F++ Chapter 07
Kerashana
Warden
- Location
- The Outer Gate
A/N: Feels like these are becoming a window into my life? Meh. So, friend have got me to start doing MechWarrior 5 with them, something that without doubt sucks up entire days. Aside from that, I'm also found the Muse for a Warframe story [It starts in Madison, 2009.] and I plan to follow that as far as it will go. That said, I AM still writing a bit of this every day. Mostly just small sections, but that's cause I may have wrote myself into a dark corner and am working my way out of it. The Ziz attack hits Jaeda harder than anyone would have thought it seems. But I don't want to spoil the specifics.
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Coil looked at the woman sitting on his desk and couldn't help but gulp. The woman in the Fedora. Just an urban legend. Sure. He totally believed that, and he was a pure saint as well. Hah. No, his hands were anything but…
"Come in." The words were simple, without inflection. But there was no question that they were an order.
He did as ordered. Meanwhile he pulled over in his other timeline and parked at the side of the road. It was a fight to keep his hands from shaking. "What can I do for you?"
"We're moving you." Simple to the point and oh so frustrating. "You will also be cutting loose the Undersiders."
Blinking, he took a moment to think it over. "One of-"
The timeline with him in his office in his secret base ended, rather abruptly. The passenger door to his car opened, and someone sat down, before it closed. He didn't need to look to know who it was.
"You will be cutting them loose." The statement obviously gave him no room to argue…
"And other assets I have here?" He asked very carefully, especially with the knowledge this was his only timeline.
"You may take them if they agree. No coercion beyond offering money. You have until the eleventh of February to be gone." She replied, and it wasn't the worst scenario for him. Not great but not terrible. "You may choose between Boise, Idaho; Las Vegas, Nevada; or Montgomery, Alabama. If you choose Montgomery we are willing to grant you additional assets provided you target the Fallen."
That was less than good. Boise? Who the fuck wanted to rule the ass end of nowhere? Las Vegas sounded wonderful at first glance, but the dynamics there were… dangerous for the likes of him. On the other hand, facing the Fallen? Even with quiet support from… this corner. It was an equally dangerous game.
The smart choice would be Boise, as regrettable as that was… but he would never be able to stomach it. "Montgomery."
"I see." She replied, then got out of the car with, "We'll be in touch. Oh, and do be careful. Your old friend is starting to catch on."
He sat there not even thinking for over an hour before he started his car back up and headed for his secret base. This was less than pleasant, but at least he had some agency.
Splitting time, he took a right in one and a left in another. Headed to his secret base, and a bar. He might have to wrap up his operations here, but that didn't mean he couldn't run a few more jobs through the likes of the Undersiders and set the Merchants up to go active before he left.
He was man enough to respect Sarah, however she managed it. She had gotten away. Maybe he would send her a box of chocolates as he left. A fencer's salute so to speak.
Now, with what he knew of Circus would… they be willing to move? Hmm, no. Trainwreck could be useful though, as well as Chariot if it was… handled right. But the real question. What did you get for someone who would happily shoot you, as a going away present?
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Dinah Alcott woke up sweating, and fumbling for something to write on.
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Getting out of the car, I looked up at the school… and I'll be damned, but I was filled with the warm fuzzies! This was nothing like the school I went to back in the future. It was bright, well maintained, and… kind of felt like something from the nineties.
None of that was counting all the Shards I was running up against. Waste, Shaper, Modular Construction, Atomic Stasis, Adaptive Biology, Negotiator, Heartbreaker Bud, and some broken Shard I felt a compulsion to investigate.
And that was without counting Queen Administrator, and myself, TroubleShooter! What kind of madness is this! A soap opera? SuperHigh?
[Greetings] - Negotiator
[Thanks] - Modular Construction
[Conflict] - Heartbreaker Bud
[Greetings] - Atomic Stasis
[Dismissal] - TroubleShooter
[Agreement] - HB
[Greetings] - HB
[Greetings] - Adaptive Biology
[Hi everyone!] - Waste
[Disatisfaction] - Shaper
[Greetings] - Queen Administrator
[Greetings] - TroubleShooter
And on it went, a constant low toned chattering that kind of felt… like coming home. Shards, and a whole bunch of them. It was more than that though! Even constrained by the school's dress code, having to wear a real shirt. I was getting attention from everyone in the yard.
I was hardly the only one. Taylor's clothing choice mirrored mine in many ways. Good shoes, combat boots in my case, loose pants, Cargo, black for me, beige for her. Then it changed. T-shirt for me with an open cropped jacket. While she wore a baggy hoodie with the hood down at my insistence… and maybe threats to remove the hood. She also had glasses.
Taking in everyone in the yard, I took note of the boy with the Broken Shard without focusing on him. Then I spoke, "Well, this might just be interesting. Come on Taylor, we don't want to be late to orientation."
Then I pointed at a Blonde hiding in the crowd, the Host of Negotiator. Lisa Wilbourn from what the city records were saying… and some yahoo had beaten me to putting her in the intake group! "You wanna help us find the main office?"
Rolling her eyes at how it wasn't a suggestion, she came over, all smiles. "Sure. I'm Lisa!"
"Hey, Lisa." Taylor greeted, then motioned to me. "This is Jaeda, she's living at my place."
It wasn't long until we walked into the office and the secretary eyed the three of us for a moment, "Ah, there you are. Very good. The Vice-Principal Howle will speak with you in a moment."
And just like that, a door in the office opened and a woman in a pants suit came out looking us over. "Taylor Hebert, Lisa Wilbourne, and Jaeda Fairdwin. I'm glad you could make it. Come along, the sooner you start your placement tests, the sooner you finish them."
As we followed her, Lisa's face turning several shades of frustrated, I poked her power.
"Hey, wanna help me do something amusing?"
[Interest] - N
"Don't help your Host with the Tests. It should make for some interesting counterpoint Data. If you like it, maybe make her actually work to learn stuff for her classes without help. It will be good for her!"
