Chapter 43

Life-Myst Infused Flora Enhancement Compound, or L.I.F.E. Compound for short, is a plant growth agent that is used by many professional groundskeepers. If diluted by one part in ten parts water, the substance keeps plants strong and healthy in addition to a minor boost to their growth rate. There is a warning on every bottle of L.I.F.E Compound informing users to never pour onto a plant undiluted.

“Everyone here this evening is a part of a monumental moment in the forging of this nation’s history.” Liana Ozwald’s speech boomed through the cavernous space. The hostess spouted soulless platitudes to her audience, but I tuned out her drivel while I focused on the task at hand.

I glided through the crowd of the darkened room on my way toward our capture targets. As I passed a throng of warrior women, I glimpsed Ozwald, moving through the masses from another trajectory. He approached the three from a different angle, both of us making circuits through the party to keep up appearances.

Jon, as I was starting to think of the man, was freshly armed with three blink tags. He had those three tags palmed out of sight and ready to be slipped onto each target. I had three tags of my own at the ready in my hand and out of sight. The two of us would pass by the group at least once or twice to slip a tag onto each person without their notice.

Deftly, Jon slid past Seth before continuing his circuit without breaking pace. My partner walked past me, tapping my pant leg once to signal success. I made my approach toward the group; however, instead of slipping past, I walked up to them and quietly signaled a question to Greth, the Dracose. ‘Do you want a drink?’ I mimed the question with my free hand while offering my tray of freshly poured glasses of wine. He signaled a refusal before turning back to the speech.

As Greth turned away from me, I slid a tag onto his belt between two ammo pouches. I moved past the three targets, offering drinks to other guests as I continued my path through the crowd. When I caught Jon glancing at me, subtly enquiring about a report, I gave the slightest nod. The motion appeared slightly more exaggerated in my disguise.

It was when I reached and passed the perimeter of the onlooking crowd that another chink appeared in our plan. The floor under the partygoers shifted slightly and gave a click before elevating slowly. It was only then that I noticed that everyone officially invited to the gathering stood within an oblong circle of gold trim, marking the dimensions of the platform.

I was just off the platform as it started its rise, but I instantly needed to bite back a curse when I saw Jon on the platform, staring at me in panic. My illusory mask wore an expression of shock and confusion as I took a few retreating steps back while I watched the platform ever-so-slowly rise.

With a quick headcount, I was one of five waitstaff caught off the platform. Additionally, Jon was one of three waitstaff caught on the platform, which gave me some very ill suspicions.

While the other abandoned staff started filing back into the kitchen, likely suspecting their part in the event was over, I discreetly moved to the maintenance door Nel had rigged and cracked for me. As soon as I slipped through the breached gate, I dropped my Mimic Facade and pulled up my therra's HUD to send messages while I climbed a stairway to the roof.

First, I checked with Jon. The man was anxious about his new precarious position but maintained a level head. He hadn’t tagged the last member of the target group, the Sun Elf woman Ember. I gave clipped instructions to keep an eye on the woman but to stay near the edge of the gathering for an easier escape. He agreed nervously before I moved on to send messages to most of the party, each independently.

With a quick message, I had Demierra at the ready and over-eager to fly into the fray. When I told the Dracose to get the AV she was overseeing to a primed state to get off the ground, she made a vague but irritated comment about not needing the “flying metal lunchbox.” I didn’t bother asking her to explain because I had instructions to give, and we all were on a ticking clock.

With a rapid series of hand motions, I pulled up every messenger instance I had active with party members. My vision became thickly crowded with display windows. But, even with that impediment, I still turned in a tight half-circle to ascend another flight of stairs at a quicker climb.

I messaged Nennel next. She was surveying the opening hole where the elevating platform would reach the roof from a hidden position within the trees. With brief words, I explained to her that Jon was in the throng and needed an escape. She said that she would contact him and help him escape. I sent up a silent thanks to my sister before moving to message Kharmor.

I double-checked with the Half-Dwarf that every sabotage tool was in place. I could feel the irritation in Khar’s messages as he told me everything was triple-checked and ready to go. The communications scrambler was ready, the auto defense jammer was hooked up, and the power disrupter was set to halt all power to the tower above the maintenance floor, but wouldn’t affect the secret labs below.
Before closing the message conversation with Kharmor, I was explicitly clear in what order he was supposed to trigger the devices. Kill the tower power to halt all elevator movement, forcing any responding security, who would be on the ground floor, to climb two hundred-plus flights of stairs. Then, kill the automated defenses. They would have independent power supplies, allowing them to function without tower power. Only after those were done would he jam electronic communication signals, reopening the channels for just long enough to feed the guards false information and keep them running in circles for a while.

With Nel, Demi, and Khar primed to jump into action, I only had to get Zynna and Ferris ready for their part. I messaged Zynna, double-checking her/his readiness. Zynna responded with brisk and short lines, but she verified everything. The coded signals for each of the chosen jump tags were plugged into the system for activation. The tags were set to teleport each of our targets into a capture cell on Zynna’s floor and trade the person with a rabid mutant.

