Chapter 12-9 Restoration (I)

Chapter 12-9 Restoration (I)

Its. Understandable why Voidwatch would veto the project, but I still reserve the right to be upset.

Imagine. A fully modern Heaven of Strong Nuclear Forcescan you even conceive of the things we could do with such a Heaven? The canons we could weave! All those lives would be spent toward worldno, galaxyaltering purpose. Oror something like a Heaven of Electromagnetismagh!

Disappointment! Disappointment!

I meanI understand But still! Disappointment!

The Terrestrial Guilds have no idea what theyre missing out on, and the other Agnosi theyre I dont know why theyre so incurious. The Voiders know so muchhave so much history with the world that was. They made miracles without Heavens or Ruptures or anything! If they could do that, imagine a Godclad with the intelligence of one of their ship-mind-things!

Even the un-redacted information they let me review is Uh just awesome. Theyre awesome. If only they could get over their fear of thaumaturgy. The gods are broken and were oathboundI mean, things are stableb-better. Better now. We can try and move toward a better future.

A better future

Ive decided. Im going to take the commission. Project Godshaper.



Oh, wow, saying it makes me lightheadeduh, I need toI need to prepare. The oathstheres so much lore I need to request access to. Channels channels. Always so many channels in the way of progress.

I have a good feeling about this one. A great feeling. If Voidwatch is attached as the rumors say, Im going to[Audible squeak of joy]

Focus, Kae. Focus. We havent changed Idheim.

But the moment sure feels close.

-Mem-log of Agnos Kae Kusanade

12-9

Restoration (I)

Twenty minutes and twelve engineered assassinations later, the cargo unit was drawn away by claw-shaped carrier drones and carried down through vast rusted gates framing the distant fire of a looming furnace.

An uncomfortable swelter simmered within the container as Avo scouted what was to come with his Whisper.

Dont mind the heat, Cas said, rubbing vigorously at his hand with a piece of cloth. His metallic fingers were still stained red with Chambers viscera, and across the room, the ex-enforcer sat next to Essus who had wordlessly been examining the other mans wounds. Were going to be dropped into the waste disposal once we get shuttled inside. Its connected to golems. Two to be exact. One for industrial use, and another, symmetrical one hidden in the same domain.

Avo felt the pull of space distorting around the distant flames. Judging from how Chambers suddenly straightened and stared past the bland plasteel walls comprising the interior of the container, he sensed it too.

The fire, Avo said. Demiplane tied to it?This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Close, Denton said. Thermal excitement. Intensity. Its a stolen Omnitech golem with a modern Heaven with modified canons. All-in-all, it's easy to hide and pair to the currently active miracles.

You got more than one of these planted across the city, dont you? Draus asked.

Dentons face softened as she closed her eyes, covered her ears, and pressed her lips together. Need to know. Even for us. I request. I get a pull. I seek and receive.

Yeah, Draus said. And I see lots of points where you can just end up gettin cut off.

Lots of ways to end up dead in this city, Cas replied. Sometimes, its better to get snuffed than topple everything down wtih you.

The interior shook as the air sizzled. Avos Echoheads mirrored his growing agitation, thrashing and slithering as he ran his claws over his fungal plates. The itch was psychologicala sensation of memory leaking over into his physical senses.

Before a fusion burner painted your shadow into the backdrop, vaporizing your body, the initial spike of heat stung the skin with a needling feeling all across ones nerves. Things were not that hot yet, but it wasnt far.

Thinkin about gettin burned? Draus asked.

Already know, he grumbled, trying to hide his annoyance.

Ya know, I always did like the burners. Made it trigger-pull-easy to clear rooms and buildings. Except when facin you and yours. Never stopped comin.

Didnt have much to live for. He growled. And wasnt that the truth for every ghoul other than him? Consume. Be consumed. What was life but a brief carnival of cruelty and flavor when you were a monster made to serve the dubious needs of a false god.

You are not alone in your distaste," Sunrise said. "The heat bodes ill for our consciousness as well. Languor weighed the swarm's flight path as the various bees battled to recenter. Some circled the growing mass of their fellows twice before arriving at their final stop, and through the gaps of twitching wings and jolting limbs, Avo caught sight of a chrome-sheened insect nearing thrice the size of all the others.

