Godclads

Chapter 20-4 Players and Pawns (I)

Getting yourself out of a tight spot requires some counterintuitive tactics at times.

Let’s use an ambush for example. Most people tend to break, turn, run. Try a fighting retreat. That’s what gets most people killed. You’re reacting, burning all your capacity to keep the current problem at bay while the bastards about to snuff you are free to pull more tricks out of their asses.

What you need to do is find the weakest section of their assault and turn into it. Now, there’s no guarantee that things will work and you’ll come out alive, but reacting is delaying action and best, and you’ll definitely get ground down at some point.

You want to live? You need to stop behaving like a piece and be a player. They gave you a dilemma, give them one back. Cause problems. Break some shit. Force them to spend mental bandwidth trying to put out their own fires before they can deal with you.

That’ll strain them and give you the time you need to solve your own problems.

Ultimately, the math is simple. You want your plate to be as close to zero as possible in the “shit I have to react to” box. You want their plates to be piled so high the table is flipping over to give them the nice kiss on their heads they never got from daddy.

You're not gonna win a fight by just taking a punch, you need to shit in their bed, you need to set their house on fire.

Remember: be a player, don’t be a pawn. Otherwise, save yourself some time and just wrap your lips around a gun.

-Quail Tavers, The School of the Warrens

Players and Pawns (I)

By the time Avo finished Chambers’ recounting, Tavers was squinting at him in disbelief via a simulated face constructed from phantoms. “Have him check in with the Sang again. Ask her if she has true confirmation if it’s actually Naeko. Hard to believe that lazy half-strand finally got off his ass, stopped playing his game, and decided to hit the ground running with his police work. He’s been down and out for practically half my life. This is a little too drastic after years of nothing.”

“Probably is him,” Avo replied, digging through the mem-data Chambers provided. Immediately after Green River’s sync, the Nether came alive with screaming activity. Lobbies public and private surged with roaring traffic as sequences and memories pertaining to Naeko’s departure from his long hibernation circled the networks. “Mass memory dump connected to him. Multiple sightings across the city. He’s visiting grafters everywhere. Trying to build a trail.”

[Oh, the Mirrors are not going to like this,] Benhata sighed. [We have an entire division meant to monitor the Paladins. Once, we even had an entire strike cell dedicated to shadowing the Chief Paladin, but after years of inaction, the members were disbanded and reassigned.] The fallen Mirror sighed. [The outer council is going to come down with a conniption over this.]

A sensation of genuine disbelief came from Abrel. [What? All that for Naeko?]

Her answer came as a quiet chuckle, Paladin Kassamon clucking his tongue in faux pity for the Instrument. [Before your time, back over some two centuries ago, the Paladins were all feared. We were the cream. We were the crop. We were Jaus’ hounds, and the Exorcists, our ravens. Sure, the Guilds were pillars of the eight great cultures that remained in our world. Sure they outnumbered us. But our ranks were composed of Godclads all, and under the guidance of Chief Osjane Thousand, New Vultun was an anvil to be broken in. Naeko, however, was our motherfucking hammer.]

[You can’t imagine how many people that man has killed. And how he killed them.] Corner laughed, and his memories became windows into the vicarities he once experienced–a secondhand internalization of the world that once was. [Samir Naeko was godsdamned monster that walked out of the Godsfall more pissed than he started. His name sits next to Veylis Avandaer. Zein Thousandhand. Osjon Thousand. Stormsparrow. Legends all. Bleak fucking legends. But of the bunch, Naeko was the odd one out. Slave. Sacrifice turned saboteur. Then slayer of the gods that used him.]

[Wait, were those memories compiled from the Siege of Vnueid Falls?] Kassamon sounded awed. [Holy shit, I thought those recollections were lost.]

[No,] Corner said. [Just damn rare. Not so many survivors from those times. I won that in a game of roulette. Heh. Poor bastards looked like they wanted to shoot me again after I resurrected. Too bad they didn’t say being a Godclad was against the rules.]

“Tavers,” Avo said, finally emerging from his own thoughts, “tell White-Rab he’s going to be getting a new job soon. An interesting one.”

A drip of apprehension escaped the squire’s mind. “Not sure if he’s going to be all that receptive to a dive like this, consang. There’ll be a lot of eyes on Naeko. And the Chief Paladin’s probably got more than a few nasty tricks up his sleeve.”

Avo anticipated this and had just the means of encouragement. “Tell him I’ll pay with a Heaven. Or a cycler. His choice. Will also expedite matters relating to our ‘mutual consang.’”

“Alright,” Tavers said, still sounding dubious.

