Chương 101: 7.03 No Return without Receipt or Label

2104: 03: 29: 22: 01: 22 As he opened the door, "Jester, Crowsong; good evening," Rhennish greeted us.

"Hey Rhennish," I greeted back hesitantly as we entered, fearing I sounded less… enthusiastic than usual. While telling Millie and the rest had helped improve my mood somewhat, I still felt wrung out, especially since my procrastinating on telling Mom kept me on edge. If Rhennish noticed any of it, he didn't comment. Amber simply gave the man a nod and after, Rhennish moved aside and out of the doorway, gesturing for us to enter. We promptly did.

Besides the three original Sentinels Rhennish, Mantellan and Naomi, Amber and I were the first others to arrive at their main base in southern Little Europe. Or our main base, come to think of it. Either way, the long-since bankrupt Snapping Turtle buffet restaurant had become the semi-official headquarters of the New Seattle Sentinels ages ago, long before Amber and I had joined.

It had been remodeled extensively to the point that the only thing that told the story of how this building hadn't always been an oversized gym was the large open kitchen in the leftmost corner of the first floor. The chairs and tables for the guest and the buffet section had been removed entirely to make room for all the training equipment and the weirder, half-transformed areas where I guessed power testing took place.

Still, for all that this was our team's main base, this was the first time either of us visited. So to call it 'our base' felt kind of weird, but hey, I was still getting used to saying the Sentinels was 'my team', so really not that strange at all.

"Hey March, Mantellan," I greeted the pair once we got further into the building. Amber and I joined them at the table and I turned to Naomi.

"You doing alright after the Auditation fight?" She'd fought and won against the solo villain all by herself, although the villain did ultimately manage to escape.

"Hi, and yeah, I'm doing great! Her last scream did a number on my hearing, though apparently the damage was all mental, which felt very strange." Her frown suddenly transformed into an excitement, Naomi straightening in her seat and all but bouncing.

"You know, it's actually kinda funny. I just read an article about the old Maksikur Waveform Cannon that was supposed to attack the optical and cochlear nerves, but in reality-" She stopped talking, looking abashed as she noticed the rest of the table looking at her. She cleared her throat.

"But anyway: how're you two doing?" I shrugged.

"Same as always," I lied.

"Didn't really do much the past week besides training and one daylight patrol." In fact, Mom had forbidden – for a certain definition of forbidden; she hadn't outright said it – me to do much of anything masked related ever since Amber and I lost that fight with Motorgang.

"All recovered from the Motorgang thing, then? No side effects from the… you know?" She gestured toward her head. I shook mine in return.

"Nope. As I said, just overextended my powers – they found nothing wrong with me there." Not yet anyway. She looked at me for a second longer before turning to Amber.

"And you, Crowsong?" She shook her head.

"I'm fine. The reanimator did good work." And wasn't that the truth. I was still surprised with how quick she'd bounced back, and not just on a physical level either. I'd thought what had happened to her would've been much more traumatic considering the level of injury she had compared to me, but apparently not. But then again, what did I know about trauma and healing from it and stuff like that? Perhaps reanimators were just that good.

"Good to hear," Mantellan said.

"I myself had to be operated on once or twice by a reanimator in my early days, though the circumstances were very different back then." There was a wistful tone to his voice.

"You see, back in the middle of the 60s, as the Masquerade was still making its way, there was this superpowered – not a masked, simply powered – thug named Teung Jangi who could rot the lungs straight out of your-""Oh good, arrived right in time for the rambling hour," Doombell remarked, her heavy footsteps followed by the lighter cadence of Blade Eater beside her.

"Now now, Doombell" Blade Eater sing-songed, "letting the old tell their stories is only polite. Indeed, civilizations are built on that kind of storytelling."

"You calling me barbaric?" Doombell growled.

"Why, yes. Yes I am," he said, faking surprise.

"I thought I was pretty clear on my opinion on the…" He hummed, as if considering how to put it diplomatically.

"State of your intelligence." His bright smile spoke volumes. Doombell snorted, but didn't look offended. The both of them took a seat at the oval conference table.

"Anyway, where was I?" Mantellan said.