Its carapace was the color of fluid gray, and from its filigreed edges dolloped thin strings of matter through the other bees as if each was part of a circuit. The Nether offered a parallel portrayal: all points in its lattice of static-stained consciousness met within what seemed to be the queen of the hive.

Judging from how they were all venting hot air out between the crenulations implanted upon their shells, Avo guessed they werent much better with the heat than he was.

He eyed the mass of insects and considered their words. Have you been burned before?

No, Sunrise answered. How is it?

A lot of pain. Then none at all.

Suddenly, the heat lifted as gravity pulled up, and the container sank down into what squished like soft soil.

Relieved, Avo directed his perception outward again and realized they were now in the corner of a featureless sodden field. The temperature dove back to that of a morose autumn. Above, Avo could still sense the presence of the flameshear the crackling of hyper-heated air.

They were hidden somewhere in the fire, somehow unburned on their descent down into alloy-slagging temperatures. Sweeping his Whispers perception wide, he regarded his surroundings and found naught but a clearing of mud and muck enclosed by a ring of leafless trees.

Columns of smoke rose in the far distance, feeding into the clouds reshaped from a dancing conflagration, the atmosphere swaying in flashes of shifting orange and yellow.

Yet, the heat never sank down from the heights.

Not twenty steps away from where their container was dropped, a gravel staircase led down to a spatially distorted oubliette.

Come on, Denton said as the door opened and the soft incandescence of the plane beyond welcomed them. Lets go get you all set up.

A single shard of blood-locus swayed from the ceiling like a lantern. When the time came, Avo would cast out his order and the Thoughtwave Disruptor would go off, and he would switch over to Sanguinity.

Shes gettin on, Draus muttered, focus cast far away elsewhere. The glass shard drifting close beside her projected a look into the interior of the aero. Through the shining reflection, Avo noticed Kae stepping aboard with a lost expression on her face as she first met the glass. Her skin was sheened with sweat and her red synthcoat gleamed bright as she approached. The translucent veil hiding her clan-mark flattened against her face as the winds washed over her.

Then, from far across the open expanse of the junction, she caught sight of Avo and grinned.

Draus! Avo! Kae said, brightening as she stepped through. She let out a slight yelp as a sense of weightlessness took her, but the Twice-Walker rose out from the nondescript reflectivity to shuttle her over. With a causal wave, Draus drew Kae out from the sheet she was expanding from the shard and grinned with satisfaction as the Agnos came through without issue.

Thats a milk run, Draus hissed.

Insults hurled only when the task was done. The Regular had her priorities in order.

Stumbling into Draus' grip, Kae stumbled as she blinked and shok her head. I-I Her voice trailed off as she found herself in a prison cell. Where uh where are we?

Demiplane, Avo said. Sectioned off from the city. Going to use it to disrupt Thoughtwaves.

Wh-why?

He stared past the confusion writ upon her face and directly into the dancing flames crackling over her accretion. To make you whole again. So you can remember. So you can think without needing an implant.

It took her a moment to process what he was saying, but when her breath suddenly hitched, he knew she understood.

Her eyes glistened then as she pushed the veil covering her clan mark. Chewing on her lips, the weight of worry stretched out from her and pressed down upon Avo as well, its pressure there and then not, the anxiety an incremental thing between forgetfulness and sudden memory.

Butbut can you? Can you do it?

Avo didnt reply with an affirmative. To promise anything would be a lie and all false hope could do was traumatize her further. Instead, he needed to make this seem exactly as it was: a process.

The Sovereignty-class Thoughtwave Detonation that swept through Yuulden-Yang shed the burn from her mind for a brief instant. In that time he caught a glimpse of her halo and the sequences within, a glimpse of who she was before the fires whittled her down to mind-savaged effigy of her former self.

It would take him some time to fix her. He would need to be meticulous. Detailed in approach and extraction. As Ori-Thaum had been the ones to see her enfeebled, Avo was certain the Incubi would take special measures to ensure the damage they inflicted was remain rooted in sequence and sinew.

