Warning: Artifact Instantiation Anomaly Detected

 

 

Dyna’s back hit hard against the hotel kitchen’s cupboards. Her chest violently rose and fell as she took in breath after breath. Sounds of footsteps had her tightening her grip on the compact pistol. Reaching into her evening gown, she pulled out her mirror.

Each of the two lenses showed off different perspectives. Two different people were watching her. With her back to the kitchen island, they couldn’t see her directly, but it was enough for the mirror to work. One of the perspectives came from the far door, the one leading out to the main employee section of the hotel. The other was on the opposite side of the room. The… If Dyna remembered the plans for the building properly, it was the walk-in refrigerator? He must have ducked inside once he saw her coming.

Dyna waited, watching the mirror. She kept her muscles tense, ready to move. She waited and waited, it felt like hours but was probably more like five seconds. Eventually, one of the perspectives changed. It leaned forward just a bit, moving out from cover.

Pivoting around her heel, Dyna leaned around the side of the kitchen island where the perspective’s point of view had not been directly observing. Dyna squeezed her finger around the trigger just as she had been taught. Three times. Three light pops. One exaggerated groan preceded a heavy thud.

Dyna pivoted back with clenched teeth, making it into cover just as the other perspective emerged and started firing at her. She felt things whizzing by overhead. Nothing hit her, but it was close. Too close for comfort.

The one shooting at her made a fatal mistake. He fired too many times. As soon as Dyna heard the empty click, she moved. Already knowing exactly where he was, she aimed and fired in an instant. One shot in the center of his mass, a second square in his head. He had a mask on with thick goggles for eye protection and a grated mesh to protect the rest of his face, but he still went down.

Both lenses of her mirror turned dark. They didn’t turn to their normal, reflective state, meaning there were still other people in the area. But none with eyes on or near her. Dyna didn’t hesitate to move forward.

She stopped at the first man she had fired upon, an older man wearing the black suit of the hotel concierge staff. He was down and unmoving, his gun—a small sub-machine gun that she didn’t immediately recognize, lay not far from his fingertips. Making a split-second decision, Dyna holstered her pistol and picked up his SMG. This was meant to be a simple reconnaissance exercise. Not a full-fledged assault. She hadn’t brought the ammunition to spare for fighting the entire hotel crew.

Why were they fighting her in the first place? They couldn’t be mind controlled. Her watch was supposed to have a psionic energy detector built into it that would warn her of such things in advance. So they had to be attacking her because…

Because why? Probably just because.

It was so… stupid. Who did they think they were fooling?

With a small roll of her eyes, Dyna checked the SMG. She had learned something over the last few months. Guns were all the same. Make? Model? Whatever. Emerald and Ruby would be upset if they heard her say so, but there really wasn’t a difference. Maybe the safety would be positioned differently. Maybe the weight and balance would be a bit different. But when it came to checking how many cartridges the slightly curved magazine had in it, making sure that a bullet was already in the chamber, and readying a firearm to fire, learning one gun was the same as learning ninety percent of guns out there.

Gun at the ready, Dyna advanced. She moved down a hallway with her finger on the trigger.

It was a bit more awkward to hold her compact mirror with a large SMG than it was with a small pistol. Dyna had to hold the former with two fingers while supporting the barrel of the SMG with the rest of her hand. Not ideal, but when the dark lenses flashed a warning of what awaited her around the next corner, Dyna couldn’t complain.

She pressed her back up against the wall, took a deep breath, and stepped around, opening fire immediately.

There were a few small chairs and tables knocked over, providing feeble cover. The room for continental breakfast, though the counters and trays were empty at the moment. It wasn’t a large room. There wasn’t any room to hide. And with her mirror able to help her pinpoint exactly where her opponents were, she managed to send three to the floor in as many shots.

Someone standing just on the other side of the wall grabbed the barrel of her gun and wrenched it upward. Dyna reacted on instinct, twisting to use the momentum to slam the butt of the gun into the face of the one who touched her. A padded forearm blocked it.

Dyna immediately let go, backing up to give her the space needed to draw her pistol once again. She held it up, aiming, only for a slapping fist to knock her shot off to the side. She tried to aim back, only for another quick strike to shove her hand too far to the other side.

