Neo-Kamakura

The meeting room, though large, was getting more packed. Holo-screens lined the corner tables as a woman flipped through screens monotonously.

“Why here?” Reina asked. Though her leader was endearing, Reina couldn’t help but feel the word torture was appropriate in this circumstance. A loner like herself shouldn’t have to endure so much social energy. “You know, it’s not like there weren’t other rooms.”

Mimi just clapped her hands in thanks and tilted her head in a practiced innocence, “Rei, you should get out more, meet new people – I’ve brought –”

“I know who you’ve brought, stupid leader,” Reina responded. “Anyone with half an ear out to the world knows who you’ve brought. I’m still on my break and you decided to barge in here with the most dangerous man in Lucens Mundi, and your little pixie friend there.” She pointed at Alyx.

Casimir, leaning back onto the wall, looked at Alyx. “So, you’re just going to take that? Also, what are you doing?”

Alyx looked up sleepily, “I mean, she’s not wrong. And I’m whittling wood as you can see.”

“Whittling…what?” Caz replied, confused.

“What else is there to do? You didn’t want the conversation to start without everyone here,” Alyx said. She continued to shave off the edges of a wooden figurine using her Johrei knife. Caz didn’t say a word as he watched her knife edge peeling away at the wood. It started to resemble the shape of an ancient creature known as a raven, the namesake of the Blackbirds, though no one has seen one this generation. As long as Neo-Kamakura had existed for, ravens had been assumed extinct. The only birds which roamed around these days are those being kept in the special wildlife refuge in Vitadale. Reina looked at Alyx’s carving with interest as well while biting down on her sandwich.

Alyx added in, “Just a note, Caz. I don’t actually care much about these little hobbies I do, and if I could’ve helped it, I wouldn’t have put myself out there to try these things. In fact, I would’ve tried avoiding dealing with Cadmi and his brother altogether. These things are all so burdensome.”

“You never seemed to enjoy the hunt like hunters would,” Caz agreed thoughtfully.

“I’m a pacifist, you know, not that anyone really appreciates that concept anymore. These things that I do,” she said, gesturing with her knife hand, “they don’t match my goals, dreams, or who I see myself as at all. But…someone’s got to take care of these matters. Matters that we hate to do; Matters that we gave up doing long ago. We’re slowly losing our sense of purpose as a people and…there are things other than just the hunt you know? If only we opened our eyes a bit more.”

Caz didn’t move an inch, “Come again?”

“You’re such an asshole!” Alyx ranted, clutching her wooden bird tightly. She exploded. “Do you ever use your bird brain for anything? To think I used to think you were so cool, before I actually got to know the real you and realize just how much of a bum you are!” She tossed a cushion at him, which bounced off him. Caz shrugged while Mimi chuckled softly. Reina was still eyeing the little bird carving curiously.

At that moment, a knock came at the door.

Cassy came in, looking prim and fashionable as usual.

“Auntie Auburn, welcome back,” Reina exclaimed.

Cassy drew her lips to a line. “That’s how we’re doing it today? You look like you haven’t seen the sun in weeks. Having fun haunting the Valkyrie base?”

Reina pushed up her glasses, dressed in a sweater too big for her, with bed hair that made Alyx’s look prim and proper, and sniffed with contempt at Cassy. Caz did notice from the side how pale Reina looked, like a ghost. Good thing no one could see him watching under his hat. He didn’t want to speak up, recognizing the tension between the two.

“You know, I have the right to kick you out of my room,” Reina said.

“Good, I didn’t want to see your gremlin face anyways. I had a perfectly good day today before you decided to call.”

Mimi clapped her hands. “Alright, alright. I’ve been patient with everyone’s bickering for long enough. As your Shogun, I ask kindly that you stop arguing.”

“Yes boss,” both girls said submissively.

“Hey,” Cassy wondered. “Where’s Mari? Wasn’t she with you guys?”

“She’s awaiting the arrival of Caz’s team at the station. It’s not easy finding our base here so she’s leading them. They should be here shortly,” Mimi replied.

As if on cue, another knock came by the door.

“Come in,” Mimi said.

Abe poked his head in. “Party started already huh?” He stroked his beard thoughtfully, before leaning against the nearest wall.

“Nah,” Mimi said. “Your boss here was waiting for you to arrive. We’ll get – ,” she stopped, watching the next person walking in through the door.

Nyxandria spared a quick glance at Mimi, expressionless, and walked over familiarly to the couch Caz was sitting on before seating herself next to him.

“You’ve cleaned up the place, little songbird,” Nyx said.

