For once, Dyna felt like the Carroll Institute actually had her back. Maybe that was unfair. The institute usually had her back, but it just felt like their support vaporized the moment bullets started flying. Granted, bullets were not flying at the moment so there was still time for everything to go sideways, but Dyna didn’t feel like that would happen today.

Dyna walked into Brown Bear’s Bar and Grill secure in knowing that she had Ruby, Emerald, and even Walter observing the happenings. Ruby could power through anything that didn’t completely take her out. Emerald would be at Dyna’s side in the blink of an eye. Walter had Beatrice for support, esoteric weaponry, and had gone hand-to-hand with the mountain man tulpa without getting his head crushed in.

All four of them had a direct line of communication with Dyna in the form of an earpiece, though Dyna had requested they not talk unless something happened.

Besides their support, Dyna had her own gadgets.

It would be a lie to say that she wasn’t nervous at all. That shot to the chest definitely rattled her. But at the same time, she would be hard pressed to say that she was worried.

Looking around the bar, it was a fairly standard affair. Wood tables, barbecued meat, alcohol, some decorations themed vaguely off a hunter’s lodge. Being early in the evening, there were a few people around. A waiter moved between tables, delivering meals and refilling drinks. Sweeping her gaze over the room, it didn’t take long to spot a table in the back with one other person seated at it. The moment Dyna’s gaze crossed over the person, she knew that was who she had come here for.

The silver mask was awfully conspicuous and her black dress looked far too fancy for a place like this.

Dyna approached, but paused as she noticed the empty seat already had a small mug of hot chocolate sitting on a coaster. At first, she thought it was coffee, but no. It had marshmallows and a rich chocolaty scent. Still steaming, it must have just been placed down.

Taking the seat, Dyna glared at the woman in the mask. “Reminding me of the time you invaded my mind does not get us off on the right foot,” Dyna said.

Id, black hair flowing behind her like she was fully submerged underwater, turned her head to focus on Dyna. “I didn’t expect you to forget. What is done is done. I had my reasons and I will not apologize, but I thought you might appreciate the effort I made to accommodate you.”

Dyna glanced at the mug. “It is probably poisoned.”

Despite the mask covering her face, Id still managed to project an expression of disappointment and offense. “Is that what you really think?”

Pursing her lips, Dyna picked up the mug and took a small sip. “No,” she said, setting it back down. “Do they even serve hot chocolate here?”

“As I said, effort.”

“Right…” Dyna looked away, eyes roaming over the rest of the room. She had her mirror out and in hand, but it didn’t show anyone’s perspective at the moment. Not even Id’s. No one was watching her with any level of hostility, but that didn’t mean that Id hadn’t brought bodyguards. She didn’t spot Ado, Maple, or Grafton anywhere in the room, however.

Which made her wonder something else.

“Are you actually here this time?” Dyna asked, turning back to Id.

Id reached a gloved hand across the table, palm up. “See for yourself.”

Dyna poked a finger into Id’s palm, feeling resistance. It felt about right. Her black leathery glove had the right texture. She supposed it was possible that Id constructed some device like her earlier illusion machine that would make it feel like she was actually here, but Dyna could say that about anything Id did.

“No, I’m not using any psychics or equipment,” Id said with a light sigh, withdrawing her hand.

“Did I say that out loud?”

“No.” As if to further demonstrate her tangibility, she picked up a steak fry from a little metal cup, dipped it in some fry sauce, and tilted her mask forward just enough to eat it. “I’m here.”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Dyna said, crossing her arms. “I don’t like you.”

“I know.”

“I’m only here for two reasons. One, you, despite invading my mind, are somehow not as bad as Ignotus-33. Two, because my boss wants me to get all kinds of information on you and your people so he can poach them for the Carroll Institute.”

Id canted her head to one side. “You probably shouldn’t have told me that.”

Dyna narrowed her eyes. “You already knew.”

Id just shrugged her shoulders, making a light noise of acknowledgment.

“You called me here,” Dyna said, “but before you talk about whatever you called me for, I had a few questions. To begin with, are you working with, for, or otherwise involved with Ignotus-33? The organization of PP-2000-wielding entities that have been popping up all over the place lately.”

