Live Transcript from New California Insight news anchorman, Lewis Penville, on scene at a police barricade within the Sixth Precinct.

Lewis Penville: This is Lewis Penville, coming to you from New California Insight. I am here on scene at Hanfeng Boulevard in Xiao Beijing where hundreds of police investigators are gathered for one of the most historic events this city has ever gone through. Just one week after engaging in a terrorist attack and corporate theft that saw nearly one hundred officers dead, crime organization Muramasa Dynasty has overtaken the Jade Penitentiary Prison and are claiming it for their own.

The terrorist group is going so far as to claim independence from New California. Staff Sergeant of the SIO Division, Morgan Kirell, has affirmed to us that the police have the situation under control — they are engaging the prison and intending to take control and subdue the perpetrators as soon as possible. Other reports from Yuzhou have said likewise, they will send reinforcements to retake control over the prison, and in a statement: 'Will never allow such a heinous act against our Founder to be committed again'.

As of the latest update, while we are unaware of what is exactly occurring within the prison, we have had sightings of known mercenary, Dreadwire, escorting police personnel including recent Investigator of renown, Diana 'Silvereye' Ulrich, alongside Lieutenant of the First Precinct, Anabelle Grazhe. Gunshots have been heard intermittently from within the facility for the last three hours. We can only hope that these brave Investigators are in good health.

Joining us is the leader of STRIKE Unit 17, Josephina Riebeck.

Joesphina Riebeck: Thank you for having me, I'm currently stationed at Noribu Street, and I'd like to assure you that the police are working at their maximal output to ensure civility and the safety of our citizens. As of now, we are prepared at any moment to engage and defend from the threat that Muramasa Dynasty imposes — my own squad is ready at the moment's call as soon as our advance team… and… uh… wha-

Lewis Penville: Investigator Riebeck… is your cheek bleeding? And- uh- why are your eyes…

Josephina Riebeck: Ah, I suppose I've never acquainted myself with this city. You may know me as Soul Killer, the first of three threats your precious government refuses to acknowledge.

Lewis Penville: Um, Investigat-

Josephina Riebeck: This is not the Investigator speaking, look around you… Penville, turn to the man on your left.

Lewis Penville: The man on my- what? Why are his eyes also-

Anonymous man: We are all Soul Killer, one mind among a thousand bodies, and this is our warning to this city. To those who believe themselves gods, and to those who worship them.

Lewis Penville: I'm sorry… what are you- wait! No, please don't-!

…

Please Standby.

Julia Panam: Um, I'm sorry you all had to see that. Uh, this is Julia Panam from central New California Insight… we are currently waiting for new information to know what just happened at… Apologies, that happened at how many of them? They're all… dead?

11:21 AM

December 19th

Diana

"A truce?" I couldn't believe what was happening to me, to this city, to…

"Look, my name just got slandered through the filth of the Fourth Precinct's gutters." Soul Killer rasped. "I. Did. Not. Do. That."

"I know…" That didn't stop a fire from burning in me. "But what part of you thinks that I'll ever accept-"

"I'll think of something, but you have to understand that I can't decide for my others in my current state! Besides, I'm already sort of-" Soul Killer clenched their fists, it was unwelcoming to me seeing the Lieutenant so out of mind.

"The lieutenant's memories… they're unstable, right? Help me stabilize them." I offered.

"Hah, and let myself be killed by your hand? I'm no Skeleton, not nearly that suicidal." Soul Killer laughed. "I'll fix up Anthony for you, that good? In exchange, I need you to tell your dad that it wasn't me."

"I doubt that would change anything." And I was glad for that. "You just became a public terrorist."

"Do we have a deal?" She bargained, and I…

I would take it, I shook her hand, and her eyes returned to normal as she pulled back and reeled in her thoughts. She looked over the dead corpse and the scene of destruction on the screen, grimace and frustration etching in her body's motion. "We need to get into their systems now! The sooner Morgan can start chipping away at War-Watcher…"

She noticed everyone staring at her, the confusion was especially apparent on Pouler and Grey who had no idea what was up with the Lieutenant.

She snarled. "Get your asses into gear, we're about to open the floodgates. Dreadwire, hook your Daemons in and get access."

