Rise of the Phoenix King (Shadowrun/Exalted)

The beginning is a very delicate time, Theo often liked to say when beginning a new venture. And this particular new beginning had to go exactly right. So many years of preparation had gone into this that pressure was at an all-time high. We were threading a needle here and the consequences for failure were enormous. It would have been trivial to cow them. With everything we knew, could place enormous pressures on them of various kinds and their cooperation would have been a nonfactor. Of course, even if he had come here with nothing but selfish motives that could be problematic in the long term. People have a tendency to look for ways out when you trap them, and it's hard to think of everything. Someone, somewhere would eventually find a crack and slip through.

On the other hand, just giving them everything they wanted for nothing wouldn't have worked out for anyone either. Not only would it make them trust us less, but it would make them dependent or result in them using whatever we gave them for harmful purposes. And it would also mean we wouldn't get to stay. Tabitha had given us a year to show profitability and that wasn't a lot of time in the best of circumstances. We had backup plans, of course, but they were all strictly inferior to main plan. I mean, if one of them had been better it would have been the main plan from the start. This had to go right.

"You're all wondering why I'm here," Theo began. He had taken a position seated at the head of a conference table the leaders of Squatter's Mall had long ago repurposed for their meetings. They kept the room clean, but signs of decay were everywhere and the aesthetics had been the first to go, dying a forgotten death before anyone here had been born. Instead, the place had a spartan energy to it, which suited me just fine. I had taken up a position standing at Theo's right hand, standing at the ready though just a pace behind him. Robin had done the same on the left, although she'd removed her helmet to reveal her artificially green eyes and synthetically perfect auburn hair. Lucifer had spared no expense when it came to any and every alteration Robin had wanted to make to her body. Just so she could make it feel like hers again.

"...and what this means for you. Some of you are even concerned for the welfare of others. Those are the ones who will do the best under me while I'm here, but I don't expect you to believe that now." he continued.

"Cut the drek, " Anna interjected, "We don't need you to hold our hands and tell us we look pretty before you frag us in the ass. Just get this over with."

Theo smirked. So did Robin. Actually, I was having trouble avoiding it myself.

"Well, I suppose there's a lot to go over, so it wouldn't hurt to jump right in." Theo spared a brief glance at his commlink, "I have a presentation in the works for you, but it's not quite ready yet. So, to start, I should tell you I've done a lot of research on this place, or rather Lucifer has and he's shared it with me. But while I know generally what I'm getting into it's never wise to take control over a new office and make sweeping changes right away. At least not when you can avoid it. Things will generally continue for the next two to three weeks as they always have been, just with oversight from me and Lucifer's people after which time I will begin to take a more active role in day-to-day operations."

Theo leaned forward and placed his hands forward on the table, fingers interlaced together, "But I can already tell you some of the structural changes. First, you will be my advisory board. I'll need your recommendations with regard to policy changes and personnel recommendations. Which - "

Anna interrupted again, "Why should we help you with anything,"

"Because, Wu-měinǚ, I can be extremely accommodating," every once in a while - very rarely - Theo would remind me he was still Tabitha's son. Only the McWellans could make a bribe sound like a threat, or a threat sound like a bribe, "For instance, I've been authorized to issue as many time-limited SINs as I want. And if this project succeeds, they will automatically convert into permanent limited SINs after a year. That's not bad for a start, is it?"

"It's Anna. Just Anna," she replied, "and...I guess it isn't."

I was getting that itching feeling of something being not quite as expected. We'd anticipated some hesitancy on the part of most of the mall's leadership to engage in a dialogue with us, but Anna wasn't pulling her punches. It could be that since she was the most junior member, the others had forced or maneuvered her into position to be the fall guy. To test the waters to see what would happen and if Theo didn't like her tone, well she was just the newest among them and didn't represent the others.

Something about that explanation didn't feel complete.

"How, exactly are you ensuring compliance? If everything people are saying about this Lucifer guy is true, his men won't exactly follow your every order. I assume you've got some kind of major bribe for the rank and file on its way? Something to build goodwill? Pallets of MREs or something?"

And that's when I noticed it. Anna Wu wasn't just putting on a good show. She was certainly nervous but she wasn't instinctively afraid the way the others were. Even BladeJob, head of the 9-to-5ers, the most vicious gang in Squatter's Mall, wasn't willing to just jump into the ring with Theodore McWellan, fists flying, expecting to be treated like an equal. Speaking of the devil...

"Hey, yeah," BladeJob entered the fray. The wirey but tall black-haired human had sunken eyes from too many brain-benders and - in fact - looked like he might be high right now. "That'll certainly get you what you need from my guys. Might want to throw in some guns too. Just to make sure we're able to get things done for ya,"

Theo's eyes flickered BladeJob's way, just to acknowledge he'd been heard, and then moved back to Anna.

"Two shipping containers of officer-grade Loan Star MREs, 7 maintenance and repair drones, 500 square meters of Sun-Cells, an emergency Matrix node, and 15 autodocs. Also, 5 coffin hotels...mostly for their integrated showers."

Anna nodded, her eyes unfocused for a moment as she calculated, "Not a bad start I guess..."

And that's what did it for me. Theo probably figured it out before I did, but I suddenly realized what made her different from the others. She lacked instinctive fear, had no small degree of entitlement, was educated and charismatic enough to get the Squatter's Mall sex industry under her thumb in record time, and even her posture was authoritative. I'd met dozens or hundreds just like her at every fancy party Tabitha had forced Theo and I to go to growing up. She wasn't just rich. She was Old Money. And she was slumming.

"Uh..." Doctor Fadil, found his voice He was an older man of Mediterranean descent. Lucifer's files on him were also woefully incomplete, but unlike Anna he was practically an institution at Squatter's Mall. He'd been here since before I was born.

"Autodocs? What kind? I can't afford much, but we could really use them," Fadil asked.

"He's not selling them to you, " Anna interjected, and I couldn't tell if she was angry or not. Something about the tension in her voice, "He's going to charge you per use."

"Not at all, " Theo corrected her, "Healthy workers are productive workers. Just the cost of doing business, really."

That got everyone's attention with a quickness. He was giving them free medical care. No one did that. Ever.

Theo's commlink beeped.

"Ah! Looks like my presentation's ready." he smiled, "but first, I need to address some issues with regards to how order is kept here. Lucifer has informed me that this is largely handled by you, Mr Bladejob, and your 9-to-5-ers"

Bladejob nodded, "Oh yeah, boss. You keep us in guns, booze, and ammo and we'll keep the peace for you."

Theo's gaze started to harden, ever so slowly.

"He also informed me that you have a thriving side business making custom BTLs? I'm curious, could you tell me what kind? Or how they're made?" those last four words came out hard enough to remind me of Tabitha again.

Bladejob blanched and his eyes split wide. He hadn't expected a corporate executive of all people to care about his little side business of recording a child's first experience with hard drugs. And...other things. The people of Squatter's Mall did try to protect their children, but it was still Redmond. Kids became orphaned every day, and the 9-to-5ers were the most powerful gang in the mall, due to the money they brought in and the protection it allowed them to buy from Crimson Crush. The ork gang had become more respectable over the years, but they were still a gang and could still be convinced to turn a blind eye for the right price. Especially if the victims weren't orks.

Theo pressed a button on his commlink and a holographic image sprang to life above it. All 43 members of the 9-to-5ers were on their knees with black bags over their heads. All surrounded by Robin's team and other Agents of Lucifer, ready to do what was right.

"Hey, what the frag!" Bladejob went for his gun, but Robin was on him in flash. His weapon clattered to the floor and he suddenly found himself with his face pinned to the table, and his arm twisted around his back.

Everyone here knew what Bladejob had been doing. What they were all doing. Knowing what I now knew about Anna, she might have been building up to something, but no one had said anything at all during the meeting. The Barrens was a place of abject desperation and people had their limits.

"I take a dim view of people who hurt children, " Theo was addressing the others. Bladejob was a thing now rather than a person. His opinion, of no consequence. He screamed anyway.

"Can any of you speak for them? For any of them? Can you tell me if even one of them isn't guilty?" Theo asked.

Silence. And then...

"Siddig," said Imam Ibrahim, "He involved himself with them recently, but he's just a low-level enforcer. He's hurt no children."

"Jason, " Father Forthill added immediately afterward, "his situation is much the same. You have to understand, Mr. McWellan, life is very hard here. Often you have to make compromises just to survive. Please, have mercy."

Theo relayed the two names to Gregor, who released them.

"Anyone else?" Theo asked.

Silence

Theo gave the word and 41 people died in an instant. Robin let Bladejob linger just a second longer than the others so he could watch. Then she snapped his neck like a twig. She hoisted his limp corpse over her armored shoulder and took it out of the room where it wouldn't be a distraction.

"So it looks like we're going to need volunteers for a new police force. On that note...allow me to introduce Simon Delucca, our new police chief."

As you might imagine, things went fairly smoothly for the next couple of weeks. It's not that there wasn't friction, but between Theo, Robin and her team, and myself, we managed to put the right image of hard-but-fair into the minds of the community leaders, which trickled down to the rest of the population. And it didn't hurt that Theo was tossing out SINs like candy at a parade, or that he was bringing in supplies by the literal tonne. The resources Theo had brought in were relatively minimal compared to what the place really needed, but he had cargo helicopters coming in twice a week with more. The maintenance and repair drones also managed to save Mr. Obrien and his people a fair amount of time which they paid for with mandatory study to gain the licenses they'd need to do that work professionally. Not that that took very long. The vast majority of it was stuff they'd been doing for years without the burden of corporate legitimacy. But legitimacy had its uses. Once the most desperate of Squatter's Mall's structural and electronic issues were dealt with, Mr. Obrien's team was suddenly overstaffed.

That had been all part of the plan. Theo issued them Rigger Control Consoles and put them in the Horizon General Labor pool, and they quickly found jobs doing similar work all over the world via the Matrix. He took a 15% cut from their pay, but that money went into the general project fund and paid for things like general maintenance, security training and guard salaries, and routine maintenance on the autodocs. It wasn't a lot, but the jobs were essentially marketing aimed at the residents. The corps had a long history of predatory practices towards their laborers so Theo had quite a lot of trust to build. Still, when people saw how O'brien's team had been treated, it softened them up for what came next. One of those predatory practices I mentioned was loaning people money for cybersurgeries mandatory for their job. Predatory, but common and fairly accepted. And Theo was doing much the same to balance the books, but the loans were tied to their temporary SINs. If the Project went up in smoke, then so did their debt. He was offering only skilljacks, the hardware necessary to utilize Knowsofts and Linguasofts. It would let people be fairly decent at most tasks they could get the software for. And of course, Theo had purchased numerous skillsofts and placed them in Squatter's Mall's new digital public library.

But he never took more than 15% of anyone's base pay. And within two months, 20% of Squatter's Mall was gainfully employed via the general labor pool. If you've heard of trickle-down economics, well...this was hail economics. One in five people now had more money than they'd ever had in their lives. More than they knew what to do with. And the internal market of Squatter's Mall was struggling to keep up with demand. Theo was willing to bring in additional consumer goods in his twice-weekly shipments, but he didn't want to be the sole bottleneck for the Market. He wanted it to thrive on its own, but for now, there weren't many other options. And the people were hiring each other as well. It wasn't exactly Bellevue, but we were coming up on Everette at least. Just on an extremely small scale.

Two weeks into that, I was in my own personal coffin hotel, pleasure reading and getting ready to sleep the sleep of the just, when I heard approaching footsteps. I glanced at the monitor on the wall and noticed Robin creeping up on Theo's coffin hotel, immediately next to mine. She was wearing some kind of bathrobe, but not for long. She dropped it to the ground revealing lingerie - a classic Teddy in fact - and it reminded me just how much she'd altered her body over the years. Both legs and one arm entirely replaced, but with the best synthskin on the market. Both her eyes were entirely robotic, and - because it was Robin - she'd had a boob-job as well. Thankfully her friends managed to convince her not to take it to cartoonish levels, but she was uh...voluptuous. She pulled the rounded verticle door of Theo's coffin open, blatantly abusing her clearance codes, and jumped inside.

This was going to be hilarious.

I couldn't help myself. I activated my enhanced hearing and found myself wishing I had some popcorn. But I wouldn't have needed it to hear Theo's sharp shriek.

"Robin! What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" it was a stupid question in her eyes. Which reminded me that maybe I shouldn't be finding this so funny. Robin wasn't going to hurt Theo, and he wouldn't hurt her. It was just a funny mixup, or so I'd thought at first. But I was quickly reminded of Robin's cognitive impairment and realized I'd been a bit of a dick. It was not the case that Robin couldn't consent to sex or anything. She wasn't that far gone. Not at all. But knowing what was appropriate was difficult for her. That's what the custom knowsofts he'd commissioned for her were for, but it seemed like she wasn't using them.

"Look, Robin, if you want to get laid, there's plenty of other options out there." Theo pleaded with her.

"I didn't come here to get laid. I came here so you could get laid." she explained.

What?

"What?" Theo asked.

I heard the shuffling sounds of uncomfortable movement - the only kind of movement in a coffin hotel - before she explained. Sort of explained.

"So did you take your shot and she shot you down? Or did you never have the balls to even try?"

Wait? Did Theo have some kind of crush on someone? How had I missed that one?

"Robin please, not now. It's late and I'm really very - " Theo began, but she cut him off.

"I know you're Lucifer." she said flatly.

Silence.

"Listen, Robin - " Theo tried, but she wasn't having it.

"Don't. We've talked almost every day for the past five years. I know you. And you know I'm loyal. There's no one more loyal to you than me. Not even her. I'd die for you and you should fragging know that by now." it wasn't quite an accusation, but it was close. I should have been up and out and giving Theo an excuse to escape the conversation, but there was something I was missing and I didn't even know what it was.

I heard Theo's breathing increase just slightly, "Robin...I..."

"Look....kid, " Robin took over, "I don't care if you don't love me or about any stupid drek like being the silver medal. I don't care if you're thinking about her the whole time. Drek, close your eyes and scream out her name for all I care. But I see how lonely you are. And she doesn't."

A dawning horror came over me as the realization of knowledge I didn't want threatened to crash down into my awareness.

"Why?" Theo whispered.

Now it was Robin's turn for her heart to beat a little faster and breath a little heavier, "I don't even...there aren't words to describe what you did for me. It doesn't even fit in my head. Do you know what that's like? To owe someone so much that the weight of it smothers you alive day and night? To be so desperate to do something anything just to try to acknowledge it, even if you know nothing could ever be enough?"

That was the moment I realized this was going to happen. I hadn't thought she had a chance. Plenty of women had tried to hit on Theo before and I had derived no small pleasure from watching them fail. But Robin wasn't going to fail. On the contrary, she'd already succeeded.

"Yeah...yeah, I know that feeling," Theo replied. I knew that tone. There was a distance in his voice and a sadness at the other end of that distance. There were parts of him I just couldn't reach, but maybe Robin could. Maybe this was good for him. Maybe he needed this.

I didn't want to hear the rest, and I'm not just talking about the sex. I crept out of the coffin hotel as quietly as I could and made my way up to the roof. There were security drones patrolling the perimeter but no people. I leaned up against a ledge and stared up a the moon...contemplating.

So Theodore McWellan was in love with me. Somehow it didn't come as a surprise. Nor was it a surprise that he hadn't said anything. Theo was very aware of power dynamics and knew the position that would place me in if I didn't return his feelings. Maybe that was what the five million nuyen was about. Maybe he needed me to be totally and completely independent before he could feel secure enough to admit his feelings without having to worry about the pressure that would place me under.

No, something about that didn't feel right. Theo knew I was a Samurai and how important my integrity was. He knew that wouldn't be an issue for me, surely. Suddenly the money didn't seem so interesting. It was a curiosity, but not related to the matter at hand.

How did I feel about him?

Relationships....weren't exactly my specialty. Growing up in the Barrens, most guys...weren't really interested. I was decent-looking enough, I supposed, but the thing about guys is that they liked to be needed. As a physical adept, there wasn't a lot most guys could offer me from a utilitarian perspective. And the thing about people is that if they see rejection coming, most don't even try. Most guys just assumed I'd see them as having nothing to offer me so they stayed away. That didn't mean I didn't have to deal with creeps or people trying to manipulate me or guys looking for one-night stands. But I'd never had a real relationship. At least female Street Samurai occasionally hooked up with their mechanics.

I'd been on the roof for a little more than an hour when I heard familiar footsteps approaching. It was Robin and she'd even remembered to put clothes on. She snapped her fingers and a small flame sparked to life above her thumb. She lit herself a cigarette, took a deep drag, and blew it straight up into the air.