She didn’t get a chance to aim a third time. A fist hit her wrist, opened and grabbed, then twisted. Dyna lost the grip on her gun. As it clattered to the ground, the hands yanked her forward, throwing her off balance. Knuckles hit her chest.

Dyna crumpled, gasping for breath.

Her assailant towered over her, drawing a blade that they quickly pressed to her throat.

“Your close quarters still needs work.”

Dyna slumped as the tension drained from her muscles. She sat on the floor, panting for breath. Emerald, standing over her, pulled the knife back and slipped it into her hotel uniform. The infuriating woman cocked her head, looked over the continental breakfast room, and nodded to herself.

“Good shots though.”

“Why?” Dyna said between breaths.

“Hmm?”

“Why did they start attacking?”

Emerald took a second look over the room. “It’s good training.”

“It doesn’t make any sense! The scenario was that I was scoping out a meeting place for a future meeting between two people completely unrelated to the hotel or its employees! Why are the hotel staff even armed?”

Emerald shrugged. “Never know what to expect.”

“There are reasonable expectations! Minimum-wage earning staff aren’t going to throw away their lives like this.”

“The hotel was clearly a front for Id’s organization. The people here are well trained assassins.”

“Who just sit around posing as waiters and cooks and concierges?”

“Exactly,” Emerald said, bright smile across drawn across her face.

Dyna just groaned, too fed-up to argue any more. She focused on rubbing at her chest where Emerald had hit her, trying to massage out the pain.

“Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Dyna said, shrugging off her own protective mask and goggles. All around her, the people she had ‘killed’ were taking off their own protective gear and getting to their feet. The exercise was clearly over for now.

“You are doing much better though. Go back and watch some recordings of the first month. You’ll probably die of embarrassment.”

Frustrated though she was with the absurd scenario, Dyna could at least take some pride in that.

She had enemies. Real, tangible enemies. Id hadn’t shown herself since Grafton’s capture, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t out there. And then there were other psychic organizations who would love to get their hands on any random artificer they could. Dyna hadn’t actually encountered any thus far, but she also hadn’t left the Carroll Institute more than a handful of times. Walter wanted her at least able to properly defend herself, both mentally and physically. Especially should someone like Harold try to hypnotize her again.

“I’ll schedule you for additional hand-to-hand training. And maybe ask Ruby—”

“Please don’t.”

“—to surprise you every now and again. And maybe I’ll—”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“—show up and give you a few personal tips. Randomly.”

A few calm tones echoed over the overhead speaker system, quickly followed by Beatrice’s smooth voice. “Attention: External scenario shutdown initiated. All personnel are to recuse immediately for area cleaning and reset.”

Emerald put on a smile. “Come,” she said, holding out a hand to help Dyna back to her feet. “I’m sure Walter will want to debrief. We’ll discuss exactly what happened and where you went wrong.”

“I can already guess.” Dyna clapped her hand into Emerald’s. “I didn’t avoid you.”

“Ah, such flattery. Are you alright?”

“I’ll probably have some bruises. Not much padding on this dress. This wasn’t even supposed to be that fancy of a hotel, why did I wear this?”

“Always dress appropriately.”

“Yes… I get it. Expect the worst of every situation. That’s what all these training sessions have taught me. I don’t know why I expected something to not go wrong for once. Things always end up this way.”

Once in a while, it would have been nice to have everything just go exactly as planned. That had to happen sometimes, right? Not in the Carroll Institute, apparently.

Dyna and Emerald dropped off their equipment on the way out of the Reconfigurable Situation Preparedness Chamber. From there, it was just a short trip down the hall to reach the RSPC Control Room. It had a number of computer systems set up to monitor and even change the layout of the simulated buildings. What was a hotel today could be a conference center tomorrow, or a school, or even a strip mall—though it didn’t do such a good job at simulating exterior environments.

Normally, Walter would be standing over one of the main terminals, ready to go over the events of the exercise session. Today, however, the room was empty. Not completely vacant, but only the lower level technicians manned their stations. Grøndahl, the engineer who designed the facility, wasn’t around either. Although he had apparently designed the Simulation Chamber for assessing clairvoyants and precognitives, he still showed up to every single session that Dyna had participated in despite his distaste for combat exercises.