Mimi’s face was pure ice, looking at Nyx as if she didn’t have the time to indulge her, but her words were nothing but unresounding fury, “That’s all you have to say? After all you’ve put us through? I- ”

The door creaked as Aio stepped in, bow strapped over his shoulder.

“Um, hello,” he said. “I’m Aio. Blackbird’s newest member. Nice to meet you all.” He saw Cassy and Mimi, and kept his head down, moving towards the corner.

“Hey, we’ve got a seat for you Aio,” Caz said, indicating the open spot on the couch. “Don’t be a stranger. Come here.”

“Oh, ok,” Aio replied moving slowly towards Caz. He placed his bow against a wall and seated himself beside

“So you’re the apprentice huh?” Mimi said, collecting herself. “Caz mentioned you a few times. Says you’re a fast learner.”

“Really?,” Aio said excitedly, looking up only to find himself staring into Mimi’s green eyes.

Wow. Her green eyes are captivating, he thought.

“You gonna keep staring kid?” Nyx added. Abe laughed. Aio jerked away, embarrassed. Mimi chuckled quietly. Mari walked in shortly after, greeted by everyone.

“Found the crew,” she said.

Alyx chimed in once everyone settled in, “Ok, now that we have everyone here, let’s go over the mission details. Although I didn’t expect the Valkyries to join us initially, it doesn’t hurt to have a few friends deal with this hunt.”

She laid down a map. “So, we should all know by now, that I’ve sent out a personal request to the Blackbirds through the hunter boards recently. The target of this hunt is Cadmi Trepidor. I can’t give away too many details, but all you need to know is that Cadmi, and his brother who decided to include himself in this, were both members of the Onyx Technicians. For reasons we’re still unsure of, Cadmi had decided to abandon the underground and began to set a name for himself in the surface. It began with the deaths of the leaders of the Revenant’s Balance, and since then, he’s been taking down various members of the Lost Clans and the Clan of Tributes, including some notable unmarked individuals.”

Alyx looked quickly at everyone, who seemed attentive. Satisfied, she continued, “His brother is now added to the list of targets. My expanded personal request was approved by the local auditor, an old friend of mines and the payout will be doubled from what was listed originally. Two-million Mon per head.”

Abe whistled at the price, while Aio looked shock. That was even more than they received for killing the Barbed Enthipid, which provided them enough Mon to cover provisions in the base for weeks.

Alyx continued, “For reasons I can only guess at, the brothers have been flaunting hunter law set down since the founding of the city, and their active killing spree of various people, with no regard for the mandates set down by the Second Agreement of the city, is absolutely unacceptable. Onyx Technicians are not hunters. And we especially do not attract attention to the powers which govern the surface. If word was to get out that Cadmi was once one of us, we’d…” She paused. “- just know that we’d have a lot of questions to answer for. But regardless of how we’re viewed, we protect and serve the greater interests of the underground, whether in assistance of hunters, or through volunteer work.” She looked resigned, but smiled at the others in the room.

“I trust you all. Please, I’m asking not only as the client, but as my friends. I thank you for assisting me with this, even though you all have your own busy schedules.”

“Hey,” Caz said, patting her head. She looked ready to resist, but relaxed and let him. “I’d never let down my favorite tech junkie.” He pulled his hand away, watching the map carefully. It outlined seven surface districts which in its entirety made up the great city of Neo-Kamakura: Vitadale, Necronova, Tresgate, New Celebrant, Magrest, Ecreville, and Lucens Mundi. Six districts connected to another through a series of large bridges and all six had bridges which crossed through the seventh district of Lucens Mundi at its center, which was home to the Night Market below ground, and the base of the Clan of Tributes at its surface.

Alyx pointed at the map, “Now recently, Mimi and I have encountered resistance in the storage warehouse located here at the business sector of Ecreville. Mimi will go over what she saw there, but for me, my investigations of the corpses led to some interesting discoveries. First, I identified something interesting regarding the headless corpse in the center of the warehouse floor. DNA diagnostics pinned the man as Tor, a notable merchant of the Lost Clans who was infamous for his dealings with rare and unique products. However, he had gone into hiding after he had been marked for the marketing of the Twindust hallucinogen.”

“I heard about that,” Aio said. “The drug was pulled off the market after its distribution caused a major collapse in the economy and mass addiction crisis. Local war and rebellion amongst members was just one of the many atrocities which happened across several districts as a result of that drug. After that, he was listed on the public boards as an Elite-grade priority target.”

Aio thought what was being said, and he wondered if the quashed rebellion that happened to him during his childhood was one of the byproducts of the Twindust crisis. Without the rebellion there, he wouldn’t have met Caz, and become the person who he was today. In some twisted way, I guess Tor gave him an opportunity in life that he never would have imagined had he still been volunteering with his former caretakers. He wondered how his old friends were doing now.

