222 (II)

  Academia [II]

  A stressful second passed between them. And then Adam slapped his forehead. "That explains so many things. How he just suddenly appears in places. How he knows so many people across the world. How he always felt so… oily to me!" A choked sound of discomfort radiated out of Adam. "Oh, gods. Does the Auroral Council know? Wait, are they deliberately funding his efforts?"

  "With every answer more questions, huh, Adam?" Shiv said.

  The Gate Lord's scowl deepened. "Seems to be the case." Unwelcome thoughts slid across from his mind. "Well, I think we might need to talk with the Educator as well. She has insights into the Neath, the Dragon Brokers, and into what Udraal might be doing now."

  "Yeah, maybe leave that to me," Shiv said.

  "You're certain?" Adam asked. "Because every time you two talk, it's like you're about to tear each other apart."

  "It's because we want to tear each other apart," Shiv said. "I don't like her, and she doesn't like me, but I think I'm getting an understanding of her." A beat passed. "Or maybe she's just lying to me. That's also possible. But if she annoys me that much, you're probably going to end up trying to kill her before long."

  A snort escaped Adam. "That's how low your opinion of my patience is when it comes to dealing with assholes, bastards, and other annoying types?"

  "Yeah," Shiv nodded. "You're kind of a prickly pear yourself, Adam."

  "I'm getting better," Adam said, folding his arms.

  "I didn't say you weren't. I just said you're prickly. She just might make you pop. If we talk to her, let's talk to her together. How about that?"

  "Might be the wisest idea. Also, Solzimort."

  "What about him?" Shiv asked.

  “I lost track of him. I think he said something about going underground to take a brief nap. But we still don't actually know what his deal is. He could be doing anything.”

  “Right, shit, who knows?” Shiv hissed internally. Despite that, he didn't feel overly worried about the Hydra. There were still quite a few unknowns regarding Solzimort, especially why he had such a child-like personality and how he'd managed to become a Legend regardless.

  "Alright, just keep an eye out for him," Shiv said. "Of all the problems we have, I don't think he's going to be one of them. Not a big one, anyway."

  "I hope you're right. Oh, and Shiv," Adam said, "when you go back into the Academy, be sure to keep yourself reserved. You did a good job earlier."

  "With what?" Shiv asked.

  "With not tearing those poor Old Brunswick boys limb from limb, and murdering Magnolia. It was very conscientious on your part, and I need you to keep doing that. Listen, you're probably going to find some of the students at the academy quite annoying."

  "I can handle it," Shiv said. "I mean, I managed to put up with you when we were in Weave."

  "Yes, worse than that. You're going to run into know-it-alls. You're going to run into arrogant Adepts. People we can crush like bugs now, and who will be constantly trying to provoke you into violence. They will be insufferable, and some of them will be noble as well. Whatever you do, don't smash them, and don't assume that you can just get cute with your Chronomancy either.

  “Some of them will have wards integrated into their equipment, courtesy of their parents, and when those slam into your Shapeless Tides, it's going to cause some questions. Questions like, How did my child turn up unconscious face-down in a dumpster? Why were all their clothes missing? Why can't they remember who slapped them? And why did their temporal wardings register a massive hit the moment they encountered that strange, crippled boy? ‘What was his name? Marcus Unblood?’"

  "Yeah, yeah, I get it!" Shiv held up his hands. "I'll be sure to be subtle."

  "Subtle," Adam said again.

  "Subtle," Shiv echoed. "And if I need to hurt someone, I'll try to be very quiet about it."

  "Preferably, you don't hurt anyone."

  "Realistically, the System's not going to give us much of a choice, Adam."

  "I know that, which is why we need to try even harder. Look, if you run into something that doesn't need to devolve into violence, just do what you did today. Evade, escape, and maybe find Irons. Speaking of which…" Adam began shaping a Veilpiercer. "It's time for me to visit the captain and see what he has on Melissa's disappearance." He briefly paused before he fired a shot. "Shiv, do you, against all odds, have a Deductive Reasoning skill?"

  "Yes, I did. Got one recently," Shiv said.

  A rough breath escaped from the Gate Lord. "And how high is its level?"

  "Eight, after our talk with Magnolia."

  "Right. Well, it's better than nothing, but still practically nothing. You're probably going to have to break into a few places at some point. When you're doing that, I think it's best that you don't have your Perfect Semblance active. Better to be caught as the Deathless than lose your cover. Tonight, however, that's not a concern. Tonight, we do some housekeeping and pray the System doesn't throw anything especially nasty at us."