"I'm not here to brag. I'm not like that. Really I don't get why anyone does that kinda thing. You have a second?" Robin's weird pseudo-innocence on display.

"I'm tired, Robin," I told her, but I knew it wouldn't make any difference.

"You should join us, next time," she said.

Robin and I were both born Barrens Rats, so for us, polyamory was a normal and accepted thing. Well, mostly. A lot of people try to get away from that kinda thing when and if they made it out. Because in Redmond, it was exploitative as often as not. If you were lucky enough to be the third bitch of some Yakuza foot soldier, you get to eat every single day, and if you were a good girl he probably wouldn't even beat you that much. That's not to say it never happened for love. It certainly did. But I was already out of my depth thinking about the more conventional sort.

I almost made the mistake of saying something, but that would have continued the conversation, so I just kept looking at the moon.

"I knew you were there, " Robin kept going, "but he didn't. Well, he knew but he was sort of distracted. Didn't think about it until after. He got all...uh...what's the word?"

"Embarrassed?" I asked.

"Right, yeah. That thing. Says he's sorry. "

"Tell him...not to mention it. At all. "

Robin nodded.

"So uh...what's the hold up with you two? He's hot, rich, and punch-drunk in love with you. I know it's not all about fragging, but come on. What are you, waiting for marriage? " Robin laughed.

"Now's, not a good time, Robin," and the strain in my voice was only a fraction of what I was feeling.

She held her hands up, "Alright, alright. I'll go. But just so you know, I'm not standing in your way. You found him first and I've got no problem being the side-bitch. And I think you know why."

Robin turned to go, but...I don't know why I felt the need to do this but I did.

"I didn't." Robin turned back to look at me, obviously not knowing what I was talking about, "find him first, I mean. You beat me to him by a few minutes. I even overheard the last few minutes of his conversation with you."

"When I was on the ledge?" Robin said, not quite wistfully, but it seems I'd certainly taken her back in time with my words.

It wasn't really a question, but I nodded anyway. And for a moment, there was silence. Robin stepped down the stairs and disappeared. And then I was alone again.

Oh god, I was alone again.

 

AN:

The last chapter came out in a bit of a rush and was poorly edited as a result. I usually don't call out edits, but there was a mistake this time that affected the story enough that I'm calling it out here. Theo's little economic miracle did not take two weeks. It took two months. There are a bunch of other little edits here and there but that's the big one. I probably need to clean up previous chapters as well, but that won't affect the story. it's just me being neurotic.

---

I had to admit it. Theo and Robin were a cute couple, and at this point, they were practically inseparable. Part of me, in a far corner deep inside, raged at the feeling that Robin had taken my place. But her offer echoed in my mind every time I felt that way. She'd even offered to take a subordinate role in the hypothetical triad and that made it painfully obvious that if I was indeed missing out on something, it was for no other reason than my own cowardice. And that made me rage even more.

So, I focused on the job. 90% of our efforts had been on the backup plan because that was the harder part. Demonstrating how to create a functioning economy - proving that it worked and could be done - didn't really require corporate legitimacy. Everything we'd done could in theory be done without Theo's involvement. Fake SINs and fake licenses weren't that difficult to get in the Shadows. Theo had made the process enormously faster, but it wasn't a requirement. But people needed more than just an explanation of how to do it. They needed a demonstration. They needed hope. And that's what we gave them. Of course, not everyone had the skills to reasonably do any kind of online job even if they had the skills to survive in the Barrens.

So we made a school. A big chunk of that was just Theo dropping yet more money on a simply absurd number of tutorsofts. This again was something that could have been done without him or his money. You just needed a decker to break the DRM and it got a lot cheaper. The school wasn't free but it didn't charge upfront. You paid with an extra 5% deduction on whatever wage you brought in once Theo and his executive assistants found you a job. It wasn't a perfect solution. Plenty of people in the Barrens in general and Squatter's Mall specifically had turned to brain-benders to deal with the hopelessness and stress. Plenty more were just obstreperous. So not everyone could function in the outside world.

But it didn't have to be perfect. Squatter's Mall was its own economy and culture and knew how to deal with and integrate those kinds of people. Chief Delucca had had to adapt, but that wasn't exactly a surprise to him. We'd been training locals to act as a police force as quickly as possible. The Agents of Lucifer did their best, but even if most of them were from Redmond they weren't from here. We needed people who understood this place to properly govern it. And it didn't hurt to have another vector for injecting money into the system. We paid our police officers well but expected a lot from them. Integrity most of all. Again it wasn't perfect but it was working.

None of this was the main plan.

Because you see, none of this was making any money. That wasn't any surprise, mind you, because any business required investing large amounts of money and effort in order to build it into an abstract machine for wealth creation. Reinvesting profits into expansion had been traditional once, according to Theo. Now it was a lost art. That was the reason, according to Theo anyway, that we hadn't had much in the way of corporate dickery to deal with. And, with the exception of Tabitha, Theo didn't expect any. None of the mid-level execs who we'd normally have to worry about had any fragging clue what was going on or why we were doing what we were doing. Oh, we'd had our share of shadowrunner infiltrations, but they'd been strictly recon only. We knew this because of the number of times our computer systems had been infiltrated with no apparent damage. And from the number of runners who straight-up admitted that they'd done it. Many had taken the job because they didn't like someone fragging with the Barrens and wanted to know what we were up to and how to punish us. Not everyone trusted Lucifer.

We earned a lot of allies that way, even if they weren't ready to sign on as Agents. But corporate malfeasance wasn't our only problem. The Mafia and the Yakuza hated Lucifer for his interference in their sex trade. And there were plenty of minor gangs in Redmond who might take offense at a megacorp intruding one of the few place they felt they could be free of them, even if that freedom cost them everything. The smaller gangs weren't much of an issue, but the Mafia and the Yakuza were only too happy to frag with us at every opportunity. And we'd suffered losses. Good people died, both civilians and police. Agents of Lucifer and otherwise. But they didn't die in vain.

Because the main plan, our true source of income, was Social Media.

We were from Horizon after all.

And it wasn't just charity concerts like the one Theo threw at the beginning of all of this, although those continued. We couldn't leave the Barrens, but with the Matrix that wasn't any kind of limitation for someone with a god-tier Pito score like Theo. But that was just the tip of the spear. You see, the restoration of Squatter's Mall was a story. And people loved stories. So Theo had turned everything we'd been doing, at least everything that wasn't privileged information, into a reality show. Anna and the rest of the Advisory Board helped point us in the direction of people with the necessary charisma and we issued them whatever they needed to get started live vlogging the restoration, the attacks, everything. Stories of hope and despair and love and loss and renewal were pouring out of Squatter's Mall nonstop via the Matrix. And people were eating it up. Viewership was beyond all expectations. So were the sponsorship offers. Theo and I even got in on the action ourselves. His new relationship with Robin made teenage girls everywhere swoon, and people especially loved my rags to riches to giving back story.

But it was the funerals that really brought in the superchats. I had some pretty mixed feelings about that. We all did, even Theo. But this was the Barrens, a place where if your mother died from exposure to the cold the night before and you sold her for parts to the Tamanous just to be able to eat for another day, most people weren't going to judge you. So, much like Anna, we were giving our 'whores' as much dignity and respect and care as we could possibly manage. But we were still whoring them out. It was just another way to survive the Barrens.

And people understood, mostly. Theo and I had done everything we could to be approachable while maintaining the understanding that we were the ones who were In Charge. But even if the residents were cooperating, it had still taken them months to realize that we weren't here to squeeze them. Slowly at first, people started to realize who Theo really was, and I don't mean his identity as Lucifer. It crept up on us slowly but surely until one day I realized as Theo, Robin, and I were walking down the main thoroughfare that everyone was smiling at us. No one flinched when they saw us or rushed to get out of our way. They looked relaxed.

It was a goddamn miracle.

And just in time for Christmas. Oh did I say, 'Christmas'? Sorry, I meant Horizon's Multicultural Winter Solstice Celebration! But where most corp holidays were sterile affairs to placate the masses and encourage consumerism, Theo had used the empty corporate pandering as an opportunity to further unify the community. Rather than hide from the multiplicity of faiths and belief systems, we'd embraced them. We put together a festival to show off everyone's faiths and cultures, their food and their histories, in a collaborative way rather than a competitive one. We celebrated each other.

And afterward, there was a feast. At least by local standards. While the top one percent of Squatter's Mall residents had an income of 50,000 nuyen a year, our real success was in getting the median income up to 6,000 a year. That may not sound like much, but it was a very significant step. And we were celebrating that as much as anything else. On top of that, it looked like we were well on our way to showing profitability by the end of the fiscal year.

I should have known things were going too well. Remember what I said about the profitability of live streaming funerals? Well...we were about to make a lot of money.

The lights all went red and an alarm klaxon sounded. It was the exact same klaxon Theo had used back in Bellevue.

"Brace for impacts!" Chief Delucca's voice came over the mall-wide intercom not two seconds before a series of explosions rang out from the west side of the building. I checked my commlink.

Six missiles had hit the west side of the building and two had hit the roof. They'd taken out the Matrix node, our new water tower, and the external sensors. Casualty reports hadn't even started coming in yet, but I knew dozens were dead at least, although it would have been worse if the attack hadn't come during the feast with everyone near the center of the building. You might think that in a place as violent and dangerous as the Barrens, people might not panic, but you'd be wrong. These people had lived with frayed nerves all their lives and the fact that their lives had gotten better recently only meant that their guards were down. Oh, we'd had attacks in the past, but nothing like this. Still, Delucca's men did their best and soon people were making their way to the basement where we'd set up a shelter for just such an occasion.

Robin and I were already escorting Theo out of the situation as he directed the response via commlink. The basement also contained a war room and everyone in the leadership who wasn't needed for their physical presence was already on their way. We'd almost made it too. The machine-gun turrets outside the front entrance fired briefly before being silenced by an explosion that blew the entire wall open two stories high and let in a stream of go-gangers, all laughing maniacally.

They were all dwarfs of various types and all in baseball caps.

The Red Hot Nukes.

And that meant a lot of them would be physical adepts. Their leader, Grinder, certainly was, though I wasn't seeing him yet. I wish I could tell you about the battle that ensued. I'm sure it would have made an exciting story. I did hear about it later and watched the footage like everyone else, but I had a job to do. And Theo wasn't making it easy. I saw the intention in his eyes before he acted on it and grabbed him just as he rushed in their direction.

"They won't hurt me!" he screamed.

I knew what he was thinking. Because I was thinking it too. Mother had decided we'd had it too easy and arranged this. Maybe he thought he could talk them out of it. Maybe he thought he could make them a better offer. But it was just as likely this attack was genuine. The Red Hot Nukes were famous for their hatred of the corporations and their leader's neo-anarchist ideology. And if there was one thing they wouldn't be able to stand, even more than the depredations of the megas, it would be an example of capitalism that helped people. A good corporate prince was anathema to their entire ideology and could not be allowed to exist. So even if Mother was behind this attack, they'd kill him no matter what.

Fortunately for me, Theo hadn't had much time to stay in practice on his martial arts, so I subdued him quickly and dragged him down the narrow hall that led to the public restrooms. He fought me the whole way. He couldn't keep it up forever, but then neither could I, so I pressed my forearm against his carotid artery restricting the blood to his brain and he passed out. I stayed and watched over him until the all-clear sounded. When this had all started, I'd sworn to myself that I would kill anyone I had to if it meant keeping him alive. Sitting on the sidelines while innocents died was only a little harder.

When we finally staggered out, things weren't as bad as I'd feared. Less than a hundred people had died and only just over five hundred had been injured. Damage to infrastructure wouldn't be known for a while but we'd eventually discover that was in excess of three million nuyen. All in all, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Theo wasn't seeing it that way. He'd tried to help out with clearing away the rubble, but the migraine I'd left him with by choking him out made that impossible, so he excused himself. To say he wasn't happy with me would have been an understatement so I decided to give him some space.

That turned out to be a mistake.

"People of Redmond Barrens," Lucifer's angelic computerized voice spilled out not only from the loudspeakers but every commlink around me and immediately I knew this was going to be bad, "As many of you know, I have made an arrangement with Crimson Crush for territory rights for Squatter's Mall and its associated lands. Until today, that claim has gone unchallenged by all, save for the occasional fool. But this night, the Red Hot Nukes have chosen to insult me. So I will show the world the consequences."

A video streaming link appeared on my commlink and though I wanted to ignore it, I knew that failing to look wouldn't change anything. I'd learn what Theo had done eventually and I couldn't change anything by being a coward. The video showed an empty field in Redmond, not all that far from Squatter's Mall in fact. And it was filled with crosses. Dwarfs of various types had been nailed to those crosses through the wrist and feet.

Theo had had every member of the Red Hot Nukes crucified.

 

AN: This chapter is extra long because I'm absolutely committed to the next chapter being the last chapter of the mortal prologue. It's taken me a lot of effort and I'm tired now, so I'm posting it with almost no editing. I will edit it later though. Hopefully there aren't any narrative-breaking typos.

---

I closed the door to Theo's office behind me. There hadn't been much of a reason to rush and my veins felt like they had cold water running through them. Also, my stomach was churning. Theo was sitting at his mahogany desk with Robin standing behind his chair massaging his temples. If this situation bothered her, you couldn't tell it by looking at her.

"Theo..." I said in a low tone that was almost a whisper, "what the frag did you do?"

It wasn't the killing. The 9-to-5ers had been more numerous, despite being significantly less powerful or influential, but their deaths had been clean. It wasn't even the manner of the Nuke's death. I'd seen worse in the Barrens and more than once. It was the fact that it had been Theo that had done it. He'd crossed a line I never wanted to see him cross.

"I showed Mother that I've learned my lesson," he quipped.

"No!" I shouted, "You don't get to blame this one on her! Maybe she sent them, maybe she didn't, but you still decided how to respond!"

Theo looked me dead in the eye and didn't blink, "Didn't we say we'd have to make examples out of some people? I may have crossed a line, but these people are safer because I did."

I took a deep breath to keep myself calm and moved forward into the room. As I did, Theo waved for Robin to stop and she pulled back. She leaned up against the far wall and folded her arms, not really having a dog in the fight apparently. I put my hands on his desk and leaned in.

"You think I give a frag about the Nukes? I don't. But doing these kinds of things will change you. Do this enough and you'll become someone you don't recognize. Someone I don't recognize. Are you really ready to lose your soul over this?"

Theo sneered but I could see the fear in his eyes. My words were reaching him, but he wasn't out of the dark yet.

"I will become whatever I have to to take care of these people."

I slammed my fist into his desk so hard the whole thing shook, "NO! You won't! You'll become whatever your Mother wants. You let her change you like this and eventually she'll make you into someone who doesn't care about them at all. Or me. Or Robin."

Robin unfolded her arms and started to take notice of the conversation. Theo looked at me, still with a hardness in his eyes, but also a desperation. He turned in his chair and fixed his gaze on the wall.

"I couldn't...I just..." he swallowed hard and his breathing became heavy and ragged, and I knew the tears weren't far, "I didn't want these people to think no-one cared about them. That I didn't care. If I had done anything less..."

He bowed his head and shook it, but never completed his thought. Robin moved from her place at the wall and got down on one knee in front of him so she could look up at him.

"You really don't know, do you?" she said.

"Know what?" he asked, looking back and forth between me and Robin.

"These people already love you. I don't know if Miho's right or not about you changing, but I can tell you that if you thought you had to do this to prove yourself, you didn't. "

Robin had given me an opening. I had to strike now.

"If you want to protect these people, you have to protect them from yourself too. If the world isn't going to enforce any consequences on you - and you know it won't - then you'll have to struggle a lot harder than most people to maintain your morals and your ethics."

Theo....smiled?

"There's going to be consequences for me. You're going to find out very soon now, " he looked up at me, "I have one last secret left to share. "

I waited, but it didn't seem he had anything to add. Until...

"We need to work out the funeral arrangements."

The Squatter's Mall graveyard had doubled in size. We lost more people to the Christmas Day Massacre than everyone other attack leading up to it. Not everyone had lost someone, but everyone knew someone who did. So we'd had to restrict in-person attendance. With help from the Advisory Board, we planned out the most tasteful ceremony we could to honor those we'd lost. And then we broadcast it to the world for clicks and superchats. I stared at the numbers on my commlink. I thought I'd become numb to this kind of disgust until the donations hit three million nuyen without slowing down. My stomach filled with bile as I realized it.

We were going to make a profit on the massacre.

I wanted to throw up.

