Now, Earth

“How’s the new leg, detective?”

“It’s fine. Quit asking, Gates.”

Jake opened his mouth, noticed the look on Detective Ordonez’s face, re-thought what he was about to say and decided to shut up. The detective was in a bad mood. She hadn’t wanted to be a part of the operation, but she was the best when it came to finding something. The truth, missing people, those sorts of things. Her presence was crucial.

He didn’t quite get why she was pissed. Her artificial leg had just undergone its latest upgrade. The blend of magic and technology was simply amazing. All sorts of cool tricks were built into it. Jake should know. His artificial hand was much the same. The only difference was that a lower leg had a lot more real estate than a hand to fill.

“Man, did you see how big that wyvern was?”

Detective Ordonez said nothing.

“It was like an SUV with wings, bigger even!” Jake looked back over his shoulder and out of the SUV’s back window at the next vehicle in the convoy. It was an older army troop truck. Big and loud, rumbling along behind them. “So cool how he just sheared its head right off!”

Detective Ordonez grunted. It was probably in agreement.

“Hey, who’d you think win in a versus? Cal or his brother? Do you know if his brother is as strong, fast and durable? I think it depends on that. Cal’s like a lightning bruiser. Fast, quick, tough, superstrong. His brother’s got the range though and depending on his physical stats, I’d take him over Cal. So, this is the way I see the fight going. His brother can hit him at range with the metal. Cal’s got no choice, but to get in closer. Since Cal’s all injured and weakened his brother should have the edge in H2H.”

“Gates… I don’t understand the words that are coming out of your mouth, so shut it,” Detective Ordonez said flatly. “Besides, that wasn’t all Cruces… Cal… had. He had more abilities than just the physical superiority.”

“Right, right… like some kind of super senses thing. I remember,” Jake nodded, “smell, hearing. Though I don’t think those’ll factor in a straight up fight.”

“I don’t think it was that exactly. It was something else,” Detective Ordonez said.

“Man, I’d love to ask Cal about it. I wonder where he’s been. It’s been like five years.”

“Only his family knows where he is.”

“You sure?”

Detective Ordonez frowned. “I’ve been there the handful of times our people have asked their council. They don’t know where he went. A while back I had the opportunity to ask Remy Cruces and Nila Chen. They said much the same, but my gut told me that they knew more.”

“One of your Skills?”

“My experience,” Detective Ordonez hissed.

Jake leaned away from the much smaller woman. “Right, sorry.”

She had been crankier as of late.

“Doesn’t matter. We can’t do anything about it.”

Detective Ordonez didn’t like that fact at all. Jake could tell.

“Would’ve been nice though,” Jake shrugged broad shoulders, “Cal would’ve already taken it to the fish cult assholes. Probably hit them right as soon as they popped their heads up.”

“Remy Cruces is clearly more cautious. Understandable. He does have a family to worry about after all.”

“Yeah, but look what’s happened. We’re closing in on two years and Davis has done nothing except play defense. Keep getting pushed back. We wanted to go on the attack right away. Get our people back. Now, who knows what the fish people did to them?”

“It was a nonstarter. The wyverns and other dangers in the open spaces between cities were too much for just us.”

“Right, and Remy killed it like it was a turkey. Wasted all that time.”

“Hindsight is perfect. But last I checked that wasn’t a magic spell, skill or power,” Detective Ordonez paused thoughtfully before she turned to look at Jake for the first time. “Unless it is?”

“I dunno,” Jake shrugged, “maybe, probably?”

Detective Ordonez looked at him for a moment before turning her eyes back on to the road in front of them with a disgusted shake of her head.

“I mean, it’s magic so, like, anything is possible… right?”

“Gates, shut up,” Detective Ordonez said flatly.

Jake did so. He let his mind wander back to the hypothetical fight between the two oldest Cruces brothers. He had never seen the youngest one in action, but he had heard a few stories and rumors. He tried to imagine what adding the third brother would do to the versus fight.

Perhaps he wasted his time. Because before he knew it the bay was in sight and further in the distance the Bay Bridge loomed. Jake looked at his prosthetic hand. It was dead at the moment. A skeletal-looking thing of cold metal and plastic. Four fingers and a thumb that weighed heavily at the end of his left arm.