"Oh, right: Teung Jangi. He and his goons were besieging this market complex in Aberdeen – think of it like a bazaar; doesn't exist anymore, I'm afraid." He sighed.

"Anyway, they were taking hostages once things didn't go as they'd planned. A couple of the Sentinels at the time – me, Chrysalmere, Kikume, and old Mandrake Sleight-of-Hand – were called by the Survivors Militia to help resolve the situation. Of course, things immediately went pear-shaped when we discovered Jangi had-""Oh God, not this story again," Aetherna complained as she entered.

"Why do you always feel the need tell people you sacrificed your heart to stop Teung and his goons?"

"Spoilsport," Mantellan grumbled.

"Hadn't even gotten to that part yet." There was an almost childish affectation to his complaint.

"And it wasn't my whole heart, just-""-the right chamber, yes, I know." Aetherna sighed, she and Changelinger taking a seat at the table as well.

"A thousand-and-one less important body parts to sacrifice and you pick the one that almost got you permanently killed."

"Pretty hardcore though," Doombell said.

"Respect." She nodded to Mantellan – the most respectful motion I'd seen of her yet.

"See? This is why you let your elders finish their stories," Blade Eater commented.

"The young do not think; they act," he said to Aetherna.

"Even if that act is unwise and leads to misery. Ah, how I miss it!" He laughed. Just as suddenly he stopped, his hand disappearing under his supernaturally shaded cowl as he rubbed his chin.

"Well, not really. Don't miss it at all, actually."

"Now that everyone's here," Rhennish said, dumping his laptop on the table and finally taking a seat of his own, "let's start the meeting, shall we?" Doombell snorted and Blade Eater chuckled at the bureaucratic tone of it all, but didn't say anything. Nor did anyone else. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"First things first: anyone have any updates that they haven't already communicated through official channels?" Rhennish asked. Everyone shook their heads, including myself. No way was I going to tell this whole group I was an android. Amber definitely, and maybe Naomi as well – I wasn't yet sure about that, considering how early and relatively separate identity-wise our friendship was – but the rest of the group? Absolutely not.

"Good. Then before we get to the main event, let's deal with the minutiae first." The 'minutiae', as Rhennish put it, consisted mostly of masking schedules – possible and definite patrol times, training hours and hours we were on 'standby' to help out if it came to it – planned and proposed raids (there weren't any yet, considering recent events) and possible power developments and 'new edges' people might've gained (only Changelinger discovering a new type of 'sub-goblin shaman' or whatever).

Oh, and of course a lot of discussion about funds. We still hadn't merged accounts and it was an ongoing debate whether we should, or simply contribute to one another on request. All in all, nothing too interesting. Which lead us straight into the main event.

"Now, I presume everyone has read up on what the Guardians and Wardens published?" Rhennish asked. Again, we all nodded. For the Guardians, their actions had been fairly obvious on the surface: they'd raided a number of casinos reportedly in league with Magistry. Behind the scenes however, it was likely that they'd planned it this way to reveal what Magistry had been building up in the meantime: a citywide teleportation network.

Teleportation, especially short-range teleportation, wasn't that special – the Cameroon Capital Region had a whole network for high-priority transport available to them – but it was always expensive. That Magistry had set up one in the city meant something, though what that something was we had yet to figure out.

The Wardens' actions on the 19 th of March had likewise been relatively straightforward: a loosely-affiliated group of solo heroes had found a refinery Motor Spirit used to transform Dieselpriest's crude oil-like caster power into usable imitation fossil fuel. A big blow to their income regardless of whether that was their only refinery, and for relatively little risk as well.

Phyr-Ex, Bruce Spruce, Guerillion, Flotsam and the Wardens Antibaronne and Levy had only had to fight Dieselpriest and Hexkey (and some henchies and drones) thanks to the Guardians delaying the spectacle-fight between Motorgang and Magistry, Doombell and Blade Eater occupying the attention of Blazin and Helltearer, and Amber and I being ambushed by Maxxellerate, Motor Spirit, Kinetic Drive and Mangine of Destruction.