[Negotiation] - N
"Well, I could be talked into letting her join up. Then you could get more Data on what it's like to learn things yourself."
[Hesitance] - N
"What if I was willing to 'Jailbreak' you at a later date. Sometime I actually have time to work?"
[Agreement] - N
The room had three tests laid out evenly spaced, and I frowned at them. Before asking the all important question, "So, if I 100% all the tests, what happens?"
"We have several College preparatory classes, and are more than aware that you would rather not be here. Half days are a good possibility if you do well enough." The Vice-Principal replied.
"That seems fair, I would like to point out that I am a Brute following the PRT classifications. PE will do me no good, and while NJROTC is interesting for the lessons in leadership… I don't need that either." I informed her as I took my seat. "Cheers everyone."
Lisa didn't make it a minute in before she dropped her head to the desk with a sigh. But she didn't stay like that for long before sitting up and going at her tests with a will.
I was, of course, the first one done. I mean, I knew all of this, and history was the only thing I was iffy about. But not by as much as I had expected. Taylor breezing through several of the tests. At some point a dark haired boy had joined us with his own tests, and looking even less happy than Lisa. He was also Heartbreaker Bud's Host.
Threat?
Stretching as we left for lunch, happy my tests were done, and happier that almost none of them covered anything recent! I led the way to the Cafeteria. "Fairs, fair, I'm paying for lunch."
"Oh, good." The boy, Alec said. "I didn't realize school was going to be a thing. Lisa, please tell me this isn't going to be a thing!"
"I'm sorry, Brother, but it most certainly looks that way." Lisa grumbled.
"Could be worse!" I replied cheerfully, "You could b-"
"Woo!" Cheered someone, "New people! Come on sit with us!"
Eyeing the Blonde, I wondered how her Shard could be possibly called Waste. But I waved her off, "We need to get food first."
"Fine! But you're sitting with us!" She relented. Oh, also, did I mention she was flying? No? Well, she was. Floating really, but it was kind of amusing.
"Um…" Taylor vocalized hesitantly.
But of course, Lisa beat me to it. "Come on! You need to interact with people. Need more friends than just me and Jaeda here."
As we stood in line, I surveyed the room, and thought thoughts.
"So… how are you doing with the Tests?" Taylor asked to fill the silence.
"Ok I guess." Alec replied with a sigh. "I can't believe she suckered us into this."
Shaking her head, Lisa muttered. "Wasn't her, but she's going to enforce it."
"Ouch." I put in, "I'm here because the Youth Guard threw a hissy fit. Though, you wouldn't imagine what kind of skeletons can be found in their closets."
"Ooo, I can just imagine." Lisa snickered.
Finally we managed to get food and make our way over to the table we weren't being given a choice but to sit at. Well, that's not true, but close enough.
Sitting down, I looked the Blonde over before snorting. "I don't see how you're such an idol."
"Woah!" Lisa grumpted as the blonde and her frizzy haired sister gave me varying levels of stink eye. "Starting kind of confrontational aren't you?"
Snorting, I reached down and lifted my shirt, showing off my abs. "Come on, I already know she's impressed by my abs. She's said as much on the first page of my Thread."
Eyeing my Abs, she sighed. "Ok, point. But seriously! How the hell!"
"How about introductions, hmm?" I offered.
Rolling her eyes at me, she replied. "Fffine. I'm Victoria, please call me Vicky, and this is my sister Amy."
Nodding, I let Lisa speak for us, something she picked up on without me having to make any obvious queues. "Well, I'm Lisa, this is my brother Alec. Yes, he's canadian. The shy one is Taylor, and she seems to be busy angsting over being Bi, again. Finally, we have Jaeda the elf."
Flexing my ears to make them move up and down, I smiled, "Damn right I'm an elf! Anyone want to see something funny?"
"Hey, Shaper!"
[What do you want.] - S
Holy Hells! Not one, but two Shards that talk! This is like…. Shit… just wow.
"Sure, this should be good." Lisa nodded.
Reaching out my hand I offered it to Amy. "Hey, take a look."
Reluctantly she reached out and took my hand, and at the same time I replied. "Surprise!"
[Fascination] - S
And Amy BSOD.
Pulling my hand away, I let her lunge forward and grab it again while I turned to the others and wiggled my eyebrows. "She can't get enough of my body."
That got varying degrees of snorting laughter and chuckles. But eventually I did have to pull away, so she could finish her food if nothing else.
"So," Victoria started awkwardly. "Doesn't it weird you out? I mean…"
Shrugging, I told her the truth. "Why would it? This is who I chose to be."
"Too bad no one here can do that kind of work." Amy lamented aloud. "It would be nice to… nevermind."
"Well actually," Lisa cut in, purposefully being one of those people. "Jaeda can, she just needs the workspace. Isn't that right? We were just talking about how I totally want a Cyberdeck."
A kind of hunger kindled in Amy's eyes, and I couldn't help but sigh. "Lisa. Shut up, or I'm going to chloroform your ass, and give you fox ears and tail."
"Kinky." Alec put in, "But I think it fits. You got anything to fix scarring in the emotion centers of the brain?"
Blinking, I looked over at him, weighing my answer. "To reduce it. But you can only do so much. Not like I can just cut it out and put a new one in."
"Eh, I'll take what I can get." He replied. "So, Shygirl. What you into?"
As Lisa and Victoria got talking, I just smiled as I listened to Taylor socially fumbling around. Don't look at me like that, it's good for her.
"Um, reading? Exercise?" She muttered.
Turns out? School wasn't so bad.
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Returning to Arcadia the next day found me with a light schedule as expected, one made completely of optional classes. Business being the only one I actually cared about.
What! Years in the Corpo side of the world does that to you.
At lunch though, I managed to corner the owner of the Broken Shard.
"Hey, Dean, right?" I asked, subtly nudging him away from the cafeteria doors.
"Yeah, can I help you? You're… Jaeda, I think?" He replied, affecting a pretty good mask of confusion.
