168. The Retrofitter and a Bright Eclipse

Retrofitters were the only known contact between the outside world and the inner circles of ImpulseWorks.

For this reason, they were highly sought after by higher ranking Adventures or those that wished to join the ranks of those who belonged under the wing of a Deity.

ImpulseWorks did not pay these people any heed. Retrofitters played the simple role of discerning the type of armament suitable for their client. From there, the details and an order would be sent off to an Impulse Artificer via Stars or capable high-leveled and high standing personnel.

But with the destruction of the Hyperlinks and the meager numbers of Blessed available in Brandar, they defaulted to using Act X’s Heralds.

Scarlet Logic’s unreliability had forced them to shuffle their ranks into more combat-focused roles. They sourced nearly 100% of their firepower from Scarlet Logic in exchange for promisingly capable personnel.

It was foolish in Frost’s eyes, but ImpulseWorks was never a combat orientated Atelier in the first place.

Their priorities laid in the creation of Atelier Items as far as they were all concerned.

This was unfortunately all the Captain knew. He was not some high-ranking member of ImpulseWorks so he only knew the situation at hand, and not the inner workings of his Atelier.

It was all surface level.

That being said, ImpulseWorks suddenly found themselves in a rock and a hard place without the Scarlet Logic. They were unprepared to deal with the endless reports of potentially Corrupted that suddenly began sprouting everywhere in the City of Hearts.

These, however, were found to be caused by the Anti-healing relics. Inflow Direct was the only Atelier known to hold onto these items, so the blame naturally fell onto them.

The Captain was not afraid to disclose this information. It was foolish on his part to reveal this to them so easily. Fear was a deadly motivator, and this man respected where he stood in comparison to them.

In his mind he did not walk alongside them. Neither did he consider himself anything remotely similar to their existence.

Frost fell into deep thought as hollow, metallic thumping echoed.

Inflow Direct makes the Infusions as well. Iscario happened to carry one. Are we dealing with two Ateliers?

“Do not jump to conclusions. The circumstances are not clear to us yet.”

Not until we talk to someone higher. Or to Inflow Direct themselves.

“A war will be messy. I believe we are seeing minor skirmishes already if Retrofitters are dying.”

They were afraid of the civilians. So they probably don’t even know who hit them.

Frost looked down at the man and asked him a question as they neared the source of the light.

“You don’t think that maybe we’re the ones who killed off your Retrofitters?” She carefully asked.

Their security was… abysmal, for lack of a better word.

“I trust your three Moons with my life. In the first place we have our own present –” He was abruptly interrupted by Frost, who forced everyone to an abrupt stop the very moment they reached the light.

A pair of pale, opaque eyes flashed for a split second as the light disappeared. She saw a pair of jaws as large as the entire corridor lunge straight at them. It was bound to miss, like it was no more than a scare tactic. But Frost froze regardless to let this perpetrator know that she was a step ahead of them.

The maw was filled with hundreds of gigantic, hollow teeth. Bite marks appeared along each surface when the light returned, and standing at the entrance of a hollow, altar-like chamber was a woman.

But she was no ordinary woman.

Moon
Eclipse
< Femme Fatale >
Soul Rank: Incandescent | Atelier: ImpulseWorks
LEVEL : 200     ORIGIN : Aquatid     HP : 45,000     ATT : 4,500     MAG ATT : 3,700
ATT DEF : 1,500     MAG DEF : 2,000     MP : 8,000     RESIST : 200     AGI : 50

She was dressed in a thin nightgown. The transparent cloth matched her skin. It was so fragile that the bioluminescent light of her illicium passed through. The illicium itself dangled over her head like a poised scorpion’s tail.

Her mouth appeared perfectly normal, but Frost could see the slits that ran all the way past her human-shaped ears. They opened and closed like gills with each breath she took, and her dead, pale clouded eyes absorbed the light like cataracts.

She was so transparent that her blood vessels could be seen. They did not resemble that of a human, and Frost failed to make out which organ was what. Her medical knowledge failed her immensely as she was left awestruck by one of the most beautiful beings she had ever seen.

But looks could kill. She was, after all, named a Feme Fatale, which was synonymous with a man eater.

Fitting for a beautiful assassin… and an angler fish.

She didn’t speak. She only stared, communicating with her eyes as Cer took a step forward. Frost could only begin to imagine the carnage that would break out between two Moons.

Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Rude as always. You Eclipses aren’t any fun. She says ‘Welcome’ by the way.” Cer somehow managed to translate her eyes, to which the woman slowly nodded.

