Shirtaloon
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Chapter 922: It's More Complicated Than That
🕑 Added 2024-07-17 23:00:05 +0000 UTCAircraft had been one of the earliest examples of integrating magic and technology. Long before magic went public, the Network had been employing private planes with unadvertised optional extras. After twenty more years of development time, and no more need for secrecy, private air travel involved some of the most advanced magitech available.
Annabeth Tilden’s plane rocked as if struck by turbulence, but the cause was rather more dangerous. She had participated in enough combat training to not be useless in a pinch, but she was not a fighter. She was especially not up to the task of fending off monsters attacking her aeroplane while in flight.
She couldn’t properly see their attackers through the window of her passenger seat, given the speed and the dark. She did spot silhouettes in the flashes of blue as the monsters struck the plane’s shielding. They looked like round bodies with wings sticking out, in flagrant defiance of aerodynamics. Armour plating dropped over the windows, cutting off her view entirely.
“It’ll be fine, Mrs Tilden,” the man sitting opposite her said. Morris Manning was a slight man, short and lean. He didn’t look like much, but he was both her bodyguard and her minder. He was an operative from the US Department of Supernatural Affairs, what the US Network had ultimately morphed into. On loan to the United Nations for this trip, he was a likely candidate for reaching gold rank without cores.
“The plane’s defences can handle it?” Anna asked. She glanced at her wife, asleep in the seat beside her. Susan could sleep through a bombing run.
“It’ll hold up to attack for a good while, but the weapons won’t be able to kill them. If they’re not enough to drive the creatures away, Mr Clovis will handle it.”
There were sixteen passenger seats on the plane, all occupied. Six were delegates sent to meet with the Asano clan, including Anna. Susan and a nine-person security detachment occupied the remaining seats. Morris was the leader of the security contingent, meaning he did the administrating and organising. The most powerful member of the group was a gold ranker, Patrick Clovis. His infrequent words came in a thick Bostonian accent.
“Not going out for some jumped-up sky chickens,” Clovis said. “Do it yourself, Manning.”
“Sadly, Mr Clovis, my power set is ill-suited for high-speed flight. Ms Keener, would you be so kind?”
Another member of the security team got up and moved towards the back of the plane. There was a hatch in the rear compartment that allowed people to exit mid-flight without disrupting the rest of the plane.
“Travel in Europe is dangerous,” Morris explained to Anna. “It’s not the vampires, though, but the monsters. The vampires don’t clear them out unless they threaten a blood farm or one of their other interests.”
“Oh, I had no idea,” she said lightly.
An awkward smile crossed his face as he looked across at the former Network branch director and current Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Supernatural Affairs.
“Apologies, Mrs Tilden.”
“It’s fine, Mr Manning. Monsters were only to be expected when approaching the Asano territories. The magic level is higher, making the monsters commensurately more powerful.”
“We avoid referring to them as Asano territories or anything similar,” another delegate said. “It implies that those lands belong to them and not the nations of France and Slovenia.”
Maël Baffier represented the French government in exile. Anna didn’t point out that France, like most countries in Europe, hadn’t functionally existed in well over a decade. The negotiations for who would join Anna on her visit to the Asano clan had gone on for weeks. Knowing Jason and his grandmother, the clan matriarch, she had a feeling on how they would respond to the self-invitees.
The UN and the other factional and government interests hadn’t consulted Anna very much, despite her being the ostensible leader of the delegation. She’d been open about Asano wanting to recruit her, which had eroded trust in her as she had not pre-emptively refused. She remained in charge on paper, however, as without her, there would be no getting eyes and ears on the ground inside the Asano clan. The delegates themselves were politicians, and she was certain that most of the security team were all former or current intelligence operatives.
The plane’s intermittent shaking stopped and the armour panels over the windows retracted. Moments later, Kenner returned, dirty and drenched.
“That,” she said, “was unpleasant.”
She took the bag containing a change of clothes from under her seat and then headed back to the rear compartment.
***
The captain had announced a short time ago that they were approaching Asano territory, prompting a scowl from the French delegate. Anna looked up from her tablet as Morris tilted his head, listening to something on his earpiece. He looked over and asked her to follow him to the cockpit.
