Water rippled over our group of submerged insurgents, trying to drag us out into the open, outside the tunnel. The effect was rather… interesting.

The anti-gravity field the temple had for people jumping down to the second strata was still well and working. Thousands of water drops floated around, split from the churning water as it flowed down into the hole.

The weakened gravity quickly became only a minor force down there, with the power of the current becoming the dominant force, causing a whirlpool of water blocking its own path down. Otherwise a hole this large would have already drained the entire place clean of water by now. It was creating its own funnel in a way. The metallic debris floating through the water equally made everything under the whirlpool completely unreadable. No signals were going in or out through it.

Relic armor let us hold onto the ground, despite the torrent washing over us. And while physics was clearly drunk on vacation a few meters away, where we were right now it wanted nothing more than to wash us down into the gullet leading into the second strata down.

Meanwhile, we were having a get together and discussing issues with leisure.

“The mite forge wouldn’t have broken down, it would have floated down gently.” I said, pointing out the anomaly. “So good chances it’s still in one piece working down there.”

Abraxas had been the one to tell me about the anti-gravity function, but fortunately I didn’t need to rat his name out since it was clear to everyone here what was going on. Or at least, clear to the armors who could do the number crunching required to figure out what the new gravity coefficient had to be to cause this kind of buildup a few meters away from us.

“Surprised this Feather wouldn’t just destroy the forge in the first place.” Windrunner said. “Is it really indestructible?”

“If they were destructible, the machines would have already eradicated any forge near human cities instead of committing entire armies to hold them down.” Kidra countered, logical as always.

Mite forges are destructible. Wrath corrected. Although generally not acceptable as targets. Mites are known to retaliate with maliciousness and spite. This is why machines must surround forges with armies to keep them out of human hands, instead of destroying them directly.

“But moving it around is acceptable?” Windrunner asked, pointing to the circus happening outside the tunnel. “Seems to be bending the rules here.”

No. Mite forges are conventionally unmovable. To’Avalis has found an edge case and abused it.

“One moment, go back a bit. Are you saying mite forges are smart and can hold a grudge?” I asked, a little incredulous. “Are we talking about a toolstation or some kind of creature here?”

More of a creature than a tool station. Mite forges need to be bargained with in order to gain access. Demands range from future favors owed that are never called on and forgotten about, or exotic material. They have been known to demand items they are able to forge themselves as well. It is redundant and arbitrary.

“Wouldn’t someone be able to tell them to create the item and then feed it back to them as payment for other items?” Kidra asked. “That hardly makes sense from any point of view.”

“That’s actually exactly how it worked last time.” Windrunner said. “I’ve run into a forge just once so far in my years. The forge demanded pieces of relic armor in exchange for medicine, and further repairs to our relic armors. We detached a few shoulderpads, threw them into the forge and it both created the pills we needed and reforged new shoulder pads for us all. Didn’t understand how that worked then, still don’t question it now.”

Comms clicked for a second for all of us, a quick one-way set of pings. That meant the surface team had slipped the noose and were now sneaking around. Direct audio comms might get intercepted at this range, so ambiguous quick pings that could bounce around chaotically until they reached us was the best way to communicate safely.

The surface team was reporting in, approaching the central location. Ankah and the Shadowsongs had also joined up with the group since there was a final burst of static at the end, and the two clicks meant they had found a good opportunity to escape all eyes without issue. Some good news for once.

“We need to come up with a plan of action.” Windrunner said. “The main force will be arriving into a possible death trap, all for nothing now.”

Right. Needed to improvise on the plan here.

Situation: There are two Feathers looking to murder us all, one deciding that it wasn’t enough to bring a gun into a sword fight, she had to bring airspeeder cannons. Two dozen just to be safe. And the other was on his own ratshit, only in his own unique way. Pulling off every possible cheat in the book and then writing another.

Additionally, the area was crawling with machines forming up at different chokepoints, and there may or may not be a giant mythical machine-bird flying around.

Oh, and our main objective was likely an entire mile under us now, at the very bottom of the desert strata. The one General Zaang’s info had listed some kind of lightning-like storms that kept the place interesting, which would only get more interesting given the entire place was getting rain for the first time in decades.

