21 (I) Intercept

Should you encounter someone who bears the visage of an avian-themed helmet, you should know a few things. The first is that you are likely dead, for they are the elite assassins of Aviary, New Albion Secret Service. These killers have no past, no future, and exist in the present only to slay and break, vanishing back into the dark thereafter.

Most of them are selected from orphanages, stolen from hostile families as a final insult, or, according to certain rumors, even created as magically-enhanced homunculi in labs. Whatever the case, even a limited agent with their face exposed cannot be traced back to any history or background, for they never truly existed. In the end, they have only one purpose: to be used for assassinations and subjugation until they finally fail and are cast aside.

Yet there are those who survive—who manage to remain alive even after their former masters abandon them. But their fates are no better, and their eyes are no kinder. An assassin who has lived as a weapon their entire life rarely learns how to be anything else. And so they go from state-sanctioned killers to those who slay for the promise of mithril.

-Aviary: The Blades of New Albion

21 (I)

Intercept

“...Shiv!” Adam shouted. Shiv blinked and found the Young Lord holding him by the shoulders. The Umbral woman seemed to have left already. “Are you alright? Is it that book you got earlier? Did it reach into your mind? Or were you thinking about how to seduce that elf you just bumped into? Please say no. Please.”

“No,” Shiv breathed. “I just got another Quest.”

“What? No! No! Tell me you were going to seduce another one of these elves instead!”

“Adam,” Shiv said. The Young Lord quieted at Shiv’s sudden shift in demeanor. “We need to follow that Umbral. I think someone’s blackmailing her. They want her to bomb Passage. And if we fail, I think our way back up will get sealed.”

***

“Wait? Foreshadowing? When did you get Foreshadowing? I didn't know you had Foreshadowing!”

Shiv was straining his paltry Stealth Skill as much as he could as they left the library, but a few factors were working against him. The first was the aforementioned detail that his Stealth was barely in the Initiate threshold of things—just over twenty-one. The second was that he was one of the two extremely noticeable surfacers in a place mostly populated by Umbrals and spiderfolk. The last was the only other noticeable surfacer was an idiot who didn’t understand the meaning of avoiding attention, and who focused on actively interrogating Shiv rather than following the Umbral in silence.

After the Foreshadowing hit Shiv, he quickly explained to Adam what he glimpsed through the skill and what was at stake. They then followed the Umbral—who left the bookstore—but not before paying for and then asking the worker to hold all their purchased books.

Now, the twosome were pretending they were on a leisurely stroll. That just happened to take the same path as the Umbral woman with the acid burn on her face. The Umbral woman Shiv suspected to be a terrorist. Everywhere they walked, eyes swung to gaze upon them, fingers were pointed in their direction, and Adam only made it worse.

“Adam,” Shiv said through clenched teeth. “Can we at least try at Stealth.”

“No, because I don’t have a Stealth Skill. Just like I don’t have Foreshadowing.” Adam was practically raving now. “How? Tell me how? Why do you have Foreshadowing?”

“Because the world hates me, but the System wants me to have a fighting chance, it seems,” Shiv muttered. And that seemed to be the long and short of it. With all the ugly events Shiv ran into, developing Foreshadowing was like… Fate Resistance. Not quite a direct form of resistance, but something to buffer him from the dangers of life.

I can’t tell if my luck is really bad, or really good, Shiv thought. Depends on the perspective, maybe.

Shiv picked up his brooch as Adam continued to talk at him. Valor now took on Shiv’s role in trying to get Adam to quiet down. “Uh, operator. Person running this communications thing. I might have an emergency to report.”

A brief pulse of magical interference sounded from the brooch. “And what emergency might that be, Honored Shiv?”

The use of “honored” made Shiv cringe. He wasn’t used to that. He wanted to tell the operator what he told Adam, but he paused. Right now, they were only going on his feelings. It might be better if someone with authority and influence tried to do this. More effective than just an outsider accusing an Umbral local of terrorism. One that likely works at Passage, no less. “Actually, can you patch me through to Sister Uva? She’s a Psychomancer—”

“Esteemed Sister. Intel-0122. Uva Mettabon. Patching you through now.”

Shiv blinked. Mettabon was her last name? And was Esteemed Sister a rank? Intel-0122 would be her identification. Uva’s voice came out from Shiv’s brooch before he could think too much about this. “Shiv. I pray to the Composer that you’re just yearning to hear my voice, and not about to tell me that trouble has found you.”

He sighed. “Sort of. But not exactly my trouble. You’re probably not going to like this…” He kept a close eye on the Umbral as he narrated events to Uva. Meanwhile, Valor and Adam were exchanging threats in the background, ruining even the concept of Stealth. Thankfully, despite most of the city seemingly being aware of Shiv, the Umbral he was following was lost in her own world, wandering toward a prismatic crystal—the ones used to call demons to serve as public transport.

