Friendly Appearances

 

 

Dyna rushed forward, moving from the concealment of a flimsy office filing cabinet to the sturdy cover of a brick wall. Flipping open her mirror, she used it not like the artifact it was, but as a regular mirror to peer around the corner. There was a bit of smoke in the air. She could taste it on her tongue. But the goggles she wore let her see through it like it wasn’t there.

Seven on the left. Five on the right.

The enemy was crouching and half hidden behind toppled tables and furniture. Their heads were peeking out, watching with guns trained on the doorway that Dyna was looking from.

Slipping the mirror back into her pocket, she reached up to the short barrel of her APC9K and flipped the switch on the under-barrel laser aim assist. Her laser aim assist. Keeping the stock collapsed and the submachine gun in semi-automatic fire mode, Dyna pivoted around the corner.

She swung her arm, rapidly squeezing the trigger six times. She threw herself back behind the cover of the brick wall just in time to avoid a following rain of bullets aimed in her direction.

As soon as the returning fire slowed, Dyna peered around the corner with her mirror.

Four on the right. Two on the left.

All six shots had not only hit, but had hit in vulnerable spots. Between the eyes of someone without a faceguard, someone’s neck, underneath someone’s arm where the brachial artery was, and so forth. The laser pointer was… actually genius. She should have thought of it weeks ago.

Before Dyna could make her next move, the door behind the stack of tables swung open. An armored woman with black hair strode through holding a gun to the head of an extraordinarily pissed off Ruby. If looks could kill, everyone in the room would be dead ten times over.

“Weapon on the ground, hands up. Surrender or she dies.”

Dyna ground her teeth. Ruby wouldn’t die, but Dyna didn’t want to force her into regrowing a head. She had been through more than enough as it was.

“Five.”

Dyna swore under her breath. She slipped her bobby pin into her mouth, hiding it against her upper gums.

“Four.”

“Alright!” Dyna called out, she twisted the bolt holding the laser to her ACP9K’s rail until it popped off. As soon as it was off, she chucked the submachine gun around the corner of the wall.

There was a moment of silence before the counting continued. “Three.”

“What guarantee do I have that you won’t shoot me?” Dyna called out as she pulled out her sidearm, a VP9. She hoped her question would buy her an extra precious second; it took a moment to attach the laser assist to the VP9’s accessory rail.

“None,” the woman answered. “Two.”

So much for that. Grabbing a small device from her belt, Dyna took a breath.

“One.”

She wished she had a few more seconds, but this would have to do.

Gun down and slightly hidden behind her body, Dyna dropped the device as she turned the corner, kicking it with the tip of her steel-toed boot.

The remaining guards gripped their guns, probably readying to fire, but none got the chance.

A bright flash of stunning psionic-infused light flooded the hall. Goggles firmly over her eyes, Dyna was unaffected. The others…

Dyna swung her pistol around. She squeezed the trigger, aiming at the one holding Ruby captive first.

The woman wasn’t there. She had been when Dyna kicked the stun grenade, but she wasn’t now.

Dyna didn’t hesitate. She swung her arm backward, pulling the trigger three times as she did so. Three of the stunned guards went down as she pivoted around.

When someone disappeared, there were only three possibilities. Either they were invisible, there were illusions involved, or they had moved. Dyna didn’t feel that niggling pressure in her mind of foreign psychic influence, which only left the third possibility.

Her quick reactions were rewarded with the feeling of someone’s ribs against her elbow. Dyna continued her attack, striking out with the butt of her pistol. However, she only caught a mere glimpse of a smile and mildly surprised green eyes before her gun swung through empty air.

Dyna snapped her arm back once again, aiming toward Ruby and the remaining guards. She pulled the trigger three times before even turning her head to see where she was aiming.

Splatters covered the remaining three stunned guards when she turned her head, but there was no sign of the woman. Dyna pivoted again, turning fully around.

Something slammed into the back of her neck.

