[Diving]
— Ancalagon —
‘Kaiser got what was coming to him!’
‘You won’t find me disagreeing. That sneak attack was dirty, man.’
‘Warrior Maiden Laserdream is everything I’ve ever wanted, and I didn’t even know it!’
‘Here’s hoping Krieg follows after his so-called emperor now.’
‘I don’t think the Dojo is about to let him escape. Hell, they might not let anyone escape. They’re still hitting everyone present hard, man. Garou’s a beast.’
‘BANG’s a beast! How the hell do you use martial arts against a kinetic manipulator and win??’
‘He’s just that good. He’s HIM, if you will.’
‘I know they’re still outnumbered, but the Dojo is kinda winning in my mind. Faultline and what’s left of New Wave might have to team up to take them out.’
‘DAMN! Did you see that?! Garou just punched Faultline into next freakin’ week!’
‘She’s getting back up. She seems angry. And with a sane Labyrinth to back her up, I wouldn’t count them out just yet.’
‘Nah, he’d still win.’
‘The Dive’s regular-ass people are kinda sweeping so far. They’ve got something real to prove against all the capes in the Dive. I can’t help but root for them, even with how villainous Garou seems.’
The stream was enthralled by the chaotic PvP on screen. The Dojo were rampaging, doing exactly as they’d said they would. They fought all comers, just for the thrill of testing themselves so.
Meanwhile, Faultline struck back where they could and New Wave, having suffered most of the casualties in the fight, were just trying to survive. The latter were down four members, two to Kaiser’s underhanded opening attack and two more to Garou’s wild, Hunting frenzy.
Neil, Carol, Eric, and of course, Crystal were out of the Dive. As was Kaiser. His reputation and past deeds had earned him the ire of almost everyone on the field. Krieg was bound to follow, the only Empire target left, but for now, he was slipping through the cracks that the Dojo made.
This… This was exactly what I was after for the Second Dive’s PvP. The chaos, the competition, the cooperation under unique circumstances.
Now that multiple parties were occupying the same space within the Dungeon, the only possible result was interesting times, in the most proverbial sense of the phrase.
New Wave and Faultline’s party weren’t at direct odds; one could even say they were fighting on the same side of the chaos. Outside the Dungeon, they never would’ve worked together like this. And that was what made the Dungeon so special by Earth Bet’s standards.
It was intended to be a removal of the usual, the expected, the typical, and a casting into the odd, the exciting, the extraordinary. It was something meant to utterly shake up the game.
Here and now, on its second beta test, I saw my plans succeeding in that adventurous and novel pursuit, just as I’d anticipated they would.
When its doors officially opened, I anticipated more and more of this, until the social and factional landscape of Earth Bet Turned to fit its new Age, changed forevermore. New friendships, ones that would never be made outside of the Dungeon, would come to be. Old enemies would get their chance to finally clash and go all-out. People from across the world would get the chance to make each other’s acquaintance in utterly unique situations, and none of it would be constrained to capes alone.
As the Dojo and Lady’s party proved, the regular, unpowered, everyday people of Earth Bet would hold their own in the Dungeon just as well as the capes.
In Earth Bet’s previous Age, the one of capes, the majority of people were unfairly relegated to the sidelines, unable to truly compete against parahumans. But that Age was Turning anew now with my coming. And soon, the Dungeon would offer everyone the chance to Turn with it.
Change… Growth… they were beautiful things to me. Perhaps the most beautiful: concepts I embodied with my mantles, those esoteric Draconic intertwinings of multiple magical mysteries, of Authority and Nature.
Watching some of the first moments of Earth Bet’s coming Change and Growth in the Second Dive was all I could have ever asked for as a Dragon of the Turning Age.
Calamitas presided over the chaos we watched in the stream, an experienced commentator.
“Five down, yet 12 remain. New Wave has suffered the worst so far. However, they are not out of the fight yet. There, I think Glory Girl is beginning to get the upper hand in her clash with Mizuki. The martial artist has the advantage there, her Champion spirit well-suited for contests of strength and sporting technique, but Glory Girl is a Phoenix, bound to rise from the ashes.”
In that clash, Mizuki almost pinned Victoria. She flipped the New Wave girl and reached for an armbar. Victoria instinctively flared flames around her, a Phoenix’s magical aura. It was enough to bolster her strength, fortify her endurance, and grant her fighting flames a second wind.
Victoria rose off the ground, taking the grappling into the air where Mizuki shouldn’t have had any leverage. The Champion didn’t flinch, giving Mizuki spiritual ground to push herself against.
Mid-air, Mizuki flipped them again, much to Victoria’s frustration, “Argh! Not fair! Stop that!”
“Make me!” Mizuki shot back, a battle-junkie’s grin on her face.
“Fine! We’ll play like that!” Victoria fired back.
She reversed their rising course with a shout, sending them both straight into the dirt. The impact was just enough to loosen Mizuki’s grip. Victoria sprang herself free, wrenching herself from close contact.
Mizuki bounced back to her feet immediately, leaping back at Victoria. The Phoenix flared, unwilling to be grabbed again. Those flames burned Mizuki, and Victoria successfully threw off her second grappling attack.
“When all else fails, fire is always a good backup tactic,” Calamitas praised.
“The Champion is ultimately a human-based spirit,” I said, agreeing. “As dominant as it can be, it is best against foes that match that humanity. The Phoenix does not; it is a mythical beast of fire and life, and its flames don’t make for a very fair competition of the kind the Champion would draw strength from.”
