Artifacts produced a wide variety of effects, but not too many of those effects were fully confirmed. Some were obvious. The Red Feather, said to be a feather from the mythological phoenix, caused spontaneous combustion to flammable objects in its immediate vicinity. Others were more subtle. The Writer’s Journal was a leatherbound notebook that, on its first page, had a small animated window looking into a small island that had yet to be located out in the real world. Aside from the animated window, no one had actually been able to get it to do something.

Some artifacts were too dangerous to experiment on. The Aztec calendar caused immense mental stress on everyone in a wide area. The Carroll Institute was not in the habit of murdering people, so the especially dangerous L-Level artifacts were mostly unstudied. The only way any of them had a description were because of events prior to containment or unintentional containment breaches, like that of the airport incident.

The passive effects of the items would generally disappear or become controllable once bound to an artificer. Although that wasn’t perfectly accurate. According to the database, less than ten of the four-hundred seventy-three artifacts had actually ever been used by an artificer. One of which was the Aztec calendar, used by Dyna herself, though no notes on its actual use had been documented. Probably because she had deliberately tried to avoid using it.

Of the remaining nine, seven were in active use by the current artificers. But not all of them had been used by the same person the entire time. Emerald’s pocket watch had a previous user, name redacted. According to the database, where the pocket watch stopped time for Emerald, the redacted user could cause a brief ‘rewind’ of time in a local area. It didn’t literally rewind time, but rather saved the states of everyone nearby constantly and, upon pressing its winding stem, would reset everyone to the saved state exactly 13.04 seconds prior.

So artifacts didn’t always work the say way for everyone who used them. Dyna felt that was an important clue. A little piece to the puzzle that might help her out in her own efforts to create artifacts.

While reading about effective superpowers was fun, Dyna found artifact history to be more in line with what she wanted to learn.

How an artifact came to exist in the first place.

A great many were unknown, of course. The Carroll Institute found and contained artifacts first and foremost, then studied their effects, then studied their background. But from the ones whose pasts were known, Dyna started to put together a pattern.

Most of the stronger artifacts, especially the L-Level artifacts, came from a known source. Not the same source, but the Hopkin’s Hat belonged to a man who spent his life hunting witches, executing them. The Architect’s Eyewear were glasses that belonged to the designer of the Knickerbocker Theatre, which collapsed killing a hundred people and injuring a hundred more; the architect later committed suicide. The Masquerade Mask came from a post in a Venice opera theater—nothing bad had happened there, but as part of the decoration, it had been around for hundreds of years.

All the most well known artifacts had been in positions to absorb psionic emissions. Regular, non-psychic humans emitted smaller quantities of psionic energy. It was well known that extreme emotions such as hate, fear, or joy, amplified the amount of energy. These items had absorbed psionic energy that was in tune with their themes. And that produced artifacts with related powers.

The Hopkins Hat had killed a few researchers—it was among the earlier artifacts discovered, before protective protocols had been drafted—always with asphyxiation or broken necks, usually leaving rope burns in the skin. The Architect’s Eyewear produced an aura of unease that caused everyone nearby to become irrationally paranoid about the structural stability of whatever building they were in. The Masquerade Mask instilled a sense of wonder in those who saw it, while also causing them to think that most events around them were simply ‘part of the show’, whatever that meant.

In the hands of an unnamed artificer, the Architect’s Eyewear gave them the ability to spot structural weaknesses in any man-made object. They could then exploit those weaknesses with frightening ease, destroying objects with little more than a slight nudge.

Dyna was a psychic. She might have had her doubts upon first arriving at the Carroll Institute, but most of those doubts had simply morphed into vague feelings of inadequacy. But as a psychic, she could output psionic energy several orders of magnitude greater than regular humans. Which was probably how she had crafted the mirror and the other partial artifacts that she had made.

There had to be something more to it, however, or the Carroll Institute would be flooded with artifacts produced by the mass of psychics around the place. She wasn’t quite sure what that something was, but had an inkling that it was her. Dyna.

She obviously hadn’t been present at those other artifact locations when they became artifacts. But she also wasn’t sure that proximity was needed. And if there were others out there who could accomplish similar things, even if proximity was needed, some other person could have filled in for her spot. There were a dozen clairvoyants and a dozen illusionists. Why not a dozen artifact inceptors as well?

Reading through the database confirmed to her that she was on the correct path. Especially if she could bring other people in on the experiments. With her pouring psionic energy into an object and another psychic to act as a catalyst, creating artifacts at will could probably be done quickly and easily once she had the practice.

And hopefully these artifacts wouldn’t be violently dangerous; she wasn’t torturing people or collapsing buildings on them, after all.