———

Dreadwire

{Mirage… can you hear me?}

No response, Twilight was unable to reach her too… a deeper part of me was trying to break out of this mask — to yell. Did Bladefather know her location, was she…

"She's alive, Dread." Twilight whispered. "I would have felt it if she… she's probably retreated to the VoidNet, using some of the Titanium to figure out what's happened."

"-Dreadwire, hook your Daemons in and get access." Anabelle's voice slithered to me, just a moment ago, she was Soul Killer's. Or precisely, she was a mind fractured in two, that sleeping agent in her head just rewrote her memories each time. A part of me was curious what would happen if I injected her with my blend of nanites, Diana serum and Juliet's cure. Would it erase one personality, or would they merge?

It almost made me not want to kill her. There would be a time and place for that, and the hand that would do it wouldn't even be mine. As I slipped Twilight into a dock by the Warden's desk, I called for Starlight through Fishhook, her voice came out quietly and somberly.

"There's a lot of… death happening."

That was the goal of today.

"Those people weren't a part of this, was Bladefather framing Soul Killer?"

I suppose he did, Star. I lent a sympathetic gaze to my daughter, sometimes with how smart she was… it was easy to forget that she hadn't 'lived' much time. Not in the way a physical body experienced things… in truth, neither me nor Ripley nor The Ripper knew what her experience of life was.

Spend some time with your mother, let me and Diana discuss with the lieutenant our next steps. I'll try and contact Mirage too.

She nodded, zipping through the wire to join her mother. In the Net here, they were subject to War-Watcher's tyranny, but the mere facet of Twilight being within their systems would provide a much stronger beacon for Mirage to launch her outer assault from.

As a fact, I was well aware of many of the powers spread between the royalty of Muramasa… and how they'd gained such potent powers. War-Watcher had perhaps the mind most capable of digesting thousands of happenings at once, and organizing all that sensory information into a passable decision to turn the tide of war.

At that cost of sensory observation from hundreds of minds, his own lacked sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Deprivation of his own senses forced his mind to rely on others to perceive for him — such was how he .

Azure Phoenix was an Esper capable of manifesting wings of flame, that blue fire that regenerated her own flesh by burning away at others and absorbing its ash. To empower that regeneration, the Bladefather ensured her body was always rotting away, forcing her fire to burn ever hotter and brighter and never die out.

Heart Seeker lacked a flesh body, she was much like Diamante in a way. Her actual brain was cleaved and limited to its base decision making skills, while her personality came from Psyche, changing as needed to mimic the identities of those she stole and projected upon her body.

Hexblood was the organic to Heart Seeker's mental mimicry. Her physical form could be malleable enough to assume anyone's shape, but its most vital component was its power to infect others like a poison — to hide in their blood and curse it. As for her own punishment, she was seldom allowed to live within her own body, parts of her always coursed within others, her own Dragons and servants — and most vitally, her twin sister's brain. If she lost focus, they'd die, and she did. Now, her life was assigned to the woman who carried her vegetative body within her.

Steel Vanguard was an agile behemoth of alloy that wielded a staff like it was a meteor, his brother Diamondvein could harden his body into an impenetrable bastion -- and petrify others through a similar mechanic. Winter Kiss and Mind Mirror were both enchantresses of the mind, one charming you into giving up your body-heat to her and the other reflecting your horrors back. Razorbone and Coiling Claw were assumed to be the weakest of them, but still wielded devastating mutational and cybernetic strength respectively.

Redsight was killed by The Revenant, but known to be a Mutant who could see through lies, deception and intent. And Shadow Son... well, I'd dealt with him.

The only four who neither me nor Mirage could find information on regarding their capabilities, were Kim Liyung, The Widower, Crouching Dagger, and The Bladedaughter. They were each known as the most elusive children of the Bladefather, but virtually no information on how their powers actually worked was out there.

Crouching Dagger was an assassin, The Widower and Bladedaughter were ruthless killers… and Kim Liyung was on our side. Observing her, I'd known she was telekinetic through a secretion only visible when Warp Energy passed through it, but that didn't explain her ability to create non-regenerable wounds.