“Wrath,” I asked. “Mission’s not looking good right now. If you abandoned your shell, what would happen? Could you hide in the digital sea?”

To transport my soul, I must do so through the unity fractal. It is possible to hide in the digital sea, but my soul would reside in a catacombs, a location filled with spare unused soul fractals all linked in rows. Mother could have me eliminated at her leisure, she controls all these locations.

“All right, guess that’s out as an option. Any way we can move your fractal over to a different shell? Come to think of it, we do know a spare shell lying around. To’Aacar’s. Could we rip out the internals and put you in there? Then you fix it up back to your liking later. Or rip off the parts we need to fix you up and graft them on you.”

It’s... possible we could transplant that shell’s command and control nodes into my own shell. From there I could repair the rest. However, the shell was heavily damaged and nearly unable to repair itself due to the knightbreaker round it took. I do not give this plan a high chance of working out.

I could feel her hesitance. Wrath’s schematics were wildly different from To’Aacars given her modifications and generation difference. And she wasn’t sure if that final battle had eaten up the rest of those nodes in the first place. Once General Zaang had his hands on the broken shell, he’d brought it to his engineers and they’d begun to disassemble it bit by bit. Too much uncertainty there.

“Would Tsuya have a way to repair your shell?” I asked, looking down the last option I could think of. “She might have her own connections, maybe a spare mite forge in her bag somewhere? Cathida?”

The old bat gave a verbal shrug. “How would I know, deary? I was trusted to swing her sword, not balance her books. The temples on the surface certainly didn’t have anything that made them stand out other than being a terminal to speak to her. They did look quite impressive, but only from an architecture point of view.”

Also checked out with what I'd learned of the surface. She wasn't going to put a mite forge - which machines sought out with fanatical zeal to lock down and control - directly in a location she didn't want attention shined on.

“It seems to me,” Kidra said. “That our options fall to choosing where we fight. In a desert, or at another mite forge.”

“Either that or give up entirely on fixing up Wrath for this lifetime.” Windrunner said with a shrug. We all turned to him. “The girl’s immortal right? Let the next generation after you take on the burden, once the machines stop looking around for her.”

Mother will know I am still alive. Wrath protested, a bit of panic in her mind. To'Avalis is also immortal and will not stop seeking me out.

“Got to agree with her here.” I said. “We can’t just stick Wrath up in a locked archive as our clan oracle for a few decades.”

“Ahh, but wouldn’t the Feather minx be miserable without a body to move around?” Cathida said. “The violet goddess might see that as a fitting punishment. Knowing her traitor is still alive, and trapped in a broken body for eternity. In a sort of sadistic light, it checks out.”

Wrath’s feeling of panic increased, with a realization that Relinquished would very well be exactly spiteful enough to see this as a fitting fate.

“It’s not Relinquished we have to worry about.” I said. “To’Avalis is hunting Wrath down. He’s not under the geass that Relinquished is when it comes to the surface. And he's smart enough to work around limitations. Let’s keep that as a final option if we really can’t find a way through all this. How hard is it to get back to the surface from the second strata?” I asked, looking to Windrunner who would be the only one in this team that might know.

Cathida answered before he could. “Is your head filled with lead?” She hissed. “There’s a desert at the bottom there, need I remind you, deary? You know, those wide open grounds where a metal bird-bitch from hell can nail you from three dozen miles away and hang you out to dry like a purple fish rack?”

“It would be the less dangerous option, in truth.” Windrunner said. “We would only need the mite forge to repair Wrath’s command nodes, and then move to hide among the storms. Down there, the storms already repel machines so there won’t be another army for him to call on nearby. To’Avalis’s abilities to go through walls and attack from oblique angles is also nullified, since there are little walls.”

“You’ve got experience in that strata?” Kidra asked.

He shook his head. “No. Not that particular one. Though the info package Zaang left behind explained the basics. It should do.”

“That's if we find a storm before she finds you. And it doesn’t answer what to do about said Lady Explosions.” Cathida insisted. “She’s still going to have a clear line of sight from the roof of the world. Again, fish racks.”