In fact, the L-Level artifacts were the smallest of the bunch, representing a tiny percentage. Still, some additional protections would probably not go to waste. Doctor Cross would probably be able to help with that, already aware of what she was doing as he was.

Dyna lowered her phone as the door to the Psychodynamics meeting room slid open. Walter, dressed as always in a black vest and red tie, stepped into the room. The large wood-and-brass table reflected in his sunglasses as he turned his head from one side to the other. Apparently satisfied, he fully committed to walking to the head of the table. “Have you been waiting long?”

“A few minutes,” Dyna said. “I was just reading on my phone while waiting.”

Walter hummed an acknowledgment as he leaned down to the terminal built into the table and started signing into the system. “I have made my displeasure about this operation known to Administrator Theta. I do not think it wise to involve you further with Id and the company she keeps no matter how much an expert in entities would benefit us.” He paused, and Dyna saw herself in his mirrored glasses. “I have been overruled.”

“That’s… not very reassuring.”

“It wasn’t meant to be. I would prefer if you remain wary of them and take everything they say—especially Id—with suspicion and disbelief. We don’t know their goals or motivations. As you pointed out to the administrator, we don’t know how happy they are with you given the outcome of the Hatman incident. They may have decided to forgo recruiting you entirely, making this contact not only dangerous, but also a waste of time.

“Even if they still have designs to bring you over to their group, they will certainly use any contact you initiate to their advantage. And likely to the Carroll Institute’s detriment. I would not be surprised to find them initiating another scheme to get their hands on an artifact.”

Having read through the list, Dyna was fairly certain that there were a whole handful of artifacts that would probably be harmless. At least on their own. But they would give Tartarus something to study and, if Tartarus decided to recruit a different artifact inceptor, then they might be able to create their own as Dyna was trying to do. After her experience with Maple and Ado during the Hatman incident, she didn’t believe that they were some chaotically evil organization bent on conquering the world. But their morals, especially those of Id who had casually invaded her mind, left something to be desired. Letting them run rampant with artifacts probably wouldn’t end well.

Of course, letting them run rampant with entities probably wouldn’t go over so well either. It was not lost on Dyna that Ado had thought it possible and likely even simple to devise a machine that would be able to pull Ruby—or other Hatman victims—back from the other phase of the world. That meant that she could probably flip a switch to make a machine that would send people over there.

At the moment, the Carroll Institute—or at least Dyna—only knew of two actual entities. The Hatman and November. Both were the subject of ongoing study. If Tartarus really had been investigating entities for as long as Doctor Darq had implied, they probably had a lot more examples to draw from.

That could be how Grafton’s cranial implants had been designed.

Keeping that in mind, Dyna could easily see why Administrator Theta wanted to poach Darq. Catching up while starting from scratch would be difficult.

“So don’t let them have artifacts,” Dyna said, nodding along with Walter’s explanation. “And probably keep them away from November and the Hatman. They’re surely going to want something in exchange for information. Unless you want me to actually join up with them—”

“No. Avoid Id as much as possible. For this operation, we are primarily interested in Id’s personnel. Darq especially.”

The screen in front of Dyna lit up as Walter hit a button on his side of the terminal. A list of objectives appeared in glowing green-on-black text. Dyna started to read, only for Walter to recite the list out loud.

“Our goals are to ascertain One: History. How Darq and the other members of Tartarus started working on psionics in the first place, how they encountered Id, how they started working for her, etcetera. Two: Personality profile. We’ve already started building this based on psychic input and your interactions during the Hatman incident. More data is always needed. Again, especially on Darq.”

“I really didn’t engage much with him.”

“Which is why we’re hoping to draw him out with this operation. Three: Goals and motivations. The administrators want to recruit as many of Tartarus’ personnel as possible, both to gain their knowledge and skills as well as to deny Id that knowledge and skill. Knowing why they joined up with Tartarus might be the key.”

“Makes sense.”

“Finally,” Walter said, nodding his head. “We want to find out if there are any other personnel working for Id. And, as a slight addendum to this objective, whether or not Id is the actual leader of Tartarus or merely the one we’ve interfaced with. There could be a whole board of managers much like our administrators that keeps themselves quiet.”

Dyna opened her mouth, but paused. That didn’t quite feel right. Dyna wasn’t sure why—she didn’t have any hard evidence or even strong anecdotes from Maple or Ado to confirm it—but Id felt like their leader.

Then again, based on how the administrators acted, Walter could definitely be correct. Id could even be the same as Walter. In terms of organizational lattices, anyway.

“So… I just call them up and ask?” Dyna asked after a few moments of silence. Presumably Walter letting the objectives sink in. She expected a bit more grandiose of a plan, but the question seemed a good way to move the conversation forward.

