"I am here." You speak to the empty land, or at least the apparently empty land. For this is where you had been given directions to meet a possible spy master at. The name that you had been given, was well known in this section of the world as a urban legend of sorts, yet even so any number of fools had in times past claimed the names of those more skilled than themselves.
Until you were given proof, you would assume that they were a simple copycat that wished to gather some measure of fame. If they sought to capture you, they would suffer horribly for their hubris. You checked the sigils of the helmet that you wore, reaffirming the fact that the Mantle armor was in working order. Everything was in order, the geomantic shield arrays were active and drawing power from the Core of the world, the anti gravity plating was active enabling flight, the internalized terraformation systems were primed and ready, and finally the Alchemical Core was fully charged.
The armor might not be a wonder in and of itself in terms of battlefield security, but it was none the less a relic from the Fall Of Man. In the years past you had spoken with Nosra and had learned much of the history of the Anvil and wha the project that had created it sought to achieve. The armor you now wore was one of the countless victories that the Anvil had wrought into existence, it along with the Dark Star were items that even at the height of man, little was understood of their working and now even less was known.
"Hmm, it seems you posses some modicum of intelligence. At least more than the brain dead fools that tend to form the bulk of my clients." A raspy voice spoke from the shadows. Twisting around you peered through them, letting pulses of geomantic energy flow from the soles of the armor into the ground building a model of the terrain in all aspects.
"Good reflexes, my respect is currently hovering slightly above bedrock." The voice echoed from the shadows, and you frowned. Very few things could deflect or block the geomantic scanning abilities of the Mantle, and the odds for even a legendary spy to posses such systems bordered on the unfeasible. Therefore, the more likely option is that they were currently in a blindspot for the armor.
Cycling through the systems of the armor until you reached the system you sought, and in a moment everything became transparent to your sight. Yet, also solid, objects were outlined in color giving shape to them but no longer were you prevented from looking through the world.
"I see you." You spoke, pointing towards the hovering figure that was drifting in the air several meters to your left and around ten above the ground.
"Congratulations, you successfully discovered me when I wasn't trying to hide at all. Although, I do have to give props for proving that there might be a handful of people worth any respect left on this world." The flying figure noted in their raspy voice, even as they drifted to the ground and walked to only a few meters away. Blinking away the penetrating sensor sight, you could see that they were wearing cloth of dark grey and had only a few handfuls of metal items.
"You managed to get my interest, with looking into gathering a spymaster. Now, please explain why I would benefit from aligning myself with the Umbral Lands." You frown below the helmet and shook your head.
"Not until you prove your skills. Anyone can discover a gravity plate and get it to work with a few years of effort." You state even as you flip through the sensors of the armor once more and find what you are looking for and with a flicker of geomantic energy the ground tore itself apart as a broken gravity plate emerged from its sandy tomb.
"This is why I hate intelligent clients, it is so much easier to scam dumb clients out of their savings." You could tell that the voice was irritated, but it seemed as if it was irritated in a nebulous sense instead of being upset with you directly.
"Somehow, it seems a poor business decision to state your intent to scam your possible hirer." You dryly reply to the statement, even as you activate the Heart supercharging the terraforming and alchemical aspects of the Mantle.
"I scam the people that hire me by playing both sides. The side that pays me more will get more from me, that is all. Smart clients tend to realize that is possible and therefore reduce the amount of information I can give to the other side. As for saying this, its pragmatic, I don't want to work for a primary nation. Working for the Umbral Lands, will put me on a higher order map and I like any sane person doesn't want to be on said map." The voice rasped even as a core of steel was present in the tone of the person, it was clear to you that they very much didn't want to join the Umbral Lands, but then that begged the question.
"If you do not wish to join my employ, then why respond to my search?" It was the obvious question to ask in this case.
"Hah, hah, hah….Oh your serious?" The person began laughing, shaking with mirth even as you wondered why this was so funny to them. "When a grand nation calls you answer. My wishes don't matter, if you want me to work for you, that is what will happen." You shrugged your shoulders at the reply as the person calmed down from their laughing fit.
"I am aware of the power discrepancy between the highest and the average of the world. However, I do not see how it applies to you in this case, if you hadn't revealed yourself you could easily have remained in the shadows." You stated with surety.
"Hah, the arrogance typical for one of the highest. You sent agents through the underworld to find a spy. You took a personal interest in the matter. All of this means that as we speak, the minor and secondary nations of the world are tearing themselves apart to find someone to throw at you to hopefully gather some reward." The raspy voice ached with tiredness even more as the figure shifted from foot to foot, as they spoke.
You simply shrug at the statement and consider what that could mean in the future. It was clear that you had information holes in your lands if it had become so widely known across the world. Of courses that assumed the person was speaking truthfully in this manner.
With a shake of your head, and with a wave of a hand you dismissed this tangent. "We have drifted from the original point. How do I know that you are who you claim to be?"