Windrunner hummed. “The imperial crusader is correct on that count. We can’t pull this off with To’Sefit alive. She needs to be killed first before we can descend down to the second strata, at the minimum. And there’s no telling where she’s holed up now. If we can find and eliminate her for good, it is a possibility to continue the operation. If we can’t, we’ll need to retreat and take a few years to find a mite forge less defended, which probably won't happen in our lifetime. To’Avalis will be on the hunt as Keith said, so there may be exile in that future, to protect the clan from the fallout.”

"Great. Win a stacked fight, or get exiled from my home right when it's become a fun place to hang out in. Lovely." I groaned.

"Or you could just give the silver bimbo to someone else. The Indagator Mortis would probably help out. They won't be happy about it, much like me, but they would understand duty comes first. Leave the broken Feather to them and they'll handle it."

"Surface clans generally are alone, but in this case we could rely on the undersiders to help." Windrunner said. "Events here are bigger than any of us. Though, part of me rankles at the thought of giving up. That's not the way of the clan, and I'd have to live with that kind of shame hanging over my head."

Cathida sighed. "Am I seriously the only voice of reason here? Surface savages, the world doesn't always revolve around you! Mission's a bust, go and link up with the imperial order, and surrender To'Wrathh there. It's the only reasonable option. Join up with them if you want or go home and retire after, splash around in those baths of your and oggle a real rack. Either way, you live the good life instead of dying for nothing here."

Windrunner turned. "We're different from you, Crusader. There are causes worth dying for. This is one of them."

"Load of scrapshit. I'm dead in case you haven't noticed. D. E. A. D - dead." Cathida said, voice growing louder with each sentence. "And guess how I died? It wasn't from alcoholism while relaxing on a beach chair like I'd hoped for, I'll tell you that. Talking to me about dying for a cause, of all people. What are you, in your thirties? Lecturing me? Get another three decades of service and maybe you'll finally develop some wrinkles where it counts, young ma--"

She shut down as I finished hitting the mute button. Windrunner tilted his head at me, looking more amused than anything. I shrugged back. "Once you get her started, she doesn't really stop. Ever."

We all turned to Kidra, waiting for her opinion as the tiebreaker. She hummed, thinking. "We have a weapon that can kill a Feather with us. We've got the skills to kill Feathers as well. And there are Feathers here. Ridding the world of To'Sefit would be the right thing to do. Even if we fail on all other counts, honor would have us at least try to make the best of the situation."

If Cathida wasn't muted, I think she would have broken down right about now and gone into a frenzy.

“All right. Sounds like we're still in this." I said, "Thought under a different definition of success now." "We'll need to fight To'Sefit before anything." Windrunner pointed out. "No matter what we do, she has to die first.""Talking about her, I think I have an idea on finding her hiding spot. Didn’t think we’d use up this card this early, but got to work with what we have.” I said. “We’ll need to bait her out.”

Windrunner and Kidra turned to me, waiting to see what I’d come up with. They weren’t quite happy with it when I outlined my idea, but Cathida loved it, so I'm left with mixed feelings about how good the plan really is.

“Oi, asshole in the walls.” I called out over the comms number Avalis had given us.

Said asshole picked up immediately. “Winterscar. If you are requesting a surrender, I am open to negotiating terms.”

“Hell no, I’m calling to let you know we’re about to blow up your whole plan.” I said. “I enjoy gloating before I win, see?”

“I find it unlikely that you will see anything resembling victory.” He cordially answered, unamused.

“Really now? The way I see it, I’ve got everything lined up already. We know you tossed the mite forge into the next strata. We also saw your little chokepoints. They’re cute but you know it’s not going to hold off the knights we brought. First strata machines melt like heated snow against regular knights, and you know I’ve brought more than just that. They’re all on the level of Deathless. Also, I know you have no idea where any of us are anymore. Must be really getting under your skin, eh?”

He stayed quiet for a moment, contemplating the response. “Regardless of the situation, the mite forge is out of your reach. This mission has no victory conditions for you or your team. There is no tangible target left. You remain here for nothing. You are risking lives for nothing.”

“Not really nothing but you’re right, I can’t win anymore and fix Wrath with the forge gone.”

“If you understand this task is no longer possible, accept a ceasefire and surrender Wrath.” He said, pressing on the topic. “She is nothing more than dead weight to you.”