As expected, Walter chuckled. “Not quite. Before we get into the actual details, I would like to introduce someone.” He pressed down on a button on the terminal.

The doors to the meeting room slid open. A woman stood in the opening, looking unsure of herself as she flicked her eyes left and then right. A swath of brown hair partially obscured one of those eyes, hanging down over her face before sweeping to the right. She held her hands up to her chest as if she were freezing and trying to warm herself up.

Dyna had never found Psychodynamics at an uncomfortable temperature. As far as she could tell, no one else did either. A thin sweater might help if one was sitting too close to the air vents, but even then, Psychodynamics maintained a pleasant temperature.

If she was cold, she really could have worn a bit more. She wore a black shirt with no sleeves that didn’t quite cover her stomach. Underneath, she had a fishnet-style mesh that did cover her stomach, arms, and legs under her relatively short skirt. A jacket might have helped.

“Is this really necessary?” she asked, voice timid. “Isn’t she one of the actually good artificers? I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do…”

“Don’t sell yourself short. This is Onyx,” Walter said, gesturing toward Dyna. “Onyx, meet Hematite.”

Dyna stiffened at the name, only to quirk an eyebrow as Hematite visibly cringed.

“Just… Jane. Jane is fine. I told you I…” She took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. Thick boots with several buckles up the sides clomped across the floor to the nearest seat. She pulled it out, sat down, and promptly hunched in on herself.

Mousy.

Dyna had never before described someone as mousy. She had seen the description in books and other fiction before, but never thought she would apply it to someone in real life. Especially not someone with her fashion choices. Goth, was it? Not a popular fashion these days. In fact, Dyna wasn’t sure she would know the word if not for her vast library of old movies.

“Hematite is to act as your guard for the duration of this mission.”

“Not Ruby?” Dyna asked, before quickly looking across the table. “Not that I have anything against you. I’m sure you’re capable,” she said, not wanting to offend the woman who Ruby had warned her to be wary of.

Only for the dreaded Hematite to duck her head and mumble. “No. It’s okay. I wouldn’t want me either. You’ll probably get shot or kidnapped or stabbed or…” She trailed off with another sigh. “Why did I agree to this again?” With an abrupt movement, she slapped both of her cheeks. “Money, Jane,” she said with a far more aggressive husk to her voice. “Loads of money.”

What was it Ruby had said? All artificers were absolutely insane? Dyna still didn’t believe that was completely true. Emerald was fine. But Sapphire, Alexandrite, and now Hematite? She could easily see how Ruby arrived at that conclusion.

“Ruby,” Walter said, seemingly ignoring Hematite’s actions, “is still on mandatory leave while she undergoes testing. We want to be sure we, and she, know what happened to her, what effects her experiences will have on her, and how well she can handle it before putting her on anything resembling active duty.”

Ruby was mostly fine, as far as Dyna could tell. Restless—Ruby hadn’t been allowed outside Psychodynamics in weeks—but fine. She didn’t even jump at shadows as much as she had the first few days… much.

Maybe Walter was right. November was apparently working with her. Something about them both being half-over let them… do things.

Dyna wasn’t sure what. She had been distracting herself with artifact research, not entity research.

Looking away from Walter, Dyna stared at Hematite…

Who promptly flinched under the brief look.

Dyna tried to come up with something positive about the situation. Whatever tension and unease she had felt from hearing Hematite’s name was quickly draining away now that she was confronted with the actual person. As it was, Dyna felt she would be the one playing bodyguard to Hematite if the situation grew too intense. The most positive thing Dyna could think of wasn’t even related to Hematite. Which was that Dyna wouldn’t have to worry about being shot; Id wanted to recruit her, not kill her.

Hopefully.

Unless she really had made them upset with the kidnapping of the entities and the theft of their equipment.

What even was Hematite’s artifact again? Maybe that would make up for her… uncertain demeanor. Thinking back to the list of artifacts, Dyna’s mind was coming up blank. She had been paying the most attention to the history and discovery of the artifacts, not their users or even powers. Users was normally just a footnote with references to other documents anyway. A small bit of text easily glossed over.

“Hematite will perform adequately. I have no doubts about that,” Walter said. He pressed a few buttons on his terminal again, resulting in the display changing. “Now, operational details. This will be a bit more complicated than what you’re used to, Hematite.”

“Oh no.”

“And Onyx, this is your first real operation.”

“If she is just Jane, could I just be Dyna?”

Walter sighed. “These measures are in place for a reason.”

“It’s just us here.” Dyna paused and glanced up at the corner of the room. “And Beatrice,” she said before looking back to Hematite. “You trust her, right?”

“Very well. Jane and Dyna, pay attention. We’re going to start off with an act of deception…”