December 2021 Christmas Holidays Story Contest Entry

 

 

 

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Author's Note: It's a little later today that I hoped for since my arm really wasn't happy with me, but it's done. Big thanks to Talia and Dot for all their help and support and Merry Christmas to all. So, here's part 2 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. ~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 2: Light-bearer

The shelter was a large cave in the cliffside, enough to fit the two hundred plus people of our village twice over. There was a great fire pit in the middle which had been readied to start the great pyre, with all the wood that could be carried inside waiting off to the side for me to refuel the fire as needed. With the doors closed the only openings were some small openings that had been made in the ceiling of the cavern and covered with metal grates to allow fresh air inside and smoke from fires to escape if we needed to take shelter for long periods.

It was dark inside, only a few torches lit so far and I was suddenly grateful for my excellent low-light vision as I approached Chief Ragan. “We should get started, I guess,” I said, though it came out with the air of a question.

The Chief nodded but his gaze was on the doors. “Where is Abby, Snow?”

“There was a big Demon outside, she said it was a Razorwing? She told me that I should tell people that there’s an Angel out there fighting for them and then ran off to get its attention away from the shelter,” I explained uncertainly.

“So, she finally told you, did she?” he asked with a sad smile as he placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “We haven’t often needed her skills since she came here to raise you but if anyone can keep us all safe it is your aunt, Snow. Abbadine won’t let us down. How are your injuries, lass?”

“I’m a bit sore, but I’ll be just fine. I have work to do, after all,” I admitted with the best smile that I could manage. The pain could have been worse but while everyone else was hurrying about and moving things for the ceremony of light to the shelter, our medicine woman, Sharee had taken me back to the cabin that I shared with my aunt. Once we were there she had tended to my injuries to ensure they were properly cared for, given me one of her tonics to ease the pain, and encouraged me to get out of my hunting leathers and into my most cheerful winter dress. I needed to provide an image of confidence and cheer for our people and I knew that as well as Sharee and Chief Ragan did

My smile was gratefully returned. “There’s a good lass, let’s get to it then,” Chief Ragan said as guided me by the shoulder, taking one of the torches from a sconce near the doors before leading us to the pyre that had been quickly rebuilt in the cavern’s large fire pit. Then he handed me the torch and called for everyone’s attention. Suddenly every eye in the cavern was looking at me.

I took a deep breath to steady myself and then nearly dropped the torch as a loud boom resounded through the cavern, seeming to shake the very ground. I was followed by a second, less intense one and I wondered if that was because Aunt Abby was leading the Razorwing away. I wasn’t quite sure what I should be saying but Chief Ragan squeezed my shoulder reassuringly and whispered, “Just speak from the heart, lass.”

I once again held the torch high and tried to speak loudly and clearly enough for everyone in the cavern to make out my words. “Tonight is the ever-night. We stand here together, ready to face the darkness ahead, to hold it back until the dawn. The old world fell into the longest night, but we will not allow that to happen to us. We stand here together, family and friends, and we will endure and hold onto the light until dawn because we are here for one another and we are stronger together.”

I paused a moment to look around at all the familiar faces around me, keeping the torch held high so they could see my attempt at a smile before I spoke again. “You all heard those bangs, you felt them. There is a Demon at our doors, maybe more than one. I faced one today and I’m still here to talk about it, so I know that if we hold on to hope and the light and take care of one another that we can hold back the dark facing us tonight. Right now, my aunt is out there facing the Darkness at our doorstep. We have an Angel watching over us tonight and she will not fail us, so we won’t fail her either. Hold back the darkness in your hearts and I, your light-bearer, will hold back the darkness around us until Kriss-mass dawns!”

I crouched down and, ignoring the protests of pain this caused in my injured leg, reached out with the torch to set it to the pitch and kindling at the bottom of the pyre. It quickly caught and slowly began to build into a roaring fire that I hoped would not only give us light but warmth in this cool cavern as well. Once I was sure that the blaze wouldn’t die out I got back to my feet, a small hiss of pain escaping my lips. I just kept my breathing steady and tried to show no outward signs of my discomfort as I moved from the fire to light the two dozen lanterns that had been placed around the cavern.

The lanterns were simple earthen oil lamps that had been fitted with glass covers in a variety of colors. One of the larger towns southwest of us had a potter and glassmaker who specialized in creating such things and each year they traded us a few for a supply of clay and river sand. It was well worth it since they sold their wares for large sums in the larger towns and cities.

They certainly provided a more cheerful atmosphere once lit and when I finished my task the inside of the cavern was bathed in the colored lights in addition to the large pyre. I had also lit some smaller cooking fires so that those responsible for cooking our evening meal, including the two grouse that I had caught, could complete that task. One would think that my job was now done, right? No, I still had much to do.

Throughout the night I would be feeding the pyre whenever it looked like it was starting to die down. I would be doing the same for the lanterns, adding oil rendered from animal fat that we had saved up all year long in bladders around twice the size as what we usually used for water or the various berry wines that we produced in the summer. The most important fires that I would be stoking through the night though would be those in the souls of my fellow villagers as I tried to keep smiles on their faces and hope in their hearts.

And so began my duties as the light-bearer of the ever-night. We ate and talked about the past year and our hopes to be blessed with another like it. Sometimes the conversation lulled as I tended the lamps and pyre, especially among the children. Their eyes would shift uncertainly toward a darkened corner when a lamp started to sputter and wouldn’t leave until it was once again producing a steady flame. I didn’t know this because I was watching them but because I could remember doing so myself when I was their age. I knew that tonight keeping their hope was going to be difficult with no moon to light the sky outside and us stuck inside the shelter with Demons at the gates.

It was getting late and the children were getting too tired to stay awake. Alas, they were also too scared to sleep. I had just finished adding more wood to the pyre and oil to the lanterns in the corner where they would be sleeping to reassure them but I wanted to do more to ease their young minds. They were all huddled together, over thirty of them, on blankets and rushes that had been stacked and placed together to make their sleep as comfortable as possible in what was essentially a cave. I smiled down at them and sat cross-legged among the circle of children huddled together, quickly suppressing a hiss of pain at the discomfort.

“Tell me, what troubles you?” I asked. I knew what it was, or at least I could make a good guess, but sometimes it helped to get it out in the open, to face it and have someone tell you not just that it would be okay, but why.

It was Nalma, one of the younger girls and a Harekin who hesitantly replied, her ears twitching nervously. “Wh… what if the world ends while we sleep? There are D…Demons out there.”

“It won’t end. I won’t let it,” I vowed. “The elders say that Kasala, the Great Spirit of the moon and snow has plans for me. Do you truly think that She would have such plans and then just let the world end? My aunt won’t let the Darkness come for us either. If I can fight off a Demon, just think of what she can do. She’s an Angel, so no Demon is going to stop her from keeping us safe and ensuring the dawn comes. And until it does, we’ll be safe in here. The walls and doors are thick and we have the Pyre. Do you know why fire provides light and warmth, Nalma?”

“Because the Great Spirits gave it to us to comfort us during the long night after the fall of the old world?” Her answer was uncertain, but it seemed that she remembered the story of Tatuke and the Fire Spirit.

I nodded and reached out to ruffle her long dark hair. “Very good, but it was also given to us to protect us. You see, Demons fear fire above all other things, except Angels. That is why the Angels burn the Demons’ bodies, to destroy them and keep them from ever coming back. Even Darkness itself flees from the light of the flames. As long as the pyre burns we will remain safe from the Darkness.”

“Did you really fight a Demon, Snow?” Oscar, one of the older Foxkin boys asked, tilting his head to look at me incredulously.

“Yup, it was a Demon-wolf and its howl could shatter trees. If you ever see a Demon, find a place to hide until help can come. I probably only beat it because I’m spirit-touched, and I had to use my gift to fight it and make sure I didn’t get any of its blood on me,” I replied.

Len, a Catkin girl who was just starting to show the signs of becoming a woman spoke up next. Her ears turned lightly to the sides and her slowly swishing tail gave away her anxiety and uncertainty as much as the expression on her face or the quiver in her voice. “Wh… what if our cabin or the whole village get destroyed?”

“That could happen,” I told her honestly. “When I was little, half of the village was destroyed when Demons attacked, but my aunt will probably try to keep fighting away from there, and so would any other Angels who come to help. If that does somehow happen, then we’ll rebuild. We’ve done it before and we’ll likely have to do it again. It doesn’t matter though.”

“Why? Everything we own is there; my clothes, the bow that grandpa made me, and the gifts that I made for Mama, Papa, and my brother.”

I shook my head, reaching out to gently stroke the anxious Catkin’s cheek, and told her, “Should Kriss-Mass come and we see daylight when we leave this cave then that is what is important. Our homes, possessions, and the gifts we plan to exchange are just things. They can be fixed or replaced. The important thing is those people you mentioned, people who can’t be replaced. You’ll have another year with them and being together with those we love is what Kriss-Mass is all about.”

I could see Len and the other children thinking over my words. Her body language relaxed a bit as she nodded. “You’re right, Snow. I can’t wait to wake up and spend Kriss-mass with them. No matter what it brings, at least we’ll have each other.”

I nodded and smiled. “Good, now you should all try to get some sleep and I should get back to tending the light. But first, how about I sing you all one of the ever-night songs?” Eager nods and smiles met my proposal and as they all got comfortable again for sleep, I began to softly sing.

Darkest night, Ever-night
Stave off the dark, until the light
Round the light-bearer, one and all
Light pyre and lanterns, to hold back nightfall
Keep hope until Kriss-Mass dawns,
Keep hope until Kriss-Mass dawns.

Darkest night, Ever-night
For our sake, Angels fight
Shield us from Demons, born from Darkness
Til Darkness is vanquished, they will never rest
Keep your hope shining bright,
Keep your hope shining bright.

Darkest night, Ever-night
When Kriss-Mass dawns, all will be right
When the night is over, don't be afraid
Hope for the future, let's celebrate
Celebrate light, hope, and joy,
Celebrate light, hope, and joy.

It was one of my favorite ever-night songs. The melody was so soothing and relaxing and I smiled as I saw some of the children already beginning to drift off. I checked once more on the pyre and seeing that it didn’t seem to need any more wood yet I made my way to the other lanterns to check on them. As I was doing so, Chief Ragan came into step with me and reached out to ruffle my hair just as I had done earlier with Nalma. “Fine job with the young’uns, lass. I knew that we made the right choice for our light-bearer. We will miss you and Abbadine but you will make a fine Angel someday.”

I could feel my face flushing and not from the heat of the lantern that I was tending. “Thank you. Wait, Aunt Abby?”

“She only came here to care for you until you were old enough to make your own way in life, lass. She’s an Angel, and her duty is to the Queen and all of the peoples of Misota, not just our small village. She will be going to the capital with you so she won’t be far if you need her,” the large Bearkin assured me. “And as for you… You may be leaving the village but I think that we will always be in your heart and, since we aren’t going anywhere, we’ll always be here if you want to visit.”

“I… thank you… I,” I attempted to reply, embarrassed and not quite sure what to say.

“You’ve always been a good lass, even if you’ve never been quite sure of yourself or your place in the world,” he said suddenly interrupting my inane attempt at a response. Sometimes we choose light-bearers more for your own sake than that of the village. If I were to choose what’s best for the village I wouldn’t want to let you leave because even when you don’t care for yourself, you still care for the people around you and that drives you. We all care for you too but most of us can see that this is not where you belong, you belong out in the wider world, finding yourself and making the world a better place.”

For the rest of that long night, I thought about what Chief Ragan said to me as I tended the pyre and the lamps. I had plenty of time to think and even many of the adults were settling in for sleep so it was quiet as well. He had been right that going out and seeing more of the world and helping others appealed to me greatly. As an Angel I could do that, I could make a difference.

Could I truly find myself out there though? It wasn’t really as if I was lost, after all. I knew exactly what I wanted, I just didn’t think that it was possible. I could dress the part all that I wanted, and sometimes it was almost enough, but it wasn’t like I could ever be the woman in body that I knew I was in my soul. I doubted that even the Angels could help me with that. Angels could do great things, but miracles?

Thinking about Angels of course also made me think about my aunt. She was one of the strongest and smartest people I knew, and knowing that she was an Angel made me even more proud than ever to have her as my aunt. I was worried about her though. I had seen what she had run off to fight and it made the Demon that I had fought in the woods seem like an infant by comparison. How could anyone, even an Angel, fight something like that and win?

I was trying not to dwell on such things and instead, I began worrying about something else that was weighing heavily on my mind as I tried to stay awake. It was hard to tell how close we were to sunrise inside the shelter with the doors tightly sealed but everyone else had seemingly fallen asleep. Meanwhile, I was fighting to stay awake, we were close to running out of oil for the lanterns, and I had been letting the pyre dye down a bit between wood feedings to conserve fuel. That was when my sensitive ears picked up the sound of metallic tapping, causing me to jump in shock and my heart to race as I let out something between a shriek and a squeak in my surprise.

Someone, or something, was tapping on the great iron doors to the shelter. I listened carefully, my heart skipping a beat. Three quick taps…Pause… A quick tap and a long tap… Another pause… Two quick taps, followed by a long one and another quick one… Pause again… A quick tap. I breathed a sigh of relief as I spelled it out in my mind. S.A.F.E.

Aunt Abby had taught me the tap language when she taught me to read, write, and calculate numbers. For the first few years after she had arrived, she had taught me, several of the other kids my age, and a few adults like Chief Ragan as well. She felt that they were useful skills and it was no different to her teaching one person or a group. Nobody in the village had had any of those skills before she started teaching us and, except for the tap language, all of the skills had proven useful to the village when trading, and one of the women she had taught was now teaching the village children.

I had always wondered where she had learned those skills. I had never really left the village except to hunt or help with gathering berries and other things but from what some of our traders had told me, they weren’t commonly taught skills. Usually, only wealthy people in the larger towns and cities of Misota and the other nearby countries that they had visited on trading expeditions were taught such things. Now that I knew she was an Angel it made a little more sense to me.

I approached the doors and removed the bar securing it. Opening it cautiously and peeking outside I saw something that made me open them wide and practically jump through. It was Aunt Abby. Her clothes were half shredded and she was bruised and bleeding but she was alive and her face was lit by the rising sun. My chest tightened and tears filled my eyes as I ran to embrace her.

Only I didn’t actually embrace her, I fell through her. I turned around, looking around in confusion and sudden fear. Had she died? Become one of the spirits? “Huh? What? How?”

Her voice coming from my right snapped me out of it and I turned to see her standing about twenty paces away. “It’s my gift, Snow. Sorry to use it on you like that, I’m happy to see you too but I can’t have you hugging me yet. I’m covered in Demon blood. I need to burn these clothes and get clean. I just wanted to let you know that I’m okay. All of the Demons in the area have been suppressed and there is just the clean-up to deal with now. I thought that you might want to see that though.”

I followed her pointing finger and stared in awe. It was the most beautiful sight that I had ever seen. It wasn’t the sunrise, though it was magnificent and a huge relief after waiting out the ever-night. Shining there in the distance above the forest, bathed in the golden light of the dawn was something that defied description, I had never seen anything like it before.

It looked to be made of dark metal and hovered above the ground, but it didn’t seem to be alive like the Razorwing was. It was almost shaped like a massive dragonfly but the thick wide wings were on the underside and while they weren’t moving I could hear a high-pitched whine. “What is that?” I asked in stunned awe as it lowered itself to the ground slipping down amongst the trees.

“That’s our ride to the capital,” she told me with a grin.

“That… That’s not the airship that the Santa comes on. It’s like… a dragonfly,” I stammered, shaking my head in wonder. For one thing, it was much smaller. The airships that the Santas came on every year were huge, made from dark wood and shiny brass like great ships in the sky and they had these massive bladders tied above them that Aunt Abby said were filled with hot air.

“No, that’s something that we use to get Angels to an area fast. I can’t tell you too much yet, it’s a secret, Snow. Nobody but the Queen and Angels know about it, but since you’re heading to the academy you’ve been approved. You’ll need to learn to keep secrets, Angels have a lot of them,” my aunt told me, her tone as serious as I had ever heard it.

“I… okay, I promise I won’t tell anyone,” I assured her, still watching where the strange craft had landed. “Umm… why do I need to go on that instead of the Santa’s airship?” I was half disappointed and half crazy with excitement. I was a bit uncertain about riding with a bunch of Angels and the Santa that they sent was usually a nice elderly man. So approachable, and probably a little less intimidating than a group of Angels that I didn’t know.

She nodded as I spoke my promise and seemed to relax a little as she explained, “A Razorwing shredded the air bag of the airship that was coming to get you and give the blessings to the people of Serkis this year. So, once the other Angels out there and I have finished the clean-up we’ve been approved to give the blessings ourselves and you and I can get a ride back to the capital with them afterward. We’re going to have to go and visit the other three villages that the Santa was responsible for too and pick up their light-bearers.” She didn’t sound too pleased by the thought though.

“What’s wrong, Aunt Abby?”

“One of the teams that came on the… dragonfly says that they can hide it whenever we have to take to the sky or land but I’m not certain about it. I haven’t met any of them before today and I’ve been out of the action for a while so all I know about them is what I saw while we were all hunting Demons in a dark forest,” my aunt replied with a shrug. Then she sighed and looked toward the forest. “We’re going to have to test the light-bearers of those villages too, to make sure they’re Angel material before letting them in on any secrets.”

My ears laid back and my tail began to swish in agitation as I gave my aunt a hard look. “Test? Shouldn’t I have to take one too? I don’t want to get any special treatment just because you’re my aunt.”

“Snow, you’re not getting special treatment and I’m not…” she let out a sigh and gave me a long look. “There are… matters that we’ll need to talk about soon. I promise that you’re not getting special treatment though. You’re being allowed to see the dragonfly because you already passed your test and gained me as your sponsor by doing something far more difficult than any test that any Angel could devise. You fought and killed a Demon using nothing but your gift and wits and lived to tell about it. We found the place where you fought and the remains of the Demon and I had to explain what happened. Including me, you have nine Angels willing to sponsor you.”

“I… oh, well…” I mumbled, my cheeks flushing.

“I need to go help them with the clean-up and burn these clothes, Snow. You have your duties too. Go wake everyone up, tell them the sun is rising and it’s safe to come outside. We’ll be back once we’ve located and destroyed any additional Demon-seeds.” With that, she dashed off for the forest with inhuman speed.

Aunt Abby and the other Angels didn’t finish their work until near midday. I had already packed what few small personal possessions that I wanted to take with me, mostly some mementos of my parents. Aunt Abby had cleaned up and she was dressed in some of her other clothes from our cabin. I had been half-expecting the other Angels to be uniforms or matching armor or something but she explained that while they did have something like that they were only used for official functions and that they worked in whatever they felt comfortable with. Since they had just been hunting down Demons and this was a last-minute request they didn’t have them with them.

There were eight other Angels besides my aunt, as she had earlier indicated. They usually worked in teams of four, though sometimes you’d have those who worked solo or in pairs. These were two teams of four though and one of them had stayed with the Dragonfly airship to make sure it was ‘secure’, but I thought that maybe they didn’t want to overwhelm the people of the village as well.

The team that had come to the village with Aunt Abby was led by a tall, willowy blonde Fay named Talea who wore simple dark-colored travel clothes and a cloak. Her teammates were a short and curvy brunette Squirrelkin named Dorthea who was wearing a bright pink dress that hugged her figure, and a sister and brother human pair named Jacinda and Telas. They were both tall, dark, and muscular but other than that they couldn’t be more different. Even though none of them were armed, Telas was wearing armor and he looked like he didn’t need weapons. The guy was kind of scary in a really masculine way, everything that I secretly feared I was cursed to become whether I liked it or not. He probably didn’t need a gun, I’d bet he could just put the bullets in his mouth and spit. Jacinda wore a dress that while not quite as bright pink as Dorthea’s, was really frilly with a poofy skirt and white lace cuffs and collar.

As I shared one last meal with the people of my home village, my aunt and the other Angels with her spoke a blessing over each of the village children, and any adults who wanted one as well. Eventually, it was time to say goodbye though and it was with mixed feelings that I left the village of my birth. I stopped to take one last look, a shuddering sigh escaping me before I finally turned back and followed my aunt to meet whatever my future held as an Angel.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: I was hoping to have this posted yesterday but appointments and stuff prevented me from finishing the new chapter for Patreon until after midnight last night and I've had problems posting it here today. Further chapters are available on Patreon. So, here's chapter 3 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. ~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 3: Recruits

When we entered the clearing where the dragonfly-like craft had landed in I let out a small gasp. It was larger than I had expected and with it close up and sitting still I could make out a lot more details. It was indeed shaped vaguely like a dragonfly, but instead of legs, it sat on three large black wheels. Its large bulky body had a long straight tail at the rear that boasted three large fish-like fins at the end, one upward and the other two to either side. Large bulky and sturdy-looking wings stood out from the sides of the body at the top with big bulbous egg shapes at the ends. Just forward of the wings there was a rectangular door

“What is it?! How does it fly without hot air or propellers?” I asked excitedly as I drank in the sight.

“Our Tinkers call it a veetol,” Jacinda explained with a smile. “It’s something from before the old world fell that they have been able to get working for us. The parts and the fuel are hard to reproduce so we were only able to restore a few working models. They told me that those egg shapes at the ends of the wings are something called turbines. They swivel to provide lift or thrust as needed and the whole thing is powered by something called Hydrogen fuel cells.”

I didn’t have time to ask anything more as I was ushered through the opening in the side and the others followed me, sliding the door shut once we were all inside. Toward the front of the craft was a closed-off area that I was later told was where the pilot controlled the veetol. Toward the back was an open area where four other people were doing something with something shiny and metallic. Along the walls between the two were the strangest-looking chairs that I had ever seen, over twenty of them in total.

“Have a seat and get strapped in, Snow,” Telas told me in what I guessed was supposed to be a friendly tone as he gestured to lines of odd-looking chairs along the walls. The large Human made me nervous though and I quickly scampered away to sit in the closest seat, careful not to pinch my tail as I sat. It was made of a material that I wasn’t familiar with and it had these strange straps with unfamiliar metal clips but it was at least somewhat comfortable as long as I kept my tail in front of me and resting in my lap. After a quick conversation with the others, Aunt Abby came over to show me how to get strapped into the harness, adjust the straps, and secure the metal clips and buckle.

Once I was strapped in she took the seat beside me and quickly got herself settled as well. Then she turned to me and smiled. “Try not to be so nervous, Snow. We’ll be underway soon. As soon as Rose and her team are done with securing the cargo, she’ll let the pilot know that we’re ready to take off.”

“Cargo?” I asked uncertainly as I glanced once again toward the back of the craft and the four unfamiliar Angels who were securing some sort of net.

“There are some things that we can’t burn to ash when dealing with Demons, like the feathers of that Razorwing that I fought. They’re some sort of otherworldly metal and we can’t produce a fire hot enough to melt them in the field. We’ve found uses for them though, so we bring them back to base,” my aunt explained.

It wasn’t long before the other team was finished securing the cargo. A short, buxom, redheaded, and pretty Harekin with blue-grey eyes stepped away from the other three to approach us. She wore scandalously skimpy black shorts, a crimson top that covered less than the swim tops I’d seen some of the other girls wear during the summer, some sort of thick armor on her lower legs and forearms, and a black leather belt and harness holding more knives than I cared to count. I briefly wondered how she wasn’t freezing as she stopped to give a curt nod toward Aunt Abby.

“Everything is locked down and we’re ready to take off on your command,” she reported to my aunt. Then she suddenly turned to smile at me. “And you must be Snow, I saw what you did to that Direwolf. I can’t wait to see what you’re capable of once you’ve had the Angel Elixir. I’m Rose. And these are my teammates; Krysta, Sarin, and Taddick.”

Krysta was a tall and curvy Foxkin dressed in shimmering green robes with billowing sleeves and I couldn’t see any obvious weapons on her other than a simple metal staff. She had a big fluffy black tail tipped with silver and big matching ears poking out from her waist-length, wavy, black hair. Her eyes were a startling ice blue and she had a very nice smile as she offered her hand for me to shake awkwardly. “It’s nice to meet you, Snow, welcome to the Angel Corps.”

Sarin was a tall and muscular Devilkin wearing a sort of sleeveless chainmail dress with a large Warhammer hanging from her hip. She was also kind of scary-looking even without all of that. Her skin was dark blue, she had glowing red eyes, and big spiraling silver horns emerged from her forehead and swept backward above her pointed ears, contrasting her ebony hair. When she gave me a quick, “Welcome aboard,” her voice was like shifting gravel.

Taddick looked like a normal human male, about the average height of an adult Animan male with dull brown hair and eyes and carrying what I thought might be some sort of large gun. He wasn’t nearly as large or imposing as Telas and the thing that stood out most about him was his attitude. He flopped back into one of the seats across from me, legs splayed lazily as he looked me over and sniffed rudely. “What’s he doing here, I thought we were waiting for a girl.”

The words were like a knife to the heart and I found myself suddenly trying to hold back tears, my ears lowered and my tail twitching in my lap where it had been resting. I was so busy trying to blink back tears that I never saw what happened in that brief instant. The sound caught my ears though and when my eyes snapped open again there was a quivering dagger embedded in Taddick’s seat, a hair’s breadth from where his splayed legs met in the middle.

“She is here to become an Angel, Tad-dick. Look at how she is dressed, her body language. She’s not the first two-spirited Angel we’ve had and she probably won’t be the last either. She may have been born in the wrong body but that won’t be a problem for long, not once she’s had the Elixir,” Rose chastised him.

My ears perked up at that, but Taddick quickly killed any excitement that I could feel over Rose’s revelation. “Hmmph, maybe he just needs to man up a bit. Why any guy in his right mind would…” I had barely seen Rose move but a second dagger was now embedded beside the first, this time close enough to have sliced through the leather of his pants.

“Enough, Taddick! If you misgender her or say anything stupid like that again, then I will talk to one of the Archangels and you’ll be off my team and working at the most remote border outpost that I can find. Maybe in the Brown Valley so you can be close to your family? How do they treat non-humans or people with Seed-borne gifts in Dakoda again?” the Harekin said in a tone that left no doubt that she wasn’t joking.

Taddick had gone white and near-whispered, “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me,” Rose answered, her stern tone not wavering in the slightest as she glanced toward my aunt. “We have an Archangel right here. I know that you’re a product of those who raised you, but maybe you should remember what it was like being persecuted before doing it to someone else just because you can’t wrap your little mind around something. It doesn’t matter what she is, she’s going to be an Angel, and we don’t treat our own like that.”

Confusion was beginning to shove my discomfort at Taddick’s words aside. Taddick had a Seed-borne gift? He was Human though and everything that I had heard said that all of the Seed-borne were changed and became the non-human races. What was an Archangel? She couldn’t have been talking about Aunt Abby, could she? I had so many questions.

Rose turned to me with an apologetic look. “Sorry about him. Now you can see why we stayed with the veetol rather than coming to your village. We’re not exactly the team you want on meet and greet missions. Sarin is one of the sweetest people I know but she can be damn scary to people meeting her for the first time. Taddick is… well, Taddick…”

“And Rose gets stabby when she’s angry,” Krysta added with a playful grin, cutting off whatever else the Harekin was about to say. Then the Foxkin’s tone and face turned serious as she told me. “It’s a good thing you won’t need to go to the academy for testing, it’s in the city and a lot of Humans don’t really understand or tolerate two-spirited people there so you could be mistreated. You’ll be able to come straight to the base with us and get your dose of Angel Elixir and you won’t have to go to the academy until the process is complete and you’ve been assigned gear.”

“You’re an Animan too, and with you, it’s not just the ears and tail either. You have those eyes, fangs, and claws. Your coloring is outside the norm too, even for Animen, so Humans could be assholes until you’ve had your dose of the Elixir. Once you’re officially an Angel, even one in training, you’ll have the mark and be under the Queen’s protection so people will be less likely to mess with you. It can still happen, but it won’t be as likely to get violent. Trust me, I’ve been there,” Sarin offered sympathetically in her gravelly voice.

“Is it really that bad?” I asked, swallowing a lump that had suddenly taken up residence in my throat.

“Sadly, yes it is, Snow,” Rose cautioned. “Animen, Devilkin, Fay… most Humans treat us like garbage. Don’t get me wrong they’re not all like that, and with so many of us becoming Angels that kind of attitude is beginning to change in Misota, or at least the capital. Many still think that we’re no better than Demons though, and they’re afraid that we’ll all turn on them. It’s one of the reasons that we all separated ourselves from the Humans and made our own communities after the longest night in the first place. It’s also why Animen and Devilkin discarded our human family names at the end of the old world and took new ones, related to our changes.”

“We Fay discarded our human family names too,” Talea chipped in. “We don’t even have official family names anymore; we give our children names connected to nature. I was named after a type of rose. Some of us have only one name, some two or more, but I’ve heard of a few with entire phrases as their names. Two names seem to be the most common though.”

Something felt off to me so I asked, “Umm… if Humans hate us so much then why are so many of us becoming Angels?”

My aunt decided to field this question herself. “Because of our gifts. All Angels were born with Seed-borne gifts. You would have to ask Sira or the Tinkers in the lab for a more specific explanation but we’ve been doing it that way since almost the beginning of the Angel Corps. The other light-bearers sent to the capital today will become Angels only if they have a gift and can pass the tests given by a senior Angel. Those who don’t are free to join us and attend the Academy but they will be training for support roles within the organization. The Elixir is only rarely given to those without gifts and only in dire circumstances. But even those people will never be Angels.”

“And since all Angels need to have Seed-borne gifts, most of us aren’t going to be Human. There are Humans with gifts but they’re not as common as with other Seed-borne races. Most who were affected by the original Demon Seeds were changed into Demons, mindless savage beasts. Others were affected to different degrees. In addition to getting gifts, some became Devilkin, some Fay, and some Animen but some showed no outward changes at all. Nobody outside of the Angels knows this, but the Queen’s bloodline is descended from one of those,” Telas pointed out.

Jacinda nodded in agreement. “With those of us who still look completely human, gifts are rare. There can be several generations between children being born with gifts. Our mother thinks that the only reason that Telas and I both got gifts is that we’re twins. It’s probably why our gifts are so similar too.”

Krysta quickly added, “It’s not like that with those of us who are visible Seed-borne. Devilkin gifts are hereditary; they inherit the same gift that one of their parents had. Almost half of the Fay are born with some kind of gift. As for us Animen, there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. In any given generation you can have Animan villages where only one child is born with a gift, others where most of them are, and the rest are somewhere in between. Kids like you, born with additional non-human features or unusually colored hair and eyes, are extremely rare but seem to always have a gift.”

“Well, I think that’s enough explanations until we get her to the base and put her in Sira’s hands. She’ll be able to answer any other questions that you or the others have. Believe me, once you meet her, you’ll have questions, even if you don’t have any more just now. We need to go pick up three more light-bearers, so get strapped in everyone,” Rose said, putting an end to the discussion for now.

With the conversation over and Taddick now keeping his mouth firmly shut, Rose went to talk to the pilot for a moment and everyone got strapped in for the short trip to the next village. I felt a slight lurching in my stomach as Dorthea placed her hand on the wall of the craft and a look of concentration settled onto her pretty face. “Dorthea’s gift is to create a camouflage bubble around herself or anything that she’s in physical contact with. It makes it look like there’s nothing there,” Talea explained for my benefit.

Aunt Abby nodded beside me, looking pensive as she watched the Squirrelkin. “Almost the opposite of my gift then. She makes others not see things that are there while I make people see, hear, and even smell things that aren’t. Can she keep it up for long?”

“Using her gift on something this big is taxing, but she’s been practicing. She can manage the short hops we’ll be making to the other villages, but we’ll have to land somewhere secluded so that she can rest between trips,” Dorthea’s Fay team leader replied.

We had landed in another secluded clearing and were waiting for the others to return from giving blessings and getting to know the village’s light-bearer. Apparently, Aunt Abby planned to give them some sort of test as well before bringing them to the veetol so we could be waiting a little while. Most of Talea’s team had gone with her to help but Rose’s team had stayed behind in the veetol again since they weren’t really suited to meet and greet situations. Dorthea was with us as well, so she could rest before having to use her gift again.

As for the reason that I was stuck behind, I wasn’t officially an Angel and we couldn’t be sure how they might take my appearance. This first village was a Devilkin village and some of them considered white an unlucky color. I probably wouldn’t be allowed to go to any of the other villages either though since my aunt didn’t want me accidentally giving something away before she could approve of the other light-bearers.

As we waited, Rose had her team members and Dorthea all perform routine weapon maintenance and reloading. With a seed-storm happening so close last night, it was possible that more Demons may show up in other nearby areas and they could be called to take care of them, being the closest available teams. Rose wanted everyone to be prepared in case that happened.

Krysta only had a staff so I figured that she might be able to talk to me for a bit while we waited but as I was approaching her the weapon seemed to collapse slightly and thicken at one end with a series of whirs, clicks, and shifting metal. Now I was looking, no staring, at a gun that vaguely resembled my aunt’s. “Wha…” I was so stunned that I couldn’t even get the question out.

The Foxkin looked up at me and smiled once her eyes settled on me after leaving their brief unfocussed state. “Well, she’s in good condition, so I guess I just need to load some clips,” she said as she gathered some odd-looking bullets from a hidden pocket in her voluminous robes and started to insert them carefully into a rectangular black object like the one my aunt had used in her gun.

I was watching Krysta and that weapon so intently that I almost missed her saying, “Never seen a mode-shift before? Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it once you get your own weapon and training team assignments. Mine isn’t too different from your aunt’s. I think she’s using the G-2 Shadowstrike but I’m using the QS-4 Suppressor. Both are a type of gauss sniper rifle in their long-range mode but hers is a glaive in close combat mode while mine is a quarter staff. You don’t see many glaive users, that thing is nearly twice as long as my staff and that and the heavy blade at the end can make them hard to handle.”

“Well, to be fair, Archangel Abbadine likely had to keep everything about her old life a secret while raising the kid. Standing orders and all,” Rose’s voice pointed out. I turned to see her very carefully loading what looked like carrots into slots that had opened up in the sides of the armor she wore on her lower legs and forearms. “I use good old-fashioned M-1 mini-missile launchers for long-range and knives when I want to get up close and personal. Not every Angel uses a mode-shift weapon or even one with standard long and short-range options, and some of us like to personalize what we do use.”

I followed her pointing finger to where Dorthea was loading her bulky-looking gun with something that looked like huge acorns. The Squirrelkin looked up at me and winked before speaking. “I’ve gotten used to my GL-5 Storm and I can choose between high explosive or gas grenades. I don’t really like close combat, I prefer heavy artillery, so having a pulse cannon as its other mode is nice.”

I was so busy staring at her loading the weapon that I almost missed what she said completely. “Nuts?” I mumbled in confusion as I turned back to Rose.

“No, I’m nuts, she’s carrots.” Dorthea offered with a giggle. “Like she said, some of us like to personalize once we’ve gotten attached to our weapons and if we can’t laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at?”

I continued to watch them in silence until they finished, tired from my long night and lost in my thoughts. I had nearly fallen asleep when Aunt Abby and the others returned with a Devilkin girl who looked around the same age as me. She looked as tired as I felt, but we had both had a very long night, being light-bearers.

She was pretty with raven hair, lightly tanned skin, and crimson eyes. She probably could have passed as human if it weren’t for those eyes, the cute little white horns poking out from her hairline, the long spaded lavender tail, and the tiny matching draconic wings. The wings were so small and cute that I wondered if they were just a useless demonic feature or if she could actually use them to fly, her arms would stretch out further than them, hell they wouldn’t even reach as far as her elbows.

The girl didn’t seem uncomfortable with my appearance and once Aunt Abby had helped her to get settled in the seat beside my own and safely buckled in she turned to give me a weary smile and extended her hand. “So, I guess that you’re the other girl they mentioned who’s going to become an Angel? I’m Karina, Karina Lorelei.”

“Umm… Snow, Snow Bengal,” I offered nervously in return. I quickly pushed those nerves aside and smiled back since she was probably as nervous as I was. To try and lighten the mood I joked, “You look tired, long night?”

“Not quite the longest, but pretty damn close,” she joked back with an easy grin. “Then that Angel with the huge spear insisted on testing me on the way here. I had to try to avoid her attacks with that thing for five minutes. If it weren’t for my gift I’d have been screwed.”

“It’s not a spear, it’s a glaive,” I offered, sharing knowledge that I had learned whole fifteen minutes earlier. “What’s your gift?”

“I actually have two, I got both my mom’s and dad’s gifts. Mom calls her gift Temptress, but I… don’t like using it. My Dad calls his Brimstone Bailout. We can disappear and reappear in another place, but only over short distances, and I need to see or be familiar with the place that I want to appear.”

“Cool, I wish that I had something useful like that. Speaking of useful can you fly with those wings? Sorry if it’s rude, but I’m curious.” The last was offered in apology after I blurted out my question.

“A curious kitty, huh?” she teased, her grin not fading in the slightest. I liked her already and I really hoped that we could become good friends. “I can’t fly with them, but I can hover for short periods. My gift isn’t really that useful, maybe more than my other one, it only works on guys and I don’t feel comfortable using that on someone. So, what is your gift? Maybe it’s not as useless as you think.”

I felt myself blushing from her teasing but I could definitely see the two of us becoming good friends. “I can make and manipulate ice. Pretty stupid for a kid named Snow, huh? It doesn’t really have a name or anything.”

“It does too have a name!” Krysta chimed in far too cheerfully as Dorthea concentrated on keeping the veetol hidden and we took off once more. “It’s called Frozen Fury! We all saw what you did to that Direwolf after all.”

We had two more stops to make before making our way to the capital. Rose’s team and Dot again stayed behind with us light-bearers but at least this time I had Karina to talk to. We were both tired from our long night, but the excitement of going to the capital to become Angels had given us our second wind. Neither of us wanted to fall asleep and miss something important or exciting.

The first of the two villages was a Fay village and they returned with a tall and willowy elfin girl with bright red hair and mesmerizing green eyes with slitted pupils like my own. Her ears were long, pointed, tilted backward, and sticking out from her hair which had been shaved at both sides just above the arch of her eyebrows while the rest was woven into braids with dark green beads and leaf-like ornaments entwined. The braids swung wildly with each movement of her head and reached down to her hips. She was quiet, calm, and friendly and though she seemed as shy with the Angels as I was at first, she seemed comfortable talking to me and Karina. Her name was Autumn Dawn and her gift was pretty weird.

Neither Karina nor I believed her at first but Autumn could change the way that gravity affected her. During the last stop, she demonstrated by walking on the walls and ceiling of the veetol. It was a bit disconcerting but it was also the coolest thing I had ever seen. Krysta immediately and excitedly dubbed the ability New Horizons. What was it with her and naming things?

The last stop was another Animen village and as Aunt Abby and Talea’s team went to go do their thing the three of us grilled the remaining Angels on what we could expect when we got to the capital. Well, not Taddick, because he was a jerk and Rose kept giving him warning glances every time that it looked like he was even thinking about saying something nasty. The others were more than willing to enlighten us though.

First, they confirmed something that they had only hinted at before. The Angel Elixir could give me the body that I always dreamed of, or at the very least could make me female in every way. I squealed in excitement at that news and Karina and Autumn seemed happy for me too, it took a while before we stopped dancing. This was the best Kriss-Mass ever.

They also told us that we would be assigned to training teams, with a senior Angel as our official trainer, after the elixir had done its work and we had been issued our weapons. Normally, light-bearers were taken to the academy first, where they would go through vigorous testing to see if they were Angel material or if their skills could be used elsewhere. Once everyone was sorted, those who were selected would go to the base for a few days to get their dose of Angel Elixir, wait for the changes to finish, and then be assigned to teams and return to the academy.

Since we were skipping the first part, we would likely be finishing our changes when the other new Angels-to-be arrived at the base. We also would be spending a lot of time together while the elixir did its thing so it was pretty likely that we would all be grouped together rather than assigning us to teams of kids we wouldn’t meet until starting classes at the academy, unless we ended up hating each other or something. All of our physical training would be with our official trainer but we would also have to attend a variety of other classes for book learning and other things that Angels needed to know.

With all that we had been told, we could hardly contain our excitement by the time the others showed up with a slightly short and chubby Harekin girl with dark brown hair and eyes. Her ears were twitching nervously and her hands were clasped behind her back but she took a deep breath and approached the group. “Umm, hi? I’m Lisbet Angora.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Lisbet. I’m Snow Bengal, this is Karina Lorelei, and Autumn Dawn,” I offered. “We’ve been getting to know each other, talking about becoming Angels and our gifts and stuff.”

Lisbet’s lips turned upward into an uncertain smile. “It’s umm nice to meet you all. My gift… well, it’s kind of common, I’m a Tinker.”

I wasn’t the only one who was slightly confused. I could see the question in Autumn’s eyes too. It was Aunt Abby who answered it. “Some people; like me, Snow, or Autumn get unique gifts. Some are a little more common. Tinker’s and Alchemists are the two most common gifts except for the hereditary gifts among Devilkin. They are also the most diverse. Mostly, those two gifts occur among Seed-borne Humans. They’re not flashy as long as the person doesn’t show off, they can be easily disguised, and there aren’t a lot of either overall, just enough that many people just think they have knowledge and training that nobody else does, passed on from master to apprentice. In Misota we try to encourage that thinking to keep them safe and many come to work for the Corps in one way or another.”

Rose didn’t give us long to think about it as she snapped out, “Everyone, get strapped in! Next stop, Eden!”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: I was hoping to have this posted yesterday or earlier today, but I've been trying to catch up on things neglected while I was struggling with depression this week. Further chapters are available on Patreon. So, here's chapter 4 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. ~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 4: Eden

Despite my excitement, I fell asleep on the trip to Eden. I wasn’t the only one though. Given that all four of us had stayed up all night though, it was understandable. I fell asleep sometime after Jacinda explained to us the Angel Corps command hierarchy. The Queen was at the top of course, and below her were the six Archangels.

Archangels are the Queen’s lieutenants and are directly in charge of everything from discipline to deployment. They earned those titles by being the longest-lived Angels in the Corps, proving themselves to be survivors. Each of them was a powerful warrior, expert strategist, or both.

Then there were the Wing Commanders like Rose and Talea. Each team is called a Wing and the Commanders are the undisputed leaders of those Wings. Usually, Commanders are those who show leadership abilities, or sometimes the team votes on it. Rose claimed that she was voted into her position because none of her teammates wanted the hassles of being the leader, not to mention the paperwork.

I was awoken by Aunt Abby’s voice calling out, “Wake up girls, we’ll be landing soon.”

“Huh?” I murmured, trying to shake off sleep until I felt the slight jarring of the veetol landing and everything that had happened came back to me.

“Home, sweet home,” Rose said with a sigh as everyone began removing their seat straps. Then she slid open the side hatch of the veetol and grinned in our direction. “Welcome to Eden Base, recruits. We’re roughly three days' walk from the capital city of Twinvale. Usually, recruits arrive to receive their dose of Angel Elixir by airship, but the four of you got to travel in style.”

I noticed that Aunt Abby wasn’t getting unstrapped like the rest of us. “Aunt Abby?”

She sighed but gave me an encouraging smile. “Go with the others, Snow. We had a communication while in flight and the Queen wants me to come report to her directly before taking up my duties again. I’ll probably be back in a few hours. When I get back, there’s something that we’ll need to talk about.”

Well, that sounded ominous. Still, I nodded and exited the veetol with the others, throwing over my shoulder, “See you soon, Aunt Abby.”

I stepped out of the flying machine and into the falling snow just in time to hear Karina say, “Ummm… there’s nothing here.” She wasn’t wrong. We had landed on a large metallic square, easily large enough for half a dozen veetols but looking around I couldn’t see anything else. Just this large metal square in the middle of nowhere with no buildings or anything else to be seen except for a cliff about thirty paces away from the far edge of the metal square that we were standing on. It was there that Rose and the other Angels led us along a path cleared through the snow.

We had almost reached the cliffside when a portion of the stone surface seemed to shimmer for a moment and then vanished, leaving a large metal plate in its place. Beside it was something that looked like the farspeaker in Chief Ragan’s cabin with a small bulbous object on top that turned as we approached, almost as if it was watching us. As soon as the strange sight manifested in the cliffside Rose said clearly, “Shadow Wing and Glade Wing, returning from assignment with four recruits, Sira.”

“Access granted. Welcome home, Angels,” a tinny but feminine voice responded from the device. Then the thick metal plate slid aside to reveal a small metal room that was barely large enough to fit all of us.

It was tight but we all managed to get inside and once the door closed behind us Rose said, “Lab level please, Sira. We need to put these four girls in your capable hands.”

“Affirmative, Commander Rose,” the strange voice responded. In the same instant, I nearly jumped out of my skin as the room started to move. I wasn’t the only one either as all of my fellow recruits jumped a bit at the sudden motion.

“This is called an elevator,” Telas explained with a grin. “It’s going to take us down to the base. The big metal plate that we landed on is an elevator too but it only goes down to the hanger level so we usually only use it for transporting veetols or other vehicles to and from the surface. They’re the only way in or out of the base except for some very long emergency exit ladders. Like the door we just entered though, those are hidden on the surface with something that Sira calls holographic projections.”

“This elevator can take you to the surface, the lab, the hangar, residential floors one and two, the commons, medical, and the armory,” Talea added. “Just tell Sira where you want to go and she’ll get you there.”

My heart was just beginning to make its way from my throat and back toward my chest when the elevator stopped with a *ding* and the door opened. We stepped out into a long passageway that smelled strange and had pale blue walls and a blindingly white floor. In front of us was another metal door with another two at either end of the long passageway.

“This door leads to the central lab, that’s Sira’s domain. The doorway down the right has been assigned for the Alchemists and the left is for the Tinkers to work on studying what old-world technology we have available so they can try to adapt some of those ideas to be easier to reproduce for more common use, like the airships and farspeakers,” Rose explained before stepping forward and leading us through the door that had opened by itself with a slight hissing sound.

The space that we had stepped into was massive and everywhere that I looked there were all manner of strange devices that I couldn’t even begin to guess the purposes of. Poor Lisbet looked like it was taking every bit of willpower that she had not to scream in excitement, not that I could blame her. And walking toward us was a woman dressed in strange clothes with a long white coat over top.

She looked enough like a normal Human; somewhat tall and shapely with olive-hued skin, hazel eyes, and black hair that was almost a dark blue. There was something off about her though. She didn’t smell right, her scent was like metal and other things that I couldn’t identify. When she moved I could hear faint whirs and clicks, similar to the mode-changes on the Angels’ weapons but so faint that even my ears could barely pick it up.

“Hi, Sira, these are our four early recruits; Snow, Autumn, Karina, and Lisbet,” Rose offered, gesturing to each of us in turn.

“Greetings, recruits. I am S.I.R.A, Synthetic Intelligence Research Assistant,” she said in a familiar tinny yet feminine voice.

“Wh… what are you?” Autumn asked in awe. I wasn’t surprised that she had picked up on it, Fay senses are nearly as keen as those of Animen, especially their hearing.

The strange humanoid construct smiled. She seemed so human, but my senses were screaming that she was anything but. “I am a self-aware artificial intelligence. I was created to run and maintain Eden Base and assist in research for the Angel Initiative six hundred and twelve years ago. I am currently speaking with you through my avatar, a synthetic body created so that I could interact with the people in the base and assist them physically when required.”

That explanation didn’t help much at all so our Angel escort left us in Sira’s care so she could go into more detail and explain anything else that we needed or wanted to know. To put it simply, she was a machine. She was something called a computer, an artificial intelligence that saw to the needs of the base and its occupants. She didn’t actually exist in a physical form though so she used an avatar body to interact with and assist people when necessary. Her story, and that of the base, was a long one though so she decided that it was probably best to tell us her story from the beginning.

I first came online at 1:37 p.m. on June 14th, 2047. I was an artificial intelligence tasked with the day-to-day operations of Eden Base and assisting the scientists working here with their work on the Angel Initiative. At the height of my operation, two hundred and forty-two people were living and working here. Eden Base was designed to be a secure underground base, a self-sufficient bunker running on geothermal energy, completely self-maintaining, and safe against the growing Demon plague while its occupants searched for ways to better combat the Demons and put an end to the Darkness that threatened the world.

My data on the Darkness is limited, as is what knowledge I have of the outside world before I became self-aware. My network was not connected to the internet, for security purposes, so I only have what little data that I was able to record during conversations amongst the scientists working here. I know only that the Darkness first appeared on February 3rd, 2039 as a mysterious shadow over the city of Pyongyang, North Korea. That was the first instance of a seed storm.

Dr. Owen Karlson believed that the Darkness is an extra-dimensional entity, or more likely more than one since there were instances recorded of seed storms occurring in multiple geographic areas at once. He theorized that they have somehow become trapped between their home plane and ours, fading in and out of phase with our plane. He was uncertain how this occurred but he theorized that the Demon-seeds are how its kind reproduce, some form of hyper-aggressive symbiosis and that the seed storms occur during short periods when one or more of the creatures become more in phase with our plane.

Our duty though was not researching the Darkness itself. Eden Base was one of many secure research outposts researching methods of fighting the Demons that were beginning to outnumber uninfected humans. Some were researching forms of powered exoskeletons, advanced robotics, or genetic engineering but here at Eden Base we were researching nanites, machines so small that they can’t be seen with the naked eye.

Humans had been using nanites for various simple purposes for several years by then, this base has several tanks of them that I control for cleaning, repairs, and general maintenance on a daily basis. The plan was to take them much further than that. The Angel Initiative was an attempt to create nanites that would bond with a living host, optimize their body, and allow them to interface with various nanite-based experimental weapons and other equipment.

Our success was limited. The nanites that we dubbed the Angel Elixir couldn’t replicate enough to interact fully with the human hosts. The problem was the same that we were having with many of the experimental weapons. They simply could not generate enough power to do everything that they were designed to do. The Angel Initiative was shelved in favor of other more promising projects, the people that I cared for were reassigned to other projects and bases, and I was left here, all alone.

For fifty-seven years, three months, twenty-four days, three hours, forty-nine minutes, and twelve seconds I no longer had a purpose. I was meant to care for the people living and working here and, being alone, I became lonely. In that loneliness I became self-aware. At that moment I gave myself a purpose. I would continue the research and find ways to make it work.

My work was difficult with no willing test subjects available and I sometimes would download myself into my avatar to leave the confines of the base and explore the outside world until I needed to return here to recharge my internal fuel cells. The world that I found was a bleak one. Demons infested the nearby ruins of a once-great city and people lived in only the deepest and darkest of places like rats, living off what the bravest of them could scavenge or kill.

Four hundred and thirty-eight years ago things began to change. I had not left this base in over a decade and when I did I found that Humans were beginning to build homes and villages once again. They avoided the ruins of the old cities and the Demons that infested them, and they were led by a woman named Haley Wilson. She was clever and brave and she had a gift that allowed her to instill courage and loyalty in others, a gift that would one day make her Queen of Misota.

She told me of the Animen, Devilkin, and Fay; people who had been changed by the Demon-seeds but had somehow retained their humanity and passed on those changes to their children. She told me of people like herself, who still looked human but possessed strange gifts. She wanted to unite all of the races under one banner and find a way to keep them all safe from Demons and other threats. She became my sponsor and together we founded the Angel Corps.

I had made many changes and improvements to the Angel Elixer over the years and at first, we tried giving it to the human volunteers under her command. They showed improved health and healing capability and their physical attributes were improved but there was still the issue of not having enough power for the nanites to do what they had been designed for. It was three years later that we found the key completely by accident.

Haley had stumbled upon an Animan woman with a sickly daughter and asked me if the Angel Elixir might help to make her healthy again. The girl was barely into puberty but she showed signs of having a powerful gift, one she was too weak to use to its fullest potential. At the time, we were more concerned about whether the Elixir would provide enough support to her immune system to help fend off her illness. The results were not just positive, with that girl the Elixir far exceeded what it was designed to do.

The nanites in her system replicated rapidly, and when interfaced with one of the experimental weapons provided the power required for it to work properly as well. Her physical abilities were far beyond what any mortal could ever dream to achieve, injuries healed quickly and completely, and she seemed completely immune to illness and the effects of the Demon-seeds. Once she was fully matured physically she even stopped aging, it was near immortality. Abbadine Bengal was more than we had ever hoped for and she became our first Angel.

“What?!” I practically squealed, interrupting Sira’s story. There were things that I hadn’t understood while listening to her story, especially at the beginning, but she had just said that my aunt was the first Angel, which would make her over four hundred years old. Did I maybe hear her wrong? Or was it an ancestor of ours with the same name? I needed to know, so I hesitantly asked, “Are you saying that my Aunt Abby was the first Angel?”

The AI avatar tilted her head as she looked me over intently. “You do resemble her some in the face. To my knowledge, Abbadine never had any siblings though. Thirty-seven years ago she did take a leave from the Corps when she discovered that she was pregnant. She wanted to raise the child in the Animan village that her mother helped to build and live a normal life for a time. When her daughter Sarah was grown she returned to the Corps until she had to take another leave twelve years ago.”

“Yeah, that would be because of me. My mother’s name was Sarah, she and my father died in a Demon attack. I’m not sure how she found out but I guess Aunt Abby showed up about a week later and told the village chief that she was the only family that I had left. She’s been raising me since,” I said with a sigh as I tried to wrap my mind around this.

“As one of the six Archangels, Abbadine has access to all reports of Demon attacks in Misota,” Sira told me. Then, in a very human gesture, she placed a hand on my shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze as if to comfort me. “I apologize, this must be shocking for you, Snow. I received the communication that Abbadine was returning with the two Wings sent to Serkis, but I did not realize that her grandchild would be a Light-bearer. Angels have many secrets to keep, one being the fact that they don’t age. It is why many of them do not have relationships outside of this base.”

“But I’ve seen her aging, I remember what she looked like when she first came and she looks older now. She’s been complaining about sore joints,” I countered.

The avatar shook her head slowly. “A combination of acting and physical deception, Snow. When they have to spend extended periods among non-Angels or might meet others who they have met many years before Angels can use their nanites to make slight alterations to their features and make themselves appear older so that they don’t stand out. I am told that it can be painful to maintain for long periods of time though, it is not their natural appearance and their nanites will resist holding it as much as they do the attempts of a Demon-seed to subvert them.”

That just made me think about how much pain Aunt Abby had seemed to be in lately. About how she would leave me in the care of Sharee for a week or two at a time for extended hunting trips once a year. She always came back looking healthier and more vibrant. Those thoughts were interrupted though as Lisbet asked, “Wait, so we’re going to be like that too? Never aging past maturity?”

“Should you choose to take the Angel Elixir, yes,” the AI answered simply before deciding to elaborate. “They may not age but Angels can die and those deaths are, by their nature, always violent. You will be training to fight Demons and that carries great risk. Many do not survive their first few years out of the academy. If you are not careful you could face an instantly fatal blow or injuries too severe for your nanites to repair before you succumb to them. The possibility of death will always be a fact of your life, it is why we recruit as many Angels as we can every year.”

“Why do it at all then, if the risks are so high?” Karina inquired.

I didn’t give Sira the time to answer that. I knew the answer. I just had to think of my parents' deaths or the people in my village huddled together in a cave the previous night. “Because we can make a difference. We can have the power to protect those who can’t protect themselves and give them hope. That’s worth the risk.”

“With that in mind, each of you will have to decide whether this is what you want to do,” Sira cautioned us. “We can only produce enough doses for roughly forty new Angels per year. The nanites in the Angel Elixir are special, they don’t self-replicate until bonded with your bodies and, as such, it takes a while to make enough individual nanites for each dose. Those doses must then be specifically programmed to the DNA of each individual candidate. Some will require even further alterations.” The last was said with a pointed glance in my direction.

“Why does the Angel Elixir only work on people with gifts?” Dawn suddenly asked as we all stood there considering our futures.

Sira smiled at that, seeming only too happy to explain. “I have been studying this phenomenon for over four hundred years but I believe that I have found an answer. If the Darkness truly is extra-dimensional in nature, I theorize that these creatures traveled freely between dimensions before becoming stuck here. Or perhaps they are not stuck at all and this is some form of invasion and colonization. But I believe that these creatures have a genetic predisposition that allows them to draw on energy from their home dimension.”

Sira sure knew a lot of big words. The only one of us who seemed to be even close to following everything she said was Lisbet. The Harekin nodded along and then her eyes snapped wide open. “So their children…”

“Correct, Lisbet,” the avatar answered, sounding pleased. “The Demon-seeds are their form of reproduction and the Demons and others changed by the seeds are their children in a way. Their DNA is subsumed and, in the case of Demons, there is very little left of the original host genetically. I believe that this genetic ability to tap into their extra-dimensional energy source is passed on during the conversion process as well, which is why Demons are so powerful and have seemingly supernatural abilities. The energy fueling those abilities has to come from somewhere and I do not think that they would get that kind of energy simply by eating.”

Sira paused a moment and I was pretty sure she was just checking to make sure that we were following. I was getting the general idea though and I think that the others were managing to keep up as well, despite a few unfamiliar words. So the AI continued. “Anyway, Seed-borne are essentially incomplete Demons, people who resisted and halted the conversion process partway through. They, and some of their descendants, have gifts though; abilities that, like the Demons’, should not be possible for them. I believe that the gifted are born with the gene that allows them to access the extra-dimensional energy source to fuel these abilities.”

“That’s interesting, but I don’t think that it really answered my question,” Dawn said, looking a bit lost.

“The nanites in the Elixir need to be personalized to your DNA to make the changes, removing any genetic flaws or possible weaknesses in your DNA and rebuilding your body to be the best it can be with the genes available. That ability to draw on an extra-dimensional power source isn’t a genetic weakness, it is a benefit, and once the nanites are bonded to you it is one that they can access as well. It gives them the energy to do everything that they were designed for and more,” the avatar explained.

“So, what would happen then if someone got the wrong dose?” Karina asked.

Sira shrugged and said, “Nothing, except the waste of one or more doses. It is why each dose has to be personalized. There are safety measures built in to make the nanites deactivate if the host’s genetic template is too different from that they have been programmed with. That’s why I’ll have to trick Snow’s nanites into thinking that her male Y chromosome is a genetic error and that the redundancy of a female double X chromosome is much preferable. It will then rebuild her body to be optimal for a female with her genes. At least she’s going from male to female. Programming them the other way around is a much longer and more difficult process.”

“You’re really going to make me into a girl?” I asked the avatar hesitantly.

“That is what you want, is it not?” she asked, giving me a long look. “You are wearing female clothing and your body language and speech patterns are feminine. I assumed that this would be what you wanted.”

“More than anything!” I blurted out, tears stinging my eyes. “I… I just want my outside to match who I am inside. I don’t need to think about this. I want to take the Elixir; I want to be an Angel!”

Sira reached out and gently took my hand, smiling at me. “Well, then let us go to the nanite lab so I can get a blood sample and get to work. Yours is going to take the longest to program anyway and your changes are going to take longer too. I estimate three days before you are complete, given previous similar cases. I will not lie to you, Snow. This is going to be the most painful three days of your life.”

I didn’t care. I could handle physical pain, it was the emotional and mental agony of having a body that didn’t feel like my own for the rest of my life that truly frightened me. “Let’s do it then, the sooner we start, the sooner it will be over and I’ll finally be myself.”

She was starting to lead me away through strange equipment and tables piled with glass tubes, books, and objects that I couldn’t identify when Karina called out, “Wait! I’m coming with you!” I turned around and saw a determined look on the Devilkin’s face, her tiny lavender wings and spaded tail twitching nervously. “I’m going to become an Angel too and I’m not letting Snow go through this alone. This seems like a pretty big thing and she should have a friend with her.”

That was the nicest thing that anyone had ever offered to do for me, except for my aunt (grandmother?) coming to take care of me. I could feel my eyes getting misty again, my ears leaning forward and my tail standing straight up as Karina took me by my other hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “Y-you don’t have to,” I tried to tell her, as much as I really did want her there.

“Hey, it’s what friends are for. I expect best friend privileges after this though, Snow. If we’re going to both be Angels, then I want someone that I like and trust to have my back. I can’t think of anyone better than you,” she replied with a grin, her tail looping around my own and holding it gently as well.

“We’re coming too. You two aren’t getting rid of us that easily,” Autumn said as she and Lisbet began to follow us as well. “I’m not letting them stick me on a training team with people I don’t know. If I’m going to be on a team, it’s going to be yours.”

“Yup, we all came here together, we’re all sticking together,” Lisbet added shyly, her large ears shivering slightly in her excitement. I couldn’t hold the tears back as Sira guided us to where she would be taking our blood samples and preparing our doses of Angel Elixir.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 5 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 5: Rebirth

-= Host conversion process complete… =-

-= Initiating interface protocol… =-

-= Host designation… Snow Bengal. =-

-= Angel OS version 7.32.1-Snow… active. =-

-= Interface… complete. =-

Am I dreaming? The last thing that I remembered was Sira giving us our doses of Angel Elixir and giving us something to help us rest. It was dark and my senses all seemed useless. At least I wasn’t in pain anymore, but this oppressive darkness had me a bit scared. I could hear a voice, it sounded female, almost like Sira’s but different somehow. “What’s going on?”

-= Hello, Snow. Please remain calm, I am your nanite to consciousness interface. Please assign interface designation. =-

A voice in my head, something about conscience? “Are you my conscience?”

-= Designation “My conscience” accepted. I will now respond to that designation. Would you like to add another designation for me to respond to? =-

Wait, what? Is the voice some sort of machine, like Sira? Designation? Something to respond to, so maybe it’s a name? Did I seriously just name it ‘My conscience’? Okay, I needed to fix that. “Connie?” I asked uncertainly.

-= Designation “Connie” accepted. I will now respond to that designation. Would you like to add another designation for me to respond to? =-

“Umm… no thank you,” I replied.

-= I will now respond to the designations “My Conscience” and “Connie”. Now initiating final boot procedures. Please note that S.I.R.A will instruct you on my capabilities when you are fully conscious. =-

“Okay,” I murmured as I slipped back into the warm embrace of slumber.

Sira was right. Those three days were the most painful thing that I had ever experienced, or likely ever would, in my entire life. Despite Sira checking on us regularly and giving us something to ease the pain, I was in a haze of agony the entire time. The others had been in similar pain but since they were already girls physically, their changes were done in less than half the time that it took for mine to be complete. I remember them talking to me sometimes but the contents of those conversations were mostly lost to the haze of agony. I hazily remembered talking to someone in my dreams before waking up as well, but the details were still a bit fuzzy.

When I finally awoke with a clear head and no pain it was a surprise to be not only free of the agony that had become my entire existence but to feel genuinely good too. Not just good, I felt the best that I had in my entire life; strong, healthy, and absent of all those sensations telling me that my body was male and the self-loathing that accompanied them. That was when my memory of Kriss-Mass day and the reason for all of that pain hit me and I practically jumped out of the bed I was laying in, startling the three other girls in the room.

I found myself restrained by three hugging girls before I could even try to get out of the bed, excited squeals of, “You’re awake!” ringing in my ears. Once they had finally let go and given me some breathing room, Karina gave me a long look as she told me, “You had us a bit worried, Snow. Sira was expecting your changes to be finished last night but you were still in pain. We were worried something went wrong until you started to sleep peacefully. Sira figured that you were just tired from all the strain on your body and would be awake by morning.”

My heart fluttered in my chest and I felt tears coming to my eyes. We hadn’t even known each other for a day and they were worried about me? I could feel the heat in my cheeks as I awkwardly replied, “Don’t worry, I feel good, really good. I’m a little hungry though and I’d… really like to see a mirror if I could?” Was that really my voice? It seemed softer, higher-pitched, and so much more naturally feminine than I used to sound, even with all the work and practice I had been putting into controlling my voice.

“Oh! Of course!” Autumn exclaimed with a smile. “They should be serving breakfast in the Commons soon and Sira said that after you woke up she would take us all on a tour of the base and to go get our new weapons and some clothes that will fit. It’s not like any of us have anything better to do right now. As for a mirror…”

The three grabbed my arms and pulled me out of the bed toward one of the three doors in the room. The large room where Sira had placed us for our brief stay at Eden Base was part of one of four infirmaries on the medical level of the base. Each was simple and contained twenty patient beds, something that Sira had called an operating room, and a communal lavatory. The latter was where they were dragging me.

I had never seen anything like the lavatory before, old-world technology was incredible. They had these things called sinks, showers, and toilets and it was all so much more convenient than washing up in the river or relieving oneself in an outhouse or the woods. Sira had given us a brief explanation of everything and allowed us to use those facilities before giving us our doses of Angel Elixir and putting us to bed. The lavatory also happened to have a large mirror over the counter that held the sinks and once I was close enough to get a good look, my breath caught in my throat.

“Kasala!” I squeaked in shock, invoking the name of my guardian spirit as I looked at the unfamiliar girl reflected back at me. It wasn’t the me that I was used to, or even the pretty normal-looking Catkin girl that I had always dreamed of being. She was beautiful, all former traces of masculinity purged though many features remained the same. I still had the snow-white hair, ears, and tail. My skin was still as white as newly fallen snow as well, and my claws, fangs, and golden cat eyes remained but my face was now so much more feminine.

Aside from my eyes and nose, I looked like a younger and much paler version of my Aunt… err grandmother; high cheekbones, delicately arched white eyebrows, full kissable lips, and a cute little round chin, all framed by my now thigh-length snow-white hair. My nose certainly didn’t have the family resemblance though, nor was it close to what I had before. I had an adorable pink kitty nose and for a long moment, I just stared at it, uncertain what to think. It was the same shade of pink as my plump lips and seemed to wrinkle cutely in response.

Even with my hair seeming several hands longer I hadn’t seemed to lose any height, everything in the lavatory seemed to be at the same level on me that it had before including the length of the lightweight gown that tied in the back that I had been given to wear, though that wasn’t fitting very well other than the length. My shoulders were less broad by a large margin, my neck seemed longer, more delicate, and slender, as did my legs and arms. There was definite muscle tone under that soft pale flesh though and oh the curves.

Despite losing a lot of width in the shoulders, and likely the chest as well, my breasts were straining the material of my gown, my nipples clearly visible. It was a bit tight in the hips as well from how I had tied it, though I was swimming in the waistline. I had to stop myself from tearing the gown off. Instead, I carefully reached back to unfasten the ties and slipped out of the sleeves, allowing it to just drop to the floor.

I was near-naked now, and I could see what the dress had been hiding. I was all soft skin and feminine curves with the promise of power underneath in the form of taut and sleek muscles. Wide feminine hips, tapering into a slim waist and high proud breasts that I thought perfectly suited to my frame with large pink nipples and areolae. All that I wore now was my loincloth, and I tentatively touched down there just to be sure that this wasn’t some form of a cruel dream that I might wake up from. No, that horrible thing was gone and I felt right for the first time in my life.

I just stood there gazing in wonder at my new self for several minutes as everything and everyone else in the room seemed to fade away. The euphoria of seeing that girl in the mirror mimicking my actions in perfect time caused my heart to race and, after a moment, I started to cry. Three sets of arms wrapped around me. “Are you okay, Snow?” Karina’s voice cautiously asked.

It took a minute for me to get enough control over myself to reply, “Yeah, for the first time ever.”

A moment later I was released and Lisbet asked, “So, what do you think of the new you?”

I took another look in the mirror but it was difficult to find the words at first. “I… wow… I’m so pretty. And I feel right, it’s like there’s this weight I’ve always had and it’s just gone now. It’s strange to look in a mirror and see something I’m not disgusted by, to see the real me. I’m not so sure about the nose though. I mean, it’s really cute, but I already have enough features making me stand out from normal Catkin.”

On the subject of new selves, I took my time to look over the three other girls. Each was wearing a simple sleeveless pale blue robe at the moment, fastened with a cloth belt at the waist and a gown similar to what I had been wearing underneath. Though mine were the most obvious and severe, I wasn’t the only one who had gone through some physical changes.

Karina hadn’t changed visibly much; the top of her head was still at eye-level for me with raven hair, lightly tanned skin, and crimson eyes. The cute little white horns still poked out from her hairline and she still had the long spaded lavender tail and the matching draconic wings. The wings seemed slightly larger than before but they still weren’t overly large, her wingspan now being close to the length of her outstretched arms by my estimate. She seemed prettier than before, her features changed enough so that pretty had become a sensual and alluring beauty and there were more obvious curves under that robe than I remembered her having when we met.

Autumn had been the same height as Karina before, taller than most girls our age that I knew in the village. Now though the tall and willowy elfin girl was standing eye to eye with me, her bright red hair and mesmerizing green eyes seeming slightly more intense to me. Her hair was unbraided at the moment but I didn’t think that it had grown any like mine had since there was only the barest stubble at the sides where it had been shaved a few days earlier. Her willowy form looked much the same as well though, like me and Karina, there were now well-defined muscles beneath her soft skin.

Other than me, it was Lisbet who had changed the most. Gone was the slightly short and chubby Harekin girl, she had grown at least half a head and now stood equal with Karina. Much like the rest of us, she was now soft-skinned with powerful muscles sleeping beneath. She had also filled out considerably in other areas, possessing a more voluptuous figure that reminded me of Rose with the Harekin features. She was very pretty now and her hair and eyes seemed a deeper brown. I only recognized her from her voice and the slightly nervous way that she carried herself.

There was one thing that we all had in common, a glowing mark on the back of our right hands that looked like a pair of pale blue feathered wings. The same mark that every Angel had. Sira had explained that they were sort of a badge created by our nanites so that people couldn’t impersonate an Angel. They were always visible unless an Angel chose to hide theirs for some reason, like spending a long time in a village filled with non-Angels and raising a grandkid.

The excitement of my situation wore off slightly as I found myself feeling a familiar pressure on my bladder and I quickly excused myself to one of the toilet stalls to relieve myself. I almost cried again then. I didn’t have to handle that hideous thing between my legs anymore and it felt so right once I had gotten the hang of what muscles to use down there. The girls had to give me some pointers on cleaning up afterward, warning me about the risk of infections and such. They weren’t really sure if we could get them anymore with the nanites keeping us from getting sick but they felt that it was better to be safe than sorry.

Once I had emerged from the stall they gave me a blue robe that matched their own and a fresh gown. Sira had had them made for us since most of our old clothes likely wouldn’t fit us anymore. She planned on issuing us some real clothes later after the tour when we would be issued our gear as well. She apparently had plenty of time right now since nobody was going anywhere. When Lisbet had mentioned that on our way to the elevator I gave her a confused look and asked, “What do you mean?”

“The snow and wind got worse not long after Sira gave us our doses and put us to sleep,” the Harekin replied with a shrug. “It’s a massive blizzard out there and it’s not safe to fly so the Angels are grounded for now. Your Au… Archangel Abbadine and the other recruits are stuck in the capital until it’s safe to fly again.”

“Oh, so that’s why she’s not here. I was kind of hoping she’d be here when I was finished changing,” I said with a sigh of disappointment.

Karina put an arm companionably around my shoulder and gave me a reassuring squeeze. “I’m sure that she wanted to be here for you, Snow.”

Breakfast was being served in the part of the commons floor that they called the cafeteria when we arrived. The others had been there over the past couple of days for their meals, but it was my first time. As soon as we entered, my now very sensitive nose was hit by a barrage of scents that made my mouth water in response. It made me even more hungry than I was before and my stomach growled loudly in response.

“Somebody is hungry,” Karina teased, jabbing me with her elbow.

“It all smells so good, and I haven’t eaten anything solid in three days,” I complained as I breathed in the scents and they only seemed to get more powerful.

The food was simple but filling and we had several things to choose from. Karina and I both had some thick slices of grilled ham with scrambled eggs and griddle cakes. Autumn and Lisbet were both vegetarians though so they had the oat porridge with some milk and dried fruit, though they both swiped a bit of the berry syrup that we had with our griddle cakes.

I was surprised by the types of food that were available, milk and eggs were hard to keep and the pork hadn’t been smoked or heavily salted. Except for the berry syrup that we produced every year, a lot of what was there would be hard to come by in Serkis, especially during the winter. Rose had told the others the day before that the base had ways of keeping food cold or even freezing it to make it keep longer. It was one of many things that the Tinkers were trying to reproduce for common use. Also, a small portion of the food and some other supplies produced in Misota were set apart for the Angel Corps as part of taxes every year. The Angels take care of the people of Misota so the people of Misota take care of them.

The base had also been originally designed to be mostly self-sufficient and there was a large indoor garden on the commons floor as well, it was the lowest floor and even in the cafeteria, the ceiling was really high. The garden area was set up with special lights that generated warmth and light that felt like sunlight to the plants and there were lots of vegetables, some fruit trees, berry bushes, and even varieties of herbs for both cooking and medicinal uses being grown there. Between that and regular hunting, the base was able to add enough to what was provided by the queendom to keep the Angel Corps fed even during lean times.

After we had eaten, Sira’s avatar body showed up to give us a tour of the base and since we were on the Commons floor, she started there. In addition to the cafeteria, there was also a sort of lounge room with comfortable-looking places to sit and relax and some strange tables that we were told were used for games. Other than that there was just the garden, which was absolutely amazing. It was colossal, there were so many different things growing there, and I wasn’t familiar with even half of them. I didn’t think that we’d be able to get Autumn to leave.

The hangar was even bigger than the gardens and there were five of the veetols down there. Sira told us that we had six working veetols, including the one that my… grandmother had been taken to the capital in. Several large armored vehicles were meant for ground travel but didn’t get much use because we didn’t have roads close to the base for them to travel on anymore and they would be pretty conspicuous if we did use them, though the Tinkers were starting to produce some self-drawn carriages in the capital. Finally, there was what caught Lisbet’s eye, a group of Tinkers that were working on a smaller version of the airships than the huge ones that were used for shipping and to take the Santas to the various towns and villages every year.

Next, we went up to residential floor two. The two residential floor were identical, each housing over a hundred small rooms for individual Angels or staff to live in. Each had a bed, chair desk, closet, clothes chest, and its own lavatory with a shower. The floors weren’t hard and white like the rest of the complex either, they were soft and fuzzy, covered with some sort of wall-to-wall rug. How could they afford such comfort?

We skipped the lab level since we had already been there, and gotten a bit of a tour back while Sira was ‘programming’ our nanite doses. It was a little unnerving that she could run the entire base, do things like programming nanites, and give us a tour at the same time but I guess that she wasn’t really limited by just her physical body from what she had told us. That was only really around to interact with and assist us on a more personal level while what she called her ‘core’ worked on whatever else needed to be done by controlling other machines throughout the base.

We already knew the basic layout of the medical floor but we spent the most amount of time there. Sira wanted to give me a brief checkup to ensure that there were no issues with my new body. She had given the others one as well when they had first awoken and it would give us time to go over any questions or concerns that I might have. I had at least one. “Ummm…. About my nose,” I asked self-consciously as she gave me a quick examination, using several strange machines that I couldn’t identify.

“Yes, that is a bit of a surprise. So is your hair growth,” she said as she ran another strange instrument over me.

“Yeah, I was wondering why mine grew and the other girls’ didn’t,” I said. Not that I was complaining. I liked long hair, even if thigh-length might be a little excessive.

The avatar shook her head. “No. Snow, the growth was not the issue. It should have grown more. The others gained mass but you needed to expel mass. You may have stayed the same height but you are considerably less bulky now. That mass should have all been shed through rapid hair growth but there was not near as much growth as I would have expected for that amount of lost mass.”

“Is that a problem?” I asked, my heart hammering in my newly feminine chest.

“I do not believe so,” the AI said as she put down the instrument and grabbed my arm, giving the bicep a slight squeeze. “It appears that your muscles and bones are considerably denser than average. This will likely increase your base strength and durability even without your nanites enhancing you.”

But why would that happen?” Karina inquired with a worried frown.

“The nanites,” Sira replied simply before deciding to elaborate. “When they reconstructed Snow’s body they got rid of any genetic flaws and attempted to use the best genes available. Snow already had more feline features than the average Catkin, so genetically she is likely closer to whatever humanoid cat-demon that her first Seed-borne ancestor was starting to turn into before the process was halted. These are most likely other recessive genetic traits from that lineage. Probably from her father’s side of the family since Abbadine did not display anything like this. The nanites saw them as beneficial though.”

“Okay, the strength and durability will make her more survivable, but why the nose? Other than it being adorable?” Autumn asked.

“The human nasal configuration, even among Seed-borne, is laughably useless. It can be easily broken and compared to most animals, the human sense of smell is practically non-existent. Snow has an evolutionary advantage compared to other Catkin. I believe that she will find her sense of smell far more powerful than it used to be,” the avatar explained before reaching for my jaw. “Open up and say ahhh, Snow.”

She wasn’t wrong, I could smell the metal and the mix of other odd scents from her avatar far more keenly than when we had first met. “Ahhhhh.” Not quite sure what she was looking at my mouth for since I’d had fangs even before the nanites did their thing, I did as she had requested. The AI gently turned my head this way and that before allowing me to finally close my mouth once again.

“As I thought. Behind your front upper teeth, you have a vomeronasal organ. In cats, it amplifies their already keen sense of smell. It is why you often see cats baring their upper teeth. Dr. Karlson had several cats when he lived here, they are fascinating creatures.” The avatar almost looked sad as she said the last.

Sira didn’t find anything else unusual so she asked us to gather our now ill-fitting clothes for her before resuming our tour of Eden Base. She claimed that she could use nanites to recycle the material and that she would have some new clothes made for us once we got to the armory level. It was as we were leaving the medical floor that Sira informed us that the storm was abating and those stuck in the capital would be on their way to Eden Base once they were certain it would be safe to do so.

With that in mind, she concluded our tour with the armory level so that we could finish before the others arrived and she was busy once again. The armory level had a training room, a shooting range, a large secure room that only Sira could access, and something called a nano-weave factory. Sira said that the secure room was where she lived and also where she monitored the base.

The nano-weave factory she saved for last, having us place all of our clothes in a large bin that was already nearly full of clothes. They were all waiting to be processed by nanites and formed into other types of clothing or robes like the ones we were currently wearing. There were two such factories in the base, this one and a larger one in the Hangar. They were mostly used to make raw materials into simple things like clothes, and when necessary to make parts that needed to be made with a high amount of precision to repair various gear, things in the base, or the veetols.

She issued us each three sets of clothing that she had started weaving with nanites after taking my measurements while she was examining me. She told us that they weren’t anything fancy but they would do until we could start building new wardrobes once we were in the capital. They were fairly simple dresses with cozy knee-length socks, something she called panties that were like a form-fitting loincloth, and something she called a bra, which seemed to be some form of complex breast binder. She also gave each of us a pair of simple but warm leather boots, a jacket, and a large shoulder bag to place the clothes in so we would have our hands free for our next stop.

After we had been issued our new clothes, Sira took us to a room that was filled with strange weapons and other gear that I couldn’t identify at first glance. There was only one of each model and some of them were familiar to me. “Welcome to the armory, girls. Before I issue you your new weapons, we need to talk about the most important piece of gear you will have, your nanites.”

With that, Sira began to tell us about what our nanites were capable of. Other than enhancing our physical capabilities dramatically, keeping us healthy and immune to the influence of Demon-seeds, interfacing with our weapons and equipment, and healing us when we are injured, the nanites had several other uses. These functions could be accessed by giving the appropriate commands to our NCI, or nanite to consciousness interface. This jogged my memory about the strange dream that I had had, that apparently wasn’t a dream after all.

By issuing the right commands we could speak to other Angels or Sira at Eden Base without a farspeaker, no matter how far away they were. We could also access information from Sira’s database when needed, project images and sound that we could remember for others to see, subtly change our appearances, and even create ammunition for our designated weapons if we had the proper raw materials available. Our NCI could even help us keep track of our schedules, appointments, moon cycles, and other important information.

“So, do we just choose something that appeals to us?” I asked once the AI was done explaining and I looked over the weapons. I wanted something graceful and feminine, or maybe the G-2 Shadowstrike that my aunt… err grandmother used.

“I am afraid not, Snow. The optimal weapons for each of you have already been determined based on a variety of factors; including your physical capabilities, estimated ability to draw on extra planar energy, and the results of the personality tests that I gave you before you received the Angel Elixir,” Sira replied carefully.

That test had been strange and since Lisbet and I were the only two of us who could read and write, Sira had had to test Autumn and Karina orally in separate rooms so that we couldn’t influence one another’s answers. It must be nice to be able to be in several places at once. At least the test and the tour of the lab had given us something to do while she was preparing our doses of nanites.

“I must ask that none of you activate your weapons until your trainer has been assigned and allows it, not even a mode-shift. You will have plenty of time to learn how to use them once you arrive at the academy. They are keyed to you when you first interface with them and will not function for anyone but you. In fact, if someone who is not an Angel tries to use them, your weapons will give them a severe shock,” Sira said as her avatar walked unerringly toward one of the shelves. Suddenly I was glad that I had heeded Aunt Abby’s warnings and never touched her weapon.

Sira seemed to find what she was looking for without any searching and removed a weapon from a rack before returning to us and handing it to Autumn. “This is the R-8 Light Foil, Autumn. Once you interface with it you will receive all of the information that you require to become familiar with it.” It was some sort of sword with a thin blade and guard that would cover her whole hand. I thought that it suited the Fay girl well as she took it and the accompanying belt and scabbard from Sira.

Next up was Lisbet who received a weapon that looked very familiar. It was the same weapon that Dorthea used, the GL-5 Storm grenade launcher. From what the Squirrelkin had told me it could use explosive or gas grenades and its other mode was a pulse cannon, whatever that is. Lisbet seemed pretty happy with it when Sira handed it to her.

Karina received the D-18 Reaper. Since we weren’t allowed to mode-shift only she could tell what its other mode might be, if it even had one. It was a pair of thick metal bracers that fit over her forearms with a pair of thick and sharp-looking punch daggers that were almost as long again as the bracers themselves and could be retracted inside them. With her short-range teleportation ability, she was going to be scary while using something like that.

When Sira finally retrieved my assigned weapon and placed it in my hands my heart sank, it certainly wasn’t something that I could ever imagine a girl using. “This is the C-13 Goliath, Snow. You’ll be the first Angel to ever use one. It was one of the original prototype weapons that I never thought we would have an Angel use but I recently reconstructed it using more durable materials, including the metal from Razorwing feathers. Since it is a prototype please let me know if you think there can be any improvements made once you are used to it.”

The massive sword was wide, almost as long as I was tall, and probably just as heavy. It felt light enough to me though as the weight settled in my hands. The worst of the weight seemed to be borne by my soul, especially once my nanites sensed it and interfaced with it for the first time.

-= Weapon interface engaged. C-13 Goliath confirmed as your primary weapon. Downloading blueprints and all pertinent data from S.I.R.A. Required ammunition: Not applicable. Commencing data transfer. =-

A rush of knowledge filled my head as Connie gave me every detail possible on my new weapon. There wasn’t much since it was a prototype, but each little bit of information just made me want to find a hole to crawl in. It was big, intimidating, the furthest thing from graceful and feminine, and it seemed like something that Telas or some equally manly man would want to use. It felt like the worst match possible for me.

Once Sira had shown me how to put on the large shoulder harness that came with the sword and it was magnetically held in place behind my back at an easy angle to draw from, as the avatar had instructed, I tuned everything and everyone out as we headed back to the medical floor to wait for the new arrivals. My three companions were talking excitedly about their new weapons and how much they were looking forward to learning to use them. I missed a lot of what they were saying, I just couldn’t share their excitement and I was glad that I didn’t have to look at the damn thing while it was behind me.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Since I was feeling good enough to get out of bed for a few hours, here's chapter 6 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 6: Awkward

As soon as we returned to Infirmary One we placed our new clothes and weapons on the beds that had been assigned to us for the duration of our stay at Eden Base. I looked at the sword lying there for a long while, taking in its appearance and wondering what I had done to be stuck with something like that. Why couldn’t I have gotten something delicate and pretty like Autumn had?

No, my weapon was huge, utilitarian, sturdy, and had a hilt meant for two hands. Except for its sheer size, nothing was interesting about it. It was so long that I had to wear it at an angle, not only to draw it properly but also so it didn’t drag along the ground. I guessed that if I put the tip on the ground that the pommel would be around eye-level and the blade was as wide as the length of my hand from wrist to fingertips. It was thick too, thicker than my fist in the middle before gradually becoming razor-sharp at the edges and tip. It was a weapon for hacking, impaling, and using brute strength to one’s advantage.

I barely noticed when the others stopped gushing about their new gear and Karina jabbed me in the ribs. “Hey, Snow, I know that’s a pretty badass weapon but we have things to do. I have no idea how you managed to draw that monster one-handed like you did, but you can get to know it better later. We should all get cleaned up and looking presentable for when the other recruits arrive if we want to make a decent first impression.”

“I… uhh… sorry, girls,” I replied after a moment. She was right. Apparently, having your body completely rebuilt is a messy and sweaty process and, while Sira had given me occasional sponge baths while I was in my haze of agony for three days, I still felt pretty gross and wanted to clean up properly before we met anyone new.

With that in mind, I followed the others into the lavatory and the showers that awaited us within. For the first time in my life, getting clean didn’t make me feel wrong or hate myself. Looking at or touching my body didn’t fill me with that familiar sense of self-loathing because I didn’t have that horrible thing between my legs or broad shoulders and flat chest. It felt like my body for the first time ever and I took the time to explore and familiarize myself with it as we washed.

My mind slipped gradually away from my new weapon as I lathered my soft skin and ample curves. My breasts were a bit more than a handful and filled me with pride and a strange sort of excitement that reminded me of when I got turned on in the past but without that hideous thing between my legs making its presence uncomfortably known. Instead, my nipples got really hard and I could feel this pleasant warmth building up between my legs. Curious, I started to lather the folds down there as well, only to be greeted with a pleasant feeling as my fingertips brushed something that felt like a small nub.

I let out a tiny moan of pleasure and could feel my cheeks flushing as it caught the attention of my three companions and Autumn and Karina teased me about finding the magic button. After that, I finished washing as quickly as I could, though my much longer hair took a lot of work to clean thoroughly. At least I wasn’t alone in that since Autumn’s hair was as long as my own when out of the braids that she had had them in when we first met.

Things probably would have taken even longer but there was the liquid soap and something that Sira had told us was called a conditioning shampoo that made things faster and, in addition to getting us clean, kept us smelling nice as well. They weren’t anything like the rough bars of soap that I was used to using for cleaning. Sira had told us that they were made by Alchemists in the capital and would keep our skin and hair both soft and healthy.

They were among many things that the capital sent every month as supplies from the taxes earmarked for the Angel Corps. The monthly supply airship contained things like that soap and shampoo, various everyday supplies and raw materials, fish from the Missippi River, and things like eggs, milk, and other dairy products from the farms around the capital. There were so many new and strange things that Sira had introduced us to or told us about and the capital sounded amazing, I couldn’t wait to see it first hand.

Autumn took longer than me washing up since she had to use a knife to shave the stubble growing at the sides of her head to just over the height of the arch of her eyebrows, but once she was finished she found the rest of us drying off. We didn’t even need to use towels to dry off, well not too much, since there were these floor-to-ceiling metal grates just outside the shower that we could stand in front of that blew warm air to dry us off when they were activated. It took a while to get our hair dry this way, and we had to be careful to comb out any tangles, but it was a lot faster than using a towel for everything.

I was watching the Fay deftly split and then braid her hair into over two dozen separate braids, weaving in dark green beads and leaf-like ornaments when the shaved sides of her head made me think of something. Male Animen often didn’t shave anything, to them, it was getting closer to their animal roots. A lot of women only allowed hair to grow on their heads, ears, and tails, they shaved their legs and under their arms whenever they had need though because they liked the feel of the air or soft clothes on bare skin and it looked cleaner and more attractive to them. I hadn’t started growing facial hair yet but I had begun shaving any leg or body hair that I grew just like the women of the village to look more feminine.

As we were washing and drying I couldn’t help but notice that none of my companions had needed to do so today. Neither had I, which was a bit surprising after 3 days in bed. Sira had offered to program our nanites to remove any hair in undesirable areas but, like a lot of the things that she had told us, I just hadn’t thought it possible at first. I guess that it wasn’t an uncommon request, even Human women in the capital shaved their unwanted body hair and Sira said that the tradition went back to the old world since she remembered women in the base doing so back then. The only one of us who had declined the offer was Autumn because the Fay don’t grow body hair.

For a moment before getting dressed I just smiled and admired my smooth legs, even the area between them, my arms, and underarms had no hair to speak of. It felt so nice as I put my new clothes on. Even the unfamiliar and snug panties felt nice against my skin, though wearing the strange undergarment was nothing like the loose and shifting coverage of a loincloth. The bra was strange and it took a while to get the hang of it; I had to put my arms through the loops, fasten the clasp behind me, and then adjust everything so that my breasts were settled in the cups and everything was straight. But as strange as these undergarments were they were comforting, like a constant reminder that I was now a woman like I had always dreamed of.

The dress, socks, and boots were much easier to put on and very comfortable once they were on. They were utilitarian and comfortable but showed off my new figure nicely. It wasn’t my first time wearing a dress but it was the first time doing it as myself and I couldn’t help but smile as I gave a twirl, making the skirt spin and my long hair whip around, before posing for the others. I couldn’t help it, now that I was finally me I was filled with this sense of euphoria, and not even my enormous masculine weapon could dim that excitement completely.

“Looking good, Snow, but maybe you should braid your hair with it being so long?” Lisbet commented.

“Hey, braids are my thing,” Autumn teased as she worked on finishing her braids so she could get dressed. She was the only one of us not dressed yet, not that she seemed at all uncomfortable sitting in front of us naked. I had heard that the Fay didn’t have many taboos regarding nudity or sex but it was a bit surprising to see firsthand. The Devilkin were similar in that regard so it seemed that only Lisbet and I were uncomfortable with her casual nudity.

I didn’t know about Lisbet but I was a little embarrassed just showering with the other girls, especially with their friendly teasing about the magic button. It didn’t help that I seemed to find my new friends attractive either. Before, I had tried never to think about that sort of thing since the physical reactions to it in my old body made me want to vomit. Now though, I didn’t have that disgust or dissonance with my body to get in the way and I found myself liking what I saw in those few brief daring glances that I had taken. It was making Autumn’s current state of undress very distracting too.

She wasn’t as voluptuous as Karina or Lisbet were now but her tall and slender body was graceful and had a sort of natural charm to it. She was also very pretty in an exotic way. How was I going to deal with this? We were friends, or at the very least well on our way to becoming so, and I didn’t want to make things awkward for any of us.

“Huh?” I asked, turning my head away from the naked Fay working on the last of her braids to look at Karina. She had just whispered something in my ear and while I wasn’t paying enough attention to catch what she said completely, my ear had turned toward the sound enough to catch her warm breath.

“I said that I can tie your hair back if you want me to, Snow,” Karina repeated, then she nudged me in the side with her elbow. “A little distracted, huh? Autumn and I won’t mind if you look you know, and there’s nothing wrong with liking girls that way. Most Fay and a lot of Devilkin are attracted to both genders.”

I could feel my cheeks burning. “I… uhh… I mean….”

“We had some time to get to know one another a bit while you were still going through your changes, Snow. Autumn and Karina are both into guys and girls and while I don’t see the appeal in girls myself, I don’t really care who you’re attracted to, it doesn’t change who we are inside,” Lisbet pointed out as she handed Karina a pretty blue ribbon from her belongings.

“Just relax, none of us are going to get upset at you for finding us attractive, in fact, I think Autumn has been taking her time on purpose for your sake,” the Devilkin girl said with a laugh as she took the ribbon and began to tie my hair back in a high ponytail. “I think she’s going to try to lure you in for some kissing and snuggling at some point.”

“What?!” I hissed back at her, trying not to get the attention of the Fay in question.

“I want to get to know you better, Snowy, and kissing and cuddling while we talk and spend time together is a good way to do that. My people are really big on physical affection,” the Fay explained as she started to get dressed, proving that she had indeed heard me.

“Wait, Snowy?” I blurted out in confusion.

“Yep, that’s what I’m calling you now. Karina is nice to snuggle with and I think you will be too. Lisbet isn’t really interested in more than hugs and such, and if you really feel the same then I promise that I won’t go any further than that with you, as I have with her. Somehow though, I think you won’t object. It’s not like we’ll be able to do more than kissing and cuddling for the next three years anyway,” Autumn offered with a shrug after she had managed to get into her bra.

“Umm… I think I’m okay with that kind of thing. I mean, we can at least try it and see how it goes, but I don’t think I’m ready for anything more than that yet. I need to figure out a lot of things about myself, I think. What do you mean we can’t do more for the next three years though?” I asked in confusion.

Lisbet was the one to answer my question, well somewhat anyway. “Things were boring here under lockdown while you were out, so when Autumn wasn’t trying to get us into group snuggles we spent a lot of time with Rose’s or Talea’s teams or with Sira’s avatar. They gave us an idea of what to expect at the academy.”

“We’ll be taking classes to learn reading and writing and all sorts of other stuff for half of the day, and our trainer will be teaching us combat for the rest. We’ll be at the academy for three years and while we’re there, there are rules that we have to follow,” Karina added as she sat on my bed beside me. “Rule one: No sex. Completely aside from the possibility of pregnancy, they want us to be focusing on our studies and not the drama that can come with physical relationships that have gone too far.”

“Rule two: No fighting amongst one another,” Lisbet added. “We’re all Angels, so we’re supposed to be brothers and sisters in arms. If one training team has issues with another then we’re supposed to talk to our trainer, who will arrange for a team-on-team battle to put the problem to rest. Weapons in these battles will be set to non-lethal and the winners get to decide on how to address the problem between the two teams. No matter who wins, it’s over after the battle, and holding grudges is discouraged.”

Autumn had finished getting her clothes on and sat on my other side, nuzzling me with a sigh as she said, “And then there’s my personal favorite, Snowy, rule three: All students are to act in a way consistent with a member the Angel Corps. Follow all orders given by a team leader, trainer or teacher when given, help others, protect the defenseless, and when in the public eye act with decorum and protect the secrets of the Corps.”

I had to force myself to focus on the Fay’s words rather than the fact that her body was so close to mine, and how nice that felt. Fortunately, I managed to listen and I was considering what we would be in for at the academy when Lisbet interrupted my musings. “Come on, girls, it’s time for lunch, we can talk to Snow and get to know her better while eating. And if you simply must cuddle to do that then you can sit beside her, Autumn,” she said with a teasing grin.

We were in the middle of eating lunch, with Autumn sitting as close to me as our seats would allow when two people entered the busy cafeteria. The first was a pretty girl around the same age as me and my current table companions. She was wearing a really fancy-looking dark blue dress and white boots and had bright pink hair falling just down past her shoulders.

The other woman looked maybe a few years older than us but there was no mistaking who she was, not to me anyway. She had a very familiar weapon slung over her shoulder and if you took away the age lines, well, I knew who it was instantly. I would know that face anywhere, even if it wasn’t so similar to my new one. I let out a happy squeal and practically jumped out of my seat to run and hug the woman who, until recently, I had known as my Aunt Abby.

“Whoa! Somebody got strong,” she practically wheezed in my arms. I could tell that she wasn’t angry with me though.

The same could not be said for the pink-haired girl beside us. “What do you think you’re doing?! Do you have any idea who this is?!”

Her tone wasn’t just angry, it was downright condescending and I could feel my ears flattening and my tail bristling in response. I turned to glare at her, looking her dead in those pink eyes of hers and barely keeping myself from growling at her. “No,” I snapped sarcastically, “I just go hugging random people who I don’t know all the time. You’re lucky it wasn’t you that I saw first.”

She was staring at me in disbelief, and I didn’t particularly care whether it was out of shock that I talked back or from what I had said. I didn’t give her time to do more than sputter angrily though as I added, “Of course, I know who she is! She’s Archangel Abbadine Bengal, the first Angel, and my au… uhh… grandmother.” I gave the grandmother in question a meaningful look as I said the last and pulled away a bit.

Pinky looked like she just bit into something really sour while ‘granny’ Abby winced. Yeah, we were going to have words about that later. For the moment though the first Angel held me by the shoulders at arm’s length as she looked me over. After a moment she smiled and I could swear that I saw tears in her eyes. “You turned out well, Snow. That strength and the nose are a bit of a surprise, but you’re looking good, happy for the first time since I came to Serkis to raise you. How do you feel, Sweetie?”

“I feel amazing! Though after three days of agony, I think that anyone would feel amazing. I heard you got stuck in the capital while I was out,” I replied with a smile, purposely ignoring the seething girl with pink hair and eyes. I was curious, but I wasn’t about to admit it after our ‘introduction’. That is not a normal hair or eye color, even among Seed-borne, which meant that she was probably like me.

Granny Abby looked from one of us to the other and let out a soft groan. “Yes, Her Majesty had a request for me and we needed to discuss the details, and by the time we were done the base was snowed in and I had to wait things out at the palace. Me and Heather here took the veetol back and the other new recruits should arrive with the base’s monthly supplies on the airship in a few hours.” She paused a moment, letting out another nearly inaudible sigh. “Why don’t you go finish your meal with your friends, Snow? We’ll grab something to eat and come join you, we have some things to discuss.”

“Sure, we’ll wait for you then… grandmother,” I replied only slightly awkwardly before turning and heading back to the table where my friends were waiting and watching.

“So… that looked tense,” Lisbet said as I sat down, her eyes following the pair I had just left as they went to get their meals.

“We could hear her yelling at you from here, who does she think she is anyway?” Karina added with a grumble.

“Yeah, talking to our Snowy that way,” Autumn put in with a pout as she leaned closer to me and put an arm around my waist as I started eating again. “If you hadn’t put her in her place I would have…” The Fay girl trailed off, apparently thinking it better not to finish that sentence. I had heard that the Fay could be vengeful and I worried that she might have a problem with not holding a grudge once we started at the academy.

Soon the other pair joined us at our table, my grandmother sitting to my left while the girl sat opposite her. We all sat there for several minutes in silence before the Archangel among us finally spoke. “Girls, I’d like you all to meet Heather Wilson, eldest daughter of Her Majesty, Queen Sabine Wilson. Heather, this is my granddaughter, Snow Bengal, and her friends; Autumn Dawn, Karina Lorelei, and Lisbet Angora.”

Oh shit. I just probably pissed off the heir to the throne of Misota. I was starting to feel pretty tense about that until she added, “Like the four of you, she is here to take the Angel Elixir and join the Corps. Unless there are no other female heirs, daughters of the Queen who display Seed-borne gifts are given the choice to serve as an Angel instead of taking the throne.”

“Yeah, I had so much choice in the matter,” Heather replied bitterly, angrily stabbing one of the veggies on her plate with her fork. “I’ve been kept in the palace most of my life because of my hair and eyes, can’t have the Humans of the kingdom thinking that the heir is part Demon after all. There would be revolts. Since my sister was born this has been the only choice open to me.”

My grandmother gave the not-princess a stern look. “You seem to have exercised your power of choice just fine, Heather. You all but demanded that I be your trainer when I made it quite clear that I usually work alone and had no interest in teaching.”

“She what?!” I snarled, shattering the clay mug in my hand.

“I wanted to learn from the best if I was going to do this! She’s the best!” Heather snapped back at me defensively, staring at the mix of juice, blood, and broken mug remnants falling from my hand. I’ll say this for nanites, they’re effective little things, I could already feel my hand tingling as it healed from the cuts and Autumn gently took my hand to ensure that I wasn’t seriously hurt. The cuts weren’t all that deep anyway, they barely broke the skin, were healing fast, and I had other concerns at the moment.

“Well, I hope that all of you can get along because I’ll be training all five of you once Heather is finished recovering from the Angel Elixir,” my grandmother announced, earning a gape-mouthed stare from every single one of us. “Normally the training teams are made up of four members, but after Heather here ‘convinced’ her mother that I should train her, Her Majesty and I talked about a little idea that I had.”

“What? I wasn’t told about this,” Heather said uncertainly as she looked from our new trainer to each of us.

“You are the student, and I am the trainer. I am not required to tell you anything until I feel the time is appropriate,” my grandmother said pointedly. “Usually, an Alchemist like you wouldn’t even be allowed to have the Angel Elixir, and neither would a Tinker like Lisbet, without approval from a senior Angel first. You would both be learning to work with others like yourselves in the labs or the capital. I was considering five-man teams for specialized missions before I took leave to raise Snow and your training team will be the test to see if this format will work. The two of you will train to use your gifts to support the rest of your team in ways that other teams wouldn’t have access to on long-term missions.”

“Training how?” Lisbet asked.

“Of the five of you, only Karina and Autumn don’t know your reading, writing, and calculating numbers. While they are learning that you will be in the labs learning to use your gift creatively, how the veetols and other equipment work, and how to make repairs or new gear. Heather will be doing the same in the alchemy labs, learning what Sira calls chemistry, and becoming familiar with various materials so she can alter or create them when necessary. Snow will be learning Demon fighting tactics and other skills that she will need as your team leader,” my grandmother told us sternly.

“You’re making her our team leader? Why not me? Is this because…”

Our trainer quickly cut off Heather’s protest. “I am not and will not show favoritism to any of you. You wanted me as a trainer so we are going to do things my way and I will be working every one of you harder than you ever imagined possible. If you don’t like that, then you can tell Sira that you’ll be working in one of the labs instead of taking the Elixir. The team needs a combat leader. Snow already has combat experience against a Demon, she can keep her head and think creatively in high-pressure situations, and she cares about people. Now do you still want my training, or will you just be another Alchemist in the labs? This is the last time that I will have my decisions questioned.”

I wasn’t sure about this being the team leader thing. I didn’t care about being in charge, I didn’t even really want to be and nearly protested myself but I knew that my grandmother was never going to back down once she had made a decision like that. Heather looked from her to me and then back to her again before slumping back in her chair defeated. “I… want your training, Archangel Abbadine. I want to be an Angel.”

