The Effaced: Chapter Twenty-Two

HEAVY content warning for mentions / discussions of sexual abuse and abuse of power in this and the next chapters.
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“No,” I groaned as I looked over the Elucidate Labs branch armory. “You’re a lab, aren’t you supposed to have all sorts of goodies? My sister makes better guns than this.” 

“Most of our gear is produced to be sold or directly sent out to our private military subcontractors,” Hadiya said as she lit a long, slender cigarette. “We don’t exactly keep a massive stock. Though if you’re willing to trade us some of your sister’s proprietary designs…” 

“No.” 

It had taken us a long time to figure out our next move. We’d needed to assume that the government was all but against us at this point, and the Contractor’s warning about what the Arenamaster was up to made it hard to completely ignore her too. 

In the end, though, that was too shaky of a lead to follow. She’d tried to have me killed, not framed, which Rhys thought meant she was unrelated to the assassination, or maybe even on our side, in a weird way. After all, if I died, I wouldn’t need to stand in court. 

Egress was too hard to track down, given that the portal mage only showed up when things caught her fancy.

If it was Bleeding Eyes, then he was playing some sort of incredibly convoluted long game with more skill as a mage than he should have.

Which left Horse. 

There was no way that I’d be bringing Kelly anywhere near the White Rooms. As far as I was concerned, White Lily, the proprietress of the White Rooms, could go rot in the void for a thousand years, and I’d not lose a bit of sleep.

It would also be too damaging to Rhys’ political ties if he was spotted visiting the White Rooms, but a scummy ex-con like me? I’d fit right in. Hadiya wasn’t anyone of political note, and while she didn’t especially want to be seen visiting the White Rooms, she also didn’t trust a sorcerer not to muck it up – her words, not mine.

Which meant, against my better judgment, I was leaving Kelly with Rhys to stay in the lab, since the kid still refused to go home, while Hadiya and I went to find Horse. 

And that meant I got to raid the on-site armory of Elucidate Labs. 

For being the best laboratory in the city, with as much power as a full political party – in fact, I was pretty sure they served as backers for several parties – I had expected better. 

Instead, I’d been brought to a tiny locker half the size of a broom closet, filled with a bunch of experimental weapons that had never been finished well enough to go into mass production. 

“It would be better if you weren’t so picky,” Hadiya said, taking a long drag from her cigarette. 

“A gun should be reliable,” I said, as I shot a scornful glance at one of the rifles I’d been offered. The thing could only fire a single bullet every thirty minutes – said bullet was powerful enough to tear through most reinforced steel plating on an airship… if it worked. Half the time, the enchantments just didn’t work, rendering it less effective than a normal rifle. 

Most of the other weapons that were available followed similar patterns – old fashioned revolvers that could fire all six shots at once, but broke frequently, an aircraft gun that jammed every couple of shots, a box of ultra-enhanced combat wands that would snap every two or three uses.

I poked and prodded through the armory until I found a few things that I could at least work with. None of them were good, exactly. I’d still have rather had my own gear, and I made sure to tell Hadiya that, but she gave me a flat look. 

“We’re not going back to your apartment, Axel,” she said flatly. “Too much risk just to get an armored jacket, a pair of pistols, and a dueling sword.” 

I knew she was right, but I still sighed, then belted on the sword. It was a slender rapier that had the concentrated weight and power of a claymore. It didn’t have any other enchantments, and had actually been disposed of in the armory for exactly this reason – the thing was more like an experimental enchanter’s final design project than something Elucidate could actually make and sell en masse. But it was also probably the most reliable thing in the entire armory. 

I had some ideas on ways different arch-stars could interact with the spellwork. It was always difficult to tell exactly how the infusion arch-star would work. Using the aura masking arch-star almost always translated to hiding, for example, but that could mean different things. When I infused it into a bullet, the bullet didn’t trigger alarm wards, but any spellwork I wrapped the bullet in could still be seen to an archmage. 

The only other thing I selected from the armory was a slender flintlock. The thing was practically a relic, but the mage who’d made it had leaned all in on raw power over anything else. The bullets it fired were wrapped in enough layers of force magic that it might be able to be counted as a siege spell. After it was shot, the entire flintlock would be gone, consumed to power the spell.

It was ridiculous, over the top, and not reliable at all, and in truth, I somewhat hated it for that, but at least I could treat it like a single use weapon, rather than trying to use it as a normal gun. An emergency measure. 

“Ready?” Hadiya asked. 

“Not yet,” I said. “Kelly, c’mere.” 

The kid wandered over to me, and I tapped my head as I tossed him a brass pin, then pulled my necklace over my head and sent it over to him. It took Kelly a second, but his fingers twitched, and I felt a mental connection establish. 

“What is it?” Kelly asked, his voice slightly tinny, and echoing in my mind, even though his lips didn’t move and he made no sound. 

“The button is a one use defense against curses and most other more intangible forms of magic. The necklace is a foci,” I thought at him, and my mental voice echoed across the connection. 

“A what?” 

“A channeled magic item. Pour aura into it, it works. Stop, and it stops. It will create a force ward in front of you, and a strong one.” 

