III-63 Unexpected

"Welcome, Legend Hawgrave. I bid you—” “Cut the shit, Stormhalt. I'm here because Kathereine asked me to be, not because you summoned me. So

"Welcome, Legend Hawgrave. I bid you—”

“Cut the shit, Stormhalt. I'm here because Kathereine asked me to be, not because you summoned me. So, what is it this time? Who do I need to kill? What do I need to break? Are the Jotun coming down from the north again? Do I need to kill another Chieftain? Or maybe we're going to experience something different this time. Maybe the Feathered Serpent finally got his head out of his ass, and now he's making a run on our southern border. That’ll be a fun fight.”

"Not quite so. The crisis we face is both a complicated and delicate matter."

"I don't do complicated and delicate, Stormhalt. That's Washington's business. Or Carisi. You probably should ask them if you want a gentle touch, but I don't want a gentle touch."

"Oh, but it will be worth it. And I need you specifically. We have the go-ahead. It's finally time."

"Finally time for what?"

"We have confirmation that Roland Arrow seeks to invoke the ritual. I know that we have had a great many differences, Jessica. But on this, on this, we will both finally see a blood debt squared."

"Huh, that arrogant shit is finally going for it. Well, I didn't think I would see the day. I also didn't expect the Starhawk to let him. But wait, why hasn't he been declared a traitor by the Council? Why are we meeting so hush-hush? This seems to be a bigger deal than you're presenting it to be."

“Because the Ascendants are still divided! And because they are hesitant to stand against the Starhawk. They worry that a forceful approach will provoke the Starhawk."

"But the Starhawk's already provoked. I tell you right now what I told Kathereine years ago. Either pull him back in the fold, redact him, or kill him. There's no other way about it. I know she still thinks he’s family, but there’s no chaining another god. Dammit. Family makes things fucking messy. Speaking of family… Blackedge, we're going to keep that town intact. Minimal casualties.”

“Of course. I only want to see Roland brought down and delivered to justice. And also the Perch secured. The perch and all the other sacred relics he has been hoarding."

"Right, good. Because I think I got a grandniece there. Last I checked. Descended from my late husband's brother. I don't much care for that piece of shit, but you know how it is. My grandniece should get to live. All for family and the ones we have left, right?"

"Yes. On that we are joined. All for family and the ones we have left. But some of us have very little, Hawgrave. Very, very little left.”

-City-Lord Havel Stormhalt and Legend Jessica Hawgrave

III-63

Unexpected

Shiv accepted Hawgrave's handshake, with apprehension filling his chest. Alarm bells were going off in his mind. For the legend to be here, hidden inside his holding cell, meant that Stormhawk likely still suspected him. 

But of all the people or ways he could have spied on me, I didn't expect her, Shiv thought to himself.

Hawgrave's grip was nothing special. She was strong, but aside from that, he couldn't tell anything else about her. She stared up at him with playful gleam in her eye.

"That's a pretty strong shake you got there, Master-Inquisitor. What are you, a High Adept now in terms of Physicality?"

Shiv almost reactively softened his handshake. That would have been even more suspicious. As if she isn't testing me right now, Shiv grimaced internally. What the hells does she know?

"Yeah, a High Adept," he replied. Shiv let out a slight cough, framing embarrassment. "I leveled a few times, escaping from the Necrotechs. I didn't have any weapons, so I had to make do. I killed a few Deathstalkers using a makeshift club I made from a pipe and a piece of concrete. Got quite a few levels that way.”

"Oh, nice." Hawgrave giggled. "You know, I miss being encircled or captured and then needing to break out of places. It's one of my guilty pleasures. But once you get to Legend, not so many people can capture you so easily anymore," so she blew a slight raspberry. "Life gets a lot more boring.” She smiled slowly. “Or really, really exciting when you actually find someone that can challenge you."

She licked her lips. Something was very, very wrong. She looked down at her hand and swallowed.

"Can I? Is it appropriate for me to let go now, Legend Hawgrave?"

"Didn't I just tell you to call me Jessica?"

"Yes, of course, Jessica."

"Well, you can let go of my hand now, Morgan."

He did and took a step back. He briefly glanced at her blade and noticed how it mirrored his movements. It was hovering just behind her, and Shiv's instincts told him that if he made any sudden movements, that rusted slab of metal would likely be greeting his neck.