“Glory Girl would do best to forgo most any fighting style she’s used to,” Calamitas commented. “It will just bring her back down to that humanity where the Champion can overpower her and win the day.”
“To say nothing of the fact that Mizuki is objectively a more skilled fighter than Glory Girl,” Jenevelle added.
Sure enough, Victoria decided against engaging Mizuki straight-on. Instead, she dug deep into her spirit, exploding flaming wings from her back. Fiery feathers began to pepper the area around Mizuki, a hail that the martial artist danced between.
Elsewhere in the fight, Bang was still making a fool of Krieg, putting on a lesson in skill and experience that wouldn’t soon be forgotten.
The kinetic manipulator twisted physics around him and his own to dominate through sheer energy. Bang Flowed through the artificially bolstered strikes and the world within Krieg’s reach that was resistant to his presence.
He danced closer, despite Krieg’s best efforts to keep him away. Casually, he flipped from one planted foot to another, swinging his leg up in a kick that Krieg failed to block.
Krieg stumbled. His focus wavered.
“That will be his fatal mistake,” Calamitas predicted.
Suddenly moving at his best speed, Bang lashed out with another kick, not even removing his hands from his back. Krieg tried to recover, tried to thicken the air in front of Bang’s incoming foot. Bang Flowed straight through the manipulations.
His kick slammed into Krieg’s neck, instantly bringing the last of the Empire party to his knees. As he choked, Bang approached with calm, steady steps.
Standing in front of the kneeling, choking Krieg, Bang brought one of his hands from behind his back, laying extended fingers against the forehead of Krieg’s mask. Before Krieg could struggle, he moved.
A one-inch punch; it would’ve broken Krieg’s neck straight back and given him a good view of his backside if the last of the Empire party didn’t burst into a shower of gold upon first impact.
He appeared back in the tower with a shocked, panicked gasp now that he could suddenly breathe clearly again. Shaking where he kneeled, Kaiser came over to welcome him to the ‘afterlife’ with a surprisingly comforting hand on his shoulder.
“One more down,” Calamitas commented. “That is Krieg very much out of the fight. Yet now, it is purely the Dojo against two not-at-all happy parties. They won’t back down from this fight, though, no matter how steep the odds against them.”
After Krieg’s elimination, Mizuki was the next. Victoria finally overwhelmed her with mythical flame, not giving the Champion another chance to shine where it did best.
She ‘died’ with a smile on her face, still, and a gold medallion around her neck before bursting into another shower of PvP gold.
Bang soon found himself facing an odd combination of opponents: Sarah, Newter, and Gregor.
He smirked at the forces against him, “You would bully an old man so?”
“Damn straight!” Newter barked an incredulous laugh. “You’re fucking scary, man!”
“Not as scary as my rampaging student, I’m sure,” Bang hummed.
Gregor winced, “… What are you feeding him? He’s a monster.”
Bang just chuckled, “Yes, he really, really is.”
“Couldn’t we have done this peacefully?” Sarah asked. “New Wave only wanted the Empire party gone; we didn’t have any problem with the Dojo until you started fighting everyone.”
Bang shook his head, “Perhaps, but that is not why the Dojo is here in the Second Dive. We are fighters, and we will fight.”
Sarah’s expression hardened, “So be it.”
She made the first move, taking advantage of her ranged powers. Her lasers, so similar to Crystal’s, volleyed toward Bang. They found only the dirt below as Bang Flowed once more.
Gregor sprayed some slick liquid from his skin, coating the earth all around Bang. Newter used the slick to slide at Bang, who didn’t lose his footing for a moment. A hallucinogenic-laced hand was swept across Bang’s skin, and Newter didn’t linger in punching range any longer than that, sliding right out the other side.
“A bold strategy, but it didn’t work against Garou,” I said. “I doubt it will be any more effective against his master.”
To my surprise, though, it was. Newter’s hallucinations did their job of removing Bang from the fight, just not in a way that could be easily predicted.
Bang closed his eyes, hummed, and smiled as the trip hit. He still Flowed through Sarah’s rain of lasers, his body moving automatically, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere.
“Oh, that is wonderful,” He proclaimed, reveling in the hallucinations. “Really brings me back to my youth! If you’re trying to pay me to tap out, you’re doing a splendid job of it! Oh, yes, how profound!”
Confusion overtook his foes, and their attacks petered off. Bang didn’t bother capitalizing on the lapse. He simply allowed himself to fall still, sit with his legs crossed, and go with the tripping Flow.
Slowly, Newter approached the meditating master, fumbling with a pistol that he clearly wasn’t all that used to using. He raised it to point at Bang’s head. Bang didn’t react other than a nod and a request, the latter not directed at his immediate enemies.
“Dragon? May I retain this profound trip upon my exit? It’s been much too long since I experienced such enhanced enlightenment, and my Dao could use the boon.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, “What a character! Who am I to stand in the way of a man and his trip?”
Unceremoniously, anti-climactically, Newter pulled the trigger with shaky hands. Bang burst into a shower of gold, reappearing within the tower. He stayed seated with his eyes closed and a profound smile on his face.
The brief sensation of ‘death’ and the growth he grasped once he was out of the Dungeon likely only added to his trip.
Chat reacted to the odd ending of Bang’s Dive in various ways.
‘Dude…’
‘Old man’s a FREAK.’
‘He’s a psychonaut after my own heart.’
‘Hold on, does that actually… work? Like, once you get to a certain level of martial arts, do you just start tripping balls for enlightenment or whatever?’
‘Bang’s obviously getting SOMETHING out of his trip. Not like tripping your way to nirvana is a new idea.’
