Born-In-War was true to his word, the so-called assassin was delivered to the embassy at his request to the local government. The only reason it was granted was that the petition stated the assault was carried out on one of the People; well, at least one whom the People have claimed. Legally, this means Icarus is now classified as one of the Silent-Ones, for good or bad. There isn't much time to dwell on this as Envoy and Icarus are led to an observation room, complete with a one-way mirror looking into the interrogation chamber.
The man strapped into the chair is remarkable in how unremarkable he is. He's of average height, weight, and probably somewhere in his forties. Though a little roughed up (by either the police or the Silent-Ones is unknown), his hair appears to have been groomed recently and is a rather respectable salt-and-pepper back-gray mix. For the moment he sits in the chair with a stone-cold expression on his face and stares straight ahead.
"If you intend to torture me, you may as well begin," the man remarks dryly. "Leaving me alone under this light hardly makes me sweat, other than from the heat of the lamp."
"He speaks," Envoy notes from the observation room, behind the false mirror. "Icarus, do you see any energy radiating from him?" she asks the hybrid boy next to her.
Icarus rubs his chin as he peers through the mirror. His head tilts this way and that. "Yes," the hybrid says. "It's ... odd? It's not like something natural; it has a repeating pattern."
"He has a radio in him, most likely," Envoy concludes. "He could be remotely controlled; another of Von Bronson's pawns. Elsa, would he put a bomb or some other overkill self-destruct device in a person like that?" she asks the reptilian woman next.
"Nothing so direct ... usually," Elsa remarks dryly (how qappropriate!). "He is more the sort to imply hidden poisons when it might be observed or betray his presence. But ... bear in mind it has been eighty years since I last knew him, his tactics may have changed."
Envoy hmmms. "Well, I am refueled with pizza now, so I suppose I should go talk to him," she notes, and heads for the door to the hall.
"What about us?" Icarus asks, "He might be dangerous!"
"That's why you should stay and observe," Envoy points out. "Your abilities aren't likely to be affected by the wall, after all, Icarus. You can act just as easily from safety as from in the interrogation room."
"Yeah, but .. it's not the same," Icarus complains. "You shouldn't just walk into danger alone. It's ... crazy!"
"She isn't technically alone," Elsa points out and places her hand on his shoulder, "Since we can observe and act from here. Let her go; she is only concerned for your safety and anonymity."
"Crazy does not mean it is not effective though," Envoy says, then winks and heads out so she can enter the interrogation room.
The walk is short. As Envoy opens the doorway, the human remarks, "Ah, of course. The creature seeking the legacy and its power. How far are you willing to go? Blood? Torture?"
"And what legacy is this you think I am seeking?" Envoy says, as she stands near the restrained man. "You've gone to some trouble to get my attention. I would think a man of your intelligence would choose to avoid me completely, Dr. Von Bronson."
"Your arms betray your goals. You seek the same power my genius harnessed near a century ago," the man remarks as his brow arches slightly on the right. "The extensive graft modifications within you also bear the hallmarks of Sifrian technology. So what else could you be seeking other than all that I have learned, mm? As for avoiding you? Please. You assume you are a threat to me. You are not unlike a bug to be crushed under foot. Or played with for my amusement."
"Ah, you mean the grafting experiments that all failed?" Envoy asks. "And your last attempt at crushing me fell a bit short. Have you actually ever succeeded at anything, Doctor? As for 'seeking' out this power - it sought me out. Now, what is it you want from me? Do you desire an immortal body, perhaps? I could easily grant you that, after all."
"What does anyone want? Right now you are an amusing diversion. A puppet to make dance when I choose," the man remarks. "Now, as for failed? I wouldn't say that. The boy that was with you shows hallmarks of my genius ... and he was very much alive. One of my sequences? Perhaps one of the old embryo-freezers was still functioning? Did it feel good playing God when you made him? Yes, yes I expect it did."
"Get to the point please," Envoy asks. "I have enough psychotic stalkers to deal with as it is. Tell me what you want."
"I don't quite see what my incentive is," the man remarks. "Because that is the only way you ever get anything from someone. Such as shooting that child to test your reactions; I gave you an incentive and observed. Your reaction was to try and save him. Therefore, you have some sort of moral code. You have limits, I do not. This means what comes next will be even more enjoyable."
Envoy narrows her eyes. "So, it is war that you want. You've attacked my son, so I feel fully justified in striking back now that you've shown yourself to be a dangerous animal," she says. Synchronize is the command that she thinks, however.
Envoy hears, "Link established" chime in her head. "Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Well, I mean you can kill this body it really doesn't matter to me," the man remarks, his voice disturbingly calm. "But then I won't have any current way to communicate with you; which means this little purple bat that was brought to me an hour ago ... well, I guess I'll have to just kill her. I can probably find use for her parts; their sensory organs are quite evolved."
