Chapter 15: Chapter 015- Parasites

The Foundry was just as chaotic and rushed as it had throughout the previous weeks, but there was something different that neither Arthur, Kelish, nor Jane had seen there before. “Since when did they hire the lizard people?” Kelish asked. Arthur had no good answer to that question. He was wondering the same thing.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jane stated, nudging the pair of full fledged Inquisitors forwards, “We’re here to get both of your armors repaired. Not gawk at the new hires. Come on,” she said, walking forwards, quickly followed by Arthur and Kelish. They walked through the familiar Foundry, but Arthur was somewhat curious about the occasional bipedal lizard he noticed walking around. Most of the time, they were just carrying some material needed at the electro-hammer, but there was at least one lizard working the forges, shaping armor.

They passed through without interrupting any of those working or gawking at the new members of the staff, eventually making it to the Quartermaster’s desk. What they found instead of the quartermaster, though, was another bipedal lizard. It was not like the other ones, though, as it was very, very large in comparison. It was as tall as Arthur’s bicep, almost twice as tall as its kin. That was not what surprised Arthur, though, as the lizard’s face appeared to light up as soon as it caught sight of Jane, “Ah! Life-magic lady! Good to see you!” the lizard-- likely female based on her voice-- chirped.

Arthur gave the creature an interested gaze while Kelish just smiled, but Jane’s eyes were widened in surprise, “I didn’t know you could speak,” Jane answered. She was giving the lizard a content look, and Arthur could only guess why she did. He thought it had something to do with them meeting while in the holding room, but that was just an assumption. One that he had no real reason, beyond simple curiosity, to make.

“Learned fast after you gave life-magic snack,” the bipedal lizard explained, “Big-people speaking is hard, but also fun. Was easy to learn.” The creature turned to Arthur and Kelish, “Ah, am Krakeet. Biggest of clan and kin. You?”

“Arthur Wan,” the man answered.

The Vikshe in their company gave a warm smile, “Kelish Balak. How’d you get this job so quickly? I didn’t think the Inquisition would have trusted you that much.”

The bipedal lizard’s ears laid flat against her head, “Understandable,” Krakeet replied, “We didn’t trust you big-people either. Then the…” she worked her jaw a bit, “Ar-chi-vist let us talk to each other.” Krakeet’s eyes glossed over in that moment, “Was beautiful. Could hear everyone in the clan. Was loud, but in a good way. Like hearing the clan’s hearts beat as one. Liked it a lot…” She wiped her eyes and looked up at them hastily, “Sorry for talking too much. You need help?” she asked.

Arthur nodded, pointing at the dent in his armor and the scraped paint of Kelish’s knuckles, “We need some armor and weapon repairs. Nothing too fancy, just the basics,” he answered.

Krakeet winced when he said that, “Might be an issue. Quartermaster hasn’t left his personal electro-hammer in a while…” She paused, “Should’ve checked on him, huh?”

Jane gave the lizard person a wry smile, “You probably should have, Krakeet. Do you want us to go find him with you?”

“You wouldn't mind?” Krakeet asked before running around the desk and pulling on Jane’s hand, “Then come on! Need to find him!” Before Arthur or Kelish could get a word in edgewise, Jane was pulled further into the Foundry by the lizard woman, stumbling a bit to catch up to the latter’s gait. Arthur and Kelish followed at a more sedate speed, not wanting to outpace the bipedal lizard, “How have you been?” Krakeet asked, turning back to Jane while chuckling, “Couldn’t talk much before, but now can talk about stuff. Where you come from? I remember being little lizard.”

Arthur just tuned out the conversation in front of him and looked down at the foil-covered file under his arm. He had to wonder what was going on around him. Not only was he getting a suspiciously large number of orders from on high, he was getting more and more orders that had to do with thaumaturgical beings and powers. The second circumstance was quite obviously from the ‘awakening’ going on around the galaxy, but the former was certainly suspicious. There had to be some reason why Arthur was getting the lion’s share of attention by the higher ups, but he could hardly fathom why. He was meant to keep his special missions secret, though, so it was entirely possible that more people around him were receiving similar amounts of attention.

Even if others were receiving large amounts of attention, it always came in the form of missions, and he could not complete the one he received unless his armor was repaired. Such thinking led him to focus on their destination, which they were approaching rapidly. Something was off, though, about the large double doors at the far end of the Foundry, where the master armorers and weaponsmiths resided. The masters were all listening to the air, barely moving, and barely making a sound. It was not quiet, though, and the loud buzzing and rhythmic crashes of a single electro-hammer filled the silence left by the idleness of the other masters. “Okay, this is freaky,” Kelish whispered to Arthur, “What’s going on?”

“Oh, forge-masters been like this for last few hours,” Krakeet answered, despite being at the front of their group, “Don’t know why they’re so interested. It’s just life-magic.” She gave the masters of craft around her a mocking look, “Smart in some ways, not in others.”

“There is something you just said that I need to confirm,” Arthur said, “Did you say that the Quartermaster is using thaumaturgy? That is what I assume you call life-magic, no?” Krakeet just nodded, “Do you know what kind of thaumaturgy he is using?”

Krakeet rubbed her chin for a moment, then shrugged, “Dunno,” she replied, “Maybe using life-magic to make better weapons?” she guessed, “Not good with life-magic, only one in the clan that can use life-magic is mom. It hurts her, though, so we never want her to.”

Arthur sighed, slipping his helmet on before drawing his weapon, “Well, no matter what it is, it can’t be anything forbidden. And to know that, we need to take a look.” Arthur approached the door, but before he could open it, one of the forgemasters, an Ukalan woman, stepped in front of him. Arthur just stared at the woman, “I need to check and make sure that whatever he is doing is not forbidden. So, please move.”

The woman did not budge, “The Quartermaster outranks you, Investigator. If you need your armor repaired, which you obviously do seeing as how you mistreated our work, you can receive them out front.”

“This is not negotiable,” Arthur stated, “Get out of my way.”

The woman glared at him, “You will not disturb him! You-” Before she could finish, the rhythmic banging ceased, and every master present stared at the door, waiting and alert. Arthur shifted on his feet and prepared for anything from a fight to an especially furious argument.