"I—it honors me that you—I—" Shiv stammered and tried to make it seem as natural as possible. He didn't know Morgan Hyde's personality exactly, but when a legend showed up in front of you, some nervousness was probably natural.

She waved him off. "Yeah, knock that shit off too. I'm just a Legend. Aside from that, I'm like every other girl in the world. Well, every other girl who's survived over a century of combat in this nightmarish hell we call Integration. Anyway, I'm really impressed you managed to see me. I know you had High Adept Awareness as well. But still, you wanna know how many Masters just let me slip by under their notice?"

She waited for Shiv to ask her, and finally he did. "How many?"

"Too many," she said. "At least ten in the past few hours." She looked back at the crack she was hiding inside and simply laughed. "It's a bit of a hobby of mine, you know? I like shrinking down and running through Talsand's ventilation systems."

"Talsand?" Shiv asked.

And then he winced. And he realized, too late, that this was probably something Morgan Hyde would know. He tried to remedy that failure by sputtering, "I…Talsand… I’m having a hard time remembering some things because..." He gestured at his head. “They hurt me pretty bad.”

Acting 14 > 15

The Titansbane pressed her lips together and tutted in pity. "Ah, Psychomancers. The felling bastards. You know, of all the enemies I've run into, of all the enemies I've killed, I hate Psychomancers the worst. For one thing to get stabbed to death, it's another thing to be trapped inside your own body because your mind collapsed, right? Like someone forcing you to go demented.”

"Right," Shiv said, letting out a relieved sigh. "The felling bastards.”

“Still, it's kind of insulting that you forgot Talsand, of all people. I mean, especially since he's been carrying you out for the past week or so. Isn’t that right, Talsand.”

A low rumble sounded from the room. A droning voice spoke. “It happens sometimes. No hard feelings.”

And slowly Shiv began putting details together. Apparently, Talsand was a person. No, not a person, Shiv thought, the way they sounded. The way she was describing them, Talsand was likely an automaton. Shiv's eyes widened. Am I inside an automaton right now? Wait, how big can an automaton get? Because this feels larger than a building.

He directed a mana field against a wall and felt it bounce off. This place was warded. Shiv struggled not to clench his fists. Something was very wrong. Instinct told him he was compromised, but he didn’t know how.

Hawgrave continued. "Anyhow, now that you've spotted me, I can't really do the job I was originally supposed to. It's hard to be a creepy stalker when your stalkee has noticed you.”

Shiv stared at her awkwardly and she just laughed.

"Oh relax, Hyde, I'm not here to perv on you or anything, you're far too young for my tastes. I'm just here to see if you've been compromised in any way. In any non-obvious way."

"I don't understand what you mean, ma'am."

"Oh, the Necrotects have a lot of dirty tricks under their, up their sleeves. And you won't believe the things I've run into before. Shapeshifters. Skinwalkers. You know, I even accidentally killed an invisible New Albion spy once. Totally by accident. Wasn't trying at all." She turned around and pointed at her sword. "Swung old Rusty here without looking and cut him in half. Tell him, Rusty.”

“I still remember the blood and gristle and bone parting," the sword said. Its voice was deep, but it had a refined quality to it. Shiv thought it was the way a scholar might sound. If the scholar was a two and a half meter long greatsword.

Hawgrave giggled. "I totally messed up that time because I didn't see him there, but you know, things have a tendency to work out in life, wouldn't you say so?"

Shiv wasn't sure what she was implying, but he nodded slowly. "I hope so."

"You hope so," Hawgrave sighed. "Well, fine, since I can't just stare at you from the crack anymore, I'm going to try a more direct method. Are you actually Morgan Hyde? Last chance to come clean if you aren’t.”

Shiv’s stomach turned to lead. “What? Of course I am.” 

He did his best to keep his hammering heart in check. Hawgrave looked him up and down. "Well, you do look like him." Her eyes flashed with mana. "And you do have his path. All the right skills too. But why do I still have that funny feeling, old Rusty?"

"Because of the orc," old Rusty said.

"Right, the orc. The orc that surrendered himself to us. The orc that told us all about someone interesting. His Nemesis-Beloved."

And suddenly, his blood turned to ice. 

No. No, this is not happening.

