Chapter 328: A Lot of Anomalies (1/2)
While Farrah and Jason fought the silver-rank monsters, Cotsworth looked on through the monitor displaying what the camera drone above the fight recorded. Although the transmission was occasionally spotty due to magical interference, he had a fairly clear vantage on what was taking place. Mel was standing next to him, likewise looking on.
“They certainly don’t fight like us,” she said. “Taking on multiple category threes is incredible. I can’t imagine keeping up that kind of output over the long term, though.”
”Hurin is probably exhausting herself quite quickly,” Cotsworth observed. ”She's well-suited to blitz-attacking the most powerful enemies but would fare worse in a general DE sweep. Asano is a different beast altogether. At a glance, he doesn't seem to be doing anything.”
“Poison?” Mel posited. “He only ever makes two attacks against an enemy, which are presumably special attacks.”
”I believe that affliction specialist is the term,” Cotsworth said. ”The Perth branch has one. It's hard to even notice that their abilities are taking effect, but they also shine against the most powerful enemies, although it does take longer to drop them. The advantage is that they are highly resource-efficient, which is presumably why we're seeing Asano move from one fight to the next, here.”
“There’s talk of new strategic approaches based on the way these two fight,” Mel said. “Any truth to the rumours, sir?”
“I believe that is the idea. What do you think?”
”I don't see throwing out our existing approach,” she said. ”Her methods are too resource-intensive and he's too slow for a large scale sweep and clear. They are taking us to school on the big stuff, though. Developing some strike teams specialised in eliminating ADE targets could really do some work. To be honest, I don't see why it hasn't happened already.”
“There’s been a lot of push for it from the branches,” Cotsworth said. “The International Committee has been pushing back, though. Threats of reduced resource allocation for branches employing what they call ‘unnecessary high-risk’ practices.”
“That sounds like a load of crap.”
“It is,” Cotsworth said. “The IC doesn’t like it any more than we do. It’s the Chinese and the Americans threatening to withhold resources if the rest of the world doesn’t play by their rules.”
“Bunch of pricks,” Mel said. “They poach all the looters, then leverage them to hold it over the rest of us.”
“That’s why Asano represents a chance to make a change,” Cotsworth said. “Word is, the Sydney branch is willing to share him and his looting abilities with the rest of the country.”
Even as they spoke, the tactical teams were using their connection to Jason to clean up the loot from the army of dead monsters. They stuck to the periphery, making sure to stay clear of Jason, Farrah and the silver-rank monsters.
”These two can also provide specific tactical guidance,” Cotsworth continued. ”If we're trying to work up new strategies blind, it's not worth the backlash. If we can quickly and efficiently work up new approaches, though, suddenly it's a lot more viable.”
“And what happens if the US or China swoops in and takes these two away?” Mel asked.
“Then we’re back where we started,” Cotsworth said. “At the beck and call of the superpowers.”
As they continued to watch the fight play out, the head of the support team approached.
“Ditto Cotsworth,” she said. “We’re getting some odd readings off the dimensional space.”
“Odd how?” Cotsworth asked.
“We’ve been observing the integrity of the space, as per normal. A dimensional space normally takes forty-three hours to break down, with a natural variance. When we first came in, our readings came back normal, but now our projections are off. It’s looking like this space might last as much as sixty hours, maybe a little over.”
“Explanation?”
”I only know of one-dimensional incursion phenomenon that has operated outside of the normal time frame,” she said, looking into the distance at the ongoing fight. ”I can't confirm that the change happened when they entered the astral space, but I can't rule it out, either. I will say that the Sydney branch didn't record anything like this the last time Asano entered a dimensional incursion space. It could be the other one or it could be unrelated.”
“Alright,” Cotsworth said. “Just record everything so we can hand it off to…”
He trailed off as a blinding column of light appeared in the distance.
“Uh, sir,” Mel said. “I think I may have noticed the effect of his abilities.”
“Eleven silver rank monster cores,” Jason listed as he lay the loot out on the table. “Thirty-one tubs of toad jelly, not sure what that’s for.”
“You put it in tubs?” Cotsworth said.
“It came that way,” Jason said. “We took our cut of the silver spirit coins and we’re keeping the lower rank ones we looted ourselves. I daresay the army of monsters will give you enough to be going on with. Three tins of healing ointment, that’s the good stuff, so save it for your category threes. Lucrative loot, from those toads. A spool of bark-thread hair from one of the yowies. The big red thing didn’t cough up anything too special, sadly.”
“We’ll make sure everything is tallied up,” Cotsworth said. “I understand you’ve got a preliminary arrangement with the International Committee about the harvest results.”
“It won’t be finalised until I tell the yanks and the Chinese to get on their bikes,” Jason said.
“You don’t anticipate being tempted away?” Cotsworth asked.
”I don't see what they have to offer that I'm not already getting from the International Committee. Sure, they could offer me more of it but if I wanted more I would have negotiated harder. Maybe they have some big secrets they could bring me in on but that doesn't sit well with me. At the end of the day, the job is to protect people from monsters and that means all the people. We have a lot to offer and the rising tide should raise all ships. From what I've heard, that isn't the way the US and the Chinese will want to go.”
“I won’t lie, that’s exactly what a lot of us wanted to hear,” Cotsworth said.
By the time the plane returned Jason and Farrah to Sydney it was late in the evening. Erika had refused the ride home offered by the Network in favour of a hastily-arranged induction briefing on magic. She had a lot of questions.
Jason portalled them back to Casselton Beach, with a ten-minute mid-way pause on the secluded beach he had been using as a discreet stopover point.
“Maybe you should have dropped us closer to the chip shop,” Erika said.
“I’m trying not to be too blatant about magic,” Jason said. “Any more.”
After returning to the houseboat, he set up a video call with the Network headquarters in Sydney.
“Gladys,” he greeted. “I’m sorry our meeting today got put off.”
“Getting interrupted by alien invasions from another dimension is something you get used to around here,” Gladys said.
They spoke for a while about Jason’s grandmother and her ongoing treatment, which was going well.
“I still wouldn’t go dropping any bombs about magic being real quite yet,” Gladys advised. “With her advanced stage of Alzheimer’s, her grasp of reality was fragmentary at best. Give her time to adjust before letting her know that everything she knows about actual reality is wrong.”
“Thank you for taking such good care with her treatment.”
“Thank you for saving at least some of our people. I knew that Miranda was a sea skank but I didn’t think she was bad enough to murder our own. Keith wasn’t a bad young lad and he didn’t deserve to go out like that.”
“Any trace of her yet?” Jason asked.
“No, it’s like she dropped off the face of the Earth. Anna said the Lyon branch is missing a portal user and we haven’t caught that Sebastian guy’s scent either. Best estimate is that they either have or still are portal hopping to whoever is behind it all.”
“Any movement on figuring out who that is?”
“Still just postulation at this point,” Gladys said. “Barbou sacrificed EOA and Network personnel. It could be some faction in either organisation, the Cabal or some smaller group looking to make a big play. Don’t anticipate learning more until they make their next move.”