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Chapter twenty six, The Blender.
The Ispet event began. Emily limped arm in arm with Marcus, the Shifter behind, and the stairwell ahead. Flames surged, engulping the floor, walls and ceiling. A metal rod sailed perilously close, twirling end over end toward the building's core. They were still on the fourth floor of Amber's apartment complex. Not long ago. The buildings swarmed with contra agents and residents who had all since fled both the blaze and the Shifter.
Emily's friends had also escaped, with the exception of Marcus, who leaned against her for support as they edged toward the stairs. She recalled the discussion with September about anomalies and their unten consequences. In his example, he used a skyscraper as the setting. He noted that her ispet would not directly kill her, but if it caused a skyscraper to collapse on top of her, she would not survive.
Fatal repercussions could occur indirectly. While not a skyscraper, this ten story building was enough to get the job done if they didn't escape. Soon, more metal objects hurtled past her toward the center of the building, forcing her to dodge to the side to avoid being a kit Reaching the stairwell, she urged Marcus ahead and then risked a look back. Her isfet stream poured from her well into a metal vortex in the center of the hallway, drawing
metal from every direction. The debris didn't just collide, it fused, forming a growing metallic sphere. A large metal desk tore through a wall, driven by the magnetic pull, urgency propelled her to the stairs. She checked on her carbinger from the railing, injured but descending past the third floor. His progress was steady but slow. She rushed after him. Pausing on the third floor landing, she saw the metal sphere
had expanded massively, siphoning metals through walls and ceilings. The sphere had torn its way through the fourth level floor and was now grinding.
Through the third.
Emily continued down the stairwell, running to catch up with Marcus. She did not stop at the second floor to steal a third glance.
Two was enough.
The stairwell's metal railing started to detach. Drawn to the sphere, that was all the confirmation she needed. Near the first floor, she dodged a flying doorknob and lost her footing. She stumbled down the last few steps, then burst through the exit and into September's waiting arms. He guided her across the street with safety, just as the apartment buildings succumbed, collapsing inward. Breathless and weary, Emily sank to the ground beside Marcus, watching the last ispet streams ev away.
It was over, Emily. Are you hurt?
I'm fine.
Good. Let's get you to the car.
Wait a second, I don't think anyone is going anywhere until we sort.
This out, September. We can't stay here, Detective.
The building is burning, the contra are gone, the fire department is already here, and the police are almost certainly on the way.
Bullard and I are the police, and I would feel much more comfortable if you stayed right where I can see you. I need some time to think.
Do you intend to detain us, Detective.
I haven't decided yet.
No, we aren't. We aren't after what we just saw in there.
No, thank you, Detective Bullard.
But that said, you're definitely not taking my car.
I didn't mean your car. I rented my own.
George Marcus is a criminal if we let him.
Walk, Mariano, we just saw a shape shifting monster in there. I don't know what is going on with Marcus and Emily, but they're into some very unnatural shit. You really think the best solution is to bring Marcus in right now?
I I just think that we should know where they are. They're dangerous.
They are dangerous, but only because they're untrained. We can help them, help them how, we can show them how to control their powers.
September. I don't think it's safe for Emily to be in a city this size. I recommend we leave if we can.
Let's see what Emily has to say.
Very well, Oh, Emily, I'm okay.
Your shirt's pretty bloody. Looks like your shoulder and your stomach is that blood yours?
I guess some of it.
You want to see one of the paramedics over there.
No, Hastings can patch me up just fine.
I have a first aid kit in the car. I'll give it to him before you leave. Thank you, Marcus. How are you?
I'm just a little dizzy and tired and sore and cold.
You're always cold and whiny.
You think this is bad? You should hear me whant to get sick?
Emily? What was that thing? That shape shifter?
Thing?
Just that, a shape shifter?
What did it want me?
I think? Although I don't know why?
Is it dead?
I think so? They're really hard to kill, but I'm pretty sure were they more like it? Yeah? From what Hasting tells me, at least.
They're going to be hunting you too.
I don't know.
Look, I'm not even gonna pretend to know what's going on. This is all bizarre, but I know my instincts would tell me to trust you on this. Can I trust you? Emily?
