Chapter VI
[ASG2: The Endless Plotting]
Desna strolled through the tower as strong winds blew her hair around.
"Please goddess, let us go first. What if the floor falls out."
She turned to the pawn who had spoken and offered him a slight smile.
"It's not going to. This elevator wasn't built by fools."
"It was built by scum!" Another of the Pawns growled. Desna didn't see a need to offer any comment there.
It was true after all.
"Regardless, said scum did research." She murmured to herself.
The poor girl. The sooner the experiments were done, the less pain she'd have to endure.
Lashing out with her hair, she pulled down an emergency ladder and climbed it, soon to be followed by the pawns.
As they all reached the access door to the elevator itself, Desna paused. She looked up at the sky, asking the stars what they had to tell her.
The nights sky blinked back at her just as one of the pawns put their hand to their ear, getting a message.
Before he had the chance to report whatever he'd heard, Desna asked "Is it the Tiger?"
"Yes, goddess."
She offered a sigh. She knew what was going to happen. It was just a matter of what she should say.
"Go, retreat. I'll continue on my own. Don't fight him, you'll lose."
Her words were as kind as she could make them.
Even as she moved on though, she knew they weren't going to follow her orders.
-And not just because she had foreseen her own death.
When Copen arrived at the elevator, he found Desna waiting for him.
"I was expecting you. The stars foretold your arrival."
[ASG2: The Puppets Dance in Silence]
Copen rushed through the scrap heap.
That last member of Eden had been no help at all.
Though he remembered her words, there was nothing helpful there.
"I warn you, you won't find what you're looking for down this road. In the end, you will only able to offer a mercy."
What had she meant? Clearly it was to do with Mytyl. Was that just a threat, something like "You'll never find the body?"
Well, he'd have to prove her wrong there.
Whoever was here was using his power to revive scrapped Sumeragi mechs.
In his ear, he heard Lola's voice "Septima detected ahead, boss. We're getting close."
Good.
Kicking off a wall, he shot into something like a large hanger.
"So, the intruder arrives." A man- no, an adept, said from the center of the room.
"You can beg for your life," Copen noted, his voice cold "But even information will only buy you a painless death."
"Bold words... for a primitive." The adept snorted "But, allow me to show you the next stage of human evolution!"
"A new evolution? Bah! What good is evolution if it lacks morality?" Copen spat "But if you insist on a painful end, I will deliver!"
"Primitives cower behind morality and refuse to see the truth..."
With that, the adept wipped out his hand and touched a mech beside him. The information from Nori and those two from QUILL said his name was Asroc. His Septima controlled the physical forms of machines like some kind of telekinesis.
It didn't matter though, if Copen couldn't get any information from the man's lips then he'd get it by analysing his equipment.
[ASG2: The Glowing Prism, the Collapsing Rhythm]
"You holding on tight?"
"I'm fine Nori, just go faster!"
Nori sighed as her master pointed his gun next to her head to shoot at Eden robots that were blocking their path.
She tightened her grip on the accelerator and the bike shot forward.
"Boss, Septima detected." Lola's voice sounded and Copen's eyes focused.
"I see him!"
The target this time was an Eden Adept who could generate crystals. He moved so fast that Copen's own suit wasn't fast enough to keep up in any of it's modes. That made the motorcycle necessary.
The adept was coming in to view and he seemed to have noticed them too. With a smirk Nori heard as he called back to them.
"Race you!"
The Adept accelerated and Copen cursed.
"Nori!"
"There's only so much faster we can go master."
As they fretted, a different voice came over the ear piece.
"Don't worry, we'll cut him off."
The adept ahead yelled as a section of the bridge was revealed to be full of explosives. Smoke and shrapnel shot around as the Adept drew to a stop.
At a signal from Copen, Nori hit the brakes and dived off the motorcycle as it flew through the air, still carrying Copen. He jumped from much closer to the Adept and began to fight him.
As he did, she looked up to an overpass and spotted the pair from QUILL who were carrying a few empty bags. She gave them a nod.
[ASG2: Igniter]
Asimov watched the live feed from the drone in the sewer.
In order to match Milas, Copen had ordered his robot to sing and it had. It even transformed into a form like the Muse had possessed.
Of course, Asimov had known that Copen's technology could copy Adept powers. The gun and bullets based on Carrera's Septima was something very interesting.
Pity he had so few of those bullets. He'd have to keep them for a bad day. At least until he figured out how to make more, at least.
Back to that drone of his. If it was able to copy the Muse, even to the level of boosting a normal human, it must have quite detailed records.
Mytyl had not been cooperative with their experiments. Desna had also failed in that mission to get the research data from Sumeragi that could be used to control her by force.
The one interesting thing was-
"Lord Asimov."
One of Eden's pawns ran in.
"Has she started reacting again?"
"Yes sir."
"Go."
The pawn left and Asimov nodded . The most interesting thing was whenever he had that drone sing, Mytyl reacted too. It wasn't massive but there were brainwaves that only appeared then.
That was it, the key to her power. If he could control her brainwaves, he'd be able to control her ability. This wasn't a new thought, it was what he'd decided on for a while.
The butterfly effect.
Sure, Zonda wasn't fond of the idea so he'd have to be careful about how much he allowed her to know.
It was funny in a way. She saw herself as the goddess of Eden, the king of their chessboard. Yet even a king is moved by the hand of the player.
Now... how to get that little robot. He'd need to dismantle it of course, he'd need to find which drives the Muse data was in. The robot's AI would probably just lie if he asked it about the data directly.
Well, Copen could do without another toy.
End of chapter.
Just something to look at what's going on from a few different points of view.
And watch as Copen defeats the leaders of Eden so easily, I don't even bother to write the battles.
This chapter (and another next week) are being released while the main story is on hold for GV3.