Then the doors opened, and the Quartermaster exited his forge room. In his hand was a carbine, the same model and make as Arthur’s. The only difference were the numerous engravings on the titasteel-encased weapon, depicting anything from the founding of the Inquisition to the glassing of Vulcan 7. Arthur immediately sent a thread of Mind energy towards the gun and furrowed his brow. The weapon had a Mind. Something clearly forbidden by the TRC. Sure, it was nascent, but that did not matter, as the rulings stated that any ‘inherently anomalous Minds’ were forbidden. His furrowed brow grew into a scowl, “Quartermaster, you are under arrest for creating an inherently anomalous Mind in the form of a weapon.” He turned to the master who tried to stop him, “I will overlook your attempts at disrupting my arrest. Do not let it happen again.”

“You can’t do this!” the master shouted, her face an ugly scowl, “You don’t have the authority!”

“Master Alanu, please,” the Quartermaster said, stepping forwards and meeting Arthur’s gaze, “Inquisitor- no, Arthur. This isn’t a mere weapon. This isn’t against the spirit of the rulings.”

“I do not care what the purpose of this creation is,” Arthur shot back, “You broke the rulings. It is as simple as that. Now, drop the weapon and follow me. I do not want to kill you, Quartermaster, but I am a trained Inquisitor. I will not hesitate.”

The Quartermaster’s three eyes glared up at Arthur, “Do you realize what my creating this one means?” the man asked as he held the gun out-- pointing it upwards-- and stared at Arthur, “It could be the beginning of a new age of the Inquisition! Where the Inquisitor can truly understand their weapons and tools. It would reduce the number of casualties drastically!”

“As I said before,” Arthur rebutted, “I do not care what purpose you had for creating that, but it is against the rulings at the end of the day. Now, drop the weapon, and come with me.” The Quartermaster grumbled, but placed the weapon on the ground and raised his hands, following Arthur, “Jane, grab the being and follow me,” Arthur commanded.

Jane nodded, and Arthur escorted the Quartermaster out of the Foundry, ignoring the glares of the armor and weapon masters as he left. As they walked through the hallways, the Quartermaster turned a bit, “Do you want to know why I did it?” he asked.

“You already made it clear why you did it. No matter why you did it, you broke the rules in creating that,” Arthur said, nudging his head to the living weapon the Quartermaster created. He shot another thread towards it again, finding it a bit more active than it was before. What made him worried, though, was the fact that it began to produce Mind energy. That was bad. Really bad. He did not want a sentient, or even sapient, weapon attacking people with psychic attacks. He was about to crush the fledgeling thing’s Mind when it Connected with Arthur. Before even a single modicum of feeling could transmit across that Connection, Arthur cut his losses and cut that strand of Mind energy, giving him a splitting headache. He kept himself from groaning, though, and kept walking forwards, ready to strike at the weapon at any moment.

That moment never came, though, as they reached the prisoner block soon thereafter. Standing in front of the barred door leading to the block, though, was an armored Inquisitor. They wore a blood red power armor style astrosuit, with an Inquisition Regalia in the center of their chest, which was strange. Every species Arthur knew had their hearts off center from their body. Arthur found that odd, but what he found even more odd was the fact that there was no one around. Not even the Investigation Unit Inquisitors who used their skills to stick their noses into things that was none of their business could be found. He looked at the Inquisitor before him, someone in a power armor style astrosuit, with a scowl, “I am detaining the Quartermaster for creating a living weapon. Step aside.”

The voice that emerged from the suit was calm, cold even. She spoke with perfect clarity and with a tone that could command emperors, “You are to hand the Quartermaster over to me at once, Inquisitor Wan, as well as hand over the weapon he created, Auxiliary Helvin.”

“We have this covered, Inquisitor…”

The red-clad Inquisitor did not reply, instead stepping forwards, “This is my case, Inquisitor Wan. Do not interfere.” She took another foot of ground, “You have your own mission, one that cannot wait for these sideshows.” Her voice at the end of her sentence was barely any different from the conversation that preceded it, hinting at the tiniest of sneers.

Arthur was about to reply when he realized what the woman was implying, he stepped back. He examined her again, then glared behind his mask, “Fine,” he said, handing the Quartermaster over, along with the gun, “In that case, we must be going,” Arthur said, turning and walking away, soon followed by his two teammates.

They made it back to the front of the Foundry, Krakeet en tow, before Kelish cleared her throat, “Arthur. Do you want to talk about that?” Kelish asked.

“Talk about what?” Arthur asked, turning his head slightly to meet Kelish’s gaze. He took off his helmet, since he was off official Inquisition business, and stared into her lower eyes. She pursed her lips, shaking her head.

“You know what I’m talking about, Arthur. The fact that you just arrested a man you thought was a trustworthy person,” she said, “The fact that you were just about ready to gun him down and slaughter him. The fact that you just flipped a switch on a dime.”

“That’s basic Inquisition training, Kel. What do you expect from me?” Arthur replied. He narrowed his eyes at her and wondered if she needed more homework, as she had obviously not gotten a good enough sense of what the Inquisition was all about.

Kelish just rolled her eyes, “To show something more than mild remorse at threatening a coworker,” she replied, meeting his gaze without flinching.

They stared at each other for a bit longer before he turned away, “Let’s just get our armor repaired and we’ll be off.” Kelish just nodded, following behind him with a slight scowl on her face. The repairs, after the situation regarding the Quartermaster was explained, were given without a fuss. Before long, they were boarding the Love Muffin, and Arthur sat down at the dining table, near the all purpose terminal, to unpack the foil-covered packet that was their mission briefing. Jane came over to watch and even Kelish, despite her somewhat sour mood, joined as well.

Arthur began to slide the papers out of the foil, but stopped after a moment, “Exo, make sure no one, not even the Vice Chancellor himself, can see us. Understood?”

“Already taken care of. I wouldn’t tempt fate with that,” Exo replied, while Arthur nodded. He slid every piece of paper out of the packet, noting how there were more sheets than usual. He grabbed the top sheet, his mission statement and read through it.

As he read through it, he became more and more unsettled, before placing it onto the table and glaring at it, “Arthur?” Kelish asked, sitting beside him and picking the paper up. After scanning it, she placed it back, “Oh, okay… Are you alright?” she asked.

