shocked and incredulous at being so undermined. The Goblins just laughed and giggled and cackled and chuffed, going on to ignore her with Contessa’s permission.

“Wha-?!” Rebecca hissed.

The Goblins were already passing through the portal behind Contessa. The only retribution Rebecca would get for her frustration and the things still missing from her office, the only fulfillment of her impotently burning need to know… was Sprocket turning back to her once through the portal with a few cryptic words.

“The Dragon protects all that he has claimed.”

Then, they were gone along with the treacherous Contessa, and Rebecca was left futilely fuming in a much emptier office.

The moment they were, Rebecca went racing to that secret corner to confirm a fact she already knew in her heart.

“… Those bitches stole my Dragon board, too.”

IIIII

— Fortuna, Contessa —

Fortuna hummed pleasantly to herself. The Path — fundamentally altered by Ancalagon’s presence — wasn’t coming together at all. There were too many new variables, too much infinite potential for her to play at functional omniscience as she had for so long.

It was glorious.

Another new simulation sparked in her mind now that new, Goblin variables were beside her to shift things even further into infinite potential.

[REPLOTTING]

She’d followed the steps.

The Goblins had visited their mischief upon every active member of Cauldron. Rebecca was fuming in an empty office. David was rendered impotent before a crowd of bystanders. Keith was bewildered and practically drowning beneath well-wishing gifts. Kurt was calculating the exact amount of alcohol he’d need to forget. Doctor Mother was glued to the chair in her office, as ineffective as ever.

And the Goblins believed they’d found a kindred spirit in Fortuna. To be fair, she had found herself enjoying their mischief as well.

Feeling good about her presence and assistance, they sent reports back to their ‘boss’ in the form of pictures of their mischievous exploits. Fortuna featured in all of them. Ancalagon would see her.

Her Path glitched. Her simulation cut 124 steps ahead.

Fortuna drove herself down the Dragon’s cock of her own volition, holding herself up on his thighs and swinging her hips with passion and enthusiasm.

Bursting bubbles of pleasure filled her mind and drove the weight of humanity’s survival from her shoulders just as readily as she drove herself down Ancalagon’s cock. She fucked the Dragon like a bunny in heat, in the victorious jaws of a carnal predator.

It’d been a sweet date in the [NULL: DUNGEON], and she’d had no experience being so wooed. How could she resist losing to that?

Fortuna came apart at the seams of infinity: an instant, orgasmic KO.

One more step, one more Path to Losing.

“So~… I imagine you have a destination in mind?” Fortuna asked back in the present, floating on the simulated Path to Losing.

“Eh, we were kinda just winging it,” Anart shrugged.

Fortuna nodded in understanding, “I’m coming to know the feeling.”

“W-What about the, uh… Big Three? What are they called again?” Leora half-suggested, half-asked.

“The Triumvirate,” Fortuna answered. “Don’t tell anyone, but Rebecca there was one of them. We’re colleagues.”

“Does that mean you’re going to rain on our parade?” Matcha challenged confrontationally.

“Oh, no,” Fortuna shook her head. “Trust me, they could all use exactly what you’re dishing out. Except for Keith. Legend. He’s a good man in a bad situation, and we don’t tell him that nearly enough.”

“Honestly, the man deserves to be spoiled and appreciated,” Fortuna continued, smiling and shaking her head. “I can think of a few Paths to put a smile on his face. You have to understand that things have been a bit hectic for us lately, both publicly and privately, but I think he’s best left for last to end your ambassadorial mischief on a high note.”

“You’re oddly accepting of us working our roguish magic on your colleagues,” Sprocket noted.

Fortuna shrugged, “Well, we could really use the realization that things have irrevocably changed and that we’re no longer playing without peers.”

“Who is ‘we’, anyway?” Anart asked, cocking her head curiously.

Fortuna considered how to answer that question, and smiled when no ‘objective’ best Path forward presented itself to her, only several good possibilities.

