15-13 After Action (Patreon)

The Elders are trying to cause an outbreak. I’m sure of it now.

I mean, what do you see what the hells they have us digging through?

The Soft Master Collection? Nu-Dog in the Wrong Ass? Nu-Dog: Re-erected? Operation: Storm my Step Sister’s “Nether” Plane? This–this is absolute–Listen–look, there’s a title in here that’s literally “I Blast My Goosh-Goosh into the Eyes of People Driving Aeros so We Crash and Die: A ‘Sexual’ Prank Series!”

What the thorough fu–this isn’t even ten percent of the way through. I’ve purged my proxy six times and the content still nearly overloaded my lustaway. I’ve seen things that not even forgetting will cleanse my soul of.

What the hell kind of secret messaging do the Mirrors expect to be hiding in porn this depraved? No! No, I refuse to believe that the Low Masters spent all their time after getting their civilization gelded in the war spoofing their way into the porn industry to create these–

BUT NOTHING IN THESE VIDEOS ARE SUBVERSIVE! DID YOU NOT HEAR THE TITLES? HOW MUCH SUBLIMINAL MESSAGING DO YOU THINK A MOTHERFUCKER CAN GET IN A SCENE THAT HAS AN ANATOMICALLY INCORRECT GHOUL CASTRATING AN EQUALLY ANATOMICALLY INCORRECT REGULAR AND THEN POURING SMALL PENIS-SHAPED BIOFORMS INTO THE WOUND THAT ARE CALLED THE HURT-PREGGIES! HUH! HUH, HALF-STRAND!

EXPLAIN TO ME!

NO! I DON’T NEED A BREAK! I DON’T NEED TO SWITCH OUT! I NEED TO BE DONE WITH THIS! DONE!

I’m a godsdamned Incubus. Thousand’s shadow, I shouldn’t be spending my time doing… this.

How the hells is someone this depraved even still alive? He should’ve been scalpeled during one of the outbreaks…

-Incubus Olim O’Ohuri complaining about reviewing Aedon Chambers’ “vicarity diet”

15-13

After Action

Avo scoured his mind three more times after they returned to the demiplane. No more lapses followed, but his paranoia lingered from his recent compromise.

Directing his subminds to scan his templates again, he found no obvious fault in his cognition. His mind was more his than it ever had been. So how was he losing control? How was his body just acting of its own volition? Or was it just raw instinct taking hold? An expression of intrusive desire made manifest?

Establishing Whispers from the innermost confines of his memories, he manifested a mental panopticon in preparation for any future compromises and sequenced the foundations of his emergency countermeasures. It would begin with an alert, proceed to a self-directed jack, then a trauma-pattern, before finally a contingency-triggered Thoughtwave Disruptor if all else was found wanting.

The idea of waging a secret war against himself did not appeal, but he would not see these slips of control become chronic. There was far too much at stake for him to be without control, and with the threats arrayed against him growing ever more severe, he couldn’t afford to play a sloppy game against foes of such a caliber.

Thus, he called for his cadre to convene with him in privacy as he made the problem known.

“I have been… killing people,” Avo began.

Gathered in a small cell on the third level of the demiplane, the three other members of his stared blankly at him as the ethereal lights flickered dimly overhead.

Chambers twirled a finger as if expecting more information to follow. Kae’s chewed on her bottom lip as she studied Avo with a curious expression. “Is this development recent?”

Draus and Chambers both snorted at once at that.

“Yes,” Draus said, doing her best half-assed job to mimic Avo’s sibilance. “Only been happening all my life.” She paused. “Lives, actually. Shit, Avo, how old are you really?”

He growled and didn’t bother regarding her. She was goading him again and he wasn’t–well, he was always in the mood to bloody her, but the Agnos was being an active help right now. “Before was different. Before I was in control. Or affected by impulses. This is… sudden. Like my body moves on its own. Scried through mind. Nothing there. No obvious compromise. Don’t know what else could–”

“Maybe it’s your Frame,” Kae said. “The Imitators… they might assert your habits as memorized patterns when you aren’t paying attention. Trying to optimize the actions you usually perform.”

The thought was at once fascinating and disturbing. If his Soulfire was gradually becoming more and more like him, did that mean he could train his Heavens to act how he would of his own accord without active thought? But the shadows of a greater danger loomed over the promise of possibility: if his ontology was snatching control from his vessel, how was he going to stop it?

“Before you really start thinking hard about this, you should know this isn’t even a proper guess–I mean, your Frame isn’t supposed to be able to affect your body this way. They’re separated by entire realities. And the Imitators never managed to do anything like this while I was testing it.” She gave a low hum. “And so far, none of us seem to exhibiting any signs of Frame conversion or ontological alterations. Curious. Maybe my theory about the Imitators being a potential infection of the Soul is wrong… We will have to monitor our conditions. All of us. If there are any changes, let me know at the first instant. All of you.”

A series of wordless agreements followed.