Even as Dyna stumbled forward, she kicked backwards, slamming her foot into a knee that vanished the moment she touched it. Using her stumbling momentum, she slammed her back up against a wall, limiting the avenues of attack.

A hand appeared around her gun arm, wrenching her firearm up as another fist slammed into her chest.

Dyna ground her teeth. Staring directly at her opponent, she shrugged off the pain and pulled the trigger. Despite the gun being pointed upward, the scuffle had moved the laser pointer over the woman’s face for the briefest of moments.

“Oof,” the woman grunted, head snapping to the side as a splatter of pink spread across her face from the paint pellet.

A loud buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the exercise.

Emerald pulled off her helmet and slowly moved her fingers through the paint on her face. She glanced down at her fingertips, smearing the paint between her fingers, then put on a kind smile. “That was unexpected.”

“The laser pointer,” Dyna said, chest rising and falling with heavy breaths as she tried to regain her composure after that bout. “It gives me exceptional aim. So exceptional, it seems to break causality.”

“Fascinating,” Emerald said, now looking over Dyna’s gun. “I thought, for an instant, that Ruby had shot me, but she’s…”

Ruby’s murderous look hadn’t changed in the slightest. She wasn’t stunned. The psionic light didn’t last that long and Ruby’s artifact would have powered through it faster than normal people. She was just glaring at Emerald. “Why do I have to be the hostage?”

Smile widening, Emerald stepped over to Ruby, reached over the barricade, and started to ruffle Ruby’s hair. Dyna watched for a moment, noting Emerald’s posture and stance. The woman was ready to hop back and jump away at any sign of movement from Ruby, yet Ruby didn’t try to attack. Ruby’s glare grew, but she only let out a mildly annoyed huff.

“You’re back from Korea? Obviously, I guess. How did the mission go?” Dyna asked, only to grimace as she noted the sudden stilling of Emerald’s hand and the way her smile turned strained. Was that a landmine she just stepped on? “Didn’t recognize you at first with your dyed hair. Black now, huh?”

“Most everyone in Korea has dark hair.” Emerald pulled her hand back from Ruby to run her fingers through her own hair. “Didn’t want to stand out more than I already did.”

“Ah.”

“I see you’ve been training. Even discounting your firearms breaking the laws of physics, your reaction times have improved. You actually landed a hit on me,” Emerald said, rubbing the center of her chest.

“Sorry about that—”

“Oh don’t be,” Emerald said, flashing a smile in Dyna’s direction. “I’m impressed. Knocked the wind right out of me. I had to take a few minutes to collect myself. But you’re working hard.”

“Well, there are people out there that don’t seem to like me. I don’t like them much in return.”

“I’ve heard,” Emerald said, looking between Ruby and Dyna. “Strange armored men wielding PP-2000s?”

Dyna nodded. “They tried to kill me, Hematite, and Ruby. Nearly succeeded on all three accounts.”

“The same ones that jumped us in California almost a year ago,” Ruby said. “Remember? They broke into our apartment.”

Emerald nodded her head. “I had a run-in with them again just a week ago. Not exactly my favorite people at the moment. I hear you are itching to take the fight to them. Me too.”

Dyna sucked in a breath. The Carroll Institute didn’t let her keep all of the gadgets she had been making over the past month. Most went through some testing before being tossed into the vault. The few things she was allowed to keep, such as the laser pointer, had her feeling more confident. More like a proper artificer than just a glorified clairvoyant. Yet, although she had landed a hit on her, Dyna still felt like Emerald was cheating.

Case in point, Emerald flickered. Just a brief disappearance and reappearance.

Her armor vanished, replaced by her usual light green cardigan and dress. The paint vanished from her face, though there was still a small red mark where the pellet had hit her cheek. Tying her hair back into a tight ponytail, Emerald looked perfectly refreshed.

“What are you doing standing around? You two have been busy. Walter got me caught up on events I missed, but I want to hear it all from you two.”

If Emerald wanted to help hunt down those bastards, Dyna would be beyond pleased.

But for the moment… “Ugh. I need a shower.”

