52 - Invade
"It's a hive, alright. Probably Phoresy." Onyx landed with a flutter, obviously bothered by his findings. No surprise, but confirmation was important. Bit had led us on a twisty path through the deep forest. I was half convinced we'd been closing on the kidnappers before reaching the woods edge. Unwilling to blindly leave cover, I'd tasked Onyx to scout. He'd used his camouflage to follow discretely.
"As we expected." I stood, brushing crumbs off my lap. It was late and I'd left supper on the table, but I always had iron rations in my pack. Lyra and Sunset had foraged a little and split one of my granola bars. "What's it look like?"
"Bad." Onyx shrugged. "Windigolems guard the entrance."
"Ouch." I grimaced. "I didn't seriously think we'd be up against Sombra and a Queen."
"It's dismaying, but actually an opportunity." Onyx grinned as we turned to him. "See, the real strength of changelings is the Hivemind. And windigolems - "
" - aren't part of that." Lyra grinned back. "Hmm. You've got my attention."
"Exactly. And something is very odd. Haven't you noticed what's missing?" He waved a hoof.
"No patrols." Sunset flicked her mane out of her eyes. "They're sloppy. Or desperate."
"Likely desperate." Onyx grimaced, clearly apprehensive. "No proof, but this feels like a strategic thaumaturgy setup. Queen Tezeca never pulled patrols unless her circles needed every last bug."
"What about Bit?" I growled. I didn't want Bitterbloom anywhere near strategic-level spell casting. Foalnapped on the very eve of? That made my skin crawl. "Are we far behind?"
“An hour, by pheromone decay." Onyx smiled nervously. "I never expected to make this good of time. As for Bit…" Worry clouded his face. "I've told you she's valuable?"
"Many times. I agree." I snapped open my correspondence folder and handed it to Sunset. She tucked the tiny octant she'd been sighting with back into my bag, and started scribbling coordinates to Fancy. We were mere minutes from Baltimare by air. Troops would arrive in hours, but we weren't waiting.
"When I described Agents, did you ever wonder that Bit was so young?"
"Not really." I shrugged. "Sure, it's odd. But stranger things happen." I refrained from listing.
"Well, that's important. If Bit falls into the wrong hooves… my hive is in trouble. She's literally more valuable than any other Tezecan agent."
"Really." I rubbed my forehead, resisting the urge to shake Onyx until he spilled everything he'd neglected. "And Tezeca fostered Bit with me." My eyes narrowed at a vile thought. "Is Bit a hostage?" My voice was harsh. Sunset and Lyra gasped, but Onyx shook his head slowly.
"Maybe she could be, if our leaders were different. But remember meeting Bit? What they said?"
"Oh…" Both Tezeca and Celestia had given me leave to…blech, 'terminate' Bit. Celestia almost certainly did it because she knew it would have the opposite effect, but she'd meant it nonetheless. What was a hostage with no guarantee?
"Bit…" Onyx sighed. "Is a gamble. The biggest my hive has made for hundreds of years." He shrugged. "I don't know specifics, just that she will make or break us. Here's what I do know." He grinned. "I promise, after this, you'll know all I can tell."
"Hah. Continue." I settled my pack. Onyx led us slowly out of the forest.
"Most agents wouldn't realize this." He was speaking softly. We'd be near the entrance soon. "As a hatchling Agent, Bit has… call it the Hivemind's 'key', imprinted in her. Since she never activated…never really used her link, it's unformed. It's half the key, with traces of the rest. Which means it's not magically secure. If Phoresy's good enough, she could…" He drew a shuddering breath. "She could co-opt that, and access much of the Tezecan Hivemind."
"She could hack a Hivemind?" I was aghast. "Is that what they're casting?"
"I have no idea." Onyx's voice was strained. "I'm so, so afraid. I have no idea. If it is…Bit won't survive. My hive will lose their Queen. Our gamble will fail. It will be a disaster like we haven't seen for thousands of years." His voice grew quiet. "It may end my hive. Hush. We're nearly there." He slowed, and we dropped to crawl over the last rise.
Ahead, the ground fell away, the path sliding deep into a narrow canyon. A sturdy door, wide, tall, plain, and heavy, was mounted solidly into a hewn rock-face at the bottom. I grimaced; that would be yards of bedrock if I'd built it. There were guards, too. A half-dozen crystal statues flickered fitfully in the dark. Obviously windigolems.
"Lyra, do they look different?" I whispered. We didn’t have comms. I made a mental note to build a dozen to keep in my pack.