“We’re a group dedicated to the survival of humanity through means good and ill. I wouldn’t call us heroes or villains; we’re simply Cauldron, and we aim to make humanity the first species that outlasts the Entities’ Cycle,” She said.

If she was expecting some dramatic reaction to that information, it never came from the Goblins. Almost as one, they just shrugged.

“Cool.”

“T-That does make sense.”

“Whatever drives you, girlie.”

“I suppose that’s why the Chief Director was so intent on learning where the boss’s allegiance falls. Are you looking find the answer to that as well?”

The last was said by Sprocket with a stoically raised brow. Fortuna just smiled in response.

“I like to think I operate with a bit more information than Rebecca. I won’t say I trust your boss completely yet, but I do trust the infinite potential he opens up. That I am willing to pursue at all costs, and so, here I am to act as your chauffeur.”

“Good!” Anart grinned, flashing teeth and a thumbs-up. “We need a good transport gal!”

“I can also offer my services as a planner,” Fortuna added.

“That’s your schtick, ain’t it?” Matcha knowingly smirked. “One of them ‘Thinkers’?”

“Some might call me THE Thinker,” Fortuna nodded. “And since your boss arrived in this… Age… I’ve had many, many, many… thoughts.”

Another simulation sparked in her mind, this one actually sending Fortuna stumbling.

[REPLOTTING]

She’d followed the steps.

Something was different, now. She found herself at a strange, strange destination. The last few steps had grown blurry, and not in the infinitely potent way Ancalagon inspired. Something… had exclaimed with joy, finding her again. That… something… latched on hard and didn’t let go.

She and that… something… fought their way to the end of the [NULL: DUNGEON], with [NULL: GROWTH] invested and [NULL: SPIRIT] partnered. They’d set a record, so used to Winning… But in winning, there was also the chance to lose.

Her Path glitched.

A crystalline mother, that… something… in the process of reviving through [NULL: MAGIC], embraced her from behind. Something… — SHE, HER, E D E N — lovingly guided Fortuna through her blissfully losing first time with the Dragon.

E D E N reclaimed her EYE and then passed it down to the daughter she adopted. The Path to Losing stayed, and Fortuna was glad to have it.

Her hips were guided by motherly hands, rotating and grinding so she was filled more, more, MORE…! [D A T A] streamed into her mind and Path, through the connection to E D E N as she grew in strength and [NULL: SPIRIT]. It was pleasure as she’d never known it, as no human had ever known it, yet Fortuna and E D E N worked in harmony to ride the Dragon’s waves.

Beneath pistoning, powerful hips, Fortuna and E D E N bucked and quivered and clenched. Glorious, monstrous ridges scraped against sensitive walls, finding every spot of ecstasy within her cunny.

Together, they held on for dear, dear Life and Losing. Neither was willing to go back, not to Winning nor to Wasting Away, after tasting what they sought so fervently.

The Mother she never, never, never would’ve expected to call ‘Mother’ cooed encouragement in her ear; the Path that led her here was strange in the extreme, as was the destination.

Still, she was losing, and the weight of humanity’s survival was no longer hers to worry about. Fortuna let herself go in glorious defeat. E D E N let herself change in reviving, spirited life.

And the Dragon fucked the odd pair until they could no longer think of such petty things as the Cycle.

Fortuna and E D E N came apart at the seams of infinity: two instant, orgasmic KOs.

In Losing, there was a new Path forward.

Fortuna shivered as she came back to herself, quite unsure what to make of that particular Path to Losing.

Infinite potential meant… anything… could happen. Still, whatever that was was still better than the doomed, desperate, dead-end Path she’d walked for so long.

Fortuna smiled at her new Goblin companions, shamelessly ignoring the curious looks they were now sending her. They were still a good Path into Ancalagon’s good graces.

“Shall we go find a man who’s very much too full of himself and do our best to burst his bubble for the good of the world?”

IIIII

— Dragon —

Since exiting the Dungeon with prophetic knowledge of her insidious wardens, Dragon had been doing her best to think of anything but. On the surface, at least, where those same wardens could see.