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But perhaps, that power didn't come from her. I honed in on the scabbard she wielded, Bladefather had mentioned something. The Revenant's Nexus forged a blade. And Kim's blade… was not made of metal. It was, through my analysis from Shardweave and my eyes, organic. When my vision focused, I could see hollow vessels within it… through which her ectoplasm flowed like blood.

To be a Prince or Princess of Muramasa, you were tested among a batch of children. Only one would survive, as for the others… I think I figured what their fate was. The Bladefather forged organic material into weapons, much like how my Nanites consumed flesh to create more of themselves.

Was Goliath linked to Bladefather, or perhaps inspired by him?

That question was largely unimportant, what mattered was that he was dangerous if he could subdue even Soul Killer. Even extend his… cutting Mutation through those he controlled. Was it vision based? Most likely a Deviant Mutation of some kind, his victims destabilized when that power was exhibited.

Air pressure? Precise telekinetic adjustment of matter, molecular destabilization? The last option would mesh well with his tendency to forge weapons if he could do the opposite…

Tier IVs were… different. The gap from them and Tier III was a chasm of power, the effect of transcending humanity and becoming something more. Evolving. Even within Tier IIIs, there was a large variety to their strength. At the lowest, they were slightly more capable than a Tier II… at their strongest, they were like the R0N1N.

The reasoning was simple, many Adapters were forever stuck at Tier III for their entire lives, never able to progress past a certain point. Because there was a criteria to evolve, as Mirage had revealed to me prior to this. A Fragment of a Source-Shard. All Tier IVs had Unique Features or Deviant Mutations.

As Twilight, Starlight and the lieutenant got to organizing a stable communications protocol with the main operations base — which Bladefather left unattacked — I repaired my Arachnodyne. It hadn't been too difficult, the cuts were clean and precise, only soldering was required as nothing had been crushed or torn apart… but if Bladefather could cut like that even when he wasn't present, just how powerful was he in person?

When I was finished, a presence hurriedly drilled into my head, Mirage breaking through. {H-holy shit, what happened? Why did Soul Killer explode his bodies around the Precinct?}

{Wasn't Soul Killer.} I sent her virtual recordings of what occured, and her hesitation was clear.

{Bladefather was always the only puppeteer I couldn't get a read on. He's remained elusive, only communicating with his inner circle… but if this is his plan. He's waging war on everyone to come get him, the corporations, the police… even The Uncaged.} Her voice took a static undertone. {If this is some suicide-murder pact of his, he's… going to take a lot of lives. Yuzhou will be sending in an elite team, one that would give even the R0N1N some trouble.}

{And do you have countermeasures?} I had a feeling she did.

{I do. As soon as Twilight bridges over to my end, it's a sizable hole where Titanium could wreak havoc in, just make sure Starlight's out of it. Yuzhou will probably demand the police to hand over control of the Prison Network to them. It'll be a Trojan horse they never realize. Might even be able to kill the lieutenant in the chaos of it.}

My gaze wandered behind my mask towards the target in question, she was in deep thought as she organized the breakthrough of the police's troops. {Understood. What will you need on my end?}

{Any dead police you see, let Twilight cleave into their Frames. It'll make combatting Omen much easier; otherwise, do the same for Muramasa against War-Watcher.} Mirage's voice hardened. {Once I'm ready, the prison will be ours.}

Taking that into account, I formulated plans. {What's the situation with Topaz and Quartz?}

{Quartz will be joining from the Southern Assault team, Topaz is currently knee deep in Muramasa Dragons. He's walking around cosplaying as one of them, not that they even notice him.} Mirage seethed. {He's also helping me get access into their systems, but it won't be as effective as you doing it.}

{Understood. What's the ETA on Yuzhou?}

{I'd say about two-three hours.}

{You'll have the base by then.} I confidently reported as the Lieutenant called for our attention. Using the Warden's console, she pried open a map of the prison, highlighting all four wings and noting our position in the North. So far, we'd only seen about 30% of the wing. There were still threats in position — and the Dragons here were far from Muramasa's finest. It was the first, second and third children of Muramasa that were most deadly.

I checked in with Starlight and Twilight. They were to create a gateway from the SurfaceNet over to Mirage's location in the AbyssNet. Pulling up the data they had gathered and sliding it over for the Lieutenant's viewing as she mentally siphoned it towards Omen.