As threads of ghosts cascaded along the accretion of her Metamind, Avo turned his attention back to the other members of his cadre. The new development gave him things to consider, and not just alone.

They had already moved beyond the borders of New Vultun–established a forward operating base, even. But there was still much to be done. Essus needed to be seeded back among the refugees to ingrain himself in the sanctuaries and prime himself for future operations. Dice still had a home to reclaim and an enclave to reestablish. Yet, with every second they left Naeko unattended, the threat to their operations back in the city grew.

Thousands upon thousands of templates began to converse and chatter. With a subtle command, Avo adjusted their behaviors, accelerating the streams of dialogue within him to their final conclusions and stacking the summarized information into separate parties based on each suggestion. The Conflagration became a front in an instant. A kind of single-ego gestalt-based parliament unique in its inception.

Calvino gave a slight scoff. {Avo. To reduce the swelling size of your ego… no. You are not that unique. Submind collectives and ID-stacked data democracies were things established by the late twenty-third century. You’re merely a more aberrant expression of the same design.}

+Can they twist the fabric of reality?+ Avo asked.

{No, but they also didn’t live in a world where the market value of a life was less than that of a soft drink.}

+Don’t see what our financial insolvency has to do with anything.+

{...There are times I forget that I accompany a monster in a world long swallowed by nightmares.}

+Should look outside right about now. Got front-row seats.+

Filtering through the different motions, the action conservatives consisting of Benhata, Lip, Osjon, most the Incubi, and several thousand other technical-logistical personnel were inclined for him to return to the city. The “kill yourself” party headed by Abrel and more than a few bitter Syndicate types wanted Avo to attack Naeko head-on in the hopes that he would die a long and horrible death. The action aggressors like Draus and Corner demanded Avo press on. Ensure fruits are borne of his current task while keeping Naeko’s movements in his periphery.

Ten other groups offered additional suggestions on what executive actions he could take, but Avo found them to be little more than variations for the first three. He eliminated Abrel’s suggestion as he didn’t need Naeko to help him with any suicides, and measured the conservatives against the aggressors.

He could turn back now without really losing out on anything, but there was no guarantee he could stop Naeko. Or that the Chief Paladin was even going to get anything out of Green River. Still, something needed to be done to ensure the Sang’s security. That, he felt, was a service White-Rab could provide. Chambers potentially too for that matter, but the risk with him was greater. That, and he also needed someone to manage the strategic aspects of their operations back in the city.

[Shit, you trust me that much?] Chambers said, sounding surprised.

+Can be built further. Was good how you spoofed Green River. Then observed the Nether. Need you to continue displaying initiative. Keep our operations going. Get back to Washington when Kae finishes. Hold in place. No major moves. Try to find Denton. Contact her. See if she can get him to stop or find out what he wants.+

[Aw, and here I was hoping I’d get to see what the Sunderwilds look like.]

Avo turned his gaze south and clicked his fangs together in rumination. +Might not need to hope if things go right.+

With a thought, he formed simulations using his Conflagration. The fires of his mind billowed as his twenty-seven million ghosts smoldered with meta-cognitive processing power. As his Metamind generated likely outcomes, so too did his Neurodeck. As he lacked a great deal of information regarding what Naeko wanted, random assumptions and scenarios were used in place. In the worst cases, Naeko was already aware of what he was planning–made cognizant by the Low Masters or some other unforeseen factor–and was actively in the process of smoking Avo out.

The outcomes then made remaining in New Vultun difficult. Filtering mem-data spawned from rumors, experiences, and recollections, Avo guessed that Naeko’s Heaven could reach across a vast swath of space. Perhaps even the entire megacity itself.

If that were the case, Avo had no desire to discover if he could keep himself hidden from the Chief Paladin’s gaze while engaging in resource gathering, cultural subversion, Guild infiltration, or active runs.

Again, Avo thought of his brief encounter with Naeko while they were trying to escape across Light’s End. He remembered the impossible pressure he felt, the sheer overwhelming power the Chief Paladin had casually projected.

If not for Denton, they likely would have all been taken and imprisoned. And Avo’s journey would’ve ended without ever truly beginning.

[Aw, and here I was hoping you’d prove candle and not wick, rotlick,] Abrel taunted.

+Can’t bully me into killing myself,+ Avo replied. +Won’t work.+

[Well, you can’t blame me for trying.]

In the end, the ultimate risk right now was the city becoming unsafe for him. Which was the exact problem securing an enclave could solve.