"We need to talk, in private." I replied simply.
Pursing his lips, he nodded and led me off to an empty classroom, "What's this about?"
"Ok, I know this isn't how it's done. And I need you to keep this to yourself." I told him and watched as he became warry, hand slipping into his pocket. Panic button then. "I know you're a Parahuman. I know because I can tell your Shard is broken."
He went still, completely still, for a moment. "Alright, I'm listening. How do you know?"
"I can sense Shards and their Hosts." I'll give him this much, he rolled with the terminology easily enough. "Yours is giving off junk data."
Eyeing me, he asked, "And you can fix it? What would that even do?"
"Honestly? Not sure. But at a guess? It would probably force a second trigger to realign your powers. Making them more… more?" It really was my best guess.
"And you already know every Cape at the school?" He stated.
"Yeah. Kind of hard not to. But I know how to keep things to myself. We wouldn't even be having this conversation… except that I'm the only one who can fix your problem." I explained, "Hells, I'm not even asking for a fee."
"Alright… what do you need?" He asked warily.
"An hour or two of your time." I answered. "Maybe more, but I can't say until I get at the problem."
Turning away, he frowned, thinking for a long moment. Then turned back. "Alright, I have time today. But I want someone to sit in on this. They'll keep it to themself."
"Where do you want to meet then?" I asked simply.
"There's a place on Lord and Fifth…
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When Dean had asked her for help, Victoria had happily agreed! Why wouldn't she help him? Finding out more about it on the way to 'the hideout' had been… confusing. How does a power get broken? Could hers be broken! No, that would be terrible!
But he had told her that someone promised to fix it. He didn't want to say who because he thought it was rude. Which was annoying! She was going to find out anyway!
Then they got up to the hideout and… Jaeda was sitting there, sipping from a beer! A Beer! Where did she get that! No fair!
"Finally decide to show up?" She offered, "And really? I suppose she could be a good choice. Not much I can do against a real brute."
Jaw dropping, Vicky asked, "That's your power? Fixing powers?"
Jaeda just sighed, then replied. "Nope. Just something I can do. And a power is a Shard. You have one. It calls itself 'Waste'… poor thing."
Eyes going wide in horror, Vicky felt her heart break a little. To think so little of yourself you would take that name! No. NO! "Then I just have to give it a new name."
Jaeda actually smiled at the declaration. "I think she would like that. Honestly, she's more human than any Shard I've met so far. When I get done, I can see about getting you a picture of what her Avatar looks like."
Pursing her lips in surprise, Vciky turned it into a big smile. "Try and get a good one! I need a new background for my phone."
Setting down her beer, Jaeda motioned at Dean. "Make yourself comfortable, and expect to be knocked out. Vicky, I don't know what happens if this is interrupted."
"Then it won't be." The statement was simple, but for some reason there was more… depth to it than normal… 'Was that you, Waste?'
Jaeda closed her eyes and… things got boring.
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Opening my eyes I had expected to wake up on my throne, which I did. But I also had expected to be alone and have to find some way to get to Dean's Shard.
Instead, I opened my eyes to find a replica of Victoria, naked but without detail, that… It was hard to describe her without being vague and poetic. In three words, she was made of Glass, Gold, and Glory. A fragile seeming outer shell devoid of any contents. Except that wasn't true. Light radiated out of her, golden and bringing to mind the gentle rays of the sun.
"You are no Waste." My words caused her to pull back for a moment, but then she moved forward, asking, [Then what am I?]
Getting up, I gently caressed her cheek, "I don't know," Stepping away, I looked out across the Firmermint at where the Broken Shard was, and continued. "but I'm sure we can figure it out. Now, how am I going to get all the way over there?"
The next thing I knew, I was scooped up in the Waste's arms and she was rocketing off towards our destination. [I want to help. I want to help my Victoria… I want to be more than just a Waste Shard. But all I do is cause her problems.]
That… she really was more human than any Shard I'd encountered. Yet, just inhuman enough to be incomprehensible. Well, to some I guess. I wasn't quite Human either. "Are you talking about the Aura she has?"
I had read about it, but never really noticed it. Not sure why though.
[Yes. I thought it would make people love her… but all it does is cause problems.]
"Ah, typical problem of not understanding cultural norms and taboos." I muttered. "Mind controlling people is seen as bad. I tend to agree, but that's me."
[How do I fix it?] The tone of the question brought to mind a child desperate to make things right… and I guess that was true.
"It depends." I replied, picking my words with care. "Let's assume you could reconfigure, could you maybe… replace it with a second shield? Maybe one that only appears in fights? Make it glow like you do."
[Um… I don't know? Who would I even ask about that kind of thing? I mean, I like it! I could better protect my Victoria! But I don't know how I would even make those changes.]
Nodding, even as we came into land on a mangled node made of black crumbling crystals and small patches of living, fading, red. "Queen Administrator would probably know. It's literally in her domain of influence."
[But she's scary.] Waste replied from behind me, or maybe whined.
Looking around for a moment, I headed for the biggest patch of red. Only for some malformed creature to lunge at me, and slam into the Waste as she moved to block the way.
[Hurry, I will keep the Avatar busy. The Screaming One doesn't know any better.]
Holy fuck… She was no Waste, no useless byproduct, and for a moment I was mesmerized by the fighting. Bursts of golden light whenever the thing slammed an appendage into Waste. Followed by clouds of black dust shooting away from them whenever Waste hit back.
Very poetic.
Hurrying on my way, I made it to the, maybe, center of the Node, and plugged in. You've never been neck deep in a stuttering, crashing network, I pray that you never end up in that situation. But image everything slowly going dark around you. Just… going from something… to nothing. Empty, cold. A void that will eat you alive and still be starving. Desperate to be filled. Working in that kind of environment is walking the knife's edge. You had so little time to work, but to rush would spell just as much disaster, and failure either way means your death.
Now I understood why the Avatar was attacking.
