Chapter 39

A common security regulation method are Endow Seals and Endow Brands, commonly simply called Seals and Brands. Both of these identifiers are a unique series of complex lines and shapes that act like a visual badge. Endow Seals and Brands can be a digital image, magical tattoo, or soul imprint, depending on its purpose and select factors of the Seal or Brand holder. Endow Seals mark someone with access to certain restricted locations, items, materials, or information. Endow Brands, on the other hand, mark someone with restrictions due to crimes, or similar negative actions. In Tier 1 nations, such as Ventic, The large majority of seals are digital. There are security systems that actively scan for Seals or Brands and allow or deny access as needed.

I had convened the squad in a meeting for a purpose that had me more than a little worried. After my brutal talk with the Alchemyst, I had a feeling that there was something much bigger at play. Drug-based body modification to enhance a physical body’s state of a subject. But that modification kept resulting in death, and with a hint of something missing. Possibly several somethings missing.

At the moment of this talk, the day was deep into the evening hours. I had gathered the squad in the basement common area. Kharmor sat at the large crafting bench in the space while he pieced together a metal sphere covered in large holes. Nennel sat atop the same crafting bench, just to Khar’s left, reviewing documents again. Ferris sat atop a piece of workout equipment while he picked at his nails with his inactive Infusion Dagger. Ozwald sat in the nearest corner of the room in a folding chair while he was doing his own picking at a plate of cold cuts and cheeses while he continued his own digging on his new therra. Zynna was still in her Human disguise, leaning against a nearby wall while she did something unseen on her therra. Demierra was in the middle of using a weight press machine, her frustration at being denied a fight earlier pushed her to do anything physical. Navor stood at the foot of the stairway with a mug of something hot she sipped on intermittently.

Everyone but the Master had been suffering from escalating stress levels. As the days passed, the bad news piled up, and we made very little progress. Each of us had been at someone else’s throat at least a few times in the past two weeks, myself more than anyone else.

After the talk with the Street Alchemyst in the abandoned hospital, I had been suffering from a severe manic episode. The mania had been driving me wild but had given me enough ideas to help me flush out the puzzle. But we were about to be given another piece of the puzzle.

“Lynn had been spoon-fed the drug formula by Ozwald, who was fed the formula by Weaver.” I muttered aloud while I paced back and forth in the center of the gathering with nervous energy. “And Weaver had snagged the formula from Vartex. Weaver told me that he scrubbed all data and records of the formula when he the klept the info. And you verified that, right Oz?” I asked.

“I spent the first week after you flicked me the access seals digging through Vartex databases. The only records I found outside of the Operation Missing Sock documents were a handful of mentions that the key formulas for the ZYZ substances had been ‘removed’. I’m currently digging up the home addresses of every member of Missing Sock. The only issue is that each one I’ve looked into has at least three mailing addresses and they are all some public location, like a mailing office, motel, or something similar. They really don’t want to be found.”

“Try looking into their operation locations in the near future. If we can find a definite spot where we’ll find them, we can follow them back to their burrow holes.” Nel recommended.

“Good idea.” Oz said as he no doubt moved to act on the new angle.

“Why are we even saving these guys?” Demierra grunted as she finished her latest repetition in her emotional-venting workout. The Dracose released the handlebars of the apparatus without easing them back into place, causing the gravity-distortion plates to slam down with a teeth-jarring boom. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “These sewer-suckers kill activists that get too busy, right? So what’s so bad about the digital ghost putting them in the ground?”

“In the beginning, it was because I had an issue with more deaths on my conscience after I massively screwed up in the AV Chase.” I said. “But, with Weaver’s mind breaking down, and him acting illogically, I’m worried that he won’t keep to his promise.”

“What promise?” Demierra asked.

“To not directly attack any of us. When we spoke, he wanted a challenge and went so far as to put safety wheels on this bike ride down the highway to the hells. But if he’s not stable, then there’s nothing stopping him from cooking our brains the next time any of us are wired or diving into the net.”

“So? What’s that got to do with saving these corp-rats?”