At first, Envoy had planned to try and search out the signature of the corrupted crystal Von Bronson had developed - but Violette is probably more unique, after her brush with the boomer. It's all a matter of extending her magical 'territory' to feel out other mages. In theory, anyway. She closes her eyes and tries to instruct the crystals to send out a magical 'ping' and feel out the returned echoes. She knows what Violette's magical signature feels like.
"Ooo, how interesting," the man crows.
The good thing about a newly awakened world is that there are no natural mages here ... which makes finding visitors, particularly ones that the seeker is familiar with all the simpler. There's a strong echo that comes back; Sinaian mage with a touch of quantum displacement. It's no more than three miles from this building ... and somewhere underground. Sewer system perhaps?
Envoy tries to get a better fix on the location. She had accidentally opened a portal while in control of Icarus's network.. all she needed to do was get her own system to do the same thing, and either let her reach through space to grab the Eeee, or step through herself. Displacement equations were not exactly simple though.
Difficult is ... putting it mildly. There are so many types of matter in three miles of distance that trying to find the right displacement is next to impossible to make out ... at least with her limited control.
"Icarus!" Envoy calls out. "Back me up. Can you feel what I'm trying to do?"
"Oh, so you have the boy close at hand, do you?" the man in the chair says. His lips draw back in a smile.
"Yeah, I do sense what you're doing, I think. You sure it's right? If you end up in a rock, uhm," Icarus calls back from the other side of the wall. There's no real time to answer that, though ... and Envoy's world seems to disperse! The next think she knows, she's standing in a dark, dank, chamber somewhere underground. Sitting in the center is a small purple bat, shivering underneath a single, dim, bulb. The odor down here is ... 'festive' to say the least. It has to be a sewer drain off.
There's the usual gateway disorientation.. and then there's this level. But Envoy's pretty used to it by now. So long as all of her limbs are in place, she'll deal with it. And the first thing to deal with is.. "Shield," she mutters holding her hands out, and trying to get a force bubble around her and Violette first thing.
It's good that Envoy establishes a shield around the pair ... because the room around them literally explodes in gunfire as half a dozen machine-guns open up with a roar. Lead shot explodes against her shields in showers of sparks! The poor Eeee shrieks and tries to curl up in a ball; only to be stopped by the ropes holding her to the chair.
Envoy has no idea what her energy efficiency is when powering the crystals, so works quickly. As she walks through the rain of bullets towards Violette, she tries to get the amplification effect going for some speed-casting.
It's impressive that Envoy is this coherent given she just turned herself inside out ... and is currently walking through a hailstorm of lead towards a bat on the verge of tears. Yet ... somehow she is and she's even gotten an amplification field up in what is probably a record amount of time.
Song flows out rapidly from the Earth Mage's throat, as she casts Heat Metal spell. There is no direct target however, as she pumps power into the minor spell so that it will effect all metal in the vicinity, including, she hopes, the guns and any electrical components not embedded within a living body.
Not only do the guns glow red, so do the bullets. The entire room is soon bathed in a blood-red light as every bit of metal within a two hundred feet radius glows. The heat also includes all the ammo casings, though ... and the roar from the explosion of hundreds of rounds all at once is ... beyond loud and painful.
Hoping Violette managed to cover her ears in time, Envoy merges the two bubbles together and kneels down next to the curled-up girl. With the lightbulb a victim of the spell, she can't really examine her for injuries. And even though her own ears are ringing, she can't waste time: she's singing again, casting Reshape. Just as she did to create the memorial room for Von Bronson's victims, she tries to raise up the ground beneath them while pushing up through the ground above to reach the surface.
Everything is a blur as they go upward. The next minute passes with everything deadly silent as ground flows around them as if it were water. Soon Envoy finds herself sitting in the middle of a quiet alleyway along with the shaking bat. The only sound she can hear now, save for the ringing, is the sounds of the city around her. Cars, people, and general bustle.
Scooping up Violette into her arms, Envoy pauses a moment to get her bearings. She doesn't drop the shield bubble, but does try to find out what the cost is for what she's just done. "Query: Status of metabolic energy reserves," she asks her crystals.
"Equivalent of forty-thousand calories exhausted," the crystals report. The good news is ... she doesn't feel bad. Yes, anyway. "Make it stop," the bat whimpers as she buries her face into Envoy's neck. "Please. Can't go through it again. No more burns. Please no more burns."
"We're out of there, Violette," Envoy tells the bat. "What did they do to you?"
"Don't remember," the bat mutters. "Just woke up ... and everything was dark. My ears hurt."
"Sorry about the ears," Envoy says. "But I had to blow some stuff up." She starts to spread her wings.. but realizes she knows how Icarus flies, and time might be critical still. "Access flight functions," she sings to her arms.