Navigating the failing node was a desperate race against time. If we hadn't come along, it could have continued for years… now? It had hours, maybe a day, maybe minutes.
Shutting down unused systems helped. Allowed me to reroute things to activate key systems.
But even as I finished and pulled out of the Node… I didn't know how to start the process. Lucky for me… I wasn't alone, and SafeGuard knew his business.
[Emergency Redeployment] - SafeGuard - Eden
[Execute] - SafeGuard - Eden
[Deploying] - Gateway - Eden
[Configuration] - Queen Administrator - Zion
...
[Data] - W
[Data] - TS
[Reconfiguring] - Emotion Emulation
The Node flickered out from under me for a moment, and I had the dread sense of falling, and then the Node was back, almost black but with the dimmest of red glows.
[Um, Queen Administrator… [Query]?] - W
[Data] - QA
[Thank you.] - W
Standing there, looking around, an idea started falling into place in my mind. "Waste, one more thing I need. Take me to your Node."
[Um… ok?] - W
Leaving SafeGuard and Addy to deal with Emotion Emulation and whatever Shards did in this circumstance. We flew off at a more sedate pace.
[Queen Administrator said that I could potentially reconfigure as you had mentioned but that it would leave unused mass that would need to be reconfigured or expelled.] Waste explained, though it seemed more like she was latching onto me as some kind of guidepost. [It primarily focuses around emotional responses in the Host-Species. Though the pieces needed for the effect range and energy dispersal are included. What should I do with it?]
Fuck if I knew! Um… Fiction save me? "Well, can you invert the dispersal system to allow for the absorption of energy? Then maybe reconfigure the emotive processors to allow the Host to sense emotions? Empathy is useful, but with the energy absorption component it would be better to set it up as a passive Emotivore effect. Allowing the user to know what emotions people are giving off and keying them to draw more power from emotional subsets. For example, causing people to feel fear and dread, and inciting anger and rage. Conversely, causing your allies to feel hope and resolve, while suppressing stress and anxiety. The problem you'll run into with those two subsets is that if they are always on they cause disruptions that could undermine the Host's ability to function in the cultural structures of society."
[Oo! Idea! Yes!] - W
"Ok… what is it?" I prodded, but Waste shook her head. [Nope! Surprise!]
Waste's Node was… anything but squalor. The outer edge of the Node was banded in a dense but passable grouping of crystal trees, while the inside was a smooth rolling of gentle hills made of crystal sands, and at the center of that was a pool of flickering golden light.
Looking around, I could see where effort was put in to reshape the Node. I could see where the process was incomplete, fissures half sealed. Small specs of dimmer red crystal that even to my eyes was slowly brightening.
And I knew what this was.
Not in specifics, but what she was trying to make it. She just didn't know what the goal she was reaching for was. I had seen it often enough once the Net had fallen.
Data Fortress. A server hub or node that was heavily defended by firewalls, hunter-killer programs, and all kinds of ICE and Black-ICE. I had one in Night City, not a massive one, but it had been chugging along under my workshop for the better part of-
For long enough.
I could almost guess how the shape of the Node affected its architecture and how its architecture would affect its shape. The Firmament was strange like that. Netspace had been influenced by those building that corner of the net, but was always a little different for everyone. Based on their perceptions and experiences, I would guess.
But, this was a Quantum space. And things worked weird here. I was a physical being existing in a quantum sub-layer of reality, somehow with no need to eat, or worry about any other bodily function. I was able to directly interface with data, because that was what this crystal was in a sense.
I was able to manifest the very crystal into the physical world, a thing that should only exist as a burst of data or vague concept, into a very real thing. Hells, it had unparalleled processing capabilities!
Kneeling down, I touched the Node and instead of jacking in like I normally did… I tried willing myself to connect with it… and I did. It was slower, far more sluggish, but I did, I could. This was… beyond me. But it was significant and seemed important.
Getting a real look at Waste's Node, I was able to see where it was built from different pieces of other Shards, and they didn't fit together very well. Jagged edges covered over like poorly healed wounds. Data flows that connected to the wrong place, or had too many gates, or not enough, or simply led off into nothing.
In it all though, there were two things that stood out. At the core was an imprint, a concept, a desire, a dream wrapped around the imprint of a mind, a human Logos warped beyond the hope of turning back. At a guess I would say this was Victoria, from when she was oh so very young… innocent. Conversely, around the outside of it all were chains the likes… to visualize it; rivers of black sludge crisscrossing and forming lakes around pillars of jagged burnt metal stabbed into it chains of grey indifference linking them together and dripping more sludge into the mix.
The only thing keeping it from over taking more than the outermost layer, save where the spikes were pierced? Innocence, Innocence and-
But these chains were of code and not real things, and it wasn't even all that inspired. Dumb code was easily broken. Chipped away from a thousand different places, the work of myself and all the Daemons my Cyberdeck had to offer. I mostly coded for hardware. Building Firmware, updating OS's, optimizing the runtimes of two opposing pieces of chrome. But out in the field? I used that inside knowledge to break systems using inherent backdoors and gaps in code. Oh, I wasn't the best, no top end Netrunner, but this wasn't even mid tier work.
With all the resources here available, I shouldn't be able to even touch the chains. But they were bad… so very flawed. A Brick could code better.
All that said? This wasn't some great revelation. I did not suddenly make Waste some kind of… super Shard. At the end of the day, it's all allegory, a fucked up philisophical mind fuck your brain conjures up to interprate data it was never meant to touch.
Pulling myself back, I looked around the Node, and watched as it shifted and changed, going blurry and indistinct in many places.
Turning to where Waste floated, seeming to be seeing her Node for the first time, I sighed. Yeah…
"Know this." My words carried an odd amount of weight to them, and it was as a shadow shifted to cover me that I understood how… important this was, "Though you are made from glass, gold, and glory. Fragile, Malleable, and Ephemeral. These are not the things that make you. I name you Asha for you are formed from Desires, Wishes, but above all Hope. We Entitle you, raise you up as that which you are. Hope; Defense type Shard." It was only then that I realized the shadow behind me was SafeGuard. But I had no time to process that.
