Chapter 3-6 Crystal Cages

Chapter 3-6 Crystal Cages

You might encounter some bitter cynics who tell you that dealing with the Syndicates is like dealing with the Guilds.



Frankly, this is outright ghoul-shit.

Guildsfor all the warring they doprovide structures of economic exchange, laws, and the foundations of security and infrastructure.

They are, effectively, nation-states. The only reason Im reluctant to call them such is because most High-Guilders act like godsdamned cultists and would like to see the world collapse into another apocalypse if it would achieve their desired utopia.

I cant even give the Syndicates that much. Theyre just leeches. Stealing old licensing chips. Exploiting the FATELESS. Fighting their own little gutter wars for hedonism and profit.

They might tell you they provide security and stability for the Warrens in absence of greater powers. To this, Id say that I could also tell you my piss contains the cure to wombrash, and you should buy it from me and drink it deep at 10,000 imps a cup.

-Quail Tavers, New Vultun Sunrise Interview

3-6

Crystal Cages

Avo felt the same self-inverting pressure peeling free from the reflection as he did when Mirrorhead tore him through the ceiling. This time, however, there were no unfathomable depths infested with an eldritch god. Instead, a small office greeted Avo.

It too, of course, was entirely made of glass. Avo sighed.

The walls were mirrors. The desk was cast in mirror polish. Even the chair was reflective. And being the self-satisfied, dominance-abusing half-strand that he was, Mirrorhead decided to emerge out from the glass of the chair, stretching themselves through a narrow tunnel of space. Avos skull spiked with pain as his natural mind failed to comprehend the transgressions inflicted upon geometry.

Materializing into his seat, Mirrorhead pulled another two glasses out from his face. He clicked them both down against the desk and, with a wave of his hand, manifested a small barrel shape stool across from the desk. A small barrel-shaped stool that he motioned for Avo sit on.

Avo shot Mirrorhead a naked glare. His legs would end up ascending past his chest if he sat in that. It would be like doing a squat.

I dont get many ghouls, Mirrorhead said, dryly.

Yes. The only other seat you own is from the toddlers section so we dont visit, was what Avo wanted to say.

Instead, he awkwardly doddered over and leaned down, staring at the seat. Reflective too. Probably in case Mirrorhead wanted to give him a prostate scan while they were talking or something. The Syndicate boss would probably end up going on about how staring up someones rear was more a dominance thing than something that might induce the rash.

Carefully planting himself down on the stool, Avo still found himself a head taller than Mirrorhead. He struggled not to grin. The Syndicate boss didnt seem to care. A waifish six-feet though Mirrorhead might be, Avo supposed the Godclad had other, more important qualities he concerned himself with.

Like pulling a decanter from his skull.

This time, Avo watched carefully, attempting to better glean how his enemys Heaven functioned. Could Mirrorhead store things inside himself or was it just like pulling things through a doorway? What was the scope of the Syndicate boss miracles? And what if the mirror was smeared or shattered?

Mirrorhead dropped the decanter onto the table with a loud clack. He shoved it over to Avo. Pour us a drink.

Avo obeyed. The other option was likely death. Didnt mean he liked it.

So, Mirrorhead said, waving for Avo to stop the glass filled halfway. Avo deliberately spilled some as he pulled his arm away too early, pretending to wince. Mirrorhead ignored him. As I said earlier: I have a use for you. Being the survivor of a Crucible has qualified you for certaincircuits in the Warrens. There are other games Id like to enter Mirrorhead trailed off into a sigh as he saw Avo raising his hand. What?

Didnt want to interrupt

Raising your hand is interrupting, ghoul, Mirrorhead said, his simmering annoyance made evident by the edged rumble in his voice.

Avo loved dealing with reasonable people. You want me. Toparticipate in another Crucible? Do another snuff-stream? A circuit? Avo asked, trying to understand. What kind of reward for winning was this? The boon for surviving a slaughterhouse like the Crucible should be no more Crucible and a ticket out of this den of misery.

Now Mirrorhead was trying to get him to do another?

Yes, Mirrorhead said without a hint of shame. Its a good use for you. You are capable: a champion to one of the harshest Crucibles in the city. Someone the viewers can remember. Someone I can use to shape a narrative. Across the Nether, I could use someone who is distant from my official dealings. Another angle of attack, so to speak.

Great. Perfect. It was all Avo ever wanted. To get famous making snuff vicarities for a control freak. How could he ever thank Mirrorhead enough? You asking me to keep doing these Crucibles?

A trail of ghosts spilled past Mirrorheads face. Again, Avo never even saw them manifest. That was going to be a problem. Detecting incoming ghosts and not getting detected in return was part zero of surviving the Nether. Without a glance at the greater sequences Mirrorheads ghosts were anchored to or what phantasmics he was using, it wasnt going to be easy to gauge how good of a Necro he was.

With a wave, the Syndicate manifested the metrics for the most recent Crucible stream produced under Conflux along with several highlight headlines. Avo blinked.

Ah. A Phantom phantasmic. Odd. Most people still used holograms for visual representations. Phantoms were, after all, solely perception-based phenomena; something that couldnt be stored or itemized other than through remembrances.

The phantoms swirled into a variety of figures and graphs. Nine hundred million views; a few hundred billion imps in revenue; images of dead hunters, a broken golem, and Little Vicious brutalized remains.

Are these not among your deeds? Mirrorhead asked.

With a thought, the phantoms returned to the moment where Avo found himself engaged against Slaughterman.

