12 Miles Below

Book 4. Chapter 46: The True Forge

He didn’t take to losing nicely. My unhinged cackling probably didn’t help. “How’s it hanging now, you rat fuck?”

Watching the bastard fall into the abyss was probably one of the most satisfying moments in my short life. Now I was finally on the other side of this, for once. Even better, the modified gravity slowed the fall down so that we could all properly appreciate the drop from grace.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you lose your grip on the situation?” I called out.

“Dear, maybe the bar was set a bit too high and out of reach?” Cathida joined in, because of course she would. “Poor Feather, falling short like that.”

Best he could do was insult me on the way down. The traditional thing for a Feather. Of which, we were both gleefully beating him to the punch. But Avalis was pragmatic. If he couldn't win, then the second-best option was to make sure everyone else loses.

He reached with a hand down to his side, and unhooked a familiar black cylinder. Round number three. The last of his stolen rounds.

I stopped laughing straightaway.

Hanging for dear life, off a groaning bar of metal, this wasn’t the best place to dodge a Feather throwing a knightbreaker at my face. If anything, this was the single worst thing possible. “Motherfucker, can’t you just give up?!”

“No.” He hissed, then wound his arm back.

Had to think fast. I grabbed blindly for anything I could wrap a hand around, Journey’s armored hand clenching one of the cabinet drawers bolted down above me. The thin metal dented under the relic armor’s powered fingers.

That’ll do. I ripped the whole thing out.

Falling into the abyss, Avalis launched the knightbreaker round as his final parting gift. It flew through the air, howling, and utterly on target. Directly at one completely exposed human knight, in the process of throwing a ripped off cabinet drawer directly back.

Not my finest idea. Or dignified. But so long as I was the one left laughing this time while he’s the one falling down cliffs, I’ll call the plan a success.

The ruined metal drawer collided with the round midway through the air, which was enough to trigger the knightbreaker chains. They exploded out, wrapping around the dented ruined metal filing equipment, cutting it into ribbons, forcing the parts to spin up into a cloud of metal debris.

The whole thing started to spin ary, off target. It got dangerously close to me, one of the chains slashing through a nearby strut.

Then, the chain stopped glowing, cut off power, and the round began to fall back down. Gravity pulled it, along with the ruined pieces of the cabinet, down where it slammed into catwalks of different types, bouncing off and falling further into the dark.

Avalis slammed through a few catwalks of his own, ripping across multiple before one could sustain his weight and inertia. From there, he scrambled back onto his feet, violet eyes glaring up directly at me.

There was only one appropriate response to this. “At the end of your chain now too, Avalis?” I cackled.

Avalis wasn’t happy. “This doesn’t change anything.” He hissed, voice clear over the comms. “A temporary stay of execution. I’ll be back, and I’ll bring an army with me.”

“You’re the worst type of ex, you know.” I shouted back. “Even if you try crawling back, it’s over between us. It’s not you, it’s - actually, no, I take that back. It’s definitely you.”

Cathida consoled me, voice tender. “Don’t worry, deary, we’ll find you a nice imperial girl to be sweet on. With less metal in her. And murderous tendencies.”

Avalis grabbed the handrails next to him and ripped it out with a roar. Then threw it as hard as he could in my direction. By the time the bent piece of metal actually hit me, it was going slow enough Journey didn’t bother triggering shields. The bar bounced right off my armor, falling down into the abyss.

Realizing the futility, he gave one last snarl, shook his head with a deeper breath, then stared back at me, gaze going cold.

I gave him my favorite finger again, but besides a twitching eye, I didn’t get much else out of him before he turned on himself and stalked down the ruined catwalk. Making his way to the next skyscraper nearby.

“He’s not out of your hair yet.” Cathida said. “The silver scraphead wasn’t lying about that. Fell down a long way, but he’s the persistent type.”

“I know.” I said, lifting myself back up. Once I was on solid enough ground, against things more bolted to sturdy concrete, it was a lot better. Lot of handholds for me to slowly climb my way back up. “And given my luck, I’m not holding my breath that Kidra and the others will arrive before he does. The rest of his machines aren’t here, so they have to be all out there looking to pick a fight and bog down my backup. But that’s fine. The main objective is what I’m after.”

“Wrath.” Father said, realizing my main plan.

“Yep. I’m sticking her into the mite forge, and holding the ground. If I’m extra lucky, she’s repaired before Avalis gets back up here. If I’m not, I’ll have to buy the time until either she’s fixed or Kidra arrives. Regardless, I don’t need to lug around a sack behind me. No offense Wrath.”

