12 Miles Below

He’d fallen here somewhere. She knew the mite structure before her would be a portal, but as all mite technology, she didn’t know how to operate it. Or if it was even operational. Perhaps the massive monument was a red herring, a distraction. And what she searched for was a smaller subsection, or hidden doorway?

The airspeeder had been reported to have passed through here. Last it was sighted, it had destroyed one of the onyx pillars, and fallen down into the lower strata under. Flying there had been trivial.

Tenisent had met her right before the entryway down into that strata. Around him, the Winterscar knights remained stoic, prepared. The few Deathless that had survived the fight stayed seated in a huddle, all power cells stripped from their armors, making the once powerful protective suit a temporary prison. It had been another route, without a single casualty on the Winterscar side. This time, the Deathless had quickly given up once they realized their leader was gone, and their veteran was finally defeated by Tenisent’s unrelenting assault. For all his power, skills and centuries of experience - Tenisent was still in control of a Feather without any of the mental blindspots her kind were crippled from, all the powers of the occult his son had discovered, and every school of combat mastered from the surface clans.

That the old Deathless had even managed to survive for more than three minutes of combat against Tenisent was already credit to his kind. To’Wrathh would have appreciated studying the tricks, gear and techniques she’d seen him wield. Any other day.

Today, she wanted only one thing. Her human back.

“There is a known teleport gate.” Lionheart had told them, at swordpoint, hands raised slightly by his head. His gear remained confiscated, along with parts of his armor strewn around the taken loot. The old Deathless still didn’t seem threatened by the possibility of death of course. Threatening him with a sword had been purely on reflex from her end. He clearly got the message from the moment she said her first questions.

He could have resisted. Lied. Or otherwise misled his captors. It wouldn’t have worked, To’Wrathh had every single possible subroutine running to catch any lie or possible mislead.

Fortunately, it seemed he didn’t harbor any ill will to surface dwellers. Especially not ones he considered newly minted Deathless. She let Tenisent handle the fanaticism part of his speeches, those were beyond her care. All she needed to know was where her human had gone off to.

“Regrettably, we don’t know where it leads.” The Deathless had said with a slow shrug when she’d asked him. “I do mean that. Drakonis had potential, and your leader was highly capable as a warrior. I am certain they are still alive and will find a way home, but I am less certain we will see them again within this century. The world is vast. You’ll find him again soon enough, young lady.”

“You knew of this before. It’s been documented by the Undersiders?” She asked.

He nodded. “Locals within the area gave us information on the map here. I am not personally involved with that section of the strata, I cannot confirm any of the information we were given. But as far as we knew, nothing that passed through that gate could return. I’ve been on the lower stratas before, gates are well known. But this one is more unique. Its control tower has never been found by any expedition, and it slowly moves across the land. Drakonis gambled that he’d die on the airspeeder, returning to life either on the second or first strata with us, while the rest of the boarding party on the airspeeder plummets into the portal.”

“Reckless.” Tenisent hissed, voice cold. The fury layered down deep.

“I told him as such. But I am an advisor, and mentor.” Lionheart said, moving slightly back when To’Wrathh’s sword tip 'accidentally' moved a few inches closer. “I can only attempt to help the younger generation, and guide them to a better reasoning. Drakonis and those who follow him are still young, and the young have their own sense of recklessness. Sometimes, the only teacher they understand is experience. Wisdom is the privilege of the experienced.”

She left after that, having her answers relayed through Tenisent over comms. She even opened up her address on the digital sea, so that he could communicate to her more easily through Yrob or other machines. Staying hidden from To’Avalis seemed like such a removed priority to her, now that Keith was missing.

But the mite structure remained dead. The massive hole at the center of the starfish empty of everything except the rock floor at the bottom. No lights around it. No portal active. No sign of any of the broken black glass that should have littered the bottom floor here, and no sign of the airspeeder that had carried off her human.

She landed back on the edge again with a flash of wings, feet slamming down hard on the surface. Then she began to pace around, biting her thumb in thought. She had options. There was a solution to all this.