"Yeah." We halted, stopping the others. I squinted, trying to isolate what bothered me.
"Oh." Lyra's voice was small. "Trace the path, Wes."
I wondered, but complied. The path wound down, and down, and down…. I sighed as I caught her meaning. I'd assumed we were hundreds of yards from the door, because I'd compared its size to the windigolems. But following the walls of the canyon showed it was nearly three times farther than I'd guessed.
Which meant the door, and the windigolems, were several times larger.
"Those are big. Not a good start." I scratched my forehead. "Not at all." I thought for a moment. "Still, it shouldn't make much of a difference for you, Jedi. Sunset, are there wards?" Our caster's horn flickered dimly, and she shook her head.
"They must be relying on noise for warning. Maybe there's a lookout inside, or maybe they're not concerned about attack. Which would be foolish, after foalnapping Bit." She frowned. "Odd."
"We've got to move on. Can you muffle Lyra?"
"Done." A drop of cyan floated off Sunset's horn, wrapping around the martial artist before fading.
"Alright, go crazy." I'd barely finished before Lyra was gone. She took four jumps to reach the door, moving frighteningly fast, little more than a blur in the air. She landed behind the golems like a feather, attacking with an astonishing flurry of blows. Each touch was devastating. One golem crumbled before they even reacted. The whole thing was silent. As soon as she left, we rose and nonchalantly made our way down the path.
"When those things break, they'll release the animating spirit." I nodded to Sunset. "Pull them together, and funnel them into this." I held up a jar. "We'll leave it here. They should evaporate at daybreak. I hope that will be enough to avoid alerting the boss."
We reached the door as the last golem shattered. Onyx and Sunset gave Lyra appraising glances. I realized that we'd never worked together like this before. I was the one tying these ponies together. They would fly or fall on my word. That realization was both empowering and frightening. Once again, I'd jumped in over my head. Once again, I knew that my friends would support me. I trusted them.
Shaking off my introspection, I stepped up to the door, running a hand over the smooth wood. It was thick and sturdy; even without guards, this was a significant obstacle. We could power through. I had no doubt either mare could easily wreck the portal. But stealth needed subtlety, precision. I carefully scrutinized it, searching for weak points. My eyes kept returning to the fist-sized lock. It was thaumically resistant, enspelled with rune-circles of rejection, but maybe… I leaned down and started absently shuffling the crystal fragments with my dagger, wary of razor edges.
"Aha!" I found was I needed. A piece of broken windigolem, maybe eight inches long, and thin enough to fit in the lock.
"Wes, what are you…" Lyra's voice trailed off as I slid it into the lock, feeling for the tumblers. "Are you seriously trying to pick a lock with that?"
"How much do you know about lock picking?" I tapped the glass with my wand, feeling for harmonics.
"Not much." She frowned.
"Lock snapping?"
"What?"
"How about vibration picks?" Her expression turned curious at that, and she watched carefully as I set the crystal singing and torqued it. The lock buzzed and clicked over loudly, random movements aligning the tumblers just right.
"There!" I withdrew the crystal, tossing it back into the pile. "Just like magic!" I grinned, and pushed the door. It swung quietly. The air rippled as Onyx slipped in.
"But…" Sunset gave the lock a look as she stepped through. "That's spell-metal!"
"I know." I stepped in last. "It was science. If you want to be powerful, why limit yourself to the obvious?" I shrugged. "I won't." My grin was fierce as I stepped into my enemies' domain.
"This is ridiculous."
We were feeling discouraged, and rather lost.
There was no opposition inside. If Onyx hadn't confirmed Bit's trail, I'd have completely despaired. As it was, we still had serious trouble. Onyx reported the trail fading as soon as we entered. At the first crossroad he frowned and slowed. At the second, he grimaced and paused. At the third, he groaned and stopped, leaning on a wall.
"What's up?" I crossed my hands behind my back.
"Traffic!" He waved a hoof. "I don't know how many passed here, but each one spread the trail. I can't be sure if they went this way, that way, or straight through!" He waved.
"Hmm." I frowned. "Lyra, Sunset, ideas?"
"I could try a tracer." Sunset frowned. "But it might trigger wards. We're in deep, and if an alarm goes off we'll have trouble."
"I've got echolocation." Lyra grimaced. "But it's not exactly passive. Same problem."
"Dang." I mulled our options for a moment. "Onyx, what's going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why's this place so dead?"
