by Sean Davies
Winston had never tried letting another Book Wielder use the quill so he wasn’t sure if he was the only one capable of using it or not, but he understood Lucius’ lie. If any of the other gangs got too ambitious and tried taking Winston out to get the quill for themselves then it wouldn’t do them any good. Hopefully they would believe Lucius and not bother putting the theory to the test.
“Meat,” Lewis blurted to the group. “They like raw meat too.”
“Yes, and raw meat too... thank you, Lewis,” Lucius said dryly. “Are you all with me so far?”
“We can work with that plan,” Kat said impressed. “I thought you just wanted to put them in their place with a bit of healthy violence, but total annihilation sounds so much cooler!”
“I don’t condone such acts of aggression lightly, but the Trinity of Old does not have our best interests at heart, only their own,” Albert said. “And if we were to leave them with any sort of power base, they would only use it to regroup and attack us when we weren’t expecting it.”
Standing beside Kaine’s desk there was a scrawny old Werewolf male with short brown hair, a lot of untended stubble, and a pair of glasses on his nose. He nodded appreciatively in Winston’s direction. “So, you’re the Winston they’re all on about in there.”
“What, you mean the Alts in the Gloom?” Winston asked.
“What’s an Alt? I meant the Freaks. You’re pretty famous with them, even on this continent. I’m guessing you had something to do with them all speaking our language. All they can talk about since they started talking our lingo is how they want to meet you.”
“This is my Book Wielder, Wayne, by the way,” Kaine said.
“Oh, sorry – we call the Freaks who we deal with Alternatives or Alts to prevent offending them. The other crazy Freaks we still call Freaks... I didn’t realise the ones here had heard of me.” Winston wondered how the Alts across the Gloom Sea had heard of him, but then nothing much made sense in the Gloom at the best of times. It would make Lucius’ plan even easier to implement.
Wayne smiled. “Alts... I like it. We usually trade fruit – what made you think of sweets?”
“Just an accident. They’re like drugs to them,” Winston said.
“A very lucrative accident, I’m sure you all agree,” Lucius carried on. “My other Book Wielder, Lewis, who defected from the Trinity of Old to join us, made an interesting discovery too regarding their supply of Sanctium.”
“Thanks boss,” Lewis said taking the floor. “The old gits at the Trinity like to keep their Sanctium formula secret, but I learned in the Catacombs that most of their own people don’t even know this ‘secret formula’. According to them, the big wigs at the top make it, put it into vials and bullets, and store a load of it to use against naughty Supernaturals. They enchant the rest so that it turns into worthless base materials if tampered with, examined too thoroughly, or used against another Supernatural, and then they sell them for an extortionate amount of money to Book Wielders for use in the Gloom.”
“We know this already...” Kat faked a yawn.
“Chill, Pussy Cat, I’m getting to the good bit,” Lewis smirked. “I thought it sounded weird so I started investigating. After me and Winston battled a Demon that guarded the quill with some ‘Sanctium’ rounds, I was sure I smelt bleach, soap, pine, you know, the generic sterile cleaning product smells. On a different visit, Winston tried launching some Bleach at a Deathscythe tree and ended up melting the thing with it. So after that I went to the Shadow Market, brought some more special rounds, listened to the hocus-pocus about not tampering with them, and spent some quality time disassembling them. The special glow does fade out and all that pours out of the hollow rounds is worthless, because when I tested the extracted fluid it was just a mix of common cleaning products, and chiefly amongst them was bleach. Oh, and I tested it out in the Gloom to be sure and it reacts the same way to the surroundings, creatures, and Freaks as a round that hasn’t been tampered with.”
Albert’s eyes went wide. “You’re not serious? All this time and they actually did lose the witch hunter’s formula in Shadow War!”
Kaine almost dropped his beer. “Fuck me! The lying sons of bitches have been fooling us from the start!”