“Huh.”

Emerald looked just as confused as Dyna felt.

“Something must have come up?”

“I suppose so,” Emerald said. “I wonder if I should debrief you instead. It won’t exactly be objective coming from me, but—”

Two calm tones sounded over the speaker system, interrupting Emerald. “Attention: All on-site artificers must report to Office Complex Briefing Room Three. Immediately.”

“Ah.”

“Should we be worried?”

“There’s no alarms going off, so probably nothing to worry over.”

Actually getting to the Psychodynamics Office Complex required a trip back down the hall, to the elevator system, and then a short trip on its rails. Not a long journey for Dyna and Emerald, but somehow, they still managed to be the last of the artificers to arrive.

Ruby sat on one facet of the octagonal table. Knowing her well, Dyna could instantly recognize a bad mood. The way she held her crossed arms, the way she furrowed her brow, and the way she stared daggers across the table… Pretty much anyone would recognize that disturbing her was a bad idea.

Despite that, Emerald promptly walked up, ruffled her hair, slipped her arm out of the way of a knife just in the nick of time, and took a seat at her side.

Across the table, the subject of Ruby’s initial glare hummed softly to himself, hardly looking like he was bothering anyone. It took Dyna a minute, but recognition clicked. He had straight, jet-black hair, more cosmetic makeup than everyone else in the room combined, and especially shimmering eyes. Dyna hadn’t actually met him in person before, but this was the owner of the Music Box, Alexanderite.

Who, according to Ruby, had committed a grave offense. He liked to sing.

Ruby didn’t like many people. Dyna still wasn’t sure what she had done to earn the younger girl’s affections, but she wasn’t going to let Ruby’s opinions color her own. Adopting her best smile, Dyna held out a hand.

“Hello, I’m—”

“My dear!” Alexanderite said in a sing-song tone of voice. He turned toward her, but his shimmering eyes didn’t quite focus on her. “Could this be mysterious Onyx?”

“Uh…”

He stood, flourishing a long-tailed jacket out from behind him with one hand. His other hand, dressed in a white glove, swept gracefully forward and took hold of Dyna’s hand. Not to shake, but to bring it to his lips.

Dyna quickly pulled her hand out of his loose grip.

Undaunted, Alexanderite bowed deep at the hips. “I have heard tales of your feats. Your fiery vanquishing of dastardly foes have moved me to pen a tale in song to cement your story among legends.”

“Uh… It… sounds like you’ve heard a great deal of exaggeration,” Dyna said, trying to keep her smile. “Or you’ve got the wrong person. I’m pretty sure I’m not Onyx.”

“Nonsense! I shall prove it with a rendition. Regaling as the bards of old! Oooh~ I’ve got this notion—”

“Alex.” The deep, rumbling, bass tone of Walter’s voice as he entered the room stopped the owner of the Music Box in his tracks. There hadn’t been music playing, and yet, Dyna could swear she heard a record scratch. “Not now.”

Alexanderite’s shoulders slumped. Without a single other word, he sank back down into his chair.

Dyna used the opportunity to quickly scuttle around the table, taking a seat next to Ruby. “Is he alright?” she whispered.

“No,” Emerald said.

“Told you,” Ruby said.

“Quiet.”

Walter reached over the table and swiped a few keys of one of the embedded terminals. The lights promptly dimmed in the meeting room and the overhead screens lit up with a map of the world. It spun around once before focusing on the Korean peninsula. The world map was drawn in cool blue light, but right at the rough center, a pulsing red light flashed over and over again.

“Approximately two hours ago, satellites detected a psionic emission from somewhere north of Seoul. Preliminary analysis suggests that this is a new artifact instantiating. Beatrice’s analysis is continuing in the hopes of discerning a little more information, but given the political instability in the region, the administrators want our hands within reach as soon as possible.

“To that end, Emerald, you and Alex will be departing for Seoul as soon as humanly possible. Expect further resources and information to be made available as we get a better grasp on the situation.”

“Yes!” Alexanderite cried, leaping to his feet. “They shall sing songs of our—”

“Excuse me,” Emerald said. Looking in her direction, Dyna couldn’t help but feel her heart skip a beat. The smile usually so ever present on Emerald’s face looked like someone had ironed on a hasty replacement. “I am not sure what Alex offers that Ruby or even Onyx can’t already provide. And I know I work with them far better than… others.”

