Chapter 47

MyCast is a heavily modified compound of raw myst, mixed with a channeling catalyst and myst priming catalyst. This strongly regulated substance can refill a Mage’s mystwell or even temporarily allow a mundane to cast spells if they have the requisite knowledge to do so. However, the substance has been known to be addictive. Additionally, using MyCast too frequently will induce Myst Burns and even Myst Madness.

“I’m sorry, WHAT?!” I snapped even as Kharmor supported my weight while we hurried to the elevator he had just arrived in. “Wait,” I said as I ground in my feet just outside of the metal box. I pointed up to the floor indicator beside the entry. “Can you burn that out. We undoubtedly have company coming in short order. We don’t want to tell them exactly where we are heading.”

Without a word, Kharmor pointed up at the display. There was a pop and sizzle as the indicator went dead. We all hurried into the elevator car, and Kharmor thumbed the button for the bottom floor and scanned his forged security seal. As the doors closed, I reached around to the other side of my bulky friend to rummage through the bag of gear. I pulled free Ferris’s Infusion Dagger I had made for him, and signalled the Elf over to cut off his bonds with a super-heated edge. While I worked on Ferris’s restraints, I glared over to Kharmor with a stern “Explain.”

Well, when that Distortion thing hit us and knocked out our jammers, something else happened.”

I cut through Ferris’s cuffs and handed him the knife so he could do the same for Nennel. “What happened?”

“Almost immediately after power was restored, the sanitation system in the cells where the targets were held was activated. They were reduced to component atoms before Zynna or I could do anything. We watched them break down in some manner between evaporating and melting.”

“By the gods.” Nennel cursed as her wrists came free.

At the same time, Ferris cursed in a much more direct manner. “Well, crap.“

“Please tell me this is some sick joke.” Even I could hear just how tired I was.

“I wish. Believe me, I do.” There was a slight tremor to Kharmor’s words. “Be glad that you didn’t hear their screams. That sound… like the damned had broken through to our plane. It was enough to drive someone less stalwart than me to madness.” I felt the shiver run up Kharmor’s spine.

“That’s what happens when a person is exposed to Ruin, Death, and Distortion Myst,” I said, haunted by the mental images and phantom screams. “You weren’t far off with the component atoms bit. Their entire physical being was essentially broken down into dust and ambient myst.”

“What could’ve caused that?” Ferris asked even as we hit the bottom subfloor. The elevator doors opened, but I held Ferris back from exiting the car. I turned to Kharmor and gave him a nod, and he got the message. The Facet Vein triggered the hidden teleportation system and blinked us down to the secret lab below.

We entered the laboratory to find Zynna in her Half-Elf form, pacing like she intended to wear a trench in the floor. The moment she saw us, she hurried up to the group. “I don’t know what happened. I swear. I pressed nothing when it happened.”

I raised a hand to halt her panic, even while inwardly I did the math with what brain power I had. It wasn’t exactly a complex equation. “Kellden discharged a large-scale disruption cannon straight down. It broke all of our disruptors with a wave of stronger Distortion Myst than what we were using. That killed our devices via overload and brought the power back up. Which also reactivates the local LSN network. Who do we know who can use that network as easily as reaching out a hand to trigger the sanitation system in those cells, and just those cells.” I stated, knowing the answer all too well.

“You have to be joking.” Zynna cursed, her words not a question like my own earlier.

Ferris and Nennel uttered their own strings of curses. Kharmor adjusted his grip on me. “So you’re saying that we packaged up Weaver’s targets like neat little presents with an installed murder system? Why didn’t we think of this?”

I shot Kharmor an irritated look. “Because with the power to the rest of the tower shut down, the network wouldn’t have been a vector for that cyber-psycho. What we did was also our best chance of collecting the targets without them fighting back. Do you really think any of them would’ve believed us if we walked up and said, ‘You’re being hunted by a cyber phantom that wants to kill you. Come with me if you want to live.’?”

“Point taken,” Kharmor said with a tired but resolute voice.

“I can’t believe this!” Ferris seethed. Now he was the one pacing. His hands traded between tight fists at his sides and dramatically gesticulating with sharp and aggressive motions. “We failed. Totally failed. What now? Are we next up on the Spook’s hit list?”

