It took me only a minute to extract myself from the conversation before I could dig myself deeper into a hole. My mind had been racing as I tried to put together what other signs I might have missed before remembering we were quickly coming up on the next token spawn.
With an excuse that I needed to eat something and the fact that we wouldn’t use the newest token that Pinky had gathered until we were all back in the base, I retreated back into the apartment and quickly made a sandwich. I had been just about to take a bite when I felt an immediate sense of… wrongness coming from the apartment. The knowledge I had gained from the book on Feng Shui was making me realize just how off we had set up our home. I was surprised. though not wildly so, to find the living room, because it was a good bit messy from random clothes strewn about, was tagged as a 10% Negative Zone.
I made a note to investigate that further later in the day before I hurried for the roof to take off and get high above the city. Even with the realization about the apartment, something I might have even tried to force myself to briefly focus on just to keep myself from dwelling on my apparent lack of attention when it came to Swansong, it wasn’t a solution that was really working. I wasn’t really sure why I was letting it suddenly get to me now that I was aware of the crush. Because even if she had been sending me signals, there was simply too much going on to actually complicate things further by me putting my foot in my mouth over it.
Maybe that was an excuse to just let myself be passive and wait until she actually vocalized it rather than just letting it be some lingering crush, though to be fair that had been my go to move my entire life. Both the only girlfriend I had ever had and the solitary hookup I had ever done before deciding I wasn’t a fan of hookup culture had happened because they had approached me.
I was just shoving the sandwich down as I floated high over my neighborhood before I materialized Braincraft’s Token Scanner into my hand. Readying myself for the upcoming token was at least one way I was sure I could get at least partially get my mind off of it… even if I did now have to act like nothing was different since we did still have to communicate.
“You up in the air Swan?” I asked as I opened up our internal comms.
“Yeah, my parents weren’t exactly thrilled I was running back out, especially now that they know the hospital is calling in regular patients again. Ryan’s cast is apparently smelling funny and of course my mom is freaking out about it,” she said and I could hear a certain amount of pep in her voice. “Oh, so get this! I sent a text to Dr. Hill and he told me that he had just been planning on getting in contact with me. Apparently there were some kids up in the northern reaches of the Bronx that he hadn’t known about, they were bussed in this morning when they heard about the work I had been helping with. I’m going to need to head over to the hospital after we have this token either found or decide we can’t find it as long as we aren’t going to try and do anything else here.”
“Hey you got on the leaderboard doing the healing thing, it’s a great thing to keep doing… want me to head over too, just in case some droids pop up?” I asked. While it had been surprising to hear the hospitals were still operational, it did at least seem to line up with Clockwork Tyrant’s, or at least Axio’s, apparent edict to keep most of the city’s services up and running.
“If you want to, I won't tell you not to come. But I think it should be okay, Dr. Hill was insistent that the droids were actively giving the hospital a wide berth, even the attacks that had come down in the first siege kept their distance from it. They still have a lot of people who got hurt during the attack there, so maybe I can find a way to help them too…” Swansong said, trailing off.
“Hmm…” I said. It really was impressive just how beneficial her powerset was to everyday people, and I tried to think of any way she might be able to help them. “Honestly, even your Song of the Peaceful Mind would be helpful since I’m sure there’s a ton of people in there that are on the verge of, understandable, nervous breakdowns after all of this… That said, yeah, I think as long as the droids are giving it a bit of space it should be okay… maybe I could take the time to try and hunt down the rest of the droid forges. There’s been a lot less falcons in the air today… I have to wonder if he’s upgrading them.”
“Brain did say he might have a new thing to test with that, you’ll need to bring your scanner back after the token spaaaaaaawns…. Now,” Jon said and I immediately pressed the button that I had already readied.
The device’s screen lit up with an arrow pointing me right to the south and I started flying in as straight of a path as I could before the indicator dimmed only three seconds later.
“It’s south of me, maybe Chelsea… or Hudson Yards? I’ll need to just hope I get lucky I think,” I said.