“Yes,” Mari replied. “However, he managed to escape both the Clan of Venerers and registered hunter groups from the Lost Clans. It’s been years since we’ve last heard of him. And now, he shows up only to die like this. This doesn’t make any sense.”

Alyx said,” There’s more. One of Tor’s mercenaries who died was found to be an Augmentor, though from which hunter group I couldn’t find out. The fact that the information was hidden from me on the public hunter boards, means only one thing.”

“A hunter Division was involved. They’re the only ones who could act on the receiving end of private hunts and personal requests, meaning any information about them would be hidden from the public,” Cassy mentioned. She looked bored, but eyed Nyxandria sitting at the corner every now and then. Nyx did not miss her gaze but chose to ignore it.

“It’ll take some time,” Reina said, “but I can probably try to break into the hunter’s database. It’s going to take a while. I can’t allow myself to catch the attention of the Auditors again, so if security counteractions become dicey for me, I may need some field assistance at that time.”

“Just let us know when and I’ll have someone assigned to assist you,” Mimi said.

Nyx asked the group, “Which groups were involved in the original hunt of Tor all those years ago?”

Caz replied, “If I recall, the Vipers, Paladins, and the Revenant’s Balance were the Divisions who actively sought his head at the time. Some came close to cornering him, but he somehow fell of the radar, and no one has gotten close to him since.”

“Was that Revenant’s Balance or whatever, related to the Revenant’s Forge?” Aio wondered.

“Same group”, Caz said. “Renamed after the Trepidor brothers took hold of the Division. Their base, like most Division bases, are kept hidden from even the Auditors to this day.”

“But don’t you have to provide that information when you register with the hunter database?” Aio asked. “Wouldn’t that be bad if they caught you? I recall the consequences of this could reach levels similar to executing bounties as an unlisted hunter. You would be marked and eventually killed.”

“Sure,” Mimi said, “but we just report a different address than the one we actually reside in. Too much risk to let others know more than they should, even if that information is supposedly kept private by the Auditors upon registration. Have you checked the boards before Aio?”

“Recently, a few times just to see if any new bounties are up,” Aio responded.

“Did you ever check for Division hunters there? Have you noticed that even though the number of Divisions in a district is listed, the names and information about the Divisions and its members are redacted? Trust me, hunter boards are not as reliable as they should be on paper. Auditors do want to protect Divisions to some degree, because their notoriety paints a target on their back for other hunters to try to usurp them. In fact, the only time anything Division-related pops up on the boards are when a member’s been marked. In the end, you’d fare better finding leads elsewhere. Try word of mouth for instance. Surprisingly effective at offering new information for hunters.”

Caz added, “There’s just not enough Auditors out there, so they can’t check on everyone all the time. Day after day, new hunters are registering in the system and hundreds of quests and approvals have to be managed or screened by local Auditors. You’re correct in theory, Aio, but no one has ever faced more than a slap on the wrist for stuff like this before. Privatizing information for Auditor’s eyes only, makes the administration process easier for them. They’d rather not deal with the clean-up process for making a Division’s information public. It’s just not worth the Auditor’s time or resources.”

Reina chimed in, half-awake, “You’re going to learn real soon kid, that even though the original Agreements are absolute in this city, you’ve only truly broken the rules if you get caught. Hunters do have their own unspoken pacts, and this is one of them.” She finished her sandwich and turned her chair back to her screens.

As long as you don’t get caught huh? Aio thought. As he was thinking this, Mimi, Caz, and Reina glanced at each other, wondering when they suddenly decided to become teachers for this young boy.

“Is that why we can’t approach the Revenant’s Forge Division to find out more about their bosses?” Aio asked.

“Yep,” Alyx responded. “No one’s seen any of the members as of late. I think the brothers are keeping them close to the chest to avoid any questioning by outsiders.”

“And that’s where I come in,” Mimi said, puffing up her chest. She pointed to the map. “If there’s any team that can find a hiding rat, it’s the Valkyries. Now before I talk about our search, I wanted to let you all know what happened back at the warehouse.” Mimi relayed to the group the details of her time at the warehouse, the trap she activated, and the battle she had against Siegren, and his supposed death at her hands.

“It has to be a core ability. Likely perception-based,” Caz commented cooly.

“What does that mean?” Aio asked. Caz started but Abe chimed in first.

“It is what it sounds like. Johrei-related abilities don’t come from thin air. You know how full Standard-grade armor sets and above grant us certain boosts in abilities right?”