She was an apostate of the mites in the end. Working with them. Or rather, paying off her debt to them. So perhaps not quite a true ally, more a debtor.

Maybe they were far more opportunistic than she gave them credit for. Had they seen a chance to steal away the one person who mattered most to her, so that she would come back to their table a second time, for another bargain? To end up more in debt to them?

She bit through her false nail by accident. So she shifted to the other hand and let the damage be repaired with her nanoswarms. There were no Deathless here to watch. Even machines didn’t sulk around the giant monuments of mites like these. Tenisent and the other Winterscars couldn’t follow her here, she’d need to carry them down or up.

She was alone and could do whatever she pleased. Free. And yet she felt no peace from that whatsoever.

There wasn’t a choice in the end, was there? She let go of her thumb, then jumped up and let her wings take flight, flowing through the air until she found a small entry into the giant monument. The entire structure was littered with tunnels of all kinds, some leading nowhere and others just one direct path from one side to the other side. But a few would lead deeper into the structure, where terminals and circuitry remained.

It was trivial to find an entrypoint location into the digital sea, and she opened her eyes into the direct server this structure resided within. She’d find the mites. And she’d trade whatever they wanted if they could turn the portal back online - and back to the original endpoint.

She’d been neck deep in trying to brute force the entire system here to restart, or to find a way to contact the mites directly without having to cross the mite seabed itself. Last time, she’d almost fried her system in the attempt.

A ping came from the machine network, from one of the pale lady’s digital spies. But it held no credentials from the lady herself, an independent actor. Perhaps requesting assistance for something, or here to ask what a Feather was doing sulking about a mite server.

She didn’t have time for it, so she sent a quick refusal and continued her work breaking apart the mite structure from the inside out, searching for how to turn it all back on. Internally screaming with rage every time it refused to operate. If it wasn't so critical in the first place, she'd have torn it into pieces by now.

And then the unity fractal flared to life within her chassis, and a giant pale hand reached through, grabbing her avatar and ripping her from the server, the seafloor and up into the currents away.

The pale lady had summoned her. The thought terrified To’Wrathh, and simultaneously infuriated her. She didn’t have time for this. Not while Keith was out there somewhere, likely getting himself killed or pissing off the local Feather in command. Somehow. It hadn’t even been a day, but she’d already vowed never to underestimate Winterscars ever again.

Finding the local feather ruling that sector and pissing it off within a single day was absolutely possible for Keith Winterscar.

She had to deal with the pale lady fast, and get back to searching. The white expanse filled her vision when she landed within the machine territory.

Mother’s favorite. A mindless space where no other detail existed besides herself, her throne, and her subjects.

Here, there were only two others. Mother herself, on her usual throne, staring down at her subjects. And one other Feather.

To’Avalis stared back. Or rather, the body of To’Aacar, in even further disrepair from the last time she’d seen it. Had he been in battle before his new shell was recovered? Marks of an explosion of some kind, half shielded against but the remaining damage clearly had sunk through. His other eye was out of commission again.

But that was irrelevant. He was here, in front of the pale lady. And she’d been brought here without any preamble.

Had he screwed her over already? Found a way to rat her out without being destroyed himself in the process?

“To’Aacar.” She greeted him neutrally. Before the pale lady, he was not To’Avalis. Acknowledging him as if he were To’Aacar was an implicit cease-fire request, and an implicit request to see if things were still as they were before.

The enemy Feather narrowed the one working eye, but gave a strained nod back. “Little sister.” He said with all the same sneer that To’Aacar had in his past. Agreement then. The pact between them when it came to Mother was still in place.

And if To’Avalis was still willing to work with an enemy for his greater goals, that meant the current situation wasn’t unresolvable. There’s a way out, and both of them were willing to work together to escape the pale lady’s sight. Grudgingly.

“Mother, you requested me?” To’Wrathh began, taking a deep bow and kneeling before the Pale Lady. Keeping things neutral.

First she had to figure out why she’d been brought. And why To’Avalis was here as well.

Relinquished didn’t answer. Instead she tilted her head, observing the two feathers. Silence remained like a heavy blanket on them both.