So I focused on Imam Ibrahim and Father Forthill. They'd been working side by side for a long time now. Since long before we came here. And they'd long since worked out the logistics of a multi-faith funeral. I wanted to hear their words and internalize and be comforted by them. But I couldn't. I didn't really know what was coming next, but I had an ominous feeling in the pit of my gut. When it was all finally over, I got a text message from Theo asking everyone in the leadership to meet by the front entrance. When I arrived, the two story tall hole had been covered tarp and the machine-gun turrents had been replaced, but that was as far as we could get in so little time.

Finally we were all there.

"I'll get straight to the point, " Theo began, "I've invited a friend of mine to come by and lend us a hand for a while. It'll only be a few days but until we get our defenses back up we're vulnerable. We need all the help we can get."

"Who's coming?" Anna asked. She wasn't any like as confrontational as she used to be, but she was still the first speak up in almost any situation.

"Alexander Knight," he replied.

Anna's eyes widened slightly, but then her entire body was wrenched back under the tight control of her will. Apparently this was bad for her somehow. Maybe she knew Alex.

"Damien Knight's son?" Doctor Fadil asked.

Damien Knight was the CEO and Chairman of Ares Macrotechnologies, one of the Big Ten megacorps that rules the world. Which made Alex another corporate prince.

Theo nodded, "We uh...used to play Dungeons and Dragons together. In any case, I'd like you all to get ready to show him around the place. We may be getting a new investor in our community. Also, Anna could I speak with your for a second. You too, Miho."

We retreated a dozen meters or so for privacy. Anna's poker face slipped just slightly and I knew she was dreading what came next.

"Miho, could you take Anna someplace private and have the talk with her?" Theo's orders were polite, but they were orders nonetheless.

Anna's mask was slipping even more but she was no coward. Even so, I felt the need to comfort her.

"It's not a bad talk, Anna. Don't worry," that seemed to mollify her a bit, but only just.

I decided to move things to Anna's turf for the sake of her sanity. The brothel, far and away, had the best rooms in the mall for privacy. So we went to her office and sat down.

"Let's rip off the bandaid. Theo and I know next to nothing about you. But we had you pegged as Old Money basically the first time you opened your mouth. And since you've been a help and not a hindrance we decided to let you have your secrets. But if there's anything we need to know, anything that can affect us, you should tell us now. Do you know Alex?"

Anna nodded, "He...he would recognize me, yeah."

"Is there anything else we need to know?"

Anna paused looking away. She had that same look of shame I'd seen on Theo's face so many times.

"You should know that, if someone comes to extract me, you should let them."

I responded on automatic, "Anna, we're not going to do that,"

She let out a sharp, hopeless laugh, "Look, I respect you guys for what you did here. You've help us build something great. But I don't think Delucca and his boys are up to dealing with Red Samurai,"

Frag.

The Renraku Red Samurai were among the worlds deadliest special forces. I doubted I was even on par with a single one of them. If a team of Red Samurai came to Squatter's Mall they'd go through us like a wet paper wall. But I wasn't ready to roll over and surrender just yet.

"Anna, you're a valued part of this community. You're a leader here. We may not have the military strength to hold off Red Samurai, but we'll protect you in any way we can. But are you saying we can't trust, Alex? Because I'm telling you I've met him and he seems like a pretty decent guy."

I'd first met Alex Knight at one of those fancy parties I mentioned before. I was still 16 at the time and freshly out of the Barrens. So when I thought an entitled rich kid was hitting on me, of course, I slammed his face into a tray of European white truffles. His security detail nearly killed me, but Alex laughed it off. Then he apologized to me.

Anna shook her head, "No, Alex is great. But you can't unring a bell, you know? And I think you know as well as I do that even a corporate prince isn't immune to being pressured into things. He can't tell anyone what he doesn't know."

I nodded. And then we sat in silence for a few moments. I could see the pain on Anna's face so I did what little for her I could. I knew well how holding on to secrets could damage a person's soul. Theo wasn't the only example I had of that, but he was certainly the prime example.

"Look, " I began, "I'm not asking you to give me any identifying details. But if there's anything you do want to talk about. I'm here."

Anna took a deep breath and stared at the wall for almost a full minute before turning her gaze to me, "Yeah. Yeah I think I do."

She steadied herself and began, "There was...a guy. A lot like Robin actually. Born in the local equivalent to Redmond around where I grew up. He lived the same kind of hard life as everyone here. I can't tell you how we met - too many details - but I loved him. God, I loved him so much. I doted on him so much at first it hurt his pride. It was a difficult relationship to navigate at first, but eventually I learned to respect his pride and he learned to let me love him. And for a while, things were beautiful."

She paused for a moment to take a breath, and I knew what was coming next, "Then my father found out and had him killed. Predictable, I know. Almost a cliche in this day-and-age. But I...I did not handle it well. I didn't bother fighting with my father. I knew there was no point. So I went down to our version of Touristville, found our version of the Seamstresses Union and got very publicly drunk while being very obviously alone."

My eyes widened and my mouth fell open. It's not that I was unfamiliar with the idea of wanting to be punished, but acting out to a suicidal degree wasn't something I could personally relate to.

"What, were you trying to get raped?" my tone was accusatory and I regretted it the moment it came out of my mouth

"Of course, " she replied, "But it didn't work out. Not the way I wanted it to anyway. Eventually a group of ork go-gangers hit on me and all I could think about was how disgusted and humiliated my father would be if I fragged them all. So I did. The next morning I woke up with a credstick in my mouth and the orks nowhere to be found. I didn't get it at first, but I eventually realized they thought I was a whore. And I thought, you know what?"

She focused her eyes on me, sadness and bitterness behind them, "Why not?"

"But first, " she continued, "I knew I needed to be on an entirely different side of the planet as my father, so I got a fake SIN with a passport and started flying to different cities not knowing where I was going to stop. Then one day I stopped here in Seattle. I'm sure Lucifer's records told you what came next. I started picking up on the downsides of my new lifestyle pretty quickly, but I adapted. I even liked the work, in a way. Every time I spread my legs for a John, it was like spitting in my father's face. I even started taking other working-girls - and boys - under my wing. And things were going well. Until I had a close call with a private eye sent by my father. So I came to Redmond rather than go home. And I started it all over here, at Squatter's Mall. "

For all the horror and pain I'd seen over the years, it never failed to shock me when people chose Redmond. I guess it made sense in a pragmatic way. And perhaps I was biased. I always associated Redmond with Hell. But this conversation wasn't about me.

"So you don't need to waste any resources on me. I'm just a tourist." Anna ended her story.

There was a song I used to love growing up. It think it was called, Common People. I remember it making me feel special. Like there was something I had that none of those people could ever have. Imagine my surprise when I found Theo, back in the first year we met, curled up in his bed after Mother had burned her latest victim, crying while listening to that song. It too me a long time to get it, but I now understood what that song meant to people like Theo and Anna.

Because they had never thought that Poor was Cool.

I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what. Then, like divine inspiration, I remembered an old flatvid. One of Theo's favorites. So I got up out of my chair, walked over to Anna and placed a hand on her shoulder and borrowed one of the lines that never failed to bring Theo to tears.

"You walk our earth, Anna. You breathe our air. You are one of us."

The tears were streaming down her face now, but she wasn't sobbing. She just looked at me. I wouldn't call her expression shock or disbelief exactly. Surprise, certainly. And maybe a little hope.

"Yes, I mean it," I reiterated.

"Thank you," she whispered.

We shred a moment of silence, but finally my commlink beeped out a notification.

"What's up?" Anna asked. The pain wasn't quite out of her voice yet, but she was working on it.

"It's time for the Elephant Walk," I replied.

Alexander Knight had brought an army. Six Mack Hellhounds, those absurd semi-trucks converted into mobile heavy weapons platforms or drone carriers, two GMC Gryphons (basically giant flyng gun platforms) and 500 Ares JHI-65 anthropomorphic construction worker drones, but carrying AK-97s rather than jackhammers. Not that anyone could tell the difference with the milspec armor they'd stuffed them into. Alex wasn't being cheap. Officially this was a commercial. Remember this was a reality show, and the official excuse for them being here was as a sponsorship deal. Alex had snuck in the construction drones for our benefit. Because as long as the damage to the building persisted our guts were splayed open and our organs were spilling out.

So the Hellhounds took up a circular perimeter around the building while the Gryphons patrolled the skies. The construction work would have to wait a bit. Theo would have to "explain" on camera that they needed help putting the building back together and Alex would break down their soldiers versatility. Like I said it was a commercial. And we got all this, albeit temporarily, without having to pay for it. The Ares forces would stick around for a few weeks and rebuild the building for us in exchange for the publicity they would get. Sponsorship deals could be pretty fragging convenient.

And even after they left, it would be a reminder to everyone of the resources we could bring to bear if necessary.

"Hey, kid! How's it going?" Alex called out to Theo from the airstair of his private VTOL jet as we approached, the Squatter's Mall advisory board, sans Anna, following not far behind.

Alex wasn't especially good looking. It's not that he was ugly, he was just well...basic. But he made up for it with a killer dress sense, a soul-penetrating smile, and confidence born of his corporate royalty status. And like Anna had said, he was one of the good ones. He was also several years older than Theo, making him about my age.

"Hey Alex, glad you could make it. I'm sure you remember Miho," Theo replied.

He smiled, "Are you kidding? I think about her every time I see a tray of white truffles."

Never living that down, I see.

"Oh!" he added, "this is my girlfriend, Izara Tesfeye."

A bald African woman dressed in the finest that western fashion had to offer existed the plane behind him. I could sense an aura of power so I decided to assense her. I could see immediately that she was Awakened and that her magic was almost as powerful as mine. And from the way she carried herself, I doubted she was an adept. She didn't have any of the little tells people had when they were confident they could win any physical confrontation.

"A pleasure to meet you all," Izara said with only the slightest hint of an African accent, "Tanaka-san? If you could come with me?"

That was unexpected. I looked at Theo who nodded. Apparently this was no surprise to him.

Your going to find out very soon now. I have one last secret left to share his words from earlier echoed in my mind. I waited for Alex to finish coming down the airstair and then followed Izara in.

The hatch sealed itself behind us and I found myself in your basic private jet. God, I was starting to think like a rich asshole wasn't I? She led me over to a table with two ornate wooden chairs on either side and gestured to one of them. I sat down and, still without speaking, pulled out a pair of commlinks with associated trode and some kind of dull grey metal bracer with a fluid vial fixed to the outside.

"Theodore McWellan trusts you," she began, "That's speaks well for you. But we do not know you. So before we begin, you will wear this." she slid the bracer across the table.

"What is it?" I asked.

"An autoinjector. The drug is Laés. If things do not go well, you cannot be allowed to remember what happened. There are safeguards beyond safeguards and secrets beneath secrets. If you are found worthy, you will be allowed to remember."

Under other circumstances I never would have done this. Under other circumstances, I would have made some kinds of demands or asked for some kinds of assurances. But Theo was involved in something. And this was my chance to find out what. And he was, at least in part, behind all this. And for all his flaws, he was the person I trusted most in this world.

I put on the bracer.

Izara placed the trodes on head. These looked more like a hairnet than the unassuming headband Theo had giving me back in the day. She donned a duplicate herself and suddenly we were in the Matrix. Except I was somehow blind. Izara led my by the hand for quite a while, maybe as much as twenty minutes. When she finally deinged to give me my sight back, we were already in a Host of some kind. And they'd spared no expense. It wasn't a UV Host or anything. I could tell it wasn't real. But the environment was significantly more realistic than the one Theo had thrown together for his childhood friends.

I was in some kind of reading room. Warm colors and bookshelves dominated the aesthetic, while two antique recliners sat facing each other at an angle near a roaring fireplace. If there was an exit to this place I wasn't seeing it, but maybe I wasn't allowed to yet. She gestured to the chairs and once again we sat down.

The moment I did, the entire "world" around us shifted. The chairs were still there, but we were now on the stage of an auditorium with hundreds of onlookers in the audience all of various metatypes and ethnicities, though the avatars were largely blurred around the face.

"Welcome Tanaka-san, " Izara began, "to The Deliberative. A secret society of which Theodore McWellan is a member. Although some of us prefer the term, 'community'. Depending on how this goes, you may learn more details later. For now, understand this. He has been a member for three years now and until recently, he has been in good standing. A paragon, some would say. That has changed, and I think you know to what I refer."

I took a "breath" and answered, "The Red Hot Nukes,"

Izaya nodded, "We are aware, of course, of the execution of the 9-to-5ers and we are not concerned with it. I tell you this so that you will have some context regarding how we will judge him. And why. Will you speak for Theodore McWellan?"

"Perhaps," I began, "But first..."

I stood up and faced the crowd, "Before I participate in any of this, I need to know if any of you here have any right to judge Theodore. How many of you are doing what he is doing? How many are you living your lives the way he has been? How many of you have faced the same stresses and pushed yourself to keep going for the benefit of others? How many have dedicated your every waking moment to building a better world in a genuine way for the good of all? How many of you are actually trying to help?"

A moment passed as my accusation hung in the air.

And then every single person in the room raised a hand. Every goddamn one of them.

"Tanaka-san," Izaya said smiling all the way to her eyes, "that is who we are. It is the Deliberative's very purpose. So you see, Theodore McWellan is not so unique after all."

"This is impossible," the words escaped my mouth without my explicit permission, coming out as a half-whisper.

"Perhaps, Tanaka-san, the world is not so empty of light as you thought. If you will take your seat, we will begin,"

I wasn't sure if I should believe them, but surely if I was going to face some kind of major deception here, Theo would have told me. And if Theo was going to join a secret society, well...one like this suited him.

So I sat down, and at some point the people had lowered their hands when I wasn't looking.

"Please tell us your first reaction to see what Theo had done to the Nukes in his guise as Lucifer? How did you feel?"

That was not the first question I'd hope they'd ask, but I was Samurai. I would speak the truth, "I was horrified. I've seen things like that in the Barrens and worse, but I never thought Theo would stoop to it."

"And what was your first action?" Izaya moved on.

"I challenged him. We argued. I think I reached him, at least to a degree."

"How would you have handled the situation?" Izaya asked.

"What does that have to do with - " but I wasn't allowed to finish,

"Please answer the question," Izaya insisted.

Out of sheet force of habit I took a breath before responding, "That's hard to say. My gut instinct is that I would gathered up a force I thought could handle them and attacked them."

"Would you have tortured them?" Izaya pressed.

"Absolutely not. But I would have killed them. Every goddamn one of them," I explained.

"Tell me about your relationship to Mr. McWellan. Do your loyalties extend to compromising your ethics?"

I grit my teeth, but answered honestly, "I've lied to keep his secrets. So yes. But nothing more,"

"What if he asked you to do something more objectionable? Like murder an innocent for utilitarian reasons. How far would you go for him?"

I raised an eyebrow, "That would never happen. But since I know you'll press I'll just say it. I wouldn't do it. The Code of Bushido as my father taught me is sacred to me."

"Tell us more about your ethical framework. We'd like to be better able to put your answers in context,"

I sighed, "I'm a Samurai who grew up in the Barrens and then spent the last five and a half years as Theodore McWellan's closest friend and confidant. Is there something you want to know that that doesn't cover?"

She smiled, "Do you have a plan for the world? Any ideas by which it may be improved independent of Mr. McWellan's? Anything he's missing?"

That took me a second. But then it was obvious.

"Theo's focus right now is on improving conditions from the perspective of material conditions. And for a place like the Barrens, that's very important. But if I had..." I had to stop myself because I did in fact have the resources to get started, "...rather, if I wasn't already working on the Squatter's Mall project, I'd be working on teaching morality and ethics."

She drummed her fingers on her chair a few times.

"I believe we are done here. Please begin voting." Izaya called to the crowd.

A window opened up and a stream of numbers appeared that I couldn't parse until they stopped moving.

[ADMIT - 686, REJECT - 0, ABSTAIN - 14]

Izaya turned back to me, "Congratulations, Tanaka-san. Welcome to The Deliberative"

 

AN

Fair warning. I may be taking a day or two off after this.

---

"So the five million was their idea?" I asked.

I was now as far from 'Barrens Rat' as it was possible to be. At least without dying and being reincarnated as a McWellan. (Did I mention their family wealth went back to the Dutch East India Company?) Because I wasn't just a well-connected millionaire with a god-tier Pito score and a few minor executive privileges anymore. I'd gone full Skull-and-Bones. I was a junior member, but that was an entirely unofficial designation. Officially, I was a peer. A peer in a secret society made up of people like Theo and others, like me, they'd uplifted to be their equals.

Theo nodded. He knew immediately the results of the vote when he saw me upright and not lacking several hours of my memories. So we were now in his office, just the four of us. Theo, Alex, Izaya and I were all lounging around like the hyper-elites we were. The only thing that could have made this more complete for me would have been a cocktail and a fucking hand-rolled cigar from another country.