If he could consume or just keep the Fallen Heaven afflicting Dice’s former home at bay, they would have a place of operations beyond New Vultun. Somewhere they could act, practice, and plan more openly and freely. It would also solve the danger of Naeko discovering the George Washington in the city, and give them a place to hold while the heat died down. Nothing prevented Draus from connecting the enclave to the Washington via a few passages, anyway.

“I think I have a plan,” Avo said, speaking to his cadre again. “Think I want to keep going. Smuggle Essus among the caravans. Let him re-enter the sanctuaries. Rest of us head deeper. Dice leads. We retake her enclave. Establish second haven for ourselves. Gives us a place to retreat to if things go wrong. Best choice in my mind.”

Immediately, Draus nodded as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Dice, for her part, agreed with a word but went back to staring southward from where she once came. Threads of rushing black and greenish mist swirled out from porous ribs the size of mountains flashing in and out of reality.

Essus and Tavers remained uncertain. The squire made her thoughts known first, preluding her apprehensions with a sigh. “Avo, look, I’ve seen my fair share of shit, but…” She shot the world around her a brief look and gestured at the constantly collapsing corpse of existence. “This really isn’t my scene. If you ask me to, I’ll go further, but I’m staying inside the ship. I’m not like you. I don’t want a Soul, but I’ll be damned if I die because I don’t have one. And my contacts haven’t finished constructing a new sheath anchor for my phylactery yet.”

“What’s wrong? Don’t feel like goin’ on safari?” Draus teased.

“Not particularly. No.” Tavers eyed the Regular, and Avo could feel the exhaustion in her posture. “You know how I lived long enough to record The School of the Warrens? By listening to my instincts and understanding why something makes me shiver. Right now? I’m getting the shivers something bad. Nothing out here for people like me but death. New Vultun’s a ravenous fucker, but at least it usually has a shape I can understand. A wolf’s an easier foe to fight than the jungle itself.”

Draus studied the squire for a beat a nodded. “Reckon so. Reckon so. So. Back under the Layers with you?”

“Yeah,” Tavers said. “I think I’ve had enough of the great outdoors. For the rest of my life.” She cast out a Specter and angled it high, casting her perception outward to study the long trails of withered humanity. “I mean, fuck me, how do people survive out here?”

“By the hand of our betters,” Essus answered. “By learning what rules rule where and what they do. And by staying in a place we can understand.” He scoffed lightly. “Under the house of questionable masters.” He gave Avo a weary expression of his own. “Such was the fate I wished to spare him, you know. And look at me now. Back to the place I thought we were to be saved.”

His eyes went then to the titan that was New Vultun, and the innumerable domes holding sanctuaries within. It was as if an explosion of wild mushrooms around a great tree that grew beyond the reach of the firmament itself.

“Do you want to go there?” Avo asked. “Won’t be hard to find you. Contact you. For you to get around too. Chambers has a session in your mind. You can use your Heaven at any time.”

“I know,” Essus nodded, the act making his elastic jowls bounce. Enhanced though he was, Avo had left him mostly unchanged in shape. “I wish to return. To prevent others from making my mistake. And… to find the one that deceived me. I want to have words with her.”

“Can help you with that,” Avo began.

“No,” Essus replied. “No. Thank you. I wish to settle this of my own accord. I want to know why she lives such a life. Perhaps it will grant us insight into how the Syndicates work outside.”

Avo grunted. “Perhaps. So. We are all clear. Me, Draus, Dice continue on. Essus embeds. Tavers. You got back to the city. Take the Manta with you. Work with Chambers and White-Rab. Know what to do more than I.”

“I’ll be casting a few contacts in the meantime,” Tavers said. “I might not have your mind-fire-people-turning shit, but I got consangs. Friends on the force. They might be able to ‘gossip’ about how their ‘asshole boss’ suddenly got active again and where he ‘might be interested in going.’”

“Good,” Avo said. “Could always do with more friends.”

The squire cleared her throat. “Speaking of that. There’s one more thing. I wanted to mention this back when we were at the Lots, but you guys were kinda carried away with the whole city-destroying thing. I might have someone that could help us. I know you have Chambers managing that Skulltaker guy–”

“Skintaker?” Avo said.

“Yeah, whatever the half-strand’s called. Listen. He’s small-time. A real niche nobody. You remember Cala Marlowe, right? The only other person in the building. The one I stopped you from snuffing?”

Avo saw where this was going. “Want to bring her in?”

“Well, no, not yet. But she sure as shit hates the Guilds something bad, and I think we can have her do some unaware outsourcing, anyhow.”

Another thing that Chambers could handle. It might be useful for him to deal with more “propaganda” and outward-facing projects. He had the flair and desire for it. And he was effectively the “face” of their little group by this point.