He found that it didn’t bother him too much. In many ways it was better than his old, fleshy hand. Thanks to his spell. It was definitely better than the cell phone he had jammed on his stump, before the Davis magical science research folks hooked him up.

It was a badge of honor. Like a medal or a trophy. It said that he had fought and survived the Midtown Mauler. Many couldn’t say the same.

Now he was going to finally get to try it out against something more than simple gremlins and mutated animals.

Jake was brought out of his reverie by a series of bright flashes from the inside of the vehicle ahead of them.

“Enemy barricade sighted down the road. We’re stopping soon,” Zak, the soldier in the passenger seat, said.

“Time to get that white flag up,” Jake said. He tried to hide the nerves behind a gruff voice. Swallowing the lump in his throat ruined the attempt.

“They said we had an open invitation for talks,” Detective Ordonez said.

“Motherfuckers kidnap our people and want to talk, there’s only one way this goes,” Zak growled.

“Button it up,” Detective Ordonez said. “No one does anything until I say so. Take us to the front,” she ordered the driver. “Gates, now.”

“Right,” Jake held a hand over the detective’s lower left leg prosthetic. “Mage Leg.” Detective Ordonez lacked the magic to animate the leg. Jake’s spell allowed it to function like a normal leg. The mana stored within would power the rest of its surprises.

“Mage Hand.” Jake did the same to his prosthetic. He wiggled his fingers and clenched his fist to test it out. It was almost like the real thing. Fortunate for the both of them that he had obtained the exact spell that they needed. The detective found the coincidence suspicious, but she wasn’t a gamer like Jake. He had figured that the spires would give them what they wanted and needed if they really tried for it. That’s why when Cruces had suggested prosthetics, Jake had pushed the detective hard to go along with him.

“Good thing I told you so,” Jake grinned as he continued to flex and wiggle a prosthetic that was now covered in a faint, blue glow. The outline of a hand.

“Hrrmm.” Detective Ordonez wasn’t as pleased.

Remy’s leg shook. It wasn’t from the rough ride in the back of the army truck. He placed a hand on his knee to steady it. That worked for a few minutes before his fingers started to beat out an irregular staccato on his knee.

“You’re nervous,” Hanna Gozen said from the seat next to Remy, “and that makes me nervous.”

“I’m fine. It’s a bumpy ride.”

“It’s not that bumpy.”

Remy clenched his jaw to keep from saying anything further. He couldn’t be nervous. Not in front of everyone else. Their biggest gun couldn’t be nervous. It’d make them even more scared than they already were. The damn wyvern had been a brutal reality check when it had swooped down on the convoy.

He had provided a huge relief when he had sheared through its neck with an enormous circular saw blade. His heavy boots were in fact planted on the bloody blade as it lay on the floor of the truck.

Remy looked at the soldiers and fighters sharing the back of the truck with him and Hanna. It seemed to him that they were pointedly not trying to look at him.

Well, better than the awe and fear they were looking at me with after the wyvern, Remy thought.

He wasn’t anywhere near comfortable with that kind of attention. Even after such a long time dealing with it. He looked out the open back of the truck at the rest of the convoy.

Ostensibly, they were traveling to negotiate, but everyone knew it was going to go much further than that.

“You’ve never killed another man or woman, have you?” Hanna kept her voice low and spoke into Remy’s ear. Combined with the road and engine noise she was fairly certain that prying ears weren’t going to be an issue. “Just monsters and fishmen.”

Remy didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. The truth was plain in his body language. He had fought almost constantly for nearly ten years. He had fought men, but had never actually taken one’s life. His brothers were the ones that got their hands dirty with the racist police, motorcycle gang alliance in the early days.

He didn’t want that sort of blood on his hands. He had talked to Eron over the phone and seen him in the rare video chat and recorded spire message. The look in his younger brother’s eyes and the sound in his voice when he had told some of his stories made Remy want to avoid the same situations at all costs.

He didn’t have a problem with killing nonhumans that were threats to those he cared about. Now he was faced with humans that presented a clear danger to his wife and kids.

“I was wondering why you were dragging your feet on this,” Hanna continued. “If I had your power I’d have taken the fight to them right away.”

Remy let out a snort. “What happened to ‘I’m not interested in fighting for you people’?”