"Theo put your name in just after his emancipation," Alex said, "But we weren't content with the measures he'd taken to ensure your independence. Your commitment to Bushido notwithstanding it was vital that he not have undue influence on you when the Deliberative calls for a vote."

"Make no mistake, " Izaya added, "A few million nuyen is...not an asset we intend to call upon. For external matters, your Pito score is significantly more valuable to us. For internal matters, we are more interested in your commitment to morality and ethics."

I winced. Because that reminded me...

"So...what about the Nukes issue?" I asked.

Alex looked my way.

"Eighteen months suspension, a 20 million nuyen fine, and indefinite probation. Also, mandatory therapy," Alex explained.

"Punishment for the sake of retribution serves no purpose, " Izaya added, "It is more important to us that this behavior be remediated than avenged."

And her mouth split into a sad smile, but I could see pride in her eyes.

Alex sat forward, looking at me, "And...since Theo's rights and privileges are temporarily revoked, someone else is going to have to take responsibility for Squatter's Mall,"

I looked back and forth at everyone else in the room, "Err...what?"

Theo jumped in finally, "I'll still be running the day-to-day because as far as Mother knows, nothing's happened. But the Deliberative's been helping out a lot behind the scenes. They've kept a lot of corporate shenanigans off our backs. But as far as our friends are concerned, you're in charge now, Miho. And if I don't defer to your authority from now on, I'm basically never getting back into their good graces,"

A horrible thought crossed my mind. So I stared Theo in the eyes and made my demands.

"Tell me you didn't do that on purpose. Tell me you weren't thinking about that when you did it."

"It was the furthest thing from my mind," he replied, and I smelled no deception from him.

"Also, " he continued, "I would never do that to you,"

Morning dew at dawn.

I exhaled my relief and nodded.

"Speaking of which, " Alex said, "Now that the boss is here, we should discuss how we're going to do the transition."

I looked around at each of them, but it was Theo who answered.

"The Squatter's Mall Refurbishment Pilot Project was never in any danger of not meeting its profitability goals. Our friends were laundering money through superchats and other donations the entire time. Not to mention helping us get sponsorship deals, paying us for product placement, and a whole host of other things. So the Redmond Economic Restoration Program was always going to happen. But...we've got a lot of details to hash out."

They told me the plan, but it was my choice whether or not to sign off on it. My definition of the word, 'responsibility' changed that day. They laid it all out, the benefits and the risks, but it was my job to do the deciding. There wasn't any hiding behind a lack of competency or passing the buck. I understood the plan and its risks, but I was the one who had to decide if it was worth the risk. And I couldn't just fall back on Theo's opinion, not just for The Deliberative, but for myself. I had accepted the role and now I had to live it. There were 5,456 people living in Squatter's Mall (even with the massacre we'd had some immigration. And even being careful with who we let in, we'd still more than made up for our losses) and I had to decide for all of them. It was a pretty big decision for being my very first, but that's what life is like sometimes. And it felt right to me that someone from the Barrens was making the call.

I gave them the go-ahead.

Time seemed to fly by after that. It was January and the fiscal year didn't end until the end of June, but we had a lot of preparations to make. Alex and O'brien got the critical repairs taken care of before Ares was scheduled to pull out. Alex even left a couple of the Hellhounds behind, though whether he paid for them himself or just talked his father into it, I never bothered to ask. Not that the structural work on the building ever really ended. But there was a critical safety level and we were back above it.

And life was getting back to normal in other ways. Robin was making Theo a very happy man and I'm not just talking about sex. She never had my hangups. I guess being neurologically incapable of shame meant that she didn't get caught up in vices like pride. She saw that it made Theo happy to dote on her so she let him. And boy did he ever. He never forced his gifts on her, though, and she never asked for anything he didn't offer, but in those months I got to see what my principles had held me back from. They couldn't leave Redmond and there were limits to what he could bring to her. But this was Theodore McWellan we're talking about. And if there was one thing that defined him more than anything else, it was that he shared his power. So it wasn't just toys and trinkets that could be bought with mere nuyen that he got for her, though there was no end of those, but also things like facetime - via the Matrix - with her favorite Urban Brawl players. She was even scheduled to join the Seattle Screamers for a scrimmage or two once this was all over and he could leave Redmond.

Also, he bought her a puppy.

And then the day finally came. The numbers were looking good, both the financials and the ratings, so we'd gotten provisional approval for the Redmond Program, but it was all conditional on getting the most influential gangs in Redmond to all sit at the same table and agree to let us take our work to a larger scale. And some of them hated each other. We'd gotten no small amount of help from The Deliberative though. There were, quite literally, over fifty shadowruns planned against Yakuza and Mafia assets in the days leading up to the peace conference. It was a pretty hefty expenditure from them, though not in terms of money. The Deliberative was a secret society, and big moves like that were dangerous because they risked exposure. Still, no one in the Deliberative had had that guts to do something on this scale before Theo and they - or rather we - were heavily invested.

Our major asset, the thing that got everyone in the door, was the fact that Crimson Crush had made truly insane amounts of money from their deal with us. They had a 20% stake after all and all the other gangs were getting left in the dust. Crimson Crush didn't even both charging protection money most of the time these days. It literally wasn't worth their time. They did still protect their communities, though they were mostly focused on protecting orks and other trogs from racist attacks. Still, the massive success had gotten the other gangs attention and they knew they either had to get on board or make this all go away. Which meant that everyone had an incentive to show up, even if some of them might have been showing up to blow the thing sky high.

So Theo had reached out to Alex and Izaya and gotten them to put in a reappearance. Izaya and Gregor were handling astral security, along with a few non-local mages we'd paid to summon up some spirits and send our way. Alex brought in an even bigger army this time to handle physical security. And Theo had had to get surgery.

You see, I was in charge of this operation, and I'd categorically refused to play the part of Lucifer. It's not that I didn't feel up to it. I'd actually been the voice behind Lucifer on many occasions. But deep down, in my heart of hearts, my first priority was Theo's safety. I wasn't willing to leave his side, even knowing Robin would be there. And that meant Theo had to play the part while in front of everyone, so an internal commlink was the only way to go.

It was time.

Theo had insisted that for occasions such as these that round tables were not just traditional but mandatory. The seating arrangements had been preplanned just as you might imagine, to keep people inclined not to get along away from each other. And as expected, just about everyone was here, except for the Yakuza and Mafia who were too busy licking their wounds and sustaining new ones even as this conference was in progress. The Brain Eaters showed up first. A mixed-raced gang that had suffered significant losses at the hands of the Red Hot Nukes, they were among the most likely to be well disposed towards us, even if they'd had an alliance of convenience with the Yakuza in the past. And since they were tech-based in their black market activities, they knew we'd find them useful.

The Spyders showed up next. On the surface, the Spyders seemed like the kind of gang you'd want to have around. They focused almost the entirety of their efforts on hunting down and massacring bug spirits, those nasty hostile spirits that took over your body, made it half-bug, and then tried to spread. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? Well...almost. The truth is, we did see the Spyders as potential allies, but we also knew they were going to be profoundly suspicious of us. Why?

Lemme tell you a little story about something called the Universal Brotherhood.

You see, back in the day, the Universal Brotherhood was this charitable organization trying to help the poor on a large scale. Their methods were very different - mostly just feeding people and preaching the good news at them - but they had an energy to them that was extremely similar to Theo's Shiny Happy People vibe.

Except they were all monsters. It was a front for insect shamans to try to summon up enough spirits to establish a beachhead in our reality. And every member of the Spyders had, at one point or another, been a victim of the Universal Brotherhood, so it was a good bet that Theo personally and Squatter's Mall, in general, was triggering their literal PTSD pretty fragging hard.

Did I mention they were all violent and crazy?

Of course, we hadn't invited quite everyone. The Rusted Stilettos, those crazed mutants living in the irradiated section of Redmond called 'Glow City' simply weren't relevant outside their territory and their territory wasn't really habitable, even if people were actually living there. Beyond that, the 162s were persona non grata, not because they were ghouls, but because they worked for the Tamanous. Our plans for them involved bullets rather than bribes.

And it wasn't just gang leaders we'd invited. There were, contrary to popular belief, legitimate business owners in Redmond like Cherry Bomb of the Seamstresses Union and Eddy Kosky the ork who owned Crusher 495 probably the oldest club in Redmond. Eddie had a real head for business and was pretty socially responsible to boot. If we could convince him that we were actually doing what it looked like we were doing, he'd be on board in a heartbeat.

There were other gangs that operated in Redmond, the ones that operated literally everywhere in Seattle, but this was a local matter, and if we could get the locals on board, we could make it very hard to operate in Redmond without playing ball. It wasn't a matter of force either. It was a matter of Cost-Benefit Analysis. We'd have to make it more profitable to do what we wanted and make it so they wouldn't lose face when they did, but this had a real chance of working.

But it could go down like a plane crash if a single thing went wrong.

That's why I hadn't been listening to Theo's speech or the back and forth from any of the delegates. I registered the tone of what was being said, but only because it was a potential indicator of danger. The truth was, I'd never been this on-edge in my life.

My commlink vibrated.

Everyone I could think of that had this number knew what was going on so I assumed it had to be important. And since I wasn't actually seated at the table, but several paces back with Robin, like the other security personnel with the other delegates, I figured I could risk it if I whispered.

"This better be important," I said in hushed but angry tones.

"Miho?" came Robin's voice. Like Theo, she too had an internal commlink and so no need to whisper. But she was also standing right next to me, giving me a confused look.

"Ahh, ladies, thank you for taking my call," came the last voice in the entire world I wanted to hear right now.

Tabitha McWellan.

"I just thought the two of you might be interested to know something. You see that ork sitting next to Theo? Mr. Kosky, I believe his name is? Well, I have it on good authority that last night he was accosted, dosed with Laés, and then implanted with an Area Cortex Bomb."

Tabitha had put the equivalent of a grenade in Eddy's head. And he was sitting right next to her son.

"And it's going to go off. In shall we say....two seconds?"

I dropped my commlink and burst into a sprint, but even so Robin was faster. She wasn't headed for Theo though. She was headed for Eddy. I knew what she was doing, but I didn't have time to acknowledge it emotionally. Looking back on it, I wish I'd thought of shouting Fire In The Hole or something. If people had at least known we weren't behind it, It might have saved a lot of lives. If not Eddy's.

If not Robin's.

Just as I threw myself on top of Theo, she threw herself on top of Eddy, taking as much of the blast as possible. Literally throwing herself on the grenade. When their relationship began, Robin said she would do anything for Theo, even die for him.

And she'd kept her word.

I didn't exactly get out of it unscathed either. I felt the explosion on my back. Heat and metal tore through me and I could feel my body shattering in ways I knew I'd never come back from. This was it. This was the end. Robin had gone first, but I wasn't far behind. I didn't have much of a sense of my surroundings at this point. I knew I was laying on my back looking up at Theo and the ceiling beyond, but I struggled with anything else.

"No no, Miho no!" Theo screamed.

"I'm sorry...." I whispered, "God I'm so sorry,"

"Miho, no! No this can't be happening! Miho, I love you!"

Morning dew at dawn.

"God...I wasted so much time, didn't I?" I knew he loved me. And I knew I loved him. It was a waste. It was all a waste.

Then, I felt a piece of metal in my right hand. Something about that prickled my awareness more than it should have and I rolled it around in my fingers, immediately recognizing it as a ring. The Ring. It was supposed to be in a safety deposit box in downtown Seattle. But here it was, likely of its own accord.

This was my last chance.

Rallying myself I clenched my jaw, grabbed Theo by the wrist with my other hand, and locked eyes with him.

"Theo...I have one last secret to share too." my words must have sounded like a crazed whisper.

He just stared at me, dumbfounded. So I continued. I'd already wasted too much time over the last six years.

"The night before I came to Bellevue, I was visited by a spirit. She gave me a quest. She told me to find a good man. Someone who could be trusted with power. Someone who wanted to help the world. And that when I did, I should do this."

I struggled to get my hand up and over my body, but with every ounce of everything I had left, I managed to get my other hand to his and put the ring on his finger.

The whole world erupted into golden light.

The gunfire stopped.

The shouting stopped.

I could see the symbol of golden energy on his forehead, but I didn't know what it meant. All I knew is that I had done a good thing. So I closed my eyes and decided to rest.

I felt myself fall into blackness. Deeper and further. And I was at peace. I knew that Theo would grieve for me and for Robin. But I knew that he would be whole again someday. And he would shape the world around him for the better.

And he would slay the vile monster whose only good deed in her entire life was to bring him into the world.

"No." Theo's voice came in sharp denial and as if from a great distance, "Not like this. Not now. Thou shalt not!"

And I heard music. Like the chorus of a thousand spirits singing in response to his command. The most beautiful music I'd ever heard. It surrounded me. Penetrated me. It told me of things to come.

Then, piercing the darkness, came yet more golden light. And that light was a claw. Not the sinister form of something like a demon claw, but the birdlike claw of a falcon or eagle. It grabbed me by the soul and began lifting me back up. Back to the land of the living. And then, at the end, I heard Theo's voice again. And he spoke the words that ended my mortal existence.

"SOUL-ENLIGHTENING BENEFICENCE!"

---

AN:

Astute readers will have noticed that my writing sometimes goes dark places. I want you to understand that I don't do this to be an edgelord, or because Dark is easy-mode for drama, or because I like making my readers feel despair. I do it to give the Heroes something to CAST FIST at.

So beware, for a Chosen of Ignis Divine, Exalted of the Unconquered Sun, Reborn God-King and Reincarnation of a member of the Impossible Army which brought low the creators of the cosmos themselves, now walks the lands of the Sixth World.

Welcome to CASTING FIST at the Darkness.

 

So this is not a chapter, but it's no accident that I put this in the Index rather than as an Extra. Music is very important to this story and for multiple reasons. I've included titles and authors just in case the links break.

Theodore McWellan's Theme
Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson


Miho Tanaka's Theme
Warrior - Tren


Meela Jenkin's Theme
Gold - Jeff Williams


Robin's Theme
Disgust Me - New Year's Day


Anna's Theme
Common People - Pulp
(Somewhat Ironically)

---

Also, I really love talking to you guys. It's the whole reason I'm posting this here rather than other places. I'm still a little new here so while I've read the rules I don't know all the etiquette, but please consider this thread to double as an AMA. I won't answer questions that would be plot spoilers, but anything else is fair game as long as it doesn't violate the site's rules.

And that's the end of my vacation. Back to the salt mines. Expect a chapter in the next 24 hours.

 

AN: So there's a concept I'm introducing here which is not canon to Exalted, but is a house rule I've always used whenever I ran an Exalted game. It's called, "Exaltation Surge" The explanation is in the text.

Also, the link in the text to the summary of Exalted Lore is not a word-for-word transcript of anything Theo said. But you know Theo, so it's not that far off. (also, "Wyld" is pronounced the same as "Wild")

---

Drifting through the comforting, cottony smoothness of unconsciousness, I almost didn't want to wake up. I'm not sure I'd ever slept as well or as deeply before that time. And I'm sure I would have slept a lot longer, but I was aroused by an invigorating beauty that I needed my conscious mind to identify and appreciate.

Theo was singing to me.

My eyes opened and I found myself awake without the groggy transition between sleep and wakefulness that mortals have to deal with, not that I was thinking in those terms just yet. I was fully asleep one moment and then fully awake the next and without the shock normally necessary to produce that kind of effect. Theo was at my side, still singing his heart out but with his eyes closed, so he hadn't quite noticed yet. I realized at once I was in my bedroom at Squatter's Mall (we'd transitioned away from using personal coffin hotels long before). I thought it was strange I wasn't in the infirmary, but then I noticed I didn't seem to be wounded. In fact, I felt great. My whole body burned with an energy I didn't recognize at first but then placed as exactly the feeling I'd had in my hand when I held The Ring in the Changling Lady's presence. Only this time I felt it throughout my entire body. It was good and right and powerful.

"That was beautiful," I said to Theo after he finished.

He hadn't opened his eyes, which left him startled. It was pretty cute actually.

In fact, he almost fell out of his chair, "Ah! Miho! Oh, thank god. You're alright"

His face showed me the intense worry he'd been feeling along with an equally powerful relief. He'd never held up walls around me, at least not when we were alone, but I'd still never seen him this vulnerable.

I sat up and took a deep breath.

"I...don't know how. But yes. I guess you had something to do with that?" I asked.

He nodded and a little more worry crept onto his face. He rubbed his mouth with his left hand and I could see The Ring still there so I knew I hadn't dreamed the whole thing. He looked like he was trying to figure out how to say something,

"How long was I out?" I asked.

He shook his head, "Just for the night. Dr. Fadil said...well he didn't understand any of it, but by the time he got to you he said your body was recovering like a slow version of Immortal Flower. He didn't know how full of a recovery you would make but he didn't think there was anything else he could do for you."