“You wouldn’t have come if I was.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Id tapped a finger on the table twice in apparent thought. “No,” she said. “In fact, quite the opposite. They broke into Tartarus and damaged one of the containment units. Doctor Darq is… exceedingly concerned with their existence.”

Dyna sat up, alarmed. “Broke containment—” she started. Cutting herself off, she relaxed. Id wasn’t worried or alarmed. There was no need to rush. “My next question: Were you in some way observing me just before two tulpa tried to snipe me outside the local Men’s Wearhouse?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Clairvoyance,” Id said, apparently done with playing games for the moment.

“Psychic or artifact-based?”

“Psychic.”

Dyna nodded her head, not one hundred percent sure that Id was being truthful, but figured her response was better than some round-about word game. “Last question: You texted me a few weeks ago saying we needed to talk, but did not respond to my replies. Why?”

“I sent that immediately before our security breach. Naturally, I had a few pressing issues to take care of with regards to ensuring that the tulpa did not gain access to the more enigmatic entities Doctor Darq has in containment.”

Dyna frowned, using a drink from the cup of hot chocolate to disguise a moment of thought. That did make sense, mostly, though if Dyna had been in Id’s position, she felt like she would have at least sent a follow-up message saying that she would be busy for a while.

Staring at Id, Dyna evaluated the woman. Id’s hair flowed unnaturally behind her, drifting with even minor movements of her head. Much in the same way that November was covered in static, the mountain man was absurdly large, or the Hatman lacked a face, more advanced tulpa seemed to posses something unnatural.

“Are you a tulpa?”

Id didn’t hesitate in her response. “Aren’t we all just beings of thought constrained in these fleshy bodies?”

“That sure sounds like something a tulpa would say.”

With a casual shrug, Id ate another fry. “If that is how you want to take it, it doesn’t matter to me.”

Dyna supposed it didn’t really matter. If November was safe to be around, other tulpa should be as well. Id wasn’t going around with weapons attacking people in broad daylight. Ignotus was.

Focusing on the actual reason she had come here, Dyna returned to what Id had said earlier. “You had a containment breach,” she said. “Is that why you called me out here? Some Hatman-like creature escaped and you need help hunting it down?”

“Doctor Darq is handling that matter.” Id paused, then added, “If you wish to inform your superiors of what to look out for, tell them that a creature is technically on the loose. It is in the form of a human-sized metal doll with blades for fingers and an iron-maiden-like body. It has a penchant for capturing people within its body. The Maiden moves surprisingly fast for its metallic nature.”

Beatrice, in Dyna’s earpiece, acknowledged that she heard Id’s description and would put out a priority warning to all facility members. Dyna paid her little mind, however, focusing on Id. “What is Darq’s plan?”

“Doctor Darq will be in contact if he feels he needs assistance in the matter. If you have information, you may contact us via the number Mister Maple gave you.”

“You aren’t asking for help?” Dyna said, confused. “Why come here then? Why call me?”

“Just before they invaded Tartarus, Grafton managed to control one of the tulpa during an unrelated incident. A leader, rather than just one of their expendable foot-soldiers. That probably sparked the invasion in the first place, but I digress. The reason they’re gathering up artifacts and psychics and now entities is to use them as weapons. Against you.” Id took a short breath. “You, Dyna Graves, are their target.”

Dyna felt a chill run down her spine. Her mouth went a bit dry.

She had been involved with Ignotus. Attacked by them directly two or three times. But she had always figured that was incidental. Either because she was snooping around somewhere that Ignotus didn’t want her or because she had been trying to help Hematite out. They sniped her straight out earlier and would have killed her had it not been for the watch on her wrist.

“They’re collecting weapons,” Dyna said, finding her voice. “I take it this isn’t a recruitment effort.”

“Assassination.”

“Why? Why me? Because I stopped them from making off with the Ouija board? Because I took out the mountain man?”

Id shook her head, sending her black hair swirling around her. “You were their target from the beginning. Or, to be more accurate, the group you refer to as Ignotus-33 formed specifically in response to you. To assassinate you.”

Clenching one hand into a fist, Dyna glued her eyes to her mirror and watched for any sign of someone having eyes on her. “I’m not anyone special. Not more special than the other artificers, anyway.”