Arthur felt a small desire to snap at her, but he pushed the desire down. “No, I am not,” he replied, “This is ridiculous. We can’t just partner with someone using forbidden technology. Well, thaumaturgy now. But my point still stands. We can’t do this.”

Kelish gave Arthur a flat look as Jane looked at their orders, her little metal pet hanging around her neck, “What happened to ‘duty calls’ business? Are you really going to disobey orders so quickly?” she asked, her voice lacking the teasing quality he came to expect from such questions.

He looked at the other documents without touching them, then shook his head, “No. I won’t. Let’s look at the rest of this…” he said, picking the largest packet-- a packet likely written by a group called the ‘Ark of the Gunsmiths.’ He flipped open the first page, taking note of how he could understand the strange squiggles, and began reading.

 

*=====*

 

Arthur put the packet down and held his head in his hands, “Okay, that was a lot,” he stated, sliding it over to Jane, who had been playing with her metal creature while he read. Kelish went off to make dinner soon after he began reading, and she had not returned since.

Jane picked up the packet and examined the front cover for a long moment, then flipped the page. Her eyes scanned over the pages as she flipped through them, and she eventually nodded, “Okay, yeah, that’s a lot… So, there’s an extradimensional space where magic comes from--”

“It’s called Thaum, Jane,” Exo corrected.

Jane rolled her eyes and ignored Exo, “Whatever. So it all comes from there, and the everything new either comes from a ma-” she sighed, “Thaumaturgical anomaly, direct mutations, or extradimensional beings.”

“Looks like it,” Arthur replied, “Which means that there are a lot more people messing around with forbidden thaumaturgy than we thought before…” he said.

Jane gave him a questioning look, then pursed her lips, “I have to wonder, if there are so many people who mess with this ‘dangerous thaumaturgy,’ why are we not all dead or something? Doesn’t that mean that the forbidden stuff isn’t… you know? That dangerous?” she asked.

Arthur’s face grew ugly at that. It had to be dangerous, as it would not be forbidden if it were not dangerous. But Jane had a point. If there were so many people using it, even if it was in a strange fourth dimension, how were they still around if it was so dangerous? “I don’t know. Whatever the case, we have a mission to complete. This should give us our lead on the distributor,” Arthur stated as he picked up the last document, a list of everything known about the target.

It was not very long.

All it said was that there were rumors about a person selling supernatural weapons to black markets in the Glamrodan system. The same place his and Kelish’s trist with the supernatural began, “Looks like we’re heading to Glamrodan V. Again. Exo, do you have the coordinates for the place?” Arthur asked, glancing over to the all purpose terminal Exo was occupying at the time.

“I do. I have already prepared to jump, so we will be off shortly.”

Arthur nodded and leaned over to look into the kitchen area. He saw Kelish standing in front of the stove, repaired armor shed, while tending to the stove, “Kel! Did you hear where we’re heading?”

Kelish turned and leaned back, a bit of a grump look on her face, “I heard. We’re going back to the ecumonopolis. Oh yeah, Jane, do you know anything about ecumonopoli?” she asked, looking towards Jane.

“Kind of?” Jane said, “I can guess that it’s a city planet, but I want to see it before I make a judgment.

Kelish nodded, “I get it. I never stepped foot on one either and it was nice having the first experience be one of wonder,” she said, “Alright, I’m almost done, so put the mission papers away and help me set the table.” Arthur and Jane both nodded, putting the mission folder away and laying out the dishes and utensils.

In Arthur’s opinion, Kelish made quite the good terran beef steak.

 

*=====*

 

Landing onto Glamrodan V was quick and easy, as there was an astrodock above the planet to handle every incoming stations. Being Inquisitors, the trio were able to reach the Inquisition branch office within an hour of reaching the planet without having to wait in lines or declaring intent of visiting.

When they reached the branch location, Arthur brough his team up to the disguise room. It was a large room with a line of private changing rooms at the far wall while rows upon rows of other clothing were hung up on hangers, strewn about tables, or piled into dressers and the like. “Alright, we’ll be infiltrating the black market for this one, which means two things. First of all, we will need to leave our armor and weapons in favor of something less conspicuous. I, for example, will be taking this,” he said, holding up an undersuit with a few chemical stains on it, “This as well as a couple of other things. You two need to find outfits that fit you and wouldn’t be out of place in a black market. Got it?” he asked, more to Jane than Kelish, since it would not have been strange for her to know something about fashion in black market circles, considering her career.

“Yep,” Kelish replied, immediately seizing a bulky trench coat, similarly stained undersuit, helmet, cerasteel and rubber boots, and similarly composed gloves from the hangers and tables strewn about, “I’ll only be a minute,” she said as she walked over to the closest changing room, entering it.

Arthur simply turned his attention to Jane, who gave a nod, “I get it. Grimy, not high quality, and in the sweet spot between trying to blend in and trying to act tough,” she answered, getting a nod from Arthur. She turned and began looking around for some good clothing to wear.

Arthur already had his eyes set on a jacket and pair of boots that would make him look quite indistinguishable in a crowd, both of them being grayish brown and muted. He took his disguise and brought it over to one of the changing rooms, changing with practiced speed. Once he had changed out of his armor-- groaning once he realized he would not need it for the mission-- he stepped out of the room only to find Kelish and Jane waiting for him, both of them wearing their disguises.

Jane was wearing a pair of jeans, boots, a shirt, and a coat with enough bulk to hide a violin while Kelish wore what she brought into the changing room, her helmet under her arm. “You going to do the Obake thing?” Kelish asked.

Arthur just nodded and closed his eyes. Shifting his form around was like trying to move his ears. Hard, but not impossible. Luckily, he had gotten plenty of experience in shifting forms, and could shift his own in a matter of minutes. Slowly, his face grew a bit more droopy, his hair turned a bit gray, and his skin lightened. In the end, he looked like a clean, tired, and old man with brown eyes and a light, permanent scowl, “I think this is a good look. No?” Arthur asked, looking at the pair before him.

Kelish was nodding while Jane looked utterly fascinated with what he did, “Woah…” Jane said, “I just thought about something… When we’re done, I’m going to take a bit of a break to think about this…” she said, pursing her lips in thought.

Arthur had no clue what the girl was on about and, by the looks of it, Jane was in the same position. Instead of trying to coax any understanding out of the girl, Arthur merely shrugged, “That’s fine, but we have a mission to complete right now. Exo, do you happen to know where the closest black market is?” Arthur asked, holding out his comslate.

