Chapter 20-2 In Unofficial Capacity

Chapter 20-2 In Unofficial Capacity

When you patrol the Warrens, it's important to know the prey you face. Every step you take, every alley you peek into, every Syndicate you encounter, and every transgressor you break matters. But blind destruction and rampant misuse of power lead nowhere. You must learn the nuances of your foe. Understand what drives, motivates, and commands them.

It is only by breaking the baser habits indulged by the denizens of this city that crime and destitution can be overcome. We are more than Jaus fist. We are his open hand. Recall that before committing to action. Recall that, and prevent yourself from shaming his memory.

It is with this in mind that we must lace our wrath with wisdom. To be as rational as we are powerful. It is important that you observe the patterns, the behaviors, the structures of society, and the nature of human duplicity.

Having a heaven is not enough. Being able to twist reality is nothing if you do not understand the rules on the ground itself.

And you will not make up for your lack of tact with brutality and cruelty. Do not think your savagery beyond my notice. I have seen what you do. As have the Syndicates. As have the people.

Burning barrows and butchering millions to serve as a warning are acts befitting butchers of a bygone age.

We will not be our ancestors.

We will not become the faithers.

We will not fall to the level of the gods.

This is a new age, and though the darkness threatens to spill back, though Jaus has been extinguished by the betrayer, the dream lives, as do we.

What we bear are more than expectations, but embodiments. Avatars that must rise to the ideal lest the city fall to its vices. Glorious purpose beyond the shadows of the past.

I expect each and every Paladin to live up to these ideals. But especially you, Naeko. I know you. I know how you are. But now, Im asking you to be more. To be better. To be greater. You command the respect of the youngest and fear of the oldest, and when judged by martial materiality, you are without peer among us.

But your rage must find its end. Your wrath must be tempered. Your hand must be softened.

So. Here is my statement in its simplicity: be light, be gone.

-Chief Paladin Osjane Thousand (Circa Second Guild War)

20-2

In Unofficial Capacity

Naeko focused, turning the fullness against Green River. He waited to feel if the blood inside her would quicken, if the pulse of her heart would speed, if her posture would break, or if the muscles in her face would tighten. The only response she gave was an imperceptible tilt of her headher true head.

The fox draped around the person tilted its head and fixed him with an unreadable look. Eyes of brilliant amber glowed beneath the shifting shadows cast by the neon overlay spinning above the area, and in the brightness, the battle between bioforms was portrayed by phantoms stretched wide over the centermost arena.

Contrarily, her human body remained impossibly still.

Distant cheers, slurs, and jeers formed the surrounding ambiance as the fight continued. The modified simians augmented fists slammed down. Enhanced tendons lengthened. Titanium boxing gloves made from modified aerovec engines fired, boosting impact velocity. The blow fell, and the air thundered as two pillar-sized arms greeted the ground.

But the centipede merely broke and scattered. Each segment of its body shot through the air, wings bursting free from their carapace as the insectoid bioform turned from a connected chain into a scatter of giant black-shelled wasps.

The violence continued, and each collision between the two fed Naekos Heaven with greater and greater power. As did every act of violence across the entire Sovereignty. Naeko could have expanded his will further.

But breadth taxed focus.

Instead, he narrowed his influence as much as he could, made it as confined as its presence would allow, but even still, metaphysically, he was a pillar, about to pierce into the crown of existence itself. Every move he made, every act he committed cast waves through the patterns forming realitys tapestry.

Billions of hostile actions entered and nourished his Heavens ontology. Parents striking children. Missiles striking buildings. Flechettes striking flesh. Light striking matter.

All was true.

All was present.

All was transgression, waiting in the judgment of a greater hand to bring retribution to sin and enforce the tyranny that was peace on all who were.

Naeko refrained.

He spat clumps of dried blood crusting along his throat and used his utility fog to swab himself clean. No sense in choking because he healed faster than he bled.

Thats a nice bioform, Naeko said, clearing his throat a few times while gesturing at the swarm that used to be a centipede. Did your in-house grafter build that one too? Or is that a vendor project on display for publicity? He speared another porkball and stuck it in his mouth. Hope these questions arent that dangerous. Or Ill actually start to worry. The day honest businessfolk like you start getting threatened for the services you provide is the day this city really starts heading for the Big Nothing.

He struck the water again, seeing if she would react to the ripples. Handing out both his suspicion that she was the one that provided the sheath and also his knowledge regarding her grafter was probably a bit too impatient on his part, but Naeko was never much of a schemer.

A pang of sympathy sang out inside him every time he looked at the gorriloid. This fight wasnt its to win. Its death was preordainedits power a deception to siphon wealth from half-strands that mistook strength for capability. Poor thing was to farm imps from fools. All that power, all the brutality. Useless. Nothing to hit. Nothing to break.