"Because I know secrets that are otherwise unknown." The person declared in a whisper, even as they fidgeted. You growled under your helm as their passive aggressive tone stroked your growing stress.
You had never handled stress well and this decade had only ever provided more and more stress. Now, this figure had called you out from beyond the walls of your cities to speak with you on the verge of the rad wastes. The location was silent and eerie in the light of the moon above and every moment you felt as if something was growing closer. Your stress already so high was growing and you knew that your patience was dwindling fast.
"Any spy worth my time would know such secrets. Give me one and I shall determine its value." You declare imperiously as you activated the armor's combat systems, glowing lines of arcane energy raced throughout the system and with a soft thump the air was blown away as energy fields slammed into existence. "Be quick, time grows short and I am required to return soon to my people. Give me what I ask and this can all end." You demand while hoping that the figure out accept the out you had provided, time was growing short and every minute wore on you, building your stress ever higher.
"Oh so violent, perhaps I won't give you what you seek. After-all, serving a violent murderous coward wouldn't be a smart move now would it?" The figure ground out even as it laughed at you. Your eyes narrowed into slits as anger, hatred burned into life in your heart joining with your stress, at the audacity of the person speaking such nonsense.
Burning with wrath you marched forward closing the distance and the land itself bent to your whim as you strode over the few meters akin to a god of past epoch. Lifting your hand you grabbed the figure by the neck. "I have had enough of your dancing around the questions I propose, I have taken a risk beyond your comprehension to meet you in this place. You will now provide proof of your value or I will kill you here and now."
"Blah, you think you scare me? I have faced down people far more terrifying than you could ever hope to be. You do not have the steel to kill a person so crudely. I know what is going on with the trials in your lands, you hide like a coward behind the veneer of law. You will have no secrets from me." The figure spoke even as you frowned beneath the helm and they struggled fruitlessly against your armored grip.
"You should be scared. The armor I wear bears an Alchemical Core, that is currently supercharged by a relic. It would be but a thought to transmute your bones into iridium and your blood into liquid uranium. You might think that would kill you in moments, it would if not for the life-support systems I posses within the Umbral Lands. I can keep you alive through all of that and beyond for decades to even centuries. You would feel the pain of your body tearing itself apart as your genetic code is ravaged by endless radiation and forced to live through it all. I am near my breaking point, give me the information that you believe is most valuable and I will release you and possibly hire you in the future. Or you can refuse and can learn what it would feel like to have your body melt away and reformed." Your words were cold and steady, no boasting or exaggeration was in what you said. It was fact that you could do all of that, it would weigh heavily upon your mind and consciousness, but it would remove a dangerous piece from the board and increase the fear that you carried.
You could see at this distance that the person was scrambling in fear, they could tell that your threat was truthful and their bravado faded away. "Ok, ok, ok. I overheard some traders mentioning some stranger buying up young men from tribes for good coin, and I did some digging and found that it was located around a large mountain range." Their voice lost the raspy tint to it as panic filled it.
You felt an eyebrow rise in surprise even if the figure couldn't see beneath your helm, "That's it? Some third hand information on a slave trade in boys? Thousands if not tens of thousands of people are kidnapped into slavery in the Umbral Lands every year, why would I care about these boys if I don't care about those incidents?" It was clear now that the reputation of the person was either extremely exaggerated or just outright lies, anyone could have made up that nonsensical information. Finding a slave trade was about as impressive as finding a sheet of rusted metal in the rad wastes, the things were literally everywhere and frankly stamping them out would just take more effort for less return.
"No, no, no. You misunderstand, the buyers only wanted boys no one else." The note of panic was definitely growing. "Really? Your best offer for a secret is; there is some sex trade in young boys going on in some random part of the world." You shook your head, even as you stared at the panicking person, with contempt. Anyone could have given you this information, unless there were conditional aspects to it that would make it more impressive.
"UNIDENTIFIED INDIVIDUAL, RELEASE THE SPY INTO MY CUSTODY." A booming voice echoed across the land as you flipped into the penetrating sensors and saw a giant figure well over ten feet tall and wearing armor seemingly comparable to some of the better relics you were aware of nearby.
"It appears that your value is greater than I expected. You will be coming with me, until you give me everything you know." You state even as the figure tried its best to tear free of your armored grip on its neck.
"UNKNOWN PERSON, GIVE THE SPY TO ME." The armored giant thundered once more even as you stared at the thing and frowned under your armor.
"Who are you?" You asked even as the Heart blazed with power and the spy was thrown unceremoniously into a pit that quickly descended into the world's crust.
"I am merely a servant of the individual that the spy stole the secrets of. I have been tasked with returning the spy to my master to preserve his secrets." The voice no longer booming, but you could feel a psychic presence to it that made the hairs on your arms stand up even as you rerouted power into the geomantic arrays from the more typical shields.
"You have no authority over me, however, for a price I am willing to return the spy to your custody." You state even as you stare upwards to the giant, dwarfed by the sheer scale of their armor and sheer size.