“Huh, I am not seeing any friggin pattern with this… I’m starting to wonder if Freakenstein was fucking with you,” Jon said and I couldn’t help but agree with him. If we were just going based on the last few tokens that we knew the spawning locations of, it seemed almost random.
The last token of the previous night had been up at Yankee stadium in the Bronx, immediately followed by the first token of the day right back in the Bronx once again. It wasn’t even like it was in two separate areas of the neighborhood either or like it was a sub-neighborhood because both locations that we had found the tokens in fell in what would have been considered the South Bronx. We had no idea where the 8AM token appeared, but the 10AM had been just south of the Bronx at LaGuardia airport in Queens.
We couldn’t even guess that the tokens were just appearing in the neighborhoods in some sort of clockwise pattern because Queens logically should have been the 8AM token if that had been the case. And now with the noon token clearly pinging down in the south of Manhattan, it meant that any possibility of it being as simple as a circular pattern was off the table. No matter how I tried to look at it, I couldn't help but wonder, something Jon was clearly also thinking, if Freakenstein had simply been screwing with me.
“But then how the hell did he find the token this morning when we bumped into him? Or the 8AM one?” I asked, remembering his boast that he had found the token just fifteen minutes after it had spawned.
“How do you know he didn’t just lie about finding the 8AM one just to get you to stop looking? He did send it a bit after it would have spawned. That could have just been a decoy to throw you off. He has already proven he’s a bit smarter than any of us had really been expecting him to be,” Jon said as I flew out of Hell’s Kitchen and into the Chelsea area.
“Well… I guess you’re not wrong… though I don’t know, I didn’t get that vibe off of him exactly either,” I said and realized what I said before adding, “Er… I mean… not like my new ability since I didn’t have it yet but like, I don’t know, he seemed a lot like Pinky. Just straightforward even if he was smart.”
“New ability?” Swansong asked as I slowed my flight, trying to take a good look around the area, hoping I’d find the glint of the token. With the indicator screen already empty again, I had to cover as much ground as I could.
“Yeah, I got a new book from my Tome. It’s uh… about Feng Shui actually, I’m still kinda thinking of stuff I can do with it,” I said. I started to drift further toward Hudson Yards rather than Chelsea. I wasn't sure if it was instinct or just coincidence, but I found myself getting closer and closer to the trainyards where I had first encountered Hydramental. “Speaking of which, we really need to clean up and redecorate our apartment Codex, the balance in the place is all wrong… there was even a Negative Zone…”
“I was wondering about that and if there was a way we could alter it on our own… I probably should do my laundry,” Jon said and I let out a small laugh. I had mostly come to a stop, still just on the outer edges of the trainyard when I finally caught a glint of gold in my periphery as I scanned the area. “I wonder if that means you could expand or optimize the squad base. If your luck was even higher in the base when you opened loot boxes… well you guys have already been getting some great stuff and you might not even be as reliant on Luck Bomb any more.”
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“Huh… wait, so your ability lets you tell how well something is organized and set up then?” Swansong probed, a curious edge to her tone.
“Yeah, it’s just the bean bag corner in the base right now that has a Positive Zone attached to it,” I explained, turning the speed up as I moved over the trainyard trying to look closer to make sure my eyes hadn't just been playing tricks on me. Granted, I probably could have made it easier by not being 30 stories up in the air trying to spot something on the ground, but I was also still wary of possible ambushes by the droids that had so far been absent throughout the day.
“Hmm, it is pretty comfortable but I thought I did a pretty good job decorating. Kinda expected it to be more of the base...” she replied, her curiosity turned to disappointment.
“Well the built in options we used for initial customization were limited, maybe there’s more stuff or if we brought in things of our own we could up the score around the base,” I suggested.
“Yeah I was considering just having you stand in the center of the room while Swansong placed different objects around. You know, just a good old fashioned brute force attempt to figure out how different things can grow or shrink the score,” Jon offered. It was actually a pretty good idea and while it would probably be a little boring, I was actually a bit excited about the idea of making our base flow better.