“Calm down, Ferris,” I demanded. “We still have one more target. We aren’t totally out of the game yet.” I turned to Nennel. “You researched this last target, right? What can you give us?”

Nennel chewed on her cheek for a few moments as she thought. “Well, for starters, he’s not part of Vartex. Tommis Vanderbar was part of Evea-Life until he was discharged. He was let go for… unethical testing.”

“What in all the hells would he have had to do to get fired for THAT?” Zynna off-handedly gestured to the info with a brush of her hand. “This entire corp has been running sophic experiments so unethical I want to puke… or burn down this entire building.”

“I’m not sure we want to know,” Kharmor said. I could see the horror in his eyes as he tried to process the idea of ‘worse’.

“We can debate ethics later,” I said in a stern tone. “We need to get out of here before they start searching down here. And we need to leave fast.”

“And what are you planning?” Zynna asked, a note of accusation in her words. “If we were a floor up, we could drop down that disposal chute you climbed up, right? All we’d need is that grapple thingy you’ve always got.”

“That might’ve worked,” I replied. “Only one problem.” I reached into the bag again and withdrew the Squid Hook she had been referencing. The device’s interface with my arm was completely sheared off when the guards took it. Worse yet, the head of the device was completely missing. The ‘hook’ part was nowhere to be found, only a frayed metal cable.

“What did you do?!” Zynna almost shouted in demand.

“Well, we did get dropped down almost a hundred and fifty floors through an elevator shaft. That might’ve been the cause.” Nel explained with nervous humor.

“And what made any of you think that was smart?”

“We didn’t have much choice.” I snapped. “The cable we were riding down collapsed from the top mount.”

“It must’ve been from that rumbling up top. Am I right?” Kharmor asked.

“Yeah,” I answered. “Now, enough asking questions that won’t help us now. In part through Skitter, I learned that there is a floor below us with its own disposal chute. The Capture Cells from this floor drop below when a… victim dies. Likely for autopsy before disposal. We’re going to use that disposal method as our out.”

“Great,” Zynna replied with thick snark as she folded her arms. “How do we get down there?”

“How do you think, moron?” I shot back, “The teleporter in the elevator.” I turned to Kharmor. “Think you’ve got enough juice in the tank to get us down there?”

“Can do,” he answered with a firm nod.

Our team moved into the cramped elevator with no preamble, and Kharmor jumped us down. We appeared in a dimly lit space that was smaller than the floor above. The only bright lights were over an autopsy table, clean and ready for use. Beside the table was the Capture Cell with the corpse I had watched descend when I was first inspecting the test subjects. The walls were dark gray concrete that somehow looked older and more worn than the floor above. The room was occupied with a neat line of a dozen gurneys against the wall opposite the operating table. A large cremation furnace was at the back of the room.

I pointed to the furnace. “That’s our way out.”

“No,” said Zynna.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Kharmor

“I don’t like this idea,” said Nennel.

“ARE YOU INSANE!?” Ferris fumed. “You’ve caused complete chaos on the ceiling. Then you dropped me down another pit. And when we fell, you sent me face-first into an explosion. Then you had us run through a room full of foam from a prank you pulled on your way up.” He raved. “No. I know for a fact that you are insane. Especially if you want us to crawl into a corpse burner. And then what? We free-fall into a pit of acid?”

I wobbled my head back and forth in a ‘kinda’ motion even as I said as much. Everyone stared at me like I really had lost my mind. “Wait!” I said with a gesture of my free hand, requesting patience. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. The bodies they’ve been burning have a much higher amount of carbon in their body than normal. That means that the ‘corpse burner’,” I quoted, “had to be modified to produce stronger flames. Tha-” Ferris cut me off.

“And that helps us how?! So we can die faster?!”

I glared at my friend. “If you would let me finish, I can give you a reason to trust me!” I snapped back. I took a deep centering breath and silently wished for my stabilizing medication. “The hotter flames to reduce the high-carbon bodies means that far more ash is produced than normal. They’ve been dumping that ash into the acid pit below for as long as these Zyzivane tests have been going on. What do you think happens when you add enough carbon ash to a pool of acid?”