There was nothing the world loved mocking more than power rendered impotent.

If it could only see itself from where Naeko sat. If it could only understand the purpose of its life. If it could have known what he known and seen what he seen.

In the real, she bowed slightly, never taking her eyes off him. It saddens me we werent able to give you the experience you desired. Perhaps another try? Maybe your second fortune will prove better than your first.

Ah! Naeko laughed, grinning boyishly at her. And the No-Dragons kicked you out? They must hate good conversation. The conversation returned to the mental. +River. I better not be faced with a Necro null cell when I get in there. Because if I am, they might just find you smeared along your bedrooms walls. And when I say you, I mean the nu-dog.+



The foxs eye twitched. +Fox.+

+I dont care what made-up nickname you give your nu-dogdont grief me. Im doing actual legwork right now and Ive forgotten how pissed off it makes me. That, and the fact that I can feel every little degenerate thing thats happening around the Sovereignty.+

To accentuate his point, Naeko clenched a fist. Twenty kilometers away, a dozen Hundred-Eighters were trying to force the refugees they trafficked out from their containers. As the next threat was snarled, however, they all suddenly came apart in weltering sprays of gore, the harm inflicted on the gorilloid was copied unto them as well.

Naeko shared this memory with Green River and smiled genially. +I look forward to talking with you honestly and thoroughly. And just that. I dont have the taste for violence anymore. Not when its done by me. Not when its done by anyone else.+



+I understand,+ Green River said.

+No,+ Naeko replied. +And hopefully, you never will.+

Wiping the blood from his face again, he took a step past her and made for the walkway, preparing to leave the establishment. He could feel her looking at him every step of the way, feel all the other eyes on him in the stands. No doubt some among the crowd are already publishing memories in the Nether.

As he dodged a drunken woman fighting to align ass to seat, Naeko reached out using his Heaven again and focused in on Green River. If anything were to happen to herif anyone tried to harm herhe would know, and he would pull himself across existence where violence was performed.

After that, he expanded his awareness again and reached beyond the Yuulden-Yang Sovereignty. One hundred and twenty-four potential suspects spooked. Three offering something close to promise. Hed do a few more on the top of his list and wait. See who gets snuffed or starts moving erratically. Feel the reaction to his probing.

After that well, hed figure that out when he got there.

Right now, all he wanted to do was narrow some leads and breathe down some necks. Knock the rust off. Get back into the swing of things and get a clearer picture. He had feeling Denton was tied up in this. That was part of why he didnt want Maru and the others involved. But even still, he wanted a better grasp of what was going on.

Just to make sure the trial would stay a mess and develop into a clusterfuck instead.

Over a thousand kilometers away, Naeko found his next place of interest: The Skin Garden. Also a Sang-owned establishment. Fewer direct ties to the No-Dragons though. Expanding his awareness and pulling himself over to every act of violence being committed, he injected himself into a falling arm and materialized as a mother slapped her daughter across the face, exploding across existence with the crack of a slap.

Blinking, he found himself in a quaint family home, the ground beneath him little with broken shards of glass and spilled alcohol. Against the wall, a girl barely more than ten held her face as she looked at him with wide eyes. Her mother, still holding her arm in a death grip, looked upon Naeko the same way.

He sighed. Okay. First. He pointed at the broken beers. This is sad. Dont abuse over spilled beers.

The mother blinked, her disbelief causing her thoughtstuff to stutter in place. I you

Second, Naeko said, holding up an open hand. Thats not how you slap someone. Feel this closely now. Im about to teach you the first thing my father taught me before I could walk.

Naeko had forgotten how miserable it was to walk the Warrens. But then again, he had also forgotten that there were simpler pleasures amidst the misery.

***

So, Bright-Wealth said, eyes practically fused to the place Naeko sat. What the fuck did he want? Are we going to die? Is it time for all of us to start selling each other out for pleas and reduced sentences?

Green Rivers human vessel continued to frown down at the area while the fox turned and snarled at her sister. Do not worry. You will be safe. I, on the other hand, have a few calls to make.

Bright-Wealth whistled. That bad, huh? So. If you get brutally killed, the split for the Second Fortune is still in effect, yeah? I get one full percent.

Green River rolled her eyes. You can have two for all I care. Youll just gamble it away.

Ow. You hurt me. But also true.

Wealth, Green River said, before pausing a beat. Will the Second Fortune still be standing if I leave you in charge for a day?

The younger Sang slid back, her snake-like bio-rig allowing her to shift smoothly across the ground. No. Itll collapse in half that time. I dont want all the responsibility.

Good. You will be first sister while Im occupied. I must handle some matters. Contact a few people.

Fuck. Wait, do I get your penthouse.

Of course not.

Fuck. A bonus?

Thats performance-related.

Fuck.