As I slowly started to descend toward the main trainyard, the glint of gold that I had seen became more and more clear. Almost to the point that I wanted to rewind simply to fix the stupidity that had been my wide approach. I didn't of course, mostly because with the area seemingly clear that really would be a waste of the time from my limited bank, but the thought did briefly pass through my mind. I couldn’t be entirely positive, mostly because I hadn’t been that focused on the exact spot when I had first been getting into the swing of things back when I had first been Augmented, but the spinning token almost had to be in the spot where the Viper’s den had occupied a train.
“I’ve got eyes on the token. It's right here in the trainyards in Hudson Yards,” I said, drifting slowly down toward the ground and looking around the area. If Freakenstein wasn’t lying about there being a pattern, then logically he must have been somewhere nearby looking for the token and he had said he would fight me over the next one we both were going toward.
After a minute of nothing appearing and no call of challenge, I picked up the pace on my descent. I was just about to go in for a landing when I heard a whoop, stopping me in my tracks only 20 feet above the token. There was the sound of a sudden rush of fire as an unfortunately familiar form leapt from a nearby rooftop and descended down toward the token. I let out a groan, before I basically turned off my flight power, quickly falling toward the ground and landing a stone's throw away from the token, just as the red clothed clone landed on the opposite side.
“Hydramental’s here,” I said.
“Think he’s going to fight you over the token like Freakenstein did?” Swansong asked The extra balls of energy came hurtling down from the roof and slammed into Hydramental’s body, reforming the rest of the colors on his outfit.
He was wearing a new set of black pants and as each ball of light hit his body, like with his shirt, a new colored stripe was added to a ring around his right thigh.
“Maybe I should just let him have this one… I do owe him one for backing off of the Liberty Island one and now's not the time to be getting into a pissing contest,” I offered, watching as Hydramental shot me a grin and started to walk right toward the token. No one seemed to object to my suggestion, though Hydramental was already speaking before either of them really could.
“Well look at us, back here again,” he said, spinning on his heel to look around the area. “Looks kinda boring without the burning train car, don’tcha think?”
“Eh, probably for the best,” I said cautiously, looking from him and down to the token before I waved toward it. “How bout you take this token, you didn’t bother running for the Liberty Island one during the siege.”
“What, don’t wanna fight me for it?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. I had briefly highlighted him and found he had managed to gain another level since I had last seen him, jumping up to Level 18. “I get it. It was easier for you to win back when you outleveled me, why risk ruining that little streak, eh?”
“No, that's not it. I just owe yah one, and I'd rather pay that back now rather than later,” I said, having to actively stop myself from snapping back at him. His grin grew a bit wider, almost mockingly and I had to bite my tongue from what felt like a clearly antagonistic attitude.
“Whatever you gotta tell yourself Loophole,” he said, walking forward and taking the token. It vanished in a flash of light before Hydramental put his hands together and cracked his knuckles. “Kinda a shame, I wouldn’t have minded settling the score with yah. Though, maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t wear each other out just yet, there's still stuff to do today and a team up would probably make it easier.”
“Huh?” I asked, unable to stop the guttural response from escaping my lips. While I might have expected Hydramental to start a fight with me, something I might have just always been anticipating when it came to him at this point, I wasn't expecting him to be the one to bring up a team up again so soon.
“There are still more Droid Forges to destroy, or have you forgotten about that?” He asked, his smile fading as he raised a brow at me.
“Well… yeah, but I hadn’t found any of the others just yet. I mean, other than the other Platinum we already knew about. I was gonna plan to take that one on this afternoon, just wanted to get a group together for it,” I explained and Hydramental just rolled his eyes.
“Of course you’d want to build out a little team to handle it, really trying to lean into that Planner part of your name for once?”
“Yeah that would be the day,” Jon said with a laugh and even Angie let out a giggle.
“You’d think he’d want to plan his fights out more. It would make his life soooo much easier,” she added.
“Not now guys.”
