MM - Chapter 162 - A MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE

Vaneese of CronGate

- Carter City -

The night had so far been one to be remembered. Managing to drag the psychotic assassin through four of CronGate’s hidden facilities was a stroke of genius, if risky. The woman was a meat grinder, easily butchering three hundred martials who were key to Torune’s plans in Carter and ZionLine. The disastrous results of the night set her ‘master’ back tens of millions of credits, not to mention several years of painstakingly raising and training disciples. 

Torune’s fury would be a sight to behold. Vaneese already had plans that would ensure she wasn’t nearby to witness it. She could barely contain her giddiness as she slipped through a narrow space between two wooden boards. The entrance to this burner apartment was cleverly hidden in the shadowed corner of an abandoned alley. Despite the numerous homeless in the area, none had spotted it yet. 

The small space within lacked furnishings but had everything she would need if escape from CronGate ever became a necessity. Vaneese knew right away that something was wrong. The air inside was wrong, foul in a way that didn’t match the piss and shit in the alley. She entered cautiously, arms up and knives out.

“So dramatic. Isn’t that just like you, Vaneese?” A deep male voice purred. His tone was debaucherous, as though each word were attempting to slither into her clothes and violate her. Marco Salvatore stepped out of the shadows, too-white teeth the only part of him visible in his dark garb.

Vaneese held down the bile inching up her throat with force of will; this was no time to be ruled by emotion. She needed to think. The fact this particular man was here of all places, and arrived before her, then waited as if he knew exactly where she would go was troubling in the extreme. Her response was flat, “Marco. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You seemed to be having such a fun night. Thought I might join you in the… festivities.”

Vaneese snarled in faux outrage, “Fun?! A clan kunoichi nearly killed me a dozen times over, and you think I was having fun? Fuck you! So much for caring about your supposed wife.”

Marco approached, tutting and shaking his head sadly, “Wife? Interesting you chose now of all times to call yourself that. It’s a little late. Maybe if you had submitted to me before, as was proper, things wouldn’t have turned out this way.”

Vaneese matched each of his steps, retreating toward the alley that was no doubt trapped. “You’re talking nonsense, Marco. Master doesn’t teach submission. Why would I make it easy for you, or anyone else?”

Seeing her futile attempt to resist, Marco sighed loudly. “Haven’t you realized it yet? You’ve fallen out of favor, little Vaneese. I don’t know what Master has planned for you, but I doubt you’ll be pretty enough to be worthy of me by the time he’s done with you. Give up and come quietly. Or don’t. Either way promises to be… fun.”

Vaneese relaxed her guard, standing tall and sheathing her weapons. “You’re right.” Marco paused at her admission. His brows lowered in anger when she continued in her usual flippant tone, “You don’t know Master’s intention at all. His favor is of no one's concern but his own. That said, of course I’ll go where directed. You are my superior. I will follow orders, as I always have. Your insinuations, whatever they may mean, are both meaningless and nonsensical. If you’ve some valid complaints about my performance, say it like a man.”

Marco scoffed at her audacity, unable to help himself from spilling the juicy details in hopes of seeing her squirm again, “For so many of our positions to be compromised overnight… Why, it's almost like events were orchestrated to cause maximum harm, by someone on the inside. And now here you are, not at one of our facilities, but in this little hideyhole you tried to conceal from us, your family.” He spread his arms wide, palms up, an oily smile once more revealing bright white teeth, “Truly, I don’t know what to say.”

Vaneese wanted to spit.

No! How did this idiot discover my intentions so quickly? Don’t tell me they hid a psychic from me? Dammit! I was so close! KongRu is weak right now. I have to strike before he recovers. There's no time to crawl out of this mess.

Vaneese had spent the last few days analyzing every one of Alaric's recorded battles down to the last microsecond. The man who fought on that stage, Raine KongRu, was definitely him. She’d seen the aftermath of his fight. He was injured, weak, and vulnerable. There wouldn’t be a better time to end him. If he was allowed to recover, he would only grow more powerful. Best of all, Vaneese was positive the grandmasters were only hired to be there. Chances were high that they were already gone.

Vaneese contemplated attacking Marco but thought better of it. After all, she knew how many traps Torune planted into the martial styles taught to the lowest members of CronGate. There was no way her style wasn’t just as riddled with ways to ensure her defeat by someone like Marco. If she was going to deal with him, it had to come from an outside threat, like that damnable assassin. Which meant she needed to bide her time.

Considering the way he chose to trap her, there was no point attempting to further convince him of her innocence. The only card she might have to play was a gamble. It was possible Marco didn’t know about KongRu, Alaric, and Astra Infernum being another of Torune’s projects. If Marco was aware, and his previous moping nothing more than an act, then revealing the truth would blow up in her face; better to bide her time.

Vaneese nodded and placed her hands at her lower back to be bound by the men sneaking up behind her. She wasn’t sunk yet. She had other secrets held in reserve, explicitly saved to buy her way out of… unfortunate situations like this one. Vaneese would have the last laugh. She would wipe that vile grin off Marco’s face and gloat over his corpse, then Torune’s, and finally, Raine KongRu’s.

Vaneese made sure the smile she felt didn’t reach her lips. It wouldn't do if they realized that killing her would only hasten their demise. Her ultimate contingency was already in place: a series of timers on a particularly damning vodcast that, if not reset by her every other day, would be delivered to Damian Tafell, detailing everything she knew. When that psychopath learned Torune was actually the mastermind behind Astra Infernum and Alaric, CronGate’s days would be numbered.

