novelzi [323] 4.44 Base Infiltration X
[323] 4.44 Base Infiltration X
“By the way,” Clara says. “Who is he? I’m guessing a relative?”“Chloe’s father,” I say. “Henry Jacobs. I’m surprised you didn’t know, considering all the investigations that you were doing before this whole operation got underway. And Hank, this is Clara Bennett. Claims to be an FBI agent, working with what she’s called the ‘System Crimes Division’. In any case, she’s been trying to figure out what’s going on with the Legion… And from what I’ve been able to gather, the Legion’s higher-ups are involved in the same Project Seraphina you have been involved with. Daryl did mention Renault by name.”
“It all comes back to that,” Clara says. “The Legion, that other Seraphina, you and Miss Jacobs. All of it is connected to some government project from two decades ago that’s been kept beyond classified, and the data restricted beyond even my investigative capacity.”
“By design,” Hank says. “What would have happened twenty-two years ago if the politicians were asked to fund a project on the basis that at some undetermined point in the future, our world would be transformed into one ruled by game logic, with magic and superpowers, flying around like we’re living out a D&D campaign? The press gets one whiff of it and pretty soon Congress is investigating, looking for someone to fire so they can look good for the next election.”
“How could you have known this was going to happen twenty-two years ago?” Clara asks. “No one knew this was going on until the day it happened.”
“We didn’t know when it was going to happen, but we knew that it would,” Hank says. “You don’t find transport pods from a futuristic society with technology far beyond that of the present day, and not suspect something.”
Transport pod? That doesn’t make any sense. If I’m me and I’m Seraphina, and also that Seraphina. But I was born on Earth. I have memories of my childhood. Besides, I’m eighteen, not twenty-two plus however more years. I’m sure of it. The System even tells me I’m eighteen, and while it and I are enemies, I don’t think it would deliberately lie about anything so banal as my own age.
“Sera, Chloe, when we’re done here, we will head to my laboratory. There, I will explain everything.”
“Hold on,” Clara says. “You don’t have the right to withhold that information from me. This is an official federal investigation concerning an act of active and ongoing rebellion. I will compel your cooperation, by force if–”
“I’ll cooperate on the important matters,” Hank says. “Believe you, if I were working for those traitors, I wouldn’t have told you this much, Agent Bennett. But there are personal matters which concern my family which aren’t any of your or your boss’s goddamned concern.”
“I’ll be the judge of–”
Chloe, Hank, and I all three stare Clara down. I’m still barely able to walk and am using Chloe as a crutch, but something in Hank’s eye spooks her. After three tense seconds, she shakes her head and relents.
“Fine. I guess I couldn’t compel you as a matter of fact. Just… You swear you’re not working with those guys?”
“I was,” Hank says after a pause. “Daryl, that guy operating some sort of mad scientist’s laboratory down here. Renault, who’s currently busy playing Tinpot Dictator down in Washington, and I, were the three principal researchers on the Seraphina Project you’ve been investigating. Though, it seems that in the wake of the System’s arrival, they got drunk on power and decided to…”
“And we should trust that you haven’t or won’t?”
“This is me trying to correct the mistakes I made. Don’t push me, Agent.”
Clara grits her teeth. “Yeah, I’d say giving a bunch of advanced technology to a couple of madmen is a big mistake, alright. What guarantee do the rest of us have that you aren’t just using us to knock off your other pal and seize control?”
“Me,” Chloe and I say in unison.
“God help me.” Clara sighs. “Do I at least get some explanation? Something I can tell my superiors so they don’t find out that I’ve lost thirty agents and have jack shit to show for it?”
“The System isn’t some benefactor to humanity,” Hank says. “It’s a malevolent entity that feeds on entire universes. We all get its power for a time, yes, but only until it’s done doing whatever it does. Then it’s goodbye to our reality, and on to the next one.”
“Wait… How do you know that, Dad?” Chloe asks.
“Know that?” Clara says. “You expect me to believe that the entire universe is going to end because of the System? Surely you can come up with a more believable lie than that.”
“And that right there is why we kept our work secret. Because people like you get too caught up in your godforsaken common sense and can’t even realize when intuition is leading you all straight to your death.”
Clara shakes her head and walks deeper into the dungeon. “I’m not getting paid nearly enough to deal with this shit,” she adds.
“Though, I am still curious how you know all this,” I say.
“I could be asking the same question, although I suspect it has something to do with…” Hank shakes his head. “The fact is, I don’t expect you to believe me either. Especially not you, Sera. That’s why I want to wait until we get back to my lab. That way I can show you everything, all at once.”
“Can we at least get something to go off?” Chloe asks.
“What I can say right now is that, twenty-two years ago, I stumbled across a transport pod that seemed to belong to an alien species. That pod contained the data of an artificial humanoid life form called Seraphina. We don’t know exactly where it came from or how it got here, but we know it was created by a team of scientists far, far away as some sort of bioweapon against an entity that the research team only called ‘The System’. At the time, we didn’t know exactly what that meant or what sort of threat we were trying to prevent.”
Hank stares up at the sky. “Only once we dug much, much deeper did we understand the magnitude of calamity that awaited us should the System one day arrive. That’s why we— the three of us— worked to secure funding and dedicated our lives to the analysis of this data, in the hopes that the tragedies that befell that other world would not repeat themselves here.”