Trust me to do what?
I don't know the right thing?
I guess I'll try.
All right, That's good enough for me. Now the million dollar question? Do you really want to go with them?
September and Hastings?
Yeah, can they really help you with all of this.
Yeah, I think so, Amber.
What about you?
No, I don't want to go with them.
Amber, You're not safe here. You should come with us.
No, I don't trust them, and you shouldn't either, Amber. Please, no, em, I can't go with them. There's something not right about those two.
Emi. I'll put Amber and Sam someplace safe as long as as they're willing.
I've got just the spot where my family has some property in Wisconsin.
God damn packers.
That's all we should tell you better? To keep things separate for the time being.
I understand.
So here's how this is going to go down. Davis and I will grab your camp and equipment and the first aid kid out of my car and give it to those two. After that, we'll take Amber over to the paramedics to get checked out. She felt pretty hard on that fire escape. In the meantime, I'd recommend saying your goodbyes for the time being.
Okay.
I'm also going to drop my phone number into the first aid kit in case you ever need someone to talk to.
Thanks, George.
Yeah, well you'll be careful, okay.
Yeah, so hey, I think I'm going to see if Hastings will walk me to the car. Give you guys a.
Moment, okay, Marcus.
Amber, it was nice to meet you. Sure, all right, I'll see ya.
Hey, Amber, are you all right?
No?
Are you kidding me?
Right now?
You have been gone for months. I haven't heard from you in months.
Emily, Yeah, I know.
And then you call to say there are assassins after me, which I thought was bullshit anyway, I thought you were brainwashed.
I'm sorry.
And then and then you show up to my apartment with your friends, the assassins and a goddamn monster.
Amber.
So no, em I am not fucking all right.
I didn't mean for you to get caught up in all of this.
How the hell did you get caught up in all this?
Why don't you come with me and then I can explain everything.
Go with you, m You should.
Stay here where the detectives can keep you safe.
Amber, be realistic. Do you think those two detectives could handle something like that shifter back there or trained assassins. They were barely surviving themselves.
But maybe if you got away from September and Hastings, those others would leave you alone.
No, they wouldn't. They want me just as bad as they want them. I know you don't believe me yet, but September and Hastings are trying to protect me.
This makes no sense.
I know. I promise I'll explain everything.
I'm sorry to interrupt. Amber. It's time to go, Amber.
I love you, em, but I can't go with you.
I'm gonna stay with Bullard.
Okay, you had.
Better call me. I will and call Sam too.
I can do that.
Do you want triple back?
Would you mind hanging on to it for a little bit longer?
Of course I don't mind. Sam and I have been splitting time with her anyway.
I saw that. Thank you.
I love you, em Please please be careful.
I will.
I love you too.
Wiswonson, George, I expect you to call me as well. I want better tabs on you and your friends. Do you understand?
Yeah? Of course?
All right, come on, Amber, let's get you patched up.
Hi, Emily, Detective Davis, right, yeah, it's nice to meet you.
You as well. What you did back there was nothing short of incredible.
Incredible. I think you mean horrific.
I said what I meant. Oh, all right, Escaping a shifter is no easy feat, and three times it's impressive.
Thank you.
I'll be seeing you around.
Emily. Are you ready to go?
Yeah? I'm ready.
Is everything okay?
I really don't know.
Let's get out of here.
Rubble fell away as Denali stood, shaking off the remains of the collapsed apartment complex. This marked the second instance Emily had dropped a building upon them, and the third time she eluded them, events sure to enrage their patron. Previously, Denali had been trapped against the hallway wall, immobilized by several metal pipes with flames searing beneath. Had it not been for the anomaly's summoning of a magnetic sphere that tore the pipes away, Denali might have perished in the fire.