Kitty Cat smiled evilly. “Look on the bright side; no Sanctium means no threat to us,”
Lucius nodded. “Precisely, although I’m sure they have some of the substance stashed away somewhere in the Catacombs from their fights with the witch hunters towards the end of the Shadow War, so they’re not completely harmless. But if they’re going to such great lengths to lie about it, then it does hint at the fact that there isn’t enough to finish all of us off as easily as they’d like us to believe. With our horde of potions they should be no match for an alliance of likeminded gangs like us. We do still have to contend with some potent old magic that the Trinity have their disposal. The Catacombs alone may be the biggest obstacle we may face, but thanks to our arrangement with the Archivists we have our mages studying the ancient realty alteration magic. Even if only one manages to master it we’ll be able to even out the odds if it comes to an assault on the Catacombs.”
Winston had heard a little bit about the ancient magic from the few and far between, dusty, poorly written, and poorly kept records from around the time when history had just begun to be recorded. According to these documents the planet was supposedly once inhabited by ‘super-mages’ with abilities like teleportation, summoning, transmutation, and all sorts of frightening magic that rivalled on reality manipulation. Very few Supernaturals possessed even a fraction of these powers, and most of those that did, like the ones that had help construct the Trinity’s Catacombs, had been slain by witch hunters in the Shadow Wars. It was common knowledge that Silvario of the Trinity had teleportation and real world portal control, but apart from that there was no one else known with these miraculous powers.
“What about the Inquisition?” Kaine asked. “We’re going to have to do something about them sooner or later. So do we strike against them first, or the Trinity?”
“We will have to take them out of the equation at some point, but I see them more as a pest at the moment – a powerful pest, but a pest nonetheless. They have started recruiting civilian volunteers that are putting a bit of pressure on our dealers but it’s nothing we can’t work around. The way I see it, if we go against the Autocrat first we then leave ourselves open for a Trinity hit squad reprisal, but if we control the majority of the Supernatural society we’ll have plenty of time and allies to help rid ourselves of these pious fools.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but that might not be possible,” Albert said sadly.
“Why not? Is this to do with what you were going to raise?” Lucius asked, concerned.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Albert replied gravely. “I had a Nightclaw sneak into an Inquisition outpost to gather intelligence. I was still hoping to reason with the new Autocrat, but when my agent brought back his report I knew I’d never be able to reach out to him.”
“Please get to the point...” Kat said impatiently.
Albert scowled at her and carried on. “My agent managed to access one of their futuristic handheld computer things. The Inquisition is laying cables from their headquarters on Central Isle to the three continents. They’re calling it ‘phase 1 of Supernatural extermination’.”
“Then they don’t just mean to suppress us, they want us wiped of the face of the fucking planet!” Kaine shouted.
“What’s the big deal; it’s only some cables, right?” Kat said nonchalantly. “And they don’t have enough people to exterminate us anyways.”
“But they do have the technology, and it’s only getting better and better,” Albert said severely.
Lucius stared into space, working things out in his head. “They’re going to network all the computers!” he gasped.
Kat shrugged. “Hate to sound like a broken record, but... what’s the big fucking deal?�
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Lucius shook his head, half in shock, half impressed by the Autocrat’s choice of tactics. “Globally networked computers means globally networked banks; every deposit, withdrawal, every blood card transaction. Globally networked surveillance, incident reports, all of it managed out of our reach on Central Isle. Everything we’ve built up with be brought down. There’ll be no way to tamper or bribe, and there’ll be nowhere to run or hide when they come for us.”
“Then we destroy the construction boats before they can finish!” Kaine said enthusiastically.
“No,” Xavier interjected, “attack Orphan Isle and kill the Autocrat.”
The room looked at him in shock. Winston and the others that knew him would have never thought he’d venture such a risky plan.