As he finished, there was a brief pause before Uva replied. “You are right. I don’t like this… In fact, I hate it.”

“I’m not lying to you. Foreshadowing—”

“I know of the skill. Some of the Weaveresses are Diviners by Path… Here: Cherished Sister. Tech-0002… Yunni Havata… Oh, Composer… She’s the Spatio-Dynamancy Director for all teleportation anchors in the restricted sections.”

“And she has one son, right?”

“How did you know—oh. Oh. Yes.” Uva bit back a frustrated growl. “Shiv. I pray that you are wrong. I pray that this is a false alarm and your skill has confused you somehow. I pray for all these things, but I am going to bring this to my Weaveress—and ask her to assemble a few Shadow Cells in response.” She sighed. “I cannot tell if you’re blessed by luck or cursed with misfortune with all the problems you’re encountering.”

Shiv chuckled. “I was thinking the same thing earlier. I’ll make you dessert later as an apology.”

“Better make it good, surfacer. I’m also getting you and the other one’s items ready. You’re lucky I haven’t left on patrol yet—we might be able to get both of you armed… Well, we might be able to get the Young Lord armed if things go poorly. And you said you saw another raven in your vision?”

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“Crows too.”

“Then, I’ll need to inform the Weaveresses of Trapdoor as well—counterintelligence needs to know that we might have a New Albion problem on our hands.”

“I should have expected it to be them,”

“Mine?” Shiv.

“And the idiot’s,” Valor added. Adam’s face contorted in offense. “The Young Fool came in with one of the ravens. You were attacked by them. Funding Vicar Sullain’s attempt at another war is exactly the type of thing New Albion might do.”

Great. Spies. Deception. More ravens. “Hope this doesn’t end with me being thrown even deeper into the Abyss,” Shiv muttered. “At least I can probably survive the fall now.”

Yunni Havata summoned a demon and climbed aboard. A few Umbrals went with her. Shiv winced as he considered his options. If he and Adam got aboard, that just might spook her—she might seem oblivious right now, but she couldn’t miss two surfacers sitting near her.

“Well, we’re not getting on that. She’ll see us.” Adam studied the scene, his expression turning focused.

“Yeah,” Shiv replied. “Or maybe if we do spook her, it might end the operation. And then Uva and the others can detain her.”

“Curb your optimism,” Valor said with a note of severity. “New Albion always has plans within plans. It’s more likely if you cut this string, another will be pulled and the same outcome will play out. No. If we want to stop this, we must target and eliminate this cell at its roots. Which means uncovering exactly what she means to do, and how she seeks to do it.”

“I guess we’re not getting on that demon, then,” Shiv muttered. “We need another way of following her.”

“I got a way,” Adam said.

“You do?” Shiv asked, surprised.

“Yeah.” And the Young Lord displayed his idea by manifesting the fiery wings of a hawk on his back. Shiv blinked. Adam grinned. “What? You don’t have this skill? It’s very convenient. It lets me dash around—and even fly if I use it right.”

Shiv tried not to let his envy show. “How did you even get that?”

“Reflexes. Level that enough, and you’ll be surprised about what you’ll be able to achieve. I can follow her from a distance—pretend I’m sightseeing and all that. You should go to Passage first and try to get ahead. Intercept her there if something goes wrong. It’ll give us multiple chances to stop this if I lose her or for me to pin her down if something goes wrong on your end too.”

For a moment, Shiv said nothing. He just stared at Adam.

“What?”

“I didn’t realize you were capable of that,” Shiv said, blinking.

“Capable of what?” Adam asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Thinking things through.”

The Young Lord sneered. “You’re a bastard, Shiv.”

“No, I’m not mocking you. It’s… It’s a good idea. We can even stay in contact through the brooches.”

“Yes,” Adam muttered to himself. “I came up with a good plan. It’s almost like I was at an academy for this sort of thing, and was chosen as Team, Lance, Company, and Force Leader for each year of the annual War Games while I was at Phoenix.”

Shiv blinked. “Sounds impressive. I wish I was there to see that.”

The Young Lord opened his mouth to give a retort, but realized Shiv was being genuine. “Well… You might still see me in action yet. And not taken by surprise this time. If there are more of those tainted raven-faced bastards, then I want my pound of flesh as well.”

“Right,” Shiv said. He started looking around for another prismatic crystal—and realized he never summoned a demon before. It might take a bit too long fiddling around to learn how. Yunni’s demon was already carrying her into the air… Time to do something creative.

“Why?” Adam asked, more curious than suspicious.

“Because I’m going to ask how far you think you can throw me next. The demons are still constrained by traffic rules and stuff. Maybe you can give a lift and vent some of that anger you got about me in the same moment.”

Silver Tongue > 3

The Young Lord quirked an eyebrow.