"If Koli were alive, I wouldn't have to rely on you or those programs." The lieutenant said, unprompted, her eyes sharp. "Don't think this means I'm trusting you. I just have no choice."

"You're right." I replied. "You don't."

A minute passed as a conversation occurred in Anabelle Grazhe's head, after which she commanded her voice to grapple our attention with a snap of her fingers.

"Listen up! Northern Assault and Southern Assault are to commence despite the recent attacks; our offensive capabilities were left undamaged… but defensively, we have holes. Our current issue remains that we have a lack of coverage of the East and West Wings, which are likely to have escape routes." She pulled up a detailed view that showed a good deal of the underground service tunnels and other paths to escape from. "Which is where Yuzhou comes in, they've contacted us and are sending a squad of about 60 soldiers to block exit from the West Wing."

"And for the East?" Diana asked.

"Crimson Souls." Anabelle said, not pleased at the matter. "They're coming, both the Queen and Heart. To kill The Bladefather."

That complicated things. "How many Tier IVs will be active here?"

"Captain Krishav, Crimson Queen, Crimson Heart and The Bladefather." She bit the thumb of her glove. "Even then, I'm unsure if they'll match him."

"Where is he?" Kim Liyung looked intently at the map.

"War-Watcher wasn't lying to us." The Lieutenant's face contorted, confusion and suspicion melting into one another. "An Isolation Chamber fit for Golds, solitary confinement of the highest grade. It's the deepest and most central chamber here, five stories underneath the prison yard."

"And the Implants?" Diana angled over the map.

"Located by the prison's contraband containment, ironically enough. It's where the inmates' Shardware is processed before being sent to the Precinct for repurposing. Otherwise, it's also used for the maintenance of prison guard Shardware and Warp Cuffs." The Lieutenant pinched the zone. It was deep, but still away from the Bladefather's prison chamber. "Our issue is who's on guard there."

A camera feed flicked into the air. On it sat a woman in secluded meditation. A red and white mask covered her face while the entirety of her body was a machination of black and white blades sticking from every joint.

"The Bladedaughter." That at least made my job easier. If she escaped, everyone would chase after her while I would be free to take the Implants for myself. "She's their only guard?"

"Their last line of defense is focused on analyzing the Implants." The screen turned to others, but they were glitching out. "War-Watcher's letting us know what our targets are, but not what lies in between them and us."

"A blind charge." Rachfeld clicked his tongue while Fernandez had a blank gaze as he witnessed the horrors on the screens around us. As more information pooled in, we saw ruined buildings and torn corpses all around, perfectly sliced like they'd been taken through a meat processor.

Diana's silver gaze reflected the terrors, until she pulled on her Silvereye visor as though to hide the atrocity. Civilians were now dead, Bladefather went from a target to a man judged for execution. "How long until the Assault team engages?"

"Twenty minutes," The Lieutenant looked both displeased yet agreeable with the decision. "Our defence is shattered, Omen and The Leviathan made the decision to get in before they can establish escape routes."

"Our orders?" Kim Liyung gripped her blade tight.

"We need to secure this location, Beta Unit will be on patrol duty alongside Hatchwick and Fernandez. You'll all be in pairs. Thraum and Liyung, Fernandez and Rachfeld, Pouler and Grey, Silvereye and… Archangel."

"And I?" My voice slid into the Lieutenant's attention, she had a smirk on her face.

"Get back on the roof, clear out the Anti-air defenses they have so Yuzhou and the Captain have an easy time landing."

Now that was ironic, I would be easing the path forward for a corporation intent on killing me.

I'd let them try.

———

12:18 PM

Diana

A feed of the assault team was burned into my gaze, Starlight aiding me keeping track as they broke through the wall and secured an outer perimeter around the North Wing's walls and steadily advanced inside. While we'd cleared out plenty of bodies, many more of Muramasa were still in hiding. For the last 40 minutes, we'd been hearing gunfire non-stop, yet could do nothing to stop it.

"All this waiting is only making me…" Archangel muttered to herself as she paced the area, her wings keeping her just off the ground. "When do they get here?!"

"When they get here." I responded, taking my eyes off her.