With slightly labored breathing, I reached the top of the stairs to find another security door. Just like the door that led to the stairs, this metal door was cracked open just enough to notify me it was unlocked. I moved through the door while I pulled up the messenger window tied to Ferris, ready to send him on his way to cause a bit of mischief and chaos.
I initially debated between sending my Quint friend to start a few literal fires with laundry from the hospital or bursting a few pipes on the ground floor. My mind was changed when I saw what was on the other side of that door.

The footprint of the Evea Tower was titanic, and the roof’s dimensions were greater than that footprint, if not by much. That means a lot of space for a lot of plants. While I couldn’t see the jungle upon passing through the door, I could see how much work the rooftop park required. I had stepped into a fully stocked gardening shed, if you could call a three-thousand-square-foot synth-crete box a shed. The synthetic stone box was occupied by row upon row of shelves, tubs, bins, barrels, and racks of tools and supplies. Looking around the room, I noticed a variety of equipment. Everything from shovels to chainsaws was carefully stocked and ready for use.

I slinked through the space, poking around for anything of use as I made my way to the door at the opposite end of the building. When I found shelves stocked with gallon jugs of L.I.F.E. Compound, I had an itch of an idea. That idea took firm shape in my mind when I spotted the row of automated lawnmowers sitting in standby before a large rolling garage door.

I took a moment to type out a larger message for Ferris. My fingers flew across my holo-keyboard as I filled out precise instructions and flicked them to our Quint, leaving the space.

The garden shed was built with no windows, so I was forced to open the door to the roof with painful slowness. I couldn’t let anyone notice me before we were all in position and ready. That worry fled my mind when I caught sight of what was beyond the shed. Shocked by the view, I froze behind the door momentarily before pushing through.

The environment was most certainly not what I was expecting when I heard rooftop jungle. I had just stepped into another world entirely. The surrounding space I could see was a blend between a manicured golf course and untamed wilds set down by a madman. A paved path extended from the shed at my back to branch out, stretching out over the rolling hills in several directions. To either side of these paved paths was trimmed lawn grass populated with evenly-spaced rows of mage light streetlamps fending off the shadows of the fresh night. Each path was wide enough to ride a small vehicle over. Where no paved trails ran, there were thickets and forests. Trees, bushes, and other plant life had been carefully cultivated into perfect shapes and forms. Stranger still, the selection of plantlife I spotted ran the entire spectrum from evergreen mountain trees to bowing pom trees. These molded wilderness patches appeared to have no rhyme or reason for the choices of foliage.

It didn’t take long for me to notice that Nennel had marked the trail she had used, running a slash of white chalk along the pavement for only a few inches. The low-tech answer to the problem earned a slight grin from me.

 I followed the trail at a pressing pace, knowing full well that the platform would reach the roof soon if it hadn’t already. Jogging down the path, I noticed that what I had been calling ‘patches’ of wild growth were acres across. When I spotted another sign from Nel, I jumped from the trail and dove into an adjacent thicket. I passed through the undergrowth with as much haste as I could draw on in the unnatural woodland. It was more challenging to traverse the strange environment than anything natural I had encountered. 

I found Nennel crouching beside a boulder just past the edge of a clearing. The armed partygoers occupied the clearing, who were making last-minute checks of their gear. While the armed and armored people took final review, Laina Ozwald continued her monologue. Nel gave me a silent nod of greeting before pointing to the edge of the party nearest us. Sure enough, there stood Jon, looking nervous and confused as he held a serving tray close to his chest.

“I don’t like this,” Nel said as she inspected the gathering and surrounding area.

“I don’t like it either,” I said as I crouched beside my sister.

“The Vartex team is trapped in a bird’s nest.”

I nodded as I performed my inspection of the scene. “And outgunned two to one.”

“Why hasn’t Evea turned and pounced yet?” Nennel asked.

“From what I saw of Jon’s mother during his distraction, I think the woman needs to be dramatic. I’m sure that she has a taste for irony as well. The more bitter, the better.”

“Drama and irony? What schemes could she be hatching in a setting like this? It would be simpler to just kill everyone and move on.”

“Drama and irony.” I echoed in a distant tone as I thought. She invited thirty members of Vartex and instructed them to arm themselves for this ‘savanna-gala.’ Why would she want her victims to be armed? What if she knew their weapons would be ineffective? Maybe she sabotaged the weapons and is planning on releasing predators. It would be dramatic and ironic for trained warriors to be eaten alive during a hunting party. Maybe she would release monsters instead of tigers, wolves, or similar. I voiced my thoughts to Nel as I mentally lined up pieces.

“You might be on the right track. But what would be the most ironic way for Vartex to be killed? If the company worked with animals, that would make sense. But they’re a technology company, right?” Nel pointed out.

“Yeah. They design and sell appliances, smart devices, and cybernetics.” I confirmed. While researching Vartex, I stumbled across rumors of the company doing something under the table, but the details escaped me. I shoved the question of what I forgot aside when Nel asked another question.

“What about combat bots?” Nel asked as she looked at me with a look like she thought she’d landed on a genius idea.

