The bird looked at Victoria looking at John’s back. “He is betraying us,” one of the two bodyguards with her grumbled, “I have no doubt.”
“Yet still we will remain watchers,” Victoria said in a stern tone. “We have no other orders. He’s a Latebloomer, it's worth the low potential he’s behaving suspiciously without reason.”
“Indeed,” the second bodyguard agreed.
“Fine,” The first guy spat out. After chastising glares, he sighed. “You are right, wouldn’t want to go against our orders. What if he tells them of her though?”
“We have spies inside. The second he utters a word we move in and confront him. Non-violent means – at first.”
‘And thank you Victoria.’ John laughed to himself. “It’s always interesting what people tell you when they don’t know you’re listening. Although this does put me in a difficult situation. Can I just Observe everyone until I find someone who isn’t suspicious?’ John parked the verdin in the branches of a tree. It would sit there like an oddly inert bird, while he was inside the hospital barrier. He also whispered what he had just learned to Rave.
“Man, their network is wide.” The techno-lover said, slightly baffled.
“It has to be for them to be the local power. There are probably a lot of Bloodaddicts hanging around,” John agreed and rubbed his chin. “I would need somebody I can trust or at least somebody who is not affiliated with them.”
He knew no one inside there but that one Herman fellow who had looked after Jimmie. He had looked the part of the nice guy, but was he trustworthy? Aclysia hadn’t divulged all the details, but she did have a run-in with the man and she had reported it had been a rather pleasant one. Also, John could at least make it look like he was here because he wanted to give some additional thanks.
“We should look for that fellow who helped Jimmie.” John broke the situation to Rave and they went to the reception. “Excuse me, we are looking for a Herman Glaurum. He helped a friend of ours and we’d like to offer our gratitude.”
“One moment,” came the mechanical answer of somebody bored of their job, “Herman is… huh, he isn’t in the system. Weird, give me a moment, must have gotten stuck in the wrong folder…”
“How often do I have to remind you that I am under volunteers not workers, Denise,” Herman approached with a laugh on his lips. The apothecary had been lounging nearby perchance, it seemed, stepping out of a nearby breakroom.
“Right, right,” the receptionist laughed back. “Well, there you go.”
“Sad thing what happened to Jimmie.” Herman gestured towards the breakroom. Once they were inside, the muscular, brown haired man scratched the back of his head in an awkward motion. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Ehm, yes.” John finally managed to get out, almost mimicking the motion.
“Gaia… get on with it!” Rave tapped her heel on the floor, once she had made sure they were alone in the room and the door was tightly shut. The Apothecaries guaranteed privacy, so the door was about as soundproof as modern doors could get. “Do ya wanna get in on a conspiracy to save a life?”
“Sure?” Herman said, sounding the opposite of sure. “What is this about?” Perplexed, he turned to John.
“Right, yes, see….this might sound very, very weird but I need you to listen from start to finish….” He told Herman about Thana and roughly what happened so that he got the whole picture.
At the end Herman trembled, “....That poor thing….” was all he managed to say. A few calming breaths later, “I need to see her once to be able to say if I can help her.” He stated, “This is a bit personal but, well, if you allow me to, I could use a technique to tap into your contract-connection with Aclysia. It would strengthen the connection enough that you could reach her even from here.”
John had not told him about the fact that Aclysia was his Artificial Spirit. “How do you know about that?”
“I helped her with…. things,” he answered vaguely.
‘So Aclysia told him during the incident.’ Not exactly what John liked to hear, but it was her right to divulge her true nature. Sending one glance over to Rave, he got a nod back from his girlfriend. If Herman tried to pull something odd, she would intervene. “Fine. Let’s do this.” John agreed.
Herman put his hands on his temples. “Close your eyes… concentrate on the bond with your Artificial Spirit… and let me in,” he instructed. Rave snickered at the side, doubtlessly thinking about some gay joke.
Not letting himself be distracted, John felt the bond with Aclysia stronger than ever. From a barely present thread, it swelled to an open channel. She noticed swiftly.
‘Greetings Master. I have acquired the data.’ Aclysia gave him an immediate update. ‘I should be capable of entering the vault now.’
‘I thought we had agreed on the thing you should do before addressing me?’ John sent back a curious reprimand.
‘Ever since acquiring better memory I have found out more about feelings outside of the shallow burdens of momentary ones. I have judged the calling sound you have designated for me to be embarrassing and hoped you forgot.’