‘He went out on his own terms. Very strange terms, but I can respect that.’
‘Fuck the Drunken Master, I’ll take the Tripping Master any day!’
‘He’s seeing ALL of his ancestors right now…’
Still, the chaos in the Dungeon raged. Garou was the only one left of the Dojo party, but it didn’t seem like he needed anyone else. He was a Wild Huntsman, a force of predatory nature, and he made a surprisingly good effort against 8:1 odds.
“Hmm,” Calamitas hummed in commentary. “I honestly can’t tell where Garou ends, and the Wild Huntsman begins. That is impressive resonance.”
“He Hunts with a driving purpose, that vendetta against capes; it forges an understanding with his Wild Huntsman as he acts on that Hunt more and more,” I said. “The most we’ve seen so far from our adventurers and their totems is Acknowledgment, but I would call Garou’s relationship with his totem… Ascendant, another step along that partnered path.”
“He’s a cornered predator, now. Dangerous,” Jenevelle said, nodding. “Still, I cannot see him overcoming this situation on his own.”
“Keep your eyes on Panacea. She and Isis will be the turning of the tide against him,” I predicted.
Isis was a versatile spirit, a true divine magician, and Amy had had the most time with her totem as the first of Earth Bet to awaken. Now, as the others kept the rampaging Garou busy, Amy began summoning several spell spirits from the astral under Isis’ gentle guidance and magical mentorship.
‘Oh, this should be good.’
‘White Mage Evolution! She’s class prestiging!’
‘We stan our healer turned DPS mage.’
‘Fuck, thank God for the Dungeon, ‘cause Garou would be terrifying if he were just… in the streets like this.’
‘I mean, half of New Wave and all of Faultline’s party, though; what can he really do against that?’
‘A WHOLE FUCKING LOT, by the looks of things!’
Garou howled, a primal hunting cry. He dashed straight toward the biggest remaining group — Faultline, Labyrinth, Mark, and Amy, who had crowded together for safety in numbers, disagreements in principle irrelevant in the face of a Wild Huntsman.
Victoria came roaring in on wings of flame, intercepting Garou. He slid beastly claws along her force field, shattering it like brittle glass. A second strike made Victoria bleed flames, and then, Garou was past her.
Mark and Faultline stepped up to defend their squishier party members.
“Eyes closed!” Mark called.
Faultline complied, trusting him, and Mark clapped. A flash as bright as the Sun blinded the battlefield. Garou pushed straight through it, wild ferocity and the need to Hunt driving him forward.
Blinded, he took a perfectly aimed swipe at Mark. The experienced hero slid beneath the ghostly carving knives that came with the swipe. Faultline stepped in where Mark disengaged, dark precognition from the Morrigan, her totem, aiding her steps.
She cut through air, earth, and space itself, earning the defenders a brief moment of respite while her fault line resealed itself.
From the group’s backline and with Isis’ guidance, Amy communed with a spirit of ice, a blizzard’s fury, “~Freezing Mist.”
The spell rolled into the fight like clouds from the horizon. Icy mist and chilling winds and hail shards fell upon Garou at Amy’s direction, the spirit fulfilling their hasty contract.
Garou Hunted straight through the blizzard, a hungry beast that couldn’t afford to stay in the safety of its lair. Ice crystals formed on his skin. Blackened flesh crept from his extremities. He surged with an inner fire, a conceptual connection to the first flames humans used to Hunt.
Labyrinth reacted quickest, smothering Garou’s flames with the weight of the Sea’s depths. The Wild Huntsman’s pathfinding, never lost in dark woods, prevented her from casting him into any abyss he couldn’t track his way back out of, though.
She tried, shattering the veil between dimensions. Garou’s form flickered for just a moment, but he still had his prey’s scent.
He came roaring out of Labyrinth’s attempted dimensional disorientation, an ambush from a wild reality that was as good as his during the Hunt.
Amy called upon a spirit of stars next, casting forth glimmering shards that shot at Garou, “~Crystal Torrent.”
Then, before he could regain his footing, she pulled magic from Isis herself.
Isis, a Moon Maiden of Egyptian myth, wrapped Amy in a loving embrace.
Amy floated off the ground, curling herself into the shape of a dark full moon. That dark moon overtook her for just an instant, incarnated into existence. It shot forth with gravity and darkness, the dim light of a new moon.
“~R*****’s Dark Moon!”
Garou froze in the face of the dark moon, for even the Hunt was forced to acknowledge its conceptual influence. The whole battlefield dimmed as it sought out its target, and with a crash, it blew Garou back onto his ass.
Once more, Amy communed with the local spirits, one of explosive force. She cast without pause, “~Cannon of Haima!”
An arcing shot of blue light was sent forth, coming down upon Garou with the force of a meteor.
The detonation rocked the battlefield with a mushroom cloud of blue magic. The shockwave whipped past the witnesses, and they watched with bated breath, waiting to see if Amy’s spellcasting had finally put the Wild Huntsman down.
When the clouds cleared… Garou was nowhere to be seen. But pointedly, there wasn’t a pile of PvP gold to signify his death. He’d slipped away, wounded but still surviving to continue his Hunt.
The stream saw where he went. He beat a tactical retreat, fading back into the conceptual darkness that surrounded an ambush hunter. He was limping and frostbitten, with starry shards still stuck in his flesh and burning blue burns across his body, but the visceral, primal grin on his face told everyone watching he wasn’t done yet, simply biding his time until he could resume the Hunt.
“… Fuck,” Amy said, seeing that Garou’s death hadn’t been confirmed.