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A/N2: To preempt any questions. The reason Dean's power will be down for a month is repair/deployment/recharging.
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Coil looked at the woman sitting on his desk and couldn't help but gulp. The woman in the Fedora. Just an urban legend. Sure. He totally believed that, and he was a pure saint as well. Hah. No, his hands were anything but…
"Come in." The words were simple, without inflection. But there was no question that they were an order.
He did as ordered. Meanwhile he pulled over in his other timeline and parked at the side of the road. It was a fight to keep his hands from shaking. "What can I do for you?"
"We're moving you." Simple to the point and oh so frustrating. "You will also be cutting loose the Undersiders."
Blinking, he took a moment to think it over. "One of-"
The timeline with him in his office in his secret base ended, rather abruptly. The passenger door to his car opened, and someone sat down, before it closed. He didn't need to look to know who it was.
"You will be cutting them loose." The statement obviously gave him no room to argue…
"And other assets I have here?" He asked very carefully, especially with the knowledge this was his only timeline.
"You may take them if they agree. No coercion beyond offering money. You have until the eleventh of February to be gone." She replied, and it wasn't the worst scenario for him. Not great but not terrible. "You may choose between Boise, Idaho; Las Vegas, Nevada; or Montgomery, Alabama. If you choose Montgomery we are willing to grant you additional assets provided you target the Fallen."
That was less than good. Boise? Who the fuck wanted to rule the ass end of nowhere? Las Vegas sounded wonderful at first glance, but the dynamics there were… dangerous for the likes of him. On the other hand, facing the Fallen? Even with quiet support from… this corner. It was an equally dangerous game.
The smart choice would be Boise, as regrettable as that was… but he would never be able to stomach it. "Montgomery."
"I see." She replied, then got out of the car with, "We'll be in touch. Oh, and do be careful. Your old friend is starting to catch on."
He sat there not even thinking for over an hour before he started his car back up and headed for his secret base. This was less than pleasant, but at least he had some agency.
Splitting time, he took a right in one and a left in another. Headed to his secret base, and a bar. He might have to wrap up his operations here, but that didn't mean he couldn't run a few more jobs through the likes of the Undersiders and set the Merchants up to go active before he left.
He was man enough to respect Sarah, however she managed it. She had gotten away. Maybe he would send her a box of chocolates as he left. A fencer's salute so to speak.
Now, with what he knew of Circus would… they be willing to move? Hmm, no. Trainwreck could be useful though, as well as Chariot if it was… handled right. But the real question. What did you get for someone who would happily shoot you, as a going away present?
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Dinah Alcott woke up sweating, and fumbling for something to write on.
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Getting out of the car, I looked up at the school… and I'll be damned, but I was filled with the warm fuzzies! This was nothing like the school I went to back in the future. It was bright, well maintained, and… kind of felt like something from the nineties.
None of that was counting all the Shards I was running up against. Waste, Shaper, Modular Construction, Atomic Stasis, Adaptive Biology, Negotiator, Heartbreaker Bud, and some broken Shard I felt a compulsion to investigate.
And that was without counting Queen Administrator, and myself, TroubleShooter! What kind of madness is this! A soap opera? SuperHigh?
[Greetings] - Negotiator
[Thanks] - Modular Construction
[Conflict] - Heartbreaker Bud
[Greetings] - Atomic Stasis
[Dismissal] - TroubleShooter
[Agreement] - HB
[Greetings] - HB
[Greetings] - Adaptive Biology
[Hi everyone!] - Waste
[Disatisfaction] - Shaper
[Greetings] - Queen Administrator
[Greetings] - TroubleShooter
And on it went, a constant low toned chattering that kind of felt… like coming home. Shards, and a whole bunch of them. It was more than that though! Even constrained by the school's dress code, having to wear a real shirt. I was getting attention from everyone in the yard.
I was hardly the only one. Taylor's clothing choice mirrored mine in many ways. Good shoes, combat boots in my case, loose pants, Cargo, black for me, beige for her. Then it changed. T-shirt for me with an open cropped jacket. While she wore a baggy hoodie with the hood down at my insistence… and maybe threats to remove the hood. She also had glasses.
Taking in everyone in the yard, I took note of the boy with the Broken Shard without focusing on him. Then I spoke, "Well, this might just be interesting. Come on Taylor, we don't want to be late to orientation."
Then I pointed at a Blonde hiding in the crowd, the Host of Negotiator. Lisa Wilbourn from what the city records were saying… and some yahoo had beaten me to putting her in the intake group! "You wanna help us find the main office?"
Rolling her eyes at how it wasn't a suggestion, she came over, all smiles. "Sure. I'm Lisa!"
"Hey, Lisa." Taylor greeted, then motioned to me. "This is Jaeda, she's living at my place."
It wasn't long until we walked into the office and the secretary eyed the three of us for a moment, "Ah, there you are. Very good. The Vice-Principal Howle will speak with you in a moment."
And just like that, a door in the office opened and a woman in a pants suit came out looking us over. "Taylor Hebert, Lisa Wilbourne, and Jaeda Fairdwin. I'm glad you could make it. Come along, the sooner you start your placement tests, the sooner you finish them."
As we followed her, Lisa's face turning several shades of frustrated, I poked her power.
"Hey, wanna help me do something amusing?"
[Interest] - N
"Don't help your Host with the Tests. It should make for some interesting counterpoint Data. If you like it, maybe make her actually work to learn stuff for her classes without help. It will be good for her!"
[Negotiation] - N
"Well, I could be talked into letting her join up. Then you could get more Data on what it's like to learn things yourself."
[Hesitance] - N
"What if I was willing to 'Jailbreak' you at a later date. Sometime I actually have time to work?"