Although they could withstand brief encounters with fire, prolonged exposure threatened through life. Navigating cautiously through the wreckage, Dnali avoided any areas where the floor seemed unstable. Hearing human activity outside, they decided to adopt a disguise, morphing into the familiar guise of a grocery delivery boy from Montana, a precaution
in case they encountered any bystanders during their exit. Plushed in their left hand was a piece of fabric torn and stained with Emily's blood, which Donali had seized when their grip on the anomaly's shoulder had slipped. The impending conversation with Donali's current patron promised to be challenging, but this bloodied remnant might temper their dissatisfaction. Returning with such a token was surely advantageous, and what better gift for
a blood born than the blood of an anomaly. After placing the fabric into a plastic sandwich bag retreated from the debris, then Aali's next steps were to return to the Bloodborn, deliver the report, and then find Emily. This was the way things were, This was the contract made, This was the code, and the code could not be broken. Agent Natalie White fumbled her cell phone and swore as it fell to the floorboard of the Enterprise rental car. The pain in her wrist had dulled from the level
of excruciating blaze to a more manageable, agonizing throb. Her partner took a sharp turn, forcing Natalie to steady herself by gripping the seat, sending a jolt of sharp pain through her arm.
It's not too much to ask, could you maybe not drive like a jackass.
Oh, I can call you an uber if you prefer.
No, maybe just a little less speed racer if you don't mind.
I am trying to get you to the hospital.
I'm not dying, Victor. We're not in a huge rush.
Look, with the amount of people that were just injured in that apartment building, the hospital is going to be flooded.
I want to get us in and out before anyone thinks to start paying attention.
Okay, you're right, that's smart.
Oh, now I'm smart. You must have hit your head pretty hard.
Funny, got it?
Are you good?
Yeah?
Drop the phone. I need to call the operator.
Oh, I'm sure this is gonna go well calling.
Do you see a cleaning supplies? How may I direct your call operator?
It's White and Brown.
Good morning, Agent White. I hope you are contacting me with good news.
Unfortunately, no, the whole party showed up for the meeting, and we had more guests than intended and the meeting went up in flames. HM.
That is unfortunate.
There is definitely another player at the.
Table, Detective Davies employer.
Seems like is Davies.
Connected to the other unexpected guest.
I don't know for sure, right, Do.
You have anything else to report?
No, I will submit a report in a few hours. I'm on the way to the doctor for a checkup.
Do take care of your health. We need all our field agents and tiptop shape.
How would you like us to proceed from there?
Agent White? This deal is deemed irregular. We would like you to preturn to England to discuss next steps directly with management.
I understand.
Goodbye, Agent White.
All right, what's a good word?
We're heading to HQ.
Emily sat next to Marcus in the back seat of Hastings rental car, her gaze fixed on the passing landscape as the vehicle merged onto the highway. September drove the car while Hastings examined the contents of the controfile Emily had given them. The quartet was once again departing Chicago, the city shrinking behind them. A blender, that's what Marcus had told her, would destroy the apartment building. How many people survived? That ispet event? Her ispet event. No, that
wasn't the right question. The real question that was haunting her was how many innocent people died from her is event. The weight of this thought made her nauseous. She couldn't think about it, not right now. She was too exhausted to confront it.
Right now.
Her physical wounds had been tended to thanks to the first aid supplies from Bullard and Hastings medical knowledge, Yet she still felt as if she had been hit by a mack truck. She already missed Amber and regretted not seeing Sam. She resolved to maintain better contact with her friends this time. Her previous attempts at isolation hadn't safeguarded them. Perhaps keeping them informed could. The sound of a page turning pulled her attention to the front seat, catching September's eyes.
In the rearview mirror. How are you holding up?
Oh? I'm well, Well, this file is interesting.
Not you, Hastings. I'm talking to Emily.
Oh right, I'm fine, just a little sore.
It seems like you and Marcus had a bit of an adventure while we were gone.
Between the Contra and the Shifter. I would say that's the understatement.
Of the year.
I'm sorry that we left you unprotected like that. I will do my best never to leave you again.
It wasn't your fault. You didn't know this would happen.
I should have better anticipated something like this.
It's okay, September. Was your trip worth it?
At least very much?
So?
We were given access to the restricted archives. I read quite a few interesting texts, including several that were originally authored by dragons chronicler Dean believes anomalies are responsible for the extinction of the Dragons. He also removed me from my current position and intends to reassign me. The archives were attacked by Contra agents, and I stole some information that may lead us to other anomalies.