Hawgrave continued. "Most people don't much like the orcs. Their response to the grayskins is just to kill them. I'm usually one of those people. But it's also not every day that an orc sneaks in to your Fortress City and actively surrenders himself to the inquisitors with special information about a certain Pathbearer in Gate Theborn. A Pathbearer with a mask that lets him pretend to be other people."

Oh, godsdammit, Shiv growled internally. 812, you better not be—

“Actually, let’s consult the orc right now,” Hawgrave said. Her blade moved a meter to her right, and its flat side flashed with the black static mana of Dimensionality. As the darkness cleared, the greatsword became a window into another place, and on the other side was a massive orc bolted to a wall. Only his head was exposed, but Shiv would recognize those piss yellow eyes and that feral grin anywhere.

812 lifted his head and smiled wider. “Ah, Deathless. Fancy seeing you again so soon. I knew slipping out across Lone Star and getting myself interned with the Republic would raise my odds of running across you. I just didn’t expect how soon it would be.”

Shiv’s mind reeled as he considered his response. “I… I don’t know you,” Shiv breathed, still trying to fake it.

The orc sighed. “You’re still not very good at this. They’ve delved into a few of my memories. Well. I let them. And they know I’m not lying. Just as they know I can sense you because of the curse.” 812 scoffed. “Alas, the City-Lord has a loathsome personality, and he refuses to allow me to be of service. But dear Legend Hawgrave was more than accommodating. She even allowed me to stay a guest within her sword.”

Godsdammit. Challenger, you’re just letting this shit happen?

The Challenger wants to see what happens next.

Shiv sighed. “Fuck me, this was bullshit.”

“Oh,” Hawgrave said, frowning. “Not really fair, was it?”

“Yeah.”

Shiv manifested—

Hawgrave flicked a finger against his head. Her inertium-forged armor cracked against his outer helmet, against his helmet, and split it down the middle. Shiv let out a grunt as the tip of her middle finger cracked his Mask of False Paths right down the middle as well.

Mask of False Paths

Condition: Severely Damaged

Husk of the Adamantine Voidmantid

Condition: Wounded

"Shit!" Shiv growled as his head snapped backward. Hawgrave’s finger felt as hard as some of Bonk’s heavier hits.

He tried to stop time once more, but she vanished from sight—only to reappear and drive a sloppy jab into his solar plexus. The blow came so fast Shiv didn't even perceive it, and the blow hit so hard that he felt his bones turn to powder and flesh turn to paste.

Adamantine Adaption 171 > 172

Shiv impacted the far wall. It rang around him, and then the room shuddered like the insides of a gong. A shockwave smashed into him a second thereafter. Then came more billowing waves of force and heat, crashing over him like ocean waves upon an ant.

Despite all that, the room took no damage. The cot and table dissolved into motes of dust. Shiv swallowed back a mouthful of viscera and snarled. Legend or not, he was going to hurt her for that.

Shiv pulled himself off the wall using his gravitic field, only for Hawgrave to slam arm-first into him. She pinned him in place with an outstretched hand. He thrust out his Skysplitter—but then she grabbed his thumb and twisted backward before he could ever thrust it into her neck.

"I—" Hawgrave started.

Shiv headbutted her. He felt part of his helmet cave in, but her face and nose remained absolutely undamaged. She pinned him against the wall and threw another light jab into his sternum.

Adamantine Adaption 172 > 174

Pain exploded inside Shiv. His torso felt like breaking glass. Pain exploded inside Shiv. His sternum dissolved. Sections of his spine snapped apart. An ocean of blood spilled down from his nostrils and mouth. It pooled around his cracked mask, spurting free from the opening in his helmet. He ignored it. He grabbed her arm and smashed into her using her mana hydras.

For the first time, she gave a response. She flinched lightly as columns of crimson mana exploded around her. He drove his Biomancy field against her flesh. Her body came alight in outline of spell patterns, but her Inertium armor made his magic bounce off in an instant.

It did give him a moment to recover. Shiv finally activated his Strider of the Unbending Path. His temporal shell ignited. The world around him stopped.

Then a spike of gold smashed into him. That faint mana concentrated in the atmosphere he saw in the cell earlier, suddenly collapsed around his body, hardening into a solid structure. It ground against his temporal armor, breaking it, costing him precious seconds.