“I do not,” Exo replied, “But I have a guess. There should be a storage facility about a dozen miles below your current position. There has been an increase in activity in the area, so there is something happening. At the same time, there are no mentions of parties or similar, semi-legal events, so it can only be assumed that the black market is taking place there.”

Arthur gave a curt nod, putting his comslate away, “Thanks Exo. Now,” he said, turning to the rest of his team, “We need weapons. Preferably pistols or other smaller guns, but I’m sure you could bring a shotgun along, Kel,” he assured.

“Well, in that case I’m bringing this one,” she said, picking her normal shotgun up and sliding it into her coat, along with a few magazines of ammunition, “Not like they’ll notice anything wrong until it’s too late,” she chuckled.

Arthur just nodded, then turned to Jane. She gave him a shrug and he nodded in return. She was already dangerous, so a gun was not too important for her. Arthur, meanwhile, walked over to one crate labeled ‘mid-end guns’ and opened it. There were plenty of choices, ranging from chempowder pistols to beam machine guns, but Arthur’s eyes locked onto a carbine that was very similar to his normal model. He immediately took it and put it under his jacket, closing the box as he did so, “Alright, looks like we’re done here. Let’s move,” he said. His teammates nodded, and they left the disguise room after they put their armor and weapons away.

Getting down to the potential black market location was far from trivial, but it was not particularly hard either. The only way to access the lower levels of the spires making up the ecumonopolis was to either enter the maintenance shafts or find the special lift that led to the lower portions of it. Seeing as how the League Guards kept a careful eye on the lift, every one of the participants of the black market used the shafts. Which was a fact that put Arthur and Kelish’s earlier mission into perspective quite a bit for the man. If normal criminals could gain access so easily, it was not hard to understand why the lunatic Oni woman got access to it.

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However the criminals were able to gain access, Arthur, Kelish, and Jane only needed to claim official Inquisition business to make the maintenance staff take a break for a few hours. Without any prying eyes, the trio could move without worry, and they soon reached the area of the maintenance shafts where criminals loitered. Arthur first noticed their movement into the area controlled by crime when a man in a hoodie and overalls began to follow them. 

Before he could make a move, though, Jane walked up beside him and leaned over, “Psst, boss,” she whispered, “Can I send that guy running?” she asked. Arthur raised a white-gray eyebrow and nodded, leading Jane to turn slightly and create a throwing knife out of thaum. She then whipped it faster than he could see at the man standing a ways away. The knife flew true, and punched a hole through his dangling hood, pinning him to the titasteel wall behind him. Arthur took some note of the fact that breaking titasteel with her creations was not something Jane could do when she was first recruited and concluded that she had grown more powerful.

It made sense, considering what she managed to do during the previous mission. “Nice shot,” Kelish commented, her voice distorted by the helmet she wore. Whatever the Inquisitor who created it did to it, it made the voices of anyone wearing it indistinguishable. That, combined with the bulky trench coat she wore, and Arthur would need more than a second to distinguish her species and gender. For a normal person, they would never figure it out, which was the exact effect desired.

“Thanks,” Jane replied, “I may need to do it a few more times before these mooks learn not to mess with us, though,” she stated, creating a few knives and holding them openly. 

Arthur turned a bit, “‘Mooks’? Is that what you’re calling them?” he asked. He decided to relax his speech for the infiltration mission, since he did not want to draw unneeded attention. Not that having a seemingly unarmed old man and a girl that could summon weapons made out of glowing thaum made them seem any less attention-grabbing, but they would not be suspected of being Inquisitors, and that was the least Arthur wanted to do.

As they moved along, more and more thugs, street toughs, and other criminals loitered around, all of them eyeing every ‘client’ of the market and each other. Arthur, with Jane’s unspoken but definitely-understood threat, led them through the tunnels and shafts without having another incident, like with the first man who tried to tail them. “What did you do with the guy you stuck to the wall, kid?” Kelish asked.

Jane glared at Kelish, and Kelish shrugged at Jane. The girl eventually let something out that was a combination between a sigh and a growl, “I let him go after a few minutes. He must’ve spread the news about us,” she guessed, “Convenient, since I’d prefer not to have to nail every thug who thought we were a good target to a wall.” Arthur noticed that more than a few thugs around them scoffed at her words, but none of them made a move.

After a while longer of walking, the crowds became denser, but the tension in the air took on a new tint. The first hurdle came when they were about the enter the shaft adjacent to the warehouse where the black market was supposedly held, and a Meytvani man in a suit and tie stopped them, “Hold up, there, you three. You’re unfamiliar to me. What’s your business here?”

Arthur met the man’s eyes and nodded, “We’re here to buy some weapons. Preferably some of a more… magical bent. Our operations have been disrupted by some mutated critters and I need to return everything to working order.”

The man stared into Arthur’s eyes, a stare that Arthur met, “I see. In that case, do you happen to know if any Inquisitors are snooping around?” the man asked, “I don’t know if you heard, but a pair of Inquisitors brought the hammer down on a good chunk of the families working in our line of business.”

Arthur snorted, shaking his head, “I know a few of ‘em,” he said, visibly surprising the man, “They don’t do anything unless you get in their way or play with things they want out of anyone’s hands.”

“Well, those families are… were playing with those very things. Something about worshiping a god or something-- they were losing clout every day, but we just let them be. That… didn’t go as well as we would have hoped.” The man shrugged, then walked over to a pair of people in matching astrosuits, a man and a woman, to pester them. The pair did not seem to care about the Meytvani’s questions, though, and Arthur left them to their business.

He led his team to the final door of the shaft, open and one flanked by two people in power armor with crude, glowing scribbles on the surface. Arthur raised an eyebrow at the scribbles, and the armored thug just turned their head to meet his gaze. The thug then looked down at the glowing scribbles on their armor and shrugged, “I don’t know either.” Their voice was garbled, like Kelish’s helmet did to her voice. Arthur simply nodded and passed by the pair, and entered the doorway they were guarding.