‘It was your idea though.’
‘Affirmative. It was a bad idea.’
‘Just once, please? I mean, you call me Master, this can’t be more embarrassing.’ There was hesitation in their mental conversation, something akin to a frustrated sigh reverberated through his head.
‘Ohayou Gozaimasu, Danna-Sama~.’ A soft voice then spoke into his mind.
He held back his laughter. ‘…I disapprove of your amusement, Master. Besides, I found out that this is a greeting for mornings, it is almost 7 PM.’
‘Okay, okay, you don’t have to do it again. Just wanted to hear it one time.’ John caved in. That sparked the curiosity of his creation.
‘Why?’ Aclysia drilled a little deeper.
‘I thought it would sound kinda cute.’
After a long moment of contemplation, she said, ‘…Did you think it was cute, Master?’
‘Mhm, a bit, but I mostly found it funny.’
‘That was recognized. Would a repetition of this act make you happy again?’
‘No, I think it would get old rather quickly. We will find something else.’
‘Understood.’
‘Interesting conversations you two have,’ Herman’s voice joined the fray. ‘She can’t hear me. I’m attached to you. I see what you see through her.’
‘Right,’ John responded. ‘Aclysia, have you learned something of interest?’
‘I have learned that their security detail is rather lax. My personal theory on the why is that they are not used to outsiders walking around. I believe this intel may be of use to you, Master.’ A flood of recalled images and fragments or retained information flowed through the connection.
Guild: Zuk’Zuk
Blood addiction successful. Extermination successful. Remaining members unable to be converted. Assets taken over. Operation overall success.
Guild: Gehenas
Blood addiction successful. New method successful. Extermination successful. Two members converted. The rest were let go and killed at a later date. Assets taken over. Operation full success.
Guild:…
It continued in that fashion. John only cared about the last entry Aclysia sent him.
Guild: Collide
Blood addiction successful. Extermination successful. Remaining members doubtful to convert. No assets to be taken over. Operation pending. Note: The remaining members of the Guild have true potential, recruitment takes high priority. Above average risk is acceptable.
“There is no leak.” John whispered. The realization momentarily snapped him out of the connection.
“What?” Rave’s puzzled voice reached him.
“Igor said that Travolta got his hands on the formula through a leak, right? There is none. He has been lying from the start.” John grit his teeth. “They just used him as a guinea pig. If he survived, good for them. If he died, then… what is now happening was always planned to happen.”
“Assholes,” Rave growled.
“Calm down,” Herman advised. “Getting angry here won’t save anyone.”
John took that advice to heart and forced himself to concentrate on the mental connection again. ‘Aclysia, I’m able to contact you thanks to Herman. He needs you to look at Thana for us. Can you do that?’
‘It will lead to my discovery,’ Aclysia cautioned.
John was aware of that. This moved his time plan ahead further than he wanted, but he would just have to deal with the effects of that as they came. Worst case, he would plead for asylum with the Order. They weren’t willing to go into all out war with the Bloodfallen yet, but certainly they would harbour their enemy’s enemy? ‘Do it.’
The Artificial Guardian was simply walking down the hallway. The Bloodfallen around apparently didn’t mind her at all. In their black robes, they were walking around seemingly just concerned with whatever it was they were doing at the time, not paying attention to a single thing she did. John could see how sneaking around in such an environment was rather easy. ‘Is there no one who is keeping an eye on you?’
‘I managed to discard him for the time being using non-lethal means,’ Aclysia explained as she put her hand on the scanning equipment of the vault door. ‘His absence has not yet been noticed. I deemed that the single-minded focus of the drones would keep me safe from questions. I was correct.”
Blind loyalty really blinded apparently. Aclysia put her hand on the console and one biometric scan later, was given entrance to the vault. Instinctively, all the converted members of the Bloodfallen turned their heads away from the scene. It wasn’t until it started to close behind Aclysia again that someone yelled, “STOP HER!”
The Bloodfallen were nothing without orders, but they sure were quick to obey them. They immediately stormed towards the closing vault. Only a single one managed to get in before the giant door closed. Aclysia didn’t wait for him to get ready to attack. Swiftly, she pulled the Sword of Glory from the space Adaptive Bladery had created and hit him over the head with the flat side.
“I humbly apologize,” she said, before kicking the stunned man in the sides and then knocking him out completely by slamming his head against the wall.