But he still had enough to— 

Jessica Hawgrave's eyes moved. A smirk slowly spread across her face. Her body came aglow with vaporous, bright white mana.

Shiv looked on in utter disbelief. Time was stopped. He was accelerating his own progression of time so fast she should be still. She had no Chronomancy, so how as she—

Holy fucking shit, Shiv realized. She might just be that godsdamned fast. How high are her Reflexes?

Her bright white mana detonated outward. It impacted each of Shiv's magical fields and tore through them like a blade would split through flesh.

A cry of pain forced itself out from Shiv's lungs. His temporal shell shattered into grains of golden dust. Shiv fought through the pain as he attacked her. He threw a knee at her chest, using his badly ruptured mana hydras in tandem with his gravitic field to control his broken body and give force to his blow. 

Hawgrave vanished again as she dodged. She appeared to his right, and she lightly flicked him 

His helmet burst apart completely. Shiv felt his right ear cave in as well. The world spun, and the ground came up to hit him. As he crashed down, he clawed at the floor, fighting against how the room around him spun over and over. He managed to grab Hawgrave by her leg, and he used his gravitic field to twist against her knee. He tried to dislocate the limb, but found himself pressing against an unmoving pillar. He tried to lift her up, to throw her aside after that, but though she briefly left the ground, she slammed down a second later, as she got heavier and heavier, exceeding his strength in an instant.

"Ascendants, you just do not give up," she commented with naked glee. “You’re a real brawler, aren’t you?” He spat blood at her face through his cracked helmet and mask. She let the gore splash over her and even licked his blood. “Fine. Fuck it. Show me what you got, kid.”

His right ear wasn't working, his soul was lined with searing agony, but the battle-lust was on, Shiv, and he wasn't going to let a few things, like shredded mana fields or a crippling wound, stop him from putting up a good fight. He jabbed his Skysplitter against her several times. The blade bounced off, but he knew Deepest Edge would send his cuts through her armor. 

Even so, the Legendary Pathbearer didn't react.

"Deepest Edge," she said, recognizing the skill. "Not a bad skill to have at all, but that other stuff, what was that, Gravitic Wrestler? Strider of the Unbending Path, Aegis of Assimilation. Now that's in a pretty eclectic collection, if I do say so myself. What do you think, Rusty?"

"I think this one isn't human. Or he has been changed of his true nature.”

Shiv fought through a haze of agony as he directed a surge of basilisk venom into his flesh, using his Biomancy. Plaguefueled activated. His body swelled larger. He fed his injuries to his mana and swung his field against Hawgrave.

A blast of mana consumed the room. She reached through the explosion and pulled him up. Shiv borrowed her momentum and threw a rising elbow. She dropped her elbow down in response. Her blow cleaved through his. His limb came apart in a welter of gore. It resembled a club of jutting bone and pulped meat. Shiv stared at the limb for a moment and then hit her in the face with it anyway, ignoring the intense pain.

Hawgrave blinked at him, her mouth dropping open slightly. "How are you not in shock right now?"

"I've had worse," Shiv growled.

He hit her three times more with his ruined limb before she finally broke from her stupor. She grabbed his arm by the shoulder and simply ripped it off. A sounding snap shook through his body, and as soon as the arm detached from his shoulder, he rammed his jagged shoulder bone into her face. It didn't do much, but it did make her cough as she accidentally ingested some of his blood.

Her coughing turned into surprise laughter as he slammed into her repeatedly, his Inertial Overdrive building— 

She flicked him just under the chin. Shiv’s skull came apart in pieces. His sheathe discharged. She walked through the blast like it was a light breeze and flicked him across the jaw once more.

A flash of white exploded behind Shiv's eyes. The world was drowned away by a warbling siren and dappled colors. He tried to get his bearings, but his body was spinning. He couldn't tell where he was. Shiv pulled on himself using his field and found himself bouncing off a wall immediately after nausea swept through him. 

As Shiv coated himself using a mana hydra, he realized that his chin had lodged his chin into the back of his head. Part of it was sticking out from the back of his neck. A spreading numbness washed through his body. Shiv didn't even feel much pain anymore. Still, as far as injuries went, that one was pretty unique.

Adamantine Adaption 174 > 176

Good godsdamn shit, Shiv thought to himself. She's barely jabbing me. She makes the Recollector feel like a pushover with these hits. Bonk doesn’t have shit on her.