Ignis tugged at Frost’s sleeves and similarly nodded.

This was not a language Frost could translate as easily as ‘Snap’. Funnily enough, they had two experts on their hands.

“… Introductions? C’mon. You know us already –”

“Res. Moon of the Nexus. Unaffiliated. She’s Cer, and this one’s Ber. We’re triplets.” Res took the reins of the situation, tugging Ber with her as she joined Cer with utmost respect. “Last known outbound mission dealt with the Re-entry Cube. 6 months, 47 days, 15 hours since the Subjugation of Re-entry Cube. 2 months since last inbound mission. Receptionist.”

The woman tilted her head, her long, transparent hair tumbling as her eyes asked them another question.

“Our current mission is classified. By the order of two Beholders. Three if you count her.” Res motioned over to Jury.

The Eclipse cocked her head to the other side, finding it impossible to believe. She neither nodded nor frowned at this reveal. She only adjusted her head and pointed the light into the chamber behind them, illuminating the vast space.

“Beholder…” The man’s eyes screamed what his voice could not.

“Incandescent Color. Black Dove. Another Incandescent. No official standing. Oh, and forget the giant spider lurking above ground. It’s a friend of ours.” Cer added, rolling her hand to speed things up. “We’re after an Impulse Artificer. We want to meet Kissira in person –”

Suddenly, the woman bared her teeth, and the slit ran down past her neck, revealing another assortment of fangs. She opened like a walking venus fly trap and hissed like a serpent.

But this hiss was not meant to scare them, neither was it a defensive mechanism. It was a language, and because of this, they were able to comprehend her as the Blessed.

“Kissira… is in the City of Hearts. Undesignated sector. Very busy. Working hard. Retrofitter can help. Take time.” She spoke in the equivalent of broken English, but this was mostly due to the limitations of the kind of words she could convey with a hiss. “No killers?”

“No. We only just heard of the news, so we don’t know anything. Got a target in mind?” Cer asked as they followed the Eclipse deeper. The Captain did not dare to enter, and instead, wordlessly pardoned himself back the other way now that his job was done.

He had no place in a hall of giants.

“Inflow Direct.” The Eclipse answered. “Healers missing. Don’t come in time. Maybe Caldera Industries. Hammer heads, no brains. Only follow orders to protect trains. Could be cover story.”

Hollow, metal tentacles flailed in the air. They were connected to the centermost point of the circular chamber. Their steps were soundless, and their voices could only travel so far in this soundproof location.

The center was built like an altar, with steps that rose to what appeared like a Mayan sacrificial temple. And standing there alone was a giant, female Aquatid. Her tentacles spilled from the temple like diseased vines, colored in a vibrant purple. Her face drooped with many tentacles, and if Frost’s mind instantly went to the Cthulhu mythos.

Except she wasn’t instilled with boundless fear upon glazing into her opal eyes, which seemingly saw all through a transparent veil that covered her face. She was a creature far larger than life, and Frost was fascinated by the sight, whereas the triplets winced.

Her body was easily twice the size of an adult male, and her compiled tentacles was easily more than several thousands of kilograms worth in mass.

The sheer size of them were like leviathans, and they controlled the metal tubes of the silent chamber, swimming like eels.

She fell more in line with a colossal squid more than anything else.

Retrofitter
< Prominence of Desire | 5>
Soul Rank: Violet | Atelier: ImpulseWorks
LEVEL : 90     ORIGIN : Aquatid     HP : 200,000     ATT : 1,200 MAG     MAG ATT : 100
ATT DEF : 3,000     MAG DEF : 3,000     MP : 15,000     RESIST : 200     AGI : 5 | 50 (Water)

Nav… What… Am I supposed to be looking at?

“You tell me… But I believe it is an ancient Aquatid. The Archivist explains that the oldest Aquatids are hundreds of years old. Some are thousands. But they do not possess thorough knowledge of the world due to the depths they thrived in. Retrofitters are amongst the last of their kind, with less than 40 in existence.”

Unbelievable…

Frost was at a loss for words. The Eclipse’s light disappeared, and a marine-like glow shone from the tentacles. It was as if they were travelling through the sea floor as the tentacles crawled out of their direction, with few rising to greet them.

“… We’re not here to get touched. Frost. Jury. Ignis. This is your last chance to speak up. Do you want a fine-tuned Atelier Weapon to be designed in the shape of your desires?” Cer said, causing the tentacles to freeze in place as they reached the base of the temple.

Frost glanced over to Jury, then at Ignis. She didn’t know what this entailed, or what the process was like, so she cleared her throat and personally asked the Eclipse.