‘Hurry, when they get Igor you will have to leave.’ John instructed and Aclysia turned to run in response. There was a chance all of this was going to lead to them switching out the locking mechanism. If that happened, John would deal with it at that time.
The corridor left behind, Aclysia scanned her hand for a second time. Behind her, angry shouting from a voice used normally for sweet talk could be heard. The inner door opened and Aclysia hurried up to Thana. There was a shockwave in John’s mind, coming from Herman. ‘Such…’ a pause of pure shock, ‘…cruelty.’
Aclysia had enough time to step up to the container and give Herman a quick look around at all the details. Then, the Bloodfallen started to pour into the room. A select few of them, about a dozen. The inner circle, most likely.
“I am very disappointed,” Igor declared, standing ahead of the group. “What did John Newman even want to accomplish by setting you up to do this? Free her?” Now that he mentioned it, that didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Honestly John hadn’t expected Aclysia to come this far but maybe if they just released Thana…
‘No.’ Herman interrupted his thought process, ‘That container is keeping her alive, don’t. She needs to be extracted carefully.’
The plan was discarded. Igor kept talking. “I suppose we will have to track your creator down and find the answers ourselves. First, we’ll reduce you to a head. You may be of use, if you can be reprogra-“
‘Aclysia, you can teleport out now,’ John instructed. Almost unceremoniously, only a flash of blue and purple energy announcing where she would appear, Aclysia suddenly popped up next to him.
“Greetings, Master.” She said with a bow. “Also, a good evening to you, Herman, Rave.”
The apothecary had been warned but was baffled nevertheless. He slowly took his hands off John’s temples. “Alrighty, this worked.” Rave grinned, “Can ya tell me what the status is now?”
“We will get Thana out in her container, you can heal her?” John asked Herman.
The apothecary nodded hesitantly, “With the right equipment and preparation I should be able to, but if you plan to use force to get her out I won’t be able to help.”
Disappointing but expected. Despite his Stats and stature, he didn’t look like much of a fighter. “Don’t worry, we got this.” Rave reassured him with a wink at her boyfriend. John nodded and they swiftly left the hospital. Best they moved out before Victoria could set up an ambush.
The bird looked at Victoria looking at John’s back. “He is betraying us,” one of the two bodyguards with her grumbled, “I have no doubt.”
“Yet still we will remain watchers,” Victoria said in a stern tone. “We have no other orders. He’s a Latebloomer, it's worth the low potential he’s behaving suspiciously without reason.”
“Indeed,” the second bodyguard agreed.
“Fine,” The first guy spat out. After chastising glares, he sighed. “You are right, wouldn’t want to go against our orders. What if he tells them of her though?”
“We have spies inside. The second he utters a word we move in and confront him. Non-violent means – at first.”
‘And thank you Victoria.’ John laughed to himself. “It’s always interesting what people tell you when they don’t know you’re listening. Although this does put me in a difficult situation. Can I just Observe everyone until I find someone who isn’t suspicious?’ John parked the verdin in the branches of a tree. It would sit there like an oddly inert bird, while he was inside the hospital barrier. He also whispered what he had just learned to Rave.
“Man, their network is wide.” The techno-lover said, slightly baffled.
“It has to be for them to be the local power. There are probably a lot of Bloodaddicts hanging around,” John agreed and rubbed his chin. “I would need somebody I can trust or at least somebody who is not affiliated with them.”
He knew no one inside there but that one Herman fellow who had looked after Jimmie. He had looked the part of the nice guy, but was he trustworthy? Aclysia hadn’t divulged all the details, but she did have a run-in with the man and she had reported it had been a rather pleasant one. Also, John could at least make it look like he was here because he wanted to give some additional thanks.
“We should look for that fellow who helped Jimmie.” John broke the situation to Rave and they went to the reception. “Excuse me, we are looking for a Herman Glaurum. He helped a friend of ours and we’d like to offer our gratitude.”
“One moment,” came the mechanical answer of somebody bored of their job, “Herman is… huh, he isn’t in the system. Weird, give me a moment, must have gotten stuck in the wrong folder…”
“How often do I have to remind you that I am under volunteers not workers, Denise,” Herman approached with a laugh on his lips. The apothecary had been lounging nearby perchance, it seemed, stepping out of a nearby breakroom.
“Right, right,” the receptionist laughed back. “Well, there you go.”
