by Skyler Grant
Finding her directly might be nearly impossible, finding what was hiding her could well be within our capabilities.
"I can build a scanner into the collar as well. That might help," Mechos said.
"You want to send Emma?" Anna asked.
"The tunnels between here and there aren't even full-size in places. A human wouldn't make it through, but a Gobble might," Mechos said.
I said, "I'll go then. I want all of you to see if you can gain control of the city’s teleportation gates."
"What are you thinking?" Anna asked.
"I'm thinking that if this doesn't work our next best of all the horrible plans is staging an enemy invasion of this city. We unleash a war and hope that in the chaos we gain some advantage."
"Knock down any of the District Lords and we can take them. We burn a few of them and Wolf wouldn't have his majority," Hot Stuff said.
"But we then have to deal with an invading army," Mechos said.
He was usually smarter than this.
I said, "Not if you are in control of the gates. We allow in just enough and then regulate the flow."
Mechos thought about this and nodded.
Tara said, "Or you just let in the Righteous. I know you don't like the plan, but it really is the best chance for you to get everyone out of this alive."
Given I'd been thinking about blowing the entire city to fragments a short time ago, it was worth considering.
It would mean defeat though, and letting yet another force I largely considered an enemy to have this city.
I wanted it for myself. In a pinch I'd settle for someone I somewhat trusted, such as Crystal, having control. The Righteous were bottomed out on the trust meter.
137
The Power core was located beneath the Central District, so you would think it would be a straightforward trip to get to Sylax's castle. It wasn't. The tunnels were winding and unpredictable, and matters weren't helped by the tendency of my host to get distracted and go bounding off in unpredictable directions after rats.
Of course, it was when I finally arrived that things really got dangerous.
The last of Sylax's defenses had been neutralized, but with her still on the loose Wolf wasn't taking any chances and his forces were everywhere. Sylax might have tucked herself away into a room with closed ventilation to hide her scent. I didn't have that luxury and was in a fat, tasty host that would seem a quick and delicious snack for a Wolf.
I had to keep on the move. Fortunately, my host fully agreed on that score. She didn't want to get eaten any more than I did.
It was a challenge to figure out where Sylax would have a saferoom. Normal logic would dictate that it would be close to her quarters, but Sylax could teleport. Even if a threat happened while she was asleep, the moment she snapped awake she'd be able to move herself somewhere more secure.
I thought it likely any saferoom would be located near the control center. I was experiencing firsthand how inconvenient it was to be cut off from my systems.
I steered the Gobble through the air ducts and eventually reached the main control room.
Sylax's paradigm ruled here. There were magical interfaces carved with runes in addition to large display screens and computers. There was also a familiar figure tapping away at the consoles. Crash.
Wolf must have conquered Crash’s district in secret. There was no other way Wolf would trust him this much if he weren't under some form of compulsion. Right now, Crash was completely preoccupied. The question was why?
Things in the city should largely be settled. While finding me and Jade might be a priority, Crash wouldn't need access to these systems for that.
I still needed to find Sylax, but it was worth waiting a bit to see what he was up to. From the air vent I could view the screen, and I could figure it out.
I had the Gobble settle down and get comfortable while I watched.
Crash was trying to override the timers. The moment I understood this, I realized it might be within his power. It would give Wolf an immediate victory, if he were to succeed.
Finding Sylax had to wait.
I needed to figure out what I could do about it. Crash wouldn't be winning many fights, but neither would I contained in this body.
Was that really true though? I hadn't tried to upgrade my host. If I still had access to my stockpile of resource points I should be able to do quite a bit.
I tried to pull up a host menu.
Madam Gobbles
Age: 8 Days
Physical Stats
Values out of 25
5 is the Gobble Average
Cuteness: 6
Agility: 4
Strength: 5
Endurance: 5
Intelligence: 9
Special Traits
Wrong Place Right Time
Somehow you will always be in exactly the wrong place at exactly the right moment to cause the most trouble
Lucky
You stay one step ahead of disaster. Somehow.
Madam Gobbles was a stupid name, but my host wasn't stupid at all according to what I was seeing. So far as Gobbles went she was a genius, and I could make her a good bit more intelligent yet.
On my human drones Intelligence wasn't an option. I wondered if this was something with the Gobble herself or because I was actually inside the host doing the upgrade.
I also could upgrade values far higher than I could with a human. I wasn't sure how Gobble values would map to human, but given the extensive cost it looked like some high-level upgrades—if they could be compared at all.
I eased Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Endurance up to fifteen and added accelerated healing, teleportation, and bio-armor.
While the destructive value of something like the Fire Matrix would have been valuable, it would have taken away all my potential for stealth.
Once the upgrades were done it was time to strike. It was far easier to get the Gobble to do what I wanted now, I assumed because of the upgraded intelligence. I had her back all the way up in the vent and then charge forward at full speed as I engaged bio-armor.