The warehouse was, indeed, the home of the black market. Stalls of wood and steel were packed in between the massive shelves lining the warehouse, some taking up multiple levels of those very shelves. Shady men and women hawked their wares to anyone interested, including everything from drugs, weapons, normally-normal items and seemingly random items that could never be used in anything illegal, save for murder by blunt force trauma for a few particularly large books. One ‘product’ that was suspiciously absent were those enslaved by pirates, a usually popular feature of such markets. He ignored it for the time being, but he would definitely find the truth of the matter, if for no other reason than to sate his curiosity. 

The fact that the market was there was good news to Arthur, as they would not have to repeat their search for the market. “Well, looks like the tip wasn’t an ambush,” Kelish said aloud, just loud enough for the people they rubbed shoulders with to hear. Arthur noticed a couple pairs of eyes darting to the trio, but they sparked with minor understanding.

“Indeed it wasn’t,” Arthur replied, reinforcing the ruse. He was glad she took the subterfuge lessons he had been giving her to hear. Blending into crowds like those around them was a matter of appearing at once genuine, dangerous, reasonable, and cunning. A bit of a contradiction, but one that none of those who dabbled in crime seemed to put much into.

Arthur, Kelish, and Jane all blended into the crowds around them, following their flow as they walked past stalls selling seemingly random items. Arthur glanced at Jane, who was staring deep into the market, above the sea of heads around them. Arthur followed his gaze and narrowed his eyes. There, hanging above a stall in the left-center of the market, was a tarp with a familiar logo on it, along with a familiar name. Jane looked up at Arthur, and he gave her a nod. She looked back at Kelish, followed by Arthur himself, and they all shared another nod.

They wormed their way through the flowing crowds of people, passing mafia dons and drug smugglers without batting an eye. Eventually, they reached the stall, behind which a single, masked man stood. His state of dress was strange, though, as he wore a mask associated with an ancient revolutionary, Guy Hawkes. On top of the strange choice in mask, he also wore a strange, old-style outfit very similar to the type of clothing worn during the time of his mask’s namesake.

The man caught sight of the trio, who showed obvious interest in his wares, and stepped forwards. His eyes, hidden by the mask, were crinkled into a smile, “Greetings!” he shouted over the din of angry yelling and other marketeers selling their wares, “It seems as though you have some interest in my wares! Come, come! Have a look!”

Arthur was about to step forwards, but a man, wearing strange, gilded clothing, with a braided blonde beard, scarred face, and bald head stepped forwards, blocking Arthur’s path, “I know this isn’t the place for kind hearts,” the man said, “But I’ll just say it now, I suggest you stay away from that guy.”

Arthur quirked an eyebrow, “Why is that? He seems quite friendly, I’d say,” he replied. The more information he knew, the better, and the man before him seemed intent on offering Arthur exactly that.

“He… copies your mind, man. Trust me. Just trust me, here,” the man answered, shaking his head, “If you want to ignore me, go right ahead! Don’t come crying to me about the consequences, then.” The man then spun on his heel, and left, leaving Arthur without any new information. He, having read the strange packet the man seemed to have been handing out, knew how the arm’s merchant collected dues for his wares, but he wondered why the scarred man was so keen on stopping him from dealing with the masked man.

Arthur pretended to ignore the man, and stepped up to the booth run by the group ‘Ark of the Gunsmiths,’ and offered a hand for the masked man to shake. “Ha, it seems like some blokes around here know manners!” the man laughed, taking Arthur’s hand and shaking it vigorously. His grip strength was quite strong, even though Arthur could feel little effort being put into it, “Ah, my apologies. I forget that you folk’re a bit fragile. So, what can I do for you, my good man?”

Arthur merely leaned over the counter, and fished a hand into his pocket, one small enough not to hold a gun, and grabbed what he needed, placing his closed hand on the table, “What you can do for me is this: who are you really, John Johnson? Not the best pseudonym I have ever heard of, to be honest.”

John’s eyes narrowed behind his mask, and he leaned forwards, “I know, but it’s better to be upfront when I lie, no? But as for who I am… Who’s asking.” Arthur merely withdrew his hand, leaving his Inquisition badge on the table. Since the stall was being flanked by Jane and Kelish, in the shade of the shelves above, and surrounded by disinterested criminals, no one apart from the four watching the stall’s table saw the badge. As soon as ‘John’ got a good look at the badge, he whipped his head up at Arthur, glaring with the force of a star, “So, you’re here to kill me?” the man guessed.

Arthur shook his head, though he groaned internally, “Not… exactly. We are here to… broker a deal, you see. The galaxy has gotten dangerous lately. Things that should not have been possible are killing people. We need more firepower to deal with those who dabble in things they should never touch, and to do that, we need to find the best of the best. So, what do have to say?”

John’s eyes widened a bit, then narrowed, “I-”

Before he could finish his sentence, Arthur’s comslate buzzed, something Exo only did when something was wrong. He pulled it out instantly, putting John on guard, but Arthur did not care, “It’s happening again!” Exo yelled, though the comslate’s volume was low enough to coast under the ambient noise, “Prepare for combat, Inquisitor! That lunatic is-” Before Exo could finish his warning, he was cut off. Again. Arthur narrowed his eyes and sighed. As he did so, the familiar, annoying voice emerged from the air itself, scaring more than one thug and criminal around.

“Greetings, players!” the voice shouted, overpowering every noise in the area, “It seems that there are quite a lot of people here, I’d say! But we don’t have time for that, now do we, Inquisitors?” the voice asked, venom seeping through his words. There were a few exclamations of shock at the revelation that Inquisitors were in the market’s midst,  “You pulled quite the interesting trick last time we crossed paths, but this time, I assure you, will be different!” A massive projection appeared on the ceiling, with two lists. The first was headed by the title ‘Team Inquisitors’ while the other was headed by the title ‘Team Saboteurs.’ Under the Inquisitors’ team, Arthur’s, Kelish’s, and Jane’s full names were listed, while nothing but three dashes were under the other team’s list, “As you can see, there are three members of each team. The first team, the Inquisitors, are listed here, but do not rely on this list, people of the market, as they have likely donned disguises and pseudonyms. The other team consists of creatures called ‘Takers,’ but are better described as mind controlling parasites. These three parasites’ objective is to kill you, Inquisitors, while your own objective is to kill them. As for the rest of you, drug smugglers and gang bosses, are free to do as you please. If any of you manage to kill a member of either the Taker team or the Inquisitor team, you will be richly rewarded! Now, then, seeing that every rule is explained, let the games begin!”

