The Reaper’s Legion

Chapter 35

Emergency Preparations

There was a distinct difference between imagining that perhaps psychic powers existed and having a genuine being capable of psychic influence standing right in front of me.

“Do any of you feel unusual?” I asked, my tone neutral in spite of the fact that my eyes were narrowed at the being in front of us.

Alice thought for a moment, “Not really? I mean, I don’t feel particularly different.”

“You’re talking like in the ‘am I under influence’ kind of way, right?” Louis asked with his arms crossed, “Not especially, I don’t think it’s as in depth as that. Not that I’m particularly keen on what exactly Yaga can do with his mind stuff.”

Yaga’s head bobbed up and down before it brought a hand to its chin. He seemed to lack a jaw of sorts, no real seam even existing where a mouth would have been on an otherwise human-like being. And while the others, the Bonemen they were called, weren’t especially human in finer appearance, Yaga was nearly there. His facial features along the top half of his head were chiseled, eyes intelligent but bearing an almost fierce contenance. The rest of his face, starting with his nose, looked more like a series of symmetrical protrusions with plates of matter that wrapped around his head and eventually joined with what might have passed for hair. At least, if someone had chiseled the vague appearance of hair, almost like dreadlocks from hardened fungal material.

When he finished, he looked firmly at my helmet, though his eyes flickered to different parts, as though he wasn’t quite sure where he should be staring.

“Well, I guess I can relay that.” Louis breathed out a sigh before turning back to me, “He says that he’s aware of some vague fears that we might have regarding mental intrusion. He’s not sure why he can’t talk to you, but it’s not something that’s able to be focused. And there’s not much that he can even hear from most people, except for some rare exceptions, and even then it’s not something he’s had experience doing.”

“That said, he knows that we’d only have his word to go off of since we haven’t run into anything like this before, and would be happy to submit to any further tests or requirements to assure us of his compliance to our…” He paused, frowning for a moment, “Uh, sorry, hard to put this part into words. They have different words for stuff. I guess he’s talking about our laws?”

I stood stock still, thinking on that as they stared at me.

On the one hand, they’d shown good will in so far as to having brought the team back. Louis seemed fairly tense, but wasn’t on strictly negative terms with Yaga and his entourage. And, if it was possible for them to overtake a mind, then it would be assumedly simple enough to have everyone pile on and get rid of me. The fact that they were negotiating in the first place was either good manners or they wouldn’t be able to do anything of the sort.

“You seem to be a biotic.” I frowned, voicing another line of thought, “Are you actually a biotic?”

Alice and Louis turned to look at Yaga. Shortly after Alice translated for me, “He says that he’s at least part biotic, but that it seems to be very complicated. And…” Alice paused and looked to Yaga with surprise, similarly to Louis. They both seemed concerned as he continued, and left me silently annoyed that I was being left out of whatever was happening yet again.

“Uh… whoa…” Alice shook her head, “That’s crazy. That can’t be normal?”

She turned to me thinking on what to say for a second. “Well, apparently Yaga has some memories of when he may have been human?”

My brain locked up. But she wasn’t done, “And also he thinks he must have at least part of a biotic core in his body, because he can replicate himself to some extent-” Yaga gestured to the Bonemen at that point, “And wants to make it clear that he in no way has hunted or harmed any human beyond his involuntary creation.”

“In other words he’s covering his butt.” Louis frowned, “Which seems to be a good idea.”

I wondered at what that was supposed to mean before I realized I had a hand resting on a blade. Yaga was tense at that, but made no movement. I shook my head, forcing my body to calm down as I wondered at how much I’d changed.

That would have been awkward, pulling a knife on someone who hadn’t eve--

[He was still made by biotics.] Smith disapproved, [No telling what it’s up to.]

That stunned me, and for one of the first times since I’ve had the A.I. in my head, I felt a tremor of concern run through me. ‘So far, there’s been nothing wrong with it. Though that doesn’t mean I’m going to be fully trusting of it.’

[It’s still a risk. We shouldn’t let them do as they please, biotics cannot override their basic desires, it’s ingrained in their very being.] Smith continued. As he spoke, it felt like there was a buzzing in the back of my head.

There were few things in life that left me with such a deep sense of foreboding as this. ‘What would you suggest then?’

[What else? We destroy them.] Smith stated matter-of-factly, [They’ve delivered the team back and brought warning of Wolven’s coming. They’re no longer of use.]

Incredulity surged through me as the buzzing in the back of my head continued, ‘What the hell did you just say? You literally just said to go ahead and kill individuals who haven’t done anything wrong to us at all. Smith, what the actual fuck?’

[I am merely stating the obvious facts and… hmm…] He suddenly staggered to a halt, suddenly focusing sharply. [Matthew, something’s… wrong. I feel… strange.]

The buzzing grew as I felt Smith’s focus turn to it, in a strange way. It wasn’t like I could actively tell where it was coming from, but at that moment I knew that both of us were aware of this strangeness in the background.

‘What the hell is that?’ I frowned, ‘And why are you acting like a bigoted racist asshole?’

[‘Why’ indeed,] I felt something shift, and at that moment I felt my left hand begin to move. Before anything more could happen, I gripped my left hand with my right.

“I’m going to go-” I thought for a moment before throwing out an excuse, “-contact Sis to see if she has any information available. Be right back.”

I walked away before they could say anything. Ignoring them was easy when my left arm was literally ignoring what I was telling it to do and reaching for a weapon.