Perhaps the values were equivalent to human after all. The vent grill was flung across the room.
Crash looked up, startled. "What the..."
Looking up was a mistake. A bundle of armored, clawed Gobble landed on his face. Flailing backwards in his chair he fell to the floor and my host went with him. I was prepared to shred him into non-existence, but the fall caused Crash to smack his head with a loud thud and he was instantly unconscious.
I could kill him. Perhaps I should kill him, but if he was compelled then really none of this was his doing. His ability to subvert complex systems was also a valuable skill, one I'd hate to see lost.
Perhaps it wasn't even necessary. I turned Madam Gobbles loose on the room. With her armored coating and super-Gobble strength the cabling of the computers stood little chance. Within ten minutes there wasn’t a functioning system in the room. Smoke poured from several panels.
It could be repaired, but I got the impression that Crash was a software expert, not a hardware kind of guy. This would be beyond him, and while Wolf had technicians it would take them time.
I returned to the vent, back on my quest.
138
My ability to do some form of sabotage raised all new kinds of possibilities.
I was working to find Sylax, but perhaps I didn't need to. If I was right and she had located her saferoom somewhere where she would still have access to her camera feeds and systems, then it would be easier to have her find me.
I just needed to do something dramatic enough that it would get her attention.
With a castle full of Werewolves permanently on fire I had an idea just what I might be able to do. In a way, my past struggles with Hot Stuff and her followers were a good thing, because it suggested how to fight those with a Fire Matrix.
There were two techniques I'd used to great advantage and they both came down to a matter of oxygen. Take too
much away and their flames would die, keep it away and they would quickly become unconscious as well, keep it away even longer and the cells in their body would start shutting down. The cells of someone with a Fire Matrix active and aflame were especially oxygen-dependent.
The other option was too much oxygen. Flood them with it and they burned too hot and bright, enough that it would do damage to their cells and make a ruin of their surroundings as well.
Of the two I thought the latter was more likely to overwhelm their accelerated healing. I needed to find the source of the building’s oxygen supply. Since my Gobble had been crawling through the ventilation ducts I already suspected where that might be.
The atmospheric systems of a building like this had to be varied and adaptable given the wide range of attributes the Powered had. The main room for ventilation turned out to have over half-a-dozen tanks of different atmospheric gases and the requisite generators to produce more.
There was also the control panel to operate everything. I wasn't Mechos and I didn't have nearly the control over city systems that he did. It would take me more time, that’s all.
I thought that my best option would be to close the external vents for a time while I built up a pressurized supply of oxygen in the ducts. The Wolves burned through the stuff quickly and I wouldn't have much time, but even several minutes should let me build up a high concentration. Then I could open all the vents at once and release a mostly pure supply into the building.
I say mostly because I thought that I could do even better. The backup tanks had a wide variety of chemicals and I could do more than just a straightforward burn. I could accelerate things even further with the right mixture.
It took me more hours I didn't really have. It was time enough for Crash to regain consciousness and for the Wolves to begin a search of the building. Fortunately they were focusing near the control hub. I had time enough to get done what I needed to do.
Once the sequence had been programmed I initiated the process. It was a long five minutes for the pressure to build in the vents.
The other part of this plan was how I would survive. The plan was to fill the chamber I was in with inert gasses and to follow up the oxygen blast with a flood of these. It should stop me from getting any back-blast. I'd suffocate, a bit, but I could still maintain some oxygen content in my own air.
On schedule the next part of the program triggered and the vents around the building opened.
The castle actually trembled, blasts of super-heated flames running through the corridors as Wolves screamed and burned with the heat becoming too much even for them.
I couldn't be sure any of them would stay dead, but I thought many would. At the very least I'd made their day memorable.
It worked exactly as planned. There was a brief flicker and I suddenly found myself being picked up by the scruff of my neck and raised to the eye level of a peering Sylax.
I'd been teleported. We were in a room that looked much like the control center I'd found earlier, except the screens here all functioned.
"Emma? You look ridiculous. On the plus side I get to do this," Sylax said, as she broke one of my paws before flinging me against a wall. More bones snapped. I was glad I'd given my host accelerated healing. Even with it she was in a lot of pain.
I opened a connection on the console.
"Ridiculous, looking for you? You're obviously antsy from being locked up. You're even more a monster than usual," I said.
I always appreciated that I could say mean things about Sylax and keep them completely true. There were virtues to knowing someone truly awful. It put things in perspective.
"My castle has been taken by that brute and all your clever plans didn't help. Crystal is working for them now. That is a problem for me," Sylax said.
"Can she take your powers back?" I asked.
"No, it isn't quite that simple, but she can give them a full accounting of everything that I can do. It is knowledge I'd prefer not be out there," Sylax said.
I could understand that.
"We're planning an invasion through the portal gates. When we do, you'll have your chance to hit Wolf, take him by surprise this time."