She flickered an eye to To’Avalis, and he gave her a flat stare back. No help from him then. Fine. She’d wait until mother decided the dramatic pause had gone long enough.

“Do you know what makes a second generation Feather?” Relinquished finally asked.

A trick question? They’d been built from the ground up to eliminate the protofeathers. Assassins, duelists, and mentally crippled so that they could never rebel against the machine empire. Only their quantity allowed them to match the protofeathers. All other Feathers followed that same mold after, though likely modified to be more effective against Deathless rather than Protofeathers.

Of course, that couldn’t be said. “After Abiddiction’s defeat at the hands of the human empire, they were forged to avenge him.” To’Wrathh said. “They succeeded in that task.”

Relinquished hummed. “They are older, wiser, and have fulfilled their original purpose. That was five hundred years prior. Abdication was the first and greatest of your kind. But, it is expensive to create such a perfect shell. The second generation and every other since have a far more simple and affordable chassis and programming. You’ve all served me loyally and without pause.” She turned to To’Avalis, an eyebrow raising. “But, rust builds on tools that wallow in disuse. My dear child, To’Aacar, did you think your centuries of service grants you privileges? Allowances? Do you believe your pride to supersede my commands?”

Relinquished turned to To’Wrathh. “I have called you both here, for a reason.” A hand flicked to To’Avalis. “This one here has displeased me greatly. Do you know what he’s done, little To’Wrathh?”

A question. And she had little to no information to work with. But there was a direct source of information here. To’Wrathh flared out a quick overclock, then sent the other feather a direct data packet: “Inform me of the situation. Now.”

“No.” He sent back. “Squirm like an insect.”

That… was a different speech pattern from what she’d known To’Avalis as. It felt more like… like her elder brother had been. Is inhabiting his destroyed chassis causing personality bleed within To’Avalis? Was that possible?

“I see you are as helpful as my prior mentor was.” She sent back, probing. “It did not do him any favors in escaping his ultimate fate, I will remind you.”

“Your late mentor was a prideful fossil with too much time on his hands. I am neither.”

Ah, that was more like To’Avalis. She felt relief for a moment. To’Aacar could not be reasoned with. To’Avalis could be.

As for the situation, of course he wouldn’t assist here. There was still a limit to how far the two could cooperate. Any chance for To’Wrathh to stumble and reveal her secrets first was exactly what he’d hope for most. She would need to be cautious for now, and avoid any potential pitfalls.

The overclock ceased, and she turned her attention back to the pale lady. Relinquished looked down at her with a stare that would have frozen her blood if she had any. There was something… malevolent in that gaze.

“No, mother. I am unaware of any change in the situation.”

The goddess smiled. “I had thought you were more clever than that, my little To’Wrathh. The new rising star among my instruments. Take another guess, do not disappoint me.”

To’Wrathh felt her virtual skin crawl. The lady was testing her tactical awareness and abilities. Failure would mean falling from grace. She couldn’t afford that right now.

Her eyes shifted to To’Avalis, and he stared back at her, gaze purposefully empty. She overclocked her system again, buying herself a few microseconds to process.

To’Avalis had done something, that involved herself and had caught the attention of the pale lady along with her ire. It was unlikely that he’d been here willingly, and unlikely that she’d been summoned here as part of his request. Rather, more likely he’d been grabbed the same way she had, and both were on trial before the pale lady’s whims.

She had mentioned he’d believed himself above her command.

If that was the case then…He must have broken her original order of leaving To’Wrathh’s plans untouched. And he’d done so in a way that went noticed.

An intentional ploy to get her back under Mother’s gaze?

Again, unlikely. To’Avalis was as terrified of the pale lady as she was. Intentionally drawing the attention of the goddess was a fool’s gambit. But she hadn’t exhausted all her options.

She sent To’Avalis a direct one to one connection again, insistent: “What did you do?” She hissed through the link.

“What will you give me in return for that information?” He replied.

The audacity of that pile of half-dead scrap, To’Wrathh seethed. “Are you really in any position to request that?” She sent back.