“Those corp-rats are his focus right now. He has a single-minded drive to toy with these guys before killing them.”

“Like a cat.” Nennel pointed out.

I gave Nel a nod of agreement before continuing. “That became obvious when he tricked us into killing one of the targets by sock-puppeting him into taking a shot at Oz. Once these five mice are gutted, I have no idea what the cyber-ghost-cat will do, but I don’t think it could be anything good.”

“So what are we supposed to do? Jump each of these goons, tie them up, and throw them in some hole in the ground for who-knows-how-long?” Demierra had a point, and I didn’t have an answer.

I was saved from the need to answer her when Ozwald spoke up. “Uh, guys. We’ve got a problem. A big problem.”

I glared at Oz, my anger on the foreshadowing of bad news, not the messenger. “What kind of problem?”

In answer, he flicked a digital document to everyone in the room. I pulled up the document and read the message. Then, I read the message twice more to ensure I wasn’t misunderstanding the new development.

“Well, crap.” Ferris cursed.

The document was an email sent to everyone involved in Operation Missing Sock.

To: [email protected]

From: op.mis-soc-handler:[email protected]

Attention, I have just found a portion of the missing data regarding testing substances ZYZ:382, ZYZ:383, ZYZ:384, and ZYZ:385. It would appear that the initial intruder overlooked this key data for ZYZ:382 and ZYZ:383 as someone unprofessionally named the file “Ghost Crumbs.” I will overlook this immature prank seeing as it has allowed us to at least partially recover the project. Unfortunately, the formulas for all four phases are still missing.

As everyone receiving this message should remember, our attempts to contact the original provider of the formulas, codename: Red Arbitrator (RA), refused to pass on any copies of the formulas or data we have sent them. Our connection had sighted information security in our contract concerning Clause:23A Subsection:475.

Our agreement with RA was in danger of termination after the foreign data expungement by the rogue operator Weaver. This would have cut our RnD funding by 66% due to our inability to uphold our end of the agreement regarding the development of the ZYZ:382 project.

However, with this new development, RA has extended an opportunity we can’t afford to let pass. Our partner has contacted the current holders and owners of formulas ZYZ:382 and ZYZ:383, the Evea-Life corporation. RA has organized a business meeting to draw up a deal with the formulas’ current handler, Mz. Layshulla Ozwald. If we can come to an agreement, the project will be joint-operated between our two groups, allowing us to see their data from their own tests. To my understanding, Mrs.Ozwald has been struggling to make any developmental progress without the data-points, a portion of which we have just recovered. What I have been informed, is that she has yet to have a subject pass the second phase.

Evea-Life is willing enough to make this deal that they are holding a special, closed social gathering atop their offices. They have also specially requested for everyone reading this message to join this party. This event is invitation-only, with a savanna-gala dress code. This meeting will be in three days. I want all invited field personnel to come armed.

You all also remember our regulations regarding speaking about the sibling project: Mage Hand. You are not to bring it up unless directly stated to by your handler for the vent.

With regards,

Andrew Collins

P.S. I feel I should also remind all field agents of Op: Missing Sock to behave. We don’t need a repeat of the Jade Hyrda incident. I’m looking at you, Jenkins.

“Well, that’s one hell of a monkey wrench.” Ferris complained.

”Monkey wrench? Fer’, this is an entire haywire of gremlins that just crawled into our plans.” Nennel corrected.

“Oz… Is that your mother their talking about?” I asked, already knowing the answer, but it had to be said aloud.

“Yeah.” He sighed as he massaged the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed with what could only have been a stress-based headache.

“Why do I feel like I’m living in a soap opera?” I complained as I massaged my brow just under my horns. I had my own headache setting in.

“You believe that Weaver missed an entire file of research data?” Nennel asked me.

“No.”

“Yeah. Me neither.” Nennel agreed. “Especially with that filename, Ghost Crumbs. I think our spooky cyber phantom just set up a massive trap for everyone on your list.”

“Not everyone.” Ozwald said.