You havepotential. But youre clearly rough. Untrained. Sloppy. Mirrorhead deliberately cycled through moments of Avo getting brutalized by the oversized hunter. Yet, your resourcefulness and surprisingcomprehension of Necrothurgy are evident. What you managed with the drones was a fine feat. I commend you. Mirorheads approval was as blunt and stilted as he was. But aside from skill, your biggest deficiency is within your attributes. Your sluggishness. A pitiful failure on the part of the Low Master in your design. Modifications will be necessary.

Implants dont work, Avo said. Ghoul. Blood rejection. Dont think you have nano-surgeons here. Ones good enough to tune my blood.

There are other means of enhancement than just chrome, Mirrorhead said. The No-Dragons have achieved interesting medical breakthroughs experimenting with your kind. Do you know that your blood has very effective qualities? More than being an infection vector. The synaptic nodules each cell possesses presented new opportunities for research. And products.

That piqued Avos interest. Bioware?

Mirrorhead nodded. A prototype. Procured from a raid on one of the No-Dragons subsidiaries. Something that will solve yourlack of pace.

Grafting them to me? Avo asked, incredulous. No one gave something for free. There was a catch. There was always a catch.

Yes, Mirrorhead said. I cant have my newest nu-steed lacking in acceleration now, can I? Besides. You have already made me far more imps than the cost of the graft. Consider it more reward than gift.

Investing a lot in me, Avo said.

Mirrorhead scoffed. Im investing far less than what you have earned me. Giving you a tool I was originally going to have to sell, to begin with. Most among my ranks lack thebiology necessary to sustain the implant, anyhow. There is also the matter of your Necrojacking experience.

A sudden excitement rose within Avo, greater than even potentially getting a workable implant for his reflexes.

I will speak plainly. It offends me. A creature like yourself should not be capable of the art. And it stands as a threat to me. A threat that I cant accept. You will need to beleashed.

Avo felt his excitement plummet into near-fury. The beast snarled beneath Avos skin. He shivered, trying to keep it bottled in. Attacking Mirrorhead now would see him killed. Nothing came of that. Staying alive allowed him to survive longer. Study. Wait. Find an opening.

Here he was again, going from one cage to the next. A nice, more opulent cage, but still a cage. Avo had enough of those. He had enough of being owned after a lifetime of unconditioned kindness from a father he never deserved. At that moment, Avo hated Mirrorhead. Hated him with more vehemence than he ever felt. The emotion could only manifest itself in one way: hunger.

Avo wanted to know how Mirrorhead tasted, wanted to tear the Heaven from the man and subsume the fires of his Soul.

The Syndicates wanted to play as minor Guilds to the FATELESS and downtrodden. Mirrorhead likely wanted to carve a small fiefdom out here with his powers and influence. Except he still lacked the weight of Guild support and was just a trout in a cod pond.

Sure, when you bring in a few auged-up hitters in old rigs you can clear out an area and take part of a block, but throw a few chromers against a Paladin and the only outcome youll get is a mass casualty event floating by midnight news as an infographic. Possible also a bump in Guild stocks if enough people die to fuel a new Heaven.

Avo swallowed his bloodlust. Time to bide his time. By this point, Mirrorhead was just staring at him, wordlessly.

Yes, Avo said, forcing the word out. I understand. Injection?

Silence became Mirrorhead. Good. You know. In honesty, Im impressed. Your impulse control is remarkable for your kind. And your intellect is Mirrorhead trailed off.

A threat? Avo provided.

Interesting, Mirrorhead said, sounding almost disgusted in himself. I find myself fascinated with you, despite our stations. I see now why Little Vicious was so driven to kill you, despite her incompetence. You are an aberration, Avo. An abomination. Mirrorhead chuckled.The city is going to love you.

Practice made things remarkable. Focus and clear objectives allowed for improvement. That was what Avo knew. The beast could be contained; directed.

"Still. I must ask, as my curiosity demands it: how do you know about the injection.

"Worked for clubs. Joy parlors. Lots of sudden aneurysms on certain days. Lots of interesting information leaking from their ghosts after.

Reaching under the table, Mirrorhead produced a thinmirror-coated of courseneedle. Well. Suppose that saves me the need for getting to the hard part then. Avo looked at the little coldtech bomb swirling inside the needle. Funny how you could kill just anyone with a little damage in the right place. Like a cortex bomb. Fried synapses were hard to come back from.

That was ultimately the greatest advantage coldtech had over thaumaturgy: low upkeep for consistent effectiveness. A ghost made to traumatize someone into compliance needs to be made specifically in opposition to an individuals mind. Bombs worked all the same on almost everyone.

He gave Mirrorhead his best shrug. If he couldnt avoid this, he might as well seize the choice first. Let me do it. Straight in the veins. Yes?

Again, Mirrorhead was taken aback. Fine.

Slowly, he offered the syringe. The diamond tip of the needle could pierce augmented skin without issue. With a slow press, Avo injected the contents into himself. He felt nothing, which told him the machines were too small or complex for his blood to notice without aid.

But were they too small for him to eject with his Heaven? And would they still be inside him after a post-death reversion?

This concludesnegotiations?

The syndicate boss huffed a laugh, wagging a finger at Avo, as if a child had said something amusing. Negotiations, he chuckled, downing another glass of ambrosia. Id like to meet this Walton. Man mustve been cut from the cloth of Jaus Avandaer himself to do what he did with something like you.

Avo grinned to hide his snarl. I ever get the chance, Ill acquaint you with him.

In ignorance, Mirrorhead drank to the threat as a toast.