Susan stirred as Anna stepped past her.
“Are we there yet?” she asked blearily.
“Almost, love.”
“Did I miss the meal?”
“There’s a protein bar in the arm rest.”
“Boo,” Susan jeered.
Morris watched the exchange with amusement before leading Anna to the front of the plane. The pilot had arrested the plane’s movement, tilting the engines for vertical take-off and landing mode. They were hovering near, but not directly over, what had once been the city of Saint-Étienne. After claiming the territory originally, Jason had reproduced the city, previously ravaged by vampires and then wiped out entirely by a transformation zone. Only the areas outside of the domain showed the broken remnants of vampiric occupation.
Now, the ruins around the clan’s domain had been cleared away, leaving only the city inside the domain of Jason’s power. The architectural style remained the same, but there were distinct changes from when Anna had lived there as liaison. Largest was a massive expansion of green areas and waterways. Streams ran through parklands and a whole section of the city had canals in place of streets. What it did not have was an airport.
“Ma’am,” the Captain said. “Our original instructions were to land at the former military base site, but it no longer appears to exist.”
“It was there,” Morris said. “We had satellite footage from yesterday with it there. You know the Asano clan best, Mrs Tilden. Any suggestions?”
“We wait,” Anna said. “I imagine this is something to do with Jason Asano’s flair for the dramatic.”
As if waiting for her prompt, an area at the edge of the city was suddenly engulfed in fog. Once it cleared, there was a space that looked like an oversized helipad, with a symbol of a plane painted on it.
“I believe you have your landing zone, Captain,” Morris said.
***
Two people were waiting as the delegation disembarked. One was Ketevan Arziani, assistant to the Asano clan matriarch. She had once been Anna’s own deputy, back in Australia during her network days. They had remained friends, only losing touch when the Asano clan had vanished. Susan gave her a wave, earning a quickly supressed smile but no other response. Standing next to Ketevan was Rufus Remore.
“Interesting,” Morris murmured. “No Asano family members.”
Anna understood that, in diplomacy, every choice sent a message, intended or not.
“They want to show us that the clan is more than just the Asano family band,” she murmured back.
“Show us, or show you?” Morris asked. “That’s your friend over there, isn’t it?”
She gave Morris a side glance. The man clearly did his prep work.
As Rufus and Ketevan approached, the security team took reserved defensive postures, cautious but not provocative. The exception was Patrick Clovis, the gold ranker striding out to position himself between the delegation and the clan representatives. Anna and Morris let out simultaneous sighs.
“Clovis, you aren’t here to protect us from the Asano clan,” Morris said. “Here, it would be pointless to try. If they want to do something to us, not even you can stop them.”
“Because of this guy?” Clovis asked, nodding at Rufus.
“Yes. Clovis, you’re here to protect us from vampires and monsters, should anything go wrong. Don’t be what goes wrong.”
Clovis stared at Rufus for a long moment, then back at Morris. He growled like an animal but stalked back to the rear of the group.
“Is he really the best you could get?” Anna said.
“Sadly, yes,” Morris said. “Every stakeholder insisted on sending a gold ranker, but refused to volunteer one of their own. I had to sit through weeks of pointless staff proposals before they gave me this guy.”
Ketevan and Rufus approached them, now that Clovis was out of the way. Ketevan smiled at Anna and Susan, but her focus was on Morris.
“My name is Ketevan Arziani, chief of staff to the clan matriarch. This is Rufus Remore.”
“Morris Manning, security detail chief.”
“The patriarch would like to begin things socially,” Ketevan said. “Anna, Susan, please come with me while Mr Remore sees to the rest of your group. Once the luggage is unloaded from the plane, it will be delivered to your accommodations.”
“You said Patriarch,” Morris pointed out. “Asano is back?”
“No,” Rufus said. “He’s still in the other world.”
“Everything will be explained to our satisfaction, I assure you,” Ketevan continued, prompting a smile to twitch on Morris’ mouth. “Please see to the luggage. The staff will take it.”
“The staff?” manning asked.