“What’s going to happen to us if we say ‘yes’?”

The room rumbled slightly as another voice answered for the Eclipse.

“We don’t mean it in that way. We are vivisectionists at heart. Our tentacles do what they must.”

This voice did not echo. Neither was it overwhelming. It was mellow. Gentle, and came from the Retrofitter, who slowly lowered herself towards them like a fishing line.

“That lie suspends us in this precarious state of affairs. The necessity of our process tarnished by the lustful and the insecure. Skepticism washed on those we wish to help achieve their wants, all because of our location in this depraved city of sins… You… Smell different. You are not human… Female? Male? Interesting… And neither does this one smell normal.”

She hovered over Ignis, her tentacles desperately restraining themselves from touching her to investigate further.

“I do not believe you are here on simple matters… And the white-haired one one… Smells like Her. Our beloved Abyssal Mother. But you carry several other scents. Bemusing. You three are not normal.”

The Retrofitter was deeply aware of their existence and acknowledged Jury as a Beholder even though she knew nothing. Frost wondered if she’d believe her if she revealed herself being an Archetype, but before she could speak, the Retrofitter said:

“The Black Dove. I believe a Herald had uttered your name on passing. Your name is quite popular with the Heralds of Act X. The Indites who write the Scripts adore that name. Black Dove, a healer of unconventional methods. A pleasure to make the acquaintance of a vouched Color.”

Is the Director pulling political strings for me?

“He did mention he’d pull as many as he could for you. I wonder if its endorsed by Beholder Marionette.”

Whatever it is, I’m happy to know that we have allies in the City of Strings.

“The pleasure is mine. That makes things easier for us. We’re here because you have knowledge on the whereabouts of an Impulse Artificer. Kissira more specifically. We’re aware she’s within the City of Hearts, but we have no way of reaching her.” Frost explained as thoroughly and succinctly as possible.

The Retrofitter gave her a mused look as she scanned the faces of the others.

“Kissira… You’re specifically searching for a Corrupted Item repairer?”

“Indeed. We have a message directly from Beholder Carpalis.” Frost revealed a golden, reflective page to which the Retrofitter reached out for with her violet hands.

She touched Frost’s hands and smiled in a manner that could be mistaken for lust, but Frost did not sense this. Rather, it was intrigue. It was as she claimed, she was a compulsive vivisectionist. Just not in the ‘cut open and study’ kind of way, but in a touchier manner.

Frost kind of empathized with her if that made sense. Because as a nurse, Frost and as a guy, she certainly had moments where her skin integrity checks could be interpreted as a pervy nurse when it couldn’t be further from the truth.

She was suddenly interested, because depending on the Retrofitter’s methods, it could certainly be mistaken for ill intent.

The Retrofitter studied the paper, which she somehow managed to pull a second, thinner piece from between the sheet like there was a hidden compartment. She grinned, running her long finger along the page, turning her eyes back to the group.

“It’s legitimate.” She said, causing the Eclipse to nod, her illicium swaying like a whip.

“You didn’t even look at it… bitch.” Cer uttered the curse beneath her breath. This was one of the only moments where Res didn’t reprimand her sister, as she carried similar sentiments towards this Retrofitter.

“There is no need, little female wolf. The visual code is a red herring. The truth lays in the arrangement of each micro prominence. Like how a music box is played.” The Retrofitter answered, handing the paper back to Frost. “Very well. But I alone am not enough to send you into the City of Hearts. On the other hand, I can personally arrange Kissira to meet you in F-H5 despite her schedule. It will work out for us in the end. A favor, for a favor.”

“Huh?”

“What? F?”

“Are you going to tell us what the fuck is up with the F?”

The triplets were the first to react, grimacing through their perplexed expressions. This also confused Frost. The ‘F’ designation made no sense, and it didn’t fall in line with the deck of cards that the Nex Megalopolis’ sectors followed.

Realizing that they knew nothing, the Eclipse glanced at the Retrofitter, wondering if they should be made aware of this secret. But with the mysterious deaths and with Carpalis’ correspondence in mind, as well as with Frost being a Color Act X trusted, she dropped a major bombshell that robbed them of their breaths.

“Facility. Where inhouse Corrupted are classified before they are sent out to designated sites. With the loss of the Scarlet Logic’s force, we risk another accident. Therefore, we kindly ask that you oversee their security until Kissira and further personnel arrive. 5 days. Nothing more, nothing less.”

The Retrofitter invited Frost to climb to the summit of the temple as she uttered her final words.

“After all, we don’t want a repeat of what happened in H6.”