None taken. She said as I jumped up and grabbed hold of the bathroom wall, the bits that were still holding together. I would appreciate having my shell restored. However, you should only have the basics repaired, and then retreat back to the temple.

“Not really an option anymore if you think about it.” I said, making my way past the ruined bathroom. “Kidra and her knights are a full drop below us. I’m not leaving her behind. By the time they get back up here, things would be wrapped up.”

“His shell must be destroyed.” Father said. “You will find no safety otherwise.”

“Hard way it is then.” Cathida sighed.

I climbed up the last bits of rubble, my hand reaching up into the light, dragging myself up and out of the hole I’d fallen into. Outside, the skyscraper’s glass walls were still intact, although had a lot of cracks. Roots and vines had grown through, making a dry moss surface filled with brambles and occasional black glass. Good enough to stand on.

A light drizzle was coming down, watering the entire place. All of that came from the temple above, where the whirlpool frothed away, pouring water breaking apart into droplets scattering all across the zone. By the time it reached the broken skyscraper bridge I stood on, it was mere mist.

Ahead was where the mite forge had landed. We’d gone through hell to get here, but what lay before me was hardly as epic as I’d expected it to be.

I was right about it not having sunk through the skyscraper. Oh it had certainly flattened a good chunk of the tower, but whatever spine was still holding this whole thing together, a few thousand extra pounds may as well be an extra bullet in the airspeeder cargo.

“That’s a mite forge?” I asked. Then looked up, just to confirm the top of the temple was directly above. It was. Three gods above, we actually made it here somehow.

“If that’s your forge, you picked a runt.” Cathida said. “Last one I saw was the size of a cathedral.”

“Don’t ruin this moment for me, you cranky old bat. Please. Swear to the gods I’ll make the mute button be the default setting.”

Mite forges have various appearances. Wrath said. This one is a more powerful models. It is specialized in small scale precise constructions, exactly what we need. Please inform the engram her worries are unfounded.

“It looks more like a tilted rock archway than some mythical mite construction.” She said, watching. Just rocks and fancy doodles. More rock than arch, and the opening was just a little taller than I was. Nearby computer monitors from the skyscraper had been dragged over and piled up all around it. There were even trail marks left behind some of the heavier screens, so those had to have been pulled to it somehow. How? No idea. Looked more like a hoarder’s mess than anything.

Parts of the temple were still there, including steps that led up to the thing. I took my own step to the edge of the crater it had caused from its fall, then jumped down.

Small hop, slower than it should have been due to the altered gravity here. The moment I landed, the rock made it clear it wasn’t a rock.

All the lines around the archway began to glow occult blue. The center arch warped, light bending, showing a distorted image of the skyscraper rubble behind.

All the screens around it lit to life. And all of them had a single flashing question.

>Offer: Full Repair. (Chassis: Feather - Generation 14.)

>Payment Required: Fabric Sack. (Quantity: 1). Homo Sapien Blood Sample. (Quantity: 3oz.)

“Is it… asking for my blood?”

“And the sack the silver bimbo’s riding in.” Cathida said. “It’s a great deal. Last time I met one of these, they asked my Legatus for several tons of materials. Took my team a week to get it all together.”

Not like I wasn’t going to accept. I took a step forward, boot connecting onto the temple ground connected to the forge. Closer to the rift at the center of the archway. “How do I initiate the rest?”

As if the forge heard me, occult pulsed across it again, and a nightmare stepped out of the portal.

Stepped out wasn’t the right word for it in hindsight. More like a few dozen insect-like metal hands sprouted out of the portal, reaching for me. And kept reaching, more arms and joints just constantly pouring through the portal with no end.

I admit, there might have been some light dignified screaming. The forge didn’t care, arms still reaching out for the sack, which was still behind me.

A few more steps back, I gathered my thoughts together. Calm. This wasn’t a machine like the ones following Relinquished. This was a far more ancient force, outside her control. I took a few more breaths, then undid the straps on Wrath’s sack, holding it up to the grabbing mess of claws.

“What are they going to do to you exactly?” I asked her, as they began to bite the sack, each claw clamping down on fabric and holding tight.

The majority of this forge’s processes are behind the gateway. I suspect it will drag me to the other side for repairs. Once there, I should be safe. If possible, I will attempt to commune with the mite collective, if this forge has a direct connection.

