Mistrunner 4 - Chapter 23 - Phase One (Patreon)

She is volatile, unreliable, and selfish.  Despite that, she represents Earth’s greatest chance for survival. I wish it were otherwise, because I believe Mira is just as likely to destroy the world as save it.

Alistaris Kargat

Magnificent mountains, each one wearing a cap of snow, rose to prominence all around us. I’d never felt smaller than in the presence of those giant natural edifices. Patrick piloted the Leviathan through the valleys, keeping low so as to avoid detection. The ship had some anti-detection capabilities, but none that compared to using the natural terrain for concealment. Most people couldn’t have flown such a large ship so adroitly, but Patrick was no normal pilot.

As he focused on his task, I practiced my [Navigation] skill. So far, it had been something of a disappointment. It gave me unmatched spatial awareness, and with it, I could read maps like nobody’s business. However, that didn’t really translate to any ability to pilot the Leviathan. So, in that area, I was no better of now than I had been before absorbing the skill. Still, I didn’t regret it, largely because it was still useful.

Besides, I had Patrick for all my flying needs.

“We’re almost there,” he said, cutting between two prominent pillars of rock. “After that, it’ll be about two hours on foot before we reach the rendezvous point. Unless you want to just land there. Which, for the record, I’m a hundred-percent onboard with that plan.”

“Afraid of a little walk?” I asked with a slight smirk.

“Out there, yes. Have you seen the temperatures? It’s ten below zero. It’s right in the middle of a Dead Zone, too, and I’ve picked up quite a few biological signatures.”

“Really?” I asked, looking out the window. The area looked as desolate as any place I’d ever been, and even with Observation, I couldn’t see anything but rocks and mounds of snow. “Looks pretty desolate to me?”

“The scanner doesn’t lie,” he said, tapping one of the screens in front of him. Pointedly, I had no idea what the squiggly lines and dots even meant, probably because I lacked the skill and experience necessary to operate the thing. And that irritated me. I was used to being completely self-sufficient, so being confronted with something I simply could not do was more than a little annoying. But I suppressed that feeling and forced a smile.

“Suppose I’ll just have to trust you, then,” I said. “But no. There’s no way I’m going in without scouting things out. You’re welcome to stick to the ship, though.”

He shook his head. “Not happening. I have a new mode I want to test on the armor,” he said.

“I’m skeptical that thing is ever going to be effective in stealth.”

“So little faith,” he muttered. “I think I’ve got it perfected, but I’ll make you a deal. Once you’ve seen it in action, if you still don’t approve, I’ll stay back. If you admit it works, you owe me one.”

“One what?”

“To be decided later.”

“An open-ended bet? That doesn’t seem very fair.”

He shrugged, shifting slightly to the right as he guided the ship to the intended landing spot. Then, he said, “You’ll enjoy it one way or the other, I’m sure.”

“So certain of yourself, huh?” I said.

“I am.”

I saw his smirk and said, “Fair enough.”

Patrick’s smile only grew broader, but he didn’t say anything else. Instead, he slowly guided the Leviathan into place, setting it down atop a cliff that was miraculously devoid of snow. Once he’d established that it was secure, we headed to the cargo bay where we completed preparations for our excursion. For my part, I donned my infiltration suit as well as a fur-lined white outfit that would aid both Camouflage and Stealth. After that, I checked my ammunition and weapons, ensuring that my entire arsenal was loaded and ready for battle.

Meanwhile, Patrick went through a similar routine, dressing in a similar battle suit before summoning his mech suit from his spatial storage. He went through a few checks before climbing into the cockpit and firing it up.

“Still don’t know how you expect anyone not to see that thing,” I said, looking the enormous suit of armor up and down. It was twelve feet tall, bulky, and though it was white enameled, it was still shiny and trimmed in gold. There was almost no chance it would escape anyone’s notice.

“Have a little faith, Mira.”

I shrugged. “Faith is for people who have to depend on hope. I prefer to rely on something more concrete. Like my abilities. Or lots of bombs.”

After that, Patrick activated one of the suit’s features. Suddenly, it shimmered, then disappeared. Mostly. I could still see it easily enough, but that was mostly because of Observation’s high grade. Without it, he would have been entirely invisible. So, I said, “Impressive. What did you do?”

“Localized holographic display hooked to a series of cameras. It just takes in images, then projects them. There are a couple more steps, but that’s the gist of it.”

“Nice. Not as good as Stealth, but it’ll probably get the job done.”

He agreed, and after I established Bastion to protect the ship, we exited via the cargo hatch. Once outside, he remotely activated the Leviathan’s innate defenses. So, with the ship protected, we set off toward the rendezvous point.

And I immediately regretted it.

It wasn’t the cold that bothered me. Instead, it was the deep snow drifts that were deeper than I was tall. Eventually, Patrick took the lead, breaking a trail through the snow. I followed, though with the sides of the trail piled high with snow, I felt more than a little claustrophobic.