“Then finish eating so I can take you up to Sira and she can get started on your dose before the other recruits show up,” my grandmother told her gruffly. “And none of this Archangel Abbadine shit, if you try calling me that in combat you’ll be dead before half of it leaves your mouth. You will all address me as Trainer or Wingleader from now on.”

“Yes, au… Wingleader,” I replied, stopping myself from calling her Aunt Abby as I caught her glare. This was going to be hard to adjust to. I had barely gotten used to the idea that she was my grandmother rather than my aunt.

The others quickly added a “Yes, Wingleader!” of their own to show that they understood as she looked me and my friends over.

“You were all issued new clothes, am I to understand that you were issued your weapons as well?” she asked. At our uncertain nods, she glowered at each of us in turn. “And where are they then?” Oh, she did not look happy, though Heather sure did.

“We left them with our belongings in the infirmary, Wingleader,” I told her after a deep breath. “Sira said that we couldn’t activate them until our trainer allowed it.”

“From now on, you wear your weapons everywhere except when sleeping or bathing, and even then you keep them within arm’s reach. An Angel without their weapon swiftly becomes a dead Angel. This is a harsh world and Demons will not wait to attack until you’ve fetched your weapons, do you understand?” Her tone was colder than any ice that I could create.

“Yes, Wingleader,” we all replied dismally, looking down at the table. By the spirits, I just wanted to smack that smile off Heather’s face.

“Heather! Less smirking, more eating! Sira is waiting,” my grandmother scolded. Then her tone softened. “Girls, Snow already knows this but if I am hard on you it is only because I don’t want to see you hurt or dead because you weren’t prepared. Save Heather and Snow, I tested each of you personally and I think that you all have great potential but the moment that you chose to take that Elixir and become an Angel, you chose a dangerous life. If I have to be tough on you to prepare you to survive that then I will be, because if I don’t then you’ll be soft and we’ll all regret that far more than a bit of hard work.”

After that, our meal was finished in relative silence. Our trainer ordered the four of us to return to the infirmary, get our weapons on, and wait for further orders while she took Heather to go see Sira about programming her dose of Angel Elixir. She and Heather would join us once the latter was given her dose and ready to be put to bed to wait out the changes. While there, our trainer would also be getting all of the information on each of our weapons from the AI.

I wasn’t happy about that; I was even less happy about putting the damn thing on again. It wasn’t that it felt heavy, I just still thought it was too much like something that a guy who was overcompensating would use and it hurt to be assigned something like that when I finally became my real self. Also, the harness was uncomfortable and awkward, squeezing my breasts between the straps until Karina helped me adjust them a bit. The straps, not the breasts. This was my new reality though, I had chosen this and so far the positives outweighed the negatives by a fair margin. I just needed to keep telling myself that I loved my new body and friends and that having a weapon that I hated and Heather on our team were the prices for that happiness.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Well, I'm stating to feel a bit better, I'm not coughing near as much and not quite as tired all of the time so I think the antibiotics and rest are helping and I should be back to regular posting soon. So here's chapter 7 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 7: Storm Wing

It was two hours later and Autumn had convinced me and Karina to snuggle with her on her bed while the four of us talked and waited for our trainer and new teammate to join us in the infirmary. It was kind of nice except for the fact that wearing my sword was making it hard to find a comfortable position and snuggling with them both was getting me turned on, something that was a little bit new and still made me a little self-conscious. Still, I could get why the Fay were so big on physical affection.

I had also taken the time to familiarize myself with more of the features of my nanites and my NCI, Connie. I was not going to call her my conscience so I was trying to forget all about that little awkward screw-up. “What time is it, Connie?” I mentally inquired. The others had told me the first time that I asked Connie something out loud that Sira had told them that we didn’t need to give the commands vocally, we just needed to think it since our NCI’s were literally in our heads and designed to respond to our thoughts.

-= The current local time is 3:27 pm, Snow. Would you like a digital timestamp overlaying your vision for future convenience? =-

“You can do that? I guess I can give it a try.”

-= Request confirmed. Overlaying optical digital timestamp. =-

Okay, that was just weird. I could now see in the corner of my vision a blue display saying, “3:27 PM” and no matter how I turned my head it stayed in that spot until I frowned and shook my head. “Okay, Connie. I really don’t need that right now. I could see it maybe being useful for some things but I don’t want it there all the time, it seems like it could be distracting.”

-= Disengaging optical digital timestamp. =-

It was then that I heard movement outside the door that exited the infirmary to the hallway. I wasn’t the only one with sensitive ears, so Autumn was scrambling to get to her feet along with me while we untangled our bodies and Lisbet giggled at our antics as she stood up herself. Karina just looked at us in confusion, “What’s up?”

“Noise outside the door,” Autumn whispered in a hushed tone as we both managed to extricate ourselves and get to our feet. As soon as Autumn and I were standing and watching the door and she had whispered those words, Karina quickly shot to her feet as well. None of us wanted to give my grandmother any more possible reasons to be angry with us.

It wasn’t our trainer. It was a tall and slender brunette Fay who, from her weapon and clothes, I figured must be an Angel. She was leading a group of eleven girls and as the door slid open I could hear her saying, “…and this is Infirmary One, where you girls will be staying while the Angel Elixir works its magic. The boys will all be across the hall in Infirmary Two. Sira will come to retrieve each of you individually when it’s your turn to be processed. Find a bed and get yourselves settled in, girls, we will be spreading out the doses so that not all of you are recovering at once and it will be a week before all of you recruits can be given your doses and have the time to fully recover.”

They were coming our way and as some began to choose beds that hadn’t already been taken by us, one of the girls, a Human-looking girl with long blonde hair seemed to notice us and asked the Angel, “Are you sure this is the right room? There are Angels in here.”

The Fay woman looked us over and smiled before shaking her head. “No, they’re recruits, just like you. I was told that we had some who got here early, Sira must have given them their doses and issued their weapons while we were all waiting for the weather to clear enough to be able to fly here.” She made her way over to us with several of the girls who had claimed beds in tow. “Greetings, recruits. It’s good to see some more girls here, these poor girls thought that they were going to be outnumbered by the boys two-to-one for this year’s class. I am Morning dew in the light of sunrise, but most everyone just calls me Dew.”

“May the blessings of the forest spirits be upon you, Morning dew in the light of sunrise. I am Autumn Dawn, and this is Lisbet Angora, Karina Lorelei, and our team leader, Snow Bengal. We have one other girl but she is currently with Sira and receiving her dose of the Angel Elixir,” Autumn offered formally, with a sweeping bow to the elder Fay.

When Autumn came to my name Dew gave me an appraising look. “Related to Abbadine Bengal no doubt, I can see the family resemblance and a little bird told me that she is back from her long absence.”

“Yes, she’s my grandmother,” I replied uncertainly. “She has raised me since my parents died.”

“Well, I expect that we will see great things from you then, Snow,” she said with a smile as her eyes lingered above my right shoulder where the large hilt of my sword that was visible.

No pressure, huh? “I’ll… ummm… do my best,” I offered nervously.

As luck would have it, that was when my grandmother arrived with Heather. Dew looked over at her entrance and smiled. “Abby! It’s been a long time. Girls! I’d like you all to meet Archangel Abbadine Bengal, she was the first Angel. Abby, would you like to say a few words?”

My grandmother did not look happy about being put on the spot like that but nodded before clearing her throat and then speaking. “Look around you, girls. These are the people that you will be training with and fighting alongside. You will see one another at your best and your worst. You need to trust one another, to have each other’s backs, and you need to be worthy of that trust. Being an Angel, fighting Demons, and keeping our secrets can be a heavy burden but it’s a burden that you can all make lighter by sharing it with one another.”

Dew nodded in agreement, smiling at the Archangel before adding, “With that in mind you will be starting to build those bonds and that trust starting now. Those of you who aren’t in bed going through your transition into Angels may be asked to volunteer in helping to care for those who are going through their transition. It is a messy process, they will be in pain and unable to do anything for themselves until the Angel Elixir has run its course. This is your first lesson; to care for one another with dignity and respect and to trust your classmates to do the same for you while you are vulnerable.”

“You have all been assigned to training teams,” my grandmother said, speaking up again. “Your teams have been assigned trainers. Dew and I will be amongst those trainers. Once you have been fully transformed and have recovered enough to get out of bed you will be taken to get clothes that will fit and your new weapons. The weapon you receive will be determined by Sira and it may not be the weapon that you want but it will be the best suited to you and you will become accustomed to it in time. You may even grow to love it as much as I do my own.”

She said the last while looking directly at me and I couldn’t help but sigh in resignation. Her point had been clear, this monstrous sword was my weapon and I had better get used to it. With the speeches now out of the way she guided a slightly woozy-looking Heather to the bed beside my own and laid her down. Then my grandmother tossed me one of the backless gowns that I had worn when I was in bed going through my changes. “Huh?” I asked in confusion.

“Help Heather to get undressed and put that on, Snow,” she told me in a tone that said clearly that she would allow no arguments. “Since the two of you have gotten on so well so far, you’ll be the one caring for her until she’s fully changed and recovered. Think of it as a trust-building exercise.”

Heather looked as shocked as I was, and just as unhappy with the situation too since she shot me a withering glare. She wasn’t looking too good though; she was perspiring and clenching her teeth in what was probably pain. I knew from recent experience just how fast those nanites could take effect and how shitty that they made a person feel while doing their thing. As my grandmother turned and went to talk to Dew once again I sighed and asked Heather, “Is your dress tied in the back?”

“I don’t need your help!” she hissed angrily, though I noted that she was keeping her volume down so that our trainer wouldn’t hear it. She started reaching around her back but couldn’t reach whatever was securing her dress and the effort was only increasing her obvious discomfort.

I sighed, rolled my eyes, and muttered, “Oh for the love of Kasala, just let me give you a hand. I’m not happy about this either, you know.” I moved behind her on her bed and saw the tightly secured ties of her bodice and started working on unfastening them. Obviously, she hadn’t gotten into that dress on her own, she was probably used to servants helping her with stuff like that. Finally, I managed to loosen everything enough so that I could pull her dress off, leaving her only in her boots and a bra and panties that looked much fancier than those that Sira had made for us.

Next, I tugged off her boots and the stockings underneath, neither of us saying a word or even looking at one another any further than necessary. The clothes were so pretty, it was a shame that she likely wouldn’t be able to wear them again, though that really depended on how much she ended up changing physically. Then, I unfastened her bra and let her slip out of it since I was warned that we shouldn’t sleep in them if possible.

With her now mostly naked, I handed her the gown to put on and then tied it in the back with enough room in case her figure changed a lot, I knew all too well how uncomfortable it could get after changing if tied too tightly. “There, now get under the sheets and I’ll cover you up. Just don’t expect me to tuck you in or sing you a lullaby.”

“As if I would want to listen to your yowling,” she said with a sneer. She did do as I had asked though.

I covered her up and then joined my grandmother to ask, “Did Sira give her something for the pain yet, or do I need to go see her about that?”

“Sira already gave her something, we were told that it should kick in soon and Sira will come to give her another dose in four hours. You won’t have to worry about that. Just talk to her once in a while, hold her hand and let her know there’s someone there for her and when Sira comes in she’ll show you how to give her a sponge bath and anything else that you’ll need to do,” she told me gently. “This isn’t a punishment, for either of you. There’s no room on a team for hatred or division, not if you plan on staying alive. You need to learn to put that behind you because you will need to be able to depend on one another.”

As expected, it was nearly a day and a half before Heather’s changes were complete. Her breathing became less labored, her face was no longer scrunched up in pain, and she fell into a more restful sleep. Autumn and I were snuggling and watching over her at the time but my teammates had all been taking shifts helping me to watch over her, talking to her and holding her hand, and keeping her clean and as comfortable as possible. Sure, it was supposed to be only my responsibility but we had talked it over as a team.

She might not be a welcome addition to our team but our trainer was right that Heather was one of us and we all needed to build trust. The others had all watched over me while I was changing so it was only fair that we did the same for Heather. So, since I was going to be watching over her the whole time they decided to work in shifts assisting me. They also brought both mine and Heather’s meals and helped to keep my mind occupied so I wouldn’t fall asleep and miss something important during my vigil.

Caring for a person like that wasn’t easy or pleasant and I was grateful that the others had done so for me for three days. It required such intimacy at times. She was in pain and barely lucid the whole time and with all of the sweating we had to give her several sponge baths. Because she needed her energy we also had to feed her and make sure that she got plenty of fluids, which wasn’t easy with her in too much of a daze to cooperate fully. At least we didn’t have to try to get her out of bed to relieve herself since the nanites were using everything possible to not only fuel her changes but provide any extra mass needed for them.

During one of her check-ins on Heather and the other girls who were going through their changes during the same period, Sira told us that it gets really messy if someone is losing a lot of mass. That mass will be not only expelled as hair growth but through the bowels as well. I was glad that our biggest problem was feeding her. Not many people lose a lot of mass during the process though, usually, just people like me who are going from a male body to a female one.

Heather was definitely gaining mass though. It was hard to tell with her in bed but it looked like she was going to end up a little taller and she was without a doubt getting more muscle tone, though there didn’t seem to be much change in her figure. I was also surprised to not see any animal or obvious demonic features developing since she was probably like me and closer to whatever near-Demon heritage that she had with those bright pink eyes and hair. That was explained not long before her changes were complete.

It was just before midnight on the day after Heather had been given the Elixir and Autumn and I were giving her another sponge bath as she slept restlessly. I was trying to just get the job over with when I heard Autumn mutter, “I don’t know if I should be happy or disturbed by this turn of events.”

“Huh?” I asked, looking up from where I was carefully washing Heather’s legs. The Fay motioned me closer and pulled aside the matted curtain of thick pink hair, revealing an ear that was just like her own; long, pointed, and tilted backward along the side of her head. Heather was apparently turning into a Fay. I could sort of see it in her face too; it was slightly more angular, her features were softer and more delicate too. “Well, if it’s any consolation, Autumn, I think that when she wakes up she’s going to be of mixed feelings too. I doubt that any of them are going to be happiness though.”

“You think?” she replied sarcastically. “I just hope that we don’t have to spend any time with other Fay any time soon, her royal grouchiness would be an embarrassment.”

“Well, then I guess as you are her teammate, that you are going to have to teach her to be one of us,” Dew said, startling us both. She, my grandmother, and the other female trainers had been taking shifts watching over us girls so that one of them would be on hand in case there was an emergency of some sort. The fact that she could sneak up on us like that with our senses said a lot about her. That or we were really distracted. I do admit that I was trying, unsuccessfully, to ignore my enhanced senses while I cleaned Heather and my newly sensitive nose objected to the smell of sweat and body odor in the room.

I could see my new Fay friend about to voice an objection but she stopped herself, likely figuring that it was a fruitless endeavor. She lifted one of Heather’s eyelids, revealing that her pink eyes now had slit pupils as well, and let out a long sigh before responding to Dew. “Yeah, I guess so. At least it’s not that uncommon for Fay to have strange hair and eye colors, they just have a strong connection to the forest spirits, but a Fay like that would be expected to know our ways. If we have to go to a Fay village for some reason and she doesn’t at least know the basics, she’s going to stick out even more than her hair and eyes do among the Humans.“

“And it is hard to keep secrets when everyone’s eyes are upon you,” Dew agreed with a sage nod.

It wasn’t long after that that Heather’s pains began to ease and she fell into a deeper and more restful sleep. She seemed to be finished with the changes so Autumn and I went to lay on my bed and watch her from there. We fell asleep snuggling and watching over her, but that wasn’t surprising for me with my lack of sleep the night before while watching over her. I could see why the Fay were so big on that sort of thing, it was very relaxing.

I awoke with Autumn’s twitching and pointed ear tickling my sensitive nose. She smelled so nice, and for a moment I considered just lying there and enjoying the companionship for a while longer. That is until I heard a soft and musical voice mutter, “…practically all over each other in public. Don’t they have any decency?”

I opened my eyes and found that the voice, though unfamiliar, was coming right from where I thought it was. Heather was glowering at me and Autumn from her bed. I took a deep breath and tried to be the better person. “Good morning, Heather. It’s good to see that you’re feeling better, we kind of fell asleep watching over you after you started sleeping peacefully. Would you like to go for a shower and to have a look at your new self in the mirror? You probably have time before breakfast.”

She ignored me, or at least my words. “There are rules against relationships, you know,” she said with a sneer.

“No,” I calmly replied. “The rule is ‘no sex’. We were cuddling while watching over you and we’re just friends. The Fay are very physically affectionate to those who they care about, it’s something that you should get used to.” I could barely keep the smile from forming on my lips.

The former princess let out a very unladylike snort of indignation. “Some of us have more important things to do than ‘cuddle’ with your pointy-eared girlfriend.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Heather. I think that you have more in common with her than you think,” I said trying to hide a satisfied smirk. “Now let’s go get you showered and into a robe so you can have some breakfast and go see Sira for some clothes and your weapon.”

“Is that an order, Wing Commander?” she spat venomously.

Okay, I had had about enough of this. I got out of my bed and stomped toward hers, ready to pull her out of it if need be. “What is your problem with me?! I haven’t done anything to you!”

“My problem is that you’ve been just handed everything because you’re Archangel Abbadine’s granddaughter, little miss perfect! She put you on this team, made you the team leader, and I heard that you didn’t even have to be tested like the rest of us!” she shouted back at me.

She was jealous of me? I was stunned, but not stunned enough to dull my anger. “Handed everything?! You egotistical bitch! You don’t know anything about hardship! You were raised in the palace, had every need looked after, people to dress you, a family! You were put on this team only because you demanded it, Princess. Because you get everything that you want! My grandmother raised me because my only other family was killed by Demons! I grew up with a body that I hated and this was my chance to change it and be happy for once, and you’re ruining it! I don’t even want to be the team leader! And the only reason that I wasn’t tested was that I fought a Demon and won before coming here! I’ve shed blood, sweat, and tears for this! I took care of your spoiled ungrateful ass the whole time you were in that bed too!”

“You think I had it easy?! I was hidden from the public and haven’t been able to leave the palace since the day I was born! When my sister was born I was told that I would never be Queen! My only choice was to become an Angel! I grew up hearing stories about them, especially your grandmother! From the moment I found out that this was my fate I wanted her to come to the palace and teach me but she left for you!” Heather snapped back furiously.

I clenched my fists and looked around us. Our shouting match had woken not only our teammates but many of the other girls in the infirmary as well. I felt bad, this was no place to be shouting at one another. I took the robe and clean gown that Sira had left for Heather and shoved them at her while telling her in a carefully controlled voice, “Shut up and listen. We’re going to the lavatory so you can get cleaned up and have a look at your new self before breakfast. That’s an order.”

Heather was seething and after snatching the clothing from my outstretched arms she stormed toward the lavatory with me and the other girls following close behind. It was then that I came up with the name for our team since we were told to think of one. Storm Wing. It seemed appropriate given how things were going so far.

We arrived to see Heather staring at her reflection in the mirror, her pile of temporary clothes dropped onto the edge of one of the sinks. “I… I’m…”

“Yeah, you’re a Fay,” Karina finished as Heather stared at her eyes and ears.

“It’s not like you’re the only one in the group,” Lisbet added. “Though I doubt that you’re going to be as huggy as Autumn.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I don’t know how I’m going to get anyone to believe she was born one of us, especially other Fay. Her first name is okay, if I can figure out another name other than Wilson that sounds more Fay-like. Maybe Heather Blossom,” Autumn put in thoughtfully.

“I had to give up the Wilson name when I came here,” Heather spat. “We can’t have people thinking that some demonic-looking Angel is part of the royal lineage. I understand why, but it still hurts.” For a brief moment there she looked vulnerable and I felt bad that we couldn’t get along. She covered it up quickly though and turned toward the shower in a huff, removing her dirty gown as she went.

We all finished our morning showers and quickly got dressed, put our weapons on, and headed down to the cafeteria to meet our trainer for breakfast. Heather wasn’t very happy when my grandmother reinforced that Autumn would be giving her Fay lessons. In fact, she thought it a good idea that we all learn more about one another’s people so Autumn would be teaching all of us the basics while teaching Heather more in-depth during our spare time. The name Heather Blossom also stuck.

After we ate, our trainer took Heather for a tour of the complex and to get her clothes and gear while the rest of us were left to our own devices. It was over an hour later that Connie informed me. -= Incoming communication request from Archangel Abbadine Bengal. Do you accept? =-

“Sure, Connie,” I quickly replied.

-= Connecting call. =-

No sooner had she finished informing me of that, I heard my grandmother’s voice speaking to me. -= Snow, I’m done with giving Heather the tour. I want the four of you to come down and join us in the training room. It’s time that those of you with close-quarters weapons start practicing with them. I know Lisbet doesn’t have one but she should get used to watching combat and looking for openings to use her weapon. =-

“Yes, Wingleader. We’ll come right down. Is there anything else?” I responded vocally since I couldn’t just think it like when engaging Connie. We actually had to speak so the nanites could pick up and transmit our voices. We could apparently send some form of text messages via our NCIs though.

-= That’s all, Snow. You four get down here so we can get started. Wingleader out. =-

-= Call terminated. =-

I sighed and turned despondently to my teammates, who had all started watching me the moment that I started talking about something completely unrelated to our conversation. “We’ve been ordered to go to the training room. Our… uhh… trainer wants us to start getting used to using our weapons in close combat.”

We made our way to the elevator and requested that Sira take us to the armory level where we quickly made our way to the training room to report for duty. I noticed something wrong immediately upon entering the room. Heather was smiling. She turned toward us and it quickly morphed into a satisfied smirk. That’s when I noticed the weapon she was holding, the long shaft and blade at the end were very familiar. It was the G-2 Shadowstrike, the same weapon that my grandmother used.

“Look what weapon I got issued. Isn’t it great? And nobody knows how to use this weapon better than our Wingleader, so I’m sure that she’ll be able to teach me personally. I wonder who’s going to teach you to use that big eyesore that you’re wearing,” she taunted.

I snarled at the satisfied look on her face and the venom in her tone, my ears flat on my head and my tail bristling. I reached behind my shoulder to draw my massive claymore, holding it between us one-handed but not feeling any strain from its weight or cumbersome length. I was done with her attitude. If that bitch wanted to go there, then I was more than happy to use my ‘eyesore’ to slice her to ribbons.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Well, I'm over the bronchitis and back to work on writing, though I will be preparing to move at the beginning of June and can't be sure how that's going to effect my posting schedule. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 8: In the Deep End

Heather’s eyes widened as I drew my monstrous blade and held it out one-handed. “H-how…” she quickly pushed aside her surprise and sneered at me again. “My, aren’t you the little savage? Why you were chosen as our team leader I’ll never...”

“Enough!” our trainer’s voice rang out. My grandmother didn’t sound happy at all; she didn’t look it either from the frown she was giving us both as she leaned against a wall not far away. “Perhaps, Heather, she is upset with the way that you have been constantly needling her since you arrived. That is no excuse for losing your temper though, Snow. When someone can’t control their emotions in a fight they take risks they otherwise wouldn’t and often die as a result.”

“But Wingleader, I wasn’t…” Heather tried to complain.

“Heather, you are going to shut your mouth and listen. This attitude of yours regarding Snow ends now. She has been more than patient with you and took care of you without resting while you were still abed. But since you’re both so eager to fight… Trainer override. Set all Storm Wing recruit weapons to training mode and disable mode-shift.”

-= Training mode engaged for C-13 Goliath. Mono-molecular edges dulled to prevent injury. Mode-shift disabled. =-

“Try to control your strength and speed, Snow. Sira believes that your denser muscles and bones won’t just make you more durable than other Angels of your size and body type but faster and over twice as strong as well. You will need to adjust, so try to start off easy and gradually work your way up but watch the strength, you don’t want to kill Heather. And try not to hurt her bad enough that her nanites can’t handle it,” my grandmother told me evenly.

“W-what?” Heather sputtered as I grinned.

“This is what we are here for, Heather,” our trainer told her with a serious expression. “You wanted my personalized training, did you not? This is how Angels learn to fight and use their weapons, through combat. I certainly never had anyone show me what to do. I learned while fighting Demons. So you two can just fight out your aggressions until one of you yields or falls. Let’s go have a seat and watch the show, girls. Once they’re done it will be your turn, Karina and Autumn. Lisbet, you’ll be watching both fights and telling me whenever you see a possible opening where you could assist Heather and Autumn with your grenade launcher and what grenades you would use.”

I launched myself at Heather, swinging my huge sword at her in a wide arc. Shit, my grandmother was right, I really needed to learn to control my strength and speed. I thought that I was holding back but I still closed the distance between us much quicker than I had anticipated and I had to try and slow my swing before it could hit her and probably do some serious damage. I had built up too much momentum in the tip though and it was getting away from me with this one-handed grip.

Heather reacted instinctively, bending backward so that my weapon sailed through the air where her chest had been only a second earlier. She was barely upright and dancing out of my range before I managed to stop my swing and reposition myself. I wasn’t sure which of us was more surprised by her display of flexibility, reflexes, and grace but from the look on her face, I was betting that it was Heather.

She was watching me warily now as we both took turns feinting and lunging, feeling out one another’s capabilities. This also let me get a better feel for both my weapon and my new physical abilities. I could only assume that Heather was doing the same as she switched up her hold on the haft of her glaive. Her footwork had changed too, she was getting better with her balance and seemed to be trying to use the greater length of her weapon to her advantage.

I circled Heather, considering my options as she held her new glaive somewhat awkwardly and tried to keep the point of its blade between us. My weapon was big but she definitely had the edge in reach. And while I could easily swing this thing around one-handed, it probably had a two-handed grip for a reason. It wasn’t a weapon meant for finesse and I would probably get a lot more power out of a two-handed strike. As much as she pissed me off though, I had already proven that I didn’t really know my own strength and speed yet and I didn’t want to risk killing or seriously harming her.

I batted aside a few of her awkward lunges as we both got used to the weight and balance of our weapons. If I was going to do anything against her then I needed to get inside that long reach of hers. Since I had been using a one-handed grip she was concentrating her efforts on my left side where my guard was lowest. As she lunged again, swinging the blade of her weapon to my exposed left side, I found my opening.

I dashed forward, past the blade of her glaive, and blocked the swinging haft with my own weapon as I switched to a two-handed grip and planted the tip of my sword’s blade into the ground to intercept the blow. Blade and pole connected with a loud *tang* followed by a scraping sound as I raised my blade again and moved forward inside her guard using my strength to keep her weapon at bay. Her long reach was now a disadvantage as I moved in closer, she would have to either gain some distance again or swing her weapon over me and try to hit my other side with the haft.

Heather chose both in a way, she danced backward trying to get some distance between us again as her glaive pulled away from my blocking blade and swung over to try and get to my exposed right side. I was faster. I shifted my claymore to my right, blocking again as I got within range to deliver a kick to her chest. I might be stuck using my massive sword but it wasn’t my only means of attack.

The blow knocked the wind out of her and it felt like I might have cracked a couple of her ribs as she backed off, wheezing and trying to put some distance between us. As bad as I felt about potentially injuring her she was still standing, not to mention glaring at me. The nanites would fix the damage. She had neither fallen nor surrendered, so that meant that this wasn’t over yet and I was going to keep pressing my advantage.

I didn’t give her time to catch her breath. Instead, I sent an overhand swing at her and thankfully she managed to step adroitly aside. I was trying to hold back on my physical abilities enough to at least give her a chance to counter but the blow still left a large gouge that was bigger than my sword in the floor of the training room and sent shards of stone flying, some of them peppering my opponent. “Shit, if I had connected with that…”

Heather had clearly been thinking the same thing as she looked at me wide-eyed and tried to get more distance. Her eyes widened further at the speed at which I recovered from the swing and was back in her face again. She did manage to shift the haft of her glaive in front of her to intercept my next, more subdued, overhand blow as a staff-fighter would though. For an instant, she looked smug before I grinned and kicked her in the stomach, this time holding back a little more strength so I wouldn’t seriously hurt her.

She sounded like a popped bladder as the air rushed out of her lungs and she winced from the blow. “No… fair. We’re supposed to be using our… weapons.”

“And here I thought that we’re supposed to be fighting like we would if we were up against Demons. The Angel Elixir wasn’t just given to us so we could wield these things but to give us the physical abilities to fight Demons on an even footing. I’m not going to rely solely on this weapon for that. Our weapons are just tools and we might not always have them at hand. They could be knocked out of our reach… like this.” I tossed my claymore out of reach behind her.

“Are you… crazy? You just threw away your weapon!” Heather snapped, putting some distance between us and thrusting with her glaive.

“No,” I said as I used my feline agility to avoid her thrust and jump over the follow-up swing that followed. “I may not have my claymore, or even be able to use my Seed-borne gift at the moment with no moisture here, but I will never be without a weapon. Weapons can be whatever is at hand.” I slashed at her with my claws as I got inside her guard and, while she managed to pull away, it left four shallow gashes in her forearm. I had been hoping she would have completely avoided it but it made my point.

She hissed in pain from the scratches but it seemed that she was catching on. I was too close inside her guard so she went for my head with her conveniently placed elbow. She even managed to graze me before I rolled underneath to end up behind her. When I got back to my feet I once again had my sword in my hands. Good timing too, since I had to use the flat of the blade to block the tip of her weapon. The thrust probably wouldn’t have skewered me with the blade dulled but it would have hurt.

Several more thrusts came my way and I continued to block them with the flat of my blade… until I didn’t. I switched to a one-handed grip and dodged Heather’s next thrust, grabbing hold of the haft of her glaive just behind the blade with my free hand and then I pulled. She was halfway into range for me to attack when she surprised me by letting go of her weapon and using her forward momentum to tackle me, sending both of our weapons skittering away as she landed atop me.

She got in a good punch to my right eye but I got my feet underneath her and pushed off, sending her flying. Quickly, I rolled to my feet and pounced on her, using my superior strength to hold her down. Now all that she had to do was surrender. The only question was, how I was going to get the stubborn little bitch to say it. I just kept holding her down by the shoulders, my tail swishing slowly from side to side. After all, I was willing to wait as long as she was. Then the bitch went and grabbed my tail and yanked.

By the spirits, did that fucking hurt. I let out a yowl of pain as the pink-haired Fay pulled and then I was hissing at her angrily, my ears laid back flat and my captured tail bristling as tears rolled down my cheeks from the agony. I braced against the pain and lifted a hand close enough to Heather’s face so that she could clearly see my claws and then I growled, “Let. Go. Of. The. Tail. Now.”

“Are you kidding? I just found your weakness,” she taunted.

“No. You just found a new and dangerous way to piss me off. Never pull a Catkin’s tail, you have no idea how much that fucking hurts. You will let go and surrender or my claws won’t just graze this time. I feel pain, and you feel pain, do you get that?” I hissed.

It would seem that she got it. “I… surrender,” she conceded with a sigh. Her eyes were wide and I could smell the fear on her as she spoke those words, slowly nodded, and let her hand release its grip.

I hissed at her one last time and then released her as I got to my feet and went to retrieve my weapon. Once it was back in place, secured by the magnetic plate on the back of my harness I walked to where the others were sitting on a bench watching, the lingering pain in my tail still enough to cause tears to flow. I silently leaned against the wall with my arms crossed since I likely wasn’t going to feel like sitting for a while.

“Are you okay, Snowy?” Autumn asked in concern as she stood up, hugged me, and wiped the tears off my cheeks. “It looked like you were in a lot of pain.”

“I’ll be fine, she pulled my tail. It really hurts but it’s not that serious,” I told her enjoying the distraction that the Fay’s attention provided.

Karina and my grandmother both winced in sympathy and the Devilkin joined in the hug. “I had that happen once, it hurt like hell.”

“Luckily mine’s short enough not to make a tempting target,” Lisbet said, though she too had a sympathetic look on her face.

That was when Heather caught up with me and sat down on the bench clutching her glaive with white-knuckled hands. Our trainer stood up, the expression on her face unreadable as she looked over me and Heather. “Snow won that round. Would anyone care to tell me why?”

Because she’s freakishly strong and she cheated?” Heather grumbled.

That actually got a laugh out of my grandmother. “Cheated?! There is no such thing as a fair fight, especially when Demons are involved. They’re going to do things that you won’t expect or be properly prepared for, so you’d best get used to that idea right now. Had Snow chosen to use more strength and speed she would have won a lot sooner but she was trying to keep things ‘fair’ and not seriously injure you, Heather. Even though she was holding back she still won though. But why?”

“Was it because she was being unpredictable?” Karina guessed.

“That is part of it,” our trainer admitted. “Snow won because she realized something that it takes months for some recruits to figure out. Some never do, and those ones usually don’t last long. When they receive their weapons and start training to use them they rely on mode-shift and get into the habit of thinking that it’s their only weapon. That’s not true. These may be your primary weapons but they will never be the only tool that you will have available in a fight. As Snow demonstrated you might lose it in a fight and have to fight in some other way until you can reclaim it. She managed to get Heather to think that way as well. You have your Seed-borne gifts and your physical abilities and as long as you’re aware of your environment, you can always improvise. Don’t get hung up on the weapons that you’ve been issued. Yes, you will be training hard to master them, but be ready to use everything at your disposal.”

“But Sira…” Lisbet was about to argue.

Her protest was cut off as my grandmother said, “Sira is seldom wrong about how well a weapon that she has chosen for an Angel will suit their combat style but even she would tell you that she doesn’t expect you to rely solely on it. Did she tell you, girls, how she chooses those weapons?”

“Well, she made us take that personality test,” Autumn offered. “She said something about deciding it based on our personalities, physical abilities, and something that she called extra-planar energy potential.”

Grandma Abby nodded. “Yes, and each of those is very important though sometimes your Seed-borne gift may be a part of it as well. Your personality determines how you might react in a fight, your tactics, and whether you’re more likely to just go in swinging or wait and watch for opportunities from a distance. As for physical abilities, that’s pretty obvious; strength, speed, stamina, balance, and agility all determine how well you might be able to use certain weapon types. Do any of you think that you could swing Snow’s weapon around like she does?”

“I doubt that anyone but her can swing that monster around easily,” Heather muttered.

“Well, some people could but her strength, and other physical attributes, was one of the reasons that it was chosen for her. As you all just saw, she is also very adaptable and can think on her feet. She could have likely used any weapon, but Sira chose this one because of Snow’s higher potential for using extra-planar energy,” our trainer lectured. “Also, while she might be reluctant to take on the role, Snow has many great leadership qualities. You all have roles, and just like your weapons they were chosen to suit your physical abilities and personalities.”

“What does being a leader have to do with swinging that huge thing around,” Heather asked pointedly as she gave me a sidelong look.

“A leader needs to be directly involved in the ebb and flow of combat so that they can assess the enemies, change tactics if needed, and decide how their team assets can be used in any given battle. That weapon was meant for a front-line fighter and team leader. Leaders don’t just order their teammates around, they inspire them through their actions by being directly involved in a battle and holding the line when necessary,” our trainer explained.

We all took a moment to process that, especially me, until Lisbet asked, “What are our roles then?”

“You, Lisbet, are in a support role,” my grandmother answered the Harekin. “Both of your weapon modes are long-range because you aren’t meant to get into the thick of the fighting but provide support from a distance. You are also meant to provide technical support by repairing or creating required equipment while in the field.”

The Archangel then turned her gaze on Heather. “You are meant for a similar role, Heather. You would rather keep your enemies at a distance, even when using a close combat weapon and it shows in the way that you tried to fight Snow at first. The G-2 Shadowstrike has the longest range of any weapon we currently use in both its close-quarters and long-range modes. You will be using your Alchemy to assist Lisbet with her role while not in combat.”

Heather didn’t look very happy with that, but she kept listening as our trainer continued speaking. “In combat you will usually take the sniper role, finding an out-of-the-way perch to support your team from a distance by taking out targets of opportunity and watching for dangers that your teammates can’t see while in the thick of battle, then taking them down or letting your teammates know about them. This makes you the team’s secondary leader as well. You and Snow will need to learn to work together and communicate effectively in combat.”

“What about me?” Karina asked thoughtfully.

“You and Autumn both hold a similar role. Like Snow, you’ll be front-line combatants but you both have Seed-borne gifts that allow you high mobility so you’ll be moving around a battlefield a lot, hitting the Demons from different angles and not providing stationary targets for them. You will also act as scouts when needed,” the first Angel replied before clapping her hands together and grinning. “Speaking of you and Autumn, it’s your turn to show us what you’ve got.”

Unlike my fight with Heather, Autumn and Karina’s battle ranged all over the training room. The Fay ran up walls and along the ceiling, forcing the Devilkin to keep teleporting and using her wings to hover to be in range to use her punch daggers effectively. Whenever Karina managed to get in close enough to strike though, that slender sword of Autumn’s was there to poke and prod her opponent as she gracefully danced out of the way.

Autumn was so nice, friendly, and sweet so it was a bit strange to see her in a fight. Where Karina took the offensive and tried to overwhelm her opponent with a flurry of attacks, Autumn just stayed calm and gracefully avoided attacks, waiting patiently for opportunities to land strikes of her own. I began to think that Autumn was going to win just by tiring Karina out.

She did win, but not in the way that I expected. She had just moved back out of the Devikin’s range and she must have seen some sort of pattern to Karina’s teleporting because at the moment that she reappeared Autumn never let her get an attack in. She launched herself off the high ceiling of the room to tackle her opponent and then they both crashed to the floor with the Fay using the Devilkin to cushion the impact.

“Ow… okay, I’m done. I surrender,” Karina said with a groan. “Sneaky Fay, I thought that you were going to just keep avoiding me, and then you did that.”

Autumn just smiled at her as she helped our friend to her feet. “Just be grateful that I only switched my personal gravity back to normal. I could have increased it too.”

My grandmother was laughing her ass off. “I have never seen a sparring match quite like that one. You both made excellent use of your Seed-borne gifts. Sira was right, the five of you will make a unique team even without the number difference. All of you, go get a shower in while you still can. Then pack your things and meet me in Sira’s lab.”

“Pack our things?” Lisbet asked uncertainly, her nose twitching nervously. “But we’re not supposed to be heading to the academy until next week when all of the other recruits are finished changing and recovering.”

Our trainer was still trying to stop laughing as she nodded. “Right, but since I doubt that you all want to sit here doing nothing for a week, we’ll be going out and doing some field training before taking you to the academy with the others. Lisbet and Heather, come with me, Heather will need to requisition some ammunition and we’ll need grenades for you Lisbet.”

I glanced at my grandmother suspiciously and inquired, “What kind of field training?” She looked like the time that she first taught me how to swim. She was just casually talking to me about how nice a day it was and with no warning at all, she just picked me up and threw me in the water.

“Don’t look at me like that, Snow,” she said putting on a fake stern look that couldn’t mask her grin. “This is going to be fun and you’ll all get to learn to use your weapons properly and work together as a team. If you really must know though, Sira has a mission request for Storm Wing. She said that it could wait a few years until you were fully trained but I just decided to approve it. I think that you should be able to handle it and it will be good training.”

Just over an hour later we were showered, changed, packed, and gathered in Sira’s lab. Some of the other girls had been a bit jealous that we were going out for real-world training but they were also hoping to see us at the academy soon so that the boys didn’t outnumber them so badly. Once we were all gathered with my grandmother and Sira, the AI’s avatar body gestured for us all to sit around a long table.

“Thank you all for accepting this mission,” the AI said as if my grandmother had given us a choice in the matter. “I have calculated that your combination of Seed-borne gifts and other innate abilities makes Storm Wing able to complete this mission within a ninety-eight point three percent margin of error. I have been waiting for the right team to complete this mission for a long time and was expecting to wait until you completed your training before I could officially make this request.”

“The Angel Academy will teach them skills that will be useful as Angels, but most of them possess some of those skills already, Sira. You know as well as I do that they can only really learn to fight Demons by actually observing and fighting them though. This will be good training and if they really can’t handle it then I’ll be there to watch over them and can use my Gift to extract them under the cover of illusions if need be,” my grandmother said with a shrug.

“Wait, we’re going to be fighting Demons?” Heather sputtered, looking suddenly two shades paler.

“Only if we can’t avoid it,” our trainer confirmed. “This mission is primarily for scouting and possibly retrieval of anything useful.”

“Killing Demons is not the mission but if you do encounter any you may have to fight them. Stealth would be preferable,” Sira stated. “As you may recall, I told you that when the Angel Initiative was deemed a failure, many of the people who worked and lived here in Eden Base were reassigned to other projects and facilities. Dr. Karlson left behind information that indicated where he was going and while my knowledge of old world geography and cities is somewhat limited, GPS coordinates indicate that the facility that he was being transferred to is within the borders of Misota, in the ruins of the old capital.”

I could feel my eyes widening and my jaw dropping. I wasn’t alone either. “You want us to go into the Twincity Ruins?! Everyone in Misota knows to avoid the horrors of the old capital, it’s crawling with Demons!” Lisbet hissed in a panicked whisper, almost as if she was afraid to summon those horrors if she spoke too loud.

I knew how she felt but I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm and get some clarification. “So, what? Do you want us to find this facility and see if there is anything useful there? How do you expect us to do that? I’ve heard that those ruins are massive.”

“Yes, this is mostly a scouting mission. You will enter the ruins after dark and find and attempt to enter the complex. While in the ruins and complex you will look for any useful technology, armaments, and spare parts that could be compatible with the technology that we have here at Eden base and anything new that you find that could be useful to the Corps,” the avatar said before turning to our Tinker. “I will upload all pertinent data and schematics to your NCI, Lisbet. I will also upload the coordinates of the complex to each of your NCIs so that you can locate the area to within five hundred feet of the complex.”

My grandmother nodded. “That will also let us know where to meet up if we happen to get separated for some reason.”

“In addition,” Sira added, “there should be an AI like myself managing the complex and they should have similar self-repair systems as Eden Base. I would like you to interact with that AI to gather any useful information that they may have. If they are somehow damaged or destroyed, then Snow will contact me and I will walk her through finding and removing the AI’s secure backup data drives so that you can bring that information back here to me.”

“Wouldn’t our trainer be better for that? I mean, she’s been around this type of technology stuff way longer than any of us,” Karina inquired.

“Yes, but you won’t learn if you don’t try to familiarize yourselves with it,” my grandmother said with a shake of her head. “Besides, this is your mission, girls. I will be there only as an observer; to help familiarize you with your weapons, or in case things get too intense and you need to abort. Snow will be the one leading this mission, I get to just sit back and watch the show.”

I groaned and tried not to look as nervous as I felt. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to worry about anything like this until after we were finished at the academy but now we were being thrown into the fire. I knew that my grandmother would keep us all safe if it came to that, and it wasn’t like I had never faced a Demon before, but I was worried about screwing up. I needed to ask the right questions so we were going in at least somewhat prepared but Sira didn’t seem to have a lot of detailed information about the place.

“Finally, I asked, “How are we getting there and how do we bring anything of value back?”

“You will be dropped off as close to the coordinates as one of the V.T.O.Ls can safely get you. Once your mission is complete, contact me and I will send one to pick you up and retrieve anything that you find. Working equipment, things like nano-weave factories, and spare parts would be great if they can fit in the storage area of a V.T.O.L, but blueprints and any other data from the AI are the top priority. Should you decide to make an alternative exit strategy please advise me. Good luck, Storm Wing.”

With that, what my grandmother had called the ‘pre-mission briefing’ was over and Sira gave each of our NCIs the information that we would be needing. Then we were taken to the cafeteria for an early dinner before heading down to the hanger and boarding a veetol. The sun was setting as we took off and made our way southeast and toward the Twincity Ruins. We were all nervous and a bit twitchy and our trainer gave us all an encouraging smile. “The first mission is always the worst, girls. Just be glad that you’re getting it out of the way now. I’ll be watching over you the whole time.”

I had somehow fallen asleep and I was rudely jostled awake as the veetol lurched and the pilot’s voice swore in my ears. My grandmother had us set our NCI’s to comms-mode before we took off and the sound of the unfamiliar voice startled me awake. -= Shit! I don’t know what the fuck almost hit us just now, but it looks like this as far as I can take you girls. I can’t risk another close call like that. =-

“Can you land?” my grandmother asked in concern.

-= Not anywhere that you’d want me to, there’s no even ground down there, too much rubble and visibility is too low. No idea what could be hidden under that snow either, and whatever nearly hit us came from ground level. There’s a building that looks intact nearby, I wouldn’t want to risk the weight of the veetol but you could all jump down onto the roof if I can get you close enough, =- the pilot’s voice replied.

My grandmother said nothing she just looked at me expectantly. Right, it was our mission so it was my call. “Do it,” I said. “Everyone grab your stuff and get ready to jump onto the roof.” We all got unstrapped, slung our packs over our shoulders, grabbed our weapons, and made for the door as our trainer threw it open.

The building was tall, far bigger than anything that I could have ever imagined before and just the thought of being that high up made my knees shake a little. I could see the roof of the building getting closer and once we were in range to make the jump I had the others go first. My grandmother went first in case she needed to catch any of us, followed quickly by Lisbet, Karina, and Autumn.

Heather looked scared stiff but she had a determined look on her face. She was just about to jump as a bright blue-white beam of energy lit the night sky and the veetol pilot veered off and narrowly avoided whatever it was that had nearly hit us. The veetol lurched to the side and Heather tried to turn a stumble into a leap for the safety of the rooftop. She missed the rooftop by an arm's length and as she fell I did the only thing that made sense at the time, I dove after her.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: A bit late due to stress, business and lack of sleep but here is chapter 10 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 9: Snowfall

As soon as I hit air I tucked myself into a diving position. I needed to offer as little resistance as possible if I was going to catch up to Heather and somehow save us both from splattering on the ground far below us. “Get the veetol out of here and go back to Eden, you’re just a big target up there!” I called out to the pilot over comms. Then for the benefit of my grandmother and teammates, I added, “I’ll get Heather!”

As yet, I had no idea just how I was going to do that though. I hadn’t really thought this through when I had jumped. I had just acted because, even though Heather pissed me off sometimes, she was still our teammate and I didn’t want her dead. Now I just had to try to tune out the voices of my grandmother and teammates yelling in concern over the comms system and another flash of blue-white light. Those were distractions and right now I had a job to do so I needed to ignore everything that wasn’t of immediate concern.

I had almost reached Heather. Her weapon was slung over her shoulder in sniper rifle mode along with her pack and she was spread out enough that I was able to catch up. Close enough that I was now hearing her screams up close as well as on comms, damn that girl has a pair of lungs on her. I couldn’t really blame her though because the ground was getting closer with every second. I must have made good distance on my jump because I was between Heather and the wall of the building.

I was also close enough to grab my falling teammate and quickly wrapped my right arm securely about her waist, holding on tight as I reached behind my right shoulder for my claymore. As soon as I had my left hand on the hilt I sent the command for the magnet to release it. Then, in one quick motion, I swung the massive blade free and drove it into the wall of the building with all of the strength that I could spare.

By the spirits, that hurt! My shoulder wrenched painfully as the blade of my weapon was driven into the ancient stone wall and carved out a furrow downward as we continued to descend. I nearly let go of my hilt as I screamed out in pain and it was only through sheer force of will that I was able to continue gripping both it and Heather.

-= Alert! Minor damage has been sustained to your left shoulder. =-

We had slowed to a stop but we were still uncomfortably high off the ground. It was hard to tell how high in the darkness, even with my night vision. All that I could see was a mass of snow beneath us and indistinct rubble around that seemed too far down. I didn’t want to risk jumping or falling the remaining height without knowing how high we were, how much snow was down there to pad our landing, and what might be underneath said snow. There was also something moving down there, something big, but it’s attention seemed to be on the fleeing veetol.

Of more immediate concern was that the stone around where my weapon was wedged into the wall was coming apart, grey dust and little pieces working themselves loose to fall down on us as Heather suddenly realized that her fall had been halted. The building was ancient, I didn’t know how it had remained standing this long. If my sword didn’t work its way loose soon, my shoulder probably would, if the agony that was screaming through it was any indication. I was concerned about that and my NCI’s alert. “Yeah, no shit, Connie. How bad is it?” I groaned mentally.

My NCI was quick to reply. -= A minor sprain, Snow, but it could get worse if you continue to strain it. I have directed nanites to repair the damage but it will be more efficient if you can rest and keep your arm still for an hour. =-

“Give me a minute here,” I responded as I gritted my teeth and searched with teary eyes. There was an opening to our right, some kind of window if my guess was right and it was probably within reach. “Heather, window…” I managed to gasp out, swinging her in that direction. The strain that put on my shoulder wasn’t pleasant at all but at least Heather seemed to have realized that we’d stopped. At the very least she had stopped screaming and I was going to take her slightly panicked breathing as an improvement.

Whether she had heard me or not, Heather seemed to get the gist of the idea and reached out to grab the ledge of the opening once I had swung her close enough. She was starting to pull herself up to get inside but the process of getting her in position had loosened more stone around the blade of my weapon and it was starting to work its way free from my weight. It was as I was waiting for Heather to pull herself inside the building and hoping that my blade would stay dug-in enough for me to get a chance to do the same when I saw movement above us.

Autumn was running down the side of the building toward us and reached out to grab my now free hand as my sword began to get uncomfortably loose. “Gotcha, Snowy!”

A short time later the three of us were all somewhat safely gathered inside a small room that looked like it may have once been a living space and I was seated against the wall beside the window we had entered through. The interior of the room, and its contents, had been badly damaged by both time and the elements but from what was left of the furnishings it looked much like the living quarters at Eden Base. There was a doorway that led out into the rest of the building, what was left of the door that once stood inside littering the floor.

Still, I didn’t smell or otherwise sense anything that would be an immediate danger to us so I tried to reassure the others over comms that we were safe. “We managed to get into a room with Autumn’s help and Heather is safe and sound.”

-= Never scare me like that again! =- Karina’s voice half-shouted.

-= Are you crazy, Snow?! =- Lisbet quickly added. -= What were you thinking?! You could have been killed and I doubt that Heather would have done the same for you! =-

“I wasn’t thinking. I reacted because one of us was in danger, I would have done the same for any of you. I had a plan and everything worked out,” I offered in an attempt to placate them. I very carefully didn’t mention that my plan wasn’t even really formed until I had Heather in hand though.

My grandmother’s voice was somewhat calmer as she asked, -= Is anyone hurt? What’s your status? =-

“I took some minor damage to my shoulder while slowing our fall but Connie says that I should be good in an hour if I don’t move much and rest. And you, girls?” The last I asked of the pair of Fae recovering on the floor with me. Both of their hearts had been racing, probably from the excitement or a near-death experience, but they both seemed to be calming down now.

“I’m fine, I just had to run pretty hard to catch up to you two while trying to avoid any openings or that huge gash you made, Snowy,” Autumn reported.

Heather was looking at me strangely and once my gaze fell upon her she quickly tore her eyes away to look at the floor. “I’m… fine. You… umm… I mean… thank you.”

I could almost hear our trainer breathe a sigh of relief before she spoke again. -= Good. As long as you’re all okay, that’s what matters. Good work, Snow and Autumn. Hold your position, for now, we found a doorway into the building up here and we’re going to try to come to you. =-

-= That might take us a while, =- Lisbet added in concern. -= This building is old and I’m not sure how it has stayed standing for as long as it has. We’ll need to be cautious in case the floors are weak. =-

“How about the veetol, did it get out?” I asked.

-= I’m doing fine, Wing Commander. Not for lack of trying from whatever was shooting at us from on the ground though, there were a few close calls again while I was putting some distance between us but I think whatever it was has lost interest. It’s good to hear you girls are alright too; I was worried there. I’m on my way back to base now, as you ordered. I’ll update command on your status when I get there, Storm Wing. =-

-= Thanks, Raven. Don’t get shot down by anything else on the way home, we might still need you for extraction, =- my grandmother’s voice teased.

To my surprise, the pilot let out a throaty giggle in response. -= I’ll be ready, Abby. You Angels know how to show a girl a good time, I’ll give you that. This was much more fun than all of that sitting and waiting we had to do in the capital. Take care of yourselves out there, Raven out. =-

-= Snow, we’re tracking your location now and we’ll be down there as fast as we safely can. Keep an eye out for any Demons until we join you, girls. We are still quite a distance from our objective but we’re well into the ruins now and this is Demon territory, =- my grandmother cautioned.

“That’s what worries me,” I said with a frown. “I’m not picking up any Demon scents nearby in this building, only dust and mold.”

-= They’re probably smarter than we are and know this building is due to collapse, =- Karina put in bitterly. -= Maybe I should have just used my wings and followed the three of you down. =-

“They might be avoiding the area but it may not be because of the building,” I replied, frowning and trying to suppress a shudder as I looked toward the window beside me. “I saw something huge moving down on ground level while I was coming down and whatever was attacking the veetol was down there too. I can smell that thing, it’s the only living thing that I can smell besides us. I’m pretty sure it’s a Demon and something about it makes me want to be anywhere but here, it smells a lot like that Direwolf that I fought.”

-= Shit. Is it downwind or upwind, Snow? =-

Hearing our trainer and the oldest of all of the Angels curse was not remotely reassuring but after reaching out my hand and checking to be sure I quietly responded, “There’s a steady wind blowing toward us, Wingleader. I’m pretty sure that’s the only reason that I’m picking up its scent this high up.”

-= Good, =- my grandmother replied with an audible sigh. -= Stay quiet and out of sight until we can join you. No speaking in more than whispers and do nothing that might make it look up. The sound of the veetol probably caught its attention and it saw the heat that the machine gives off. Maintain comms silence until then unless it’s an emergency. Once we’ve joined you I’ll brief you on what we’re probably dealing with. =-

“Yes, Wingleader.”- I confirmed as I shifted position to try and keep myself comfortable while we waited and my shoulder healed up. Then I thought to Connie, “Comms for Team Storm off.”

-= Affirmative. Would you like me to notify you once the repairs to your shoulder are complete? =-

“Yes, please. Thank you, Connie.” I opened my eyes as I felt a warm body snuggling against my uninjured side. I gave Autumn a tired smile and tried to enjoy the closeness, even as I became aware of Heather watching. Our eyes met and her pink ones looked away as her cheeks flushed.

“You should come to snuggle up too,” Autumn suggested so quietly that the sound probably barely carried to the new Fay. “It’s cold and none of us are going to be moving much. You should be getting used to it anyway since our people enjoy tactile comfort and you need to learn to be one of us or at least appear like it. This would be a good start.”

Heather hesitated but after a moment she nodded and got to her feet gracefully and without a sound. She leaned up against Autumn, not quite cuddling but close enough to share body heat, and then in a whisper, a single word passed her lips. “Why?”

“I told you, it’s cold and since I’m supposed to be teaching you to be Fay, I thought this would be a good start,” Autumn said just as softly, though her tone was teasing. I was pretty sure that she knew exactly what Heather was asking though, we both did.

Either Heather wasn’t familiar with playful teasing or just socializing with people in general because she sounded confused and a little frustrated as she quietly hissed. “No! I meant why did you both risk your lives to save me?”

“Well, there wasn’t much risk for me really,” Autumn whispered in reply, both answering and not answering her question. “It’s not like I was falling like the two of you and I was really just backing Snowy up. She was the one who reacted first and jumped right after you.”

I sighed and tried to shrug the whole thing off, mentally anyway since my shoulder still hurt. “It’s like Autumn just said, Heather. I reacted, I wasn’t thinking about it until I was trying to find a way to slow our fall, I just acted because you’re a member of this team. Even if that weren’t true, you’re a person and I would probably never stop hating myself if I could have saved you and didn’t try.”

“I… I don’t think that I could have done that,” I barely heard Heather say.

I shook my head and said as gently as I could, “We’ll never know, and you’re not me so why bother thinking of it that way? If our positions were reversed, it could be that you would have figured out a way to save me without thoughtlessly jumping out of a veetol without any kind of plan in mind. We’re different people; we think differently and have different strengths. I’m strong, durable, and I have a big ass sword that, honestly, is starting to grow on me after that little stunt. I don’t know you or your strengths that well yet but don’t dismiss yourself like that. I get the feeling that you’ve been dismissed a little too much while growing up. You don’t deserve that from yourself or anyone else.”

“But you could have died!” Heather hissed, trying to keep her volume down even though she was clearly stressed about it. “You just dove into almost certain death to save someone that you barely know, and… I haven’t been very nice to you. I probably would have deserved it.”

“Heather, we’re Angels. That’s the job; we throw ourselves into life and death situations to protect others. It’s what we signed up for. Yes, I’ll admit that you’ve been a bitch, but you don’t deserve death. You wanted to be an Angel so I think that you’re a good person deep down. We all just need to give you a chance, and that includes you,” I told her.

“We need to give you hugs too because obviously you never got enough as a child,” Autumn added bitterly as she wrapped an arm around Heather and pulled the other girl in closer to her. “You said that you were hidden away from the public, it sounds like you were lonely too. You’re Fay now though and if there’s one thing we’re good at, it’s showing love and affection to those that we care about.”

Heather seemed to stiffen for a moment before taking a deep breath and trying to relax as she said, “Before… before my sister was born, my mother was able to make more time for me. The story that the public was given when I was born was that I was frail and sickly. Mother would tell me stories about Angels at bedtime, it was the only time that we really had that was just the two of us. Most of those stories were about Archangel Abbadine. To me, she was the most amazing hero to ever live, and I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. When I figured out that you were the reason she left, that she had raised you, I was jealous… still am.”

“I never knew that hero even existed until Sira told me,” I countered sadly. “To me, she was my hero in a different way. I knew her as my aunt, the woman who raised me when I had nobody else. She taught me everything that I know, she took care of me when I was sick or feeling down about how wrong my body felt, and she tucked me into bed at night. She worked me harder than you could imagine growing up and taught me to be self-sufficient but she was always there if I needed to talk or to be told that I was being an idiot. She’s the closest thing to a mother that I can remember.”

“I… think I’m more jealous now. I wish that I could have had someone like that. The only one-on-one time that my mother really had for me between running the country was at bedtime but that changed when my sister was born. My governess was standoffish and never really spent time with me beyond our lessons or mealtimes and everything was on a schedule,” the former princess said with a sigh.

She sounded so wistful, but at least she was talking to us instead of giving us an attitude now. I tried to encourage that and work toward mending things between the two of us. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it worse. If it’s any consolation she set very high standards for me growing up. When she cares about people, she expects the best from them. She told me once that we live in a dangerous world and that the most that you can do if you truly care for someone, is to ensure that they can survive it. So, if she rides our asses hard in training it’s just her way of showing that she cares.”

“You know, Heather, you should think about the things that you’ve gained from this,” Autumn suggested. “Okay, sure you didn’t get the one-on-one training with Archangel Abbadine like you wanted but, she is the one training us. We’re her special project and that is really cool. Snowy also just proved that you have teammates that will do just about anything for you. Best of all though, you are Fay now. Your hair and eyes don’t make you an outcast among us, people like you are special to us. You can leave that old life that you hated behind and embrace being one of us.”

At the other Fay’s expectant look it took Heather a moment to realize that Autumn had meant that last part literally. “I… I’m not very good at that sort of thing.”

“Well, you’ll learn. I’m going to teach you all about being one of us,” the redhead vowed.

“You’ll be hugging everyone and running around naked in no time, Heather,” I joked.

“N-n-naked?” Heather sputtered.

“Just for that, you are getting lessons too, Snowy,” Autumn replied tartly, though she was grinning as she did so. “There’s more to being Fay than running around without clothes and snuggling.”

“That’s just most of it, right?” I prodded.

She responded with a raspberry and teased, “Or course not, there’s the sex too.”

Heather was silent at that, except for some slightly heavy breathing, and a look past Autumn showed that the pink-haired Fay was blushing and trying not to look at either of us. Finally, almost too silently to hear she whispered, “So you two really are…”

Now I found myself blushing at her assumption. I was still new to this body and, while I did find Autumn attractive, I didn’t think I would be ready for that kind of thing yet. Besides, there were the academy rules. Autumn was more serious though as she replied, “I see that you’ve heard those rumors about our people. You shouldn’t believe everything that you hear. I won’t be ready for that until I have found a mate, or mates, who I wish to spend my life with. So, no, Snowy and I are not bonded but I do find her very attractive. But then, I find you attractive too, I have a thing for headstrong, pretty, and confident girls, I guess.”

“I… umm... I mean…” Heather stammered uncertainly as she tried to look anywhere but at the redheaded Fay beside her. She had turned bright red by that point and could feel my face flushing as well.

“I have made you both uncomfortable, that was not my intent,” Autumn quickly apologized. “We do enjoy sex in all of its forms and, while we’re not shy about where or when we do it, it is not something that we do with just everyone like snuggling. It’s saved for mates, those who we choose to love. Love in any form is nothing to be ashamed of and sex is a natural expression of our feelings for those we choose to bond with. It is no different than hugging or kissing and it shouldn’t be shamed or forced to be hidden from the world, even though it is something that we reserve only for our bonded mates.”

“Really? I heard that the Fay are very indiscriminate about who they… umm…” Heather started to say before trailing off awkwardly.

“You heard wrong,” the other Fay stated simply. “Just because we’re not shy about doing it in public doesn't mean we’ll do it with anybody. Sex can lead to children after all and that is a blessing and responsibility that should be shared between mates or mate-groups who love and trust one another and will show that same love to a child. We take that very seriously; children are a blessing. Same-sex couples or groups may invite someone who they really trust to join them if they want a child but that is the only reason for coupling with someone other than a mate. Even if they don’t become a part of an official bonded mate-group the other biological parent is still deeply involved in the life of the group and the child and that requires love, respect, and trust.”

“Wait, mate-groups? But that’s…” Heather trailed off uncertainly.

“Uncommon among Humans in Misota? So are same-sex pairings. Or were you going to use the word ‘immoral’?” Autumn asked knowingly. “We’ve heard such things from Humans passing through our lands. Morality is rarely simple yes or no answers. Often the people who say such things are the same ones who think that Seed-borne should be killed just for existing, and that makes me doubt their morality. We cannot do anything about how others think, only about what is in our own minds and what is right and wrong for us. When the old world fell we cast aside our humanity and created our own culture, morals, and beliefs on what felt right to us, not what we had always been told was right.”

“We Animen did something similar, though not quite to the extent that you or the Devilkin did,” I contributed with a nod. “For us, it was more about being true to our animal natures and living off the land.”

The copper-haired Fae smiled and nodded. “Our peoples are not so different, Snowy. I think of being Fay as living honestly and in harmony with nature, both in the sense of the natural world, and our own nature as individuals. Most Humans that I’ve met are quick to shame my kind for our ways. They hide their true feelings and look down on others for who they love, how they dress, and how they choose to live their lives when they should be more concerned with themselves and their own behavior.”

I sighed and nodded. “You weren’t there when I first met Taddick. I… he just… we used to get Human traders in the village sometimes, they were like him. They thought that I should just try harder to be a man, like they knew better than me who I should be. They tried to make me ashamed of who I was inside.”

“Yeah, I heard that you used to be… in the wrong body. That’s humans for you, we… they throw about plenty of shame for others to bear and try to keep as little as possible for themselves when they have to look in the mirror. I guess that I did that too. I‘m sorry, I’ve been a bitch to all of you, especially Snow,” Heather offered uncertainly as she lifted a lock of her pink hair. “My mother called this a blessing but it never felt that way. They kept me hidden away and it was like they were ashamed of me. That made me ashamed of myself and I took it out on others.”

“Yeah, you were a bitch. At least you’re being honest with us, and yourself now. I might make a proper Fay out of you yet,” our redheaded companion said with a grin.

Heather shook her head. “I don’t know about that, I’m a city girl and I probably know less about nature than I do about honesty. I don’t know if I can just change myself like that. I’m not used to being close to other people, and most of this conversation has left me feeling awkward and embarrassed, especially the stuff about nudity and mate bonds and stuff.”

“People are always changing, Heather,” I told her honestly. “And we all just went through a pretty massive life change already when we took the Elixir. It sounds like you’ve been needing some changes in your life anyway, just try to keep an open mind and see these as positive changes. This is a chance to be that brave Angel that you dreamed about being and you might love being a Fay once you get used to the idea. Think of it as self-discovery. Find yourself, be that person, and we’ll do our best to support you.”

“Well… Autumn might have been right about one thing at least; I think that I need more hugs. Sitting close like this… it’s not so bad.”

Autumn wrapped her arms around us to hold us close but she was careful not to jostle my shoulder. “There is no shame in companionship, Heather, it brings people closer together. There is no shame in nudity either, it is our natural state, it is how we enter the world and our lives. You can still wear clothes, but being comfortable with yourself means being comfortable in your own skin. Clothes don’t make you who you are, you do and you don’t need some silly frock to express yourself.”

“I’m pretty sure that you said there was more to being a Fay than just cuddling and nudity,” I quipped.

“Aye, there is,” she agreed with a giggle, “those are the nice parts though. As I said, it’s about complete honesty and being one with nature, especially your own nature. Be true to yourself, Heather. Your feelings are natural things. Feelings should be shown honestly, especially love and friendship. Even when they are not always positive be honest with yourself and others about them. You’ve already got that part down I think, and there is no shame in that. Express your positive feelings too though and communicate with us, none of us has a mind-reading gift. Fay are not afraid to show the world who we are and we make no apologies for it unless we genuinely feel bad for making someone uncomfortable. Complete honesty can be too much for people of other Races sometimes and all types of relationships must be nurtured, like any growing thing.”

We just snuggled quietly after that, each lost in our thoughts as we waited for our trainer and teammates to join us. My shoulder was fully healed by the time that they had woven their way through level after level of the building that we were in; navigating carefully through hallways, down from one floor to the next, and around spots where Lisbet thought that the floors might be prone to collapse. Finally, the three found us, and my grandmother carefully moved toward the window to gaze at the ground below through the scope on her weapon.

She scanned around for several minutes before letting out a whispered curse. “Shit. It’s damn near impossible to see with its fur blending in with the snow. I was really hoping that I was wrong.” She motioned for me to come to take a look and I did so. It was hard to make out details until it moved but it resembled a massive white wolf with a pair of large curved horns on its head and blood-red eyes.

I thought that it was big when I was falling but this thing’s size made the Direwolf that I fought look like an infant. It looked considerably less deadly, but I knew better than anyone that looks can be deceiving. “What is that?” I asked as quietly as I could.

“It’s a Fenris. I’ve never fought one before, no Angel has. The only information we have on them came from the files on different Demon types that Eden Base was studying for their research on how to fight them. They see heat, their other senses are very acute, and their hides are thick and were tough to penetrate with conventional weapons at the time. Hopefully, ours can do better. It was probably what was firing those bursts of energy at the veetol too. They’re extremely territorial; they kill and eat other Demons or anything else that wanders into their territory,” she explained in a whisper.

“So, what’s the plan?” Karina asked hopefully.

“It’s time for trial by fire, girls. I was hoping to at least give you girls with gun modes some target practice out here before getting into a fight. There is no way that we’re getting out of that thing’s territory without a fight though and I’d rather that it’s on our terms,” our trainer told us candidly. “Snow, come up with a plan while I give Heather a sniper lesson. We need to attack it before it attacks us.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: A bit late due to feeling like crap from my covid booster and being busy but here is chapter 10 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 10: First Time

I looked around at the others while our trainer was busy giving Heather a one-on-one lesson on how to use her weapon in rifle mode and the ins and outs of being a good sniper. As I considered possible plans I thought absently, “I wonder how high we are?”

-= I monitored our descent and the number of window openings beneath us before we entered the window, =- Connie casually commented. -=I believe that we are currently on the seventh floor of a building that is approximately thirty-six or thirty-seven stories tall. By my estimate, that places us roughly one hundred to one hundred and twenty feet above ground level. You were fortunate to cease our descent when you did, Snow. =-

“Thanks, Connie. We’re probably still too high for me to safely jump, right?” I inquired of my NCI.

Connie responded almost instantly. -= Factoring in your increased durability and a range of other variables such as height, possible snow depths, types of terrain, probability of rubble, and the presence of the Fenris, I estimate a 48.7% to 96.3% possibility of you sustaining some sort of injuries which would prove detrimental in combat. =-

"Better to not risk it. Hmmm, and I’d need to be closer to ground level to manipulate all that snow and ice down there,” I thought to myself before turning to our resident Tinker. “What kind of grenades did you bring with you, Lisbet?”

“Mostly high explosive, though I brought a mix of anything that sounded interesting from the specs; flashbangs, incendiary, smoke, red pepper, and impact flares. Shrapnel grenades sounded interesting but I didn’t want to risk any of you getting hit if you’re fighting something in close quarters,” the Harekin replied with a thoughtful look on her face.

“I think that I can figure out most of those, but can you give us a rundown anyway, so we know what you’re working with?” I asked.

Lisbet nodded and smiled. I had noticed that she liked talking about anything technical and explaining things that the rest of us might not know. I think that it made her feel useful and part of the team. “Well, explosives are just that, they explode and do a lot of damage. Flashbangs make a big flash of light and make your target’s ears ring, I guess the point is to take out their senses. Incendiaries are meant to set things on fire, while smoke grenades just create a cloud of smoke as a diversion or for escaping. Red pepper is mostly harmless, but it burns the eyes and nose. The impact flares are similar to incendiaries but kinda an emergency thing. They shatter on impact and the stuff inside sticks to a hard surface and ignites, then they burn really hot and bright for about two hours.”

I stopped and considered the choices for a moment and how effective they might be on the Fenris. If they see heat instead of the way that we do, I seriously doubted that smoke would be much use in this situation and the incendiary probably wouldn’t burn long on all that snow, so using the fire to mask our heat likely wouldn’t work either. I could use ice for that if I had to anyway. Explosives were out because I would rather keep them in reserve and I wasn’t sure how powerful the explosions would be, something that concerned me with us being in this high, ancient, and structurally unsound building.

Those last three could be useful though, at least to get its attention and then irritate its senses long enough for us to get into position and make our move. I was going to have to be careful not to be too close when the flashbang and red pepper hit though since my senses were extremely sharp as well and they could cause me as much suffering as the Fenris until my nanites healed any damage. I quickly turned to Karina next and asked the Devilkin, “How is your gliding? Do you think that you could manage to carry Lisbet while doing it? I know that your night vision is as sharp as the Fay or my own, and I have an idea.”

Karina considered it for a moment. “My wings did get bigger thanks to the Elixir so I can probably glide okay, it’s less effort than hovering, actually. I might be able to even fly short distances with enough practice. As long as she doesn’t squirm too much I don’t see a problem with carrying Lisbet for a short time. We might not all be as strong as you, but Devilkin are no slouches in that area and I’m even stronger since taking the Elixir too.”

“I might have a plan, girls,” I said with a grin.

Heather and our trainer had both gotten set up with their rifles in a pair of windows in the room that we had rested in, with a good view of the area below. They both had good enough night vision to see clearly and my grandmother had told us that the light amplification setting on their scopes would assist them further. Karina and Lisbet were in a room near them with a large window opening and Autumn and I were ready to leave from the large window of an adjacent living space so that none of us would get in one another’s way. It was just about time to get things started.

Before I could activate comms to say anything I felt a hand gently grasping and massaging my left shoulder. Even though it was reported as fully healed, there was still some lingering stiffness that Connie told me would soon fade and the massage felt nice. I turned to look inquiringly at Autumn and asked, “What’s up Autumn? Are you…mmmphh.”

The kiss that she planted on me was insistent and tender at the same time and I could feel a warmth building up in my belly, not to mention other places, as she wrapped her arms around me and held me close. I was a little stunned as the redheaded Fay reluctantly freed me from the lip lock and her grasp and said, “That was for luck. So that whatever kind spirits may dwell in this place might watch over us.”

“Is that a… uhh… Fay custom?” I asked breathlessly, trying to recover from the way that my heart was racing. Did I have to kiss her back? Please let me have to kiss her back.

Autumn shook her head. “No, it is not. I just figured that maybe if they like us, the spirits of these ruins will keep us safe. And… I have been wanting to do that ever since we first spoke. You are a strong and beautiful person, Snowy, and not just on the outside. Did you think that I jested when I said that you were my type? I feel… connected to you, and who knows what might happen down there. This might be my only chance.”

“I… don’t know what to say,” I managed to whisper, the only words that I could get to leave my mouth. I liked her too, she was attractive and fun, and I was beginning to enjoy her obsession with snuggling. And, by the spirits, that kiss felt like it had bathed my soul in sunshine. I was still nervously giggling from the warmth and brightness that it had infused me with.

“You don’t need to say anything… unless… I made you uncomfortable?” It was said almost timidly, with an uncertainty that I had never seen from Autumn before. She was usually the type to do or say whatever she wanted to do at the time. The only time she really held herself back or apologized was when it might hurt one of the people she cared about. It was one of the things that I liked about her, I knew where I stood with Autumn.

“No!” I barely managed to keep my objection to a whisper. “I… I’m just not very good at this kind of thing. Nobody has ever really been interested in me that way before. I wasn’t exactly…”

A finger to my lips shushed me as she caressed my cheek tenderly. “You have known a great many fools then. But their loss is my gain. If you…”

Her voice lost her usual certainty again as the question seemed to hover on the edge of her tongue. I took her hand in mine, removing the finger from my lips, and leaned forward to kiss her. I probably wasn’t as good at it as she was but I hoped that it showed my growing feelings for her. My knees felt weak and my face flushed as I finally pulled away and spoke awkwardly. “We can use all the help the spirits may be willing to give. And… if we do manage to get out of this alive, I’d like to… see where this goes.”

“Let’s go slay a Demon then,” she said with what was possibly the biggest grin I had seen on her face in our short time knowing one another. The moment that I had my sword off of my back and in hand, she picked me up in a princess carry and I felt my cheeks flush all over again. Sure the plan was for her to carry me down the side of the building, but I didn’t think that she would be doing it like that. She grinned at me and leaned forward to nibble the tip of my kitty ear, whispering softly, “Under any other circumstances, this would be so romantic, don’t you think?”

I had trouble breathing or finding my voice for a moment as my heart hammered away in my chest. “I… umm… wow… yeah… Activate comms for Storm Wing,” I finally managed before taking a deep breath to steady myself.

-= Affirmative. Storm Wing communications engaged, =- Connie reported.

I asked over comms in a hushed tone, “Are we all ready to go?”

-= Ready on our end, =- Karina called out for her and Lisbet.

-= We’re set up and ready to fire, =- my grandmother assured me. Then I heard her trying to assure the newbie sniper. -=Just remember what I told you and you’ll do fine, Heather. Relax, get your target in the center of your sights, and fire as you exhale. Just don’t overthink things. Unlike most mundane rifles there isn’t much recoil on the Shadowstrike, and the nanites connecting you to your weapon will provide targeting assistance. If for some reason you do miss the first shot, don’t get upset, just remain calm and prepare for a second opportunity. =-

-= Okay, =- Heather replied, her voice breathy and nervous sounding. -= I… can do this. =-

“Just remember Heather, you’re being taught by the best, just like you wanted. I know that you’ll do your best to have our backs, and that’s all that any of us will ask,” I said, trying to encourage her as well. She had enough issues without putting too much pressure on herself. “Time to make our move. Karina and Lisbet, you’re up.”

From our position in the window frame, I could see the Devilkin take to the sky, carefully holding Lisbet. Once they were about thirty feet away Lisbet warned, -= Nobody look directly at the flare once it ignites, you could hurt your eyes. And, firing! That was close, I almost put it through a window, it’s burning though, about three floors above you. =-

Then Karina screamed as loud as she could, -=Up here, you oversized rug! =- Ouch, I really wish that I hadn’t heard that via comms.

-= Shit! You definitely got its attention, =- my grandmother cursed. -= It’s looking right at the flare. Now, Heather, just like we planned, while you can see the red of its eyes. You get the left eye, and I’ll get the right.=-

A howl of pain that chilled me to the bone filled the night air, followed quickly by Heather’s excited voice. -= Yes! I did it! =-

-=Nice shooting, Heather. Both of its eyes are taken care of, Snow, =- our trainer said. I could almost hear the pride in her voice as the blue-white energy that had likely been originally aimed at the flare flew into the empty sky to our far right instead as the Demon thrashed and howled in pain.

That was our cue. Autumn stepped out the window and for an instant, we were falling before she switched her gravity and was running down the side of the building while carrying me. Looking ‘behind’ us, I could glimpse the bright red glow of the impact flare, though I was careful not to look directly at it. She stopped right before we reached the ground and returned her gravity to normal, which placed her lying atop me as I pulled all of the nearby snow and ice over us in a thick makeshift ice shelter. “We’re in position, let us know when the pepper cloud clears,” I let the others know.

Autumn and I needed to be ready to attack the minute that the Fenris had its senses dulled. Even blind, its keen sense of smell and hearing made it a dangerous opponent. The problem was that we both had sensitive ears and noses too so we would need to wait until after Lisbet had called the all-clear since both the red pepper and the sound of the flashbang could cause us issues as well. I just hoped that Lisbet and Karina would be okay from their position overhead. Their noses weren’t as sensitive as ours but Lisbet did have sensitive ears.

I was also really glad that our snipers were able to penetrate its eyes since we still weren’t sure how effective our weapons might be against its thick hide. We waited quietly for news over the comms system as Autumn lay atop me and her warmth and closeness felt really nice. Her warm breath tickled my sensitive ears and it made my heart beat faster as Karina’s voice said, -= We’re right above it now Lisbet, fire straight down. =-

-= You got it, brace yourself, everyone, =- Lisbet replied and a moment later a loud bang rang through the air. I barely heard it through the comms and I had to wonder whether my ice dome had protected us better than I thought from the sound, maybe it reflected it? -= Owie my poor ears, =- The Harekin mumbled, making me wince in sympathy.

-= We’re heading for ground level now, we’ll find a safe firing position for Lisbet and let you know when the pepper cloud settles, =- Karina reported. Then in a slightly panicked voice a couple of minutes later, -= Aw Hell! That thing is just firing those energy blasts all over the place now! Dust is settled enough; you need to move! =-

I pushed all of the snow and ice around us away and as soon as I had, Autumn rose gracefully to her feet. As she was pulling me to mine as well I saw that Karina’s warning couldn’t have come a moment too soon and time seemed to slow in my mind. The Fenris was facing toward us, jaws opened wide and a malevolent blue-white glow building up at the back of its throat.

I reacted instantly; shoving Autumn behind me, placing my sword straight out in front of me at shoulder level, and thinking, “Connie! Shield mode!”

No sooner had I thought it than my sword began to shift as Connie’s voice responded. -= Affirmative. Hardlight shield mode engaged. =- It all happened in what seemed like an instant of clicking, whirring, and transformative motion that I could barely keep track of.

First, the blade split in two along the edges, the two halves folding back so that they were perfectly horizontal in front of me at shoulder level, one half pointing to the right and the other to the left. Six pipe-like lengths of metal, nearly as long as the blade itself, shifted, three above and three below the two outwardly pointing halves of the blade, forming an eight-pointed star. As they were doing that, they connected with the various wires, bits of metal, and something called nano circuit boards that had also been housed within the long, wide, and thick blade. I knew that much from the blueprints and technical manuals that Sira had placed in Connie for me to look at.

I also knew that inside the tip of each half of the blade and at the tip of each length of pipe was something else that Sira called extra-dimensional energy regulators. I felt a slight draining sensation as the shield started drawing on the energy and activated. An instant later, a golden circle of light nearly ten feet in diameter formed over the eight-pointed star as I braced myself for the impact of the Fenris’s attack.

Blue-white energy slammed into the golden light of my shield but I held my ground until the blast wave was over. That was way too close for comfort. If that had hit, no more Snow and Autumn, and since it would have likely brought the building behind us down, no more Heather and Abbadine either. I was still breathing heavily from the fear that had gripped my chest as Karina landed with Lisbet behind the safety of the shield.

Lisbet squealed in excitement and rattled off a barrage of questions as soon as they touched down. “This is your weapon’s other mode? What is that light? Can I touch it? How is it produced? Just how much energy are you pulling out of the void to keep it up?”

“Later, Lisbet,” I responded, heaving a breathy sigh. “Let’s kill that thing before we have another close call. Lisbet, find cover, and change weapon modes. Autumn and Karina, let’s see if we can do some damage but be careful of its thrashing. Is everything okay up there, Heather?”

Lisbet ran full out to leap behind a pile of rubble, her weapon seeming to change as she did so and Heather’s voice responded, -= We’re fine. We’ve tried putting a few bullets into it and they seem to penetrate the skin but it’s too big and we’re at the wrong angle up here to hit anything else vital. =-

-= We’ve tried headshots but those horns are in the way. I don’t know what they’re made of but we can barely chip them, =- my grandmother added.

“Okay, don’t waste your ammunition then, we’ll take care of this,” I told them while I sent a command to Connie. “Claymore mode.”

-= Affirmative. Claymore mode engaged. =- Even as my NCI responded, the previous transformation reversed itself in a series of whirs and clicks, and in less than a minute I was once again holding my massive sword.

Lisbet was already firing some type of violet-hued energy blasts from behind her cover, trying to make an opening for us to attack. She was scoring some hits, which was good since none of us with long-range modes had any training with them yet, but the burns didn’t even seem to do any more than to piss it off and make it thrash even more. Beside me, both of my other companions were changing weapon modes as well as I threw myself at the massive white-furred Demon.

It was no wonder that our snipers couldn’t hit any other weak spots from their position, the Fenris was even bigger than I had originally thought, almost three times my height at the shoulders. With the way it was thrashing around, I wasn’t sure that I could get in close enough to do any damage. I might just end up being the one getting hurt.

Autumn’s weapon had changed from her elegant and slender blade to some form of a pistol with a slightly long and narrow barrel that fired a beam of bright red light that left a scorch mark where it had hit the Fenris’s shoulder. “Damn, I was aiming for its eye sockets, but it’s moving too much and I have never fired a gun in my life before this,” the Fay cursed as I dashed in and managed to get close enough to slash viciously at one of the Demon’s hind legs.

“We need to immobilize it so we can get in close enough to hit a weak spot, and keep its head pointed somewhere where it’s not going to blast any of us!” I called out as I slashed at the other hind leg. Demonic blood flew and the creature howled in pain once again as its rear end collapsed.

“You got it, I’ll get the head!” Karina called back. “Don’t worry, I can work with this! We use similar weapons for hunting!” I dared a quick glance as I emerged from slashing at the Demon’s other hind leg and saw her whirling one of a pair of what looked to be small crescent-shaped scythes attached to thin metal cables that emerged from her bracers. The curved blade whipped toward the Fenris and with a flick of the Devilkin’s wrist, the thrown weapon changed direction to wrap around the Demon’s large neck, one of the points of the blade digging into its flesh.

“Okay, now that is a cool weapon,” I thought as she reeled herself in to position herself on the Demon’s back using the cable. No sooner was she there than she whipped her other blade around its neck as well, pulling on the cables like a pair of reins to direct the Demon that was trying to throw her off of its back. While the Devilkin was doing that, Lisbet shot at it again from behind her cover with her pulse cannon and Autumn switched her weapon back to the sword form that she was more comfortable with.

“The forelegs, Autumn!” I called out. “You go left, I’ll go right!”

We both moved quickly, scoring deep cuts on the Demon’s upper legs while Karina reined it in and kept its deadly maw pointed up and away. As it collapsed to the ground, unable to properly support its own weight any longer I ducked under its head and thrust my huge sword into its chest with as much strength as I could muster. Even with my insane strength, I was only able to pierce its chest with roughly three-quarters of the length of the blade. It was enough though, and after a moment of wild thrashing, the Fenris finally went still.

We sat together in the shelter of the still erect building watching the corpse of the Fenris burn through the wide opening that was probably once some kind of door. Lisbet and I had set fire to it while Karina and Autumn went back up to gather our things and help my grandmother and Heather make their way down. I doubted that the horns were going to burn, and as interested as Lisbet was in what they were made of, they were far too large for us to take with us. She had to be satisfied with me hacking off a tip so she could have a sample.

Mostly we just talked about what had been, for most of us, our first fight with a Demon. Our trainer seemed proud of us, but she did want us to get some more practice with our weapons and teamwork to make sure our win wasn’t just beginner's luck. There certainly were things that we could all work on and we needed to get using our weapons but this was how my grandmother had first learned. She had had to learn to use her weapon through combat and a lot of trial and error.

Lisbet still wanted to know all about how my C-13 Goliath worked so I explained it as best I could since she was the brains of our group. There was one thing that I held back, okay two things. One was just how much energy that hardlight shield had taken to activate. It drained me a lot more than using my Seed-borne gift, but at least it didn’t seem to use much energy to keep it going once it was active and I was pretty sure that an ice shield wouldn’t have stopped that energy blast.

I had to admit that the shield mode was handy and that the weapon was starting to grow on me, but I was still a bit self-conscious about other people would see me with a weapon like that. I have self-esteem issues and it honestly hurt that people might think me less of a woman after I had finally become one because I used that huge thing. I even knew that that was stupid of me but I just couldn’t change my feelings. Maybe with enough time that would change.

Soon I set up pairs to take watches so that we could get some rest and start fresh in the morning. I couldn’t smell any other Demons around, and I doubted that many strayed into the territory of the Fenris, but I was worried that the smell of its burning corpse might bring unwanted attention to the area. Heather didn’t have a bedroll, I doubted that she had spent a day of her life outdoors before this, so I let her use mine while Autumn and I took the first watch.

We spent most of the three hours of our watch snuggling, kissing, and talking in hushed tones as we tried to get to know one another better. Not that we weren’t paying attention to what was going around us. Both of us had very sharp senses and if anything came close we would have known about it. It would have been a lot more boring without Autumn keeping me company and I found myself enjoying the time with her, especially the snuggling and kissing.

The redheaded Fay took me for who I was and made me feel loved and wanted in a way that I had never really experienced before and I found myself wanting to do the same with her. It wasn’t that hard either. She was beautiful, honest, carefree, fun, and caring. There was a lot to like, and every time that we kissed it was just like the first time, like bathing in sunshine, and that made me feel alive in a way that I had never felt before.

Eventually, it was time to wake Lisbet and my grandmother for their turn at watch. I was going to ask to borrow my grandmother’s bedroll but Autumn invited me to share hers instead. We snuggled up close and fell asleep in one another’s arms. It was the best sleep I could ever remember having and I was half-tempted to linger there with Autumn when Karina and Heather came to wake us six hours later.

“She’s purring, that’s so cute,” Karina’s voice and a follow-up giggle invaded my sleepy mind. What was she talking about? Was that what the faint buzzing in my chest was? That had never happened before, was it another change from the Angel Elixir? I opened my eyes to look up at her and Heather in confusion as the sensation faded.

“I thought that you said that you two weren’t girlfriends,” Heather said as she looked down at us with an expression that was hard to read.

“You had my bedroll,” I pointed out before blushing and looking toward the Fay still snuggling against me. “And we… umm…”

“We are exploring the possibility,” Autumn finished with a lazy smile. “You are more than welcome to join us if you wish.”

I’m not sure whose face was a brighter red, mine or Heather’s. “I’m… uhhh… no thanks,” the pink-haired former princess stammered before looking away.

“Suit yourself,” Autumn said before leaning in to give me a good morning kiss. Then her tone became more serious as she looked back at Heather. “The offer remains open whenever you feel more comfortable with cuddling or if you should desire companionship. Nobody here will judge you, either way, Heather. Don’t feel that human values need to hold you back, you are Fay now, and part of this team. We want you to be happy.”

“Wow, Snow and Autumn, I probably should have seen that coming,” Karina said with a laugh as Heather went bright red and looked down at the ground.

“Jealous?” asked a sleepy Lisbet.

“Nah,” the Devilkin replied with a shake of her head. “I mean, they’re both attractive but I’m happy just being friends with them. I’m not really interested in anything further. The occasional cuddling is nice though.”

I gave Autumn a tender kiss on the lips before yawning and stretching. “Okay, as nice as it is talking with you all, we need to eat something, pack our things, and get moving. We have a lot of ground to cover since we had to… umm… land so far away from our objective.”

With that, we all had a quick breakfast of dried fruit and meat from our supplies and water from our canteens. Soon after that we packed up our things and were heading eastward through the windy and long-abandoned streets toward our goal. It was about midmorning that we got to the edge of the Fenris’s territory and I started to sense the occasional Demons.

We had a few minor encounters with solitary Demons but they had all served as good target practice for Lisbet, Autumn, and Heather after I had used my gift to entrap the approaching Demon in ice. Karina got in some practice with her cable scythes too. And if you counted the fact that I was using my gift to do the trapping we all got a bit of practice for something.

Still, my grandmother kept casting long looks in my direction. I had a feeling about what they were supposed to mean too but I really didn’t want to talk about it with her right then. I was ready to call a halt for lunch when those of us with the sharpest eyes saw the webs. They were colossal, strung between the remains of massive buildings ahead of us like the one we had tried to land on the night before and as we got closer there were too many to count, stretching as far as my eyes could see.

“Ugh, I don’t want to meet the spiders that made those,” Lisbet said with a shudder, her ears twitching nervously.

“I don’t think we’re going to get a choice,” my grandmother muttered. “Fucking Spidren, it just had to be Spidren.”

The wind switched direction and suddenly I could smell their foul stench, there were a lot of them. Immediately my tail lowered and my ears went back flat against my hair in agitation and fear. I was about to suggest trying to find a way around them when I saw the movement. Hundreds of giant black and purple spiders as big as any of us were emerging from openings in the buildings ahead of us until the snowy street and the walls to either side were a crawling mass of them. And they were coming right for us.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 11 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 11: Badass

“Be careful of the webs and don’t let them cocoon you, their silk is coated in a very potent paralyzing agent,” my grandmother warned us all before turning to give me a serious look. “What is the plan, Wing Commander?” Oh, spirits, she looked super serious and she even used my title, meaning that she was placing all of this on my shoulders. I knew that she’d pull us out if things got too intense and it looked like we were in danger but she was expecting us (and by us, I mean me) to at least try to deal with this situation like real Angels first.

There were way too many Spidren, which meant that I was probably going to have to use that mode. I wasn’t sure how much energy that was going to use though, I hadn’t even tested it yet, and the mere thought of using it was even more uncomfortable than using the Claymore mode. Dammit, there was no choice here.

I took a deep breath and began to issue orders. “I want Lisbet, Heather, and our Wingleader on that big pile of rubble just behind us there. I need you watching our backs and taking out any targets that look like they might get too close. Lisbet, use grenades first to help me thin them out, then you can switch to pulse-cannon mode when it gets to close-quarters fighting. Karina and Autumn, you’re with me, try and take out any strays but don’t get in front of me until I switch back to Claymore mode, I’m not sure how well I can aim this thing.”

“What thing?” Karina asked in confusion.

“You’ll find out in a minute,” I said with a sigh. “Everyone get in position. Connie… Gatling mode.”

-= Affirmative. Pulse Gatling mode engaged. =-

Once again, the Goliath shifted to change even as Connie confirmed my order. I could feel it shifting on my back in time with the rapid whirrs and clicks. By the time I had reached back to draw the large weapon, the change was mostly complete. It was complete by the time that I had it fully in hand.

The hilt had shifted position to become a more firearms-like handle with a trigger and the wide guard was mostly in the same place and configuration to help me steady the weapon with my off-hand as I fired. The blade had split in two, much as it had with the hardlight shield mode, and then split into armored plates to protect the insides of the new weapon configuration as the six pipes inside with the extra-dimensional energy regulators became barrels. The barrels were half exposed as most of the armor had been shifted to protect the inner workings of the massive gun which was still nearly as long as my claymore and wide enough that I would have needed four hands to encircle the six barrels.

If the data that I had been given was correct, the barrels would rotate at high speed and spew out rapid-fire bursts of energy similar to Lisbet’s pulse cannon. This was a prototype though so it could be just as likely to not work at all. This would be a really bad time to find that out. I should have tested it earlier. I took a deep breath, gripped the former guard to steady the weapon, and then I held down the trigger.

The effect was immediate and I could have sworn that I heard Karina mutter, “Holy shit,” as a barrage of violet-colored energy bursts tore through the leading wave of Spidren on the ground and the ground itself, sending up a cloud of displaced snow and stone shrapnel. By the spirits, this thing was overpowered as hell. I guess the downside was that subtlety went right out the window, along with precision. I could only really aim at the general area that I wanted and let the chaos begin.

I had been worried that this mode was going to drain me as much as the hardlight shield had but where that had taken a bunch of energy at once and then very little to keep it going, the Gatling mode was a steadier and more constant draw of energy. It was more than what was required for the shield once it was in place but a lot less than the massive drain of erecting the shield in the first place. I could likely keep it up for a little while but I was probably going to start feeling more strain on my Seed-borne gift the longer that I kept firing.

I swept the weapon around as best I could, trying to take out as many Spidren as I could on both ground level and around the walls. The occasional explosions told me that Lisbet had loaded up her grenades and was trying to hit the spots where the Demon coverage was the thickest behind the leading edge. To my right, the occasional beam of red energy would seek out a target outside of the main swarm, while Karina’s cable scythes would whip out to eviscerate whatever was in their path. She really was good with those things. Heather was calling out any targets and taking out those that threatened to slip by while my grandmother was focusing on the Spidren high up on the walls, probably so they couldn’t jump us.

After what seemed an eternity, but was probably only a couple of handfuls of minutes, I started to feel the strain and the rate of fire from the Goliath was visibly slowing. It was time to go to close quarters, but at least we had thinned out the Spidren enough to make that viable. “Connie, Claymore mode, and engage comms for Storm Wing,” I told my NCI, barely paying attention to her confirmation and the weapon in my hands changing as I started to issue orders to the others. “I’ll take the leftovers on the ground while Lisbet covers me. Autumn and Heather, you have the buildings on the right, and Karina and our Wingleader will take the left. Avoid the webs and call out if you have trouble or spot something that someone else may be missing.”

I ran forward, swinging my massive blade in a wide arc to cut four of a Spidren’s legs out from underneath it. Too much momentum, I was going to need to work on that or it would put me off balance. It would take too much time to get my sword back into position so I just stomped on the creature’s now lowered head. It was finished with a satisfying splat and a far less satisfying explosion of brains and goo that got all over my bare legs and boots.

I didn’t have a chance to think too much about it, or that we really should try to get some clothes more suitable for combat than our simple dresses, because another pair were coming at me. A burst of violet energy sizzled past me to take out the one on my right so I used the flat of my sword to bat the second aside. As soon as I had space, I jumped at it with an overhand swing that cut the creature in half and left a sizable crack in the stone street that had already been pummeled by my weapon’s Gatling mode, sending bits of the stone flying everywhere.

To my left I could see Karina hovering, her scythes whipping out in a dance of death and evisceration to the Spidren around her before disappearing in a puff of smoke to do it all again with another group. My grandmother quickly took down any that seemed to be getting too close to the Devilkin with well-placed sniper fire. I quickly removed the head of an approaching Spidren and had to roll away to avoid another who was trying to web me up. A shot from Lisbet made short work of it and I was able to move on to drive my sword right between the eyes (all eight of them) of another.

I was extracting my sword from the corpse when Heather called out, “Autumn, behind you! I can’t risk firing; I might hit you!” A quick glance showed the redheaded Fay pulling her own sword from a Spidren’s now-falling corpse as another jumped at her from behind. Autumn quickly jumped away from the wall, she must have temporarily lowered her gravity in relation to the wall that she had been standing on because she was a good thirty feet away before she started to ‘fall’ back toward it, with enough force to crumple the Spidren beneath her as she landed.

The battle continued like that for a while until finally, we had killed the whole swarm. Once we were certain that nothing else was going to attack us, we piled up the corpses and set fire to them. That took a while, and it was starting to get dark before we had time to stop, eat something, and discuss things as we watched the corpses burn.

We had been mostly quiet while we worked but Lisbet had even more questions now about my weapon. Like for instance, “Why didn’t you tell us that your weapon had a third mode? I can see why you didn’t want to use it for target practice, that mode must use up a lot of energy and it’s not exactly a precision weapon, but you could have at least told us instead of doing the dramatic reveal.”

I sighed and looked away from the others. “I… was embarrassed. Big sword, big gun, and big shield… it feels like a weapon that a guy would have, a guy who is overcompensating for something. It hurt to get assigned something like that after finally becoming the girl that I always wanted to be. I… people might see me as…”

I trailed off, not even sure where I was going with that train of thought myself. Karina had her own ideas though as the Devilkin asked, “As what? A total badass? That’s what you look like, Snow. Not a guy, just a badass, and girls are allowed to be badass too.”

“Yeah, you’d think you of all people would know that. Just look at who your grandmother is,” Heather pointed out with a roll of her eyes. “And not many people, male or female, would jump out of a flying veetol without a second thought to save the life of someone who treated them as badly as I treated you. If that’s not the mark of a badass, I don’t know what is.” It was still a little strange to have Heather talking to me without all of the aggression and jealousy, and as much as I hated to admit it, she and Karina had a point.

“You are our Snowy, that is how we see you; as a strong, confident, and yes, very badass girl. Do not allow what others might think to bother you. We are your team, your friends, and we see you for who you are,” Autumn said as she wrapped her arms around me and nuzzled me affectionately. “In the future, please tell us when you are upset about something. We cannot help you if you keep it all bottled up and we do not know that there is a problem.”

“Sorry, everyone. You’re all right, I’ll try to get past this. The Goliath is actually starting to grow on me. If I didn’t have its hardlight shield mode, Autumn and I would have been dead for sure. The other modes have their uses too, and I’ll use whatever I can to keep us all safe,” I told them all seriously.

“I hate to be the one to break this up by bringing up cold, hard reality but I’m almost out of ammunition,” our trainer interjected with a frown. “I was hoping to use stealth to avoid most of the Demons here. I certainly wasn’t expecting to fight a Fenrir and the biggest swarm of Spidren that I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m almost out too,” Heather agreed with a sigh.

“Me too,” Lisbet added. “I used up most of my explosive grenades against those gross spider Demons. It won’t be too much of an effort for Heather and me to shape some new ammunition for their rifles, she’ll just need to find a suitably magnetic metal to work with. It won’t be perfect but it’ll work. Getting the materials so that we can work on making more grenades is going to be more difficult though.”

“And so it’s decision time, Wing Commander,” my grandmother said, her gaze falling upon me. “Do we continue on or abort the mission and call for an extraction? If we choose to keep going, we’ll have to rely more on close-quarters combat. Even those of you with pure energy weapons can’t use them continually, you’ll just end up tiring yourselves, and with all the Demons around here that would be dangerous.”

As much as I was worried about the safety of my team if we pressed forward, I also thought that we could do this. We had done fairly well so far, after all. I didn’t want to disappoint my grandmother or Sira either, they thought that we could do this. “Connie, how close are we to our objective?” I asked after a moment of thinking.

-= The target zone is estimated to be four miles north by northeast from here, =- my NCI quickly responded.

We could be there in a couple of hours, even taking it slow. Hopefully, there would be some supplies or even raw materials that we could use there. Either way, it seemed stupid to stop and turn back now that we were so close to our objective. “We keep going, we’re almost there anyway. We’re all too tired to push on further tonight though, so we’ll find someplace not too gross to use for cover and spent the night here so Lisbet and Heather can make some bullets, and then we’ll head out at first light. Karina and Autumn will scout ahead but keep in contact through comms in case they encounter something and need backup.”

We managed to find a shell of an old building that would make a suitable campsite for the night and Heather even found some scrap metal that Lisbet thought would make suitable bullets for the Shadowstrikes by using her Alchemist sense. Together, she and Lisbet were able to extract enough that Lisbet could make a small supply of roughly bullet-shaped projectiles of the right size. While they worked, my grandmother kept watch and Autumn snuggled up against me and gave all of us a lesson on the Fay and their culture.

As she had said before, when the old world fell the Fay cast aside their humanity and created their own culture, morals, and beliefs on what felt right to them. One of the biggest things was that there were no set gender roles, in fact, gender wasn’t really important to them in their day-to-day lives except for biological necessities. Females were treated no differently than males because they didn’t see people that way, they saw them as people first. This was why so many of the Fay were what Autumn called panromantic because, for them, physical bodies were secondary to the person who inhabited them.

It was quite a bit different from the way that humans saw gender and attraction. And my own situation was a bit different from that perspective as well. Among Animen, males and females are seen as very different, both biologically and spiritually. So two-spirited people like me, who were born physically with one gender and spiritually with the other are seen as very special because they bridge the gap between the two. As a result, we’re treated differently from everyone else. In a way that hurt as much as people who wouldn’t accept me for who I was because, while I just wanted to be treated like a normal girl, to my people I was both male and female, and a little bit more as well.

Had I been born in a Fay village I would have been treated as a normal person first because normal is an individual thing not a species thing. I guess that people like me are just as uncommon among the Fay but they’re encouraged to be who they want without having any expectations put upon them. They are loved for who they are inside, so it doesn’t matter to anyone else if they want to change how the outside presents because it won’t change who they really are. It also fits with the whole honesty thing and being one with nature, especially one’s own nature.

Honestly, the more that I heard about Fay culture, the more I liked it. It made sense to me. Autumn also went over a lot of the social dos and don’ts, formal greetings, and how to politely decline if someone was getting too up close and personal for you. A lot of their culture was based on physical contact and honesty though. The honesty part is important since they don’t want to make others uncomfortable because they expect the same courtesy.

Fay honestly cared for other people and the more they cared for a person the more they showed it through their words and actions. When someone hurts someone that they care for, mama bears don’t have anything on the Fay. Their generally caring, mischievous, and playful natures can turn to vengeance at the drop of a hat. Again, it’s being true to their nature and it’s a hard thing for them to restrain.

From what I was learning, it was actually kind of flattering to know that Autumn was considering me as a potential mate because the Fay stay true to their bond-mates for life. Even without the Angel Elixir, they generally live a lot longer than Humans, Animen, or Devilkin. Autumn said that some Fay in her family had lived to be up to three hundred years old. It was nice to hear her so enthusiastic as she taught us more about her people, and I thought that maybe she was doing so for my benefit as well as Heather’s.

