17 TWLA 17

While he was being read the riot act by King, Jeremy absentmindedly took in the tyrant's new suit. It looked like a reinforced frog suit but his special vision could see essence coursing around it through invisible veins. In comparison, his own wasn't particularly flashy but it wouldn't blend in well.

Focusing on it, he changed its appearance to be more like King's. With a warning glance, tyrant cut off questions from Caesar over that. Through a few whispered words, Blue Jay was told that he could use his magic and suit whenever he felt the need but he was supposed to keep it as low key as possible and never answer a single question regarding it. Starting with his group, it was practice for making it a habit.

Since it was reasonable, Jeremy didn't really have anything to say about it. And, he was glad to see that King was sharing what the man thought would help the group without exposing their secrets. Most of that was accomplished through a vague threat to keep questions focus on what was shared and not beyond or sharing would stop.

The tyrant had also accepted Peanut into the group. He hadn't had much choice since Caesar would have likely ran off with the sturdy guy otherwise. Apparently, Caesar was into guys with a little extra padding. Peanut was so tickled to have a friendly face hanging on him, sometimes literally, that the leafy headed guy's suffocating attention was seen in a much brighter light than it would have been received by anyone else.

The main problematic issue became Rainmaker. She wanted for the group to find the nixed once known as Tin Man. She thought she saw his 'stone wyrm' form somewhere in the stampede of monsters. It wasn't that King was against it but they didn't know where to start and he wanted to get the group to Fort Tesla before many more Hushes went by.

The idea was to stay away from base as much as possible but it was just too important to have channels open with it. Being cut from any trade with Earth, through rewards or otherwise, would make their continued survival a struggle. There were subtle undertones of secretive reasons as well. Jeremy was starting to get the impression that King was a gobstopper of secrets. Break off one layer and there would be an even harder shell guarding more underneath.

Some of the things both the tyrant and Rainmaker had said about the operators haunted Jeremy's thoughts. He honestly started to wonder if they'd be so bad off avoiding the base altogether. Their group was in a state of limbo, capable of appearing at or staying away from the base as they pleased. But, once they did go, they'd be squarely on the operators' radar again.

Sharing his thoughts, King responded, "We're already known. A detailed report was shoved into the hop box not too far through my negotiations with Rose's guardians."

Jeremy said, "Okay, I know you have a thing with trust but I have a big hang up about honesty. You don't feel like sharing, fine... Don't lie to me, King. After the mud flood, probably from a rupture of the thingamajig in the bottom of your club house, anyone who wasn't at base is a Schrodinger's cat, dude.

"Something's changed since we left there. If you don't want to spill, that's cool but please don't feed me BS, alright? I want to know but I'd prefer silence over a bad paint job."

King glanced at Rainmaker and then at the two newer members of his crew that were horse playing around, not particularly paying attention.

Dropping his volume, he said, "It was something Tin Man said a long time ago. He was a natural story teller and... given to wild claims. But, one time he said that this world was like the world on the other side of the looking glass. There was a more sane and rational twin to it. He believed that the two different worlds would become one and balance out.

With dawning realization and horror, Jeremy suddenly understood King's worries. After warning everyone of what he was going to do, he drew on the faint void power he had inherited from Theo and nurtured under Hiidan's tutelage. A distortion invisible to all but himself, formed from a slight bunching, a wrinkle of space in the air in front of him.

He pushed a pebble through it and it emerged from the other side of the distortion a few feet away. The amount of that power available to him was negligible. That should have been the end of it. His manifested gun shouldn't have been able to 'shoot' him through it at all.

Assuming the gun could, he should have emerged from the other side as a squirt of gore forced through something far too small for him to move through. But, that was obviously not what happened. At first, he was willing to blame that on the evil clover as well. It still could have been a part of it but what came next confirmed King's worry.

Once the pebble had passed through and the void power that Jeremy had used to create the distortion was used up, the distortion continued to linger. Before it closed, a gush of salt water filled with potent essences spilled out. Pale and slightly trembling, Blue Jay looked back at the tyrant.

"It's really thin. Whatever is between here and that other place... it's really thin. There's so much pressure on that side, anything that stretches or parts space here is going to connect with there... King, one of these Hushes, it's going to tear and spill a whole lot of stuff here."

Rainmaker said, "It's not... THAT bad. It's bad but not... exactly like that. Some of this water is canceling out, disappearing but not really ceasing to exist. It's hard to explain but I can feel it."

Caesar said, " Didn't some science-y guy say something like if you touched your clone you'd explode, poof or something?"

Despite how he was feeling, Jeremy chuckled and said, "I don't even know where to start with that. But if we're talking about a merge... things could average out, I guess. With what the original people who lived here or that mirror side did, it's not going to be safe to be here when it happens. There's going to be an 'addition' phase before a 'divide to average' phase for the stuff that's not solid. Something those people did, kept the extra water and stuff intact over there... on the other side."

King's face turned grim and murderous. "It's a dangerous game but, once everyone's life is on the line, I think we can stage a small coup. If it's only for a little while, we could hijack or maybe... make our own drop but in reverse. We could annex a rift long enough for this... merge to weather over and return before the operators retaliated.