[Agreement] - N
The room had three tests laid out evenly spaced, and I frowned at them. Before asking the all important question, "So, if I 100% all the tests, what happens?"
"We have several College preparatory classes, and are more than aware that you would rather not be here. Half days are a good possibility if you do well enough." The Vice-Principal replied.
"That seems fair, I would like to point out that I am a Brute following the PRT classifications. PE will do me no good, and while NJROTC is interesting for the lessons in leadership… I don't need that either." I informed her as I took my seat. "Cheers everyone."
Lisa didn't make it a minute in before she dropped her head to the desk with a sigh. But she didn't stay like that for long before sitting up and going at her tests with a will.
I was, of course, the first one done. I mean, I knew all of this, and history was the only thing I was iffy about. But not by as much as I had expected. Taylor breezing through several of the tests. At some point a dark haired boy had joined us with his own tests, and looking even less happy than Lisa. He was also Heartbreaker Bud's Host.
Threat?
Stretching as we left for lunch, happy my tests were done, and happier that almost none of them covered anything recent! I led the way to the Cafeteria. "Fairs, fair, I'm paying for lunch."
"Oh, good." The boy, Alec said. "I didn't realize school was going to be a thing. Lisa, please tell me this isn't going to be a thing!"
"I'm sorry, Brother, but it most certainly looks that way." Lisa grumbled.
"Could be worse!" I replied cheerfully, "You could b-"
"Woo!" Cheered someone, "New people! Come on sit with us!"
Eyeing the Blonde, I wondered how her Shard could be possibly called Waste. But I waved her off, "We need to get food first."
"Fine! But you're sitting with us!" She relented. Oh, also, did I mention she was flying? No? Well, she was. Floating really, but it was kind of amusing.
"Um…" Taylor vocalized hesitantly.
But of course, Lisa beat me to it. "Come on! You need to interact with people. Need more friends than just me and Jaeda here."
As we stood in line, I surveyed the room, and thought thoughts.
"So… how are you doing with the Tests?" Taylor asked to fill the silence.
"Ok I guess." Alec replied with a sigh. "I can't believe she suckered us into this."
Shaking her head, Lisa muttered. "Wasn't her, but she's going to enforce it."
"Ouch." I put in, "I'm here because the Youth Guard threw a hissy fit. Though, you wouldn't imagine what kind of skeletons can be found in their closets."
"Ooo, I can just imagine." Lisa snickered.
Finally we managed to get food and make our way over to the table we weren't being given a choice but to sit at. Well, that's not true, but close enough.
Sitting down, I looked the Blonde over before snorting. "I don't see how you're such an idol."
"Woah!" Lisa grumpted as the blonde and her frizzy haired sister gave me varying levels of stink eye. "Starting kind of confrontational aren't you?"
Snorting, I reached down and lifted my shirt, showing off my abs. "Come on, I already know she's impressed by my abs. She's said as much on the first page of my Thread."
Eyeing my Abs, she sighed. "Ok, point. But seriously! How the hell!"
"How about introductions, hmm?" I offered.
Rolling her eyes at me, she replied. "Fffine. I'm Victoria, please call me Vicky, and this is my sister Amy."
Nodding, I let Lisa speak for us, something she picked up on without me having to make any obvious queues. "Well, I'm Lisa, this is my brother Alec. Yes, he's canadian. The shy one is Taylor, and she seems to be busy angsting over being Bi, again. Finally, we have Jaeda the elf."
Flexing my ears to make them move up and down, I smiled, "Damn right I'm an elf! Anyone want to see something funny?"
"Hey, Shaper!"
[What do you want.] - S
Holy Hells! Not one, but two Shards that talk! This is like…. Shit… just wow.
"Sure, this should be good." Lisa nodded.
Reaching out my hand I offered it to Amy. "Hey, take a look."
Reluctantly she reached out and took my hand, and at the same time I replied. "Surprise!"
[Fascination] - S
And Amy BSOD.
Pulling my hand away, I let her lunge forward and grab it again while I turned to the others and wiggled my eyebrows. "She can't get enough of my body."
That got varying degrees of snorting laughter and chuckles. But eventually I did have to pull away, so she could finish her food if nothing else.
"So," Victoria started awkwardly. "Doesn't it weird you out? I mean…"
Shrugging, I told her the truth. "Why would it? This is who I chose to be."
"Too bad no one here can do that kind of work." Amy lamented aloud. "It would be nice to… nevermind."
"Well actually," Lisa cut in, purposefully being one of those people. "Jaeda can, she just needs the workspace. Isn't that right? We were just talking about how I totally want a Cyberdeck."
A kind of hunger kindled in Amy's eyes, and I couldn't help but sigh. "Lisa. Shut up, or I'm going to chloroform your ass, and give you fox ears and tail."
"Kinky." Alec put in, "But I think it fits. You got anything to fix scarring in the emotion centers of the brain?"
Blinking, I looked over at him, weighing my answer. "To reduce it. But you can only do so much. Not like I can just cut it out and put a new one in."
"Eh, I'll take what I can get." He replied. "So, Shygirl. What you into?"
As Lisa and Victoria got talking, I just smiled as I listened to Taylor socially fumbling around. Don't look at me like that, it's good for her.
"Um, reading? Exercise?" She muttered.
Turns out? School wasn't so bad.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Returning to Arcadia the next day found me with a light schedule as expected, one made completely of optional classes. Business being the only one I actually cared about.
What! Years in the Corpo side of the world does that to you.
At lunch though, I managed to corner the owner of the Broken Shard.
"Hey, Dean, right?" I asked, subtly nudging him away from the cafeteria doors.
"Yeah, can I help you? You're… Jaeda, I think?" He replied, affecting a pretty good mask of confusion.
"We need to talk, in private." I replied simply.
Pursing his lips, he nodded and led me off to an empty classroom, "What's this about?"
"Ok, I know this isn't how it's done. And I need you to keep this to yourself." I told him and watched as he became warry, hand slipping into his pocket. Panic button then. "I know you're a Parahuman. I know because I can tell your Shard is broken."