“I’ll keep an eye on you in the meantime as well,” Draus said, looking Avo up and down. “You sweep from the inside and I’ll keep you in check from the out. Shouldn’t be impossible for us to keep these outbursts controlled with the right preventions.”

“Yes. Keep an eye on me. Going to act as usual. But if I do something that’s…”

The Regular’s face broke into a savage smirk. “Trust me, it won’t take much doin’ on your part for me to snuff you.”

Avo grunted his thanks. With that resolved, they could move on to more heartening things, such as splitting the loot of their labor. “Seven Sangeists. Three Snake-Kings. Approximately two thousand thaums. Good loot. More than all of us can use at once. Think we should do more of this. Build up a supply of Heavens. Pre-make builds. Swap as we go–” Avo sighed as he watched Chambers gingerly lift his hand up. “What.”

The half-strand cleared his throat. “Now, I’m no good at math, or Standard, or ethics, or most of that education stuff, but I’m pretty sure there was like nine Sangeists, right? How do you just got seven now?”

“Two went to Dice.”

Chambers nodded as if he knew who Dice was. “Right. Nova. Who the fuck is that?”

“FATELESS I ensouled,” Avo answered.

The half-strand stared. And blinked. And blinked again. “Wait… so you actually just… ‘Cladding random half-strands?”

Both Draus and Kae shared and glance before they stared at Chambers.

“It’s not like I don’t already have a habit? Avo said dryly.

“Come on, Avo,” Chambers said, shaking his head as he tutted with scorn. “You shouldn’t talk about Essus that way.”

Kae choked. Draus closed and let out a long, tortured breath as she stared at the ceiling.

Within the depths of Avo’s consciousness, Chambers’ template found himself manifested before the real deal, and phantasmal cringes crinkled the very waters of Avo’s mind. [Aw, fuck, I’m an idiot.]

[Enlightenment is an ugly thing sometimes,] Abrel snickered.

“Regardless,” Avo continued. “Have seven Sangeists. Going to use a few to make more–”

“No!” Kae cried out.

He stopped talking.

The Agnos found everyone staring at her and blushed as she composed herself. She cleared her throat and muttered a quiet apology before proceeding. “Sorry–the outburst–agh, you don’t want an overload of canons. There are a lot of dangers that come with creating something that is just too broad. If we’re upgrading our Heavens, I need to be there. In fact, we–what are we doing–we need to rebuild some of our canons. Especially you, Draus. You and the crippling that was committed on your Heaven.”

“Right,” Draus said. “Might-gotta few improvements of my own I want to see put–”

“Me too,” Chambers said, cutting the Regular off. “So, I was thinking earlier, right? ‘Is there a Heaven of Holes.’?”

“Kae, you answer that question for him and I’ll snuff you,” Draus warned.

The Agnos’ mouth slammed shut with a squeak.

[Jaus, how the hells did I let you half-strands kill me,] Abrel moaned.

[And Kae wasn’t even there,] template Chambers laughed. [It was Essus. All he does is cry these days. Ah, poor bastard.]

‘Should discuss what we do with these Heavens beforehand,” Avo interjected. “Brainstorm first about the concepts so we don’t need to spend multiple resurrection cycles testing and failing. Right now we are a cadre of four. Draus and I both have the abilities of Porters. I can be Breaker as well. Chambers is…” Avo considered what Chambers would be classified as for a moment, “Probably a Maker.”

The former enforcer cheered.

“One that needs more improvements,” Avo continued.

Chambers cheered louder.

“Just leaves Kae. Also Breaker. Minor Porter. Can move things through water. Distance limited. Speed too. Missing a Seer in the group. Too many Breakers.” He stared at Agnos. “Should probably switch your Heavens. See how your mind lurched in disgust when killing people physically.”

“I’ll get used to it,” Kae said, sounding somewhat defensive.

“Sure. Definitely can. But might not be the best position for you anyway. Not underestimating you. Just thinking about efficiency.”

“Rotlick’s right, you know,” Draus said, lightly bopping Kae on the shoulder and staggering the smaller woman. “I’ve know pureblooded killers, and you ain’t it. Got the snuffer in you so that’s good enough. You’ll do it in a pinch. What we need now’s more than two killers and a distraction.”

“Yeah,” Chambers agreed. His face went blank and then followed the frown. “Reg, I’ll have you know that I forced hundreds of enforcers to birth a sea of aratnids from their holes.” He squared with Draus as the first embers began to build around his person. “I’m more than the scared half-strand you knew from maybe like, I don’t know, eight hours ago or some shit. I’m better Chambers–”

His head vanished in a flurry of red as a whirlwind of dancing glass snapped free from the walls and sawed through his skull. Chambers’ body twitched twice and toppled over. Kae whimpered. Draus spat a globule of disrespect into the open would of Chambers’ decapitation as blood welled forth while Avo threw his head back and cackled at the suddenness of the bloodshed.