Id quirked an eyebrow. Dyna couldn’t see it with the mask in the way, but she could see the slight wrinkling of her forehead above the mask. “You really believe that? Surely you have noticed that you aren’t like the other artificers.”

Biting her lip, Dyna grimaced. That was true and she knew it. Other artificers couldn’t make artifacts or gadgets or… turn coil guns into lightning guns.

Someone thought she was a threat. If she could get more control over her powers, she probably would be a threat. But only to people who attacked her.

Dyna almost scoffed at that notion. Whoever it was had really made a big mistake. If they had just left her alone, they could have gone about their business with her none-the-wiser. Now, however, they were going around causing problems after apparently forming a whole organization just to kill her? Dyna couldn’t let that stand. As long as Ignotus existed, she couldn’t be safe.

So they had to go.

Drawing in a deep breath, Dyna slowly unclenched her jaw. With Emerald, Ruby, Walter, and the Carroll Institute as a whole… they could do this.

“Who is it? Who started the organization? Who is collecting and arming tulpa?”

Id held out her hands in a half-hearted apology. “I don’t have all the answers. The tulpa receive their orders over electronic communication devices, never meeting their master. It is a woman’s voice over the radio, but you already knew that.”

Dyna didn’t bother to ask Id how she knew that Dyna knew. She drew her hands together, biting her lip. “Headquarters or main base of operations?”

Id shook her head again. “I’ve said most everything I have learned regarding the tulpa.”

“Basically just the warning that they’re targeting me specifically, then.”

“Sorry,” Id said. “I will apologize for that.”

“So why come out here and meet me? You could have sent an email or texted me.”

“Sincerity, partially. Making sure you got the message rather than having it intercepted, partially. And partially to fulfill my promise of meeting you over a cup of hot chocolate.”

Dyna’s eyes flicked down to the mug. She hadn’t come here with much of an appetite to begin with and the revelation that she was being targeted for assassination hadn’t helped. Looking back up, staring at the brushed nickel mask that Id wore, she asked, “Not here to try to recruit me?”

Id shook her head. “Recruiting you was never the goal. I got what I needed from you. Circumstances seem to be conspiring to drag us back together, though. Might as well use the opportunity to give you a warning. I think I would be upset to see you dead.”

“Well… thanks,” Dyna said, a bit less upset about having to say that to Id than she might have been were circumstances different. A warning in good faith was… well, much more agreeable than having Id show up and beg for help.

“That said, if you did want to join Tartarus, I doubt there would be any objection. Doctor Darq in particular has been utterly enamored with you since your brief meeting. I’m not sure if he wants to hold a conversation or take apart your mind in a very literal sense.”

“Tell him to get in line,” Dyna mumbled, thinking of Doctor West.

Id just chuckled, then slowly stood, dropping a prepaid gift card on the table, presumably to pay for the hot chocolate and fries. “In any case, I have accomplished my objective here. If I come across any other pertinent information, I’ll send it your way.”

“And if we see a murder doll on the loose…” Dyna trailed off. “Are you going to be safe leaving?”

“Worried about me? They’re after you, remember.”

“That didn’t bother them earlier when they shot Emerald first and then me.”

Id whipped around, hair momentarily going wild as it ignored the natural forces of gravity. In spite of her mask, she displayed visible signs of panic. “They shot you?” she asked, voice agitated.

Dyna pressed her lips together, not quite sure what to make of Id’s reaction to that bit of information. She didn’t say anything more, however. Her watch had saved her earlier. Spreading the word seemed a poor idea unless she wanted it targeted specifically. Instead, she stood as well. “Why don’t I walk you to your car?”

“Oh?” Id’s hair slowly came to a rest around her shoulders. “Going to frighten off the big bad tulpa?”

“At the very least, I’m probably more equipped to deal with them than you,” Dyna said, moving a hand to her jacket meaningfully.

After regarding Dyna for a moment, Id nodded her head. Without another word, she turned and headed to the door. Keeping her eyes on her mirror, Dyna followed the other woman all the way out to an unassuming electric vehicle in the parking lot. Just before Id reached the door, Emerald’s voice came over Dyna’s earpiece.

“Stop her,” Emerald said, insistent yet calm.

Trusting Emerald fully, Dyna didn’t hesitate to grab Id’s wrist.