He went still, completely still, for a moment. "Alright, I'm listening. How do you know?"
"I can sense Shards and their Hosts." I'll give him this much, he rolled with the terminology easily enough. "Yours is giving off junk data."
Eyeing me, he asked, "And you can fix it? What would that even do?"
"Honestly? Not sure. But at a guess? It would probably force a second trigger to realign your powers. Making them more… more?" It really was my best guess.
"And you already know every Cape at the school?" He stated.
"Yeah. Kind of hard not to. But I know how to keep things to myself. We wouldn't even be having this conversation… except that I'm the only one who can fix your problem." I explained, "Hells, I'm not even asking for a fee."
"Alright… what do you need?" He asked warily.
"An hour or two of your time." I answered. "Maybe more, but I can't say until I get at the problem."
Turning away, he frowned, thinking for a long moment. Then turned back. "Alright, I have time today. But I want someone to sit in on this. They'll keep it to themself."
"Where do you want to meet then?" I asked simply.
"There's a place on Lord and Fifth…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Dean had asked her for help, Victoria had happily agreed! Why wouldn't she help him? Finding out more about it on the way to 'the hideout' had been… confusing. How does a power get broken? Could hers be broken! No, that would be terrible!
But he had told her that someone promised to fix it. He didn't want to say who because he thought it was rude. Which was annoying! She was going to find out anyway!
Then they got up to the hideout and… Jaeda was sitting there, sipping from a beer! A Beer! Where did she get that! No fair!
"Finally decide to show up?" She offered, "And really? I suppose she could be a good choice. Not much I can do against a real brute."
Jaw dropping, Vicky asked, "That's your power? Fixing powers?"
Jaeda just sighed, then replied. "Nope. Just something I can do. And a power is a Shard. You have one. It calls itself 'Waste'… poor thing."
Eyes going wide in horror, Vicky felt her heart break a little. To think so little of yourself you would take that name! No. NO! "Then I just have to give it a new name."
Jaeda actually smiled at the declaration. "I think she would like that. Honestly, she's more human than any Shard I've met so far. When I get done, I can see about getting you a picture of what her Avatar looks like."
Pursing her lips in surprise, Vciky turned it into a big smile. "Try and get a good one! I need a new background for my phone."
Setting down her beer, Jaeda motioned at Dean. "Make yourself comfortable, and expect to be knocked out. Vicky, I don't know what happens if this is interrupted."
"Then it won't be." The statement was simple, but for some reason there was more… depth to it than normal… 'Was that you, Waste?'
Jaeda closed her eyes and… things got boring.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Opening my eyes I had expected to wake up on my throne, which I did. But I also had expected to be alone and have to find some way to get to Dean's Shard.
Instead, I opened my eyes to find a replica of Victoria, naked but without detail, that… It was hard to describe her without being vague and poetic. In three words, she was made of Glass, Gold, and Glory. A fragile seeming outer shell devoid of any contents. Except that wasn't true. Light radiated out of her, golden and bringing to mind the gentle rays of the sun.
"You are no Waste." My words caused her to pull back for a moment, but then she moved forward, asking, [Then what am I?]
Getting up, I gently caressed her cheek, "I don't know," Stepping away, I looked out across the Firmermint at where the Broken Shard was, and continued. "but I'm sure we can figure it out. Now, how am I going to get all the way over there?"
The next thing I knew, I was scooped up in the Waste's arms and she was rocketing off towards our destination. [I want to help. I want to help my Victoria… I want to be more than just a Waste Shard. But all I do is cause her problems.]
That… she really was more human than any Shard I'd encountered. Yet, just inhuman enough to be incomprehensible. Well, to some I guess. I wasn't quite Human either. "Are you talking about the Aura she has?"
I had read about it, but never really noticed it. Not sure why though.
[Yes. I thought it would make people love her… but all it does is cause problems.]
"Ah, typical problem of not understanding cultural norms and taboos." I muttered. "Mind controlling people is seen as bad. I tend to agree, but that's me."
[How do I fix it?] The tone of the question brought to mind a child desperate to make things right… and I guess that was true.
"It depends." I replied, picking my words with care. "Let's assume you could reconfigure, could you maybe… replace it with a second shield? Maybe one that only appears in fights? Make it glow like you do."
[Um… I don't know? Who would I even ask about that kind of thing? I mean, I like it! I could better protect my Victoria! But I don't know how I would even make those changes.]
Nodding, even as we came into land on a mangled node made of black crumbling crystals and small patches of living, fading, red. "Queen Administrator would probably know. It's literally in her domain of influence."
[But she's scary.] Waste replied from behind me, or maybe whined.
Looking around for a moment, I headed for the biggest patch of red. Only for some malformed creature to lunge at me, and slam into the Waste as she moved to block the way.
[Hurry, I will keep the Avatar busy. The Screaming One doesn't know any better.]
Holy fuck… She was no Waste, no useless byproduct, and for a moment I was mesmerized by the fighting. Bursts of golden light whenever the thing slammed an appendage into Waste. Followed by clouds of black dust shooting away from them whenever Waste hit back.
Very poetic.
Hurrying on my way, I made it to the, maybe, center of the Node, and plugged in. You've never been neck deep in a stuttering, crashing network, I pray that you never end up in that situation. But image everything slowly going dark around you. Just… going from something… to nothing. Empty, cold. A void that will eat you alive and still be starving. Desperate to be filled. Working in that kind of environment is walking the knife's edge. You had so little time to work, but to rush would spell just as much disaster, and failure either way means your death.
Now I understood why the Avatar was attacking.
Navigating the failing node was a desperate race against time. If we hadn't come along, it could have continued for years… now? It had hours, maybe a day, maybe minutes.
Shutting down unused systems helped. Allowed me to reroute things to activate key systems.
But even as I finished and pulled out of the Node… I didn't know how to start the process. Lucky for me… I wasn't alone, and SafeGuard knew his business.