"Something big’s going down. I'd still guess strategic spells." He grimaced, and started inspecting the corridor again. "I think… for now, let's go this way." He set off slowly, and we followed. "If they're setting up for a ritual, everyone would be present."
"All of them?"
"All they could spare. There might be a few with the eggs. But yeah."
"How's the casting work?" Sunset asked. We talked quietly, but the absolute emptiness had relaxed our guard.
"It's… hard to describe. Agent’s can’t participate, but each member of the Hivemind stores some emotion condensate. In the ritual, they convert it to magic and send it to the Queen. She balances all the flows, and weaves the spell. It's immensely powerful. I doubt even your Princess' could match it alone."
"Like an L-system. I used one for sharing magic, at the university." Sunset muttered. "But… what sort of efficiency do you get?"
"It's lossless." Onyx shrugged. "At short range, at least. The Hivemind isn't some kludgy rune-thing. It's fundamentally a construct of beauty and grace."
"You're not biased at all." Lyra snorted.
"Of course not!" He grinned, and our spirits lightened slightly. If we could still joke, we were still going strong.
"Head for the center." I motioned to Onyx, at the next cross-way. He gave me a blank look. "Just a guess." I shrugged. "But if this hive is like the others, there's a centerpiece. Tezeca had a garden, Wraith an arena." Onyx nodded slowly, and picked a corridor. "Plus," I continued, "they'll need a large space, and I bet that's central. Like you said, it's only lossless at short range."
I'd begun wondering if I'd made the wrong choice, but Lyra stopped us after a few minutes walking.
"Halt!" she called quietly. We promptly flattened against the nearest wall. She peered around the corner. "…been here for hours…" she muttered, ears spinning and scanning like radar dishes. "…Queen Phoresy won't be happy…Let us in…on your own heads…" She looked back. "Bit!" she gasped, setting off at a ghostly gallop. We dashed behind, footsteps muffled by careful magic.
"Ponyfeathers!" she yelped, as we came to a corner. She peeked carefully around, using a mirror held in a dim golden glow. "We just missed them!" She stepped boldly out, and we followed. "They were here!" She stomped a muffled hoof in frustration. "I could hear them talking! Two wanted in. The other didn't like it, but agreed anyways!"
I examined the area. Our hall intersected a spreading corridor, opulent and lushly furnished. Thick carpet ran down the center, wide enough for six ponies abreast. Suits of armor stood at the sides, carved chitin and blackened steel glinting evilly under bright crystal lamps. Double doors stood at the end, nearly twice as tall as the corridor was wide. Lyra stood glaring up at them.
"Onyx?"
"She's right. Bit was here moments ago." He gnashed his teeth. "What now?"
I shook my head slowly, carefully looking for our next move.
"There." I pointed upwards. High above the floor, on both sides of the door, stained-glass windows hung in shadow. "Any chance those - " My words cut off as Sunset vanished with a pop, materializing beside one. She hung suspended by her cyan aura. My heart jumped to my mouth as I imagined those inside noticing her. But she glanced back and smiled, before reaching out carefully and flicking something on the rim of the window. The frame swung inwards like a door. She floated through, and motioned us after.
"Hup!" Lyra leaped, bouncing off the walls and hurtling through. Onyx simply spread his wings and flew.
"Great." I rifled through my pack, feeling for my cord. "No chance I could get a lift? I'm apparently the only member of the Justice League who can't fly. At all." I tied the wire-cored rope to my hammer, and flung it through the window. No clang; somepony had caught it, because it held firm when I jerked. Setting my feet against the wall, I walked myself up, concentrating a little magic on my hands and arms to keep moving strongly. I stuck an arm in the window and climbed through. As soon as I arrived, I froze.
We were on a balcony, above a sea of changelings. I ducked behind the railing and peeked between the thick columns.
"A theater?" Lyra whispered.
"No, it's been re-purposed." Onyx muttered back. "This is all temporary." He motioned to stacks of panels and piles of mechanisms lining the walls. "It… may have been a maze. A labyrinth, or gauntlet."
The room was huge. Easily as large as the arena, seats and everything. Looking down, the floor fell away from the door. Changelings stood fifty feet below us, carpeting the floor, arranged in orderly blocs. Crooked horns and pierced legs aligned into exact ranks. I counted a square of ten, and then ten squares of ten, and estimated that there were easily four thousand bugs in the room, packed cheek-to-jowl. They faced the stage, covered with the trappings of an intricate and involved ritual. Crystals, columns, sigils, runes, even tapestry, bowls of water and… red liquid. It was unfinished, but arranged meticulously. In the center stood -
Bit.