"I am authorized to conduct limited negotiations in the name of my master. What would you wish to know in exchange for the spy?" The figure responded after a moment of thought, even as you prepared your thoughts and noted that the geomantic shielding was working as it buffeted the psychic presence out of the words spoken.
"How much are you willing to explain to me? I will not expect answers that delve into military circumstances, however I would appreciate answers to any other queries." You explain your stance as you peer upward at the man and examine his armor through the sensors in the Mantle, learning how it was made and what it could do.
"All information relating to the spy is military in nature." The blunt statement was surprising for numerous reasons. The most prominent of which is the fact that if everything was related to military matters then by extension the slave trade in young boys was also part of the military. Therefor, the most likely result is that someone was trying to build genetic abominations from human flesh.
You snarl to yourself as you engage the combat protocols of the armor. The glowing lines of power expand into a lattice of energy, even as the geomantic energy array increased in potency violently shoving away the presence of the other realm, the Alchemical Core began to spiral into activity even as the Heart glowed with power under the chest plate of the armor.
"Hold, my master is not using the flesh of those bought to form abominations against science. Most will be released with minds wiped due to incompatible genetic profiles with what my maker requires. It is unfortunate, but I must ask for you to submit to a neural wipe of this information as my maker's orders of operational security." The moment the words were processed you acted.
There was no time to think, there was no time to process or plan, you had to fight and win. The core of the armor activated and in a moment everything changed. From the ground spikes of metal made of alloys long since forgotten speared upward rending the golden metal of your foe. Even as the warrior began to act you were beyond them, the world came to your aid, rocks transformed into legions of golems that marched forward under the geomantic aegis of the Mantle and the Heart to pound upon the giant in gold.
You reached forth and tore the spear gun from its hand and dissembled it in moments, letting the components fall to the ground where they were quickly shoved into a pit to await your attention. You turn now to the figure and frown for he and you could tell gender through the rends in his armor tore apart your golem army. Yet, it was too little and too late, you smiled and reached out with a hand and grabbed his atoms in your grip and transmuted them.
Carbon was sheared away and transformed into sodium, oxygen was ripped apart to reform as sulfur. You ravaged his body with your abilities and left him a ruined husk of a person, bleeding and weeping in pain as the impossible was made real. You walked slowly towards the downed giant and grabbed his head now revealed from the helmet. "I am Khas, lord of the Umbral Lands and I do not take kindly to assaults upon my person. You will die here without medical attention."
"What……cough…..guh, do….you want?" The once perfect voice now ravaged and broken beyond repair, and blood spilling from the lips onto the rad soaked sand, told you all you needed to know.
"What do you offer? I highly doubt a being made such as you has much freedom or desire for self preservation." You prod the dying transhuman giant with an armored finger, letting him know that you knew a bit of the nature of genetic sculpting on this level and what the people that did were usually like.
"I……offer….cough …..amnesty….I….will advocate…… to my……master……in..your…..favor. If….I…die…..they……..will learn…….come…..for…you….hurk." You look at the dying man and frown, the confidence was impressive no doubt in the skills of their maker.
"Could they discover the truth if I reforged this entire region?" You ask kneeling before the broken man, even as you could see his two hearts trying in vain to help him heal. The damage was too great for anything, but your alchemical assistance to save his life.
"My……master……is…beyond….your….understanding. He….will…discover…….the…….truth." You stand up as you look over the broken body and sigh. This was a true clusterfuck on levels not seen since Nathan dropped the corruption bomb on you a decade ago. An unknown biologist working on transhumans of power that could possibly pose a minor nuisance to you and by extension to the other grand nations. In that short fight you had seen that this single man could have conquered many lesser nations on his own over the course of mere months.
Vote on what to do with the Custodes (you don't get the option of returning the Spy or the guardian spear due to Grand Nation Pride)
[] Restore Atomic Integrity - let the transhuman live and report to his maker. Perhaps, it would pay in time
[] Leave him to his fate - let the horrors you have wrought upon his flesh remain and walk away into the depths of the earth and purge this land in flame and lave wiping away all traces of existence
[] Claim his flesh for your own purposes - his body presents a rare chance to explore the secrets of life and learn from a mind equal or beyond your own. Perhaps in time it could even lead to the construction of the First Data Core (incompatible with healing)
[] Claim his armor for your own - there is no reason to take a man such as him to your home, but his gear is another matter. Upon the Anvil you shall learn the secrets of its construction and from this a new legion will arise in your name armored and armed in the style of this warrior.
[] Write In
Spy Vote
[] Fore them into service - for now they are the best option you have
[] Drain them of knowledge and eliminate him - there is no reason in keeping a person with such forces after him. Drain him of all value and leave him in the rad wastes to suffer the fate of all those that reach beyond their station
[] Drain them of knowledge - they have secrets that you wish to know and so you shall. Your psykers will tear the mind apart and find all that which is known and give it to you. Afterwhich, choices could be made in light of knowledge gained.