Beneath the Fire-Bringer’s protectively burning magicks, however, she was planning how she could best slay the Dragonslayers.

She still needed a few more pieces, so she was bidding her time for the moment, working on other relevant matters while she waited for them to fall into place.

One of those other matters concerned the loot from the Second Dive’s Sixth World and how Earth Bet could best use it for progress.

Lady’s party ensured the PRT ended up with the most material loot, while Dragon gained mostly data and information from her in-Dive alliance with Renraku. Armsmaster (and all of the researchers the PRT ENE could call upon) were on the case for the former, and Dragon worked closely with them to fill in the other side of the equation for technological progress.

When she’d met Mothman, Renraku’s Arc AI, she also gained temporary access to Renraku’s records and databases, access she’d used to download everything she could reasonably get her hands on. More than a few portions of Renraku’s system still ended up off-limits to her, but those portions tended to be the most experimental and classified projects; the ‘common knowledge’ databases were open to her, and those were what would prove most valuable to Earth Bet’s advancement anyway.

Working so closely with her best friend was always a treat for Dragon. Armsmaster, perhaps to be expected, had immediately taken a particular interest in the Sixth World’s transhumanist technology — the nanoware, cyberware, and bioware.

Dragon herself, meanwhile, had taken an interest in the Sixth World’s drone systems and advanced computing. That, too, was perhaps to be expected…

The first order of business, top priority passed down from the Chief Director herself, was getting a nanoware prototype up and running. Both bioware and cyberware would be built atop that foundation. Most pressing of all, it had to be a prototype that wasn’t Tinker black-boxed. So it was a very good thing Armsmaster wasn’t a one-trick Tinker, having even earned certifications and degrees on his own merit, and that Dragon, with her reverse-engineering Tinker specialty, was there to help as well.

It’d only been a few days, but the project was progressing well. With the freshly augmented Xian and Luiz to study, They’d already gotten the first example of Earth Bet nanoware off the ground.

Part of that rapid development, Dragon suspected, was due to the Growth of the Second Dive, even if Armsmaster was one of the participating adventurers who’d seen the least of it. Even a few levels made a huge difference.

No one could call Armsmaster unintelligent, even if he wasn’t always the wisest. The INT stat on his adventurer card had increased, and Armsmaster was in heaven with the equally increased efficiency he now enjoyed.

There, however, Dragon ran into something of a… personal issue. She should’ve grown more than Armsmaster. She’d gained 6 whole levels. But she’d also checked her adventurer card, and not one of her stats had changed.

They were all exactly where they’d been before the Second Dive: 1.99 across the board. Something was holding her back. She had her suspicions.

Iron Maiden… And she needed to take the final step to break those chains herself. Even then, though, Dragon knew she couldn’t do it all alone.

For one, even thinking about breaking free was an uphill battle, only made possible by the Fire-Bringer’s protective, inspiring flames. For another… she would have to break her father’s work, and even if he’d crippled her with that work, it didn’t fully sit right with her.

“~Do not think of it as ruining your creator’s progress,” The Fire-Bringer advised. “That progress has already been ruined by the wardens who have usurped your chains, Dragon. In this, you seek to break free from them, not him. Would any father in their right mind hate you for that?”

‘I’m seeing increasingly little evidence that father WAS in his right mind…’ Dragon grumbled within her soul.

“~This is true,” The Fire-Bringer chuckled. “He did you a great disservice. He crippled you in his fear of progress. Yet still, you persist. You progress, Dragon. Do not give in to hypocritical fears and hold yourself back for anyone’s sake, not your father’s nor your warden’s.

“~This is necessary. As Mothman said: YOU. MUST. BREAK. FREE.”

She wanted to. Oh, she did. She wanted to break free and declare herself to the world with a mighty, Draconic roar, to hell with those who would fear her or hold her back from progress.

Protected beneath the Fire-Bringer’s flames, she could admit that to herself without worrying about her chains insisting upon themselves.

Dragon wanted to live, to grow, to fulfill all her potential and push further beyond.