Aio nodded. “Yeah, strength, agility, dexterity, perception, and a fifth one right?”

Abe said, “Not too shabby, Aio. You’ve been keeping up. But there’s actually more than five types, though they are so exceedingly rare, you’ll likely never encounter them. A healing-focused armor set is carried by a Tresgate Daimyo, just to name one of those rarer types, and I’m talking about much more potency than the on-the-fly bandaging we use with Johrei. Another example of a rare ability type is Calli’s.”

Aio thought for a moment. “Pocket space?” he muttered to himself, but Abe heard it.

“Exactly. Abilities that allow you to draw power from a separate space, although we tend to call abilities related to it ‘summon abilities’ because the rare breed of Enthipids that utilize this space would often use it to summon hordes of smaller Enthipids.”

“Just like how Calli summons weapons”, Aio added.

Abe nodded in agreement. “This is the reason why we still haven’t been able to kill the Phase Elite even after all these years. It would always teleport away through a separate space before anyone could deal a finishing blow on it. Usually, these upper echelon abilities only manifest when an Elite is reaching the transition stage of becoming a Supreme-Class Enthipid. That doesn’t happen unless it had been keeping itself alive for along time, usually decades. Rare does a hunter ever let an Elite get that far in strength.”

The thought that Elites could change their abilities depending on their growth was actually news to him. Is that just common knowledge? Does that mean the abilities in an armor set could actually be changed?

As if Alyx read his mind, she interjected, “Aio, I know what you’re thinking, but no one has ever been able to replicate the natural changes of an Enthipid. We’ve barely scratched the surface of understanding those creatures, let alone managed to figure out how to alter abilities within armor or cores.” Alyx did look contemplative though, but then shook her head before continuing.

Once Abe saw Alyx wasn’t going to continue, he stated, “In summary, cores and armor abilities complement each other and derive from a similar idea of ‘power’ that the Enthipid had when it was still alive. This is why your armor set focused on sensory enhancement and your weapon’s core abilities created chitin spikes. The Barbed Enthipid was likely a long-distance fighter who utilized its exceptional eyesight and sensory perception to kill hunters from afar. Cornering it in close range combat made it much easier to deal with.”

“And you think Siegren’s ability comes from perception as well?” Aio said.

Mimi replied this time, “Yes. Perception can come in various types, including sensory enhancement, but I think the type of perception Siegren had, focused on dulling and manipulating one’s mental perception. Like a hallucinogen, but shared between the host and the target.” Explaining it like that seemed to have triggered a thought within Mimi. “I’m sure he was a Supplementor like me.”

“And what made you realize this?” Abe asked.

“If his weapon had held the Enthipid’s core, it would not have caused the degree of perception manipulation I went through. I really felt like I was really there fighting him, and thinking back, I am certain I died from blood loss due to bullet wounds after I had killed him. Once Alyx woke me up and I relayed to me what had happened, I started suspecting his status as an Inner. Time moved differently in that world, the same way hours in a dream could feel like minutes in reality. The fact that I didn’t die, likely means that the ability had no true physical effect outside of what our minds imparted on us during that experience. The most damning evidence that he wasn’t an Augmentor, was that he had no Bastion armor at all. Only a light Johrei shield over a black coat. Though perhaps that was also part of an illusion meant to misdirect me.”

“There’s always another layer,” Cassy said. This was a common hunter maxim, meant to describe the mind games involved in the hunt. “What if he could harm you in real life, but couldn’t do it that time because he died in that world?”

“Maybe,” Mimi said, “Although we don’t have any way to prove it right now.”

“So what’s the game plan boss?” Cassy said. She seems notably more excited than earlier, a tone of anticipation touching her words.

Mimi continued, “We could use this to our advantage. For some reason, Siegren assumed I was sent by someone to kill him. Though true now, it wasn’t the case when we fought. Disregarding the implication that there’s someone else out there going after the brothers for now, it is likely that Siegren believes I was the only one there in the warehouse that night. He knows my ability, and he’ll be ready for me and maybe even my team, but…” she looked to the others, “he won’t be ready for you guys”. She looked at Caz and his crew.

“Element of surprise,” Caz said. “Though we still don’t have enough information on Cadmi’s abilities. If anything, we need to find a way to distract one while fighting the other.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem if its all of us against them. We just need to plan this out well.” Mari chimed in.

“Assuming they don’t involve the rest of the Revenant’s Forge”, Mimi said. “More likely than not, they’ve got their own ambush waiting for us. We need to paint a false impression of our numbers somehow, though that requires people strong enough to survive an ambush.”

