Babushka
Bronya paced around the table, looking at the hololith projection riding up from its surface.
Arc City.
She clucked her tongue. They were missing something. Welt had been tutoring Bronya. The Herrscher of Reason was not just power. They were someone who could apply their knowledge to solve problems logically and rationally. To find the 'Reason' behind the information they had.
And there was something missing here. A piece of a puzzle she could grasp the contours of. But not fit it into the greater jigsaw.
"Are you okay, Bronya?" a soft, high-pitched voice asked.
"Yes, Principle Theresa." Then Bronya reconsidered. "No, Principle Theresa. The Bronya is trying to find an answer to a question they haven't asked."
"That sounds like something Welt would say."
"Exactly, Principle Theresa."
It was… frustration. Bronya was unfamiliar with this motion. It didn't cloud her thinking or judgement. But it left her with an almost nervous energy. A desire to pace around the table and keep looking at the 3 dimensional projection of the city. It had been two months since the foiled terrorist attack. Two months since World Serpent had been foiled.
Though that was a lie. World Serpent had been unable to destroy a single city. There were plenty more cities in the world. But there were only 12 Herrschers and now the strongest Herrscher was working for them. Not someone blackmailed or coerced. A willing participant to the monstrous crimes they committed for their own reasons.
Bronya stopped and reached out, pinched a section of the map before expanding her fingers. Heliopolis. The base of World Serpent's operations in Arc City. Looked at the great pyramid structure and felt she was getting closer. The shape of the puzzle was firming up.
Anti-Entropy had sent in a small squad of people as soon as they had learned from Mei-
-When Mei-nee-san-
-Mei-nee-san-
-Bronya shook her head. Now her thoughts were clouding. And these were not pleasant clouds.
"We found nothing left behind," Bronya summarised. "In only a few hours World Serpent had completely cleared the research facility of anything useful. Their official arm as a medical service business remained intact. But everything clandestine was gone."
Principle Theresa folded her arms.
"Not everything."
Bronya shuddered. All the technology. All the medical suits. The operating tables. Even the morgue. Cleared out. Like a newly built hospital ready to be filled with equipment. They had left one thing behind. A mini-disc. Footage. Of the Immortal Blades as they were cut down when the anti-Honkai chemical was used against them. Other short video clips. Of what World Serpent did. You could not tell where this footage had been recorded. But its message was clear.
We are everywhere and there is nothing you can do. We will continue to do what we have always done. In the shadows. Beyond sight. Beyond justice. Beyond any chance of reprisal.
A polite knock on the door followed by hushed whispers. Or the attempts at hushed whispers, interrupted the conversation. Lillya and Rosaliya stepped into the room. The two looked like they had done something especially naughty. Raided the dessert fridge again. Rosaliya couldn't look up from her shoes. This caught Bronya's attention. Rosaliya you could never shut up. So it was left to Lillya to speak.
"Bronya-nee-san," the blue haired girl started, "We… think you should talk to someone."
"She said she wanted to talk to her. It's not our idea," Rosaliya corrected.
"Fine," Lillya deadpanned. "We went walking around the Hyperion and came across somewhere-"
"- that's out of bounds. But we went there anyway. There were guards but we told a few teeny, tiny little lies and they believed us. Lillya is always forgetting things anyway so they bought it."
Principle Theresa looked like she knew what was coming. Walked over to the twins.
"Who did you speak to?"
"Babushka," the twins responded.
Bronya sucked air in through her teeth. Cocolia was someone that could not be trusted. But she also had her own connections with World Serpent. That was why they kept her close. Kept her away from making contact with them. Assuming there weren't infiltration agents on the Hyperion. The twins should have never been let near her cell. She would check the guard logs later for who was on duty at the time. Bronya suspected the logs would be doctored.
'So there are spies on the Hyperion'
Perhaps this was another message from the Serpent. A tactical mistake. Or something else entirely. Whatever it was, Bronya was going to answer the request. The puzzle piece she held in her hand had definite edges the moment the twins had entered the room.
"If you will excuse me, Principle Theresa."
Cocolia's cell was simple but functional. Bed. Table. Wardrobe. Ablutions. Shower. An energy shield cocooned the entire room, not just the viewing area at the front. Gone was her stylised military uniform, Cocolia now wearing a plain grey dress and slippers. The door slid open, Bronya stepping in and shutting it behind. Cocolia put down a book she had been reading. Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear.
"Hello my daughter," Cocolia said in that sultry voice that drew people to her, commanded attention even when she did not raise it.
"Babuska."
"Still as cold as ever."
"You asked for me, Babuska. The Bronya is here. What did you want to talk about?"
"The Hyperion should be back in Salt-Lake City. Back at Anti-Entropy headquarters. But I haven't felt the ship adjust its position. Why is that?"
Bronya sighed. Cocolia was clearly bored and looking for conversation. She turned to leave.