Fortunately, we quickly descended far enough down the mountain that it wasn’t a problem anymore. However, that also came with quite a bit more danger, as was evident when a shaggy-furred humanoid creature burst from the snow and attacked us. I had my Interdiction Blade out and swinging before Patrick even knew what was happening, and all it took was a slight pulse of Mist to empower it to the point where slicing through the monster took almost no effort.

Red blood splashed onto the white snow as the bisected monster fell apart. I leaped away, avoiding getting that blood all over my white outfit. Patrick wheeled around, one of his guns erupting from his forearm, but it was pointless. The monster was already dead.

“See? I told you there were monsters around.”

“I didn’t say there wasn’t,” I pointed out. Then, I looked at the thing. It was shaped like a person, with two arms and two legs, but it was covered in white fur. Still, there was something familiar about its features. “What do you think it is?”

“Wildling.”

“That doesn’t look like any Wildling I’ve ever seen,” I said. And that was true, too. I’d fought and killed enough of them that I thought myself capable of recognizing the creatures better than most.

“They evolved up here,” he said. “Grew fur. They’re basically a different species now. It’s not uncommon. One of those files Gala sent us went over it.”

“But they’re just Wildlings.”

“That’s what the Mist does. It’s like rapid devolution followed by just as rapid evolution, though with Mist. That’s how the first planets that were engulfed by the Mist survived. At some point, one of those species advanced enough to create the system and Nexus Implants. There’s a whole faction of people who think it’s immoral. The system, I mean. They believe that planets should be allowed to evolve however they’re meant to without any intervention. Of course, there’s the fact that without the Initialization period and the quarantine, none of those species would survive, but they’re not concerned –”

“Enough of the history lesson, Pick.”

“It’s interesting, though.”

It wasn’t to me, but I didn’t admit that. Instead, I said, “There might be more of them around. We don’t need to be distracted.”

He huffed, but he didn’t continue his lecture. So, after we both adopted Stealth, we advanced. Despite remaining hidden, we were still attacked a couple of times along the way to the rendezvous point, but neither of us had any difficulty dispatching the furry Wildlings. We reached the location about an hour-and-a-half later.

I knelt on a sharp cliff, looking down on the valley below. There, I saw three ships that I recognized as Dingyt designs. More, the little gnomes had raised a temporary base, complete with a reasonably powerful Mist shield, a series of auto-turrets along the top of the wall, and an entire cadre of powerful combat bots.

“It’s a fortress,” I said through Secure Connection.

“You see the humans?” he asked, our conversation silent.

I had. I didn’t recognize any of them – which wasn’t surprising – but I’d already counted ten of them. They all looked like tough customers, and they were armed to the teeth. Mercenaries, unless I missed my guess. Or maybe they were powerful combatants Alistaris had recruited for the coming war. There was no way to tell without getting closer, and I wasn’t quite ready to do that.

I trusted Alistaris to a certain degree, but I would’ve had to have been a fool to blindly walk into such a dangerous situation. I knew precisely how deadly the Dingyts could be, and I wasn’t going to underestimate them again.

So, we watched and waited, and to my surprise, I caught sight of something unexpected.

“Do you see that?” I asked Patrick.

“What?”

“The invisible gnomes.”

“If they’re invisible, of course I didn’t see them.”

“You know what I mean. They’re using some kind of stealth variant. But I can see their Mist auras,” I said. “It’s subtle, but…”

“I can’t see auras, Mira,” he reminded me.

“Oh. Right.”

I had gotten so used to seeing auras that I sometimes forgot that others couldn’t do so. I spent the next few minutes watching the definite outline of a pair of gnomes as they approached our position. I pretended I wasn’t aware of them, banking on their inability to detect me. My own Stealth had grown since the last time I’d encountered gnomes, and I hoped that growth would be enough to keep them from noticing me.

A few seconds later, one of them appeared with her weapon pointed at Patrick. In a high-pitched voice, she said, “Please disembark the combat suit and –”

I pressed Ferdinand II to the back of her head, and extended the Interdiction blade to the throat of the other as I said, “You need to rethink your position if you think you get to order us around.”

The gnome beneath my blade flinched, but I kept the Interdiction Blade at his throat.

“Mirabelle, I presume?” said the woman.

I ignored her, addressing Patrick as I said, “See? I’m famous.”

He said, “You blew up the moon and killed millions of androids. I’d be disappointed if they didn’t know who you are.”

“I think it’s my good looks and winning personality that everyone remembers.”

“Yeah. That’s it,” he deadpanned.

“General Kargat is expecting you,” said the female gnome. She seemed calm enough, which was impressive, given my reputation for killing aliens. “You need not have hidden out here in the cold. You are more than welcome to join the others before the briefing.”

“Were you in New Cairo?” I asked.

“I was.”

“Then you can probably guess why I’d be a little hesitant to just waltz in there,” I said. Back then, I had very much been outclassed, and the gnomes had used their advantage to stealthily surround me.

“You’ve grown,” she said. “We didn’t detect you at all.”

“Yeah. I’m special like that. Take your eyes off me for even a minute, and I’ll pass you right by.”

“Indeed,” she said. “Now, are we going to stay out here in the snow? Or will you come inside where it’s warm? The bulk of your team has already arrived.”