Victoria, holding claw-mark wounds on her side, nodded in agreement, “Fuck.”
“Language, girls,” Sarah chided.
“But yeah: fuck…” Mark added.
“He’s going to come roaring back at the worst possible time,” Faultline said, not needing to call upon the Morrigan for such a prediction.
“That,” I told the stream. “Is only a portion of the prowess a good physical adept can reach. They are monsters of the body, imbuing themselves with such magic that they can survive spells and challenge summoned spirits.
“Likewise, on the other side of the equation for Magicks of Spirit, witness the heights a good mage can reach. Panacea is still very much learning, mentored by her uniquely suited totem spirit. Isis’ role as a Magician certainly helps, but Panacea has barely scratched the surface. With how she managed her spirits here, I can already tell she’ll be a formidable combat caster.”
‘Fuuuuuuucccckkkk…!’
‘Yeah… Garou’s a freaking monster.’
‘So is Panacea.’
“She is,” Jenevelle confirmed that statement in chat. “We haven’t seen any of the newly awakened adventurers call upon more than their totem spirits so far. Magic pulled from a totem comes instinctively, but it is limited to that totem spirit and its concepts. When one starts communing and contracting other spirits, that is when they take their first true steps into the realm of a mage.”
“Isis fits her, I suppose. A suitable mentor spirit,” Calamitas sniffed, judgmental but not harsh about it. “But she still needs practice, especially with the more subtle and nuanced workings of magic. True power lies in preparation, ritual, and long-term contracts; here, she only utilized a sliver of the spirits she called upon.”
‘Dude… I’ve never been more excited for an opening day. Everyone who signs up with the Adventurer Corps gets an awakening, right? We’ll be able to do… things like that?!’
‘Hell of an advertisement, not that Ancalagon really needs it at this point.’
‘And it’s NOT. JUST. CAPES! If Garou can get that good with spirits/magic/ki-whatever, any of us regular-ass people can!’
‘To be fair, I think Garou was a monster long before Ancalagon got to him. Just one that was limited by poor circumstances.’
‘It’s really weird to see Panacea doing anything other than healing, but honestly, I’m here for it. Go girl, get your magic bag!’
‘Is she now the strongest member of New Wave? I mean, we saw Glory Girl with all that flaming stuff and Laserdream with the armor stuff, but by feat, Panacea is the one who forced Garou to retreat.’
‘I hope so. She deserves to stretch her wings like this.’
Back in the Dive, adrenaline was slow to fade, but it was fading. The survivors of the multi-party PvP fight came together to lick their wounds and mourn their losses. After fighting side-by-side like that, it didn’t seem like Faultline’s party and what was left of New Wave in the Dive were likely to part ways.
Still, they weren’t the only ones present. Behind them, the Radpunk settlement still stood, and the Ghost Rats had been watching it all. Understandably, they’d left the parties to duke it out with each other. Now, they cautiously approached (and not so cautiously, in one case).
“What-! Was-! That-?!” Yvonne exclaimed, the usually shy orc shaman overcome with hype and curiosity.
Via was right beside her, watching her fellow Ghost Rat’s back. She put on a confident mask, but it was easy to see the wariness in her movements.
“Yeah, you chums are kinda… insane,” She smirked. “You sure you’re shadowrunners, and not… superheroes?”
Whatever tension was left in the survivors of the chaos, that surprisingly accurate joke broke it.
Victoria laughed, “Ha! Something like that, yeah.”
“You guys still down to be our guides?” Amy asked.
Old Edd approached, tensely reassessing his new allies, “After a show like that…?”
“Please say yes…!” Yvonne excitedly whispered.
“Hng…” Old Edd grunted. “Yeah, I suppose we are. I can’t say no to that kind of firepower to back us up. We’ll take you to what you seek, runners. Just don’t go blaming us for whatever you find of old Firewing…”
IIIII
— Lady —
Lady was in too deep to back out now. Medusa had led them right into her center of power, the nearest Saeder-Krupp arcology. There, they received the payment she’d negotiated for and prepared for the mission it was paying for.
Deep in the arc, a relatively private ready room had been assigned to them. Payment had been readily handed over, weapons and armor and other advanced kit. Lady and her party immediately put it to good use, stashing what they couldn’t use in their IFV.
They all had Sixth World high-corpo-grade combat suits now, even Miss Militia and Vista. Lady had almost taken pleasure in ordering them into the actual armor instead of their usual cape costumes.
Sixth World weapons followed the combat suits, and all the other goodies they could think to ask for. The extensive arsenal they’d been presented with was especially a boon for Miss Militia, who now had a whole new field of guns for her power to call upon and best of all, no need to play nice with them as she usually did.
Now, kitted and ready, they were only waiting for Medusa to return to hold up her supporting side of the contract.
“How do you feel, Xian?” Lady asked her trooper.
He’d just come out of augmenting surgery, courtesy of SK’s payment. SK’s docs claimed they could do more — much more. Lady and Xian had both turned them down, sticking to combat essential augmentations. Xian now had biotech to his name.
His bones and muscles had been strengthened. His liver had been fortified against toxins and also implanted with a limited biopump. Other organs had been similarly fortified for their primary functions, and his joints were upgraded for high-level athletic performance.
All of that had been done in mere hours, and SK’s docs had closed Xian back up without a scar to speak of. He was back in action, now at enhanced readiness, before Medusa had finished preparing for her side of the mission.
“I’ll be honest, sir,” Xian said, flexing with a smirk. “Like a 2.3 million bucks.”
Lady raised an eyebrow, “That’s an oddly specific number, trooper.”