Immortal Flower? The magical drug that grants vampire-like regeneration? Did that have something to do with this feeling? I wasn't sure I wanted to address it just yet so I just nodded and exhaled. Something big had happened and we were going to have to talk about it. Fortunately, I could think of at least one more thing to let us put that off.

"How bad did it get afterward?" I asked.

Theo pulled the left side of his mouth down, "Uh...it went surprisingly well all things considered. I managed to parlay the explosion into a symbol of the outside world's fear of our unity. And fortunately for me, someone cut the feed before I went all glowy. Everyone's on board,"

Holy hell, how had he pulled that off?

"So..." I started.

"Miho, I'm sorry!" Theo blurted out.

I turned to face him and I could see the fear of judgment clear as day on his face. I just stared for a second.

"Theo...you just brought me back from the dead. Whatever it is, don't worry about it." I told him.

He looked away from me, which worried me. Whatever was on his mind, he was worried it might actually outweigh a literal resurrection.

He swallowed hard, "I um...I did something to you. When I brought you back I mean. I didn't..."

He looked down clearly afraid to finish.

"I know," I said gently, "I can feel it. But it doesn't seem bad. Were you able to do the same for Robin?"

His expression went from fear to despair. He shook his head.

"When it happened...in those first few moments after you gave me His power..." he said, but then stopped to take a breath.

Theo turned to look at me, still as vulnerable as I'd ever seen him, "From what He explained to me, the first few moments after receiving your Second Breath - err I mean when this kind of power is bestowed on you, you go to full strength immediately but temporarily. It's called the 'Exaltation Surge'. For a few moments, I experienced almost limitless power. It even turned my internal commlink into some kind of magical artifact. But it was limited by what I already knew how to do. I was able to bring you back because, in metaphysical terms, that just required raw strength. Robin..."

He looked back down at the floor, "I didn't know how to put her back together this time..."

I nodded, "I'm sorry. But she did what she did because she loved you. And if you could talk her now, I don't think she'd regret it."

Theo turned his gaze back to me and there was more than just pain on his face. He looked disgusted.

"I know....and I hate it." and I could feel the shame radiating off him in waves.

I sat up. Time to change tactics.

"Whatever you did to me, it's okay."

He leaned back in his chair, fright and hope fighting for control over his face.

"Miho. I don't know how to tell you this...but you're not exactly mortal anymore,"

I blinked, "Run that by me, again?"

"I mean, you can still be killed - although I'm working on some possibilities there - but you're fundament nature is...well I changed it...."

I knew the Changing Lady said she and her husband granted Divine Power to Champions, but...I don't know, I guess as a physical adept my thoughts came out in the shape of better punching. Or spells or something. And I could tell he was right. I was different. I was still me but...more.

"Just rip off the bandaid, please," I hoped sounding annoyed rather than horrified would help.

"You're a demigod," he blurted out.

My eyes widened, "I'm sorry what?"

He started wringing his hands, "Okay look...the metaphysics is...not what I think most people would expect. It looks like the Asian cultures remembered things a little more accurately. Not all gods were arbitrarily powerful. So you're not halfway to being Zeus or anything. But your essential nature is equal parts human and divine. "

I stared. And stared. And then I started to worry.

"Oh...uh...that might be bad. When I accepted the quest, I promised the spirit I wouldn't take any of the power for myself. Is there any way you can undo it?" I asked.

He shook his head, "Don't worry. He told me about the conversation you had with Luna - er, that's her name - and this doesn't apply. You didn't take the power. I gave it to you,"

Uh...wait a second, "Hold on, who told you?"

His eyes went up and I could see him relax now that we were on a different subject, "Oh! Yeah! The Ring contained more than just power. Remember when I said the metaphysics were weird? Well...the power you gave me came from a god called The Unconquered Sun and he's not what we would call dead"

Then Theo turned his head and spoke almost like he was on his internal commlink, "Ugh okay fine." he turned back to me, "He doesn't like me using that name for him because he finally lost a single fight. He's also called Ignis Divine. And his mind is in The Ring. He considers himself to be dead though because He doesn't have any power left, even though he's still talking, so Luna wasn't lying to you. Gods are just weird."

I took a breath, partially to calm myself and partially to stall for time. What do you say to all that?

"I...honestly I didn't expect...I mean I knew you'd be getting crazy powers, but after what she made me promise I didn't think..."

Theo smiled with a warmth that reached all the way to his eyes. If I had had no clue he was in love with me before, that look would have been all it took.

"Miho, you know me. I'm sorry I did this without your permission, but come on. What did you think would be the first thing I'd want to do with these powers?"

Theo was someone who shared his power. Especially with me. It was obvious in retrospect.

I slid my legs around so I could face him, "What does this all mean? What comes next? What's it all for?"

"Well, first I need to tell you a story,"

I'd never actually been to Sunday School, but in spite of Theo's cavalier manner and trivializing tone, I couldn't help but wonder if this is what that would have felt like as a child. And I could tell he was trying to make the story entertaining in order to distract from the fact that he was literally laying the secrets of the universe on me. The origin of everything. My father had never been particularly religious so I wasn't steeped in any particular mythological paradigm, but this was definitely the 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth' stuff. Only I was apparently only one degree removed from someone who was there. My Divine Pito score was the same as my regular one.

"But obviously the prison that was Malfeas was eventually breached and obviously the Ebon Dragon screwed over his fellow Yozi and was the only one to get out. A lot of other stuff happened, but the headline is that the Ebon Dragon fought The Unconquered Sun and the big guy went down. After that...well, he doesn't know. What happened to Creation and how our reality got created was after his time. Although I'll point out that I have heard of the Elemental Pole of Water, but whether that's the same thing or not is something we'll have to investigate when we have time."

I took a deep breath.

"That is the craziest bulldrek I've ever heard,"

Theo smiled, "I know, right?"

I couldn't help but smile back at him, "Okay, but what does that mean for us? Right now, in this moment?"

Theo shrugged, "Well, I spent a lot of time with Gregor last night trying to make my astral signature calm the frag down. Didn't get it to work, but I sorta accidentally Awakened myself as a Magician in the process. And an Adept."

My eyes went wide, "That's not poss - wait, no. Of course, it's possible. This is all a bunch of crazy bulldrek, so why not?"

Theo smiled, "Yeah, I'm officially naming these new powers 'bulldrek supermagic' and also...I'm pretty sure you can become a full Magician on top of being an Adept too."

I felt a hunger stirring inside me. More exciting words, I'd never heard, "Are you sure?"

Theo just smiled and nodded, "It'll take some training, but yeah. There's a lot of paths available to both of us now. I mean...me a bit more than you, but you're beyond the limits of mortality just as surely as I am. There are all kinds of things you can learn now. I just have to learn it from the big guy first and then I can teach it to you. Things like Ancient Sorcery beyond the scope of all mortal magic. Supernatural Martial Arts. And Spirit Charms, although those are a little harder for me to learn, so it might be better for you to just borrow The Ring and learn from the big guy himself. I can pick those up, but it's harder for me since my bulldrek supermagic has a different character to it entirely beyond just being...bigger."

"Borrow...Theo, I don't know. I...."

He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder, which was something he didn't do a lot. Ever since he'd read an article that said wealthy people were more likely to initiate physical contact during a conversation like that he'd gone out of his way to break himself of the habit. Which meant he was emphasizing whatever he was about to say pretty hard.

"Everything that is mine is yours. You don't know that by now?"

Morning dew at dawn.

It almost shamed me how open and generous and loving he was with me. I loved him, but I didn't know if I knew how to love him back as intensely as he loved me.

But I was going to try.

I hopped out of the bed and faced him. We were doing this and we were doing it together. He'd gotten a much larger chunk of this bulldrek supermagic, but in a sense he'd always been profoundly more powerful than me. All I ever had on him was better punching and even though it seemed like he'd be surpassing me on that front pretty soon, I'd find a way to be useful.

"So where do we start?" I asked.

"Oh!" he added, "I think we can find a way to tolerate augmentations too. Sort of. Effectively. I already undid the damage my internal commlink caused me after explaining it to the big guy. Err, not undid but...I guess the best way to explain it is that if cyberware erodes your soul from the left you can grow it out further to the right to make up for it. Or something like that. I'll have to do some more studying. But that should be one of the easiest things for us to do."

"You want me to get augs?" I asked.

He rubbed his chin, "Not just for the sake of having them no. But you should know it's an option for when we have our strategy meeting after Robin's funeral."

"Strategy meeting?"

His eyes turned cold, but thankfully no evil smile spread across his face, "Gregor and the others have agreed to help me kill Mother,"

 

AN:

Ah, what the hell, it's my day off. Here's something from my notes that never made the final cut. Its canonicity is in a quantum superposition of both "canon" and "not canon" at the same time. But it's definitely something that could have happened.

---

I was sitting in my office one day, doing paperwork and enjoying how boring everything was for a change when Sarah, one of Anna's younger girls, came running into my office. I was startled for a moment, but I could see on her face that she was excited rather than afraid - and in particular, she had a big goofy grin on her face.

"Miss Tanaka," she shouted, "you have to come see! Hurry!"

"Sarah...what's going on? I'm not going anywhere until you explain,"

She didn't like that, but she was apparently in too much of a hurry to argue so instead she just started talking as fast as she could.

"It's Theo!" no one at Squatter's Mall called him 'Mr. McWellan' anymore or even 'Sir' - unless they were in trouble, "He got into an argument with Anna. He wanted to start a 'Squatter's Mall After Dark' program, but Anna didn't like it. She said that wouldn't happen unless he went first and he's doing it!"

I felt my eyes widen on their own, "Wait, he's doing what?"

"A striptease or burlesque thing or I don't know but we can't miss it!"

I hesitated for exactly one second.

Then I ran.

Anna had a section of an old department store. Apparently, the girls used to service the Johns in what used to be the changing rooms, but even before Theo had gotten there Anna had made some upgrades. Sarah led me to a large open area near the back of the old department store. I saw old pipes with flimsy curtains hanging down to create a sort of "backstage" area barely the size of a walk-in closet. Well, you know, a walk-in closet for mortals. Not the garage-sized walk-in closet Theo had back in Bellevue.

All of Anna's girls were here, but they were less than half the audience. There must have been nearly a hundred women here, and more than a few guys as well. I'm sure it would have been larger, but Theo had given fewer than five minutes of warning. It kept the crowd size small and the people who missed it would be paying a drek tonne more attention to his push notifications in the future.

Then the spotlight came on.

Then the music started playing, and I could hear Theo's singing voice coming across the speakers in far more sultry tones than I'd ever heard from him before.



Theo strode out from backstage wearing nothing but a loincloth. And that included a complete lack of a jock-strap. Theo wasn't really dancing at first, so much as prancing around in tune to the music with the occasional twirl thrown in, but as he did he blessed the ladies in the audience with light touches and lascivious glances. And just as he finished making the circuit, a pole came up out of the floor near where he'd ended up. I think you can guess what happened next.

It looked like Tabitha had indeed spared no expense.

"So uh..." Robin's voice came from my left. She leaned towards Sarah and said, "I'm hittin' that"

---

Made a really stupid typo. Said "lurid" originally when I meant "lascivious"

 

We'd gathered.

Opticon's drones had dug out Robin's plot and what little there were of her remains sat in a closed coffin. She'd left instruction behind to sell her cyberware and donate the proceeds. She hadn't left instructions on to whom it should be donated other than Oh hell if I know. I'm sure you guys can figure it out.

So in the end, the casket weighed less than five kilograms more than when it was empty.

And Theo had gotten some kind of top for the casket that had some kind of 2D depth illusion to make it look like she was lying peacefully in the casket. So we could pretend she hadn't been blown to bits.

There were no priests there. No Imams. Just Theo, Gregor, Fabio, Opticon, Thug, and myself. Theo hadn't been sure about whether or not to live-stream the funeral. It wasn't about making money. Robin's life, to Theo, had been and still was important. Part of him felt like she deserved to be grieved by untold multitudes, that the whole world should be reminded one last time that she existed and that her life mattered. But at the same time, he wanted to respect her and her friends. So in the end he left it up to her team, and they'd chosen to keep the ceremony off the Matrix. She could have an online memorial later.

But without the religious leaders, we weren't exactly sure what to do. Robin had never been the type for formal ceremonies, but in the end, funerals were for the living. Fabio had brought a fifth of single malt scotch for everyone (and a bottle for Thug).

Gregor, now the leader once again, did have a few words to say. As the drones lowered the casket, he stood at the end and read from his commlink.

"The tide recedes but leaves behind
bright seashells on the sand.
The sun goes down, but gentle
warmth still lingers on the land.
The music stops, and yet it echoes
on in sweet refrains.....
For every joy that passes, something beautiful remains."

Theo took that as his cue. He sat down in the folding chair he'd brought, pulled his acoustic guitar into his lap, and then took a breath.

And he sang for her.



And as he sang, I couldn't take my eyes off the tombstone:

Robin McWellan
A Bright Shining Light in the Darkness

They'd never married of course. And he hadn't posthumously adopted her or anything. It wasn't about that. But Robin's past meant that she didn't even remember her last name. So he'd ask her friend's permission and they'd granted it. It was the last gift he could give her.

And we told stories about her. We remembered the good times and the hard ones, the things we loved about her, and the things that had driven us up the walls.

"...I always hated it when she did that drek, " Thug said at the end of yet another story about her bawdy behavior, "Even with the brain damage stuff I never knew why she had to...had to..."

His voice turned haggard and I could practically feel the heartbreak tearing its way from his chest as his face screwed up in pain, "...god I want her back so much,"

The dam broke and he began to sob.

Finally, Gregor turned to Theo, "You should say something too,"

Theo winced, "I don't want to be disrespectful. I cared about her a lot, but I didn't know her anything like as long as you guys did,"

"Yeah, you did," Gregor responded.

Theo and I both took a sharp breath at exactly the same time.

"Look..." Gregor continued, "this isn't exactly the best place to talk about it. But you did more for her than any of us. We know. You should say something,"

Theo pondered it for a long moment but finally stepped forward.

"Robin..." he stopped to think. Finally, he continued, but as did his voice cracked and sputtered, "Robin did more for me than I ever did for her. I only wish she'd known that. I only wish...I could have done more. She deserved more. She deserved...better.

"Yeah," Thug added, "Yeah, she did,"

They all nodded.

And while the drones had dug the plot and had lowered her in, none of us found it appropriate to have them do what came next. We all grabbed shovels - Theo even had a troll-sized one for Thug - and begin filling in the dirt onto her casket. Each shovel-full of dirt she got further away. Each shovel-full was a goodbye.

Ten minutes later we were in our impromptu war-room. We took some time to go over the room's security one last time. Even then it wasn't exactly easy to start the conversation. But Theo pulled it off eventually.

"How did you guys figure it out?" he asked.

"Well for starters, " Fabio answered first, "you put yourself 100% at 'Lucifer's' mercy. I mean, come on man, who dives head first into Redmon without security forces that are loyal to them personally?"

"Nobody, that's who." Thug finished the thought.

Theo and I looked at each other, "That was it?" I asked.

Gregor shook his head, "No, but it got our attention."

"And then," Opticon jumped in, "when it became clear that you and Robin had an actual relationship we started paying even closer attention."

"Robin was never exactly picky about who she a bed with. But she usually forgot their names by the next day. But you? She was fanatically devoted to you." Gregor explained.

"She only ever showed that level of devotion to one person. Ever." Fabio added, "And then she threw herself on a fragging grenade for you."

"And," Thug said, "You treated her a lot like Lucifer did. You gave her stuff but didn't treat her like a pet. And you already knew how to deal with all her weird drek. None of that even surprised you. And..."

"And we knew she was keeping secrets from us...for you." Gregor added, "Eventually...well it was hard not to see it."

Theo took a deep breath and took his time exhaling it, "I...really have to up my game."

Fabio shrugged, "Yeah well...it's different doing this stuff in person than over the Matrix. Believe me, I know. If it's any consolation I'm pretty sure we're the only ones who know."

I decided it was time for me to enter the conversation.

"So what now? Is that why you decided to help? Because killing Tabitha McWellan is not exactly an easy job."

"Wait!" Fabio interjected, "Robin was killed by your mom?"

I looked at Theo, "I thought you said they already agreed!"

Gregor was the one who answered, "We agreed to take revenge on Robin's killer. You never said it was your mother,"

Theo's face twisted in frustration, "I was going to address that here and now."

Robin's friends all looked back and forth between each other in much the way they had when I'd first offered them this job. Finally, Gregor looked back at Theo.

"Then we can't do this anything like as quickly as you said when you first brought this up. This is going to take time."