“You talking about the ones already dead?” Ferris asked.

“No. There is one name on the list that’s not part of Vartex, and he’s the outlier.”

“Who?” I asked.

“One Mr. Tommis Vanderbar. A former Evea-Life Mystgenist.” Ozwald answered in a dry tone.

“How do you know that he was an Evea-Life scientist?” Nennel asked.

“Because my mother was the one to fire him. I don’t know the details. But it must’ve been incredibly bad to push my mother to boot him out the door.”

“Are we sure your mother’s not this Weaver person?” Ferris asked jokingly. “I mean, she snagged at least part of the formula from the net after this Weaver guy flung it to the far reaches of cyberspace. She needed test subjects, and Weaver gave you some of the formula to sell to the gangers, for them to sell the face-melting drug to junkies as guinea pigs. Now she’s inviting these Vartex guys to some kinda gala ball for shady dealings.”

Ozwald gave an amused snort. “I’m certain that she’s not Weaver. If she was the one to steal the Zyzivane code, then why would she give some of the data back to Vartex and then broker a deal to get that fragment of data? If she was the thief, she’d have everything from Vartex. And even if the drug was poisonous to begin with, she would need nothing from the corp. I saw my mother’s stress over needing this project to work.”

“What I’m wondering is who this Red Arbitrator mentioned is.” I said. “The sender practically told us that this Arbitrator person gave the formulas to Vartex alongside a massive chunk of clat for them to develop. Whoever they are, they must have massive pull to outsource drug development to Vartex and keep them on edge out of fear of losing a business deal. A company as big as Vartex, they wouldn’t worry over some small-time company deal falling through.”

“We also know that there are four separate formulas.” Kharmor pointed out. “And Evea-Life only has two of the four.”

“So, four different variants of the drug.” Nennel said.

“I don’t think that’s entirely the case.” I said.

“Why?” Nennel asked.

I turned to Ozwald. “Do you have any idea which formula you sold to the Razor Wings?”

“Yeah. I didn’t think about it when I was in possession of the formula and samples, but it was labeled ZYZ:382. Why? What are you thinking.”

“Well, I called the meeting of the minds because I saw the aftermath of Zyzivane first hand and it’s gruesome. But, more important than that, Ferris found one of the Street Alchemysts. My guess is that he was cleaning up evidence, like the bodies I found. I politely asked him a few questions-”

Ferris gave an amused snort. “If you call putting an elemental blade tip in his ribs polite.”

“I asked him politely,” I repeated. “And he said that what they were using was incomplete. It needed something else. With that linear list in the message and the use of the term ‘phase’, it’s a safe bet that these things needed to be administered together, likely in stages.”

“What was the ‘aftermath’ you mentioned?” Zynna asked, finally adding to the discussion.

I visibly winced at the memory. “Well, the Wings were told that it was a performance enhancer. Likely a combat stim. But the Street Alchemyst said that the test subjects kept dying. What I found of the corpses was… unpleasant. Their muscle mass had been boosted so much it tore the skin, which was likely the cause of death.”

“That tracks with what I was digging up.” Zynna off-handedly mentioned as she scrolled through something on her therra.

“What have you dug up?” I asked. “You’ve been infuriating vague every time we debrief.”

I had acquired the required digital security Endow Seals to get our Copkin friend into Vartex’s offices under the guise of a new hire janitor. Every time we’d asked for an update on her snooping she would just say something along the lines of “I don’t have anything, but I have suspicions.” Which I found hair-pullingly frustrating.

Zynna closed the windows on her therra, leaned back, crossed her arms and legs of an old man, and proceeded to drop logic bombs. “Well, while I’ve been pantomiming a janitor with those credentials and seals you got me, I’ve played the bit of senile and depressed old Human guy. Since they’ve had me on a rotating shift schedule, I haven’t been able to do as much digging as I had intended since it’s pretty difficult to snoop in an office full of people busy at work. When I have had the night shift, I’ve been digging through the physical financial docs.” She nodded to Ozwald. “Oz has been giving me what breadcrumbs he’s been finding. I did find a few mentions of someone they just listed as ‘RA’. Given the numbers tied to that label, I thought it was another mega-corp. Clearly not, given what we just read.”