Hanna chewed on that for a moment. “Different situation. I’m not interested in falling under a stupid cult’s clutches. I’ve come across similar types before. They only want me for two things. Well, two, after they realize what my Class is and what I can do with a sword. I don’t think I need to elaborate what the first thing is.” She arched a brow.

Remy nodded.

“I had to fight hard and yes, kill, some more deserving than others. At first it was about survival, then it was about finding a safe place where I wasn’t always looking over my shoulder. Where I could sleep without my sword in my hands. Your community gave me that. Now this fish cult threatens it. And I think you’re my, our, best bet at putting a stop to them before it gets really bad. Now I’m wondering if you’re up to this?”

“I’ll do what needs to be done,” Remy said.

“You better. You’re our only hope. Otherwise none of us are going home today.”

Remy watched the water of the bay on the right side of the freeway as the truck continued to rumble toward their destination. They were getting close. The ocean was a little too close for comfort. He had learned that fishmen were capable of appearing out of even the narrowest stream. The dark blue bay was vast and deep. He could only imagine what it hid beneath the surface.

The winds whipped the waves across the surface in a rhythmic, hypnotic fashion. Remy saw it clearly thanks to his superior than normal vision. Something about it drew him in. He felt as if his mind was being sucked in. He—.

“Yo, we’re here,” Hanna nudged Remy’s side.

Remy blinked.

“You alright? You spaced out.”

“I’m fine.”

“Well, get your head in the game cause we’re on. The diplomatic team is about to go see if we can settle this without violence.” Hanna’s tone suggested that she didn’t think that was likely.

Remy put the motorcycle helmet on to conceal his identity. He hopped out the back of the truck, leaving the large, circular saw blade on the floor. He walked to the front of the convoy with Hanna behind him. The rest of the California State Government’s forces had already arranged their vehicles in a defensive formation and taken up firing positions behind them.

Remy watched as the negotiating team walked toward the cultist’s barricade under a big, white flag. The men and women on the other side had taken similar defensive positions. He kept an eye on the bay to his right. It was several hundred yards away, but that wouldn’t give them much time to react if fishmen suddenly appeared.

Correction, the others might not have been able to act, but Remy was ready. As of yet he had no qualms about killing fishmen. He would make them regret attacking. They’d have to go through him if they wanted his daughters. Perhaps he needed to treat the cultists in the same manner.

Keisha led her team into the office building. The darkness encroached around her, barely pushed back by the lantern light carried by Trevor and Del in the middle of the group.

“Someone has definitely been here,” Amber said as she pointed to the floor.

There were footprints in the layer of dust.

Del crouched down and shined the lantern on them. He brushed his fingers against a print and made a face. “Wet and a little slimy. I’m not really an expert, but I think it’s pretty new.”

“Alright, we’ve got our evidence,” Rory smiled, “now we can leave and tell the others.”

“I’m with him,” Trevor said.

“You’re actually agreeing with Rory? Well that’s new,” Amber said. “This isn’t enough information. We should probably figure out, who or what made the prints.”

“We need more than just a few footprints,” Keisha agreed.

Keisha moved past the front desk toward the hallway leading deeper into the building only to be met by a closed door.

“Hey, guys… the dust on the counter has definitely been disturbed,” Amber said as she trailed.

Trevor rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. We’ve already established that people or monsters have been in here.”

Amber flicked the back of Trevor’s head.

“So, abusive. If I did that to you I’d get so much shit.”

“Whatever, Trevor,” Amber smirked.

“Quiet!” Keisha tested the door handle carefully. It was locked. “Rory?”

“I got it.”

Keisha moved out of the way, so Rory could get to work.

He handed his lantern over to Trevor. “Keep the light on it, while I work.” He took the locksmithing kit out of his belt and got to it.

Trevor scowled at Rory’s back, but kept the lantern steady.

Nervous silence stretched from seconds into minutes.

Keisha heard nothing, but the sound of her own breathing mixed in with the others. All of them were being too loud. The damn thing about it was the more you thought about trying to breathe quietly the louder it felt. At least that’s what she figured.

A loud click echoed out and made everyone wince.

“Shit!” Rory muttered. “Sorry, my bad.”

Keisha readied her hammer and shield. “Open it, but don’t push in all the way. Everyone get ready. I’ll tank, shooters in the middle, Amber watch our backs.”