“You said transport pod,” I said. “But I was born here on Earth, wasn’t I?”
“You were.” Hank stops himself. “That’s all I can say for now. It’ll make more sense when I can show you everything.”
“You promise?” Chloe asks.
“When we arrive, I will tell you all I know. You have my word.” He pulls out a pair of cards from his [Inventory] and hands one to each of us. “And if, for some reason, I can’t do that, those contain the coordinates and everything you’ll need to access my base of operations yourselves.”
“Chloe, I think it’s best if we just go along with it. It doesn’t seem like he’s going to give us anything more right now, no matter how much we ask.”
“But, Sera. He’s been evasive for so long! Why can’t he just–”
I take Chloe’s hand and gently rub her palm with my thumb. “Besides, there’s something I wanted to ask you about. Privately.”
“Did something happen?”
“The attack you used to cut through Daryl’s armor. That was called [Lightspeed Confluence], was it not?”
“No. It was called [Lightspeed Slash]. Why do you ask?”
“When Daryl threw both of us to the ground, I had a brief vision of my past life. In that vision, Madison was fighting an interdimensional creature using a Skill called [Lightspeed Confluence]. It looked so similar to what you just did, that I couldn’t help but feel it couldn’t have been just coincidence.”
“I… I don’t know. I didn’t have any vision like the one you claimed to have. It’s just that when I hit my head, I guess something came loose or something. I just felt like I could use the Skill, and with nothing else working, I decided to try it.”
“Well, there’s no doubt that it was powerful. But, it does make me wonder.”
“You think I’m Madison, is that it?”
“You’re definitely not Madison. But with all this talk about ‘the Seraphina data’, what’s to say that there wasn’t Madison’s data buried within whatever files they have access to. Maybe they found a way to embed her data within you somehow.”
“Somehow? That’s hardly reassuring.”
“I don’t know. What I do know was that two of Madison’s classes were a healer and user of [Light] magic, as well as a swordmaster who wielded a divine sword. Again, I’m not trying to jump to any conclusions, but at some point, anecdotes stop being just anecdotes and start coalescing into evidence.”
Chloe looks away. “So what would that mean? If that were the case.”
“For us? Nothing. Even if you happen to share Madison’s data and some of her classes, you’re still you, Chloe. You’re still the one who can choose her own path. You’re still the woman I love.”
“Thanks, Sera. I love you too. But I still don’t like being left in the dark like this.”
“Are you saying I do? I just… I don’t want to antagonize your father right after we finally found him for the first time in a year.”
“Maybe he should be antagonized, Sera! Maybe he should stop trying to hide things for us ‘for our own good’ or whatever bullshit he’s come up with to justify his silence!”
“And what are you going to do about it, Chloe? You’re not seriously going to fight your own father, right here and now? Right now especially, while I’m still drained from my Overlimit.”
Chloe lets out a grunt of frustration through our bond. “I don’t know how you can be so calm about this.”
“Calm? There’s so many questions I have. How does Hank know about [Glyphcasting]. Did he teach Theo about it as well? What did he tell my family about me? Did my parents know that they were raising some sort of secret government project, or was there some sort of hush hush agreement and my parents were bribed or paid or whatever to raise me as if I were their own child? And if that was the case, why did I have to live my childhood in poverty?
“Honestly, I’m… I’m not even sure how I’m supposed to feel. Betrayed, hurt, confused…” I squeeze Chloe’s hand a bit tighter. “Especially knowing that everything that’s going on in the country right now is because of… well, maybe not me, me, but the original me. I feel responsible for it, and I–”
“You still sound way too calm and cerebral for all of this. I don't know how you do it, but...”
I take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze. "I’m far from calm. I’m a maelstrom of emotions and I’m going to need all night and probably all of tomorrow just to start piecing together how I’m actually feeling. All I know is that I want answers as badly as you do, and that I don’t want to say or do anything I’m going to regret in the spur of the moment.”
“I–” Chloe takes a deep breath. “I suppose you’re right, love.”
“It was bound to happen eventually.”
“Hey, Chloe, Sera,” Hank says. “We should get a move on.”
“We’ll get our answers, Chloe. I promise.”
Before we enter what I presume to be Daryl’s laboratory or workshop or factory or whatever, I take a moment to finally check over and then dismiss the pinging System notification. I mean, I’m glad to see my progress, but sometimes, it can be really annoying how incessant and impatient it can be.
[Your party has slain an (Ethertechnologist / Master of Machines, Level 67). You have gained a boosted 275,000 Experience. (Experience substantially decreased due to outside assistance and use of [Seraphina Overlimit]. Experience sharply increased due to further outside assistance by adversary party.)]
[Level: 72; Experience: 8,009,544; To Next: 57,441]
[Current Stats: [Health]: 3,412 / 14,658; [Ether]: 496 / 10,955]
[Current Stats: [Strength]: 307 (Base: 130); [Speed]: 297 (Base: 126); [Vitality]: 392 (Base: 166); [Mind]: 500 (Base: 212)]
[You are suffering from [Overclock Fatigue]. All stats performance diminished by 90% for 2 hours (Duration remaining: 1:38:27).]