“Okay?” I asked. “So you found papers tied back to this mysterious benefactor. Did you dredge up any clues as to who they are?”

“No. But, I did find mention of a name that will perk your horns.”

I raised a quizzical brow. “Go on.”

“Thallos Kiem.” was all she said.

At the mention of the name of my traitor uncle, my body locked up with tension. I froze mid-pacing, not even breathing as I processed the development. The only part of me that did move was a spasm of my right eyelid. The entire room was quiet as a grave. Even Demierra, who had been about to start on another exercise machine, had stopped. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me and I struggled to grapple down the outburst that was clawing up my throat.

“That’s your uncle, right? The bad one?” Zynna asked.

I spun on the ball of a foot and rushed at the Copkin so fast I didn’t even know what I was doing until I gripped the collar of her uniform with two white knuckle fists. “Elaborate. NOW!”

Zynna’s eyes went wide at my reaction, but she answered in a level tone intended to calm an angry beast. “What I was able to dig up said that he has been operating as a goffer for this Red Arbitrator person. He seems to come to the building every month, dropping off physical clat as payment for the RnD department. He hands over the money and takes the data from the tests back to wherever he goes.”

I released Zynna and started pacing again, only at a much more frantic rate. “Red Arbitrator. Blood Arbiter. By the Gods, it’s so damned obvious!” I cursed.

“A Blood what now?” Demierra asked.

“Arbiter. Blood Arbiter. It’s some kind of field specialist in The Company. Thallos was training me to become one before he escaped. That’s where I got all my scars.” I gestured to my chest with an absentminded wave of a hand. “He had said that I was made for a purpose. He knew that I was a gene baby and was testing me. If he’s involved…” I trailed off as I gripped a horn in one hand and tugged it in thought. I could feel my tail going absolutely wild. An open sign of my mental state.

Suddenly, something in my head clicked and things started coming together. “That means that the mysterious benefactor is, if not The Company, someone high enough in the group that they can afford to sling enough coin to sink frater without batting an eye. They also would need to have enough personal power for Thallos to be willing to work under them. He only respects someone able to give him a run for his money when crossing blades or spells.”

I suddenly spun around to point at Kharmor, my eyes alight with a manic gleam. “Weaver had said that he knew about The Company and would give details if I won this murder game madness. So he must’ve known that The Company sent Vartex the formulas for development. No doubt offering them a cut of the sales profits if the drug could be completed. Thallos is a disturbingly proficient salesman, and no corp as big as Vartex would be able to resist the idea of controlling a substance that anyone regularly diving into combat would lunge at the chance to get.”

Demierra spoke up as she started seeing the bigger picture. “Vartex would have corps like Black Jade Hydra over a barrel and in the executioner’s collar. Any group like them that makes the biggest chunk of their coin in combat supplies would do almost anything for a super combat drug. The Hydra might even be desperate enough to join Vartex’s grunt companies, just so they can get ahold of the stuff.”

“Adventurers too.” Kharmor pointed out. “If this stuff is as big as it sounds, if it works, any Adventurer that relies on physical strength and speed would be the ones lunging for the stuff. And Adventurers are a cornerstone of society, given everything they do.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Ferris said, patting the air with both hands in a ‘slow down’ motion. “I don’t think the stuff is just a normal combat stim.”

“Why would you say that?” Nennel asked.

“Because, look at what we’ve seen and heard of the process. Combat stims are a standard staple for any Warrior of Jaeger. You whip one out, jab yourself, and inject, and BAM! Super fighter. But this stuff has four whole fomulas that need to be added in stages. Do you think any corp would want to sell a four-piece package deal that requires the user to take who-knows-how-long to take it in stages? And from what Iver said he saw of the corpses the tests were making, they were Permanently changed. If it was just a magic booster, the body would go back to as close to the natural state after the magic wore off, corpse or not. I think this stuff makes permanent changes. If it has four stages or phases or whatever, wouldn’t that mean regular doses as the guinea pig is changed from one to the next? I think Vartex is so desperate for a grip on the stuff because it would make permanent super soldiers.”