A dozen cloaked figures manifested out of nowhere, the cloaks empty but for a glowing, nebulous eye in each hood the size of a face. After raising an eyebrow, Manning went about the task of getting the luggage unloaded and keeping the delegates settled. Anna was a little surprised that Baffier didn’t argue as he and the others were led away by Rufus. She’d been worried about the French diplomat, but he thankfully knew when to vent his frustrations and when to do his job. Left alone, Ketevan gave Anna and Susan a quick hug each.
“Susan, I’m so glad you decided to come.”
“It wasn’t easy convincing this one,” she said, jabbing a thumb in Anna’s direction. “She thought it was too dangerous for me.”
“How did you win her over?”
“By pointing out that if she comes and works for you, me being left behind would be even more dangerous.”
Ketevan nodded.
“I’m sorry that Jason’s offer put you in a tough spot. It would be great to have you here, though.”
“It’s more complicated than that, Keti,” Anna said. “It’s not just about accepting a job or not.”
“I know. And so does he, but we can get to that later. How about we have some brunch and catch up?”
A stream of cloud rose from the tarmac and turned into an open top car.
“Is this how it works here?” Anna asked. “Everything you need just magically appears? Things weren’t so accommodating during my brief tenure as liaison here.”
“It’s not usually like this, although more than back then,” Ketevan said. “For some things it is. If you want to knock out a wall in your house or something, you can just ask.”
“Ask who?”
“The wall, I guess. Jason is more powerful, now, and his influence here is stronger. I don’t want to talk business, yet, but I should warn you that you can’t escape his attention here. He’s not actively watching, as I understand it, but if he wants to know what you’re doing or something you did, he does.”
“That’s a little invasive,” Susan said, looking around as if she would spot drones spying on them.
“More than a little,” Anna said.
“You get used to it,” Ketevan said. “It’s odd, especially at first. It helps that Jason was more of a story than an actual presence, for a lot of years. But now that he’s more active, that’s good too. Old people have fallen down stairs that turned into a cloud cushion and they were unhurt. Kids have gotten stuck places that just opened up to let them out.”
She got into the driver’s seat of the car, Anna and Susan getting into the back.
“Oh, this is comfortable,” Susan said. “I know we weren’t here for long, but I missed cloud furniture.”
“Don’t get used to it,” Anna told her.
“Or do,” Ketevan teased. “I wouldn’t hate having you back here for good.”
Comments
Kalanaere
He's already Gold I believe Farrah was the last
Valmorian
great chapter thanks!
Alex Schellenberg
I wonder how close Rufus is to getting to Gold?
Joshua Batts
Upgrades people, UPGRADES! (but also, the staff and house stuff is such a cool addition)
Travis Nevins
Still don't quite care about earth....we're doing a banger of job killing our world without magic....with magic...well, things would be dictator after dictator once those with power got to gold rank. But it is funny how they think they can do anything to Jason's land lmao. He isn't even going to be there, and I bet he will have to kill some gold ranks. When he gets back he'll probably have to deal with magic nukes, and a vampire army and gods know what else to prove a point.
BloodStorm
Hope so
jacob butler
Diamond might be a bad idea with magical membrane the way it is because it could cause the earth to collapse
StarkRG
Yes, it's very much a "your satisfaction isn't a concern of ours" statement.
Iain Grubb
Really thought it would take more than that to get Keti anywhere near a Network plane after the last one almost killed her~ I like the "Everything will be explained to our satisfaction," rather than "your" ^ ^
StarkRG
I'd like to see him try it in the domain and have most of his powers just kinda fizzle out because Jason said no. (not sure he quite has that level of control in his domains, but maybe a wall just pops up or something) Then he tries to take Rufus on outside the domain, thinking that Jason isn't there to protect him only to discover that it wasn't Rufus Jason was protecting.
StarkRG
Pretty ironic for an Austrian to make such a mistake.
StarkRG
Yeah, I caught that too. 😂
Branislav
As Slovak and long time reader I have to point out the difference between Slovenia and Slovakia :D. Nitra is in Slovakia. It is long time world tradition to confuse our two countries...
ouroboros
Will cloud furniture win over another recruit? 😆
Liesmith
I kinda wish Clovis would start some malarkey with Rufus...it would be *adorable*.