Are you serious?
Yes, Emily, none of those statements would make a good joke.
You know where other anomalies are.
Maybe we have some leads. I'll explain it all to you after we find a place to settle down and recover for a couple of days.
That's amazing.
I told you the trip was worth it.
You said the archives were attacked.
Yeah, but I don't think it was anything to do with us specifically. It probably had taken the Contra quite a bit of time to set up a full scale assault like that.
Well, I'm glad You're okay.
I'm glad as well.
We left as soon as the attack.
Began, so the contract could have taken the archives.
It's possible, but I doubt it. There were plenty of guides and chroniclers to guard the facility.
The chroniclers employ highly skilled security guards as well.
Well.
I guess that's good. So you said Dean blames the anomalies for the death of dragons? Did he say why?
I still need to do some research into that topic. He suggests that I take a similar branch of study as him and hopes that I might discover what happened. Are you going to in a sense at this moment, I intend to split my time studying the past with studying you, Hastings.
You've got to work on your delivery.
It's okay, I'm used to it.
I didn't mean to offend.
Yeah, you never do. So what did the books say?
Not a lot?
Unfortunately, was there anything in there about different color ispet lines or harbingers.
They seem to lack accurate information about the lines, and we have theories about harbingers.
What about why there are eighty one anomalies born every year? That still seems very unlike chaos.
I'm sorry, but nothing about that yet either.
This doesn't seem like a very successful visit.
Emily, While I was there. I had my laptop and four external hard drives with a capacity of three terabytes each. While September and I studied in the restricted archives, my laptop downloaded as many digital files as the hard drives could hold, and considering most of those are scanned images and text documents, that is a lot of content.
Oh, I didn't realize you had digital versions. Why couldn't you download them from here?
The files are housed in private, secured servers. We had to go there to access them.
Ah, okay, that makes sense.
It will take time, but it gives me a lot of information to work with.
One last question about the books, what is it? Did any of them mention anything about dreams or being able to speak with other anomalies through dreams?
Speaking with other anomalies and.
Dreams, Yeah, communicating while one anomaly is dreaming and the other is awake.
I didn't see anything about that, neither did I.
Oh, okay, well, I've started talking to another anomaly named Cricket.
Cricket, you can talk to them while you dream.
No, he talks to me while he dreams and I'm awake.
Emily, please tell me everything you know about Give me as much information as you can.
Recall, well, he first showed up when we were back in Montana.
Guys, please can we talk about cricket later? I need to know what is the shifter going to show up again? Because I don't think I can keep doing this.
If it shows up, we will be here to help.
I think I killed it. I pinned it to a wall and set it on fire, then turned the building into a blender.
A blender, so it's for sure.
Dead, I think so.
I think everyone that was left in that building is dead. I killed them all.
Emily, you did not kill them, and if you killed the shifter, that was self defense.
I don't want to talk about this, not right now. I need time.
Okay, so about cricket.
I'll catch you up on the details later. But he said that anomalies have any.
Ads, any ads and any ad as a group of nine.
Yeah, he said that they work together.
Nine groups of nine.
What was that?
Eighty one anomalies are born every year, all in groups of nine, nine groups of nine.
Do you think one of the anomalies you found could be part of mienniad?
There's only one way to find out. We are going to find them.
Emily Swanson is voiced by Tisha Zaying. Hastings is voiced by Adam Culbertson. September is voiced by Richard Collins. Detective Bullard is voiced by Tony Kinney. Detective Mariano Davis is voiced by Glenn Michael Saxton. Marcus Baker is voiced by Nico Rodriguez. Amber Lang is voiced by Nari Quack. Agent Victor Brown is voiced by t Alexander Saxton. Agent Natalie White is voiced by Sarah Callahan. The Operator is voiced
by Helen Edgar and narrated by Michael Cole. Isfet Archives was written by Nico Rodriguez in collaboration with Titia Zang. Espett Archives is a Creative Typo entertainment production. Find out more about our show at www dot creative typo dot com.
A very special thank you to our executive producers from Patreon, Nick Mead and Patrick t Arsenal