Sylax snorted dismissively. "That is your new scheme? It is even worse than the old one."
I didn't disagree.
"If you are capable of anything besides cruelty and whining, do feel free to make a better suggestion," I said.
Sylax stared at my host for a long moment, then a cruel smile tugged at the corner of her lips. Sylax never looked so fearsome as when she looked happy. "Oh, I've got a plan. How about you move out of the slums and into a palace?"
139
Could Sylax actually be suggesting what I thought she was suggesting?
What else could it be? It was an offer to exchange my current host for her.
"I'm quite certain I have no desire to live inside your head. That is less palace and more creepy haunted sanitarium," I said.
"Oh, I could hurt you until you say yes," Sylax said, before beaming a smile. "But it doesn't have to all be broken bones and screaming. You want to defeat Wolf as much as I do."
I did.
"We suspect that Wolf became so powerful because he began to mirror you. We think that you have some sort of amplification core. Do you?" I asked.
"You figured that out," Sylax said, with an expression of distaste. "Unfair of him to turn my own tricks against me. A powerful thing to combine with an ally with an upgrade crystal."
"It makes sense out of what we witnessed. If I move in, will it affect me as well?"
"That is the question isn't it? I believe so. I think it will boost both of our powers and then you can give me tricks that Wolf has never dreamed of," Sylax said.
Perhaps I could, and if it worked Sylax would be reluctant to let me go.
This woman craved anything which gave her more power. I was wary about that, with good cause, but I also didn't see any other choice. Sylax was right, she could hurt my current host until I agreed.
On the plus side, with a clock ticking down, this really might be the only solution to make her strong enough.
"If it is even possible. I hadn't known it was until I came into this Gobble," I said.
Transfer Option
A compatible biological matrix has been found for core transfer and an offer has been extended. Do you wish to initiate transfer?
Well, that was that. I gave my current host instructions to run and hide as soon as I was out. I didn't trust in Sylax not to torture it to death out of boredom. Then I triggered the transfer.
I'd felt a bit slow and dimwitted when I first transferred into the Gobble. It was the opposite sensation going into Sylax. The sensation of power and intellect was intoxicating.
Her senses were well beyond those of ordinary humans. I was picking up colors and textures as if I were using a magnifier on my cameras. The sense of coiled power in even the most basic maneuvers was immense.
I tried to pull up her stats but only got an empty buzzing.
"I think not Emma," Sylax thought.
We didn't need to communicate verbally, this was useful, and alarming.
"If you want me to be able to upgrade you I need to see what you have," I thought.
"My secrets are mine. What can you do for me?"
If she wasn't going to show me hers, I wasn't inclined to show her mine—at least not anything she wasn't already aware of. A simple combination of our two abilities might be enough. Offensively she was already quite strong enough on her own. Where she'd failed was in Wolf’s ability to not just hurt her, but to recovery faster from any injuries she inflicted.
"I can give you the ability to generate your own armor plating and to quickly heal from damage. If these abilities are boosted by your core the combination should make you virtually invulnerable to anything that he can throw at you," I thought.
I'd assumed she was invulnerable already, but her fight with Wolf had made me rethink that. Sylax couldn't have surviv
ed my bombs at close range. What at the time I thought had been invincibility had to be her teleporting away.
I willed the upgrades into place and felt a sort of click. I'd done something, at least.
"The armor has a limited life. Save it for a big fight," I thought
"Fine," Sylax said, drawing one arm back and delivering a savage punch at her own jaw. I heard the crunch of bone and felt a moment of dizzied disorientation that quickly faded. Sylax waggled her jaw. It had already healed. I'd done enough studies of Ophelia to know how soon she would have healed that injury. I think Sylax was faster.
Unlike the Gobble, she was also intimately linked and connected to the city systems as its ruler. I was able to start pulling surveillance and movement information far superior to anything I had in my own district. Doing much with it was a bit of a problem, but I could at least make it useful for Sylax.
In one corner of her vision I constructed an overlay of the castle and marked on it those Wolf guards still up and on their feet after my explosive display. I'd done a lot to thin their numbers, but reinforcements were arriving through the bottom level already.
Wolf wasn't going to let this castle go unguarded. It was too important for his plans and he knew that we had to be here somewhere.
"A tactical display. I like it. Can you provide targeting information as well in battle?" Sylax asked.
It was nice to work with someone so focused on the mission, even if she was insane.
"I can. I'm finding markers all throughout the system indicating that Wolf had taken up residence in his own district and intends to remain there until the timers run out and he has total control of the District Lords. Too many markers, it doesn’t feel right," I thought to Sylax.
"Interesting. The Wolf lays a trap then. We'll spring it when your associates launch their diversion?" Sylax said.
That was the plan. Wolf wanted to finish things. He wouldn't expect Sylax and her new upgrades.