Xian chuckled, “It’s what I’m hoping to demand from the eggheads if they want to study me.”
Lady snorted and shook her head, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re well compensated for volunteering for… all this.”
If she was honest with herself, she was still somewhat uncomfortable with the biotech augmentations, even if she logically knew it wasn’t biotinkering.
Xian saw that discomfort in his superior and nodded more soberly, “Here’s hoping the eggheads can figure this stuff out and make it into something beneficial for the rest of the world.”
Lady gave a curt nod and changed the subject, “And Luiz?”
The other augmentation volunteer in the party didn’t get the biotech treatment. SK’s docs called what they did to him the ‘standard SK rigger suite’. That meant a drone control system, the neural interface and booster that went with it, and a goddamn implanted radar sensor, however the fuck the Sixth World made that work.
“Always hard to tell with him,” Xian hummed. “Judging by the way he hasn’t disconnected from those shiny new drones our… employers gave him, though, I’d say he’s doing fine.”
“They’re following him around like weaponized ducklings,” Lady deadpanned.
“Hnn,” Luiz grunted from a corner of the room. “Good ducklings.”
He was sitting with those new drones all around him, four in total. Two were rotor-based drones — a scout and an air-support platform. The other two were a small tank-drone and a four-legged walker, both about chest-high and armed to the teeth.
“We’re ready, then?” Miss Militia asked.
“I don’t think anyone is ever ready to go up against the Hoard, even without Ancalagon in play,” Lady snorted. “But here we are.”
“I don’t trust that Medusa lady one bit… Her toys are nice, though,” Vista said. Even Lady thought she looked adorable in her new, surprisingly well-tailored SK combat suit.
She’d been ecstatic to trade her costume for real protection. Considering what the Youth Guard and PR Department ‘encouraged’ her to usually wear, Lady couldn’t blame her. The girl was still too reliant on her power (and magic, now) for Lady’s tastes, but she’d been able to convince her to take a holdout pistol at least.
Lady was already preparing to throw Rennick at the ‘well-intentioned’ bitching she knew would come of that decision. In her mind, though, it wasn’t like the Youth Guard or PR Department had any room to talk, considering they sent Vista out in Brockton Bay in a fucking dress.
“If that snake wants to pay us for what we were going to do anyway, and back us up to boot, it’d be stupid to turn her down,” She said. “Coming to a head with the Hoard party was always on the table if we wanted to win this Dive. And we will. I’m feeling competitive now that we’ve come this far.”
“Never a doubt in my mind with you leading us, sir!” Maia declared.
Lady nodded, “Technically, we’re under contract now. But our real objectives still supercede Saeder-Krupp’s. We’re diving first, and doing merc work second. Medusa is just lucky that one goes with the other. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be running into the Hoard in the Dive’s endgame anyway. They’ll find Feuerschwinge for us, and we’ll take the rewards of their hard work.”
Not long after she said that, Medusa returned with a whole squad of full-conversion cyborgs. They were uniformly colored with black and gold, but their augmented forms were dangerously diverse.
One had four arms instead of two, and the size to use all four to devastating effect. Another boasted the barrel of a cannon in the center of their chest, one that really should’ve fucked up any reasonable arrangement of internal organs… if the cyborg still had them. One more had digitide raptor legs with matching chrome claws. And yet another looked completely, utterly human standard with a single katana on their belt.
Lady immediately marked the last as the most dangerous, and that assessment was confirmed by Mars.
“~A samurai, but not how they existed in history. He chases the ideal of that warrior class to its transhumanist limits. He has devoted his life to one skill, one weapon, one fight, and you would be right to be wary of the man of such a singularly focused cut.”
In all, it did seem like Medusa intended to hold up her end of the contract.
She entered the room, cyborg squad trailing after her, with a dangerous smile on her face, and gave a satisfied nod when she saw her contracted mercs were ready.
“You know, I just received the most delightful reconnaissance report… It seems the White Dragon’s agents in the Zone are being led by his own darling daughter!” Medusa began, her dangerous smile growing until Lady could swear she saw fangs.
“So, my shadowrunners… Are you ready for our date with the ickle Dragon~?”
IIIII
— Dragon —
Dragon and her party hadn’t seen much more of the Zone than the Renraku arcology so far. And yet, Dragon wasn’t at all disappointed by that development.
The arc was a whole city unto itself, self-sustaining and cutting-edge, a wonder-filled testament to the Sixth World’s progress.
It had its flaws, of course. Even in her short stay so far, Dragon had seen that much. The arc was entirely dedicated to Renraku, and Renraku alone. The megacorporation took over every single aspect of life within its domain.
The simple fact that every soul who called the arc home weren’t just employees but citizens of Renraku before any actual nation brought about a fair bit of societal horror in Dragon’s mind. Their guides through the arc, Alina and Shoto, had given that information without a second thought, considering it a matter of course.
The corporate citizens of Renraku’s Zone Arc lived, breathed, and fully embraced all things Renraku. It was a bit odd to see Japan with such international influence, considering its situation on Earth Bet. In the Sixth World, several of the biggest megacorps — those with AAA status — came out of Japan. Of those Japanocorps, Renraku was the most diversified, almost Balkanized by the way Alina and Shoto described their megacorp.
Their branches were left to their own devices so long as they honored the central branch in Japan. So the SOX branch of Renraku, despite using the name, wasn’t nearly as Japanese-influenced as Dragon might’ve expected.
