Chương 226: Chapter 225 - Carte Blanche

The next morning, Alexander sat behind a desk in a room he'd commandeered from the palace staff. Going home hadn't really been a choice. A doorway to Astra Omnia, then another back to the island was all that stood between Grimnir and their lair. But everyone else was staying. Annie was somewhere in the city helping clear the last pockets of infected. Augustus was still running portal relays to the habitable domes. Talia had been coordinating with Khalida's people throughout the night.

Felix was asleep last he'd checked, having exhausted his reserves healing as many people as he could. Even Gilly and Gabriel had barely rested. So he stayed. The room was small by palace standards, which meant it was merely the size of a generous apartment living room. He'd pushed the decorative furniture against the walls and dragged the desk to the center, positioning it beneath the best light. Two chairs faced each other across it.

A spread of papers covered the surface, alongside a pen he'd borrowed from Khalida's aide. The door opened. Talia stepped through, then stopped. She looked at Alexander. At the desk. At the papers. Then back at Alexander.

"You're writing? On paper?" Alexander glanced up with a smile.

"Yeah. What can I say? Carmen and Jasmine sold me on it." Talia frowned.

"Seriously?" He laughed.

"No. Have a seat." She closed the door and took the chair opposite him. Her posture was controlled, as always, though the faint shadows beneath her eyes revealed she hadn't slept either.

"What did you need?"

"A few things." He set the pen down.

"Let's start with the attackers and their tech." Talia nodded. Her expression shifted, focus sharpening.

"Realm of the Mind." The office stretched away from them. Walls, ceiling, floor, the desk itself, all of it fading into a white expanse that extended in every direction. Only the two of them remained, seated across from each other as if the chairs floated in nothing. It wasn't the first time experiencing it, but Talia's powers were still fascinating. Then the white space began to fill. It happened fast. The palace grounds reconstructed around them, seen from Talia's perspective.

Civilians running for the main entrance. Heroes and villains helping the civilians. Droney's swarm buzzing overhead. The faintest distortion appeared ahead of them. Then eleven more. Twelve portals, smaller than System gateways but unmistakable in their signature. Figures stepped through in pairs. Red and black armor, form-fitting and seamless. Personal energy shields shimmering faintly around each one. Dish-shaped devices raised in unison. Talia slowed the replay.

The team leader's voice cut through the chaos, frequency-modulated but clear.

"Grab the Nakamura brothers. Take Talia Kim and Raelene West. That will bring the Machine God and the Dragon Lord to us." Alexander watched in silence, eyes narrowing at the audacity. Hearing it from Annie's account was one thing. Seeing it through Talia's eyes was another. The replay accelerated. Flashes of combat, though parts of the sequence blurred where Talia's attention had been elsewhere.

The sharp sections showed what she'd seen directly: Annie's MetaMetal shredding the net, Draven phasing his blade through a shield, Titanic's powers, still unknown, reacting to threats. The blurs filled in the gaps with her best inference, shapes and movement that were close but lacked the crisp detail of direct observation. Cash going down mid-stride. The Nakamura twins collared and dragged through portals. Droney's kamikaze runs against the suppression dishes. Then the retreat.

Portals closing behind the surviving operatives. And finally, Talia kneeling beside one of the dead, watching as the armor began to dissolve. The sludge spread where it touched skin, consuming the body along with the equipment. Breaking down every trace of evidence into nothing. She released the technique. The office reformed around them.

"I tried to capture as much detail as I could, but there wasn't much time before everything dissolved."

"Nanites," Alexander said.

"Self-destructing, too. I checked the grounds where it happened. Couldn't sense a single thing."

"That's what I thought." Talia met his eyes.

"They're also different from the ones you got from the cube." Alexander nodded.

"I could have gathered more information, but I didn't want to risk touching the dissolution while it was happening." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"That was the right call. Don't worry about it." They sat in silence for a few moments. Alexander turned the pen over in his fingers, thinking. The underlying technology was advanced, but the features and functions were all practical. Capture nets. Personal shield generators. Suppression fields delivered through portable dishes rather than just collars. Impressive engineering. Just not as extraordinary as Annie had made it sound. The System gateways remained the outlier.

They were so far beyond the rest of the equipment that they looked like superpowered manifestations rather than technology. The truth that they were actually technological in nature still remained a secret to most. The question was whether these people had found a way to access System features nobody else could reach, or whether they were directly involved with the System somehow. Neither answer was comforting. Alexander took a breath, then continued filling in the gaps in the documents spread before him.

"Cognitive Resonance make any links?" Talia shook her head.

"Identified some materials, but provided no further connections."

"That's unusual."

"Very. I suspect the materials originated off-world. Otherwise I should have been able to trace at least some component to a known source." She paused.

"It's possible they used metals from obscure extraction sites I've simply never encountered in anything else before, but given the breadth of what I've studied, that's unlikely."