“Right. Go get cleaned up. I’ll be in the briefing room when you’re ready.”

Dyna didn’t need telling twice. Emerald sauntered off, not even breathing hard. Despite the brief conversation, Dyna still felt the adrenaline rushing through her body. Her breathing, while calmer than it had been a few minutes ago, was far from baseline.

Ruby looked like she had been through a bit of a tussle as well. Physiologically, she looked normal. No hard breathing or exertion. But Dyna wouldn’t expect that from Ruby. There were other signs. Her mane of red hair was standing out more than normal, wild and unkempt in a way that simple gunfire wouldn’t have caused. The black hoodie she wore had marks on it, bunches of stretched fabric that looked like someone had used it to lift her or Judo throw her.

Which made sense. Ruby wouldn’t let herself be taken hostage easily. Not even for a practice exercise.

The mobile walls of the training room, made to look like an office building, descended into the floor ahead of Dyna and Ruby, allowing them a straight shot to the exit. A few of the Carroll Institute security personnel, who played the part of the opposing force, had already created a path toward the other exits. The artificers had a separate locker room.

“You seem happy to see Emerald,” Dyna said as she and Ruby headed off toward the locker room.

“Hah?” Ruby scoffed, scowl still firmly in place. “What put that stupid idea into your head?”

“You didn’t try to kill her when she ruffled your hair.”

Ruby pressed her lips together. Keeping her scowl, she slowly nodded. “Well, maybe I am happy.” She slammed a fist into the palm of her other hand. “Us three together will crush those tulpa and have them crying for whatever mothers a monster has.”

“My thoughts exactly. Mostly. I didn’t think about the mother part; I don’t think tulpa have mothers.”

“They’ll be crying for them anyway,” Ruby said with a harsh finality.

After tossing her gear into a locker, the gadgets and the mirror going to a special containment unit, Dyna hopped into the locker room shower for a quick rinse and then hopped right back out. Ruby, despite having half as much height and half as much hair, took twice as long. Dyna waited up for her, spending the time on her phone.

Someone else her age would probably have been talking with friends or spending time on social media. Dyna, however, had the Carroll Institute Internal Database up. Rather than the latest updates on celebrity gossip, Dyna focused on the latest updates regarding the organization currently referred to as Ignotus-33. The tulpa-using organization had no known name at the moment, Ignotus apparently meant something like Ignorant and was used as a temporary designator until they named themselves or the institute uncovered their name.

Ever since the incident with the Ouija board, they had been making semi-regular appearances. Not around the Carroll Institute, but the PP-2000 wielding soldiers had been popping out of the woodwork often enough that even regular people and traditional news organizations had started up conspiracy theories over government black-ops. Which government was a topic of debate.

Most of the time, they simply appeared somewhere, carried out a quick operation, then vanished. The operations didn’t always appear to be psionic-related. One curious report had them simply appearing in a crowded amusement park, running through a fenced off area beneath a roller coaster, causing a mild panic, and then disappearing without taking any items, kidnapping anyone, or even firing a single shot.

Somehow, Dyna had missed the report from Korea. Now that she was looking, it was right there. Emerald’s report described them as appearing from a wall, grabbing the artifact, then attempting to exfiltrate. Attempting because Emerald had killed all of them, though not before they managed to secure the artifact.

As Dyna was scrolling through Emerald’s report, her phone buzzed with an incoming text message.

It wasn’t someone in her contacts and the number was blocked. Her phone wasn’t a private phone but one assigned to her by the Carroll Institute. With most of its operations being screened by Beatrice, it shouldn’t be possible to send anything dangerous. Beatrice would have filtered any attempt at hypnosis or BLIT attacks. As such, she felt safe enough to indulge in her bout of curiosity by opening the message.

It was a simple, short message. Need to talk. -Id.

“Beatrice?” Dyna called out.

“This is Beatrice,” the artificial intelligence answered over the locker room’s announcement system.

“I don’t suppose you can trace text messages. Find out the physical location from where they were sent?”