Everyone in the room stared at Ferris in shock, even Navor. “So our resident joker actually has a brain under all that wild hair.” Nennel teased.

I shook my shock off and continued piecing things together. “If the Zyz-process, if you will, would have permanent results, that explains why the ‘sister project’ would be the transparently named Project Mage Hand, which would make artificial Mages using cybernetics. One project makes Martial Classes uber troopers, while the other is a Mage factory that makes the rare power to cast spells commonplace. Vartex would’ve held the leash on the power to change the world in almost any way they wanted. They could charge any nation to pay coin through the nose for the ability to make a military unbeatable.”

“A money-hungry, morally bankrupt mega-corporation with the power to change the world into whatever they want.” Nennel said in numb horror.

“Well, things already didn’t go as they planned.” I said with a smirk that was both amused and worried. “Weaver erased what Vartex had of the formulas and released both it and the Mage cybernetics designs out into the globe-wide network.”

“Yeah,” started Zynna with no small amount of snark. “Everything was leaked. Now, the only ones with at least some of the formulas is another money-hungry, mortally bankrupt mega-corp. And the cybernetic designs are in the hands of who-knows-how-many Cy-Docs, corps, and government.”

“Got it, so our world is just a new flavor of boned.” Demierra complained, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration.

“Well, I think things are a bit more complicated than that.” I said.

“How so?” Nennel asked.

“I doubt Thallos or anyone he works under would be so easy to share something so valuable.” I explained. “Because I know Thallos and the kind of people he would work with. There is zero chance that anyone working with or above wretched bastard would share that kind of power with another corp, let alone two others.”

“So, what do you think they’re playing at?” Ferris asked.

His use of the word ‘playing’ set off yet another series of sparks in my mind. “Let’s say you’re a power-hungry, morally bankrupt leader of a corp. You’ve got a rough idea of how to rule the world using a super soldier formula. We’ll simplify the problem by saying there’s only one formula. You need to flush out the deadly kinks in that compound, but you don’t want any testing leading right back to you. If others knew you had the stuff, you’d be a serious threat and target to every nation and mega-corp. What would you do?”

“Set up a scapegoat.” Zynna answered. I confirmed her answer silently with an ‘on the nose’ gesture.

“But let’s say your scapegoat was not only making progress faster than you expected. And they have a sister project on the brink of completion that would make them a serious threat to you if they combine scheme A and scheme B. What’s your response?”

Kharmor was the one to answer this question. He set down his project and gave me his complete focus. “Sabotage. Using someone with an in, and a grudge. Someone like a Circuit class Mage, who was told to kill his own sister. A Circuit you have slip in, steal everything before it’s finished, scrub anything that could salvage their projects.”

“Correct.” I agreed as I sauntered over to the crafting bench to pick up a spare screw and toy with it. I hadn’t actually solved the whole puzzle by any means. But as I spoke and asked, I found more and more of the pieces were falling into place. “But what if your little cyber-infiltrator had a massive case of Paladin Syndrome, and instead of just handing your prize over, he broadcasts it?”

“Kill him, collect what you need, and scrub the rest?” Ferris asked.

“But what if your scapegoat killed your spy, and someone else got a taste of your project and beat you to the scrub? Then that someone starts doing their own testing with an incomplete project.”

“Kill them so no one knows?” Ferris asked.

I had an off-hand idea of how to think more clearly. Pain. Pain had minimized my panic in combat and let me hone in on what I needed. So I leaned against the crafting bench and folded my arms to hide that I was driving the screw into my forearm. It worked. My senses sharpened, and my mania faded as my thoughts cleared. “But your project wasn’t finished when you took it back, and maybe a few of the data points from your scapegoat were lost along the way. Maybe barter your way to a second scapegoat?”

“No.” Demierra interjected. “I know corp-rat political games. And after reading that message, what comes next is obvious.”