"No!" Theo shouted in an uncharacteristically childish display, "My Awakening means I have something Mother doesn't know about. The longer we wait the more we lose the Element of Surprise!"

Gregor leaned toward's Theo. It wasn't something you usually saw a ghoul do unless they were trying to be threatening. They were all quite contagious.

"A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser," Gregor seemed to be quoting something

"It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong," Theo responded almost snarling. And yeah, they were definitely quoting something. Gregor had been some kind of college professor or teacher or something in his pre-ghoul life. So it wasn't a big surprise.

"And I agree with that part. But that doesn't imply a quick turnaround. Montressor took exquisite prepa - " Gregor didn't get the chance to finish.

"Look guys," Fabio jumped in, "can you put your literature-penises away for a second? We need to discuss the how before we can talk about when. If we can do it fast, we do it fast. If not, we don't. Fair enough?"

Theo folded his arms but said nothing. So I said it for him, "Absolutely."

This was going to take a while.

The bickering ebbed and flowed. Escalating. Deescalating. Escalating again. Most of the friction was between Theo and Gregor with me and Fabio trying to calm things down. Thug and Opticon both helped and hindered based on whomever they thought was wrong in the moment. Or their mood. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore.

"Theo, " I interrupted him, "you're wrong. You're just wrong. We don't know enough about your mother's estate. We don't know enough about her security detail or her schedule and we can't get that information quickly without arousing suspicion. Even if we use a meeting with her as a cover to case the place, we'll still have to analyze the information, and based on this conversation, I'm not convinced you won't just fly off the handle and attack her off schedule."

Because with his newfound power, he might think he could get away with it. And maybe he could, but I wasn't willing to risk it without being sure. And being sure took time.

Theo slammed a fist on to the table and it shook noticeably more than it should have for a human his size, but he didn't say anything. And from his expression, I knew he wouldn't press the issue further. I always took his orders when I knew they didn't present a danger to him, but I never hesitated to put my foot down if I thought he was being stupid with his own safety. And the last thing he wanted to be was a stupid rich kid who didn't know how to take 'No' for an answer.

"We'll get her," Gregor promised, "And we'll keep your Awakening as secret as we can,"

Theo sneered, "Even if it wasn't broadcast live on the Matrix, loads of people saw it. Someone will talk, and sooner rather than later,"

"Then we'll use that," Thug said, and everyone turned to look at him.

"Look, " Thug continued, "it might be stupid to try to use your Magic as our clinch, but if people think you're being stupid when you're not...well, it's worked out for me. A lot,"

Theo sat forward, his interest in the conversation suddenly restored, "That's not a bad point at all. You mean our plan should look like it relies on my new magic but only to use it as a distraction? Did you have something in mind?"

Thug shrugged, "Nah. Not yet anyway. But we can't do this now. Or even soon. So we have time to figure that out. Besides we haven't even talked about hacking into wherever she keeps her Will. No point just leaving cash on the table, right?"

Theo probably hadn't forgotten. Just ignored the issue. Between his open contacts, The Deliberative, and his new bulldrek supermagic he'd be fine. But having Tabitha's assets - particularly her voting shares - would be huge. Theo put his elbows on the table - something he rarely ever did - and started rubbing his forehead with both hands. Finally he spoke.

"So, training huh?" he said.

"Training, " Gregor echoed.

I put my hand on Theo's shoulder, "It doesn't mean you didn't love her. It just means you're doing it right."

He leaned back in his chair and put his hands around his stomach grabbing his elbows in a self-comforting gesture.

"I need to talk to Anna," he said, finally.

An hour later we were in her office. Yes, she had an office. Even madams have to do paperwork sometimes. Also Anna needed to place to hide out during large chunks of the day. Streamers had been everywhere in Squatter's Mall for the past year and she couldn't get caught on camera. It had been an enormous chore for her, but we'd done what we could to make it easier. It would have been more convenient if she could have used some kind of Altskin or Nanopaste disguise, but that would have alerted all the locals and that would have filtered out to the rest of the world eventually anyway. And while she did sometimes wear a kabuki mask and played it off for the mystique - a way to drive ratings - , it wasn't a perfect solution by any means. So we did what we could. We made a mapsoft with real-time data showing where every broadcaster was at any given time so she could dodge them. We hadn't actually told her that's what it was for in the beginning but after Alex showed up she probably figured it out pretty quickly.

"I need you to take over Squatter's Mall for a while, " Theo told her, not two seconds after we entered her office.

She looked up at us and, to her credit, skipped right over the dumbfounded part and went straight to the obvious, "What's wrong?"

"Look, " I answered first, "we were going to make this offer to you anyway. The plan was always for Theo to move from Project Manager to Program Manager and replace himself with someone we trusted. There's a short list and you're at the top of it. But right now we can't take no for an answer, but it doesn't have to be permanent. Even if we'd like it to be."

Anna didn't miss a beat, "You didn't answer my question,"

Theo looked at her with a measuring glance. I did not expect what came next, "My mother killed Robin. And we're going to kill her."

I just stared at him with naked shock. What made him think he could trust her with that? Or was his bulldrek supermagic telling him something I couldn't see?

Anna sat back and fixed him with a steady gaze for a long moment, "I'm in." she said, finally.

Maybe it was. Or maybe he was being extremely sloppy. I couldn't tell in that moment and I sure as drek couldn't ask. So I waited. Finally we were down in the basement again, setting up a training area all on our own to minimize information leaks. It wasn't much. Just a space for he and I to spar and for Gregor to bring in some training equipment or whatever Magicians use to teach newer, younger Magicians. I still had no idea what Theo would need to teach me whatever he'd be teaching me, but he seemed satisfied with our efforts.

"Are you sure you should have told Anna all that?" I said as we surved our finished work.

Theo nodded, "I know what you're thinking, but I seem to be better at reading people now. A lot better. It's like...almost everything I'm already good at, I can push myself to be enormously better for brief moments. But a few seconds of godlike competence goes a long way. Something about her told me that she wished she killed one of her parents a long time ago. Probably her father. I can't remember what it was now, but at the time it was written all over her face. And I was absolutely certain that she wouldn't betray us on that."

I nodded. I had no way of knowing if he was right but at least he wasn't just gambling.

"So..." I said, moving on, "What do we work on first?

Theo rubbed his chin, "I've been thinking about that, but we should probably discuss it. I imagine you'll want to go full Magician first, right?"

I nodded a little too quickly. Theo smiled.

"That shouldn't take too long. The big guy told me that there are some teaching charms I could pick up to speed up the process for both of us. At least for smaller things like that. But we really need to talk about what to do afterward. The spells and related magical skills should be easy compared to spirit charms. And those are gonna be easy compared to Sorcery - real sorcery - and magical martial arts. There's a bunch of mobility charms which could all be insanely useful. But there's also charms that have broader effects, and one or two that are especially good if you want to start focusing on Magician stuff."

"And...what's a charm?" I asked pointedly.

He turned to look at me in confusion, and then he realized, "Oh. Sorry. Charms are like...I want to say spells but there's some really significant differences. They aren't things you learn with your mind. They're things you learn with your soul. Like training your instincts only on a much much deeper level. Also, they don't interface with the manasphere, but come from your own internal essence. In a way you're sort of crafting part of your soul into a kind of abstract magical item that does things for you when you access it. Although, looked at another way, charms don't even exist. They're just...things you do. Did I mention the metaphysics of it all was really weird?"

I nodded. Not because any of that made sense, but because it made sense that it didn't make sense.

"I do want to focus on becoming Magician training, but I don't know if that will help in the short term. You're going to be studying that with Gregor. I can focus on fighting and mobility stuff for now."

Theo looked down, "No...I don't want you to do that for me. I know I...got a little heated back there and to be honest this whole thing with Robin and Mother is weighing on me, but you guys were right. We shouldn't rush into this."

"Thank you," I told him.

He clapped his hands together and started rubbing them back and forth, "Alright, if you're not comfortable wearing The Ring, then we'll study together. And after we unlock your Magician abilities I'll introduce you to a little something the big guy calls, 'Affinity Mana Control'"

---

AN:

I'm a little unsure how well this chapter came out, but I gave up on figuring out what to change. Lemme know if I'm just over-thinking it.

 

AN:

So, while I do not consider myself beholden to game mechanics in general, as an analogy my character's have a tendency to progress along the lines of "milestone leveling". That is to say, when the power level jumps, it jumps by a considerable margin. That does not imply that the level of advancement seen in the opening of this chapter will continue from now on in each and every chapter. But Theo and Miho just got phenomenal cosmic power, and it bears dwelling upon for a bit.

Also it's fun.

---

It hadn't really registered when Theo had told me that becoming a Magician in addition to being a Physical Adept was the least of the options available to me. Not until he explained exactly what "Affinity Mana Control" meant. You see, as it turned out, the Charm that he had used on me had done considerably more than it was supposed to, undoubtedly because he'd done it in the throws of his Exaltation Surge. Normally it would have just opened my soul to the deeper mysteries of the universe, making me "Enlightened". But because he'd been surging at the time, it went a bit further than that.

That's how I ended up becoming a full-on god-blooded, which was apparently the term. Like Theo had said, the god-blooded were normally the offspring of a divine being and a mortal, back when that kind of drek used to happen. In fact, there were even certain types of god-blooded, called "Solar Half-Caste" that came about from the union of a Solar and a mortal, which said quite a lot about just what it meant to be a Solar. Thing was, because I was a god-blooded without a divine parent, my divine nature wasn't preset. If I'd been the daughter of Ares, the Greek god of war, I would have automatically had War as my Domain. I didn't have a particular Divine Domain, but that didn't mean I couldn't have one. But I had to act fast or I'd lose the opportunity entirely.

And Theo had known I would need to act fast, so he'd done some investigating on the options. And since he knew me very well (and was profoundly more ambitious than I was) he'd strongly recommended that I become the demigoddess of the entire fragging manaphere!

That didn't mean I'd ever be able to fully control the whole manaphere or even much of it - not if I didn't step over the threshold and become a full-on goddess. That was something that was possible in the medium term apparently, with Theo's help at least. And I found myself more than a little suspicious that he wasn't pushing me to consider that. But as it turned out, if I went that far, if I crossed that threshold then my souls (yes, Hun and Po, just like the Chinese said) would fuse and become subsumed into a larger divine nature and how much of me would remain would be the kind of things philosophers could argue over for eternity without ever coming to a conclusion on. And on top of that, the process could also change who I was based on my Domain, so the philosophical part might end up being moot anyway. Also, Theo would be able to make gods later anyway.

You heard that right, folks.

The fragger would eventually have the power to Make Gods.

I tried not to think about that much. I did try to think of other things I could select as a Divine Domain, but I was on a time limit, and being the demigoddess of the manasphere certainly had a nice ring to it. So I went with Theo's recommendation in the end as I often did in these situations. By picking up Affinity Mana Control, I solidified the manasphere as my Domain and holy hell was it cool. I had control over the stuff of mana itself. I could raise or lower the background count in small areas, not by much but my power was sure to grow, and I could buff my own spells and adept powers in small ways or weaken those of others. I could attack or defend myself with raw mana, create small mana storms (about the size of a large room and not all that intense) and we believed I might even be able to purify toxic regions although we hadn't had a chance to test it. Also at my current level of power I could only affect an area less than ten meters in radius, but still.

That was one charm.

There were others.

Most of them, by default, were beyond what I'd ever naturally be able to do without stepping into full godhood, but Theo thought he should be able to make a magical artifact to get round that. Or other kinds of artifacts for me if that didn't work. But that was another thing. Most items imbued with what I was only slowly becoming more comfortable calling 'mortal magic' were fairly minor by comparison. Alchemical preparations, various foci for enhancing an existing magic users' abilities, etc. Magical Artifacts were more like magic items from trideo games or stories of legend - which I guessed we were now. Theo's internal commlink, for instance, had spontaneously converted itself into one such an artifact through the raw power of the Exaltation Surge. I didn't know what it could do yet, but Theo had carved out some time from his non-stop training schedule to learn computer science skills just to see what would happen.

And don't think I neglected my studies of "mortal magic" either. I quickly discovered I could learn new spells about ten times faster than a..sigh...a mortal. So I started snatching them up like they were going out of style. Augmentations...were a murkier subject. A lot of the basic cyberware were redundant with my Adept powers. Or just disturbing to me. I wasn't a fan of metal in my body no matter how well it had worked out for Robin. I was thinking about maybe getting an internal commlink for security reasons, but that was about it. Bioware was another story. There were plenty of basic upgrades that would be compatible with or complementary to my magic. Bone density augmentations to be tougher, Muscle toners to be stronger, and Synthacardium to improve my aerobics and therefore athletic ability. And they didn't squick me out. So those were high on the list. In fact, I was leaning towards pulling the trigger on those sooner rather than later.

Cultured Bioware was where it got especially murky. My "nice to have" list was longer than my arm when it came to those but I didn't see anything critical. I'd spent the last six years jealous of Theo's integrated Sleep Regulation which made it so he didn't need more than three hours of sleep a night. There was an Adept power vaguely similar to that, but it wasn't anything like as convenient. Then there were the mental upgrades. I might never be able to get my hands on the insane custom stuff Theo had built in, like his fragging Rating 5 Cerebral Boosters, but honestly Rating 3 would probably be enough. There were a lot of things like that, but they were all cultured bioware. That meant they had to be custom made for my genome and took considerably longer to get. And if, God forbid, Tabitha discovered I was getting augs she'd know something was up. And I wanted to be careful, so that would have to wait.

All in all, the two weeks following Theo's Exaltation were a blast. That's not to say I wasn't still grieving for Robin. But I was still managing to revel in the excitement of the new world that had opened itself up before me, and I knew Robin would approve. A more bittersweet time in my life I had never known, except perhaps after my father and brother had died and Lucifer had extended his hand of protection over me. I would never forget Robin, but I was still managing to have the time of my life.

That's why I missed it.

Completely beneath my notice, Theo had become more reserved, more distant, and bitter. To my everlasting shame, I didn't see what was going on with him. I didn't see where putting off dealing with Mother was taking him. And it wasn't a good place. He'd given over the day-to-day control of Lucifer's operations to Robin's team (they'd decided to keep calling themselves that) just as he'd done with the daily operations of Squatter's Mall with Anna. And he was training 21 hours a day. Even when he was teaching me how to use my new abilities or magical skills, he found ways to work in his own training as well. I should have seen it in those moments if nothing else. Looking back all the signs were there. The hardness in his eyes, the emptiness in his voice, the edge to his movements...they all painted a clear picture of a man who had been swallowed whole by the need for revenge, even if I'd been oblivious to them. If you've ever wondered why people sometimes rush off and do stupid things when it would make more sense to slow down and prepare, now you know why.

Sometimes, there are negative consequences to doing things the smart way.

"Hey, have you seen Theo?" Fabio asked me.

He'd crept up on me while I was training which had startled me, but I quickly recovered. Fabio looked a bit haggard, like he hadn't gotten enough sleep lately, and - contrary to his typical behavior - he was wearing plain clothes and didn't smell like cheap cologne. I checked my commlink for the time.

"It's 3:00 am so probably in his room. Is he not there?" I replied.

"No, and he's not answering his commlink. I had Opticon check for his internal commlink signal and he's not getting anything, but there's plenty of high security zones all around the mall. Most of them are uh..." Fabio came up short.

"In Anna's territory, I know." I finished for him, "Which isn't his thing, by the way. I figured you'd know that by now. Not that it would bother me if it was,"

I'd promised myself I would stop wasting time with him when I came back from the dead, but we hadn't really progressed our relationship at all since Robin's funeral. I didn't think I was hesitating. I just wasn't sure how to go about that kind of thing and there never seemed to be a moment where it was appropriate to bring it up. And for that matter, my instincts weren't making an monogamus noises at me. Robin had been good for Theo, and he'd never stopped loving me in the process of that. If he wanted a little sexual healing with one of Anna's girls well...I knew I was supposed to care, but the thought of it didn't seem very disturbing. Although that could have been because I literally couldn't imagine it happening. Theo's obsession with power dynamics meant he hadn't even told me about his feelings. Even after making me a millionare executive. One of Anna's girls? I couldn't see him letting himself do that.

But he wasn't there. Anna hadn't seen him for days. And the more calls I made, the more worried I got. I got Opticon to run a trace on both his regular commlink and his internal one. Nothing. So I went to his room and used my emergency clearance to get in. He'd be notified about it the moment he turned one of his commlinks back on, but for now I was starting to get worried. So, I finally broke down and dipped into Deliberative resources. Theo's new powers had a bit of a quirk to them. When he exerted himself to a significant degree sometimes - only sometimes - that golden light would come back. He'd said it had something to do with having two wells of power rather than the one that I had, and the larger one was also less efficient and would 'leak'. But the especially weird thing was, unlike most astral displays his "Anima Banner" as he called it, was visible to technology. Some magic was like that, but most were by intention.