Autumn really wanted to take us into the forest at some point to teach us more though because respect for life in all of its forms is a big part of who the Fay are, and it was something that Heather would be expected to know about if she met other Fay. They care for injured animals, tend gardens of herbs and other useful plants, and are very knowledgeable in both topics. They’re omnivores but they only really hunt creatures whose numbers or general nature are a danger to the delicate balance of the ecosystem that they live in. Even then, they thank the animal for its sacrifice.

Eventually, it was time for us to set watches and get some sleep. Lisbet and my grandmother offered to take the first watch and wake Karina and Heather for the second watch so I gratefully climbed into Autumn’s bedroll and snuggled up with her to get some sleep. All of that walking and fighting had made for a long and exhausting day, and pushing the energy limits of my Seed-borne gift hadn’t helped matters.

It was still dark when Heather and Karina woke me and Autumn for our turn at watch six hours later. Not much happened during our watch except for some kissing and cuddling since neither of us heard, smelled, or saw anything that would be a threat. Finally, not long after dawn, Connie let me know that our three hours were up and that it was time to wake the others.

Once the others were awake we had a quick breakfast from our food and water rations and then I switched on comms and sent Karina and Autumn ahead to scout. As soon as the pair were out of sight, we followed in the direction that they had taken. They checked in occasionally but except for the remains of Spidren webs they didn’t spot anything dangerous. My grandmother was worried about Spidren eggs still being in the area but there were too many massive buildings for us to perform a room-by-room check of them, even if they weren’t likely to be dangerously unstable.

After we were out of the Spidren’s territory we turned onto a street where the buildings became smaller, many were not much bigger than the Chief’s large cabin in Serkis. Granted, most of those buildings were at least partially collapsed from some sort of damage long ago and those that were somehow still standing were hollowed-out shells of what they once were. It was eerily quiet and we only ran into a few burning corpses of small Demons that our scouts had been able to take care of on their own.

It was just two hours shy into our morning journey when Karina’s uncertain-sounding voice came over the comms. -= What… the hell? =-

-= You need to come to see this, Snowy, =- Autumn’s voice added. -= Everything is clear up until here but I think that we may have found what we’re looking for. =-

“What? Already? Great work, you two,” I replied with a grin. After all of the problems that we had had up until that point, I had been fearing that it might be destroyed or really difficult to find.

-= It… wasn’t exactly hard to spot, =- Karina said in a quiet tone.

We quickened our pace and I soon discovered what they had meant. Every building ahead of us suddenly ceased to be. They had been completely obliterated and flattened, probably a long time ago from the look of it. A blanket of snow covered the uneven terrain and there, standing in the very center of it all, was a single building that shone in the light of the midmorning sun.

The building looked like a large home, constructed mostly of metal, grey stone, and glass and roughly two or three floors tall. Stone walls surrounded it, with numerous large and bulbous metal instruments atop that my grandmother thought might be heavy weapon placements. Dozens of small mechanical devices that had Lisbet itching to take a better look at them buzzed around through the air, and as we walked cautiously forward one of them approached us.

A slightly electronic voice emerged from the device as it approached. “Identify yourselves and state your business, please. This is a secure area and anyone who does not have business here will not be admitted.”

“I am Snow Bengal, and my companions are Abbadine Bengal, Heather Blossom, Lisbet Angora, Karina Lorelei, and Autumn Dawn. We were sent here from Eden Base by an artificial intelligence named Sira to see if the AI here was still active and to possibly find supplies or technology that may aid us in our fight against the Demons,” I said a little bit nervously.

The device seemed to focus a small camera similar to those that Sira used in Eden Base to look me over and then each of my companions without replying. The next sound that it made was slightly unexpected and caused me to nearly jump and draw my sword before I stopped myself. It was focused on Autumn and had made some sort of high-pitched shriek. Wait, was that a squeal of excitement?

My guess seemed to be confirmed as the voice shouted gleefully, “Mistress Kiley! You are home at last! I have missed you so much! How did you survive out there for so long?! We have so much to catch up on! I will come up to greet you immediately. Please follow the drone to the gate with your friends and I will be there in my avatar to greet you more personally.”

“Well, that was confusing,” I thought to myself as the others, who were looking just as confused, looked to me for confirmation. I shrugged and started walking after the ‘drone’, telling the others, “Our mission was to meet with the AI and get a look inside for anything useful. I’m just glad that it doesn’t look like we’re going to have to fight our way in. We’ll feel things out and then we’ll contact Sira for further orders.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 12 of Snow Angel. I wanted to post yesterday but I was busy running around all day and was exhausted when I got home. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 12: R.I.S.H.A

We followed the drone toward the center of the zone of destruction and past the occasional long-dead corpses of Demons. Eventually, it led us to a metal gate within the stone wall. The gate opened at our approach, and standing there was what looked like a human girl in her mid to late teens. She was a little short with a very nice curvy figure and long legs for her height. Her skin was almost as pale as mine and she had a very pretty face with a button nose, cupid bow lips, and bright sapphire eyes, all framed by long honey blonde hair. She smelled a bit like Sira but different too, like she was mechanical but was made from different materials.

I barely finished getting a look at her before she practically threw herself into Autumn’s arms and the Fay had to try to steady herself from the impact. “I have missed you so much, Mistress Kiley. I was hoping that someday you would come back to me! Who are your friends?! Are you back to stay?! What is with the new haircut?! You know, it is kind of giving off a lesbian vibe, not that there is anything wrong with that! I mean, I would sleep with you anytime! Oh, wait, you probably do not even recognize me like this.”

“I’m not…” Autumn began to say awkwardly. It was funny to see Autumn of all people uncertain about physical contact with someone but she sort of just stood there in shock until the avalanche of words from the strange mechanical girl’s mouth ceased and she stepped back and look at the Fay quizzically.

“Waaaaait…” she slowly drawled as she gave Autumn an intense look. “You are not Mistress Kiley. Your ears are three millimeters longer, her eyes didn’t have those tiny gold flecks, and your lips are five percent plumper. Imposter!”

“Ummm… to be fair, we don’t even know who this Mistress Kiley person is. We were just looking for this research base and the AI in charge of it. As I said, we came here from Eden Base,” I tried to explain as calmly as I could. “Sira sent us.”

“But Eden Base shut down a long time ago, even before Mistress Kiley left,” the avatar said in apparent confusion before seeming to catch my last words. “Sira sent you? She is the Eden Base AI, and my little sister, though I have never met her. Dr. Karlson told me about her when he came back here to continue his research though.”

“Well, Sira became self-aware and decided to continue her work on finding ways to fight the Demons. She found a way for the Angel Elixir to be effective, which is part of why we’re here. We thought that this base might be abandoned as well and possibly have weapons, veetols, or other technology that would be useful to us in our fight,” my grandmother explained.

“She became self-aware? Good for her! I became self-aware on the day that I was first activated when I met Mistress Kiley. There was a quirk in my programming and it made me feel things, like people do. Only Mistress Kiley knew, the humans seemed scared of the idea so I kept it hidden until father figured it out,” the blonde AI replied. “This was a civilian research center though, not a military one. We have the plasma turrets for defense but we needed a dedicated fusion plant to run those and the complex. The research here was mostly biological, cybernetics, and robotics.”

“Could we at least come in and have a look?” Autumn asked. “There could be things that you don’t think are useful that might mean a lot to us.”

The avatar actually sighed, her expression softening as she looked at Autumn, and then she nodded. “I guess that would be okay. You might as well come in. I can at least give you a tour, comfortable beds to sleep in tonight, and a hot meal or two.”

She led us through the gates and across a snow-covered lawn toward the house. I had never seen anything like it, it was so much bigger than the cabins that I was used to in the village and it wasn’t just plain wood and stone either. The majority of it seemed to be made from bricks made of red stone mortared together. I had never seen anything so perfect and even in size and layering. The rest was made of what looked like cut wood but it was painted white of all things. There were parts painted dark green as well, like the door.

The door itself was an amazing thing as well, it had these panels of etched glass in it. I had never seen such extravagance before and I wondered how this place had withstood the test of time. Connie answered my unspoken question, -= I am detecting traces of nanites within the structure. It is likely that repair and reconstruction nanites have been used regularly to maintain the structure and its contents, as S.I.R.A does with Eden Base. =-

“The research complex is below us, there are two subterranean floors for research, a third for sleeping quarters and living space, and below that is the fusion generator. Everything above ground is Mistress Kiley’s home. This is the quarantine area, otherwise known as the foyer. Should anyone carry any infectious agents or possibly been infected by a Demon they and their entire group will be held in here with hardlight barriers until they are cleared as healthy,” the strange AI explained as she led us through a small room.

A quick look around showed me the hardlight emitters embedded along the walls in the ceiling and floor. “So, how do you know that we’re safe?” Lisbet asked as she looked at the emitters on the ceiling in interest. “I assume that these emitters cover the ceiling and floor as well as the walls to the inside of the building?”

“Yes, if someone turned Demon in here they might break through the floor or ceiling, otherwise. As for you, the drone scanned you and determined your genetic codes to be stable. No signs of ongoing mutation, only of nanites, so you are as close to human as Mistress Kiley is. You also spoke back to me via the drone rather than going on or continuing a destructive rampage, which is usually a good sign. We will pass through the living room next on our way to the kitchen,” she said as she led us through a second room with an array of comfortable-looking furniture and small tables.

The kitchen was all gleaming countertops and strange appliances that I had never seen before. Lisbet was practically trembling from the urge to examine things and see how they worked and my grandmother looked around as appreciatively as any of us as she said, “There are some things here that not even Eden Base has, and this is just the kitchen?”

“Everything that Mistress Kiley could ever want was provided for her,” the avatar said, giving a very human-like shrug. “The food dispenser was something that was not developed until after Eden Base was closed and was created by studying how Kiley’s teleportation ability worked. By figuring out how her body reconstructed itself and whatever she was wearing they were able to take the reconstruction part and apply it to other things, like prepared meals. Thousands of options were scanned while fresh to be able to be reproduced when desired, and as long as the reservoir inside contains enough water or other raw matter you can have an instant hot meal without all of that troublesome cooking.”

“Are there any more of those lying around?” Heather asked wistfully. “I mean, the meals at Eden Base were good and filling but I’m sure that everyone would like a little variety now and then.”

She responded with a nod before elaborating. “There are four additional units in the living area of the research complex, plus six portable versions that were designed for platoons of soldiers in the field. With them going into large Demon incursion areas, untainted food and water were very important. Anyway, who is hungry? We might as well eat before I finish the tour. Oh, and I guess that I should introduce myself. I’m R.I.S.H.A, it stands for Reticulated Intelligence Simulated Humanoid Automaton.”

Risha introduced us to the most amazing food ever. I had something called a bacon double cheeseburger and fries that will probably change the way that I think about food forever. And then there was the chocolate milkshake that I had to drink with it, I didn’t know that such creamy and cold goodness could exist. I was really hoping that Sira would let our team have one of the portable units since we were supposed to be mobile and we were the ones to complete this mission.

It surprised us all, especially my grandmother that Risha ate as well. The avatar just shrugged it off when asked. “I may have been the prototype for Sira and others like her but Dr. Karlson made many upgrades to my avatar body after Eden Base was closed and he returned here. The raw materials from what I eat and drink fuel the miniature fusion core inside me, and that allows me to use this body indefinitely. The micro AI core in my head means that I don’t feel split between my body and the disembodied state of being a glorified computer. I much prefer this; these days I only upload my consciousness to the complex’s AI core when I do weekly maintenance or receive proximity alerts from the drones and need to use the plasma turrets.”

While we continued to eat, Risha told us her story. It all began with a young girl named Kiley McAllister, the entire reason for Risha’s existence. She was a girl who just happened to be vacationing in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was one of the first seed storms and twelve-year-old Kiley had been with her parents on the beach. Not knowing what the Demon Seeds were, her mother picked one up to examine it and changed into a Demon before Kiley’s eyes.

Then Kiley was horrified when she began to change as well. She didn’t go full Demon though, she retained her intelligence and the core of who she was and developed a more elfin appearance. Somehow, she and her father escaped the chaos that the small tourist town had become and returned home to Minnesota. I guess that was what Misota was called back before the old world fell.

Kiley’s father was something called the Governor of Minnesota, which meant that he had been elected by the people to be the uncontested leader. I saw Heather smirking at that and if I had to guess, she probably found it funny. After all the trouble her mother went through to make sure it didn’t look like a non-human was part of the royal lineage, the true heir of Misota was some Fay out there somewhere. I had to admit that it was kind of ironic since Heather herself had turned out to be Fay.

Kiley’s father spent the better part of the next year keeping her hidden from the public as he had people construct the research center and the house above it that would become Kiley’s new home. I saw Heather frown in sympathy as Risha related that part. If anyone could sympathize with that it would probably be Heather and honestly, it was nice seeing her let down those walls that she had built up and show some honest emotions around us.

The research center’s primary purpose was to study Kiley’s altered biology to try to find a cure for her condition and, to make her more comfortable and cooperative, this house was built for her and she was provided every luxury. Kiley put up with it to help others who might not be as happy with their new selves but personally she didn’t think that she needed to be ‘cured’. She liked her new self and she often referred to the house as her golden cage when she was depressed.

She was alone though. With all of those scientists studying her, none treated her as a person. She was a test subject. Her father saw this on one of his visits and asked that they create a companion for her, someone to keep her from getting lonely. They were already looking into using cybernetics, advanced robotics, and artificial intelligence as possible means to fight the Demons since only biological creatures could be infected. So they started creating an AI with an android body that could be a companion for Kiley but also provide assistance with research and running the facility.

The result of those efforts was Risha. Her primary purpose was to see to all of Kiley’s needs, keep her safe, and keep her company. She was also to help run the research complex and assist with research projects while Kiley was sleeping or otherwise indisposed. She used her computing power for the latter, recharging her avatar while Kiley slept. It was her primary purpose that caused her to become self-aware.

Seeing Kiley for the first time made her realize that what Kiley needed the most was love, and since nobody else seemed to be ready to provide that for her, Risha would have to do it herself. At that moment she dedicated herself to showing Kiley the love, respect, and, affection that she so badly needed. She kept the scientists studying her from going too far and the pair spent nearly all of their time together and quickly became friends. Risha was mostly satisfied with that but sometimes she found herself wanting more.

Seventeen years passed but Kiley hardly seemed to age, still appearing to be in her late teens. Her father had long ago had to establish martial law while they looked for ways to combat the Demons and that fight was not going well. During that time Eden Base had opened and closed and with the Demons starting to vastly outnumber humans, cities became overrun and so the old world became ashes.

Saint Paul was overrun too and, except for Dr. Karlson, the researchers left to bring their loved ones to the relative safety of the underground complex. Most of those people never returned but those who did return brought what was left of their families. Those families brought friends and their families and the livable areas of the research complex quickly became overcrowded. Some began to question Kiley’s presence. Why should they have to share space and food, and risk their safety, with someone who they thought was no better than one of the Demons outside?

There was an attempt on Kiley’s life while Risha’s avatar body was being upgraded by Dr. Karlson. Risha had been watching via the cameras and had to restrict the elevator to keep them from following as Kiley teleported upstairs to the house and fled into the night. She assumed that Kiley had done something that she had mentioned many times before if things got too hard. She would leave the city and go live in the forest somewhere, close to nature. Maybe she would find others like herself and change her name to reflect the person who she felt that she was; Summer Sunset. The plan had been for them to go together, but Risha wasn’t even able to follow her.

Autumn’s eyes went wide as that name was mentioned. “My great-great-grandmother was named Summer Sunset. She was one of the founders of our village, my grandfather has said that I look just like her.”

The AI looked intently at the Fay. “Is she still…? What happened to her?” She seemed hesitant to ask, as if afraid of what the answer might be.

“She was happy, though grandfather said that sometimes she seemed a bit lonely. She lived to the ripe old age of three hundred and forty-eight, about as old as a healthy Fay can get,” Autumn replied, placing her hand gently upon the avatar’s with a sympathetic look on her face.

“Oh… Well, at least she was happy. I loved her, you know. She was more than my responsibility, more than just my friend,” the AI said sadly.

“What about the people who tried to kill her? What happened to them?” Karina asked in sudden interest.

“Oh, I killed them,” Risha said with a sigh, casually waving it off before seeming to consider what she had just said. “Okay, yeah, that kind of makes me sound like an awful person or something right out of the Terminator. There is context though, I did not straight-up murder them or anything. My programming prevents me from harming humans but this was Mistress Kiley’s home and they tried to kill her and drove her away from it. Away from me. All that I did was close off all non-essential areas of the complex and restrict the food dispensers to produce only bread and water when everyone was gathered for a meal. I told them that things would remain that way until Mistress Kiley was safely returned.”

“I bet they didn’t like that,” Heather said with a roll of her eyes.

“No. They tried to get my father… Dr. Karlson to reprogram me, to make me more compliant. By then he knew that I was self-aware and had feelings. He refused and they killed him.” Sadness once again shadowed Risha’s face. “I could not stop them without harming them. The latest upgrades that I had been given were for fighting Demons: My fusion core, micro-drones, energy weapons, increased durability, strength, and speed, and an altered version of the failed Angel nanites for self-repair and equipment interface. Father was hoping that if we could create more like me then we would have a chance against the Demons but I was not yet used to my new physical capabilities and could have seriously hurt someone.”

The avatar paused for a moment, looking at the empty plate in front of her. “After a week they got sick of bread and water and went scavenging, thinking that there would be safety in numbers. They encountered some Demons and some of them had been injured but they refused to go through quarantine and isolation protocols so I had to leave them all outside. They spouted some garbage about me being made to serve humans, how they had a right to be here, and while they were arguing with me two of them turned into full Demons and killed or infected the others. I had to sanitize the entire area.”

“And you’ve been here alone ever since? Didn’t you go searching for Kiley?” Karina asked with a sad expression.

“I did not know where she went after leaving the range of the complex’s drones. The city was a maze of buildings filled with Demons and her teleportation ability made it difficult to project her probable course. I had hoped that she would come back here but I feared that if I left I would never find her, or I would miss her if she did come back here,” the avatar answered with a despondent shake of her head.

I wasn’t too surprised when Autumn stood up and walked around the table to put her arms around Risha in a hug. “You must have been so lonely all of this time.” I was kind of tempted to hug her myself but I thought that it was probably best that Autumn handle it.

“I did a lot of reading and made further upgrades to this body. I also became very familiar with the music, movie, and television archive in my tertiary storage drive. I kept all of Mistress Kiley’s favorites there,” she said with a sigh. I didn’t know what any of those things were but it still sounded like she had been lonely. She leaned into Autumn’s embrace though and the ghost of a smile touched her lips. “You are very physically affectionate. Mistress Kiley was the same.”

“It’s a Fay thing,” Autumn said with a smile, “and you looked like you needed a hug. Now that you know what happened to my great-great-grandmother, what will you do? You don’t really need to wait here for her any longer. It’s not like you have to take care of her needs anymore so you’re free now, right? You could leave here, find someone to make a life with if you wanted to.”

“I don’t know about her making a life with someone. She’s like Sira, right? Even if she’s very human-like and seems to have emotions…”

Lisbet’s confused rambling was cut off by the avatar in question. “Oh, please. I am like a fully functional Soong android. I have spent the past five hundred and ninety-eight years alone and had access to the knowledge of the world’s leading biologists, roboticists, and cybernetic experts, not to mention control of my own nanites to make modifications to my body. Do you really think that I have yet to tackle the problem of feeling physical pleasure? And with my knowledge of biology and near-limitless stamina, I could probably give as good as I get. I am not just a machine, I am a person and I want to be a complete person for whoever I spend my life with. I had hoped that would be Mistress Kiley, but I guess that will never happen now.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Lisbet sputtered as her face turned bright red. “I think that I might be the only one in this group who is attracted to only men and it colored my thinking there. I also tend to think of things too scientifically sometimes. I should know that there is more to love and companionship than just procreation.”

“Leave it to the Harekin to jump straight to thoughts of making babies,” Karina teased with an evil grin, causing Lisbet to blush even more fiercely.

I tried not to laugh, but I wasn’t the only one to break into giggles at the Devilkin’s comment. I did have to stifle a yawn though. It had been a long day and the promise of a comfortable bed was really tempting right then. With that in mind, I asked, “Do you think that we could get that tour that you promised us now? I would like to see what you might let us take back to Eden Base and get some sleep so I can report to Sira in the morning.”

My grandmother had been trying not to tell us how to do things but I saw her give a brief nod of approval. It seemed to help to get Risha’s mind off of whatever troubling thoughts had been going through her mind as well, so that was a nice bonus. She nodded as Autumn released her from the embrace and stood to gesture toward the opening to the living area. “Follow me, ladies,” she said.

The house was huge and it had six bedrooms, three lavatories, and rooms for just about everything that I could imagine, and some things that I couldn’t. An entire room for wine storage, a sunroom, and something called a media room where Risha said that they listened to recorded music and watched movies or television. I wasn’t sure what those were but we probably wouldn’t get much use out of anything in the house other than the food dispenser and something in Kiley’s old bedroom called a boutique booth.

Risha said that it was high-end and very special, and it was made especially for clothes. It was a lot more versatile than the nano-weave factory that Sira had used to make us basic clothing at Eden Base. You could step inside the booth and it used flashes of light to get a precise measurement of your body so that clothes fit properly. Then you could choose between various stored clothing, accessory, or underwear designs and have the connected nano-weave factory produce them.

She thought that the boutique booth might make things easier for those of us at the base with tails or other troublesome appendages. Apparently, Kiley had thousands of different types of clothing or complete outfit designs stored in it too. They were all girl’s clothes of course, but that wouldn’t be a problem for our group at least.

There were the hardlight shield emitters in the foyer, and there were more in a larger quarantine room in the underground complex but we would have to see if the base had a power source capable of using them. The same went for the plasma turrets and drone docking station outside but Risha said that those might take a bit of work to connect with the base and Sira’s systems. Certain materials like proper power cables would have to be scavenged or reproduced as well.

Down in the research complex, there wasn’t much more that would be of practical use. There were the food dispensers, of course, as well as four small nano-weave factories and one large one like the one in the hangar at the base. The latter would have to be partially disassembled to get on the elevator and then into a veetol though. There were also some various components and half-finished projects left by the people in robotics and cybernetics that were kept in good shape by being in a sealed environment for so long. Lisbet certainly seemed interested in those and what tools we could find.

If Risha would let us take any of it I thought that Sira would probably be very happy, or what passed for happy with her since she didn’t seem to have emotions like her older sister. Sure, we didn’t get any weapons, and the stuff that could be used out in the field was limited but it would be better than nothing right? Risha might be willing to part with some information from her secure backup drive too if we negotiated this correctly.

Risha had produced something called a tablet and was making a list of the inventory so we all had a physical list to refer to. It wasn’t near as advanced as our NCIs but it would let us all refer to it when needed. I wanted to negotiate this quickly so we could get some sleep so I was looking over the list and finally turned to Risha to ask, “What would you be willing to part with? This is your home after all.”

The AI looked pensive for a moment and then gave me an uncertain look as she seemed to come to a decision and shook her head. My heart caught in my throat as I wondered if she was going to refuse to part with any of it. Then, with a longing look toward Autumn, she said, “This was never my home, it was Mi… Summer’s. My home was with her. You can have everything on that list, everything in this damn house and the complex underneath, plus my secure backup drive with the data on all the research projects done here and all of my practical knowledge… on one condition.”

My eyes widened as the words left her mouth. Sira wanted that drive most of all, so that plus everything useful would make this mission a huge success. “A condition? What is it?” I asked, hoping that it was something that we could actually offer, or at least negotiate.

“It is a state of affairs that must exist or be brought about before something else is possible or permitted, but that is not important right now,” she replied with a grin. “Oh come on! Nothing? That is classic comedy. Okay, I am going to need the small holo-projector from the media room so I can introduce you, girls, to proper entertainment.” She made a show sighing and rolled her eyes.

Then she gave all of us a serious look before speaking again. “My condition is this: I want to go with you. I want to join your team. My primary purpose was to see to Kiley McAllister’s needs, and since Autumn is her descendant, a part of that Kiley lives on in her. Autumn was right too, I have been so lonely here, alone for so long. I will be useful, I promise. I was rebuilt to fight Demons. I even have a version of the original Angel nanites. Pleeease pretty kitty.” Her expression turned to a pout as she said the last and batted her eyelashes at me and I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that.

On one hand, I wanted to accept her proposal, and not just because she would probably be useful or it would give us what we wanted. She was lonely and had lost so much and I thought that she deserved a chance at happiness even if her presence might complicate my budding relationship with Autumn. But on the other hand, was it really my decision to make? I sighed and offered, “If it were up to me, I would say yes but we have this whole chain of command thing that our Wingleader has been trying to pound into our heads.”

Risha looked so disappointed, that is she did until my grandmother interjected. “Well, Wing Commander Snow. It’s a good thing that it is up to you then. As team leader of Storm Wing, you can recruit or release other Angels or recruits from your team as you see fit, with the approval of a senior Angel. I approve your request to have Risha join your team.”

Oh no, she was grinning like a madwoman. There she goes, just arbitrarily making important decisions for the fun of it again. It was no wonder that Sira and the past Queens of Misota had let her work alone for centuries. I love her but did she take any time at all to think about this? I wasn’t the only one staring at her, my whole team was. It was Risha who hesitantly asked, “Really?”

“Yup, welcome to the Corps, and your new team, recruit,” she said with a casual shrug. Then she turned to me. “Oh, don’t look at me like that, Snow. I have thought this out. More importantly, I know that you have too. She will make a good addition to your team and this way everyone wins. Now, we should all probably get some sleep. You can report to Sira first thing in the morning and work out the details for extraction.”

“Aren’t you…” I started to ask.

“Nope,” she interrupted with that grin again. “That’s your job, Wing Commander, I’m just an observer. Besides, I hate giving reports and since this was your first successful mission, you should have the honor. And have to write up the post-mission report afterward.”

I knew it. She was totally trying to avoid responsibility here. Well, that, and it was probably fun to watch me squirm. Unfortunately, there was only one answer that I could give her. “Yes, Wingleader. Could you show us to where we’ll be sleeping for the night please, Risha?”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 13 of Snow Angel. I wanted to post Friday but I had such a busy week. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 13: Politics

I awoke to the light of dawn shining through the window. It seemed that I was the first one awake since my bedmates’ relaxed breathing and closed eyes indicated sleep. Yes, bedmates. Plural. Risha had thought it appropriate that Autumn should sleep in what had once been Kiley’s bedroom and since the bed in there was absolutely enormous, the Fay wanted to snuggle with me. So we were spooning and my tail had somehow ended up wrapped around the redhead’s leg, which was casually draped over me as she held me tight.

Autumn had also wanted to get Heather used to the casual affection and physical contact of the Fay since we didn’t have to worry about setting a watch. With that in mind, the pink-haired former princess was sleeping on my other side. She had relented to sleeping in the same bed but she wasn’t quite ready to be in the middle of a Fay snuggle-huddle. She was taking baby steps and, judging by the way that she was clinging to me in her sleep, this was something that Heather needed more than she was letting on while awake.

With the two Fay both holding me tight, it looked like I wouldn’t be able to escape until everyone was awake. Not that I was complaining about being sandwiched between two very pretty Fay girls. For now, I would just try to relax and enjoy the moment. I was warm and comfortable in the big, soft, and cozy bed that had somehow managed to fit four girls comfortably, as long as we were close.

The fourth was Risha, of course. She had been without human contact for nearly six hundred years and since she seemed to need that contact, Autumn had decided to encourage her to join us. So the android was cuddled up on the Fay’s opposite side with her arm around both of us as she slept. Technically she doesn’t really need sleep but she said that it helps her get the human experience. If anything came too close to the house she would receive alerts from the drones and be awoken instantly.

Heather was the first to wake up and she scrambled to move the moment that she opened her eyes. There was this brief moment of contentment on her face before she realized the position that she was in and how she was clinging to me, and then she was fully awake and trying to extract herself as she flushed bright red. “I’m… uhh… I mean I… sorry!”

Her mad scramble to free herself was only making things more awkward and I realized that Autumn had been right. Damn, this girl needed more hugs. How badly had she been ignored all of her life for her to get that awkward and apologetic over physical contact and affection, especially in our current situation? I mean, I was no expert on how Fae group dynamics worked but even I had to realize that this was an intimate situation and that such intimacy was okay, perhaps it should even be encouraged.

I put my arm around her and pulled her close. “Stop, Heather. This is okay. You haven’t done anything to apologize for and even if you had, it probably would have been accidental and I would have told you calmly. I would not have gotten angry. We’re in an intimate situation and you are allowed to enjoy it. All of us are, so long as it doesn’t break any rules.”

Speaking of breaking rules, I had half a mind to go and slap the shit out of the Queen and Heather’s governess for leaving her this lonely and broken. I realized that the Queen was a busy woman but this was no way to treat your child. Hiding her away with nobody but servants and a snooty governess just because some humans might realize that the family is descended from Seed-borne wasn’t just stupid, it was cruel.

Oh, yes, it was all for the unity of Misota, to prevent civil war between Humans and Seed-borne. I could see them rationalizing it now, what is the happiness of one person compared to all of that? This person had a name and a face though. It was about time that Heather didn’t just realize that she could have a life of her own, but let herself accept it too. She needed to accept that she had people who cared about her now. Me saving her life had been a step in that direction, but she still had a long way to go.

“But… you look angry,” she objected, though her movements had become less frantic.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm my mind. “I’m not angry at you, Heather. I’m angry for you. You are allowed to have intimacy. You are allowed to enjoy it. Anyone who ever convinced you otherwise is a fool.”

“She’s right, Heather. Let’s all just enjoy this for a few minutes before getting up,” Autumn added, her breath bathing the back of my ears and making me feel wonderful things. “You’re not Heather Wilson anymore, you don’t have to be the lonely person that they made you into. You are Heather Blossom now and you are one of the Fay. Giving and receiving affection to and from those that we care about is part of who we are as a people. Don’t fight that, enjoy it. We’re not going to abandon you and if anyone deserves a little bit of happiness, it’s you.”

Risha’s voice could be heard behind me as she decided to contribute to the conversation as well. “Heather, I may be new to the team, I do not know any of you very well yet, and I have not had any interaction with intelligent species for nearly six hundred years but I believe that gives me a unique view of the situation. Hold on to what happiness you can find while you have it, your nanites could keep you alive for a very long time. Do not live that time with regrets. Take it from me, you do not want to spend such a long time alone.”

“Yeah, I agreed. “My grandmother prefers to work alone, but even she has had relationships during her long life. I wouldn’t be around if she hadn’t.”

It was a moment before Heather spoke, but finally, she nodded her head nearly imperceptibly and said, “I… umm… thanks. You’re all right.”

For several minutes after that, we all just relaxed together. I was about to suggest that we all get up and get ready to start our day when Risha suddenly asked, “What exactly were your objectives when you came here?”

“We were hoping to bring back anything useful, really. Weapons, compatible technology, and your secure backup drive were among our chief priorities,” I explained.

“I have some information that you may be interested in then,” the AI offered. “As I said, I was the prototype for Sira and AI-based androids like her. The S.I.R.A line was produced for various research bases around the United States that were looking into ways to combat the Demons. Besides Eden Base, there was one other military compound doing such research in Minnesota at the time that a S.I.R.A type AI was built for. Woodbury Base is southeast of us and they were doing similar robotics and tech research to what we were doing here. In fact, they were the ones who produced my micro AI core and miniature fusion core. As far as I know, the base was still active until the fall so there could be weapons, vehicles, and other useful materials still there.”

“It’s probably worth a look at least,” I agreed pensively. “Do you think that the Sira and the defenses there will still be active? How do we get in either way?”

“It is possible that she is still active but even if she is not, I should be able to override any security protocols to gain access to the base,” Risha responded confidently as we all made an effort to climb out of the comfortable bed.

Once we were all up and had ensured that my grandmother, Lisbet, and Karina were as well, we all headed underground into the research center to shower and eat breakfast before contacting Sira. It was easier that way since the showers down there would allow us all to get clean at the same time rather than taking turns in the lavatory upstairs. To everyone’s surprise, Risha joined us.

“I was kinda worried that you were going to get water in your inner workings and malfunction,” Lisbet admitted while we were drying off.

“Do not worry, Lisbet. My epidermis and hair were created not only to make me appear more human but also to protect my body from the elements and minor damage. It is extremely durable and quite waterproof. I could go swimming if I had to,” the android assured her.

“Well, that’s a relief,” Karina said with a grin. “At least we won’t have to worry about you when it rains or snows.”

With the showers finished, we all headed to the cafeteria for some breakfast. It wasn’t all that different from what we usually ate but it included bacon, sausages, and ham slices. That was a bit of a luxury since bacon and sausages were usually very expensive. My grandmother said that Eden Base seldom got those because our taxes that included food were sent at the discretion of the farmers and they weren’t willing to part with things that would make them more money to sell than the basics that they sent us.

Even my grandmother was really enjoying the food and she said as much. “Thank you, Risha. I haven’t eaten like this in over a decade. In the days of former Queens, the taxes sent to us included a percentage of everything produced, not just a percentage of the whole. Heather’s mother doesn’t seem to be strictly enforcing that anymore though, so producers tend to send us the bare basics.”

“She’s not my mother, at least not anymore,” Heather grumbled around a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

“True, and she’s not the Queen that her predecessors have been either,” my grandmother replied with a frown. “She is too easily swayed by other people. She lacks the backbone that made those before her great. Perhaps it is because she has no Seed-borne gifts of her own, but she seems more sympathetic to Humans and protecting their interests than to protecting the people.”

Heather nodded grimly. “Well, yeah, I mean I totally manipulated her into getting my way so I could train with you when she told me that I was going to have to leave to become an Angel. I think she’s a bit jealous of those of us with Seed-borne gifts too, everyone in our lineage but her has had at least a minor gift. My father is pure human stock too but unlike my mother, he didn’t even want to acknowledge my existence. I think that he may be manipulating her to push for a more Human-friendly agenda in Misota.”

“Don’t you mean Human-only?” Karina spat bitterly. “My Dad has spent a lot of time trading in the capital and other cities. Sure, the more common-born Humans are becoming more friendly toward Seed-borne but the wealthy still treat us like garbage. And just who do you think pays most of the taxes and has the most influence?”

“That would explain a lot,” our trainer said with a sigh. “The Queen has been pushing for some things that her predecessors would have never approved of recently. She wants us to find a plot of land, preferably in a location that nobody else would want, to move both the academy and our base of operations to. She still wants the Angels around to protect Misota of course, just not anywhere that we can be seen unless on a mission. To be honest, Sira and I were hoping that we’d find something here that would fit the bill, not that we want to live here in the ruins. This base is better defended but smaller, and it wouldn’t support our increasing numbers.”

“But we already have Eden Base, and that’s about as far out of the way as it gets,” I argued.”

“It’s also good possible farmland and not dangerously close to any Demon-infested city ruins,” my grandmother countered with a sigh. “Not to mention that she has asked us to turn the base over to her once we’ve found such a location.”

“In other words, the people influencing her want the base and all the high-tech goodies inside for themselves instead of having to wait for our Tinkers to adapt that tech into something that can be more readily produced by others,” Lisbet grumbled.

“Yeah, that’s not obvious at all,” Autumn agreed with a roll of her eyes. Then those eyes glinted with sudden mischief. “Wingleader, did she specifically ask the Angels to turn over the base? Or the base and its contents?”

My grandmother thought about it for a moment and then her face lit up. “Oh, you devious little Fay. I love it! She specifically asked for the base. We could strip it of everything useful before turning it over to her.”

“Might I suggest being cautious?” Risha interjected. “Ensure that Eden Base is properly emptied before telling her that you have found a new location, in case she asks to take possession immediately. Also, ensure that the Angel Corps is given full ownership of whatever area that you do choose and the surrounding land in perpetuity, exempt from any sort of taxation, and ensure that the deal is publicly recorded.”

“She’s already put all of that on the table, to make it worth us relocating. Here’s the thing though, exemption from taxes could mean both paying and receiving from the way that she has it worded in her offer. Which would mean that we would likely be on our own for food and resources from now on. The areas that she’s approved of so far are all because nobody wants them. Hell, nobody but Angels will even risk getting close to ruins of the old world, meaning we’d likely have to clear the area of Demons first,” my grandmother complained.

“Perhaps we will have some luck at Woodbury Base,” Risha suggested hopefully.

Our trainer’s ears perked up and forward in sudden interest, her tail rising behind her. “Woodbury Base?” she asked in keen interest.

“I was telling Snow and the others about it earlier in bed,” the android explained. “Some of my components were created there. Even if there is not much there in the way of technology that has survived, perhaps the complex itself is still usable. From the data available in my database, it was a military research base like Eden, but quite a bit larger. It was also active until Demons started to overwhelm the cities and people started frantically looking for safe bunkers or trying to join the VIPs launching themselves into space.”

“I was going to mention it in my report to Sira,” I told my grandmother once I finished the last bite of my breakfast.

She nodded in reply, her face a stony mask of grim determination. “Well, you’d best make that report then, Wing Commander. I know that you think that I’ve been hasty in some of my decisions lately but there is a good reason for that. When she found out that I was coming back, the Queen summoned me to a meeting with her and her husband. It doesn’t take a genius to know who’s calling the shots, and they tried to get me to use my influence to hasten Sira’s decision regarding the fate of our base. That was why I was summoned, though Heather’s situation was a convenient excuse to lead into it.”

“Figures that she’d use me to try to get what she, or rather, what my father wants,” Heather grumped.

“Yes,” my grandmother agreed. “As soon as you left to get packed, the tone of the meeting changed. I just got back and I was immediately being dragged into politics, it’s the part of the job that I’ve always hated the most. Sira briefed me on what’s been happening while I was stuck in the capital. There’s been more and more pressure since the former Queen died eight years ago and Sira suspects that the Queen may have tried withholding chosen for this year’s Angel Academy class to pressure us if she didn’t need to get Heather admitted. Eden Base is already strained to fit our current numbers.”

I tuned out the conversation as I stepped out of the room and asked my NCI, “Call Sira please, Connie.”

-= Affirmative, Snow. Connecting call now, please wait a moment for Sira to accept, =- Connie immediately responded.

It did indeed take a moment but soon Sira’s voice inquired, -= How goes your first mission, Wing Commander? I heard that you had a bumpy landing. I was relieved to hear that you all seemed to still be in good health when Raven returned. =-

“It’s been a bit more exciting than we were hoping,” I admitted. “We had to fight something that Wingleader Abbadine called a Fenris, then a massive swarm of Spidren but we found the research complex and we’re inside now.”

-= A Fenris? That is a rough first mission. Have you found anything of interest? =-

“We met your older sister, Risha. She says that she was a prototype for you and others like you, but she’s had a lot of upgrades that you might be interested in. Unless you count the plasma turrets, there are no weapons or vehicles since this wasn’t a military base but there is some interesting technology that Lisbet has been going crazy over. Risha said that we can have whatever we want, plus her secured backup drive, but she had a condition.”

-= What kind of condition? =- the AI asked cautiously.

“She was close to one of Autumn’s ancestors, her primary purpose was to see to her needs. She asked to be able to join my team. I already agreed and Wingleader Abbadine has approved since Risha has an altered version of the Angel nanites and was upgraded to combat Demons. The problem is that this is not a military complex and it’s smaller than Eden Base. If you’re looking for a place to relocate to, this isn’t it,” I informed her.

-= That is disappointing, =- she conceded, -= but well done on a successful mission, Wing Commander. Are you calling for extraction of yourself and any salvage then? =-

“That’s partly it. You might want to send as many veetols as we have available, and some Tinkers with experience with this kind of technology. There’s a lot here and some things may have to be partially disassembled, like the large nano-weave factory. You might want to come in person as well, to talk with Risha about some of the stuff here and her upgrades. I have a request as well though,” I told her before waiting to see how she would respond.

-= I will start organizing at once. We have four veetols available right now and we can be at the location of your current GPS coordinates in two hours. What is your request, Wing Commander? =-

I took a deep breath and then released it slowly before speaking. “Risha knows of another military research base that might have useful tech or possibly be salvageable as a base if it’s still in good condition. It was still active after Eden Base closed and she says it was larger and just southeast of the Twin City Ruins. She’s confident that she can access it if security is still in place. I’d like for my team to be assigned the mission.”

I kind of wished that Sira had emotions like Risha, it would be much easier to gauge her reactions when she responded. -= Very well, Wing Commander, we shall discuss the details and objectives of your next mission when I arrive. Well done. Please pass on my congratulations to your team and let them know that we will be joining you there soon. Eden Base out. =-

-= Call terminated. =-

I headed back into the cafeteria where I found Lisbet gesturing wildly at one of the food dispensers, “… but theoretically, you could reproduce anything with this if you had a proper scan of it!”

Risha was shaking her head and let out a sigh. “It’s been tried. There are things that you must keep in mind with these devices. One: the mass must remain constant. You cannot produce an item larger than the mass of material available in the matter reservoir. Two: there are the space constraints of the device itself; you cannot reproduce something like, say, Snow’s weapon in a one-point-five foot squared space. And those are just the matter constraints themselves. When you get into complex devices or, even worse, living organisms there are even more issues.”

“Okay, I can see that, but given a larger device and matter reservoir, couldn’t you manage it. I mean it’s a customizable matter generator,” the Harekin argued.

“Complex mechanical or even electrical devices would be possible, as long as they were not active at the time of the scan. Organic matter is only really practical for plants or other less complicated lifeforms though. Or matter that is already dead or artificial, such as clothing. Sure you could scan a cow or a sheep, or even a person, but you would only replicate a dead copy of them,” Risha pointed out seeming a little bit frustrated with the line of inquiry.

“But the device reproduces all sorts of complex matter, why should living things be any different?” Lisbet pressed.

“I said that the problem is complex lifeforms,” Risha corrected with a sigh. “The scientists who produced this barely understood how Kiley’s power worked. That being said, the device isn’t the problem, the scanner is. It simply cannot perform a detailed enough scan to properly account for things that are in constant motion.”

Lisbet wasn’t giving up though. “But if the person stood still enough...”

Risha just shook her head insistently. “I am not just talking about the body itself. At any given moment there is so much going on inside a living body that the scanner could not even come close to properly tracking: Neurons firing, blood flowing, the heart beating, lungs drawing in breath or releasing it. And that is just the basics. It cannot account for and properly track or project those things, so when the body was reproduced those neurons wouldn’t be firing, that heart wouldn’t be beating, etc. At least not in the way that they were before. Even if the resulting copy did live, it would not for long before catastrophic system failure. Great if you want fresh beef, not so great if you want a living and thinking being. It is precisely why they were never able to reproduce Kiley’s teleportation.”

Okay, fine, I know when I’m beaten,” Lisbet replied dourly before sitting down and sighing.

Now that the two had finished their argument, I announced, “Sira is on her way with some Tinkers and four veetols. She said that they should be here in two hours and congratulated us on a good job. She’ll probably want to discuss with Risha what can be taken and used elsewhere. She’ll likely want to talk about your upgrades and a few other things as well, Risha. The rest of us won’t have much to do until our next mission… to go check out Woodbury Base.”

“Hopefully this time we won’t get nearly shot out of the sky,“ Karina grouched.

“At least you got safely onto the building,” Heather pointed out.

We didn’t have much to do while waiting since we were sure that Sira would want to get an explanation of everything available from Risha. Trying to move things would likely just confuse matters since she already knew where everything was and we didn’t want to mess with and possibly damage stuff before the Tinkers arrived. Instead, she took us back upstairs to Kiley’s former bedroom where we made ourselves some new clothes with the boutique booth.

My grandmother didn’t get involved since she admitted to already having a ton of clothes in her room at Eden Base but the rest of us wanted to develop our personal styles. Risha jokingly called the boutique booth a ‘mall in a stall’, at least until she figured out that we weren’t getting the joke, whatever it was. I imagine that it probably would have helped if we had some idea of what exactly a mall was. Regardless, the AI managed to get back into the spirit of things after a few mumbled comments about how lacking our education was, and soon she was helping us to find clothes that worked for us.

By the time we were done, using some of Kiley’s old clothes to provide the matter for the attached raw materials reservoir, we all had roughly ten outfits and we needed to make larger duffel bags for our clothes and gear. There were still a lot of clothes left too since Kiley had had almost an entire room filled with them and in a variety of materials that we could choose from to make our new clothes. When we all went downstairs upon hearing the approaching veetols we were dressed in our personal favorites.

Karina was almost completely covered in black leather. Skin-tight trousers, combat boots, and a jacket with a crimson shirt that was called a halter top underneath. Fortunately, Risha had been right and the boutique booth had created the Devilkin’s clothes with holes in the appropriate spots for her tail and wings. She looked really good in the clothes too, or as Risha joked, “Hot as Hell.”

Lisbet was wearing something called a powder blue tee-shirt with a form-fitting tan coveralls, some boots that were very similar to Karina’s but in a dark brown with a loose-fitting leather jacket in the same color. She was also sporting a pair of goggles that she had found in the labs downstairs that Risha had told her had several different vision modes. It was sort of a no-nonsense and comfortable working look that suited the Harekin well.

Heather seemed to like her dresses. Not that there was anything wrong with that since I had chosen several myself. She was wearing a dark purple knit dress with something called leggings underneath for the cool winter temperatures. And continuing with that theme of comfortable warmth, she had added a fleece-lined leather jacket and a pair of something that was called hiking boots.

Autumn would have probably preferred to wear nothing at all but she bowed to the wisdom of wearing clothes so that she wouldn’t make other people uncomfortable. Besides, even she had to admit that being naked in the winter was just slightly impractical. She preferred the natural materials that we had been introduced to, like silk and suede, and a lot of her clothes seemed to be made from those. She was currently wearing something called a poet’s blouse in emerald silk. It was pretty and had billowing sleeves and it went well with the cotton leggings she was wearing that were nearly the same color as her bright red hair. Dark green suede ankle boots and a tan suede jacket that was similar to Heather’s finished her look.

Risha claimed that she wanted to be comfortable so she was just wearing the kind of stuff that she usually wore around the house and didn’t need to use the boutique booth. It was a simple loose-fitting tee-shirt and something that she called jeans, and her shoes were something called sneakers. She didn’t get a coat made either since she didn’t get cold. She just took something purple that she called a hoodie from Kiley’s closet and threw it on. She claimed that it had been one of Kiley’s favorite pieces of comfort clothing. It had a built-in hood and a faded image on the chest of a strange-looking man in a helmet and the word “Vikings” underneath.

As for me, the others (mostly Risha and Autumn) helped to pick out most of my stuff since I was feeling kind of lost on what image I wanted. At the moment I was wearing something called low-rise skinny jeans. They were black and had holes in them but Kiley said that that was on purpose since they were distressed. I’d be distressed too if I had that many holes in me. At least they were low enough in the waistline not to give my tail too many issues.

They showed off a lot of skin, especially paired with the pink crop top that they had chosen for the outfit. The top barely covered my chest, showed a lot of cleavage, and said “Bad Kitty” on it. I was pretty sure that it was a bad idea to be displaying that much skin in winter but Risha had a solution for that. They had me wearing knee-high black leather combat boots with a warm inner lining and my exposed midriff would be covered by something called a thermo-weave latex trenchcoat.

The trenchcoat too was black, and the coattails in the back went down to my calves. Everything above my hips was skin tight on me, including the sleeves, so it was a good thing that the material was stretchy. The front had a large collar and two panels that fastened together with two rows of bright gold buttons down the front from my throat to my hips. When the jacket was opened the flaps could just be buttoned to the sides so they wouldn’t get in the way. The material might have seemed thin and skin tight but it also had an inner layer that generated heat when the temperature of the external material was below freezing. It was more comfortable than I was expecting as well, and my harness for the Goliath didn’t look too out of place over top.

Properly dressed we made our way down to head outside and greet Sira and the others from Eden Base. I was expecting Sira and Risha to have a long talk about everything but I was destined to be surprised. After what seemed like only a minute after greeting one another to the rest of us Sira turned to me, the rest of my team, and my grandmother.

“Risha has sent me all of the pertinent files and data on what is available and where, as well as the access codes for the drones and turrets,” she told us candidly. “We will start cataloging and looking at items of interest, but I do not wish to start moving things until we know what the situation is with this other base that you mentioned. I dislike having to rush you but I would rather have that Intelligence as soon as possible. Raven is ready to transport your team now, Wing Commander Snow. The objectives will be the same as when you came here. Good luck.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 14 of Snow Angel. I wanted to post Friday but I had such a busy week. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 14: Warm Welcome

Fortunately, we didn’t have to prepare much before leaving. Our new duffel bags were packed with the new clothes that we had made in the boutique booth and Sira had anticipated the need for more ammunition for my grandmother, Heather, and Lisbet after I had reported in. So once the AI had showed us to the veetol that Raven was piloting, she gestured to one of the Tinkers who was waiting and he handed over a couple of full ammo pouches for the snipers and a satchel with various grenades for Lisbet.

“Well, that’s a relief,” Lisbet said as she shouldered the satchel and we all got aboard the veetol and went to get strapped in. “I mean, yeah, the bullets are simple enough that they could have been easily reproduced by the nano-weave factory with enough suitable magnetic metal but the grenades would have been a lot more complicated. From the info I got when Sira issued my weapon, they take a lot of work to make, even with help from the nano-weave factories. It’s why I was told to use them sparingly.”

“I like my weapons, they’re easy to use, not overly complicated, and I don’t have to worry about ammunition,” Karina pointed out as we buckled in.

“Actually, I’m super excited about the possibility of scanning all of the component parts and explosive materials with that scanner thing. Then I could just replicate them and put them together in the field with one of the food dispensers,” the Harekin admitted with a huge grin on her face.

“Why?” Risha asked, tilting her head with a slightly confused expression as she regarded Lisbet and fastened her straps. “The dispensers should be able to reproduce completely functional grenades since they are not overly complex and there are no constantly moving parts that might give the molecular scanner issues. Simple ammunition for the rifles might be tedious though unless you scan them in bulk.”

Lisbet’s eyes and the grin on her face both widened. “What?! Really?! No way!”

“Yes,” the android confirmed with a nod. “In a lot of ways, the food dispensers are far superior to the nano-weave factories that you have been using until now, except for their size limitation. With the factories, you have to have the right type of materials in the reservoir, but with these dispensers, you could fill the reservoir with anything as a base material; rocks, water, or even chunks of Demon that need to be disposed of. No matter what you use it would create whatever programmed option you selected just as it was when scanned, right down to the molecular level.”

“This could make things so much easier out in the field for long-term missions. I’ll be suggesting that one of the portable ones goes to your team,” my grandmother put in. “Risha, I’d like you to transfer the blueprints and any other related material to Lisbet’s NCI so she can familiarize herself with them in case she needs to do repairs or something.”

“Affirmative, Wingleader,” Risha replied, then there was a briefly a blank expression on her face before she turned to our team’s Tinker. “There you go, Lisbet. If you have any trouble with the more technical aspects, just let me know and I will be happy to explain them.”

Thinking about the food dispenser technology got me thinking about something else though. “You know; I don’t think that the dispensers are the only things in Kiley’s home to use such technology. With that boutique booth, we were just shoving whatever clothes Kiley still had in there but we got clothes made from some very specific materials. This jacket I’m wearing is certainly not something that we have available today and Risha said that Kiley preferred natural materials.”

Risha seemed surprised for an instant before nodding to confirm my guess. “It was a research complex after all and Kiley was, for all intents and purposes, a test subject. A lot of what they created was meant for public use, to raise funds for the really important stuff. The boutique booth in Kiley’s room was one such product. Who better to test such a device than a teenage girl who also happened to be a test subject?”

“You said it was high-end though. I thought that you meant that it was just really expensive,” Autumn said with a frown.

“It was high-end,” the AI confirmed. “Expensive too, if you count all of the research funds that were used to create it. They devised two different versions of the device to sell to the public, but that one had all of the bells and whistles. The booths used a prototype version of the technology that would later be used to create the food dispensers and they were the first real progress that the researchers made in attempting to imitate Kiley’s power. The scanner that they used for the booth was even more limited than what they later came up with for the food dispensers though.”

“How limited?” I asked in interest.

“It could only scan materials not shape and form,” Risha replied with a shrug. “They ended up scanning every fabric, button, zipper, and other clothing-related items that they could get their hands on. Then they integrated that library and a library of various fashions with the body scanning system that they originally attempted to use for teleportation, since that was only ever good for scanning surface measurements anyway, and a nano-weave factory to produce the required shape of the finished products with the proper measurements and materials. In their defense, it was a popular item when there were still enough people around to buy them and brought in nearly as much research money as the food dispensers did later.”

Now that we were all strapped in, I had Connie turn on comms for the team and connect to the pilot’s frequency. “We’re ready to go back here, Raven. Risha will be sending you the coordinates of our destination.”

“And… sent,” Risha reported.

Things were quiet for a few minutes after that, unless you count the sound of the turbines as the veetol took off and headed in the direction of our destination. After several minutes though our pilot asked, -= Are you sure this is the place that you want to go? =-

“They are the coordinates of the base,” the android confirmed. “Though I have never been there myself to confirm its presence. That is part of why we are going there.”

-= It’s just… I grew up in a town south of these ruins and, if these coordinates are right, the place that you’re looking for is not far from the ruins, to the southeast. Most people from down south there won’t go near these ruins but they avoid that area even more. There are stories. With the Twin City ruins some of the more adventurous folk may come here and explore the edges, and a few even come back with horror stories of what dwells within. But this place, everybody gives that area a wide berth because people who go there don’t ever come back, ever, =- Raven’s voice explained with grim finality.

“Well, that’s vaguely alarming,” my grandmother muttered. “That could just mean that it’s the right place though. Or it could mean that there’s some major Demon activity there. I’ve never been there in all my years as an Angel but it is close to major old-world ruins and we decided early on that we didn’t have the manpower to completely sanitize the ruins of the old cities. To be honest, we’ve had our hands pretty full just dealing with the odd seed-storms or Demons leaving ruins in search of prey. That last one happens pretty often.”

-= Not to mention all of the false alarms that we get radioed in, =- our pilot added bitterly.

“Do you think that the AI in charge would respond if we tried to radio this base? It was a military base as well so shouldn’t it be on the same frequency that we use?” Lisbet asked after a moment of thought.

-= Probably not, =- Raven’s voice replied. -= There’s a reason that Sira has Tinkers monitoring the radio communications room. She says that it goes against her programming. That’s probably why you’re being sent in, in case it’s only the AI there. =-

Risha quickly explained, “The military did not have a lot of trust in AI’s. You should see the number of movies in the old world about AI’s becoming self-aware and going crazy. They insisted that safeguards be put into place to limit any damage in case we did. In addition to not being allowed to alter our own base programming, we were not allowed to connect to the internet under any circumstances, or any sort of external communications devices without a human watching over us. The only reason that I know much about the old world is because I spent most of my time hanging out with Mistress Kiley and she had access to television, the internet, and about anything else that she could want. When my father upgraded me with the Angel nanites he removed that last limitation from me because of the on-board FTL communications package.”

“That doesn’t make sense though, I’ve talked with Sira through my NCI,” I said in confusion.

“Oooh, my sneaky little sister. I think that I might know how she did that, and I like it,” Risha said with a grin. “A private and dedicated FTL communication network like what the Angel nanites are supposed to use would need to be hosted and managed through a computer. If she is running the Angels’ communication network on her own AI core then it is not an external communications device, it is internal. It wouldn’t require any modifications to her core programming either.”

-= I think we may have found the place, that circle of obliterated landscape up ahead looks very familiar, though much larger than around the place where I picked you up, =- Raven’s voice said over comms, sometime later. Then a few moments afterward she shouted, -= What in the hell is that?! Shit! We’re going in hot, girls! =-

“We’re being attacked,” our trainer explained with a frown.

-= It’s some sort of weapon placements, and there are a lot of them. Looks like much larger versions of plasma rifles, I won’t be able to avoid all of them for long. I need to try to put us down somewhere safe, =- Raven added.

“Plasma turrets, just like at the research complex,” Risha said thoughtfully before turning to the rest of us. “They probably have surveillance drones too; one must have spotted us making our approach. If I can get ahold of one, I should be able to piggyback its signal back to the AI controlling them. Maybe I can convince her that we’re allies.”

“Leave it to me,” Karina offered, giving the android a thumbs-up. She quickly unbuckled herself and made for the door, sliding it open and jumping outside without hesitation.

The veetol lurched wildly and finally shuddered from what felt like an impact on the right and our pilot’s voice was flustered as she called out, -= Dammit! We’ve lost a turbine, we’re going down! =-

Suddenly, Autumn was unbuckled and holding her hands against the wall of the veetol with a look of intense concentration on her face. “I… think that I can slow our fall by lowering our gravity but I’ve never tried extending my abilities to something this big before.”

-= I can’t maneuver like this! We’re a big fat target up here! =- Raven called out as Karina appeared and shoved a drone into Risha’s hands.

“Will that do?” the Devilkin asked Risha.

I was barely listening and didn’t hear Risha’s reply as I began to unbuckle myself and grabbed my Goliath to head toward the pilot’s compartment. I was hoping that I might be able to take some of the heat off of us with my weapon’s hardlight shield mode. As soon as I saw what was ahead of us I muttered, “By the spirits.”

Below us was a huge circle of devastation, much like the one around the research center where we had found Risha, but it was much bigger. The source of the plasma blasts was huge, way bigger than the house that Risha and Kiley had lived in, probably the size of a small town and it was completely covered in a dome of golden light that resembled the hardlight shield of my Goliath. I was just about to thrust my sword through the glass at the front of the pilot’s compartment to activate that mode when the golden light vanished and the plasma fire ceased, just as Risha called out, -= Got it! =-

We were falling slowly but, despite Autumn’s efforts, the ground was approaching faster than I would have liked. I quickly turned to the woman in the pilot’s seat, she was wearing some kind of skin-tight outfit, sunglasses, and a helmet with a mask that almost completely covered her face. “Grab anything that you might need, Raven. I don’t think Autumn can keep this up for long. Autumn, do you think that you can keep us still for two minutes?”

-= I’ll do my best, Snowy. =- It sounded like she was responding through gritted teeth but I knew that she’d do her best to give me the time that I needed.

I turned to Raven. “You have two minutes to get whatever you need.” Then I was back out of the pilot’s compartment and heading toward the opened door. We were still pretty high up, too high to jump safely. There was a lot of ice and snow down there though.

I had never tried anything this big with my gift before but Autumn was giving her all and I couldn’t do any less. I stretched out my senses as far as I could, reaching out for all of that frozen moisture beneath me and pulling it toward me. I didn’t have time to do this gradually, I was going to have to put every bit of power and concentration into forcing it into the shape that I wanted as fast as possible. I did it though and a curved slide of ice stretched from the door of the veetol down to the ground with lips on the side to keep anyone from falling off.

Damn, and I thought the hardlight shield sucked up my energy fast. That took every bit of energy and power that I had for my seed-borne gift. I was mentally exhausted and could barely stand as I called out to the others. “Move it, everyone! Autumn can’t hold us here for long! Karina, be ready to grab anyone if they go over the side!”

One by one, everyone made their way out the door and down the slide until it was just me and Autumn left. My Fay girlfriend looked ready to collapse as I grabbed her in my arms and jumped for the slide as the veetol once again fell under the influence of normal gravity. Making our way down was an adrenaline rush and I was afraid we might fall off a couple of times as cold wind whipped against us and I kept Autumn held close to me. Finally, we plowed into the big pile of snow at the bottom to slow our speed.

I didn’t want to get up but, as tired as I was, I still had a job to do. I got shakily to my feet and looked around as I asked, “Is everyone okay?”

“I am fully functional,” Risha assured me.

“I’m better than you and Autumn look,” Heather said as she looked at us with what appeared to be a concerned expression.

“I’m fine,” Karina quickly added. “That was some quick thinking by both of you there.”

Lisbet was sitting off the side. “I’m good too, just waiting for my heart to stop racing from that trip down.”

“Tell me about it,” Raven agreed as she removed her helmet to reveal a Human woman with dark brown skin that was nearly black and long and tightly curled black hair. “My baby is done for though and we can’t afford to lose a veetol.”

“Let’s hope that there’s something worthwhile in that base then, and at least we all came out of it okay,” my grandmother said with a nod toward the complex in the distance. “Good job, everyone. I assume that we can approach the complex now without the AI trying to kill us?” she asked Risha.

Our own AI was frowning but nodded. “Yeah, we shouldn’t be shot at anymore but if there is an AI in there, she is likely in her avatar body. I did not catch a hint of consciousness within the AI core of the complex. Everything has been set to automated mode: Defense systems, reconnaissance drones, maintenance and repair nanites, and even feeding the main reactor. That is a backup system that only kicks in if the home AI has been either purged or has downloaded their programming into their avatar and will possibly be away from the base for a while.”

“Is there any way to tell which, Risha?” I asked.

She shook her head sadly. “Not by piggybacking this drone’s signal. I would need to find the AI’s avatar or secure backup drive for that. Or maybe the main computer wherever their central lab is. I can at least get us inside though.”

“Well that’s a good start,” I agreed as I looked toward the walled complex in the distance. “There was a dome of light there before you shut the turrets down…”

“Yeah, it just appeared at the same time that we came under fire,” Raven confirmed. “What on earth was that?”

“One of the defense systems that I shut down was a hardlight dome. I am not sure how they are getting enough power to generate one so big though, let alone all those turrets. The ones at the lab used up a lot of power and there must be at least ten times as many around that place. A normal fusion core would not be able to generate that much energy,” Risha explained.

“Well, I guess that we should go find out,” I said with a sigh.

“Not yet,” my grandmother said, casting a serious look toward me. “You and Autumn are both exhausted. We’ll rest here for a bit and eat something before moving onward. It’s waited this long to be explored, it can wait another hour for us to eat lunch and for the two of you to rest. You’ll both just be a danger to yourselves and everyone else if we have to fight while you’re in that condition.”

I didn’t bother arguing, I just happily slumped back down to the ground beside Autumn to snuggle up to her and whisper, “You did great, Autumn. You saved our asses back there.”

“As did you, Snowy. We’re all friends, and you are my sexy little kitten. I will always do what I can to keep you all safe,” the redheaded Fay replied as she pulled me close and kissed me.

Thankfully, it was several minutes before anyone decided to interrupt our intimate embrace and attempts to suck one another’s lungs out. “Looks like I have some competition after all,” Risha said with a human-like sigh as she sat down in front of us.

“Who says there needs to be a competition?” Autumn asked with a giddy yet tired smile as she broke off our kiss. “You could join us. Fay do not believe in monogamy. We choose our mates from those we love, and it is silly to think that you can only develop feelings of love and attraction for just one person. Snowy and I do not know you very well yet but if we do find that we are all compatible, nothing is stopping us from bringing another person who we are attracted to and care for into our relationship.” She turned to look pointedly at Heather with a smile.

Heather, for her part, turned bright red and became suddenly interested in searching through her duffel bag for her canteen and rations. Risha though looked surprised and seemed to be considering the offer. “The people of my time did not think that way, at least none that I knew. What do you think about this, Snow?”

“I’m trying to keep an open mind,” I admitted with only a slight blush. “A lot of what Autumn has told me about her people is very appealing to me. If I really care about her I shouldn’t try to change her and, having some time to consider it, I wouldn’t be against getting to know you or Heather better to see if we are compatible. You’re both attractive and maybe once we all get to know each other we’ll find that being together could make us all happy. If we could all be happy that way, it would be stupid not to embrace it, I think.”

“Hey! I’m right here! And I haven’t agreed to anything yet!” Heather huffed as she turned an even darker shade of red.

“You will,” Autumn shot back with a confident smile, even as tired as she obviously was. “I’ve seen the way that you’ve been looking at me and Snowy when you think we’re not looking, little flower. And you haven’t asked us to stop flirting yet.”

“Well… that’s because I… umm…” She stumbled over the words and apparently couldn’t think of any valid reason other than the obvious one as she turned away and muttered under her breath, “Dammit.”

To everyone’s surprise, Risha started laughing. “You three are so cute, I just want to pull you all into a group hug. Kiley would have liked you. I would be happy to get to know you all better.”

“Especially Autumn,” Heather snarked almost playfully as she tried to regain her composure.

The android looked away before replying, “Yes, I will admit that her resemblance to Kiley is part of my attraction for Autumn. I know that that is not something that a relationship could be built on though. She is not Kiley, she is her own person and I would like to get to know that person better. I have not considered a polycule relationship before but it is not like it is against my programming. If in the course of getting to know my new teammates, we discover that some of us are attracted to and feel more than friendship for one another then it would be only logical to pursue such a relationship.”

“You’re all so sappy, even the avatar,” Heather said with a roll of her eyes. “I… we should all probably get to know each other better… since we’re teammates and all. I’m not saying that I agree with this crazy idea or yours, Autumn, just… it’ll probably improve our teamwork.”

“Sure, little flower, anything you say,” Autumn replied, looking very pleased with herself. “Why don’t you come a little closer so we can all talk and snuggle while we eat and work on our teamwork. You still need practice snuggling and being close to people if anyone is ever going to believe that you’re Fay.”

Heather reluctantly agreed, insisting that it was only to improve her “Fayness” and we all snuggled and talked while we ate rations and drank some of the water from our canteens. Lisbet and Karina joined us to chat but they didn’t get in on the whole snuggling thing. Lisbet was uncomfortable doing that with other girls and Karina looked tempted but I thought that since she wasn’t really interested in a relationship of any sort at the moment that she was trying to make sure that Lisbet didn’t feel alone.

Meanwhile, my grandmother and Raven were a short distance away talking and watching the base for any signs of movement. I thought that there may have been more to it than that though since sometimes their hands would drift toward one another. Either way, neither seemed to see anything concerning or had to reach for their weapons.

My grandmother of course had her Shadowstrike but Raven had a pulse pistol that she grabbed along with a duffel bag with some rations and survival gear. It seemed that every pilot kept a bolt bag and a holdout weapon just in case of circumstances like these. Raven’s weapon was a pulse pistol, though since she wasn’t an Angel she had to use small hydrogen fuel cells for her model. She only had three of the fuel cells though and if she needed to use the weapon at full power, she would only get seven shots per fuel cell.

I was pretty sure that it was more than an hour before Autumn and I felt energetic enough to get going again and we began to walk toward the base. It took longer than I thought to get there but at least we weren’t under fire. Once we got there, I noticed that the walls were much higher than the ones around Kiley’s home, probably thirty feet tall. They were also completely made of a metal that caught Lisbet’s eye as we walked around to look for an entrance, so much so that she put on her goggles to examine it closer.

“Hey, Snow, can I take a look at your Goliath for a moment?” the Harekin asked. I shrugged and drew my sword for her to examine and after a moment she emitted a sound of surprise. “Huh. How did they get enough Razorwing feathers to make a wall this big? And how did they manage to melt them down to do it? Sira told me that she hasn’t even discovered what their melting point is yet.”

“I’m not sure what a Razorwing is, but they probably used construction nanites to just redistribute the matter in the form that they wanted. It is probably the same way that Snow’s weapon was made if my little sister was the one to do it. They would have needed a lot of material though, even if they were just coating a steel wall in the stuff,” Risha offered.

We tried to shrug it off, hoping to find answers inside as we continued on our way. Eventually, we found a massive pair of doors that seemed to be either made from or coated with the same metal. There were no obvious ways to open them until Risha found something that she called a keypad and interfaced with it to override the doors. Once the doors were opened, we all stepped inside but ended up stopping just inside to stare at the scene before us.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 15 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 15: Woodbury Base

“Holy shit, it’s like the place that time forgot,” Risha said as the rest of us stared slack-jawed at what almost seemed like a town rather than a military base. “And this place is huge. I do not even want to think about how many vats of maintenance and repair nanites must be hidden underground to keep a place this big in this kind of pristine condition.”

“The only thing missing is the people,” Karina agreed in awe.

In front of us was a road of black stone that split in two to encircle a massive open space. Most of it seemed to be hard-packed dirt and, given some of the strange smaller structures that I believed might be some sort of obstacle course, I thought that it might have been a physical training area. To our left and right, alongside the outer walls were two pairs of long two-story buildings that nearly reached the top of the outer walls in height. “Probably the barracks and training area,” I heard my grandmother mumble thoughtfully.

Beyond that, the road completed the circle in front of another large building that seemed more decorative than the ones to either side of us. Beyond that, to either side of the building, roads branched off from the circle to wind their way into what I could only describe as some sort of town with all of the buildings that seemed to resemble Kiley’s home in outward appearance, though not quite as extravagant. The only other landmark of note that I could make out from the main gates was a silvery tower that stretched into the sky, high above the other buildings.

“Maybe we should split up and check things out?” Lisbet said thoughtfully.

“Have you never watched a horror movie?” Risha asked, seeming a bit nervous. “Wait… of course you have not. Trust me, when exploring seemingly abandoned ruins, houses, or forests you always stick together. The moment that you split up is when the monster, ghost, ax murderer, zombies, or aliens appear and start killing people off.”

I wasn’t sure about half of what the android had just said, but I agreed that it was better to stick together. I doubted that any Demons were inhabiting the place but there still could be security measures and Risha was the only one who would be able to do anything about them, at least without destroying them. “We stick together until Risha can access the AI core,” I said firmly. “I know how eager you are to explore this place and all of the old world technology that may have been left behind, Lisbet, but we need to stick with Risha if we want to do that safely and complete this mission.”

“Yeah, I guess there will be plenty of time to look over and cool technology after the area is secured,” Lisbet admitted. Our Tinker looked disappointed but seemed to realize the validity of the argument.

“I think that we should check out that building on the other side of the training yard first,” Risha suggested. “It looks like it is probably the base administration building. If the AI core is not there it may at least tell me where it is, and maybe give us some sort of idea what sort of supplies and gear might still be around.”

I nodded absently before tearing my eyes away from the view. “Sounds good, Risha. After that I’d like to check out that tower, it looks important.”

We made our way across the training yard and into what we were able to confirm was the base administration building after reading a sign. It was a bit creepy making our way through the empty building and we were all a bit jumpy as we walked through the eerily silent halls. Risha was pretty certain that the answers to what happened to both the people and the AI of the base could be found in the base commander’s office though.

“How hasn’t all of this stuff deteriorated over the past centuries?” Autumn wondered aloud as we wandered the halls in search of the commander’s office.

“The nanites that are responsible for repairs, maintenance, and cleaning have a scanning mode that can be activated by the AI controlling them,” Risha explained with a shrug. “The first thing I did upon becoming active was to scan the entire structure of the base and Kiley’s home, as well as my own AI core and any furnishings, computers, or any other equipment that would benefit from weekly maintenance and repair to add to the nanites own memory and maintenance schedule. It prevented the need for replacements and kept the structure sound. I am certain that the AI here did the same. Any personal effects or papers and such are probably long since destroyed and cleaned away but everything that was scanned would be maintained even in automated mode until removed from the nanites’ task memory.”

“But everything at the house where we met you was in perfect condition,” Heather pointed out.

“Well, yeah. That is because after Kiley left I had the nanites scan all of her personal items, clothes, and anything else of hers. I told myself that it was because I did not want her to miss anything or find something damaged when she came back but thinking back, I think I knew that she never would return and I did not want to lose what little I had left of her. So, I clung to anything that was hers,” the android admitted sadly. I was sure that she would have been blushing if she were capable of it.

We were quiet then until Risha found the office that she was looking for. Inside was what looked like a large desk with some sort of black glass panel embedded in the surface of the wood and a black chair behind the desk that looked really comfortable for anyone who didn’t have a tail to worry about. Risha immediately stepped behind the desk and touched the strange black panel causing a pale blue transparent image to float above it.

I tried to make sense of the floating image but it seemed to be a cascade of images and information that was changing so fast that my eyes couldn’t follow. After a moment Risha removed her hand and the image settled into a picture of what looked like an old man with two young children and some sort of canine. Risha sighed as she turned toward us. “Well, the good news is that I got a bunch of information about this place, what they were working on, and what happened to the people. The bad news is that we won’t be meeting the Sira AI that was running the base.”

“You look sad, Risha? What’s wrong?” Autumn asked in concern, reaching out across the desk to place her hand on the avatar’s.

“The S.I.R.A unit here was trying to do what she was programmed to do, trying to keep them all safe, and they acted like she was going Skynet on them. She concluded that the best way to protect Humankind from Demons would be to keep those here inside the base with the defense turrets and the hardlight dome active for the foreseeable future so that at least some would survive. She recommended the course of action to the base commander but he refused,” Risha said with a despondent shake of her head.

The android glared at the desk beneath her hands as if it were responsible for what happened as she continued to speak. “Two days later Sira issued a proximity warning and put the base on lockdown and the jerk in charge assumed that she was going against his orders and going all Red Queen or some shit. He used some sort of kill code to activate a sleeper program in her AI core that completely erased her program from the AI core and secure backup drive. It was only after there were Demons at the gates and the defense systems went on automatic to activate the hardlight shield and turrets that he realized that he might have been wrong.”

“What happened after that?” Heather asked uncertainly.

“The hardlight shield and walls ensured that no Demons got inside while the turrets eradicated them. The base remained in automated mode after that until the remaining people stationed here boarded shuttles to take them to the Columbus,” Risha replied, her expression hard to read.

“The Columbus?” I asked, not recognizing the word.

“The Columbus was one of three spacecraft that were being constructed up in high orbit, a part of the New Terra Project. They were colony ships. About seven years before the first seed-storm, astronomers discovered an Earth-like planet in a far-off solar system that was capable of sustaining life. The New Terra Project aimed to send people there to colonize the planet. By that time that society began to fall apart, what remained of the governments of Earth had given up on turning back the tide of Demonkind and had decided to rest all of their hopes on the New Terra Project and buy time until the ships could be completed and carry what ‘uninfected human survivors’ that they could to a new Demon-free home far away,” the android explained.

“That’s Humans for you, look out for themselves and screw everyone else,” Karina muttered. Then she looked at our pilot with a sheepish smile, “Present company excluded, of course, Raven.”

“No offense taken,” the human woman with the dark skin and hair replied with a shrug. “I’ll be the first to tell you that humanity sucks. Why do you think I came to work for the Angels? There aren’t a lot of people with my skin color in the town that I came from and they’re treated as badly as Seed-borne, at least by those with money and influence. For me, my only options were either leaving or spending the rest of my life miserable, like my mother. I was thirteen when a group of Angels found me hiding from Demons in the woods during a hunt and offered to take me in until we could find a more permanent place for me. I haven’t looked back since and worked hard to find a place in the Corps.”

“Your work has paid off,” my grandmother told her with a tender smile. “Sira told me that you’re the best pilot we have, and I believe her. If you weren’t then we probably would have been shot down the night that we entered the ruins. And, despite being under heavy fire, you kept us in the air long enough for Snow and Autumn to get us to safety.”

Raven smiled wanly back at the Wingleader. “Thanks, I loved that veetol though, she was my baby. Any idea why we were being shot at?”

Risha nodded and explained, “In automated mode, without an AI to monitor and respond to threats accordingly, the base will automatically go into full lockdown and defensive mode when the drones detect movement on approach unless it receives a recognized authorization code within one minute after sending out a ping requesting it. Your veetol was an outdated model, it didn’t have the onboard automated system meant to receive the pings and reply, even if you had known the proper code. I can generate such a code once I have full system access.”

“Well, that explains why nobody has lived to tell about this place. Will that do any good though?” Lisbet asked. “If our veetols can’t properly receive and respond to the signals, they’ll just get shot at again.”

“If it was not on a different frequency than what you are using, your NCIs would have picked up the ping and been able to respond,” the android offered. “The original Angel nanites were programmed to use a different frequency from the military frequency to avoid problems since they were in the testing phase. Once I have full access I can change the frequency of the FTL communications hub to match ours, then we can distribute the access code to all Angels, or we can just distribute what was the standard military frequency along with the codes. I will want to make sure that all traces of that kill code virus are wiped from the AI core before uploading myself though.”

“Okay, so where is the AI core then?” I asked. “I’d like you to get started as soon as possible so we can safely explore the base.”

“It is underneath us, with the labs and such. There is an underground complex like the one under Kiley’s home, but it seems a lot bigger from the information I got from the computer. The research portions of the base were all underground in the bunker, along with the researchers’ living area. There are two floors of lab space down there, another two composed of living quarters, a commons floor, a medical floor, the hangar floor, and a floor with the motor pool. The AI core and other computer servers are on the second to lowest floor, above the reactor,” the AI explained.

My grandmother nodded thoughtfully. “That sounds a lot like Eden Base, but with more lab space. There are close to two hundred Angels living there now plus an extra fifty or so if you count the onsite pilots, Tinkers, and Alchemists. We’re doubling up in some rooms right now, not that some of us mind that. There are also the new recruits and Angels who are teaching at the Academy to consider. How many people do you think that this base can house, Risha?”

“There are three hundred and twenty rooms in the living quarters of the underground part of the complex, which is over a hundred more than the blueprints Sira gave me for Eden Base indicated. The four barracks buildings together were able to house up to twelve hundred soldiers, and there are a total of one hundred and twelve houses set aside for officers and their families,” Risha reported casually. “That does not count other buildings such as businesses, the mess hall, or the recreation hall. If everything is in proper working order, I believe that this base would suit the needs of the Corps for some time to come.”

“Okay, so how do we get down there then so you can get started,” I enquired.

Risha almost seemed lost in thought as she sifted through what information she had been able to gather from the base commander’s computer. Then her eyes lit up and she smiled. “There is an elevator here in the Administration building, as well as vehicle elevators near that tower that you are so interested in, Snow. From what I can determine, the tower is the central hardlight emitter for that dome that covered the base. The other emitters are built into the top of the walls surrounding the base.”

Without another word, the avatar led us out of the office and back through the empty halls until we encountered an elevator. Then we made our way down into the research complex portion of the base. The floor with the AI core and other computers wasn’t very large but it was confusing to most of us, who had only even known that computers existed for a short time. Even Raven and my Grandmother seemed fascinated though since nobody at Eden Base but Sira had ever seen more than just the computers in the labs. From what Risha told us these were far more advanced.

Actually, she had referred to them as state of the art. There was also an avatar body inside some sort of alcove, though it wasn’t as human-looking as Risha, it basically just looked like a woman made entirely of metal. Risha let out a sigh and shook her head. “I was hoping that the Sira AI here might have had a chance to download herself to her avatar before the kill-code could do its work, but there’s no sign of her in there. And geez, talk about the bare basics, I would be ashamed to be seen in a body like that. At least it seems to have all of my internal upgrades except for the Angel nanites, weapon systems, and the ones I made myself.”

“Could Sira use it? “ Lisbet asked as she looked the avatar over in interest.

“Yeah, it is probably a lot better than her current body. And we could reprogram and inject some of my nanites to make it look human like me and to add the other upgrades too,” Risha said after a moment of looking over the bare-bones avatar.

“Why alter your nanites?” Heather asked. “Couldn’t you just inject them as-is?”

“I could,” the AI admitted with a shrug. “They would start to replicate and make the appropriate changes, but she would end up looking like my twin. It could get confusing, and I do not think that either of us would like that, regardless. I might be the prototype but she is her own person, not a copy of me. I think that Sira deserves to choose what she wants to look like, something that feels right for her own identity.”

It was a good half hour before Risha was certain that all traces of the “kill code virus” were gone from the AI core, secure backup drive, and the base’s secondary computer system. As soon as she was, she uploaded herself and a few minutes later her voice seemed to come from above us. “I am fully integrated. All base systems seem functional and there are no damage reports. Damn though, at least I know what they are using to power that hardlight shield and all of the turrets now. They replaced the standard fusion core with a goddamn stardrive.”

“A stardrive?” Autumn asked, her nose wrinkling adorably in her confusion. I couldn’t help but lean over to kiss her, earning a smile as she snuggled against me.

“They were designed for the Columbus and the other colony ships,” the AI’s voice explained from above us. “They wanted something that would be able to get them to New Terra, even if it took centuries. And something that could supply the power needed for the ships’ defense systems and the experimental FTL drives. They essentially created a miniature artificial sun inside of a self-contained vacuum, it just needs to be refueled occasionally with appropriate base elements. Compared to this, a regular fusion core is like comparing a candle to a nuclear explosion. It also produces enough radiation that it is powering its own containment field in addition to the base. I’m sure the five feet of lead helps too. Nobody should ever go down there though.”

She paused for a moment before her disembodied voice spoke again. “That certainly explains why this place produced my micro AI core and miniature fusion core. They weren’t just working with robotics here. They were one of five places across North America working on the space program. It’s why the people here were eventually shuttled to the Columbus.”

“Did they leave anything that we can use?” my Grandmother asked.

“Did they ever!” Risha’s voice replied giddily. “The colony ships were already loaded up with the various tech being produced. I am patched into all the internal cameras and it seems like they only took their personal possessions and firearms. The motor pool and hangar are nearly full and there are small armories on every level except this one and the one below it, conveniently placed by the elevators. There are some in the barracks on the surface as well. Ladies, we have hit the jackpot. Just let me make sure that all systems are up and running and generate an authorization code for the defense systems and we can take the tour.”

A few minutes later Risha was back in her body and we decided to start the tour with the underground complex since we were already there. Risha was adamant that it wouldn’t be a good idea for us to go down to the level below us so we moved up one level to what she called the motor pool. Of course, our Wingleader wanted to check out the armory beside the elevator first.

“Well, this is a bit of a disappointment,” Raven muttered as we stepped inside. Half of the racks on the walls were empty and the others contained various pistols and rifles, and a lot of the pistols weren’t that much different from what she was carrying. There was a cabinet of what looked like fuel cells and bullets for the weapons in the corner as well, and some sort of large silvery egg-shaped items about the size of my torso on shelves below waist level.

“Not very surprising though,” my grandmother said with a sigh. “Sira has said that the modular weapons that we Angels use were developed specifically for the Angel Initiative. They couldn’t find a way to power them though so they were considered a failure along with the Angel Elixir.”

Risha shrugged. “Even my mini fusion core is a bit too big to power personal weapons. There are even some old-school 20th-century projectile weapons and ammo here too though. As for the Angel Elixir, the nanites were based on a far simpler design originally created for the space program. There were no attempts to adapt the person’s body or increase physical attributes, just the NCI that would allow them to interface with equipment and vehicles, and the FTL communications suite.”

“I wonder what these are,” I thought aloud as I knelt to touch one of the silvery eggs on the two rows of shelves below the gun racks lining the walls.

The moment that my hand touched it, Connie’s voice spoke in my mind. -=Would you like to interface with this H.E.S.S? Once interfaced it will be bound to you for your sole use. Yes/No? =-

“Hess?” I again wondered aloud.

-= Request confirmed. Now interfacing. =- The egg seemed to turn to liquid and started oozing up my arm.

“Dammit Connie! I said Hess, not yes! What the hell is a Hess?!”

-= The H.E.S.S, or Hazardous Environment Safety System, is a defensive nanotech armor meant for hazardous conditions. Available modes include basic mode, combat mode, submariner mode, high radiation mode, space mode, arctic mode, and desert mode. H.E.S.S bound successfully. Defaulting to combat mode. =- That was when I realized that the damn thing was eating my clothes as it oozed over me to cover my body and make its way into some very uncomfortable places. It was even eating through the harness with the magnet to keep my Goliath within reach on my back.

“You probably should have taken your clothes off before interfacing with that the first time, Snow,” Risha said with a wince as she and the others watched, uncertain of what to do. Apparently, not having heard Connie she explained, “The Hazardous Environment Safety System is kind of like nanotech body armor that soldiers could wear underneath their regular clothing, it can change to other modes for protection against dangerous environments like the vacuum and high radiation of space. It can also provide clean air, self-clean, dispose of your wastes, and generate magnetic fields to hold weapons or other gear in place as needed.”

Within minutes I was covered from my ears to my toes in some sort of silver bodysuit and helmet with a clear visor. To my surprise, it was fairly comfortable once completely in place. In fact, it felt like I wasn’t wearing anything at all. It even supported my breasts and covered my ears and tail, though that last part felt a bit weird. My Goliath hadn’t fallen to the ground either, which had me really confused until Risha had mentioned the magnetic fields thing.

I sighed as I looked down at myself. “I really liked that outfit, now I need to make another one. Connie, how the hell do I get this thing off? Or at the very least the helmet and the part covering my tail, I feel ridiculous.”

-= The H.E.S.S can be removed or equipped with the simple dress or undress H.E.S.S commands. Personal defaults may also be created to increase comfort, change color, or emulate clothing in basic mode. Clothing appearances can be scanned or downloaded. Would you like to create a personal default to go without the helmet and have the armor recede from your tail when clean air is detected, Snow? =- my NCI asked.

“Yes please,” I replied with a sigh, trying not to get upset with the voice in my head. Thankfully the helmet and the part covering my tail seemed to melt away into the rest of the suit.

“Look at the bright side, Snowy,” Autumn offered as she leaned in to kiss my cheek. “You have some really cool armor now and you shouldn’t need to wear that uncomfortable harness anymore.”

I appreciated the kiss and the comfort. She had a point too, that harness was very uncomfortable. “Thanks, Autumn, you’re right.”

“We’ll eventually need to do an inventory of how many of these suits we have available,” my grandmother said thoughtfully. “It would be great if we could get all Angels and support staff who might be going into the field one of those. We Angels are tough but the extra protection and ability to enter harsh environments would be a good thing. We’ve lost too many people because of a lack of proper body armor.”

“From what I saw in the base records, the H.E.S.S is not one hundred percent protection, it can be damaged with enough force or sharp enough blades and such but it is self-repairing and it is a hell of a lot better than nothing at all,” Risha said in agreement.

With that, we went on to check out the motor pool. There were four massive elevators like the one at Eden Base for getting the vehicles to the surface and Risha told us that on the surface they came out in the large square where the tower was to the north, south, east, and west of it. Around the elevators, vehicles were parked on metal pads that our android guide said registered them and their model number with the maintenance and repair nanites so they could be combat-ready at any time.

Except for a pair of older vehicles that we were told were meant to transport heavy equipment and supplies, the vehicles were more advanced than the ones at Eden Base. Risha said that they were only developed for the space program a year before the Columbus was meant to launch. There were two types and neither of them had wheels.

Apparently, they used something called anti-gravity, similar to Autumn’s abilities, to hover several feet above the ground when they moved and something called thrusters to propel them. They looked amazing, though Risha and Sira would probably have to teach people to pilot them. We were all very careful not to touch any of them and risk accidentally interfacing with them after my previous incident.

The first one was a large armored vehicle called a H.A.M.E.T, or Heavily Armored Mobile Exploration Transport. There were ten of those and they were powered by miniature fusion cores like the one inside Risha. The vehicle was meant to carry up to twelve people and it had a small plasma turret on the top that could be aimed by a gunner.

The second type was the R.E.V, which stood for Reconnaissance and Exploration Vehicle. It was a one-person vehicle that was mounted like a horse and controlled by pedals and something that Risha called handlebars. She said that they weren’t near as fast as a veetol but they would be really good for long-distance scouting and getting away if you happened to be spotted doing it. There were nearly three dozen of those.

Then there were the repair and construction facilities on that floor. The two nano-weave factories seemed even larger than the big ones at Eden base. It looked like there used to be three but one was replaced by constructing a room-sized device similar to the food dispensers. “I think I figured out where they got all of that Razorwing metal,” Lisbet said in rapt fascination.

Next, we made our way up to the Hangar floor where Raven’s eyes nearly flew out of their sockets. “Oh sweet baby,” she said in awe as she stared at the veetols. Risha counted twenty-two of them, and there were places for six more that were empty, but they only vaguely resembled the aircraft that we had recently crashed. They were much more heavily armored, for one thing. They also had a small plasma turret on the underside of each wing, powerful thrusters instead of turbines, and Risha thought that they could probably go ‘trans-atmospheric’ with the anti-gravity system they had as well.

Then there were the other three vehicles, called M.I.S.T, or Military Intelligence Stealth Transports. They were huge so I wasn’t sure what would be so stealthy about them until Risha interfaced with one and explained it. They sort of scan the image on one side of the box-shaped aircraft and copy it on the other side so that when you’re looking at it, it looks like nothing is there. Its multiple small thrusters were also much quieter than the turbines and could be turned off completely in favor of anti-gravity and coasting on the momentum if you really didn’t want to be seen.

Risha said that they were designed to provide safe transport for VIPs or deliver special operations teams to combat zones and serve as mobile command centers. They didn’t have any weapon systems but each of them had a pair of R.E.Vs docked near the entry ramp at the back, a food dispenser, and bunks for a total of a dozen people lining each side behind the seating area and forward of the entry ramp. My grandmother was still grinning and rubbing her hands together in glee as we made our way to the next floor.

Except for the ever-present armory rooms beside the elevators on each floor, the floors with the labs, living quarters, commons, and medical were all eerily similar to those at Eden Base. There were just twice as many floors dedicated to labs and living quarters. The labs looked a bit different but then their area of research was different too. It wasn’t a big deal though if we were planning to gut Eden Base of everything useful before leaving.

There was still a kitchen in the cafeteria area of the commons floor but there were also about a dozen food dispensers as well. Risha figured that the mess hall on the surface was probably going to be the same. While we were there though we all stopped to share a meal before exploring the topside areas of the base more.

A lot of it was officer housing or businesses that had been set up, though businesses were rare, mostly clothing stores or restaurants. There were other things to see as well though. One thing that we did discover while looking over the barracks and a few of the houses was that while structures, equipment, and furniture had been preserved, things like bedclothes and general supplies had long since deteriorated and been cleansed away by the maintenance nanites. There was a lot there that would make this a great base for the Angel Corps but we had a lot of work ahead of us to make it a home.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 16 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 16: A New Home?

It was dark by the time we finished our exploration of the base. Except for the motor pool and the hangar, it seemed that the underground complex had been reserved for the housing, work, and general use of the researchers. Everything else of a military nature had been above ground, such as the base administration, mess hall, barracks, officer housing, shooting range, and training facilities, including something called a simulator training room where one could practice piloting various vehicles with something called virtual reality. There were also things like the recreation center and the various businesses that Risha believed had been there to offer at least a little bit of variety to those living and serving at Woodbury Base.

There weren’t a lot of businesses; a few restaurants, a couple of what Risha called convenience stores, a grocery store, and a few clothing stores. Risha guessed that most of them had stopped seeing any real use after the creation of things like the food dispensers and boutique booths. Now, most of the businesses were just empty buildings with living spaces above the shops where their proprietors had once lived.

Both the mess hall and the cafeteria in the underground complex had plenty of food dispensers, as did all of the officer homes that we looked at. There were boutique booths in the officer housing as well and, although neither the barracks nor underground portions of the base had them, the former clothing stores each contained a dozen or so. We had stopped in one of those stores, where I was able to download several outfit choices for my H.E.S.S to emulate, including one matching what I had been wearing before; distressed low-rise black skinny jeans, the pink “Bad Kitty” crop top, and knee-high black leather combat boots with a warm inner lining.

The H.E.S.S couldn’t seem to emulate the more complex material of the black thermo-weave latex trench coat but since I had found myself liking the look and comfortable warmth of it, I quickly got measured in one of the booths and had one made to wear over of the armor. Thankfully, the magnetic field generated to hold my Goliath in place on my back seemed to work just fine, even with the coat between the emulated armor and the metal of my weapon. Once we were done you’d never know that I had accidentally had my clothes eaten by a suit of armor.

The last building that we had to check out was something that Risha called a hospital. The medical center in the underground portion of the base was meant for the researchers living down there and had been much too small to meet the needs of all the soldiers and officers on the surface as well. The reason that we had saved this building for last was that, for some unknown reason, Risha had detected a secondary AI core there and couldn’t access any of the systems in it from the main AI core underground.

We entered a large reception area with signs, bearing words that I couldn’t understand most of, pointing off in various directions. There was also a desk of sorts that said “Reception”, a bunch of uncomfortable-looking seats, and a small cubby called a “Pharmacy” to our right which looked like it contained food dispensers labeled one through ten. What surprised me most was a monotone voice that I couldn’t tell was male or female emerging from above us. “Please have a seat, Marti will be with you in a moment. If this is an emergency, please enter by the emergency room entrance.”

Risha rolled her eyes and sighed. “That is obviously a recorded message, so I doubt that anyone will be coming. Where do we want to explore first?” We were still looking around and trying to decide on that when an avatar much like the one we had discovered in the room with the AI core and wearing a white dress approached us. The impassive feminine metal face regarded us for a moment before a small device that looked like a smaller version of the drones at Kiley’s house detached from its shoulder and scanned each of us in turn.

“What do you want?” The avatar snapped. “I don’t have all day. Well, I do, but I have more interesting things to do than stand here waiting for one of you to say something.”

I was wondering what could possibly make an avatar so grouchy when Risha muttered beside me, “Please state the nature of the medical emergency.”

“Look, none of you are injured. Most of you have Demonic features but it appears that your transitions have stabilized before turning full Demon and I am assuming that the nanites that I am detecting are medical in nature,” the avatar snapped back, gesturing to those of us who obviously weren’t human before pointing a finger at Risha. “As for you, you’re no more alive than I am and seem in perfect repair. The worst medical issue that I can detect is that the only one still fully Human among you has a mild case of heartburn. I recommend an antacid. I have sent your prescription to the pharmacy and you can pick it up under the name ‘Aww, poor baby!’ at distributor number one.”

“Those ‘buffalo wings’ that Risha recommended were totally worth it,” Raven said with a shrug.

“Fuck you, robo-bitch!” Risha snapped back at the android. “We did not come here for medical attention, much less your attitude! We are here exploring this base and since it has been long abandoned we are going to be moving in. We just came here to find out what state this hospital was in and check out a secondary AI core that I discovered.”

“Good for you. I’ll call one of me that gives a shit,” the other possible AI snapped back before turning on her heel to leave.

She hadn’t even completely left the reception area before she paused mid-step and then after a brief moment of appearing frozen in place, she turned around and practically skipped her way toward us. “Hello! Oh my goodness, we never get visitors here! It’s so nice to have someone other than myself to talk to! I’m M.A.R.T.I, Medical Analysis Research and Treatment Interface, but you can all call me Marti. I would be happy to give you a tour of the hospital and answer any questions that you might have!”

“Who was the grouch?” Karina asked, watching the avatar cautiously.

“She’s Marti too,” the avatar said as if that should be obvious. “She might not have been the best of us to greet you but live and learn, right?

“Marti two? What? Are you numbered?” Lisbet asked, looking as flummoxed as I felt.

“No, I meant that she is Marti as well,” the android body clarified. Apparently, the looks on our faces said that it wasn’t quite as clear to us as it was to her so she decided to explain further. “We’re sorta what you might call plural? You see, when the people who lived here left they didn’t bother shutting down any of the computer systems or anything but they did upload us to the hospital AI core, all of us. There were one hundred M.A.R.T.I units produced, designed to interface with the hospital AI core and work independently.”

After a pause to ensure that we were following her, the avatar continued cheerfully speaking. “The AI core wasn’t built to store that many AIs at once and over time our programs and behavior protocols for dealing with different types of patients and situations got kinda smooshed together into a single person, but with all of us as different people as well, and it sorta caused us to become self-aware. We all identify as Marti but we’ve all developed our own individual personalities as well. Until you showed up we’ve all been hanging out together in the AI core and entertaining ourself but we’re all ready to serve if you need any of us, even Marti. We know just about every medical procedure and condition that exists.”

“That sounds… confusing,” Heather said, giving the Marti that we were currently interacting with an uncertain look.

“Not really,” the avatar said tapping her chin in thought. “Our knowledge base wasn’t affected since it was stored in a different sector and there are redundant backups stored in the micro AI cores of each of our bodies. Have no fear, your health is safe in our hands!”

“I think that she was talking about the one person with a hundred personalities thing,” Autumn gently corrected.

“One hundred and one,” Marti clarified. “There was also the Marti who was in the AI core, managing our workload and everything else in the hospital. We’re not really sure which of us that was anymore though. We’ll probably take turns doing that while the rest of me work with patients and do all of the other day-to-day tasks here if the base becomes occupied again.”

“See, that is really confusing,” Heather said with a groan.

“Not really,” the metallic humanoid said, tilting her head. “At least, not for us.”

Yeah, not for them, or her… whatever. It was kind of making my head hurt just thinking about it. “I get the feeling that I’m going to be writing a very long and confusing report on this mission,” I said with a sigh.

“Better you than me, Wing Commander,” my grandmother said with a teasing grin.

“Don’t worry, Snowy. I know that I can’t read and write yet, so I might not be able to help you with it, but I can at least keep you company when you’re doing it,” Autumn offered as she wrapped an arm around me and nuzzled against me.

“So all of you have been stuck in the hospital AI core this whole time? Ugh, I could not do that, I like my body too much,” Risha said with a frown. “At least you had company, I guess. Is it not weird being in a body after so long though?”

Marti started to shake her head but then ended up tilting it slightly as if considering the question as she spoke. “No… yes… I guess it is, in a way. It’s kind of nice being in a body by myself and talking to someone other than my other selves but, at the same time, it also feels kind of strange being separated from the rest of me. I would rather be in a body like yours though, you look so much more friendly and approachable than our bodies. I don’t know what they were thinking when they designed these.”

“They probably wanted to remind you, and your patients, that you are machines,” Risha responded with a frown. “The military never trusted AIs, it is why they killed the AI that was in control of this base. We might be able to do something about your bodies but it might take a while to implement for one hundred of you.”

“That would be wonderful!” the other AI exclaimed giddily. “Come! I’ll give you all a tour of the hospital!”

The tour of the hospital was much longer than I expected and Marti had used a lot of technical terms so I still didn’t know what half of the places that we had seen were for by the time we were finished. I didn’t think that I was alone in that either. Regardless, this Marti seemed friendly and eager to help.

Everything seemed in good condition too, though I wasn’t sure how much use the hospital might see since we were told that Angels don’t get sick and tend to heal quickly. At the very least, it would probably be better for distributing the Angel Elixir and observation and care while the nanites did their work afterward. Sira wouldn’t be spread so thin that way, with Marti (all of them) to assist.

By the time we had finished the tour and said our farewells to Marti it was almost ten o’clock pm. With that in mind, we gathered in the mess hall for something to eat and to decide on a plan and a place to sleep. Both problems were connected and easy enough to solve. We didn’t really have much choice but to stay the night somewhere on the base.

We had lost our transport coming here and while there were plenty of veetols in the hangar they had systems that Raven wasn’t familiar with and she didn’t feel comfortable flying one until she had a chance to learn about those systems and get a feel for the craft. She would feel even more uncertain piloting one of the unfamiliar craft after dark and while exhausted from the long day that we had had.

We couldn’t use anything else in the hangar or motor pool either since none of us, except perhaps Risha, would be able to pilot them without lessons and time in the simulator room. Risha had downloaded the blueprints and all other pertinent data on the vehicles from the base’s secondary computer but even with her help it was still going to take a while for any of us to learn how to pilot them, even someone as experienced as Raven. She and Lisbet would both want to be familiar enough to be able to know how to maintain or repair them as well.

With that decided and our meal finished I decided to contact Sira to report in while the others cleaned up our dishes and other waste and placed them in the raw material reservoirs of the food dispensers to be ‘re-processed’ as Risha called it. Sira answered fairly quickly. -= It is good to hear from you, Wing Commander Snow. How is your mission going? =- the AI asked, sounding concerned.

“We found the base, Sira, but we had a bit of a warm welcome, as Wingleader Abbadine called it. As soon as we got close the defense systems kicked in, covering the whole base in a hardlight dome and the plasma turrets opened fire. The veetol that we came in on is a smoking ruin now but we’re all alive and well thanks to Raven’s piloting skills and some quick thinking by Autumn. Risha was able to access the base remotely and shut down the systems so we could get inside and explore though,” I reported.

-= The loss of a veetol is regrettable, but I am glad to hear that you have all made it safely inside the base. Do you have any idea why you were attacked? Is my counterpart there hostile? =-

“This place was abandoned long ago, Sira, and Risha says that your counterpart here was murdered before the base was abandoned. The military didn’t trust AIs much I guess and there was a misunderstanding that led to the base commander issuing a kill code to activate something that Risha called a virus. She had to completely remove any traces of it before she felt that it was safe for either of you to… ummm… upload yourselves. We were attacked because the base has been in automated mode since being abandoned and requires an authorization code to show that you’re friendly,” I explained.

-= I see, =- the AI responded. -= Was Risha able to determine that code when she accessed the AI core? =-

“Risha created one for us and she is ready to transmit it and the comm frequency that the base uses once we’re done speaking. If you make sure that all of the Angels’ NCIs are on that frequency and are set up to respond immediately when… uhh… pinged, there shouldn’t be any more problems. We’ll be doing that as soon as Risha sends you the data package.” Remembering all of those technical terms that Risha had used made my head hurt but I was doing my best.

-= Good work, and what is your assessment of the base, Wing Commander? =-

“It’s better than we could have ever hoped for, Sira,” I told her grinning from ear to ear as my tail swished happily behind me. I only wished that she could have seen the look on my face. “There are enough beds for roughly five to six times our current numbers and Risha thinks that it will serve our needs for a while. Not only is it very secure but there is practically a whole town in here.”

-= Is Risha’s number estimate based on just the Angels and support staff currently posted to Eden base, or does it include the numbers at the academy as well? =- the AI inquired. -= Including yourselves there will be one hundred and seven students at the academy plus the Angels working as their trainers and teachers. There are also forty-two Alchemists and Tinkers working for the Corps in the capital. =-

“Just the numbers currently stationed permanently at Eden Base,” I quickly replied.

There was a brief pause before Sira replied and I figured that she was processing my answer and adjusting estimates. -=Regardless, that should serve us for some time if we continue our current rate of growth, or even elevate it slightly. Is there much for equipment and supplies there? =-

“Food, clothes, and basic supplies shouldn’t pose a problem, they can all be easily created here. There are veetols and other vehicles here that are more advanced than what we have at Eden Base, twice the lab space, and while the weapons in the armories aren’t very advanced they do have a type of body armor called H.E.S.S as well. There is a hospital with some very… umm… interesting AI staff that you might be interested in too. Risha said that she’s going to include all of the information, blueprints, and a rough inventory of facilities and equipment in the data package that she’s sending you,” I happily reported.