"I think... if we played nice after that, they might let it slide. After all, their relationship with us is one of one-sided benefits. They'll want-"

Jeremy cut in, "It's not just here, King. This merge thingy, I think it's a lot bigger than that. I remember Ray Ray telling me a long time ago that his family moved to 'this Earth' because it was a special place. He corrected that to Arizona pretty quick but... It blows my mind to consider but the person who fought and died with Theo mentioned something about a Great Merge.

"Hiid- someone else said that Earth was a safe place to be for what's coming but there's no future for supernaturals there. They actually thought that where we are is better for 'ambitious beginners'. Putting it all together, the picture's still fuzzy but what do you get from it?"

King scratched furiously at his velvet covered antler nubs and looked to Rainmaker.

She frowned in deep thought and said, "If taken at face value, it seems like the magic families of Earth are stockpiling resources to weather it out. The only reason why they'd need to be that insistent about it is if Earth is about to be cut off from," she waved her hands around, "...all of this.

"With the information we have at the moment, it sounds like your plan would leave us stranded in an operator facility. Almost all of our supernatural strength comes from this place. Back on Earth, we wouldn't be much more than mundane 'freaks'."

Jeremy wanted to protest that wasn't entirely true. However, to explain, he'd have to reveal things that King had expressly demanded he keep to himself. He liked Rainmaker and Caesar. He even believed that Peanut would turn out to be a trustworthy friend if that relationship was developed properly. But, it wasn't only his secret to share and he felt he had to respect King's right to keep it, even if he wasn't exactly a fan of the man at the moment.

Looking like he was developing a headache, King said, "Alright, Rainmaker, we need a solid plan based off of what we know and... I'm wide open to suggestions. It burns me to admit it but this sh*t's jumped clean over the fence."

She didn't look particularly comfortable setting a course of action she'd have to be personally responsible for but she gave it her best shot. "We've always had to second guess the operators to survive. Nothing's really changed except it's not so much the operators as it is... everything. What it takes to survive long term isn't really any different at all.

"Securing solid high ground with a clear view and free of as many potential natural disaster threats as possible would be the ideal. If we could claim one, the next step would be developing as many defensive measures as we could and stocking it with supplies... Although JUST a couple more sets of hands would be better, I'd suggest we recruit from the nixed."

She gave a meaningful look at Jeremy.

King frowned. "That last part sounds driven by a personal desire."

Rainmaker sighed. "It is. But, you want one or two more, yourself. Getting them from base would be more dangerous, less trustworthy and- no offense or challenge to your authority- no less personally motivated on your side than my suggestion is for mine.

"Except, we actually care about the one I want to acquire. He could be a lot more useful than a more desirable vent for your... needs. Not that I'm discounting that. There ARE female nixed and we could make it a point to find one."

Faintly pink eared, King said, "That's not a conversation I'm willing to have. It's a point of pride that I've never forced my affections on anyone. Never had to. And, I'm not going to go out of my way to play hero on a chance to scratch an itch. Besides, it's not as if catching nixed is easy. Killing them is dangerous enough.

"We need supplies you can't just pick out of the ground. Fort Tesla has that and girls I can come to an understanding with BEFORE I accept them into my group. We can ask around for sightings of a stone lizard nixed while we're at it. We might get lucky and save some time."

Jeremy's heart felt like it had fallen into his stomach. It hurt to hear it stated so plainly but he wasn't the type to want to be left ignorant. Doing his best to swallow back the lump in his throat, he killed the small and foolish hope that still existed there, buried under a lot of confusion that still hadn't dissipated.

Seeing the direction things were heading, once he had his emotions under control, Blue Jay said, "We shouldn't all head in there. Rainmaker and I could try to look for signs of this Tin Man guy while you're... handling business. We could be secret back-up if things are complicated at the base too."

Caesar chimed in, "Peanut needs some more time to get used to his new 'people clothes'... If the boss man says it's cool, you wouldn't mind giving Rainmaker and Blue Jay a helping hand, would ya, big guy?''

Looking slightly confused, the sturdy young man said, "I do? Am I doing something wrong?"

Peanut walked around and made a few unsteady hops and then looked at everyone with an uncertain smile.

King observed the awkward display with a frown. "Thunder Nose, go with Rainmaker and follow her lead. Caesar, help catch him up to speed... We'll meet back here after the next Hush. If me and Blue Jay aren't here waiting, scope the base and find out what happened. Do what you can to get us out if something happened.... Leave good trail points in case it's us needing to find you and don't try to capture Tin Man without us."

With a half miserable expression, Jeremy said, "It might be easier for me to help, Pea-"

"I already told you. I don't plan on letting you leave my side. I figured you'd be happier following me to base anyway. You're a city kid. I can tell," King said.

The man's tone was light but there was a hardness in his eyes that all but shouted he wouldn't accept any more 'suggestions'. Ignoring the squeezing in his chest, Jeremy hugged Rainmaker and palmed her the shelter orb he'd mentally summoned from some storage space King's equipment artifact had.

Confused but accepting, Rainmaker returned his friendly well wishes as he leaned in and whispered, "If it disappears, assume we're in trouble or at least King is."

He was about to walk away when he saw a wistful, slightly hurt look on Caesar's face. With an amused sigh, Jeremy gave one to the leafy headed guy and even Peanut for good measure. With an impatient cough from King, the group split to their own tasks.

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