“Answering if I am or am not would give you free information to work with. So I will not, unless I have something to gain from it.”

That bastard couldn’t just give up and accept defeat. But she could guess at what he wanted most right now: To not be here. “Very well. I will request leniency from the pale lady for whatever transgression you’ve committed, if it is within my power.”

A lopsided trade, he could have done something that would have ended his life, and this was all a drawn out judgment for mother’s entertainment. But right now, she wanted out and to get back to searching for her stupid human before he could do something more stupid and get himself killed by doing something even more stupid.

“This is acceptable.” The enemy answered.

A data package returned the same moment. And the contents brought her absolute fury.

“You thief!” She screeched at him inside the hidden channel, feeling powerless.

That message had belonged to her. It had been sent to her from her human. That it had been intercepted by To’Avalis felt as if he’d stolen her property. Her eyes twitched with barely contained anger at the thought. She wanted to strangle him. But she couldn’t strangle him here. She couldn’t even spit on him. Cathida’s long list of insults simply didn’t feel enough for the occasion either. This was unacceptable.

Finding the next best option, she sent him a fully animated drawing of her strangling the life out of him.

“Interesting response.” He answered back. “Your time with the humans has warped you far more than expected.”

She sent him another image, this one of him dressed as a tiny cockroach getting squashed under her heel in answer. Painfully. She made sure the drawing had her grinding down her heel hard where she’d stomped him.

“Your anger reflects poorly on your mental alacrity. Spying on possible communications arriving at my enemy’s gate is the most basic of all tenants at war.” To’Avalis answered dryly. “You did open up your general address. Did you expect I wouldn’t notice?”

He sent back an animated slideshow of standard military doctrine, basic examples and introduction to strategic thinking.

All drawn in a crayon filter, as if it were made for a toddler.

“You adapt quickly.” To’Wrathh commented, silently deciding to take that idea and save it for later use.

“Of course I would. I am not a defective pile of scrap.” He said.

She sent him back a picture of his current digital self, standing there glaring back at her. Without any embellishments or additions.

She didn’t think there needed to be arrows pointing to all the ruins of his chassis and how much of his shell was functionally walking scrap that had clearly mishandled some explosion. “Did you go hug a mine for emotional support after being the first feather in history that lost his own shell to a human of all enemies? Pathetic.” She said, channeling the best impression she had of To’Aacar.

“A temporary setback.” He huffed. “To’Orda shielded me from the blunt of the damage incurred. The advantages of having subordinates I can both rely on and know where they are. Perhaps you should take inspiration.”

She sent back an image of Keith deciding which part of his currently ruined shell could be best used as a trophy, while Tenisent decorated his stolen chassis with warpaint and human victory decorations. She was in the back, eating cake at her leisure.

To’Avalis closed the connection. So by Winterscar definition, that meant she’d won.

Overclocks lifted, and she turned to the pale lady. “There are only a few possible decisions To’Aacar could have made to draw both your ire, and myself to the same hearing. He has been caught not only attempting to spy on my actions, but meddle in such ways as to undermine my current mission in handling the Winterscar Deathless. I would like to request more information on the depth of that breach.”

Mother smiled. “That is correct. As resourceful as I had expected you to be.” Relinquished said, then turned to To’Avalis and waved a lazy hand in his direction. “Inform your sister what you’ve taken.”

The ruined features on To’Avalis didn’t move a centimeter. Until he turned to face Relinquished, where he made a show of a deep grimace, like a child being forced to open their hand and reveal a stolen treat.

“... as my lady wishes.” He said, saying it with the same cadence that To’Aacar had done before. The voice was utterly eerie.

A public comms request came. The same message she’d seen a moment before appeared before To’Wrathh, a simple data packet: “Wrath. Let’s settle this once and for all. You know where to find me.” Attached were coordinates. Far across the world from where she was.

“This lost little child of mine has grown unruly, and old age has made him forget certain rules.” The pale lady spoke. “It seems, a grudge is not so easily ignored, not even under my direct command. From my second generation feathers, I expected such single minded focus, and so I had him under watch. My dear To’Aacar, blinded by failure, scheming in the shadows. You will do as a demonstration to your little sister of what happens when my instruments believe themselves above my order.”