Kharmor’s eyes lit with realization. “It neutralizes the acid. But that just means that we’ll be falling into an empty metal swimming pool feet first. Wouldn’t we break our legs?”

“Great! We’ll survive, but completely crippled and trapped in the Undercity with ghouls, and canibals, and who knows what else that would want eat us.” Ferris had his mind set on shooting down this idea.

“No,” I stated in as calm a manner as I could muster. “I passed by that acid pit on my way inside. While the door was sealed, it was damaged, and there was a very strong scent of ash from the room. It had to have been a lot of ash for me to smell it over the other acid pits. We should be dropping straight down into a dense mound of soft ash.”

“And the burning part?” The Quint demanded, his arms crossed and his stance defiant.

“In the testing reports that Zynna showed me, there was a note to have maintenance dated only yesterday, that mentioned having someone fix the furnace because the jets were getting clogged with ash, because of how much was being produced and thrown around in there. That means that they are currently at least partly inoperable. We can probably disable them completely and trigger the release timer to drop us. We’ll just have to go in one at a time. I can take the first drop and let you all know if it’s safe.”

Nennel traded between giving me and the furnace a thoughtful look. “That might actually work. Fer, think you can break the fuel tubes?”

“I…uh…sure.” He pulled out his Infusion Dagger, thumbed it on, and moved for the back end of the incinerator box.

“NO!” Everyone other than Ferris shouted at the Elf.

“What?” He asked with a raised brow.

“Think about it,” Kharmor said. “You’re about to cut tubs full of extremely flammable gas with a blade that you superheated.”

“Oh.” Ferris sounded abashed even as he turned off the weapon and stowed it. “Yeah, I guess exploding everyone would not be so smart.” He pulled free a pocket knife and started moving again.

“Wait,” I said in a firm voice. “Does anyone have any chewing gum?”

“Yeah,” Zynna said as she produced a pack of the stuff from her pants pocket. “Why?”

“I’d rather not just let the fuel simply pour out into the room for any stray spark to blow us to smithereens.”

“Point taken,” Zynna said as she moved to pass the gum to Ferris.

The Elf boy worked with fast hands, severing eight small red rubber tubes and stuffing them each with a wad of chewed gum. While Ferris was doing that, I was inspecting the device’s interface. There was a holo-interface dial to set for the necessary ‘cook time’. I told Nennel to set the timer for one minute after I was entirely inside the cremation space.

I could hear the device attempting to start up its jets, and I had an irrational spark of fear that I was about to get converted to a pile of ash despite there being no fuel. The timer ticked down, and I took a slow breath in to center myself before… Click. Squeek! Thud! Woosh! The latch to the door below me released. The door swung wide with a momentary protesting squeak before hitting the wall of the chute, and I dropped.

I clenched my jaw shut to restrain the building need to scream as I fell almost as far as I had climbed to get into that accursed tower. I had another instant of panic when I wondered if my theory about what was below was completely wrong. That almost let the scream slip, but I held it just in time for me to land in a massive mound of ash. A cloud of gray powder exploded around me on my landing, and I let out a string of hacking coughs.
The moment I had enough air, I called up that the drop was safe. I took a moment to slow my heart and breathing. Then I remembered that the others were about to start falling right on top of where I was sitting. If Nennel were next, I’d likely be killed. So I rolled down the hill of ash until I hit the edge of the pit.

The others followed me down, one at a time, and I told each to move out of the way of the next. Once everyone arrived, I asked Kharmor to use his massive strength to open the door out of the space. I also asked Ferris to help me get up and out of the pit.

Ferris half-carried me to the door even as Kharmor cranked the wheel latch with a scream of resisting metal. It seemed to take less energy from the Half-Dwarf than I had expected. That was also when I noticed that he was taller. He was practically my height at this point. When we had first met, he had come up to my chest. I stowed that thought away for later, half wondering if it was insanity from the blood loss.

Our squad moved out of the space and stepped through the breach hole I had made on my way in. I checked the maps of the area of the Undercity we were in. I was paranoid about our return to the safe house, but I only had enough energy and mental power to activate the GPS to give us the shortest route so an exit from the Undercity that I picked at random, hoping it was far enough out to be safe from search teams. I told the team what I had done and flicked the map to each of them as we walked.