***

“You sure you can throw me that far?” Shiv said, clutching Valor tight. He didn’t want to drop his friend down somewhere onto the many streets, bridges, and alleys below. The problem with a big city was that there were a lot of places to get lost in. “Because… that’s over a kilometer away. I think.”

“Two and a half.” Adam smirked. The Young Lord’s wings were trailing fire through the air, and the locals were pointing and gawking at them everywhere. They took a parallel route to Yunni’s demon, pretending they were sightseeing. And they were, in a sense. It was just going to end with one of them throwing the other. It felt a bit weird letting Adam hold him like he was a newborn kitten, but Shiv put up with it. I just hope there aren’t any people with a high Painting or Illustration Skill. It would kill my heart to see this moment immortalized.

“Alright, I think we’re close enough now,” Adam said, eyeing a large demon-summoning platform that overlooked the lower levels of Passage. The plan was to chuck Shiv over there first—and for him to jump down thereafter. It was going to hurt a bit, but overall, it seemed like a pretty good deal. “Hey, Shiv.”

“Yeah?”

A burst of fire flashed out from the Young Lord’s wings as both acceleration and elevation began to climb.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yeah? Why? Are you doubting your throwing arm? Cramping up now?”

The Young Lord scoffed. “Well, you’re no coward.”

“You’re getting dangerously close to a compliment, Adam. Just chuck me. I’ll be fine.”

Adam drew in a breath. “My mother had that skill too. Foreshadowing.”

Shiv looked up at the other surfacer. That was why Adam was so bothered. “Ah. I’m sorry. Can’t feel good seeing something she had manifest in someone like me.”

“No. I—you’re not like them. You were right.” Adam’s begrudging admission hit Shiv like a punch to the jaw.

He wasn’t expecting this from the Young Lord. And judging from the pained expression on Adam’s face, he wasn’t expecting himself to say it either.

“Alright. Put us both out of our miseries,” Shiv said. “Throw me before you actually start feeling affectionate.”

Adam barked a disbelieving laugh. “Yeah. Like that’ll ever happen.” And then, as he drew his arm back, he flapped his wings a final time, and a blast of speed accompanied his throw. A sudden surge of velocity pulled at Shiv’s insides as the world blurred around him. Demons, halted in traffic, zipped by below Shiv while people pointed up to note his passing. The wind felt nice against his body, whistling his approach to the target destination with wailing notes.

As Shiv sailed through the air, he wondered how far he could throw Adam. Shiv was pretty strong now too. Relative to before, at least. He didn’t think the Young Master’s Physicality was truly past the Adept Threshold yet, but between his wings and the height… and his accuracy. Shiv was dead-on approach for the platform. In fact, he was going to strike the center at a spiking angle.

He tucked in and braced, holding Valor close. He crashed into the platform like a round of artillery. The ground burst into fragments of stone, and several Umbrals making a slow approach jumped back in fright. Shiv felt his right arm and shoulder bruise, but beyond that, he felt perfectly fine. System, thank you for Diamond Shell. Without that skill, his insides would have suffered some serious damage. At the least.

“We’ve landed?” Valor asked.

Shiv waved at the surprised Umbrals, still recovering from his sudden appearance. And then, he was running toward the edge, preparing to jump again. “Only on the first platform. Adam’s got a damn good throw.” Not a surprise considering who his father was. Legend had it that Roland Arrow never missed a shot. Shiv could believe those legends, and Adam was, for most purposes, a lesser version of his father.

As Shiv leaped over the edge, he heard one of the Umbrals behind him call out—telling him to think things through. He just laughed. They thought he was doing something drastic—and that death could contain him. Wrong on both accounts. Once more, Shiv was falling, and he was surprised to discover how used to falling he was by now. Comfortable enough to have a conversation with Valor. “Hey, Valor, what do you know about New Albion? Why do you think them doing this now has something to do with me? Foreshadowing showed me her planning this for months in advance.”

“Because New Albion has plans within plans and connections everywhere. Her preparations were made in advance, but the orders could have come just days before. You learn that most major events usually have the groundwork laid years in advance. When the actual moment comes, it is not truly spontaneous, but the collision of many variables long since set into motion—and spurred to a final burst of acceleration.”

The ground was fast approaching. Shiv aimed for a patch of grass and soil by the side. He missed and made a crater in the stones beside it. “Adam Arrow I am not,” he coughed, crawling out from the small depression he left. Several Umbrals and spiderfolk reacted to his presence with alarm. A few of them were talking into their brooches. Good. Shiv was looking for them. “You,” he said, pointing at a Weaveress.

She jolted with fear and pointed at herself. “Me?”

“Bring me to security. They should be expecting my arrival.” He looked around at all the people entering and leaving Passage and winced. “And maybe set up a quarantine too. You’re about to have a serious problem.”