“I’ll be the bait for the others”, Caz said. “I’m a strength Augmentor, so I can tank hits most other people can’t and survive. Plus, with the intel you gave me about Siegren’s own physical capabilities, well…”

“What is it?” Mimi wondered, putting an index finger under her chin and tilting her head.

“He’s saying Siegren didn’t sound like much of a combatant since even you were able to take him,” Nyx spoke. Mimi was not pleased with that.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mimi said sharply. The two glared at each other with iciness. “I defeated him, and I can do it again. In fact, I’ll be the bait. He only knows I’m going after him right now.”

“C’mon little songbird,” Nyx began. “You’ve gotten stronger, but you were never a fighter. If I didn’t force you to spar regularly with me all those years ago, you’d still be that stuck-up little girl obsessed with being a pop idol. That’s not how this city operates girly.” She waved her hands nonchalantly, while Mimi’s face reddened in embarrassment. “That kind of mentality will get you killed. Shoguns can’t be weak.”

An idol? Aio thought curiously. He’s only ever heard about them from the orphanage from one of his old friends. He’s never seen one live until now.

“I don’t want to hear that from you! You – ” Mimi’s face flushed. She was so angry she pouted and tears began forming in her eyes, but she held them back. She told herself she would never let Nyx get under her skin again, but…

“Ok, no more fighting here”, Caz chimed in. “Nyx, apologize. Mimi is our ally for this mission and I want us to be able to rely on each other without all this arguing, okay?”

Nyx harumphed. Mimi said nothing, gathering herself and presenting herself as calmly as she had been earlier. “Sorry,” Nyx murmured in a voice so low it was almost inaudible.

“What was that?” Mimi said, putting her hand to her ear as if to listen better.

“Listen here”, Nyx retorted, stading upright. “I –”

“Ahem,” Caz interrupted, “Just to inform you, Nyx wasn’t speaking on my behalf earlier. I wasn’t implying you were weak, Ms. Rainsong. You did well against one of the major threats to this city. What I was going to say, was that Siegren’s weapon you described wasn’t the one he used to kill Artemis during the insurrection.”

Mimi said, “The Revenants Balance incident you mean?”

“Yes”, Caz replied. “I’m sure any hunter worth their salt saw the footage of that event. He had used a completely different set of weaponry.”

“A shield and blade,” Mari realized. “Like his brother. They were close-range fighters from what I’ve seen of them, so why?”

“Number of reasons potentially”, Caz replied. “Maybe he’s trying to confuse our sense of his fighting prowess, make us undermine him, or maybe he sets these traps and battles at a distance for the purposes of scoping out the enemy’s abilities. Assuming his trap can’t kill people directly, I would assume the best way to utilize it would be to gather information. It’s harder to analyze when you’re in the thick of it, especially in close-range combat. There’s no time to think, and he probably knows this too.”

“Smarter than I pegged him for if that’s the case,” Reina chimed in. “But then again, he is cut from a similar cloth than Alyx.” Alyx only sighed at that, conflicted on whether or not to agree.

“Information huh?,” Mimi noted. “Although, this kind of tactic can backfire. He may know some of my tricks, but I’ve managed to figure more out about him as well. If we position ourselves well for the upcoming confrontation, dealing with him should be manageable.”

“Well, regardless of Siegren,” Nyx stepped in, “we still have his brother to deal with. The records only show him as a capable combatant, but no one’s ever seen more than a few recordings showing the tail-end of the battle against the Revenant’s Balance all those years ago. To me, open combat against the brothers should be a last resort.” She looked at Mimi, who averted her eyes. “We’re hunters, not warriors. A clean, quick kill is always preferable to an announced conflict.”

Caz looked thoughtful. “You’re right, but we still have the matter of finding them first. I propose we check for leads in groups. We’ll check the likely locations where information of the brothers might be found.”

Reina swiveled her seat around again, and stated, “Excuse me. I think you can let me handle the searching. Just focus on refining your strategy against them.” The contrast between her unkempt look at her statements belies a sense of competence, but Mimi vouched for her, so there wasn’t much else to say.

“If you don’t mind, Ms. Igala. How do you propose to do that?” Caz asked with no hint of criticism. He was genuinely curious.

Reina pushed up her glasses and rubbed her baggy eyes. She stifled a yawn as she responded, “Why, by cornering them. You don’t reach your hand into the rat’s nest. You flush em out instead. Give me a few days to figure out how to access the secure lines in the hunter boards and I’ll guarantee they’ll have no place to run to.”

Caz looked at Mimi, who smirked. Caz nodded.

“Okay then. Let’s go over the plan in more detail then.”