“Team?”

“Yes. No one can fight a war alone.”

“I beg to differ,” I countered. “But fine.”

I yanked my sword back, sheathing it while holstering Ferdinand II at the same time. The male gnome – who was in the most adorable little infiltration suit – rubbed his neck, but I’d been careful not to draw blood. I hadn’t run any Mist through it, so it probably couldn’t have cut him anyway.

“Was that an Interdiction Blade?” asked the female.

“Maybe.”

She turned to Patrick and said, “And that armor is more advanced than should be available here.”

“It’s a work in progress,” he said.

“Interesting.”

After that, she turned and strode off, followed by the male gnome. He was clearly nervous putting his back to us, but he showed discipline by not glancing back. I had to respect that, at least.

I turned to Patrick and said, “Told you they’d see through it.”

He let out a groan, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he stomped along after the two gnomes. For my part, I followed soon after him, though I kept a smug smile on my face.

The trip down to the temporary fortress was uneventful, but I saw a handful of Mist signatures along the way. Hidden Dingyts, all, though some of the auras were significantly more subdued than others. I wasn’t sure if that meant they were higher leveled, but with more control, or lower-leveled, with more scattered auras. Whatever the case, I felt confident that I saw them all.

As we approached the wall, I was tempted to rip through the Mist shield. I felt confident that I could do it, though I wasn’t certain if I would have to do so via the methods I’d used with Misthack or if I could tear it to pieces through sheer Mist Authority.

I refrained from doing so. I had to keep reminding myself that the Dingyts, though they were aliens, were my allies. For now. I still didn’t trust them completely, however, so I kept my guard up. Normally, when I entered a new situation, I’d have done it cloaked in Mimic, but that wasn’t possible now.

“It’s okay,” said Patrick via our ongoing Secure Connection. “Just breathe. It’s fine.”

“I’m okay.”

“You’re not, and that’s okay. Just remember that if anyone screws with you, we can blow this whole place up without skipping a beat.”

That soothed my anxiety a little. I still didn’t like being exposed, but the notion that I could just kill them all if they stepped out of line was oddly comforting.

Inside the fort were a lot more gnomes. However, I noticed that our arrival garnered quite a few curious looks from the humans inside. All of them looked a little rough around the edges, and, more importantly, a lot older than Patrick or me. I couldn’t help but wonder if they knew who they were looking at.

The gnome soldier led us to the largest plasti-steel building, and when the door slid open, she stepped inside. I went to follow, but we quickly found a problem. In his armor, Patrick wouldn’t fit. So, with an annoyed sigh, he climbed out, then dismissed it into his storage space. That definitely got some attention from the other humans – and a few of the gnomes as well – but we both endeavored to ignore it as we followed the two gnomes into the building.

Once we were inside, I saw a familiar face.

“Al!” I exclaimed, ignoring all the others inside. “So nice of you to send the welcoming committee to greet us!”

With a long-suffering sigh, Alistaris ran a hand through his white hair, and said, “Hello Mira.”

I slapped my hands together and looked around the room before saying, “Alright. Why don’t you introduce me to your ragtag group of adventurers?”

“Reel it in, Mira,” Patrick said via Secure Connection. “Too strong.”

“You sayin’ you don’t remember me?” came a familiar voice. I glanced in that direction, and I saw an expected broad-brimmed hat.

“Rex. I thought you’d have gotten yourself killed by now,” I said.

“Not yet,” he drawled.

After that, Alistaris cut in and asked us to sit. I once again looked around the room, which was clearly some sort of command center. There was a large, round table at the center, and a series of terminals on one side. Around the table sat a dozen unfamiliar men and women. There were only two open seats, so Patrick and I navigated to those chairs and sat down. Every eye followed us as we did so.

“Thank you,” Alistaris said, pushing himself to his feet. He stood atop the chair so that everyone could see him. “I’ve gathered you all here because you’re the best Earth has to offer. Each one of you has the capability to contribute to the planet’s defense, and today, I’m going to go over exactly how that starts.”

“You mean to tell me that a pair of children are the best of the best?” came a raspy, yet feminine voice. I looked in that direction, and I saw a tall, whip-thin woman with a mechanical hand. She had a sword strapped to her back, and she wore a pair of nondescript robes.

Alistaris, who’d obviously expected such an objection, said, “Yes. Mira is by far the most dangerous person in this building. And that assessment is based on the last time we met. I suspect she has only grown more powerful since then.”

“Preposterous,” the woman spouted.

Even as she spoke, one of the others – a short man with a pudgy face – leaped from his seat and yanked a pistol from a holster at his belt. Or at least he tried to. He barely got a hand to the grip before I ripped the Mist from his body.

He fell forward, his head hitting the table before he slid to the ground. Without even checking, I knew he was dead. I’d used Mist Authority to do the same to plenty of Wildlings and animals over the past six months, so I was well-versed in just what my most recently evolved ability could do.

“Anyone else have a problem with me?” I asked. I’d never even moved a muscle, which probably made what I’d just done even more horrifying. That was precisely my intention.