As we walked, we went over the events as we each had experienced them, so everyone could have the full story. When Nennel was explaining her side of being captured by the guards, some things came to light. “And then the doors opened to show Kharmor just standing in a fight-ready pose with his cannon of a gun aimed right at that awful man. Khar’ shot him without a second thought, and he fell, twitching like the poisoned rat he was.”

“What did you hit him with anyway?” Ferris asked.

“A Stained Glass Round,” Kharmor answered simply.

I gave the man a look of impressed shock. “You brought one of those with you? And you just had it loaded when you can for us?”

“Not just.” Khar’ said evenly. “I could sense the rat’s chain-cybernetic-thing. I had caught a whiff of it when we were in the gang hideout.” He gave a casual shrug. “I knew it was him and figured he had caused my close companions more than enough trouble. So I loaded the round, aimed where I sensed the chain-thing, and plugged him.”

“You must’ve really wanted him dead,” I said, astonished that he would take such action for a friend he had made only a few months ago. A single round cost a fat purse, and being caught with one on your person was grounds for immediate execution.

“What did the Stained Glass bullet do?” Ferris asked. “I saw him having a really bad time as we left, and Ives’ talked about it like it’s the Final Keeper’s hand reaching straight for the guy.”

“Don’t you remember what I explained back at the hospital?” I chided. I sighed and went over it again. “It’s a bullet with a small explosive in it that sends out active shards of myst crystals throughout the body. How would you like to be burned, frozen, and rotted throughout the inside of your body? Healers can even trace the locations of those shards, because Life Myst crystals are mixed in to mend any paths the other shards made. Those crystals also guarantee that if, by some miracle, you survive those initial problems, you are guaranteed to have more types of cancer than you could name with an anatomy book.”

“Oh…” Ferris thought on that for a moment before coming to a final conclusion, stating “Eew,” in a disgusted and disturbed tone.

“I think that’s an understatement,” I said with a smirk. “Well, at least we know we won’t need to worry about him ever again.”

I caught Nennel sending me a side-long glance of worry. Before I could ask, Zynna asked a question. “What are we going to do about the AV van?”

“Oh, crap!” Ferris cursed. “I totally forgot about the van.”

“There’s nothing we can do,” I said, with no small amount of irritation. “By now, they’ve seized and inspected the van. They found all of our gear. All of our very expensive gear. They certainly know that was how we came in. That van was also supposed to be our escape.”

“What changed?” Zynna asked.

“If you remember, in the original plan, Demierra was supposed to fly it to the roof and collect us and the targets. I wound up making a few changes to the plan and expected you all to take AV out of here, while I found my own way out with the targets. But when I sent up an S.O.S to the Dracose, I thought that she was going to fly the thing up to help us. Instead, it turns out that she can fly.”

Kharmor gave an amused huff. “Well, that would explain how she broke through the third-story wall to give us support.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I groused. “However, they left the van behind, and after… things occurred, and there was no chance of us getting back to the van.”

“Things?” Zynna asked with a note of accusation. “You mean that rumbling, don’t you?”

Both Ferris and I were about to give our own explanations until something strange happened. Nennel froze in place, going as rigid as a board. She attempted to speak, but her jaw was sealed. I could see the panic in her eyes. Then her body turned around and started mechanically walking in the other direction.

“Shit!” I spat out. “This is going too far. He’s breaking his own rule.”

“What? Who?” Ferris asked.

“Who do you think.” I snapped. “Weaver. He just highjacked Nennel’s cybernetics.”

“We have to go after her before she gets away!” Ferri demanded.

“No,” I said. “Kharmor and I will get her. “I need you to give me that lantern thing on your hip. Then I need you to help Zynna out of here.”

“No.” Ferris shot back. “I need to go after her. I need to save her.”

“I’ve got her,” I said in a resolute voice. Then I reached into the gear back, pulled free a sidearm at random, and pressed it into Ferris’s hand. “Meet up with Demierra and Oz and wait for me or Khar’ to message you. I promise that I will bring her back.”

“But she’s getting away!”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I planted a tracker on her after she was kidnapped by the Razor Wings. We’ll can track her straight to our last target and save them both.”