 

*=====*

 

Jane was annoyed. She was not to the point of being angry, but she was certainly past the point of being merely inconvenienced. For the second time, the game-mad lunatic had trapped her and her new team in a spatial prison and forced them into death games. The worst part was certainly the fact that she could not break the barrier keeping them trapped, since it would have been far too conspicuous for her, someone Arthur and Kelish believed to be an amnesiac, to break out so easily. She already pretended to get one new power in the previous mission, and she did not want to arouse too much suspicion with it.

Then the idea she had when Arthur used his morphing powers returned to her mind. She tried to discard it, to focus on the situation, but she could not. Instead of wasting time, she decided to accelerate her thoughts a bit-- even if it might be risky if she were discovered.

When she saw Arthur’s morphing power, she noticed that his entire… aura changed. The term ‘aura’ was a slippery one, as it was a factor in many different mana types, but the type she noticed when she saw him morph was the unconscious feeling someone radiated by existing. It was a type of impression that was developed of a person by those observing them. Which was why Arthur’s morphing ability was so fascinating. It used no mana. Therefore, the unconscious effects that magic had on aura did not exist. She could use that in conjunction with some sort of magic that used that concept of aura, but she was still a bit stuck.

Jane, having thought about the idea for long enough, refocused herself to the present, decelerating her mind at the same time. Everything had become chaotic. Worryingly so. As soon as the game-happy madman finished his speech, guns were pulled and everyone was on edge. Most did not speak, but some opted to shout and argue with each other. Jane herself created a sword and shield while Jane pulled her shotgun out from under her coat. The both of them eyed the people around them, and there were more than one suspicious glance their way. Luckily, the nature of the man they had been ordered to meet lessened suspicion greatly. They all assumed that Inquisitors would not play nice with the gunrunners, and they were, of course, wrong.

“Can I assume you know who that is?” Arthur asked, raising one of his old and wizened eyebrows. Jane really found the old, pale, and weak-looking Arthur strange, as she knew how dedicated he was to his cause. If she could turn his loyalty to the Inquisition towards her, she would be left with a highly skilled, capable soldier and enforcer. Unfortunately, she had little need for those things, but she could probably find a use for him nonetheless.

John Johnson gave Arthur a subtle nod, “That loon is well known. He’s a slaver, he’s a narcissist, but he’s got quite the head on his shoulders. If I know anything,” he whispered, “It’s that whatever game he’s cooked up will be especially made for you three, since he seems so obsessed with you…” He paused, “Oh yeah, if he asks you to play a card game, don’t accept. Anyone he beats at that one gets turned into cards. It’s bollocks, but that’s just how the game goes. But… If you’re going to be dealing with him again, I’ve got just the thing for you.” He reached below his stall, pulling out his briefcase and putting a few things onto the table. “Alright, first thing’s first. The dagger.”

He picked up an ornate dagger with glowing runes along the side. The most suspicious thing to Jane was that they were written in Akashic, the language of her people, and that there were no signs of backlash from a lesser being trying to harness the Greater Gods’ power. If nothing else, that guaranteed power, and power-- from an acceptable source-- was what her team needed, “This one here is a dagger that can cut rules. I had to make a little deal with a god to get this one, but it’s something damn fine. It can cut through rules. That’s about the only thing I know about it, but it takes a bit of your S. energy by doing so.”

“First of all, S. energy is Sentient energy, as in Mind energy, correct? And secondly, are you saying that there are gods running around?” he asked. Jane began to get worried. If John noticed that she was a god, and if he decided to be a bastard, then she could kiss her cover goodbye.

John hummed, “You don’t know about them?” he asked, “There’re plenty of them running around, but I guess they’re dealing with this place with a softer hand. As for S. energy? Yeah, I think that’s what you locals call it.” Arthur nodded, and John picked up the second thing he pulled from his briefcase, a little keychain with a small, black tooth on the end, “Alright, secondly, this baby here’s quite interesting. She’s a little attachment to your gun that lets any mundane attack cleave through most of the middlingly resistant magics like a cleaver through butter.”

Arthur rubbed his chin, scowling, “That is too vague. What can it destroy? What counts as an attack? And can it be used on everything, including swords or axes?”

“Well, in order, I don’t know, there are too many magics out there for me to know. It depends on what you consider an attack. And yes,” John replied with a business smile, one that slowly grew into a genuine smile. He put the keychain tooth back onto the counter and picked up the final item, which was actually a revolver with a especially wide barrel and eight-cylinder chamber, “Now this one is quite interesting. This doesn’t have any special gimmicks, except for maybe being usable in some of the more volatile magical environments, but it’s a revolver that packs the punch of a point-blank grenade while having as much recoil as the wielder wants. The best part is that it adapts to you as you change what you want. The moment you pull the trigger, you could want a satisfying kick, but then change your mind before the bullet leaves the barrel, and it would still conform to what you want.”

Arthur examined the gun making sure that no ammunition was in it, before twirling it around like a western gunslinger, “A bit light, but otherwise perfect,” he judged, putting the gun back onto the table, “So, what do you want for it. I know how you receive your payments, so what is it?”

“This is a bit of a special case, my friend. Get me out of this alive and get me a meeting with your boss, and I will consider this free of charge. Good relations are important, after all.” Arthur merely nodded, and the pair shook hands, which Jane managed not to wince at, “Ah, you may want to be wary of that in the future. Some are able to cast dangerous spells by handshakes, so always have faith in those you share one with.”

Arthur nodded again, but was cut off when a loud shout echoed across the warehouse, “Everyone, to the center! We need to coordinate if we want to make it out alive!” The tense atmosphere around them remained, but the thugs and other criminals around them stowed their weapons and began trudging towards the source of the voice. Jane turned towards Arthur, and he nodded. Kelish rested a hand on Jane’s shoulder, and she turned around, meeting Kelish’s helmeted gaze with another nod.

They then turned back to John, who’s Guy Fawkes mask was grinning at them. After a moment of staring, the man sighed, “Fine, I’ll tag along as well. I wanted out of this rubbish for a while, anyway.” He slid the three items over the table to Arthur who took them immediately. He handed the revolver to Kelish, who stuck it under her coat. He then took the chained fang, probably putting onto his gun under his jacket. Finally, he handed the knife to Jane. Her eyes bulged a bit at his gift, but she nodded a moment later, creating a sheath out of highly crystalized mana and sliding the blade into it.