Our job was to keep the Warden's office secure, I scanned around for both electricity and Warp Energy, my focus strained after the last three hours of stress. This would take all day, and a week's worth of Energy.

They'd be bringing in supplies too, I was beginning to get peckish. My gaze landed on a discarded gun, it didn't have any blood on it so, when no one was looking, I took out it's barrel and broke it into sizable pieces before plopping one in my mouth.

"I'm not even going to ask questions." Archangel sighed. "I've seen Tusk do weirder."

"Like?" I chewed.

"The guy once ate an elephant in one sitting. Down to the bone." Archangel laughed. "And they said SIMs were less expensive, you don't want to know how much NeoCore pays for his diet."

"How'd they get an elephant up on a Citadel?"

"They breed them there." Archangel lifted her head up. "I regret ever coming down from it, life's been fucked up ever since."

"Welcome to New California. Where the real world lives." I took in a bigger piece of metal.

It tasted… meaty, like a barnyard animal. Except, without the smell, just a lot of iron and tough texture. It sank into my stomach, where two Mutations would work their magic.

The first was Inorganic Metabolism, which would let me survive off of it for now. The second Mutation was one I had only gained recently.

Gold Integrity/Alteration Mutation: Synthetic Infusion [GC 23]

This Mutation allows you to interact with Inorganic Material and synthetically bond it to your organic body.

Mutational Capacitance: 125/126

According to Starlight, it was a Parallel Divergence, supposedly, from Inorganic Metabolism. Looking at my hand, I felt the skin as normal but with a thought I could call upon the silvery liquid which I'd absorbed from the Meat Lab raid. My fingers were instantly coated in a rich metallic sheen, the Dianium perfectly bonded to my skin rather than just an outer covering.

Unlike Inorganic Metabolism, the Infusion Mutation could work both with substances in my body and external to it. Even with my Silvereye suit, I could feel a subtle… connection to it, like it was an extension of my body. While infusing was easy and painless, removing it from me was uncomfortable. Like the material was stuck to my skin with glue.

It was certainly an… odd mutation, one that took some Warp Energy to start but little to maintain. The last few days… my weight had increased significantly. By about 15 kilograms, even with who knows how much blood I'd lost sticking some metal inside of me. I could even patch up bullet holes, by using the bullets themselves to seal the wound.

Or… one day. Theoretically, Starlight had said.

It was still far too low in Development to show a dramatic change, but I was more than confident to say I wasn't that easy to be cut by a blade now. Not when I had a literal metal coating atop my skeleton. Or well, a do-it-at-home version made by inserting screws and random cheap Shardware pieces through my skin… but Starlight had helped point out good alloys, just a little bit.

I was still keeping this a secret from Ripley, not for any suspicion, but rather… I just didn't even want to know what sort of experiments he'd run on me afterwards. My own were already morbid. Speaking of Ripley, he was currently clearing out anti-air defenses for Yuzhou of all corporations.

The same one that wanted him dead for his nanites. I scrolled to another live video, he was in the air with his four spider-limbs weaving between bullets and landing near hefty twin-barelled manual turrets. His physical strength was jarring, combined with the leverage of those four additional limbs he could tear pieces of them off the concrete bases and fling them around.

How much electricity would I have to consume to do the same?

As soon as he was done with the five anti-air turrets, he was tasked with supporting the frontal assault team. Unlike me, they really gave him no time to conserve his energy. He had a job to fufill, and they didn't care for his life.

———

Dreadwire

Making that mobile armory had been the right choice, every time I received a task, I came out of it beaten and bruised. I salvaged some plating off serviceable Shardware from the fallen Muramasa grunts around me, soldering them placably to cover the damaged segments of my limbs and armor.

Next time, I'd make sure The Ripper figured out Maiden's adaptive shielding.

Next time… the plan was for Dreadwire to take a significant break after this, to focus on my mother's recovery, on Mirage, and how she should act as The Dogwhistler once Missy and Diamante were back in town. Who knows when I'd wear this mask again?

Stumbling through a doorway, I recognized this area as a guard's lounge, all empty except for some discarded Muramasa robes. And a drone.

"What do you want, War-watcher?" I tiredly seethed as my gun raised up.

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