I cued on my aide as my eyes swept the stage. The little bug stood tall and proud, fiercely facing down a Queen. Phoresy, if slit purple eyes and jagged ornamentation indicated. Three Phoresian Agents cowered behind. I slipped out my wand, and cast a subtle echonary spell, lensing and funneling sound to me. We were shadowed; though I could see clearly, we'd be difficult to spot. No wonder Sunset had been pleased. I crept to the side, surveying my friends as I listened.
"….Are you still claiming that, Rime?" The first voice I heard was deep and deadly.
"My Queen, I swear! The translation keys were correct! If it wasn't from you - " One of the cowering Agents barely dared to look up.
"Silence! This fiasco wastes time!" Phoresy glanced at Bit, and pointed. "Stand there. I will deal with you, later." Her smile gave me chills. My fists clenched.
"They're coming." Bit's voice was as soft and calm as ever.
"Shhh!" One of the agents stepped forward. Bit glanced back, and it stopped. There was a surety in Bit's eyes that caused even Phoresy to pause. The small bug stared down the Queen, and it was Phoresy who spoke.
"Who?" Her voice rang, threatening. "Who is coming?"
"My teacher. His friends." Calm assurance gleamed in Bit's pearly eyes. "You will pay."
"Fool!" Phoresy threw her head back and laughed. "No-one knows you're here! No-one's coming! They haven't even noticed you're gone! And if they do, would they care? For such a small bug?"
"He would never abandon me." Bit nodded firmly. "No more than his friends abandon him. He fights monsters bare-handed, and sings his opponents to death. Harmony walks with him. The Sun and Moon watch over him. Watch. Wait. Fear. You will not stand."
"Enough!" Phoresy's gaze spoke anger. "Your words are powerless! I stand alone as Changeling Queen in Equestria. Chrysalis is gone, Wraith is dead. Tezeca sold herself. I alone am a true Queen, the last true changeling! I stand against all, and my allies stand alongside!" She looked past the side of the stage. "Come, Glisten. We will continue." I frowned, mind whirling, as the lieutenant we'd recently met entered stage left. She was still obviously a windigolem. Her slabby blue body and fuchsia mane shone brightly among the rounded black bugs. The agents seized Bit, pulling it off the stage's opposite edge to join a bloc of bugs. They barely looked out of place.
"What do you feed that bug?" Lyra leaned in close, whispering. "Brass tacks? Brimstone? She threw you down against a Queen!"
"Uhuh." Lost in thought, I rubbed my chin.
"Uhuh my minty flank! That's some serious spunk! I wish my apprentice had half the fire!" She gave me a sly look.
"Hmm."
"You're not listening."
"I feed Bit loyalty." I turned to her. "Look, Lyra…I think we've been played."
"What?" Sunset leaned in to listen, and Onyx settled on my other side. "How do you figure?"
"Phoresy didn't kidnap Bit." I pointed to the Queen. "She wasn't expecting this at all. Those agents moved without her say-so. Did you see how angry she was?"
"Hmm." Lyra nodded slowly. "You might be right. That would explain the lack of guards. We weren't expected, because this wasn't her plot."
"Then who?" Sunset frowned. "And why?"
"The why is pretty simple." I grimaced. "Someone wants us to do their dirty work. And we will; we've no choice."
"The who is equally obvious." Onyx frowned. "It wasn't Sombra; Glisten's here. It must be Chrysalis."
"By elimination?" I shifted carefully. We were hard to see, but by no means invisible. I'd have been more worried, but the changeling ranks never shifted. Glisten and Phoresy had their heads down over the ritual.
"That, but she also knew Bit's a changeling from from the time with Sapphire Shores, and maybe guessed she's a hatchling." He grimaced. "She suborned Phoresy's agents. Who else could discover the keys? I should have been more careful after Baltimare! She realized how valuable Bit is. Maybe made a connection with you as the Ambassador having a changeling aide."
"Blech." I grimaced. "You could hardly have been more cautious without literally tying yourself to Bit, which I wouldn't allow. As hollow as words are, you did your best. Either way, we need to move forward." I waved at the hall. "This actually improves our situation."
"How so?" Sunset whispered.
"Simple." Lyra patted her shoulder. "They're not expecting us."
"Exactly." I grinned. "Look, team. Why are we here?"