“Under elevated operations, yes. However, the User Data Privacy Act of—”

“You can just say no, Beatrice. I won’t be upset.”

“I apologize.”

“It’s alright… Except, you can’t trace them, but you screen all of my calls and texts, right?”

“Acceptance of a Carroll Institute employee communications device indicates consent of supervision under the guise of security.”

“Supervision under the guise of security?”

“All communications are monitored for the safety and security of the Carroll Institute and its employees,” Beatrice said, emphasizing the difference between the institute and its employees. “If you wish to make unmonitored communications, please use a personal device.”

“That didn’t stop you from hacking into that nine-one-one call I made while Id’s people were chasing me.”

“Priority keywords: psychics, Carroll Institute, Dyna Graves, 50112, psychic; were picked up through passive monitoring. Protocol overrule took place. Walter consented to elevated operational level. Hostile intrusion of emergency call network commenced.”

“I see…” Dyna shrugged. She didn’t mind that much. Frankly, the world would probably be a safer place if Beatrice permanently took over all emergency call networks. As an artificial intelligence, she could handle a vast call load, would never lose her patience and hang up on someone in need, and would efficiently allocate needed resources to any given emergency.

But, unfortunately, Dyna wasn’t in charge.

“So you know what text I just got then,” Dyna said, returning to the most pertinent topic on hand.

“A request for dialog with Id.” Beatrice paused, and then asked the rare question. “What are your intentions?”

“Not sure. Administrator Theta’s proposal to cosy up with Id’s employees in an attempt to poach them is on indefinite hold with the ongoing Ignotus crisis. I don’t like Id or the way she does things, but, assuming Ignotus isn’t her doing, at least she isn’t… well, doing that. Ado and Maple hadn’t been wholly insufferable to work with.”

Theta’s plan had been to manufacture a tulpa-related incident then call in Tartarus as an excuse to get into closer contact and more personal working conditions. From there, he wanted to develop relations with Tartarus as a whole as a way of information gathering. Learn what they could about the entities, as Tartarus called them, find out information about Tartarus and their operations in the hopes of infiltration, ideally convince some of their workers to jump ship to the institute, and, if possible, absorb Tartarus into the Carroll Institute as a subsidiary.

For Id to be the one reaching out, Dyna had to wonder what had happened. There was an actual tulpa-related incident going on, not a manufactured one. Perhaps Id had come into contact with Ignotus and wanted help? Aside from previous interactions—which left a poor impression on Dyna—Dyna wasn’t sure why Id would contact her over literally anyone else at the Carroll Institute. Even if she didn’t know any of the administrator’s numbers, she surely could have called up the front desk.

Was it another recruitment attempt? Dyna hadn’t heard anything from them since the Hatman incident. They could have just been letting the tensions between them cool off. Let Id’s transgressions against Dyna’s mind fade into history. They hadn’t, but that didn’t mean that they hadn’t just tried that.

Much as Dyna hated to admit it, Tartarus was definitely the preferable opposing organization now that she actually had something to compare them to. Ignotus simply… was far too hostile.

Dyna simply sent a question mark back then slipped her phone into her pocket as Ruby emerged from the showers.

Beatrice knew, so the administrators, Walter, and probably half the institute knew. If she hadn’t received big warnings not to engage Id in conversation by now, they were probably leaving it up to her discretion. A question mark gave away little aside from an indication that Dyna wanted more information. Depending on what information she received, she would make other decisions, likely with Theta and Walter leaning over her shoulder.

“So,” Dyna said, standing now that Ruby had finished throwing on her clothes. “You remember Id?”

“Hard to forget.”

“Well.” Dyna pushed open the doors to the locker room, walking with Ruby toward the briefing room. “You’ll never guess what I just got.”

“She called you?”

“Texted.”

“That bitch better have information on where the tulpa are coming from. If they’re coming from her, I’ve got a C4 collection I want to show off.”

Dyna blinked at Ruby, then shook her head. “Let’s go talk to Emerald, see what she has to say about things. And maybe Id will tell me what she’s wanting by then too.”