Brandon Walker
Rofl, that's a fair point, I can't see her resisting a shape shifting good boy that likes adorable mustaches and biscuits
Monadologist
At some point the temple cloudstuff started making minions that looked kind of like they had gordon heads. It was around when he told the builder to leave Pallimustus and he did.
Thomas Wynn
Yep, he sounds like an authentic Masshole.
CritHappens
I think I need a forced break from chapter releases so I can take a few in at a time. Also, does Gordon come in multiple bodies now? And why is he carrying luggage. Bit below the station of an Avatar of Doom
ReadingObsessed
Thank you for the Bostonian representation. I would ask that you make him an asshole to keep it as close as possible to the source material. Possibly intelligent maybe even nice but 100% asshole.
Raves
I'm going to assume when Keti says that "everything will be explained to our satisfaction, I assure you." It was actually meant as that and not "to your satisfaction". It's both funnier and so onbrand Jason type order
J W
Gonna have to take a week or two off from reading so these cliffs stop bring me down
AfroMocha
Yeah Susan would be a good like 20 years older than Anna right now if she didn't have essences
Scott Hone
Sion?
Matt Heineman
I maintain that someone will say some variant of "he might be strong but he can't fight the entire planet" to which Jason will do an aura thing and be like "I can, but that would be counterproductive."
EmmieCurls
Does Susan have essences yet? Because she should have some sort of art related essence combo that would be awesome
Luis Maldonado
I would just really love for OP Jason to come back to Earth and systematically lay waste to these vampires and crooked governments. Also for him to hit diamond while he's at it.
AfroMocha
I still got to say I'm very annoyed at how slow the uptake is for the representatives of the countries of Earth. You're squabbling over land that Jason's claimed meanwhile the man owns an entire universe where he can create planets upon planets. Like Jason isn't coming back to earth to play by your rules the faster that these guys understand that shit the faster that things can go smoothly on Earth
Leighton Smith
“That’s oddly specific”
Kalanaere
She's going to meet Stache and the recruitment will end right there because Susan will be on board
Kalanaere
Haha Keti is obviously fully on board with plan "poach Anna" honestly I think she's already lost though because I get the feeling that as soon as Susan meets Stache she's not going to leave. Especially if there is Sandwiches
brian phillips
Tyftc
Doodlyboy15
Love the interactions between everyone, thanks!
Omigusrage
Wooo them with cloud furniture!!!
DirePants
Shirt with the four play over here! lol damn dude! 😂😂😂 I honestly don’t know if I could live in a town where I’m watched 24/7. If I lie to my boss and say I over slept I don’t like knowing someone knows the truth is that I did molly and ended up in Temecula in some chicks bed and paid a 140 bucks for an Uber back home. I’m not sayin Jason a snitch it’s just the principle 😂
Eric M
Sounds like Jason should just recruit Susan.
Tai Tran
Noooooo!!!! Too short, what a teaser!
Leo
I am sure it was. I think Shirt should give us another
Andrew Johnson
I can't help but imagine what chaos kids could cause by being able to reconfigure a house or even just their room.. lol.
Andrew Johnson
5 1/4 pages in the PDF definitely one of the shorter chapters. Between putting the Duke of Boko BACK in Boko and this chapter. I think he's setting the stage the last few chapters for something. I get the feeling we have 1 or 2 more of these type of chapters to set the stage for 'something'.. I imagine we'll get an update on the plight of the surrendered messenger army soon. My guess would be their astral kings put it to them as they failed and are no longer worthy.
Jay Doubleyou Kay
That's what I've been doing. I resubscribe after 3 months and spend that month reading 3x a week reminding myself it was definitely a good idea to continue unsubscribing and subscribing.
Kares Selyrian
gnomes rule
Tashreeq Peck
Was it just me or did that feel shorter than usual?
Joanna
That’d be hilarious to see
StarkRG
Maybe it's a map to the location of Purity's Leagacy! Or that sausage recipe Shade found for one of his previous summoners.