"To rescue Bit," Sunset answered. The other two nodded.
"And we're willing to risk?"
"Everything," Lyra said, again to nods.
"Good." I grinned, heart swelling, glad I had friends like this. "Great. Four of us, one thousand bugs each. We can split Phoresy and Glisten equally - "
"Look!" Sunset nudged me. "That's it!"
"What?" I turned to the stage. Glisten was carrying a silver oval.
"The mirror!" She leaned in close, whispering in my ear. "The mirror from the painting! From Manehatten! In the cart!"
"The Misty Mirror." I stopped, wondering. "That… Hmm."
We watched in silence as Phoresy and Glisten worked. I scanned the stage carefully, trying to understand the ritual. It seemed incomprehensible, until I glimpsed a heart-shaped crystal in the center, suspended over the mirror.
"No way…" I breathed.
"What?" Sunset glanced curiously at me.
"That's resography!" I leaned in close, whispering frantically. "I saw those patterns when Twilight tunneled out of the Crystal Empire! This strategic spell… they're….they're doing it again! Creating another pocket dimension!" I stopped, trying to grasp the implications.
"Unassailable," Onyx muttered. "She's a coward. No wonder she's so enamored with fear. I bet Bit's got her quaking in her shell. She's so scared of the Sisters she wants a trans-dimensional hideout."
"More than that." Sunset finished counting quietly. "This is bad, ponies. Really, really bad."
"Well?" Lyra gave her a look.
"This spell…it's not only focused here." Her whisper was harsh. "That mirror's got serious kick; as a foci, it must be miles better than the Heart. They're grabbing this piece of Equus, and another, about a hundred miles that way."
"Baltimare!" I breathed. "Seriously?"
"Check for yourself. Trace the leylines! Count the prime nodes!"
"You're right." I grimaced after a moment. "This changes things. We can't abandon Bit, but we need to stop this ritual, no matter what." I frowned. "That means we can't do a snatch-and-run and clean up later. Phoresy's one-upping Wraith. I am not letting her tuck half of Baltimare in her pocket!"
"I think we need to wait." Lyra leaned in. "It's risky, but our best chance is when Phoresy's distracted. If we wait till the spell starts, she'll be seriously preoccupied. The reinforcements might also get here, and if we're lucky, we can destabilize the construct and burn her with whiplash. Even distracted, she'll be classes above us." She grimaced. "If we're too direct, she'll hit straight back and wipe us. We can't skip to the stage. We need chaos. We need interference. We need to drop into the crowd, and thrash our way across. That way, we'll be hard to target until we're closer."
"Can we try a ploy? Distraction? Divide and conquer?" I looked out over the gleaming ranks.
"Impossible." Onyx flatly refused. "This isn't an army. There are six changelings in this room. Phoresy and her drones, her agents, Bit, and myself. Divide and conquer would become defeat in detail."
"Dang." I mulled that for a second. Maybe having bodies between us and her was a good choice. "If that's how it's got to be." I shrugged. "But we've got to have something. No need to divvy up the small fry, just a plan for dealing with Phoresy and Glisten long enough to grab Bit and wreck the ritual."
"Oh, that's all." Lyra rolled her eyes. "Easy."
"What choice do we have?" I shrugged. I was really doing this for Bit, but half of Baltimare did lay in the balance.
"None," she answered soberly. "None at all."
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Pretty good story
thanks for the update!!
You need Discord. He'd solve all of your problems...And probably create some new ones.
4441543 Thanks! I'm glad you like it!
4441605 You're welcome!
4442875 The caused/solved ratio for Discord rises to infinity as a function of time. What's it called? The Butterfly Effect?
4443091
I think it's more like a bell curve. You start out with just one problem, but as Discord sticks around, more and more problems start showing up until it finally reaches its peak, were everything is all chaotic and it looks like hope is lost and you start asking yourself why you thought it was a good idea to let Discord get involved. And then suddenly, everything starts falling into place. The problems all start to wrap themselves up, mostly in ways you never saw coming, and eventually everything is good, and you realize that Discord knew exactly what he was doing the whole time.
In my mind, Discord is a chessmaster on par with Celestia, but he has a tendency to start treating the game like Stratego after the first three moves. And yet he still manages to come out on top in the end.
4443162 Actually, that's my impression of him as well. In the season four finale, I couldn't help but feel that he had planned the whole thing; even to giving Twilight the amulet. Pretty convenient that he pointed her in the right direction, went and got what she needed, and then handed it over at exactly the right time, hmm? But it is open to interpretation.