The four of them, with John being added to their group, meandered their way over to the source of the noise. While Arthur was doling out their prizes, most people had already reached the gathering point, so they were left at the very edge of the crowd. Murmurs filled the space, as everyone spoke to their confidants or allies around them, but a shout cut through the low noise, “Everyone, quiet down!” a man in a full suit of power armor shouted, standing on one of the shelves, “We need to-”

“Shut the fuck up!” one of the thugs shouted back, a few others around him adding their own half-hearted shouts to the mix, “Why are you the one in charge, huh? Who are you, anyway? For all we know, you’re one of the Inquisitors! Hell, you might even be a parasite!”

The crowd became agitated at the last suggestion, with a few even yelling to have him killed. Before the consensus could reach a tipping point, though, a man with a braided beard, scarred face, and an annoyingly familiar set of gilded clothing stepped up, “Everyone,” he yelled, his voice only half as loud as the armored man’s but infinitely more effective. Everyone clamoring for blood silenced immediately and Jane could only growl in irritation. One of Freya’s dogs happened to be there, “There is nothing to gain by killing him, even if he is a parasite. Which he is not, as I have already checked him.”

“What do you mean you already checked him!? What are you, some kind of wizard?” a mocking voice replied, followed by a bout of laughter from a few other people.

The man showed a furious face, raising a finger thrusting it towards the man who spoke. A bolt of lightning leapt from his finger and struck the mocking man in the eyes, eliciting a blood-curdling scream of pain. The warrior of Freya’s fleet pulled his finger back and everyone present watched as the man who spoke toppled, black ashes flaking off of his face, “I am, for your information, a wizard. Now then, there is no reason for any more violence here and now. What we need to do is figure out who the Inquisitors are. Once we do that, we can cash in the reward for killing them!”

Jane cursed the man in her mind, though made sure not to put so much effort into it that she accidentally casted one on him. She calmed down quickly, though. Random violence and frivolous wastes of life were expected from Freya’s dogs. Before Jane could say anything, though, the man in armor jumped down to the man’s level, “What are you, stupid!? If any of us kill those Inquisitors, the whole order’ll come down here and finish the job those two from a month ago started!” he screamed, his helmet’s speakers producing static every so often.

The warrior scoffed, “Really? You are so afraid of a single organization? What, are they going to ambush you?” the man mocked, “Don’t make me laugh! Where’s your rebellious spirit? Where’s your will to overcome!?”

There was silence for a long moment before the armored man leaned in, his voice, despite speaking normally, being able to be heard across the entire crowd, “Who the hell are you? If you grew up around here, you’d know what the Inquisitors are capable of. You either got a bad case of amnesia or you’re one of those ‘Riftborn’ that weirdo over there keeps going on about,” he said, pointing a steady finger at John Johnson, who gave a little wave.

The warrior sneered when he saw John, before turning back to the man in armor, “And what if I am one of those? That smuggler is no better. His group has been selling arms to other worlds for hundreds of years. He deserves none of your trust.”

Eyes turned to John, who shrugged, “I never hid anything. Why else would I know what I do?” the Gunsmith asked. That seemed to satisfy most of the onlookers, as they turned their attention back to the conversation. Before they could speak, Jane felt Arthur send out a wave of S. energy-- or Mind energy; she was not picky with names. She turned to Arthur, and he elbowed Kelish. When he had both of their attention, he nudged his head to three, separate people in the crowd. One Human woman at the edge of the crowd, looking at the fight with interest. One Meytvani man standing near the center of the crowd, right beside the yelling pair of people. And one Vikshe woman sitting on the shelf vacated by the armored man. Kelish and Jane shared a look, and Jane nudged her head towards the woman at the edge of the crowd. Kelish nodded, nudging her head towards the woman sitting on the shelf.

“When I fire the first shot, you two need to take out your targets as soon as possible,” Arthur said, slowly revealing his carbine, “Try not to miss.” Kelish shrugged, and slowly sunk into the crowd, moving slowly. Jane, with her shorter stature than most present, was able to skirt the edge without garnering much attention, even from her target. And Jane’s target seemed… arrogant. She had a permanent sneer on her face, as well as an aversion to keeping her head level. Her nose was always up, and she looked at the criminals around her like any normal person would look at a septic tank.

Jane took a quick peek at her soul and was able to easily confirm that the person she was about to kill was indeed a parasite. It was a strange creature, though, with what looked like stretch marks around certain areas connected with memory. It looked as if the woman’s soul was a caricature of itself. At that realization, a chilling thought passed through Jane’s mind. The woman might not have even known that she was replaced. The parasite’s soul looked like any soul mage’s worst hack job, with some places torn and others bunched up like scrunched up clothing.

Jane, being a near-goddess deeply relating to souls, was disgusted. She wanted to free the soul from its torment as soon as possible. But she had cover to maintain, and could only wait for the first shot to ring out. While she was waiting, though-- as she had reached her target before Kelish was even half way to hers-- she listened to the argument in the center of the crowd, between Freya’s dog and the armored thug, “-I might as well slice my own throat!” the dog shouted, spitting a moment later, “As if I would surrender to a mere Inquisitor. Such a name has no business being attached to a great warrior! All so-called Inquisitors I have met were craven and corrupt.”

The man in armor sighed, holding his head, “I’m pretty sure those Inquisitors are watching right now, and if they are, I’m throwing you under the bus for saying all of that,” he said, “I’m not tangling with those guys.”

“Then you are a coward!” the warrior shouted back, turning to the crowd, “But the greatest cowards are you, Inquisitors! Show me that you are worthy of being feared!” he bellowed. There was a lull as he finished his challenge, and he scoffed, “Fine. In that case-” A low, piercing whine echoed out, and a Meytvani man at the center of the crowd fell, his head a mess of charred, melted flesh and vaporized blood. Jane’s target jumped at the sound, but narrowed her eyes when she saw the victim of the shot. Before the parasite could make a single scan of the crowd, Jane snuck up behind her, grabbed the rule-cutting dagger, and drove it into the woman’s throat.