“Maybe,” I said with a shrug. “Whether it’s bots or beasts, we’ll handle it. What’s got me more concerned is that Vartex is outnumbered two to one, but they all look like they have something in their back pocket.”

“Maybe they don’t know it’s a trap.”

“No.” I denied. “If you watch most of the Vartex team carefully, you can notice that they are eyeing the Evea team like cuts of meat. I think Thallos tipped Vartex off on this ambush. With how they’re acting, they either have reinforcements on speed dial, have some secret weapon nearby, or are all much more powerful than what Evea brought.”

Nennel shot me a sideways glance that read of skepticism. “I don’t know, Ives’. Backup would have to get up here to be any good. We know attacking and climbing the tower from the ground is suicide. They wouldn’t be able to fly backup in with the shield over the tower. I also can’t think of any secret weapon they could be hiding in their gaggle that would turn these tables. They might be stronger than the Evea team, though.” She didn’t sound certain of her own statement.

I wasn’t given a chance to reply to Nel because immediately after she made her comment, Liana Ozwald started the show.

“Tonight, we shall see if your steel is strong enough and your fangs are keen enough.” The Hostess proclaimed with a predatory grin. “However, the odds were never in your favor.” She spoke this last line with serpentine pleasure.

Just before everything went to hell, I caught sight of Thallos, standing near the treeline, wearing an expression like he had just won a masterful game of chess. I lost track of my uncle when, as one, every weapon in the clearing raised to aim at or challenge someone.

An instant before the screaming and gunfire started, there was a chain of echoed noises across the rooftop jungle. A scattered and slightly out-of-time chorus of locks clicking open, hisses of decompressing air, and the whisper of metal rails sliding. In a panic, I focused on the nearest source for the mechanical sounds. A five-foot by twelve-foot segment of ground nine feet to my left was displaced. It was a metal hatch raised on guide rails, opened away from me. Whatever lurked within that metal maw wouldn’t be friendly.

However, we needed to act. I needed to act before it was too late. I didn’t even have a full ten seconds to get things moving. So, I typed out one word to send to Kharmor, Zynna, and Demierra. ‘SIGNAL!’

Without waiting for any kind of response from those two, I turned to Nel. “Get Jon! Get Out! NOW!”

Nel sprinted in the direction of clashing forces to collect our spy. Nennel hadn’t even made a whole three strides with her enhanced legs when a ripple of unseen power rose up the Evea-Life Tower. All lights on the roof died in unison. Two seconds after the lights blinked out, the energy shield over the tower dissipated into snow-like motes of amber and teal energy.

Thanks to my Darkling blood, my vision was unhampered by the freshly laid pall of darkness. I skimmed the shadowed war zone to find the Vartex forces retreating into the treeline while laying down cover fire against the larger force. Muzzle flashes of all colors burst like an incongruent light show in the darkness. The anarchic display paired with the hellish cacophony of gunfire, clashing metal, screams, and detonating spells. Under all that dissonance was another sound. The roar of a beast, but it sounded strange.

I drew Devil’s Tail and kept my senses keen for any threat of danger as I watched Nennel hurrying back to me with a Jon-shaped lump hanging over one shoulder. Nel dropped Oz on the ground beside me. The man sprawled across the ground with a look of frayed nerves and barely controlled panic.

“Did you get the last tag on the Elf?” I asked Jonathan as I searched the surrounding area for any sign of the three targets or rabid, murder-happy mutants.

“No. Ember was more eager for the assault than most. The Warrior woman was directly beside the Evea-Life forces. She ambushed them as soon as the first shot was fired.” Ozwald explained in as even a tone as he could manage, but it was clear that he was upset.

That was when I spotted two Zyzivane mutants savaging an Evea Mage. Even as I watched, one mutant burst into a shrieking pyre from the Mage’s attack. The unlit mutant didn’t even stop to glance at the other as it grasped the Mage’s outstretched arm and ripped it off. The remaining Zyzivane test subject turned to search for another victim just in time to take an ice Myst Blade throwing-dagger to the eye.

With the only two mutants who had been traded in being killed within the first twenty seconds of the battle, I moved on to search the battlefield. Next, I found the Elven Warrior woman Ember driving a shortsword into the chest of an Orc Berzerker. There was no chance of Ozwald getting close enough to her to slip a jump tag with her in that state, so it would be up to me. However, I had more significant problems at that moment.

I was inspecting what I could see of the fight, searching for anything useful, when I noticed Nennel. Her eyes were locked, looking past me, panic writ plain across her face. I looked down to Oz, still on the ground, and found him wearing a similar expression to Nel’s. So, I slowly turned around to see what they were horrified by. What was it? A chimera designed by Evea-Life? A mutant alien of some kind? No.

I locked eyes with something big. Four paws armed with razor claws, powerful reinforced bone jaws lined with elementally infused fangs, and the mechanical eyes of a predator with no fear. A predator driven mad. Plates of metal moved, rolled, and shifted like muscle and tendon around organic, half-living bone. It was a weapon pulled from the will of nature and placed in a metal body. Then, I remembered the rumors about Vartex that had slipped my mind. A Necrotech Predator.