Meruem92
Well, no, when earth perishes he will still be alive whereas a local god would die with the planet
StarkRG
He retracted his domains because the population wanted their gods to be nearby. *That's* what France or Slovakia would need, not just gods wanting to come in, but that the population does too, and that's just not going to happen for a bunch of politicians.
Daniel Wills
Nah, definitely wasn’t an astral king. Just a gold rank Disguise priest with access to the fundamental layer of reality. It’s not explicitly stated but I’m sure he wouldn’t need as many coins, if any, with access to reality cores.
Justin Butler
Ahh the beginnings of Earths First God
Zachary Ross
Don't get me wrong. This is likely a very pivotal chapter with a lot of background detail and it probably meets all the word count and length requirements our author has but I need more!
Gilgamiso
Really glad I'm not the only one who LOVES Earth chapters
Ligeia
Badly, I'm sure.
Justin Pugh
Should we say... he'd take him to school?
Ligeia
No shorter than 90% of the chapters. It's 6 pages in the PDF. None are shorter, only a few are longer, the longest 10 pages. I've started repeating this in the hopes that other people will become in the habit of doing their first read in the PDF, too. It's a very easy way to find out the length.
Philipp Battenberg
Those poor delegates will have to deal with a Jason prepared for this by Danielle Geller. She might even sit beside him inside the cloud house while the meeting is streamed live on the wall.
Justin
Also it’s 100% ASANO LAND!
Justin
Great chapter! It seems like earth might come sooner than expected! TYFTC!
Honza Král
Great to see what's happening back on Earth. Just one detail, it is Slovakia, not Slovenia, where Jason's other territory is
PapaJohn
I love reading slowly converging plot lines!!! The Wings of War series did it, and an expanded the breadth of the story. Made it feel bigger, which I suppose is important if Jason’s gonna become a cosmic wanderer as we approach the end of the story.
Gb
Maybe a good back read will help. Just start at the earliest chapters on patreon then catch up.
John Durrett
Rufus would have taught that bodyguard a lesson he's never forget.
Justin Fralin
I feel like I was just teased Shirt... I need more... tyftc
Justin
I’ve made some protein bars that were pretty damned good thank you very much. They are mostly peanut butter with some kind of thickener to help them keep shape, some use flaxseed, but I’m not a fan of that junk. I just take a bunch of peanuts and process them until they are ground up, and use them to bind it together. Easy as hell, but also a great base to customize them how you like.
David Cooper
I've been thinking about the Grid. Farrah talked about how advanced it was and how it would have required massive Earth moving and at least a gold ranker to emplace, and given the poor magic on Earth they would have required thousands and thousands of gold coins. But now we know that there is one category of being that would not have needed those coins... Astral Kings. So there was an Astral King running around Earth ages ago doing the Builders' bidding. And since Noreth was a gold ranker, not diamond, that means that the being he was familiar to was gold, and there were TWO peeps in history working for the builder, one building the grid, and one building the Network. Does that track?
Chevy
So ready for Tuesday
Landsraad
Must have a double release pls Please PLEASE
mhaj58
With every new chapter I’m tempted to cancel my subscription and wait 2 months to binge read. This is a particularly painful urge
Gb
Scones
Joanna
*Rubs hands together gleefully*
Alexander Dupree
It will be cool to see how earth reacts
Chevy
Tftc but so short
Amanda Begly
I love Anna's interactions here. Susan is such a good balance for her.
Adam
Oh come on Shirt! Its not a cliffhanger but we're just getting to the good bit! I need more to fill this hunger for Biscuits!
Anthony
I think i need to turn notifications off.... i need to be able to binge these chapters, but can't help opening them the moment they drop.
Russell Ventimeglia
Awesome! My #1 wish for this book is to find out what the painting Dawn left Susan was of.
Guðjón
Yeah he is :)
Guðjón
I’m guessing Clovis is going to get humbled by Rufus and I can’t wait.
Jayson Legott
Is Rufus gold rank as well? I can’t remember if it was mentioned before or not
samwise
Yes more Earth chapters please!
John
Proof that even magic can’t make protein bars not suck.
TimeDrawsNigh
Tftc
Brad Gammey
Let's go!
Dimitri
😎
Darkdragon
Biscuits