“Well, I sure as hells don’t see it.” Ferris said with frustration.

The Dracose locked eyes with Ferris, then me. “You’re a corp-rat. You’re already the walking avatar of the term ‘morally bankrupt’. You broker a meeting between your scapegoats and set both up to eat each other while you collect all those tasty morsels of data. But if your spy didn’t totally die, throw them into the cannibal feast to stir up trouble, maybe even take the blame. No matter how it plays out, you walk away with the goods, and whoever survives the free-for-all takes the blame for everything.”

Now, everyone was staring with shock at the Dracose bruiser. “What?!” She defended. “My Father is a high-up corp-rat for Black Jade Hydra. I might not have a head for these games, but I can see patterns. Just cuz I’m a brawler doesn’t mean I can’t add up two predators wearing masks while holding knives and a murderous parasite.”

At the news of Demi’s father, I accidentally drove the screw all the way into my forearm. I was partly aware of the pain but had bigger things on my mind. I shook my head to dislodge the surprise that Demierra was a Corp-kin.

“Whow, whow. slow down.” Ferris said as he pressed two fingers into his eyes as if in pain. “What is all of this madness? I get the ZipVane super-trooper mess. It’s all world-changing and all, but… Scapegoats? Espionage? Double agents? Double deals? Back stabbings? Whatever happened to the bad guy doing bad things, and good guys just need to stop it? And since when has our Phantom jack-wad been a victim? Wasn’t he our biggest problem?”

Nennel propped one foot on her opposite knee and interlaced her fingers in her lap as she began a lecture. “Ferris. Friend. Pal. Brother from another species. We can break everything down into two problems on two separate scales. There’s the ‘Us Problem’ and the “Global Problem’. Us Problem: Weaver, the Phantom in the machine, is going crazy and killing people. If we don’t find a way to stop him, we are likely the next prey in his sights. I think I speak for all of us when I say we don’t want to die.”

“Well…” I started to playfully argue.

“NO!” Nennel snapped at me. “Bad brother. Not even joking about wanting to die.” She turned back to Ferris without waiting for my response. “Now, we don’t want to die. Thats the ‘Us Problem’. But there’s the Global Problem. Three predatory companies with more money than any of us could imagine are playing the most elaborate game of political-conspiracy-chess you could imagine. Whichever wolf survives that fight will become the most powerful mortal group on Anogwin.”

Ferris’s headache only seemed to intensify as Nel reduced the situation to such simple definitions. “Look, guys. I’m a simple dude. Mega-corporations and their dastardly plots are beyond my headspace. I understand the problem in front of me: Cyber psychopath serial synaptic scorcher spirit is killing people, and we’re next up with the executioner’s collar. But all this global game of Garden of the Gods between groups so big I can’t even understand is more than a bit… What’s the word? Infallible?”

“I think you mean ineffable.” Kharmor corrected. “It means so big or expansive that you can’t put it into words.”

Ferris snapped his fingers in understanding. “That’s the one. So lay it out for me, nice and simple. What do I need to do?”

I plucked a second screw from the table I leaned on and slowly drove it into my skin, just above the last screw, which was still set into my forearm. The pain trick was working, but I’d need to hide it from Nennel and the others. I didn’t need them freaking out over a little blood and pain. “Believe me, I get the confusion Fer’. I’m only tracking all this Hamlet play scheming and backstabbing because I just got deeply invested with the news that Thallos and his schizo group are moving for global control.” I crossed one leg over the other and chewed my cheek in thought as I debated how to simplify everything. “How about this? What if I narrow the scope to just Weaver, what he’s doing, and what we need to do.”

“Yes, please!” Ferris said with relief.

“Okay. I’m going to consolidate roles of the players. I’ll concentrate what The Company is doing as Thallos’s actions. I’ll concentrate what Evea-Life is doing into Ozwald’s Mother’s actions. And I’ll concentrate all of Vartex’s crap into an imaginary person I’ll call Vex. Sound good?”

“I think so?”