“Sad thing what happened to Jimmie.” Herman gestured towards the breakroom. Once they were inside, the muscular, brown haired man scratched the back of his head in an awkward motion. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Ehm, yes.” John finally managed to get out, almost mimicking the motion.
“Gaia… get on with it!” Rave tapped her heel on the floor, once she had made sure they were alone in the room and the door was tightly shut. The Apothecaries guaranteed privacy, so the door was about as soundproof as modern doors could get. “Do ya wanna get in on a conspiracy to save a life?”
“Sure?” Herman said, sounding the opposite of sure. “What is this about?” Perplexed, he turned to John.
“Right, yes, see….this might sound very, very weird but I need you to listen from start to finish….” He told Herman about Thana and roughly what happened so that he got the whole picture.
At the end Herman trembled, “....That poor thing….” was all he managed to say. A few calming breaths later, “I need to see her once to be able to say if I can help her.” He stated, “This is a bit personal but, well, if you allow me to, I could use a technique to tap into your contract-connection with Aclysia. It would strengthen the connection enough that you could reach her even from here.”
John had not told him about the fact that Aclysia was his Artificial Spirit. “How do you know about that?”
“I helped her with…. things,” he answered vaguely.
‘So Aclysia told him during the incident.’ Not exactly what John liked to hear, but it was her right to divulge her true nature. Sending one glance over to Rave, he got a nod back from his girlfriend. If Herman tried to pull something odd, she would intervene. “Fine. Let’s do this.” John agreed.
Herman put his hands on his temples. “Close your eyes… concentrate on the bond with your Artificial Spirit… and let me in,” he instructed. Rave snickered at the side, doubtlessly thinking about some gay joke.
Not letting himself be distracted, John felt the bond with Aclysia stronger than ever. From a barely present thread, it swelled to an open channel. She noticed swiftly.
‘Greetings Master. I have acquired the data.’ Aclysia gave him an immediate update. ‘I should be capable of entering the vault now.’
‘I thought we had agreed on the thing you should do before addressing me?’ John sent back a curious reprimand.
‘Ever since acquiring better memory I have found out more about feelings outside of the shallow burdens of momentary ones. I have judged the calling sound you have designated for me to be embarrassing and hoped you forgot.’
‘It was your idea though.’
‘Affirmative. It was a bad idea.’
‘Just once, please? I mean, you call me Master, this can’t be more embarrassing.’ There was hesitation in their mental conversation, something akin to a frustrated sigh reverberated through his head.
‘Ohayou Gozaimasu, Danna-Sama~.’ A soft voice then spoke into his mind.
He held back his laughter. ‘…I disapprove of your amusement, Master. Besides, I found out that this is a greeting for mornings, it is almost 7 PM.’
‘Okay, okay, you don’t have to do it again. Just wanted to hear it one time.’ John caved in. That sparked the curiosity of his creation.
‘Why?’ Aclysia drilled a little deeper.
‘I thought it would sound kinda cute.’
After a long moment of contemplation, she said, ‘…Did you think it was cute, Master?’
‘Mhm, a bit, but I mostly found it funny.’
‘That was recognized. Would a repetition of this act make you happy again?’
‘No, I think it would get old rather quickly. We will find something else.’
‘Understood.’
‘Interesting conversations you two have,’ Herman’s voice joined the fray. ‘She can’t hear me. I’m attached to you. I see what you see through her.’
‘Right,’ John responded. ‘Aclysia, have you learned something of interest?’
‘I have learned that their security detail is rather lax. My personal theory on the why is that they are not used to outsiders walking around. I believe this intel may be of use to you, Master.’ A flood of recalled images and fragments or retained information flowed through the connection.
Guild: Zuk’Zuk
Blood addiction successful. Extermination successful. Remaining members unable to be converted. Assets taken over. Operation overall success.
Guild: Gehenas
Blood addiction successful. New method successful. Extermination successful. Two members converted. The rest were let go and killed at a later date. Assets taken over. Operation full success.
Guild:…
It continued in that fashion. John only cared about the last entry Aclysia sent him.
Guild: Collide
Blood addiction successful. Extermination successful. Remaining members doubtful to convert. No assets to be taken over. Operation pending. Note: The remaining members of the Guild have true potential, recruitment takes high priority. Above average risk is acceptable.
“There is no leak.” John whispered. The realization momentarily snapped him out of the connection.
