Slumrat Rising

A Starbrite Man

Nobu and Rezepi tossed smoke talismans into the lobby. Usually they made a smoke screen. However, when fighting people who were invisible or had good cammo? The dust stuck. More than a dozen shadowy outlines appeared, practically begging Truth, Boloud and Keller to shoot them. Being respectful, caring, Starbrite magi, they were only too happy to help.

The needlers slapped the life clean out of the rebels. With Shockwave equipped, even a sloppy hit to the arm could transform it into abstract art. The magazines held hundreds of needles, and they could fire several a second, aimed fire. Keller neatly blew out a man’s torso, leaving his head, neck and shoulders in place to complete the outline of where his chest should have been. Boloud just aimed for the center mass, happy to excavate hearts or guts without distinction. Truth didn’t see any point in not turning enemy heads into meat aerosol. It was a slaughter. Briefly.

Dozens more shapes rushed out of the smoke, and these were carrying warded shields. The little needles plinked harmlessly off the steel shields as the wards stripped the spells off. The rebel shaman had their own needlers, as well as the green ghostly demons. Generous souls, they used both liberally.

The ghosts swept out, roaring, clawing at the cowering crew, the whores and the newly humbled business folk. Each eviscerated person would lay dormant on the ground for a minute, then rise, releasing a new tormented soul. The number of ghosts was only growing. The needlers were pinging off the light armor Truth’s security detail carried, and their wards were keeping the magic down, but it couldn’t last long. They were already down a third of their protectees, and Yoo Sung was almost catatonic. Since she was their only Level 3, that was more than a small problem.

“Nobu, emergency report to HQ! Rez, barrier and fall back! Keller, Boloud, grab who you can and get out that fucking door!” Truth barked. His mind was in overdrive. Can’t shoot the rebels directly, and there’s no point going after the ghosts.

“Load Enlarge.”

Enlarge Loaded. Pre-paid in mission budget.

He raked his needler at the marble floor right in front of the advancing shamans, dumping the entire clip in seconds. Then he reloaded and did it again. An instant forest of three inch long spikes appeared between the rebels and the bar, just as Rezepi finished deploying the barrier. It was a ward spell, wide scale. It wouldn’t stop needler rounds, but it would keep new ghosts from getting in… at least until the cosmic energy ran out.

“Boloud, Keller, on the ghosts! Keep it moving!” They shoved past the panicking crowd, making for the door. Dragging as much of the crew along as they could manage.

Mission Update. Starbrite Regional Command Override, Code BLUE WOLF TORN. New mission goals- Protect Yoo Sung, and escort her to General Recto Wassshimailan Kofi International Airport, Private Aircraft Terminal, for emergency evacuation. This supersedes and replaces all other goals. System Costs will be paid by Code BLUE WOLF TORN. Operational responsibility assumed by Code BLUE WOLF TORN.

The System was flexible. It whispered the update into his mind, rather than blocking his vision with floating text. It still took Truth, and the rest of the squad a moment to process what they were hearing. Did it really mean… oh those sick fucks. They weren’t even offering a bonus for the rest of the crew.

Heeehaahahaha! Is it true love? Naah! No such thing as love in prison, right? Whelp. Orders are orders.

FUCK! A needle tore along Truth’s neck, nearly tearing it open. He had his orders.

“Squad! Grab the protectee and GO. Nobu, clear a path!”

Nobu dropped the assistant director she was dragging and whipped out a short club. Every swing smacked aside a panicked hotel guest, clearing a path to the door. They finally reached it. Amazing how much faster you can move, when you just ditch the entire crew and treat the talent like a forty two kilo suitcase.

“Load Bang!”

Bang Loaded. Cost paid by BLUE WOLF TORN.

Bang was usually used in combat drills, to get trainees used to working under stress. It was just a very, very loud bang. Harmless, really. Unless some complete bastard set it off a hundred and twenty times in a few seconds. Everyone still in the bar and lobby kind of lost their shit at that point.

The squad, plus Yoo Sung, were already moving down the service hallway towards the back exit. The elegant marble and chrome of the lobby was replaced by breezeblock walls painted commercial gray. Gray metal doors, with black signs marking the way. Truth couldn’t read the signs, but the big glowing “Exit this way” sign was pretty easy to figure out.

“Hey, Medici, you hear that fucking order?”

“I’m right here with you, Rez. You guess. Actually no, shut up and run.”

“I’m running, but FUCK! Some of those guys were OK.”

“A fucking tragedy. Now shut the fuck up so we don’t tip off any fucking terrorist rebels hanging around the exit, dumbfuck!”

Actually, Truth had kind of liked them too. One of them loaned him a book. Guess he didn’t have to return it. Ah shit. It was in his hotel room. Guess he’d never know if the heiress picked the wealthy, darkly handsome magus or the sweet, vibrant, soulful stable boy for her demonic sacrificial sex-rite.

It would probably be the stable boy. He wouldn’t be missed.

Keller flashed the sign for “Enemy Spotted” then “Three.” Truth signed back “Shield,” and got a “No” in reply. Nobu was left with Yoo Sung. Everyone else switched to Silent, and swung around the corner. The needles flashed out, punching through the cheap cloth uniforms of the rebels. It took a fair few needle rounds to put a magus down, without extra damage from spells. Thanks to Silent, no one heard their screams.

They had been guarding the exit. Really only one way for that to go.

Since Code BLUE WOLF TORN was kindly covering the spell cost, Truth decided to cast a spell he had desperately wanted, but didn’t have budget room for.

“Load Demon’s Eye”

Demon’s Eye Loaded. Cost paid by BLUE WOLF TORN.