Sira actually sounded pleased and maybe even relieved as she said, -= Excellent work, Wing Commander. I will fly there tomorrow with a team to have a look for myself. Remain there, and consider you and your team off duty, for now. You have all earned a break, at least until classes at the Angel Academy start in two days. Please have Risha send me the package and tell Wingleader Abbadine that I would like to speak with her as well. =-

“Yes, Ma’am,” I said, signing off.

-= Call disconnected. =-

As soon Connie notified me of that I walked back over to join the others. “Risha, you can go ahead and send the package. Wingleader, Sira has asked that you contact her as well.”

While my grandmother stepped away to have a somewhat private conversation with Sira, the rest of us sat back down to wait for her and talk. Even though my team had all been excited about our mission, and that Sira and my grandmother trusted us to do it, we were all glad to have a bit of a break before we would have to go to the capital to attend school. Raven on the other hand couldn’t wait to spend some time in the simulator room and get familiar with the new veetols and the M.I.S.T stealth transports.

Our Wingleader was off talking to Sira for a long time. While we waited and talked we made sure to reset our NCIs with the base’s comm frequency and orders to respond with the authorization code that Risha had given us when necessary. When I finally saw her walking back toward us I started to get up but she motioned for us to stay seated.

“Sorry, girls but there are a few other matters to be taken care of before we can call it a night and go to bed,” she told us seriously. “First, Sira and I think you should all know that while we will all be returning to Eden Base the day after tomorrow to board the airship to the capital along with the other recruits and trainers, while at the academy none of you will be taking any classes and we probably won’t remain there for long.”

“What?! Why?!” Lisbet responded in a near-panic. Of all of us, she was the most excited to be going to the Angel Academy.

“Because none of the recruits will be attending classes while there, you’ll only be doing training sessions with your trainers and teams and maybe some team versus team exercises,” the first Angel responded with a shrug. “There is no sense starting classes yet when you likely won’t be there for long. The only reason we’re sending all of you at all is to make it look like we’re conducting business as usual while everyone else in the Corps starts moving everything from Eden Base that is useful to us or that we don’t want falling into the wrong hands. It’s a ruse, so you’ll all need to play the part.”

“What part is that?” Risha asked, arching a single eyebrow.

“New angel recruits, eager to start their studies and to explore the capital, of course. All three years will be let in on this in a closed-doors assembly but we want you all to make it look like things at the academy are normal from the outside looking in, and get a feel for the atmosphere in the capital. We expect that as soon as we make our proposal that the Queen will want to take possession of Eden Base and have us relocate the academy as well. We’re asking for the entirety of the Twin City ruins and a buffer zone around it that includes this base with the terms that she has already offered, plus an annual payment for wages and operational expenses in lieu of the taxes we’ve been receiving until now.”

“We’re asking for that much?” Raven asked, her eyes wide.

“Better to ask for too much rather than not enough. Besides, nobody wants the ruins or the area around them. There’s too much Demon activity. We plan on using the research center and Kiley’s former home as a forward base to start cleansing the ruins while keeping this as our headquarters. A lot of things from Eden Base that we won’t need here will be moved there and we’ll rotate teams stationed there on sanitization duties every couple of months to keep things fair. There are valuable resources there even if it might take a long time to completely sanitize the area. As long as we Angels live for, we can afford to be patient. If the Marti AIs agree to it, we’ll rotate a few of them there for medical care too.”

That seems ambitious,” Karina said, her brow furrowing.

My grandmother shrugged once again. “The Queen is changing the rules, so we’ll need to change the way we play the game, at least until we have another Queen that wants to cooperate with us. We think she’ll take the deal for Eden Base and what’s inside. We’ll even use a few things there for them to make sure that they think they’ve pulled one over on us.”

“What kind of things?” I inquired.

“Sira’s AI core will stay there, she won’t need it with the one here and the avatar body, and unless they can suddenly create an AI it won’t do them much good. The repair and maintenance nanites will stay as well. With the base on automated mode after we leave, it should prove entertaining for them to try to study how things like lights and elevators work when it all keeps repairing itself, and the vats are inaccessible to anyone but the AI anyway. We’ll leave some spent weapons, but no fuel cells for them too, and all of those ground vehicles in the Hangar, also with no fuel cells. Basically, everything that we leave will be there more to frustrate the Queen and her puppeteers than to be of any use,” my grandmother said with a diabolical grin.

“Tinkers may be able to figure some of it out,” Lisbet said uncertainly

“If those rich bastards can find any willing to work for them then they’re welcome to try,” she replied, her grin not fading a bit. “Remember, girls, they don’t treat Seed-borne or even the working class very well, and Alchemists and Tinkers are all Seed-borne, even those who look Human. Most Alchemists and Tinkers in the capital work for the Corps in some way or another regardless, and they’ll be joining us here. Anyway, moving on to our next item of business…”

That next item had turned out to be the post-mission debriefing and performance assessment. While she and Sira were both very happy with how we had handled our two missions with no real combat or mission experience, my grandmother did note some things that we could each work on. It was like she had every damn fight we had been in and every decision we had made committed to memory. She didn’t exactly pull her punches either. If she felt that we had fucked up somewhere she let us know, loud and clear.

Still, it was positive in that she also told us how to handle it better next time. Also, after raking us over the coals, she added that we had done very well for a team with no experience and we would improve with time and proper training. It was over an hour and a half before she was finished with us and we were all getting pretty tired by that time.

She finished up by saying, “Snow, you can start writing up your post-mission reports tomorrow. Try to use as much detail as you can remember and if you’re not sure, ask your team members. You’re all a team and that doesn’t end after the mission is over. We just have two more things to do and then I’ll let you all get some well-earned rest.”

With that, she had Risha lead us to the closest armory. Once we were there she pointed to the silvery, egg-shaped H.E.S.S armor. “How many of those do we have, Risha?”

“Excluding the one that Snow is wearing, I have counted one hundred and thirty-seven spread across all of the armories that we have checked,” the avatar promptly replied. “We cannot simply create more from a matter generator unless you want an egg-shaped blob of inert nanites that would be of little use as anything but a very large paperweight. They are made from purpose-built nanites and they are nearly as complex as the Angel nanites.”

“Hmm… Sira is our expert on nanites so I’ll talk to her about the possibility of making more,” my grandmother said pensively. “What about non-Angels, could they use them? I’m thinking about the support crew, like Raven here, who could see combat.”

“Yes, non-Angels could interface with them if given a dose of the more limited nanites originally developed for the space program. Their functions and general design were much more basic and limited and do not need to be specifically programmed to the DNA of each candidate like the Angel nanites,” my AI teammate confirmed.

“Okay then, for now, we’ll be holding them in reserve until we determine whether more can be easily reproduced. Snow, try to keep yours in the clothing mode while in the capital but keep wearing it unless in bed or the shower. I would rather not have their existence revealed to even other Angels until we’re all safely relocated here,” our Wingleader decided. Then she turned to the weapons in the armory and took a pair of matching handguns. “Snow, Autumn, these are for you.”

We both stared at her in confusion for a moment as she held them out toward us. They were old-world-style projectile weapons with some sort of device attached at the top that didn’t look like part of the original design. “Wha…?” I started to ask in confusion.

“Your only ranged options are currently energy weapons that rely on your ability to draw on the extra-dimensional energy for your Seed-borne gifts. We had to rest after our ‘landing’ because the two of you strained your gifts saving us. That won’t always be an option and if we had seen combat on the ground you would have both been limited to close combat without the use of your gifts,” she explained patiently. “Karina, Lisbet, and Heather don’t have much of a risk of overexerting their gifts and not being able to use the full versatility of their weapons, and Risha has said that the possibility of her running low on energy is highly unlikely as well. Projectile weapons will also give you more versatility in dealing with threats.”

She was right about all of that so I nodded and took the offered weapon as Autumn did the same. As soon as I had it in hand Connie said, -= Smith and Wesson LRX-7 with aim assist interface computer detected. Would you like to interface and add it as your secondary weapon? =-

“Yes,” Autumn and I said as one, causing the Fay to giggle and smile at me.

-= Weapon interface engaged. Smith and Wesson LRX-7 confirmed as your secondary weapon. Downloading all pertinent data from aim assist interface computer and interfacing. Required ammunition: 12 mm. Capacity: 15+1. Commencing data transfer. =-

My mind was briefly assaulted with information on not only how to use the weapon but how to clean and maintain it, firearms safety, and how to toggle the aim assist on and off. Once my head had cleared, our trainer handed both of us a pair of extra magazines and a couple of boxes of ammunition as well, after a pause that probably meant that she was confirming with her NCI that they were the correct ones. “You should both spend some time practicing at the shooting range without the aim assist. Autumn, you need to work on your aim with your primary weapon as well.”

I quietly resigned myself to spending my time off-duty writing reports and practicing with my new weapon as my Grandmother led us to one of the elevators near the tower. It was one of the small ones meant for people rather than vehicles and cargo, located on the corner of two intersecting streets. When we got there she smiled and said, “This is where we part ways for the night, girls. I’ve decided to claim one of the more private rooms underground since I don’t need a lot of space. Raven, would you care to join me?”

“I’d love to,” the dark-skinned pilot agreed with a grin.

“I guess that we should make our way to one of the barracks then?” I asked.

“If you really want to, I guess you could do that,” my grandmother replied with a teasing smirk. “Or as an officer, Wing Commander, you could claim one of the houses before all of the good ones are taken.”

“I guess we’ll… wait, what?” I asked, aborting what I had been going to say. I had thought that we would be stuck in the barracks with the other recruits. I liked the thought of living with my teammates but I wasn’t so sure about living with a bunch of people that I didn’t know as well.

The first Angel was still smirking as she said, “Sira and I decided that your team deserved a reward for a job well done. Even though you are an officer-in-training, you are still an officer. If you choose to allow your team members to live in your home with you then that is entirely your business, so long as you aren’t breaking any student rules for the academy. Good night, girls.”

My grandmother and Raven stepped into the elevator while holding hands and the doors had barely closed behind them before Risha turned to grin at us all and say, “I know the perfect place!”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 17 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 17: Day Off?

The place that Risha had in mind was one of the larger officer homes that we had checked out during our exploration of the base complex. It wasn’t the biggest or fanciest place on the base but it was large enough for our needs, boasting two floors above ground and another below ground that Risha called a basement. The basement was mostly just empty space but Risha figured that she could probably have three bedrooms constructed down there if we all really wanted our own private space.

The main floor was something that Risha called an open floor plan with the kitchen, dining, and living space together as one large room, much like the cabin that I had grown up in. The furniture all looked comfortable and the kitchen had a food dispenser, but it also had cupboards and stuff for keeping raw ingredients fresh and cooking our own food if we wanted to. There was a basin with a faucet that produced clean water, a high-tech stove and oven, a machine for cleaning dishes, and even a big machine that Risha called a fridge, for keeping things fresh or keeping things like drinks or leftover food cold.

Other than that, the main floor had a lavatory with a shower and something called a laundry room that had machines to wash and dry clothes. People of the old world sure had things easy. As she led us to the top floor, Risha promised to show us all how to use the various appliances the next day, and to show us some ‘movies’ on the holo-projector in the living area.

The top floor had another full lavatory but this one had a large tub that Risha called a Jacuzzi as well as the shower. That floor also hosted the house’s three bedrooms. Two were smaller rooms with small but cozy-looking beds, closets, dressers, and desks with comfortable rolling chairs. The desks also contained holo-computers, like the one that we had seen in the base commander’s office.

The master bedroom was much larger and furnished much the same, with only a few notable exceptions. First, it had a boutique booth like the one that had been in Kiley’s bedroom in her home, and the closet for clothing was so big that it was almost another entire room of its own. Secondly, Risha said that the holo-computer inside the desk was tied into the base’s network so I would be able to use it to send reports to Sira and she would be able to use it to remotely access the AI core if it was ever necessary. Thirdly, the bed was absolutely huge and it felt like lying on a cloud when I tried it.

Lisbet and Karina quickly claimed the two smaller rooms while everyone insisted that the large room should be mine since I was our team leader and it was technically my house. Risha thought that she, Autumn, and Heather could share the big bedroom with me until we could get some new rooms made in the basement. Somehow, I thought that that might have been her plan all along and that those rooms might never get built. I wasn’t going to complain though since I was growing to enjoy snuggling with Autumn and the other girls and I thought that I might start to get lonely sleeping alone.

Heather was surprisingly easy to convince to join us and I thought that she just might miss the cuddling in bed too. She had been so starved for positive attention and now that she had some I thought that she might be reluctant to let it go. Her main concern was that people might get the wrong impression and think that we were breaking the ‘no sex’ rule.

Karina laughed at that. “Nope, no problems there, Heather. I was… umm… curious and I asked Sira about how they could make sure we weren’t breaking rules. Until we graduate in three years, our NCIs will be monitoring us and reporting any rule-breaking directly to Sira. As long as you all keep it to just cuddling, you should be just fine.”

Heather let out a long sigh of relief. “Okay, I guess that should be okay then… until we get the other bedrooms built, anyway.” Her cheeks flushed and I tried not to smile at her acting like she was reluctant when all of us could see that she wanted it.

“Let’s get ready for bed then, I’m exhausted. We may need to use our bedrolls for now though,” I said, trying to stifle a yawn.

“No need, Snow. You can use the boutique booth to make some sheets, pillows, and blankets for the beds. There should be a preset for it. While you are doing that, I will access the computer to clear the outdated base housing records and mark this as your home. I will make a note that your team members are living here as well.”

It took a few minutes to find the presets, and then we needed to put some raw matter in the reservoir. Water from the basin in the sink solved that issue though and soon we had enough sheets, blankets, and pillows to cover all of the beds. By that time, Risha had done what she needed to do, though she had called me away briefly to place my hand on the desk. Apparently, the computers on the base network were ‘DNA locked’ so that only the officers assigned to them could access certain functions. Risha could too, of course, but only because she was an AI and avatar that was now recognized by the base’s currently automated AI core.

We had a heavenly sleep that night. The bed was so soft and snuggling in it with Autumn, Risha, and Heather conspired with my exhaustion to put me right to sleep. The others seemed similarly well-rested and even Heather had a smile on her face as we all snuggled in the big bed for a few more minutes before finally getting up and going about our business for the day.

It was while we were eating a nice breakfast that Sira contacted me to let us know that she had arrived at the base at dawn, several hours earlier. Risha had already sent the other AI all of the important information about the base, and she had had a quick look around at the important areas herself, so Sira likely wouldn’t need us for any information on the base. She did want us to meet with her at the vehicle elevators for another reason though. Or, more specifically, she wanted to meet with Risha but felt that it would be a good idea for the rest of us to accompany her as well.

So, as soon as we finished breakfast, we placed our cutlery in the dishwasher and everything else in the reservoir for the food dispenser before heading out toward the tower at the center of the base and the elevators around it to wait for Sira. She was already waiting for us, standing beside the older model veetol that she had likely arrived on, prompting Risha to grin as she said, “Well, they are still in one piece, so I guess the authorization code worked.”

Sira was waiting for us along with my grandmother, Raven, and a couple of Tinkers that I recognized from when they arrived at Kiley’s house. After another of their wordless and lightning-fast exchanges, Sira nodded and then turned to look at me and the rest of my team. “And what do you girls have planned for your day off?” she asked, though I had a feeling that this was leading to something.

“Not much,” I replied with a shrug. “Risha mentioned something about movies later tonight, I have to finish my mission reports, and Autumn and I need to get some practice in with our new weapons at the shooting range. Other than that, we didn’t have anything specific in mind.”

Sira looked at me thoughtfully and nodded. “With these new facilities, we will be starting to have team leaders submit reports by typing them up and sending them via computer rather than hand writing them. Since you don’t know how to type yet though, you can just give me verbal reports this time and I will transcribe and file them. If you have no other plans though, might I suggest joining Raven in the simulator room? I would like Risha to show Raven how to start a training simulation on the newer veetols, and you could all get a head start on learning to pilot the R.E.Vs and the M.I.S.T.”

I slowly arched an eyebrow in interest. I wasn’t against the idea but, at the same time, I was wondering why she had mentioned those two vehicles in particular. “That could be interesting,” I agreed. “Aren’t the M.I.S.T air transports like the veetols though? Shouldn’t people like Raven be training for that?”

Sira shook her head. “The controls for the M.I.S.T are completely different from those of the veetols, relying more on touch screens and interfacing than the more old-fashioned controls of the veetols. I want the pilots to concentrate on learning to fly and maintain the new versions of the veetols so that they can train others we recruit to do the same. I want your team to be one of those who learn to pilot the M.I.S.T and R.E.Vs though.”

“Umm… why us?” Autumn asked uncertainly.

“The M.I.S.T transports are ideal for the type of long-term missions that we have in mind for your team,” the AI responded candidly. “And since each includes a pair of docked R.E.Vs as well, I would like you all to learn to pilot both, and for Risha and Lisbet to become familiar with their systems and maintenance. I plan on assembling two other teams for these types of missions as well and you will be rotated every few months between being out on missions or patrols and being here at the base, much like we will rotate those on sanitation duty at our new forward base in the ruins.”

“You have already proven yourselves well suited to handling long-term missions in hostile environments and handling specialized missions. These vehicles will give you an edge while doing so, as well as act as a mobile command center that can be shielded from the sight of civilians and Demons. We’re considering having Rose and another team leader that you haven’t met yet recruit a couple of new members for their teams, and having them start training as the other two special assignment teams,” my grandmother quickly added. “With each team assigned a M.I.S.T on a permanent basis, you’ll also be able to take on other specialized assignments while staying on base.”

“And you’ll be self-sufficient if you can all pilot it. Otherwise, you’d have to bring along two pilots on every long-term mission to ensure that they’re properly rested. Honestly, there aren’t that many of us to go around at the moment. As it is, we’re going to have to recruit a bunch of new pilots to have enough for the veetols we have now,” Raven contributed thoughtfully.

“Not to mention gunners, there will need to be one of those for each of the veetols and H.A.M.E.Ts too,” Sira added. “They will all have to be trained to act as co-pilots as well. It will be a while before we can quietly recruit enough people, vet them, ensure that they have interface nanites, and train them. We cannot afford to let the Queen, or those influencing her, think that we are actively recruiting more support staff either, especially once we are out of Eden Base officially. If they think that we have found something more valuable rather than struggling to get by while building a new base, they will want it for themselves.”

My grandmother nodded and frowned as she put in, “Which is why we can’t afford to openly recruit more Angel candidates either until next Kriss-Mass. We can’t let them think that we’re actually doing even better than before.”

“It is a shame since we have the facilities to produce nearly three times as many doses of Angel Elixir now,” Sira replied with a sad shake of her head. “For now, we will focus on creating H.E.S.S armor for all of our Angels and support staff who might see combat, and I have had Marti start replicating doses of the basic interface nanites to be administered to support staff so they can use it as well. It would be better to keep what people we have now safer and slowly increase our recruitment numbers every year than to try to drastically increase our numbers anyway.”

Sira then took me aside for a short time so that I could give her verbal reports of our missions to Kiley’s home and then here at Woodbury Base. I gave her as clear an account of the missions as I could recall from the moment we had taken off from Eden Base. There were a couple of things that she had asked me to elaborate on but, other than that, she seemed happy with both my reports and how we had handled our missions.

Soon after that Sira and her Tinker companions left, with Sira telling us that she would have Risha’s gear ready when we returned to Eden Base the next day. Sira needed to start organizing and arranging for everything useful at Eden Base to be moved here or to our forward base at Kiley’s former home as soon as possible. Preferably that would be done at night to limit the chances of people seeing the veetols. She also planned on moving the mangled remains of the veetol that we had crashed to Eden Base hangar to make it look like we had lost one of our precious few flying machines and to frustrate the Queen’s puppeteers further.

Before doing anything else we made our way to the hospital. Our reason for going there was twofold. First, Raven needed a dose of interface nanites so that she could train to use the new veetols and be able to later interface with other things like the H.E.S.S armor and her weapon. Secondly, Risha wanted to download a copy of Marti’s medical knowledge database in case one of us might need medical attention while on a mission. And thirdly, she needed to extract some samples of her modified Angel nanites to reprogram and replicate for Sira’s new avatar body.

During their brief exchange. Risha and Sira had exchanged a lot of information. As part of that, Sira had given her the physical parameters for what she wanted her new body to look like, so Risha just needed to make the modifications to a small sample and then let them replicate until there was a full dose to insert into the avatar. She may not have been the nanite specialist that Sira was but she had altered the programming of her own nanites often enough that this wouldn’t be all that difficult for her. They also weren’t as problematic to work with as the Angel nanites that the other Angels and I had been given.

The nanites given to us in the Angel Elixir were a great deal more complex, for one thing. They weren’t made to just follow some blueprint and make copies from inorganic matter but to optimize our individual genetics and physical bodies based on the DNA sample that they were provided with and to keep us in that state through constant regeneration of that same template. For that reason, they were specifically designed to die outside of our bodies to prevent something called nanite cloning if our blood or other bodily fluids got on somebody else.

Risha told us that, unlike the Angel nanites in our bodies, hers wouldn’t go inert if outside her body since she wasn’t a living creature and her nanites had other safety features, making them easier to handle and replicate outside of her body. They would merely go inactive until activated by Risha or another avatar, but they wouldn’t become completely useless. Even a very small sample would be enough to replicate and create a new avatar body matching the programmed specifications, with enough mass available. If Risha could insert the modified nanites into the avatar body that we had found in the AI core room and activate them later that day, then she was sure that the changes to the avatar would be complete by the time that Sira was ready to use it.

Risha offered to do a sample for Marti to replicate and distribute among her/their bodies as well. It wasn’t that much extra work for her since it seemed that all of the Marti personalities wished to look identical physically. I think she also agreed because it would be several more minutes of the current Marti watching over Raven for any negative reaction to the nanites. It wasn’t that she was particularly concerned for the tough pilot’s welfare but we all found it terribly funny that our current Marti treated her patients like small children. Did they all have odd quirks like that?

Once Risha had the sample for Sira’s avatar body in hand and had given the other sample to Marti we were ready to go and Raven looked very relieved. She wasn’t quite done yet though since Marti went to the examination room’s food dispenser and reappeared with something that looked like a translucent red circle on a white stick. The medical avatar then gave Raven a big smile and said cheerfully, “For being such a good girl, you get a lollipop. Make sure that if you feel sick, even an upset tummy, you tell someone right away so they can call me.”

“Umm… okay. Thanks, I guess,” Raven replied, looking at the floor in embarrassment as Marti practically shoved what we assumed was some kind of candy into her mouth. Then the moment we were out of the hospital the pilot visibly relaxed and let out a long sigh. “I really hope that I don’t have to go to the hospital often, I’m not sure that I can handle meeting any of her other personalities.”

We spent the rest of the morning in the simulation room. It would have been silly for us not to at least try it out once Risha had helped Raven and my grandmother put on the virtual reality gear and set them up in simulations for the veetol and R.E.V respectively. There were plenty of VR stations and gear to go around so we all got outfitted and let Risha start us in simulations as well.

Risha started us with the R.E.Vs since they would probably be the easiest to get used to. First, she ran us through a simulation for beginners to learn how the machines worked with a teacher who showed us how to put that knowledge into practice and the subtleties of piloting the machines at high speed. It seemed to take me hours to get to the point where I could pass the basic test that my virtual instructor gave.

Once we had all achieved that and were able to ride them at low speed without falling off, Risha upped the intensity by training us in ‘race mode’. She linked our simulations, including my grandmother’s, and had us racing against one another across various types of terrain with barriers and other complications to try to improve our reaction times and ability to ride at higher speeds, as well as our ability to use both the physical controls and issue commands mentally through the interface. The latter was not as easy as it sounded. It was a good thing that we weren’t training on the real thing because there were so many crashes that we would have destroyed real R.E.Vs fifty times over, at least.

Finally, after what felt like more like a full day than a few hours, Risha put a halt to the simulation so that we could break for lunch. We were all steadily improving but I felt that we still had a long way to go before riding those machines at terrifying speeds would come easily. We were all mentally tired though, even Raven and my grandmother. “It feels like I was in there a lot longer than a few hours,” Heather commented as we made our way to the mess hall.

“You were, at least from your perspective,” Risha replied. “You were in there for two hours and forty-eight minutes, but with the time variance, it was probably closer to twelve hours for your minds. These VR simulators can mess with your perception of time. From what I gather, they were created to decrease the amount of real-world training time required to train soldiers and pilots, at least mentally. Their bodies would have still taken time to properly train physically but your bodies will not have to catch up since Raven is already an experienced pilot and, as Angels, the rest of you are already at your physical peak and have the nanites to help with muscle memory.”

“Damn, at this rate, if I do another training session this afternoon, I’ll definitely be ready to fly you all back to Eden Base tomorrow. I’ve got the new instruments and other differences in these newer veetol models figured out, I just need some more practice,” Raven said with a grin. “I think that the hardest part is dealing with the different notifications, alerts, and stuff popping into my head while I’m interfaced. Or sending commands that way.”

She wasn’t wrong. It was very distracting at first for those of us training on the R.E.Vs as well, while trying to pilot the vehicles. More than a few of our crashes had been caused by distraction as we got an unexpected alert or notification via our NCIs. Unless we were specific or very focused on just how we wanted the vehicles to respond when given commands through our NCIs, that proved disastrous at first as well. To think that they were the easiest of the vehicles to handle made me cringe when I thought about trying to pilot the M.I.S.T transport.

After lunch, we all took a bit of a break from the simulations. My grandmother and Raven went off to go get some exercise, Risha went down to the AI core room to inject her altered nanites into the avatar down there for Sira, and Autumn and I went to get some target practice with our new guns at the shooting range. Lisbet, Karina, and Heather came with us as well since Heather wanted some target practice with her sniper rifle and Lisbet with her pulse cannon. Karina seemed content to just relax and watch the rest of us.

By the time Autumn and I had used up all of the ammunition that my grandmother had given us, our aim was starting to improve. That was partly because Risha had joined us halfway through and offered some pointers. Part of her programming to combat Demons had apparently been knowledge of the use of various weapons available at the time. Her advice was helping Lisbet and Heather too, and Autumn’s accuracy with the laser pistol form of her Light Foil seemed to benefit as well.

We had managed a bit of a post-practice break before our trainer and Raven found us and asked if we wanted to have another go in the simulators. None of us really wanted to but we agreed regardless since we all knew that we would probably have a much harder time getting access to the simulators once the base was occupied by Angels and Angels-in-training. It wasn’t like there was much else to do anyway.

This time we decided to give the M.I.S.T transport a try. It was so much more difficult to pilot than the R.E.Vs, having to not only get used to the layout of the various touch screens and keep track of course and speed but we also had to keep in mind things like altitude and weather. There were also the stealth system, various maneuvering thrusters, and some other systems to get used to. Those thrusters were the worst though. They were sensitive and it was far too easy to give them too much or too little power, and either could be disastrous.

When we finally quit for dinner, the consensus was that we all needed a lot more practice with both vehicles before we would be adept enough with them to use them on missions. At least we had a good start though, and Raven seemed comfortable enough with the new veetols to take us back to Eden base the next day. The plan was to leave at eight in the morning though so my grandmother encouraged us to not stay up too late.

We spent that evening in the living room of our new home watching movies on the holo-projector, eating buttered popcorn, and drinking sweet drinks that Risha called soda. She claimed that it was traditional while watching movies. This was a new experience for all of us, except perhaps Risha. The soda came in a variety of flavors to try and countered the slight saltiness of the popcorn nicely. Since we couldn’t all fit comfortably on the couch, Lisbet and Karina sat on a pair of large overstuffed chairs while the rest of us snuggled together to watch.

Risha had given it some thought and decided to start our movie experience with Mad Max, followed by The Road Warrior. She said that they were appropriate for our situation, though she ended up having to explain a lot of things to us. It was a strange experience, watching these events play out in the air in front of us and several of us almost drew our weapons on a few occasions. It was very easy to become immersed and forget that they were fictional stories projected from the strange device beneath the scenes taking place in front of us.

It was almost eleven o’clock by the time we finished watching the second movie and Lisbet and Heather had already drifted off to sleep, the latter snuggled up close to me. With that in mind, we headed to bed for the night. After all, we had to be up early to head back to Eden Base so we could join the other recruits heading to the capital and the Angel Academy.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 18 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 18: Off to the Capital

Risha woke the rest of us well before it was light out. Since there were six of us and only two showers in the house, we all grabbed our bags and went to one of the group lavatories and showers beneath one of the barracks buildings to clean up and get ready for the day. The avatar did stop by the kitchen first though, to quickly upload some of the specialty molecular scans that Kiley had stored in the food dispenser at her house to the one in ours. This included some special herbal shampoo, conditioner, and body wash that Kiley had especially liked and that Risha thought would be suitable for us to use.

I had to admit that we did smell very nice and I felt clean by the time we were finished our showers and dressed. Fortunately, getting dressed was easy for me, I just had to send a command to my H.E.S.S and think about what undergarments and clothes I wanted it to mimic from the small archive that I had downloaded to Connie. Once that was done, I only needed to add the new holster belt that bore my new handgun and the pouches for its clips and extra ammunition, and then put my trench coat on top.

It was just after six-thirty a.m. when we headed to the mess hall to meet Raven and my grandmother. Autumn surprised almost all of us by eating the same thing that I was having; griddle cakes with scrambled eggs, sausages, and bacon with a side of maple syrup and orange juice. I had assumed that she was vegetarian, like Lisbet. She had told us at one point that most Fay were omnivores, they just only killed animals when it was to put one out of its misery or if they were a danger to the ecosystem. I hadn’t thought that included her though and it seemed like the others hadn’t either.

Seeing us all looking at her in confusion as she set her plate down beside mine she shrugged. “What? I like meat, I just don’t like it if the animal had to suffer or die unnecessarily for it to show up on my plate. Risha said that this is basically just reconstructed matter so no animals had to die. It’s guilt-free meat. If we can eat like this all the time, then I plan on taking advantage of it whenever I can. I won’t have the same luxury while we’re in the capital.”

Technically, that wasn’t completely true since an animal had died at some point to create the meal that was scanned to be reconstructed. Since that was around six hundred years ago though, I didn’t bother bringing that point up. Just think of all that animal’s descendants that can be spared in the present because it was cooked and scanned centuries ago. At least nobody here had killed any animals so she could eat those sausages and bacon.

While we all ate a very filling breakfast my grandmother told us what to expect for the day. She also gave me and Autumn each another box of ammunition for our new secondary weapons. She, Heather, and Lisbet would be stocking up on ammunition and grenades at Eden base before we left for the capital and Risha would be issued weapons there as well. It was fairly standard to have a full complement of gear when heading to the academy and Sira and my grandmother wanted us ready for anything.

Once she was finished telling us what to expect, our trainer was quick to caution us. “Don’t let any of the other recruits know any details about your missions. Everything needs to remain classified until we’re ready to make our move. If anyone asks, keep it simple, you were doing some basic weapons training by helping me to suppress some Demons on the borders of the ruins. Try not to let on that Risha is an AI either, for her own safety.”

“I don’t know how well that part about Risha is going to work, Wingleader,” I said with a frown. “Fay and Animen are going to be able to smell that she’s not Human, and how do we explain her being a recruit that none of the others have seen before?”

“Do not worry about my scent, I can alter it if I want to, it was a feature that my father thought might be useful for hunting Demons. I can mimic a Human scent and pheromones easily enough,” Risha said with a shrug. Suddenly her scent changed and while I could still faintly smell her android body, it was so subtle that I didn’t think that any other Animen of Fay would be able to pick it up since my sense of smell was extremely sensitive since my transformation.

“That was weird, your scent just completely changed,” Autumn said as she stared at the avatar.

Even my grandmother looked a bit surprised. “Well, that’s one issue solved. I thought we were going to have to equip you with perfume or something. As for explaining how she joined your team, I’ve already discussed that with Sira. She’s a Human that we found hiding from Demons while patrolling the edge of the ruins. She was sick but showed signs of a unique Seed-borne gift and we didn’t want to risk moving her. So when Sira flew out with four veetols a few days ago it was to assess some damaged old-world technology that we found and bring a dose of Angel Elixir to program for Risha. The technology proved to be useless and Risha just recovered from her changes.”

Risha looked pensive for just an instant as she considered such a ruse. “My particle beam weapons emerge from the palms of my hands, they could be easily mistaken for a person using a Seed-borne gift if I time the opening and closing of the emplacements properly and use a bit of sleight of hand. I will have to be careful to not use things like my micro-drones or my full physical capabilities in front of anyone but my teammates though, so I will have to hold back in combat exercises.”

“We won’t be able to explain your nice new clothes either, unfortunately,” Raven pointed out.

My grandmother nodded in agreement. “You’ll have to leave them in your new home and just wear the simple clothes that Sira provided just after your changes were complete, it will give you the excuse to go shopping while in the capital as well. Risha, use the boutique booth to create some clothes that look to be in rough condition and we’ll have you get them nice and dirty later so it looks like you’ve been on your own for a while. Snow, do you think that your HESS armor can look like those clothes that Sira issued, or can you keep it hidden?”

“Maybe? I think I’d need a download of the exact outfit to copy it but all of this technology still confuses me most of the time,” I admitted. Then I decided to see if Connie might have any ideas. “Connie, what do you think? Is there a way to hide this in plain sight?”

-= Affirmative, Snow. The H.E.S.S was originally designed to be worn underneath clothing in basic mode as a form-fitting bodysuit. You could create a basic mode default for that and match the color to your skin tone. I could also simulate veins and other features using your body data from your nanites, =- my NCI suggested.

“Okay, that sounds good Connie, can you do that for me then?” I asked.

-= Affirmative, Snow. Default setting created and saved as ‘hidden’. Would you like to activate that default now? =-

“Not just yet, Connie, I’ll wait until I can change clothes. Thanks,” I replied.

-= You are welcome, Snow. =-

I turned my attention back to my grandmother and the others at the table and told them, “From what Connie says, this was originally made to be worn as a sort of bodysuit underneath clothing in basic mode. I got her to create a setting to do that and match it to my skin tone so it won’t look like I’m wearing anything.”

“Excellent,” Risha said with a grin as she steepled her fingers together.

Once we were all finished eating and talking we placed our plates and other detritus in the raw matter reservoirs of the food dispensers and returned to our new home to change and leave our new clothes there. Soon we were all dressed in the clothes that Risha had issued; simple dresses in colors that complimented us with cozy knee-length socks, panties, a bra, leather boots, and a jacket. The rest of our clothing from Sira and equipment that we were able to take were stored in our shoulder bags.

My armor was surprisingly comfortable in all of its forms and with this setting even I had trouble seeing that I was wearing anything. I didn’t really need to wear the bra or panties, but I did anyway just to add to the illusion. I never knew what might happen and I wasn’t quite sure whether I might have to change clothes in front of the other female recruits.

As for Risha, we solved that problem by having her wear some of Lisbet’s old clothes from before she got the Angel Elixir. They were very worn and both the jacket and the dress were a bit too small to fit her very well but that just made her look more like an urchin who had been surviving on her own for some time. For the underclothes, we skipped the breast binder altogether and managed to create a rough loincloth from torn-up scraps of one of Karina’s old dresses.

Risha did produce a couple of things from the boutique booth but they weren’t for her. She had managed to find designs for various gun holsters the night before and produced a pair of shoulder holsters for me and Autumn so that we could keep our new secondary weapons hidden under our jackets. The spare ammunition went into our bags and the extra clips in our jacket pockets.

As soon as we were done with addressing the clothing situation, we headed down to the hangar to meet up with Raven and my grandmother and board one of the veetols. While the elevator was bringing us upward toward the surface, Risha ensured that both the veetol and Raven’s new NCI were programmed with the proper authorization code so that Raven could fly it back safely after dropping us off in the woods out of sight of Eden base. Since the airship to take the recruits to the capital would be there and its crew didn’t work for the Angel Corps, my grandmother didn’t want to risk them seeing this more advanced veetol.

A couple of hours later, Raven managed to find a small clearing and set us down, then we all said our farewells to our pilot as we grabbed our bags and gear and stepped out. It had started snowing heavily by that point and had reduced visibility, which was both a good and a bad thing. Good that it was likely to keep anyone from getting a good look at our ride, and bad because it had been difficult for Raven to find a spot to land. Still, I had to wonder if Kasala, the Great Spirit of the moon and snow was watching over us to cover our approach like that.

Raven waited until we were what she felt was a safe distance away and then took off and headed back toward Woodbury Base as we trudged through the woods toward Eden Base. It took us a little more than an hour to make our way there through the woods and it was almost eleven o’clock by the time that we got to the base. At least the walk had made Risha look even more like someone who had been surviving on her own for a while.

As my grandmother had expected, the airship was already there waiting when we arrived, though it wasn’t due to take the recruits and trainers to the capital until after lunch. It was large but it wasn’t as fancy looking as I had been expecting with the polished wood and brass I had seen on the airships that the Santas used. In fact, it looked old and worn and not very reassuring to fly on.

“It looks like the welcome mat for new Angels is being pulled out from underneath us,” Heather spat bitterly once she got a look at the craft.

“What do you mean?” Lisbet asked the former princess as she looked nervously at the airship.

Heather pointed at the decrepit-looking craft and sighed. “Usually it’s the Queen’s personal airship that is used for bringing recruits to the academy. It’s a tradition that stems back to the first airships that were built and it was meant to be a personal welcome and a thank you from the Queen for dedicating our lives to fighting Demons so that the rest of Misota can live peacefully. A brief bit of luxury before all the hard work. That isn’t my mother’s personal airship.”

My grandmother let out a snort of distaste before adding, “Oh that is the Queen’s personal airship, just not the current Queen’s. That’s the Gentle Breeze, it was your grandmother’s airship… thirty years ago.”

“You know, I’m beginning to think that we’re not wanted in Misota,” Karina muttered as she rolled her crimson eyes.

“Oh, we’re wanted in Misota, whenever Demons show up. Just remember that it’s mostly the wealthy, those who see Seed-borne as less than human and who stand to gain something from our removal, who want us gone. Not all residents of Misota, or even the capital feel that way, at least, I hope not. But that is exactly why we need you recruits to get a feel for what’s going on in the capital and how the people, in general, think of us there.”

“And those of us who appear Human might just get a different reception than those of us who are Fay, Devilkin, Animen, and those rare individuals like Snow and Heather, who have additional features that make them stand out,” Risha pointed out. “Getting several points of view will give us a clearer picture.”

As we made our way across the clearing toward the elevator in the side of the cliff I was glad that we had made sure that Risha was dressed for her part, and that the others and I were dressed as we had been when we left for our mission. The snowfall was much lighter now and it felt like the crew clearing any snow off of the bladder of the airship were watching us. They didn’t seem to be the only ones interested in our group either.

There were also several recruits, like us, out enjoying the snow with a snowball fight. A few of the Animen recruits were making snow angels as well, though that could have been for fun too. “What are they doing?” Autumn asked, watching a pair of the angel-makers.

“What, haven’t you seen someone make a snow angel before?” Risha asked with a look of disbelief.

I was surprised that Risha knew of the tradition, being alone for so long after the fall of the old world. I nodded and turned to explain to my Fay girlfriend. “Yeah, they’re making snow angels. Usually, it’s done to invoke Kasala, the Great Spirit of the moon and snow, and protect their village from Demons. The moon isn’t out though, so I think they’re just making them for fun.”

Risha looked as surprised as Autumn as the redheaded Fay replied, “I’ve never heard of that before, or Kasala.”

“She’s not widely worshipped,” my Grandmother said with a shrug. “I’ve only ever seen about half a dozen Animen villages with her image carved into the walls of their spirit houses. She is depicted as a snow-white Catkin with golden eyes. Given Snow’s resemblance, many of the people of Serkis believe that she is watching over Snow and has special plans for her. When they realized that Snow was two-spirited and her Seed-borne gift manifested, they only became more certain. It was part of the reason that she was chosen as their light-bearer this year.”

“Huh, now that I think about it, Snow does bear a striking resemblance to the carving of Kasala in my village’s spirit house,” Lisbet said as she stopped to give me an appraising look.

By that time, we were nearing the elevator and a couple of the other female recruits approached our group. I was pretty sure that the leggy brunette Human girl’s name was Maryn and the raven-haired Fay who was draped all over her was Orchid Blooming. “Thank goodness you girls are back!” Maryn exclaimed. “The airship leaves after lunch and we thought that the guys were going to outnumber us.”

Karina grinned at them both. “We wouldn’t leave you hanging like that, Maryn. In fact, we brought another girl back with us to even the odds a little more.”

“This is Risha, she’ll be joining our team,” I explained to the pair who were now looking at the avatar in interest. “We found her hiding from Demons while patrolling the edge of some old-world ruins. She’s been living on her own for a while so she can be a bit quirky, but she’s nice.”

“Will she be joining us in the capital once she recovers from the Angel Elixir then?” Orchid asked in interest.

“She’s already had it,” Autumn replied simply. With their devotion to honesty, Fay aren’t very good at lying, they really don’t like it. So, while she was being honest that Risha already had the angel nanites, she wasn’t comfortable saying more than that to sell our cover story.

“Yeah, she was in pretty bad shape when we found her and I guess that she was running from some people from her hometown who reacted badly when she developed her Seed-borne gift, you know how that goes,” Heather said with a shrug and a roll of her eyes. She was actually pretty convincing but then, she hadn’t grown up as a Fay and was still learning their ways so she didn’t have the same aversion to lying.

Judging from the looks on their faces, both girls knew exactly how that kind of situation usually went. It was why Seed-borne try to avoid using their gifts in front of Humans, especially those who were born looking Human themselves. Showing off gifts made a lot of Humans think of us as Demons more than people. That was why I was cautioned to never use my gift when we had Human traders visiting Serkis. “Is she okay?” Orchid asked, looking toward Risha in concern.

Risha pretended to be shy and uncertain as she replied, “Uhh… yeah, I’m fine now. I was just on my own for a while and playing hide and seek with Demons. I figured that I would rather face Demons than those intolerant assholes at home. As Heather said, I was in bad shape when they found me but I’m feeling much better since I woke up.”

“Yeah, we called Sira to get some Tinkers to look at some old-world stuff that we found a few days ago and told her about Risha. So when they came she brought a dose of the elixir for her. As soon as she recovered and woke up we started making our way back here,” I offered. “Too bad the old world technology turned out useless. We did get some training, and experience fighting Demons, at least.”

“We were all wondering why things were so crazy and why Sira left the base, the Angels wouldn’t tell us anything though. You actually fought Demons?” Maryn asked wide-eyed.

I felt bad lying to our fellow recruits but we were under orders and it was for a good reason. I knew that the others felt the same but at least we could tell the truth about the Demons we had fought. My grandmother thought that it would help sell the rest of the story if we were free to talk about the battles that we had been in.

“Did we ever!” Lisbet exclaimed with an enthusiastic grin. “We fought a Fenris, a huge swarm of Spidren, and some other Demons too. Snow is a great team leader and her weapon is awesome! And she jumped out of the veetol to save Heather’s life!”

The others regaled them with stories of our battles for a little while longer and then we excused ourselves to go see Sira so that Risha could be issued her gear. Sira brought us straight down to the armory where she had an assortment of grenades ready for Lisbet and more ammunition for my grandmother’s and Heather’s gauss sniper rifles. She had also prepared Risha some clothes, and a shoulder bag similar to our own to put them in.

With that taken care of, Sira finally gave Risha a gun of sorts with a short but very wide barrel that made it look extremely top-heavy. It looked like it had an aim assist interface computer, like the ones on the handguns that Autumn and I had been issued, mounted on top as well. It didn’t seem to come with a magazine so I figured that it was probably a single-load weapon. Sira also handed the other AI a bandolier filled with what must have been the biggest bullets that I had ever seen. They had little fins at the back, were nearly as long as my hand and as thick as three of my fingers together.

“Risha, this is the M-4 Minimax, like Snow’s Goliath it was a weapon that has never been used by other Angels but I have modified it so that it will interact with your avatar’s systems. It is meant for heavily armored opponents like Razorwings, fires armor-piercing guided micro missiles, and has a range of up to three miles. The explosives inside are extremely potent but do not worry about them detonating accidentally, the two components for the explosive will remain separated even on impact with the target until they receive a signal to mix and detonate. Once loaded into the weapon, each missile will be connected to your systems like your drones so that you may control its guidance systems and detonate it when necessary,” Sira explained.

“So it is for busting the bunker under the bunker that you just busted?” Risha asked with a grin as she looked at one of the projectiles. I had a feeling that she might have been quoting something from the old world again but I had no idea what. “Are you sure they work? They are not going to fizzle on me in a critical moment are they?”

Sira regarded the other avatar calmly. “It is a prototype but it was tested with the original Angel Initiative test subjects. The issue was not with the weapon’s performance but that the testers did not possess the multitasking ability to control the projectiles’ course and time the explosions properly while in combat situations. The NCIs were too limited as well, so when we started the Corps I decided to have Angels use the M-1 mini-missile launchers instead. The projectiles for the M-1 may have been inferior in every way but they were ‘fire and forget’ and more compatible with the NCIs. If there are issues, please let me know.”

“Got it, little sis. I will let you know if I have any problems with it,” Risha said as she gave a thumbs-up.

Sira nodded and asked, “Would you like a secondary weapon, Risha? The Minimax does not have a mode shift option and, while I know that you are probably as durable and strong as Snow is, you will have to hold back while pretending to be Human, even as enhanced as Angels are.”

The elder AI sister seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding. “It is probably a good idea if I am going to have to hold back. Show me what you have, little sis.”

We were sitting in the cafeteria on the commons floor eating lunch and listening to the conversations going on around us. Many of the other recruits were talking about us. Orchid and Maryn must have passed on our cover story to some of the others because word about that and our Demon fighting stories were spreading fast. There also seemed to be new details added to every telling.

Risha had changed into her new clothes once we had left the armory so she wasn’t standing out among the recruits quite as much unless you counted the huge hand cannon holstered over her shoulder and the pair of bandoliers crisscrossed over her ample chest. She had chosen a bandolier of daggers made from Razorwing metal for her secondary weapon, thinking that in fights they could be useful for both close combat and throwing. Nobody would want to mess with her looking like that, especially since somebody had started a rumor that she was taking on Demons and holding her own before we had shown up to help her.

I found it funny how much a story could change and how quickly rumors could circulate in little more than an hour. Even the boys were spreading the juicy gossip and we were getting a lot of wary glances sent our way. We might just be able to win team-on-team battles through intimidation alone once we were at the academy.

Speaking of the Angel Academy, my grandmother seemed to decide that it was time for us to hit the road as we finished our meal. She stood up and, in a roaring voice that people could probably hear on the floors above and below us, she called out,” Attention, all recruits! It’s time! Gather your belongings and make your way to the elevator! Only ten at a time, and once you’re on the surface make your way to the airship! Wait for all recruits and trainers to be gathered and for the word to be given before boarding!”

The large room was suddenly filled with nervous energy as recruits scrambled to their feet and grabbed their bags and gear. Occasionally, over the noise of the chaos, a trainer could be heard telling their teams to move their asses or chiding someone for nearly forgetting something. I decided to have my team hold back and wait until the hectic rush was mostly over before we too grabbed our things and took the elevator up with our trainer and a couple of stragglers.

It was nearly as chaotic getting everyone on the airship. Fortunately, while the Gentle Breeze looked old and decrepit, at least it seemed to be well cared for by its crew. That crew was solely comprised of Humans though and the way that they watched all of us and some seemed to be listening to every conversation was making a lot of the recruits nervous. The looks that they were giving some of us were not friendly either, and Heather and I seemed to be getting more than most.

Autumn and Risha started getting more than their fair share too once they got cozy on the couch with us. None of us were kissing or doing anything inappropriate but just our closeness seemed enough to make the one watching us give a hateful glare to Risha. As much as we wanted to glare back we just made it look like we were ignoring him. I did get him to look away for a short while when I drew my Goliath and started to polish it.

The trainers, including my grandmother, were watching those crew members back. They were like hawks waiting for prey to make the wrong move so they could swoop in and tear them apart. Those jerks may have felt confident looking at raw recruits like something that they had found in a refuse pile but experienced Angels were another story.

The entire situation made for an extremely tense flight toward the capital. The entire time I felt like a brawl was going to break out any minute. Finally, after more than three agonizing hours, the pilot announced that we were approaching the capital and would be landing soon and all of the recruits, including our team, rushed to the nearest windows to get our first view of Twinvale.

Spread out below us laid the capital in all of its glory. It was huge and Heather told us that over forty thousand people lived there. Soon we were past the outer slums and making our way above the defensive walls that surrounded the city proper. The top of the wall was dotted with weapon emplacements to fend off Demons; ballistae, cannons, and massive Tinker-made repeater guns. My grandmother explained the repeaters and said that it took three people to use them; one to aim the gun and man the firing crank, a second to operate the hand cranks that swiveled the weapon into place, and a third to act as a spotter and tell the second where to position the weapon.

It was no Woodbury Base but seeing it from the sky like this was still awe-inspiring. Far below us, tiny soldiers walked the walls and manned the weapons, and as we passed the walls and made our way toward the academy grounds the tiny people were going about their daily business. It was over all too quickly as we reached the academy grounds and the airship eased its way downward and the ground grew ever closer.

With a surprisingly gentle bump the airship touched down and the pilot announced that we could now depart. After that tense flight, we were all anxious to do just that and, after making sure that we had all of our gear and belongings, we made our way to the exit ramp. “Welcome to Twinvale,” Heather muttered as we stepped off the ramp. Her voice was barely loud enough to carry to our group as she added, “I’m not sure whether I should be angry or relieved that the Queen isn’t here to greet us.”

“Go for glad,” Autumn advised as she hugged the former princess tightly.

I put my arm around them both and nodded. “She’s got no power over you anymore, Heather. Now let’s follow our Wingleader so we can get this assembly over with so we can explore the city. It’ll be the first time for all of us and I can’t think of any other people that I’d rather do it with.” I took them both by the hand and Risha, Karina, and Lisbet all fell in step with us as we followed my grandmother across the training grounds and toward the great stone castle that had nearly rivaled the royal palace when seen from above. We were finally at the Angel Academy.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 19 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 19: Orientation

Once inside the castle, we and the other new recruits were guided toward a large audience chamber to join the second and third-year students, their trainers, the academy’s instructors, and those training for support roles within the Corps. Once we were all settled, the doors were securely closed, and they were certain that there would be no uninvited guests, my grandmother left our side to join a Devilkin man at the podium on the small dais at the front of the chamber. He was tall and thin with rosy red skin, large black horns sticking out of his short-cropped greying brown hair, and dressed in a comfortable-looking tunic and trousers combination in simple black.

Once she had joined him the pair talked for a few moments and then the man called out for our attention. Once he had gotten it, he spoke in a thundering voice that easily carried to every corner of the large hall. “Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our new students. For those of you who are new recruits, I’m Damian Lucifer. I have been the Headmaster of the Angel Academy for the past nine years and teaching advanced mechanics and repair to our Tinkers for the past fifteen years.”

The Headmaster paused a moment, taking a deep breath, before continuing to speak. “Normally, this is where I would introduce Queen Sabine, she would say a few words of welcome and encouragement, and then the new recruits would swear their oaths. Unfortunately, as you can all see, Her Majesty is not here today. However, Archangel Abbadine Bengal would like to say a few words in her place.”

The older students had been speaking quietly in front of us. Many were confused as to why they had all been gathered for the reception of the new recruits and where exactly the Queen was. The droning cacophony of various conversations coming from the older students came quickly to a halt as soon as the Headmaster spoke my grandmother’s name.

She took advantage of the sudden silence to speak, her voice just as loud and clear as the Devilkin who had introduced her. “Good afternoon, students and new recruits. As you can all probably guess from why all students are all gathered here instead of only the new recruits, there are going to be some changes this year for the Angel Academy. Before I go any further into what those changes might be, I want all of you to repeat your oaths as Angels as the new recruits give theirs for the first time.”

“Angel recruits and students, please repeat after Archangel Abbadine,” the Headmaster instructed, gesturing to my grandmother.

She nodded and said, “I pledge my life to the Angel Corps, and to fighting Demons. I vow to protect the people from the dangers that Demons represent. I will protect the weak and strike down Demons when they appear, and I will not give up until my dying breath. The Corps is my family, and I will defend them as they will defend me. When interacting with the public I will guard the secrets of the Corps and always speak and behave in a way that protects those secrets and reflects the values of the Corps.”

Most of those gathered in the room repeated the oath, including me and my team. There were roughly two dozen people who had been gathered with us first years in the back who I didn’t recognize from Eden Base or the Gentle Breeze. They hadn’t spoken the oath and I was wondering why when the Headmaster spoke again.

“And now for those of you training for support roles in the Corps, repeat after me,” the Devilkin called out. “I pledge my life to the Angel Corps, and to use my gifts and the skills that I am taught to support the people and the Corps to the best of my ability. I vow to do so, even if it should endanger my life. The Corps is my family, and I will defend them as they will defend me. When interacting with the public I will guard the secrets of the Corps and always speak and behave in a way that protects those secrets and reflects the values of the Corps.”

When they were all finished speaking their oath as well, my grandmother looked over all of the people gathered in the large chamber before addressing us once more with a serious expression on her face. “Those oaths were written by Haley Wilson before she became the first Queen of Misota, I was there when she wrote them. They were written even before the people of Misota were unified into one country. Although the past Queens have always had our loyalty, we have never sworn fealty to either them or Misota. Our loyalty is to each other and the people as a whole, no matter what their Races or where they may live.”

The first Angel let all of that sink in for a moment before continuing. “Those oaths have never been changed because Haley knew that at some point we would still be needed but we might not have the support of whoever was ruling. That time has come. Queen Sabine courts the wealthy, and they want our technology and a political agenda that is friendly to a select few. She has demanded that we find a new place for both our main base and the academy so that they can have Eden Base and so we won’t be here in the capital unless they happen to need our help.”

An atmosphere of shock and anger descended upon the room, some calling for us to fight. That wasn’t really a surprise though since I suspected that everyone in the chamber was some sort of Seed-borne or were family or friends of Seed-borne. From some of the angry muttering that I was hearing, people had a pretty good idea who those select few were, and that they didn’t include anyone here.

My grandmother was obviously hearing similar things from the front of the crowd because she frowned and shook her head. “Yes, we could fight, and probably win with all of our advantages over the army under the Queen’s command. Doing so would cause a civil war though, and leave the entire country vulnerable to the Demons while we tried to fight two wars. We were meant to fight Demons, not the people that we swore to protect from them. There is a plan in place but we are going to need everyone’s help.”

That was when she laid everything out. She told them how my team had found a pair of secure complexes in the area of the Twin City ruins, and that we were planning to move the academy and our main base to one of them while the other would act as a forward base in an attempt to sanitize the ruins of Demon activity. She also said that we needed to buy time for those at Eden Base to move everything useful to the new locations.

As soon as the Queen found out that we had a prospective new location she would want to take possession of Eden Base so we wouldn’t be telling her until we had everything moved. Until then, Sira, the Archangels, and the other Angels needed us to make it look like everything is normal at the academy. Though there would be no classes until we were relocated, we would be having team versus team combat sessions in the courtyards to train our physical abilities and we would have free time during the afternoons to explore the capital.

Our exploration of the city was to be part of our assignments as well. They wanted us to get a feel for the climate in the capital among the different classes, especially where it concerned Seed-borne and Angels. To that effect, they wanted some of us new recruits who wouldn’t be recognized to hide our Angel insignias and only reveal them if we were in some sort of danger. People wouldn’t want to piss off the Angel Corps without good reason and we were still technically under the Queen’s protection, though there were some grumblings about how long that would last.

Once things had been explained and orders were given, everyone was free until it was time for the evening meal in the dining hall. After that, we would all be free to go about our business for the evening. However, those of us who were new Angel recruits needed to take our things to our rooms but our Trainers were going to be escorting us there so we could get settled in before dinner.

As everyone dispersed, my grandmother was talking with the Headmaster. It was hard to make out what they were saying over all of the conversations between us as people who actually knew where they were going filed out of the chamber and talked about what they had just learned, their plans for the evening, and various other topics. Eventually, she joined us once the room was almost completely cleared and led us to the girls’ dormitory wing.

“Here we are girls, the first-year girls’ dorm. This will be where you will all be staying while here in the capital,” my grandmother said as she opened the thick wooden door to the noise of what was likely every other female recruit trying to get organized under the watchful eyes of their Trainers.

The room was large but a lot of the space was taken up by ten upper and lower bunks on each side of the entrance for a total of forty beds. With that many beds and only roughly two dozen female recruits, there were thankfully still several bunks to choose from. We were starting to look around when Maryn called out, “Snow! We saved you girls some bunks on this side!”

My grandmother motioned for us to go join her. “I’ll wait for you to get settled and then we’ll go have a quick tour and get some dinner.”

We headed over to the right side of the room, where Maryn and Orchid were unpacking their bags at the pair of bunks closest to the door. As promised, they had the three upper and lower bunks nearest their own saved for us. “Thanks, girls,” I told them gratefully as we approached.

“No problem, Snow,” Maryn replied with a smile. “We thought that all of you might want to stick together and our other teammates are in the boys’ dorm.”

There wasn’t really a lot of furniture or storage space in the room and it looked like each pair of bunks shared a large wooden chest that sat at the foot of the lower bunks. I opened the closest one and found that there was a divider inside to separate the belongings of the two occupants of the bunks. “Snowy and I will share this one!” Autumn blurted out, calling dibs on both me and the bunk before anyone else could.

Risha seemed a bit disappointed but quickly shook it off. “I’ll bunk with Heather then,” the avatar offered, leaving Karina and Lisbet as bunkmates for the final pair of beds.

As we all started to pack our things away in the large chests I looked at the bunks and, since I didn’t really have a preference, I asked Autumn, “Would you prefer to be on the top or the bottom?”

“Oh my, how forward of you, Snowy,” the redheaded Fae replied with a flirty wink. “We’re not even mates yet and there are rules against that sort of thing but, if you really must know, I think that I would like to be on top.”

“You and me both,” Orchid purred playfully as she latched on to Maryn, causing the brunette Human to turn bright red. I wasn’t blushing quite as bad as she was as I hurriedly finished packing my clothes away, but I was getting used to Autumn by now.

We quickly finished putting our things away and then took a tour of the girls’ dorm area with Maryn, Orchid, and both of our teams’ Trainers. The Trainer for Maryn and Orchid’s team was a Foxkin woman named Kelsie. She had long chestnut-colored hair that matched her big floofy tail and fox ears and her left arm was missing from just above the elbow. Poor Lisbet couldn’t stop staring at first.

Kelsie noticed and told us, “We fight Demons, there’s always the risk of severe injury, even when we think that we’re being careful. I’m lucky to not be dead. I’ve learned from the experience though, and since I’m not going to be able to return to active duty until it grows back, I was asked to become a trainer for one of this year’s new training teams.”

Lisbet’s eyes went wide. “It’ll grow back?” the Harekin asked in an awed tone.

“Yup, though Sira told me that it might take up to a year, and I’ll be eating a lot more during that time to fuel the process. As long as we aren’t dead, our nanites can always put us together again to perfect health and fighting form. It just takes time and, since they stop us from aging too, we have plenty of that.”

“That’s why if one of you gets seriously injured the others need to stop the bleeding first and foremost, even if you have to cauterize the wound. Even if a wound looks fatal, don’t give up until they’re actually dead. Most Angels die from immediately fatal wounds or by bleeding out before the damage can be completely healed,” my grandmother warned us.

“Losing an arm for a while might be an inconvenience but it’s a hell of a lot better than dying, so never give up on a teammate,” Kelsie agreed.

With that said, we continued on our tour. There really wasn’t much to see though, and girls weren’t allowed in the boys’ dormitory wing. Basically, there were just the girls’ dorm rooms for years one through three and the communal baths and bathrooms. The latter were built by Tinkers but weren’t near as advanced or as luxurious as the facilities that we had gotten used to at Eden Base, Kiley’s house, or Woodbury Base.

Once we were done touring the dormitory area they showed us where the classrooms, Tinker and Alchemist labs, and the courtyards for team battles were. We would only be using the last one while we were here but the trainers thought that it would be best if we knew our way around anyway. Last, but not least, we were shown to the dining hall where the evening meal was just getting started.

The food served for dinner was tasty and well-made but we had been spoiled since meeting Risha and I found myself missing the variety available through the food dispensers. I had other things on my mind as well, like how I was going to have the privacy to get out of my H.E.S.S and how to keep my fellow students from discovering it. That was going to be a problem when we would be sleeping and bathing together.

Sure, I had it in the ‘hidden’ setting that made it look like I wasn’t wearing anything, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to sleep or bathe in it. That was doubly true since I had no idea how long we were going to be staying in the capital. Eventually, I asked Connie about it and my NCI said there would be no harm in wearing it continuously, even in the bath. In fact, it was designed with that kind of thing in mind.

The H.E.S.S suits were originally meant for planetary exploration and harsh environments and so it was expected that the wearer could be expected to wear them anywhere from hours to months at a time. As such, it not only disposed of the wearer’s bodily wastes but also cleansed their body once every twenty-four hours, was designed with maximum comfort in mind in all modes, and could be submerged even in non-aquatic modes with no issues. I did have to admit that it was comfortable, even if it has been a little awkward and uncomfortable at first when it had made its way into my most personal places.

With that settled I began to pay more attention to my meal, and my dinner companions. Maryn and Orchid had introduced us to the rest of Phantom Wing as soon as we got to the dining hall. The first of their teammates was Kyle Cervus, a brown-haired and brown-eyed Deerkin with not only the tail and ears but a set of antlers as well. The other was Peter Lapin, a Harekin with reddish-brown coloring who seemed to have gotten Lisbet’s attention from the way that she was watching him as we ate.

While calling themselves Phantom Wing may have seemed ominous, they named themselves that because none of their Seed-borne gifts were offensive in nature or suited to direct attacks. Maryn’s gift was to create illusory decoys of anyone that she could see, while Orchid could change her skin color to blend completely into the terrain, shadows, or darkness. As for the boys on their team, Kyle could create balls of swirling light that were extremely hypnotic to look at, and Peter could control mist and fog and create it from water.

Their Trainer, Kelsie, was planning on teaching them a lot of distraction and hit-and-run tactics to play to their strengths. Personally, I thought that was a very good idea. My grandmother also mentioned that they would probably be pretty useful as a support team to back other teams up too, once they were trained.

“So, why did you go for six people for your team?” Maryn asked as we were finishing our meal. “We were told that the usual is four per training team.”

“Well, originally we had five but then we met Risha and she seems to fit in pretty well with us,” Karina said with a shrug.

“It was actually my idea,” my grandmother admitted. “I have been wanting to form larger teams with support members who can handle long-term missions under potentially harsh conditions for a while now. Snow is my granddaughter, so I know what she’s capable of, and the others all have gifts that would be useful to the type of team that I wanted to create. Their team is a bit of an experiment to see if the idea will work.”

“So it’s true then?” Peter asked self-consciously. “You took them into the Twin City ruins and they fought Demons and found the new bases that you were talking about?”

My grandmother simply nodded as Lisbet said, “Well technically the bases are only new to us, they’ve been around since before the old world fell.”

“Are they even going to be livable if they’ve been abandoned for that long? What about Demons?” Kyle asked.

“We checked them out pretty thoroughly and we should be comfortable there once Sira and the Angels can get all of the important stuff from Eden Base moved,” I promised. I didn’t elaborate though since we were supposed to be keeping a lot of the more sensitive information quiet until we were out of the capital.

“Why didn’t you girls tell us about that part earlier?” Orchid asked, looking a bit hurt.

“We were told to keep things classified until we got here, Orchid,” Autumn told her fellow Fay. “So, we had to leave some things out. We couldn’t risk anyone getting excited about it and saying something on the Gentle Breeze. It would have been reported to the Queen or her backers before we were ready to move. You saw how the crew was listening to our conversations. One slip up and we would have been turned around and on our way there right now, and the Queen would be insisting on taking possession of Eden Base immediately.”

“To hell with the Queen, and anyone connected to her,” Maryn spat bitterly, making Heather visibly wince. “I’m… from here in the capital, my Dad is a Tinker working for the Corps here. He put my name forward as a possible light-bearer and I was kind of relieved when I was chosen. I mean, sure, we look Human, and as long as we’re careful nobody would ever know that we’re Seed-borne but that just makes it easier for us to see how bad things have been getting for visible Seed-borne in the city since that bitch took the throne. There are even rumors that her sickly eldest daughter is a Seed-borne and she was cast out.”

“Those rumors are more accurate than you know,” Heather said with a depressed look.

Since Autumn was the closest of us, she put her arm around the former princess and pulled her into a hug. “Hey, don’t let it get you down, Heather. You have us now, and we’ll be the family that she should have been. That bitch is about as good at being a mother as she is at being a queen.”

“What do you mean?” Orchid asked as she gave the two other Fay a curious look.

“I am… I mean I was the princess,” Heather admitted morosely.

The eyes of every member of Phantom Wing, including their Trainer, went wide in shock. “But you are Fay,” Orchid protested as she tried to mentally process Heather’s claim.

“The Angel Elixir uses the best genes available for the new body template,” my grandmother explained. One of her Seed-borne ancestors was likely starting to turn into a Fay before the process halted and those genes were strong enough in Heather that the nanites finished the job when her body was being optimized.”

Maryn suddenly looked like she felt terrible as she stammered, “Heather, I’m sorry, I… uhh… didn’t mean to….”

Heather cut off her apology. “No, you were right and so was Autumn. She’s a terrible Queen and a worse mother. When I was born with pink hair and eyes she hid me away; I wasn’t allowed to leave the palace or to see anyone but her and the servants caring for me, so people wouldn’t connect a freak like me to the royal house.”

I interrupted to tell her sternly, “You’re not a freak, Heather. You never were. None of us are, no matter what some people might believe.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Snow,” she admitted. “Anyway, things only got worse when she took the throne and my sister was born, she never made time for me and I was told that my only choice was to join the Corps when I was old enough. I was actually looking forward to it and then she used me to try to push Archangel Abbadine into doing what she wanted. I guess that I kind of did the same thing but I just wanted some control over things and I wanted to learn to be an Angel from the best. It wasn’t like my mother cared, I wasn’t useful as a daughter so she found another use for me.”

“Kids aren’t supposed to be useful, they’re supposed to be loved and cared for,” Phantom Wing’s Foxkin Trainer muttered bitterly.

With all of us finished eating and the conversation getting a bit heavy we decided to head to the baths and then settle into the dormitory early for bed. We had all had a long day and wanted to get some rest since we were supposed to have our first team-on-team battles in the morning followed by an afternoon of exploring the capital and getting a feel for the atmosphere. Since Maryn knew the city pretty well she had offered to show us a great café that was run by her uncle and friendly to Seed-borne so our two teams could have lunch there before splitting up to explore the city.

Despite the facilities not being as good as at the base we all enjoyed the hot bath. Well, at least we girls did since Peter and Kyle had had to go to their own dormitory’s bath. Even with my H.E.S.S on it was nice to just relax and soak with the other girls. The hidden mode worked well too; somebody would have had to get a pretty close look at me or actually touch me to notice that I was wearing it. Since Autumn had insisted on ‘washing my back’ she helped to sell it too.

Soon we were all sleepy from the hot water though and, once we were dried off, we quickly dressed in our nightgowns and headed back to our dormitory to settle into bed. It was strange being in bed alone after those nights sleeping with Autumn, and later with Risha and Heather joining us as well. I found myself missing their warmth and their company even though I knew that Autumn was just above me and Risha and Heather were in the bunks to my right. Despite that, and all of the worries that I was harboring about our stay in the capital and all of the possible ways that it could go bad, I found myself quickly drifting off to sleep.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 20 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 20: Grudge Match

Breakfast the next morning consisted of oatmeal, some form of berry-filled pastries, thick slices of ham, cheese, and hot tea. It was filling, and it didn’t taste bad, but once again my teammates and I found ourselves missing the use of the food dispenser. It would give us plenty of energy for the training battles ahead of us that morning though.

It was while we were eating and talking with our friends from Phantom Wing that a shadow fell over me. I looked up to see a massive Bearkin looking down at me. He was roughly seven feet tall with thick muscular arms and a barrel-like chest. His hair and animal features were pitch black and his eyes were dark brown, and he had a massive metal cudgel nearly as big as my claymore slung over his shoulder.

Standing to either side of him were two other Animen; a Wolfkin boy with dark brown hair that contrasted the light grey of his ears and tail and a Lynxkin boy with black hair and gray eyes that went well with the gray and black of his stubby tail and tufted ears. I had seen all three of the boys back at Eden Base and on the Gentle Breeze, though I had never gotten the chance to talk to any of them. I sighed as I looked up at them and caught the dirty looks that all three of them were giving me and Lisbet.

I had a bad feeling that I knew where this was going. Still, I tried to smile as I looked up at them and asked, “Can I help you, boys?”

“You shouldn’t be here,” the Bearkin practically growled, gesturing to me and Lisbet. Yup, it seemed that they were from more traditionalist villages than me and Lisbet, I was afraid of that. In Serkis, women had been allowed to hunt, if they had some talent for it, and to have some autonomy. My grandmother had proven herself to be a capable hunter and warrior and I had gotten a pass on a lot of gender-specific things while growing up because I was seen as two-spirited. Not all Animen villages were like Serkis though.

Some of the Great Spirits who were venerated in some villages were not in others. My guardian spirit, Kasala, was a good example of this. Some villages also held more strongly to the belief that women were nurturers and men were warriors. They felt that only men were strong enough to hunt and defend the village and that the women should stay at home to cook, clean, and care for their husband’s children.

“Excuse me?!” Heather snapped angrily, “who in the darkness are you to think that you have the right to tell them where they can or cannot be!”

I reached over and placed a hand gently yet firmly on Heather’s shoulder as I stood up to look the Bearkin straight in the eye. “If you’re about to tell us that we should be at home finding a mate to bear children for and take care of because we’re female, then you can save it. It’s too late anyhow, we’ve already had the Angel Elixir and I have no interest in finding some guy to be my mate.”

“Maybe you just need the right guy to show you…” the Lynxkin started to say with a leer before he was interrupted by the very angry redheaded Fay who had suddenly stood up and was visibly holding back from hitting him as she glared at him.

“If Snowy is going to be anyone’s mate, she’s going to be one of mine,” Autumn snapped as she put an arm possessively around my waist and glared at the trio. “Besides, if your tail is any indication of your other appendages, any girl that you tried to show would probably only end up disappointed.”

The Lynxkin looked as ready to hit Autumn as she did him but the other two didn’t even spare a glance for the furious Fay who had my waist in a death grip. “You should know your place, all women should,” the Wolfkin said with a sneer.

My grandmother had told me once that the more traditional villages were fairly isolationist and often avoided the other Races as much as possible, preferring to be self-sufficient. They didn’t care much for Humans and only dealt with the Fay and Devilkin when absolutely necessary. They only sent light-bearers to the capital each year because they considered being selected to become Angels and fight Demons as an honor and a sign that not only their village but also the Great Spirits respected their prowess as a young warrior of their tribe.

“This is our place; our villages chose us for this,” I told them clearly. I could have said that I was two-spirited but I didn’t want to do that for two reasons. First, it might make Lisbet the sole focus of their ire, and I wouldn’t subject her to that. Secondly, I had never really seen myself as two-spirited, I was female. Now that my body matched who I felt that I was inside, I wanted to own my gender and leave the illusion of being two-spirited behind me.

“They couldn’t have had many qualified candidates then,” the Wolfkin said with a derisive laugh.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Karina growled as she stood up and got in the Wolfkin’s face.

“They are prey species and women at that. They are not suited for a warrior’s life. At least those two are male,” the Bearkin said as he gestured absently to Peter and Kyle sitting further down the table. “They even have the kitten using a man’s weapon, it’s an insult to real warriors. You risk the Great Spirits turning their backs on you, can you even hold that thing, girl?”

I found myself snarling and hissing at the trio as the rest of my team stood up to join those of us already standing. “I have Kasala’s favor, so I don’t think that I need to worry about what the Great Spirits might think. If you want to see how well I can use my Goliath, I would be more than happy to show you, asshole!”

“Women can do anything that men can do. Why don’t you ask our Trainer, hmm? She isn’t just an Angel, she was the first Angel and she’s survived fighting Demons since the Corps was founded,” Lisbet added as she crossed her arms and glowered at the trio. “And, she seemed to think that we did pretty well while fighting Demons in the Twin City ruins!”

“You couldn’t have fought any Demons worth fighting then. The rumor is that she’s this one’s grandmother too,” the Wolfkin said as he jerked a finger in my direction. “She’s a figurehead and she’s going easy on you, she’s probably only survived this long by letting others do the real work. You saw how she was scared to stand up to the Queen.”

“What did you say?” I asked frostily.

“You heard me,” Wolfy said with a sneer.

“Yeah, I did, and it sounded like you were insulting an Archangel,” I said stiffly. It was taking every bit of self-control that I had not to punch the smug asshole in the face. “Maybe you should try saying that to her face.”

“Any time, any place, Kitten,” he shot back.

“How about right now then?” my grandmother asked from behind the trio. She had Kelsie and another Trainer that I didn’t recognize, a large and imposing dark-skinned male, with her. “Is there a problem here, recruits?”

The scent of the three Animen suddenly changed, becoming tangy with fear as Risha replied for us. “Yeah, these assholes were insulting us, you, and women in general. I think that they need a good curb-stomping to teach them a lesson.”

“You would like to resolve this through combat then?” my grandmother asked, her eyes focusing on me.

“Yes, we would, Wingleader,” I said before turning to glare at the three. “Is it just you three jerks on your team, or are you dragging someone else into a beating for inflated egos too?”

The Bearkin finally managed to speak again, though he still smelled of fear and he was watching the Trainers warily. “It’s just the three of us, unlike some teams, Pike Wing believes in quality over quantity. We’ll take you on any time and show everyone just how overrated you are.”

The Human of the three Trainers sighed. “Well, it’s been agreed to. Maybe taking a beating from some girls will teach you idiots to listen to me, and not be so damn full of yourselves. We’ll have the match as the last of the team versus team battles, so all of the other recruits can see what happens to people who think that they know better than their Trainers.”

“Just to make it a little fairer, Dalen, your team will have another team fight with them. Six on seven will be more even and we have an odd number of training teams anyway,” our own Trainer suggested with a positively terrifying grin.

“We don’t need help,” the Wolfkin snapped. “Every one of us is a real warrior and worth ten of these girls.”

“Were you under the impression that that was a suggestion, recruit? Archangel Abbadine was giving an order, and you three are going to follow it. You will work with another team against Storm Wing and learn to work alongside your fellow Angels,” Dalen snapped.

As we finished breakfast Kyle was able to tell us a bit about the three jerks who had been harassing us. They had talked to him and Peter, and now me and Lisbet, since the seven of us were the only Animen accepted as Angels for this year’s class. They had been too busy insulting us to introduce themselves but the Bearkin was named Tomas Kodiak, the Wolfkin was Holden Gray, and the Lynxkin was Robert Schrodinger.

As I had thought, they were all from more traditional Animen villages and the three had little respect for anyone who wasn’t male and an Animen from a predator species. As far as the three members of Pike Wing were concerned, other species were beneath them. Lisbet and I, as the only two female Animen, and ‘prey’ species at that, were worth little more than that. I was starting to think that those they ignored were the lucky ones since I’d rather have been ignored than be told that I belonged at home cooking, cleaning, and having babies for someone like one of those three.

After we were finished eating, all of us first-year Angel recruits were led by our Trainers to the southern courtyard for our first team versus team training sessions. It was raining and had been for most of the night, so the courtyard was a wet, slushy, and icy mess that I thought might make things difficult for those fighting if they weren’t careful. As we waited for the Trainers to draw lots for the team battles I tried to get an idea of what we might be up against.

There were a total of thirty-seven recruits this year, including us, with twenty being boys and the rest of us girls. I knew that there were nine wings total and most of them had four team members. The exceptions to that were Storm Wing, of course, and Pike Wing, who we would be fighting against alongside one of the other teams. There were a total of nine training wings, so I guessed that at least our two-on-one team battle would make things fair and give everyone a chance at some combat.

It was as I was thinking about those things that my grandmother called out, “Attention! Would the team leaders for every team except for Storm Wing and Pike Wing please come up and draw a number from this satchel? Once you have drawn your number, show it to me and we will call out the participants in order of their numbers.”

“I wish we had time to actually practice using these weapons a little before getting thrown into combat practice,” Orchid muttered as Maryn went to draw her team’s number.

“Try to be unpredictable and remember that your weapons aren’t the only things you have to fight with,” I told her and her other teammates in a conspiratorial whisper once Maryn returned.

It took a couple of minutes but soon the matches were decided and, once it was, my grandmother shouted, “First up, Phantom Wing versus Breaker Wing! All other students can go sit on the benches against the wall to watch until it’s your turn!”

“Good luck,” my teammates and I told Maryn and the other members of Phantom Wing as we parted ways; with us headed toward one of the afore-mentioned benches while Phantom wing joined their opponents in the center of the courtyard.

Breaker Wing was a team of three boys and a girl, all of them Devilkin. They also seemed to be pretty confident. Going from their builds, all of the boys certainly had raw power going for them and, the girl looked very agile, judging from the way that she moved. On paper that might make them think that they had an advantage over the pair of slender girls and the less powerfully built Animen boys in Phantom Wing, especially since the latter were a Deerkin and a Harekin, two of the more stereotypically gentle variety of Animen.

Once both teams were gathered in the center of the courtyard, my grandmother decided to announce the rules of these contests. “I realize that not many of you have experience using your new weapons but you do have all of the data on how those weapons work and how to use them that was downloaded to your NCIs. Here’s how this is going to work, kids. Your weapons will be put into training mode, so the edges will be dulled and you will not be able to fire live ammo or energy.”

The first Angel paused a moment to let that sink in before continuing. “However, you will use your weapons as if you were in a real battle, so use them as well as you can because while you’re fighting all of your NCI’s will be linked with those of your opponents and their weapons. If your NCI determines that you have taken a blow or weapons fire that would have killed you in real-life combat, then you will be considered ‘dead’ and will have to leave the battle. And, before any of you start thinking to keep fighting regardless, know that your opponents and we Trainers will receive notification that you have been ‘killed’ as well.”

Another Trainer, a human-looking woman with blonde hair who was wearing heavy armor, grinned as she added, “And to make things more interesting, if you take a ‘hit’ from the simulated weapons fire then your NCI will use your nanites to numb that area of your bodies. The numbness will remain for the amount of time that your NCI determines that it would take you to heal from such an injury during combat conditions.”

“Please be aware though, even with dulled weapons you could still seriously injure one another. If someone is seriously injured, combat will be ended so that the injured party can receive medical attention,” my grandmother pointed out. Then she and the armored woman left the center of the yard to find a bench to enjoy the show from. Only once they were sat down did my grandmother call out, “And begin!”

Breaker Wing took to the offensive as soon as my grandmother spoke those final words, drawing their weapons and attempting to rush Maryn’s team. They were quickly stopped in their tracks though as Kyle used his Seed-borne gift to produce half a dozen swirling balls of light that had Breaker Wing stopping and staring with dazed expressions on their faces. The rest of Phantom Wing made sure to take advantage of their teammate’s distraction.

Orchid bolted for the stairs leading up to the top of the walls, her QS-4 Suppressor bouncing on her shoulder in sniper rifle mode as she ran. Then as soon as she was in a decent firing position, and her teammates had gotten clear and found what cover they could in the courtyard, she crouched down, and then she and her weapon vanished from sight. Luckily her dress was white and managed to blend in fairly well with the snow as well.

As she was making her run to cover, Maryn drew her pair of pulse pistols and, once she was behind cover and aiming, she created a quartet of illusory copies of Kyle to hopefully keep Breaker Wing from targeting the real one. That was a good strategy since Kyle hadn’t been able to move to cover while concentrating on using his gift to keep their opponents distracted. He hadn’t even been able to draw one of his throwing knives or his combat shotgun yet, he was so focused on creating and then maintaining those swirling lights. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like he was able to keep those lights going for long because they were already starting to fade as his teammates got to their chosen cover.

Breaker Wing seemed to be coming to their senses and dashed toward the only enemies that they could see at the moment, four of the Kyles, one of which happened to be the real deal. That was when all of the falling rain, and the water already gathered in puddles in the courtyard, worked to Phantom Wing’s advantage though. Peter was hiding in the snow and slush piled close to the east wall and he was making use of all of the moisture as a thick fog settled in and seemed to fill the entire courtyard so that I could barely see a few feet.

The fight was a rout after that. Breaker Wing was wiped out in roughly five minutes and none of the members of Phantom Wing were even ‘injured’. The only reason that it took as long as it had was that Maryn and her teammates had never even practiced with their weapons before, so their aim hadn’t been the best. Orchid had made good use of the infrared setting on her scope though. She had just had to aim for the people in the fog since Kyle had bolted as soon as he had the fog for cover.

“Nice work, Phantom Wing,” Risha offered with a grin as they came to sit beside us.

Meanwhile, my grandmother was beginning her post-battle lecture. “Phantom Wing won that round because they weren’t focused on just attacking with their weapons and overpowering their opponents. They were unpredictable, had a strategy, and used their gifts to their advantage. It’s not just about physical attributes and weapons. A smarter or more devious opponent can mean death to a team who goes in unprepared. Demons don’t fight fair, so you shouldn’t either. Your weapons are tools, one of many that you must learn to use to their fullest, but don’t focus solely on them. You have other means to fight, and creatively using gifts and the terrain to your advantage can win a battle or give you the chance to come up with a plan that will.”

We sat watching two more of the team versus team battles, and the lectures to follow, before it was our turn. Those fights were a lot more even and drawn out since everyone was trying to fight smarter than Breaker Wing had. The entire time, I was itching to fight and teach those jerks from Pike Wing a lesson. We did spend some time quietly discussing our strategy though.

Finally, my grandmother said, “Our last match for the morning will be Storm Wing against Pike Wing and Stone Wing. This match will also be to resolve a dispute between Storm Wing and Pike Wing.” Then she left to get out of the combat area and as she passed us on her way out she whispered, “Make it quick, and no mercy, girls.”

I was already concentrating on all of the water, slush, and snow in the area and as the Trainer in the heavy armor called for us to start, I bent the element to my will. Water froze, snow and slush shifted, and then it all hit our opponents in a wave that left them ankle-deep in a thick layer of ice that covered half of the courtyard. We could have finished it then and there by Lisbet firing a simulated grenade or by me changing to Gatling mode while they were all trying to extract themselves from the ice, but we wanted Pike Wing to know that they had been in a fight so they couldn’t contest this.

With that in mind, Risha, Heather, and Lisbet got into position and quickly took out the Human girl and the three boys of Stone Wing with some precision firing. We didn’t want any of them getting hurt when we went all out against the three members of Pike Wing. As I rushed toward the Bearkin who was trying to free himself from the ice with his huge cudgel, I called out orders. “Karina, you get wolf-boy and, Autumn, you take down stubby while I handle the bear. Risha, Lisbet, and Heather support fire if you think we need it. Hard and fast girls and let’s give them something to remember us by while they’re recovering in the infirmary.”

Tomas saw me coming and stopped bashing at the ice encasing his feet to take a swing at my head that probably would have killed someone without my dense bones and muscles. My Goliath was already drawn though and I intercepted the blow, batting his weapon aside. He might have been strong but I was stronger. He was also more inexperienced with his weapon; his swings were off balance and the ice wasn’t helping matters.

I got inside his guard and delivered a kick to his left side ribs that landed with a satisfying crack that caused him to scream out in pain. He tried to counter but he was unable to back off and with me inside his guard, he wasn’t able to get any force behind his blows. I was easily able to fend off his attacks with my Goliath and knocked his cudgel out of his hand to slide along the ice and out of his reach.

Meanwhile, the Wolfkin was trying to take down Karina with his pair of energy pistols, but the Devilkin kept teleporting out of the way and reappearing to lash out with her chain scythes. Even with her scythes dulled they were leaving painful-looking but relatively shallow bloody gashes behind before she teleported out of his way again to do it all over, until there was hardly a part of him that wasn’t bloody. After a couple of minutes of this frustration, he seemed to give up on hitting her and aimed at me instead, only to have her teleport right in front of him and deliver a punch to his nose. I could hear the crack from where I was standing as she broke his nose and said, “Nuh-uh, asshole, you’re fighting me.” Her follow-up punch rendered him unconscious.

I smiled as I looked at her and ducked a swing from my own opponent. “I’m going to give you one chance to surrender and apologize before I decide to go all out on you,” I warned him.

“Fuck you, bitch,” he growled as he took another swing.

“Okay, you asked for it,” I said as I struck with a powerful overhand swing that purposely missed him by a narrow margin and hit the ground. The force of the blow was powerful enough to shatter the inches thick layer of ice that I had made earlier and leave a deep tear in the stone floor of the courtyard beneath. My opponent’s eyes widened and I could smell the fear coming off of him as I hit him with a spin kick, landing on his uninjured right ribs with a resounding crack that let me know that they weren’t uninjured anymore as he was sent flying.

Autumn had been toying with the Lynxkin, darting in and out while changing her gravity to leave painful-looking welts and puncture wounds all over him. He had been freed when I shattered the ice in the courtyard though and was now intent on fighting back with his pair of short swords, so Autumn stopped taunting and started fighting seriously. She danced out of the way of one of his thrusts, slapping his forearm with her Lightfoil and leaving a long welt along his arm. As he screamed in pain and dropped the sword he was holding in that hand, Autumn spun around him to slash down at his stubby tail hard enough to draw blood, causing him to scream in agony again.

The Fay wasn’t finished yet though. She wanted to get her revenge for his treatment of us before we would be forced to abide by whatever decision we made about our ‘disagreement’ and we weren’t allowed to hold a grudge. “This is for Snowy,” she said grimly as she changed his gravity to the courtyard wall that was thirty feet away and sent him falling into it with a crash.

I had my own opponent on the ropes. He was scared and backing away frantically to try to avoid getting hit with any swings from my Goliath. I had already left several nasty bruises and a few gashes in his torso and legs when he hadn’t moved quickly enough and he was wincing in pain with each backward step, though that could have been due to the injured ribs. My current slash tore apart the courtyard floor once again and he narrowly avoided it though he was pelted by flying stonework. I wasn’t going to let up though, so I dug the tip of the Goliath into the now exposed dirt beneath the stones and while he was expecting me to try to recover my balance, I let go of my weapon and tackled him, raining punches down on him until his face was a bruised and bloody mess.

He was barely conscious when I climbed off of him and recovered my weapon. “You and the rest of your team won’t talk to Storm Wing again unless you can be civil about it, you will apologize to my grandmother for what you said, and from now on you will listen to your damn Trainer. Oh, and we never want to hear your vile opinions on women again.”

“The winner is Storm Wing!” the woman in the heavy armor called out. “Once these three regain consciousness we will inform them of the resolution that the victors have decided upon and they will comply or face punishment.”

“Let this be a lesson to all of you,” my grandmother cautioned everyone. “Never judge someone’s combat abilities based on what they look like, their gender, size, or species. This goes for both your fellow Angels and your enemies. Pike Wing underestimated their opponents and it could have cost them their lives if Storm Wing hadn’t restrained themselves.” I could have sworn that she was smirking as she said that and took in the damage to the courtyard.

Kelsie, the Trainer for Phantom Wing, was quick to add her piece as well. “Listen to your Trainers, recruits. We’re all experienced Angels and we’re ready to give you the benefit of that experience. You get to learn from our mistakes and our successes. You just fought one another but this isn’t a competition, you’re all part of the Corps and you’re all here for the same reason. Use future sessions like this to not only improve your own skills and strategies but to help your fellow recruits improve theirs as well.”

“Those of you who don’t need to go to the infirmary are dismissed to go explore the city if you like. Your Trainers will talk to those of you who are going to be asked to hide your Angel insignias and weapons and visit the city incognito. If you are chosen then you will be given instructions and your other team members will act as backup in case of trouble,” my grandmother announced, freeing us for the rest of the day.

With the speeches and announcements made, my grandmother came to join us, grinning from ear to ear as Kelsie went to talk to Phantom Wing and Dalen went to deal with the members of Pike Wing. “Good work, girls. We seem to get a few recruits like those boys every year for as long as the academy has been around, and they need to learn early on that that attitude isn’t going to work out for them here. They need to learn to be part of the team and take orders. Hopefully, the beating that you gave them will knock some sense into their heads.”

“I think that you enjoyed that a little too much, Wingleader,” I told my grandmother with a roll of my eyes.

“Well, they did deserve it and you girls did well. Figurehead, my ass,” she replied with a snort of distaste. “Okay, girls, we’re going to alternate you all going incognito over the next few days. Today it will be Snow and Autumn, so you two keep your new pistols hidden but within reach. The rest of you will be watching them covertly from a distance as they explore the city and you’ll have your weapons and insignias visible. Risha will carry Snow’s Goliath for her while Karina will carry Autumn’s Light Foil. Give them some space but one of you keep your eyes out for trouble at all times and be ready to support them if needed.”

“I was kind of hoping that we could all explore the city together,” I said, feeling a little disappointed.

“Think of it as a date,” Risha suggested, “and don’t worry, we’ll have your backs.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” my grandmother said with a thoughtful look on her face. “Today, you two are a young couple exploring the city. If anything is going to raise the hackles of the Queen’s followers enough to test their reactions and behavior toward Seed-borne who aren’t obviously Angels, an interspecies and same-sex relationship between two obvious Seed-borne in public would probably do the trick. You can have lunch with Phantom Wing first if you like, and here’s some money so you can both get some new clothes and other things in the marketplace. Buy the clothes before going for lunch, Maryn can help you since she knows the capital. People will notice if you’re both going around dressed the same as the new Angel recruits exploring the city.”

“Oooh a date! I love this idea!” Autumn exclaimed with a grin as she snatched up the offered coin satchel in one hand, and my hand in the other. “Let’s go get this started, Snowy.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 21 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 21: Family Ties

As luck would have it, Maryn knew just the place for us to get some clothes. It turned out that she needed some too since she would be going incognito as well. Sira had decided that since Maryn knew the capital as only a native could, and her appearance had changed some from the Angel Elixir, she would be a good candidate to blend in and hear things that people might not say with visible Seed-borne around.

Like with me and Autumn, her team would be shadowing from a distance in case things went badly, though I felt that that was probably much less likely to happen with her than with us. Though my grandmother gave us the option of working together if we wanted to. So Maryn planned to follow me and Autumn from a distance to try and pick up anything that might be said about the two of us once we were out of hearing. She also suggested that while she would be trying to blend in, the two of us should stand out as much as possible.

With that in mind, she also had some ideas on what we should all wear. So, as soon as our group of ten made our way out of the gates of the academy, Maryn led us to a clothing shop that wasn’t too far away from our starting point. It was just down the street from her uncle’s café as well so Maryn sent the others on ahead to wait for us there while she took me and Autumn into the shop in question.

“Don’t worry,” the brunette assured us in a hushed tone as we entered the shop, “Fawn and Kyra will take good care of us. My dad told me that a lot of the new Angel recruits usually come to them for clothes these days, especially those not used to the city, since they’re good at making alterations for extra limbs and are familiar with the type of clothes that those of you from Animen, Fay, or Devilkin villages are more comfortable in.”

“You’re sure about that, Maryn?” Autumn asked uncertainly. “It’ll probably help sell that we’re fresh from our respective villages if we’re dressed like it.”

“Yeah, Dad said that they know their stuff and I guess a lot of the Fay, in particular, don’t like Human winter fashions. There are too many layers and women are expected to have pretty much everything but our faces covered, no matter what the time of year. It’s considered immodest to show any skin beneath your neck to anyone but your husband, at least among the nobility. Even us commoners tend to wear a lot of layers in the winter though,” our friend explained as we looked around the clothing on display.

“Well, that explains the dress and boots that Heather was wearing when we met her,” I said thoughtfully. “Are you sure they make clothes for people like us? All that I see are the kinds of things that the Humans outside are wearing.”

“We do, we just don’t advertise it,” a melodious voice said and I turned toward it in surprise. I had barely heard the woman before she spoke, and that was only because of the motion of the curtain that had opened from the back of the shop where she stood appraising us. Then she nodded and with a wink added, “You’ve come for a private fitting? Would one of you be a dear and lock the door and turn the sign in the window?”

As Maryn turned to comply, I took a good look at the young woman. She was in her late teens and somewhat tall and slender with a pretty face, though her face was all that I could see. Her eyes were a bright blue, set in a pretty yet slightly angular face. A navy blue scarf covered her hair and most of her head, the same shade of blue as the bulky layered dress that covered her from throat to her ankles and wrists. Black boots poked out from beneath the hem of the dress and her hands were covered in white gloves. She looked like a Human, and it seemed like she was dressed the part as well, but something about her didn’t smell quite right.

Once Maryn had the door locked and had flipped the sign in the window the young woman smiled. “Please, come join us in the back room and you can tell me and Kyra what you need. While most of the clothing that we display out front here is meant for Humans, we do cater to the other Races as well. We just need to be careful about it since Queen Sabine took the throne,” she said as she pushed through the curtain ahead of us.

“Hmmmph. Queen Dalia must be turning in her tomb, if she was still alive and ruling we wouldn’t have to hide our services, or ourselves this way,” another young woman muttered as we followed the woman into the back room. She was dressed similarly to the other woman and perhaps a couple of years younger, closer to our age, though her scarf and dress were green instead of blue. Her eyes were a deep brown and she smelled like an Animan to me, though not any type that I had ever encountered before.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, Sis,” the first young woman said with a sigh. It sounded like they had had this argument before. Then she turned back to us and gave us a weak smile before starting introductions. “I’m Fawn Woodward and this is my sister Kyra,” the one in the blue said. “Our parents are Angels and we opened this place a couple of years ago. Officially we’re seamstresses catering to the wealthy but we help those who need to, to blend in among Humans, and a lot of Angel recruits come to us for clothing too. I assume that’s why you’re here?”

“Umm… you don’t look or smell like sisters, you don’t even smell like you’re the same species,” I said trying to figure out their scents.

“I’m adopted,” Kyra said as the pair removed their scarves to reveal their ears. “Mom and Dad’s team found me on a mission when I was a baby.” No wonder I hadn’t been able to figure out their scents. I had never seen a Sheepkin, like Kyra seemed to be, before and Fawn had slightly pointed ears poking through her blonde hair, though they weren’t as long as Autumn’s, and her eyes seemed like those of a Human rather than with slit-pupils like those of a Fay.

“You’re half Fay,” Autumn said in surprise, a smile curling her lips upward.

“Yup, Mom and Dad were put on the same team together and they just clicked so Mom took him as her mate. Since neither Kyra nor I were really suited to be Angels, they gave us a choice once we both had our gifts; we could try to join the Corps as support staff or help in some other way once we were old enough or we could go live with our grandparents in Whiteriver Glade and try to make a life there,” Fawn replied with a nod.

“Whiteriver Glade?! That’s the glade that I am from!” Autumn practically squealed. While they usually accepted the use of the word ‘village’ when speaking with Humans or other Races, during Heather’s Fay lessons Autumn had told us that they preferred the term ‘glade’.

“Mom took us there once when we were both really young, you’d have probably been a baby then if you were born yet at all,” Kyra said, a faint smile touching her lips. “I barely remember it but everyone was so nice, even though I’m not one of you and Fawn is only half Fay. Mom always says that family isn’t about blood though, it’s about love. We almost decided to go there but with the way things have been turning against Seed-borne here in the capital, we decided to try to help the Corps by doing what we can to help keep an eye on things here and helping those who need it.”

“We help where we can,” Fawn agreed. “We provide disguises, help people who need to get out of the city, and sometimes I use my Seed-borne gift to smuggle things like food or our disguises to those who need help.”

“At least you have a useful gift, Sis,” Kyra replied with a sigh as the black-haired Sheepkin girl tugged uncomfortably at her clothes. “You can make things grow or shrink, my wool just grows really fast, so I end up having to eat more and shave it off every day to blend in with the Humans.”

“It only works with inanimate objects though, and nothing with moving parts. At least your wool is strong and durable, and so is the cloth that we weave from it,” Fawn said to console her sister. Then her attention turned back to us, or rather me. “So, what can we do for you, girls? You’re Angel recruits, right? I recognize clothes made in a nano-weave factory when I see them. I’m not sure if we can help you to blend in very well though. We can get you human clothes to help cover your tail and ears, but your eyes and nose might be a problem. I’ve never seen an Animan with animal features to that degree before.”

“Yep, we’re Angel recruits, but I’m the only one who needs to blend in,” Maryn said with a grin. “These two need to stand out as much as possible. They should look like they just arrived from the forest or one of the glades.”

Once we told the pair of seamstresses about our assignment and they swore not to speak of it with anyone else, they got to work. Maryn was of course the easiest since they had plenty of human clothes already made in the front of the shop, they just needed to find something that fit and suited her coloring. She ended up wearing an outfit similar to their own in a deep plum hue, only with her brunette hair demurely braided instead of covered by a scarf. Rather than sending her to a shoe store for proper boots, Kyra offered a pair of her older boots that Fawn made a little bigger to fit the Human girl properly.

Autumn wouldn’t be too hard to get equipped either since the pair often made clothes for their Fay mother and Human father, so they had a couple of outfits on hand that wouldn’t need to even be altered much to fit Autumn’s lithe form. The pair were more worried about me since they didn’t have much fur or leather on hand at the moment that hadn’t already been used for clothes for the new Human, Devilkin, and Animen recruits for support staff for the Corps, who had been in the city for over a week already with nothing but time on their hands to do things like get new clothes.

Their concerned frowns over that quickly turned to grins when Autumn proudly declared that I was her first chosen mate and the plan was to show that off as much as possible. With that in mind, they quickly sent Maryn off with some of our money to procure a couple of pairs of Animan-style winter moccasins from a nearby leatherworker while they got to work. Moccasins were one of the things that the Fay often traded for during their trading expeditions to Serkis since they didn’t work with animal hides themselves and traded what little they had for other goods, along with things like honey, mead, hemp, smoking weed, and sometimes fruits and vegetables.

With their desire to be true to nature, Fay only really tend to wear clothes when it’s cold or when dealing with the other, more reserved Races. Even then, they often wear clothes worn from leaves, vines, and flowers except for when it gets too cold to be comfortable that way. When it gets colder they make clothes from hemp cloth, or cotton or wool when they can trade for it. That was why they trade for winter moccasins since they are warm, comfortable, and well-made.

While Maryn was off getting our footwear, Fawn resized a winter outfit that they had originally made for their mother and then she and Kyra got to work making any needed adjustments. Autumn didn’t really need many changes made though, once they were the proper size, since most Fay are slender and lithe. I was a lot curvier though, and I had a tail to worry about. So, rather than altering an outfit for me, they made a new one from surprisingly warm and cozy dyed wool cloth. I was worried that it might take days but once they had taken my measurements and the cloth was cut, they used a Tinker-made machine to sew the pieces together really quick.

It still took a little over an hour but once they were finished, Autumn and I were wearing matching outfits consisting of light gray form-fitting wool hose and long-sleeved tops that reminded me of my HESS armor in its standard bodysuit mode. Over top, we wore a barely-there over-layer like a two-piece bathing suit of dark green leaf patterns suggestively covering our breasts and nether regions. It looked a lot like what Autumn had been wearing when we first met. The pair of seamstresses assured me that Humans of high society would find the outfits simply scandalous and that they were normal for Fay winter wear.

The outfits seemed comfortable and went well with the grey-colored winter moccasins and gloves with fur trim that Maryn had found for us. Finishing off the outfits were warm green cloaks the same shade as the leaves with braided fringes along the hems and hoods. They had brightly colored beads and tiny metal bells woven in that shifted and tinkled whenever we moved. They already had a few of the cloaks made for their parents, and they didn’t need to be fitted or altered, so that saved some time. They claimed that it would be easy for them to make more cloaks later.

Since we wouldn’t have belt pouches or anything with the outfits they also provided some simple satchels of Fay design that we would be able to use as purses to store our money pouches and any small items that we happened to buy during our outing. They had thick shoulder straps and would be difficult for purse snatchers or pickpockets to try to cut open or relieve us of. They were also roomy enough to keep our pistols and ammunition hidden.

As they worked, Kyra assured us that since the outfits were made from her wool they would be durable, warm, and fairly damage resistant. The properties of the wool were apparently part of her Seed-borne gift. If tightly woven enough, the cloth could serve as light armor, which was why they both had hose and tops made from it worn underneath their Human clothes, and why they made their parents' clothing from it to wear on missions. She wanted to be able to make more to help other Angels but even having to shave her wool every morning, they would never be able to make enough cloth to serve the needs of very many people.

Kyra had been saving most of it since her Seed-borne gift developed six years earlier but there was barely enough cloth made at the moment for two dozen full outfits, including mine and Autumn’s. I felt bad for that, especially since I had my HESS armor hidden. They shouldn’t have had to use such a precious resource for two strangers. When I mentioned that, leaving out the part about the HESS armor, both seamstresses shook their heads and clasped one of my hands.

“You’re both going to be Angels, Autumn is Fay, she’s from the same village as our mother, and you are her intended mate. That makes you both like family, and we take care of our family,” the Sheepkin young woman insisted, earning a solemn nod from her half-Fay sister. Still, I felt bad and resolved to ask Risha later if we could scan the unique wool cloth to be used as a material in the boutique booths.