This is part of why I'd never use him as a central character. Plotting that sort of thing is ridiculous. Novel-length stories that do it believably are vanishingly few and far between, and most of them are mysteries. The one scene I did with him was shaky enough, and he was being straightforward. I'm still shocked people didn't dislike it more.
4443233
Yeah, that's what I thought and hoped was going on for most of the finale, but towards the end it started seeming like he hadn't planned the whole thing. But I suppose that interpretation is still a possibility.
Indeed. I can't think of any stories that do it well off the top of my head. I might have to look into it. Though on a smaller scale, I think Discord has acted like that to some extent in each of his appearances this season.
4443291 I suggest you start with Patrica A McKillip's Riddle-Master Trilogy. Besides being excellent fantasy, (in my opinion) the third book is one of the few fantasies I can think of off the top of my head that attempts something like this. Although there may be a helping hand from 'destiny' in there, as well.
Other than that, perhaps trawl TVtropes? The chessmaster page has examples by motif. Batman Gambit has plenty as well, but isn't really the same. Xanatos Speed Chess has more, but it's not quite the same. Incidentally, that's how I would like to portray Sombra, but since we don't see much of him, it's not coming across strongly.
4443371
I'll have to put that on my reading list. I really ought to read more things that aren't ponyfics anyway.
Oh, TV Tropes. Back in the days before I got into ponies, I would spend hours and hours of my free time there. I think the only reasons I was able to finally free myself from its clutches were that I discovered ponies and that I'd spent so much time on it that I probably knew enough about 90% of the not-obscure tropes that just looking at links told me all I needed to know. And that meant I didn't click on as many links, which made it a lot easier not to get lost over there.
4443501 I tend to wiki-walk whenever I'm there, but I usually only visit to browse through the 'Examples' sections of tropes I really like for something new to read. It's honestly one of the best places to find webfiction. I came to this site from a link there.
I'd like to use it more; after this story wraps up, (It will end! I promise!) I'm at the very least taking a break to dissect a few novels. Maybe I'll contribute a bit, learn something.
I have a whole list of recommendations on my user profile, if you're interested. Some 'real' books, and some non-pony fanfiction, although most of it's stalled. :(
4443574
Well, if nothing else, your profile page has reminded me that I need to get caught up on Girl Genius and Methods of Rationality.
4443605 Depending on when you stopped with HPMOR, there may not be much to see. I'm half-convinced he's abandoned it. Still, it was good while it lasted, if a bit preachy. But Girl Genius rocks on, and hard.
4443662
I didn't get very far into HPMOR. Harry was in Potions for the first time, as I recall. Even when I stopped, there was still a lot left to read. I just stopped for some reason and never bothered to pick it back up. And I'm about three years behind on Girl Genius. And most of the rest of the webcomics I used to read. One of these days...
4443713 Heh, someday, sometime... I know that song. But if you've got stories of that caliber to read, what are you doing here? ;) Thanks for picking my fanfiction, buddy.
4443722
I think it has something to do with it being easier to get away with reading stories on fimfiction during work than it is to get away with reading webcomics. It also helps that HiE stories are something of a guilty pleasure for me.
Manl, plots within plots. What's goin on! Daw, bit is so cute.
4444002 I'm trying to close plotlines! I promise! :P I'm glad you like Bit; I have no idea how to write 'cute', so that's very encouraging.
From start to here in ~11.5 hours. That I read this all in one go should tell you how much I enjoyed this story. Good work.
4444313 Thank you very much for your kind words! I'm glad your enjoying it. Don't forget to sleep. :)
52# he he
I swear this error wasn't there the last time I read this, I would have noticed...
Halfway through where this and till the end of the chapter everything is in italics, the is messed up...
5220328 Fixed! One more that snuck in during my edits; that was a broken closing italic, so it just italicised the rest of the story, apparently. :/
And the only thing they thought to secure this individual with was a single agent? This is stupid beyond belief. Bit would never have been given if it meant this kind of risk, or else an entire squad of changeling ninjas would have been sent to unobtrusively safeguard it.
The scenario you have set up here is completely absurd because no one would take that kind of risk without assurances and safeguards. My suspension of disbelief has become very strained.
Damn! Bit is the best hype man ever. That loyalty must be some potent stuff
6025131
It's literally described as a gamble. High risk, high reward. Take your fragile suspension of relief and shove it up your ass.