"And the people themselves?"

"Nothing. The suppression fields shut down my powers initially, but they returned toward the end of the fight." She straightened slightly.

"Voice modulation doesn't affect Cognitive Resonance, either. If I'd ever encountered the leader before, modulated or otherwise, I would have recognized him. I didn't." Alexander absorbed that. Unknown materials. Unknown people. Unknown technology. And a precog who couldn't see them coming or find them in the future.

"Okay. I need you to shift priorities," he said, putting down the pen.

"When we get back to Earth, I want you to wrap up the AEGIS hack. Pull everything you can with whatever access you already have." He didn't tell her what to focus on. She didn't need micromanaging.

"And before you ask, no. I don't care about the consequences. AEGIS is done." Talia nodded.

"It would take us weeks or months to get any further, anyway. They're regionally and departmentally compartmentalized. I'll focus on training materials and any intelligence." Alexander raised an eyebrow. That was a mouthful.

"Good. Once that's done, I want you working out who these attackers are. You have carte blanche. Whatever you need. They wanted my attention…" He paused.

"They have it."

"Understood." Talia smiled.

"I was actually looking forward to discussing the Nakamuras' thesis with them after the press release, too. Rescuing them should go a long way toward them letting me pick their brains." Alexander chuckled.

"Yeah. That's definitely why we're doing this." He rested an elbow on the table and propped his chin in his hand.

"Let's discuss Jasmine Sharp now." Electrokinesis was pulsing throughout his body. His senses amped to near maximum. He was even expecting it. And still he almost missed the slight hesitation in his friend's response.

"What about her?" Talia's smile from earlier faded to neutral as naturally as could be. The flicker in her eyes had told him everything though.

"I've been thinking about renegotiating her contract and offering her a permanent position." Talia's surprise was genuine.

"Really? You said you didn't think she'd ever want to truly join us." Alexander shrugged.

"I was wrong. That happens sometimes." He grinned.

"Shocking, I know. She's proven herself invaluable since she started working for us. But it's more than that." He took a deep breath and sat back in the chair.

"Jasmine… adapted fast. The heist should have bothered her, but she took it in stride. And again when she learned about the end of the world. Even when Max and I confronted King and Queen." She frowned.

"I wish you'd warned the rest of us about that. We could have been on standby in case things went wrong." He sighed.

"I didn't want to put Augustus in that position." Talia nodded.

"That's fair. But you know he would have backed you."

"Of course. But it still would have been a pretty dick move." She smiled.

"Which, totally coincidentally, is also why we need to talk about your relationship with Jasmine." This time it didn't take Hyperawareness to catch the shock. It faded as fast as it appeared, calculations racing across her face in a heartbeat. A slight blush was all that gave it away once her expression smoothed out.

"How did you know?" Alexander smiled.

"I don't really know anything. Just that the two of you have interesting reactions whenever the other is mentioned." Talia looked down.

"It's not interfering with our work. And it won't—" He waved a hand.

"That's not why I'm bringing it up."

"Then why?" she asked, meeting his gaze.

"Because I enjoy messing with you." Alexander paused long enough for the annoyance to reach her eyebrows. Then he laughed.

"I'm kidding! Sort of." Talia stared at him with undisguised impatience.

"I am thinking about bringing her into the leadership group and arranging access to the serum. If she wants it. The reasons are practical. Besides what I already said, her advice is excellent." He hesitated.

"I wanted to discuss it with you first because I was concerned about how it might affect your relationship. Whatever that is." Talia frowned quietly for a while. He didn't press.

"I don't know… exactly… what we are, yet," Talia admitted.

"I've been careful because there is a power imbalance between us. I didn't want that to color anything." Alexander nodded. Said nothing. She took a slow breath, then continued. Careful.

"I am trying to remain unbiased, but I believe she would bring uniquely valuable insight to our guild. What I've seen of her professionally is that she has an integrity that matches our own. The only concern I have is what you originally said about her not being able to handle our criminality."

"I agree. Which is why someone needs to take the offer to her and discuss the situation frankly." Alexander slid the papers across the table.

"Auggy and Annie already signed off on the official recruitment. It's up to her now." Talia narrowed her eyes.

"You want me to handle it? Why?" Alexander grinned. The trap had finally sprung.

"Oh, you know. I like to think of myself as something of a cupid. Setting people up. First Auggy, now you." He leaned forward.

"And don't think I haven't noticed whatever is happening between Annie and Cash. I'll get to them soon." Her expression went flat.

"Seriously?" Alexander nodded sagely.

"We gods have to find ways to entertain ourselves." Talia huffed, swept the contract into her hands, and stood up. Then she spun on her heels and headed for the doorway without so much as a goodbye, shutting it behind her with a bit more force than was strictly necessary. Alexander leaned back in the chair and grinned. That had gone perfectly to plan. Time to call in the next victim.