[Aw, fuck, I’m an idiot,] template Chambers repeated.

+Don’t feel bad,+ Avo said, doing his best to offer due empathy for his half-strand. +This is practically how she expresses affection.+

[There is going to be so much pain in my immortal life,] template Chambers continued to whine.

That was like very, very true.

“So,” Draus said, eyeing the corpse disdainfully as a thaumic scab hardened between the real and the Soul, “we gonna follow him down or what?”

“No. Just let him resurrect,” Avo said. “We’ll keep discussing things once he returns. We should–” A knocking on the blood-wall he put up to seal the cell from the hallway caught Avo’s attention and he peered through his haemokinesis to see Cas standing outside with a light of mischievous glee written upon his face. “Cas is outside. He looks happy about something.”

Draus scoffed. “The faither’s smilin’? That ain’t good.”

“Be nice Draus,” Kae frowned. “He’s helping us.”

“We’re usin’ each other,” the Regular corrected. “Remember this: they belong to Thousandhand, and fuck know what that old sow is plannin’ or smokin’ at any given moment. There ain’t no ‘workin’ together’ with her like. There’s just bein’ used, or using’ each other.”

A pitched groan of frustration came from Kae. “Just don’t be a half-strand, okay? Keep the problems for later and work together right now.”

Draus sampled her words with a nod. “Yeah. We’re synced on that.”

“Good,” Kae said, shaking her head. She pointed a finger at Avo, who was busy grinning and Draus’ chastisement. “You too. I haven’t forgotten about you.”

“Not going to kill him. He’s going to be my new consang. Building a cult for me. Very nice of him.”

“No eating his eyes or anything if he makes you mad either, alright?”

Avo barked a laugh as he dropped the wall. “Can’t stop me,” he muttered to himself.

As the haemokinetic wall melted away, Cas stepped into the room and noticed that the Columner had his holocoat off for the first time.

He never took Cas for someone into fashion from all the time they spent together, but considering the multi-colored belts stitched into his flowing leather long coat and the meticulous cross-shaped decals that lined dotting the golem buttons leading up his silken blouse, there was an aesthetic on the part of the Columner that Avo just couldn’t place. A few of his buttons remained undone and some of his chest was showing. On it, strange connective scarification lined his flesh.

The way it was done looked slightly similar to the Scaarthians, but as he drew from Lip’s memories, Avo found that the script of the man’s scabs was of an entirely unknown language.

“What the hells are you wearin’?” Draus asked, evidently distracted by the same thing. Looking down at his shinning leather pants–the same kind that Chambers’was now wearing, Avo realized–her scowl deepened. “You look like one of them he-whores from those old Ashthrone period pieces.”

“Jelene,” Kae croaked under her breath.

Fortunately for the Agnos’ blood pressure, the Columner took no offense. Instead, he found himself peeking over the table and up at the ceiling in recognition of Chambers’ flensed face-meats and nodded. “Disagreement?”

“Yeah,” Draus grunted, “about him being alive.”

Cas nodded. “Just don’t let him cast his ghosts into you. He’s into some twisted shit.”

“Don’t we know,” she replied.

Shaking off the distraction, Cas faced Avo and his smirk returned. “So, I got multiple pieces of good news for you. You want to start with the cult stuff or should we get you slotted for you meeting.”

“Slotted?” Avo asked.

“That sprite you now got in your Meta? That doesn’t work fully until you have some hardware inside your brain or an exocortex. Lucky for you, Denton managed to get clearance to use a temp-functionality nanosuite on you for the interview with Aegis. You’re not gonna be able to get into Threshold otherwise.”

Avo stared at him. “Threshold. It’s a lobby?”

“Semi-Autonomous virtual reality, more like. It’s… hard to be put into words, but I have a feeling we’re going blow your socks off.”

Looking down, Avo regarded his talons. “Remember trying that once. Probably not my own life. That ghoul tore the socks though. Very wasteful.”

He felt a sudden affable clap on his arm as his Echoheads rattled like rearing snakes. Still, Cas showed no signs of fear. “You’ll feel the metaphor soon enough.”

“Cult first,” Avo said. “Guessing you started building it up already.”

Cas pulled a phantom out from his Metamind and molded it into the shape of four different figures.

Three were women of various social standing and occupations. One was a Scaarthian boncer that moonlighted as a circuit brawler, another a manager for Ascender, and the last was a small-time joy-dealer.

The only male among the presented few caught Avo’s attention in more ways than one. So particular was his costuming, that even Draus took a few steps closer to get a better look at the character.

“Is… is that man wearing a skinsuit flayed from a ghoul?” she asked.

Behind her, Kae struggled not to gag.

“Yeah,” Cas said, breaking into a wide smile. “Isn’t he great? He’s the mark that’s probably going to get us the most converts soon.” Three sets of eyes and Echoheads rattled at him. Chambers twitched back into existence with a yelp. “Alright. Let me elaborate.”