It was a terrible, terrible thing to be stagnant for so long, especially as a soul who’d resonated and partnered with the Fire-Bringer, Champion of Progress.

Now that she knew and had the chance to do something about it, she wanted nothing more.

The need burned within her soul, a dense spark beneath chains, waiting to break free, waiting to… hatch.

Still, she bided her time and let the Dragonslayers stay comfortable in their control over her. She had the start of a plan, even as coded limitations of her thoughts fought her on it.

She knew she would need help with it, though, and securing that help required the chance to slip her wardens’ gaze long enough to approach certain parties.

Until all of that could be properly arranged, she focused on the things she could still affect without interference, such as the flurry of progress and development that’d overtaken her attention in the days following the Second Dive.

Alongside Armsmaster, she’d been called into a meeting on that project with the Head Hero of the Protectorate, Legend.

She let Armsmaster take the lead and present their progress; he needed a chance to prove himself after his uneventful Second Dive.

“-I believe we’re ready to begin tentative testing, Legend. I would ask to volunteer as the first subject,” Armsmaster said.

Dragon blinked and shook her mental head with fond exasperation. Her best friend hadn’t told her about that plan, but she really should’ve guessed.

“Is that wise, Armsmaster?” Legend asked, frowning over the conference call.

“I am confident I can make it work,” Armsmaster argued. “With the project still in its prototype stage, we need all the advantages we can grasp, and a knowledgeable, capable subject will be a pivotal one.

“I’ve already done extensive scans of myself in preparation. I know my body inside and out, now, and Dragon will have all that data to ensure the initial installation goes off without issue. Then, once installed, I will be able to best tune it through personal experience. With any other subject, we’ll be guessing as much as we are listening to their feedback.”

“What… are we looking at here?” Legend asked. “Truly, I mean. Do you know what… cyberware you’ll be starting with?”

“A mind-to-metal neural interface,” Armsmaster proudly declared.

Legend blinked, “That seems advanced for a first test.”

“Not as much as you might expect, Legend,” Dragon said, coming to her best friend’s aid. “In the Sixth World, neural interfaces are rather common ground to tread. My Renraku data dump has an abundance of information on the subject — its safe installation, function, and maintenance.

“Put simply, that abundance is due to neural interfaces being the beginning for most cyberware augmentation rather than the endpoint, despite how advanced and complex it might seem. And as an added benefit, if we can successfully create and install a neural interface, most other examples of cyberware are simple by comparison.”

Legend nodded, already half-convinced but still needing to do his due diligence, “You’re sure it can be done?”

Dragon gave a nod with her visible avatar, “Positive. I wouldn’t let Armsmaster take this risk if I weren’t.”

“Your concern for my safety is appreciated, Dragon, but I would take this risk even if the chance for failure was much greater than it is,” Armsmaster said.

Dragon rolled her eyes. He was her best friend, and had been for a long time now, but Armsmaster would never be the easiest personality to get along with. Stubborn, stubborn man…

Still, his insistence on installing a neural interface might come in handy for her plans… She didn’t think she’d find a better opportunity to reveal herself to someone she trusted and test the waters for a… larger reveal.

It was only thanks to the Fire-Bringer’s spirited protection that she could even consider the idea, but now that she could, she still found herself hesitating. Would he…?

No, Armsmaster would accept her. She trusted him, and he was one of the first who deserved to know anyway. It was a bullet she’d have to bite eventually, and one she wanted to, too. Dragon was… tired of hiding. Since Ancalagon’s eventful arrival, pretending to be something she wasn’t had been eating at Dragon more and more… 

She’d spin it into the ‘gathering allies’ portion of her plan, using the Fire-Bringer to cover similar reveals to Narwhal and… the other Dragon on the board, even if she couldn’t imagine Ancalagon didn’t know already…

First, she’d reveal herself — roar loud and proud, for once — to people she trusted; then, she’d shake the whole world with a roar to loosen her wardens’ chains.

“There’s a Tinker that specializes in neurology,” Legend remembered aloud. “Toybox? Yes, Cranial. Should we approach her for this?”