‘Smith what the fuck are you doing?’ I hissed mentally, ‘I swear to god I’m going to uninstall your malware ass if you keep this up.’

[I-It’s not me! There’s something trying to override my proto-] At that moment I felt an electric pop in the back of my head. My body locked mid step, just barely keeping from falling over, pain surging through my paralzyed body.

I would have shouted out from pain had I been able too. As it was, I felt a tingle in my mind, invasive fingers in my brain as the buzzing turned into a cascade of electric jolts. Then I felt the familiar sensation of Smith, A.I. grappling with this other sense, and only after a few moments did I realize what was going on.

‘Holy shit, am I being hacked?’ I felt my stomach drop, ‘That can fucking happen?’

Smith didn’t respond, but I did feel him tap into my subconscious for aid. Reflexively, I began to help as I could, feeling alongside that familial force to find out how he was doing what he was doing.

I was crap at it. That’s what I realized. But I could throw some force, somehow? Were those electrical impulses at work in my brain? Whatever they were, I was an easily parried hammer to this deft manipulation.

But, I gave space to work with. My partitioned subconscious mind filled the gaps with Smith’s direction, but I could feel the A.I.’s focus at the maximum. A silent war raged in my own brain, and I felt almost like the three of us were fighting some chitinous beast with acid blood, making any offensive dangerous, every parry a feat of skill. Somehow, that helped make it easier, and I found that my heavy handed blows would be covered by my subconsciousness shielding my retreat each time, warding off counter attacks. Smith was the ranged fighter and the knife in the dark at once, chipping away at the thing slowly be surely.

In what felt like hours, Smith finally contained and dismantled whatever was invading us. In reality, though, I doubt more than a few sparse seconds had passed.

‘What just happened?’ I asked, mentally exhausted as I reached out to Smith. Oddly enough, I could feel the A.I. much more distinctly, like my own thoughts had gained more structure, similar to his own.

[That was the Reaper system trying to take me over, and by extension you.] Smith answered, equally haggard.

My thoughts immediately landed on Yaga, but Smith quickly intervened in the notion [It’s not its fault necessarily for this to have triggered, I think. Sometimes perfectly good protocols can get a little… clumsy.]

I really didn’t like the implication there, ‘Seriously? That can happen?’

[Not anymore,] Smith answered with a hint of a smile, [That kind of attack can’t happen again, the relay is fried. That’s what that pop was, usually that program would happen early on when neither of us were as strong. But, because it had to generate what effectively amounted to a virus, it was too much to handle all at once. Luckily for us. Whatever that was, if it was at full power without me having any additional support, we’d have been… Well, better not to think about it.]

I shivered, ‘But, why?’

[If I had to guess, it was a Reaper automated system. Perhaps designed to ensure that a fledgling Reaper wouldn’t get cold feet? Again, it can’t happen anymore.] Smith spoke with chagrin, [I never imagined that kind of system could fail so dramatically.]

I stood still for a few more seconds, recollecting myself. I was vaguely aware that others were watching me, idly, unaware of the internal struggle I’d just had.

Just as well, I didn’t need anyone thinking that I might be susceptible to hacking.

‘Wonderful,’ I drawled sarcastically, ‘It appears there are downsides after all. I can get malware. Great.’

I turned my attention elsewhere, looking to my right hand. The mark of the Reaper Class was there, something that I’d viewed with far too much trust. Perhaps this was just an accident, but even so, it was clear that I’d taken such things much too lightly.

“Sis,” I began, deciding I may as well get the Obelisks controlling A.I. involved, “You got a minute?”

I frowned at that, wondering at the message. “Fine, is it possible that biotics to be self aware and non-hostile?”

At that I felt the heaviness on my shoulders increase. This was fantastic. Today was way too much for me to deal with. I half expected a message to say ‘sorry for the inconvenience,’ at the very least, but there was nothing.

I should have been more alarmed by that, but I frankly didn’t have any more energy to care about that. We had enough problems.

I shook my head, turning and returning to the group.

“That was fast,” Alice commented with a smirk. I didn’t respond to that, and she pouted for a moment.

“For the time being I won’t worry about it,” I gestured to Yaga, “For now, you all can enter the outer areas of the city. I’ll pass the word to others that you’re allowed there, but don’t go any deeper. If the Bulwark decides you leave, then that’s what you’ll do, that’s their jurisdiction.”

Yaga tilted his head and then seemed to relay information, Louis frowned, “He wants to know what happens if he and his want to leave?”

“Then leave,” I shrugged, “I don’t frankly care right now. Of course, you’re free to go out and deal with Wolven on your own in that case. I don’t know what the future will hold for you if you stay here, but it won’t be a free meal. You can talk to my Second-in-command who is also responsible for our logistics, public relations, and human resources and complicate his life more if you wanted to join the Legion. Either way you’ll need to talk to the Bulwark, and we’ll be there to pass along information.”

The psuedo-biotic in front of me froze at that, before a strange putting a hand on his gut and moving as though he were laughing. I paused and waited for whatever translation he had.

Whatever it was, Alice was grinning good naturedly, “He says that he appreciates how straightforward you’re being about this and appreciates the invitation. They’ll take up a small area for now until they can talk about further accommodations and see what happens. In the meantime, if there’s anything they can do to help with Wolven, let them know.”

I nodded, holding out a hand, “Then, I, Matthew, The Reaper of the Legion, welcome you to Gilramore. Just stay out of trouble.”

Yaga hesitantly reached out and clasped my hand. In the back of my mind, I hoped that I wouldn’t come to regret this.