Del and Rory hooked the lanterns to their chest straps and readied their guns, old police MP5’s in 9mm. Trevor already had a solid rock in his hand. Amber nodded grimly, pump-action shotgun in her hands.

“Ya’ll better not shoot me in the back or I’ll whip your butts,” Keisha said. “Ready?” She didn’t wait for the replies. She slammed the door open with her shield.

Nothing. The same silent darkness in the hallway. Closed doors were on both sides. Offices.

“Oh man, we’re gonna have to check each one aren’t we?” Rory whispered.

“They got windows, so you and Del can just look in when we walk by. I’ll keep an eye down the hall. We stop at each office, Del gets the left side. Rory, you got the right,” Keisha said.

“Maybe, Trevor should take my spot. That way I can keep my focus on my Danger Sense,” Del said.

Keisha gave a curt nod of the head without looking back.

Trevor took Del’s spot and lantern before the group moved forward and stopped at the first set of offices.

“Um… yeah, so we’ve got a problem,” Trevor said.

The office furniture, desk and chairs had been all pushed to the side, leaving an open space in the center of the room. The lantern light illuminated a distinct, reddish-brown stain on the floor in an intricate pattern that was immediately recognizable.

“Same on this side,” Rory said.

They had memorized what to look out for from the photos taken from the barn where they first discovered the existence of fishmen and the Scions of the Deep Azure cult.

The summoning circle on the floor in both offices couldn’t be mistaken for anything else.

“So… is this enough evidence?”

Keisha ignored Trevor’s whiny voice. She was getting tired of it. She kept her eyes down the dark hallway, her grip loose on her large, rectangular shield and long sledgehammer. The blood circles looked pretty dry, which meant some time had passed since they had been used. When combined with the fresher footprints in the front lobby there was one logical conclusion.

“We keep looking. I want to see if we can get these bastards,” Keisha said.

“Yo, we can’t take on a fishman. Especially not when we’re at, like, half-strength,” Rory said.

“Yeah, I have to agree with him, which kills me to admit, but I’d rather that then getting actually killed by a fishy bastard,” Trevor said.

“One does not simply fight two fishmen,” Del whispered, “not with five people, it is folly.”

“Idiot!” Amber snapped.

“Fuck! Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m also with him,” Trevor jabbed a finger toward Del, “dork,” he muttered under his breath.

“Sh—” Keisha abruptly closed her mouth. She was screwing this up. The rest of her squad was scared shitless. How had she just noticed that? The assholes were annoying, but they were right. They had seen enough to get out and report back. She was just about to give the word to turn around when something like a pulse shook the entire building for a split-second, like an earthquake starting and suddenly stopping an instant later.

Keisha blinked. What was she thinking? Of course they had to investigate.

“Magic… I think?” Amber said. “Not sure, but I felt it come from above.”

The group made their way at a quicker pace. They scanned the offices they passed and found that most had a summoning circle on the floor.

The darkness pressed in on them. Their lantern light seemed to flicker and wane as if a presence sought to smother it. Hearts beat faster and breaths became shallow, labored.

Demons in their minds danced on the edges of perceptions.

Keisha saw something flash across her vision at the ever encroaching boundary between the darkness and the lantern light.

Another of the group heard whispered words lightly tickling first one ear than the other. The voice, no, voices, seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Yet another felt a soft caress across the small of their back. They whipped around frantically, weapon ready, only to find the ever-present darkness had drawn closer.

They searched the entire second floor and found much the same. Empty offices and conference rooms with summoning circles of dried blood.

“I’ve counted forty one circles,” Amber said.

“That’s a lot of fishmen,” Trevor’s voice was noticeably higher.

Rory’s eyes were wide as he held the grip of his submachine gun with white knuckles.

Keisha didn’t like what she was seeing and hearing. Why had she forged ahead? The answer was like a butterfly in her thoughts. She tried to grab it, but it kept flitting away. Why? Why? Why?

“Keisha, let’s just go,” Amber said. Even her voice was unsteady.

“… on a precipice,” Del muttered. His gun was held loosely at his side. His fingers were slack around the grip. If it wasn’t for the shoulder strap the weapon might’ve slipped to the floor. The man suddenly blinked and aimed his gun at the ceiling, down the hallway, toward the stairs on the opposite end, where they had come from.