  Shiv snorted humorlessly. "Well, then you better hurry up and fire that shot before we get to Irons and find out he's been Udraal this entire time."

  "Don't even joke about that, Shiv," Adam almost whimpered.

  ***

  For once, the System proved itself merciful, and Captain Irons simply handed over a few piles of documentation and evidence without further fanfare instead of hatching a Legendary lunatic from his skin. As they went through everything Melissa had collated, Shiv had to admit that the girl was a pretty damn good Investigator. Her notes were extraordinarily detailed, and each packet of evidence was separated to contain illustrations, stolen transcripts, magical recordings, and notebooks filled with theories regarding the so-called black orphanages that he himself guessed Daughter typically frequented.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  There were over 10,000 different orphanages all across the capital, and in a staggering feat of effort, Melissa had recorded every one and eliminated all those she doubted to be one such black orphanage. That made Adam and Shiv's work far easier, though there were still major challenges to surmount. There were about 89 orphanages left over. They were circled and illustrated with further detail, with their dates of establishment and total number of orphans listed by the side. Most of them had their own packets, but Melissa hadn't finished her investigation before she went missing.

  She'd sketched a route between each of the suspected black orphanages, and there was apparently a scheme that had specific "problem children" shuttled between establishments. They would also go missing along the way sometimes, and that filled his chest with a cold foreboding. Melissa started this because she was looking for her own little sister. Considering what Daughter did to her hosts, how she casually used and spent them in combat, Shiv really didn't think highly of Melissa or her sister's odds by this point.

  A weary breath escaped Shiv. "Still, we should try to find out what happened to her and maybe put a stop to it somehow. Good fucking gods. How long has this been happening?"

  "From Melissa's documentation? At least 80 years," Adam answered. "The earliest establishment, the earliest black orphanage, was supposedly just established 100 years ago."

  Then there was the trail leading to Flamecrown Castle. That was the place Irons had been trying to infiltrate when everything went to hell. The captain barely escaped with his own life, and that was mainly because Shiv had wounded Daughter using his Vitae at the perfect moment.

  Irons was on the trail of one Hero-Matron Dorothy Diego. Why? Among the many pictures and recordings Melissa had managed to gather, a number showed Dorothy conversing with an unknown individual shrouded in black after midnight, with several photos displaying an exchange taking place. The individual handed her a scroll sealed by magic, and the matron offered a scared-looking girl who looked at her several times and didn't seem to want to go with the strange person.

  Attached to the illustrations was a magical recording. It resembled an automaton's vox speaker, connected to a crystallized piece of mana. There was a button at the bottom, and as Adam pressed it, both Shiv and the Gate Lord flinched.

  "No, no matron! I'll—I'll be a good girl. I'll be a good girl. Don't give me to him. Please, please. I want to stay. No. I'll pray for you. I'll pray! Please don't. Don't."

  A scuffle was heard thereafter. The girl attempted to get away, Shiv guessed. Then the unmistakable sound of a blunt object striking a skull followed, and then there was the sharp snap of snapping bone.

  Adam looked away. Shiv felt a black rage well up inside of him.

  "You utter idiot," a low, feminine growl followed from the vox. "Put away the baton. She's still alive. Bring her to one of the Biomancers. Then have their mind wiped after. When you're done with this, find another job. Have your Master-Inquisitor reassign you. You're not suited for this. An action of panic? We cannot panic. Not once. We are servants, and this, though foul, is an important duty. Now, pick her up and be away with you. Be quick. The wound is deep, and the Deadly despises ruined vessels.You, wait, what's that?"

  Suddenly, there was the sound of harsh breathing, footsteps, and a loud cry for someone to stop.

  Adam and Shiv looked at each other, and neither of them spoke.

  "I think I had enough of that for one night," Adam finally said.

  "I don't know," Shiv replied. "I think I want to make a house call. See what this Hero-Matron's all about."

  A vicious glint filled the Gate Lord's eyes, but then he tempered it down in time to get through the rest of the details. "Irons said she was missing earlier when I was in his office. And also that the Inquisition is doing everything they can to mask her involvement and protect her from harm.”

  “So, what do you think our angle is?" Shiv asked. "If my Marcus identity gets burned, I could take the semblance of one of these problem girls, if they're the dead one, slip in somehow."

  "I don't think that's entirely reliable," Adam said. "However," he flipped back through the illustrations and pointed at the shrouded man, "we know that this one is part of the Inquisition. As with practically everything foul and underhanded happening in the Republic, they have their fingers in it. I think we're better off snatching one of them and having a conversation than swinging blind in one of these orphanages. Melissa did write something about the frequency of pickups. We could potentially intercept one of these days."