Thankfully, with all the ghosts he wrenched from his foes, his Canon of Haemokinesis, and Chambers as another volunteer, he felt good about their chances.

Avo, Kae said as she let out a shuddering exhale. Whatwhat if I donttheres something b-bad in my memories? What ifI meanif they dont She gasped for breath again. He could hear her heart screaming as it pulsed in her chest, feel the blood darting through her veins faster, cycling through the system, the fluid in her veins like friction accompanying a growing tension. Im scared.

The way she said those words made him stop. He looked away from her mind and back to Kae in her entirety. She was shaking. This was sudden. Too sudden. He realized she was shooting Draus furtive glances that spilled over onto the glass.

There was so much she didnt know now.

From one Godclad, they had emerged as cadre.

His first thought was to consider using his Ghostjack to soothe her, but then his sense caught back up to him and he remembered the point of this whole affair.

Youll be fine, Kae, Draus said. She cracked the bottom of her fist against Avos arm and a shudder swam through his limb. Why, Avo heres practically got the whole thing figured out. Sides, cant be that many Jacks, bettern him. He nulled those Incubi straight on. Hell fix you all the same.

He speared one of his Echoheads out from behind her in ire. She tilted her body. The strike skipped off her rig and struck the ceiling. She aimed a rude gesture at him without looking. His Phys-Sims impact vector flashed from red to green.

+Making a lot of promises for me,+ Avo said.

Draus scratched her nose nonchalantly. +Reckon I am. Suppose all you gotta do now is deliver.+

He glowered at her. +Yeah. Just deliver. Just disable an Incubi level mem-con while infiltrating a subverted mind and clean it out entirely. Do it delicate so brain still genius after. No problem. Only risk is her turning into the vegetable. No pressure.+



+Well, shit, Avo, if I knew it was gonna be that hard for you I mightve requested some help. Hell, theres no shame asking for assistance. Maybe Denton. Shes a Glaive, aint she? a Might know what to do. No shame in bein less skilled than someone else+ She trailed off and shot the glass behind them a grin.

The meat was questioning his skill again. Ire flashed into genuine frustration, and Avo found himself fighting the beast, struggling to come up with a reason against pushing his thumbs through her eyes and bashing her head open on the ground.

+Reasons you cant,+ Draus replied, leering at him. +Thats gonna need you to get close to me. And we both know how you are up close.+

+Going to tear the blood out from your skull. Pop your insides. Drink your organs from your corpse like a carton.+



+Well, if were imaginin things, I guess Im gonna turn your head into glass, smash the glass, and then shit down your throat before puttin the pieces back together to watch you choke on my shit.+



He just glared. +Im going to fix her. Dont need help. Know what to do. Then. Afterward. Im going to kill you. Im going to eat you. Im going to kill and eat you until the beast inside begs me to stop. Till it gets tired of Reg-meat.+

Draus angled her head as she sneered up at him. +Sure you will. More likely, Im gonna have a grand ol time reliving my war days on rotlick safari.+

A low hiss began to build in his throat. He clicked his fangs together as he envisioned biting into her skull, tearing flaps of flesh free from her augmented bones before moving onto her eyes.

For her part, she just ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek. Her fingers flexed, and with them, her wing scythes expanded. Well. You gonna make somethin of this, or are you gonna start whistlin your apologies?

Avos Echoheads reared back

A banging came from the glass. Hey hey, hey! Watch out for the Agnos. Dont need you two maniacs adding her to the statistics. Cas sounded genuinely worried for Kaes life. Curious.

Kae herself spoke thereafter. Are are you two doing it again? You you can fight if you want. Ill go sit behind the table so so I can avoid any stray uh shrapnel. Its fine.

He halted in place.

No, Avo said. Thats later. Youre priority.

For some strange reason, that made Kae break into a bright smile.

Draus shard flashed as the reflection jumped into the windshield on the aero and then over upon a window at the second fortune. For future access, she explained. Listen, Kae. Before we start this, therere are a couple things we might-gotta talk about