So I had the exact frequency of light put out by his anima banner and a satellite constellation owned wholesale by the Deliberative. If he flared his Anima Banner anywhere in Seattle I'd be alerted. On the other hand, I had a fair number of false positives to deal with, but not as many as you'd think. And crossing them off the list was a nice distraction from thoughts of him having been extracted by Mother or having gone off by himself to kill her. In the mean time, Robin's team was checking all the surveillance logs, but not a single camera in Squatter's Mall had caught him leaving or even anything that could have been him leaving.

I got a match on the scan for Theo's Anima Banner. He'd gone full "bonfire" somewhere in Renton. I could get there quickly via astral travel but I couldn't have any technological assistance in finding the place so I had to study the map pretty carefully. Then I went to my room, locked the door, and projected my soul from my body.

And let me tell you, Astral Travel is fast. I overshot several times. Once I almost ended up in the NAN territory - the border with the Native American Nations was right next to Seattle after all - but eventually I nailed down the spot where the satellite had found Theo: an abandoned building in a largely disused portion of town.

And there were dead bodies everywhere.

It didn't take me long to identify them either. Being vice-Lucifer had left me even more knowledgeable about Seattle's gangs than I ever would have been had I stayed in Redmond. Every corpse was cybered up as much as Robin had been or more. And they all wore same symbol, either as a tattoo, on a jacket, or even as rings: a silver taloned hand slashing across a full moon.

Night Hunters.

The Night Hunters weren't really a gang but they were a plague. The loved augmentations almost as much as they hated metahumans. And they had this twisted ideology based around embracing animal nature. That made them less organized - which was a mercy - but also harder to pin down. They literally hunted metahumans like a pack of wolves hunting prey animals. Remembering what had happened to the Red Hot Nukes, I did what I could to check for signs they'd been tortured, but I was no medical expert. They certainly hadn't been restrained or anything. As far as I could tell, they'd died fighting. Some had burns, but most had slash marks all over their bodies. The Manablade and Powerblade spells had been among the very first spells Theo and I had learned and these wounds certainly could have come from those kinds of spells - at least from what my extremely limited knowledge could tell me.

How long had he been doing this? How long had he be letting out his rage for his Mother onto Seattle's enemies? Oh make no mistake, as long as he was just killing them in combat, Theo could kill every Night Hunter in Renton for all I cared. But it still worried me. Because that wasn't the point. Was he losing control? How far would this escalate? And why hadn't I seen this coming?

As I drifted along through the corpses, I mulled over my options. I could try to find him and have this out now. I could go back and talk this over when he got back. Or I could pretend it never happened.

The third option was cowardly, so I wasn't doing that. The second option seemed more prudent. He wasn't going to go from freeing the world from a bunch of human-shaped animals to slaughtering anyone who ever smiled at a member of Humanis in a single night. Escalation was certainly something to pay attention to, but as far as I was concerned, he hadn't actually done anything bad yet. Massacring Night Hunters was practically a public service. And if it gave him some measure of peace and let him bide his time until we could bring down his Mother with impunity, well I was pretty inclined to let him.

Until I saw a giant golden bird manifesting in the air about ten kilometers to the north on my way out of the building. By it's proper name, a 'Garda Bird' but it was apparently the origin behind the Legend of the Phoenix. And as the shape of Theo's Iconic Anima, it was in a very real way, his deepest inner truth. And even as I knew that it meant he was drawing on the deepest parts of his power, and even as I knew that it was a massive security risk, I couldn't help but be taken aback for a moment by its beauty. Especially the beautiful meaning it had for Theo as a person. He couldn't physically return from death, but life was full of little deaths. Losing Robin had been one for all of us. But Theo's innermost truth was that he could die a thousand deaths, but he would always return. Always stand back up. Always be reborn.

But in this situation, I also knew that seeing it here and now and under these circumstance meant that he was in danger of suffering one of those deaths, even as I sat staring like an idiot.

I rushed towards the terrifying beauty as fast as my astral body would go.

---

Edit: AN a previous version of this chapter had Miho's astral form noticing an AR tag. As that is impossible it has been removed and replaced.

 

I managed to not overshoot this time. Of course, with Theo's twenty-meter tall iconic anima banner, I had a really easy landmark to guide me. And as I only had about ten kilometers to go, I made it in a few seconds with the speed afforded to me by my astral form. And since I hadn't gone far, the area I now found myself in wasn't in much better shape than where the group of Night Hunters Theo had wiped out had been. Just a series of run-down tenements. There wasn't much distinguishing the place except for an upside-down American flag someone had run up a pole. That wasn't a good sign.

In general, the old United States was mostly a forgotten memory now, although anyone with any sense of history understood that the ol' US of A was a cautionary tale about the destructive power of the inability to let go of the past. The people of the United States had fractured along racial and ideological lines and lost the ability to see their neighbors as being part of a larger whole with them. Choosing instead to focus on old hatreds and grudges from the past. But, while flying the flag upsidedown had originally been a sign that the nation was in distress - after events like the attack on Pearl Harbor or the September 11th attacks - by the time of the nation's collapse it had largely been co-opted by racist groups to express their fears that they themselves would soon become the subjects of genocide. And now, in this day and age, about the only time you saw that flag was in the configuration I now saw it. It had become an unofficial symbol for the Humanis policlub, the anti-metahuman political advocacy group for unAwakened humans.

And there were spirits of every kind here, hanging still in the air. Dozens of them, but they were just sitting back and watching. On rare occasions, Humanis and their ilk did get odd the Awakened or two. Sometimes someone already affiliated with them would Awaken and swear to use their powers for "good". Some would join just because they couldn't find anyone to protect them. Very rarely, they even tried recruiting Awakened - I had even gotten a few offers back when I lived in the Barrens. But if anyone here had summoned them they would have been helping try to fight Theo off. And in his current state of mind, I didn't think he would have wanted any help. Which meant that they had just shown up to watch. I supposed they understood more about the kind of divine power being thrown around and didn't want to miss the show or something.

I didn't see any children or signs that this was any kind of community but Humanis-affiliated gangs often took over places like this to use as a headquarters. I didn't have access to my commlink at the moment, but I was willing to bet that our database as Lucifer had plenty of information about these people and their activities. And that none of it would be particularly nice. But that wasn't the point. The point was Theo's state of mind and my fears about how quickly he would escalate if I let this go unchecked.

Because as I watched from a good 50 meters up, Theo in his light milspec armor, was striding down the middle of the street brawling with anyone who dared approach. They'd apparently given up shooting him, which between his armor and the powerful defensive spells he could throw up, the light arms they had at their disposal would do much. He probably didn't even need Charms for this. But that wasn't all. Picking a fight with a Humanis gang member (or in this case, an entire gang) that you knew you could beat was a time-honored method of relieving tension for a lot of people. Even if that did end up just becoming another recruitment tool for them in the end ("look how violent they are! They did this to me for no reason and they'll do the same to you!"). No, it wasn't just the fight.

Theo was taunting them with a song.



And as I descended and saw that the downed gang members were still breathing I knew he hadn't come here to commit slaughter. He'd come to terrorize them. And as much as that might sound better, this was Tabitha McWellan's son. He didn't need to lay a finger on you to torture you, especially not with fear. And as he strode through poorly trained gang members and cold-blooded killers alike he made it clear in no uncertain terms just how powerless they all were before him, because he didn't even need to stop singing.

I caught up to him just as he had caught up to the man who was apparently their leader, a human of African descent but dressed in the same street clothes his foot soldiers wore. I only knew he was the leader because Theo had chosen to focus on him.

"Baaarrrrryyyyyy" Theo sang his name out, "You've been a naughty boy, Barry. And it's time to face the music." he manifested a Powerblade, just a translucent blue stick made of magic really, but he was dragging its tip along the ground creating a shower of sparks and leaving a thin line of molten asphalt in his wake.

"Samael stop!" I shouted as I manifested into the material plane while using what magical skills I had to give myself an entirely blank face. I hadn't wanted to out him either as Lucifer or use his real name. And over the years we'd both become more and more conversant in Christian mythology to sate Theo's incessant need for theatricality while staying on brand. The angel Samiel was sometimes associated with Satan and by extension sometimes even mistaken in popular culture as an alternate name for Lucifer. Either way, he was the accuser and destroyer of sinners, only unlike Satan, he was on God's payroll. The important thing though, was just that he'd recognize me and that I was speaking to him. And fortunately, he did.

He turned to regard me, "Leave me alone, Raphael. I don't feel like being healed right now."

"You'll make things worse if you do this. You know this!"

And I could feel the vicious smirk under his helmet, "I'm God's chemotherapy, remember? Is it really so wrong if I enjoy my work?"

"That's not what this is about! Besides, if the kind of thing you're doing now could fix anything the world's problems would have all been solved a long time ago! You're not doing this to help anyone. You're not doing this for her. You're doing this for yourself!"

His voice turned cold, "I won't deny that. But you know what? I've been through a lot lately. And I think I deserve something nice."

I floated to his side and stared him down for a moment, but then I turned to the gang leader, "Tell me why you do what you do. Don't lie. I'll know."

It took Barry a few moments to collect himself, "We - we have to protect humanity! Everyone hates us! Without us, there'd be genocide!"

Morning dew at dawn.

That might surprise some of you. So let me educate you. Bigotry might end in hate, but it always began with fear. And there was no shortage of things to fear in the Sixth World. Because no matter who you were, what you looked like, who you liked to frag, what genitals you had, or what the color of your skin was there was someone somewhere out there who hated you for nothing more than the way you were born. And they wanted to kill you and everyone like you. Or worse. So naturally, people would group together for protection. They formed tribes. And for some people, it stopped there. Back in those days, there were multitudes of people who would sit around drinking with their buddies trading racist jokes who would go to work the next day and get along just fine with their co-workers, no matter their race, sexuality or metatype. Some of these people were pretending to be tolerant, but a lot of them weren't. But they knew they needed protection in case the Sons of Sauron or Humanis came around and they knew they couldn't afford to alienate people who could protect them.

But it didn't stop there for some. Those who were truly terrified got in deeper and deeper. They'd join race-gangs as foot soldiers if they could. And they really honestly did, in their heart of hearts believe they were protecting their people. If you ever heard a story about a footsoldier from one of those gangs leaving a child alone when they could have killed them even after they killed one or both of their parents, then you've seen it in action. That's not to say that they weren't rubbing shoulders with truly cruel and evil people, but the real irony? Many of those cruel and evil people weren't even racist. They were psychopaths and sadists who would have done those things to anyone if they could. But they couldn't get away with doing it all willy-nilly. So they joined groups where violence was celebrated, because even if you had to confine your violence to just metahumans, well at least you got to get it out of your system. And metahumans were as good a target as any for them.

And it didn't end there either. Because once you were in deep you'd start to think, "What kind of person wants to kill my children just because they're human?" and you'd quickly come to the conclusion that your enemies weren't people at all. So you'd have no problems accepting psychopaths and sadists into your group as long as they confined themselves to the right targets. Because you needed their help if you had any chance of keeping your people from getting wiped off the face of the earth. And once you were there, it wasn't that big of a leap to think that maybe there was just something inside metahumans that predisposed them to that. Maybe they were all like that deep down to some degree or another.

Maybe the world would be better off without them, even if some of them weren't as big a problem as others.

It was all about fear.

Theo knew that, and he'd come here anyway.

"Tell me, Samael, " I said turning back to Theo, "what do you think will happen if you put more fear into the world? Do you think it'll make things better? Or will you feed the fires that create men like him? But you already know the answer. Strike him down like this and ten more will take his place and you will be the one who created them. You know this!"

I could see the deep breaths he was taking even under all that armor. Several long seconds passed, but finally, he dismissed his Powerblade.

"I've made a mistake." his tone was emotionless but disciplined, so I knew I'd reached him. His brain at least, but his heart would come along for the ride eventually. Right now I just needed to get him out of this place.

"Let's get out of here," I told him.

"No, not yet," he replied.

He walked up to Barry, squatted down, and poked him in the chest, "You are Mr. Barry Stackhouse and Mr. Stackhouse? I know everything there is to know about you. I know where you live. I know who you're friends are. I even know every time you take a drek. You want to defend humans? You stay on defense. Am I understood?"

"No," said the surprisingly brave racist, even as his voice shook, "I can't. That's suicide. If the Sons of Sauron hit us and we don't hit back they'll know we're weak. You might as well kill us all right here."

Theo stared him down, but Barry wasn't budging. So Theo stood up, reached out a hand to the nearest tenement building and I could feel the raw power of the manasphere bending to his will as he carved words into the face of the building.

VENGEANCE IS MINE, SAYETH THE LORD. I WILL REPAY

That too might bear some explaining. Like Hammurabi's "eye for an eye" it's dramatically misunderstood in the modern-day. For just as Hammurabi's famous law was actually about limiting retribution - if someone knocked out one of your teeth you were only allowed to do the same to them - Yahweh's famous "Vengence is mine" quote was actually about taking revenge out of mortal hands entirely. Vengeance belongs to God. He'd take care of that drek for you. Don't get your hands dirty.

He was making quite a promise there.

Then, in a shower of golden sparks, I watched as Theo transitioned his entire body into the manasphere. He flew up about a hundred meters and paused, clearly waiting for me. But I had one last thing to say. Because fear wasn't always bad. It could turn toxic, sure, but it had its uses. Theo may have started off doing it wrong, but he'd ended well and I wanted to add my piece.

"Kick out the psychos, harm no innocents, and make what restitution you can. Do those things and you won't have to deal with him again. And you should know...."

I floated towards him, "There are forces in this world that would oppose the genocide of humans. You don't see them, because you have made them your enemies. But this world is not as empty of light as you believe,"

Barry sat up, "Are you...are you really the Archangel Raphael?"

I took a moment to glance down at my Astral Form for the first time. I'd been in such a hurry that I just hadn't paid attention. But I now realized it was over two meters tall and glowed with a brighter light than I'd seen from any spirit or other Astral Form during my limited period of study. It only made sense, I supposed since I was half-god now. And I'd find out later that I had some manner of aura that made my divine nature more obvious, even to mortals, at least when I was manifesting like this. Not unlike the Changing Lady in a way, if on a much much smaller scale.

"If I have told you the truth," I replied, "then what does it matter?"

I stopped manifesting, disappearing from the mortal world, and joined Theo high in the air. I knew his emotions would be a mess. Frustration from having not been able to complete the kill, embarrassment from having done all this in the first place, shame from having disappointed me...they'd all be fighting for dominance in his head, and really neither one of us wanted to deal with that drek out in the open right now. So I made sure to speak first.

"Come with me, " I ordered him.

He followed in silence and I lead him to Hollywood Hospital, one of the last real institutions of medicine in Redmond and maybe the only one that was actually trying to help. Theo had poured millions of nuyen into the place over the years, both as Theodore McWellan and as Lucifer, so it was doing pretty well these days, at least compared to what it was like before. Still, they were chronically understaffed and still a little underfunded. We appeared in an out-of-the-way alley nearby. Theo's anima banner had calmed down, but we couldn't just appear out of nowhere where people could see. I informed him of my intentions and he sent an email as Lucifer to Chief Administrator Olszewski that two Agents were coming and should be put to work as soon as possible.

We didn't talk about what happened for a while, but not out of cowardice. I was giving us both time to cool off while we put real good into the world. Health spells had been the first ones we'd started learning because obviously. And while we weren't completely immune to the Drain that comes from using magic, we were both highly resistant to it. So we spent the next several hours healing those we could. We even ran into a little orc girl - probably a third grader - with leukemia and Theo whipped out some Solar healing Charms to eradicate the cancer from her body.

That felt good for both of us.

By the time we were done, the doctors didn't have a lot left to do, and what they did have to do was well within their abilities, so we left. Reappearing in my bedroom it was finally time to talk. Of course, it might not have been the most comforting place. I kept a spartan aesthetic, at least visually. The only decorations were the digital frames on the walls displaying the good and happy times we'd had here, at Squatter's Mall in the last year. There were other mementos like that, but I hadn't gone in for conspicuous consumption. Well, not for the sake of saying 'look how wealthy I am' anyway. The main exception was the 50,000 nuyen mattress because frankly, once you've slept on something like that, you'd never judge me. Otherwise, the place was all business and right angles.

"Time for the talk, huh?" Theo began after taking his helmet off.

I motioned for him to sit on my bed while I pulled up a chair for myself. We sat.