“They’ll only try and lay the cables again if you sabotage them,” Xavier explained, “and they’re probably waiting for us to make a move on the construction boats so they can judge our weaknesses and tactics so they can gather more information on how to eradicate us. If we go straight for the head of the Inquisition there’s a good chance the whole organisation will fall apart. And even if it doesn’t, the world will be thrown into chaos long enough for us to gain the tactical advantage from then on.”
“Bravo, Xavier – it’s ballsy but I like it!” Kaine said loudly.
“You’re right, Xavier,” Lucius said. “But how would we get our forces to the Isle, past their fleet and shore defences, and then deal with the inevitable Trinity reprisal that would follow? We would be scattered and weakened.”
“We use the Freaks,” Winston said. “We get them out into the Gloom Sea on some boats, I’ll open a portal, and they can attack the Isle directly without anyone knowing we orchestrated it. Well, they’ll probably figure it out, but what proof will they have?”
“That’s brilliant!” Lucius was amazed. “You never cease to astound me!”
Winston tried not to blush as the whole room looked impressed. “First things first, should we make a deal with the Alts here? Get things rolling here on Industria and then work on the plan to attack Central Isle after?”
“Sure thing Winston,” Kaine said. “We’re going to need those extra supplies if we’re going to take Industria in earnest. The Clockwork Angels in Industria City have made a little alliance with the Desem Patriots motorbike gang that keep the main coastal cities under their thumb. They don’t look too kindly on us at all as they’re both mainly comprised of ex-resistance members, or resistance members who deliberately went out of their way to be turned Supernatural to fight against Imperia during the war.”
“It would be better if I dealt with a big figure in there,” Winston began. “Like over in Imperia there’s an Alt version of the Governor called the Mayor. Is there someone like that over this side?”
Wayne nodded. “Yeah, there’s a thing that runs them over in the Gloom version of Industria. Going by their newly translated babbling, I think it’s called the Foreman.”
“Any chance of crossing over in Industria City or is it too dangerous?” Winston asked.
“I wouldn’t advise it,” Kaine spoke regretfully. “We used to have a bit of safe territory there but the Angels and Patriots have been rowdy since they grouped up. Plus you’d have the Inquisition to worry about.”
“I could cross over and see if the Freaks, Alts, whatever, are up for taking you to see it from here?” Wayne suggested.
“Sure. Bring some candy though, it will go down well,” Winston suggested.
Wayne nodded and left with Blake to raid the stores for anything sugary.
“Right, so we’re all set on this course of action then?” Kaine directed his attention to Kat and Albert.
“Definitely,” Kat said coolly.
“Of course, the Concealed Council is ready to play its part,” Albert said formally.
“Good!” Kaine clapped his hands together. “Now if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like a private word with my old friends from the Shadow Circle. Please make yourselves welcome here, and we’ll have a good old celebration later.”
The two other factions left the room and went downstairs to enjoy themselves.
“That is and interesting choice of allies, my old friend,” Lucius grinned.
Kaine shrugged. “Albert’s a bit uptight but I figured his political knowledge would come in handy, and Kitty Cat… well, you’ve seen how eager they are.”
“Reckless fighters like Kat and the rest of her people will be hard to control,” Xavier said disapprovingly.
“They don’t need controlling, Xavier, you old stick in the mud,” Kaine smiled. “They just need unleashing in the direction of our enemies.”
Wayne and Blake arrived back at the office with a couple of carrier bags full of sugary snacks and a few filled with smelly raw meat.
“Good thing us Dogs have a sweet tooth,” Blake joked.
“I better have some steak left over,” Kaine grumbled.
“You do boss,” Wayne said. “Right, I’ll be back soon.”
“Oh, that meat smells good!” Lewis said, holding his rumbling stomach.
“There’s something seriously wrong with you,” Winston joked.
Wayne carried a bag of candy and a bag of meat in one hand, and produced his book with the other. He enlarged it to its natural size and opened it on Kaine’s desk, and with a wave of static and distortion he was gone.