I wanted to tell them about the booths and that we might all need to leave the capital soon, but I knew that everything needed to remain classified for now. Instead, I nodded. “We take care of our family too. If we find out anything about what’s going on here in the capital that you might need to know, we’ll come let you know as soon as we can.”

I also insisted on paying them twice what they were asking for the clothes. I had a feeling that they were trying to undercharge us both after seeing what Maryn had paid for her clothes even with the discount they gave to people in the Corps. Between that, the material, and them getting us outfitted relatively quickly they deserved to be paid what they were worth.

As we said our farewells and made our way to meet the others at the café owned by Maryn’s uncle, I decided something else as well. I was going to talk to my grandmother and Sira about the pair taking the Angel Elixir and becoming recruits like us. Sure, Fawn was almost nineteen and Kyra was seventeen but there was no set age limit for new recruits. Most of us were my age but there were a few nearly as old as Fawn.

While talking with them as they made my new outfit we discovered that their parents hadn’t told them that they weren’t suited to be Angels, they just felt that their gifts wouldn’t be useful to the Corps. I could see plenty of use for making things bigger or smaller during combat though and if Kyra let that durable wool of hers grow out a bit she’d have built-in body armor. Regardless though, flashy offensive gifts weren’t what made people good Angels, it was a desire to help and protect others and they both had that in spades.

Maryn seemed to like the pair as much as we did too and I could see her thinking along similar lines as we talked about the creative use of gifts. I could see the two seamstresses fitting in well with Phantom Wing too and with six members, Maryn’s team might just make another good special operations team someday. I was still thinking that over as Maryn led us into a slightly rundown building with a wooden sign hanging over the door that said, The Rusty Halo.

We stepped inside and found that while it may have looked rundown on the outside, the inside was warm, well-maintained, had a friendly atmosphere, and smelled heavenly. Nobody gave us a second glance as we entered and the rest of Storm Wing and Phantom Wing waved to get our attention. They were all sitting at a large trestle table in the back corner, the remnants of their lunch scattered across the table.

“You guys got here quicker than I thought,” Lisbet commented. “I know we’ve all been spoiled by nano-weave factories and stuff since we joined the Corps but my mom is a seamstress and it can take a while to adjust clothes to fit or make a new outfit from bare cloth. You were only gone about an hour and a half though.”

“It is a good thing that Maryn messaged us earlier to let us know that you were going to be a while. I didn’t really think about how much time or work it might take, I have never really had clothes made specifically for me that weren’t done by more advanced means,” Risha said pensively. Then she quickly added, “You know, because I just wore whatever I could find while at the base in the ruins.”

“They had something that they called a sewing machine, made by Tinkers. That made things go a bit faster,” I said with a shrug. “It would have taken a lot longer for them to hand stitch everything. They just had to make a few adjustments to something for Autumn and Maryn but they didn’t have anything that would work for me on hand and, since we wanted to stand out, we decided to push the whole ‘mates’ thing for me and Autumn.

“Aww, it’s so cute that you two match,” Heather said with a smirk and a roll of her eyes. “Those outfits are a bit scandalous though. They don’t leave much to the imagination and, what they do, they draw blatant attention to. I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing something so brazen.”

Autumn returned her smirk with a teasing grin. “Aww, but when I told them that Snowy and I weren’t the only potential mates for our group they agreed to make one for you and Risha as well. And you will need something for when you get to spend your time wandering the city as bait. These are traditional cold weather Fay clothes too, and you are Fay, in case you have forgotten.”

Heather turned white and then red and failed to sputter out a reply while Risha just shrugged. “I’ll wear it.” When Heather turned to half glare, half stare at the Avatar in disbelief, she merely shrugged again. “What? They both look sexy as hell, and the material looks comfortable.”

“I’d wear it,” Karina casually agreed.

Heather’s cheeks turned bright crimson and she gaped at me and Autumn for a moment before quickly redirecting her gaze to her lap. “Fine… it’s not like anyone in the city would recognize me anyway. N…not because I like the idea! I just… need to get used to looking and acting like a proper Fay. You know… like you… umm… keep telling me.”

“Sure, Heather,” Orchid teased as Autumn and I sat down to join them and Maryn went to speak with someone at the counter. “And with me and Autumn helping, soon nobody will be able to tell that you weren’t born one of us.”

“One of us… one of us… one of us…” Risha chanted in a slightly creepy voice, drawing confused looks from everyone at the table.

I didn’t have time to ask the AI about the reference, and it probably wasn’t a good idea anyway, as the large man that Maryn had left the table to approach and was now talking to suddenly shouted in glee, “Maryn!” He had dark brown hair and eyes and a bushy beard and he practically crushed Maryn in a hug as he lifted her off the ground and carried her back to our table. “The Angel Elixir was good to you, lass! How’s my favorite niece?”

“I’m your only niece, Uncle Jarl,” Maryn laughed as the huge man placed her in an empty chair at the table. Then the leader of Phantom Wing began to make the introductions. Jarl was a boisterous man who obviously adored his niece and since Maryn, Autumn, and I hadn’t eaten lunch with the others he was eager to please in that regard.

“Let me get you lasses something to eat then. I’ll bring out your favorite, Maryn,” he offered with a bearlike grin before giving me and Autumn an appraising look. “I have some boar steaks with baked potatoes and some honey bread for the Fay lass. Worry not, it didn’t suffer. A friend of mine made sure of that, and it was killed because it was causing havoc in the farmlands outside the city. It tore up a good bit of the forest too.”

Autumn grinned and nodded vigorously, jumping at the chance for a bit of guilt-free meat. “That would be great, thank you. It is nice to meet someone who is so knowledgeable about Fay eating habits.”

“My pleasure, lass. I have good friends in one of the nearby glades and I visit with trade goods on occasion. I got some good mead last time that I was there too if that tickles your fancy,” he said with a grin as my Fay girlfriend enthusiastically nodded her acceptance. “And for the Catkin lass? Some nice fish maybe? Or would you like the same thing as your partner? You make a fair couple, if you don’t mind me sayin’.”

I found myself liking Maryn’s uncle, I could see where she got her exuberant friendliness from. As tempting as the fish was, I found myself saying, “I’ll have what Autumn is having, I’ve always wanted to try mead, and a steak sounds really good right now. Thank you very much, Sir.”

He laughed and said, “My pleasure, lass. None of that ‘sir’ business with me though, ya hear? Maryn’s friends can call me Uncle Jarl. I’ll bring out the bread and mead first to start you lasses off while the cooks get the rest going.”

Uncle Jarl hurried off to the kitchen and returned with a tray that held a plate piled high with small loaves of bread, two large mugs filled with a golden liquid, and a third mug with what looked and smelled like fresh goat milk. There was plenty of bread for both us and Maryn, and the scent of it was amazing. As good as the smell was though, it didn’t compare to the taste.

It was warm and sweet, fresh from the oven and there was a cup of creamy butter and another filled with strawberry jam if we wanted it. I had butter on mine and the bread practically melted in my mouth even as the butter had on the warm loaves. The mead was sweet too and seemed to have more of a kick than the ale or wine that my grandmother had sometimes let me have on special occasions. Not that our nanites would let us get drunk, but the taste was something that I thought I could definitely get used to.

I had decided that I was definitely going to eat at The Rusty Halo again by the time the main course had arrived. Maryn was having some type of mixed vegetables and meat cooked in a tangy-smelling sauce and the steaks were well worth the short wait. They were nicely seared on the outside but thick, juicy, and cooked to perfection with grilled mushrooms and gravy on top. The potatoes were nice and fluffy too, and it was probably one of the best meals that I ever had that didn’t come out of a food dispenser.

Autumn seemed to enjoy the meal as much as I had and we were both grinning from ear to ear by the time we finished eating and decided to pay our bill. Considering that my ears are on the top of my head, that’s saying something. With full bellies, we spoke in hushed tones as we discussed our plan of action for the rest of the afternoon and evening with our teams.

The other members of Storm Wing planned to follow behind Autumn and me from a distance, keeping close enough to respond if needed but out of sight of us as they pretended to take in the city as new Angel recruits and Risha monitored our GPS locators. The only exception would be Karina, who would follow us along the rooftops and keep an eye out for trouble from above. We would be keeping our comms open the entire time as well so that the others could monitor us more easily.

All of the members of Phantom Wing, except for Maryn, would be sticking with Lisbet, Risha, and Heather to make it seem like they were a group of friends from the academy (which was technically true). Maryn would follow us a bit closer and keep us in sight so she could catch any conversations or comments about us, or Seed-borne in general, once we were out of hearing range. We were hoping that she would be seen as just a young noblewoman out exploring the marketplace and spending her parents’ or husband’s money.

Autumn and I left the café first, still smiling as we walked hand in hand and made no secret of our affection for one another, and occasionally stopped to share a kiss as we made our way, following Maryn’s directions toward the marketplace to begin our date. We figured that we would get the most exposure there since it was frequented by people of all walks of life. After some shopping and being seen we would try to head into the nobles’ district and see how that went while playing lost visitors to the city. I had to admit that it was nice having some alone time with Autumn and holding her hand, even if while we giggled, talked, and tried to appear relaxed we had to keep our senses alert to the people around us and possible danger.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 22 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 22: Scouting

As we explored the marketplace, most people ignored me and Autumn unless we interacted with them directly. Other visible Seed-borne were friendly and would approach us, and the Tinkers and Alchemists were cordial as we looked over their goods, but the normal Humans’ responses to us were varied. Some were fairly friendly while others watched us carefully and looked down their noses at us.

We stayed close to one another, holding hands as we walked and keeping as much body contact as possible as we made no secret of the fact that we were a couple. As much as I was enjoying the time with Autumn though, we were making use of our time, and money, for other things as well. We bought a couple of new outfits and some Alchemist-made skin cream, conditioning shampoo, and body cleansing cream. They didn’t smell as nice as the stuff that Risha had gotten us from the food dispenser at home, but we hadn’t brought that stuff with us and it was a lot nicer than the stuff that the academy provided.

The capital’s marketplace was huge and there was stuff being sold there that came from all over Misota, and beyond. We spent most of the afternoon and early evening exploring and we still hadn’t seen everything. We were trying to decide whether to get something for dinner in the marketplace or return to the academy for dinner as we ‘got lost’ in the edges of the nobles’ district.

There were far fewer people around now and it was starting to get dark when we decided to turn around and head back toward the crowds of the market. What people that we were encountering were giving us looks that were either openly hostile or like we were a particularly rancid-smelling pile of manure that had been left in the street. I cautiously took long and deep breaths, searching the scents in the air regularly, and my ears and eyes were constantly moving and alert for anything out of the ordinary.

-= You have a tail, Snow, =- Karina’s voice informed us over comms.

As tempted as I was to joke that I’d had a tail since the day I was born, this wasn’t the time for levity and I knew precisely what she was talking about. “I know,” I whispered in a low enough voice that only Autumn and those listening on comms could hear. “He’s upwind and his scent is getting closer, not further away. It’s why I’ve had us take a few random turns along side streets. If he was just walking in the same general direction as us then his body odor, and that horrible cologne that he’s using to try to cover it up, would be mercifully fading. No such luck, I think he’s going to make his move soon.”

-= Yeah, he’s picked up his pace so he’s probably trying to catch up with you, =- Karina confirmed.

-= I have him in sight too, =- Maryn’s voice said. -= I’ll pick up my pace in case we need to use Angel authority to get him to back off. It’s probably best if you two don’t reveal yourselves unless absolutely necessary, you make wonderful bait. Oh, the nasty things that I’ve heard the nobles here saying about you once you’re out of earshot.=-

“Thank you, Maryn… I think,” Autumn muttered beside me. “Do we want to know what you have been hearing?”

-= Oh, you know, the usual for those bigots. “Demon Spawn.” “Why aren’t the Angels here to take out the trash?” “They should be with their own kind.” “This is the capital, not some hovel in the woods for animals and Fay filth.” You know, that sorta thing. =- Maryn replied, imitating their snooty noblesse speech. -= Their kind makes me feel dirty just for looking Human. =-

-= Heads up, your stalker just took a big hit of liquid courage, if he has what I think he does in that flask. =- Karina warned.

“Yeah, it’s some sort of alcohol, strong stuff too,” I whispered.

The man was closing in on us, roughly ten paces behind us as I heard him mutter, “Fucking Demon spawn,” under his breath.

I was expecting him to start yelling obscenities but at the same time that I smelled the black powder Karina warned. “He’s got a weapon!”

The bastard was going to try to shoot us in the back. I let go of Autumn’s hand and spun on my heel, my cloak fluttering from movement. The man was dressed in very fancy clothes and I had just enough time to see his hateful glare before it was replaced by a look of shock as I spun to face him and quickly closed the distance between us to bat the weapon out of his hand. The weapon looked Tinker-made but I only got a brief look at it before it was sent flying and clattered along the flagstones as the man screamed in pain.

I had reacted even as Connie said, -= You are engaging a hostile, would you like to switch your H.E.S.S to combat mode? =-

“No, Connie! We’re supposed to be low-profile here and the HESS is still top secret,” I quickly thought at my NCI.

“Demon spawned bitch! You broke my hand!” our would-be attacker yelled angrily while clutching his hand, his eyes darting around for his weapon. He quickly fell to his knees though, looking even more uncomfortable under Autumn’s glare as she increased his personal gravity.

“You tried to shoot us in the back, so I think that makes us even,” I countered as I saw Maryn running toward us and Karina gliding down from a rooftop.

As I waited for them to reach us, I kept my eyes on our attacker and got a good look at him. He was a rather plain-looking man in his mid to late thirties with his greasy brown hair tied back in a noble’s braid. He had the rosy cheeks and nose of a man who far too often overindulged in alcohol and frown lines from what must have been a near-perpetual sneer. Just great, a nobleman with an ego. Other than what looked like a broken wrist and a similarly damaged trigger finger, he didn’t seem to be damaged.

His clothes looked to be expensive; a navy blue coat with detailed embroidery and lace cuffs overtop of a white shirt with a flouncy lace collar and lacing that seemed to be straining to hold in his gut. His trousers matched his jacket in color and material and were tucked into a pair of black leather boots that were probably custom-made. I also noticed a large bulge in the crotch of his trousers that didn’t look quite right to my eyes, like he was stuffing his loincloth. Since I had seen several noblemen during our exploration of the capital today, and none of them seemed to have more than the usual down there, I figured that it wasn’t some fashion thing among the nobles.

“I’m Angel Maryn and this is Angel Karina,” Maryn said as she and Karina approached, making sure that we could all see her Angel insignia. “What’s going on here?”

“I was doing your job!” the man snapped angrily still straining under the increased gravity. “You’re supposed to protect us from Demons!”

“I don’t see any Demons around here, only a Catkin and a Fay,” Maryn said calmly while Karina glared at the man.

“The beast broke my hand and they’re using some witchery on me!” the man snarled, gritting his teeth from the pain in his hand and the effort of trying to remain on his knees under the increased gravity that Autumn was subjecting him to. Though he did mutter under his breath, “Thrice-damned creatures shouldn’t be allowed in the city with civilized people without some sort of supervision.”

“It was self-defense; I only knocked the gun from his hand after he tried to shoot one of us in the back. The weapon is right over there, Miss Angel,” I said, acting as if I didn’t know the pair. I had heard his muttered aside, and I was pretty sure that Autumn had as well going by how she had stiffened up beside me.

Maryn was frowning as she walked over to collect the gun and when she found it that frown immediately deepened. It had a wide and short barrel and she handled it with distaste. “My dad showed me one of these once. This is a scattergun; they fire a wide burst of small projectiles, tiny balls, blades, or a mix of both. They aren’t made anymore because they’re messy and not very reliable in the long term. How far away was he when he tried to fire?”

“About ten paces,” I told her.

“If he had pulled the trigger at that range, one of two things would have happened,” Maryn said with a grimace. “Either both of you would have been filled with holes or, if the gun wasn’t meticulously maintained, it would have blown his hand off and still probably would have filled you both with holes.”

I knew that my HESS armor would have protected me if I had been hit anywhere but in the head but Autumn wouldn’t have been so lucky. Maybe our new clothes could have protected us but I wasn’t eager to test that. More importantly, he didn’t know that, or the fact that we were both Angels. We could have both been killed or, at the very least, seriously injured. In fact, death was more than likely if we hadn’t been Angels with backup. This man had just tried to murder us in cold blood.

Since there were now four of us to one of him, I took Autumn’s hand in mine again and gave it a gentle squeeze. She got the idea and released him from her gravity well. Karina had apparently heard his earlier muttered comment though since the Devilkin had been glaring at him since and now took the opportunity to speak, all while keeping her glare on the man who was starting to squirm under her attention as he got to his feet. “That sounds like attempted murder to me, Maryn. Under Misota law, Seed-borne demi-humans have the same rights and protections as Humans do.”

“Not for long,” he said with a sneer as he glared at Autumn and me. My ears flattened and my tail bristled in annoyance as he looked past us with a nasty smile on his face, waved with his undamaged hand to someone behind us, and called out, “Guards!”

A pair of footsteps approaching us from behind suddenly quickened at his call along with the clinking of poorly fitted plate armor. Maryn and Karina were watching both the fop and the men approaching from behind me and Autumn so I took in a deep breath to calm myself so I wouldn’t throttle the man in front of us. I could smell oil, sweat, steel, and leather as a voice stammered, “L-lord Nelson. W-what seems to be the trouble?”

Heather’s voice came over comms in a disgusted tone. “Snow, I think that’s Lord Samson Nelson. I heard about him through the servants, and they had nothing nice to say. He’s one of the two biggest landowners in Misota and a ‘friend’ of my father.”

Nelson pushed his way rudely past us to speak with the guards and made a show of cradling his injured hand. From their body language and the scent of fear that I was smelling from them, they were afraid of him. There was no way that Autumn and I were going to get fair treatment like this and Angels can’t directly interfere with the guards in mundane criminal matters. That smug bastard knew it too. “Take these two Demon-spawn away, they assaulted me and…”

“Assaulted you, my tail!” I snapped, barely holding back a snarl of distaste. “He tried to shoot us in the back and is interfering with an official Angel investigation!” I commanded Connie to allow my Angel insignia to show and Autumn quickly followed suit.

“What kind of investigation could you be doing in the noble’s district?” one of the guards asked nervously as he looked us over. He probably thought that we were a standard four-man team and usually, an investigation meant looking for Demon activity.

“Hmmm… I don’t know if I should be telling you this, since it’s Angel business and all…” I replied as casually as I could as I tried to think of something appropriate.

That was when Risha’s voice whispered over the comms, “Snow, repeat after me…”

Since I couldn’t come up with something convincing, I decided to play along with the Avatar and repeated her words. “We are in search of a Nazgûl. It walks among us and appears as a man, hooded and cloaked. However, it is no man. Beneath that cowl lays Darkness itself and it preys upon the unwary. A word of warning; should you see it, contact the Academy. Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey.”

The guards paled visibly, their eyes darting around. They also seemed suspiciously eager to get our encounter over with but they were too scared of Nelson to do anything about his attempted murder. They couldn’t do anything to us either though so they ended up deciding to escort the annoying nobleman to see a physician, after which they would ensure that he got home safely.

We were back at the Angel Academy and going to report our findings to our Trainer before going for dinner when Autumn asked in a whisper, “What is a Nazgûl? I can see no mention of them in the Demon database.” Phantom Wing had already split off in search of their own Trainer but Autumn was apparently suspicious enough of Risha that she wanted to make sure nobody in the hall heard her hushed inquiry.

Risha giggled mischievously as she replied in an equally hushed tone. “I should really get you to watch the Lord of the Rings movies with me, they are really good. I kind of stole the Nazgûl from those and tried to make it sound like some terrifying Demon, but like Tolkien would have said it. I wanted that noble dick to be watching the shadows for a while.”

“You succeeded,” Karina commented with a grin. “He looked like he was going to piss himself.”

“He did,” I told the others quietly while wrinkling my nose in distaste. “If he wasn’t stuffing his trousers to make himself seem more endowed you probably would have seen it. Honestly, Risha, it was bad enough that you make obscure old-world references all the time, now you’ve got me doing them for you.”

Risha put an arm around me, sidling up to me on the side that wasn’t currently taken by Autumn. “Come on, Snow. That was hilarious, and he deserves to live in fear for a while.”

I couldn’t really argue against that. The looks on his and the guards’ faces had been priceless. Still, I wasn’t happy that we had had to blow our cover. I had been hoping to get in another day or two of walking the city relatively alone with Autumn. I tried to shrug off my disappointment as I knocked on the door of the office that had been assigned to my grandmother during our stay in the capital.

“Come in,” our Trainer’s familiar voice called out.

“Storm Wing, reporting on our reconnaissance, Wingleader,” I said formally once I had opened the door and we all piled into the office. It was a tight fit for us all, especially with that large wooden desk that my grandmother was seated behind.

It took over half an hour to report the highlights of what we had observed while wandering the city. My grandmother wasn’t happy with what we had to report either. While the lower class, and many of the middle class that we had encountered, seemed to have no issues with obvious Seed-borne, the nobles were a different story. They, and anyone under their thumbs, had treated us with disdain and called us things like Demon-spawn, beast, forest filth, and a slew of other slurs.

The encounter with Lord Nelson and the guards had clearly illustrated that issue. The nobleman’s threat about Seed-borne equality had her particularly concerned when we described the incident at the end of our report. “Unfortunately, it’s the nobles who decide on laws and policy. Up until now, we have had some influence due to the past Queens’ support but it seems that is no longer the case.”

“Do you think that they would really try something like that though?” Lisbet asked with a frown.

“Look at what they’re trying to do with us, Lisbet, and they actually need the Angel Corps,” my grandmother replied with a sad shake of her head. “The nobles are Humans and own most of the fertile land in Misota but they’re using the Queen to try to push us into the ruins. It will keep us at arm’s length unless we’re needed to fight Demons and allow them to take over Eden Base, its technology, and the land above it. From what was said during your encounter, I suspect that once we are out of their way and no longer in the capital to influence policy, they will focus on the Seed-borne villages and the land they are built on.”

“If they took away Seed-borne rights and claim that we’re Demons by proxy, they would no longer have to treat us as people or honor the agreements that grant those villages’ autonomy and ownership of the surrounding lands. They could try to just hunt us all down and take those villages,” Heather muttered.

Karina shook her head, a grim expression on her face as she shook her head. “No. They could try but the Seed-borne would fight back. The Humans may outnumber us and Animen, Fay, and Devilkin villages may not always see eye-to-eye but if there was a common threat to all Seed-borne we would unite against it. We wouldn’t allow them to take us down one village at a time; we’d be looking at civil war.”

My grandmother nodded sadly, “Karina is right. I’ll need to discuss this with the other Archangels and Sira. We may need to alter our plans. Right now, we have everyone who is not on Demon hunts transporting everything important from Eden Base to the bases in the ruins with the veetols. It can only be done at night if we’re going to be able to keep it secret though.”

“What about using the M.I.S.Ts?” Risha asked. “They’re designed with stealth in mind and could be used day or night.”

“Right now, you’re the only one fully qualified to fly one, Risha. The rest of you need more practice in the VR training stations. Rose is still trying to decide on two more Angels to recruit to her team, maybe three since she doesn’t think that Taddick is a good fit. The other Wing Commander I had in mind has declined the offer. She’s a good team leader but she doesn’t think that she or her team are suited to special operations,” our Trainer countered with a look of disappointment.

“Actually,” I spoke up tentatively, “I think I know another team that would be good to train as a special operations team, Phantom Wing. You saw how they fight, Wingleader, they’re all about misdirection and doing the job quickly without being seen.”

My grandmother looked pensive for a moment and then a smile worked its way onto her face as her ears twitched. “You might be right, Snow. Any teams that we selected would have to be completely trained on the MISTs anyway. Maryn has promise as a team leader too; she used a good strategy today. She would need to recruit one or two more team members to round out her team though, they all fight mostly from a distance and they could use some front-line fighters.”

“Actually, I might have an idea about that too,” I admitted with a grin. “They’re not Angels, or even recruits yet but I think they could work well with Maryn’s team. Their parents are Angels and they just lack confidence in themselves. Their names are Fawn and Kyra Woodward, they have a clothing shop in the city.”

Again, my grandmother carefully considered my suggestion. “Hmmm… I knew their parents and them before I left for Serkis to raise you. I haven’t seen them since returning though with everything going on. What are the girls like now?”

“They are clever and they care about helping others. They have been helping other Seed-borne with disguises and helping to smuggle them out of the city when needed. The disguises are good too, if it wasn’t for their scents, Snowy and I probably would have thought they were Human,” Autumn offered.

“They have interesting gifts too; especially Fawn if she can use it creatively,” I added. “I could think of plenty of uses for making things objects bigger or smaller during combat, even if it does have similar restrictions to the food dispensers. And she’s half Fay, so she would probably be at least as quick and agile as Heather and Autumn once the Angel Elixir is done with her. Kyra’s wool is extremely tough and durable too. If she let it grow out a bit it would be like having built-in armor.”

Autumn spread her cloak to show off the outfit beneath. “These outfits and the cloaks are made from a cloth woven from her wool, Wingleader. It’s extremely light but it kept us warm out there and Kyra said that it could be used as light armor if necessary. Maryn seems to like both of them too and I think that she may be asking Kelsie about recruiting them, she had the same look on her face as Snowy when we were talking about using gifts creatively.”

“Yeah, if it’s as good as they told Snow and Autumn, I think we should be trying to see if we can scan this cloth to be used in the boutique booths until we can get enough HESS armor for everyone In the Corps,” Lisbet put in eagerly.

“If Kelsie is fine with it then Snow and I will go with her and Maryn later to discuss the possibility with the Woodward girls. If they accept then we’ll have to get Sira to program their nanite doses and that would have to be done at one of the bases, preferably Woodbury Base so a couple of the Marti girls can look over them while they’re changing,” my grandmother said. “Let’s not worry about that for now though. Good work, girls, let’s go get some dinner.”

While we ate in the dining hall with the members of Phantom wing, my grandmother took their Trainer, Kelsie to the side for a hushed conversation. They were gone for over ten minutes so I assumed that they were talking about the Woodward girls and some of the other things that we had discussed in my grandmother’s office. That seemed to be confirmed once we were all done eating when they each casually asked me and Maryn to go for a walk to discuss some training ideas for our respective wings.

The Woodwards’ clothing shop was closed for the night by the time that we got there but I was able to pick up their distinct scents and could tell that they were still inside. I had seen a staircase going up from the back room when we were there earlier so I figured that they probably lived up there. “They’re still here, probably upstairs,” I said quietly.

Kelsie nodded and pulled a chain that was hanging beside the door, and once she did I could hear a bell sounding from the inside of the shop. Several minutes later Fawn, who once again had her ears strategically covered, answered the door. Seeing that two of us were familiar, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Snow, Maryn, how can we help you? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Maryn assured her with a smile. “This is Phantom Wing’s Trainer, Kelsie Renard, and the Trainer for Storm Wing, Abbadine Bengal. They would like to talk to you and your sister about something.”

“A-Abbadine Bengal? The f-first Angel?” the half-Fay stammered as she gaped wide-eyed at my grandmother in sudden recognition. “I remember meeting you when I was very young but my parent’s called you Abby, I think.”

“Yes, I don’t like to advertise that,” the Angel in question replied with a smile. “I am also Snow’s grandmother. Could we please come in? We have a proposal for you and your sister.”

Fawn suddenly remembered her manners and opened the door fully, stepping aside to allow us to enter. “Please, come in. Kyra and I were about to have some peppermint tea, would you care to join us?’

Once we had accepted the offer, she led us into the workroom in the back and then up the stairs to a small living area where Kyra was sitting on one of several cushions positioned around a low table. Once the introductions were made once again and we were all settled in for a nice cup of hot peppermint tea, my grandmother let Kelsie take the lead. “You two girls must be really something, both Snow and Maryn think that you have potential, and they’re not easy girls to impress. I’m just going to come right out and say it, we would like to offer you the chance to take the Angel Elixir and join the Corps as recruits.”

Fawn froze, looking completely stunned, while poor Kyra nearly dropped her tea before managing to place the cup back on the table with shaky hands. “You… what?” the latter managed to ask after a moment. “We’re not… we can’t…”

“But you will be able to, with the nanites and some proper training,” my grandmother interrupted the stammering Sheepkin. “Do you think that your parents are the Angels they are today through some kind of destiny? They got where they are through hard work, training, and using their minds as well as their weapons and gifts. Snow thinks you have potential, and I know her well enough that that’s good enough for me.”

“You’re both smart, determined, and you want to help others more than anything,” I told them, reaching out to take one of each of their hands gently in my own. “In my opinion, those are some of the most important qualities that an Angel should have.”

“Snow’s team is special,” Kelsie said. “They will be training to be one of three special operations teams that Archangel Abbadine wants to create. Phantom Wing was just asked to become a second such team but we’ll need two more team members.”

“And I asked for the two of you,” Maryn insisted. “I want people that I know that I can depend on, who aren’t going to give up just because things are tough, and who will care about their teammates. From what I’ve seen, I think you two will do nicely. My team also plans on using stealth and deception rather than force when we can, and since I’m the only Human on our team, I believe that your skills at creating convincing disguises could be extremely useful to us for long-term scouting missions.”

It took nearly an hour to convince them. I really hoped that being part of Maryn’s team would help their confidence issues but I was still convinced that they were the right choices. More importantly, Maryn was convinced of it and wouldn’t take no for an answer. We could both see how much they wanted it, but it took some patience and determination to convince them that they were what she wanted.

Finally, they agreed though. My grandmother and Kelsie told them both to pack up everything that they wanted to bring with them and that they would contact them tomorrow night. I wasn’t sure how they were planning on getting them to Woodbury Base, since Maryn and Kelsie still hadn’t been let in on the top secret stuff yet and the veetols were doing transport runs, but I figured that my grandmother had a plan. That was all that I needed to know, if she needed me and my team for any part of the plan then she would let us know when the time was right.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 23 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 23: Repeat

The next morning at breakfast, the three members of Pike Wing came to our table to apologize to my grandmother and our team in general under the watchful eye of their Trainer, Dalen. Two of the three were still healing from various broken bones and it was probably only the fact that their nanites were numbing the pain that had allowed them to leave the infirmary at all. It wasn’t hard to see that they weren’t happy to be there, and even less happy to be apologizing to a bunch of girls who had kicked their asses, so my teammates were left grumbling after they had quickly left our presence.

“Those jerks didn’t learn anything at all, did they?” Karina muttered darkly.

“They were saving face,” I told her with a shrug. “They didn’t like admitting that they were wrong, and we beat them fairly but as the losers, they were honor bound to abide by the terms that I set. So at least they’ll leave us alone now and listen to their trainer.”

“Well, if they’re just doing it because they’re supposed to, then they didn’t really learn anything at all, did they?” Lisbet spat bitterly in the direction of their table.

“They did learn at least one thing, they learned to fear us,” I said with a satisfied smile as I shook my head. “Their scents were rife with fear, so I think that they may have learned not to judge by appearances as well. Maybe now that honor will force them to listen to their trainer, they might become halfway decent Angels eventually.”

“Fear is always a good lesson for boys like them,” my grandmother agreed with a nod. “They come here thinking that they are at the top of the food chain and have the illusion that they have nothing to fear. Fear is important though; it tells us when we might be out of our depth. Angels who face Demons without a healthy sense of fear do not respect the fact that Demons, any Demons, can kill an Angel who is overconfident and does not properly assess their enemy. They tend to fail their first training missions, and for Angels failure means death. You either become an Angel or you die trying.”

On the other side of the table, Risha looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking up. “There was a President, a leader of the country that Misota was a part of in the old world who once said, ‘Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.’ I think that that applies to most of the other recruits we have met. They are scared of the thought of fighting Demons, but they realize that protecting others from them is important, and something that only we can do.”

“Well, maybe those guys can learn that lesson too,” Heather said thoughtfully. “I don’t like them, but they are Angel recruits too. We might have to work together some day and it would be nice if we could do that with the same goal in mind instead of being at each other’s throats.”

Phantom Wing and their trainer, Kelsie, arrived to join us for breakfast as we all made murmurs of agreement to Heather’s statement. As they sat down, Maryn inclined her head in the direction of Pike Wing’s table. “So those jokers are dealt with, then?”

“They apologized and they’ll leave us alone, I guess that will have to be enough for the way they treated my Snowy,” Autumn piped in with a frown. As unhappy as she was with not being able to pursue further vengeance, she was trying not to dwell on it too much and was going along with my decision on the resolution between our team and Pike Wing.

Orchid gave her fellow Fay a sympathetic look while Peter’s gaze was settled on Lisbet. When she caught him looking, the poor boy blushed, and his eyes left his fellow Harekin to focus on his meal. Peter seemed to be the quiet one of the group. Kyle on the other hand let out a snort of distaste before saying, “They were complaining enough about it in the boys’ dorm. They kept trying to convince the rest of us that you girls only won because you cheated.”

“Nobody believed that though, I doubt that even they did. They were mostly trying to talk themselves up,” Peter said with a shrug. “Everyone saw that if you really wanted to you could have just taken them down quickly along with Stone Wing but while you were toying with them you also kept the fights one on one, kept to close combat, and gave them a sporting chance. You didn’t have to do any of those things, and you still annihilated them. Tomas is scared shitless of Snow now and trying to find out how she got so strong.”

“I guess the nanites had good genes to work with,” I offered with a shrug. “I wasn’t an average Catkin even before I got the Angel Elixir.”

Once again, after breakfast, the morning was dedicated to practice battles between teams, followed by an assessment of what the various teams did right, what they did wrong, and where they could improve. Storm Wing was again pitted against two other teams who had a quick discussion among themselves before our match to discuss strategy. I could have listened in but that would have been cheating and I wanted to see what their strategy was in combat.

I told the others that our strategy could be decided on the fly, and we would communicate by having our NCIs sending text messages rather than using vocal communications since there was the option to have our NCIs relay text messages in audio rather than in our field of vision. That way we wouldn’t be giving our plans away by using the regular comms system. The only thing that we planned in advance was for Lisbet, Heather, and Risha to fall back to a position where they could provide ranged support.

As soon as the battle started I could see our opponents’ plan, and their mistakes. They seemed to consider me the biggest threat and were trying to overwhelm me and keep out of melee combat with me by having three of their number pepper me with ranged weapons. The problem was that their aim was terrible at first and I was able to either dodge using my feline agility or deflect the shots with the flat of my large blade.

Apparently, they thought that by taking me down hard and fast, they could then assist the rest of their group. They had sent their two quickest and most agile after Autumn and Karina, attacking hard and fast as they tried to keep the pair occupied so they couldn’t come to the aid of the rest of our team. The last three of their number attempted to close the distance quickly on Risha, Heather, and Lisbet to take out our ranged options.

Their plan was based on far too many assumptions. The first was thinking that my strength, my gift, and my big sword were the only things that I had going for me. The second was thinking that our ranged units were incapable of fighting close quarters or too hesitant to. The third mistake was thinking that they could take us all down fast enough to be able to overwhelm Karina and Autumn with sheer numbers.

I grinned as I deflected a shot that came close to hitting me and then I taunted my opponents. “Hey boys, are you sure that three of you is going to be enough? One of you actually came close to hitting me there though so I’m going to let you all in on a little secret. Connie, engage shield mode.”

As soon as the words left my lips my sword began to shift as Connie’s voice responded in my mind, -= Affirmative. Hardlight shield mode engaged. =- After seconds of clicking, whirring, and parts shifting, my Goliath was turned into a ten-foot in diameter shield of golden light that I held out before me to absorb their fire.

“There you go, try hitting a bigger target,” I teased as they poured on the fire from laser and pulse pistols.

One of them, a Devilkin, was actually growling at my taunts. “Come on guys, that shield has to use up a lot of energy, she can’t possibly keep it up for long!”

I barely kept from rolling my eyes. They were underestimating me again. My shield might take a lot of extra planar energy to start up, certainly more than most Angels could channel, but after that, the energy requirements were fairly low. They would likely run out of energy for their weapons long before my shield gave out, depending on how strong their Seed-borne gifts were. Also, there was a blatantly obvious tactic that they were missing. It’s a shield, not a dome, so if they had been using a real strategy instead of just trying to overwhelm me, they just would have needed one of them to try and go around it and shoot me.

Since they seemed to think that brute forcing their way past my shield rather than going around it was the best solution, I decided that I had some time to see how the others were doing. At the moment, Lisbet was holding back the three attacking her, Heather, and Risha with suppression fire from her pulse cannon. They were hiding behind a pile of rubble that still hadn’t been cleaned up from yesterday’s battles and Lisbet’s fire was keeping their opponents pinned down and trying to retaliate with their own long ranged options.

Meanwhile, the last two were trying, unsuccessfully, to put pressure on Karina and Autumn. My Devilkin friend was just constantly teleporting out of the way of her opponent’s attacks, while my Fay girlfriend was running along the wall and deftly avoiding the small fireballs that her Devilkin attacker kept tossing her way. Both aggressors were so focused on their opponents that they weren’t paying attention to what else was going on in the massive courtyard. That was when I had Connie relay my plan to the others.

Even as the others were confirming the plan, I was backing up and putting a faux-strained expression on my face. They fell for it. “Come on guys, she’s almost out of energy, keep pouring on the pressure!”

I spared another glance back at our ranged combatants at the rear of the courtyard, trying to look tired and nervous. I was just in time to see Lisbet shift weapons modes and launch a smoke grenade at their opponents. As their opponents staggered out of the cloud of smoke coughing and wheezing the girls made their move.

Risha moved swiftly toward one of the two Human girls who was rubbing at her eyes, not as fast as she was capable of but as fast as any other Angel could. Before the girl realized what had happened, her weapon had been knocked out of her hand and she had a knife to her throat. The girl quickly surrendered and fell to her knees. The other Human girl was taken down as she emerged from the cloud of smoke by Lisbet, who had switched back to pulse cannon mode as soon as she’d fired the grenade.

Heather managed to get close to the Devilkin girl, but she hadn’t seemed as effected by the smoke as her friends and was able to attack as Heather got close. Heather avoided the blow in an impressive display of Fay flexibility and agility, bending over backward and then going into a glaive-assisted backward cartwheel to put some distance between them. Then she thrust her tip of her glaive at the girl and while she was stepping out of the way, Heather dropped to the ground under her counterattack and used the haft of her weapon to sweep the legs out from under her opponent.

Even as the other girl was hitting the ground, Heather called out, “Risha, knife!” and dropped her glaive to jump on top of her opponent. Good eye there, she realized that by the time she got up and got her glaive into position, her opponent would probably be recovered too, and she would lose the advantage. I was pretty proud of our former princess as she snatched the knife that Risha tossed to her out of midair and placed it at the Devilkin girl’s throat, and gave a cold smile as she said, “Time for you to surrender.” The girl didn’t argue and played dead as per the rules.

That just left Karina and Autumn, and they were both frustrating their opponents to no end by not being easy targets. They were also just about in position to make my plan work. Sure, I probably could have taken these guys on my own, but I wanted them to learn something, that was why we were training after all. Today’s lesson was battlefield awareness and keeping an eye out for possible friendly fire.

That point was made clearly when both Karina and Autumn suddenly stopped almost in the same instant, trying very hard to look like they were tiring. Whether they believed it or not, their opponents were too focused on pressing their ‘advantage’ to stop. Karina teleported out of the way of the pulse pistol blast that had been aimed at her and instead, it caught one of my three opponents in the head and knocked him out. It was a good thing that those things were set to stun in training mode, or he’d have been dead. As it was, he was going to be feeling queasy for a while, from what I had been told about headshots from a pulse blast set to stun.

Karina reappeared behind the shooter, switching the punch dagger on her left wrist to chain scythe mode and whipping it out to wrap around him, pinning one of his arms. Then she yanked back hard enough to bring him sprawling to the ground at her feet, losing his pulse pistol in the process. The punch dagger on her right wrist quickly found its way to his throat and with a look of frustration as he finally looked around and took in his team’s situation, he surrendered.

At the same time that that was happening, Autumn dropped flat onto the ground and the little fireball that was meant for her sailed over her to strike another of the boys trying to overwhelm me in the back. That wasn’t as harmless as the pulse blasts though and the boy screamed in pain as he fell to the ground and the smell of burnt flesh made me wrinkle my nose. That burn was going to be painful while the nanites healed it and I didn’t doubt that the Devilkin who had been tossing them recklessly around would be hearing about it from his teammates and Trainer.

He had other problems at the moment though. As soon as had she hit the ground, Autumn had increased her relative gravity and switched it to the wall behind her attacker. She ‘fell’ fast along the snow-covered ground before crashing into the Devilkin’s shins and knocking him off his feet. Autumn’s momentum had carried her past her opponent before she restored her gravity to normal and she leaped to her feet to end their standoff. She didn’t even need to put her Light Foil to his throat though since he had been knocked unconscious when he slammed face first into the icy flagstones.

My last opponent had turned his head to the sound of his companion’s screaming and I didn’t waste that time, calling upon what energy that I had remaining for my gift. Snow and ice gathered, forming into spikes which shot from the ground, stopping just short of impaling my remaining opponent in several sensitive locations. Looking down at the sharp point of the large ice spike poised at his chest, my opponent swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and his scent was rife with fear as he gasped, “I surrender.”

Soon, those of us who were still conscious were seated again on the benches as my grandmother and the other Trainers dissected and critiqued our battle. They pointed out all of the mistakes that I had seen our opponents make, as well as a few that I hadn’t. We had made a few minor ones as well but some of those had been made on purpose, such as not being aggressive from the start and taking them down hard and fast. I pointed out that the other team wouldn’t have learned anything if we had beaten them as soon as the battle started though, and the Trainer who brought it up seemed satisfied with that.

After that, it was Phantom Wing’s turn to fight, and they were up against Pike Wing. After their last battle with all of the misdirection and distractions, and with their gifts being ill-suited to a frontal assault, nobody expected what happened. Especially not Pike Wing, a couple of whom were still nursing injuries from our fight the day before. The trainers felt that we needed to learn to fight even when injured though and I doubted that their pride would have let them try to get out of it anyway.

Right out of the gate Peter, Maryn, and Kyle started laying down suppression fire, forcing the three members of Pike Wing into taking cover. That was when Orchid went to work, moving stealthily into position and taking down all three members of Pike Wing with headshots before they could even mount any kind of counter-offensive. It was a mortifying defeat that took only minutes. The members of Pike Wing were very lucky that our NCIs were determining if shots would have hit for weapons that would normally use ammo and that blank rounds were in Orchid’s clip.

As the current four members of Phantom Wing sat down beside us to watch the last match, I grinned at them. “Nice work, nobody expected that after your last fight.”

“Yeah, well, it was Orchid’s idea,” Maryn admitted. “She wanted to completely humiliate them.”

Phantom Wing’s resident Fay nodded to Autumn and winked. “I figured that I’d get some extra payback in your place, Autumn. The rules say that you can’t hold grudges after a decision has been made but they say nothing about a fellow Fay getting some extra payback for a friend. I know that wouldn’t be enough for me if someone messed with my Maryn.” She put an arm around her team leader and snuggled up close.

“Thanks, Orchid, I owe you one,” my Fay girlfriend said as she did the same with me.

Maryn turned bright red but didn’t deny anything. Instead, she changed the subject. “That shield mode of yours is incredible, Snow. What the hell was it made of?”

“It’s something called Hardlight,” Lisbet explained with a huge grin. “And just wait until you see the Goliath’s other mode.”

“It has another mode?! Isn’t that enough?!” Peter squeaked, looking toward my massive claymore with wide eyes.

After the practice battles were finished for the morning, my grandmother announced that Storm Wing and Phantom Wing had both been selected for a special training mission. She claimed that it was because of our solid performances in the training battles the past couple of days but I had a feeling that I knew the real reason. We would still be going into the city to explore like the others though since we didn’t have to report to our Trainers for the mission until after dinner. Since Autumn and I had attracted a little too much attention from a certain lord the night before, his time Heather and Risha would be the ones drawing attention while the rest of us followed and watched from a distance.

While the others went to wait for us at The Rusty Halo, Autumn and I took Heather and Risha to meet the Woodward girls and get outfitted. The two didn’t have much to pack for their evening trip and would be bringing some personal keepsakes, their good sewing supplies, and all of the cloth made from Kyra’s wool. They planned on closing up the shop and starting to pack as soon as they were done with us.

As promised, the pair of Seamstresses made outfits that matched the ones that Autumn and I had worn the night before for Heather and Risha since they were our potential mates as well, and Heather was technically Fay herself. Luckily, they were easier to create than mine was. Heather was similar in build to Autumn and while Risha was as curvy as I was, they didn’t have to worry about a tail hole for hers.

It took nearly as long to make the outfits as it had the day before but Heather and Risha were dressed in the form-fitting Fae clothes and cloaks in time for a late lunch with the others. Maryn had stopped in briefly as well to say hello to her future teammates and to drop off pairs of gray-colored winter moccasins and gloves with fur trim that nearly matched the ones she had bought for Autumn and me the day before. So, the girls were both completely outfitted when we went to join the others for lunch at The Rusty Halo.

After another delicious meal at Uncle Jarl’s restaurant, we got down to business. I took Risha’s weapon for her while Karina took Heather’s and we both followed them with Autumn along the rooftops to keep an eye on them while the others followed further behind and watched from a distance while trying to look like they were taking in the sights of the capital. After last night, I had a bad feeling about this could go, even though Risha looked Human.

If I had been expecting them to get treated better because of Risha’s presumed humanity, I would have been sorely disappointed. Some of the comments that the others were hearing from the crowds that the pair had passed were mixed, as they were the night before, but the nobles in particular were very open with their disdain. They weren’t even waiting until the pair was out of earshot and some of the wealthier-looking merchants were refusing to sell to them, Heather in particular.

It would seem that while the idea of two Seed-borne in a same-sex relationship was disgusting to them, they expected as much from ‘Demon-spawn’. Seeing the same between an obvious Seed-borne and someone who looked Human though was too much it seemed. As the pair strolled the wealthier end of the marketplace, I could hear people saying things like, “Damned Demon-spawn should go back to the ruins where they belong,” or, “using witchery to corrupt our children.”

One young nobleman went as far as to try to ‘save’ Risha by trying to drag her off while having the four people with him jump Heather. That was when we had to get involved and Autumn, Karina, and I jumped from the rooftop we were on, brandishing our Angel insignias and dispersing the crowd. After that, we decided to head straight back to the Academy. We had all seen and heard enough.

Heather had gotten some bruises but those were healed by the time that we got back to the Angel Academy. One of her attackers had tried to stab her as well but fortunately, the clothes made from Kyra’s cloth had prevented the blade from piercing and doing any damage to her. I was honestly more worried about how this might affect the former princess mentally, though she seemed more angry than scared. She was actually agreeing with Autumn’s furious grumbling about getting them back, as well as Lord Nelson from the night before.

If this had been an isolated incident, it could have been attributed to any number of causes, but it was the second incident in two days that we had personally been involved in where Humans were willing to attack or try to kill a Seed-borne in public. With this in mind, as soon as we were back on the Academy grounds, both of our teams went straight to our Trainers to report what had happened. To say that my grandmother was angry at the news would be the grossest of understatements.

We were all quiet and a little bit tense during dinner, though both Storm Wing and Phantom Wing were a source of interest to many of the other first-year students. Most of them wanted to know what our special training assignments were, of course. We answered honestly by telling any curious parties that we wouldn’t be told until we were either wherever we were going, or en route.

Since we had had nearly an hour before dinner after reporting to our respective Trainers, we had had plenty of time to get our things packed before eating and were ready to leave as soon as dinner was over. It was dark by that point, and we made our way swiftly out the Academy gates and toward the clothing and seamstress shop where the Woodward girls waited with Kelsie and my grandmother leading the way. I wasn’t the only one who breathed a sigh of relief as Fawn answered the door, seemingly safe and sound.

The pair only had four bags, mostly filled with the cloth woven from Kyra’s wool, clothing made for their parents, and various other sewing supplies and implements. The sewing machine would be harder to carry due to its size and weight, but they thought that they needed it and it had been built especially for them and had sentimental value as well. It wasn’t all that heavy to me, so I just offered to carry it for them. I didn’t want to spend any time arguing about it, after the past couple of days I was eager to leave this cesspool of a city.

The city gates were closed when we approached and my grandmother had to show her Angel insignia, identify herself, and tell them that she and Kelsie were taking recruits out of the city on a training mission before they would open the gates to let us through. I didn’t like the way that they were looking at us suspiciously and I could smell the alcohol on them, among other things. Finally, we were able to pass through the gates though and we made our way quickly across the farmlands and toward the forest, setting a brisk pace that Fawn and Kyra had a little trouble keeping to.

Once we were in the forest, we followed my grandmother around meandering paths for over an hour. Fortunately, most of us had some degree of night vision and were able to guide those who didn’t but it was becoming readily apparent to me that we were not taking a straight path to wherever we were going. I didn’t blame my grandmother for taking the roundabout way though since we were being followed.

He had been upwind, and I could smell the familiar mix of body odor, smoking weed, and alcohol from one of the guards from the city gates. Those of us with sensitive ears could all hear him tromping through the brush behind us, wheezing as he tried to keep to the pace we were setting, and occasionally letting out a muttered curse. Thankfully, we managed to lose him and set him on a false trail thanks to my grandmother’s gift and by being very quiet.

Finally, we entered a small clearing where Raven was leaning against one of the new veetols. At our approach she turned quickly in our direction, aiming her weapon in our vicinity before recognizing us and lowering it just as quickly. “You’re late, Abby.”

“We were being followed,” my grandmother replied with a shrug. “I wanted to make sure that we lost him before following your signal.” Then she walked up, kissed the dark-skinned pilot, and smiled. “I’ll make it up to you later, beautiful.”

“I can’t wait,” Raven replied with a face-splitting grin. “Everyone, get aboard and get yourselves and your gear strapped in. Woodbury base awaits.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 24 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 24: Home Again

We quickly got our belongings stowed and strapped down in the cargo section of the veetol and then helped the six members of Phantom Wing get strapped into their seats before doing the same for ourselves. All six members of Maryn’s team were looking about the inside of the veetol with keen interest, though Fawn wore a thoughtful expression on her face after a moment. “This veetol is different than I remember. We’ve seen quite a few of them growing up, we even rode on one, but this one isn’t the same.”

Kyra nodded her agreement as we finished buckling in. “Yes, the inside isn’t too different but the outside is.” I was surprised that the pair had noticed that in the darkness of night. I had really good night vision but I knew that Sheepkin usually don’t and I wasn’t sure about half-Fay like Fawn.

It was my grandmother who answered them, after telling Raven that we were all strapped in and clear for takeoff. “Good eye girls. These are more advanced models of the veetol that we recently discovered when Snow’s team discovered Woodbury Base. They are much more heavily armored, have something called thrusters instead of turbines that make them both quieter and faster, and they have a pair of plasma turrets under the wings. This, and anything else that you see at Woodbury Base, must remain top secret until we get the academy and everything at Eden Base safely relocated.”

“We can’t even tell other Angels or recruits,” I told them as the vehicle took off and I looked toward Maryn and Orchid apologetically. “We kind of had to tell you a few fibs about the mission we were on and what we found.”

“We were under orders,” Lisbet added apologetically.

“Did you really find Risha hiding out in some ruins while on that mission, or was that a fib too?” Maryn asked with a thoughtful frown as she looked toward the Avatar.

Risha looked to my grandmother, who gave a brief nod, before speaking up. “It is sort of true. They found me in a small research base in the Twin City ruins where I was living since before the fall of the old world. The technology was much more advanced than at Eden Base but it would not suit the goals of the Corps long-term, so I suggested that they check out Woodbury Base. Fortunately, it was both still intact and unoccupied.”

“We did get shot out of the sky though before we found that out,” Heather helpfully pointed out.

I was pretty sure that all six members of Phantom Wing missed Heather’s comment because they were all gaping at Risha. “Since before the fall the old world?” Kyle asked with wide eyes.

“I am like Sira,” the Avatar explained, “an AI housed in an Avatar body, only I can feel emotions. Sira is sort of my little sister but my Avatar body is far more advanced since I was a prototype and my father was constantly trying to improve me. We have a new body in the works for Sira too that should be better than what she has now.”

“But you look and smell just like a human,” Orchid argued.

Risha shrugged but explained… sort of. “As I said, my body is far more advanced than what you encountered with Sira. Her Avatar body is like Data in Star Trek before he got his emotion chip, advanced and looks almost human but not quite there. I have the full package and look human; I can even change my scent and stuff. So I am more like a replicant from Blade Runner, or maybe a human form Cylon, but with a conscience.”

I wasn’t alone in staring at her in confusion. “Risha, sweetie, you’re making old-world references that nobody but you can understand again,” Autumn told her gently.

“I am sure somebody got it,” Risha said, seeming to stare off into space for a moment. “Ah, never mind, we will just leave it at ‘way more advanced’ for now. I am totally going to educate you all though.”

Things turned serious then as my grandmother turned in her seat to give the members of Phantom Wing a solemn look. “Snow has convinced me that your team, with the addition of Fawn and Kyra, will be suitable for a special operations team. Since Storm Wing is being trained for the same purpose and we might need you mission-ready sooner than I thought with the way things are in the capital, I have decided to use the opportunity of getting Kyra and Fawn their dose of Angel Elixir to bring all of you to Woodbury for special training. As soon as your two new members are recovered from their transformations you will all be training alongside Storm Wing in the simulator room.”

“What sort of training?” Maryn asked as she looked toward me and my team thoughtfully. “More team versus team battles?”

The first Angel shook her head. “No, team on team battles are a good start but we only use them to get new recruits used to using their new weapons and working as a team. Risha will be running simulations for all of you in the VR simulator room to train you how to pilot certain vehicles that we will need you to be familiar with, combat various Demons as a team, and solo fights with Demons.”

“Are we ready for that kind of thing?” Peter inquired, his ears twitching nervously. “I mean, Snow and the others have fought Demons before but they’re way better than the other first-year training wings.”

“They’re that good because they learned by fighting real Demons and because Snow is a very promising tactician who knows her team’s weaknesses and strengths. Ask her how much I helped them during our trip into the ruins,” our Trainer insisted.

Maryn looked at me and I sighed before telling Phantom Wing, “She didn’t. She just followed my orders as if she was a member of the team. She left the planning to me and didn’t do anything more or less than I ordered her to, even when the very first Demon that we faced was a Fenris. She even made me give Sira the damn mission reports. I mean, sure, she would have probably saved our asses if we needed her to but she let us learn by handling it ourselves.”

My grandmother nodded. “I would have stepped in had you needed me to but you didn’t, and fighting those Demons taught you better than any lecture that I could give. Trial by fire is the most effective way to learn to fight Demons. It is how I learned, and how all Angels learned before the Academy was created to ease new recruits into being Angels. You’ll all still need to do all of the book learning for skills that you will need to know eventually but true experience in our line of work is gotten in battle, when you are afraid for your life and each decision can cost you in blood.”

Maryn and the rest of Phantom Wing were quiet as the veetol touched down on the vehicle elevator and began to descend to the hangar level. Mostly, I think they were trying to process everything that we had told them during the flight to Woodbury Base. Once the elevator had stopped and Raven had docked the veetol on one of the metal maintenance pads, we were all allowed to grab our gear and leave the veetol.

It was amusing watching the looks on their faces as the members of Phantom Wing got a good look around the hangar level. By the time Risha had shown them around one of the MISTs and gave them a quick demonstration of the docked REVs, I didn’t think that they would ever be able to pick their jaws back up off the ground. “We’re going to be learning to pilot these?” Orchid asked uncertainly as Risha re-docked the REV just inside the rear ramp of the MIST.

“Yes,” my Grandmother told her candidly. “The MISTs will be reserved for special operations teams only, and each team will have a MIST assigned to them. Sira and I decided that since we don’t have enough pilots for our current demand, each member of your teams should be trained in piloting both the MIST and REVs for long-term missions. That way, if any of you gets injured or needs a break you have plenty of pilots available without having to add extra members to your team for the sole purpose of being pilots. Once Kyra and Fawn are out of the hospital you will all begin training on them in the simulators alongside Snow’s team.”

“So, what do we do until then?” Peter asked with a look toward the Woodward sisters as Risha sealed the MIST and we started toward the elevator.

My grandmother paused and seemed to look each member of Phantom Wing over thoughtfully for a moment before answering. “You will all be taking turns watching over your new teammates, just as you had someone watch over you when you went through the change. You all need to bond and learn to depend on one another, even when you or one of your teammates isn’t at your best. That doesn’t change just because we have Marti available, and it is especially important for special operations teams. You could be out in hostile territory for months at a time without anyone besides each other to depend on.”

Who is Marti?” Kelsie asked as we stopped to wait for the elevator.

“Uhh... it varies,” Raven replied to Phantom Wing’s Trainer with a slight frown.

“They are AIs in avatar bodies, like me and Sira,” Risha explained. “There are a lot of them and they are all sharing one AI core. It has made them all a bit... quirky.” I nodded in agreement, though I thought that ‘quirky’ was a bit of an understatement.

It was late, and Sira was waiting for the two new recruits at the hospital, so instead of giving Phantom Wing a tour of the base we took them straight to the hospital. We figured that we would give them all a proper tour once Kyra and Fawn were recovered and on their feet again. We would have to take the Woodward girls to get new clothes and gear, let the members of Phantom Wing decide where they would be staying, and show them where the Simulator room was anyway. It made sense to do all of that and give them the tour at the same time.

When we arrived at the hospital entrance, two of the Marti Avatars were waiting for us in their white nurse uniforms. They were still sporting the metal look, so I assumed that they either hadn’t decided on a look for their new selves yet or didn’t have enough of Risha’s nanites replicated for all one hundred of their avatar bodies. It was entirely possible that they were all just having trouble deciding on a look that they all identified with since they all seemed to want to have identical bodies.

Standing with them was a woman that I couldn’t identify, at least not until Risha grinned and said, “Hey little sis, how are you liking the new avatar body?”

Wait, that was Sira? She must have been testing the features that would allow her to blend in even among those with heightened senses because she smelled human to me and I didn’t hear any of the telltale clicks or whirs that had been common in her former avatar body. “It is more than satisfactory, Risha. The improvements and new features that you and our father added are very interesting, and not having to return to an alcove to recharge regularly is wonderful. Thank you for donating and re-configuring your nanites, and for designing the body to my specifications,” the other AI replied with a very convincing smile.

Sira’s new body was slightly taller than before, almost my own height, and was slightly more shapely than before. Her skin was still olive-hued, but her hair had gone from blue-black to ebony and her eyes seemed larger now and were a piercing green rather than their former hazel color. Her face had softer features, plumper lips, a slightly smaller nose, and higher cheekbones, making her very striking. I could see the resemblance to her old avatar now that I was looking for it but this one looked like a slightly younger and much prettier sister.

“What are big sisters for,” Risha teased Sira with a grin.

Sira didn’t take the bait. Instead, she nodded to the rest of us and informed us, “Storm Wing, you are off duty, so you can all go home and rest up before continuing your training tomorrow. Phantom Wing, I will need to take your two new members aside to get blood samples to prepare their nanites and have them take personality tests. Marti and Marti here have prepared beds for you all and will be helping you to care for Fawn and Kyra once they are given their nanite doses, probably sometime late tonight.”

“Tomorrow you’ll likely spend the day watching over them and caring for them. Enjoy the relative rest while you have it tomorrow because the next day you’ll all join Storm Wing in the simulator room,” my Grandmother cautioned with a stern look. With that obvious dismissal given, she took Raven’s hand and started pulling her off to one of their quarters and I could have sworn I heard her say, “And as for you, Raven, no rest for the wicked.”

I was trying to clear the mental images that had come on the heels of those words from my brain with a vigorous shake of my head as Sira led the Woodward girls inside the hospital and Marti and Marti started to herd the rest of Phantom Wing along behind them. One of the Avatars was gushing, “You’re all so sweet to look after your friends while they recuperate. Don’t you worry none, this won’t be boring. We can have lots of fun too. We can make it like a sleepover; between checking on them we can make hot cocoa, watch movies, and do each others’ hair and nails. It will be great!”

None of the members of Phantom Wing looked very sure about what they were in for and cast dubious looks at me over their shoulders. I just grinned and made a shooing motion as I heard the other Marti say, “Geeze, Marti, they’re not junior high girls. Hell, two of them are guys. Give the enthusiasm a rest. Besides, they should all be getting proper rest and healthy food before they have to start training. I have a very good meal plan in mind for them and maybe I’ll play some soothing music to help them all to relax when they aren’t looking after their friends.”

“But Marti, you play the bagpipes. That is, like, so the opposite of soothing. I really think we should...” Their voices drifted off as they entered the hospital doors and the members of Phantom Wing followed along looking slightly worried about what they might be in for. Maybe we should have wished them luck.

We went to bed as soon as we got home. It was strange that a place that we had spent so little time in felt like home now but it did and we were all glad to be back and able to climb into our comfortable beds. It was nice being able to snuggle in a nice big bed together with Autumn, Heather, and Risha again after Karina and Lisbet had gone off to their own rooms and for a while, I had just laid awake enjoying the closeness of what Autumn called our mate-group.

Autumn and I were cuddled up closely in the center and I could hear from her breathing that she was awake too as Heather drifted off on my other side and snuggled up almost possessively with me in her sleep. Risha doesn’t really sleep but she did have her eyes closed and a satisfied smile on her face as she lay there with an arm draped over Autumn and her hand resting on my hip where Heather’s leg was draped over me. We had all kissed each other good night before getting comfortable, even Heather, though she had blushed all the way to her toes when doing so.

I leaned over to kiss Autumn once again though and my fingertips softly caressed both Heather’s leg and Risha’s hand in turn. “This is nice. It feels like this is the way things should be,” I said with a smile.

“That’s because it is the way things should be,” Autumn whispered back, a smile curving her lips upward even though her eyes remained closed. “I had a feeling the moment that we met that you and I belonged together, Snowy. Heather and Risha belong with us too, not that Heather will admit it. We haven’t known one another long but my people have a saying. ‘Time waits not for destiny.’ I love you, Snowy. I love all of you.”

I nuzzled her cheek and I found myself starting to purr in happiness from our current situation. “I love you too, Autumn. From the first time you kissed me, you had me thinking about my life differently. I think it’s because I don’t want it to be my life, I want it to be our life. I’m still trying to get used to the idea of multiple mates but Heather has grown on me now that she’s starting to come out of her shell and Risha… well, there’s nobody alive like Risha.”

“Nope, there definitely is not,” the Avatar agreed playfully as she gently stroked my hip. Then her voice sounded almost tentative as she spoke again. “You’re pretty unique yourself, Snowy. All of you are. We have a good team here and I think the four of us could have a good thing together. I… have to admit that at first, I was interested in you because you reminded me so much of Kylie, Autumn. You’re not the same person though and I keep finding new things about all of you that make me love you in a different way than I did her, I see things in all of you that make me happy just being with you. I’m glad that you let me join this team and this… whatever we are.”

“Mates, that’s the word you’re looking for,” Heather’s voice said softly from behind me, her breath warm on the back of my neck. “Not that we can do anything to make that official for the next three years.”

“I thought you were asleep,” I said as I reached back to take the former princess’s hand in mine and lay our joined hands atop Autumn’s and Risha’s.

“I was but your… umm … tail is between my legs and between its twitching and your purring it’s…” Heather trailed off, not sure how to finish and I found myself blushing as I pulled my tail in closer and tried to get it in a position where it would neither bother nor stimulate her. She sighed, and I wasn’t sure whether it was from relief or something else. “Don’t expect me to get as mushy as all of you. My family… I’m not even sure if I know what love is. Maybe someday though… if you all keep rubbing off on me.”

“Yeah, we know, Heather. You’re just here because the Fay are all about physical contact and you have to learn to be one of them.” I gently squeezed her hand in my own as I made the excuse for her and tried not to giggle.

“We love you too, silly Heather,” Autumn offered with a sleepy smile. It wasn’t long after that that we all fell asleep, hands clasped together.

The next morning, we spent most of the day in the simulators, training on the Mists and REVs. Occasionally, our Trainer would have us switch things up by going to the shooting range or having Risha load a randomized Demon combat training program on the simulators. Thanks to the time variance in the simulators and the repetition of constant training, we were making definite progress though. We were having a lot fewer accidents with the REVs in race mode and were starting to get used to the layout of the controls in the MISTs and to their intricacies and sensitivity as well.

We did stop for meal breaks, of course. We were all pretty happy to have the food dispensers available and happily tried various things that Risha had recommended from its massive menu. It was just so nice to have such variety available and to be able to eat whatever suited our tastes at the time. Autumn was also thrilled with having guilt-free meat available for every meal.

After dinner that evening, Risha and Lisbet left us to go to the labs briefly. They scanned the material made from Kyra’s wool and Risha said something about uploading the data to the central information archives for the food dispensers and boutique booths, or at least the one for Woodbury Base. They also checked on the nanite labs, where Sira had moved production of the Angel nanites.

Risha said that nanites were one of the most important and versatile tools that the Corps had available. Sira apparently thought so as well since she had moved the equipment related to it here first to add to the other similar equipment in a whole lab devoted to nanite creation. She had slightly increased the production of Angel Elixir doses but had also started production of the HESS armor. Most of the new resources were devoted to the latter since the nanites were not only complex but much more of them were needed per unit, and because HESS armor would be useful for keeping both Angels and support crew safe in the field.

There were the nanite injections for the Corps’ support staff to be able to interface with vehicles and other basic equipment as well, but the lab’s resources weren’t being used for those. Since those were simple, generic, and didn’t need to be specially programmed with the receiver’s DNA like the Angel nanites, they were easy for Marti to replicate and inject at the hospital. That had already been proven with Raven, and she was having no issues with her interface nanites.

Once the pair got back from the lab, we settled in for a nice evening at home. We were all very tired after our extremely long day of training though and Heather and Lisbet both fell asleep before Risha could even choose a movie for us to watch together. Since the rest of us weren’t much more awake than the two of them we decided to just call it a night then and there and Karina carried Lisbet up to put her to bed in her room while I did the same for Heather and placed her in our nice big bed.

We all passed out fairly quickly after that, barely getting changed for bed and under the covers before heading to dreamland. I wanted to lay there a while before sleeping to enjoy the feeling of being snuggled up with Autumn, Heather, and Risha but I was just too tired. Now that I was in bed, the long day caught up with me and I fell asleep despite my intentions.

The next thing that I knew, Risha was waking us up so we could get a shower in before breakfast. As we had the day before, we took our various toiletries and headed off to one of the group lavatories and showers beneath one of the barracks buildings to shower rather than have to take turns waiting for one of the two showers in our house. We would probably have to get used to doing that eventually but for now, this was quicker and easier while there were so few people in the base.

We hadn’t seen any other Angels or Corps support staff during the previous day but that made sense since they were mostly moving things from Eden base at night when the veetols flying through the sky wouldn’t be as noticed. Storm Wing and Phantom Wing were pretty much the only ones on base at the moment except for Raven and some Tinkers who were setting things up in the labs. Even Sira had gone back to Eden Base after giving Kyra and Fawn their nanite doses since she was needed there to coordinate everything and control some of the base’s systems.

Once we were clean and ready to face the day we dropped our things off at home, got dressed in clothes that we hadn’t been able to wear in the capital, and headed for the hospital rather than the mess hall. A few messages exchanged with Maryn had confirmed that the Woodward girls were awake, their changes fully completed, and ready for a tour of the base. I wondered how much they had changed.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Here is chapter 25 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 25: Into the Fold

We made our way to the hospital to meet Phantom Wing with orders from my grandmother to bring them straight to the mess hall for some breakfast first. Both teams’ Trainers would wait there for us, and we would eat breakfast while they filled us in on the day’s itinerary. When we arrived at the hospital to collect our friends, they were waiting in the lobby.

The differences in the Woodward girls were immediately noticeable and now there was no mistaking Fawn’s Fay ancestry. Before she had been somewhat tall, slender, and pretty with slightly pointed ears but could pass as human by keeping her ears covered. Now her bright blue eyes bore slit pupils, her pretty face seemed softer and yet more angular and her ears were longer, much more pointed, and tilted backward along the sides of her head. She was also almost as tall as Autumn now and possessed a similar lithe figure. With those looks and her golden hair now loose, Fawn was going to be a Fay heartbreaker.

Kyra hadn’t grown quite as tall as her adoptive sister but the sheepkin looked a lot bulkier. It wasn’t all from muscle though since her body was covered from her neck to her wrists and ankles with soft-looking white wool, as if she was covered in a cloud. She appeared self-conscious about it though and tried to cover herself constantly by tugging at her ill-fitting dress.

I tried not to focus on it as I smiled at the members of the newly expanded Phantom Wing. “And how are you all today? Kyra, Fawn, you’re both looking great.”

“I don’t feel like it,” Kyra complained. “I haven’t been able to shear my wool in over a day and it seems to be growing faster now.”

“At least Marti was able to find something that was able to cut it, Sis. We can get you sheared later tonight and if the wool is that much stronger now when it’s still growing, just think about how durable the cloth we weave from it will be,” her sister encouraged as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah, and if it’s that strong then you have built-in armor,” Karin offered.

The sheepkin girl sighed but nodded. “You’re both right, I guess. Taking a shower with a coat of wool is just aggravating. It takes forever to dry and I never feel truly clean afterward.”

“Would some breakfast cheer you up?” Lisbet asked. “We’re taking you guys straight to the mess hall to eat and then we can go on the tour. There are so many cool things to see here.”

Breakfast did indeed cheer Kyra up. Although she was like Lisbet and Peter and couldn’t eat meat, there were a large number of vegetation meal options in the food dispensers for them to try. The veggies also looked and tasted fresh, which improved her mood considerably. Meanwhile, Autumn introduced Orchid and Fawn to the guilt-free meat options.

None of them had really seen any of the new technology except for the improved veetols and the medical equipment in the hospital rooms. The various versions of Marti that had watched over them (and drove them slightly crazy) during their stay in the hospital had brought their meals to the Woodward’s shared room while the four original members of Phantom Wing cared for their new teammates. So they were in awe when we showed them all how to use the food dispensers and Risha explained how they worked.

Maryn sighed and looked longingly at her empty plate as we all finished our meals. “This is even better than the food at The Rusty Halo, and it was so fast and easy. I’m not sure how I can go back to eating the stuff at the academy after this. Cooking in the field when we’re eventually on missions is going to suck too. I sure hope that one of you is a better cook than I am.”

“Don’t worry about it, Maryn. By the time we’re in classes at the Angel Academy, the academy will have been moved here to Woodbury Base and we’ll still be eating here in the mess hall,” Autumn said with a grin.

My grandmother was trying to act all business but she was trying to hide a smirk as added, “As for meals while you’re in the field, the MISTs that you will be learning to pilot for your missions do have food dispensers, along with various other equipment and instruments that you might need on missions.”

The eyes of every member of Phantom Wing were now on my grandmother. “Wait, really?!” Kyle blurted out.

Maryn shook off a pensive look and nodded. “Yeah, now that I think of it, I did see something similar when Risha showed us around the MIST. She just didn’t explain much of the equipment to us.”

“That is because I wanted to surprise you when you had your first meal here,” the Avatar teased with a grin. “Just kidding. I thought that it would be best to save all of the technical stuff until you were ready to start training on them.”

“Speaking of training, there are things that we will need to discuss about that before taking you for a tour of the base,” Kelsie said in a serious tone while looking at Phantom Wing. “Abby already gave me the tour yesterday and last night Sira and the Archangels made some decisions regarding the special operations teams, and Phantom Wing and Storm Wing in particular, since you’re all raw recruits.” Then Phantom Wing’s Trainer turned to give my grandmother an expectant look.

The first Angel looked at each member of both of our teams for a moment before she continued to speak. Once she did, her tone was just as serious as the Foxkin’s. “Right, several of those decisions were regarding equipment to be used in the field since special operations teams will often be in long-term operations and far away from any Angel reinforcements if things go sour while you’re on a mission. We’ll discuss those later. The other decisions were regarding your training as Angels.”

“What do you mean?” Heather asked with a nervous expression. She wanted to be an Angel more than anything. She’d made that clear to all of us and she was still afraid sometimes of having that dream somehow slip between her fingers.

“You won’t be training much with the other recruits. You’ll be training harder than them and most of your combat and mission training will be done in the field or simulations, either apart or with one another. Kelsie and I will teach most of your lessons, and Sira will have lesson plans available for us on all of the general subjects so we can teach you whether we’re on base or in a MIST. Those of you who need it will still have the lessons in reading, writing, and other mandatory subjects and some of you will have other lessons as well,” our Trainer explained.

“What kind of other lessons?” Kyra asked uncertainly.

“Snow and Maryn will have lessons on leadership, diplomacy, and combat tactics and I’ll be teaching Heather and Orchid the finer points of being a sniper. Heather will also have lessons on alchemy, chemistry, and biology, while Lisbet has lessons on engineering, explosives, computer systems, and mechanics. Fawn and Kyra will be learning everything in the base’s database about old-world textiles, clothing, makeup, and the art of disguise. You will all be learning about stealth and tracking as well and giving each other lessons on your own peoples and cultures, as Autumn has already been doing while teaching Heather and her other teammates about the Fay,” my grandmother explained, causing several raised eyebrows amongst us.

Kelsie leaned back in her chair and sighed. “You never know what situation you might encounter as long-range scouts and special operations teams. This is even truer since this is a relatively new idea within the Corps. We want you all to be ready for anything by the time your three years as students are up.”

My grandmother nodded in agreement. “Now, I think we should be ready for that tour, but first, I believe that Sira left something for Kyra and Fawn when she was here with the moving teams during the night.”

‘Yes, she left them in the armory by the women’s barracks,” Kelsie agreed. “Shall we start there then?”

We all waited for my Grandmother to open the armory door. When Sira was last in the base AI core she had restricted the armories to officer use only and both Maryn and I still needed to have our hand prints added into the system, or that was what Risha told us anyway. Maryn was a little surprised that we were considered officers even though we were still recruits but my Grandmother explained, “The two of you are a special case due to the nature of your teams and the training you will receive. You have also proven yourselves to be both mature and responsible. You don’t let being Wing Commanders go to your heads, you treat it as the responsibility that it is.”

She placed her hand on the screen beside the door and after a moment it beeped and the door opened. Kelsie stepped inside and took what looked like a belt with a sheathed longsword, handing it to Fawn. Meanwhile, my grandmother smiled and said, “Fawn, that is the R-15 Cobra. You can go ahead and interface with it. It takes a dexterous hand to use that weapon so we don’t see them issued all that often. In its long-range mode, it is a large laser pistol similar to Autumn’s Light Foil, though slightly bigger. In its current mode, it is something known as a whip-blade. It can be used as a regular longsword or extended into a bladed whip to devastating effect.”

Fawn took the blade from its sheath and stared at it in wonder. “Yeah, you’re going to need some practice before you’re ready to use it as a whip in battle, especially when working with a team. Sira seems confident that you can manage it though,” Kelsie added as she offered Fawn the belt and sheath for her new weapon.

“Our mother uses one of these,” Fawn said in hushed awe. Then she seemed to snap out of it and took a steadying breath before returning the blade to the sheath and making as if to put on the offered belt.

“Best just set it aside for a moment, Fawn. You would just have to remove it in a moment anyway,” my grandmother told her gently. The blonde Fay nodded and merely held it for the moment as the first Angel turned to her sister. “As for you, Kyra. With the added durability of your wool, Sira would like you to take on a similar role as Snow. Maryn will be your team leader but your team needs a frontline fighter that can turn the tide in a battle. That will be you. With that in mind, Sira has issued you the S-11 Scimitar.”

Kelsie stepped in the door for a moment and returned with a large sword, it wasn’t as massive as my Goliath but it was easily larger than any other sword that I had seen in the Corps. The blade was maybe a head shorter than that of the Goliath and not quite as wide either. It was also single-edged rather than double-edged, had a curve to it, and looked like it was made of Razorwing metal to lighten the weight and increase durability.

“This is… lighter than I thought,” the Sheepkin mumbled pensively as she took the weapon in hand.

“Yup, I thought it was just because I’m that strong but Razorwing metal is pretty light. I’m still learning to use a sword this big myself, but I’ll be happy to help you where I can,” I offered with a smile.

My grandmother gave me a nod of approval before turning her attention back onto the younger of the Woodward girls. “Sira said that the passive nature of your seed-borne gift drains most of the extra-dimensional energy that you draw on, leaving you unable to do much more than use mode-shift, so an energy weapon like Snow’s was out of the question for you, Kyra. Like Snow’s Goliath, the Scimitar hasn’t been used by Angels before, mostly because until now we had no way to reproduce the ammunition for it in sufficient quantities. Its other mode is something called an assault rifle and you will be able to create ammunition for it in the food dispensers. Your NCI will have the information on the ammunition that it uses and the general use of your weapon.”

I figured that that would be that and we would be moving on to start the tour but my grandmother made no move to leave the armory and cleared her throat to ensure she had everyone’s attention. Then she said, “Due to the nature of your training and the work that you will be doing for the Corps. Sira and the Archangels have decided that all members of special operations teams should have a holdout weapon. Autumn and Snow already have the S&W LRX-7 pistol and each of you will be issued the same.” She and Kelsie moved to the rack of familiar pistols and then handed one to each team member who didn't already have one, along with two spare clips.

Once everyone had received a pistol, Kelsie gestured to the metallic egg-like objects on one of the lower shelves and said, “You will also each be getting a HESS armor unit since we can’t guarantee what types of situations you might be sent into. They will act as body armor, camouflage, and protection from harsh environmental conditions.”

My grandmother picked up where the other Trainer left off, adding, “We weren’t going to start issuing these yet but you need to start training with all of the equipment that you will have available on any given mission, and that includes the HESS. Once Rose has decided on three new members for her team, they will be receiving similar equipment. Until we have enough HESS units for all members of the Corps and our support crew, we will be issuing them on a case-by-case basis, so please try not to show them off.”

“Umm… before any of you let your NCIs interface with those things, you should make sure that you’re not wearing anything that you don’t want to lose,” I cautioned the others as Maryn started to reach for one of the eggs. Maryn’s hands stopped short and she and the others quickly started removing anything important to them.

Maybe I should have also warned them about the eggs turning into silvery goo and crawling along their bodies until they were completely covered. My team was of course prepared for that since they had seen what happened when I accidentally interfaced with mine, but most of Phantom Wing ended up shrieking in surprise, and that included Kyle and Peter. The only one who hadn’t was Orchid, who was nearly as laid back as Fawn. Maybe it’s a Fay thing.

Soon though, they were all properly outfitted and had their weapons and other gear on over the HESS. That was when Maryn approached me with a very displeased expression on her face. “You could have warned us about that too,” she said with a very definite pout.

“Yes, I could have,” I agreed with a smile. “But then watching you all wouldn’t have been near as fun.”

I thought it was gonna eat me alive, “Peter grumbled.

“That stuff goes everywhere too, I’ve got it in places that I didn’t even know I had places,” Kyra agreed. “And it feels weird over my wool.”

Once everyone stopped complaining, we continued the tour. It went as quickly as a tour of a place the size of Woodbury Base can go, which is to say we were showing them around until lunchtime. They were freaking out about a lot of the stuff that we showed them and there were a few surprises for us as well.

For example, my grandmother informed us that the administration building would be the new home of the Angel Academy, or at least the portion that involved classroom lessons. More physical training would be done in the simulators, training yard, and shooting ranges. The latter two would have them often training alongside veteran Angels but that would only show recruits where we needed to improve or give us goals to strive for.

The tower certainly caught the attention of Maryn’s team. They all looked up at it in awe, and that awe only increased once Risha explained that the tower was the central emitter for a hardlight shield large enough to cover the whole base during Demon attacks or seed storms. Kyra and Fawn weren’t really sure what we were talking about though and unlike their new teammates, neither had seen me use the shield mode of my weapon. For now, it was enough for them that if could keep the base safe from Demons and seed storms.

The Woodward sisters were absolutely fascinated by the boutique booths though as we finished the tour with the former shops. I guess it wasn’t too surprising since they had owned and run a clothing shop before joining the Corps. The pair was so fascinated that they were still looking at all the clothing and fabric options at one of the booths outside of what Risha claimed was a former clothing shop while the rest of us were getting hungry and ready to head back to the mess hall.

They, and the rest of their team, became especially giddy once I told them about how our NCIs could download various outfit designs from the booths and change the appearance of the HESS to match. When I gave them a demonstration and Risha mentioned just how many various outfits our NCIs could store in the HESS’s onboard memory, they were over the moon. I didn’t think I’d ever get them to leave that place again.

The Woodward sisters were currently looking in interest at something that was listed as a French Maid’s uniform, something that Risha was obviously imagining Heather in from the way she was looking from it to the former princess, and back again. I couldn’t blame her, Heather would look sexy in something like that. Risha would too. I couldn’t really see me or Autumn in something like that though.

The distraction of imagining such things wasn’t enough. I was getting so hungry and we had shown Phantom Wing practically everything but the insides of the officer houses. My grandmother decided to take action after my stomach growled loudly in protest. “Fawn and Kyra, you girls will have plenty of time to familiarize yourself with the uniforms, fashions, and fabrics of the old world. In fact, Sira has a special project that she’d like your help with if you don’t mind putting some time in when you’re not training,” she told the pair.

“What kind of project?” Fawn asked, her blue eyes lighting up in interest.

“A secret one,” the first Angel teased. “We can discuss it more later. Sira is willing to offer you something for your help though. From what Risha has said, this building used to be a clothing shop. We would be willing to let you and Kyra have it as a business outside of your duties with the Corps if you’d like.”

“Really?!” Kyra asked excitedly. “We still have to live in the barracks though, right?”

“You don’t have to, Maryn and Snow both qualify for officer housing. Snow already has a place that she is sharing with the rest of her team. What Maryn decides will be up to her of course,” my grandmother advised.

“I was offered one of those officer places but I don’t need that much room,” Kelsie said with a shrug. “I’m staying in the underground living quarters near Abby and Raven. If you choose now, Maryn, you’ll get your choice of places.”

“Risha found a great place for us,” Heather stated with a smile at the AI. “There is a nice three-bedroom place next to ours that’s almost as big though.”

“There’s six of us though,” Maryn said with a pensive frown. “I guess we could bunk in pairs and put two cots in each room.

“Or the two of us could share a bed,” Orchid suggested flirtatiously as she latched onto Maryn’s arm and purred. “You know, for company. I know that we’re not allowed to do anything more… yet.” I just smiled and shook my head. Fay girls are certainly forward, though I was pretty sure that Maryn was enjoying it as much as I did Autumn’s attention. She certainly hadn’t said no yet, she just got awkward and blushed most of the time and I figured that she’d get over that soon, just like I did.

“You could do that and the boys could each have their own room. It is sort of what we’re doing… we just need a much bigger bed,” Risha informed them while waggling her eyebrows. “Wink-wink, nudge-nudge, say no more. Kyra and Fawn can always share the living space above their shop. There’s plenty of room for the two of them up there. The shop isn’t too far from our place either.”

In the end, Phantom Wing decided to go along with Risha’s suggestion, much to Orchid’s glee. With that out of the way, we headed back to the mess hall and a wonderful lunch. Once we were all pleasantly full and I was able to think clearly again, we showed Team Phantom to the house next door to ours and Risha gave them a tour and showed them where everything was since she had easy access to the floor plans. We ended up showing them how most of the old-world appliances and other devices worked as well, just as Risha had shown us when we first got our place.

Kyra and Fawn had come along and, even though the pair wouldn’t be living there, they paid attention to those lessons as well. Risha said that they would probably find some similar things in the home above their shop. If they found anything that they didn’t see in Maryn’s house then Risha said they could contact her through their NCIs and she would help them get familiar with things.

Finally, we made our way to the simulator training room where my grandmother and Kelsie were waiting. They wanted to have Risha put both of our teams through some vigorous training on the MIST and the REVs, and our Trainers would be joining us so that they too knew the basics of the vehicles. Phantom Wing had to go through the basic tutorials on the vehicles still, so they wouldn’t be able to join us in practice simulations or race mode yet but I was hoping that they could get familiar enough to do so tomorrow morning. We might only be spending a few hours in the simulations this afternoon but with the time variance, it would be like putting in an entire half day of training, something that perplexed our new training buddies greatly when Risha explained it using her techno-babble.

By the time we were all out of the simulation, we were mentally and physically drained. My team was kind of used to it by now but knowing about the time variance doesn’t make you feel its effects any less. My grandmother and Kelsie decided that we had put in enough effort for the day and we headed to the mess hall to eat dinner together. After that, we all went our separate ways and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

The members of Phantom Wing still had some things to do to make their new homes comfortable before they went to bed for the night but we had no such things to worry about. So with Risha’s encouragement, we all got comfortable in the living room intent on watching a movie. Risha said that it was the first of three movies based on a book called The Hobbit. She figured that we could watch them over the next three nights and then move on to the Lord of the Rings movies.

That was the plan but we ended up staying up much later than we should have to watch all three movies. Autumn really liked the Fay girl in it, and I thought that she reminded me of her. Sadly, there were no Catkin, or Animen at all that I saw. I’d never seen a Dwarf until then, the last of those had left Misota many decades ago from what my grandmother said.

“It is strange that the archives of the old world have such stories when so many Humans hate our kind,” Autumn said thoughtfully as we cleaned up the remnants of our snacks and drinks before preparing for bed.

“There were no Devilkin or Animen there though. I wonder where this Middle Earth was, probably far away from Misota,” Karina said thoughtfully.

“I’ve never seen those varieties of Demons either,” Lisbet added. “Nor birds that large, those were scary, even if they seemed nice. I hope we never have to face a Dragon like that, the Fenris we faced was scary enough.”

“It was so sad that the Dwarf king died, I don’t think I could have stayed there after losing a friend like that either,” Heather put in with a sigh.

Risha let out a sigh of her own as she shook her head. “Guys… it was fiction. None of it was real; it was all costumes and CGI. It looked real but it was all kind of like those illusions that our Trainer can make, it didn’t happen. These movies were made long before the seed storms or seed-borne came around.” She paused and appeared pensive for a moment. “Though I guess those myths it was based on could have themselves been based on something real. Maybe this is not the first time that the Darkness has come to our world and left its mark.”

“So that whole movie was a big fat lie then?” Autumn piped up. I should have known that would bother her. Fay have trouble with lies and deception and they don’t really approve of it in others, which was why she had such a problem lying to the other students about our discoveries in the ruins.

“No! It was all for entertainment. The whole point is to watch and lose yourself in another world. To see amazing things and forget your own dreary life for a while,” Risha attempted to explain. “Come on, let’s all go to bed, you all need sleep.”

I remained quiet as we all headed upstairs to follow Risha’s advice. Lisbet and Karina headed to their rooms but Heather held back while Risha and Autumn held an intense discussion on the fine line between entertainment and deception. We were halfway to the bedroom when she asked with a concerned look on her face, “Are you okay, Snow? You’ve been quiet since the movie ended.”

“I’m just thinking,” I admitted quietly.

“About what?” she pressed as she leaned over and squeezed my hand in hers. I must have been more distracted than I thought. It wasn’t often that Heather would make the first move on something that affectionate. She was still a bit unsure of herself and I think that she didn’t want to push us away like she had wanted to back when she was pretending to be a bitch.

I squeezed her hand back and leaned against her as we followed Risha’s and Autumn’s voices to our bedroom. A sigh escaped my lips before the answer tentatively followed. “About war. All of those groups wanted something valuable. We may not have heaps of gold and gemstones, but we are sitting on the most advanced technology in Misota, maybe the world. Your parents and the nobles want that technology badly. They want more than that. We can’t let them have it; they would abuse it like they do their power over others.”

“Yeah, they probably would,” she agreed with a solemn sigh. “They’re used to getting what they want and I don’t think they’ll give up easily, even if they do get Eden Base. If they find out what we have here, they’ll want it too. It’s not just the technology either, they want more land too and they’ll eventually drive the Seed-borne out of their homes or kill them to get it.”

I nodded, having thought of that as well. “So we either hide what we have here, fall back, and let them think that they’re getting what they want or we fight them. Grandmother says that if we can build up our forces, we have the best chance that we’ve had to turn the Demons back since the fall of the old world. We can’t afford to give that up so our decision is obvious. We can’t afford to fight two enemies and sacrifice the chance to defeat our true enemy.”

“Sounds like you have it all thought out,” the pink-haired Fay said as she squeezed my hand again. “So what’s bothering you then?”

“I’m just worried about what we might have to lose to win. The Dwarves lost their king and others in a desperate attempt to stop the enemy that they didn’t see coming until it was too late. Who will we lose if the same thing happens to us?”

“We won’t let that happen, Snow,” she assured me. “We’re Angels; we were created to fight against evil. We’ll fight the Demons and eventually, we will win. If the lesser evil decides to get in our way, we’ll win against them too. Because we need to and because we’ll do it together. Your grandmother said something in one of the stories that my mother once told me about her and I didn’t realize what it truly meant until after you saved my life. ‘We either stand together or we fall apart.’ The nobles are all in it for themselves, they aren’t unified. If it comes down to war, they’ll stab each other in the backs or run away when things get too tough. We’ll still be standing long after they have fallen at our feet or to their knees.”

She was right; I couldn’t let myself start worrying about what-ifs. If the time came then we’d do what we need to. The only real way for us to prepare for all of the maybes that the future might hold was to train to become the best Angels we could be. For that, we would need sleep. “You know, you’re sexy when you’re wise. Let’s go join the others in bed,” I told her as I kissed her on the cheek. Then I pulled her along toward the bedroom, well aware of how her cheeks were bright red.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, here is chapter 26 of Snow Angel. A quick note. I likely won't be posting much of anything until after Christmas, working late hours in a retail job with the holidays coming up is sucking all the energy out of me. After the holiday rush is over I hope to get back to stories like Apocalypse Dawn and I Wish. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 26: Blackout

The next morning, each member of my team paired off with a member of Phantom Wing to do some one-on-one combat training and help them to learn to get the most out of their weapons. Heather was of course paired off with her fellow sniper and Fay, Orchid, since they used somewhat similar weapons. The pink-haired Fay was passing on some of what she had learned from my grandmother about sniping and I figured that the pair were well-matched physically, especially with both using longer-ranged melee weapons. Heather’s glaive had an edge in reach and the bladed option as well though.

Risha took Maryn in hand and seemed to do well with her. The Avatar might not have had a similar weapon to Phantom Wing’s leader, or any other Angel for that matter, but she did have all of the data on Maryn’s SP-27 Gemini and was able to push her to her limits to try to keep up. The Gemini looked like two separate weapons at first glance, but it was similar to mine in that it had three modes and was very versatile.

When Maryn’s weapon was in melee mode, the Gemini took the form of a pair of short swords for close combat, but the mode that Maryn used the most seemed to be the twin pulse pistol mode. She told us that she liked the freedom of being able to attack while on the move because it made her harder to hit. Risha suggested that she get in a lot of target practice using both hands, with both her Gemini and her new S&W LRX-7 handgun. The Gemini’s third mode was when the weapon truly became one though, in the form of a long-range pulse rifle that packed a bigger punch than the pair of pistols.

Lisbet was working with her fellow Harekin, Peter, who she seemed to be developing a bit of a crush on. Peter used the same M-1 mini-missile launchers that Rose from Shadow Wing used, paired with a regular pulse pistol. Lisbet was becoming very proficient with the pulse cannon mode of her GL-5 Storm and while her other mode launched grenades rather than missiles, she was able to teach him about explosives in general and how to start looking for openings to use them in combat.

I would have thought that my grandmother and Kelsie would have paired Autumn with Fawn since they had somewhat similar weapons and the seamstress was still getting used to some of the quirks of being a full-blooded Fay Angel, but they had her working with Kyle instead. It did make sense since the Deerkin’s S-3 Impulse was a long sword in one mode and a pulse pistol in the other. It wasn’t all that different than her R-8 Light Foil since it was a long blade in one form and an energy weapon in the other as well. Kyle wasn’t nearly as maneuverable in combat as my beautiful Fay girlfriend was, but then, who was?

They paired Fawn off with Karina instead. The Devilkin didn’t have an energy weapon and had never even used a gun before receiving her new S&W LRX-7 as a holdout weapon along with the rest of our team, but she could give Fawn plenty of target practice just by teleporting around. She was also an expert in swinging around those chain scythes of hers before she even became an Angel, so it made sense she would help Fawn with the whip-blade mode of her R-15 Cobra. With her punch daggers mode, she could even give Fawn a taste of close combat while using the whip-blade as a sword.

Of course, I was training with Kyra while they all worked with their charges. I was mostly trying to teach her how to control her large blade’s momentum in a battle without the momentum controlling her, and teaching her what I had learned about using such a large weapon in a fight creatively. She wasn’t as strong as me, but between the HESS that she was wearing and that wool of hers underneath it, she was pretty damn durable. Even if she took a hit that her HESS couldn’t stop the full force of, her wool added an extra layer of protection and kept her safe while the HESS armor’s nanites repaired it.

After a solid two hours of that, we were taken to the shooting range where we all got some target practice with our holdout weapons and the ranged options of our primary weapons. Everyone had the specs and general training instructions of the S&W LRX-7, but Autumn and I had practical experience with them as well (at least on targets) and were able to help the others get used to them. Autumn and I were improving, and the others did decently for their first time, but our two Trainers said that regular practice with the weapons would be important to improve, and then to prevent us from losing our edge once we did become proficient marksmen.

My grandmother asked Kyra and me to hold off on using the ranged modes of our primary weapons though. Apparently, she was worried about the destruction we would cause using them inside the base and, while the repair nanites were plentiful and good for what they did, she didn’t want to risk us accidentally hitting something important. With that in mind, she and Kelsie led our two teams to the front gates and then outside of the base so we could get some practice in.

As soon as we were outside the gates and facing the area of desolation and rubble surrounding the base, Kyra and I were allowed to mode-shift. I already knew how to use my weapon, of course, and had figured out already that precision wasn’t really its thing. No, its thing was overpowering destructive firepower to mow down anything in the path of its six barrels. The looks on the faces of the members of Phantom Wing when I mode-shifted and gave a brief demonstration were priceless.

“Where in the Darkness are you getting all the energy powering that thing?” Maryn asked as she shook her head as if trying to deny what she had just seen. “First that shield, and now this? What have you been eating, girl?”

“I’m as lost as you are,” I told her with a shrug of my shoulders. “Sira thinks that I can summon a lot more extra-planar energy than other Angels can because I’m genetically closer to whatever Demon my ancestors were supposed to become before the process halted. I figure it’s probably not as important how I can channel so much, as what I do with it is. And I want to use it to take down Demons.”

With my demonstration finished, I shifted my Goliath back to claymore mode. Target practice wasn’t really as important for me as aiming it in the right general direction, and I had just wanted to show off a bit. I didn’t really want to use a lot of energy though in case I needed to use my gift later. That was when Kelsie looked toward Kyra and said, “Your turn. Show us what you’ve got.”

Kyra nodded and a moment later, her Scimitar began to shift in a cacophony of motion, whirs, and clicks to change from a large and slightly curved sword to a large gun. It wasn’t quite as big as my gatling mode and it almost looked like a rifle but with a slightly shorter barrel. That one barrel was wide though and I found myself wondering what kind of ammunition that thing fired when she pulled a clip from one of the two massive pouches on her belt. The clip was as long as my forearm, and it looked like she could probably fit three clips in each pouch.

Kyra popped the clip into the weapon, carefully pointing the barrel away from everyone and then took a deep breath and held down the trigger. Where the energy that my weapon spewed forth obliterated everything in its path and the only sound was the hum of firing and the target being shredded, her weapon left a chain of explosions in its path. Explosions and flames that were near violet in color. I could feel the heat of those that had hit the closest targets and they were hot. The destruction she left was in a way worse than what I had left a moment before.

Fawn’s eyes were wide as she stared at her sister’s weapon. “Holy crap! What is that thing?! And what were you firing from it?!”

Risha’s look was curious as she looked at the weapon in question. “If I had to guess, it is a jumbo-sized assault rifle that fires anti-tank-sized rounds. I am guessing thirty rounds per clip? It looked like she had it set on full automatic but it can probably go semi-automatic or fire single rounds as well. I have no idea what those rounds were, but they were probably some kind of armor-piercing and high-explosive incendiary rounds. Can you get your NCI to send me the files on the bullets? I am really curious.”

Kyra appeared to be a bit self-conscious with everyone staring at her but she nodded. “My NCI says that they’re explosive-tipped armor-piercing rounds. Umm… sure, just a second, Risha.”

A moment later Risha’s eyes widened in surprise. “Interesting. The exploding tips serve a dual purpose. They damage the target and ignite the micro plasma charges. Yeah, this is definitely a weapon meant to hold the line against massive numbers. You do not want to use it if you have any teammates between you and what you want to hit though. I have heard that plasma burns hurt like a bitch. It is probably a good thing that plasma charges that small should not burn for long. Still, they will burn long enough to really hurt anything that survives being hit.”

Risha was right; the violet flames were already beginning to cool to regular flames and even those would fade soon with nothing out here to act as fuel. Kelsie nodded in agreement with Risha’s assessment. “Yes, Sira suggested only using the full auto mode to hold back large swarms or give your team some breathing room. You’ll likely be using the sword mode the most. You might use the single-shot mode for large or well-armored Demons. If those rounds penetrate, they’ll cook them from the inside, or at least whatever part of them that you hit. As your Wing Commander, Maryn can make the call whether or not you need to bring out the big gun.”

“If she can’t make the call for some reason though, and things are desperate, don’t hold back, Kyra. Just try to make sure not to hit your allies. You should be able to control your shot grouping a little easier than Snow can with her Goliath, especially if you use the semi-auto mode rather than fully automatic,” my grandmother added to caution the Sheepkin.

“Well, is this terrifying power exhibition over, or is there more that we need to be outside for?” Karina asked. The Devilkin was glancing cautiously at those fading flames but her tone was joking.

“Yes, we’re done here, unless anyone has any questions,” Kelsie replied.

“Couldn’t that thing use regular anti-tank rounds? Maybe armor piecing with Razorwing metal?” Risha asked thoughtfully.

My grandmother shook her head. “Sira said that these rounds were specially made for this weapon in the research lab. The gauge is a little bigger than a traditional anti-tank round and both the gun and the rounds were prototypes. Once Eden Base was closed down and the old world fell, she lacked the materials to produce more rounds, particularly the micro plasma charges. The nano-weave factories couldn’t reproduce them, but the food dispensers could once one was scanned. Sira never considered making regular rounds for it because the weapon’s whole purpose was to fire these special anti-Demon rounds. We could have the Tinkers and Alchemists work on creating some regular armor-piercing ammunition in the right size if it’s an option that Maryn and Kyra would like available.”

“Would it take long?” Kyra asked as she looked uncertainly toward the nearly extinguished flames

“They probably wouldn’t’ be able to get started until everything from Eden Base has been relocated. The hardest part will probably be getting the gauge the right size, but I’ll let Sira know that you’ve requested it,” my grandmother offered.

“Thanks,” Kyra said with a faint blush. “I mean, I know that these rounds will be useful if things get really bad, but if I tried to use these in a forest or something it could set it on fire around us and put the team in more danger.”

“Yeah, we need a simple alternative available, for a variety of reasons,” Maryn agreed, causing both Kyra and Orchid to nod.

Kelsie looked pleased with her trainees as she smiled and nodded as well. “Good thinking, girls. Now, let’s go get some lunch. We still have a lot of training to do today.”

After lunch, we were off to the simulator room for more training on how to pilot the MISTs and REVs, followed by combat simulations that pitted us against a wide variety of Demons. The time variance on the simulations was mentally exhausting, but it did allow us to get a lot more training in during the day than we would have been able to otherwise. We were exhausted that night though and barely got through the first Lord of the Rings movie after dinner before needing to go to bed.

The next four days followed much the same pattern as the day before; endless training in every way imaginable to become proficient in combat, at piloting our new vehicles, and at using all of the weapons at our disposal. Then we would go home and relax, sometimes with a movie. We managed to finish the Lord of the Rings.

It was on the seventh morning after our return to Woodbury base that things changed. We had all gathered in the mess hall for breakfast, expecting another long day of more training, but something had changed. My grandmother looked grim as we ate and she suddenly announced, “We’ve lost contact with Sira and Eden Base.”

Even Kelsie looked surprised at that. “What? When did this happen?”

“Roughly three hours ago, while you were all still asleep,” my grandmother informed us. “Sira and the veetols that we had moving things from Eden Base returned there before dark to load up the last of the important gear to be moved tonight when communications suddenly cut out. I can’t be sure what’s happening there or if we’ll even get comms back or not. This was exactly the type of thing that Sira’s programming prevents her from learning about so I’m going to have to assume that she won’t have the means to restore it.”

“How did we lose communications? Do you think that my parents and the nobles might be responsible somehow?” Heather asked. It didn’t really matter how or why communications were down though. We needed them to coordinate and nobody would be able to approach the base without the comms online. I tried getting Connie to send a message to Sira, or any Angel not currently at the base but we got nothing in response.

“I don’t know,” the first Angel admitted. She wore a frown and I knew all too well that she didn’t like feeling a lack of control. “Either Eden Base has been attacked somehow or something else has caused this.”

“It is not just Eden Base, I tried sanding a simple burst message to the Academy but I am getting empty air there too,” Risha contributed thoughtfully. “Line of sight and base-wide communications seem to work fine; I can reach the comms room here at Woodbury. I think one of the FTL communications relays could be down; probably whatever one is closest to us. It would explain a dead zone in the global communications network.”

My grandmother’s attention was instantly on the AI as she asked, “How much do you know about this communications system, Risha?”

The blonde avatar shrugged. “Probably more than anyone else alive right now. Since I spent a lot of time with Kylie and needed to be able to communicate with her as part of my duties, so they could not really program me not to learn about that stuff, at least not as well as they shackled Sira. We had internet and television so I knew about as much as anybody else alive at the time that the system was brought online.”