With fumbling fingers, I attempted to take the Data Capture Container, but Kharmor had to help me get it free and hook it to my belt. I thanked the Half-Dwarf before reaching into the gear bag yet again. “We’re going to need to move fast.” I gripped the hypo-jactor of MyCast with one hand. I hoped that because the myst inside was unattuned with any elements, my body wouldn’t have a violent reaction. Regardless of the result, I was going to need as much power as possible to save Nel and this Vanderbar person.

I gripped a vial of my blood in the other hand. It was a good thing that the guard had confiscated the vials without realizing the substance was my casting focus.

I pressed the injector at the base of the side of my neck, the same spot where I would inject my former stabilizing medication. I had never used MyCast before, so I did not know what I was in for. With a fast flex, I squeezed the grip before I could second-guess myself. I felt the ring of needles jab me, and raw power flooded my system. A pool of power that felt strong enough to lay waste to any in my path. I could also feel that power just waiting patiently to be harnessed. And harness it I did.

I threw together the best Mental and Physical Enhancement I could with my then-present state. I used Morphic Myst to alter both the state of my brain and the capacity of my body. Then I charged my mind and body with enough Distortion Myst to clear the fog from my mind and light a fire in my veins. This fire flowing through me was more of an eager rush than actual pain.

I turned to Kharmor. “Think you can keep up if I book it?”

He shot me an annoyed look. “I can enhance my body, if that’s what you’re asking. But my legs are shorter than yours, twit. You’ll outpace me eventually, but I’ll at least keep you in sight of a time.”

I gave Kharmor a nod before kicking off to chase down my Borg sister. In moments, I had the tracking application up on my HUD and followed the blinking dot. Unfortunately, it seemed that Weaver had gotten a firm grip on the function and capabilities of Nel’s cybernetics. If the speed of her ping was any indicator, she was running faster than I. He must’ve removed the inhibitors on Nel’s body. That was not good.

I checked over my shoulder to find Kharmor had fallen further behind than I had expected. I hadn’t accounted for the bag of gear… the… bag. An idea hit me in the face like getting clotheslined by a frying pan. I slid to a halt. I was going to need to work fast, before my enhancements wore off.

I signalled Kharmor to stop where I was. The moment he was before me, I told him to drop the bag. I dug through it while periodically checking Nennel’s position. With fast hands, I installed fresh Kinetic Myst crystals in my feet. Then I pulled free an emergency escape tool I had given Nennel along with her Lasher Gloves. I slipped the gloves on and slotted them with Voltreonic Myst crystals/

Ready, I jumped back into action. Checking on Nennel again, I found that she had reached the surface through an exit that was closer to the Evea-Life tower than I was comfortable with. Especially since somewhere in the anarchy at the tower, my Mimic Facade was damaged beyond functionality. So I would be running through the streets, openly showing the face of a terrorist on top of being a Darkling chasing a seemingly fleeing girl. But I couldn’t trust Kharmor to be able to rescue her, even if he did help me repair her body. I was the only one holding the device that might be able to save her, and the rest of us, if we couldn’t save the target.

I handed Kharmor the gear bag again and flicked him a tracking ping for my own therra so he could catch up, and I wouldn’t need to slow down. I was back on the chase an instant later. My strides ate up ground with my enhanced physical state, and my boosted mind allowed me to process the changes in the environment in an instant.

I found the turn at the end of a hall Nennel had taken, and I didn’t slow, instead planting both feet against the wall, gripping it with the traction function of my feet before kicking off into another sprint down the hall. I might not have been able to use the bursts from my feet to throw me forward due to the confined space, but that didn’t mean the cybernetics were useless.

One turn after another, I was gaining ground with my wall grip trick and boosted body. But the gain wasn’t fast enough. She was several blocks ahead as she breached the surface through an emergency escape route beneath a bridge.

I hit the street without breaking pace, ignoring as people I passed pointed at me, screamed in terror, threatened me, cursed me out, or any of several other unpleasant responses to me being me. With no ceiling to hinder me and my feet freshly refilled, I jumped, bounded, and vaulted over anything or anyone in my way. I may have also jumped on top of particularly rude individuals and launched myself off their skulls.