“What is it?” Keisha said. She already knew the answer. Something or someone had parted the curtain that had been obscuring her thoughts. She just knew. “We shouldn’t have come inside,” she whispered, horrified.

“I don’t know,” Del said through grit teeth, “my Danger Sense… bad…”

Now, Threnosh World

Caretaker stabbed their spire-made sword into the structure’s thin, metallic wall. The monomolecular-edged blade pierced all the way to the hilt without resistance. They slid it down to the ground, then cut left to right with a twist of the wrist.

“Quickly.”

Another explosion sounded off in the distance. More of Actryarius’ work.

The Threnosh ignored it.

Malendrax grabbed one side of the cut and Shira the other. They pulled the opening larger with a squeal of metal.

“Inside, now.”

Shira took the lead and plunged into the darkened interior. Malendrax and Blueballs went next. Caretaker took one last look as Silver Wolf in their monstrous bipedal form fought in the midst of ten cragants. Caretaker could barely see flashes of silver-colored armor through the mass of gigantic bodies.

“Silver Wolf, strike and retreat, keep them occupied and distracted,” Caretaker said into the comms.

There was no response, but Silver Wolf’s over 2.5 meter tall form suddenly emerged out of the scrum. They leapt over the 3 to 4 meter tall cragants while slashing at their heads with long, sharp claws.

That was the last view Caretaker had. They had to focus on their target now. The hierophant had already displayed how dangerous it was.

Caretaker stepped into the dim interior and pulled the opening shut behind him. “Blueballs.”

The Threnosh stepped up to the gash and sealed it with several of their eponymous sticky balls. “The giant humanoids will not be able to use their weapons to pierce or slice my blue balls. However, I have seen them destroy the surrounding walls to get at us inside. It will not take them long.”

“They will be occupied with the rest of our team,” Caretaker said. “Do you remember your orders?” They didn’t like the tone of Blueballs’ voice. That and their body language displayed clear fear and nervousness. Such things could lead to failure. They sought to refocus Blueballs on the Task.

“Stay hidden. Seal the entrance at first opportunity. Continue to seal any openings that the cragants will attempt to create,” Blueballs said.

Caretaker nodded.

Designation: Hierophant sighted, Shira’s words flashed across Caretaker’s faceplate.

Caretaker took in Shira’s view point in a split-second. They glanced at the tactical disposition.

“Do not engage until Malendrax and I are in position.”

Shira clung to the ceiling of the ten meter tall structure. The hierophant was upside down to them as the giant humanoid chanted something over the foul-smelling contents of its massive metal basin.

Shira had disengaged the olfactory filters of their helmet, unlike the rest of her team. Their sense of smell was an important part of how they hunted and fought. On this occasion they had cause to regret the act. Normally the smell of blood was something they enjoyed. There was blood in the hierophant’s basin, but whatever it was doing made it smell like rot and decay to Shira.

They belatedly realized that the horrid smell permeated the entire interior of the structure.

I am ready. Malendrax’s words appeared.

As am I. Caretaker’s. Any last second concerns.

There were none.

Caretaker opened it up with a shot from their viral pistol. It splashed harmlessly several meters away from the hierophant. The giant humanoid’s red-tinged shield flashed and flickered around the shot. Just as Caretaker had expected.

A dark blur shot down from the ceiling. Shira plunged across the open space toward the hierophant’s back. Their claws stabbed into the cragant’s back. The giant humanoid was a weaker and frailer example of its kind, but they merely staggered forward almost into their basin from the force of Shira’s attack.

Caretaker was satisfied to see that the hierophant’s shield hadn’t protected it from Shira. They had reviewed every recording of the shield in action. It became quickly clear that its purpose was to protect from projectile attacks. Shira had moved fast, but not enough to trigger the shield.

“You dare! Tiny thing!” The hierophant roared in pain. It reached over its shoulder and tore Shira off. Ignoring the sharp protrusions digging into its hand it held them upside down by one leg as it spat in their face. “I am the Savior’s words in the flesh! I will save your world and people!” Its action belied its words as it dunked Shira into the basin full of blood and other unspeakable things.

The hierophant spoke words that Caretaker couldn’t understand.

They understood the meaning well enough when Shira’s high-pitched screams filled the team channel.