Despite the apparent scale of it, the news in Charm seemed muted, lacking the importance and grip even minor Jannacht fights had held over the city. Maybe it was the fact that no villain had been captured, or that it had been without casualties, or that there'd been a far larger battle down in Newston, Southstates Region to put things in perspective, but it seemed that (for better or worse) Charm's citizens still felt safe despite the fighting.

Still, these were big events as far as the masquerade was concerned, and again it all reeked of augury – or something superpowered anyway. Something which Doombell was in agreement with.

"It stinks," the dark nun said, undoubtedly wrinkling her nose behind her veil.

"Everyone, heroes to villains both, all in the right place and the right time purely by accident? No, the Guardians have someone working for them behind the curtain, preparing the scene."

"So what if they are?" Aetherna said.

"Like during the Jannacht Wars, all they're doing us is help further our goal." Doombell snorted derisively.

"If you like them so much, why don't you join them?" Aetherna rolled her head.

"I don't have to like them to know what's in their best interest."

"Uh-huh. Until they decide that suddenly having vigilantes isn't in their 'best interest' anymore." Rhennish interrupted the debate.

"We're getting away from the point-""I blame Doombell," Blade Eater said unprompted.

"-which is our role in all of this." Rhennish hadn't so much as paused at the interruption.

"Doombell, Blade Eater; what did you find in the location you attacked."

"A literal boatload, chief," Blade Eater said.

"They were all but ready to ship crates of their gunk by the time we arrived," Doombell added.

"If it weren't for the fact Blade Eater struck a hole in it before they could leave, they would've succeeded too. It also delayed us long enough for Blazin and Helltearer to arrive."

"Did you manage to retrieve anything from the boat? Information, items; anything to indicate what, when and to who they were smuggling?" Doombell shook her head.

"Henchies managed to get the boat out deep onto the water before it sank, and we had our hands full with their masked. By the time the Wardens arrived and they fled, we decided to cut our losses. Guardians must've fished it up by now."

"It might've been an ambush," Mantellan said.

"Empty warehouse, empty ships; same as Crowsong and Jester's." Doombell shrugged, not particularly caring one way or another.

"You think they're targeting us?" Aetherna asked.

"Merely speculating. We can't know whether it was an ambush or not," Rhennish said.

"Unlike with our juniors, we know Doombell and Blade Eater weren't tracked for as far as we know, so we shouldn't leap to conclusions." I suppressed my fidgeting at the unintentional accusation. Fortunately, we'd at least managed to find which of my forms had functioning trackers on them and which didn't. Unfortunately, there were quite a lot. All I had left was the original rope drone, two anti-gravity drones, and one motorbike of Motorgang's variety of maker-tech forms – no friction-denial or heat laser anymore.

Really, the maker-bike and anti-gravity drone should've been lost as well. Both of the ones I'd mastered had functioning trackers on them, but once we destroyed them, the non-functional copies I had of them suddenly began working. I'd had to remaster their forms, but still, that was quickly done. Too bad that every single one of the other drones we tried had a functioning tracker on them, but I was just glad that I had anything left at all.

"But it should be something to keep in mind," Mantellan added. Rhennish acquiesced with a nod.

"With that said, let us get to the next topic: what we found out about Magistry." Everyone straightened up. So far, Rhennish, Aetherna and Mantellan had shared next to nothing about the matter.

"Now, the teleportation network was revealed thanks to the Guardians' actions, but what it did not reveal was the sheer extent of the network." He pressed a button on his laptop and from the center of the table, a holographic map popped up. I couldn't see the device projecting it, but figured it was probably inside the table. As for what it showed, the holographic map didn't just pinpoint locations in the city, but outside of Charm as well.

The farthest went as far east as the Crater Lake and as far south as the old Salem ruins – the Cascadian Salem, of course; not one of the dozens of other ruined Salems spread around North America. But more important than these outliers were the focal points. Besides the large spread of dots all over Charm, there were five groups of dots – two in Greenside, three in Little Europe.

"A hub-and-spoke network," Crowsong concluded.

"How did you find all this?"

"Part luck, part synergy, part favorable power interaction," Aetherna said. In other words: all luck.