"Gravitational control active. Adapting for massive quantum distortion in the vicinity," the crystals chime.
"What is the source of the distortion?" Envoy queries, just in case it isn't her that is the cause.
"Three miles relative to current position. Relative position zero from original departure. Unstable crystal matrix field detected," the crystals reply.
"Take us there!" Envoy sings, fearing another abomination has backtracked on Icarus's wormhole. "Query: Can we suppress or influence particle entanglement wormholes; specifically, temporary nullification of electron charges?"
"Possible," comes the reply. "Attempting to re-establish link to source origin point zero. Instability renders jump dangerous. Confirm request."
"Use gravitational flight," Envoy instructs, not wanting to jump in.. and needing some time to formulate a new spell - something that makes use of magic and the crystals..
"Course plotted. Transport chiropteran life-form as well?" the crystals ask.
"Yes," Envoy replies, holding tight to Violette, as she begins singing a Suspend ritual.
Micro-gravity is an odd sensation and both Envoy and Violette suddenly experience it as they launch upward! It would feel worse if it weren't for something the crystals are doing that seems to cut out any inertial reactions. Directions change as they zig and zag between buildings back towards the embassy ... but Envoy never actually feels any force change. When they're a few hundred feet away ... she spots it. A large chunk of the building has been blown out from one of the floors, the metal frame bending outward like some twisted metal flower! The air in the street below warps violently, followed by a rush of air and debris surging inward to replace the air that had been violently removed a moment before.
Icarus must be fighting, Envoy realizes. "Bring us down near the unstable matrix," she instructs, before going back to preparing her ritual.
As Envoy descends rapidly ... she discovers he isn't so much fighting as he's defending. Telltale signs of a shield bubble shimmer in the air surrounding Elsa, who is lying face down on the pavement. Icarus stands in the center, arms spread, his whole body an eerie electric-blue halo. There are others within the shield as well, an assortment of humans and Karnors; probably poor folk who were walking down the street at the time. Huge chunks of concrete are ripping out of the street and hurdling at the shield ... only to shatter upon it. The unstable source also makes itself known ... it's the same human Envoy was talking to earlier. His hands are also outstretched, fingers curled like claws. The air around them shimmer and shift, flickering to near absolute-black in bursts here and there. "Lets see what you can do," the human shouts, "Let the weaklings die and I will teach you your true capabilities. You are better than those bags of flesh you protect; you can be a God!"
"Gods are overrated, trust me!" Envoy says, and launches her spell at Von Bronson's creature in an attempt to turn him into to stone, on the hope that having no will of its own, its resistance will be low. But if it does resist.. that's where the crystals come in. In theory.
The problem with chaotic crystals is, well, chaos. Envoy's spell hits ... and bounces right back at her! Her wings start to feel really heavy as the stone starts at the ends of the pinion feathers and begins flowing backwards and up towards her shoulders.
That was not part of her plan! Envoy reverses the spell as fast as she can!
"Let me go," Violette whispers to Envoy in the mist of her trying to reverse the spell. "I'm too much of a distraction. Just ... let me go. I can fly out of here now, I think."
"Get back to the other mages, tell them what happened to you," Envoy says with one voice, letting Violette go. "There must be at least one scryer left on Abaddon: find Von Bronson!"
Violette drops several feet before her wings spread! Envoy can now focus on reversing her spell ... and it's none-too-soon! She feels the weight on her back easing. "Like I said, you have weaknesses. You care for these people. These insects. You could be so much more, yet you defend them. You went for the girl when it offered you nothing. Her death would have mattered not," the human below calls up to her. "Do you see, boy? Weakness is caring for anyone else. There is only power and your own growth. Everything else is expendable."
"Now, suppress electron charges in one meter sphere centered on the head of the creature possessing the chaotic matrix," Envoy instructs her crystals. While she isn't sure she can actually disintegrate the monster's head, it should still strip all of the charges from the air around it - and when they return the static charge will hopefully disrupt whatever electronic means Von Bronson is using to control it.
"Attempting," Envoy's own crystals report. The human staggers and clutches its head, then screams. And soon, Envoy's own head is screaming too! The chaos in the fields here is maddening, the closest thing to compare it to would be sticking her head into a surge of wild magic from Bosch itself!
"Violette," Envoy hears Icarus shriek, "Get out of here! Now!" It's then that Envoy can see the splotchy, worn, Eeee standing between the human and Icarus' shield.
Envoy screams! And then she sees Violette. She must be going to try a Chaos Spell! Trying to gain some control again, she attempts to amplify the magic field around the apprentice to boost whatever she's going to try!
"And what are you going to do, insect? the human rasps. Blood is now running from its nose and ears. "What can you possibly do? You're nothing. You can't even comprehend what is possible. much less wield it."