He started chanting and formed the signs with his hands, wishing he had a fetish to support the casting. It took longer than he wanted, but he got it cast. The eye appeared and swept the service alley alongside the hotel. He didn’t see any rebels. Didn’t see any local cops or army either. That’s… not great. And unlikely. There was a decent chance special forces were surveilling from a nearby building, getting ready to swarm in. Running around waiving needlers sounded like a great way to commit suicide by cop. On the other hand, Truth would be fucked to death by hippos before he put down his weapon. Hmm.

“Hey, hey! Where’s James? And Lorrie? Where’s the crew? HEY YOU!” Yoo Sung suddenly stood up and started shaking Truth. Truth smacked her hands away.

“They will make their own way out. Our mission changed. You’re it. Kindly remain quiet and follow instructions. We will get you to the airport and evacuate as quickly as possible. In the meantime, please remain quiet and calm, as I am trying to see if our way is clear.”

“Calm? CALM! They tore apart Gaz! Tore him apart! They had claws and and and tore him apart!”

“Load Lotus Rest”

Lotus Rest Loaded. Cost paid by BLUE WOLF TORN.

It was a glancing shot that barely scraped across her hip, but the sedative spell kicked in. Yoo Sung’s face went flat. She would be calmer, for a while. Truth cursed. He would have to cast Demon’s Eye again.

They slipped out of the hotel and stole a van parked outside. Truth thought that someone should have found the fact that it was already hotwired funny. Nobody laughed, but… c'mon. Stealing an already stolen delivery van? That’s funny. The radio was blaring. It sounded like the news.

“Anybody speak Farizi?” Truth asked. Everybody shook their heads.

“It’s not Farizi. There is no “Farizi” language. It’s Xionw’t. One of five official languages. This spirit can translate it.” Yoo Sung spoke in a monotone. She pulled a tiny bowl the size of her thumbnail from her pocket. A few passes of her hand later, and it had grown into a full sized spirit sealing spellbowl. She passed it up to Boloud, who was driving.

“We, the most noble and righteous soldiers of the Godchild Freedom Army, are conducting revolutionary liberation missions in Kofi today. More than Kofi, across the great nation of Fariziland the Godchild Freedom Army is retaking control. Back from the sinners! Back from the slave masters! Back from the foreign thieves, plundering our lands! Back from their local groveling eunuchs, so eager to beg for crumbs! Beloved fellow children of God, stay home, or join the fight. If you know collaborators, or where foreign forces have infiltrated, report them to your nearest Blessed Brigade at once! You shall be rewarded, both here and in the life to come.”

“Turn it off.” Truth said. “I think we’ve heard enough. Any ideas why they suddenly kicked off today, of all days? Intel said they were a long way from launching a coup.”

Everyone shook their heads, muttering about intel always being shit.

“It’s the prismatic iridium. If they found a serious supply of it in the mines, those iridium mines just went from “valuable” to “global strategic resource.” Prismatic iridium is valuable on an interplanetary scale.” Yoo Sung’s voice was flat. She didn’t have so much as a scab from where the needle nicked her, but the spell was still going strong. She must not be fighting it, Truth thought, or her Level 3 constitution would have gotten rid of it already.

“They launched a coup to secure the mines?”

“Probably.”

“Huh.” Truth desperately wanted to ask why she alone was to be evacuated, but figured that the answer probably wouldn’t benefit him. They beelined to the airport. It was under siege. The government was dug in all around the terminal and the hangers, but the rebels were pressing hard. Spell birds were swooping in and dropping explosives, artillery spells were cast, spraying metal and acid, the air turned black with burning wagons and burning people.

“We ain’t driving through that.” Boloud quietly declared. “Anything on the Demon Eye?”

“We got a gap in the siege lines four blocks from the airfield. We can ditch the van, raise a five layer invisibility ward and infiltrate the private terminal?” Keller suggested.

Truth thought it through. He didn’t have a better plan.

“Let’s do it.”

The drive from the hotel took forty minutes. The slow creep through the shipping depots, snipping open the chain link fence around the airfield, crawling half a kilometer on their bellies to give the invisibility spell the best possible chance of working- that took four hours.

“Alright Nobu, call it in.” Nobu nodded, and worked the portable comms altar. A few seconds later, she got a strange look on her face.

Mission Update. Starbrite Regional Command Override, Code BLUE WOLF TORN, has been overridden by Starbrite Global Command Override, Code INDIGO PYRAMID RAIN. Security Detail ordered to protect asset Yoo Sung with Shattering Veil Spell on Spellward Talismans. No other spell use or action authorized until the evacuation vehicle arrives. This supersedes and replaces all other goals. System Costs will be paid by Code INDIGO PYRAMID RAIN. Operational responsibility assumed by Code INDIGO PYRAMID RAIN.

This was some high grade bullshit. Not least of which being that you couldn’t run that spell/talisman combo from inside the wards, as the wards would shred the spell. Something uncommonly nasty was about to go down. Truth started looking around for an escape route. Then gave it up. Orders are orders.

But… They didn’t say where they had to stand before they cast it.

“Rezepi, that a basement over there?”

“Looks like some kind of maintenance crawlspace.”

“Below ground is safer than above ground. Let's get down there and cast this ward.”

It was dark, musty, claustrophobic, and Truth was prepared to cherish it. They quickly set up the talismans and activated the spells. Anything, particularly anything spiritual, would be utterly shredded if it came in contact with the wards. Nobu called it in.

The world went white. A sense of screaming, a whole city screaming. A monster looking down on the world and burning humanity away with the heat of its gaze. Truth could feel himself unraveling, coming apart at every level of his being.

Woops! They called in the big guys! Bye bye trash, I won’t miss you!nove(l)bi(n.)com