[Emergency Redeployment] - SafeGuard - Eden
[Execute] - SafeGuard - Eden
[Deploying] - Gateway - Eden
[Configuration] - Queen Administrator - Zion
...
[Data] - W
[Data] - TS
[Reconfiguring] - Emotion Emulation
The Node flickered out from under me for a moment, and I had the dread sense of falling, and then the Node was back, almost black but with the dimmest of red glows.
[Um, Queen Administrator… [Query]?] - W
[Data] - QA
[Thank you.] - W
Standing there, looking around, an idea started falling into place in my mind. "Waste, one more thing I need. Take me to your Node."
[Um… ok?] - W
Leaving SafeGuard and Addy to deal with Emotion Emulation and whatever Shards did in this circumstance. We flew off at a more sedate pace.
[Queen Administrator said that I could potentially reconfigure as you had mentioned but that it would leave unused mass that would need to be reconfigured or expelled.] Waste explained, though it seemed more like she was latching onto me as some kind of guidepost. [It primarily focuses around emotional responses in the Host-Species. Though the pieces needed for the effect range and energy dispersal are included. What should I do with it?]
Fuck if I knew! Um… Fiction save me? "Well, can you invert the dispersal system to allow for the absorption of energy? Then maybe reconfigure the emotive processors to allow the Host to sense emotions? Empathy is useful, but with the energy absorption component it would be better to set it up as a passive Emotivore effect. Allowing the user to know what emotions people are giving off and keying them to draw more power from emotional subsets. For example, causing people to feel fear and dread, and inciting anger and rage. Conversely, causing your allies to feel hope and resolve, while suppressing stress and anxiety. The problem you'll run into with those two subsets is that if they are always on they cause disruptions that could undermine the Host's ability to function in the cultural structures of society."
[Oo! Idea! Yes!] - W
"Ok… what is it?" I prodded, but Waste shook her head. [Nope! Surprise!]
Waste's Node was… anything but squalor. The outer edge of the Node was banded in a dense but passable grouping of crystal trees, while the inside was a smooth rolling of gentle hills made of crystal sands, and at the center of that was a pool of flickering golden light.
Looking around, I could see where effort was put in to reshape the Node. I could see where the process was incomplete, fissures half sealed. Small specs of dimmer red crystal that even to my eyes was slowly brightening.
And I knew what this was.
Not in specifics, but what she was trying to make it. She just didn't know what the goal she was reaching for was. I had seen it often enough once the Net had fallen.
Data Fortress. A server hub or node that was heavily defended by firewalls, hunter-killer programs, and all kinds of ICE and Black-ICE. I had one in Night City, not a massive one, but it had been chugging along under my workshop for the better part of-
For long enough.
I could almost guess how the shape of the Node affected its architecture and how its architecture would affect its shape. The Firmament was strange like that. Netspace had been influenced by those building that corner of the net, but was always a little different for everyone. Based on their perceptions and experiences, I would guess.
But, this was a Quantum space. And things worked weird here. I was a physical being existing in a quantum sub-layer of reality, somehow with no need to eat, or worry about any other bodily function. I was able to directly interface with data, because that was what this crystal was in a sense.
I was able to manifest the very crystal into the physical world, a thing that should only exist as a burst of data or vague concept, into a very real thing. Hells, it had unparalleled processing capabilities!
Kneeling down, I touched the Node and instead of jacking in like I normally did… I tried willing myself to connect with it… and I did. It was slower, far more sluggish, but I did, I could. This was… beyond me. But it was significant and seemed important.
Getting a real look at Waste's Node, I was able to see where it was built from different pieces of other Shards, and they didn't fit together very well. Jagged edges covered over like poorly healed wounds. Data flows that connected to the wrong place, or had too many gates, or not enough, or simply led off into nothing.
In it all though, there were two things that stood out. At the core was an imprint, a concept, a desire, a dream wrapped around the imprint of a mind, a human Logos warped beyond the hope of turning back. At a guess I would say this was Victoria, from when she was oh so very young… innocent. Conversely, around the outside of it all were chains the likes… to visualize it; rivers of black sludge crisscrossing and forming lakes around pillars of jagged burnt metal stabbed into it chains of grey indifference linking them together and dripping more sludge into the mix.
The only thing keeping it from over taking more than the outermost layer, save where the spikes were pierced? Innocence, Innocence and-
But these chains were of code and not real things, and it wasn't even all that inspired. Dumb code was easily broken. Chipped away from a thousand different places, the work of myself and all the Daemons my Cyberdeck had to offer. I mostly coded for hardware. Building Firmware, updating OS's, optimizing the runtimes of two opposing pieces of chrome. But out in the field? I used that inside knowledge to break systems using inherent backdoors and gaps in code. Oh, I wasn't the best, no top end Netrunner, but this wasn't even mid tier work.
With all the resources here available, I shouldn't be able to even touch the chains. But they were bad… so very flawed. A Brick could code better.
All that said? This wasn't some great revelation. I did not suddenly make Waste some kind of… super Shard. At the end of the day, it's all allegory, a fucked up philisophical mind fuck your brain conjures up to interprate data it was never meant to touch.
Pulling myself back, I looked around the Node, and watched as it shifted and changed, going blurry and indistinct in many places.
Turning to where Waste floated, seeming to be seeing her Node for the first time, I sighed. Yeah…
"Know this." My words carried an odd amount of weight to them, and it was as a shadow shifted to cover me that I understood how… important this was, "Though you are made from glass, gold, and glory. Fragile, Malleable, and Ephemeral. These are not the things that make you. I name you Asha for you are formed from Desires, Wishes, but above all Hope. We Entitle you, raise you up as that which you are. Hope; Defense type Shard." It was only then that I realized the shadow behind me was SafeGuard. But I had no time to process that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N2: To preempt any questions. The reason Dean's power will be down for a month is repair/deployment/recharging.
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