Suddenly, he felt a heavy weight slam down on his chest. Shiv let out a groan, and he tried to exhale. A wet cough left him instead, along with a splurge of blood. One of his lungs was filling with water. As the bright colors faded out of his eyes and sound returned to his only working ear, he found Hawgrave standing over him, looking down with a raised eyebrow.

"Hell, I might have hit you a little too hard. You still alive?"

Shiv wanted to say, just about, but what came out was a messy slur of gurgled blood and mucus. His mask also parted around his face in halves.

Mask of False Paths

Condition: Destroyed

Shit, Shiv sighed. Need to get that reforged.

She winced. "Yeah, sorry about that. I held back as much as I could. I was trying to knock you out. Since you survived my first few hits, I assumed you were Heroic-Tier in terms of toughness, but I guess you might just be a really High Master instead." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I also think I know what you got. That's Adamantine Adaption, isn't it? You felt harder the second time around. Your body was trying to get used to me. Just what exactly are you?" She let out a surprise giggle. "Shit, the orc was right. There might actually be a crazy human kid getting monster skills."

Shiv rolled onto his side with a sudden burst of his gravitic field. He launched the weight, pressing down on him for a moment, but then it crashed back down, and she felt part of his torso cave in entirely. It was only then did he notice that her huge sword was leaning against him. Shiv senses began to drift as his mind went cold. 

Death was soon approaching. Shiv tried to trigger his Chronomancy again, but the field hadn't recovered enough yet.

Shit…

“No, no, I know that look. I know when someone's on the way out. Don't die on me yet, Deathless."

She reached down and pulled the broken Mask of False Paths off his face. And at the same time, a swirl of Dimensionality concentrated, formed around her hand, from a black static sphere emerged a large bulbous elixir. Its undersides were transparent, and Shiv saw what seemed to be bottled fire swirling within. She popped the top of its cork off, and began pouring it down over his face into his wounds.

The flames shot through Shiv, consumed him from within. He felt himself combust, but rather than burning alive, the fire began to reconstruct him, rebuild every part of his body and armor that she'd just broken. She plugged the elixir a moment after, and she dismissed it with another casual spell of Dimensionality. The fire worked through Shiv, and as soon as it extinguished itself, he felt his right arm again, and his chin was back in the right place. More importantly, however, his Perfect Semblance was lost. His true form was exposed for the first time, and Hawgrave held the two pieces of his broken mask in her hand.

"Mask of False Paths," she chuckled to herself. "Heroic-Tier, that's a pretty nifty thing to have, but you're no spy. No, definitely not. Well, even if you were, we already knew you were coming, especially with our special informant."

Shiv stared at Hawgrave for a few moments, annoyed that she didn't let him die, but also thinking of how he could exploit her curiosity. This spying thing had gone to shit in record time as per usual, but she was trying to keep him alive, and more importantly, she didn't know about his outside context problem skill. His mistake earlier was not using the skill first, before he triggered his Chronomancy. 

When his field recovered, he would use Outside Context Problem to shroud himself from Hawgrave's Awareness and whatever that atmospheric counter-mana was, so that he could escape. But before then, before then he might still be able to confuse them—to get them on track to attack Sullain all the same.

Shiv held up his two hands and sighed, "Alright, you got me. Really not that good at this whole spying thing."

She nodded at him in sympathy. "Yeah, judging from your skills, I think you're probably a bit more like me. You like that bone on bone fighting, don't you?"

Should have met her gaze and simply let out a quiet laugh. "Suppose you could say that. About as much as I like cooking."

She nodded and extended a hand, "Legend Jessica Hawgrave, Titansbane. And you are? Your real name."

Should have considered withholding that information, but there was no point. If 812 was actually the one who informed on him, then they were probably aware of who he was. Or at least suspicious.

"Hero Shiv. And I don't really have a nickname I prefer to use right now."

He reached up and accepted her hand. She pulled him back up with a casual tug. And once more, he was surprised by her strength. Surprised and fascinated. There was nothing about her physicality that told him how she was hitting that hard. She was overwhelmingly powerful. But the nuances of her strength and speed were also staggeringly subtle.

"So, just Shiv, huh?" she said.

"Yeah," he replied, "just Shiv."