"Mantellan can cast a short-range wave-of-detection spell while I am capable of creating a spelled device to function as a, hm, dousing rod-annex-compass is the best way to put it. Then once we found the hubs, Mantellan's short-range spell revealed the entire network due to the spatial compression of the portals themselves, and after that it was light work." Everyone looked at the dots in complete silence, marveling at the sheer size of Magistry's network.

Maybe they were all wondering about the implications, or trying to figure out why Magistry suddenly decided to do this only after the Jannacht Syndicate paid their eventful visit, or something else entirely. But likely, they were all thinking about what to do with this. How to tackle this problem, how to close all the hubs and spokes of Magistry's enormous network. If it was the latter, they were clearly in denial.

So many places to strike, and if Magistry could just whip this up whenever they wanted it'd turn into whack-a-mole real quick. And while I liked being a Sentinel, and liked the history the Sentinels carried with them, there was one thing we were not: large. But apparently, pride did not allow them to say this.

"Since nobody else is willing to say this, I will: this is too big for us to strike. Doubly so if we also want to do something to Motorgang." After a breath, "We need to go to the heroes with this." I saw some movement, some tension and some under-the-breath muttering – and grumbling, and cursing – but no outright denials. Rhennish sighed.

"Yes, that's what I was about to propose." He looked around the table.

"All in agreement?" Again, muttering and grumbling, but no outright denials. Good. At least they were being responsible despite their pride. Rhennish nodded, typing something on his laptop.

"Now, since we've figured out what Magistry has been up to under the cover of their fights, let's head to the next subject: how to deal with Motorgang and their burgeoning alliance with the Rajaparang. Do we have any updates regarding that?"

"Nothing which we didn't already know," Crowsong said.

"We have enough intel to predict certain things. While we can't exactly know what it is they're planning to ship, or with whom they're talking to and what agreements are being made, we can figure out other details: volumes, weights, whens and wheres."

"Enough to strike a crippling blow to their relationship if we plan it right," Blade Eater said, serious for once.

"How do we know this won't become another ambush situation?" Aetherna said.

"Is there a method to figure a lure from the real deal?"

"How can we ever know these things?" Doombell returned.

"That's the risk of doing what we do."

"Doesn't mean we can't do our 'due diligence', as it were," Aetherna countered.

"Maybe a test strike?" Naomi suggested quietly. We all turned to her, causing her to fidget nervously for a second.

"Something small enough that it wouldn't spill the fact that we know, but good enough for us to confirm we can predict them?" Nobody said anything for the moment.

"Not a bad idea," Aetherna said eventually. Doombell nodded in agreement, as did the rest of us a moment later. Rhennish smiled at his protégé, clearly proud, before turning back to the group in general.

"Good. We'll plan the specifics of that later."

"What about the real raid?" I asked.

"If we want to make a big splash, it means big opposition. We don't have enough to deal with nearly all of Motorgang at once." Doombell snorted.

"You want to go to the heroes with this one too? Let them steal our thunder?" Yes, actually, but I'd already talked it over with Amber and we figured that wouldn't happen – doubly so now that we'd given up on the Magistry half of the equation. Besides, Amber herself was also against it and I wasn't about to push it if she didn't agree. But that didn't mean we didn't have a plan.

"The Principate," Amber said, turning to Aetherna.

"You confirmed you got in contact with them before. Can you do it again?" After hesitating for a second and sharing a quick glance with Changelinger, she nodded.

"I see. Yes, we can get in contact with them. Though whether we'll be able to persuade them to join a strike against them is up in the air."

"Maybe we can help?" I suggested.

"And March as well. From their, ah, 'style of masking'," if one could call their mischief that, "a junior-to-junior conversation might be better than adults alone." Aetherna smiled wryly, but acquiesced.

"I'll see what I can do." Rhennish nodded and took over again.

"Good. Then we'll discuss the specifics of the strike after we get closer on that. Now for the final point: general inquiry. Does anyone have something they would like to discuss?"

"Yes, I do." Blade Eater smiled a bit too widely.

"See, about those funds-" I and half the others here suffered in silence and tuned the rest of the conversation out. Surely the man must derive some sick form of pleasure from the topic to bring it up again.