“Oh? What’s this?” Id said, voice carrying a teasing tone, betraying no worry in the slightest.

Dyna ignored her, listening to Emerald.

“Someone was tying their shoe near that vehicle a short while ago. I’ll check it out.” Emerald’s voice was barely silent for an instant before she came back. “It’s a bomb. C4 with a remote detonator. Get away—”

Dyna didn’t let Emerald finish, grabbing her watch. She twisted it and immediately found herself looking at Id.

“Oh?” Id’s hair slowly came to a rest around her shoulders. “Going to frighten off the big bad…” She trailed off, head cocking to one side. “What’s wrong?”

Dyna put a finger to her earpiece, “There is a bomb on Id’s car. C4 with a remote detonator.”

“Must have been the guy tying his shoelace.”

“I told you he looked suspicious,” Ruby said.

Id shifted while they spoke, slowly turning her head around the restaurant, scanning each table.

“Is the car I drove clean?”

“I’ll check it out,” Emerald said.

“Be advised, the man who tied his shoelace is inside the restaurant at the moment,” Walter said. “He was wearing a black hooded sweater, but I no longer have eyes on him.”

Dyna’s mirror wasn’t showing anything. The guy didn’t have eyes on her? Did he know how her artifact worked and was deliberately avoiding triggering it or was it incidental. She started looking around for someone not watching her, but that was most of the room. Everyone was engaged in their own conversations and not paying attention to her. No one was wearing a black sweater as far as she could tell.

“Your car looks clean,” Emerald said. “Didn’t check under the hood or anything, hard to do so in stopped time.”

“We need to keep the public away from the bomb.”

“They’re trying to kill Id, not me?”

“Maybe they knew you were going to walk her out?”

“I didn’t know I was going to walk her out,” Dyna said, gritting her teeth.

“Found him,” Id said, slowly and calmly turning back to Dyna. “The one three booths back from the window on the opposite side of the room from us. Group of four. The one in the back side with the phone in his hand.”

Dyna tried not to be too obvious in looking, but it didn’t matter. None of the four Id was talking about were paying the slightest attention to them. Their group was chatting and laughing among themselves. Lots of people had their phones out around the room. Dyna didn’t see anything suspicious. “How do you know?”

“I am Id. Noticing subtle nervous ticks, irregular interactions with the rest of the group, and subconscious eye movements is kind of my thing. He keeps looking toward where I parked.”

“Shall I take him out?”

“No. We don’t know if he is the only one, the affiliation of his group, or whether he is a compromised civilian.” Walter shut Emerald’s suggestion down. “Beatrice has an alternate escape route ready. My car is moving to the kitchen exit. It will be there in thirty seconds. We’ll handle securing the bomb. Extract yourself and Id.”

“Understood,” Dyna said, then turned to Id. “We’re leaving through the kitchen.”

“Not how I expected the evening to go,” Id said, unfazed as she followed behind Dyna.

“Should have showed up as a mental projection again.”

“I felt that would be in poor taste given our history.”

Dyna didn’t deny that one. Ignoring the cooks as they did the bare minimum to try to stop their progress, Dyna kept her mirror in one hand while her other hand tightly gripped her watch bezel. Id, thankfully, noticed Dyna’s hands being full and pushed open the back door for Dyna.

Walter’s car, without any driver, pulled up right next to the door just as they stepped out. Mirror giving her the all-clear, Dyna jumped into the driver seat while Id took the passenger seat.

“This is Beatrice,” Beatrice’s voice crackled with static and extra whispered layers of her words. She was at an elevated operation state. The car started moving before she even finished talking. “Extraction route confirmed. Please keep your hands and arms in the vehicle at all times.”

“Ah. The cogitator brain thinks it is funny,” Id said. “I hope your masters aren’t planning on using this as an opportunity to imprison me.”

“There really is a bomb.”

“Oh, I believe you believe that. I might even agree given my observations of the man in the booth. But the Carroll Institute Administration Council letting this slip by without even an attempt at capturing me? I know them better than that.”

“They… no.” Dyna frowned. Id had come in good faith to deliver a warning in good faith. But… maybe that didn’t sound so unlikely? She glanced at the dashboard of Walter’s car with a sinking feeling in her chest. “Beatrice?”

“The actions of the administrators cannot be overruled at any operating level.”