She regarded him for a moment longer and turned away. "You know, I'm surprised that Roland let you live. Especially considering what your mommy and daddy did to his wife."

And immediately, Hawgrave made her own mistake. She showed the extent of her knowledge. She didn't know Rose was back, and that Rose was right here. She also told Shiv indirectly that she knew his parents.

"Well, if you know anything about Roland Arrow, it's that he's too kind to be a bastard, but too hurt to let shit go."

His comment made Hawgrave guffaw loudly. She threw her head back and cackled girlishly. "Oh, oh, that's good. Yeah." She pointed a finger at him. "That is a great description of Roland Arrow. That arrogant, self-deluding piece of shit. I’m gonna look forward to splitting him down the middle.”

Shiv noticed how her words ended as a vicious growl, and he suspected that there might be a personal matter between her and Roland as well. Just how many people did you piss off? Town-Lord, how many hated adversaries do you have?

A sudden pressure clenched the right side of Shiv's body, and just then, City Lord Stormhalt appeared in the room. He arrived with his helmet on and flanked by seven other Pathbearers. All of them possessed at least a high mastery tier magical skill, and they bore weaponry that gleamed bright with Chronomancy mana.

Shiv had a feeling they were specifically here to deal with him if Hawgrave needed support.

Stormhalt did a double take at Shiv, and he let out a frustrated snarl. "Ascendant, the damned orc wasn't lying.”

"I know, right?" Hawgrave said, with a white grin on her face, "I can't believe it myself. But here he is in the flesh, a monster skill-having human."

"Hero Shiv, officially known as Tanner Lowe in the Republic Census. The Omenborn," Stormhalt muttered.

"Yeah, not really that anymore," Shiv replied, trying to clamp down on the annoyance he felt when Stormhalt used that slur.

“But how?” Stormhalt hissed. “How did you hide from me.”

Hawgrave gestured at his broken mask. “He had a special item. I think that’s an Aviary mask, isn’t it? Pretty neat. I might have some use for it when I get it fixed.”

“Nah,” Shiv said. “I intend to keep it.”

Things were dramatically off course, and Shiv considered in that moment to activate outside context problem and cast himself away to his temporal anchor. But he hesitated. If he left now, Stormhalt and the Inquisition might avoid Blackedge altogether or make a direct run for Gate Piety instead. No, Shiv thought, I need to make sure that they go for Blackedge immediately. Doesn't matter how I do it. Doesn't matter that my cover's blown. He eyed the pieces of his broken mask left on the ground as well. Also need to get that back before I cut and run.

"So, your ruse has failed," Stormhalt said, marching up to Shiv. The City-Lord was tall, but he was still only human-sized. The Plaguefueled-boosted Shiv was almost three and a half meters. He looked down at Stormhalt and ignored the bolts of lightning leaping off the City-Lord’s body to crash against his. "The Inquisitors you brought with you, their broken minds and wounds, were your handiwork?"

"Not mine alone," Shiv replied, casually. "I had some friends help me." And then a devious idea came together in his mind. "Frankly, I don't know what to do with a human mind. I don't know what to do with any mind. I'm barely much of a Psychomancer. So I left that to the other Necrotechs."

Stormhalt glared at him and began shaking. "You…You betrayed the Republic?"

"I betrayed the Republic?" Shiv spat, forced snorting in disbelief. "Listen, Havel. I don’t give a shit about the Republic—”

Stormhalt threw a heavy hook into Shiv's ribs. A loud thud thundered through the room. A blast of lightning and force swept over everyone. Shiv didn't budge. He just stared down at Stormhalt. Slowly, he turned away from the City-Lord and looked toward Hawgrave instead.

"Maybe you should stick to doing the physical violence. This one tickles.”

Hawgrave covered her mouth and failed to hide her amusement. Stormhalt pulled his fist back and tried to hide how bad it was shaking. Shiv squirted his eyes at his wrist and noted it was jutting out at a bad angle.

"Listen, my Biomancy field might be a little bit jacked up right now, but do you want me to fix it up?"

The City Lord launched a bolt of lightning at Shiv's face in response. That death was considerably harder. It took a step back and shook off the slight concussion Stormhalt gave him.

"Yeah, you should have started with that asshole, much with the punching,” Shiv rubbed his head.