“But you know, other people can find Droid Forges too, you ain’t all that special buddy,” Hydramental added, his smile returning as I looked over at him. “I found a Gold forge around the corner from here. I could probably crush it on my own at this point, but I figure we could take it on without breaking a-”
There was a loud BOOM as a large spray of dust filled the air, causing both Hydramental and I to jump instinctively away from the sound. I hadn’t even realized I had done it, but I had activated my Personal Gravity Laws and was floating in the air as we both seemed to be ready for an attack. My alarm was only raised for a moment before the dust settled and a familiar form walked out from the cloud.
“Damn, was this where the token was?” Freakenstein asked, waving some of the dust cloud out from in front of his face.
“Yeah, Hydramental grabbed it this time,” I said, nodding over to the man who hadn’t dropped his guard. Hydramental looked from Freakenstein and then back to me before a look briefly passed over his face. I wasn’t exactly sure where Hydramental had been going with it, but if there was a forge nearby that we could handle, I didn’t think I could logically leave it alone, even if the suggestion for a team up coming from him was weird as all hell. “He actually was just telling me about a Droid Forge he had stumbled on. I think you were saying you wanted us to go break into it cause you needed some help? With Freakenstein here we’d probably cut through it like it was butter.”
Freakenstein visibly perked up as he looked between us and a smile split across his large face.
“Oh that sounds like some fun to me!”
“Er… yes, I suppose that would make things easier. I was going to tell you that the two of us could probably do it without breaking a sweat so you wouldn’t even have to worry about calling in your extra friends, but this just makes that point even better,” Hydramental said and I looked over at him.
There was something off about this, I think that much was pretty clear, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Luckily for me, I wasn’t alone in this and much like how we had similar questions about if Freakenstein actually knew some pattern, something that was clearly still on the table, he was on the same page as me now.
“Is this some sort of trap from TechWarden? What is Hydramental after…”
“I don’t know… I feel like if it was he wouldn’t want Freakenstein involved… it’s a loose variable,” I offered, my gut turning. “But still, red flags everywhere.”
“Want me to fly down that way? I could keep an eye out from above?” Swansong offered and I had to resist the urge to shake my head while Hydramental was still looking at me.
“No… Go ahead and head over to the hospital to help those kids, I’d rather not put you in the crosshairs of this asshole if he is up to something,” I said, not wanting to bring her into a trap if there was going to be one set up.
“Hmm… okay… just… you know… you be safe too,” Swansong said, her voice tentative. “And… you know, if it is a trap, don’t hesitate to use that rewind power of yours.”
I sent both Hydramental and Freakenstein Temporary Team-Up requests, almost surprised that I could send one to Freakenstein. Apparently though, while I couldn’t invite him to join the actual squad, something that must have been locked behind being on the same overall team, the temporary option was deemed allowable. Although I was still labeled in the squad with Swansong, a new section appeared that didn’t include her in it labeled Neighborhood Temporary Team, with Freakenstein having a mark next to his name that indicated he was, as we already knew, a Miscreant.
“Okay then Hydramental,” I said, just before he could say something when I had clearly gone on in my internal conversation for a moment too long, “lead the way.”
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CHAPTER 100! While this isn't honestly huge in the scope of some of the works out there, for me this is a huge deal and a huge milestone as the 100th chapter in a single work that I've done and let me tell you we are far from done. Well... with the story as a whole.
REDACTED chapters of Book 2! Just as a heads up for everyone. When we do reach the conclusion of the second book, Augment's Code will be going on a hiatus from posting here for one month. This is going to be to allow me to complete the dev edit of Book 2 so that I can send it over to the publisher as well and then to take just a short break before we dive into Book 3.
I am so so excited about where this story is going and what we have done so far and I cannot thank each and every one of you for sticking with the story. I hope you all are enjoying it just as much as I have enjoyed writing it for all of you. Throwing in a little poll at the bottom, but feel free to add in favorite stuff in the comments below!
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Who are your favorite characters introduced or given larger roles in Book 2? (Choose 2 for Book 2)