“Who’s coming with me then?” Winston asked.
“We’ll all go,” Kaine said. “I’d like to see the Gloom for myself, if you don’t object, Lucius?”
“Not at all. I was going to suggest the same myself.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing what the Gloom looks like over this side of the world!” Lewis said enthusiastically.
“I’m sure it will be just as grim and dangerous as our neck of the woods,” Winston replied.
It wasn’t long before Wayne appeared back without the shopping bags. “They’re game. They said they’ll take us to the Foreman on their train.”
“I can’t wait to see that!” Lewis said happily.
“I can,” Winston mumbled. Unstable Gloom technology still gave him the creeps, with the exception of Olex the Spidercar that he still saw and spoke to sometimes in Gloom City.
“Could you please do the honours, Winston?” Lucius asked politely.
“Sure.” Winston stood up, pulled his book and quill out of his jacket, and made a rectangular portal appear at one end of the room.
The edges of the portal moved slightly and glowed orange like embers. The usual hard to perceive un-light seeped out around it’s edges, and a rusty old-fashioned factory filled with dust covered old machinery of unknown purpose could be seen through the interstice.
The members of the Dogs of War were awestruck.
“Quite the party trick, hey guys?” Veronica chuckled. She took Winston by the hand and they walked through first before everyone else followed after.
When everyone was through Winston closed the portal behind them, just in case something tried leaving the Gloom in their absence, and they proceeded carefully down to the ground floor of the Gloom factory.
The top three floors may have been discarded but the ground floor was a hive of activity. Rust covered and brass coloured machinery throbbed and vented steam as half puppet, half clockwork, or steam powered Alternatives tended to them. They wore an array of different industry related clothing including boiler suits, overalls, gasmasks, and flat caps. A conveyor belt was running with Alts quickly assembling all sorts of mechanical bric-a-brac with well-trained lightning fast finger movements.
“So this is the Gloom, aye?” Kaine said appreciatively. “It’s not so bad. Feel like there’s a spring in my step.”
“It’s not too bad when everyone’s not trying to kill you,” Wayne said. “Supernaturals get a buzz out of being in the Gloom but it starts making your head go funny if you’re here for a while.”
“One of ou
r Mages who stayed in too long ended up going half-demon,” Lewis added.
Wayne wasn’t that surprised. “I’d heard of Supernatural Book Wielders getting addicted to this place and going missing. I figured they might become part of the scenery or something, if they didn’t end up dead.”
An Alt wearing a greasy orange boiler suit and a gas mask was waiting for them by the front doors. “One of you the Winston?” he barked in a rough voice through the gasmask.
“That’s me.” Winston stepped forward.
“Good, good. Me Team Leader here, you call me TL. I take you to Foreman.” TL raised his gasmask enough to expose his yellowy-brown teeth and popped a square of chocolate in his mouth. He put the gasmask down again and shivered all over as he chewed. “You follow me now. You make deal; bring more good things, yes?”
“Yes, that’s the plan TL,” Winston replied politely.
“Good, good, we go train now.” TL left the building.
The group followed the Team Leader Alternative out into the Gloom’s reflection of Rigorton. The air was hazy with smoke and fumes that tickled the nose. All around them was the clacking and clanging of machinery, big clockwork and steam powered mechanisms spun and whirred around, and power cables ran building to building that were mostly exposed, cackling and buzzing with surges of sickly green electricity. The sky above was so thick with fluffy clouds of yellow, brown, and grey pollution that the usual purple clouded Gloom skyline couldn’t be seen at all.
Gloom vegetation sprouted where it could amidst the industrial chaos. In damp dark alleyways Ashrooms and other fungi huddled together in pools of gloom water and sludgy industrial waste, and Nightmare Nettle and other magical plants sprouted through cracks in the crumbling concrete underfoot. Blightmoths and other flying creepy crawlies continually engaged in kamikaze flights into the cackling green electrical equipment.