Hawgrave couldn't take it anymore. Laughter escaped her like peeling bells. Stormhalt turned his glare on her for a moment as Shiv reached down to pick up his broken mask. Just then, a blade was pressed against his throat.

"Touch it and we behead you." A towering, elven Pathbearer held a Chronomancy-lined saber against his throat. She pressed it a little bit harder and it slipped through his armor with some effort. He noted the frown on her face.

Shiv just sneered. "Yeah, I hope your friends can hold me still. Frankly, I don't give a shit about the rest of you." He looked at Hawgrave. "This one here is my only problem. For now."

"For now," Hawgrave said, shaking her head. "God, you are an absolute peach. I think I'm gonna have to keep this one. Stormhalt. It's been a while since I had an apprentice. I’m putting him in Rusty after.”

"Absolutely not," Stormhalt shouted at her. "After everything he's done, he's betrayed the Republic."

"She's teasing you, dipshit," Shiv muttered.

“No, I’m serious,” Hawgrave said. “I want you in my sword. Rusty could use someone like you juicing him up.”

“What?” Shiv said.

“Enough!” Lightning exploded out from Stormhalt's body. A building storm rushed out of his person, consuming the small room in tides of turbulent wind. Gales strong enough to peel the soil in patches off the earth ground against Shiv's armor. And to his surprise, he was taking damage. Stormhalt was a mage, a High Master Aeromancer, was Shiv's guess. Stormhalt took a single step through the denseness of the storm. His body was cast alight by flashing forks of electricity. He came for Shiv like a harbinger of destruction.

But suddenly, Hawgrave casually strode through the wall of wind as well. She placed a hand on his shoulder and held him still. Suddenly, the thunderstorm died, and Hawgrave simply shook her head. "If you kill him, we don't get to interrogate anyone. And I don’t get a new mana battery for my sword.”

Stormhalt's body shook slightly, but he glared at Shiv a final time. "Seize him. Take his equipment."

"There's no need for that," Shiv said, holding his hands up. "I'm willing to cooperate right now. I want to live. Besides, it's probably too late for you guys to do anything anyway."

Suddenly, any trace of amusement was gone from Hawgrave's face. "All right, start talking. Why is it too late?"

"Because Sullain’s finished his weapon. He's going to use it on Blackedge as soon as he possibly can. He also knows about you guys, thanks to Master-Advisor Oldsmith and the recently captured Master Inquisitor Sijik. I don't think you guys have the manpower to stop him either."

Deception 22 > 23

Hawgrave and Stormhalt shared a look.

"Has he used the weapon yet?" Stormhalt snarled. "Speak."

"Not yet," Shiv said, "but soon. He finished it just as I left. My job was to keep you assholes delayed and confused."

"Uh-huh," Hawgrave responded. "But then why'd you tell us that Stormhalt had the Animancy Core to begin with? Seems like a stupid thing to do, giving that a way.”

"Because we can't hide that," Shiv said, adapting on the fly. The real reason was he was pulling things out of his ass right now, and couldn’t keep his story straight. "Pretty soon the entire world's gonna know about the Animancy Core. He's built quite the weapon with it. And he intends to turn Starhawk's Perch into nothing but a puddle of slag as well. So if you're trying to save that, well, I hope you have a replacement sacred relic somewhere, because the Perch might be lost. However," Shiv let the word hang, "I might be agreeable to a deal. I can help you save the Perch.”

"A deal?" Stormhalt spat incredulously. "You, you're talking a deal with us. You're bargaining. You, a traitor to the Republic, a murderer of inquisitors. You are bargaining for-"

"I'm bargaining for my life," Shiv said gaudily. "I don't have any love for the Republic. You can thank Roland Arrow for that. In fact, I think there's not a single person in this room that likes Roland Arrow. That being said, I don't much care for the Necrotechs either. The bastards want to have a war with the surface. And me, I just want to be left alone after I settle a score."

Hesitation gripped city lord Stormhalt. Shiv's play at manipulating his emotions was working. The Deathless still wasn't a very good spy, but with all the time he spent around the orcs trying to decipher their intentions, learning their habits, their behaviors, he was getting good at judging people's psychologies. And fast. Maybe I don't need to be a spy, Shiv thought to himself. Maybe there is another way I could be socially effective. I don't think I've ever considered giving up politics a go. Might put more thought into that.

"Roland." Stormhalt rasped. "You're here for Roland as well."