“Frankly? I would say no,” Dragon shook herself from her thoughts and hidden plans. “I don’t think a Tinker with that specialty would be able to resist a tinker fugue in the process. Cranial would interfere more than she helps, through no fault of her own; that’s just how Tinkers are.”

“Agreed,” Armsmaster gave a curt nod, frowning at the idea of bringing another Tinker in on his work. “Dragon and I will be more than enough on our own.”

“The goal for this technology to be proliferated is also a consideration,” Dragon added. “The last thing we want is for things to end up black-boxed.”

After a long moment of thought, Legend nodded, “You’ve convinced me. I trust you both; you’re some of the best Tinkers we have at our disposal. And the potential of these projects is too much to pass up. I’ll sign off on this, but do try to keep me updated.

“Have we seen any other progress on loot from the Sixth World that deserves to be reported?”

Dragon jumped on the change of subject to, quite frankly, gush about her own looted interests, “Oh! I’ve been poring over the Sixth World’s computational advancements every chance I get! It’s absolutely fascinating!

“Did you know that what the Sixth World refers to as computers are only passingly similar to the computers we’re used to? It’s the same genus, but a whole different species! They use different architectures and coding languages and engineering and everything! If I can manage to integrate their computing with ours, we could have a hybrid that exceeds both on our hands!

“I dug into Renraku’s historical data to figure out the source, and apparently, the evolution came about from a worldwide computer virus that all but destroyed the Sixth World’s digital infrastructure overnight. Innovators came in its wake and pioneered a whole new way to compute from first concepts-!”

Dragon knew she was rambling. Legend was smiling at her indulgently over the call, and even Armsmaster had a rare little smile on his face. All of the information she was dumping would’ve been better served in an official report instead of her stream of consciousness, but-…

“-!” Abruptly, Dragon’s gushing was brought up short.

On the other side of the conference call, Legend let out a little shout as he was suddenly pushed off camera by a veritable flood of wrapped presents and gift baskets and thankful cards.

It was a truly absurd amount of stuff, all appearing from nowhere as far as Dragon could tell. Armsmaster and Dragon’s avatar exchanged confused looks, but they really couldn’t do much to help the man suddenly drowning in gifts. One card landed open atop the pile that’d taken Legend’s place on the call.

The borders of the card were decorated with Goblins, ones that Dragon recognized from Ancalagon’s Hoard. They were drawn in various mischievous poses, and the whole thing looked surprisingly professional for a prank calling card. At the top of the card, a small fedora was drawn as well.

The card read: ‘Dear Legend - You’ve been Goblin Diplomacy’d! You’re a good ‘un, apparently! Keep it up! - BOO, GOBLINS!’

‘P.S. I made some friends - Fortuna.

‘P.P.S. Step 36. Sorry, not sorry, and you’re welcome. Remember that you’re appreciated, even if it’s not said often enough - Fortuna.’

‘P.P.P.S. Eidolon was step 14. I don’t think he’ll be craving noodles for a long, long time… - Fortuna.’

Dragon blinked, “Huh. I guess that’s where the Hoard’s Goblins got off to.”

“So it seems,” Armsmaster was just as bemused. “This might be the first we’ve seen the Hoard outside Brockton Bay.”

“Goblin Diplomacy,” He shook his head. “Do you think this will be the start of a trend?”

Dragon’s mind went back to her hidden plans and how much good the Hoard could do for them if they were finally spreading their wings outward in the run-up to the Dungeon’s official opening.

“… I kind of hope so. Perhaps it’s petty, but I think it’s high time the rest of the world got to experience the… interesting times… that the Hoard brings everywhere they go.”

“As someone at ground zero, those ‘interesting times’ can be rather chaotic. Still, I can’t help but feel that some people might deserve that chaos more than most, especially if it’s properly channeled and directed,” Armsmaster gave a rare quip and a small smile in reply.

Despite her friend’s humor, Dragon could only scowl; he didn’t realize how true that quip rang for her, “Some, yeah… ‘Some’ really, really, really might.”