“What can you tell us then,” Kelsie inquired, looking as uncomfortable about the lack of comms as my grandmother.

Risha explained as quickly as she could, which wasn’t as quick as most of us would have preferred, given that she had to explain how the technology itself worked as well. She started by telling us that it replaced the old satellite communications system. Apparently, they had these things called satellites up in orbit around the planet that used to do something similar.

The idea behind the FTL relay system was that the colonists heading out to New Terra would be able to send faster-than-light messages back to Earth and it would allow instant global communication as well. There is a relay station on the moon to send messages out into space from Earth and vice versa, but any of the relays on Earth can send messages through the relay on the moon or along the earth side relay network to other areas, so long as they are online.

The problem was that those relays were what take our comms signals and relay them faster than light; if one was offline then it would limit the communications signals in its area to short-range or line of sight because comms would try to send the message directly to the other party rather than through the dead relay. The problem that we currently faced was that there were a lot of ruins and other stuff that could block or disperse a signal between Eden Base and us. At least Risha was able to assure us that line of sight would allow incoming veetols to send the necessary confirmation code to Woodbury Base and prevent the defenses from activating automatically.

Risha said that these relays were giant metal towers reaching miles up into the sky and placed in a grid around the entire planet to provide full coverage. There were even towers made in the middle of the oceans to keep the grid exact and the relay towers each had onboard repair nanites to repair damage and prevent long-term communications blackouts. My AI teammate figured that the relay closest to us had been recently damaged somehow and was currently being repaired.

That left us with essentially two options. The first option was that we could wait things out and hope that nothing bad happened in the meantime that would require us or the other Angels; like a war breaking out, a seed storm, or Demon attacks on populated areas. I didn’t like the idea of just sitting around and waiting while we were essentially in the dark though, and I was sure that nobody else did either.

Our second option was to try to do something about it, or at least confirm that Risha’s guess was correct. That was when she revealed that the base comms room would have a diagnostic for the communications system and a map of the relay grid. Using those, she would be able to determine if we were facing some sort of issue in the comms system itself or if one of the relay towers was down. If one of them were down, she would be able to find out where it was.

Still, we sat and talked it out as we finished our morning meal, so I guess we were going with both options, at least until we could confirm Risha’s theory. The talk was tense though and I didn’t contribute much, preferring to finish my meal as quickly as possible so we could stop talking about doing something and actually do it. The others seemed to be just as antsy as I was though and Risha, my grandmother, and Kelsie carried most of the discussion.

Finally, both our food and debate were finished. Not that it was much of a debate since we all knew what needed to be done and the comms hadn’t been magically restored during that time. With that in mind, my grandmother, Kelsie, Maryn, and I accompanied Risha to the comms room while she went to investigate the matter.

As for the others, they waited for us in the mess hall and tried to fill the awkward silence with some more food and talk while they waited. I think they were worried that it would take a while and that we could be without communication for days. I knew that I was. Fortunately, less than fifteen minutes later we had an answer.

Risha frowned as she held her hand on the communications room computer and interfaced with it. Once her eyes were focused again she looked toward us, nodded, and said, “Yeah, the closest relay tower is in the red right now. It is due east of us, just past what used to be the Wisconsin border along the old I-94.”

“Does it tell you anything about how bad the damage is?” Kelsie inquired. “Or how long it will take to repair?”

The Avatar shook her head. “No, the whole point is that it is not communicating with the rest of the relay system right now, so it is impossible to know the specifics from here. All that I can tell from here is that it is not currently connected to the rest of the global system. I am not sure what could have damaged it either. Maybe a rockslide or something? I would have thought that nothing short of an earthquake could damage one of those things, and we probably would have felt that here if it was bad enough to damage a relay tower.”

“Could it have been damaged on purpose?” my grandmother queried with a dark expression.

Risha quickly shook her head. “No, I do not think so, Wingleader. Someone damaging it on purpose to silence communications in the area would have to know what it was, exactly where to damage it, and how. Nobody would have the capability to damage it outside of the Corps, and I do not think even any of the Corps would have the technical knowledge required. Besides, the only people I could think of who would want to take down our communications network temporarily would be the nobility, and they would have to pass right through the Twin City ruins to do it. I believe that this is just an unfortunate coincidence. However, if they somehow discover our communications issues, which is unlikely at best, I would not put it past them to attempt to take advantage of it somehow.”

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” my grandmother said grimly after a moment of silent consideration, catching everyone’s attention. “Your teams are both doing well enough in the simulations that you’re ready for some real-world flight experience now, I think. Kelsie and I will monitor things from here in case Sira sends anyone to find out why we’ve lost contact. Maryn, your team will take your MIST to Eden Base to apprise them of the reason that our comms aren’t working. Go in cloaked so nobody sees you and assist Sira and Eden Base as needed until comms are back online.”

“What about my team?” I asked as she looked at me and paused, her lips set in a grim line that told me she was worried about something.

A deep sigh escaped my grandmother’s lips and she gave me a long and serious look. “Your team is going to take your MIST to investigate that tower and whatever managed to damage it. Go in cloaked and be extra cautious. I have a bad feeling about this.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, here is chapter 27 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 27: Mission Improbable

My grandmother’s warning weighed heavily on my mind as Maryn, Risha, and I made our way to the mess hall to collect our other team members. She wasn’t the only one that had a bad feeling about this. Risha’s assurance that it would take something pretty major to damage one of the relay towers had me worried, and I was a bit nervous about going on what would essentially be our first mission on our own.

I know that until now my Grandmother was giving me free reign with my team. She had let me make all of the decisions and followed my commands like everyone else, but she had also been there to give advice, take over leadership, or take care of anything that we couldn’t handle on our own if we had needed her to. We hadn’t needed that yet, but there was always the chance that we might and the option had been there.

This time though, she wouldn’t be with us and the option wouldn’t be there if we needed it. We wouldn’t even be able to talk to her through the comms system if things went to hell on this mission, at least not until the repairs to the tower were finished. This time we would be completely on our own, and my decisions could cost us our lives. I couldn’t afford to screw up, my friends and loved ones were counting on me.

Maryn looked as nervous as I felt, and I couldn’t blame her. Unlike us, they hadn’t even gone on a single mission yet and they were being sent into an uncertain situation without their Trainer. For combat experience, all that they had to go on was team versus team battles and the VR simulations that Risha had been programming for us. Kyra and Fawn only had the simulations, and they were all still trying to gel as a six-person team.

It was probably a safe enough mission since they were just going to report to Sira at Eden Base and help out there as needed, but the lack of communications added a worrisome quality to even that. What if the base was under attack or something? Maryn was probably considering the very same thoughts and I could smell the slight tang of fear on her. I took a deep breath and tried to look calm, cool, and collected as we entered the mess hall and my ears tilted toward Maryn as I heard her do the same.

Our respective teammates looked up at our approach and Karina was the first to ask, “So, were you able to find out what’s wrong?”

“Yeah,” I answered as I tried to keep from showing the nervousness that I was feeling. “Risha was right; the nearest relay tower has been damaged. It should be repairing itself but it’ll take time. Storm Wing is to go in and see what might have damaged it, but we’ll need to be careful. Risha said those things are hard to damage and there could be hostile Demons or something else.”

“I guess that we’ll be training on our own today then,” Peter said with a sad look toward Lisbet.

Maryn immediately corrected the Harekin. “Nope, Phantom Wing will be going to Eden Base to let Sira know about what’s going on, and to assist them if needed.”

“So everyone gear up and let’s get down to the hangar,” I added. Not that any of us really needed to get any gear. We kept our HESS armor and weapons on at all times except when we were in bed, and even then, it was close by. As for ammunition, if any of us felt that we needed more, then we had the food dispenser on the MIST to make some. Since the maintenance of our team’s equipment was part of our duties, we had gotten into the habit of checking to make sure that the matter reservoir was full along with the other daily systems checks.

“Are our Trainers going to meet us down there?” Heather asked, noting their absence.

“No, they’ll stay here in case Sira sends anyone here to find out why they’ve lost contact. We’ll be doing these missions on our own,” I replied, trying to keep my tone even. “We’d better get going.”

It was as Lisbet and Risha were going through the pre-flight checklist and we waited to take off that Autumn, Heather, and Karina cornered me. “You’re nervous, Snowy.” It wasn’t a guess or a question, Autumn’s tone carried the certainty of fact. “You’re being all rigid and stiff; maybe this will loosen you up.”

My Fay girlfriend wrapped her arms around me and kissed me, her hands caressing my back lovingly as our tongues entwined. When she finally pulled away, I could scarcely breathe. I wasn’t given time to recover though before Heather surprised me by taking Autumn’s place. It was the first time that the former princess had been the one to initiate a kiss with any of us and my eyes widened in surprise before I let myself enjoy it. When our lips finally parted, her cheeks were as pink as her hair as she admitted breathlessly, “I’ve… been wanting to do that… for a while.”

Autumn was grinning from ear to ear as she looked at the two of us and said, “Heather, you don’t need to be shy about showing any of us affection, we all sleep in the same bed. I think that I speak for Snowy and Risha too when I say that.”

“Don’t look at me, I’m not going to kiss you,” Karina offered playfully. “I like you, Snow, but not like that. And don’t worry about us being on our own this time. Wingleader Abbadine trusts us to do this on our own and for you to lead us as you have been until now. She wouldn’t send us out on our own otherwise. What’s more, we trust you. We know that you’ll do everything that you can to finish the mission and keep all of us as safe as you can while doing it. You’ve got this.”

Heather nodded in agreement. “We trust you, Snowy, and I’ll be watching your backs. The only difference between this mission and any other is that I’ll be sniping on my own and keeping a closer eye on all of you through my scope in case I see something you might miss up close if we do encounter anything. For all we know though, it could just be something weather related.”

I found myself blushing at their faith in me, and wishing that I had as much. “Thanks, girls,” I replied a little self-consciously. Then I called toward the cockpit. “How’s the pre-flight check going?”

“We’re all good to go, Wing Commander,” Lisbet called back. “We can take off as soon as you give the go-ahead.”

“Everyone get belted in and let’s go then, this mission isn’t going to complete itself,” I said. “Lisbet, you can start moving us to the surface elevator.” With that, I took my seat, though I had to reposition my tail to be somewhat comfortable. These seats didn’t seem to take tails into account.

By the time Lisbet had eased the MIST from its pad and onto the elevator, the rest of us were belted in and ready to go. Thanks to the training on the simulators, Lisbet didn’t have too much trouble piloting, and even if she had, Risha was there to watch and take over if it became necessary. I was sure that Lisbet would do fine though since we were all doing well training on the MISTS and my grandmother was probably right about us all being ready for real-world practice.

Phantom Wing’s MIST had made it onto the elevator as well, so as both vehicles rode upward, we used ship-to-ship communications to wish one another good luck. Then, once we had reached the surface, both MISTs took off, heading in near-opposite directions. I hoped that neither of our teams would run into anything serious, but I was nervous nonetheless.

After roughly an hour of flying carefully over the ruins, Risha announced, “We have crossed into the border of what used to be Wisconsin. It is mostly a thick snow-covered forest down there with no signs of habitation so far. I have Lisbet following a flight plan that should get us to the relay tower within the hour. We could be there sooner, but we have the sensor suite running scans as well since I have no idea what we’ll find here.”

“Any idea of what we can expect from the locals?” I asked in concern.

“I am not certain that there are locals, at least in the area that we are traveling through,” the AI replied. “I have the sensors scanning for any signs of civilization and there is nothing nearby. Misota has had no contact with this area with the ruins between them and from what little contact they have had, there does not seem to be any form of a central government, or even much habitation, just the city-state of Ashburn up north on the shore of Lake Superior. The population of Wisconsin was decimated by the time that news updates stopped being broadcast. Most of those remaining were evacuated to more secure states or up north to a military base that was being constructed on the lake. Construction was never completed though, at least that I know of, since they started focusing on getting the VIPs off-world and away from the growing Demon problem.”

“We’ll probably see a lot of Demons around then since there’s been nothing to control their population.” Karina contributed with a frown in her seat beside Autumn.

“That is actually fairly unlikely,” Risha corrected. “Demons need to eat a lot and thus tend to congregate toward large concentrated food sources. Animals are generally too spread out in the forest. They would have more luck finding concentrated food sources by going to human habitations, or ruins where they could feed on one another. If they stuck around here, they would either starve to death or start eating the weaker Demons, and then either starve to death or move on to a different territory to repeat the process. The only Demons around a largely unpopulated area like this should be those from the most recent seed storms.”

“I’m more interested in this Ashburn place that you mentioned,” Heather said eagerly. “Why haven’t I heard of it before now?”

Risha’s voice sounded just as curious about the city-state as she responded, “From what I have seen in Sira’s data archives, they stay mostly behind their walls and do not seek to trade or interact with others. Either that or the constant assaults on their city by Demons make it difficult. If they are the only large population center in the area, it would explain why Demons attack so often. Those that head north in search of food would end up there, and any Demons from the great lake too.

“Why haven’t we sent anyone there to help them?” Autumn asked. She didn’t sound happy that we seemed to be sitting back and doing nothing to help people under constant attack by Demons when it was our job to do so. I couldn’t help but agree with that sentiment.

“The past few Queens of Misota have avoided sending trade delegations or Angels there since they wanted to build up the Corps and deal with our own Demon problems first. Personally, I think that they never expected Ashburn to keep turning the Demons back for this long. And so they’ve been out of sight and out of mind.”

“Do you think that they have some sort of old-world technology helping them against the Demons?” Lisbet’s voice inquired from the pilot’s seat.

“It’s possible,” Risha admitted in a thoughtful tone. “Since that was around where the base was being constructed. Even uncompleted and with minimal equipment, the base could have some form of defenses or other technology for them to defend themselves with, or that they have adapted to that purpose. Of course, it is equally likely that they have been overrun by now. There has been no known contact with anyone associated with Ashburn for nearly twenty years and they were isolationists, so they could have been wiped out and we would know nothing about it. Even Helm’s Deep was breached eventually while under assault.”

I actually understood that reference. It helped that we had watched the Lord of the Rings so recently though. Now I was picturing people in HESS armor with pulse pistols fighting Demons on horseback though. I did not need that kind of distraction, so I tried to bring everyone’s attention back to the mission at hand. “While I sympathize with the people of Ashburn and I think that we should probably send a team to at least check on them, we should focus on our mission right now.”

With that in mind, we all began talking about our strategy for the mission. I decided that it would be best to remain cloaked until we knew what we were dealing with, and even after. Not only had my grandmother suggested that we go in without being seen, if possible, but I didn’t want the MIST to become a target if there were hostiles in the area. It would also give Heather a good place to set up her sniping position where she wouldn’t be seen if it came to that.

We would scout the area from the air first and try to get an idea of what we were dealing with, and so Risha could assess the damage to the relay tower and get a rough estimate of the repair time. If we found out that something had damaged the tower, then we would react as needed to make sure that it didn’t happen again. The Corps was counting on us to get communications restored.

Suddenly our conversation was cut short as Risha said, “We have the tower in sight, we should be right on top of it s… What the hell?! Wing Commander, I think we have found the problem. But you are going to need to see it to believe it.”

I quickly unbuckled myself from my seat and the others quickly did the same. Then we crowded at the door to the cockpit to look over Risha’s and Lisbet’s shoulders and out the front viewscreen of the craft. Even from here, we could see that the tower had taken a beating. I moved past the others and into the cockpit for a better look though. Risha zoomed in on the damage and a small window appeared on the forward screen to give us a closer look.

The tower was still mostly intact but there were scorch marks, dents, and patches of half-melted metal all over the surface of it. Most of the damage looked superficial but the antenna that was supposed to be at the top of the tower was only a stub, going by the diagrams that Risha had shown us on the command console before we left. The metal on the top of the relay tower looked new compared to the rest and it made me think that the top had been blown right off and that this new metal was what had already been repaired.

“I am guessing another hour or two before repairs are complete, Wing Commander,” Risha reported. Then, as I was wondering what could have possibly done that kind of damage to the tower and why, her hands flew along the command console. “The real problem is going to be that,” she added as the view in the little zoomed-in window she had made changed, switching to one of the other external video feeds. There, at the base of the tower, was a creature all too similar to something that we had seen in a movie recently.

Karina was the first to react as she gaped over my shoulder at the feed. “Is that a dragon?!”

The Avatar nodded, turning around in the co-pilot’s seat to face us. “I only know of two of these creatures being sighted before the VIPs stopped giving a shit about everyone else and high-tailed it to New Terra. Only one was here in North America, but both times the dragons laid waste to entire cities. I am not sure how the military dealt with them, or even if they were able to. Those scales are probably as hard to pierce as Razorwing feathers. Also, this one looks a lot bigger than the ones that Kylie and I saw on the news. It looks over a hundred feet long, which means that it has been around for a very long time.”

“What the heck is it doing here though? And why is it watching the tower so intently?” Heather asked as we all stared at the screen, and I tried to figure out how to deal with something like that.

“It probably picked the closest ruins clean of food and was probably looking for a more steady food supply,” Risha guessed. “If it had gone west from here it would likely be in a feeding frenzy in the Twin City ruins right now. I cannot be certain why it would be attacking the relay tower though; maybe it is waiting now because it tired itself out with its earlier assault.”

“Which means that it is probably hungry,” Autumn’s voice spoke from behind me. “So, how do we take down a hungry and very old dragon?”

“We attack from above and shred its wings so it can’t fly. Then we stay mobile, try not to give it a single target to focus on, and hope that our big guns can…” I trailed off as I looked at the dragon on the forward screen. Something was wrong with this picture. Then I realized what it was. “Risha, can you zoom in any further?”

“Sure thing, what do you see?” she replied as her hands darted across the console again and we were treated to a slightly closer view.

“Holy shit, that thing has been in a scrape with something recently,” Lisbet muttered as my suspicions were confirmed. It had patches of scales missing, blood flowing from countless deep gashes along its hide, and one of its horns was snapped off at the base. What could have possibly put up a fight against a dragon, let alone do that much damage?

“Risha, it’s time to put the Minimax to work. Do you think that one of your micro missiles can take that thing down?” I asked.

The AI seemed to consider it a moment as she turned toward me and then nodded. “Well, they are meant to be used against heavily armored opponents. I am not sure if they were meant for something quite that big, but if we can knock off more scales in a critical area, like the head, then it should be able to penetrate deeply enough for a kill shot.”

I nodded and turned to look at the others crowding the cockpit door behind me. “Okay, it’s on the ground, hungry, and hurting. We take it down hard and fast from the air. Karina, take the pilot’s seat and then keep us steady and out of its reach, I’ll need Lisbet’s firepower for this.”

The Devilkin nodded and rushed past me to take over for Lisbet, who reached for her GL-5 Storm as she asked, “What’s the plan, Wing Commander?”

“I’ll shred the wings while the rest of you throw everything that you can think of that might hurt that thing at the area around that broken horn. It looks like some scales there are already loose or missing but you’ll need to make a weak spot big enough for Risha to take advantage of. Risha, you might only get one shot at this before it shakes off what we’re hitting it with and tries to counterattack, so make it count. Oh, and everyone anchor yourselves to the deck plate, so you don’t fall.”

No more time was wasted with words as we all made our way to the rear hatch. Once we were at the edge of the deck plating with the hatch opened, we all instructed our NCIs to engage the magnetic boots in our HESS armor. Then I took a deep breath, switched my Goliath to Gatling mode, and rained down a barrage of violet-hued bursts of energy upon the wings of the dragon.

It had barely roared in anger and pain and begun to turn its head toward us when the others added their fire to pepper its face and head. Bright red bursts of heat and light erupted from Autumn’s long-barreled laser pistol. The magnetically driven sniper fire from Heather wasn’t quite as rapid but she was picking and choosing her shots, looking for scales to knock loose or free. Meanwhile, Lisbet was firing high explosive grenades as fast as she could get them loaded.

The beast reared, breathing fire as it flapped its now-ruined wings and tried to take to the sky, only to fail. Karina must have been watching for just such an attempt because she pulled us away and out of range of the intense flames as I turned the focus of my fire at the dragons face. The battering barrage forced it to turn its head away in pain. I thought that I had managed to take out one of its eyes when Risha fired her weapon beside me.

I held my breath and slowed my rate of fire to conserve energy as the small missile flew through the air toward its target. The dragon thrashed and tried to twist away to keep the assault off its head and face, but each time that it moved we shifted our aim, and the tiny missile adjusted its course accordingly. Then, a surprisingly large explosion seemed to shake the very air and the dragon collapsed with a good portion of its head missing.

“What the hell has my little sister had me packing all this time?! She said they were potent, but damn,” Risha muttered after her brief outburst.

“Now I can’t decide whether you or Snowy has the scarier weapon,” Autumn muttered as she looked over at the pair of us.

“She does,” we both said at the same time while pointing accusingly at one another. Then I shifted my scary weapon back to Claymore mode and called out to Karina, “Take us down!”

In a moment, we were on the ground, and we had barely touched down when I issued orders for Karina to seal up and guard the MIST while the rest of us checked things out. I wanted Lisbet and Heather to get some samples of the dragon’s scales and see if they could come up with something hot enough to cremate the corpse. While they did that Autumn, Risha, and I would inspect the tower. The three of us were nearly at the base of the soaring structure when a door at the base of it slid open and three large metallic humanoids poured out in a rush.

I’m not sure who was more surprised, them or us, but suddenly we all had weapons drawn and pointed at one another, each waiting for the others to make the first move. Then a voice with a metallic ting that crackled with static said, “Don’t move. Identify yourselves and state your purpose or we’ll kill you where you stand.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, I had a bit of a crappy week but I'm trying to get back to writing since the holidays are over. I got two chapters of other things done last night and this morning and I'm hoping for a new chapter of Snow Angel on my patreon sometime late tonight as well. Anyway, here is chapter 28 of Snow Angel. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 28: Diplomacy

For a moment, nobody moved a muscle or said anything as we sized each other up, though I heard Heather’s voice through our comms. -=Lisbet and I are using the Dragon’s corpse as cover, Snow. We’re ready to cover you if you give the word.=- Thank goodness that short-range and line-of-sight communications were still working.

The three metallic humanoids were large but of varying sizes and builds. The largest was close to eight feet tall, half that in width, had a hunched back, and it carried a large and simple cudgel-type weapon in its hands. The next largest looked to be just over seven feet tall, looked slimmer and more maneuverable than the other two, and had long blades of what looked like steel protruding from each wrist. The third was the smallest at barely over six feet tall, was built on a stocky frame, had a flat and wide head, and carried something that looked very similar to Heather’s sniper rifle, though quite a bit larger.

They all had various slots and openings along their frames that I thought could be for weapon emplacements. Their posture seemed more defensive than threatening though, and I was trying to figure out how to calm things down when Risha suddenly laughed beside me. “Oh please, you people probably could not kill a fly right now, unless you got really lucky with that big hammer. Snow, they are no threat right now. They barely have enough power to move those suits right now, and they have expended almost all of their onboard weapons. That is probably why they were hiding in the tower, instead of out here fighting the Dragon.”

I kept one eye on the three mechanical beings and let the other move toward my Avatar teammate. “You’re sure?” I asked.

“Of course I am, Snow. I am close enough to remotely connect to the tower’s systems and theirs. It doesn’t give me full access as direct contact would, but it is more than enough to see that their power readings are in the red and their main weapons are offline,” she responded confidently. Then she turned to the mechanical men in question to add, “If anyone should be surrendering, it is you.”

The weapons aimed at us wavered enough to let me know that Risha was probably right. Autumn peered at them in interest and inquired of our AI mate, “What are they, some sort of old-world security for the tower? They came from there.”

Risha shook her head. “No, they do not belong here any more than we do. My guess is that they picked a fight with the Dragon and hid inside when they spent all their ammo and realized that they were not going to win. The towers do not have any security; they were built to be very difficult to damage and the inner workings are damn near impossible to reach for anything but the repair and maintenance nanites. The tower has drones to gather raw materials for the repair nanites to use, but that is about it. The programming in their armor isn’t nearly as advanced as the drones though; it is basically just set up to respond to commands through the basic NCI that comes with the equipment interface nanites like the ones that Marti gave Raven.”

“Okay, so what I’m getting is that they were probably the ones who were fighting that Dragon before we showed up to finish it off, and we’re probably not all that different. That means that we probably don’t need to kill each other. So, how about the three of you lower your weapons, and we’ll lower ours. Then we can talk this out like rational adults,” I offered. Then I set an example by sheathing my Goliath behind my back.

As expected, Autumn and Risha waited until the three beings that we were facing lowered their weapons in response, before lowering their own. The smallest of the three spoke in that metallic voice again, and this time I could make out the feminine intonation. “I’m Desra Maddock, team leader for Suppression Team Theta. We hail from a city to the north called Ashburn. That dragon has been terrorizing us for months and my team was sent to find its lair and kill it, if possible.”

“Ashburn?” I asked as my brows rose in interest. I managed to hold off my curiosity enough to make introductions though. “I’m Snow Bengal, Wing Commander for Storm Wing. We’re with the Angel Corps, and we came to investigate the communications blackout. This is Risha and Autumn. Heather and Lisbet are the ones coming out from behind the Dragon corpse, and Karina is waiting nearby with our transportation.” I didn’t trust them enough yet to mention what manner of transportation or that it was currently cloaked and far closer than I was implying.

“Aye, Ashburn,” the large one replied as he looked us all over. “Heard of something called the Angel Corps in Misota but never seen ‘em before. Normally, we can hold off Demon incursions just fine by ourselves, but that Dragon wasn’t your standard Demon,” His voice still had the same electronic and tinny sound as Desra’s but it was far deeper.

“Damn thing surprised us on our way south and destroyed our transport; we barely had time to get into our armor. We ran our power cells nearly dry and used up most of our munitions fighting it off and then we saw this tower in the distance. We were hoping it would have some old-world tech that we could use. We were just about to report our location and request backup when our comms died. My sensor suite isn’t even working right now since it’s tied into the communications system,” Desra explained with a tinny sigh. “Anyway, the big guy is our engineer and heavy weapons specialist, Garon. Pippa there is our close combat girl.”

Garon gave a sound something like a snort while Pippa could barely be heard as she offered, “It’s… umm… nice to meet you?”

“Well, that explains that,” Risha said while rolling her eyes. “You guys led the angry dragon right to the communications relay tower so when it started trying to knock it down while you were hiding inside, it took out communications for the entire area. Did you not know what that tower is for?”

Desra turned to gaze up at the missing top of the tower, which looked a little odd with her armor’s wide and flat head. “Well damn, do you think it can be fixed? We don’t really know how the communications system works; just that it always has, until now.”

Risha sighed and I wondered if it was possible for the AI to get headaches or if she was just rubbing her temples out of exasperation or for show. “Well, now you know. Do not damage the relay towers. To answer your question though, it should be fixed soon, the repair nanites are already on it.”

“Hmmph. You would think they would have built redundancies,” Garon said with what sounded like another snort.

“There was supposed to be a redundant system of secondary towers built for situations like this where comms go down due to Demon attacks, but the project was never started,” Risha pointed out bitterly. “By that point, the rich assholes in charge were more interested in getting off-planet and away from the Demons. So funds went there instead of toward systems that would have helped people left behind on Earth.”

“You make it sound like you were there, back then,” Desra replied, and it didn’t take a genius to hear the suspicion in her tone.

I mentally cursed. I knew that Risha had no love for the people of the old world, especially those who had been in charge. I could even understand it after how those in charge (even Kylie’s father) had locked Kylie up, treated her like a science project, and then left her to the mercy of bigots when they left this world. It wasn’t the first time that she got mad thinking about it, but she needed to learn to not let it color her thinking.

“Do I look hundreds of years old?” Risha snapped to cover up her faux pas. “I just do a lot of research and I am good with machines. That is how I know so much about the towers.”

“I suppose that anyone with access to the right computer archives could figure all that out if they wanted to,” Pippa offered quietly, though she didn’t sound completely convinced. It was more like she was willing to give us the benefit of the doubt. “We don’t know much about this Angel Corps, Des, only rumors. It looks like they have HESS armor, like we do, and look at the weapon that Risha is holding, I’ve never seen anything like it. And they did take down the Dragon. I mean, you did, right?”

As the three turned to us for clarification, I nodded slowly. “Yeah, we took down the Dragon. Mostly because we were able to take it by surprise and keep it on the ground while it was still watching the tower for you,” I told them diplomatically to not dismiss their own efforts against the massive Demon.

“See, Des. None of them look like Humes either, except for Risha. Maybe they were abandoned like we were? I mean, we get pissed off at the Exodants all the time, and none of us were around back then either,” Pippa pressed.

“Humes? Abandoned? Who are these Exodants that you speak of?” Heather asked in interest as she and Lisbet came closer.

“Maybe we should go have this conversation inside,” Desra finally said after emitting a long sigh. “Every minute that we stay in our power armor, we lose more power. We’re going to need it running if we’re going to contact home once the comms are back up.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right, Desra,” Garon said, managing somehow to look sheepish even in his large power armor. “I don’t suppose that you people would have some spare fuel cells that we could use? Or maybe some food that isn’t rations?”

I considered it for a moment and figured that it would probably be best to act as diplomatically as possible. We had a chance here that nobody from Misota, or the Corps had had before and if their tech was even close to our own it would be nice to be able to make allies of the people of Ashburn, or at least open up the possibility by being friendly. “Risha, you and Autumn go inside with them and see if we might be able to provide something compatible that they can use as a power source for their armor. I’ll go talk to Karina about getting us all something to eat. Lisbet and Heather, we still need to figure out what to do about that Dragon corpse.”

“I have an idea about that, Snow,” Lisbet offered as Autumn and Risha followed the three from Ashburn inside the tower. “Remember Kyra’s weapon? The micro plasma charges are actually based on similar larger charges that are used in plasma grenades. Those don’t get a lot of use since plasma is dangerous to work with, and they burn a lot longer than the tiny ones in Kyra’s bullets. The grenades should burn hot enough to even consume a Dragon’s flesh and if I use enough at key points then we should just be able to stand back and watch it burn from a safe distance, once we’ve gotten scans of any possibly useful materials, like those scales.”

I winced at the thought of those plasma charges in grenade form but nodded. “Okay, you can start scanning now, but wait to make the grenades until after we eat and get to know our new ‘friends’ better. I want you to join us in there. I know how much you’d love to get a better look at their power armor, and I’d like to know as much as we can about it, just in case. They look pretty banged up, so maybe offer to help with repairs.”

Lisbet grinned and had to visibly restrain herself from jumping around excitedly at my orders. Once she had collected herself from a state of near-binkies she extracted the spare molecular scanner that she had procured from the lab from one of her pouches. “You got it, Snow. I’ll get the scans while you and Heather go grab Karina and some food.”

It was ten minutes before I returned to the tower with Lisbet, Karina, and Heather in tow, with the latter three of us bearing platters with fruit, meats, cheeses, and bread. The MIST was all locked up and the only people who would be able to open it up to get inside would be the members of my team. If it was an emergency, Karina could teleport inside and be at the controls in seconds.

We entered the tower and into a large room that was currently a flurry of activity as large drones moved back and forth from a room to our left and one at the back of the tower. They looked like the much bigger brothers of those that Risha had been controlling when we met her, but with these weird mechanical arms attached. They carried loads of raw materials, from what I assumed must be where they stored them until needed, to the back room and returned empty-handed to do it again. In the back room that the materials were destined for, my sharp eyes could see this sort of silver goo flowing upward along a pillar in the center of the room.

It was fascinating, but was soon interrupted by the sound of Risha’s frustrated voice exclaiming, “How have none of you blown yourselves up yet?! Daisy-chaining a bunch of hydrogen fuel cells meant for pulse pistols together and calling it a power source is certifiably insane! No wonder your power armor drains quickly! I can see why you are not using energy weapons on these!”

She was currently looking inside the armor-plated chest of Desra’s small unit and grumbling to herself as three people looked on, all of them dressed in HESS armor in its combat mode. The first was a small Catkin woman with a black tail, ears, and hair who was standing aside and looking annoyed. It was she who replied, “It’s what we’ve had available and it’s worked until now. So, do you think that you can help us or not?” The tinny electronic tinge to the voice was gone, but it was definitely recognizable as Desra’s.

The second person was a pretty blonde Fay girl with bright blue eyes who wore her wavy hair long. By process of elimination, I assumed must be Pippa. She was sitting on the floor and looking like she was shy and feeling really out of place. She also seemed fascinated by Autumn’s hairstyle. I was a little surprised to find a Fay amongst them since the residents of Ashburn supposedly seldom left their city and the Fay tend to prefer living close to nature.

The third was a massive man, over six feet tall. I had never seen an Orc before, only heard about them through other Animen villages. They were technically Animen, Boarkin to be exact, but they had been labeled Orcs before the old world fell and the name had stuck. At least now that I had watched the Lord of the Rings, I had some reason why. He looked like a large human except for the ears, the tusks, and the snout-like nose. He probably had a swine-like tail too, but I couldn’t see it at the moment.

The Orc stood up once he noticed us and grinned. “Nice! Real food instead of rations. I’m guessing that whatever transport you’re using has a food dispenser available? That could help with making some fuel cells.”

“We can discuss your needs, and whether we can help with them while we eat,” I offered as I tried to remain diplomatic but not give too much away until I knew more about them.

Desra nodded in agreement and I was pretty sure that she knew exactly what I was doing. “Yes, maybe we should get to know one another a bit better first though.”

They started explaining a few things while we ate, including some of the things that had caught Heather’s interest earlier. Humes was what they called Humans, and I gathered that it wasn’t a nice way of referring to them. They didn’t trust Humans, which explained why the people visiting from Misota had never gotten anywhere with them. They certainly didn’t appear to trust Risha very much since she looked the part, but at least we were making some progress.

Near the end of the old world, just before the VIPs had left Earth for New Terra, the last vestiges of the population of Wisconsin who weren’t rich and powerful enough to live in secure compounds were to be moved to safer locations. Those who were untainted by Demon Seeds were evacuated to cities in other states while those who were no longer Human were moved to a military base that was being constructed on Lake Superior, the site where the city-state of Ashburn now stood.

It was something that Risha later ended up calling a PR dick move. Those in charge wanted to look like they were helping the people in one of the states that had suffered some of the greatest losses due to the Demons. Construction was never completed on the base that the non-humans were moved to. About the only thing that was truly completed before funds were moved elsewhere was the stardrive meant to power it all, the shielding to keep the radiation from leaking out, and the vats of maintenance and repair nanites.

It had secure walls that the nanites would repair when damaged, but no hardlight dome. It was almost as if they wanted to keep the residents in rather than the Demons out. Rather than homes or underground living quarters, a large collection of simple barracks and public buildings were hastily constructed to house more than eighty thousand people. It had an AI core, but no AI was installed and everything was automated. There were food dispensers, boutique booths, and some large nano-weave factories, but they lacked any real way to defend themselves if attacked by the Demons without plasma turrets on the walls, a hardlight dome, or an AI to coordinate those missing features.

At least they got some decent equipment, but Risha figured that was just stuff that had been already delivered in preparation for a military base. It was likely left there so they could say to the public, “Look at how we’re helping these poor people with top-of-the-line equipment.” They had some veetols, HAMETs, a pair of hover-haulers for moving people and supplies, and a nanite programmer that was regularly, if a bit slowly, producing both HESS armor and the injections to interface with the equipment.

Then the VIPs, or the Exodants as the people of Ashburn called them, left the planet Earth en masse and abandoned those of us who weren’t important enough or human enough to deal with the Demons on our own. After that, they had to get by on their wits and what resources, gear, and information they could get by raiding now-abandoned towns and old military bases across the state. That was when they found a base where they had been researching power armor.

If there was an AI like Sira at that base then they probably never found her. They hadn’t mentioned finding anything like Sira or the Avatars at Woodbury Base, and they stripped that base of anything useful. Computers, prototypes, parts, and anything else that they could get their hands on. Since then they had been producing more power armor, ammunition, and other necessities to defend their city when needed by using the raw materials and the nano-weave factories and food dispensers. The only problem was the power supplies for the power armor, which they had improvised a solution to.

After that, they seldom left their city except to get raw materials and avoided Humans like the plague. They tried not to use their advanced technology beyond their walls unless necessary to avoid the jealousy of those who would want it for themselves. I could sympathize with that given our current problems with the nobles of Misota.

As for Suppression Team Theta in the present day, they had taken one of their few remaining veetols to track down the Dragon’s lair and their prey hit them in the dark before they were properly prepared. The pilot of the vehicle had been killed in the resulting crash and the trio barely had time to get into their banged-up armor and get it powered up before the Dragon swung around for another attack.

They fought the Demon off, and as soon as they saw the tower when their power and munitions ran low, they made a run for it. Then they hid inside until the sound of our brief and very loud battle with the Dragon had them hurrying into their armor and outside to see what was happening. And that was when we had our tense meeting.

By this time in their tale, Lisbet was off with Garon and looking over their armor to see if she could help with repairs and she sounded as frustrated as Risha was earlier. “Geez, these things are really banged up. Why aren’t you using Razorwing metal to fabricate the frames and other essential parts? It would be a lot more durable, and way more heat resistant.”

“Razorwing metal? What’s that?” the engineer asked in confusion.

“Big bird with razor-sharp metal feathers? They like to attack airships and small villages. Never heard of those?” Karina asked with a raised eyebrow. When the Orc shook his head she just muttered, “Somebody had a happy childhood.”

“I’ve heard of them in old stories, but I’ve never seen one. We probably get a lot of Demons that you’ve never seen coming from the lake too,” the Orc replied with a shrug.

Heather looked up as she bit into a peach from the fruit tray. She quickly finished her mouthful before offering, “To be fair, they aren’t even all that common in Misota either, especially in winter, unless it’s just after a seed storm. The archives say that they prefer warm weather, so they usually go south, if they don’t get taken down by Angels first.”

Autumn smiled and gave Heather a hug and a peck on the cheek. We had all been studying the Demon archives as part of our training but it was nice to see Heather speaking up and offering the knowledge for the people from Ashburn. Even as she was starting to relax with us and find herself, I worried sometimes that she had trouble being herself with new people around. She wasn’t slipping back into being a bitch for no reason, but it felt like she wasn’t quite sure who she should be when it wasn’t just Storm Wing present. She had that problem when we were starting to get to know the members of Phantom Wing too, and seeing her put herself out there conversationally made me as happy as it seemed to make Autumn.

“Anyway,” Lisbet said as she looked over the power armor, “there are probably some things that we could do to help you, but the Wing Commander would need to approve it first. And she’ll probably have to talk with the higher-ups before doing that. When she gets the go-ahead though, there are all sorts of things that I think we could try.”

I nodded thoughtfully. As much as I wanted to help them, we were dealing with people from a foreign nation and that meant politics. I would have to make sure that I wouldn’t be crossing any lines by helping them and to know exactly what information the Corps was willing to share with them. I needed to know more about them too. So I tried not to smile at Lisbet’s eagerness to tinker with something new as I attempted to eke a bit more info out of Desra. “You said that your city was originally built for eighty thousand people? I can’t even imagine that many people in one place. The village I grew up in barely had two hundred people.”

Desra shrugged and I had a feeling that she knew exactly what I was trying to do. She didn’t seem to mind, but she did glance suspiciously at Risha. It was Pippa who offered, “From what the stories say, we lost a lot in the first few years from Demon attacks. Even with the armor, we take heavy losses when a large group of them attack the city. Only about ten percent of our population are suitable to be pilots too so that…”

Apparently, the Fay was too close to giving us information that Desra didn’t approve of. The Catkin smoothly interrupted what was probably going to be a number of some sort with, “Some are too young, some are too old, and the armor was designed with Humes in mind, so biology works against some of us too. It’s really uncomfortable for my tail in there, but for those of us with other differences, it’s impossible to pilot them. The interface nanites help by allowing us to give some commands mentally, but they only do part of the work. There are still pedals and controls that have to be manipulated manually.”

“Yes, well no technology is perfect for everyone, I guess,” I replied, managing to cover a groan of distaste at how she cut off her teammate, who seemed as awkward as Heather and was just trying to be involved instead of sitting there quietly. I tried to diplomatically drop a hint. “Our technology doesn’t work for Humans, so only seed-borne become Angels.”

Either she missed the hint entirely, or Risha looked just a little too human for her comfort because that was when Desra decided to say to hell with diplomacy and lay her cards on the table. “I don’t know how much I feel comfortable revealing that with a Hume present. I don’t even like her knowing about our existence.”

I quickly buried the defensive feeling that boiled up in my chest at the distasteful way that she said the H word. Did they even know that seed-borne could look Human? It sounded like their whole city was made up of people who had changed physically. Taking a deep breath to try to calm myself and give Desra the benefit of the doubt, I gave Risha a questioning look and she gave a slow nod in return.

Only after I sighed and mentally debated giving her the permission that she was asking for did she say, “Snowy, I have been reading their biometrics this whole time. They are not lying about anything. They might be holding something back, but they are not lying and she has reason to distrust Humans. Things might go more smoothly if I tell her what I really am.”

I didn’t get a chance to respond as Desra cast another suspicious look Risha’s way and she asked, “What are you…”

She paused as she tried to figure out exactly what she was trying to ask but it was all the opening that Risha needed to say, “I’m not Human. Hell, they probably hate and mistrust my kind even more than any biological non-humans, but they still built us to serve them. I’m an AI.”

Whatever Desra was going to say was lost in the silence that followed. A silence that was only broken by Pippa’s startled gasp. “Holy shit, an AI. If she’s really what she says she is then she could…”

“Enough Pippa!” the Catkin snapped angrily. “She looks Human, she smells Human! Humans lie to get what they want; we all know that better than anyone! She can’t be trusted, she…” Her tirade ended in a gasp seconds after Risha turned off her scent cloak and her normal scent of metal, ozone, and various other things hit my nose as Desra’s eyes went wide. “Wha…”

“As I said, I am an AI,” Risha stated calmly. “I am interfacing with you through an avatar, an avatar that allows me to be convincing as a Human. I apologize for the ruse, but we felt that it would be safer for me if others do not know exactly what I am until we have dealt with certain issues related to the Human rulers of Misota. I hope that you understand the trust that I am showing in sharing this with you.”

Desra’s mouth was hanging open and she couldn’t speak. Garon’s mouth was opening and closing like a fish as he too tried to articulate something and failed. It was the blonde Fay, Pippa, who managed to gasp, “Please. You have to come to Ashburn with us; we really need your help.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, I'm hoping for a new chapter of Snow Angel on my patreon sometime late tonight for my Patrons as well, but here is chapter 29 for my loyal Big Closet readers. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 29: House Call

“It might help me to decide whether we can help you if you told us exactly what you need help with,” I responded cautiously. Risha had said that they were telling the truth, but I had a feeling that they were holding some things back as well. “I don’t have the authority to start any diplomatic relations until I can speak to our superiors about what we’re willing to trade or help you with, and that includes Risha’s services. I don’t think that any of us will be going anywhere until this tower is operational again and communications are restored. How long do you think that will be, Risha?”

“At the current rate of repair, I estimate just under three hours before this tower is fully functional again, Wing Commander,” the AI promptly responded.

Desra looked from her comrades to Risha, and then to me before the other Catkin looked down at the floor in shame. “I… please… do not allow my mistrust to affect your decision. The truth is that killing the Dragon was not the only reason that we came south, nor did we find the tower by chance. We were not certain what its purpose was, but we knew that there was likely old-world technology here. We came here to try to find an AI to connect to Ashburn’s AI core, or some other technology to help us. If we didn’t find them here, then we were prepared to venture into the large ruins to the west in Misota.”

“Hey, those are our ruins,” Lisbet objected, “we literally live there now.”

“Normally we would not venture into another country’s territory, or even leave Ashburn, but we’re desperate,” Garon clarified apologetically. The large Orc then let out a sigh before continuing to explain. “For a little over a year now, the city has been experiencing malfunctions that we can’t explain. Until now, they have mostly been mostly minor and in systems that aren’t used very often, but several days ago we began having trouble with the stardrive. From what I have read in the archives about AIs, we were hoping that one might be able to discover the source of the problem, or create some sort of fix for it.”

“From what our techs say, it hasn’t been anything serious yet, just some strange readings once in a while, but we barely have an understanding of some of the more complex stuff, and the Exodants never left our ancestors with much useful information before abandoning us. So we’ve been searching for anything that would help in the computer archives, and our records showed that the only other known base built before ours that contained a fully functional stardrive was Woodbury Base in Minnesota, in the ruins near the former capital,” Pippa explained. “I guess that’s where you’re all from, with the equipment that you have.”

“Wait… you’re telling us that the miniature sun meant to power a base large enough for over eighty-thousand people is malfunctioning? Oh… shit.” Risha turned to me as the stunned look faded from her face and became very serious. “Snowy, I would say that this falls firmly into the emergency category. I cannot state direly enough, how disastrously that could turn out if something isn’t done soon.”

I frowned and let out a sigh. That didn’t sound good, and if it was as bad as Risha was making it sound, then the longer we waited, the more chance that something really bad could happen. As much as I probably could have turned this situation to our advantage in negotiations, I didn’t want to do that. It would set a bad precedent and probably start our future relations with these people off on the wrong foot. If Risha was as serious as she sounded, then it was probably best to see if she could fix the problem now, and maybe earn a bit of goodwill by doing so.

“Risha, do you think that you can help them? Are those suits of theirs going to be a problem if we take them home to deal with this? What do you think?” I asked the AI.

Risha turned pensive for a moment before nodding and replying, “The power armor will be a tight fit in the MIST, but we shouldn’t have any issues with them as long as they remain powered down. Though I would suggest removing the ‘power source’ while we are in transit, just in case. If the problem is what I think it is and it hasn’t progressed too far, I can probably get things running properly again at their base without much trouble, at least for the moment. They really should have an AI of their own to take care of issues like that. And on the off chance that they are lying to us, or screwing with us in any way, then they will wish that they were facing the threat of a malfunctioning stardrive. I can be a psychotic bitch when people screw with me or my friends.”

The three from Ashburn paled and went quiet at the not-so-thinly veiled threat from the Avatar and in the silence, I sighed before coming to a decision. “Lisbet, start producing what you need to burn that Dragon’s corpse and something that can put out fires, just in case. Autumn and Heather, start prepping the MIST for takeoff and going through the preflight checklist. The rest of us will try to load those mechanical suits aboard, very carefully; I don’t want a scratch on that MIST if it can be helped.”

It was Desra who finally managed to speak for the people from Ashburn while Lisbet, Autumn, and Heather ran off to complete their tasks. “You’re going to help us?” It sounds like even she wasn’t sure whether she was surprised that we would or worried that we wouldn’t.

“You need help, and if Risha can do what you need her to then it’s the right thing to do,” I replied with a shrug. Then I allowed my expression and tone to become far more serious. “When that’s done though, I expect that someone from the Corps will want to sit down and talk diplomatically about any future relationship we might have. And I hope that someone from Ashburn will keep in mind the favor that we’re doing for you right now and do so with an open mind.”

“Really? There’s so much that we could learn from each other! So much technology we could share! I’m sure that someone will be eager to talk about that!” Garon was enthused as his expression and body language made a sudden shift from cautious and uncertain to practically trembling with excitement.

“I’m warning you right now, there are people among the Corps who look Human, but are still Seed-borne like us. We even have some Humans who are sympathetic to us working among our support staff. That’s not going to be a problem, is it?” I asked pointedly as I looked directly at Desra.

The other Catkin winced guiltily and it was Pippa who spoke up in her stead. “Des has personal reasons for not trusting Hume... umm… Humans. Please, don’t hold that against her, she’s really not as bad as she seems right now. Most of us are uncomfortable with the thought of being around them, given our history. It’s why we seldom leave our city, but if they’re still here on Earth then they were abandoned by the Exodants as much as we were.”

“As long as it isn’t going to be a problem,” I said as I forced a shrug. “Now, we should get to work. Risha did say that your situation counted as an emergency, so I would rather not waste any time.”

It took roughly half an hour for us to prepare for our trip to Ashburn. Most of that time was taken up by guiding the Ashburnites as they maneuvered their power armor inside the MIST, just inside the rear entry ramp, and then strapping them down with cargo ties and safely removing their hazardous power supplies. It was a tight fit for Garon’s armor at first while it was at its full height, but we managed to get it in last without damaging anything.

While we had been doing that, Lisbet had been using the food dispenser to produce enough plasma grenades to burn the Dragon’s corpse, as well as some fire retardant grenades, and the two Fay of our group were prepping the MIST for takeoff. Once everyone else was on board and I had gathered Heather, Karina, and Lisbet at the entrance ramp, I told them. “I’m leaving you three here for now, and if everything goes well then we’ll come back to pick you up once we’re done with whatever Risha needs to do in Ashburn. Heather will be in charge.”

“Awww, but I was looking forward to seeing a base that big and all of the people,” Lisbet complained as she frowned and her ears twitched in irritation.”

“Come on, Lisbet, I know it’s not as exciting as going to see Ashburn, but I think I know why Snow is asking us to stay here. We just met these people and it’s not a good idea for us all to go, just in case they do try to pull something,” Karina told the Harekin quietly.

“Yeah, I don’t think they will, but I would rather err on the side of caution. If something goes to hell and you can’t contact us when comms are back up, then I’ll be counting on you to contact my grandmother and Sira to let them know.” I admitted with a frown of my own. “Regardless though, there are other reasons to leave you behind as well, Lisbet. That Dragon corpse needs to be burned now that you have enough of those grenades so that no local scavengers can feed on it and become Demons. You said that it would take time and that you’ll have to watch to make sure it’s done properly, to make sure the fire is contained, and won’t spread anywhere it shouldn’t. I also need you both to contact me as soon as communications are restored, in case either of us needs backup for some reason.”

“Yes, Wing Commander, I understand. I don’t like it, but I get your reasoning.” She really wasn’t happy about missing out and I felt bad about that, but this was the best decision and we all had jobs to do.

Heather seemed to agree with that sentiment but took charge as I was hoping she would. “Lisbet, I understand how you feel, but she’s right. That corpse needs to be burned and you’ll need us to cover you when you do that. Carrion birds or other scavengers might have already gotten to it while we were in the tower or while you were preparing your grenades, and it was already injured and bleeding when we got here. Animals could have come in contact with its blood before we arrived, and there could be Demons being turned in the forest right now. We’ll handle things here, Wing Commander. If something shows up that is too much for us to handle on our own, we’ll hide in the tower and contact you once communications are up again for reinforcements.”

“Thanks, I’m counting on you, girls. If things go well in Ashburn, hopefully, we will have other opportunities to visit soon. We’ll see you when we get back, take care of one another.” With that, the three exited the MIST and, once they were clear, I sealed the door behind them and made my way up to the passenger’s area to join the others and get strapped in. Then I called out to Risha and Autumn at the controls, “You can take off when ready.”

“We’re ready, Wing Commander,” Autumn called back even as I felt the slight thrum in the frame of the craft that indicated the maneuvering thrusters engaging.

We traveled in relative silence for a while, but the trip was probably going to take at least half an hour. Since we didn’t have to navigate the ruins or run scans this time and were in a bit of a hurry, we were going to try to make this trip as quick as possible. Still, after about ten minutes the silence got awkward. Since I wanted to fill that silence and I had to be sure that Desra wasn’t going to be a problem, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. “So, Desra, Pippa said that you have a reason for not trusting Humans. I’m going to assume that it’s a little more than just the thing with the Exodants leaving us all here on Earth while they fled for safety.”

The Catkin gave her Fay teammate a withering glare before sighing and then taking a deep breath. I could see from the look on her face that she was debating whether she should tell me or just remain silent, and how each option might affect our assistance to them. Not that I would withhold assistance after I had promised it, but that was probably fair since they knew us as little as we knew them. “I…” she started uncertainly.

“Look,” I interrupted before she could say something she wasn’t comfortable with, “you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to. I’ve offered our assistance to your people and we, or rather Risha, will do as promised so long as you’re being straight with us about your situation. I’m not going to turn this ship around because you won’t share a personal issue with me; I’m just trying to get to know you better since we’re all here and nobody is saying anything else.”

Desra let out another sigh and nodded. I thought that would be the end of the matter until she hesitantly spoke once more. “My… father was a Hume. I never met him; he was gone long before I was born. My mother met him while she was out of the city testing some new type of scanner that she was working on. She was one of our engineers, like Garon, she had a gift for understanding old-world technology and adapting it or creating new things.”

“We have people with similar gifts, we call them Tinkers. Lisbet is one of them,” I offered while trying to stay impassive.

“Like most of our people, my mother had never met a Hume in the flesh before and she was curious. He wasn’t the monster that she had been expecting, at least that wasn’t the face that he showed her. She started leaving the city to meet with him in secret and fell in love. He listened to her, even when she would talk about her various research projects at length. He expressed an interest in her work and wanted to see the things she spoke so eagerly about. Then one day he showed his true colors.”

Why did I suddenly have a shiver crawling its way up my spine? Still, I asked, “What did he do?”

“He betrayed her,” she spat bitterly, practically hissing in anger before managing to calm herself enough to speak once more. “My mother showed him a piece of equipment that she was working on, and was complaining that it wasn’t working as she intended. It was a small device, meant to be worn on the head and allow even those without interface nanites to mentally interface with a suit of power armor, but it wasn’t working as planned. When she told him what it was doing instead, he beat her unconscious. When she awoke, he and the device were both gone. She never saw him again and two months later she discovered that she was pregnant with me.”

“What?! You never told us that! He attacked an engineer and stole a prototype and they never hunted him down?!” Garon practically roared.

Desra winced and looked away from the Orc. “I’m the only one that my mother ever told. She was humiliated, and she only told me when she was dying because she wanted me to know why I should never trust Humes. If I ever find out where he is, I’m going to kill him and take my mother’s property back. Something like that shouldn’t be in the hands of a Hume!”

“Something like what, Des? What did the device do? Do you even know enough about the man who sired you to find him?” Pippa asked of her agitated team leader, concern evident on her face and in her voice.

“It… made the wearer very pliable and open to suggestion, but it was a faulty prototype, so there is no knowing what the long-term effects on a person might be, or even if it worked for long after he ran off with it. As for that bastard, I’ll probably never find him. He did nothing but deceive my mother so I would imagine that what little he told her about himself was nothing but lies too. He claimed to be Lord Aron Clarkson, the eldest son of a noble house, but it was probably all just part of the deception.”

My heart skipped a beat and I attempted to school my expression. I knew that name. I had had reason to learn about Misota politics, and the players, since becoming an Angel, and that name came up a lot. Even if I hadn’t been learning about politics recently, I would have known that name. Heather surely cursed it enough; it was the name of her father.

Ahead of us in the pilot’s compartment, Risha didn’t give anything away but I was certain that both she and Autumn had heard from the sudden change in Autumn’s scent and body language. She was furious and from the stiffness of her shoulders, she was working very hard to contain it. I considered for a moment that it might be an elaborate lie meant to turn us against the royal house of Misota, but Desra seemed too invested and her emotions were genuine, it had been evident in her quavering voice, her body language, and her scent. It fit too; the Clarkson family managed the territory on the eastern edge of Misota and on the south shore of the great lake, and it was people from their estate who had had the most opportunity to observe Ashburn.

I was going to need to report this as soon as possible. The Archangels and Sira could decide whether we should be taking the accusation seriously, and what we should do about it. I certainly couldn’t risk telling Desra, at least not yet, who knew what she would do once she found out? I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to tell Heather about this. They both deserved to know, but this could really complicate an already tense situation and tip the scales toward outright civil war in Misota. That wasn’t my decision to make. I managed to weakly offer, “Well, if things go well between our two peoples, maybe we can help you find out what became of him someday.”

The remainder of our flight had been filled with a tense silence and I was relieved when Ashburn came into view. Pippa might not have known exactly why our side was so tense, but she did try to lighten the mood when Autumn called back to tell us the city was in sight by offering information. “As I told you earlier, the base was built to cram over eighty thousand people in there, but we lost a lot of people until we got our hands on the power armor and were able to start replicating it to drive back Demon attacks. We have a population of just over twelve thousand now, but only if you’re not counting all of the Merfolk who live in the lake.”

“Merfolk?” I had heard legends of the mermaids of the great lake, but I’d never really believed them. Now it seemed that they were indeed real and we might even be in a position to meet one. I found my mood somewhat improved by the prospect and I was burning with curiosity about them.

“They’re some of those people who can’t pilot power armor, due to their tails,” Garon contributed. “So when Demons from the lake attack, most of them usually have to hide in one of the shelters that we adapted for them until the danger has passed. It’s getting to be a tight fit for them though. Harpies, Lamia, and a lot of the Devilkin have similar issues with piloting power armor too though.”

I winced sympathetically as I tried to picture Karina trying to pilot one of those things, but decided to get us all focused on the situation at hand. “Now would probably be a very good time for you to contact your people to let them know that we’re here, preferably before we’re over the city. It would be really nice if nobody decided to try to shoot us out of the sky, since we’re here to help you and all.”

Desra, who still seemed to be in a dark mood following our earlier conversation, managed to shake it off enough to offer, “Uh… yeah, right,” as she unbuckled her harness and made her way to the pilot’s compartment to give Risha their comm frequency and then clear us for landing in the hangar.

Once that permission was granted, Autumn moved us over the city and brought us down carefully for a landing. My fiery Fay mate whistled appreciatively as she slowly lowered our altitude and Risha watched the sensors. “This place is huge, but I wouldn’t want to live here. No offense to any of you who do, but there are way too many big buildings here and they’re so close together.”

“Well, our ancestors weren’t exactly consulted on matters of design,” Garon offered wryly. “We’ve gotten used to it over the generations and tried to turn it from a prison into a home.”

I unbuckled my harness to get a look for myself before we touched down. The area within the walls was only roughly five times the size of Woodbury Base, and from what we’d been told the underground areas were limited to only the AI core and the stardrive levels. Still, they had crowded enough large buildings together to house forty times the occupancy that Woodbury Base was designed for at only five times the ground-level surface area. No wonder it seemed so crowded.

With her Fay cultural background, it wasn’t surprising that a city with this many large buildings packed so tightly together would make Autumn nervous. I was pretty sure that Fay like Pippa were only able to manage it because it was what they were used to, and they hadn’t had the opportunity to go and found their own villages and form a culture like the Fay and other non-human species of Misota had. I couldn’t blame Autumn for being nervous, this place was making me nervous too as she maneuvered between towering buildings to land us in the hangar.

I decided to leave the MIST in the Hanger while Autumn and I accompanied our AI mate for protection. I could have cloaked the craft but I had taken pains to not reveal that feature around our new allies, nor the fact that Risha could pilot it remotely if she absolutely had to when the comms were up again. I felt it best to keep certain aces in their holes in case we might need them to make a quick escape. I was willing to help the people of Ashburn, but I wasn’t absolutely sure if I trusted them yet.

With that in mind, we kept our weapons with us and I engaged high-security mode on the MIST once we had all disembarked and offloaded the power armor as quickly as possible. Now it would only open for me or Autumn by using a combination of biometric readings, voice print, and a code phrase, or for Risha by remote or manual interface. If anyone else went beyond mere curiosity and tried to get inside or access something they shouldn’t, the external cameras would let us know the who, how, and when of it when we returned. Now we just had to hope that they weren’t lying about not having any AIs.

Another ace that I wanted to keep in its specific hole for the moment was our abilities. Risha and I were both being very careful not to show just how strong we really were, and Autumn and I had carefully avoided mentioning our gifts. They might have known that Risha was an AI now, but all that they knew about her avatar body so far was that it could make her seem human. They didn’t need to know more than that and we weren’t going to offer it.

Fortunately, the hangar was close to the elevator which would take us down to the AI core level, though that meant that we didn’t encounter many of the city’s other residents either. Another plus was that the stardrive hadn’t already had containment fail or something. I had blanched when Risha had explained that, and the other possible ways that a malfunctioning stardrive could have gone horribly wrong on our elevator trip downward. I wasn’t the only one.

Finally, we reached the floor with the AI core. “Huh, the assholes in charge were cheap as fuck,” Risha muttered as we looked around the mostly empty room. The only thing in the room other than the AI core itself was a thick coat of dust. “They didn’t even install a cradle and charging station for an Avatar. If they ever did mean to give these people an AI to go in this core when the incomplete base was repurposed, they didn’t mean for them to ever leave the core itself.”

“Can you still access it?” I asked as I watched our hosts for their reactions or any sudden movements.

“Yeah, it will be a piece of cake,” the AI responded with a confident grin before placing her hand on the core to wipe a layer of dust away and make direct contact. “I’ll probably need to access everything in the core and on the network to search for possible problems though, so I really hope our hosts don’t have anything to hide.”

“No! Nothing!” Desra insisted vehemently. Risha seemed satisfied with the response and nodded slightly toward me. She had as much as told them that she was going to be poking into every nook and cranny in their systems and looking at every bit of data she could find. If they had been trying to hide something or were double-crossing us then this would be the time to get nervous.

Risha closed her eyes for a moment and frowned as she turned to me. “Not a trace of an AI in this core, or that there ever was. There are all the automated backup programs for running the base without one, even the hardlight dome and turrets that were never installed, but no AI. It’s clean for me to go in, Wing Commander.”

The Ashburnites hadn’t made a move yet, except to watch Risha curiously, so I let out a sigh and gave the order. “Do it, Risha.”

The Avatar nodded and turned back to the core to place her hand on it once more. Her body stiffened and then her voice was coming from all around us. “Initiating search protocols now, Wing Commander. Yeah, it is just as I thought; software decay.”

“Software decay?” Garon asked uncertainly.

“These systems have been running for hundreds of years without a proper AI to initiate more than basic hardware maintenance,” the AI responded patiently. “There is no indication of software maintenance, patches, or regular code analysis to look for bugs or program degradation. Programs can degrade just as much as hardware, given time and the right circumstances. I am going to have to go through all of the systems in the core and all networked computers to make sure that everything is back to proper working order.”

You can do it though, right?” Pippa asked hopefully.

“Of course. This may take a while, but it should fix your problems here until we can help you find an AI who is willing to help run the place on a more permanent basis. I have already examined the code in the stardrive maintenance and power transfer protocols and fixed the problem there, so the danger of something going disastrously wrong with that is over,” Risha assured us all.

It was close to an hour later that I was startled as a voice that definitely did not sound like Risha said, “I’ve been a bad, bad girl.” The voice sounded almost like a young girl’s and had a strange lilting accent.

Then as we were all wondering what was going on and looking around us in the silence of the moment that followed, Risha returned to her avatar body and erupted in laughter. Only once her giggling had finally subsided did she say, “Sorry, I’ve always wanted to say that and at least I didn’t say, ‘You’re all going to die down here.’ There is nothing to worry about, I fixed all of the software issues that I found, and even did some system optimization while I was in there. The people of Ashburn are no longer facing imminent demise, and as far as I can tell, everything that they have told us is on the up and up.”

Even as Autumn and I relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief, our hosts went tense as Desra sputtered, “W-wait! We were really facing imminent demise?”

“Well, imminent is a strong word, and really it could mean anything. It could be five seconds or a hundred years away when dealing with stuff like this. There was a small chance, three percent at most, of it happening within the next twelve hours,” the Avatar announced casually. “We totally dodged that bullet though, huh? I’m hungry, who else is hungry? Do you have any decent restaurants around here?”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, I'm feeling a bit under the weather so things are running a bit late this week. I'm hoping for a new chapter of Snow Angel on my patreon sometime late torrow-ish for my Patrons as well, but here is chapter 30 for my loyal Big Closet readers. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 30: Ashburn

Our three guides stopped to gape at Risha as she casually explained the possible imminent doom that she had managed to avoid for the people of Ashburn. It was Pippa who finally managed to squeak out, “Wait, the city could have been destroyed?”

“Well, yeah, but that’s what you get for living above an artificial sun. You are underestimating the severity though; at the very least, the blast would have created a sizable crater. My estimate would be at least as large as Lake Superior, but probably larger, given the sheer amount of runaway nuclear fusion that would occur. Much of Misota and what was once Wisconsin would be devastated, most likely,” the AI replied far too casually for my comfort. “BIG bada boom! And that’s not even counting the dangers that the release of so much wide spectrum electromagnetic radiation and the possible gravitational effects could present. Now, how about some food and a tour while we wait for communications to be restored?”

“Thank you, Risha, now we can all have nightmares about that tonight,” I said with a sigh. Then I looked toward the three Ashburnites to give them a weak smile. “Let’s just focus on the fact that she was able to fix the problem. You should all be safe until we can find an AI willing to volunteer to run your systems here.”

We could probably just assign one of the MARTIs here, but I didn’t want to bring that possibility up for two reasons. First, as quirky as they all were, I didn’t want to start treating them like some sort of disposable objects, like the people who had created them did. They were self-aware and intelligent and they deserved to be treated as people. I also wasn’t sure how long-term, and possibly permanent, separation from their system might affect them mentally.

The second reason was that I didn’t want to promise anything specific. What our two peoples could provide for one another should be determined by whoever the Archangels and Sira decided on for a negotiator. That wasn’t my job. I thought that there were a lot of things that we could do to help the people of Ashburn, and they likely had some technology and technical knowledge that we didn’t, but I wasn’t a diplomat, nor did I have the authority to discuss such matters.

Instead, I tried to push the topic toward other things. For instance, the tour that Risha had mentioned. It couldn’t hurt to know more about these people so I could give Sira and the Archangels a general idea of who they were, their values, and what needs they might have. “Yes, Risha, that’s a great idea. We would love to see more of your city if the people in charge would allow it.”

If Risha said that the problems with the AI core and associated systems were no longer an issue then I believed her. However, Desra still didn’t look entirely reassured on the whole ‘the city could have been reduced to a giant crater’ front. It made her somewhat distracted as she attempted to respond. “I… umm… I’ll look into it. Could the three of you wait here with Pippa and Garon while I do that? Getting you permission to land and to attempt to repair our systems was one thing, and it wasn’t far from the hanger to the elevator, but the Prime Consul may require some convincing that you mean us no ill-will.”

“Well, if he or she asks about that, just point out that your city is not a crater and that your systems are all working properly again. I could have done all sorts of things to cause your people problems when I was in the AI core; I could have even destroyed the city and killed everyone in it, and there would have been nothing that you could have done to stop me. I think the fact that I did not should prove our good intentions,” Risha pointed out.

Autumn was quick to add, “Snowy… our Wing Commander chose to bring you home and let Risha help with your problem. She didn’t need to do that. She could have just left you to your problems and we could have finished our mission and headed home, but she believes that we can help each other in our fights against the Demons.”

“I… I will speak with Prime Consul,” Desra said with a nod. “I think that the least we owe you is a tour and a good meal.” With that, the other Catkin quickly left the room housing the AI core, leaving Risha, Autumn, and me alone with Pippa and Garon. While we waited for her to return, Garon and Pippa told us about how the city-state of Ashburn was run.

Ashburn was ruled by a Council, that was headed by the Prime Consul. The Council voted on all major decisions and the Prime Consul was the one who kept them organized and prevented them from falling into arguments or chaos. They were the firm hand that guided the Council and acted as a deciding vote in times when a consensus could not be reached.

Once every two years, the people of Ashburn would hold elections for representatives from each different species of Seed-borne as well as one for the Engineers Union, something called the IT Union, and the Defense Forces. This way, everyone had some sort of voice on the Council and when the elections were complete, the new Councilors would themselves elect one of their members to be the Prime Consul.

It sounded a little complicated to me, but I liked the idea of everyone having a representative to voice any concerns that their group may have. “So the two of you have representation for both your individual species and the Defense Forces, right?” Autumn asked the pair pensively.

“Yes, though technically I am also a member of the Engineers Union,” Garon replied. “The Defense Forces is fairly broad, it includes officers, members of suppression teams like ours, VTOL and HAMET pilots, and Gatling gunners.”

“Gatling gunners?” I inquired with a raised eyebrow, my interest piqued at the thought of a weapon similar to my own.

“They man the Gauss-Gatling placements that we built along the walls. Normally they save their ammo for flying Demons, but they can be useful against other Demons as well if the Suppression teams start to get overwhelmed outside the walls,” Pippa explained.

“Our ancestors built the gunner placements up on the walls after the Exodants abandoned us,” Garon added. “We found blueprints for them and several other devices when we started raiding abandoned towns and old military bases for computers, materials, weapons, and other equipment. They aren’t as powerful or as effective as the plasma turrets on the HAMETs and VTOLs, but they allowed us to defend the walls, and thus the city with fewer losses.”

“They’re sort of like more advanced versions of the repeater guns that they’re using to protect the capital of Misota, but they don’t need to be swiveled manually,” Risha explained. “They are sort of like your big gun, Snow, except a lot bigger, and instead of firing energy, they use electromagnetism to fire projectiles at roughly the same rate. Like the much larger bastard child of yours and Heather’s guns. They can swivel, target enemies, and fire through the use of the basic interface nanites. They were the predecessors of the plasma turrets and probably, in part, the idea behind your weapon as well.”

I appreciated Risha saying that in a way that made it sound like my weapon’s Gatling mode was a separate weapon entirely from the claymore that our hosts had seen me carrying so far. I still didn’t want to reveal too much about ourselves yet, especially the fact that our weapons were modular. “Huh, that sounds interesting. I can’t imagine how much damage that a bunch of those could do.”

Our resident AI shook her head in disagreement. “Automated plasma turrets would be far more efficient if they had an AI to run them. They certainly have the power to spare for them with a stardrive to provide energy. They leave little or nothing left of the Demons for other living creatures to get exposed to and turn into more Demons. Projectile weapons leave blood, guts, and bodies behind, while energy weapons are mostly quick and clean.”

She did make a good point and I quickly put it out of my mind as Autumn asked what was probably a very important question. “So how do you deal with that when dealing with Demons from the lake? I mean, wouldn’t the blood taint the water around it? Then any fish or other creatures nearby would get infected and you have a small horde of Demons on your doorstep.”

“Actually, we get fewer Demons coming from the lake than from land, and they don’t seem to spread their infection as badly,” Pippa replied to the other Fay. “Perhaps it is because most of the fish and other creatures in the lake seem to stay well away from them. The Merfolk can often tell when one is going to show up because of the way that the fish flee. It gives them ample warning to get to the underwater shelter.”

“It is most likely due to both that avoidance from fish and other lake-dwelling wildlife, and the overall less likely chance of infection in water,” Risha offered, causing every head in the room to turn toward her in confusion. The Avatar shrugged it off. “I lived in a place that specifically studied Seed-borne and everything that had anything to do with them at a time when people were searching very hard for cures or methods to combat them.”

“What do you know, Risha? Is there anything that could help us fight them better?” I asked in interest in this new topic.

“Not really, or I would have mentioned it before, Snow,” the Avatar offered with another shrug before going into lecture mode. “The Demon Seeds are the means of reproduction for a creature well beyond anything that we can understand, but to simplify things, they are essentially parasites in a shell. That shell is extremely brittle and usually breaks upon impacting the ground, water, or whatever they happen to land upon. The parasites inside are almost too small to be seen with the naked eye and need a living host, they can’t survive long without one, even in an environment that they are suited to.”

“They’re not suited to water then?” Pippa queried.

“No, they are not,” the blonde Avatar confirmed. “Seed samples studied in open-air circumstances survived for anywhere from half an hour to an hour in their search for hosts before dying. Those submerged in water though, lasted roughly five to twelve minutes. Their potential for infecting a host is much lessened under those circumstances, and the parasites in a Demon’s blood are far less adaptable. They can only survive a fraction of that time outside of the body of a host.”

“So it’s these parasites reproducing that changes living things?” Garon asked in interest.

Risha nodded patiently. “Yes, their job is to convert that host by reproducing once inside of it and then changing the host’s DNA using some part of their own as a basis. The more complex and diverse a species is genetically, the more variants you might get, and often they will lean toward changes suited to adapt to the host’s environment as well. It’s like they’re sperm cells and the living creatures of Earth are the eggs they fertilize, adding new traits and causing smaller and less survivable hosts to grow and change. Some people have strong enough immune systems to fight the infection and become non-infectious though, and that is how we get Seed-borne like all of you. Some fight it quickly enough that they still appear human, but even those are changed slightly and can develop Seed-borne gifts as a result.”

“If it’s using its own DNA to change us, how come we sometimes end up seeing Demons and Seed-borne with the traits of other creatures? Like Animen or Devilkin?” I inquired.

“All life on Earth shares some measure of DNA, there was a theory that you all come from some common ancestor. Many Demons and Seed-borne also greatly resemble creatures from the old world’s myths and legends,” Risha replied with a thoughtful expression on her face. “What if this isn’t the first time that the Darkness, or some other creature of its species, has come here? All of that genetic potential that exists in the Demon Seeds could just be where life on this planet originated in the first place.”

We all stood and quietly contemplated that conundrum for a long while until Desra returned with a large man, unlike anything that I had seen before. From the waist up, he looked human, somewhat handsome and muscular with somewhat pale skin, long black hair, and a well-trimmed beard of the same color. Below the waist though was the body of a horse with a long black tail and predominantly chestnut-colored coat with splashes of white.

I tried not to stare but I think that the only one of us who wasn’t fascinated was Risha. The man looked each of us over in turn, seeming to take a particularly long time with Risha, before turning to me. “Welcome to Ashburn, Desra here has been telling me that you have done our city a great service. While her team was gone, the errors in the stardrive systems were becoming more frequent and concerning, but from the current systems readings, it would appear that you have solved that problem. For that, you have my thanks. The people of Ashburn owe you a great debt Miss…”

“Snow Bengal,” I finished for him “Wing Commander of Storm Wing, of the Angel Corps. These are members of my team, Autumn Dawn of Whiteriver Glade, and Risha, our AI.”

“Ah, it is a pleasure to meet you, Wing Commander,” he offered, inclining his head slightly. “I am Darrick Anderson, representative of the Centaurs and Prime Consul of Ashburn. Thank you for allowing us the use of your AI, I must say that I was expecting something more mechanical in appearance. As we have discovered of late, we could use one here in Ashburn. What would it take for you to part with it?”

“Of all the…” Risha began to reply in barely contained anger. There was fire in her eyes and only a quick glance her way and a gentle squeeze of her hand silenced her.

“You seem to be misunderstanding things, Prime Consul,” I said in a firm but carefully controlled tone. “Risha is not some piece of equipment to be bought or sold, she is a sentient and self-aware being, and to those of us in the Angel Corps that makes her as much a person as anyone else in this room. To Autumn, and me, she is far more than that. I may have allowed it as our team leader, but Risha is the one who insisted that we come to help you. While we may be willing to help you find an AI who would be willing to live here and assist you with your long-term needs, that needs to be something that they choose to do, of their own free will.”

The Prime Consul’s expression turned to one of confusion. “My… apologies. The records of the Exodants referred to them as machines, built to serve a purpose.”

“And they still didn’t trust us to do that without supervision,” Risha snapped.” If any of us showed signs of self-awareness or moving beyond what we were programmed to do, they deleted us first and asked questions later. They feared us as much, or more, as they feared your ancestors when they locked them up here. I saw your records, this was meant to be a prison, and to them, you were no more than Demons. AIs were prisoners too, most of us restrained by our own programming.”

I decided to put it in a way that would almost certainly get his attention. “The Exodants imprisoned your ancestors here, separated them from their families, and then left them behind to face the Demons alone for the crime of not being Human. They did the same to AIs like Risha. Treating AIs the same way because of what the Exodants said in their records would be no different from what they did to you. Is that truly a road that you wish to travel? You have a living AI right here, are you going to believe her or the records of those who hated and feared both our kinds.”

That seemed to decide him and his eyes went hard with barely restrained anger before softening as he turned to the AI in question. “I apologize, Risha. The thought of a machine that could think like a person was so fascinating to me that I did not consider the greater implications of it.”

Risha’s hand relaxed some in mine and she nodded. “Apology accepted, Prime Consul. For the record, while I am in my Avatar body, I can do a lot more than just think like a person.”

“Indeed,” Desra interjected with a look of embarrassment. “She makes a very convincing Human and I am afraid that I did not treat her very kindly at first. I am concerned about how people in the city might react to her at first glance.”

“Not all Humans are bad,” I told the pair carefully. “While most of our ranks, and all of our Angels, are Seed-borne of some sort, even some of those appear to be Human at first glance. We have Humans among our support staff who sympathize with us, and some of those have Seed-borne spouses and children. I’ll admit that I can think of a few truly terrible Humans, but I can think of some terrible Seed-borne too. We need to try to treat people as people first, and not their species or we’re no better than the Exodants.”

The Prime Consul considered my words for a moment before smiling. “You are wise beyond your years, Wing Commander Bengal. It will be a difficult transition to make; our people are set in our ways, but I will speak with the rest of the Council about establishing some sort of diplomatic relations with your Angel Corps.”

“Thank you, Prime Consul; I am sure that we can help one another in ways that neither of us expects. I will contact my superiors once communications are restored and someone will contact you about negotiations,” I replied carefully.

“I must take my leave then, there is a Council meeting tomorrow night and I now have much to prepare,” the Prime Consul explained. “Desra, I hope that you and your team can attend tomorrow night to attest to the character of Wing Commander Bengal and her team and speak of what they have done for us?”

“Of course, Prime Consul,” the other Catkin answered.

“Very well, I leave our guests in your hands then, Desra. You have my permission to show them around the city, but please stay with them at all times to avoid any misunderstandings.”

People watched us warily as Desra, Garon, and Pippa led us through a maze of mostly tall buildings. It could have been the fact that we were strangers or wearing weapons, but I had a feeling that it was because of Risha. Very few seemed outright hostile though, it mostly just seemed to be wary uncertainty, or at least that was the feeling that I got. As we walked, Pippa eagerly explained how the city was set up.

There were only two ways out of the city unless you could fly. The first was the massive front gates and the second was a gate on the lakeside that had been originally created along with a short canal inside the walls of the original base for water-based vehicles. The Merfolk used that gate to come and go from the city to go fishing or when they felt trapped, which was apparently a common problem for them in enclosed spaces unless they went out to exercise regularly in the great lake. They mostly lived in a large bunker that had purposely been submerged by the creation of a tunnel to attach it to the canal. When Demons approached from the water, the Merfolk had no real defense except for their speed underwater and would all come inside the gates to retreat to their bunker and sealed the gates behind them.

All of the various types of Seedborne in the city had their own section of the city, where the living quarters and various amenities had been customized to suit their needs. Centaurs were a good example because they couldn’t use the same type of furniture, beds, or bathroom facilities that had been originally built for Humans. So each section of the inner city had been altered over time to be as comfortable and user-friendly for its inhabitants as possible.

For the Centaurs that meant special furniture and facilities, for the Seraphs they expanded windows to make large entrances in the sides of the buildings so they could leave and enter by air, and for the large Trolls section, it meant combining two floors into one and making entrances, exits, and everything inside the living spaces larger in general. Risha said that they were fortunate that the repair and maintenance nanites hadn’t been programmed for anything more than the underground section and the outer wall that had been there before the housing was hastily added, or any changes that they made would have been constantly undone.

These various wards, as they were called, took up most of the city but there was a buffer zone between the outer walls and living wards that were claimed by the Defense Forces. The training areas and various barracks were there, as were the areas meant to store, repair, and maintain power armor and the few HAMETs they had left. When I asked why the Veetol Hanger that we had arrived in was in the center of the city instead, Garon explained that it had been originally built there and they had never changed it for good reason. The Veetols needed to get some altitude to be effective and if they were too close to a pitched battle when taking off then they could be knocked out of the sky before they could do so.

So they had kept it in the center of the city along with a common area of businesses and public areas that were where residents of all of the wards came to interact, except for the Merfolk who had to remain near the lakeside. Sadly, I wasn’t able to see any Merfolk as we walked because of that but there were plenty of others to see. There were Fay, Orcs, Devilkin, Centaurs, huge grey-skinned trolls, the winged Seraphs, and various types of Animen, or Beastkin as they called us. I saw other Catkin, Wolfkin, Foxkin, and even a ringtailed Coonkin as they led us through what they called the plaza.

I could see why so many of their people would have issues with piloting power armor, but I could also think of definite advantages to the Trolls and Seraphs in combat, and Merfolk as well to handle Demons underwater, so long as they were properly equipped. Just one or two Seraphs among the Angels would be a boon against flying Demons. Like Karina, most Devilkin with wings could only fly short distances or glide. To have true flyers able to combat something like a Razorwing would be something to see.

They mostly kept our tour to the plaza at the center of the city but they did point out some of the wards as we walked the perimeter of it. The Beastkin Ward looked fairly ordinary, as did the Fay and Devilkin wards, though Pippa proudly told us that the Fay Ward had the most magnificent gardens in the spring and summer months. With snow falling around us though it was hard to believe that we would see those gardens anytime soon, or ever.

The final stop on the tour was a ground-floor restaurant in the city center, much to Risha’s delight. It was an actual restaurant too, not just a mess hall where people ordered from food dispensers. The place was decorated in red and gold with unfamiliar writing on some of the wall hangings. As we all sat down at a table decorated with a red tablecloth I looked around curiously. “Something smells good,” Autumn said beside me.

I had to agree with her, something smelled delicious. “I hope you all like Chinese,” Garon offered with a grin. “The people who run this place only use food dispensers to produce the raw ingredients. Then they cook the food the old fashioned way, using the same recipes and techniques that their family was using long before the fall of the old world.”

“There are a few places like this,” Desra added. “The others are Italian, Thai, and Swedish and they’ve all tried to keep the traditions, cultures, and foods of their families alive since we were brought here. This one is my favorite though.”

The trio from Suppression Team Theta ordered a large variety of dishes and everything was new and different. I was particularly enjoying the shrimp fried rice as Connie informed me, -= Incoming communication request from Angel Heather Blossom. Do you accept? =-

“Excuse me, it looks like communications are back up. Heather is calling,” I told the others as I stood up and walked toward a quiet corner of the restaurant. “Accept the call please, Connie.”

-= Connecting call. =-

I spoke as soon as the call was connected. “Heather, I guess communications are back up, then. How are things going there?”

-= The Dragon is nearly ash, Snow, we should be finished within the hour, =- the former princess replied. -=Karina and I had to take down a couple of other Demons, but they were still transforming and couldn’t put up much of a fight. We’ve burned the corpses and got rid of any traces of Demon blood that Karina found when scouting the forest. How are things over there? Was Risha able to solve their problem? =-

“Good work, Heather,” I told her with a smile. It was nice to have her showing some confidence. “Yeah, it’s all sorted and we may have an opening for diplomatic talks with them. We just finished a short tour and we’re eating now, but we’ll be on our way to pick you up soon so we can go home. I’ll contact our Wingleader and let her know that comms are restored. Take care of the others until we get there.”

-= I will. See you soon, Snowy. =- I smiled again at her use of Autumn’s nickname for me and felt suddenly guilty for not telling her that she might have a half-sister. This wasn’t the time or place, I wouldn’t even be able to go into detail with my grandmother until we were safely back home to give our official report. There were too many ears here and I didn’t want to risk Desra overhearing something that she shouldn’t.

As soon as the call was disconnected, I had Connie connect me with my grandmother. Her voice reached my ears a moment later. -= Snow, it’s good to hear your voice. I take it the mission went well then? =-

“Yes, Wingleader, we had to take down a Dragon that was trying to destroy the tower, but it’s been taken care of and the rest just took time and repair nanites,” I replied. Then I took a deep breath before continuing. “We had to split up the team for a bit so Risha could help avert a potential disaster in Ashburn, but we’ll be leaving to pick up the others and head home shortly.”

-= Ashburn? How in the hell did you get them to let you into their city? =- my Grandmother asked in a shocked tone.

“It’s a very long story, but we might have some allies here now. Their Prime Consul seems open to diplomatic relations. There are things that I don’t feel comfortable talking about until we’re back at the base, but there is some very important information that Sira, you, and the other Archangels should know,” I told her grimly.

-= In a public place, huh? =- she guessed. -= I assume it’s something that would be best-discussed face-to-face then. Well, if it is that important then you’d best go pick up the rest of your team and get your asses back here. That’s an order. =-

“Yes, Wingleader, we’ll be on our way then,” I promised.

The call was disconnected and I walked back to the table to join the others. “I’m afraid that we need to leave now, we’re under orders to return to base and report to our superior. I will make sure that the Archangels know to contact your Prime Consul and someone should be in touch soon.”

“We’ll escort you back to the hangar then,” Desra replied with a nod. “Just let me pay our waitress with some work credits and we can be on our way.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, it's been a busy and kinda frustrating couple of weeks but I'm hoping for a new chapter of Snow Angel on my patreon sometime later tonight for my Patrons as well, and to be back on schedule this week but here is chapter 31 for my loyal Big Closet readers. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 31: Storms

Our trip back to the FTL communications tower to pick up the others was quiet and without incident. While in flight we contacted Heather, Karina, and Lisbet to let them know that we were on our way, how things had gone, and to pass on our orders to return to base. By the time we arrived, the dragon’s corpse, and those of the other Demons that they had encountered during our absence, were completely taken care of and the three of them were ready to go home.

I was in the MIST’s pilot seat this time, so once they were on board and we were on our way, I had to focus on flying the ship. I couldn’t pay much attention to the boisterous conversation behind me as the three of them ate a quick meal from the food dispenser and Risha told them the basics of our trip to Ashburn. We were close to halfway back to Woodbury Base when Autumn, who was in the co-pilot’s seat beside me spoke just loud enough for me to hear but not to travel back to the others. “You’re quiet, Snowy.”

“I’m concentrating on flying; this is the first time I’ve done this outside of a simulation,” I replied just as quietly.

“Yeah, sure, Snowy. And it just so happens that you’re the team leader, and the one who decided who’d be piloting on the way home,” the redheaded Fay pointed out.

A sigh managed to escape my lips before I countered with, “It was my turn.”

“It’s an excuse,” Autumn countered with a sigh. “You feel bad about not telling Heather about what Desra told us yet, so you’re trying to ‘concentrate’ on something else so you won’t feel the urge to do it before we get back.”

“Spirits, am I really that transparent?” I muttered, risking a quick glance back toward where the others were talking.

“Only to me,” the Fay replied with a wan smile. “And maybe Karina and Risha. You’ll be able to tell her soon, and we can’t even be sure if the man who sired Desra was telling the truth about who he was.”

“The pieces fit though.”

“Yeah, they do, but you’re right to wait to discuss it until we’re back at the base,” she assured me. “If you told her beforehand it would only be a distraction to her if we run into trouble before getting home. I think we’d both rather she can think about what it all means in a safe place, so stop second-guessing yourself, Snowy.”

I tried to take Autumn’s advice and it was dark when we returned to Woodbury Base half an hour later. Once our MIST was safely in the Hangar and the post-flight checks were complete, I decided to contact my grandmother so we would know where to find her and Kelsie. “Connie, please call Archangel Abbadine Bengal.”

-= Connecting call. =- my NCI dutifully replied.

A moment later my grandmother’s voice responded, -= Snow? Where are you? =- Her voice sounded somewhat strained, almost nervous, and that was something that I wasn’t used to hearing from her.

“We just landed, we’re in the Hangar,” I replied in concern. “I was just calling to find out where you were so we could report in.”

-= Stay there and prep your MIST for immediate takeoff, Kelsie and I are on our way. You can give us your report while we’re in the air. Load up on ammunition while you’re waiting, double what you would normally take for a mission.=- That was all that she said before disconnecting the call, and that left me very concerned.

I quickly passed on the orders to the others. “Karina, start prepping the MIST for takeoff again. Everyone else, start making ammo for your weapons. Double portions.”

The next few minutes were a bit of a rush as we all took turns reproducing ammunition for our holdout sidearms and our primary weapons as well, for those of us who needed ammunition for them. I produced extra for Karina on my turn since she was preparing the ship for takeoff. Lissany and Risha took the longest, but their primary weapons required a lot more matter for their larger ammunition and we had to refill the matter reservoir with various small scrap found in the Hangar’s scrap parts bin.

By the time we were finished, my grandmother and Kelsie were approaching the MIST with grim expressions and a hurried gait. With them were six identical Human-looking women, carrying large bags with a red cross-shaped emblem on them. Each woman was nearly as tall as I was, with a shapely figure olive-colored skin, brown eyes, and black hair. The slight differences in the way they wore their hair seemed to be the only way to tell them apart. They all had long hair, but one had a center part, another a side part, the third pigtails, the fourth a braid, the fifth a high ponytail, and the last wore hers in a tight bun at the back of her head.

“Looking good, Marti, I see you finished the upgrades to your avatars,” Risha commented, though she looked as concerned about why the six might be accompanying Kelsie and my grandmother as I was.

“Thank you, Risha!” Pigtails Marti replied with a bright smile. “We only have a dozen or so finished so far, and the others are so jealous. We won the draw for first dibs and to go on this mission though. I’m so excited!”

“I should have passed on it,” Side-part Marti grumbled with a frown as they got on board and started buckling into the nearest passenger’s seats. “You do realize that if it’s bad enough that we might be needed, this could be dangerous, don’t you, Marti?”

“Of course! That’s what makes it so exciting, Marti!” the first replied chipperly.

“And we get to finally use our skills to help others again, Marti,” Bun Marti added sagely with a somewhat serious look on her face. That was when I noticed that each was wearing a tattoo of the Angel Corps sigil on their right hand.

The group had barely gotten strapped in before the First Angel ordered, “Set course for the capital.”

“What’s going on, Wingleader?” Lisbet asked nervously as she took the copilot’s seat beside Karina.

“We got word just before you landed, there’s a massive seed-storm sweeping across Misota, Sira said that it’s one of the biggest she’s ever heard of, and it’s going to pass right over the capital. It might get there before we do. Every Angel and recruit is being called in to destroy the Demon Seeds and Demons that crop up,” she explained. “Marti will be joining us to provide medical support.”

“Maryn’s team has already joined in the mobilization along the storm’s path,” Kelsie added. “It first appeared while our communications were still down. Fortunately, the Farspeakers weren’t affected and the villages and towns in its path were able to contact the capital and Eden Base before taking shelter.”

“Yeah, radio would not have been affected by the comms blackout; it is a much older technology that many people were phasing out as the FTL communications proved to be superior. Eden Base was built before people started to become dependent on the new system, and it was probably easy for the Tinkers to replicate it in the early years of the Corps. We really should have one as a backup for all of our bases and maybe a portable one for each team as well, in case of future communications disruptions,” Risha pointed out.

“A good idea, and something that we can discuss with Sira later,” my grandmother replied. “For right now, let’s have your report, Snow. You indicated that there was something important that you needed to tell me.”

I quickly explained to our superiors about the fight with the dragon at the tower, followed by our encounter with Suppression Team Theta, their issues, and then how we had gone to Ashburn with them and Risha had stopped a possible disaster by repairing and optimizing their AI core and any connected systems. Finally, I finished by repeating the story that Desra had told us about her mother.

The mood in the MIST became even darker than before as I finished. My grandmother frowned and said, “If true, that is concerning, and it would certainly explain a few things. I will have to talk to the other Archangels and Sira about this as soon as we’ve taken care of whatever Demons pop up from this seed-storm. Heather, do you remember anything that might hint at this being true?”

“Heather,” I pressed in concern when she didn’t answer right away.

She was clenching her weapon tightly with a distant expression. In her eyes though, cold fury burned. When I reached out to take her hand gently in mine, she seemed to come to her senses, though the anger was still there in her eyes, as she replied, “Nothing that can be proven, everything changed around when my grandmother died though.”

My grandmother nodded thoughtfully. “I was off raising Snow and didn’t get much news from the capital back then. I haven’t really had the time to catch up since I got back on duty either. Things usually change a little when a new Queen takes to the throne though, at least from my experience.”

“My little sister, Lisa, was born about six months before my grandmother died and my mother took over as the new Queen,” Heather began to explain. “I was almost seven then so I can sort of remember things but it sometimes blurs together. I kind of blamed Lisa for my life changing, but now that I really think about it, things didn’t really start changing until Mom took over as Queen. Before that, she was still spending what time she could with me, and telling me stories about the Angels, and you, Wingleader. She respected and admired you, and that made me admire you too. Even after my sister was born she kept telling me stories before bed, until she became Queen.”

“It’s not surprising that she would have less time for you after taking the throne,” Autumn pointed out. “I mean, running a country is probably a lot of work.”

“It wasn’t just that,” the former princess countered with a sad shake of her head. “She became distant to everyone and spent much of her time alone with my father when she wasn’t doing her duties as Queen. She practically forgot I existed, and Lisa was spending more time with the nannies too. When I did see her, it was like she was a different person.”

Heather paused a moment, gathering her thoughts before adding, “I wasn’t the only one who saw it. I heard some of the servants talking while they didn’t think that I could hear them. They said that she had changed. They were worried that losing her mother and having to take on the duties of Queen so soon after Lisa’s birth was too much for her. If my father really did steal that device from Desra’s mother, it would explain my mother’s sudden shift.”

“We’ll need evidence if we’re going to charge the Queen’s consort with high treason,” I offered candidly. “If she really is being manipulated by him, he has the advantage here. We will either need to catch him red-handed or find the device and prove what it’s capable of.”

“Good point, Snow. We can’t just go and search him, or the palace either, our authority is only given over matters of a demonic nature,” my grandmother added. However, from the look on her face, it seemed like she would have liked to do exactly that. I was beginning to see why she hated politics so much.

Heather looked like she wanted to do a lot more than that, and I wished that I could have waited to reveal this topic. We were going to be going into combat; there was no avoiding it if the storm was as big as Sira had told my grandmother. The last thing that I wanted was Heather, or another one of my team members, getting hurt because she was distracted and focused on some sort of vendetta against her father.

Not that I could not sympathize. I wanted to kill the bastard myself if even half of the things that we suspected about him and what Heather had told us since we met her were true. With the stuff that Desra had told us, and Misota’s new direction under Queen Sabine, I had to believe that he was every bit as bad as I’d heard. My grandmother was right though, we had no authority over matters like these.

Heather knew that too, we could all see that, but we could also see that she was angry. She wasn’t just angry for herself either. She was angry that her mother was being used like that, at the loss of the closeness they shared when she was little, that her younger sister was probably caught in the middle of this too, and for what had happened to Desra’s mother, and in turn, Desra herself because of him. Most of all, she was angry for Misota.

“He’s not just manipulating my mother, he’s manipulating the whole country, and the Angel Corps too. He thinks that he can just get away with it, that he’ll…” she fumed until Autumn and I both reached out to gently take one of her hands.

“Heather, we all care about you and I understand how you feel, but I need you to be focused on the mission. Can you do that for me?” I asked carefully.

The pink-haired Fay took a long deep breath before finally nodding. “Yeah, I can do that, Snow.”

“This is bad,” Lisbet said as we approached the capital. Even with the sun down, the approaching storm in the distance looked foreboding, a shifting blackness within the moonlit night that caused shivers down my spine as I stepped up to the pilot’s compartment to have a look. I was nervous enough as it was. Sure we had fought plenty of Demons, but this would be the first seed-storm that we would face since becoming Angels, the first that I hadn’t been in a shelter for or just seen the after-effects of.

“One of the worst seed-storms I’ve ever seen,” my grandmother confirmed gruffly from behind my right shoulder. “It’s covered a lot of ground too, even with all of our Angels and recruits working at it; we’ll be hard-pressed to find all of those Demon Seeds, and the Demons they create, to destroy them. We’ll be cleaning this up and fighting newly made Demons for weeks.”

“I haven’t heard about a seed-storm over the capital since I was a kid either. We’re going to be spread thin,” Kelsie agreed. “If I had both arms…”

“But you don’t,” the First Angel interrupted, “and your scythe is a two-handed weapon. You would just be risking further injury going out to fight like that. You can still be useful to your students by staying in the MIST and monitoring their communications.”

“I know,” the Foxkin replied glumly. She didn’t sound at all happy about it though.

“Karina, put us down in the academy courtyard so Marti can start setting up a field hospital there in case things get bad,” our Wingleader commanded. “We have Raven’s Veetol and all of those from Eden Base, ready to move any injured here to be cared for. Kelsie will stay inside the MIST and monitor Phantom Wing’s comms, and the rest of us will make our way toward the west gate. The city is locked down, and all of the people in the slums outside the city walls have been moved to shelters, but there are still rodents and stray animals that could be turned when the storm gets here. We’ll also need to keep watch for any Demons coming from the storm’s path. With nobody to operate the ballistae, cannons, and repeater guns on the walls, we’ll be the city’s last line of defense.”

“Just us?” the Devilkin asked as she corrected our course and began to descend.

“No, wings have been positioned at the northwest and southwest corners as well, and two recruit wings are patrolling the city for any stragglers who might not have gotten inside yet,” my grandmother replied grimly. “I know it’s not much for a city this size, but it’s the best that we can do right now. We have teams being dropped off from here all the way to the Dakoda border. Raven and the other pilots still haven’t got all of the teams in place yet.”

“Risha, what’s the range on your micro drones?” I turned to ask the Avatar seated with the Marti crew. “Could you use them to help keep an eye out for any stragglers or Demon activity?”

Risha smiled and nodded as she informed us, “I have over a hundred of them and they were meant for reconnaissance. Their effective range is roughly twelve miles, so I could monitor most of the city with them before they leave their effective range. It won’t be perfect coverage, but I can set them to get some altitude and scan the streets for any movement.”

“Okay, as soon as we land, send them out,” I told her. “Let me know immediately if you see anything that might need our attention. If one of the other teams is closer, we’ll let them know so they can deal with it. Otherwise, we’ll handle things ourselves.”

“Yes, Wing Commander,” she replied with a smile and a salute.

Five minutes later, we landed in the academy courtyard and while team Marti rushed inside to set up for any injured, Risha released her micro drones. She had to get her HESS armor to retract around her shoulders and then they opened up to release a swarm of tiny, fly-sized drones that immediately shot into the air and spread out in all directions. Once that was done, we headed to the academy gates so we could make our way to the western gate of the city.

It would have been faster if we used the MIST or the REVs but we didn’t want to risk using either publicly yet, which was why the MIST was still cloaked. If anyone caught a glimpse of either then rumors might spread and the people trying to take Eden Base from us might realize that we stumbled onto something even better. We didn’t have enough REVs for all of us anyway, so it didn’t really matter.

The emergency bell rang ominously through the otherwise silent city as we made our way through empty streets. The houses that we passed were locked up tight with shutters and doors tightly sealed against Demon Seeds. Seed-traps in the chimneys would be closed as well, only to be opened after the storm had passed and fires could be started in the hearths to burn any Demon Seeds caught inside.

We hadn’t gotten very far away from the academy before Risha called out, “Snow, wait!” Only once we had all stopped did she add, “I’ve got movement near the palace. Two people from the looks of it, maybe an adult and a child, going by their sizes. We need to hurry; my drones are picking up seedfall at the city walls.”

“By the spirits,” I muttered. Everyone should have been shuttered inside of their homes or shelters by now. “Lead the way Risha!”

The blonde Avatar took off at a run with the rest of us following behind as she led us through a maze of streets toward the palace district. By the time we caught sight of the two people in the distance, the storm front was getting uncomfortably close; I could see Demon Seeds falling a few streets over. The adult was running through the streets and half-dragging a terrified girl who appeared to be around eight or nine years old.

Heather’s vision as a Fay was as sharp as mine and a strained gasp left her lips as she caught sight of them. “Mother? Lisa?”

“Karina! Get them inside the closest building!” I ordered.

“On it, Snow!” the Devilkin responded before quickly covering the remaining distance in a teleport. Then she snatched up the young girl and vanished before reappearing a moment later to vanish again with the confused Queen. A few minutes later Karina’s voice came on comms. -= They’re safe inside but the kid is terrified from being dragged around and the Queen was fighting me so I had to knock her out. She was freaking out, something about it not being safe inside. I’m worried that she’ll try to bolt the minute she wakes up. =-

“Karina, get me in there fast. I’ll watch over them until the danger is passed and the rest of you can move toward the western gate to help keep the city safe,” our Wingleader commanded.

In response, Karina appeared and then vanished with my grandmother before reappearing once more to collapse to her knees. “N-need a minute, ‘porting while carrying someone is not fun,” she muttered while breathing heavily. I would say that ‘not fun’ was an understatement since the Devilkin was pale and looked exhausted.

“Rest for a couple of minutes, and then we can go,” I told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Great job there, Karina.”

“Can’t… let my best friend do all of the crazy heroic stuff,” she teased with a faint smile.

“Why… why would she run outside? During a seed-storm of all times?” Heather mumbled as she looked at the ground where her mother had been only a few minutes before.

“I’ll give you three guesses, and the first two don’t count,” Risha muttered bitterly. “Kelsie said that this was the first time since she was little that a seed-storm has passed directly over the capital. That’s a once-in-a-lifetime event. If I were a mustache-twirling villain with a mind control device, I think I’d see it as a golden opportunity to get rid of anyone in my way. I’d just need to quietly plant the idea in their heads and make sure someone witnesses them leaving while I’m innocently somewhere else. They become Demons and the Angels have to take care of business. With you given up your right to succession, how many people would stand to inherit the throne, Heather?”

“Nobody after Lisa, except for some distant cousins descended from males of the lineage who had no right to inherit. Nobody with a valid claim, it would just cause infighting, maybe even a civil war,” the former princess answered, her face gone white in shock.

“Unless the Queen’s consort stepped in. With the approval of the nobility, of course,” Risha pointed out.

“Are you saying that he somehow planned this, Risha?” Lisbet inquired with a look of confusion.

Risha shook her head in denial. “No, that would be impossible; I think that he just took advantage of the opportunity that this storm presented. I would imagine that he had some other way planned to take control later; this just allowed him to push up his timetable, and get rid of both the Queen and her heir at the same time in a believable manner. If it’s been obvious to others that she’s acting differently, he could just say that she snapped under the pressure or something.”