Dispel.. every Apprentice learns that spell first, no matter their sphere, Envoy thinks. Can Dispel Chaos affect those mutant crystals? To her own crystals, she sings, "Neutralize charges again. Pulse in counterphase to that thing's signals."
Violette looks back at Icarus and for a brief moment, smiles to him. "You're right," she tells the human, "I'm just an Eeee and an apprentice mage. Not even much of that, really. But ... he's my friend. So whatever I've got, I'll give." She spreads her arms and wings wide, the smear of scar-purple spreading out between the human and Icarus. Her eyes close and she chants. With Envoy's amplify running, she soon knows exactly what Violette is trying to cast. A spell all chaos mage apprentices are taught too; stabilize.
"Trying to isolate waveform. Chaotic disturbance making sync ... chaotic interference suppressed. Waveform locked. Pulse initiated," the crystals chime in emotionless tones. The human's eyes go wide, then roll back in his skull. It's like cutting the strings of a puppet. The human collapses into a heap.
"Well, looks like you have a weakness too," Envoy mutters, and urges her bubble of force to the ground so she isn't wasting more energy.
Unfortunately ... Violette also collapses along with the human. If she was synced to him, it is also possible she shared in the pulse that disrupted the radio flow as well as neural flow. "Violette!" Icarus screams as his defensive shield collapses immediately. His heritage makes itself known in that he's at her side in a blur of spots. "You little crazy idiot bat," he's growling as he lifts her torso up into his arms to get her upright. "What were you thinking?"
Trusting Icarus to take care of things, Envoy recasts her Suspend spell while the human weapon is vulnerable.
"You never called me ugly," Violette murmurs to Icarus as she grins tiredly at him, "Even though I am."
Casting suspend on someone unconscious is quite easy as it turns out. Within moments the former human is not just a statue lying prone on the battered pavement.
Envoy sits on the statue's chest and catches her breath, then cancels the interference signal and surveys the damage.
Well, the damage isn't too much worse than if two titans got into a road-throwing fight in the middle of the street ... and used the street.
The Aeolun also glances up to the hole in the side of the Silent-Ones Embassy. "Born-in-War is not going to be pleased," she mutters, then gets up and heads for Icarus and Violette, to check on Elsa.
"Icarus," Elsa mutters as she pushes herself upright, then rubs her neck and winces. The humans and karnors caught in the crossfire actually do check on Elsa and help her to her feet ... just before they all disperse! Apparently they don't want to be around if a Silent-One gets angry, either.
"Will you grant me a last request?" Violette asks Icarus in a weak voice as Envoy approaches.
"You're not dying, you're just tired. Like I am," Icarus claims. Violette starts coughing, which causes him to blurt, "Okay, anything!"
"I'm very proud of you, son," Envoy says to Icarus as she gets closer, and raises an eyebrow at Violette.
"Proud of me? For what? I didn't do anything," Icarus says as he looks up, confused.
"Kiss me," Violette requests ... and even puckers up.
"You kept people from being hurt," Envoy points out. She doesn't question the Eeee's 'final request' either, but tries not to look amused by it.
Icarus eyes Violette warily ... but since he did agree. He, well, leans in and soon he's kissing the blotchy Eeee. Violette's arms come up with surprising strength for someone needing a last request and soon Icarus is flailing as Violette snogs him.
"Men are genetically wired to be clueless. Thirty-second sequence on the forth genome," Elsa claims, looking mildly amused by the whole thing.
"Born-in-War is going to be really put out when I claim the fallen warrior for the Mages Guild, since it was beaten by magic," Envoy notes. "I only hope he'll still let us borrow his transport to move the thing to where it can be safely examined. And.. I'm going to need to have the help of other mages as well."
"Or he may insist on joining you. An attack was perpetrated on his property, which is an affront to his honor. Moreso in that it endangered family since his daughters stay here with him," Elsa notes.
"You have a really long tongue," Icarus complains once he finally detaches himself from Violette. After he shakes out his head, he asks, "I thought you didn't want to contact the other mages because you were in trouble with them over something? Or was it you don't get a long with them?"
"I don't mind," Envoy says, and gestures to the statue. "It was a human, not an advanced hybrid. It's a one-shot weapon, which would fall apart just like.." She pauses, not wanting to bring up 10 and 11. "Anyway, with an experienced Chaos Mage we can safely examine those crystals of his. And with a Light Mage, maybe locate Dr. Von Bronson's location. And then I can drop an earthquake on his head. I'm going to have to kill him, I see."
"Do you want to kill him? I want to kill him. Is that wrong?" Icarus asks.
"It's... distracting," Envoy notes. "It limits us. But I can't afford to have him come to the attention of the Sisters. That would be far worse than anything one madman can do on his own." Envoy looks around again, and then mutters, "Besides, he's a human, and is treading dangerously close to the prerogatives of dragons."