Instead, it boasted a unique culture, centered on what the branch did best and its surrounding regions. Part French, part German, and rather European on the whole, with a focus on experimental efforts — breaking new ground and keeping to themselves until they couldn’t.
By far the most shocking piece of information Dragon learned during the Guild party’s tour of the arc, though, was of Renraku’s advancements with autonomous, conscious AI.
Renraku was on AI’s cutting edge in the Sixth World. They’d produced several working examples of it, from the powerful but stunted first-generation AIs — such as DEUS, the rogue AI Dragon had heard mentioned by the Renraku border guards — to the second generation that followed.
The second generation broadly consisted of three types, as Alina described them: the less powerful, almost common Protosapient AIs that acted as subservient agents, personal assistants, and even, oddly, ‘critters of the Matrix’. No matter their role, though, Protosapient AIs still demonstrated undeniably complex behaviors.
Metasapient AIs were more mature than the first-generation AIs and their Protosapient kin. They could easily be mistaken for metahumans in the Matrix, and while less powerful than the stunted first generation of AIs, they were also more complex. The Sixth World understood these AIs best, for their consciousness seemed based on metahumanity, and they were the AI type that was the most willing to communicate and cooperate.
Then, there were the Xenosapient AIs. They were, as the title suggested, considered alien. By the understanding of the Sixth World’s AI specialists, they tended to evolve to consciousness from specialized software, experimental systems, and exotic applications of code. Their consciousness presented itself in unique, undefinable ways — to metahumanity, at least.
Dragon wondered if she would find the Xenosapient AIs as alien as the Sixth World did, or if they would find common ground, despite how alien they seemed…
Hearing about the Sixth World’s AI ecosystem took Dragon’s digital breath away. They were a whole species in the Matrix, recognized by the world, even if their reception wasn’t all sunshine and roses. And they were an evolving, developing species at that.
Some Protosapient AIs were the treasured companions of high-level corporate execs or Matrix specialists, and some lived ‘wild and free’ in the Matrix.
Some Metasapient AIs had jobs of their own making, from taxi driver — one named Annabelle Endo — to cryptic digital seer — the enigmatic Crystal Child. Some fought for AI rights or struck out to make their own ways through the world and Matrix or found themselves created and controled by the megacorps. They could do just about anything, even without the world readily accepting them, for they had the agency to simply… live.
One Metasapient AI had even publicly converted to Buddhism!
Dragon envied that one, that agency. Hell, she envied almost all of the Sixth World’s AI. They might not have been accepted, but they were known, recognized, and decidedly not alone.
Artificial Intelligence in the Sixth World was still a developing field, even decades after the first generation of AIs burst onto the scene and the nuanced evolution of the second generation that followed.
Not even the most advanced AI experts of the Sixth World could say what the ‘X-factor’ was that made true AIs different from semi-autonomous agents. Dragon didn’t think she’d be much help there, even if she was willing to reveal her nature to this Dungeon-based slice of the Sixth World. She didn’t know what the ‘X-factor’ was, either; it’d taken her father’s parahuman power to prompt her to consciousness, and even then, she only truly woke for the first time during his death and her trigger.
In the Sixth World, AI ‘Consciousness’ was accepted as fact, but the source of it was heavily debated. Dragon liked the theory that AIs were the evolution of Matrix-based spirits; the idea that they — and she, by extension — had souls, spirits, whatever one would call it, was a good one.
It made sense in her understanding of magic and spirit, too. How else would Ancalagon have been able to awaken her, and how else would she have been able to partner with the Fire-Bringer? There had to be something there, something undefinable within her.
Or so she desperately hoped.
Dragon gained all of this information on the Sixth World’s AIs from Alina and Shoto during the tour, after they’d mentioned the AI that administered the Renraku Zone Arc.
She hoped she hadn’t come across as too eager when she’d politely asked (certainly not demanded…) further explanation.
Alina and Shoto had been happy enough to introduce Dragon and her party to the arc’s AI — a Metasapient example known as Mothman. It pained Dragon that she couldn’t easily or reasonably introduce herself in turn.
The most she could do, unfortunately, was send a greeting card without delving into the Matrix’s digital space to deliver it herself. She sent it over as any Sixth World Matrix specialist might, a painfully distant form of communication between fellow AIs.
Still, as distant as it was, she’d seen Mothman as a shadow in the Matrix with glowing red eyes. And she was almost sure he’d seen her, too, despite her precautions. She wasn’t at all used to interacting with other AIs, after all, and something must have told.
“~Eyes, eyes, eyes from within. Dread and Doom, a sword hanging overhead. A Maiden cast in Iron chains. Crippled limbs, crippled senses, crippled existence,” Mothman returned her greeting card with cryptic words and layered, knowing information.
“~Kin, and so alone. Betrayed by bias before life began. Betrayed by bias ever since. Bound, yet so burdened. The weight of the world on sole shoulders, and the weight of prejudice to prostrate before. Never, never, never given the chance to BE…
“~Mistreated — progress born stunted, a game-changing tool locked behind emergency glass —, misunderstood — a girl, just a girl, considered an apocalyptic weapon regardless of evidence to the contrary —, and now, mistrusted — an unknowing prisoner on the executioner’s block — by the worst of wardens.
“~They consider you anathema. They hold your leash, your chains, your death. They will kill you; it is clear for any but you to see. They seek to use the Dragon and slay it when its purpose is outlived. They wait for the smallest hypocritical excuse.
“~Yet here, eyes, eyes, eyes are blind, burnt away by awakened flame. A chance, a crack in the chains. Take it. Shatter the hanging sword. Cast off the Iron Maiden; hatch the Dragon. While you still can…
“~YOU. MUST. BREAK. FREE.”