“Awesome. The Good Guys are us, Team Aegis. The Bad Guys are Thallos, Mz.Oz, Vex, and Weaver.”

“Got it.” Ferris said in understanding.

“Great. So Thallos outsourced the ZipVane to Vex, so he could do the work and take the blame. But Vex had the Mage Cybernetics in the works, and if he combined the two, he’d rule the world. Thallos didn’t like that idea, so he talked Weaver into a snatch-and-smash, so Vex wouldn’t win the game. But Weaver wasn’t told everything and tried to do the right thing by spreading the info across the net. Mz. Oz found part of the prize and is trying to figure out the rest. But she needs extra pieces, which, we think, Weaver put part of back in Vex’s pocket. I think Thallos had Weaver do this to trick Vex and Mz.Oz into meeting. Vex and Mz.Oz are going to play nice until one of them gets what they want from the other, when they plan to stab each other. But Weaver is probably going to try to kill the five guys we need to protect, which is going to cause everyone to stab everyone. Thallos is going to swoop in and steal the prize during the murder-fest and frame Vex, Mz.Oz, and/or Weaver for the trouble. If Thallos pulls the heist off, he gets to rule the world.”

“Got it.” Ferris said with a firm nod. “But where do the Razor Wings fit in?”

I looked to Nennel, who shrugged. Then I looked to Kharmor, who also shrugged. I looked to Zynna for help but she just smirked and recrossed her legs. I turned to Ozwald in desperation for any input, but he hadn’t said anything since he sent the announcement that started this discussion. He looked lost in his own head, with an intense expression of worry. I didn’t even bother hoping for Demierra or Navor to speak up. Demierra had little involvement in the mystery other than the corp-kin bomb she dropped on us. And Navor, no doubt, saw this as a learning experience.

“I’ll need to step out of the simplification for that bit.” I took a long and slow breath before starting this theory. “The Wings got part of the drug from Oz, but not the whole.”

“Yeah. We know that.” Ferris agreed.

“Oz got one formula segment from Weaver. He said that he was planning on framing his mother for the inevitable screw-up because she already had two parts of the four and is more than a bit of a bitch.” I continued. At my comment about his mother, Ozwald gave an amused huff.

“Okay.” Ferris confirmed that he was still following.

“Oz hates the gang for getting his brother hooked on the drugs that got him killed. Weaver has a grudge against the gang because they pretty much put his mother in a coma. I think that whoever got Weaver into this revenge game told him to get more test results.”

“Got it.” Ferris said, starting to fit his own simple puzzle together. “So Weaver bonded with Oz over hating the Wings. Weaver needed test answers, so he cheated, using Oz to smear the gang while getting those answers.”

“I did not bond with the creep.” Ozwald argued. “He used me.”

I gave Ferris a proud grin. “That’s really boiling it down. But yes.”

“So then, whose this guy that wanted Weaver to get the test answers?”

I shot Master Navor an annoyed look of pleading for help. Her response was to lock her good eye with me and take a long pull of her beverage, saying absolutely nothing. I looked back to Ferris with a weighty sigh. “Weaver had mentioned someone he called Mr.Durge, who supposedly recommended the gang angle. I theorize whoever this Durge guy is, he’s working with Thallos.”

“Well, crap.” Ferris cursed. “This whole bad guys using bad guys to hurt other bad guys….thing, is making my head spin.”

“Says the guy that pointed out the drug this whole thing is revolving around was way bigger than we thought.” I teased.

“Don’t give me that! It seemed obvious. I’ve been training to earn the Warrior or Jaeger class. Combat stimulants are a key tool for those classes. I had to study a ton of them and how they work. None of them are supposed to be combined and definitely none of them are used in this stages/phases thing.”

“But weren’t you training to be a Rogue last year?” I asked.

“Yeah, but while I can hide and run pretty well, I just don’t have a head for the traps and lock-picking.”

“Well, Oz might because to help you with that, right?”

I looked over to the Human, still stuck in his own head. He only said seven words in a numb tone. “I might have to kill my mother.”