Her hand rose with all the effort of a whim. To’Avalis froze, then collapsed into the ground, a puppet with strings cut.

Had… had she just killed him?

A moment later, life seemed to return to his eyes, but not coordination. Spasms racked through the ruined shell, before it settled down. The one remaining eye still working blinked a few times, focusing.

“Beg for your life.” Relinquished commanded. “Make it interesting.”

His remaining eye turned to stare down To’Wrathh. Expecting.

She ground her teeth, but a deal was a deal. “If I may, mother...”

Relinquished turned and raised an eyebrow. “How embarrassing for you, To’Aacar, to have a fledgling speak in your defense. But go ahead, little one. Speak your peace for your elder brother. I am curious to hear.”

“My… elder brother…” She grit her teeth again, hating every moment. “...should have some leniency granted. I understand the loss of pride that comes with being outdone by a monkey. Perhaps, this was a bout of mania, and a few years of confinement would be enough?”

The pale lady smiled. “Perhaps. But that would be such a waste of his talents, would it not? I would rather the penance be served in such a way as to not be wasted.”

She’d left To’Orda sealed within a mite containment cube for a good few decades as far as To’Wrathh knew, when she’d looked into the history of her opponents. The pale lady couldn’t care any less than she already did when it came to making full use of her army.

“I… have a… suggestion.” To’Avalis rose, voice filled with warbled pain that was rapidly fading back under his control.

“Bold of you to assume I would entertain even that.” Relinquished answered.

“Only the bold win, my lady.” He replied.

The pale lady hummed. “Go on then.”

To’Avalis didn’t hesitate. And what came out of his mouth made To’Wrathh nearly short circuit. “My dear little sister's scheme is as subtle as a hammer. She's overlooked a rather important detail, one that even those apes should have noticed. We are Feathers. The idea that any of us would simply ignore defeat, let alone the destruction of one of our own… is absurd. If To'Wrathh alone pursues this vendetta, even an insect will smell the stench of deception.”

He paused, ruined lip intentionally curling in disgust at just the right angle. “She intends to begin as an enemy and capture his… heart.” There was a note of disgust in his voice. “Would it not be better to have that happen under duress?”

“Duress?” Relinquished asked.

To’Avalis gave a small smile. One of victory. “Indeed, my Lady. To'Sefit and myself crave the human's head on a pike as much as our dear sister To'Wrathh here. For us to vanish, our humiliation unavenged… why, that seems far too convenient. But if we were to openly hunt the wretch, hound him and everything he loves as Feathers would be expected to? Ah, then the Winterscar would grow desperate. Paranoid, jumping at every shadow. Even an outstretched hand from a hated enemy might start to look tempting. She’ll have a far easier time convincing him of being a turncoat if she behaves territorial enough to fight off other Feathers hounding after her meal.”

To’Wrathh saw the trap for what it was. And she was helpless to stop it as To’Avalis continued.

“Can you not picture it? The Deathless belongs to To’Wrathh for the finishing blow, but wouldn’t watching him be pressed into working with the enemy be… amusing? And you can see how many directions my little sister here could take such a narrative forward with.”

It was elegant in a way.

To’Avalis was both talking his way out of an execution, while finding a new path to eliminate Keith. And that bastard knew her human was just that - human. There may be possible avenues to surviving post-body, as Tenisent, Arcbound and captain Sagrius had discovered. But those methods were equally noticed and understood by her enemy.

He would be taking measures to eliminate Keith and any possible continuation. All while having mother’s official approval. He only needed to kill Keith once. Humans were very fragile, and so utterly stupid, sometimes. Most times. If To’Avalis didn’t get to Keith first, she’d strangle the life out of him herself for being so reckless with his life.

To’Wrathh bit her thumb, staring daggers at To’Avalis. He returned her gaze, then gave her a deeply self-satisfied grin hidden from mother's vantage point.

“Amusing.” The pale lady said, laughing. “Yes indeed, my child. How very… amusing.”