"As I said before, aren't we all? Anyway, the hell is your problem with Roland? And yours?" He looked at Hawgrave too. "Did he keep you borderline illiterate and stop you from having Paths too?"

The Legendary Pathbearer ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek, and Shiv got the feeling she was restraining quite a bit of anger. "He put a hole through my eldest daughter's head. Killed her dead.”

"Oh," Shiv replied. "Yeah, that'll do it."

"My grievance is not your concern," Stormhalt said. "But tell me, what possibly, what possible use are you now? What can you offer us that we cannot take with our Psychomancers? With our—”

"Do you want the Animancy core back or not?" Shiv asked. "Because I can get back there. And since Sullain still trusts me," Shiv paused. "Somewhat. I might be able to delay. I might be able to damage his weapon. Give you bastards an edge in the coming fight. And before you lose your shit and do a bunch of other stuff, I can potentially smuggle some of your Inquisitors behind enemy lines as well."

Shiv was pulling things out of his ass by now. But it was working better than the actual plan. He could see Stormhalt considering Shiv's offer. Hawgrave as well.

"And if I bring your inquisitors with me, they can make sure I don't betray you. Besides, I don't want to deal with the Necrotechs alone anyway. Creepy felling fucks.”

A moment of silence passed. Stormhaltz stared at Shiv and let out a breath. "The same thing can be done once our Psychomancers are done with your mind. This changes nothing.” He gestured at his soldiers. "Seize him. Have him prepared for psychosurger—”

Shiv triggered Outside Context Problem. He sank into his Vitae and suddenly the City-Lord did a double take. Hawgrave looked confused as well. She broke from her casual stance and came alert. Her blade swept through the space Shiv once occupied and cleaved nothing. In the same moment the Deathless picked up both halves of his broken mask, and he cast a final glance at Hawgrave.

"I'll get you in the rematch," he muttered.

He froze time, but before he cast himself back to his temporal anchor and gate piety he walked up to the city lord and channeled a spray of basilisk venom through his eye slots.

"Have fun with the nerve-agent, City-Lord. Should distract them for a bit.”

With that done, Shiv cast himself across time. He jolted out of place, surging across reality before he snapped back before the Surface Gateway almost an hour ago. Two Weaveresses on guard within the teleportation anchor flinched away from him, and between them a dimensional pathway stood open leading back to the bunker.

Shiv let out a long breath as he processed what just happened to him. He shifted the contents of his cape and aligned and brought the Forest of Alloy in position as well.

"You guys all right," Shiv said? "Uva?”

"I'm fine I think." The Umbral let out a pained rasp. "Just suffering incredible mana strain. What was that? Something tore through me.”

"I don't know. It's like Hawgrave projected her Magical Resistance out of herself. But did you guys get the rest of that?"

"Yeah." Rose answered thereafter. "Godsdammit. Fuck! I mean what the fuck is Jesse doing? Why is she with Havel? What does he mean Roland killed her eldest daughter? We—she was our friend? What even is this.”

Shiv sighed. "Lots has changed since you've been gone, Rose. That’s my guess.”

"You guess," Rose hissed. "Also what the hell was all that?"

"What," Shiv said?

"You were a spy for around 20 minutes. That's some of the worst Tradecraft I've ever seen."

"Yeah, well it's pretty normal with me," Shiv replied. "Still got it done though in the end. They're going after Sullain. I think. Just didn't get a chance to do anything else."

“What a pity,” Whisper replied. “But 812’s appearance was a surprise. Though an amusing one.”

“Not for me, asshole. I’m gonna kill that fucking orc for good when I get my hands on him.” Shiv prepared to pass through the dimensional pathway. But suddenly the surface gateway behind him shuddered. Adam returned covered in blood and ash. He nearly slammed into Shiv but went still thereafter.

“Shiv?” He was surprised to see the Deathless, but he shook it off. "You're back just in time. We have a problem. A big felling problem."

"Adam," Shiv grunted. "Made contact with Stormhalt and the Titansbane for that matter. The spying went to shit, but they're still..."

"Sullain finished his weapon," Adam spat out first, interrupting Shiv. “I need you and the orcs out on the surface now!”

The Deathless was speechless for a moment. "Wow. Looks like I wasn't a liar after all. I told the Inquisition he was done with the weapon too.”