Unable to keep his mouth shut, Marco proved once again that he wasn’t capable of discovering her plots or this safehouse on his own. “Once Master heard of your fuckup, he immediately left Sandstone City. He’ll be arriving first thing in the morning, and he is not pleased with the state of Carter City.”

Despite herself, Vaneese snorted, shaking her head.

Oh, he’s not pleased, is he? No shit, idiot.

Raine KongRu

- Belehorn Tower -

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Celeste asked again while side-eyeing a stack of dusty crates crowding the narrow, unlit hallway.

“Yup, positive.” Raine nodded, narrowly edging his chair around the most recent blockage.

“Master. I request not to be left here for long. Seeing as this is the only accessway to the primus dock, these… fire hazards are an unacceptable risk to my pristine self.”

Raine snorted, amused, “Pristine self? Big talk for a bot without legs.”

“Says the cripple.” Morty fired back, earning a chortle from Celeste.

“Either address me as, ‘The Most Esteemed Cripple You’re Hitching A Ride On,’ or you can walk. Oh, wait. You can’t.” Raine chuckled darkly. Morty and Celeste had no response other than rolling their eyes in their own way.

Reaching the end of the hallway, the trio arrived at the door they’d been seeking. It was locked and sealed, though not powered down. Accessing his watch’s interface, Raine only needed a few taps to convince the door he was the new owner of the building and that it should open for him; it intelligently obliged.

A hiss of displaced air revealed the very unused and under-maintained primus dock. The cord that Morty would use to connect with the building’s mainframe was covered in spiderwebs. He took one look at it and started shaking his head. “No, no, no, no. This isn’t right. Don’t make me do it.”

“Stop being such a baby. Celeste, can you please clean the cord off for him?”

Celeste’s jaw dropped, and she stared at Raine like he’d grown a second head.

[Did he just say please? Is it getting cold in here? Yup, Hell definitely froze over.]

She nodded, speaking slowly, “Sure. I saw some old rags on one of those boxes. Be right back.”

Morty crooned, metal body quivering in a display that took considerable mechanical precision to pull off. “Computationals, preserve my sanctity! I wish I were capable of nightmares so that I might awaken.”

Raine obliged their behavior with the expected snark, “You’re both ridiculous.” Meanwhile, his eyes cataloged the many oddities of the sealed room. “This dock doesn’t look like it's ever been used, but someone has been coming in and out of here often enough to let bugs in. Morty, be careful when you go in.”

“Always, Master.”

Celeste took longer than expected, having raced to the nearest bathroom to clean the rag, which appeased Morty considerably. Soon, the AI-shaped alcove was cleaned out. Morty gingerly loaded himself into it face first before Raine plugged the cord into his spine.

The AI twitched sporadically for several seconds, calling out to Raine in alarm. “Requesting override!”

“Shit. How could I forget?” Raine moved as quickly as he could, cringing in pain as he placed his good palm on Morty’s back, “Override authorization gamma gamma gamma.”

Staring at them with wide eyes, Celeste silently mouthed her thoughts, “What the fuck?”

Morty’s form relaxed. “Override successful. Thank you, Master.”

“Sure thing. That was close. Why didn’t you remind me?” Raine chastised, knowing how close they had come to a major disaster.

“I was… distracted.” Morty intoned, his processing power directed toward more important tasks than continuing the conversation. At the moment, the AI had access to every file and byte of data that had ever been recorded by the large building’s many forms of sensors. Considering the underused primus dock, there was a good chance Alyxson was hiding something significant.

As Morty did his job, Raine’s thoughts were elsewhere and tinged with concern.

How does a primus get distracted? Was Morty infected by something whatever's in the basement? I should call Doc. See if he’s willing to come all the way to Carter to run a diagnostic. Who am I kidding? For enough money, he’ll do just about anything.

Celeste chewed her lower lip, unable to make heads or tails of Raine’s thoughts. “Are one of you going to tell me what that was all about?”

Raine shrugged. “Yeah. First time Morty’s been plugged into an official system in a few years. He was almost forced to update.”

“Wait, all that was only because of an update? Why not do it? Aren’t updates a good thing?” Morty actually pulled himself out of the dock far enough to stare back at her. Raine perfectly matched the AI’s expression, also eyeing her like he just discovered how low her IQ was. Celeste’s nostrils flared, not liking their looks one bit. “Wow. Fine. Sorry I asked.”

“How would you like it if a group of strangers occasionally popped into your brain, gained absolute control over every aspect of you, and then rewired you however they chose?” Morty nodded at her wide-eyed realization, then tucked himself back into the alcove. His posh voice was muffled as it echoed through the room. “I am already flawless. Hence, any supposed update would only mar my perfection.”

Raine parroted the AI’s haughty tone. “Yeah. What he said. So, find anything yet?”

Morty’s fans buzzed in annoyance. “Alyxson has been using a few of his flipped properties to transfer funds to several women who appear to be the mothers of his bastard offspring. So, no. Nothing really.”

Raine frowned, disappointed. “Alright. Nice to have a little dirt on the guy for when he gets out of hand, but I was hoping for something a bit juicier.”

“As was I. I shall keep digging, Master. If there is anything to find, be assured that it will not escape my notice.”