Kind of dawned on me then and there, that I’d fulfilled the mission. Wrath was where she was supposed to be. Took a journey of a few hundred miles, fighting off a machine army and three gods damned Feathers, but we’d made it. Avalis had tried his best and I’d won.

End of the road.

“Are you.. going to be okay with this?” I mean, I knew she was. She clearly knew enough about this. But there were a few dozen creepy straw-like arms all grabbing hold of the sack.

They began to tug up. More and more arms grabbing, obscuring the sack under the metal mess, becoming more like spiderwebs wrapping around from all sides.

I will. Stay alive, I will return soon. If I can bargain with the mites, I will see if they can offer me improvements. I’ve learned a few things from Tamery and your sister on how to demand things properly. If anything, I’ll see if they can generate some additional straps, to replace the ones I owe you.

“Good. Don’t let them bully you into agreeing to a fair trade. Squeeze them for everything you got.”

I let go. The arms all pulled her back through the distorted archway, and she vanished from sight.

Two arms returned, one holding a white pad of gauze and the other a small scalpel. They came closer and closer to me, waggling the tools in front of me. “Yeah, yeah. Calm down you bloodsuckers, I’ve got to take off my gauntlets first.”

A moment later, I was exposing my free hand and lifting it to the forge. The scalpel darted down on my arm, giving a quick cut. The white gauze slid across the red cut, staining the cloth. Both arms zipped backwards, sucked back into the portal. Everything went still.

"That's it?" I asked.

All the screens blinked. A new message, repeated on each.

> Payment accepted.

> Processing. (ETA: 1 hour, 12 minutes.)

One hour might as well be a lifetime to wait for me. Avalis was coming for me, and I wasn’t going to be anywhere near strong enough. He’d seen every cheat I had on hand, and he’d survived it all.

I laughed. Couldn’t help it really, the situation just got to me all at once. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to make it all the way from the start. Getting here, despite everything and fulfilling my part in bringing Wrath to the mites, that felt significant enough.

But damn it all, I still wanted to live through all this somehow. I didn’t want to end up a disembodied soul hiding in a pendant for Wrath to pick up after she was done breaking Avalis.

A beat passed, and then raw fury ran through my veins. “No, I’m not dying here.” I hissed. “And I’m not done either.”

A mythical forge stood silent before me. Capable of creating anything I could think of. Rifles, weapons, explosives, even relic armors. And given the price it had asked for Wrath, I think this forge wanted to help.

I just needed to ask it for the right things.

I gently let go of the tendril keeping Father and I connected in the soul trance. “What are you doing, boy?" He snapped out, instantly alert. "If you don’t have me at your side, you can’t see fatal strikes before they hit.”

“He’s bound to figure out how that works, if he hasn’t already.” I said. “He has enough data. And he’s not stupid either. I can’t rely on you for this. I can’t rely on Cathida either. I know he’s done his due diligence, if I bring her out, he’ll have me frozen in my armor reusing To’Aacar’s own counter. And I know for sure I’m not going to be enough by myself.”

“Any advantage is worth keeping. Quit with this madness, and focus." he said, voice sounding small and metalic now from the little speaker inside. "You should be using this time to prepare for the enemy and lay traps.”

“That's exactly what I plan to do.” I took a step forward, and unhooked Father’s pendant, holding it in my hand. Then lifted the pendent, offering it to the forge.

Once more the screens lit up.

> Query.

“I want my Father back.”

The screens went black.

Then text filled in.

>Offer: Possessed Discontinued CAT Full Body Suit. (Chassis: Heavy Excavator Unit. Modifications by User: URS.) (Quantity: 1)

>Medieval European Two-handed Replica Sword. (Modification by User: URS.) (Quantity: 2)

>Payment Required: Human Fractal Echo. (Quantity: 1).

“That’s more like it.” I said, figuring the gibberish meant relic armor. The mite forge seemed to agree, this time sending one creepy metal hand complete with palm and five fingers, snapping shut on Father’s pendant. It held for a moment, then pulled it out of my hands and through the gateway.

> Payment accepted.

> Processing. (ETA: 27 minutes.)

I could probably buy myself a half hour, depending on if Avalis stopped to gloat about things and how long I could get him to talk. “Journey, put up a timer for twenty seven minutes.”

It beeped, the numbers appearing on the top right of my HUD.

I turned back to the silent forge before me. “I didn’t say I was done.”

> Query.

“I want a weapon that can kill gods.”

The screens went black. Only a flashing underscore was left. Blinking, white and black.

Then text filled the screen.

Next chapter - A weapon like no other josei