"You're looking for traces of World Serpent. They clean up very well. What tools they had given me for working on Wendy were gone within an hour."
"Working. On. Wendy."
The words tasted foul on Bronya's lips. Wendy was no more than that. She was a project to be worked on. A toy to be played with. A tool. Cocolia had turned Bronya into a puppet in her desire for Wendy. Which they now knew was World Serpent's desire for a Herrscher to experiment on.
"You won't find anything."
"Then Bronya isn't interested in your games, Babushka. Is not interested in anything"
"What about anyone?"
Solid. The puzzle piece was solid now. It's edges perfectly defined. Slotted into the jigsaw perfectly. Bronya glanced at Cocolia. The woman pulled long blonde hair away from her almost serpentine eyes.
"You won't find any 'thing'. World Serpent are too thorough. They have been doing this for centuries. But people are different. A random factor. Why were World Serpent here?"
Bronya spun and marched over to the cell, put both hands on the energy shield separating the former Anti-Entropy executor turned traitor from the former assassin turned Herrsccher of Reason.
"They were experimenting on people. Vaccinations or medical supplies," Cocolia noted. "Trying to test various medical techniques on people to try evoke a reaction. Cause a Stigma to express. All they needed to do was detonate the Honkai reactor and irradiate Arc City in Honkai radiation. Create the perfect scenario for genetic expression. We did something similar in Nagazora. If you recall..."
More and more puzzle pieces appeared in Bronya's mind. These were whole however. Complete pieces that quickly started expanding the jigsaw, helping it fill her mind and answer that niggling doubt. Bronya voiced those doubts.
"There are still people in the city. Test subjects. World Serpent could not abduct them all in a few hours. Logistically it's not possible. And they would not want to tip their hand. So you are careful. Methodical. Engineer a death here. A crime there. A split between husband and wife when one leaves the city. Slowly but surely you remove all the test subjects that had held the most promise."
Cocolia smiled and patted her book.
"And my dear little Bronya, how long do you think it would take to find every last one?"
That was not a quantifiable variable. Bronya did not know enough. But she could guess. The answer was cautiously and quickly. Maybe two or three months. More and more puzzle pieces.
"When Kiana infiltrated the Heliopolis facility she came across a complete manifest list of all people given medical treatment. We didn't think anything of it. Just book keeping. The Bronya made a critical error in judgement. We need to compare that list against people who are missing."
Cocolia clapped slowly. Bronya directed a dark look at the woman she had once believed to be her surrogate mother.
"How long, Babushka?"
"It seemed like you hadn't solved the little puzzle. So I arranged for the twins to do what they do best and shake things up. Now it's your turn, my little Silver Wolf."
Bronya was already stalking out the room as Cocolia's low laugh carried down the corridor. A hololith display flashed up before Bronya. The manifest list from World Serpent was inputted. Fingers danced across the haptic display, a brute-force hacking program quickly being shaped. Bronya didn't care about subtle. Right now she had a chance to save only a few people. The hacking program broken into Arc City's police mainframe, medical systems, private security network. A netstorm that scythed through data at a frightening rate. Noticing the program begin to slow, Bronya performed several overrides and dedicated more of the Hyperion's considerable resources towards processing the overwhelming amount of data.
A comm-chirp indicated an incoming call. Bronya accept the call and saw Principle Theresa's face on a 2D hololith display.
"I trust you have a reason why you just hijacked the Hyperion?"
"Yes."
Principle Theresa sighed. Made some motions to people out of view.
"What can I do?"
"The Bronya needs Seele-chan's location. And 90% of Hyperion's processing power. Keep enough in reserve for automated system processing and protection against external electronic warfare attacks."
"What are we looking at, Bronya?"
"A chance to get one over World Serpent. And save lives. The Bronya wants both."
"Understood. I will do what I can."
The call ended. A small blinking icon showed where Seele was. The offices the two key scientists of Anti-Entropy had allocated for themselves upon the Hyperion. Bronya did not quite run. She walked with purpose. By the time she had arrived Seele was exiting. Her face was one of confusion.
"Is everything okay, Bronya-nee-san?"
"The Bronya does not know. But she needs to move quickly. The Bronya and Seele-chan will head to the hanger bay. Exit and drive down to Arc City. The Bronya has a plan."
Seele nodded. Her expression was still confused. Distracted. Bronya had trouble reading the subtle differences.
"Is everything okay, Seele-chan?"
"What? Hmm. Oh. Yes. Sorry Bronya-nee-san. I can't stop thinking about wrecking balls. But I'll do my best. Explain everything on the way to the hanger."
A man.
A thing.
Don't ask.
All dressed in black, his face hidden behind a mask, looked over Arc City from where he stood on the rooftop. His deployed umbrella kept the soft rain from touching him. He pressed his finger against a small comm-piece in one ear.
"You have two to find tonight."
"Understood," came Raven's slightly accented voice.