When the crowds on the streets grew too dense, and I was drawing more and more nice, I leaped halfway up a nearby two-story building, gripped it with my feet, and climbed to the top. I was hoping for it to be a shortcut and keep me outside of public view. The new rooftop position allowed me to cut through street blocks at a much faster pace. I was gaining ground even faster.
However, I was sorry for Kharmor's attempts to follow me. I was making that near impossible. But I couldn’t wait for him. Every moment counted.

Not long after that thought, I felt my enhancements fading and fast. I prayed to anything that would listen that Nennel was close to the target. My prayers were answered.

Nel’s body skid to a stop outside what appeared to be a decrepit and abandoned myst crystal factory. As she entered the structure through a shattered window.
The city sure had a lot of abandoned large-scale buildings where deplorables set up shop. I guessed it did keep the homeless and vagabonds off the streets.

I didn’t learn the truth until later. The city actually did purposely leave the structures up and easy to enter. It sounds kind and caring toward the homeless. At least until the city secretly schedules the structures for demolition. They collapse each building instantly, and without checking to see if anyone is inside. They call it ‘population control’. 

I dropped from the roof across the street. I needed to hurry. My enhancements were just about gone, then I’d be in an even worse state than before I boosted myself. I crossed the street just in time for a beefy and skull-covered motorcycle to slide to a stop not far from me.

I leaped back, ready for a fight with whoever Weaver had sent to interfere with me. Then I noticed Kharmor stepping from the bike. I lowered my fists and eyed my friend with concern and curiosity. “Did you steal a bike just to catch up?”

“I needed it more than he did,” Kharmor said with an amused smirk and a casual shrug of his broad shoulders. “Besides, when you started that rooftop running shenanigans, I needed to catch up before you got yourself into trouble, or worse.”

“Worse?” I asked, somewhat offended.

Kharmor pointed in the direction of the Evea-Life tower. I followed his gesture to find that I could see the tower. I could witness what I had caused. The sun was just rising over what remained of Evea-Life headquarters. The entire top portion of the building was gone. Sheared off completely, with titanic roots interwoven through what had become the new top of the tower. I could also see a rising smoke and dust cloud, flashing from within with emergency services lights.

What fresh horror had I done? It was even worse than the Stigmagaunt or the AV chase. How many had I killed? How many homes and jobs had just been destroyed? I was a monster. Maybe terrorist was the correct label for me.

‘NO!’ I shouted at myself in my mind. What was done could not be undone. Nennel could still be saved. I needed to focus.

I shook my head to clear it. “We need to get inside here.” I waved to the lab, factory, or whatever it was. “She just went inside through the window.”

Kharmor cracked his neck with a roll of his head. “Then let’s get moving.”

The two of us climbed in through the same window Nel had used. We entered into an unlit high-ceilinged space that was one part lab, two parts factory. Mechanical devices of all shapes were stowed against one wall, each covered with a dusty and moth-eaten sheet. We passed empty tanks designed to contain liquid myst, and I could almost sense the energies’ residue. I caught a glimpse of movement at the other end of the space, moving down a stairway to the basement.

I waved for Kharmor to follow and hurried in that direction as quietly as I could manage. At the bottom of the stairs, I could see a lurking and flickering light spilling over the grimy tile floor from some distance deeper inside. We reached the bottom of the stairs to find a more active laboratory. machines ran tests, spun, rolled, clicked, and beeped. Standing in the furthest corner of the basement was a hay-blond Human man working with a dripper over a row of test tubes. He wore a slightly stained lab coat and magnification goggles. He dripped something into one tube, examined it for a moment, then typed something out on a nearby computer.

Calmly walking up behind Vanderbar was Nennel. The man turned around and started at the sight of Nel, dropping his dripper. He pulled up his goggles to reveal brown eyes behind glasses. “You must be the collector that Mr.Judge said would be coming. Don’t worry. I have all the most recent Zyzivane results and modifications right here and ready to be sent.” He gestured to this computer. “I must admit that using adolescent subjects has produced much more fruitful results. Because they are still naturally developing, they take to the process much easier than adults. This has allowed me to tweak the second stage of the process to be less lethal…mostly. Now, if you have a data container or memory shard, I can give you what you need. But I do need my payment fir-” The Arcanist rambled on until he was cut off by Nennel’s hands, wrapping around his throat.