She did not take a half-measure, though, and summoned a mana stake and drove it into her lower spine. Jane could see her eyes widen, and she forced mana into the stake, directing its crystallization to spread through the woman’s bloodstream. She did not let out a scream, but an almost inaudible whimper, falling to the ground a moment later. Jane took another look at the parasite’s soul, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it drifting through the ambient mana, being torn apart by it. She gave it a silent prayer, and watched it wither away.

Just as she looked up, a loud gunshot rang out, and Jane looked over to see Kelish standing behind the woman sitting on the shelf, her body slumped over and the back of her head bloody. Kelish holstered her smoking revolver and leapt down to the ground level, more than one person pulling out weapons to meet her. Kelish, instead of meeting their threats of violence with her own, pulled out an Inquisitor’s badge. As if by actual magic, panic sprouted on the face of every armed criminal there, and they scrambled to drop their weapons. Jane did not know where in the world she got that badge, as she was told that only full-fledged Inquisitors had them, but she did not let the thought stop her from dropping the body in her arms, alarming those around her. They pulled out weapons too, but Jane just pointed to Kelish. They got the message, and followed the previous group of criminal’s examples.

“Oh?” the warrior hummed, staring at Jane and Kelish mockingly, “Looks like you had to resort to sneak attacks, huh? Who did you kill any-”

“And we have our winners!” the voice of the lunatic screamed, “It looks like Team Inquisitors managed to easily triumph over the parasites! I haven’t seen such a quick victory in a long while! I would reward you, but you almost killed me the last time I did that, so I will keep my rewards for myself. Anyway, I will enjoy playing with you three next time, Inquisitors!” A snap echoed through the warehouse, and Jane felt the barrier containing them shatter. She grit her teeth in anger. She was just about ready to give the game-happy loon a taste of revenge, but she was left without a chance. Not if she wanted to keep her powers secret, at any rate.

The warrior in the center of the crowd growled, “So that’s what this is about? Huh!? Where’s your other friend!? I’ll burn you three to crisps if you think you can ignore me!” He raised his finger, aiming it at Kelish. Jane’s eyes widened, and she summoned a pane of dense mana, reaching back to throw it at the inevitable attack. She could barely move before electricity arced along his finger, swirling, and reaching the tip before blasting forwards, filling the area with the smell of ozone. Jane moved her mortal body as fast as it could go, but she was too slow, and the lightning was far past the pane of mana by the time it reached the flight path.

Jane knew just how much mana Freya’s dog put into that blast-- she could practically feel it from where she was standing, and could only hope and pray to her parents and other divine relatives that the attack left Kelish somewhat alive.

The lightning shot ever closer, and right before it slammed into Kelish’s helmeted face, an old man with white hair slid in front of Kelish, raising a carbine with a small, metal, chained tooth hanging from the sights and blasting the bolt of lightning with a beam. The beam tore through the electricity, severing the power in the attack, but continued forwards. It slammed into the warrior’s neck, burning into his throat and blackening the flesh around his vocal chords. Jane winced at that, but she knew better than to assume that a mere flesh wound could put one of Freya’s warriors, even if they were an auxiliary, down for good.

A disgusting, wet roar erupted from the man’s throat, white mana fog spilling out of his mouth and the newly-made neck wound. The fog coalesced around the wound, repairing the damage nearly instantly. It was obvious, though, that the attack did not leave the man in perfect order. He panted and huffed as he glared at Arthur, “You… Fucking… Cretin!” he screamed, raising his hand. In a blinding flash of light, the man transformed from a man in exotic clothing into a man wearing multiple layers of thick chain armor, every chain link packed to the brim with runes, and wielding an axe with even more runes on it, “I will bring your head to goddess Freya!” he roared, leaping forwards.

His leap drove many people in the crowd to the ground, and when he landed, his iron-covered boots crushed bones with disgusting snaps. The screams of pain that came from beneath his feet were sickening to Jane, but she was far from new to such sounds. The gods were not bloodless, after all. She immediately created a bow and drew back an arrow, but before she could release it, a beam shot through the armor and into the man’s chest. Everything the beam touched was stripped of runes, and steel melted to flesh as the attack struck home.

The man roared once more, and Jane did not hesitate to let the arrow fly. The arrow flew straight, piercing the man’s collar bone and, as far as Jane knew, breaking his spine in just the right way to paralyze him. For normal humans, that would have been a death sentence-- especially with the damage Jane had to do to get the arrow to fly into the man’s spine-- but Freya’s band of merry bandits were different. They were much tougher than the average Riftborn, but Jane became sick every time she remembered how they managed to do it, so she put the thought to the back of her mind.

The man, with a mana arrow lodged into his neck, stumbled, then rolled along the ground for a dozen feet, finally coming to rest at Arthur’s boots. The Inquisitor scanned the crowd, meeting everyone’s eyes, “All of those who resist surrender will be killed immediately. Those who cooperate will not be harmed.

 

*=====*

 

The Grand Vizier paced back and forth on an asteroid in the far reaches of the Glamrodan system, chewing on a piece of bark. The bark did not freeze in the deep reaches of space, nor did the Vizier, but he did not pay much attention to such mundane threats as the vacuum of space. “How?” he asked himself, “I thought that would take a bit longer than that to finish! But they managed to target every parasite within minutes! Are they… no, no. That cannot be. I checked them before. They aren’t… the pawn… I suppose it makes sense that not every genius is shown on the great board. Though… the knights did arrive there… Oh! Yes, yes! That is perfect! That Inquisitor may have had the perfect tool for that situation, but the next time… they will have something else coming to them…”

He drew a card and summoned November once again, coming face to face with a fuming elven woman, “What?” November ground out, glaring at The Grand Vizier, “What do you want now?”

The Grand Vizier scoffed at November’s attitude, “What’s your issue? I let you out just a while ago! But that’s not why I summoned you! I have a new plan! Those three have shown themselves worthy of being a part of my collection, and I will play one final game with them soon! However, I need you to do something for me.”

While The Grand Vizier explained his plan, he noticed that November was staring off into the deep reaches of space. He would have admonished her, if it were not for her ears occasionally twitching, signaling that she was really listening. He knew she would agree, as he was a genius, but he still told her anyway. He saw no point in having a genius game plan if no one could understand it in the end, after all.

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