The thought made Avo consider other things he could do with Chambers. Including some that might be able to distract Naeko. Focused rash outbreaks targeting only Syndicates. Or false threats to divert attention.

Chambers chuckled. [You know, when I was growing up, I was thinking “vicarity star” more than terrorist, but I’m not gonna lie… some of this attention is doing it for me.]

+I know,+ Avo replied.

“This child is MENTALLY WRONG,” the Techplaguer chimed, taking a break from screaming at the Woundmother to disparage Chambers. “Recommend putting him into RE-EDUCATION!”

“Ah,” the Woundmother followed. “A point of rare agreement between us.”

The Fardrifter chuffed in disappointment. “So much spent on governing another’s life. You words are little more than aspirations of cages. How pointless to disparage someone from the life they seek.”

[Exactly!] Chambers said. [Fuck you, period spire. And you too, tech-cock. You’re only real consang among the bunch, horse-head.]

“Oh, look,” the Woundmother sneered. “Rubble calls to rubble. Waste calls to waste.”

“Connect her to Chambers,” Avo told Tavers. “Have him monitor her as well. She can amplify his presence. He’ll be doing some things soon. To draw Naeko’s attention away from me. Have him chase smoke and mirrors. Might need your help setting that up too.”

“Right,” Tavers said. “We just gotta fool the Chief Paladin without him tapping any of us with his super powerful Heaven.”

“Glad you’re confident,” Avo replied.

He had the feeling the squire was glaring at him now. “Avo. Has anyone told you that you ask the world of people sometimes?”

“No,” Avo said.

“You ask the world of people sometimes.”

He nodded, accepting her words. “Will probably do it again.”

“...When I run into one of the Low Masters, I’m going to tell them to include shame for the next batch of ghouls.”

Avo hissed a low laugh.

“Alright,” Draus said. “Shit’s sorted. Let’s get movin’. Essus. You know the way over. You’ve done this before. Don’t get snuffed. Don’t get nulled. And don’t break yourself doin’ this.” Her gaze got as close to soft as she could muster, but it still seemed like she was trying to gaze through the man’s skull. “You’re no killer. You don’t got it in you. So you act the scout and do your part. Ain’t no one’s gonna respect you for gettin’ done in for good tryin’ to make worth of yourself. Least of all your boy. All that’s left is the memory. And that goes too once you do.”

Essus bit his lip at her final words, and despite the hurt pulling at his face, he nodded. Turn, he turned and strode through the eldritch vegetation, moving carefully around a patch of snake-like grass as he made for caravans. Tavers, likewise, was going for the Manta, standing over glass hidden by soil and grass.

The Simulacra appeared briefly, reaching out with a crystalline hand and pulling Tavers down.

Beside Avo, Draus was looking in the same direction as Dice now, staring out into the mangled horizon, careful not to look too high, but facing the roiling chaos nonetheless.

“So,” the Regular said. “Either of you two fancy a bit of a race? Like in the Grand Prix?”

A mechanical whine sounded as Dice’s tetrahedral scanner module shifted over to look at Draus. “Never saw one.”

“That’s fine,” Draus said. “Be ahead of the other half-strand. Don’t be behind. Get to where you’re goin’ first. Win. Get assassinated maybe because some other Guild can’t take that shit lying down. Might not do the last part.” She shot Avo a brief glance. “Or maybe we will. See how we’re feelin’ once we get there. You know the way, right?”

“Yes,” Avo and Dice both said. The ghoul and girl were of a mind literally. What she remembered, he long knew.

“Going to be a hard race,” Avo said, sensing the brittleness and instability in existence around him. So much was on the verge of breaking. Rutpuring further. All it would take is a push. “Risky too.”

“Heh,” Draus snorted. “Careful, rotlick. Think that canon you stole from Moon might’ve grafted a pussy onto you without you knowin’.”

{...There are also other times I forget that you aren’t the only person on Idheim who would benefit from extreme sensitivity training,} Calvino muttered.

“Fine,” Avo said, suddenly feeling the spirit of Bright-Wealth come over him. “Going to make you two the same offer I gave White-Rab. Win. I’ll give you a new ontologic. Heaven. Cycler. Next one goes to the winner.”

“But what about you?” Dice asked, sounding confused. “What do you get if you win?”

“Don’t know. Maybe I’ll just eat Draus.”

The Regular grinned viciously at him. “Yeah, and maybe I’ll give you an imp-free view of what your insides look like when I pull your head and spine out from your ass.”

Dice went impossibly still for a beat before her sheath’s servos sounded again, turning to look first at Draus and then at Avo. “I don’t understand… How is that a reward?”