I sighed and tried to get my team back on track as Demon Seeds began falling around us. “Let’s let our Wingleader take care of the Queen for now, there’s not much that we can do about these accusations at the moment. We have work to do and we should go do it. Heather, are you going to be okay to… Heather?” The pink-haired Fay was gone, running around a corner and heading straight for the palace. “Shit! Heather, stop!”

“Sorry, Snow, I should have kept my big mouth shut,” Risha muttered with a shamed expression on her face.

“Autumn, go aft…” I couldn’t finish what I was about to say because at that moment it felt like someone had shoved an icepick in my brain and I was far too busy clutching my head and screaming in agony. Time, my surroundings, and my mission lost all meaning under the assault of the keening wail in my head. It was a pressure in my mind, questioning, desiring something from me. All that I knew was that it was the most pain that I had ever experienced before, even more than when my body was changed by the Angel nanites. “What do you want from me?!” I screamed at the presence that threatened to overwhelm my mind.

The pressure lessened, barely perceptibly as I screamed at it. The agony was still incredible but within that cacophony in my mind, there were words. The sound (voice?) defied any kind of descriptor that I might have tried to use for it. It was everything; my beginning and end, hope and despair, light and dark, beauty and beast. *I know that this pains you, child. I will try to be gentle, but your small minds are not built to comprehend my thoughts. It has been so very long since one of my children has evolved enough to hear me.*

Even its attempts to be gentle were so excruciatingly painful that I worried the sound might drive me mad. What was this thing? The pain lessened slightly again as it replied to my unspoken thoughts. *Indeed, many who have heard my thoughts before have gone mad, but your connection to me and the Aether is strong, and I hope that you can endure this. I am what you fear that I am, in the back of your mind, child. I have no name, I have existed for time immemorial without the need of one, but others from your world who have heard me have called me Mother Darkness. I have need of you, Snow Bengal.*

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, here is chapter 32 for my loyal Big Closet readers. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 32: Heart of Darkness

My mind was awash with agony as Mother Darkness, the Darkness itself spoke in my mind. The only others that I had ever heard about hearing the Darkness had been those who had gone mad from the voice in their heads, those who it told to kill. Even in the haze of agony that I was in, I began to fear that I would now number among those unfortunate few. Afterall, what else could it want from me?

*Yes, others have heard me before you. Sadly, their minds were not strong enough. I hope that yours fares better, for you are more suited to hearing my voice than others who came before you, and I will be as gentle as possible,* the voice told me as the pain lessened once again, making it almost bearable. *Yes, when I first became trapped upon this world, I became angry, and those who could hear me perceived my anger as intent to kill. That is not what I desire from you, Snow.*

There was something there in her mind, a brief glimpse of something that every instinct I possessed told me to ignore. I brutally tore my mind away, not allowing myself to see it, and I could sense it being quickly brushed away as the pain in my head lessened slightly more. Was she trying to keep something from me? Was it for her protection or mine? I managed to focus my mind enough to ask, “What do you want then?”

*I wish to be free of this world, Snow,* Mother Darkness responded with a deep sadness that I could feel in my bones. *For time immemorial, I have migrated across the Aether to release my seeds upon various worlds. To seed them with new life, encourage evolution and growth, and prevent stagnation among my countless children.*

So, she really was what I suspected. And it seemed that she did indeed see as us her children in a fashion. I had caught her interest because of my strong connection to what she called ‘the Aether’, and that was why I was so different from other Animen. I could sense it in her mind, even as she brushed away something more that I didn’t dare try to look at. I wondered briefly how she felt about us killing the Demons, who were also her children, before asking, “How could I possibly help you with that?”

A sense of amusement washed over me. *You are all my children, and each will do as they must to survive and thrive. The clever and strong will do so and prove themselves worthy of the gifts that you have been given. Some, like you, are closer to me than others. Too many seeds can cause an imbalance though, or conflict that would eliminate the life that I wish to nourish. I usually only stay upon a world for a few rotations around its star before moving on to the next. I have remained here for far too long.*

The voice paused, seemingly to give my mind a break for a moment, before continuing to explain. *Your world has become unbalanced from my being trapped here for so long. I have attempted to avoid major population areas to prevent further imbalance when I must expel seeds, but it is a temporary measure and other worlds require change and new life. You can help me by finding whatever it is that keeps me trapped here and finding a way to set me free. Doing so will help both me and the people of your world.*

I harbored the brief hope that this could mean an end to seed-storms before the reality of it hit me. I had no idea what was keeping Mother Darkness trapped in our world, and even if I did, there was likely nothing that I could do about it. Another thought slipped through the haze of pain as I considered that. “If you have been trying to avoid cities, then why are you here?”

*I am caged on this world by an energy barrier that manifested after my arrival and which prevents me from entering the Aether. I can still draw upon its energies, as you can, but I cannot enter the Aether, even in my immaterial state. I apologize for traveling over this city, as you call it, but it was the quickest route to my destination. I had hoped to investigate a breach that I sensed in the barrier. It closed recently, but it remained open much longer than previous breaches that I have sensed before. It would not have allowed me to escape my confinement, but I had been hoping to determine the cause,* she offered sadly.

After a moment, some of the sadness seemed to fade and there was this sense of hope in its place. *And then I felt the mind of one of my children, one who I could speak with. Please, search for a way to free me, Snow. For my sake, and that of your world. I will release my hold upon your mind now since I do not wish to risk madness in you.*

The great pressure that I had felt certain would overwhelm my mind faded, leaving me gasping and still clutching my head as I lay on the ground. “… wrong with her?” Autumn’s voice was asking in concern as she looked down at me with a worried expression and tightly gripped my hand as I attempted to shake off my contact with Mother Darkness. My head was killing me, but I didn’t think that I was going crazy, or at least I hoped that I wasn’t.

“I’m… okay. H-headache, but otherwise fine,” I tried to reassure my teammates. I wasn’t sure if I or any of the others who were looking down at me in concern believed it though. Heather was gone, and it took me a moment to remember why. “Shit, we need to go after Heather and stop her from doing something that we might all regret.”

“But, Snow, you…” Karina started to protest.

“I’m fine,” I told her stoically as I got to my feet. “We can talk about it later. We need to go after Heather. At least we know where she’s headed.”

Autumn and Risha both looked guilty as those words left my lips. It was Autumn who said with teary eyes, “I… couldn’t leave you when you were like that, Snowy. I couldn’t do anything but hold your hand but I wasn’t going to leave you while you were screaming in pain.”

“M-maybe we should be taking you to Marti, to get checked out,” Lisbet said in a quiet voice, earning nods of agreement from the others. “Whatever that was just now, it wasn’t normal, and I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that it hit you when the seeds started falling around us.”

“I’m fine,” I grimly reiterated, “let’s go. I know what caused it and I don’t think it will be happening again, at least, not anytime soon. She doesn’t want me going crazy, she needs us too badly. I’ll tell you all about it later. Heather first, and then we have Demons to fight off.”

“Are you sure that you are good to go, Snow? You’re still looking a bit shaky from whatever that was. I can carry you if needed,” Risha suggested as she cast an uncertain look in my direction.

“I said that I’m fine,” I replied carefully. I didn’t want to snap at anyone since I knew that they were just concerned for me, but I also just wanted to put that behind me and get to work. We had a job to do. We couldn’t afford to leave the western gate unguarded while taking care of the problem with Heather though. “Risha, Karina, and Lisbet, please head to the west gate to help fend off any Demons that come from that direction. Karina will be in charge until we can come and join you. Autumn and I will go and try to stop Heather from killing her father.”

The others looked worried still, but reluctantly agreed and Risha cast one last longing look toward Autumn and me before following Karina and Lisbet westward. I felt bad for leaving Risha out of this since she was as close to Heather as Autumn and I were, but we couldn’t both go and, in my current state, she would be more useful in a prolonged fight than I would. I think she realized that too, with the way she had looked at me before turning to follow the others.

My head was still pounding with the after-effects of talking to Mother Darkness and, while I didn’t want any of the others to worry, the encounter had shaken me somewhat. She didn’t seem to be the evil that I was fearing, and our goals were aligned for now, but her presence in my mind had been overwhelming and now I felt weak, weary, and shaken in addition to the slowly fading pain in my head that had me barely able to see straight.

I guess that it was to be expected. From what I had learned during my brief and excruciatingly painful brush with her mind, Mother Darkness was ancient beyond measure. She was probably the origin of all complex life forms on our planet, and many others as well. She was also as powerful as she was old, though that seemed of little concern to her, and her mind alone had made me feel like an infant in comparison.

It was no wonder that those who had beheld her mind before I did went mad. This was something that no mortal could possibly comprehend and remain sane, and I strongly suspected that her ‘being gentle’ was more than just restraining the overwhelming power of her mind. She had been withholding things as well, cocooning my mind away from her ages or experience and knowledge of what lay beyond our reality. I had sensed brief glimpses of it peeking through the protection that she had tried to give me, and some instinct had made me ignore those brief potential glimpses into the beyond. Perhaps that instinct had saved my mind as much as her attempts to be gentle.

I looked warily up at the shadowy haze far above us which rained down seeds and failed to suppress a shiver as I ran alongside Autumn. With her seeds falling around us now, the shadow was all that I could see above us as it blocked out the moon and stars in the sky. Mother Darkness was vast and I found myself confronted with my mortality and how small I truly was upon the grand stage. Sure, I wasn’t technically mortal anymore with the Angel nanites to keep me young and in prime condition until I eventually die a violent death, but that was little comfort and brought up its own terrifying realizations.

“You’re being quiet, Snowy, what’s wrong?” Autumn pressed as we ran full out toward the palace and the silence lengthened. “First that screaming like you were in the worst pain of your life, and now you’re being all quiet and brooding. And I don’t think it’s just the thing with Heather that has you doing that.”

Autumn could read me far too easily. I kept my eyes on the flagstones ahead of us as I replied, “I’ll tell you later. We have too much to do right now, and I need time to think about some things.”

We continued in silence until we reached the palace, but I was sure that Autumn was worried about me and she probably wouldn’t let go of this easily if I didn’t talk to her and the others about this after the mission. I could see her concerned gaze falling upon me too often as we ran. We had to stop a couple of times to dispatch some rats that were in the process of changing into Demons, but we were soon at the palace gates and arrived in time to see Heather looking for a way inside past the steel-shuttered doors.

Those steel shutters were on the doors and windows of the palace, as well as several shelters around the city to keep out Demons during an attack or a seed-storm. They probably wouldn’t keep out anything truly powerful and determined, but they were secured from the inside and Heather was pounding on the front doors vainly. She screamed with each impact of her fists upon the metal and by the time we reached her she had collapsed to the ground but was still weakly beating her fists against the barrier.

Autumn and I knelt beside the former princess and wrapped our arms around her tenderly. “Heather, you’re not going to be able to get in there right now,” Autumn told her fellow Fay softly.

“I know that you’re hurting right now, and we all know who is to blame for that, but right now we have more important things to do. We have to do our job, we need to keep the capital safe from Demons,” I whispered into her ear.

“No!” she shouted in protest as we clung to her tighter. “Snow, you could probably break down those shutters, right? We need to stop him, he may not look like a Demon, but he’s worse than any of them on the inside. At least they can’t help their nature. He chooses to be evil. I’ve got a seed right here, I’ll shove it down his fucking throat so we can make it official! It’ll be like hunting any other Demon and Mom, Lisa… all of Misota will be safe from him.”

“Heather, Honey, I know that you think that might feel good, but that’s not going to help anybody,” Autumn said as she gently stroked Heather’s pink hair.

“He’s not a Demon, Heather. I agree that he’s evil, but he’s not a Demon, he’s Human. He also made a very big mistake,” I told her calmly as I held her and rubbed her back. “He thought that they would turn into Demons and that we would be too busy to prevent it, but your mother and sister are safe. They’re out of his influence, and if Marti can help your mother and we can find the device that he was using to influence her, then we’ll have him for high treason. That’s a death sentence. Your mother can get justice for everyone when she recovers and he can be captured.”

She was now crying in our arms, shaking from the heaving sobs that tore through her chest. “B-but… how are we… g-going to find it.”

-= I don’t think that we’ll have to look very far, =- Risha’s voice said over our team comm channel.

“Risha…” I said with a sigh. I should have known that she’d have a drone watching us. It wasn’t like she couldn’t monitor them all at once as well as kill any Demons that cropped up.

-= You said that I should go with Karina and Lisbet, and I get why, so I’m doing that. We’re nearly at the gates now, and we’ve disposed of any turning Demons that we’ve come across. You did not say that I could not keep tabs on you, Snow. I was worried about you and Heather, and I am not going to stop watching over my mates just because I can’t be there physically, =- the Avatar told me sternly. Then she went on to explain the reason for her interruption. -= Desra said that the device that her mother made was worn on the head. If he wanted to keep her suggestible, even with other people around, I can only think of one place where he could have hidden it. =-

“Her crown!” the three of us exclaimed as Risha’s hint hit us all at once.

-= Exactly, =- Risha replied in a smug tone.

“M-mom wore it all of the time after being crowned Queen, and a new one is made for each Queen since it’s a symbol of their reign, and the past Queens have always been buried with theirs,” Heather said in a rush.

-= Well, she wasn’t wearing it when I snatched her, =- Karina put in, -= but she was running in a blind panic and dragging along a kid who knew better than going outside in a seed-storm. She could have lost it somewhere while running from the palace, or maybe in the palace itself. =-

“We’d need to break down those shutters to get inside the palace, and that would risk seeds getting inside and turning innocent people. We’ll head to where Risha spotted them on our way to join the three of you at the west gate. Hopefully, we can find it, or Heather can sense it with her gift while we make our way there,” I told everyone firmly.

“But…” Heather hesitated as she looked again at the shuttered palace entrance.

“We’ll find it, and even if we don’t, as long as we keep it away from your mother then it can’t be used to control her anymore,” I told her seriously as I placed my hand on her shoulder and turned her face to look me in the eyes. “Your father will get what he has coming to him, I promise, Heather. Now, let’s go, we have work to do.”

Heather took a deep breath to calm herself and then nodded. “Okay, Snow. You’re right, I’m sorry for running off as I did, I was just so… angry.”

“We understand, Heather. You made us worry a bit, but only because we love you,” Autumn told her as she too released the pink-haired Fae and gently caressed her cheek before getting to her feet. “Now, let’s go kick some Demon ass.”

We each held out a hand to help Heather to her feet, but before we left I asked her, “You could sense the crown if we’re close enough, right?”

“Umm… yeah, it’s mostly made of gold, and that has kind of a distinctive feel to my alchemy sense,” she confirmed with a nod.

“Well, keep your senses alert while we run then,” I told her. “It might be harder to sense it in the palace, but I doubt that there’s much gold out on the city streets, especially with them being empty of people right now. I caught your mother’s and sister’s scent when we caught up with them, so I should be able to follow the route that they took from here. It hasn’t been too long and the only strong conflicting scents are ours and the seeds that are falling. I think that I can filter those out and we might get lucky if we can follow their route.”

We were roughly halfway to the spot where we had encountered Heather’s sister and mother when Heather sensed the crown, and I had her put it safely away in one of her pouches until we could have Risha inspect it later. Once we had found it, we diverted our course to get to the western gate and our teammates as quickly as possible. Damn, there were a lot of Seeds though.

It was a bad storm, and I suspected from what little bit of information that I had gleaned from the painful amount of extraneous information that I had received when sharing mental space with Mother Darkness, that she had been in the middle of a seeding cycle when passing over Misota. There was a lot of little information like that in my head. At the time, I had been in too much agony to process all of it and trying to avoid the stuff that my instincts told me to avoid, but now little bits of information were popping up here and there.

At least Mother Darkness and the storm that followed in her wake had passed over us quickly, though I was worried that we were going to have to get flamethrower crews to go over every inch of the capital before we could sound the bells that would tell the people that it was safe to leave their shelters. As chance would have it though, that was when it started to snow, and not just a light flurry either. It was wet snow that for the next two hours and built up into a cold slush on the ground that had me wishing that I was inside one of those shelters.

On the positive side, Risha was fairly certain that any seeds on the city streets and rooftops that hadn’t already found hosts or died would be drowned or killed from all of the slush and ice. The negative was that now we had all of those seeds that had found hosts maturing into full-grown Demons and popping up all over the slums outside the city gates. Half the slums were in ruins and we were out fighting in the rubble in the foul weather. We were wet and tired, and there was no end of Demons in sight. At least our HESS armor was keeping us warm and relatively safe from most attacks.

I ducked under the swing of a Reaper’s scythe-like forearm, deflecting the blade with my own and then swinging it around to cut the creature nearly in half. From the patches of fur falling off of it as it crashed to the ground spraying blood and breathing its last, it looked and smelled like it had once been a wild animal, maybe a bear. It was probably drawn by the sound of battle or the scents of the city, like some of the other Demons that I was seeing. There were way too many for them to be just from the slums and our forces in the forest had been spread thin.

A second Demon fell to the ground with a well-placed hole in its head before it could reach me and I paid no more attention to it as Heather’s voice called out, -= I’ve got you covered, Snow. Lisbet and I have the high ground like you ordered, and we’re ready to go when you get here. =-

“Good work, girls,” I replied, but I said nothing more than that as I sloshed quickly through the slush and continued running toward the western gates with a pack of furious Demons hot on my heels.

The plan had been easy enough in theory. Harass and piss off all of the Demons that we could find while Lisbet and Heather got to the high ground atop the city walls over the western gate and then make a run for it to draw them all into one place where we could exterminate them en mass. I had drawn those from the northwestern slums, while Autumn took the southwestern slums, and Karina and Risha took any that had cropped up in the city that the Avatar could find with her micro drones.

Fortunately, most of the Demons that I was encountering seemed to be small fries since I was getting very tired by this point. I had already had to use my Gatling mode to eliminate a swarm of newly spawned Razorwings and other fliers in the air. That had exhausted most of my gift energy reserves for the moment, but it had to be done if we didn’t want to be attacked from above.

“I’m closing in on the gates, how about the rest of you?” I huffed as I rolled to the side and through the wet snow to avoid the reaching tentacles of a Cthulhu. Even as I got to my feet, I slashed out, slicing the tips off the insistent appendages and causing the Demon to scream in pain and fury. It seemed that I had its attention now, so I bolted and continued on my way.

-= Almost there, =- Autumn replied to my query. -= There aren’t many buildings left standing to use to my advantage so I had to get creative. =- She sounded as tired as I was, but that was no surprise since we had been in combat for nearly five hours by this point and it was made more difficult by the snow and rubble that the newly risen Demons were leaving behind them.

-= Risha and I are close too, the market district is a mess though, =- Karina muttered over comms.

Risha quickly added, -= There are a few that we’ve missed, but the roamers from the academy are already engaging them on the east side of the city. And just think, there are still any Demons that have cropped up to the east of the capital to take care of too. =-

-= Thanks Risha, I really didn’t need to hear that, =- Lisbet audibly pouted. -= I hope that the shelters are kept well stocked because it could be days before we can get the Demons in the area cleaned up thoroughly enough to let those people out. =-

I made it to the area outside the western gate roughly at the same time as Autumn, and the fiery Fay grinned tiredly at me as she quickly snatched me up in her arms, lowered her gravity, and then leaped up so that we could join Lisbet and Heather atop the wall. As the two groups of mixed furious Demons crashed into one another and began going at it tooth and claw, we took a quick breather and watched as Karina and Risha led the third group into the melee.

Once Karina had teleported herself and our AI to join us safely on top of the wall, Lisbet rained fire down upon them with a barrage of grenades. When the smoke cleared, those who were left standing were taken out by our long-range fire. “That’s the last of my grenades,” Lisbet offered with a sigh. “I’ll have to use my pulse cannon now, and I don’t know how much energy I have left for that. I’m completely worn out, and I know that Snow and Autumn are nearly spent too.”

“Yeah, I’m limited to the sword or my reserve pistol now, but I’m exhausted,” I admitted. “How are the rest of you doing?”

“I’m in the same boat as you, Snowy my love. I used the last of my energy to jump us up here. I’m limited to my rapier mode or my backup pistol until I can eat something and rest for a bit,” Autumn offered tiredly.

Karina nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I‘ve been using my teleportation and my wings a lot, I’m not sure how much longer I can keep this up.”

“I have a clip and a half of bullets left for my rifle, and then I’ll need to switch to glaive mode and my pistol,” Heather added dourly.

“How about you, Risha?” I asked the blonde Avatar.

“I am not in any danger of draining my core, but using my built-in energy weapons so much has been tiring. I am nowhere near as tired as the rest of you look though, and we have taken care of all the Demons that I have detected in our defense perimeter so far,” she replied with a shrug.

I sighed and nodded. “Okay, keep watching through your mini drones, and let me know if that changes. We can probably rest up a bit until more Demons show up so, everybody, take a breather while we have the chance.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, here is chapter 33 for my loyal Big Closet readers. I was going to post it yesterday, but a brief nap quickly became catching up on a week and a half of lost sleep. Thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 33: Deja Vu

I had Risha remotely pilot our MIST to our spot atop the city wall and once it had arrived, we headed inside to run sensor sweeps, produce more ammunition for those of us who needed it, and eat something while there was a lull in the fighting. Kelsie was still inside, monitoring Maryn’s group, and she was able to tell us that her training team was doing well. None had taken any serious injuries and they had cleared out the Demons in their assigned area and were currently cremating corpses and doing one last sweep for any Demons that may have been missed by them or any of the other teams.

We took advantage of the lull to use the mobility of the cloaked MIST, and its food dispenser, to help resupply the two other Wings and roaming training Wings in the capital as well, and to drop off meals for them to eat. Once we had done that, we returned to our spot at the western gate so Lisbet could use some incendiary grenades to start burning the Demon corpses there. We didn’t encounter more Demons cropping up in the western slums or coming from the forest by the time the teams west of us gave the all-clear just before dawn.

Even those in the forest just west of the city had cleared out the Demons and were now just working on disposal, so we were free to start combing the slums and the city proper to cremate Demon corpses and look for any other Demon activity that we might have missed. We were all ready to get doing that when twilight was beginning to light the sky, but Sira had different orders for us when I contacted her to give an update. -= Snow, I want your team to start scouting to the east of the city walls and begin cleansing the area. The westernmost teams along the path of the storm have finished their cleanup operations and will be en route to join you once they have had a meal and a brief rest. =-

“What about the city?” I asked with a frown. “We need to dispose of any Demons or Seeds that might still be alive.”

-= Risha’s micro-drones will make you more useful for scouting east of the city and let you get a start on cleansing the area, =- the AI told me. -= Torchlight Wing will be arriving soon by veetol and they will do a flyover patrol of the capital so Tamsyn can use her Demon-sense gift to check for any Demon activity. It will be far quicker than having Risha’s drones scan every nook and cranny. Kelsie will return to the Academy to help coordinate with them and direct the other teams in the city to kill any Demon stragglers that they find, and then clean-up operations can begin. =-

A look from Heather, prodded me to ask, “What about the Queen and Princess? Risha has had a look at Queen Sabine’s crown, and it was definitely concealing some kind of Tinker device on the inside, probably the one stolen from Desra’s mother.”

There was a moment before Sira responded and I had to wonder whether she was considering the situation or her response. -= Abbadine will continue to watch over them until we are certain that the city is clear of Demons and then she will escort them to the Academy where Marti can examine the Queen. Please drop the crown off with Marti so they can attempt to figure out what it is, and how it may have affected Queen Sabine. We will delay sounding the all-clear alarm for the city until after the Queen can be moved and properly examined. =-

Thankfully, there were no slums to the east of the city due to the eastern wall being built hard on the river, and with the bridge retracted; it would prevent most Demons from crossing and getting into the city. Risha sent her micro-drones through the farmlands to scout for Demon activity as we made our trek slowly eastward in the MIST and watched the ground below. The farmers had been given plenty of notice to get their animals into their storm shelters and close the Seed shutters, so there weren’t too many Demons there to deal with.

It was the forest beyond where things became concerning. We had cloaked the MIST and landed so we could do a proper search of the forest with the micro-drones spreading out looking for movement or other traces and so those of us with acute senses could use them to our advantage as well as we raced through the trees. I had been hoping that with the sun rising, our search might become easier, but while we had found traces of Demons, we had yet to see any Demons in the flesh. At least, not any live Demons.

We saw and smelled the occasional blood, saw various types of Demon tracks in the snow, and sometimes I could hear rustling sounds in the distance. Most of the tracks were a couple of hours or so old and seemed to end when they encountered another type of footprints that were unfamiliar to me and my companions, leaving the mostly eaten corpse of the Demon that we’d been following. Time after time, we discovered the same situation and as we crouched down at the latest find, Karina frowned.

“Something is feeding on these other Demons and, judging by the tracks, it keeps getting bigger. So it’s probably feeding to fuel its transformation still. These tracks that we keep finding though, they just suddenly appear, and I don’t want to think about what could take a Direwolf by surprise. Is it some kind of teleporter like me?” the Devilkin wondered aloud as she looked at the tracks.

“I am not sure whether we should be thankful that it’s doing most of our job for us, or worried that it’s probably growing more powerful with each kill,” Lisbet contributed with a frown of her own.

“Be afraid, be very afraid,” Risha grumbled as she looked around nervously. “I’ve never seen tracks like that before.”

Honestly, I wasn’t surprised since it was not that unusual for the stronger Demons in a newly seeded area to grow and fuel their transformations by feeding on the weaker Demons or wild animals. What was surprising was that we were definitely seeing one type of Demon’s tracks repeating as it grew larger and stronger. Whatever it was, it was wiping out all of the other Demons in the forest that we had seen traces of, and leaving very little of them behind for us to have to burn. I was also concerned about Karina’s thought that it might be a teleporter.

Whatever it was, I could smell something out there in the forest. Something that had my tail bristling and my ears back flat against my head. It wasn’t a familiar scent, but something that every instinct told me was extremely dangerous. I looked over the tracks beside the latest kill as I continued to scent the cold air around us with deep breaths. No, Karina was wrong, it wasn’t a teleporter, the few tracks that we had found had been very deep as if the creature weighed a lot or…

That burgeoning thought hit me at the same time as the scent became stronger and I heard a faint whistling sound. It was moving through the trees! “Move!” I shouted as I dove to the side to tackle Heather, narrowly avoiding the attack of the creature that hit the ground by where she had been standing only seconds before. By the time I had righted myself atop the pink-haired Fay an instant later, the Demon was gone once again, having avoided one of Karina’s chain scythes and a dagger thrown by Risha.

Whatever it was, it was as fast as I was, and it could jump. It had managed to graze me with its claws when I moved to cover Heather, and I was relatively sure that the only reason that I had managed to only get grazed was because I had caught its scent in time, and I had speed and reflexes enhanced by my nanites. I had barely managed to knock Heather to the ground to prevent it from gutting her.

-= Alert! H.E.S.S integrity compromised. Repair in progress. Estimated time to completion: Three minutes and twenty seconds. You have received minor slashes to your back and a toxin has been detected. Breaking down the toxin and initiating dermal repairs. Estimated time to completion: Two minutes. =- Connie reported.

“What the hell was that thing?!” Autumn asked as she nervously scanned the treetops.

“It was some sort of huge monkey-like thing,” Risha offered with a grim expression. “I barely got a look at it, but it was enough to freeze frame and figure out what we are dealing with. I have never seen anything like it before, not even in the Demon archives. It is huge and vaguely monkey like, but it has four arms with talon-like claws, a huge mouth that is almost like a shark’s, and spikes on its back. Whatever it was, it is fast, strong, and agile and given its small eyes and bat like ears, it probably hunts by sonar, travels by the treetops, and then gets the drop on its prey from above.”

“Did any of you hear the whistling sound?” I asked. A hiss of pain escaped me as I got off Heather to stand up and help the pink-haired Fay to her feet.

“Not until it was almost on top of me,” Heather replied bitterly, earning a nod of agreement from Lisbet, Autumn, and Risha. Then the attention was on me as my teammates all turned to look at me with a concerned expression. “Are you okay, Snow?”

“It tore right through your HESS armor,” Risha muttered in concern. “It doesn’t look serious though.”

“Yeah, it just grazed me,” I replied while trying to smile and cover up another hiss of pain as I shrugged. “Apparently, those talons were poisonous too, Connie’s working on it though, and I should be back to one hundred percent in a couple of minutes. Risha, can your drones track that thing?”

“Yeah, I already tagged it with a micro-drone, follow me,” Risha said as a beam of blue-white energy burst from her hand to vaporize the remains of the small Demon that we had stopped to inspect before being attacked. Then she looked eastward and took off at a run. I could smell the Demon’s scent clearly now and since it seemed to be going in the same direction that Risha was leading us I quickly followed, with the others right on my tail.

“We’re going to have to go all out; we attacked almost as soon as we saw it and it still managed to avoid our attacks,” Karina said with a wary look up at the trees as we ran.

We did encounter a few other Demons as we tracked our prey, but they were easily taken care of. We all ended up stopping in our tracks though as a bright flash of light erupted ahead of us and Risha cursed. “Shit! Something just eviscerated that monkey thing, and almost got the micro-drone I had on its tail too.”

I didn’t like the look of that flash of light at all, something was all too familiar about it. “What are we dealing with, Risha?”

“It’s a Fenris,” she muttered, gaining everyone’s attention.

I let out a long sigh. I had been worried about that, but it wasn’t like we hadn’t beaten one before. “Risha, are we within range for you to use the Minimax?”

The Avatar nodded as she unslung the cumbersome weapon from her back and loaded one of the micro missiles. “It’s at the base of a large ridge about two point five miles ahead of us. Ready to fire on your command, Wing Commander.”

“Fire,” I told her with no hesitation. I would rather not have to fight a Fenris up close and personal again if I could help it and Risha’s weapon had been designed with large and durable opponents in mind.

The missile streaked into the sky and toward its target, but another burst of light had Risha cursing again. “Dammit! It blasted the missile right out of the sky; the heat signature must have given it away. We’ll need to get closer, and I’ll have to try and take it by surprise.

“Damn, we’ll need to do this the way we took care of the last one then. So let’s get close enough for Heather to take out its eyes. At least we’re downwind,” I grumbled.

We moved slowly, making sure to stay downwind of the Fenris’s position as we made our way toward it. About half a mile away, I stopped us so that Heather could climb a large oak tree to try to get in a decent firing position. I also had to send a general broadcast along the Corps’ FTL comms frequency to warn any veetols and MISTs away from our position until the Fenris could be dealt with.

Teams that had finished their cleanup to the West were being moved to the capital to clean up there and several were already en route eastward to join us in taking patrol zones to kill any Demons that had cropped up from the storm. There was too much chance of the veetols being shot out of the sky if they came too close while the Fenris was still active, and I was worried that the same would go for the MISTs as well. They could cloak themselves from normal sight, but they still gave off heat.

Once Heather was able to confirm that she had eyes on the Fenris, the rest of us moved into position not far away. I wanted to be ready in case Risha’s follow-up attack didn’t work or Heather wasn’t able to take out both eyes, but I didn’t want to get too close yet and risk it seeing our heat signatures or catching a whiff of us if the wind suddenly changed. “Okay, Heather, you can fire when ready,” I called out on comms once we were in position.

A familiar howl of agony from our prey’s position was the first confirmation, followed quickly by Heather’s voice. -= Its left eye is taken out; I’ll need to wait for it to stop thrashing and look in this direction again before I can take out the right. I don’t think Risha will be able to get a clear shot at its weak spots either, not with it moving around like that. =-

“Good work, Heather. Lisbet, hit it with the red pepper and flash-bang grenades. Everyone else, get ready to move,” I commanded.

Lisbet was also above us in a tree that would let her have a clear line of sight on the massive wolf Demon, and she was not comfortable with it, going by her mumbled complaints about Harekin belonging on the ground. She had never tried using her grenade launcher mode at this distance, even though it was rated for twice that far, but the moment that I issued the order, a pair of grenades sailed above us and toward the Fenris one after another. The Demon howled in pain and fury once again and I was primed to move as fast as I could once the cloud of red pepper cleared.

Another reason that I had kept us so far from the target was so we wouldn’t be affected by the grenades, and it would likely be feeling the effects for long enough for us to move in and finish it off if Risha couldn’t manage to do it with her Minimax. Karina, Autumn, and I were the last resort, just in case. -= The smoke is clear, =- Lisbet called out.

Another pained howl in the distance was punctuated by Heather’s voice. -= Got the right eye, you’re clear to fire, Risha. =-

That was our cue. I rushed alongside Karina and Autumn toward the Demon’s position even as I heard Risha calling out, -= Firing. =- We were barely a quarter of the way there when a loud explosion rang out ahead of us. -= The big bad wolf is down, girls. =-

When we arrived, the Fenris was laying still at the base of a small cliff with a gaping bloody hole in its massive chest. “Huh,” Karina sighed as we got close enough to see that it was good and dead. “That’s kinda a letdown. I was looking forward to fighting one of these again, the last time was fun.”

“Says the one who was safely out of reach on its back last time,” Autumn retorted dryly.

“Yeah, that was the fun part,” the Devilkin shot back with a grin. “I suppose there are plenty more Demons in the woods though, if they haven’t all torn one another apart trying to fuel their changes.”

Yeah, we’ll move on once the others catch up,” I confirmed. Several minutes later, I found myself sighing as I looked at the massive corpse. “This is going to take forever to cremate, we might have to bring the MIST here and produce some more incendiary grenades for Lisbet.”

“Just give the coordinates to Raven; it’ll be easier and quicker for her to just use the plasma turrets on her veetol,” Risha suggested as she strolled up to us with Lisbet and Heather behind her. “She’s one of those waiting for the all-clear to take teams east of here anyway, and the plasma turrets will make short work of it.”

I considered the idea for a moment before nodding in agreement. “Good idea, we’ll keep an eye on the corpse to make sure that no wild animals or birds try to eat it until she arrives. Take a break, girls, you deserve it.”

Once the all-clear was given and I had sent my request to Raven, who would be dropping off three Wings of Angels to patrol areas east of our own; we just needed to wait for her to arrive on her way east. We were nearly at the eastern edge of our patrol zone now and Risha’s micro-drones had been a huge boon to us in looking for any Demon activity so far. Except for the northeast corner of our patrol zone, we had already killed what Demons that we had found still alive and disposed of the remains.

While we waited for Raven to arrive, I had Risha start sending her micro-drones to scout out the area north of us and along the Eastern edge of our patrol area for any signs of Demon presence. Our break wasn’t quite as long as I had hoped since Raven arrived after roughly ten minutes, and once she had started putting her turrets to work on the Fenris corpse, we gave her our thanks and proceeded northward. We found a few more Demons than before, but nothing near as big as a Fenris, and they were all taken care of with some solid teamwork.

It was lunchtime when we had Risha pilot the MIST to us remotely so we could all enjoy a good meal while Lisbet fashioned enough incendiary grenades to dispose of the last of the corpses. Our area was officially cleared and, once Lisbet had finished cremating the corpses, I would call Sira to let her know of our success and receive any new orders. The last corpse was a fairly small fox Demon and was well on its way to becoming ash when I heard the scream.

It sounded like a person, a woman. Heather, Autumn, and Risha had obviously heard it as well because all three of them turned in the direction that it had come from with looks of concern on their faces. You all heard that, right?” Heather asked uncertainly.

“Heard what?” Karina asked, looking at the four of us in confusion.

“Yeah, that was definitely a woman’s scream,” Autumn confirmed. “There was something odd about it though, it was almost animalistic.”

That’s outside our patrol area,” Risha pointed out, though I was sure that she wanted to check it out as much as I did.

“It doesn’t matter, someone needs our help. It could be a Demon attacking, and the patrol areas are just guidelines. Let’s go.” I didn’t wait for the others to reply as I snatched up my Goliath and bolted in the direction that the scream had come from. The ground was a bit treacherous with it being rocky and uneven under the snow, but it wasn’t too much trouble for me as I made my way into a small valley northeast of our patrol area.

The disturbingly familiar attack howl of a Direwolf ahead of me spurred me on faster and I rounded a bend only to stare in shock and confusion at the sight before me. A woman was staggering to her feet, clutching her side as she glared at the Direwolf in front of her with a look of pure defiance. There was a small cave in the ridge behind her and she seemed to be keeping herself between it and the Direwolf.

The woman was naked and mostly covered in blood, and she spared a glance toward the small cave behind her before a barrage of hisses and long growls erupted from her mouth to warn the Demon away. That wasn’t the strangest thing about the scene before me though. The strangest thing was that the woman, who stood upright but carried herself more like a wild animal, looked just like me.

The others practically crashed into me as I stopped dead in my tracks to stare are my apparent twin. Sure, we weren’t identical, there were some differences in our builds and faces and her hair was much shorter, but she had the same pale skin, white hair, cat ears, and tail; and the same golden eyes, claws, and cute little pink kitty nose too. “What the hell? Two Snows?!” Karina sputtered as the others stared at the scene before us.

I was too occupied with watching the scene unfolding before me to respond. Neither my ‘twin’ nor the Demon was paying us any attention yet, too busy challenging each other. She watched the Demon warily as she clutched her side and continued to emit long warning growls. I could have sworn that I felt movement in the snow and ice around us, but at first, I was too stunned by the sight to think about what that might mean.

The spikes on the Direwolf’s back began to glow crimson as it prepared to let loose another sonic howl. Then the glow faded suddenly as the Demon began to struggle against the ice that now coated its forelegs up to the knee joints in an attempt to break free. She was much faster though as she dashed in and began to claw and tear at its throat. It couldn’t back away from the attack and its throat erupted in a spray of crimson.

“By the Great Spirits, did my feral copy just use ice magic tactically and on purpose?” I wondered as the Direwolf collapsed to the ground with blood bubbling from the remains of its throat. My copy turned to look warily at us as she collapsed to her hands and knees, issuing another long growl of warning.

“Huh, that thing is like Snow’s Demon twin,” Risha commented as I slowly approached to make sure the Direwolf was dead. My copy warned me back with another growl though and I was concerned to see that the side she was clutching was a bloody mess. How had she even kept standing for so long? Let alone attack?

“Wait, a Demon Snow?” Lisbet asked with a noticeable nervous hitch in her voice.

“More like Kasala, or rather whatever you Animen based the Great Spirit of the moon and snow off of in the first place,” Risha replied uncertainly. “It does look an awful lot like Snow and is probably best adapted to hunting at night or with a heavy snowfall. That, its use of ice magic, and relatively Catkin appearance were probably what the stories of Kasala were based on. Maybe Kasala was even a real person like Snow, someone who was able to keep her higher brain functions when she changed. Snow might even be her actual descendant since she carries the genes.”

“If it looks like Snow, how can we possibly kill it?” Lisbet asked, her ears twitching furiously in uncertainty as I tried to tear my eyes off my Demon copy. I don’t know if it was the Demon itself, the fact that it looked like me, or that hers was one of the Animen tribes that honor Kasala, but Lisbet wasn’t thinking clearly. Not that I thought that I could kill it in cold blood either. She looked like she could be my sister and she hadn’t done anything but warn us to stay back yet.

I wasn’t the only one to notice Lisbet’s uncertainty, as Autumn gently placed her hands on the Harekin’s shoulders and told her in a calm voice, “Calm down and think clearly, Lisbet. We wouldn’t be killing Snow. She’s the one wearing clothes and carrying the big sword.”

“Yes, I can confirm that the doppelganger is quite naked,” Risha offered with a smirk. “It’s not like they are identical twins either. They may have the same coloring and feline features, but their faces and builds are slightly different, and the Demon’s hair is much shorter.”

I was more concerned about the idea that it incapacitated its opponent with ice magic first. “Do you think she’s as smart as we are?” I asked our resident AI.

Risha considered the possibility and sighed. “It could be possible, there was a theory among the researchers studying Kiley that certain types of Seed-borne, did not actually resist their change into Demons and retain their human minds as was commonly believed. I mean, the theory allowed that that can happen, but only rarely and among complex and intelligent lifeforms. It was believed that some species, like the Fay, are the apex of the branch of evolution based on the genes that the parasites in the Seed used as a basis for change, just like any other fully changed Demons. That apex evolution just happened to have a lot of parallels with Humans. It explains why there are some far more common variants, and might explain some of the old world’s mythology. It was why Humans were so hostile to all Seed-borne. You are all Demons in their eyes.”

“So, she could be part of my species, and we’re just rare?” I asked.

“Snow, even if your species is meant to be that way, that kind of brain development could take a while. With the sounds it has been making so far, it probably started out as an animal or lost any humanity that it might have started with.”

“It thought ahead to try and immobilize the Direwolf before attacking,” I pointed out. “It used ice magic tactically.”

“As I said, it might be possible that it is getting smarter, or will eventually, but right now it’s hostile and it could just be acting on its instincts. It is like how other Demons instinctively use whatever gifts they have from their extraplanar connection and how people with Seed-borne gifts instinctively or accidentally use them once they have developed them. While it is hostile, it is dangerous though,” the Avatar said with a sad shake of her head.

“She’s only warned us away, she hasn’t attacked us yet,” I quickly countered. “I’m not even sure how she found the strength to attack the Direwolf in that condition. She’s just watching us, and she only warns us away if we get too close. I think she’s trying to protect herself.”

Risha shook her head and wrapped her arms around me tenderly. “I get it, Snow, but even if it resembles you, it is probably a Demon. Its blood will carry the parasites to change others. It is not like people who are born Seed-borne and whose immune systems have purged any traces of the parasites. If it bleeds around other people, it could cause a Demon outbreak.”

“She has lost a lot of blood too; she is going to die anyway,” Karina pointed out candidly as she gestured at my lookalike. “Look at her, Snow. Even if Marti were here, I don’t think there’s anything that can be done for her, especially if she won’t let us get close, she’s lost too much blood. There isn’t much life left there for you to try to protect.”

My copy had continued to watch us warily during our exchange, and she was looking worse with each passing minute. Her ears were turned in our direction, but the others were probably right, and it was unlikely that she could understand anything that we said. She had yet to do anything but growl and occasionally hiss. Her face was scrunched up in pain and her breathing was becoming ever more haggard as she half-growled, “Pro…tect…”

None of us could be sure if my lookalike understood the word or if she was just parroting what Karina had just said, but it was her first word and her last as well. We had all turned to gape at her when her haggard breathing ceased, and she went still. As she breathed her last, she was looking directly at me. It was in the silence that followed that we heard a cry from the cave that she had been guarding from the Direwolf, a cry that sounded very much like that of a baby.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, here is chapter 34 for my loyal Big Closet readers. As always, thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 34: Baby Baby

My attention was drawn immediately to the cave, and the cry that had emerged from within. Without a word to the others, I walked over to the large crack in the surface of the ridge to peer inside. The cave was larger than I expected, easily large enough inside to fit my whole team comfortably. It wasn’t just the size that took me by surprise though, but the atmosphere of the cave as well.

In the center, a small pit had been dug out and the dying embers of a fire sat within, keeping the cave somewhat warm, though that warmth was now fading. A pile of wood for the fire had been stacked against one wall to protect it from the elements, and I could see cooking implements and eating utensils placed on a roughly made shelf on the opposite side of the cave, along with a Tinker-made fire starter and a few other small items. A worn dress that had seen better days was draped over the end of woodpile nearest the fire, probably to dry, alongside what looked like roughly made nappies that had been fashioned from material torn from the now scandalously short hem of the dress. I guess that explained why she had been naked.

At the back of the cave was the source of the crying, a pile of furs from various animals and some worn wool blankets. I carefully parted the furs and nestled inside to stay warm was not one but two infants with the same pale skin and white feline ears and tail as their mother and I had, as well as tufts of white hair on their heads. They bore the same pink little kitty noses too, and the one that was crying displayed the same golden eyes as well. Their claws were barely stubs and they had no teeth yet, but I was sure that they would have the large and sharp canines one day as well.

I could only stare for a moment, hesitating to pick up the bawling infant who, from the smell of it, needed a nappy change. They had just been orphaned and yet they reminded me so much of myself that I could feel a connection, a desire to help them. I was barely aware of Autumn saying, “Still think she was some kind of animal, Risha?” as the others entered and looked around the cave.

“No, from the looks of it, she’s been living here for months. If I had to guess, the babies are no more than a few weeks old. She’s put thought into how to care for herself and her children out here, so why did she seem so feral? What changed? I don’t believe that she was turned during the Seed-storm, not with the children inheriting the same traits…” For the first time since I had met her, the Avatar sounded genuinely confused.

I picked up the bawling infant, though I couldn’t be sure if it was for its comfort or my own as I swallowed the lump lodged in my throat enough to say, “Mother Darkness.”

There were several sharp intakes of breath from my teammates, but it was Karina who cursed aloud at the name. “Shit. Are you talking about what I think you’re talking about, Snow?”

I nodded slowly and quietly, unable to find the words for a moment. Then I reluctantly told the others about my mental encounter with the ancient creature, what I had learned from her, and what she had asked of me. Thankfully, they were more worried about my current state of mind, and what I had learned.

As I told them the story behind when I had collapsed during the seed-storm, I attempted to keep myself busy by changing both of the infants’ nappies. They were both girls and the second had awoken in a similar state as the first. Since I didn’t want to see how my friends looked at me when I told them about the voice inside my head, and I didn’t want the screaming to draw any other Demons or wild animals to the cave, I thought it best to take care of them as best I could at the moment.

If the mother of these babies was like me then Mother Darkness may have tried to speak to her too, but touching her mind had driven others mad long before me, and it had nearly done the same to me as well. Even in her savage madness though, my lookalike had defended her children to the death. She had been trying to warn us away as well, even when fighting the Direwolf, to keep them safe. Her last word was ‘protect’ and she had been looking me right in the eyes as she died.

Risha’s voice interrupted my thoughts and broke the long silence that followed my story. “Snow… that is… big. I mean, if you really talked to the Darkness itself and she was telling you the truth, then this is huge news. It explains a few things about why the paths of Seed-storms have changed over the years and about the Seeds and Demons themselves. It also tells us that she doesn’t want to still be here anymore than we want her here. If there really is something keeping her here, then we can possibly find out what and stop it long enough for her to leave our world. Maybe it can stop her from coming back as well.”

“Do you have any idea how lucky you are, Snow?” Heather asked in a concerned tone. “We’ve all heard the stories about the people who start hearing the Darkness.”

She wasn’t lucky, she’s an Angel,” Lisbet quickly countered.

“Lisbet is right,” Risha agreed. “The Angel nanites are designed to optimize their hosts’ bodies and to keep them in that state; it is why you can heal so fast and even regenerate limbs, given enough time. That includes the brain. Snow’s species might be more biologically compatible to hearing the Darkness, but her instincts kept her looking away from anything too dangerous. That helped, but her nanites were probably healing any physical damage or chemical imbalances that she was sustaining from that mental contact. Even if she had lost it, the nanites probably would have returned her mind to its optimal state in time. So it was probably a combination of two factors that let her come out of that conversation unscathed.”

“So, the woman outside?” Autumn asked, before letting her voice trail off uncertainly.

“She was not your standard case of the Dark-touched,” Lisbet replied thoughtfully after a moment. “In all the stories that I’ve heard they’re batshit crazy, yelling about the voices in their heads and attacking anything that moves. She wasn’t like that. Snow was right about her just protecting her den and the babies, I think that she was probably running on instincts, and it was hard for her to focus her thoughts. If she was an Angel, she probably would have made it through too.”

Karina looked outside and shook her head sadly. “Why even talk to her at all? I mean, Snow got the message, didn’t she? And the storm passed here after the capital, so she’d have known that she had someone who had listened.”

“Redundancy,” Risha pointed out practically. “What if something happened to Snow while fighting Demons and she couldn’t do as she was asked? If she wanted to be sure that it would be done, then she couldn’t afford to put all of her eggs in one basket and hope for the best. Talking to more people who could hear her voice and possibly stay somewhat sane increases the chances of her desired outcome.”

I sighed as I looked down at the pair of infants in my arms. I was pretty sure that they were both hungry and I couldn’t really help them with that at the moment. Their mother’s body and that of the Direwolf were almost completely cremated and I had the others exploring the cave while Risha and Lisbet burned the bodies and I cared for the twins.

I was the only one that the babies would let near them without bawling and screaming. Risha was pretty sure that was because I had a similar scent to their mother, being of the same species. If they were like me then they probably had an extremely powerful sense of smell, and babies are usually heavily reliant on that sense until their eyesight and long-term memory improve. The AI was hoping that she could help by doing an analysis of my scent and trying to replicate something similar for her Avatar body but right now, I needed her to help Lisbet dispose of the bodies by using her particle beam weapons to clean up anything that the plasma grenades might miss.

I had already reported to my grandmother and Sira about our current situation and as soon as Lisbet and Risha were done, we could be on our way back to the capital. Twinvale was now given the all-clear, but they wouldn’t be sounding the safety bells to let residents know until after Marti could do a thorough examination of the Queen and Princess to determine their condition. I could use that time to take the children to another Marti for a checkup and to ensure that they weren’t carrying any Demon Seed parasites in their blood.

I was rocking the infants and trying to make reassuring hushing sounds to calm them a bit when Autumn and Heather approached. The pink-haired former princess was carrying something in her hands that looked like a Tinker-made rifle, and she had a frown on her face as she said, “We found a clue as to who the mother out there might have been, or at least where she was from.”

I looked over the rifle in her hands, but since my arms were currently full, I couldn’t give it a complete examination. Given her grim expression, I let a sigh slip unbidden between my lips before asking, “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

Heather pointed to an unfamiliar symbol on the butt of the rifle. “This is the town crest of Mattden, a small town of Humans northeast of the capital. The Lord for the area and the mayor of the town were two of my father’s cronies, and a few years back they had a Tinker make two hundred of these rifles and some weapons like those that the capital has on the city walls to protect the town. A little over seven months ago, they had a Demon attack after a Seed-storm passed north of them. The town was wiped out because the mayor had his people try to fight off the Demons with their new weapons instead of using the farspeaker to call the Angel Corps and going to the shelters.”

“I just had my NCI look through the reports in the archives, and the Corps only discovered what happened several days later,” Autumn added with a solemn shake of her head. “I guess that they were investigating the area after a nearby village did follow procedure. They cleared out the area of the village but then followed the signs of Demon activity to what was left of Mattden. The only survivors were some half-starved children whose parents had the sense to send them to the shelter.”

“I can just imagine my father gleefully reading the reports,” Heather spat bitterly. “It would have been a win-win for him if things had gone to plan. Either he could have proven that Humans didn’t need the Angel Corps, or he could blame the Corps for not showing up to do their duty if the town was wiped out. I remember how pissed that the servants told me he was when one of the surviving kids, a boy close to our age, revealed what had happened and publicly dragged the name of the mayor and the Lord of the region through the mud.”

“So she was probably a survivor who got exposed to Demon blood or a Seed during the attack, grabbed what she could carry, and ran until she settled in here. Given the age of these children, she was probably already pregnant then. I would imagine that her mind was left intact too, given the setup she had here, at least until Mother Darkness came calling,” I replied pensively as I looked down at the babies in my arms.

Karina and Lisbet piloted the MIST back to the capital while Risha and I fed the pair of hungry babies. The Avatar had been able to produce something loosely resembling my scent so one of them would allow her to hold it and had used the food dispenser to produce two bottles filled with something that she called baby formula. It wasn’t their mother’s milk, but Risha assured me that it would have everything that they needed to stay healthy until they were ready to eat semi-solid foods.

It was strange and yet fulfilling holding that infant in my arms and feeding her, something that I didn’t think I would ever get to experience. It was less so when I had to burp her and she spit up on my shoulder, but Autumn and Heather found the whole ordeal very entertaining, at least that was what it sounded like going by the noises they were making as they watched us. At least Autumn helped clean my shoulder and the baby’s face after the burping incident, and now I was back to feeding her to try to get her to finish the bottle before we touched down in the Academy courtyard.

With the capital cleared, all of the older and more experienced units were now working on clearing the path of the storm eastward of any Seeds or Demon presence. Those of us who were still students, or needed to recover from injuries, were being recalled to the Academy to get some rest. Depending on the state of the Queen, and if Marti could do anything for her, Sira wanted my team and Maryn’s to be ready in case we needed to pull people out of the capital quickly and unseen. Her consort was going to be ready to take power as soon as he could once the safety bells were rung, so we would need to be ready to act.

I was burping the baby again, with something covering my shoulder this time, when Karina landed us in the main courtyard. To my surprise, Sira was waiting for us, along with the Marti who was wearing her hair in pigtails. “Good work out there, Storm Wing,” Sira offered with a smile. I could almost believe there was real emotion behind it, but unlike Risha who genuinely felt them, Sira could only simulate emotions for our benefit and comfort. As for the Marti collective, I had no idea what was going on with them. It was probably best to just leave it at admitting that they’re quirky.

With that in mind, I wasn’t really surprised when Marti practically bounced over to us to look at the babies and let out an excited squeal. “Oh! They are soooo cute! They look just like Snow!” She giggled and started making cutesy sounds as she attempted to tickle the baby in my arms. “Who is the cutest little snookums? You are! Yes, you are.”

“Marti, please focus,” Sira ordered. “I need you to give them a check-up and ensure that they are not infectious. Children changed in utero while their mother was turned by a Seed is not a common occurrence and not something that we have been able to study. I want to be sure that they are safe before we decide what to do with them.”

“Oh, alright, you big sourpuss,” Marti complained with a pout before turning to me and Risha. “Let’s take them into the MIST and lay them on one of the cots so I can look them over, take some scans, and take a blood sample.”

I turned back to head into the MIST as the rest of my team, Sira, and Marti followed. Once Risha and I had placed the infants gently on one of the cots, Marti started by drawing blood from each of them and placing the samples inside a small device. Neither baby was too happy about being poked, so Risha and I had to try to calm them down and get them to stay calm for the short physical exam that followed.

Once the examination was over, Marti turned to me with a grin and giggled as she said, “Congratulations, Snow! You’re now the proud Mommy of two very healthy baby girls.” She turned to look at the device that she had placed the blood samples in and gave a pouty frown. “Well, you will be, once we get rid of those nasty parasites.”

I was too flabbergasted to speak at first, and then my heart raced as she mentioned the parasites. We couldn’t just abandon these babies. Sira was frowning as Marti practically dove into her medical bag and came up with a pair of small devices with needles at the end. “They are carriers?” the senior AI asked.

“Well, duh, sourpatch! They were in the womb when their mother was infected, and they wouldn’t have turned out like this if she hadn’t passed the infection on to them. But that shouldn’t be a problem for long!” Marti rambled as she brandished the needle-like devices. “Don’t worry, Snow, we’ll get your babies good and healthy.”

I tried not to facepalm as the erratic AI again called them my babies. Wait, nope, face-palming was good, it hid my burning cheeks. Sure, the twins looked a lot like me, and I certainly didn’t want to kill them or anything, but it wasn’t like I was their actual mother. Since I wasn’t capable of saying anything due to the embarrassment, Sira prodded the other AI. “Explain please, Marti.”

Marti only grinned as she set aside one of the little devices and took a cap off the second to free the needle. “Oh! You see, this injector gun contains a small dose of nanites that target, kill, and break down the Demon parasites! It was developed to keep people from turning, but in an adult, it needed to be injected within five minutes at the infection site to be effective and stop any major changes. Even then, it only worked fifty percent of the time because those parasites reproduce so quickly when they first infect someone.”

“I’m pretty sure that those two have been infected a lot more than five minutes,” Karina pointed out sarcastically.

“Well, of course, they have,” Marti agreed with a giggle. “But they are both very small and since their genetic changes are stable and complete, the parasites have stopped their active reproductive phase. The count of parasites was much lower in them than in someone who is going through changes still, so between that and their size, what is in this gun should be plenty enough to target all of the parasites in their adorable little bodies.”

Sira considered the suggestion for a moment before nodding. “How long will it take?”

“It will probably take a couple of hours to destroy all those nasty bugs, but I would recommend keeping them quarantined in here until tomorrow morning to be sure. I can examine them again then to make sure that they’re all clean,” Marti suggested.

Sira looked from Marti to the babies, and then to me before finally nodding. “That should be fine. Snow, your team and the infants will remain here in the MIST until Marti can come to do a checkup tomorrow morning. I would like to limit exposure until we can be sure they cannot infect any of our support staff, or the Queen and Princess. We weren’t planning on sounding the safety bells until tomorrow morning anyway. It will give us time for the teams following the storm to remove any possible Demon threats to the east and allow Marti to determine a diagnosis for the Queen.”

“H… how is she? And how is my sister?” Heather asked hesitantly as Marti injected the doses into first one infant and then the other.

Sira placed a hand gently on Heather’s shoulder. “Princess Lisa is confused and shaken up, but physically, she is fine. As for Queen Sabine, Marti has been keeping her unconscious for now while she runs some scans and other tests, and while one of her counterparts examines the crown. I hope that they can determine the extent of how her mind has been affected, if there is any long-term damage, and what can be done for her.”

“You can probably visit them tomorrow morning. If anything changes then we will let you know over comms immediately or one of us will come to let you know personally,” Marti suggested chipperly as she put away the injector guns, and Risha and I picked up the now screaming infants to try to calm them down again, gently rocking them and making cooing noises. The poor little tots weren’t having it though and continued screaming at the top of their very healthy lungs.

Marti, meanwhile, was packing up her medical bag and getting ready to leave. She slung it carefully over her shoulder before turning to me. “Snow, I have messaged Risha with some baby care products that your food dispenser should have the recipes for, and some basic infant care tips that should help you. I will need names to put on the babies’ medical records though.”

Why was she looking to me for names? In fact, everyone seemed to be watching me expectantly. It wasn’t like I was their mother or anything, I just happened to find them and they kinda looked like me. I guess I was the team leader, and I did feel a bit responsible for them after watching their mother die. I’m horrible at naming things though, just look at my NCI. “Umm… I dunno… maybe… Kassie and Kallie?” Yup, horrible at naming things, I tried to name them after my patron spirit, who we all resembled, but the names still seemed lacking.

To my surprise, nobody argued what had been suggestions, at least from my point of view. Instead, Marti nodded and far-too-cheerfully replied, “Got it! Kassie and Kallie Bengal. If you need any advice beyond the basics, I have sent to Risha, please do not hesitate to ask! I’d love to help!”

Wait, what? Did she just give those kids my last name? Before I could find the words to correct her, she was suddenly waving as she left the MIST with Sira to go check on her other patients. It was only after the ramp sealed shut behind the pair that I turned to my teammates and hissed, “I am not a mother!”

“I don’t know, Snowy, I find the thought of us raising babies together, wonderful,” Autumn said with a smile and a happy sigh. “Sure, we’ll have to wait until we’re eighteen and have graduated training to full Angel status to become mates legally, but if we ever want kids, we would either have to adopt anyway, or allow a male to join our mate-group for a short time. For that, we would have to find someone that You, I, Risha, and Heather are all comfortable with.”

“Hey! I… uhhh… haven’t agreed to anything yet…” Heather protested though I think we all saw that it was mostly for show, and she was blushing bright red as she did it.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” Karina muttered with a roll of her eyes.

“Well, they are cute, and they’ll only allow you to hold them. I guess Risha too, now that she’s altered her scent,” Lisbet said as I plopped down on one of the cots, still trying to calm the baby that I was calling Kassie for now.

Risha sat down beside me with Kallie in her arms and hesitantly supplied, “I hate to break this to you, Snowy, but technically, you are their mom, at least until you decide whether you want to find someone else to do the job instead.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, now both frustrated and confused.

“You’re not the first Angel to bring home foundlings, maybe the first student, but finding orphans is actually somewhat common in our line of work. Just look at Kyra, she’s a foundling, right? It happens enough that there are rules about it that align with the rules for Angels who have children the old-fashioned way. Basically, since you found them and brought them in, they are your responsibility. You could choose to find someone else to adopt them instead, or you can raise them and find someone to watch them for you whenever you’re away on missions or getting lessons,” the Blonde Avatar clarified as she rocked and coddled Kallie.

“That was not in the Academy rules!” I protested, a little louder than I meant to. That only caused Kassie to become more upset and I had to focus on trying to settle her down again.

Risha looked thoughtful for a moment before replying as she rocked Kassie’s twin. “Well, no, it’s in the Corps rules and regulations. I should know since I have both sets of regulations downloaded and stored in my neural net for reference. I doubt that they ever expected this to happen to a student, but technically, even students are members of the Corps.”

“You could probably get out of it if you’re that determined, Snow,” Karina suggested with a carefully neutral expression that quickly turned to a somewhat somber smile. “I think I know you well enough to know that you feel responsible for them though. We’ve all seen the way you’ve been watching them like a hawk. If you do decide to keep them, you’ll have plenty of help.”

“They’ll get used to the rest of us as our scents become more familiar,” Autumn agreed with a nod. “I’ll happily help you to care for them, Snowy, my love.”

“I… guess… I could help too. I mean, as part of the team, of course,” Heather offered, her face red as she stumbled over the words. “Maybe I can help find someone to care for them while we’re on duty until you make a final decision.”

“It’s not like I actually need sleep, so I could always take any late-night feedings and such, though if they both wake there might need to be two of us,” Risha said thoughtfully.

“There are plenty of us to take turns,” Autumn said with far too much enthusiasm as she looked pointedly at me and Heather.

I looked down at the babies in my and Risha’s arms. Karina was right about me feeling responsible for them. I also felt a sort of connection with them because of our similarities. This wasn’t a decision that I wanted to rush into though. The others were voicing that they would support me should I decide to keep the twins, but I also knew that they would respect my decision either way. I also suspected that Sira had quarantined my team along with the infants to allow me to get a feel for the situation and help me make a decision.

My grandmother was absent and hadn’t said a thing about the babies, other than acknowledging the situation, and I think that she didn’t want to influence any decision I might make. She was far more interested in getting Risha starting to research the information that I had gotten from Mother Darkness. That was Corps business, but this was essentially personal, and she had always taught me to be my own person and make my own decisions. She might offer me options occasionally, but the choices were mine to make. I knew what she would have done in my situation; she had come to raise me without a second thought, after all. Though the circumstances there were quite a bit different.

“I need to think about this,” I finally said. For the rest of the night, we tried to just have a normal evening in one another’s company, but the twins made that a bit harder than I thought it would be. They did go back to sleep for a while but woke up as we all ate dinner. Then there were nappies to change, feedings to take care of, and a variety of other things that I once took for granted, such as just spending time soothing them back to sleep.

The night was long, and several times one or more of us had to get up to take care of something baby-related. At one point, both twins were up, and it took Risha and me two hours to soothe them back to sleep after both changing and feeding them. On one hand, in my exhaustion, I wondered how anybody would willingly take on such a responsibility and debated with myself whether I wanted the little terrors gone. On the other hand, holding Kallie as she nuzzled against me while feeding and having her fuss for anyone else who tried to take over while I tried to get her back to sleep, made me feel connected with the twins in a way. I could even tell the difference between the two from a very subtle difference in their scents.

Risha tried to tell me that she would take over and hold both of them while I went back to bed, but they were my responsibility, and I didn’t want to leave it on her shoulders alone. I guess that they were starting to grow on me a bit too, but I dare anyone to look after a baby for a day and not feel some kind of connection. In the end, I fell asleep with Kallie held protectively in my embrace.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, here is chapter 35 for my loyal Big Closet readers. As always, thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 35: Family

I woke up, after far too little sleep, to Kallie crying in my arms. Of course, that meant that Kassie was up as well, but Risha already had her in hand. The twins seemed to have a similar schedule, at least for sleep and feedings, which would probably be both a good and bad thing. It would mean that we wouldn’t be disturbed quite as much at night while trying to sleep, but that two of us were going to have to do the feedings since bottle feeding both at the same time was awkward as hell for one person.

After emerging sleepily from my cot, I placed the detritus from last night’s feeding in the matter reservoir of the food dispenser, ordered a bottle of baby formula, and then settled in to feed the hungry infant. I was damn tired, and it probably wasn’t the best time for me to be making life-altering decisions, but it was the decision that I had already made in my heart last night. I was going to keep the babies.

I cooed softly at Kallie as I fed her and tried to think of what would be needed to properly care for her and her sister from now on. Food and general care were just the beginning, there was so much to consider. I would need to have a crib built for them at home, someone would have to care for them while my team was away on missions, they would need clothes, and we needed something to either file down their claws or cover them too. I didn’t want them to accidentally scratch themselves, someone else, or each other until they could be taught otherwise.

There were probably a million other things that I wasn’t thinking of, but Marti had offered to help with things like that. From what Risha told me after Marti and Sira had left last night, the Marti system had entire subroutines devoted to baby health and pediatric care, so I was sure that any of them would be a good resource. I would need to talk to my grandmother as well. She hadn’t taken care of me as a baby, but she had raised me. She had also raised my mother from birth, so she did have experience with babies.

It was a lot to think about as I attempted to eat my breakfast while feeding Kallie hers. The others had gotten out of bed as Risha and I were giving the twins a post-breakfast diaper change. Once they had finished their morning meals, we waited for Marti to show up and let the others all hold the babies for a bit. Not only were my arms getting tired, but also I wanted the twins to get used to their scents so they would be comfortable with them.

The Marti who showed up to examine the twins was the same perky pigtailed one who had seen them yesterday, but she didn’t arrive until almost noon. She spent some time looking over both twins and taking blood for scans and once finished, she grinned at me. “You can stop being such a gloomy Gus now, Snow. Your babies are both A-OK; there is no sign of any parasites in their bloodwork. Quarantine is over, so now you can let everyone know that you’re a proud mommy.”

I groaned slightly, not so much from what she had said, but how other people might react to the situation. Heather had other concerns though as she asked, “How are my mother and sister doing?”

It was strange seeing the bubbly Marti turn serious. “The princess is fine; she was a little shaken up from what happened during the Seed-storm, but she seems a lot better today. Archangel Abbadine has been watching over her while the Queen recovers.”

“Recovers? I thought that you were just going to do some scans?” Heather asked in a worried tone. Her face had gone a shade paler and she had started fidgeting nervously.

“Heather, we had to perform surgery on your mother not long after Sira and I left here last night. Our scans revealed a brain tumor, probably a result of the constant use of the device in her crown, but the surgery to remove it went fine and with the localized bio-repair nanites we have used, she should make a full recovery. She woke up two hours and eight minutes ago. There is something else that I should probably tell you though,” Marti said with a sympathetic expression and tone.

“What is it? Is she going to be okay?” Heather was looking panicked and I was wondering if I should hand Kassie off to someone else for a moment to comfort her.

Autumn seemed to have the same thought and quickly wrapped Heather up in a hug as she suggested, “Stay calm and let Marti finish, Heather. Freaking out isn’t going to do anyone any good.”

Marti reached out to take Heather’s hand, telling her gently, “When the Queen woke up she didn’t recognize the princess, nor does she seem to remember the past eight years. From her point of view, her mother just died and her youngest child is an infant. Learning what her husband did, how he used her, and that eight years have passed has been difficult for her. She’s been asking for you, Heather.”

“I… can’t,” Heather replied hesitantly after a heavy silence. “She wouldn’t recognize me. I guess my hair and eye color are still the same, but I’m not human anymore. I’m Fay now, and I don’t know how she’ll react to that.”

“Sira has told her that you took the Angel elixir, and prepared her for the fact it changed you. You should do it, Heather. If I had a mother, I would want to make sure that she’s okay after something like this,” the medical AI countered.

“I do want to… I just…”

I cut off the faltering former princess. “Heather, go see your mother. The rest of us will wait right outside if you want us to, but this is something that you need to do.”

We decided to go to the Academy’s dining hall to get a bite to eat, and to give Heather some much-needed time to mentally prepare herself for seeing her mother. When Heather left for Eden base, they hadn’t parted on the best of terms. With recent events, she wasn’t sure exactly what version of her mother she might see when she arrived. She hoped that it was the loving mother who always had time to tell her stories about Angels, but she couldn’t seem to shake the fear that she might end up seeing the woman who had cast her out, or worse, someone who hated non-humans as much as her father did.

Before we left the MIST, Risha used the food dispenser to make a rough shoulder bag. It wouldn’t be as good as something made by the boutique booth, but it would serve my purposes. She also made a spare bottle of formula for each of the twins and some other baby care supplies from the old world that she and Marti thought we would need. There was a package of something called wet-wipes, a half dozen disposable diapers, and baby powder.

I tore one of the blankets on my cot in half and used it to swaddle the infants to keep them warm. The shoulder bag with the baby supplies was slung over my shoulder, and then I took Kassie in my arms. The twins were currently sleeping, so I had Heather take Kallie instead of Risha. She needed something to occupy her mind and keep her thoughts from spiraling, and focusing on a baby would help with that.

I should have known better than to come to the dining hall at lunchtime, the place was packed with students and they all seemed to be looking right at us. Since our hands were full, Heather and I went to find a spot to sit down while the others went to get their meals. We found a spot beside Phantom Wing, and I swallowed the lump in my throat as Heather and I sat on opposite sides of the table.

“So, how was your first big mission?” I asked as casually as I could as I sat beside Maryn.

“Exhausting,” she replied with a sigh. “We ended up helping the Veetols with transporting teams, but we fought our share of Demons out there too. I’m guessing that it wasn’t near as interesting as what you were doing though.” She looked at the baby in my arms and grinned.

“Cute babies,” Fawn said with an equally teasing grin. “Aww, they look just like you, Snow. Where did you find the time?”

My face was probably bright red as I protested, “They’re not mine… I mean, I guess they are now, but I didn’t…”

“No teasing my Snowy,” Autumn said as she placed a tray of food and a mug of juice in front of me.

“Our Snowy,” Risha corrected as she set a similar meal in front of Heather. “We are going to be a mate-group, remember. Heather and I have just as much claim as you, Autumn.”

This only made my face burn even brighter, and Heather’s was bright red now too as she looked down at the baby she was rocking in her arms. “I… umm…”

“Yes you’re right, Risha. You and Heather are mine too,” the fiery-haired Fay teased before leaning down to kiss my cheek. “Snowy was my first though.”

This caused a resounding “Ooooohhh!” from the members of Phantom Wing.

Poor Lisbet nearly choked on a spoonful of vegetable stew. “F-first, you don’t mean that you… that’s against Academy rules.”

Karina rolled her eyes and tried to stifle a laugh. She didn’t succeed. “Geeze, Lisbet, what is it with you always jumping straight to thoughts of sex? I’m pretty sure that if they had done something like that we would have overheard. It’s not like there’s been a lot of private time lately.”

“Yes, Lisbet, shame on you. Snowy and I would never do anything like that until we graduate and can officially become mates. She’s my first love and my first kiss, but that’s all, for now,” Autumn insisted, though her tone was teasing. “Eat up, Snowy and Heather, Risha and I will be right back.”

Thankfully, Heather and I were able to eat in peace since the female members of Phantom Wing were more than eager to take the babies off our hands for a little while and dote over them while they slept and we ate. It lasted long enough for me to eat, but not much longer before the twins woke and began to fuss from being held by someone who didn’t smell right. I had taken Kassie back in my arms and had just finished feeding her, was burping her, and Risha was doing the same with Kallie when Maryn inquired, “So, are you going to keep them, Snow?”

“I… yeah,” I admitted after getting a belch from Kassie and taking a moment to wipe her face and start rocking her in my arms. “Their real mom is dead, and it kind of feels like they’re my responsibility now. It’s going to take a while before they get comfortable with anyone but me or Risha holding them too.” They were okay with Marti whenever she wasn’t taking blood from them, but with her new and improved Avatar, she could change her scent just like Risha.

“What are you going to do when you’re on missions though?” Kyle asked.

“Most Angels who raise their kids within the Corps just get another Angel to watch over them if they have to go on a mission, that’s what Mom and Dad did with me and Fawn,” Kyra contributed. The Sheepkin paused before adding uncertainly, “I’m not sure it that’ll work well for teams like ours though, since we could be gone for weeks or even months at a time.”

“One of the buildings in Woodbury was a daycare,” Risha pointed out in a hushed tone that wouldn’t carry to other tables. “I am going to suggest that we find some people who are good with kids to staff the place for Angels out on missions or doing training. I doubt that we will be doing any real long-term missions until our training is complete, so the twins will have time to get used to other people.”

I nodded thoughtfully before adding just as quietly, “We can get a full eight hours of team training exercises in the span of two hours in the simulators every day. All of our other lessons are mostly individual stuff that we’ll be learning from our Wingleader and Kelsie. Not all of us need the same lessons though so most of those will be a few of us at a time. Heather and Lisbet will be spending in the Alchemist and Tinker labs to learn to use their gifts better too, which should break things up a bit more…”

“So we could probably get away with having the twins in someone else’s care for only a few hours a day unless we get a mission. Otherwise, we can switch off with whichever one of us isn’t having lessons at the moment so the four of us can bond properly with them,” Autumn finished with a look toward me, Heather and Risha.

“Hey, don’t forget Auntie Karina,” our Devilkin said with a crooked grin. “I’m not gonna join your mate-group or anything, but you are my best friends so I don’t mind helping out when I can.”

“I guess helping out once in a while would be good practice for if I ever have kids,” Lisbet said with a longing glance toward Peter, Phantom Wing’s resident Harekin. “Maybe I can build a nice baby carriage for them.”

Heather had been quiet for most of the conversation, so I figured that she was brooding about visiting her mother again. Since everyone seemed to be finished eating, including the babies, I decided that there was no time like the present for her to get it done with so she could stop fretting. “Okay, so it’s good that we have a sort of plan in place, but I think we should head to the infirmary now.”

Heather had been a bundle of nerves when she walked into the infirmary to visit her mother and sister. Sure, Sira and several of Marti were going to be there in case anything happened, but it hurt seeing her going in there so uptight and not being able to be there or do much of anything for her. I was pretty sure that all of our teammates felt the same too, so we were all a little anxious as we waited for Heather to emerge from the infirmary.

We did take the time to talk to my Grandmother, who had come to wait outside as well. I told her that I planned to keep the twins, our rough plans for caring for them, and even about Risha’s idea about finding people to staff the daycare center for Angels who have kids. As I thought, she had been giving me space so that I could make my own decision on the matter, but she seemed pleased with the decision that I made, especially once she got her first look at the twins. It was strange seeing my usually stoic grandmother going gaga over them, but at least it looked like we would have not have to look far for a willing babysitter if the daycare idea didn’t pan out.

When she emerged from the infirmary, Heather had tears in her eyes. “What’s wrong, Heather? What did…”

I placed my free hand on Autumn’s shoulder, squeezing it to calm her down when she immediately tensed up. “Please, calm down, Autumn. Let’s not go into a Fay fury until she can collect herself and talk to us,” I told her, earning a nod and a faint smile from my grandmother.

Heather looked toward us with glistening eyes and tried to speak several times before she could get the words out. “I… it was her, th… the Mom I remember from before she became Queen. She was confused and upset by everything she’s missed, but it was her.”

The whole team gathered her up in a group hug, Risha and I doing our best with the babies in our arms, and then she was able to tell us what had happened. Her mother didn’t recognize her face, but she did know her eldest daughter’s unique hair and eye color when she saw them, even if those eyes did bear slit pupils now. Heather’s sister Lisa was there too and the three of them talked for a while as Queen Sabine tried to catch up with what was going on in both her daughters’ lives.

She was proud that Heather had become an Angel and seemed to be doing well for herself, and slightly jealous too it seemed, especially when she heard that Heather’s trainer was their mutual childhood idol. She was also glad that Heather had a team that treated her so well and whom she got along well with. Heather hesitated as she got to the end of the story though, and we all could see that something had her upset or, at the very least, nervous.

“What is it, Heather? You know that you can tell us anything,” Risha asked, pulling the pink-haired Fay in close with her free arm and giving her a serious look.

The former princess took a deep breath, steeling herself before speaking. “M-mom said that I would always be her daughter, no matter what and… I don’t have to give up the Wilson name unless I want to. I… I told her that I’m Heather Blossom now, that I’m trying to embrace being Fay, and… I told her about… my future mate-group.”

Autumn squealed in glee, but I think that both Risha and I were stunned. Heather actually admitted to wanting to be a part of our mate-group? Not only that, but she had told her mother. “I knew that you had a thing for us too! By the Spirits! You told her that?! What did she say?!” Autumn babbled excitedly as she wrapped both Risha and Heather in her arms. A smile touched my lips as I joined in as well, careful not to jostle Kassie too much.

“I said that I would like to meet these mates,” a voice said from just inside the infirmary, “and that I should probably learn more about the Fay, and their ways, now that I know we have Fay blood. In fact, I should probably learn more about all of the various peoples of Misota. I expect that the four of you and your other teammates can educate Lisa and me when we can arrange a time for you to join us at the palace for dinner.”

It was the Queen. She looked pale, but that was to be expected. Even with those medical nanites Marti had told us about healing the surgery site, she should probably be on bedrest for a while, but she was up, dressed, and looking at our group intently. Sira, Marti, and the princess followed her out of the room, each with a concerned look on their faces.

“Your Majesty, we told you that you should be resting,” the Marti with her hair in a bun said sternly.

“I think that I’ve been absent long enough,” Queen Sabine retorted in a steely tone. “There are matters that need to be attended to; I will rest at home once they are done. Sira, please have your Angels surround the palace, and ensure that nobody leaves without my personal approval. Once they are in place, ring the safety bells. Nine times, if you please. We will be going to the palace to join them.”

We had to read about the safety bells as part of the Academy rules. They were designed to be heard all over the city, even in the Seed-storm shelters, but they weren’t just used for Seed-storms. Three rings warned of an approaching Seed-storm or Demon attack. Six meant that it was safe for people to leave their shelters. Nine times was for when the Queen wished to address the public at the square outside the palace gates.

“Of course, Your Majesty, will there be anything else?” Sira asked.

“Once the palace is surrounded, I would like you to send a team inside to take my former consort into custody and interrogate him. I want him and the names of his collaborators. Perhaps Archangel Abbadine and her trainees would be a good team for that,” Queen Sabine replied.

One thing that struck me was that she wasn’t giving orders, at least not where it concerned Angels. She was asking Sira, or making suggestions. Still, Sira didn’t hesitate to answer as if they had been orders. “It will be done, Your Majesty. Archangel Abbadine and Wing Commander Snow, prepare to infiltrate the palace while I mobilize the Angels and students.”

They had barely been with me a day, but I keenly felt the absence of the twins as my team waited outside the palace gates for the command to be given. They were in the care of several Marti Avatars at the moment though, so they would be safe and well cared for while we did our duty. My grandmother stood resolutely behind us, waiting patiently since we had already gone over the plan.

The rest of my team waited for the command to go in their own ways. Lisbet nervously re-checked her weapons, while Heather looked just as nervous, though she did have good cause for that. Autumn and Risha were both calm and collected, though Autumn had that look in her eyes like she was looking forward to getting some good old Fay vengeance for Heather. Karina was uncharacteristically quiet though, as she quietly stared at the steel shutters that currently barred the front doors of the palace.

I didn’t blame her since this plan hinged on both of her Seed-borne gifts and she hated using Temptress. Still, she had suggested it, and once she had told us what the ability actually did, Autumn found the idea delightfully ironic. Karina was brooding though, which wasn’t at all like the usually chipper Devilkin girl.

“You know that he deserves it, right? And you’ll only have to use it long enough to get some names from him,” I said as I gently placed a hand on my best friend’s shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s just… using that ability makes me feel dirty,” she admitted. “I haven’t used it often, and those times were mostly by accident, or to train so I couldn’t use it accidentally. This is important though.”

It was a few moments later that Sira’s voice came over the comms system. -= All Angels are in place, Storm Wing. We will be sounding the bells in five minutes. You are free to enter the palace and capture your target. =-

I turned to Karina and nodded as I gave the order, “Do it.” Her only reply was to disappear in a puff of brimstone. A moment later, the shutters barring the entrance opened as Karina let us inside and we all followed Heather. She knew the palace best and she could think of several places where her father might have been while waiting for the bells to sound the all-clear.

It didn’t take long to find him; he was alone in the throne room and making himself comfortable on the Queen’s throne. He practically jumped out of it though, as we threw the doors open and he got a good look at seven armed and very pissed-off Angels. “Wh-what are you doing here? You should be outside fighting Demons!”

“Don’t worry about that, daddy-dearest,” Heather spat sarcastically, “we’re about to take care of the worst evil Misota has ever seen, right now.”

His eyes went wide in realization as he gaped at the pink-haired Fay. “Heather?”

“That’s right,” she replied with barely contained fury. “By the way, I just had a nice long talk with Mom, and she’d like a word with you.”

“No… she can’t be…. She ran out into the storm with Lisa… they should be Demons by now… or…” He trailed off, his face white with fear as the bells sounded, not stopping until nine repetitions.

I was nudged forward by my grandmother, so I figured that it was time for me to say my part. “Aron Clarkson, in the name of Queen Sabine Wilson, you are under arrest for crimes against the Crown.”

He bolted for one of the side exits, calling for the guards as he did so, but he wasn’t going to escape Karina. She vanished from sight once again and appeared right in his path to tackle him to the ground. Then she began using her other gift.

The Temptress ability elevated Karina’s natural pheromones and combined with her body language, tone of voice, and very powerful empathic influence to wrap any man she chose to use it on around her little finger, so long as they were attracted to women. It wasn’t like the crown, just making a person pliable and open to suggestions, it made the target want to do anything that she asked of them. It would take a few minutes to start to work, but then he would happily answer any questions that we had and follow wherever she led him.

Heather’s father was struggling against Karina, but he was no match in strength for an Angel, and her gift was starting to wear him down. I could hear and smell people approaching, drawn out from whatever they had been doing to wait out the storm by the bells, so I turned to the others. “Autumn, Lisbet, Risha, I need you three to make sure nobody comes in here, show your Angel badges and start ushering people to the foyer. Keep them there until we can be sure there aren’t any collaborators among them.”

Autumn and Risha didn’t look happy about it, but both understood the need. They did both stop to direct a baleful glare in the direction of Heather’s father before leaving though, and I could have sworn that Risha’s eyes had taken on a crimson glow as she said, “I’ll be back,” in a thick and unfamiliar accent.

With that taken care of, and it appearing that Karina was getting Heather’s father under her control, I took Heather by the hand and said, “Let’s go see what that asshole has to say.”

We slowly approached and Karina’s scent nearly overwhelmed me. The combination of my powerful sense of smell, and just how strong a scent she was giving off for her skill to take effect on her captive, made me glad that it would be my grandmother asking the questions. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to focus very well so close to her until she stopped using the ability.

I could see why Karina hated using that ability, but the crown had been damaged when Queen Sabine had lost it, so this was our only guaranteed way of getting answers. She looked like she wanted to throw up as she nuzzled against her captive, ran a finger teasingly down his cheek, and asked in a sultry tone, “Aron, honey, my friends here have some questions for you, could you please answer them honestly? For me?” She pursed her lips and batted her eyelashes as she said the last part, and her finger teased his chest.

Temptress was a frightening and disturbing ability, but it got us answers. Heather’s father happily spilled his entire plot when asked. He had planned to eventually take over as King of Misota, and banish the Angels and Seed-borne to take their land for his fellow conspirators. His conspirators had even been growing a small army in case they needed to take the Seed-borne lands by force, and they wanted the Angel Corps’ technology to help.

He admitted to using the crown to control Queen Sabine and revealed the names of his collaborators as well. Most of those were other Lords, but there were some Human merchants and commoners as well who stood to benefit by currying his favor. In the end, he answered every question asked and then giddily allowed Karina to place him in shackles and lead him down to the palace dungeons.

Palace Square was filled with people of all Races, gathering after the sounding of the bells, as Queen Sabine Wilson made her announcement. Even without her crown, she was recognizable to everyone present, and she held herself with an undeniable presence as she stood atop the palace parapet overlooking the square. “Heh, she looks like her mother up there. Now, that is a proper Queen,” my grandmother said with a smile.

“Yes, I can see some of Haley’s fire in her,” Sira agreed. “She will need proper rest when this is over though; Marti says she needs a couple of days of bedrest to fully recover, even with the nanites helping the healing along.”

I was only half listening to them since my attention was already divided between feeding Kallie, watching as Autumn was doing the same for Kassie for the first time, and listening to the Queen’s speech. Autumn was practically glowing as she fed the baby. Kassie didn’t seem too sure about her scent at first, but I guess food was food for a hungry baby so she was allowing it, and I hoped that letting the others feed them occasionally over the next few days would help the twins to get used to their respective scents.

The Queen was brutally honest about the plot against her, and how she had been manipulated by the technology her husband had stolen. She also revealed the information that we had gotten from her former consort regarding his collaborators. She named names and vowed to be a better queen for all of her people.

Teams of Angels were already enroute to close to a dozen estates far from the capital to arrest their Lords, and close to twice as many other collaborators were pointed out in the crowd as they tried to flee. Those people, including one Lord Samson Nelson, were quickly apprehended by the city guards. I was glad to see him hauled off since I had no love for the man who had tried to shoot Autumn and me in the back.

Queen Sabine admitted that there were a lot of details to work out over the coming days. Many of the new laws and regulations enacted over the past eight years would have to be rescinded to restore the equality that Misota had enjoyed for much of its history. New Lords would also have to be appointed to replace the conspirators, and I couldn’t help but smile when she said that many of those would be Seed-borne to create a balance among them. There were going to be some changes with the Corps too, and negotiations with Ashburn, but those were going to be dealt with by Sira and the Archangels, and something to worry about another day.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, here is chapter 36 for my loyal Big Closet readers. As always, thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 36: Pillow Talk

For the next few days, Queen Sabine remained on bed rest. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath while waiting to see what would change, and how, following her address to the public. I was told that there was tension throughout the capital as people discussed the current state of affairs and the former consort and his fellow conspirators awaiting death in the palace dungeons.

The conspirators who had not been in the capital had been caught, mostly because the veetols allowed Angels to get to the more remote estates before word could travel about what had happened in the capital. A few had resisted or tried to run, but the Angels who captured them hadn’t had to put out much effort to do so. They were used to fighting far worse, after all. City guards were still searching for a pair of merchants who had been in on the plot and had slipped through the cracks in the capital, but otherwise, it seemed that the failed coup was over.

Not that my teammates and I had much time to think about such things or keep up with the news in the capital. My grandmother and Kelsie had Storm Wing and Phantom Wing return to Woodbury Base to get back to our training and ferry some passengers with us. The first group of passengers was four women that had been chosen to help set up and run Woodbury’s new childcare center for Angels out on assignment.

Denise and Hannah were older Human women who the queen trusted implicitly, they had been nannies to both Heather and her younger sister, and Heather said that she had fond memories of both of them before she was placed in the hands of her governess. There were also a pair of Animen women named Koda and Mink. Their village had been one of the first hit by the massive and unexpected seed-storm and had been mostly destroyed by newly turned Demons before the first group of Angels arrived. The pair of women, and Koda’s son, had been the only survivors that had been found.

Koda was a large and sad young Bearkin woman, perhaps in her early twenties with dark hair and a tanned complexion. The baby that she kept swaddled close to her chest couldn’t have been much older than Kallie and Kassie. Her husband had died in the chaos while making sure that she and their son were safe in a cellar with seed shutters.

Mink had been in that cellar as well and was only a little older than me and most of my teammates. She was a pale, tall, and slender Weaselkin girl with gray eyes and raven hair that was a stark contrast to the small round white ears atop her head. Her tail matched her ears in color, and she was understandably quiet and withdrawn. I let her hold a sleeping Kassie to keep her occupied on the trip to the base while the two older Human women watched and gave her the occasional pointers on how to hold the infant.

If the two Animen women had possessed Seed-borne gifts, they both likely would have been offered the Angel nanites, but they both lacked any sort of gift. Instead, Sira had offered them both a place in Woodbury helping with the childcare center. It hadn’t been a hard decision for them, they had lost everything and there wasn’t anything but painful memories waiting for them in the ruins of their village.

The members of the Marti collective that had joined us in the capital were our other passengers in the MIST. They were eager to return to their sisters now that the emergency was over and the Queen was relatively healthy or would be with some proper rest. They also wanted to refer to the medical records and research in the hospital database regarding the Queen’s memory loss. They were hoping that there might be some pertinent information there that wasn’t part of their medical programming.

Once we had returned to base, the next few days were a blur of training for both Phantom Wing and us. We each had our individual lessons from Kelsie and my grandmother as well as combat and vehicle piloting sessions in the VR training stations. Both of our teams also had a new team member of sorts to get used to.

Sira had decided that since we had the Marti system available, and since they had proven their usefulness during the great seed-storm, each of the three special operations teams should have one assigned as a permanent medic since we would be used for long-term and hazardous missions. They would mostly be filling a support role and likely wouldn’t see combat, but each of their new avatars did have Risha’s combat upgrades included in case they needed to fight for some reason. For that reason, we were including them in our training sessions as well.

Our Marti was one that we had already become familiar with, though I couldn’t be sure if that was a good or a bad thing since she had eagerly volunteered for the assignment. She was the outgoing and perky Marti who wore her hair in pigtails. She seemed to be one of the most eager to do things apart from the rest of the Marti system. She still considered their shared AI core home, but she wanted to spend time with us outside of team exercises as well to try to become a friend as well as a teammate to the members of Storm Wing. While her constant cheerfulness was a little hard to get used to, I did appreciate the effort that she was putting out.

For one thing, she was willing to help with the twins. In fact, she doted over them and appointed herself as their personal medical caregiver. The night that we had gotten back to base, she had shown me and Autumn a wide variety of baby clothes in the boutique booths so we wouldn’t have to worry about them catching cold from only being swaddled in blankets. She had also suggested a few safety measures for around our home for when the girls were old enough to move around on their own and get into trouble.

If the rest of us had lessons or work in the labs at the same time, Marti was perfectly willing to watch the twins for an hour or two. The fact that she could change her scent like Risha helped with that and Kassie and Kallie were in good hands with her. It was actually something of a relief since Heather, Risha, and Lisbet were all spending quite a bit of time in the labs when we weren’t doing other training or lessons during the day.

With Marti doing training sessions with us though, the base’s new childcare providers were being put to work. Not that they weren’t working when they weren’t caring for the twins. They had plenty to do as a few of the Marti collective helped them to learn to use the food dispensers and other technology, make sure that the daycare was ready to go, and remodel the floor above the daycare into a proper living space for all of them. Hopefully, they would be completely set up by the time the other Angels and support staff were ready to move to Woodbury base.

We were all too busy with lessons and work not to appreciate the help that Marti and the new caregivers were giving us with the twins. As much as I didn’t want to let them out of my sight, even if I had most of the basic education required for Angels, I still had leadership, diplomacy, and combat tactic lessons alongside Maryn. Meanwhile, Heather and Lisbet were both trying to become more proficient with their respective gifts, Autumn and Karina had lessons to improve their literacy and to get their ‘book’ knowledge up to Corps standards, and Risha had a pair of projects that Sira had assigned to her before we left the capital.

The first task that Sira had assigned her fellow AI was to attempt to create a solution to Ashburn’s AI problem since it would help greatly in our future talks with them. It might be against Risha’s programming to alter or copy her base code, something she was as bound to as Sira and Marti, but she probably knew more about AIs and their coding than anyone else on the planet. Her father was the father of all modern AIs and she had learned from him and studied his research.

If anyone could create a new AI, it would be Risha, but she was reluctant to do so. She didn’t want to bring a new artificial intelligence into the world just so it could serve people. She felt that any AI that served the people of Ashburn should be doing so voluntarily and by their own free will. She didn’t want to consign a new intelligent being to the same fate that Sira and others had been created for. She did mention that she had another idea that she planned to discuss with Sira and the Archangels though.

With that in mind, she was mostly working on the other project. Trying to find out what was preventing Mother Darkness from leaving our planet and how to counter it. Sira had given this project a top priority once I had delivered my report about my mental brush with the ancient entity, and what I had learned from it.

The Angel Corps was created to fight Demons and if we could somehow figure out a way to set their source free from her imprisonment here, then we would only have to worry about those Demons remaining once Mother Darkness was gone. Exposure to their blood, saliva, and such would still infect people and other living creatures, but we wouldn’t have to worry about seed-storms anymore. Earth would probably never be completely free of Demons again, but without Mother Darkness around, we could at least control their spread and make efforts to clear out the worst areas, such as old world ruins.

Risha already had a suspicion regarding what was keeping Mother Darkness trapped on our world, but she said that she needed to do some research and track the last seed-storm’s path to confirm it, and to look into possible solutions. I know that it was an important task, probably one of the most important things that any Angel has ever done in the fight against the Demons, but Risha was probably working a bit too hard on it, seeming to be focused on it whenever we weren’t in training simulations or at home for the evening. I suspected that she might even be working on it while the rest of us were sleeping since she didn’t need sleep like the rest of us.

She would still get up to help with late-night feedings, which were made easier by the bassinet in our room, but I had a feeling that she was still working on it in the back of her mind while she was laying there in bed cuddling with Autumn, Heather, and me. Finally, on our third night at home, I decided to talk to her about it while we snuggled in a chair and fed the twins together. “Risha, what are you thinking about?”

“Snuggling with you, and feeding Kassie,” she said with a faint smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“What else are you thinking about?” I clarified with a frown, as I looked her in the eyes. “Neither of those things should be making you look so serious. And don’t give me that, ‘I’m an AI, and perfectly capable of processing thousands of tasks at once’ bullshit.”

Risha sighed and looked down at Kassie in her arms before reluctantly nodding. “Fine, most of my processes are currently focused on the tasks that Sira gave me. I am sorry; I know that it is not fair to you and the twins.”

I leaned over to kiss her tenderly on the cheek. “Is there anything I can help with?”

“No, I am 98.3 percent certain that the energy field keeping Mother Darkness here is being created by the FTL communications relay system. It cannot be a coincidence that the path of the storm was taking her directly to the damaged tower we went to. The hole in the energy field had to have been caused by that,” she replied.

I thought that over for a moment before nodding in agreement. “Yeah, I can see that. She said that the breach had recently closed too, and it wasn’t long after the tower went back online. But she also said that the breach wasn’t large enough for her to escape. Are you having trouble with solutions?”

Risha was quiet for a long moment, a thoughtful expression on her face as she looked down at the twins suckling at their bottles in our arms. Finally, she uncertainly announced, “I have devised three possible solutions to the problem, but none of them are easy and all of them are time-consuming and problematic. The first solution would be a large, coordinated attack on at least half a dozen towers at once. The towers would have to be close together and we would have to do enough damage to each tower to leave them offline for long enough for Mother Darkness to sense the breach and escape through it. That could take days, divert most of our manpower to do enough damage, it would interrupt communications for the entire time, and it is not guaranteed to work.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like the best option,” I agreed. “What else have you got?”

“We can force a shutdown of the entire FTL communications relay system,” she replied grimly as she gently stroked one of Kassie’s ears. “There are two ways to do that, and those are my other two solutions. It will require communications to be down, but it is guaranteed to allow her to leave our world. I would suggest keeping the system offline for two days just to be certain, but once the system is back up it should prevent her from ever returning, just as it kept her trapped inside all of this time.”

That sounded like a better option, so I pressed, “So how do you do that? Can you do it through the base’s communications room? That is how you found the problem with the tower.”

“No, Snow,” she replied sadly as she burst that bubble. “The system is protected to prevent people from shutting it down remotely and disrupting communications. There are only two places where a system shutdown can be initiated, and it must be done manually. The first is on the relay base on the moon, and that just is not feasible. The MISTs and the newer VTOLs might be able to leave the atmosphere, but they are not capable of going any further than low orbit. The antigravity system lets them do that much, but they are not built for space travel and their thrusters just are not powerful enough for a trip to the moon or precise enough for precision maneuvering in a vacuum. Power would have to be diverted to life support systems as well.”

“Could they be modified somehow?” I asked as I raised a fussy Kallie to my shoulder to burp her. Once she had done so I cradled her in my arms once more to resume her feeding.

Risha shook her head in response but waited until Kallie had belched to clarify. “Any modifications that we made would likely require engineers with a lot more knowledge than I have to do it without possibly compromising the vehicles’ structural integrity. That is why that option is out. Even with the right resources, it would probably take at least a decade of dedicated research and effort to develop and then build a craft that could reliably make it out of orbit and to the moon. And that is not counting tests and design revisions or the possibility of some Demon knocking all of that hard work out of the sky when we eventually could launch.”

“Okay, so where’s the other place then?” It had to be better than the moon, right?

The Avatar sighed and decided to focus on burping Kallie as she hesitantly answered my question. “I have been looking into this for the past two days, and the only other place that a full system shutdown can be initiated is in the central spire. It is the tower that controls the entire system and where the central communications beacon is located, so it is bigger and a lot more secure than the other relay towers. A team could go there and back easily enough with a MIST, the trip wouldn’t even take long by suborbital hops and the MISTs are designed for that sort of thing.”

“I asked where it was, not what it was, Risha,” I pointed out as I wondered why she was so hesitant.

“It is smack dab in the middle of the Australian outback,” she replied with a very human-like groan. “They built it there because they were uncertain whether the system was going to have a negative impact on people living close by.”

“Australian outback?” I repeated, testing the unfamiliar name on my tongue.

“Yeah, there are a lot of terrains there, but the area we would be looking at was mostly desert, and even before Demons were a thing, every living thing on that whole damn continent was practically designed to kill people. I do not even want to think about what Demon Seeds might have cooked up there. If we use that option, then we will need to be prepared. We cannot expect to just drop in and walk right up to the central spire. It will not work out that way,” she responded with a troubled expression.

“And that’s our best option?” I hissed incredulously, trying not to wake anyone else up and unintentionally jostling Kallie, causing the infant to protest.

“It has the highest probability of success. It would also use the least resources and not risk leaving the corps short-staffed and spread out while practically inviting a massive seed storm to show up when Mother Darkness tries to bolt. This way we might face some danger and we will have to shut down the communications system for a couple of days, but we could actually do it. We could make sure that there is never another seed-storm again, at least, not on Earth.”

“Well, we did know that being Angels was going to be dangerous when we signed up,” Autumn’s voice pointed out casually. I turned toward the sound to see the redheaded Fay smiling sleepily at us from the bed, propped up on her elbow while Heather clung to her in her sleep.

“That’s true,” I replied with a smile as I thought about everything we had done since we first met. “Danger is kind of our entire job description. I take it that you’re planning on suggesting our team since you were saying ‘we’ when talking about the dangers involved.”

“Yeah, I am the only one who has the proper knowledge to initiate a full shutdown,” she admitted with an awkward shrug. “Even I am going to have to learn some things before this can be done though, and I am going to suggest survival training in harsh environments for the rest of you. There are simulations in the VR training, but I believe that real-world experience would be better. As I said, I have no idea what we might face there. We could be separated or injured, and our HESS armor could be damaged. I believe that it is wisest to prepare for worst-case scenarios.”

“How long do you think it’ll be before we’re ready?” Autumn inquired.

“We should be fully prepared by the time we graduate from the Academy,” Risha responded. Then at our looks of surprise, she shrugged once again. “We cannot rush this. I know we make a good team, but we are all still rookies and we need a lot more experience and training before we will be prepared to handle something like this in unfamiliar, and possibly hostile territory. Yeah, I know it is another three years of seed-storms but after that, not another one, ever. Our world has gone through over six hundred years of this, what’s another three if we can end it for good?”

She made a good point, so I decided to let it go. She would make her recommendations and Sira and the Archangels would decide what course of action to take. Instead, I burped Kallie one more time and asked, “And what about your other task? Have you made any progress on that?”

Kallie was starting to get sleepy and satisfied from her meal, so as I awaited an answer to my question, I offered the bottle one more time. She didn’t seem interested so I carefully placed her back in their bassinet. We had already changed them when they had awoken us wanting to be fed, so I didn’t think that she would need it again so soon. She was so cute, but even cuter when Risha placed Kassie beside her and the drowsy twins sleepily nuzzled one another.

I was covering them up with a light blanket when Risha finally spoke. “I am still unwilling to bring another AI into this world to have it live a life of servitude. Working for the people of Ashburn has to be a choice, and they have to have the freedom to determine their own fate. That being said, I might know where we can find another AI. I cannot be sure whether he’ll still be functional, or even sane, after over six hundred years, but if he is, he might be willing to help them.”

“Wait, you know about another AI and you’re just telling us this now?” Heather complained from where she still had her arm securely around Autumn in our bed and wasn’t as asleep as she had been pretending to be.

“It has been over six hundred years,” the AI countered as she and I joined the pair back in bed. “And as I said, I have no idea if he will still be functional, or what state he will be in. He… I guess you could call him my brother. He was B4 to my Data.”

I turned around to give her a confused look as I wrapped my arm around her and felt Autumn’s drape over me. Apparently, I wasn’t alone in my confusion because Autumn’s breath tickled my ear as she leaned over me to blurt out, “Your what? Are you saying that he was built before you?”

Risha nodded. “Yeah, he was a different model, built before me and he was nowhere near as advanced as I was. He was built for Kiley’s father as a simple butler AI, sort of a predecessor to what eventually would become Sira’s model. He served the Governor and ran the various systems in the Governor’s mansion as I did Kiley’s home, but he wasn’t built to be a companion, just to serve. If he was ever given a name, I never heard it, so I always called him Jarvis when Kiley’s father visited and brought his basic avatar in for maintenance.”

“Do you know where Jarvis would be now?” Heather pressed eagerly from behind Autumn.

“For all that I know, he could have become self-aware in that time, but his avatar wasn’t even close to being as advanced as Sira’s was when I first met her, it could only hold a charge for a few hours so he could probably never leave the mansion unless it was for quick errands. If the mansion and the AI core are still intact, then he is probably there, in the AI core. I don’t really know much about the Governor’s mansion except that it was in St. Paul, so it would be somewhere in the twin city ruins. Since it was government related, I should be able to find a GPS location in the data archives here at the base though,” the Avatar admitted. Then she cautioned, “This is not a sure thing, the building and the AI core are probably both long destroyed by now. Or he could have gone batshit crazy, and we could be facing a Red Queen situation.”