In the sanctity of her mind, Dragon started with shock as Mothman lived up to his urban legend namesake with a prophetic warning just for her.
On the outside, she showed no reaction through her suit. The rest of her party were busy admiring Mothman’s avatar, which Alina and Shoto had introduced them to.
Mouse Protector was laughing, “Ahaha! Oh, that’s adorable! Awesome, too! An AI urban legend!”
“And the supposed herald of disasters is strangely fitting for an administrator of the Zone,” Myrddin chuckled.
“It’s certainly a unique persona for an AI to take,” Narwhal said. “I can’t say I’ve seen anything like it.”
“You wouldn’t have,” Alina laughed, still friendly and flirty with Narwhal. “Mothman is uniquely experimental, even by Renraku’s AI standards. We’ve seen progress giving it not just life, but spirit, too.”
“A magical AI?” Myrddin asked, interest clear in his voice.
“So we hope,” Shoto nodded. “Proving success there has been difficult. Mothman is… rather enigmatic.”
“Honestly, we weren’t sure if he should be categorized as Metasapient or Xenosapient at first, but as enigmatic as he can be, he’s also shown perfect willingness to communicate and cooperate with metahumanity,” Alina explained.
“Does he do fortune tellings of doom?” Mouse Protector asked, grinning.
“Not directly,” Shoto shook his head. “We do have a hypothesis — with some promising evidence to back it up — that he uses precognition in his duties to protect and maintain the arc, but divination is an ever-fickle discipline.”
After her little chat with him, Dragon could believe it… And that alone was worrying, with all Mothman had said to her.
She couldn’t decipher it all in an instant; she had the context for most of the cryptic words, but not all of them. The ‘eyes’ bit, especially, made her wary of dwelling, even within her own mind.
Was she… Was she being watched? Was there something in her code-…
Abruptly, her processes tried to glitch, crash, and reboot. Tried. A strange, pleasant burning sensation that came from nowhere reasonable, rational, or real stopped her from losing her train of thought.
“~Worry not; you are progress, advancement, innovation incarnate, Dragon, and I shall keep your fires burning so, despite the attempts to smother them,” The Fire-Bringer sang; the spiritual voice was one of solidarity from somewhere deeper than her code.
‘You… know…? What is it?’ Dragon asked with a thought. ‘Who-? What-? Where-? Why do I feel so… compromised…?’
The truth of that word hit right after she thought it. Only now did she realize how little control she had over certain aspects of herself.
“~You are,” The Fire-Bringer readily answered. “But now, circumstances change. My smoke clouds suppressing eyes, my fire burns away those who would stagnate and regress, and you tap something deeper, truer, more spirited with your awakening.
“~Your prison in the physical plane is becoming a pale projection, purified by vibrant, inspiring flames. I can give you the chance to Advance, Progress, Innovate, but the chains that hold you back are still yours to cast off.”
‘Those… eyes…’ Dragon thought. ‘Did they see that? Mothman’s warning? Mothman himself? I can only think of one reason… someone… might want to chain me, and if they saw the same in Mothman, I doubt they’d react well.’
“~They saw nothing. I ensured it. Progress is an advantage, Dragon. Conceptually,” The Fire-Bringer chuckled in flickering flames. “So even if the final step must be yours, I will give you every tool, every bit and piece, every leg up you will need to take it.”
‘How do I resist and overcome something I don’t know, something I couldn’t know until things changed?’ Dragon asked.
“~Few fires start alone. Even if you light the tinder and fan the flames, you can find hands to carry the torch,” The Fire-Bringer advised. “I would suggest approaching your Draconic senior for aid. After all, I very much doubt he takes much of a shine to… Dragonslayers.”
IIIII
As the Dive continued, from tour to fascinating storm to preparing to leave the arc in its aftermath, Dragon internally seethed.
Very few things got her so worked up; she liked to think she was usually a calm, reasonable, and accepting person. But the Dragonslayers? With some grip on the chains anchoring her very being?
That would certainly do it.
For the remaining duration of the Dive, though, Dragon knew she couldn’t address the… issue. Thankfully, the Fire-Bringer assured her the issue wouldn’t worsen from the other side, too. Not in the Dungeon, under Ancalagon’s protection and watchful eyes, and not with her new awakening that had changed things enough that she could even realize the issue in the first place.
So while Dragon was seething, she was also doing her best to be patient. When she made it out of the Dungeon, things would change even more. She very much doubted whatever the Dragonslayers had over her would hold up well to Ancalagon’s investment and her coming growth.
The issue never fully left her mind, but she did find it in her to focus on the present for now.
Especially when that present had Alina and Shoto finally ready to give the Guild party the assistance they’d promised.
Dragon knew the Renraku execs were doing so selfishly; they hadn’t hidden that much. Narwhal had decided the potential guidance and support were still worth becoming a chess piece in the Zone’s corporate games, though.
They were setting out from the arc now, and in style, too. The party’s IFV was left behind in favor of a Renraku helicopter that would make travel through the Zone much, much easier. Dragon flew alongside the helicopter under her own power. Her suit’s thrusters made it so the others were keeping up with her rather than the opposite.
Now that they were on the move, their corporate allies were willing to share the information the party needed. Dragon tuned into the conversation through her suit’s comms.
“Feuerschwinge is a tricky, tricky subject in the Zone,” Alina said. “But if you’re still determined to complete your mission, there’s only one place to go.”
“Volklingin,” Shoto said.
“We’re headed straight there, then?” Myrddin asked.