“Why are you giving these to me?” Kelly asked as he slipped the button into his pocket and put the necklace on. 

I spoke aloud for Rhys and Hadiya’s benefits. 

“Those are a couple of minor good luck charms, but the kid needs them more than me.” 

Then in my mind, I sent more thoughts to Kelly. 

“They’re not luck charms. I want you to have some defenses. If Rhys tries anything at all, use the ward and then fry his brain.” 

Kelly gulped, but nodded. I felt the connection break, and I turned to Hadiya. 

“Alright, now I’m ready,” I said.

“Let’s get into the automobile,” she said and I scoffed at her. 

“You don’t go to the White Rooms by automobile,” I told her. 

“You said they supplied… entertainment… to many of the wealthiest people in the city.” 

“Sure,” I said, “That doesn’t mean they’re accessible via automobile. They have their methods into the sky, but their main base, where they procure people? That’s down in the undercity.” 

Hadiya paused. 

“How do you plan to counter divination attempts?” she asked. “I don’t suppose your strange rune bond can do that?” 

“I don’t have a way to counter divination magic,” I admitted. “Do you?”

She grumbled for a second, then nodded. 

“I do, but it’s in my office. I expected the automobile would be enough.” 

A quick walk down to her office later, and she opened a closet hidden in the wall. 

I peaked in, curious about the enigmatic woman’s secret rooms. There were all sorts of strange machines and vials in the room, but nothing I could identify. Hadiya retrieved a brass and copper cube the size of my head, with a fist-sized aura generator set into the center that glowed bright enough that it hurt a little to look at. The box let out little puffs of steam every once in a while, and Hadiya heaved a heavy breath as she hefted the object. 

I waved a hand and used a metal spell to lift it, then floated it over my right shoulder. A moment of consideration later, and I rebuilt the floating spell to carry a pair of objects in an equidistant point from me, then tossed the flintlock over my right shoulder. I infused my third arch-star into the spell, and then split my mind to let that run in the background while I focused on Hadiya. 

Her dark eyes swept me up and down, then she frowned. 

“You look ridiculous. A long coat, things floating over your shoulders…” 

“Good,” I said. “That will help us stick out in the ways we want, but not too much. Everyone who’s got a bit of power in the undercity flaunts it. We’ll look like we’ve got enough power to defend ourselves, but not so much we’re worth robbing.” 

I hesitated. 

“Probably. The White Lily’s territory is… bad. Really bad. Desperation can make people do crazy things.” 

“Can you keep the power expenditure even when the aura thins too much for your recharge?” Hadiya asked, and I nodded seriously. 

“It’s taken care of, don’t worry. Elucidate isn’t the only place with tricks.” 

We headed up to the large common area where they kept the coffee, weapon closet, and paper replication spellwork, waved our goodbyes to Kelly and Rhys, then headed up the stairs and out onto the street. We did actually take the automobile for a little bit, until we were as near to their territory as you could get on the street side, then we parked in a paid garage, before disembarking and walking.

Sure enough, I got lots of strange looks on the street, but the moment we headed down a set of stairs and into the undercity, people shied away. 

We were still in the better parts of the undercity, the ones that were actually maintained, but the people were still close enough to the truth to know where and what someone flaunting their power meant. 

Hadiya seemed annoyed by the whole thing as she strode along beside me. 

“I don’t suppose you want any body modifications done, do you?” I asked. She looked disgusted for a moment and I held up my hands. 

“Woah there. I meant things like restructuring your muscles to work more effectively, improving your bone marrow to produce blood that better conducts air, upgrading bone density and strength, enhancing the spinal cord’s durability…”

Hadiya relaxed a bit, then raised an eyebrow. 

“Really? They offer that?” 

“They’re a brothel, yes, but they're also the best body modification or improvement spot in the entire city. I’d wager that, so long as you’ve got the money to afford their services safely, they’d be able to outperform most actual labs. If you want a quick improvement to your body, there’s no better place to get it than here. I might hate them, but I am serious. If you’ve got the money, it might be worth it.” 

“Why not just fully legalize their business, move streetside, and make money that way? Everyone in the sky pays for those sorts of modifications. They could make a lot of money. And I thought the place was a brothel, why would they sell body modifications?” 

“A lot, but not as much as they can with their modifications and brothel working together. There’s a reason I hate them.”

As we stepped over the cordon and into the worse parts of the Undercity, I swept my arm dramatically. 

“The White Rooms provide anyone to suit your tastes, of any tastes! Do you want to take someone who’s been modified to look like a politician you hate? Want someone modified to appear as a child? Want someone modified to resemble your ex-lover? For the right price, you can buy anything at the White Rooms.” 

A horrified look came over Hadiya’s face, but I didn’t stop. 

“All done under the veneer of legality, too. After all, the people agreed to these modifications. It’s not the White Room’s fault that they grew up too poor to see any options other than sex work, and that being modified to serve as a politician’s personal toy makes the most money. A five year stint can set you up for life. If you make it, that is.” 

Hadiya shuddered and I nodded. We walked in silence for a long time, before we stepped into the territory of the White Rooms.