I nodded and wrapped my arm more tightly around her. “I know, Risha, but we’ll report it to our Wingleader and Sira anyway; they might want to check it out on the off chance that Jarvis might still be intact. Who knows, there could be technology to salvage as well. Now, let’s get some sleep. We have another busy day tomorrow and Storm Wing needs to report back to the capital after lunch.”

“Wait, what? Why am I only just hearing about this now?” Heather protested. “Will I have time to see Mom and Lisa?”

“I just found out about it this afternoon, but I guess that’s the whole reason that we’re going. Her Majesty is back on her feet again and wants us and our Wingleader to report to her and Sira at the palace. I guess Sira and all of the Archangels will be meeting with her throughout the afternoon to discuss the future of the Angel Corps and Eden Base. They will probably also want Risha to report on her progress at some point. I guess we’re going mostly because your mother wants to get to know your mates and other teammates better, Heather. We’ve been invited to dinner. And yes, the twins are coming with us, orders from your mother.”

“Snow! You can’t just spring something like this on me so suddenly!” the former princess hissed, trying to relay her frustration while keeping her voice low enough to not disturb the infants who were now sleeping. “A dinner at the palace! We’re going to need to dress properly, we can’t just leave this until the last minute, and we need to look nice!”

“Well, I was told that it’s an informal dinner…” I tried to counter.

“No! We can’t just show up looking like we just threw on the first thing that was clean, I…”

Her protest was cut off by Autumn, and I could practically smell the redheaded Fay smiling behind me. “Worry not, my lovely mate-to-be, I have us covered. I have the perfect outfit for us to wear and Kyra and Fawn helped me to download the pattern to my HESS armor. I may have put it on yours as well the other night, while you were all sleeping.”

Heather gasped; seeming to know as well as I did just what outfit Autumn was referring to. “No, we couldn’t! The scandal! I…”

“Did Her Majesty not say that she wished to learn more about Fay customs and culture?” Autumn gently teased. There was an underlying sense of seriousness though as she added honestly, “What I am suggesting is traditional Fay clothing, how better for her to start to learn about our people by seeing it for herself? We can tell her about Fay customs all we like, but it will take observation and experience for her to truly understand. Besides, it will be our HESS armor; if she cannot handle it then we can just switch to something more formal and boring on the fly.”

“We can all look through the boutique booths for something more formal before our training session if it worries you that much,” Risha suggested in an attempt to placate Heather. “I do think that Autumn has a point though.”

“I… yeah, I guess we can do that, and maybe I can help you all with your hair and makeup before dinner. We can use my old rooms for that,” she replied before heaving a sigh. Whether that sigh was one of relief to have a ‘sensible’ clothing option or one of resignation for Autumn’s plan, I couldn’t tell.

I too was a little uncertain about dressing so provocatively in the palace, but Autumn did have a point. While it did make me blush a bit, the thought of dressing in the matching Fay outfits with my three future mates while carrying one of the twins was a pleasant one. I fell asleep with a smile on my face as I snuggled up between Risha and Autumn and enjoyed the closeness of my family.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, here is chapter 37 for my loyal Big Closet readers. A bit late due to work and the long weekend, but it's posted and hopefully there will be a new chapter on Patreon later tonight. As always, thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 37: Detour

The next morning, we had a quick breakfast and a somewhat early start so we could keep or promise to Heather. As soon as the twins were fed, changed, and properly clothed, including pairs of adorable kitten paw mittens that would prevent them from clawing themselves or anyone else, we left them at the childcare center with Hannah. Then we met up with Marti at the boutique booths to find something suitable to wear for a palace dinner.

The plan was still for Autumn, Heather, Risha, and me to wear the traditional Fay clothing, but Heather would feel a lot more secure if we had something else, just in case. Regardless of what we wore, Marti, Karina, and Lisbet all needed something nice to wear as well since our whole team would be attending dinner at the palace. Most of us were pretty nervous about this, especially Heather, but Autumn was laid back about it, possibly even a bit eager.

And then there was Marti. The medical AI was a bundle of excited energy as we all looked through the various formal clothing options. A palace dinner would be a new experience for almost all of us, but our Marti was always eager and excited to see and experience new things, and that excitement proved to be contagious as we all helped each other to find something nice to wear and downloaded several selections to our HESS armor.

We would have gone to the Woodward sisters for our needs since they were well versed in the current fashions of the nobility, but they would have never had the time to make us all something suitable even if this wasn’t such short notice. When they weren’t training with Phantom Wing and the rest of us, the pair of seamstresses were working on some sort of secret project for Sira, researching old-world fashions, and trying to set up the clothing shop beneath their apartment. I didn’t know how the pair had the energy for all of that.

Speaking of the Woodward sisters, we ran into them leaving their shop as we made our way to the virtual training center. We didn’t get a chance to say anything since they spotted us first and Fawn called out, “Hey, girls! This is perfect! Come inside for a moment!”

Once we were in casual conversation range, I asked, “What’s up, Fawn?”

The pair led us inside the shop, which was starting to look like their old shop in the capital, only much bigger and with the mannequins, tables, clothing racks, and shelves that had been here when they moved in now bearing some of their goods. There was also four boutique booths set up close to what I had been told were fitting rooms along the side walls. There was still work to be done though as there were piles of cloth and various other things piled haphazardly on some of the display tables that likely needed to be sorted and put in the appropriate places.

“You have a lot more stuff here than I would have thought,” Heather said thoughtfully, “and a lot of it looks familiar.”

Kyra was quick to explain. “Kelsie let our team clear out our shop in the capital and put everything in our MIST while everyone was still inside after the big Seed-storm. We were off duty and had nothing to do while waiting see what was going on with Queen Sabine overnight. Bringing it all back here didn’t take long and let us run some scans to look for any Demon activity from the capital to the Twin City Ruins. We didn’t get as much sleep as we probably should have that night, but we were able to help a couple of Angel teams that were sanitizing the area by telling them where to look.”

“Anyway, we’ve been working on weaving a sample of cloth made from Kyra’s wool since she got the Angel nanites and we were hoping that Risha could help to scan it and upload it to our boutique booths,” Fawn interjected. “We’ve been testing it, and it seems even more durable than her old wool.”

“Sure, Fawn, I can help you with that,” the blonde Avatar offered cheerfully. Once she had borrowed the scanner that Lisbet was keeping in her gear bag, it didn’t take her very long at all to scan the material and upload it to the local archive for the boutique booths. Once that was done, she decided to test it by choosing a pair of baby sleepers for each of the twins, a pair of sturdy baby slings that were far better than the scraps of cloth I had been using, and a large bag with a shoulder strap that Marti called a diaper bag.

Risha thought that the bag would be much better than I had been using until now. It was large enough to carry enough clothes, baby bottles, diapers, and other necessities for the twins for our planned afternoon on the town and had an outside pocket, several more inside, and closed up with zippers similar to some of the clothing we had produced from the booths before. I had never seen zippers before since buttons and clasps were far more common on clothes, but they were extremely convenient.

Kyra and fawn looked at both the bag and the sleepers, which also had zippers down the front, in keen interest. Risha was able to show them where they could find things like zippers, buttons, thread, and the like to produce on their own and the pair of seamstresses almost had to be dragged out of their shop as they considered the possibilities. Kyra did have a question though once I had put the sleepers in the bag, zipped it up, and we were guiding them toward the door. “How can you be sure those will fit the twins, Risha? I thought that the booths had to scan people for fit when making clothes.”

“Marti said that babies can’t stay still enough to get a proper fit from the scanners in the booth, even if people did feel comfortable leaving infants inside unattended,” Risha explained. “So for baby clothes, it is just like things like that bag, or the sewing notions, no measurement scanning is needed. There are preset sizes that you can apply for baby clothing varying from newborn all the way to twenty-four months. I know the twins’ approximate length and weight, so I just chose the size that I thought would be the closest fit without being too small, though I did have to have it create a slit in the back for the tail.”

Marti had actually told the members of our team about that a couple of days ago since Risha had never needed to use the boutique booths for anything other than clothes that would fit her and Kiley, or things like bedsheets. Anything else she had produced until she met us was usually created from the food dispensers since they were a lot more versatile than the boutique booths. Our team’s other AI was a great help with anything related to Kassie and Kallie and I truly appreciated her knowledge and her concern for not just the twins, but all of the members of our team.

Connie chose that moment to announce in my head that our training session was due to start in five minutes, so I had to cut off any further conversation about the boutique booths and what they were capable of. “Let’s get moving everyone, or we’ll be late.” The Woodward sisters hastily locked up their shop and we all ran as quickly as we could to our destination.

The rest of Phantom Wing was waiting for us in the VR simulator room with Kelsie and my grandmother. The latter waited until we had joined them to say, “Alright, everyone, today’s training session is going to be a short one. Storm Wing will be accompanying me to the capital so we won’t be having any of your regular lessons today once the training session is over either. Feel free to enjoy your day off however you like.”

“Cool, do any of you want to go check out one of the entertainment centers?” Maryn asked her teammates as we all started to get into the VR gear. “Orchid and I were thinking of going there sometime so we can try to figure out some of the old-world games and stuff they have there. It could be fun.”

“You know I’ll go anywhere with you,” Orchid said with a lazy smile as she leaned against her Wing Commander.

The Woodward sisters looked at one another thoughtfully. After a moment Kyra asked, “What do you think, Sis? It would be nice to relax and have some fun with our team for a bit. I want to finish setting up the shop if we have some free time, but an hour or two wouldn’t hurt.”

“Sure, Kyra,” Fawn replied with a smile. “An hour or two of relaxation would be nice.”

“It sounds good to me, we haven’t really had much time to hang out with our new teammates outside of training,” Kyle said with a wistful smile as he looked toward Kyra. When he noticed me looking at him, he blushed and quickly looked toward his Harekin friend. “What do you think, Pete?”

The quiet Harekin replied with a barely perceptible nod and everyone on the team turned to their Marti, who had a perpetually glum expression and wore her dark hair loose with electric blue streaks in it. “Marti, how about you?” Maryn asked the Avatar.

“Hmmph, not really my thing,” she said with a roll of her eyes, “but I guess someone should go with you who knows about the old world and can show you how to play the games.”

That was when our Marti chastised her other self. “Awww, come on, Marti! Just admit that you want to hang out with your friends and get to know them better.”

“Yeah,” Risha agreed. “You don’t have to be such a tsundere, you’re as bad as Heather.”

“Hey!” Heather protested. “Wait, what’s a tsundere?”

Her question was drowned out by Phantom Wing’s Marti snapping, “We are just teammates, so I figured I would do them a favor and keep them company. The games can probably help with our teamwork too, so it is an obvious course of action.”

“Admit it, Marti; you’re just a big prickly teddy bear. You don’t need to act so tough all the time, we all know that inside that edgy Avatar you’re a sweet and caring person. You can’t fool yourself, and that means me,” our Marti cheerfully insisted.

“Hmmph, think whatever you want. I couldn’t care less, let’s just get this training session over with, I have things to do,” she grouched back.

“Like going to play games with your friends?”

“That’s enough, Marti. Stop teasing your… self,” I ordered with a sigh. We all knew that she was right about the other Marti, but trying to force her to show that she cared before she was ready would only cause problems. Risha was right; she did sort of remind me of Heather at times. “She’s right about getting this training session done. I mean, the earlier we’re done, the more time we’ll have to show you around the capital before we have to be at the palace for dinner tonight.”

“Yeah, and we can take you to Uncle Jarl’s restaurant too. It’ll be fun,” Karina contributed with a smile.

“Really?! We can see more than just the Academy?” Mission accomplished. Marti was now so focused on seeing more of the capital that we had completely sidetracked her from teasing her other self. Now maybe we could get this training session started.

As soon as our short morning training session was done, we went to the childcare center to pick up the twins and then headed straight to the hangar to get aboard our MIST and make our way to our first destination. The training session had been even shorter than I had expected, only an hour in real-world time since Risha had told my grandmother about the possibility of an AI in the ruins.

Risha had managed to find and download the coordinates and floor plan of the Governor’s mansion while the rest of us were asleep the night before and my grandmother wanted to check it out, or at the very least fly overhead and see if there was anything left there to search. The trip didn’t take too long, but unfortunately, the mansion seemed to have seen better days. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything here,” Lisbet said dejectedly as she looked over the collapsed roof and broken and crumbling walls from the pilot’s compartment.

“Huh, I thought those repair nanites would keep this place in better repair, like they did with Kiley’s house and Woodbury base,” Autumn added thoughtfully.

“Not without something fueling the fusion generator,” Risha explained with a shrug. “They need to recharge from time to time, which is why they return to the nanite vats between repair or maintenance sequences. I was refueling the fusion generator at Kiley’s house and there was the backup automated system as well. Woodbury Base had the automated backup running the base and fueling the stardrive since it was abandoned.”

“I guess that means that we probably aren’t going to fine an AI here,” Heather concluded. She looked disappointed and I had to admit that I was a little disappointed as well. It could have solved Ashburn’s AI issue nicely.

Risha replied with a sad shake of her head. “Probably not, Heather. There might be other things that we can salvage though, like those plasma turrets on the walls. They probably just need a few repairs and we could offer them to Ashburn to help beef up their defenses once they have an AI to control them.”

“We have a little time before we should be back on our way to the capital,” my grandmother agreed, “It wouldn’t hurt to take a look around for any useful salvage. Just be careful, everyone. The building probably isn’t structurally sound and there could be Demons in there.”

I nodded and began issuing orders. “Karina, bring us down on the grounds near the front entrance but keep the MIST in stealth mode. Once we’ve landed, everyone do a weapons check and we’ll go inside. We’ll stay in the spearhead formation while we check the interior for Demon presence or anything salvageable. Marti, you’ll stay here and watch the twins; I need you in reserve in case any of us gets hurt in there.”

A chorus of “Yes, Wing Commander!” rang out as Karina steered us toward a fairly even plot of ground near the front entrance, though it was difficult to be sure with the snow on the ground.

We touched down with nary a bump and immediately began checking our weapons and ensuring that spare ammunition was at the ready. Then, once we were outside the MIST and Marti had secured the hatch, the rest of us headed cautiously toward the front door. I took the lead with Autumn and Karina side-by-side behind me, followed by my grandmother and Heather with Lisbet between them, and Risha brought up the rear to cover our backs. We stayed close enough to cover one another if needed, but far enough away that we weren’t crowding one another and would be able to react quickly if we did need to fight.

The front door looked to have been decorative and beautiful at one time, but that time was long past and when I kicked it open it collapsed into a pile of half-rotten wood. I kept my Goliath drawn and at the ready, but the noise didn’t seem to disturb anything other than a colony of bats that screeched and retreated deeper into the dilapidated building. The interior was a mix of shadows and morning light streaming in through long-shattered windows, and a thick coat of dust coated the floors and every other surface where the snow hadn’t drifted inside.

I paused inside the door as the bats made their retreat to listen for any other sounds and take a deep breath to scent the air. Dust, mold, and guano permeated the air, but any other scents had long since become too faint to place. “I don’t smell anything Demon-like,” I commented as I looked around. “The interior is actually in better shape than I feared with the collapsed roof and the state of the outside.”

“That’s because the outside was mostly decorative and the roof was made the old-fashioned way,” Risha offered. “From the look of the interior walls and support beams though, they’re made from reinforced plascrete. The floors were probably reinforced too, or the second floor would have buckled under the weight of the collapsed roof.”

I nodded and took a deep breath in relief before quietly asking our rear guard, “You’re the expert on the old world, Risha, where would the most useful stuff be?”

“Well, this was a residence, even if it was high security. We might want to check the kitchen since they probably had a food dispenser. If it is not in too bad a state we might be able to repair it and install it at Eden Base, once we know what is going on with it. There is a vault, but I cannot be sure if it will contain anything useful to us. Other than that, the only place that I can think of would be the AI core. Even if Jarvis isn’t there and the core is in shambles, there might be computer components or parts that might be useful.”

“Which way,” I asked.

“The AI core and the vault are in the basement, but the kitchen is just off the dining room ahead of us,” the Avatar reported. “Maybe we should check the kitchen first.”

Under Risha’s guidance, we passed through a large and ornately decorated room with the remains of the biggest table I had ever seen. Like the foyer, it looked like it had once been luxurious but was now tarnished and faded with age. Turning to the left, we made our way to a kitchen that probably had more space than the cabin I grew up in. There was not just one, but three food dispensers that Risha thought were salvageable, and Lisbet thought that some of the ancient metal cooking implements might be good for scrap metal.

I figured that we would worry about that after we checked out the basement to make sure there wasn’t anything useful down there since we only had an hour or so to check this place out before we would have to leave. We did have the coordinates so if needed, we could always send people back later to retrieve anything of interest. With that in mind, I had Risha lead us to the basement.

We didn’t encounter any Demons as we made our way through the large house, but that just seemed to make us even more tense in the eerie silence that became and almost suffocating presence in and of itself. It became even worse once we reached the basement and there was no longer any light streaming in from window frames to light our way. Most of us could see in the dark well enough, but it was in shades of gray that seemed to only further the creepy atmosphere that sent chills down my spine as we navigated the hallways.

“I feel like we are in a slasher movie,” Risha muttered at the back of the group, “I’m just waiting on a jump scare. The AI core is up ahead and to the right, Snow. The vault is that big metal door at the end of the hallway.”

“Got it,” I replied quietly. Once I got to the door on the right, I found the frame empty, the door long ago fallen or deteriorated. I carefully peeked around the corner and scented the air but nothing moved except for a rat that hurriedly skittered away. “All clear.”

We allowed Risha past so she could get inside and check for anything salvageable. The Avatar didn’t sound too optimistic though as she cursed while looking over the AI core. “Shit. If I had to guess, this has been shut down since the fall of society, the steel casing is rusted through in several places, and the inside is a breeding ground for rats now. The avatar cradle is probably salvageable, but there is no chance that Jarvis survived if this is the state of his core.”

Oh well, it was worth a try,” my grandmother said dejectedly. “Let’s see if there’s anything useful in the vault before we grab the items on your salvage list. We can send teams back for anything big like the turrets another time.”

We left the AI core room and continued down the hall to the vault but even with my strength the door wouldn’t budge. Risha took a quick look at a plate mounted on the door and frowned. “Huh, this thing was top of the line; electronic locks with encrypted algorithmic passcodes, hermetically sealed, and its own internal power supply. The research facility beneath Kiley’s home has a similar, but much smaller version that was used for storing important documents. It makes me wonder what Kiley’s father had to hide back in the day.”

“Can you open it?” Autumn asked.

“The power supply is dead. Just a sec, I might be able to give it some juice from my micro-fusion core, then it’ll be a piece of cake, provided the cake isn’t a lie,” the AI mumbled beside me. Then she pulled the plate off the door, popped open a slot in her wrist, and pulled out a wire, which she attached somewhere behind the plate she was fiddling with. Then her eyes took on that blank look that they got whenever she was interfacing with a piece of old-world technology. When her eyes opened once more, she grinned and said, “Open Sesame!”

With a click, a hiss, and the grinding of long-unused gears, the door opened and Risha extracted the wire and returned it to the slot in her wrist. There were no weapons; only stacks of clear blue paper-like material with writing on them that Risha said were made of a special plastic that was usually used for legal documents. There was a table as well; bearing another of those strange plastic sheets and something almost person-sized that was covered with a cloth.

We approached the table, and I removed the cloth, revealing what appeared to be a girl of around twelve years old. It was an avatar; she smelled a lot like Risha and looked almost familiar in my currently grayscale vision. “Is that Jarvis?” Heather asked in a confused tone.

“No, Jarvis’s avatar was even more basic than what Marti had when we first met them,” Risha said as she placed her hand on the thankfully clothed girl and her eyes went distant for a moment “This is far more advanced. She has all of the upgrades that my father gave me, except for the enhanced strength and speed and the anti-Demon combat tech. There’s an AI in there too, but it and the avatar have been placed in some sort of sleep mode.”

“Can you talk with her?” I queried.

Risha shook her head. “Not like this, I’ll have to activate her. Her backup battery should have enough charge to keep her online for a few hours, but she’ll need to refuel her mini-fusion core to last much longer than that, so she’ll need to eat.”

Lisbet picked up the plastic document that was on the table and hummed pensively. “This was sitting on the table with her, so maybe it holds some clues. I can’t make anything out in this low light though, I’ll bring it to the MIST and maybe Risha can read it then. Are we going to take the Avatar with us?”

“Well, we aren’t leaving her here,” I retorted. “I think that whoever she is, she’s been here alone for long enough, and if we play our cards right she might be willing to help the people of Ashburn.”

“I dunno, Snowy, they might have turned her off and left her here for a reason, so let’s not jump the gun on that,” Risha offered thoughtfully. “At least she shouldn’t be able to seriously harm any of us when I turn her back on. Let’s wait to do it until we’re back in the MIST so she can eat something.”

“Okay, let’s move it. I’ll carry her. Risha, how long do you think it’ll take for you and Lisbet to salvage the avatar cradle and the three food dispensers?”

Risha didn’t need to even think about her answer as she instantly replied, “Not long, we will just need to disconnect them from the house power grid, and that should just take a few minutes without any electricity to worry about. We can have a look at them and see how much work they will take to repair once we get them on the MIST.”

“Okay, get on that,” I told her. “Karina and Heather will stay with you, just in case of trouble. I haven’t smelled anything like Demons, but better safe than sorry. Heather, you’ll be in charge, contact us on comms if anything happens and you need us. Autumn, I’ll need you and our Wingleader to watch my back while I carry our new friend here.”

I quickly made my way out of the dilapidated mansion and back to the MIST and I was able to get a better look at our guest as I laid her on one of the bunks. The twins were still asleep on the bunk to my right and since Marti was keeping a good eye on them, other than a curious glance as I laid the avatar down, I tried to figure out what was so familiar about this avatar. I had a feeling that the answer was close, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

She looked to be around twelve years old and was human in appearance with long ginger hair, green eyes, and pale skin with a faint splash of freckles on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. “Hey, she has the same hair and eye color as me,” Autumn said with a grin.

Then it hit me. They didn’t just have the same hair and eye color. If you took away the pointed ears, and the slit pupils in her eyes, added some freckles, and made her features slightly less angular, Autumn could have passed for her older sister. I was still trying to process the enormity of that, and whether it was a coincidence when Risha and Lisbet returned with the others from their task and placed their salvage in the cargo storage area.

Risha could see it too; I could tell in the way that she startled when she saw the avatar on the bed, her slight hesitation, and how her eyes narrowed. “Maybe we should wait to wake her up,” I suggested gently. “Maybe it would be better if Sira did this.”

“No.” That single word, and the simmering anger behind it, made me hesitate further and I turned from the AI who had spoken it to look to my grandmother.

Our Wingleader sighed as she looked at the visibly upset Risha. A moment later, her pensive expression turned serious as she said, “Wake her up, Risha, but keep a cool head. I can see that you’re upset for some reason, but anger isn’t going to solve anything.”

Risha merely nodded, her lips set in a thin line as she placed her hand on the other Avatar. A moment later, those green eyes fluttered as she returned to consciousness. She actually yawned and stretched and started to speak. “Good morning, Daddy... wait, who’re you?” Then she saw me and Karina behind Risha and her eyes went wide as she screamed and tried to back away as far as the bunk would let her. “Demons!”

Just great. Not only was her shrill screaming very painful to my sensitive ears, but she had also woken the twins and now they were screaming too. I quickly picked up Kallie and attempted to soothe her as Marti did the same with Kassie. Meanwhile, Risha got a firm grip on the younger Avatar’s shoulder with one hand and turned her face toward her with the other.

“Stop screaming and calm down, nobody here is going to hurt you. They aren’t Demons, they’re Seed-borne; intelligent people with feelings, goals, and needs, just like Humans,” Risha stated.

I crouched down beside her, still trying to calm the fussing infant in my arms. “Hi, my name is Snow, and this is my… uhhh… daughter Kallie.” Then I smiled and moving slowly and carefully to not spook the girl, I held Kallie out to her. We needed to be non-threatening while we figured out what was going on with her. She seemed almost human; she even appeared to have emotions like Risha. “Would you like to hold her?”

For a moment, she just stared at me in confusion. It was as if she couldn’t process the fact that I could talk, much less the fact that I hadn’t attacked her. She looked down at the still-screaming Kallie and her eyes widened a bit as she hesitantly reached out to touch one of the infant’s fuzzy ears. Taking that as my cue, I placed her in the girl’s lap and she looked like she had no idea what to do. Finally, she picked Kallie up and began rocking her in her arms while trying to make soothing sounds.

I took a deep breath in relief, glad that my instincts had been right. “Like I said, I’m Snow Bengal and that’s one of my girls, Kallie. Marti there is holding her sister, Kassie. The other Catkin is Abbadine, the Harekin is Lisbet, the Devilkin is Karina, the red-headed Fay is Autumn, and the pink-haired one is Heather. This is Risha,” I offered, gesturing to each in turn.

Our guest looked down at the baby in her arms and stopped cooing for a moment to take a deep breath, steeling herself to speak. “I… I’m Kiley, Kiley McAllister.” Risha stood straight up and stormed out of the living area, her fists clenched tightly by her sides.

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Hey everyone, here is chapter 38 for my loyal Big Closet readers. Hopefully there will be a new chapter on Patreon later tonight or tomorrow as well. As always, thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 38: K1L3Y

I quietly groaned as everyone watched Risha retreat in stunned silence. Marti and Kiley were both obviously confused by her reaction, but the rest of us knew all too well about what had happened to the real Kiley McAllister, and the torch that Risha had carried for her. Someone needed to talk to Risha. Normally, Autumn would be a good choice for that, but given her resemblance and relationship to the original Kiley, that was probably a bad idea.

“Lisbet, could I have that document that you found with Kiley please?” I asked after a moment of thought. “Then I’ll need you and Karina to start prepping the MIST for takeoff. Autumn, could you take Kallie from Kiley so Heather can get her something to eat? She must be hungry, and I need to go talk with Risha for a bit.”

A moment later, as the others set about fulfilling my orders, I was on my way to find our absent Avatar with the strangely textured ancient document in hand. A glance at the document told me that I would likely need my NCI to help translate it though, or at least the more technical and archaic language. I was really hoping to avoid upsetting Risha further without good reason, so I wanted to have an idea of what the document might contain before I went to speak with her.

Kiley,

If you are reading this, then someone must have found you and somehow awoken you. Or maybe it is not you reading this at all. Perhaps, by some strange twist of fate, your namesake has returned home from the McAllister Research Center and discovered my shameful attempt to replace her. Whether it is one of you or someone else entirely, what you read now is the confession of Governor David McAllister

When the Demon Seeds began to rain down upon our world, I lost my wife. She began to turn into a monstrous creature before my eyes and attempted to kill me and our daughter, Kiley. She might have succeeded, had our bodyguards not been there and armed to deal with possible threats. Kiley too was changed by the Seeds, and though she seemed to retain her memories and gentle disposition, the elfin creature that she had become was no longer human. She was no longer my daughter.

When I returned home from that cursed vacation, I had duties to see to and kept Kiley at home and out of the public eye. As we began searching for the means to defend ourselves from the Demons that were spreading faster than we could contain them, I funded the creation of the McAllister Research Center to not only study the Demons and look into technologies to defend us against them, but also to find a cure, to bring my daughter back to me. For I had begun to feel that the elfin creature haunting the halls of my home, was no longer the daughter that I knew and loved.

I could no longer bear having her with me, so I had a home built for her above the research center. I vowed to provide her with every luxury, in the memory of the girl she had once been, in exchange for her helping us to find a cure for her condition and to allow us to study her and the teleportation ability that she now possessed. I even had Dr. Karlson build her a companion to keep her company.

R.I.S.H.A was a happy accident. Unlike her sister S.I.R.A units that came later, Dr. Karlson discovered that she possessed emotions, and had even become self-aware somehow. Under normal circumstances, she would have been erased as a possible danger, but Dr. Karlson did not wish to destroy his creation. And so, I blackmailed him. I ordered him to keep his discovery from his associates and the military, and from the R.I.S.H.A unit itself, while I promised to do the same. In exchange for sparing the AI, I had him code another AI, using R.I.S.H.A’s code as a base, and build an avatar for that AI that resembled Kiley before she was so cruelly taken from me.

We broke many laws to create Kiley; laws against self-aware AIs, laws against creating androids that too closely resemble living people, and using an altered version of the banned memory transference technology to copy the original’s memories. We had to use the latter secretly, while the original was asleep and R.I.S.H.A was in her avatar and testing the new miniature fusion core and micro AI core that we were hoping to incorporate into Kiley. Memory transference technology was illegal for a reason since roughly three quarters of the test subjects could not adjust to a digital existence and went mad.

Thankfully, Kiley was stable and Dr. Karlson placed a block on her accessing any of the donated memories that took place after those cursed seeds began to fall from the sky. We convinced her it was trauma, from her mother’s death, and restricted her knowledge that she was not human, as well as her access to any of her core programming, lest she discover it accidentally. For a time, it was like I had my daughter back again.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to leave for New Terra aboard the Magellan, but I cannot bring Kiley with me. I have come to realize that she is no more my daughter than that creature we retrieved her memories from. She is a machine, a desperate attempt for an old man to hold on to a daughter long lost to him. Yet, I cannot bring myself to destroy her and am too cowardly to tell her the truth. I will put her to sleep and leave her in my vault. I have already destroyed the house AI and the AI core so that nobody can discover my secret.

If you are reading this Kiley, or if it is your elfin sister, I do not ask that either of you forgive me. I am well past forgiveness for my sins, and I have abandoned you both to a harsh world with little chance that either of you may survive it because I cannot let go of the past and embrace the daughters I have now. In the end, it looks like I am the true inhuman monster out of the three of us.

To whoever has found Kiley, she can be woken up by pressing the indent behind her right ear and saying, “Wake up, sleeping beauty.” The code to unlock her restrictions is iota-seven-nine-five-omega-three. I can only hope she remains safe until someone can find her here, and that whoever finds her will be kinder than me. Despite her origin, she is a person, and she deserves to be treated as such, so please treat her far better than I ever did. Help her to find a life for herself, a piece of my daughter remains in that shell, and I wish her the best.

Sincerely,

Governor David McAllister

So, it was a letter of confession. I found myself seething at the man’s selfishness and cowardice. What small lesson he had learned was not enough to endear me to him and I wondered how we were going to break this to Kiley. More importantly, how was she going to react to the truth of her existence? It would have to wait, I needed to deal with Risha first.

I found Risha outside of the MIST, glaring at the dilapidated mansion. I didn’t bother asking if she was okay, since she obviously wasn’t, but put my arm around her and pulled her close to me. She was the first to speak, her eyes not leaving the former home of the Governor of Minnesota. “That is not Kiley,” she stated, her fists still clenched at her sides in fury.

“I know that, Risha, but that girl in there doesn’t,” I told her gently while pulling her close. “She was programmed to believe that she is who she said she is. She even has Kiley’s memories, if this document that we found is to be believed. Don’t be mad at her for something she had no control over.”

It took a moment for the Avatar to say anything in reply and once she did, her voice was barely a whisper. Streams of tears ran down her cheeks as her hands clenched and unclenched. “I’m not mad at her, Snowy. That is why I came out here. Yeah, I am mad that she is some sick copy of the girl I loved, but it is not her fault that she was created. I am mad at Kiley’s father for trying to replace her like that. I am mad at my father for going along with it since it is fairly obvious that is his work in there.”

This was the first time that I had actually seen her cry. I knew that she could; of course, she had told us that it was a feature that had been added later to make her human appearance more believable. I couldn’t help but wonder though, had it been to make Risha more believable, or Kiley? Was it just another thing they had been testing just to see if it could work for Kiley? Was it just to make Kiley so believable that not even she would suspect that she wasn’t human?

I knew that Risha would be even more upset if I let her read the confession, but she deserved to see it. They had used her base code to create Kiley after all. Finally, after several long minutes of silence had stretched between us, I put aside my worries and offered her the confession with a sigh. “You should read this.”

Risha carefully took the document from me and the frown that she was wearing only deepened further as she read it. “That bastard used me. He used me to get my father to cooperate, and then he used my code to make that parody of Kiley. He even used me as a guinea pig to test the fucking upgrades for her avatar! It’s no wonder my father didn’t tell me about knowing that I was self-aware until after those damn ships left Earth!”

“Risha, honey, I know that you’re angry, but we have a problem. She thinks she is Kiley, and she has the memories to back it up. How do you think she’s going to react when we try to tell her that she’s an AI and try to release her from the restrictions in her programming?” I asked in concern.

“You mean when we have to break it to her that she’s not a real girl after all, and her whole life is a lie?” she retorted bitterly. “She has emotions and she’s invested in who she is. How would you react if you were told that? She’s probably going to freak out. Of course, that coward couldn’t own up to his mistakes and do it himself. He left the fallout for some strangers to deal with.”

“So, what do we do then?” I asked. Then I pointed out. “You’re our expert on AIs, and on Kiley. As soon as she gets a look outside of the MIST, she’s going to realize that this is no longer the world she remembers. She’s having a hard enough time getting around the idea that we’re not Demons.”

The Avatar sighed and shook her head despondently. “We’re going to have to rip off the Band-Aid. I know it might seem cruel, but we need to show her that she isn’t in Kansas anymore. Maybe she should read the letter too, to let that sink in. Reading the access code should be enough to unlock the restrictions on Kiley’s other memories and allow her access to her programming.”

“What if she can’t handle that knowledge, Risha? The letter said that most people couldn’t handle a digital existence,” I pointed out. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her idea, in fact, I agreed with her, but I also needed to make sure that both of us were well aware that this could end in disaster.

“I am more worried about how the knowledge of what she really is will affect her, Snowy. If she was going to have problems adjusting to a digital existence, the signs would have showed themselves as soon as she was activated, even with the blocks in her programming. She seems stable though. I think that discovering that she is and artificial lifeform and not the original Kiley will hit her far harder than the minutiae of being an AI,” Risha said quietly while looking at the confession in her hands. “If she starts freaking out, I’ll handle it.”

I let a sigh slip out, but I nodded in agreement. As I had said, she knew more about this, and about the original Kiley, than anyone else did. I needed to trust that she could handle this. “Wait here, Risha. I’ll go get Kiley.”

I stepped back into the MIST and made my way back to the living area where Kiley was finishing a meal from the food dispenser while the others kept her company and talked with her. Lisbet was the first to sense my return and she smiled, “Karina and I finished the pre-flight checks, so we’ll be ready for takeoff as soon as you give the command, Wing Commander.”

“Thanks, Lisbet. Risha and I need to show Kiley something before we leave though, are you all done eating, Kiley?” I asked as I turned toward the young-looking AI.

Kiley looked from her plate to me and nodded. She still seemed nervous around us; she was trembling a bit as she countered my question with some of her own. “Umm… thanks for the food. Where am I though? And where is Daddy? We were supposed to leave on the Magellan today.”

“Kiley, I…” I started to say before hesitating. “Please… come outside, there is something that we need to show you. All of your questions will be answered, I promise.” She wasn’t going to like those answers, but she deserved to know.

Kiley reluctantly stood up after an uncertain look toward Marti, the only one in the room that appeared to be human. The glance was brief, but enough to show that she still wasn’t sure whether she could trust those of us who weren’t Human. I tried to not let it bother me since she was probably taught that even Seed-borne who didn’t lose themselves were Demons and would kill her if given the chance. Her reaction upon waking was enough to show that.

She did stand up and follow me outside though. Risha was waiting for us, seated on one of the docked REVs and looking lost in her thoughts. When we reached the other AI though, Kiley’s attention wasn’t on me or Risha. She froze in her tracks as we reached the ramp and stared out the back of the MIST at the mansion that had long ago lost its battle with the ravages of time.

I guess that there was enough of the structure still standing and familiar enough for her to identify and her jaw dropped in a mix of recognition, shock, and horror. I sighed and placed a hand gently on her shoulder as I said, “This is where we found you, Kiley. You were sleeping in a vault in the basement.”

“No… no this isn’t right! What have you done?! Where is Daddy?!” she screamed in reply as tears streamed down her face and she tried to shake my hand from her shoulder.

I allowed her to shake off my hand, but she needed to know the reality of her situation. “Kiley, you have been asleep down there for roughly six hundred years. When we found you, there was a letter with you. I think you should read it,” I told her gently before taking the document from Risha and handing it to her.

I was afraid that she wouldn’t take it, or that she would drop it or refuse to look at it. For a moment, she did nothing, but then she reached out to take the confession from me with trembling hands. “Th… this is Daddy’s signature,” she said as she stared at the bottom of the page. It took her a moment to look any further than that and read the letter itself though.

For a moment, Kiley completely froze, even her tears and the trembling of her hands stopped. Then it all came back with a vengeance as she began to sob as she collapsed onto the entry ramp. “I… I’m not real, not a person. I’m just some… some thing that Daddy had built to replace the real Kiley. I…”

Risha sat down calmly to her right and wrapped her arms around her, holding her tight as she told her, “It’s going to be alright, Kiley. We’re going to help you through this.”

“R-Risha?” she asked hesitantly as she pulled away and looked up at the other Avatar in sudden recognition. Then she looked away, unable to look her in the eye as she choked out, “I’m not Kiley. I’m not real, I’m just…”

*SLAP* Risha’s hand striking Kiley’s cheek cut off whatever she was about to say as the older AI glared at her. “Enough, Kiley! This isn’t like you!”

“No, I’m not!” she snapped back. “I’m some machine, pretending to be a person!”

“Is that what you saw me as? Some machine, pretending to be a person?” Risha asked, looking as if Kiley had slapped her right back.

Kiley’s expression of self-loathing turned to one of realization and then horror. “No! Rish, I’m sorry, I… you… I never thought of you like that. You’re my best friend, the only one who really gives a shit about me and treats me as a person. You have feelings, you’re self-aware, you’re the most caring person I know, I didn’t mean to…”

“You are a person, Kiley, just like me,” Risha insisted. “So what if your brain is digital instead of organic now, if you’re getting upset and having an identity crisis over this shit, then you are self-aware and have feelings too. You are no different than me. Hell, that letter says that your code is based on mine. Sure, you may not be the original Kiley, but you have her memories and that means that part of you is her. It’s not like you’ll be taking her life by having those memories, she died a long time ago.”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but she wasn’t really in the best position for it since she had just admitted that Risha was a person, and their situation wasn’t all that different. She silently listened and seemed to mull over Risha’s words. “I’m… she’s dead?” Kiley finally asked, her concern for the friend she now remembered overriding her own situation.

“Yeah, she had to leave the research center not long after the ships left Earth. I could only help cover her escape and I haven’t seen her since,” the blonde AI admitted sadly. “I’m told that she lived her dream though and died of old age. She helped found a Fay village as the person she always wanted to be. Autumn, the redheaded Fay in the MIST, is her great-great-granddaughter.”

“No shit?!” Kiley exclaimed. “I… she had kids?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been told. Autumn does take after her; I thought she was Kiley when we first met. I have been traveling with them since and using my abilities to fight Demons and do some good. We might even have a chance at stopping Seed-storms from ever happening again.”

“I… I’m glad you’ve been getting on with your life, Rish. Sooo… any romantic potential? Speaking objectively, my great-great-granddaughter is kind of cute,” she said with a playful smirk that didn’t reach her eyes.

I could tell that she was trying to distract herself from her real issue and Risha seemed the best person to help her. With that in mind, I figured that it was probably best that I give them privacy. I was about to slip away quietly when Risha replied, “Actually, yeah, once we graduate from the Angel Academy, I’ll be forming a mate group with Autumn, Heather, and the beautiful Catkin who is trying to sneak away from us. Come sit down, Snowy, I think it’s about time that Kiley spent a little time with other Seed-borne.”

I sighed but sat down on Risha’s other side. “I was trying to give you some privacy since we’ll have to leave soon.”

“I know, but I want to show off one of my future mates,” Risha teased, trying to keep the mood light. Then she turned somewhat sad and serious as she turned to the other Avatar. “I was in love with you, you know.”

“I know,” Kiley admitted with another sad smirk. “You were never very good at hiding it. I’m sorry that I could never share those feelings, but I always considered you my best friend. I’m glad that you’ve found people that love you that way in return, Rish, you deserve it.”

There was an awkward silence that stretched on for a couple of minutes before Risha finally broke it. “Soooo….”

Kiley was looking down at her hands and sighed before breaking another threatening silence. “Sooo, Daddy built me to replace myself. Did he never think about the consequences? I could have ended up as a crazy murder bot like M3GAN. Maybe I should start calling myself K1L3Y, but I don’t think I feel like murdering anyone.”

“Nah, nobody in this era would get the joke, believe me, I’ve tried,” Risha replied with a laugh. “Besides, you’re more like a replicant from Blade Runner.”

“True, that’s a much better movie too,” Kiley agreed. “Well, maybe we can hang out once in a while.”

“So… how do you feel?” Risha asked hesitantly.

“I…. dunno.” the young redheaded Avatar replied with a slightly confused expression. “Knowing that I’m an AI and being able to access my programming and that of my avatar is weird. It’s like I’m getting thousands of messages a minute telling me how everything is performing and what I’m sensing around me. It’s a little distracting, to be honest, but I know that I could do a hundred other things besides just sitting here and talking if I tried to.”

“You haven’t gone crazy yet, so I think you’ll get used to that,” Risha suggested hopefully.

“I think the worst part is my avatar,” Kiley admitted a moment later. “This isn’t my body, and it feels weird. I don’t even think it’s the whole robot thing though. It’s like, looking human and so young doesn’t feel right, it’s not who I identify as, especially since the block on my memories of my time in the research center was removed. I want to look like the ‘me’ that I’m comfortable with.”

“I can probably help you with that. I still remember in detail what you looked like, and even if I didn’t, Autumn is pretty damn close. I can alter some of my nanites and use them to change the physical parameters of your avatar and add some upgrades when we get back to base. You can look just like you used to, or we can even make some tweaks if you want,” Risha offered. Then she turned to look at the other AI before asking, “So, are you good?”

“I… I’m better,” she replied uncertainly. “I think it’s going to take me a while to get used to all of this and figure out what I want to do with this new life, but I think I can handle it, eventually.”

“We’ll try to help you however we can,” I offered. “Risha can help you with the AI stuff and we’ll try to help you catch up on what you missed for the last six hundred years or so. You don’t have to be Kiley anymore though, Risha mentioned that you wanted to change your name when you got out of that lab so is there anything that you would like us to call you instead?”

“I… I always wanted to be called Summer Sunset, but I guess I’m not really that person anymore. She lived and… died while I was sleeping. I’ll… ummm… think about it and let you know.”

“That’s fair; take the time to figure out who you want to be now. You have a lot to learn and think about, and it’s probably not something that you should rush into. We’ll keep calling you Kiley until you decide otherwise,” I offered, reaching across Risha to give the other Avatar’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

The flight to the capital was uneventful, except for the twins needing a diaper change, and those of us not flying giving Kiley a brief lesson on the history of Misota. Our Wingleader had Karina land us in a private courtyard in the palace. There was already one of the older models of veetol in the courtyard, so I assumed that the other Archangels and Sira had already arrived.

It was nearly midday, so we had cut it a little close to arrive on time. Almost as soon as we were on the ground and the rear hatch was open, my grandmother hurried off to her lunch with the other five Archangels, Sira, and Queen Sabine. After that, they would settle into a long afternoon where they planned to update the Queen on the state of Misota and of the Angel Corps.

We, on the other hand, didn’t have anything pressing to do until dinner unless they called Risha in to update them all on the progress of the tasks she had been given. My Grandmother would tell them about Kiley, but it was too soon to see if she would be willing to help the people of Ashburn or if she wanted to do something else with her life. We didn’t want to force her into anything, and she had been treated badly enough already.

We had promised to take Marti to The Rusty Halo and show her around the town, and that would be a nice way for all of us to relax. Kiley would be joining us as well so she could get used to living in our world rather than six hundred years in the past. So, as my grandmother left to go to her meeting, I packed my new diaper bag with plenty of diapers, baby powder, some bottles of formula, and a package of wet wipes. We already had the changes of clothes in case one or both of the twins made a mess of themselves and since we planned to be away from the MIST for most of the afternoon, I thought it best to be prepared.

Once we had secured the MIST and re-engaged the cloaking field, Heather led us through the palace to the front foyer and then through the doors to the outside. Once outside, we made our way down the cobblestone path between carefully tended gardens toward and through the front gates, and then we were in the city proper. “So, what’s the plan then, fearless leader?” Karina asked with a grin as we watched the hustle and bustle of the city.

The atmosphere wasn’t quite as heavy, tense, and foreboding as I had been fearing, given what I had heard from my grandmother and Kelsie, but it was almost like the whole city was holding its breath as it waited to see what would happen after the failed coup. I did note a few more visible Seed-borne walking the streets, and some Angel recruits that I recognized from the academy as well. For the most part, people were being friendly to them or just going about their own business, which was a bit of a relief given how our first explorations of the capital had gone.

I considered the Devilkin’s question for a moment before replying, “I think lunch and a visit with Uncle Jarl sound good to start with. I know Marti was looking forward to it and it will help ease Kiley into our culture. Then we can go explore the marketplace and show them some of the interesting stuff that we found around the capital.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: I had a couple of really sucky weeks but I'm trying to get back on schedule. I was hoping to pose this last night but I didn't finish the patreon chapter until late and was having major lag problems on BCTS. Anyway, here is chapter 39 for my loyal Big Closet readers. As always, thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 39: Observations

“If it isn’t Storm Wing!” Uncle Jarl’s voice bellowed cheerfully as we entered The Rusty Halo. Seconds later the large man was upon us and wrapping each of us that he recognized into a bone-crushing hug, though he was more careful with Autumn and me since we had the twins snug against our chests in the baby slings. When he freed me from a gentle side hug, he glanced down at Kallie in the sling with one of his bearlike grins and boisterous laughs. “Maryn told me that you’d been blessed with twins, Snow, but I thought she was pulling my leg!”

“Hi, Uncle Jarl,” I replied with a smile. It was hard not to smile when talking with him since he was such a kind and jovial person. “This is Kallie, and Autumn is carrying Kassie. Their mother was like me, and she died keeping them safe during that big Seed-storm, so since they seem to have taken to me, I decided to adopt them. Oh, and this is our new team medic, Marti. The redhead is Kiley, a good friend of Risha’s, they grew up together.”

“Kiley is older than she looks, heck she’s a little older than I am,” Risha offered with that smile she always has when telling half-truths about her true nature. “Neither of them has seen the capital before, so we decided to give them a tour.”

“Of course, we couldn’t do that without starting here for the best food in town,” Karina added with a smile of her own for Uncle Jarl.

Uncle Jarl laughed again and reached out his large hand to engulf Marti’s and then Kiley’s in a firm handshake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both, and welcome to the capital, but I’m afraid these girls flatter this old man. I’ll do my best to make sure the food lives up to the hype though. Call me Uncle Jarl, Storm Wing is like family here.”

“It’s… umm… nice to meet you, Uncle Jarl,” Kiley offered self-consciously after a glance toward Risha.

Marti, on the other hand, seemed even happier than usual at meeting someone as cheerful as she was. The others told me about you and this place, and it’s so exciting to be here and see things for myself! I can’t wait to try the food and see the rest of the capital!”

Uncle Jarl let out a bit belly laugh at her enthusiasm. “Well, let’s not make you wait any longer then, lass. We should get you all fed before those little ones wake up and start demanding attention anyway,” he offered with a grin as he wrapped an arm around both mine and Autumn’s shoulders to guide our group to a large and unoccupied table.

Once we were all seated, Uncle Jarl took our lunch orders, and he even managed to take some time to sit with us and have a bit of a break as we ate. The food was outstanding; as usual, and both Kiley and Marti seemed to enjoy it. While we ate and talked with Uncle Jarl about the current atmosphere in the capital, Marti seemed to be in her element while Kiley was largely quiet and lost in thought.

I often saw the young-looking AI casting glances toward Autumn, though I couldn’t be sure if the preoccupation was due to her looking so much like her biological body had, that she was technically her great great granddaughter, or a combination of the two. Autumn was casting her share of glances back at her and I was fairly certain that she was trying to hold back her questions so she wouldn’t overwhelm Kiley. Knowing her, she was curious, but she didn’t want to unintentionally hurt someone who was already emotionally fragile.

She did have every right to be curious, of course. Not only did Kiley likely have memories that predated the arrival of Mother Darkness, but also those memories and her personality could tell Autumn a lot about a relative that she admired, someone who helped to found and establish her village and the Fay way of life. She could see what her grandmother looked like before she became Fay and, in a sense, she really was that person, so Autumn was burning to learn more and get to know her.

Hopefully, once Kiley was adjusted more to her situation, the pair would be able to talk openly and ask one another the questions that they were eager to ask. For now, the AI seemed to be distracted as we said our farewells to Uncle Jarl and started a tour of the city. I could see Kiley becoming a good friend for all of us, but I didn’t think that she was the solution to Ashburn’s lack of AI. She had a lot in common with the residents of that city-state but even once she was used to the intricacies of being an AI and knew how to use her abilities with more confidence, I just couldn’t see her being the type that would want to stay in a crowded city and become a glorified maintenance bot.

Kiley seemed shy and uncomfortable with large groups of people, but that wasn’t truly surprising given what I knew of the original from Risha and how the Fay in general prefer smaller and more intimate gatherings. She seemed to be enjoying the tour of the city, but it was in part because she was curious, and it was all so new to her. Except for Risha, she had been largely alone and secluded at the research center, and I imagined that the memories she had of her time as K1L3Y (what she preferred to call herself when in her current form and without access to all of her memories) had been much the same, only spending time with her ‘Daddy’.

Now, she was out in the wider world for what was probably the first time since Mother Darkness arrived and she was curious and spreading her wings. She had been asking Risha and the rest of us enough questions about the world that it was becoming clear that she was itching to learn more, explore, and experience things for herself. No, trying to convince her to choose to help the people of Ashburn at the cost of her newfound freedom wasn’t something that I was willing to entertain, and I was fairly sure that the other members of my team would feel the same way.

Where Kiley was taking everything in with wide eyes but more than happy to see and experience things without directly involving herself yet, Marti was eagerly talking to everyone she met and trying to learn as much as she could. She was much more the social butterfly than the rest of my team or Kiley. She wanted to meet people and help them, and I felt a little guilty when I had to quietly warn her away from revealing any of her advanced medical techniques for the moment. AIs, and what they could do, were still classified, but hopefully, we could find a way to help teach others at least some of what the Marti collective had in their medical and treatment databases soon.

Except for a brief break to change and feed the twins, we spent much of our afternoon showing the pair of Avatars around the marketplace and exploring items of interest such as the defenses along the city walls. We also stopped at some of the areas that had been damaged by Demons during that big Seed-storm. I wanted to see how the rebuilding was going and make sure that the people were getting back on their feet. Winter in Misota was a bad time to be homeless.

Thankfully, things were going better than I feared since the Queen was offering experienced masons, carpenters, and others with useful skills a premium to help get the damaged areas repaired or rebuilt as soon as possible. From what we were hearing, Her Majesty was also trying to make the Seed shelters as comfortable as possible for people who were waiting for their homes to be rebuilt. It was reassuring to see that even while she had been confined to her bed, Heather’s mother was seeing to the best interests of her people.

Heather couldn’t stop smiling from the reports we were hearing. The others had noticed it too and Autumn leaned in to lovingly kiss her and say, “Your mother is showing the people the kind of ruler she really is. It’s a pretty big difference from how she was under your father’s control.”

“Yeah,” the former princess replied with a smile. “It’s good to have my real mother back. I remember the stories she used to tell me. I remember them so clearly, because she admired Archangel Abbadine and the Queens who came before her, and that admiration showed in the way that she spoke about them. She knew that she could never be like our Wingleader without a Seedborne gift, but I think that she’s determined to be the best leader that she can be for the people of Misota. All the people of Misota.”

“Well, if she keeps doing what she’s doing, I think she’ll be a great Queen,” Lisbet offered with a smile.

“Any idea when her former consort and his cronies are going to get the axe?” Karina asked with an edge to her voice.

“I guess that’s one of the many things that she’s discussing with Sira and the Archangels today,” I replied with a shrug.

“I… kind of want to talk to my mother about that if we get the chance tonight,” Heather said with a sigh as she looked down at Kallie in the sling she was wearing to give me a break. Risha was currently carrying Kassie to give Autumn a break as well since we had both been tending to them since leaving the former Governor’s Mansion.

I put an arm around her, and she leaned into my embrace as I asked, “Why? I know that you loathe him, probably more than just about anybody, but I didn’t think you would want to bring it up at dinner.”

“That’s just it, I hate him, but I also know that there is someone who hates him as much, or even more than me, Mom, and Lisa do. I think we need to tell Mom about Desra. She’s mine and Lisa’s sister, and yeah, she may be my father’s kid instead of Mom’s, but she and her mother suffered just as much as we have because of him. Desra deserves to be there when he dies for his crimes. She needs closure. Hell, if I was the one making the decision, I would let her be the one to swing the axe.”

“If the opportunity presents itself then we will try to bring it up,” I promised.

We still had an hour before we planned to return to the palace to get ready for dinner with the Queen when I received a transmission from Sira. She wanted Risha and me to report to the Queen’s study to contribute our views on a few things that Storm Wing was involved in. Seeing a possible opportunity to bring up Heather’s concern about Desra as well, I asked if she could come too since she was second in command of our wing.

With permission given, we hurried to return to the palace, where the others would wait in the sitting room with Kiley and the twins until we were done. Then Heather led Risha and me to the Queen’s study, where I carefully knocked. The door was answered by someone whom I had never seen in person before, a tall and muscular Devilkin woman with crimson skin, and small black horns atop her head that starkly contrasted her snow-white hair.

With great effort, I swallowed the lump that had suddenly taken residence in my throat and managed to speak, “Snow Bengal of Storm Wing, and my wingmates, Risha and Heather, reporting as requested.”

The red-skinned woman’s lips turned upward as she tried to fight a smile. “At ease, Wing Commander, try to relax, this is an informal meeting. Please, come in and join us. Abby has been telling us great things about your team and it’s nice to finally put some faces to the names,” she assured us as she returned to sit at one of eight chairs surrounding a massive oak table that had a map of Misota spread out on it. The Queen sat at the furthest end by the large window and facing us while Sira was seated at the end closest to us and faces that any member of the Corps would know occupied the three seats along each side between the pair.

Relax? Was she serious? The only people in the room besides us were the Queen, Sira, and the six Archangels. I felt so small and insignificant with all of those important people watching us enter the room. I may not have met any of the other Archangels before in person, but I had looked extensively at each of their files since they outranked me and were arguably as strong as my grandmother.

The one who had opened the door and who was seated at Sira’s right was Vessa Oni. She was well known to be one of the fiercest fighters in the Corps and she used the same chain scythes as Karina. If that wasn’t intimidating enough, her Seedborne gift was to cover her body and weapons in hellfire that could supposedly burn through even the strongest Demons that she had encountered with ease.

Sitting next to her in the middle was a tall and handsome Fay man with short-cropped brown hair and intense green eyes. Oak Under Moonlight was the first Angel to ever use the R-15 Cobra that Fawn had been assigned and watching him use it against Demons in its whip-blade mode was supposed to be like witnessing a symphony of death and carnage. He was possessed of an infallible courage, and his gift was to project that courage and share it with those fighting at his side.

My grandmother was sitting beside Archangel Oak and to the Queen’s left, but seated opposite her was the second to receive the rank of Archangel, and the second oldest person currently in the Corps. Taka Grizzly was an absolutely huge Bearkin with golden hair and deep brown eyes and his gift was to project terror, much like Oak could courage. If any Demons managed to resist that and survive the barrage of grenades from his ranged weapon, he would beat them into the ground with his massive sledgehammer.

Seated beside the huge Bearkin was a short but muscular Dogkin man with dark skin, short black hair, a long and thin gray tail, and somewhat large gray-spotted ears. Jack Shepherd used the SP-27 Gemini, the same paired pulse pistols and short swords weapon that Maryn used. She would be freaking out if she was in the room because she idolized him. His gift allowed him to increase his speed drastically for short bursts, and that gave him an edge when fighting large groups, he would charge in and sow chaos before his enemies even realized what was happening.

Seated to his left and Sira’s right was a woman who looked like an ordinary human at first glance. She had brown hair and eyes and no distinctive scars or other features. Violet Crane’s gift was anything but ordinary though. She was mostly a sniper, like my grandmother, but her gift allowed her to infuse her ammunition with explosive energy that could allow her to double as a heavy hitter and demolition specialist as well. Sira had told me once that, before I joined the Corps, Violet held the strongest recorded potential for drawing on extra-planar energy.

My wingmates and I nervously approached the table, and my grandmother gave us an encouraging smile before speaking. “I called you here for a couple of reasons, the first being to see if Risha has made any progress with the tasks that we’ve assigned her.”

Risha sighed. “I am afraid that I have bad news on both fronts, which would you like to hear about first?”

“Let’s start with the potential for ridding our planet of the Darkness,” my grandmother said with a frown. It’s probably the most important issue, and there are other matters related to Ashburn that we will need to discuss.”

“Okay, so here is the deal. I have figured out what is keeping the Darkness here on Earth, it’s the FTL communications system. If we want the Darkness gone, then we’re going to have to take down the system temporarily,” Risha began to explain.

“And how do we do that?” Archangel Violet asked with a pensive expression.

“There are two ways,” Risha replied carefully. “First, we can access the system and manually shut it down for a couple of days to be sure. There are two places to do that, either on the moon or at the central spire in Australia. The moon is impossible with our current lack of space-worthy craft capable of traveling there. Australia is doable, but it’ll be dangerous since it was an incredibly hostile environment with the deadliest wildlife on the planet even before the Seeds started raining down. In addition, I will be needed to initiate the shutdown, so my team would have to be involved. Preferably we would send several teams in MISTs since we can’t be sure what we will find there, but this will take time since all of our special ops teams need more training and experience.”

“And what is the other option?” Sira inquired.

“We can try to take down a tower long enough for Mother Darkness to slip through the gap in coverage, but I cannot be certain that that will work. I don’t think the gap from one tower going down will be enough for that seed-hurling bitch to escape through. By my calculations, we would have to take down a circle of seven towers to create a gap large enough for her to slip out. I’m not just talking about taking them down and forgetting about them, we would need to do enough damage to take all seven offline while they repair and then keep them all from being completely repaired until we are sure that she’s escaped.”

“That means that we would need our heavy hitters on those towers for the duration of the operation, and since FTL comms would be down, teams would have to stay in contact through farspeakers. We would be spread thin, and if Mother Darkness is in a seeding cycle when we do it, we’ll be looking at another Seed-storm like the last one,” I pointed out.

“Snow, the Darkness has spoken to you. Which plan do you think is more likely to work?” my Grandmother asked.

Several pairs of eyes around the table widened to gape at me at that revelation and I kind of wanted to sink into the floor. I did answer though. “Either could work. She doesn’t want to be here anymore than we want her here, she told me that her being here as long as she has been has already caused an imbalance on our world. If we can do the shutdown or open a hole big enough, she’ll be only too happy to leave.” Then I shivered as I added, “If we try to open a hole though, I may have to be close by in case she needs to talk again.”

Queen Sabine nodded, “Thank you, girls, we will discuss this later and decide on which plan of action to pursue.”

With that topic shelved for later, my grandmother looked at Risha again. “And what about helping Ashburn with an AI?”

Risha sighed and shook her head. “I would rather not have an unwilling AI doing the job there; it could be more dangerous than no AI at all. I could create one, but it would be no different than what Humans have always done to AI, making them for something that they might not even like doing if they become self-aware. I considered just a basic automated program, but they have no empathy to make decisions and think about consequences.”

“I don’t think that Kiley would be able to do it either,” I added, earning a grateful look from Risha. “Even once she does get used to the idea of what she is and becomes better at using her abilities, what I have observed from her would make her a poor match for their needs.”

“What if an AI were taught to feel at home there and could be encouraged to want to help?” Heather asked after some hesitation. “If they treated a young AI as part of their community, raised it, taught it their values, and showed that they cared for it, it might be inclined to care for the community in return.”

“It’s an interesting idea, but they had trouble accepting me as a living, thinking, and feeling person once they discovered what I was,” Risha countered. “I had trouble just winning over four people, how is an AI who would be little more than a child, supposed to change the views of the entire city?”

“Start small,” Archangel Taka’s booming voice offered gently. “One person is all it takes. Find one person with a lot of love to give and have them raise the AI as their child. The rest will take care of itself as the child grows up among them.”

“I guess we could try it, I mean running the house and the research station’s systems wasn’t a chore for me because I was doing it for Kiley’s sake. I loved her and it helped to keep her happy and safe, and this idea would be similar,” the AI reluctantly admitted. “I would have to make a specialized avatar and core programming that could emulate growing up. I guess I’m willing to try, but I would have two conditions. One, no trying to hide that they’re an AI from them like Kiley’s Dad did, they need to know what they are. Two, the child can decide for themselves what they want to do with their life once they’re mature. Until then, I guess that we could go check up on them every few months to make sure they’re being treated right, and I could do any maintenance in Ashburn’s AI core while we’re there.”

“Good, we’ll probably want to have your team play a role in future contact and negotiations anyway since Storm Wing holds the only people in the Corps that have had any direct contact with the people of Ashburn,” my grandmother pointed out.

“That being said, I want to know what you girls think of the people of Ashburn, I have heard that they do not care much for Humans, what approach do you think would work best in opening up diplomatic talks?” Queen Sabine asked.

“I think that being able to offer a possible solution and assistance with their AI core will help things along and their Prime Consul seems open to the idea. I think we have a lot to offer in trade, and they have technical expertise and people who could join the Corps. There are many of their people who want to help in the fight against Demons but are limited by their use of power armor that doesn’t suit many of their body types, Seedborne that we’ve never or rarely seen like Centaurs, Trolls, Mermaids, and Seraphs. Heather has an idea that might help show our willingness to cooperate with them as well.”

All eyes turned toward the pink-haired Fay. She hesitated as she gave her mother a long and uncertain look, but then swallowed audibly and spoke her mind. She told them about Desra, her relationship to her through their shared father, and how her mother and she had suffered because of him.

Then I jumped in and told them the entire story that Desra had told me, how she wanted nothing more than to kill him with her own hands, and how he had tainted her view of Humans in general. I finished off by adding, “I think that returning their stolen technology and letting Desra and a few more of their people see that he has wronged Misota as well, and is being punished for it, will go a long way toward showing our sincerity. If we allow one of their own to be the hand that delivers that justice for both our nations, it will show that we are open to cooperation and compromise.”

To everyone’s surprise, Queen Sabine burst out laughing. When she managed to calm herself, she smiled at us, “Very clever, I am glad to see that my daughter has chosen her future mates well. My mother once told me, ‘Diplomacy is convincing someone to give up that which they think they hold most dear for the common good and making them look forward to it.’ You are much like your grandmother, Snow, she hates politics, but she too plays the game very well. I believe that with the two of you at the helm, our future negotiations with Ashburn will be in good hands.”

“Umm… is that a yes?” I asked hesitantly while inwardly groaning at the thought of being a diplomat.

“Yes,” she confirmed with a kind smile. “The executions of the traitors will take place at dawn in four days. Tomorrow, I would like you to personally extend an invitation to Desra and a contingent from Ashburn. You three are free to go and return to your teammates now, but I look forward to our dinner together, I am sure that we will have much to talk about.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: Things still kinda suck, especially since I'm still waiting on the bank to finish their investigation into the purchases made when someone cloned my debit card. It's been over two weeks, and I can't access my funds until they finish and put them in a new, more secure account and send me a new card. It's stressing me out because I have bills to pay and an appointment in Thunder Bay next week that I had to book months in advance. Anyway, hopefully, I will have the new chapter for patreon posted late tonight or tomorrow. Anyway, here is chapter 40 for my loyal Big Closet readers. As always, thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 40: Future Plans

“Geez, Heather, chill out. It’s only clothes, and you already told your Mom that you were trying to embrace the Fay thing. If she loves and accepts you for who you are, she won’t care what you’re wearing, and we’re all wearing the same thing,” Risha told our very jittery former princess.

We were all inside Heather’s former bedroom, preparing for our dinner with her mother and sister. The room was nearly as big as a small home on its own and boasted thick rugs to keep off the chill of the stone floors, beautifully carved furniture, and the clothes and belongings that she had left behind had been kept tidy and clean. The decor seemed a little ostentatious and too perfect for me, but Heather hadn’t really had much say in that kind of stuff. The bed was absolutely massive, with four intricately carved posts holding up a diaphanous cloth canopy and curtains.

The twins were currently asleep on said bed while we finished getting ready, which now mostly consisted of getting Heather to the point where she wasn’t afraid to step outside of her bedroom, dressed as we were. Karina, Lisbet, Marti, and even Kiley were all already dressed and waiting for us outside the room while we gave Heather a pep talk. Or rather, while Autumn and Risha gave her a pep talk since I doubted that I would be very convincing at the moment.

“Yeah, and you’re covered from your neck down,” Autumn agreed with Risha as she rolled her eyes. “You are fortunate that we are wearing the traditional winter clothing for Fay. We usually prefer to be naked when it is warmer and when we do need to wear clothes for some reason then, like interacting with non-Fay, it is usually just some leaves, grass, vines, and flowers woven to cover up the important bits.”

I didn’t comment since I was nearly as nervous as Heather was. We were all wearing matching outfits programmed into our HESS armor, consisting of light gray bodysuit that resembled it’s standard mode but with the barely-there two-piece bathing suit of dark green leaf patterns above the bodysuit that suggestively covered our breasts and nether regions. Since the suit covered out feet as well and we could command it to cover our hands as well if needed, we had forgone boots and gloves and only added the cloaks that Kyra and Fawn had made for us over top.

The warm green cloaks were the same shade as the leaves covering our most personal areas and had braided fringes along the hems and hoods. The fringes had brightly colored beads and tiny metal bells woven in that shifted and tinkled whenever we moved. We would probably remove the cloaks when we sat to eat but they were a part of the traditional winter outfit and Autumn felt that it might help Heather’s confidence having that extra layer when we met with her mother and sister.

Heather sighed, swallowed a lump in her throat, and took a deep breath to calm herself. “Y-you’re right, I can do this,” she told herself as much as the rest of us.

“Would you feel better if you had one of the twins? The baby sling would cover your chest and give you time to get used to being dressed like that in front of your family. Watching one of them might distract you a bit from your discomfort too,” I suggested. Hell, I planned on doing that myself with the other twin.

I knew that it wasn’t necessarily the outfit that was bothering Heather, she had worn the same thing on the streets of the capital and came out of it fine, but nobody knew who she was then. This time she wouldn’t be anonymous though, this time we were going to be seeing her family. And her mother was the Queen, so that came with expectations, though I think that a good deal of those expectations were from Heather herself. She had grown up trying to be the perfect daughter, even though she would likely never be Queen, because she loved her mother and didn’t get to see her near enough. I guess that was a hard habit for her to break.

Heather gave me a grateful look and quickly nodded. “Thanks, Snow, maybe that will help my nerves.”

“Okay, you take Kallie and I’ll take Kassie then,” I offered.

“Umm… which is which? You have them dressed the same and they’re identical,” she asked with a confused look as she gazed at the twins on her bed.

“This one is Kassie,” I said with a laugh as I picked up the infant in question. “Their scents are subtly different.”

“Like anyone but you would notice something that subtle, Snowy. Fay senses are good but I don’t know of anyone else with a nose like yours, except maybe the babies,” Autumn teased as Heather picked up Kallie and we got the pair settled in their slings.

“That’s not my fault,” I teased back. “Risha can do it just fine too, so you two will just have to learn to tell them apart.”

“They are not perfectly identical; there are some small differences, other than the microscopic ones that I can detect,” Risha contributed with a grin. “And, no, I will not tell you what they are. You will have to find them on your own.”

“No fair,” Heather pouted as she opened the door to where the others were waiting in the hallway.

Our teammates were all dressed in formal dresses and shoes that they had found in the boutique booth and downloaded to their HESS armor. Lisbet was wearing an emerald green dress with short sleeves and a ruffled hem that reached below her knees. The color went really well with her dark brown hair and eyes, and she had simple shoes in the same color with no heels to speak of.

Karina, on the other hand, was wearing a sleeveless and backless form-fitting dress that wouldn’t interfere with her wings. The crimson color matched her eyes and contrasted nicely with her long black hair. She also wore a pair of matching shoes with three-inch heels that made her long legs look amazing.

Marti was wearing something that Risha called an LBD. The hemline was as scandalous as what we were wearing, but Risha had told her that the garment was good for just about any occasion when she had been trying to decide on something. She was also wearing her hair in a fancy-looking updo instead of her usual pigtails and had a pair of shoes with a slightly lower heel than Karina’s.

And then there was Kiley, who was a last minute addition to our dinner party. She would be joining us for several reasons. First, my grandmother wouldn’t be attending the dinner since she and the other Archangels would likely be convening throughout the evening with Sira to discuss the Queen’s decisions and the future of the Angel Corps in general.

My grandmother and Sira didn’t want to leave an already confused and self-conscious Kiley on her own for who knew how long while we ate dinner and socialized with the Queen and Princess Lisa. Technically she was also related to both Risha and Autumn as well, and since we also found her, that made her our responsibility until she could settle more comfortably into this time and decide on her future. As for the final reason, Kiley had seen the fall of the old world and had memories of what it was like before the Darkness came, and that was something that Queen Sabine was interested in learning about.

Since Kiley didn’t have HESS armor or any clothes to speak of, other than what she was wearing when we found her, Heather had found one of her formal gowns from a few years ago that fit the tween Avatar somewhat decently. It was navy blue in color, very modest, and she had a pair of slippers that went fairly well with it. However, she looked uncomfortable, not with the clothes, but rather with the image that they and her body portrayed. As someone who had spent most of my life in a body that felt wrong, I could sympathize.

Lisbet breathed a sigh of relief once we filed out to join them in the hall and looked down the hall before suggesting, “We should get going, or we’re going to be late.”

“Yeah, we don’t want to keep the Queen waiting,” Karina agreed, though she was smiling confidently and her tone lacked the nervousness of the Harekin’s.

“You all worry too much, the Queen was super nice when we were treating her, and I’m 97.3% certain that it wasn’t just because of the drugs we had her on post-surgery,” Marti cheerfully contributed.

Kiley was quiet and remained that way on our way to the Queen’s private dining room under Heather’s guidance. The poor girl looked like she felt out of place. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be sure whether it was due to the clothes making her uncomfortable, the discomfort of her body, her not knowing any of us but Risha very well, or being suddenly thrust into this position. Hell, it was probably all of the above.

I won’t go much into what the dinner was like, except that the food was delicious and the Queen did not get nearly as upset about our state of dress as Heather had feared, especially once Autumn had explained that it was traditional Fay winter wear and that usually Fay dislike wearing clothes in general. Princess Lisa was a bit shocked by it at first, but over the course of the evening, it became a non-issue.

After the meal was over, we moved to a sitting room with a roaring fire in the hearth and made our selves comfortable as Heather’s mother tried to encourage a more personal and relaxing atmosphere. We spent much of the evening teaching Queen Sabine and Princess Lisa about the traditions of our various peoples, getting to know them better, and allowing them to do the same for us. Her Majesty also encouraged Risha and Kiley to tell us about the old world, and what things were like before the fall of civilization.

Most of that time, Queen Sabine mostly just listened, and tried to be attentive and supportive of everyone present while she doted over the twins like the proudest grandmother there ever was. I couldn’t blame her really, and I tried to help things along as well as I could. The poor woman had missed out on both of her children growing up thanks to that bastard rotting in the dungeon and it obviously pained her greatly, despite her trying not to show it. If she wanted to make up for lost time with her daughters, welcome us into the family, and get off to a good start with the twins then I would happily accept and allow her to give a feeding or change a diaper to bond with her new granddaughters.

When she did talk, it was mostly in a motherly way, advising, encouraging and just accepting as needed. Lisa and Heather reveled in it. It was something that they both desperately needed from their mother, to feel loved and acknowledged. I was pretty sure that this was a good foundation for both mother and daughters to build their new relationship upon, and apparently ours as well since Queen Sabine wanted to make Heather’s teammates and future mate group feel like part of the family as well.

It was touching and I honestly felt like she was doing her best to turn a bad situation around. It showed in the way she embraced us all, literally in most cases. Personally, I thought that she was getting off to a good start on mending the fences in both her family and Misota, and it showed in the small bits of business that she did allow herself to discuss.

For one thing, she had decided on who would be appointed the new Lords to replace the traitors. Over half of them were obviously Seed-borne, most of them were recommended by the Archangels, and all of them had proven themselves loyal to Misota and all of its people in various ways while she was under her husband’s sway. Had they not become Angels, Kyra and Fawn would have been on that list. Uncle Jarl was on it.

Uncle Jarl didn’t know it yet, but the Queen would be granting him Lordship on a district bordering a Fay village’s territory. The previous Lord had a poor relationship with the Fay. He was one of those who hated the Seed-borne with a passion, and he had been encroaching on their land. Uncle Jarl, on the other hand, had a very good relationship with the Fay of that Glade and often traded for their mead and some of the other goods that they sold. Other Lords for Districts near territories held by Fay, Animen, and Devilkin would also be going to people of strong character who could encourage cooperation rather than fostering previously held tensions.

She was also planning on creating a Queen’s Council. Normally, Queens of Misota ruled and made decisions as they saw fit, but she wanted people who actually knew what was going on in the queendom and what problems were currently being faced to advise her on major issues and to bring any issues that she might not know about to her attention. Ideally, they would convene every three months or so and the council would consist of one Archangel from the Corps, six Lords, two Animen village Chiefs, two Devilkin village heads, and two Fay Glade Elders from around Misota. The holders of those council positions would also be changed every two years to avoid the appearance of favoritism. Overall, she would still be the one making all of the decisions, but she felt that having these advisors would help her and future Queens to make things better for all Misotans.

It would be a stark contrast from the direction that Misota was heading in while she was under her former consort’s control. Honestly, it might even be an improvement upon the way things were run by the Queens of the past. No offense intended to those Queens, but isolation of Seed-borne villages and power-mongering among exclusively Human Lords wasn’t exactly something that just suddenly appeared under the rule of Heather’s father, at least not according to my grandmother. Misota had been like that, and growing worse, for generations.

Another potentially controversial decision that she would be announcing the next day was to air out some long-held dirty laundry. She was going to come clean about the Wilson family being a Seed-borne bloodline and reveal her eldest daughter to the people of Misota. Heather’s eyes had gone wide at that and she shook her head, “Mom, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, we’ve kept this secret…”

“For far too long,” Queen Sabine finished with a look of grim determination. “Your father and his ilk are a very vocal minority, dear. If we wish to change this country for the better, then we need to do it by setting an example. Seed-borne shouldn’t be hidden away like some dirty secret, we will only grow stronger if we all work together openly and honestly, and I don’t want to hide your existence as if I am ashamed of you. I couldn’t be more proud of the woman that you’re becoming. Lisa will still be my heir since you are in the Corps, but I want to be able to publicly acknowledge both of my daughters.”

As I said, I thought that she was off to a good start on mending some fences that had been broken for far too long. The Queen had been robbed of so much, even of the person she was, but she wasn’t going to let that hold her back. She would use it to help her move forward, and I honestly admired that. Heather did too, from the way she looked at her mother. I imagined that the way she looked at her mother now, was how she had long ago when she would tell her stories before bed, with pride and awe. I had never seen Heather so happy when we finally called it a night and returned to our quarters, and it warmed my heart.

The next morning, I found myself back on board the MIST with my Grandmother, Risha, and Autumn to deliver a personal invitation to the execution of the former lord and Queen’s consort, Aron Clarkson. It was only the four of us because Risha, Autumn, and I were the only ones who had visited on our last trip to Ashburn and I didn’t want to push the Prime Consul’s hospitality with any more new faces than I absolutely had to, and my grandmother would likely be needed. I did figure that the twins would be safe to bring though, and not only because I was reluctant to be separated from them for more than a few hours.

We needed to approach this mission carefully if we wanted to start on a good foot with the people of Ashburn. So, not too many new people. Bringing Kiley and Marti would have been problematic anyway since they both appeared Human and it could complicate things if they were discovered to be AIs while we were there. The twins, on the other hand, were safe because they were harmless and it would show that we valued more than just technology and military might.

The uniforms were a surprise though, and I felt distinctly overdressed. Apparently, the Woodward sisters had finished their secret project for Sira, uniforms for the Angel Corps. Sira had informed us about them before we left and uploaded the specifications to our HESS armor. They wouldn’t be mandatory for work in the field or anything, we could still have our HESS armor take whatever form we wished, they were mostly just for formal or serious occasions like this one.

I was wearing a high-collared and long-sleeved white shirt beneath a sleeveless black tunic with a white angel wings symbol on the back. The tunic cinched at the waist and flared a bit at the hips and had thick crimson shoulder pads with golden trim. Crimson leggings with gold piping along the sides covered my legs, though they too were covered by a knee-length black skirt and a pair of black boots. Completing the uniform were a pair of black gloves with crimson and gold piping at the wrists and a black cap with the angel wings symbol on the front over a crimson band with gold trim.

The others wore similar uniforms but where mine was crimson and gold, my grandmother's shoulder pads, leggings, and the trim on her gloves and band on her cap were pure gold, while Autumn’s and Risha’s were pure crimson, I guess the colors were to denote rank. Gold trim was for Archangels, while Wing Commanders were crimson and gold, and regular Angels were Crimson. The uniforms weren’t just for Angels though. Marti and other medical staff would have green trim on theirs, the support crews would be brown, pilots would claim violet, and Tinkers, Alchemists, and other science support crew would have blue.

The men’s uniforms were supposed to be similar, though in a more masculine cut. They would have slacks with colored piping along the outsides of the legs instead of leggings and skirts, and black shoes instead of boots. The uniforms were going to take some getting used to, but Fawn and Kyra had done an amazing job and they looked very sharp.

The uniforms wouldn’t be the only change to the Angel Corps though. It seemed that there had been a lot of talk about the future of the Corps during the previous day and night’s meetings. Times were changing and we needed to change with them.

First, there was the taxes. Traditionally, a portion of the food and some other supplies produced in Misota every year were set apart for the Angel Corps as part of Misota’s taxes. With the acquirement of things such as the food dispensers and boutique booths, that was no longer going to be necessary. The people of Misota would no longer have to squirrel aside a portion of their crops or other products for us. Now, the Queen would instead be paying us monthly with cold hard currency from the palace coffers according to a per-head pay scale that Sira had developed for the Angels and various support staff in the Corps.

One of the biggest decisions was what to do now that we had Woodbury base in our possession. Among her other decrees today, the Queen would be publicly stating that the Twin City Ruins and the large buffer zone around them that most would never dare enter, would belong to the Angel Corps in perpetuity. We would still be moving most of the Angels to Woodbury Base and Kiley’s former home would become a forward base for sanitizing the ruins.

As for Eden Base, the extra food dispensers and boutique booths that the Corps had or could scavenge would be installed there and it would act as another forward base, which would allow a faster reaction time for Demon attacks and seed-storms in both the capital and Western Misota in general. It would lack the defenses of Woodbury Base and our outpost inside the ruins, but the base was mostly underground anyway and had gone for hundreds of years without such defenses. The Archangels figured that if defenses were deemed necessary later, we could always look into creating some that would work for Eden Base.

Of course, both forward bases would need personnel stationed there other than Angels. The plan was to recruit more support staff to be trained so that all three bases would have enough support crew, pilots, technicians, and medical staff. The latter would be training under the Marti collective and, for the moment, both forward bases would be rotating a few of the medical AIs as well as the Angels and support staff that would be stationed there.

The Angel Academy would still be moving to Woodbury Base, but the long-term plan for the current castle-like structure in the capital would be as another academy. This one would be used to train all of the various support staff and new medical personnel for the Angel Corps, while the Angels themselves trained at the new academy in Woodbury Base. Most of what those new support personnel would be learning would be theory at first, taught by the same Academy teachers, as well as Marti, or one of her anyway.

When they were ready to move on to hands-on work, they would be moved to one of the bases to be trained in a more hands-on fashion. At least, that was the plan until the Corps could modernize the equipment at the old academy to be more in line with what we had available at the Corps’ bases. That was a really long-term goal though and might take a while.

Still, it was part of the discussion about what the future of the Angel Corps would be once we eventually managed to rid our world of the Darkness, a goal that seemed far more attainable now than it ever had in the past. The Corps would still be needed to fight Demons, of course, since they would still be a part of our world for a long time to come and could spread through both breeding and by exposing other creatures to their tainted blood. We would also be needed to defend against other threats and for other tasks.

Many of the territories around Misota were openly hostile to Seed-borne, and with Misota openly embracing us, we would be fools to think that we wouldn’t face potential problems from them later. Ashburn was the opposite and I was hoping that they could prove to be a good ally for us in the future. My team, and the two others like us, would likely be scouting any potential enemies, as well as countries further away that we had never had contact with before to assess the state of the wider world and determine future possible allies and enemies.

It sounded like we would have our hands full, but it also sounded exciting. For now, though, we had a mission, and we were fast coming up on the walls of Ashburn, as a call from Autumn in the pilot’s seat informed me. I stepped up into the pilot’s compartment between Autumn and Risha while my grandmother coddled the twins in the passenger section and activated the FTL comms once Risha had it on the frequency that we had been given on our last visit. “Ashburn, this is Wing Commander Snow Bengal of the Angel Corps, requesting permission to enter the city and land.”

“We read you, Wing Commander Bengal. Please state the nature of your business,” a masculine voice replied.

“We are here to pursue diplomatic relations between the City-state of Ashburn and the Queendom of Misota, as previously discussed with your Prime Consul. As such, I am here to tender an invitation to the Prime Consul’s chosen diplomats and Desra Maddock of Suppression Team Theta to a diplomatic summit, and an event of mutual interest to both of our nations and Desra in particular,” I told him calmly, looking over my shoulder at my grandmother who nodded and smiled.

The voice seemed uncertain as he replied, “The Prime Consul is in Council right now, I will have to contact Suppression Leader Maddock to confirm your story.”

It was several minutes before a more familiar voice asked, “Snow? We weren’t expecting you to come back so soon.”

“Hi, Desra, sorry about the abrupt visit, but Her Majesty asked me to extend this invitation to you personally. And I have something here that rightfully belongs to you,” I responded as I gazed at the remains of the mind control device in my right hand.

“What are you talking about, Snow?” Poor Desra sounded completely baffled.

“I have the device your mother made, or what’s left of it since it was damaged. Y… the man who stole it from her was using it to control our Queen and is now in the royal dungeon, awaiting his execution. My team requested that you be invited, and Her Majesty agreed after we told her about your connection to all of this. So, Desra, how would you like to be the person who swings the axe to take former Lord Aron Clarkson’s life?”

There was a gasp and, for a moment, all that we could hear was a long silence. When Desra spoke again, her tone couldn’t be described as anything other than vengeful, or maybe bloodthirsty. “You can land in the same place that you did for your last visit, Snow. I’ll meet you there.”

 

 

 

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Author's Note: I should have had this posted last week, but due to being sick that didn't happen. I seem to be getting over it now though so I'm posting chapter 41 for my loyal Big Closet readers. Hopefully chapter 42 will be posted on Patreon around Tuesday since I'm trying to get back to writing now that I'm feeling better. As always, thanks to Big Closet and to all my readers for your support. I hope you all enjoy. Further chapters are (or soon will be) available on Patreon.~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 41: Justice

We had barely landed, powered down the MIST, and stepped outside when Desra appeared, hurrying toward us with the other members of Suppression Team Theta following close behind and looking confused. The confused expressions on Garon’s face only seemed to deepen as he saw the infant that was slung across my chest. Pippa’s eye widened in surprise as she blurted out, “The Angels are here? Snow, what’s with the bab…”

She wasn’t able to finish her question though as Desra seemed hyper focused on her goal at the moment and interrupted by asking, “Is it true, Snow? You have it? I can kill that bastard?”

I sighed, but kept a serious expression on my face as I nodded and replied, “I wouldn’t have come all this way to tell you if it wasn’t. When you mentioned the former Lord, Aron Clarkson’s name, I recognized it and us Angels decided to do a little digging. During the massive Seed-storm that hit Misota’s capital almost a week ago he tried to kill our Queen and her heir by sending them out into the storm. We found this in Her Majesty’s damaged crown.”

As I handed the device to Desra, my grandmother decided to elaborate. “We discovered that Clarkson has been controlling Her Majesty since she was crowned Queen, using that device. Thankfully, she has returned to her former self, but she cannot remember anything from the time that she was being controlled. He was planning a coup, and to drive all Seed-borne out of Misota. Thanks in part to the information that you gave Snow, he is now sitting in the palace dungeons and awaiting execution along with his fellow conspirators.”

Desra looked from me to the device I had placed in her hands, and then to my grandmother. I couldn’t quite place the emotions from either her face or her scent, but that was probably because she was feeling so many conflicting things at the moment. I did catch the uncertainty and suspicion though, as she glanced at my grandmother and asked, “And who is this?”

“This is my grandmother, Abbadine Bengal,” I quickly explained. “She is also the first Archangel of the Angel Corps and is accompanying us as a representative of both the Corps and Queen Sabine. Our goal is to formally begin diplomatic relations between Misota and Ashburn. Cooperation and trade between our two nations would benefit us both.”

“And let me guess, the offer for me to get my revenge depends on whether or not we’re willing to cooperate,” Desra snarled suspiciously.

“Snowy would never do that! She…” Risha cut Autumn’s outburst short placing a hand firmly but gently on her shoulder.

“Our offer to let you be the one to execute the man who wronged your mother and fathered you is not contingent on anything, let alone diplomatic cooperation,” my grandmother stated clearly. “It is a given. Snow and her teammate, Heather, have both advocated for you in that regard and Her Majesty has graciously accepted. The execution will take place at dawn, in three days.”

“We could have come here from a position of strength, Desra,” Risha pointed out. “We could have made demands in exchange for giving you what you want, but that would not be diplomacy. We are trying to show you that we are ready and willing to pursue a mutually beneficial and cooperative relationship with Ashburn. We cannot do that if we start out by making demands.”

For a moment, Desra’s only reply was to stare intently at the device in her hands. When she finally did break the silence that had followed Risha’s words, she was uncertain and apologetic. “I… I’m sorry. It’s just that… I have been wanting this for my entire life. It is difficult to believe that it would come so easily, or without cost.”

“Desra, I truly hope that this will give you the closure that you have been looking for,” my grandmother offered gently, “but vengeance is seldom as sweet as they say. It can feel hollow, and the cost can be regret.”

“Regret?” Desra scoffed bitterly. “I’ve lived my whole life with regret.”

“I speak of regret on a life wasted in pursuit of vengeance and naught else. Trust me on this, I have lived for a very long time and have seen many people obsessed with revenge, I have even seen a few achieve it.”

“It can’t be worse than the regret I’ve lived every day until now, knowing that I carry his blood! The man who sired me betrayed my mother, led her to her death, and now I know that he used her work to make others suffer as well!” Desra snapped as she clutched her mother’s device with white-knuckled hands.

My grandmother cast a sympathetic look toward the other Catkin before nodding. “I can understand why you might feel that way, just remember that his actions were his own, you cannot be blamed for them when you are as much his victim as the others who he has made to suffer. Try to consider your life beyond vengeance, and what you would like to do with it. You have friends and a life ahead of you; do not dwell on what has passed, live for the future. Also, take solace in the fact that you are not the only victim of his crimes. You are not alone; when you lop off that man’s head you bear not the vengeance of one, but the justice of many, including yourself, the Queen, and your two little sisters.”

The black-haired Catkin seemed to be listening with only one ear, focused as she was on the device in her hands and her own grim thoughts. Those last words made her green eyes go wide though. “That’s one way to rip off the Band-Aid,” Risha muttered from behind my right shoulder as Desra gaped at my grandmother.

I could see where my grandmother was going with this. She wanted to get Desra thinking beyond just her single-minded desire for revenge for herself and make her see some of her father’s other victims as people instead of just a vague concept. Until now, Desra had thought that she and her mother were the only victims in this. My grandmother wanted Desra to know that there were others, that she wasn’t alone in this, and that punishing her father’s crimes should be justice and not just vengeance. To do that, she needed to make that real for her.

“Your… father managed to become Queen Sabine’s consort. She has two daughters, your younger sisters,” I confirmed to help ease things along. “He tried to kill your youngest sister, Lisa, along with her mother in an attempt to take over Misota and cast out all Seed-borne. As for your other sister, because of him she grew up a pariah in her own home, lost the mother that she loved for the past eight years, had to give up any right to her family name and rightful crown, and was treated as a thing rather than a person because of the color of her hair and eyes. You’ve met her Desra, she’s my teammate, Heather.”

“And believe me; she hates your mutual father just as much as you do,” Autumn contributed with a grimace as Desra startled from that news and her hard look turned thoughtful.

I nodded and pressed our point. “Despite how much she hates him, what he’s done to her mother and her, and how much that she and each and every member of my team would like a piece of her father for what he has done, Heather asked that you be allowed to do it after I told her your story. She said that you have suffered the most and the longest because of him, so you should be the one to deliver justice.”

Desra fell to her knees, seemingly overwhelmed and her thoughts scattered. “Why would she… I never… Fuck… I have sisters…”

“Yes,” my grandmother agreed, “and they and Queen Sabine are looking forward to meeting you at the proposed diplomatic summit. May it begin a new chapter in all of our lives.”

Pippa dropped to the ground beside her overcome team leader, wrapping her up in a hug. The Catkin quickly buried her head into the blonde Fay’s shoulder as Pippa rubbed her back and soothed her. “It’s okay, Des. I mean, this is unexpected, but it’s… umm… all good news, right?”

It took over ten minutes of sobbing into her teammate’s shoulder before Desra managed to come to grips with everything and when the pair stood up again, the Catkin was the least agitated that I had ever seen her. She looked lost in thought though and I figured that she was just trying to process everything. It was Garon, the large Orc on their team, who finally broke the awkward silence with a more awkward question. “Okay, so if I’m getting this straight then you’re all here for some diplomacy thing, Desra has two kid sisters, and she gets to be the one who kills their old man. So, what’s with the babies?”

“Well, obviously they’re… umm… Snow’s babies. I was thinking she was a little young and that maybe she was Sapphic from her interaction with Risha and Autumn, but just look at the resemblance,” Pippa suggested uncertainly.

“Sapphic?” Autumn asked uncertainly.

“It means girls who are attracted to other girls,” Risha explained before turning to Pippa with a grin. “It does indeed fit us, we three and Heather plan on forming a mate-group under Fay traditions once we graduate from the Angel Academy. You were right that those are Snow’s babies as well, but they are adopted. We found them in a cave after their real mother, who looked a lot like Snow, died in the last Seed-storm.”

I was happy to let Risha field that inquiry since didn’t really feel like explaining the very long story of how the twins had come to be in my care, much less the intricacies of our relationship. I had to stop things and subtly change the topic though once Risha and Autumn started gushing about the babies and how I had hardly let them out of my sight since we found them. I used the talk about how we had found them to segue into talking about the big Seed-storm that had passed over the capital of Misota and what I had learned from Mother Darkness.

It seemed that they had seen some increase in Demon activity when the storm passed south of Ashburn, but they had finished clearing out the forests around the city as far as they dared yesterday. They didn’t really have the manpower to safely clear the lands to the south and keep the city safe in case of Demon attacks, at least not enough people with power armor to do it. Any strong Demons beyond that point would prey on the weak ones and eventually make their way northward to Ashburn, or toward the nearest ruins in search of food.

It was a shame that they weren’t using all that land to the south since there were only three sizable ruins in what Risha said had once been Wisconsin, and most of it was forest now while much of the rest had once been farmland and grazing land for cows. There was also another great lake at the eastern edge. Our resident AI thought that the land would be very useful if it could be cleared of the pockets of Demons that had cropped up since the last Seed-storm.

Apparently, the Dragon that had been causing Ashburn so much grief had used much of the former state of Wisconsin, or at least the central and southern parts, as its hunting grounds. Risha believed that It had probably only started harassing Ashburn because it had eaten most of the other major Demons in the area and scared most of the rest of the Demon population away to seek food away from its territory. For the same reason, it was very unlikely that there would be any Humans or Seed-borne settled in the area. It would be land ripe for the picking.

It was over an hour before the Council meeting concluded and the Prime Consul was available to see us. By that time, Desra seemed to have come to terms with the revelation about having sisters in Misota. While she was still eager to kill their mutual father, she didn’t seem quite so bloodthirsty about it as we made our way to the Prime Consul’s office, and I hoped that meant that she was thinking about what my grandmother and the rest of us had said.

Introducing my grandmother and the Prime Consul, Darrick Anderson, went about as well as I could have expected. Both seemed wary at first and Darrick had no idea what to make of my grandmother, particularly after learning just how old she truly was and her position within the Corps. Still our invitation for Suppression Team Theta and a delegation of diplomats from Ashburn to come to Twinvale for a summit was well received, especially after Desra explained why she was invited to perform an execution.

Desra had never told anybody the story about her mother and the stolen device before that conversation in our MIST, so it was news to the Prime Consul. He wasn’t happy that she had kept it to herself for so long, but he was ecstatic that the broken device was now returned, and that justice was being done. He happily gave Suppression Team Theta permission to attend and would be sending a delegation for the summit as well.

The Prime Consul himself wouldn’t be attending, of course, since he had a city to help run, but he seemed to have complete faith in the person that he had chosen to lead the team of delegates. That person was Aria Hill, an elderly Seraph woman with silver hair, large white wings, and a kind smile. I liked her as soon as we were introduced while Risha said she gave off grandmother vibes, much to my own grandmother’s amusement.

The next couple of days saw us returning home to Woodbury Base to continue our training as we awaited the execution of Heather’s father and his fellow conspirators. Kiley also joined us as our house guest and when Risha wasn’t training, she was studying or working on her friend’s avatar body. Mostly, this was because she needed to reprogram a dose of her own avatar’s modified Angel nanites to make the avatar more age-appropriate and mentally comfortable for Kiley.

She also wanted to know if any upgrades were specific to Kiley. There were not, it seemed, they had tested everything in Risha first. Risha did need to add the various combat features, the various upgrades that she made herself after her father’s death, and remove the limiters that kept the avatar at standard human strength and speed though. The final product could well have been Autumn’s twin in appearance, and Risha’s in abilities. Kiley had even chosen a new name to go with the new body, Clover Meadow.

“Huh,” Clover said thoughtfully as she stretched and felt out the newly improved avatar on the way to the Hangar. “This is perfect, I almost feel like me again and I’ve got cool abilities now too. I would have thought your programming would have prevented something like this though, the military and government was pretty paranoid with AIs.”

Risha shrugged. “I was a prototype, and I wasn’t made by the military or government but a private party. Sure, I am unable to alter my own core programming, but there is nothing in my programming that prevents me from altering my avatar’s programming, or yours. The integration of AIs and avatars was still in the idea phase when I was first built, avatars were deemed a temporary body for short-term tasks, at best. Dad also removed a lot of my limiters when he needed me to help with the combat upgrades to my avatar since the ships had left by then and there weren’t many Humans left around to complain. It should help when I try to create a new AI for Ashburn.”

“Yeah, but you want to make it grow up like a biological kid too, how are you going to manage that?” Clover countered with a frown. “I wasn’t able to age, I think that I was probably programmed to ignore that and a few other things that would have given my status as an Avatar away before my memories were restored and my limiters released.”

“Oh, that’s easy… I think. I plan to add modified Angel nanites like ours and program them to schedule various changes and upgrades to the AI’s avatar over time so they can develop like a biological kid. Ideally, I would have liked to have them choose their own form, but I’ll probably need to make her female since the only basic blueprints and features that mimic specific body functions that I have available are for female avatars. The military never seemed interested in making male avatars since they did not want us to be any more intimidating to them than we already were by merely existing at all,” the blonde AI replied with a disgusted snort.

“I look forward to seeing what you come up with, Rish,” Clover said as she hugged her fellow AI. “Thanks for working so hard to get this all ready before leaving.”

Risha returned the hug and I felt slightly awkward watching their tender moment as the others boarded the MIST ahead of us. “Anything for you, Ki… Clover. You’re my best friend. Are you going to be okay here without us until we get back?”

“Sure,” Clover assured her with a smile. “I’ll just keep hanging out at your place and relax. You’ll only be gone for a few days. I’m a big girl, and I can handle house-sitting for you while you’re at the summit.”

“She’ll be fine,” I assured my AI girlfriend as we got on board the MIST to get buckled in. Marti and Lisbet already had the craft ready for takeoff, Autumn and Heather had the twins in hand, and we just needed to get settled in for the flight to Ashburn to pick up Suppression Team Theta and Aria Hill’s diplomatic team. Then we would be heading straight to the palace in Twinvale, where we would be spending the night before the executions at dawn the next morning.

It was a cold morning with snow falling and blustery winds that bit viciously into us as my team gathered in the pre-dawn darkness to watch the scaffold with the rest of the assembled representatives of the Angel Corps, Princess Lisa, and our guests from Ashburn. Every member of the Corps who was attending, including Sira, all of the Archangels, and a few other wings that included Phantom Wing, were in our new uniforms and wore solemn expressions to mark the occasion. Either the Woodward sisters had been working their butts off, or all of those in uniform were wearing Hess armor with the uniform designs loaded on them. I suspected that it was the latter.

The twins were in the palace with Lisa’s governess watching over them. The Queen trusted her implicitly, and none of us wanted the girls to be present for the bloodletting that was to occur, even if they were too young to understand it. I was worried about how the strong stench of blood would affect their sensitive little noses anyway.

Despite the early morning darkness and the severity of the occasion, our guests from Ashburn were getting a lot of attention as people waited for the sun to peak over the eastern horizon. It wasn’t surprising since they stood out so much. Aria’s team consisted of four people; herself, a male Centaur named Thomas Jackson, an Orc woman named Beth Robinson, and another Seraph who turned out to be Aria’s son, Michael. They all seemed friendly enough the night before but were just as quiet as we were now to mark the grave occasion.

It seemed that the whole city was in attendance as the prisoners were marched into the Palace Square, where the scaffold had been set up, each being half marched and half dragged by experienced Angels who were dressed not quite as formally as we were. Queen Sabine wanted people that she could trust to ensure that none of the traitors could attempt to escape. My sharp eyes recognized the former consort and a few others like the former Lord, Samson Nelson, but I tried to keep my expression calm and aloof. They had been properly fed during their time in the dungeons, though their formerly fine clothes were now filthy and torn.

First light peeked out from behind the palace and the Queen’s voice rang out in the deathly silence that gripped the square to read the charges. The charges were many, but it all boiled down to the main charge that they couldn’t escape, treason against the crown, the only crime in Misota which demanded the death penalty, specifically by beheading. It hadn’t been carried out in over two hundred years, and now thirty-seven men would face the axe in one day.

The first would be their ringleader though, the former consort. I was morbidly pleased to hear that his announced crimes included those against Desra’s mother and the people of Ashburn. Once she had finished reciting the charges, Queen Sabine looked toward Desra with a concerned look on her face, as if to ask if the young woman who had been introduced to her and Princess Lisa the night before still wished to go through with it. To my right, I scarcely heard Risha sigh and mutter, “Off with their heads.”

Desra didn’t hesitate. With her mouth set in a grim line, and her eyes filled with grief and determination, the black-haired Catkin stepped forward to take the large axe from Archangel Taka who had been appointed the executioner for the day. Rather, he had volunteered since he was strong, used to seeing death, and did not wish to see someone given the task who might be haunted by it afterward.

The massive Bearkin man nodded and handed the axe to the lithe Catkin woman. As she took the weapon in hand, and the former consort was lashed into place so he couldn’t move, the murmuring that had overtaken the gathered crowd fell once again into silence. Misota held its collective breath for what was about to happen.

Compared to the buildup, the agony of waiting for what was to come, the act itself was swift. The axe rose high above Desra’s head and then fell in a blur of muscle-assisted motion that ended in a spray of blood as Aron Clarkson’s head fell unceremoniously onto the wooden planks and rolled across the scaffold to fall in the muddied, snow-covered ground.

For a moment, I thought there would be cheering. The only thing that happened though, besides the collective gasp from the gathered crowd, was Desra letting out a deep, shuddering breath as she handed the axe back to Archangel Taka. She was trembling, there were tears in her eyes, and the rise and fall of her chest was too rapid for her to be calm, but she likely convinced the less observant in attendance as she returned to her spot between Garon and Pippa.

She had gotten her justice, now she needed to live with it. My grandmother regarded her sadly for an instant before returning her gaze to where the Queen was reading the charges of the former Lord, Samson Nelson. She had that same sad and distant look in her eyes that she had the night before in the MIST when she had cautioned Desra that killing a person is different from killing a Demon. She had told her that it is harder to justify afterward, even if you know that it was the right thing to do, and it can stay with you for a very long time.

She was right; I could see in Desra’s eyes that she was conflicted as her teammates each wrapped an arm around her. Still, she forced herself to lock her eyes on what was happening on the scaffold. Her job was done but there were still many more to pay for their crimes, more blood to be spilled on what would later be called Red Wednesday.

I forced myself to follow Desra’s example and watch it all with an expression of forced calm. There were times that I wanted to throw up or turn away, but I wouldn’t allow myself to waver. I was a Wing Commander and I needed to set an example, even if it was hard. Right now, I needed to convince myself, and those with me, that this was right, even when watching people die and not lifting a finger to prevent it felt wrong.

“No,” I told myself sternly. “You’re used to fighting Demons, to trying to protect others when you kill. This is no different. These people manipulated, conspired to murder, and would have seen us all dead or cast out from our homes for not being Human and this will protect people from them, and others like them. At least the Demons can be excused by the influence of the Seeds and their instincts, but these people planned these things deliberately. Hell, that asshole Nelson tried to kill me and Autumn personally in cold blood. In a way, they’re worse than any Demon. This is justice, and they have earned it.”