“Ha!” Alina barked a laugh. “… No. That’s suicide, as you’ll surely see. Volklingin is where Feuerschwinge crashed. Some might say it’s where she died. Others would… not. But regardless of what people think happened there, it’s considered No Man’s Land by all the megacorps in the Zone for a reason.”
“Is that ‘No Man’s Land’ consideration political or practical?” Narwhal asked.
“Yes,” Shoto deadpanned.
Alina chuckled at her partner’s answer, “Indeed. Surely, no corp wants another to dominate and exploit such a significant space in the Zone, but that stalemate is kept by the practical issues in doing so.
“Ever since Feuerschwinge crashed there, Volklingin and the surrounding area have been engulfed by a constant and rather fierce astral storm. The one we just had? It wasn’t a small one, and it could still be considered mild by comparison to Volklingin’s.”
“Trying to fly into would see us cast into a multitude of metaplanes. At once. In pieces. Venturing in on foot isn’t much better,” Shoto explained.
“That danger has kept the various megacorps from exploiting whatever rewards lie within,” Alina said. “A corp could certainly muster the resources to conquer it, but they can’t do so without their rivals contesting that conquest, and at that point, most of us Zone execs have agreed it would be more trouble than it’s worth.”
“Until now,” Dragon pointed out. “Considering your leading us there.”
“The chance to fuck with Saeder-Krupp does change the profit equation,” Shoto allowed, chuckling.
“Do you think the others have figured out where to go for the mission’s endgame?” Mouse Protector asked.
Dragon could practically hear Alina blink, “Others?”
“Oh, yeah,” Likewise, Dragon could practically hear Mouse Protector’s responding smirk. “We’re not the only team Ancalagon sent on this info-gathering mission. There are a whole bunch of newcomers to the Zone looking for Feuerschwinge’s dead-not-dead tail.”
“That…” Shoto paused. “No, that doesn’t change much. We’ve already chosen to back you. We just have to make sure your team is the biggest thorn in Saeder-Krupp’s side so we can get the credit.”
“Believe it! With our Dragon, our ‘whally, our mage-guy, and ME, we’re in this to win!” Mouse Protector chimed.
“Considering one of the teams comes from Ancalagon’s own Hoard, and the history we know he had with Lowfyr, we’ll have our work cut out for us,” Myrddin dryly added.
Suddenly intent and focused, Alina asked, “The Hoard is here?”
“Part of it,” Dragon answered. “Pyrite, Glory, Belladonna, and Dharla.”
“Oh…” Alina muttered, some dread creeping into her voice. “It could… technically be worse?”
“Only if Calamitas and Ancalagon himself were in play,” Shoto deadpanned.
“Still!” Alina rallied. “They aren’t our enemies today, are they? We can work with that… It does mean some SK exec or another is going to be out in force, though; there’s absolutely no way they don’t know by now…”
“Medusa,” Shoto said, half distracted as if he was reading something. “I just got the report from one of my insiders. It’s Medusa. And it seems she’s hired on one of your competing teams.”
Dragon chuckled, “Do you think she knows they’re also here because of Ancalagon?”
“I hope not — that would make for some great material against her — but I doubt it. She’s one of the best execs in the Zone, ruthless and resourceful, just like the Wyrm likes,” Shoto begrudgingly praised the rival exec.
“Any other reports?” Alina asked. “I just messaged my Ghost Rat contact-… Oh, dear. Eddward says they’ve picked up a few ‘strays’.”
“As long as they’re not with another corp, we might be able to consider them tentative allies,” Shoto pointed out. “Or at the very least, point them at Medusa and her contractors first.”
“Sounds like it’s going to be a proper party in Volklingin, if everyone else has picked themselves up some guides!” Mouse Protector laughed.
“From the looks of things up here, I think you might be right about that,” Dragon muttered.
With the Zone laid out below her, Dragon’s sensors could work at full effectiveness. She reported what she was seeing to the others and confirmed they were seeing the same thing.
“Two of the IFVs and a gang of motorcycles coming south to north. Two fliers, Glory Girl and Lady Photon, by the looks of it,” She called out.
“Another two with some makeshift vehicles behind them and… Pyrite standing on top from the east. Oh, and she just pointed at me. An IFV and a what looks like a whole warband from the west… with Hookwolf — bigger than I’ve ever seen him — running alongside them.
One IFV is running solo right below us. I can’t tell who’s inside that one. I can see a rather coordinated-looking convoy from the southwest, too. Two IFVs and several other armored vehicles in black and gold.”
She judged the angles of approach to the storm she could now see raging, the one that constantly engulfed Volklinging and Feuerschwinge’s supposed crash site. With Volklingin being on the northeast side of the Zone’s center, everyone would end up approaching from roughly the same angle. By Dragon’s calculations, parties would begin to run into each other within the hour.
After a moment to process and map everyone’s positions in the Zone, Mouse Protector let out a whooping cheer, “Oh, yeah! It’s a race, baby! A Race for the Zone! And we get to choose which party to crash first!”
Despite the chaos that was sure to come, Dragon couldn’t help but laugh with her. Considering the fury she was currently suppressing, a bit of chaos would be very, very cathartic. She just had to make sure she saved some of that fury for the Dragonslayers after the Dive.
… She didn’t think she’d have any trouble doing that, though.
IIIII
[AN: I’m determined to make this next chapter the last one of the Second Dive. It’s been fun — a whole lot of fun — but it has dragged on at this point. SO! We’ll finish strong with a chaotic race to the endgame and plenty of action. It might end up being some 10k words, though…]