  "Yeah, I'm looking forward to that," Shiv growled.

  Adam hesitated for a moment. "Maybe you shouldn't focus on that. I'll see if I can get Gone or Kura to help me."

  "You're worried that I might cause a mess," Shiv said, almost offended.

  "No, I'm worried the System might escalate any one of our attempts to help into a full-blown battle near an orphanage. The other Legends, they're favored too, but they're not like you, and they're not like me, at least not yet. If we're going to keep this as subtle as possible, we want someone with minimal profile and maximum speed."

  "Hence Gone," Shiv said.

  "Hence Gone," Adam agreed.

  "And they should take Whisper with them too," Shiv suggested.

  A look of wariness crawled across the Gate Lord's face, but the Deathless kept pushing his idea. "Yeah, I know orphans and orcs don't go together, but Whisper can keep himself controlled in most cases. And he's usually pretty hard to spot as well. If things go wrong, he can pull the others into his dimensional veil, and we can extract them without getting noticed."

  "Right, right," Adam said. "Now then, I think we both lingered on this long enough. We should do something else. I'm going to chat with our crafters and see if I can figure out any of the slipgate mechanics myself. I doubt it, but maybe learning more about the basics can give me some ideas for the future."

  "Alright, I'm going to go visit Helix. Time for me to start harvesting more cancer from my body."

  “Lovely.” Adam snorted. “And just like that, it feels like we're back to old times.”

  Shiv grunted in agreement. "You know, I really miss it."

  "Miss what? Weave?"

  "No, all of it. The Abyss was bad in places. Godsdamn First Blood was a nightmare. But the wilderness was something special. I was free for a while, Adam. And we have people who care about us there. The Composer is… She isn't perfect. She's not nearly the most powerful goddess, but..."

  "I know," Adam said, understanding what he was getting at. "When I needed her, she answered. She came to me. She didn't need to, but..." The Gate Lord sighed as stress and worry warred across his face. "The world isn't what I thought. It shouldn't be this way. The Ascendants shouldn't be this way. The Republic shouldn't be this way. I… I want to run too. I want to be done with this, but I don't think I can. I don't blame you if you just decide to flee entirely after we finish saving Blackedge. When I get everyone there over to Gate Piety, I won't blame you if you and Uva just want to go."

  “Adam.”

  “Yes?”

  “Shut the fuck up. I'm just saying I miss things. I miss the peace. I miss the people. I'm not saying I want to run away and leave your ass to fight this hopeless war alone. Besides, I don't think it's up to me. Udraal's planning something, as are the Ascendants and the other nations. Everyone's always doing something. The world won't stop spinning just because I turn away from it. I think fleeing and hiding is just a fantasy."

  "It doesn't all need to be your battle, Shiv," Adam said quietly.

  "Maybe not, but not leaving your ass alone to deal with this. I don't give a shit about the Republic, Adam. I give a shit about you."

  Adam blinked. Shiv folded his arms. And then unfolded them. Then he shuffled in place. They both coughed.

  "I'm gonna go do cancer things,” Shiv said, unsure how to end the conversation.

  "Yes, you go and enjoy that."

  ***

  As soon as Shiv departed the slipgate chamber, he found Helix waiting there with his arms folded and what looked to be a naked clone of Shiv by his side. The orc held onto “Not-Shiv” via a flesh-made leash implanted directly into the base of its skull.

  The Deathless blinked. "What the fuck is that?"

  "Oh, this? It's my sloppily made homunculus. I based it on your blood code." The orc Biomancer shook the leash as he grinned at his so-called pupil. "Have you selected your classes yet? Any Biomancy courses?"

  "A medical one," Shiv replied, but his gaze was mainly locked to his uncanny replica. "You gonna explain why you made a fucked-up version of me or…?"

  "Oh, it's simple. I'm going to give it a series of diseases, viruses, plagues, and maladies, and you're going to figure out what I’m doing. And when you get good enough at identification, you’re going to start learning how to cure the homunculus. Your human academy might be a soft and easy time, but I will not grant you that, I assure you. When I am done, your enemies will open their own throats rather than face the touch of your Biomancy." And slowly, creepily, the orc began to laugh. "Only to realize it was all for naught, because you managed to restart their brain and remove all the damage, condemning them to torment regardless."

  A few seconds passed. Shiv looked between the orc Biomancer and the unresponsive homunculus. Then he simply shrugged. "Sure, why not, I got a few hours. Let's get started."