Dyna blinked. Leaning over to Ruby, she whispered, “Am I supposed to be Onyx?”

She just got a shrug in return.

Walter didn’t pay her side question any mind, focusing his mirrored lenses on Emerald. “Alex speaks fluent Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese.”

“Ah. Well, if he is mission critical… Why not send Ruby in my place, she can—”

“Don’t you dare foist this off on me you bleeping bit—”

“You’re always talking about how you want more responsibility, freedom, and people who listen to you, so now—”

“This is not what I meant and you know it.”

“Where’s Sapphire? I know his talents would work simply wonderfully alongside Alex.”

“Emerald,” Walter said, gaze somehow piercing despite being hidden behind his pince-nez glasses. “I trust you to remain professional.”

Like the saddest balloon, Emerald utterly deflated. “Very well. You know my fees for this kind of work.”

“Indeed. You’ll be—”

“Yes! Adventure awaits!”

Emerald, smile strained, dropped her head into the palm of her hand.

“Gather what you need. Submit your requisitions. Reconvene at the topside motor pool in thirty minutes.”

Both Alexanderite and Emerald stood and walked out of the room, one with obvious excitement, the other with the resignation of someone told to dig their own grave.

“Was there something more for us?” Ruby said, leaning forward with plain excitement. Apparently she did want to get a job. Just not one with Alexanderite.

Which Dyna found completely understandable. When Ruby had claimed that all the other artificers were insane, she had thought that was just Ruby’s rebel nature seeing the worst in others. After having encountered Sapphire and now Alexander, Dyna was starting to wonder if there was a bit more to it than that.

She also had to wonder if they weren’t being deliberately kept away from her. Dyna had hardly seen Sapphire in the last few months, this was her first encounter with Alexanderite and it had been beyond brief, and still had yet to encounter Aquamarine or the dreaded Hematite.

“Nothing so… remote,” Walter said.

“Important you mean,” Ruby said, crossing her arms, excitement dying.

“With Emerald gone, I’ll need you to step up in protecting Dyna. That is a job of vital importance.”

Ruby didn’t look convinced. “Is she leaving the institute anytime soon?”

“She isn’t a prisoner here, Ruby.”

“But you aren’t sending her off somewhere that she would actually need protection.”

“Not at this time, no.”

Dyna held up a finger before Ruby could get more upset. “Not to interrupt, but… has there been any news on the kidnapper or any clue toward my missing memories?”

Walter slowly shook his head. “We have tracked down the most likely candidate for the missing child from your past, as mentioned in the update report last month, but there have been no further developments. Locating their whereabouts today after a decade of not even realizing that someone has been missing is proving… difficult.”

“What about Beatrice? I’m sure she could…”

Again, Walter started shaking his head. “Beatrice has been assisting in data crunching, but little more. The administrators have yet to restore my ability to elevate her operating status to the degree you witnessed, deeming my previous elevation to level five ‘frivolous and without due checks to ensure that such action was warranted.’” Walter didn’t often speak with sarcasm or a mocking tone, but this time it seemed he couldn’t help himself.

“That was when I needed help, wasn’t it? They don’t think that was worth it? They were just going to leave me out in the cold?”

“You being in danger is the only reason I’m not in more trouble. The administrators do not trust Beatrice and definitely do not trust raising her operating status on her word alone. To be fair, my irritation at several matters did result in me failing in double-checking her request.”

“Someone else could be in danger right now.”

“It’s been ten years, Dyna. The administrators aren’t going to approve a request for something that old.”

“He could be out kidnapping more people right now!” Dyna’s fists hit the table.

Walter didn’t even flinch. “We are doing everything we can,” he said, voice calm. “And we will discuss what we can do moving forward. But for now, I must attend to this artifact retrieval.” Although calm and collected, his voice carried a note of finality to it. Dyna didn’t bother arguing as he left the room.

She just sat there, scowl on her face matching that of Ruby’s.

“Who are these administrators, anyway?”

Ruby gave an angry shrug. “No idea. Never seen one as far as I can remember.”

“I think I’d like to give them a piece of my mind.”