“What?” Rave’s puzzled voice reached him.
“Igor said that Travolta got his hands on the formula through a leak, right? There is none. He has been lying from the start.” John grit his teeth. “They just used him as a guinea pig. If he survived, good for them. If he died, then… what is now happening was always planned to happen.”
“Assholes,” Rave growled.
“Calm down,” Herman advised. “Getting angry here won’t save anyone.”
John took that advice to heart and forced himself to concentrate on the mental connection again. ‘Aclysia, I’m able to contact you thanks to Herman. He needs you to look at Thana for us. Can you do that?’
‘It will lead to my discovery,’ Aclysia cautioned.
John was aware of that. This moved his time plan ahead further than he wanted, but he would just have to deal with the effects of that as they came. Worst case, he would plead for asylum with the Order. They weren’t willing to go into all out war with the Bloodfallen yet, but certainly they would harbour their enemy’s enemy? ‘Do it.’
The Artificial Guardian was simply walking down the hallway. The Bloodfallen around apparently didn’t mind her at all. In their black robes, they were walking around seemingly just concerned with whatever it was they were doing at the time, not paying attention to a single thing she did. John could see how sneaking around in such an environment was rather easy. ‘Is there no one who is keeping an eye on you?’
‘I managed to discard him for the time being using non-lethal means,’ Aclysia explained as she put her hand on the scanning equipment of the vault door. ‘His absence has not yet been noticed. I deemed that the single-minded focus of the drones would keep me safe from questions. I was correct.”
Blind loyalty really blinded apparently. Aclysia put her hand on the console and one biometric scan later, was given entrance to the vault. Instinctively, all the converted members of the Bloodfallen turned their heads away from the scene. It wasn’t until it started to close behind Aclysia again that someone yelled, “STOP HER!”
The Bloodfallen were nothing without orders, but they sure were quick to obey them. They immediately stormed towards the closing vault. Only a single one managed to get in before the giant door closed. Aclysia didn’t wait for him to get ready to attack. Swiftly, she pulled the Sword of Glory from the space Adaptive Bladery had created and hit him over the head with the flat side.
“I humbly apologize,” she said, before kicking the stunned man in the sides and then knocking him out completely by slamming his head against the wall.
‘Hurry, when they get Igor you will have to leave.’ John instructed and Aclysia turned to run in response. There was a chance all of this was going to lead to them switching out the locking mechanism. If that happened, John would deal with it at that time.
The corridor left behind, Aclysia scanned her hand for a second time. Behind her, angry shouting from a voice used normally for sweet talk could be heard. The inner door opened and Aclysia hurried up to Thana. There was a shockwave in John’s mind, coming from Herman. ‘Such…’ a pause of pure shock, ‘…cruelty.’
Aclysia had enough time to step up to the container and give Herman a quick look around at all the details. Then, the Bloodfallen started to pour into the room. A select few of them, about a dozen. The inner circle, most likely.
“I am very disappointed,” Igor declared, standing ahead of the group. “What did John Newman even want to accomplish by setting you up to do this? Free her?” Now that he mentioned it, that didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Honestly John hadn’t expected Aclysia to come this far but maybe if they just released Thana…
‘No.’ Herman interrupted his thought process, ‘That container is keeping her alive, don’t. She needs to be extracted carefully.’
The plan was discarded. Igor kept talking. “I suppose we will have to track your creator down and find the answers ourselves. First, we’ll reduce you to a head. You may be of use, if you can be reprogra-“
‘Aclysia, you can teleport out now,’ John instructed. Almost unceremoniously, only a flash of blue and purple energy announcing where she would appear, Aclysia suddenly popped up next to him.
“Greetings, Master.” She said with a bow. “Also, a good evening to you, Herman, Rave.”
The apothecary had been warned but was baffled nevertheless. He slowly took his hands off John’s temples. “Alrighty, this worked.” Rave grinned, “Can ya tell me what the status is now?”
“We will get Thana out in her container, you can heal her?” John asked Herman.
The apothecary nodded hesitantly, “With the right equipment and preparation I should be able to, but if you plan to use force to get her out I won’t be able to help.”
Disappointing but expected. Despite his Stats and stature, he didn’t look like much of a fighter. “Don’t worry, we got this.” Rave reassured him with a wink at her boyfriend. John nodded and they swiftly left the hospital. Best they moved out before Victoria could set up an ambush.