“Maybe if I were a cold calculator I’d agree. Ah, but see, here’s the thing Avalis. Humans don’t operate rationally all the time. And I happen to be the world’s greatest sore loser. So here’s what I’m going to do instead - I’m changing my goal from fixing Wrath to lobbing your head off. And To’Sefit’s too for good measure, if she’s listening in on the comms.”

She was on the channel, and answered, scoffing. “Delusions now human? My, I suppose I shouldn’t have expected more from your kind. How unsightly.”

“Your bravado does you little credit, human.” Avalis said. “We have all the time to safely eliminate all of you. This does not need to end in bloodshed. Surrender Wrath, she is the only one I care for. I can offer terms, Relinquished does not care about deals made with individual humans, you will die of old age long before it becomes a problem.”

"Are you sure we can't just kill them?" To'Sefit asked, sounding genuinely put off. "They're right here, crawling somewhere in the walls."

“It’s not that I don’t trust you’ll carry out whatever terms you agree to Avalis. I get a feeling you really are genuine with those, what's a few humans running off into the woods to you, after all? I wouldn't trust To'Sefit with my pet rock, but she's not in change as I hear it. Problem we got is that I want you dead. Figure we might have a conflict of interest on that point.”

Time to roll for bluff, knock on metal it all works out. “So, I’ve put explosives all over the chokepoints you’ve setup. Just wanted to call and hear your reaction."

“Not possible.” Avalis said.

“It’s not exactly hard to pinpoint all the best places for chokepoints. We have full maps of the temple from the Undercity. Did you think we couldn’t spot the best ways to the center point from the very start? How else do you think we already know about the mite forge being gone? I’m already here, Avalis. I’ve been here all along. And now, I’m going to wipe out whatever forces you have. Then, a dozen knights with fractal powers and knightbreakers are going to swarm all over your little trap and rip you apart limb from limb. Nice knowing you. Team, trigger explosives.”

And at that moment, there were explosions in the empty forge center room.

I’d made my gamble. Father had once told me that all machines behave on patterns. If I could figure them out, I could turn anything into my advantage.

Feathers weren’t exceptions to that rule. And Avalis had one pattern I’d noticed. Something familiar.

From the very start, he’d left comms behind so that there was always a possibility to end the fight diplomatically, the most non-destructive way to handle any conflict.

In the tunnels he’d fought with hit and run tactics, and when the tables had begun to turn, he’d abandoned the attempts rather than take any more risks.

Despite being a Feather and having all the advantages, every movement and plan had been made to maximize gains while minimizing chances of defeat. To’Sefit had always attacked from great range, and even been ordered to stand down early into a fight rather than to see it to the end.

Even now, he’d picked up my comms and the first thing he’d tried to do was to get out of the fight and settle things.

All of this led to one conclusion: Avalis didn’t want to die.

And being left in the dark, while the enemy gloated about winning was the last thing a survivor wanted to hear. I needed him as off-balance as possible for what came next.

Avalis saw explosions as I’d said he would. They just didn’t happen everywhere. Instead, only one tunnel saw explosives rip it apart. And from there, he heard a squawk of cries and curses on the comms.

Journey and the other armors turned off the jammers the very same moment, allowing the transmission bugs attached to our armor to leak our position. A moment later, the armors resumed the jamming signals. But by then, it was far too late.

All put together, Avalis saw exactly what I hoped he would: A misfire. His enemy had made a mistake, and they had accidentally revealed themselves. And he wasn't the type to allow a mistake to pass by unpunished. From her hiding spot on a distant balcony, behind hastily made rubble ruins, To'Sefit opened fire under his orders. Directly where the signals were coming from.

Twenty four beams of blue light speared through the hidden rubble, and dug right into the tunnels where we’d hid.

Everything inside was obliterated with no resistance.

And by everything, I mean the bits of discarded armor plates we’d strategically left behind, where the transmission bugs had been latched onto. Leaving To’Sefit’s location clear and obvious while they thought we’d been killed.

“Found you.” I hissed from the shadows, grinning wide, hands on my weapons with Windrunner next to me.

Time we went and killed Feather number two.

Next chapter - Flight