"I'm not sure what's left to say, " I replied, "I get what you're going through. I really do. And I don't think it would be helpful to shout you down when you made the right call in the end. All I want to say now is, Theo...please don't let yourself change. Not like this. Not for the worse."

He nodded, eyes once again on the floor.

"It was easier though...back before there was anything I could do about it. Back when I was powerless. Well, powerless against her at least. Now...now all I want is to storm into her office and cut her in half while everyone watches and then tell the world just how much she deserved it."

I put both my hands on Theo's shoulders, "Theo...you know you've always been careful with how you've helped people? Because you've seen how many rags-to-riches stories end in tragedy. Well...you're on the other side of that now. You didn't have a single spark of magic before and now you're literally divine. You're going to have to be careful and not just about this situation with your Mother."

He sighed and nodded. It seemed like he was about to say something when his commlink beeped. I'd had him clear things up as much as possible with Robin's teams before we got started in earnest at Hollywood Hospital, so whatever this was it was new.

Theo's face turned white when he saw the screen.

"What is it?" I asked, as his fear became my own.

He turned the commlink screen to face me and I saw the last thing on earth I expected. Theo had gotten an untraceable email, but that was nothing new. But it had gone to his public Horizon account and not any of his Lucifer accounts. There was no text, only a series of images. Because the language the message was in wasn't one that any commlink had a font for. Because it wasn't any earthly language. The language I saw on his commlink was, in fact, the language of the gods and the creators of the cosmos themselves.

Old Realm.

I was still in the process of learning Old Realm, but what little I knew sufficed for this. It was a question, simple and direct. And yet terrifying for its implication.

"ARE YOU THE RETURN OF GLORY?"

 

AN

So, because I've made such a big deal out of the importance of music to this story, I feel the need to point out for clarity that no one in this chapter is literally singing.

---

"What do we do?" Theo asked me as if I'd have a fragging clue. So, of course, I had to come up with something.

"Send back something noncommittal. Something that works whether you understood him or not." He held his commlink sideways so I could watch.

[Who is this?] Theo wrote back. The reply was instant and still in Old Realm.

[ONE WHO WOULD SERVE THE CHOSEN LOYALLY]

We both took a second to breathe and look at each other. That was something but it wasn't necessarily the truth. I couldn't think of anything so I stayed silent. Moments passed without regard for our preferences and the tension oppressed us like Tabitha herself. Eventually, Theo sent another message.

[Identify yourself]

The reply, while still in Old Realm, was less comprehensible. Although it struck a chord with me. There were three symbols. One for "Victory" another for "Gentleness" and the last meant "Intelligent" Again they were good signs, but they were just words on a screen, even if they did have divine significance.

And something about those three words meant something to me, but I didn't know what. It was on the tip of my tongue, but...I just couldn't place where I'd heard those three words used together before even if I knew for a fact I had.

"I can't think of anything else to say that wouldn't tip our hand that we can read this. You think I should?" Theo said after a while.

The being on the other end made the choice for us. Two more Old Realm sigils appeared. The first meant, "I approach" but I couldn't read the second one.

"What's the second one say?" I asked.

Theo winced, "Uh...pretty sure it's a unit of time but I'm not exactly sure. Help me out here, big guy?" Theo paused for a moment and then groaned, "Ugh...about 47 minutes. Do we run?"

I honestly wasn't sure. Then I remembered the obvious. I was Theo's bodyguard. It was my job to protect him, and I spoke Old Realm at least well enough to ask where the bathroom was, and whoever this was clearly understood English and knew how to use a commlink. I would meet whoever this was head-on and keep Theo out of danger.

"I'll meet him. You watch from a distance." I said.

"Miho!" Theo began, but I cut him off.

"I'm your bodyguard, Theo. This is my job,"

Theo took a moment to compose himself and then said, "Miho...when you were dying in front of me...I didn't just say what I said out of shock or pain. I love you. I don't want you to be my bodyguard anymore. My life is not more important than yours,"

The moment had come. I had to look him in the eye and tell him the truth. And on my honor as a Samurai, nothing would stop me. I put a hand on his shoulder again.

"I know, Theo. I've known for a while even if I didn't admit it to myself at first. And I love you too. And not just as a friend or a brother. I love you all the way. But Theo? Your life is more important than mine. For Squatter's Mall, for Redmond, and for the world. I swore to protect you and I will. Always."

Theo blanched and started to quiver. It wasn't the reaction I was hoping for.

"Miho...I just lost Robin. Please don't ask me to risk that again,"

I sighed. Because he was right, "I guess there is more than one type of danger I need to protect you from. But we need to do this safely. Does the big guy have any ideas how - "

This time it was both our commlinks that interrupted us. It was frustrating but in this type of operation ignoring alerts could mean people died. This one came from the General Operations Department.

[ALERT: Flight Plan filed with Squatter's Mall landing pad as the destination. ETA 47 minutes. Management please advise]

I called Anna immediately and told her, in as genuinely a polite way as I could, to stay out of this and that it was above her pay grade. Then Theo and I made our way to the roof. We weren't going to just stand outside and wait the whole time like mouth-breathing sniper bait, but we waited. We spent most of the time trying to get what information we could about who was coming. The craft was a converted Mitsubishi Nightsky with aerial capabilities, but it was registered to a holding company that led to an obviously fake identity. That was interesting in itself though. Whoever set that up must have had some serious pull to get the authorities to just overlook it. Which often happened when people with serious clout - like you know, Theodore McWellan or people of similar stature - needed to travel without announcing where they were going. Whoever we were about to meet, they were a Big Deal.

We'd decided to pretend, at least at first, to not have any clue about what was going on. And then later, if we survived, to pick the big guy's brains about charms that could help us out in situations like these in the future. In fact, we were getting an early start on that when I heard the propellers of the Nightsky in the distance, because of course I kept my advanced hearing on and augmented it as best I could with my divine control over mana itself. Even with that, this Nightsky had some pretty impressive stealth systems, actually. It would have to for flying over Redmond. We'd eventually discovered that the missile that had been aimed our way back on that first day when this all began was not, in fact, the Red Hot Nukes as we'd come to suspect, but rather just some assholes having some fun. They didn't even know what we'd been coming there to do or who we were. We were moving so we were a target. It didn't even look like Tabitha had been involved in that one.

Finally, the Nightsky landed and Theo and I went out, just the two of us to greet the Unknown and shake its hand. The door opened and a young Asian man stepped out.

"Mr. McWellan," he said in a philippine accent, "thank you for receiving me."

He offered his hand and Theo shook it, "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met,"

The man smiled and spoke with sincere kindness in his eyes, "I see that you do not recognize my face. I will try not to take that as an insult, but I imagine you've heard my name. I am Masaru,"

Victory. Gentleness. Intelligent. A fairly common Japanese name actually. I wanted to smack my own forehead so hard I probably would have knocked myself out if I'd done it. But there wasn't time for that.

Because we were standing less than two meters from a Great Dragon. And as much power as we'd gained in the last two weeks and for all that Masaru was the youngest of the Great Dragons he was still the youngest of the Great Dragons. Half-a-month of divine power probably wasn't gonna stack up very well against that. Well I mean, I didn't actually know that, but I wasn't sanguine about rolling that particular set of dice.

"Did you receive my messages?" he asked.

Theo froze for a fraction of a second, but it wasn't the kind of thing you'd expect one of their kind to miss.

"I...received something. Though I admit I wasn't sure what to make of it," Theo responded.

Masaru smiled and it went all the way to his eyes, "I assure you, they were quite sincere. Although if you had trouble reading them I would be quite understanding,"

I didn't smell any deception, but before becoming partially divine I would have laughed at the thought of assuming my powers would work on a being like him. Now, well...just another crapshoot really.

Then I felt something coming from Theo. Not the occult stirrings of the manasphere, but something deeper. Something far more primal. Something I'd felt a few times before. It had passed beneath my notice when he'd used his Charms to read Anna, and I'd been too distracted to pay attention when I was talking him down out of murdering Barry (or whatever more horrendous fate he might have had planned for him). But I was putting the pieces together now. Learning to recognize when he was calling on his True Power.

"What if I told you the answer was Yes?" Theo asked.

"Then I would ask for confirmation," Masaru replied immediately.

"And if I provided it?" Theo asked.

Masaru switched to Old Realm, "Then I would swear an oath of fealty to you and count myself in your service for all time."

Theo looked at me, uncertainty in his eyes, but I had no wisdom to offer him. Masaru noted the exchange with polite disinterest for a moment but then spoke again in Old Realm.

"Or is it her?"

I shook my head vigorously, showing enough fear that I could feel my father's disappointment from beyond the grave.

"But you speak the language of the gods?" Masaru asked, continuing in Old Realm.

I nodded rather than spoke because honestly I really didn't want his attention right then. For all that Masaru was, by all accounts, the scrappy young kid version of Dunkelzahn himself - which was about as Good Guy as you could get - he was still a Great Dragon, and my pretensions of non-mortality felt pretty pretentious in that moment.

Theo interjected to save me, "Well we certainly can't do this here. Come, let me give you the tour,"

Theo somehow managed to treat the situation like he was receiving any other foreign dignitary, giving Masaru a history of our accomplishments in the past year. Masaru for his part sounded pretty impressed, but it was pretty hard to gauge his level of sincerity. Or maybe I just didn't trust myself to be able to pull that off. The tour only lasted about twenty minutes, but it was the most agonizing twenty minutes of my life. At one point Anna made her presence known, but when she saw the look in my eye she made a hasty, but somehow graceful withdrawal.

[Why is HE here?] she texted me.

[Can't talk about it. Maybe ever. Still friends?] I replied.

Anna hadn't seemed to recognize him, but I guessed that my demeanor had made her curious enough to subtly grab a photo and do a Matrix search. It wouldn't have taken her long to get the answer.

[Just let me know if I can help] she added.

[Yeah. Definitely. Can you keep people out of our way? Without it backfiring?] I asked.

[On it] she replied.

The tour went smoothly but as it dragged on, the tension inside me made it feel like I was being slowly pulled apart by the chakras. Of course, when it was finally over and we were all standing in Theo's office, I suddenly found myself wishing we were back out there stalling for yet more time.

Theo closed the door behind us and took a deep breath. Masaru, to my surprise, had not immediately taken a seat without even being bid to do so. Instead, he stood facing Theo while, mercifully, ignoring my presence entirely.

"I mean no disrespect, great Masaru, but...in the hypothetical situation where I am what you believe I am, I have no way of knowing that providing confirmation of that to you would not place me in...a precarious situation."

Masaru nodded, "I understand completely. And if you had some means to absolutely verify my intentions you certainly would have used them by now. I'm afraid I can only ask you to have faith in me."

Theo glanced in my direction, and I placed a hand on the hilt of my sword. Masaru might take that as a grave insult, I knew, but if this went sideways I wasn't going down without a fight. But he still seemed to take no notice of me.

Theo's caste mark flared to life. It was a tiny disk of golden light surrounded by a circle of the same. The mark of the Eclipse Caste. Called the Harmonious Voices, the Quicksilver Falcons, the Crowned Suns, and the Quills of Heaven, it was given to them to be the diplomats and peacemakers of the Solar Exalted. They could walk amongst demons without fear, protected by ancient forms of...well..diplomatic immunity essentially. More than any other caste of the Solars it was they who reached beyond humanity into the realms of spirits and things further still. They could even learn the powers of such things so as to better understand them.

Masaru dropped to one knee immediately and without hesitation. He placed a forearm over his unbent knee and bowed his head.

"My hoard is yours my liege and my life as well!" he shouted in Old Realm.

I didn't know what to make of that. Neither did Theo, either.

"Would you consider it an insult, if I asked you to swear a Sacred Oath to that effect?" Theo asked finally and in English.

Masaru, his head still bowed, replied immediately though still in Old Realm, "Not at all my liege."

The ability to seal a Sacred Oath was the last power unique to the Eclipse Caste. They could sanctify any promise made in their presence, though I wasn't clear on whether or not it worked on ones made as a joke. It even worked between two parties that didn't include him. It didn't take away your free will or anything, but the curse you'd bring down upon yourself if you broke it would make a spirit's Accident power look like a papercut by comparison.

He raised his head and I could see the fire in his eyes, "Hear my oath, Lord, and bind it well! My fealty and loyalty are yours now and forever! Protego Sanctus Causa!"

He'd said all but the last three words in Old Realm, and while I recognized the rest as Latin I didn't know what they meant or what their significance was. It was then that Theo's caste mark flared just a little brighter and the words of Masaru's Oath appeared like a hologram or magic phantasm and yet with no visible connection to the manasphere.

Theo stepped forward.

"You will accord Miho Tanaka with the same dignity and respect with which you would show me. Her words are my words. Her orders are my orders. Do you understand?"

"Yes, my liege." he nodded, and with some enthusiasm, I might add.

"Then rise."

I. Did not. Understand. Any of this drek. What the fragging frag was I fragging watching? What was happening? Dragons just...didn't do this. They didn't act like this. EVER.

Fragging EVER!

Fortunately, no participation was required from me at this particular juncture, so when Theo sat in his chair behind his desk and gestured for Masaru to sit across from him, I just stood next to Theo's chair with my hands behind my back like a good little retainer and I fragging preferred it that way.

"Now, " Theo began after Masaru had been seated, "I have quite a lot of questions for you. But I'm wondering if maybe it would be wiser to simply let you explain things at your own pace. Because all this is very new to me. I am curious how you knew...well any of this."

And much to my relief, he finally switched to English...though he did sound slightly exasperated.

"My liege, the reverberations of your Exaltation were felt throughout the manasphere. Even the land beneath our feet still bears the mark of it having been transmuted into a Solar Aspected Demesne. Most Awakened mortals have been theorizing about what little of it they could perceive for the past two weeks with little success. A scant few have noted the similarities in the timing with the attack on your person but nearly all have dismissed the connection. But we Greats remember Creation and things as they were Before. Unlocking such memories are a critical part of the Ascension from mere dragon to true Great Dragon status."

Theo's back straightened and I could feel the tensions in him rising.

"They all know about me. All the Great Dragons. They know what I am, that I'm here, and who I am. Do I understand you correctly?"

Masaru winced, "I cannot say, my liege. They all certainly know that a Lawgiver once again walks the Earth, but they seemed oddly disinterested when I broached the topic with them. It could be that they were deceiving me. Hoping that I would act as I have that they might learn something without risking exposure. And if I may, my liege, I have questions for you as well, if you are willing. My memories of Creation are fragmented and shattered. It will be many centuries before I can piece them together on my own or so I am told. But I know for certain that you stand at the top of the Celestial Hierarchy, as well as many other details about my people's history but I have yet to understand much of the context,"

I could feel Theo's disappointment. It would have been awfully nice to get a little more information than we already had about what happened to Creation and what all of that meant. Still, Masaru would probably be able to get us up to speed on more modern affairs, which was more pressing anyway. But still...

"I may be able to help you to a degree, but my knowledge of the universe before this one is also limited. And there are more pressing matters at the moment. I take it most other Great Dragons are unlikely to acknowledge me as their superior?"

Masaru nodded, "I am afraid so. Though while some, such as Lofwyr will likely never acknowledge your authority, others such as Hestaby seem willing to be persuaded. When I spoke to her of your return she said that your people had many failings and that it would be foolish to subordinate ourselves to you without testing your character and resolve..."

I saw him lock eyes with Theo and I saw in those eyes a deeper reverence than I'd ever seen - even deeper than when Theo looked at me, "...but my memories told me otherwise. For while I do not remember everything, the glory of the Solar Exalted is burned into my very souls. And I know that there can be no higher calling than serving you."

Theo paused to let that sink in. I knew that because I needed to let it sink in as well. Before this moment, I'd accepted the whole "Divine Power" thing...but I'd sorta been thinking about it in the sense of "Sacred Power" or "Really really powerful power" rather than in the sense of, "We are now beings deserving of worship." Frankly, I didn't know how I felt about that, and I'm pretty sure Theo was about a hundred times as ambivalent about the whole thing as I was. So it was no surprise when he diverted the conversation back to practical matters.

"But how did you know it was me?" he asked.

"I sent a spirit to watch for the signs. It saw your battle with the human supremacists and while you did not show your face, it heard your voice and recognized it from the recordings I played for it. You were one of a very small number of suspects. I also interviewed many of those present who witnessed your Exaltation, but I did not consider their testimonies authoritative. Memories are so easy to alter for those with the power to do so, but I knew that you were a strong candidate," Masaru explained.

Oh. Oh frag.

I put a hand on Theo's shoulder because I didn't want to interrupt.

"Miho?" Theo asked.

"Theo...there were...there were dozens of spirits there watching. If each one of them represents someone investigating you..." I trailed off.

Theo nodded, "Then we may have a problem,"