I called up the data that I had collected on taking out Thomas and compared it to what I saw with Orion. The difference was astounding!
Thomas had used a lightning spell that acted like real lightning in all respects, while Orion's spell seemed almost solid. He had no idea how he did that, but it explained why his spells hit me directly and didn't go out. That made me wonder if the guards had something like my frequency generators that could surround them. That would protect them from magic, but there were ways around that. It was clear that the elements that were created were generated by this magic, but the after-effects were created because of reactions to the area, like the blast from the fireball exploding.
I looked at everything I had, but no matter what I did, it seemed like there was always something that I was missing with Orion. I still didn't understand how much mana a person had or how it was even used, but I was getting an idea. The mana was to summon the magic and then to the spell, but this is where I started to get confused. Even watching the replay over and over of all the casts I had seen, I could not figure out how they were interacting and how it was turned into a spell.
Sitting back, I scrubbed a hand over my face that made a horrible noise and groaned. I was trying to science this too hard, but there had to be some relationship or interaction that I was missing. It had to be just a matter of using the right kinds of scans, and then I would figure it out.
'What have you so focused on this? Should you not be worrying about what Ned is going to do after what you did to one of his dogs?!'
I closed my eyes and opened them again to see my angry little goddess.
"What is up your ass? Do I look like I am doing nothing? Or are you not watching to see what my guards are doing? Maybe all my drones that are watching to see what move Ned makes next?" I growled.
"And that is another thing! Why are you helping all those... Sheep? Regardless of what you call them, most of them are just bags of flesh, and do not care if you fix anything! It is just going to get destroyed again, and they could fix it faster with magic!" Numera hissed at me, and I crossed my arms.
"Are you done?" I asked, and that got me a glare. "We need them to make you known and increase my influence. Remember that I was once a bag of flesh, and I know how to make them work for us. You sound more like a villain than I do. Everyone keeps trying to outdo me, so I might have to step up my game," I said, and Numera rolled her eyes.
"Why are you so interested in magic? You can't use it," She told me, and I uncrossed my arms, walked over, and put my hand on the top of her head, connecting us.
Then I shared everything that I had learned since arriving, and Numera stayed quick, and I watched her go through everything, and then I let go.
"Don't you think that it is strange that most powerful artifacts and magical items are made out of the same thing as we are?" I asked, and she looked up at me.
"How did you figure this out?! Just identifying that frequency was a revolution for the Numerian! This is what started the war! This knowledge!" She nearly screamed at me, and the pieces started to fall into place.
"Aquaking found out about this and then rallied the rest against your people, right?" I asked, and she nodded.
"We had no warning and no time to put it into production. Our kind has always been peaceful, but a human that worked on the project sold our tech because the Numerians were too trusting. What you have here makes it look like my people were trying to figure out how to make fire with a stick compared to what you just showed me," She said, and then walked over to the table that was always in the center of the room that I woke up on. I could make this place what I wanted, but I always came back to this room.
"Everyone tried to explain it like it just came from nowhere, and they cast spells, but that isn't the case. There is an interaction between the mana and the magic, but I need more information and platinum," I said as I joined her.
"Still remarkable, but you come from a world where you can explain everything, right?" Numera asked, and I nodded.
"Science is a wonderful thing, and it gives us reasons for everything. Times were changing before I died, and I would be curious to see what the future of that world looked like. I will never get that chance, so I plan on trying to push this world into a future that looks a little less shitty than it is now," I explained, and she shrugged.
"I guess I will just continue watching you. I can't really do much for you now, but your name is gaining influence, so that is a thing," She said, and I nodded.
"Yeah, but I still have a lot to learn before I can do anything on the grand scale that I need," I said, and then looked up at the clock. "I should be getting back to get ready for the pups."
"One more thing! I see that you have taken an interest in that snake of a woman that already betrayed you. Do I need to turn up your sus meter?!" she asked, poking at me, and I swatted her hand away.
"I already have her bugged, and I can hear her even if she talks shit in her sleep. If you see an actual reason for me to be concerned, then tell me. And stay out of my head, or I will block you," I warned, and she just rolled her eyes.
"We will see," she said, and I closed my eyes.
---
"Well, that is not what I would call a successful mission!" Ned laughed as he looked over Thomas's body. The man was passed out on an operating table as the leader of Wendall stood over him, with Orion in the corner.
"No, but you had said that it was going to fail before I left. Still, I never imagined that Razor would do such a horribly disfiguring thing to him. It would be kinder just to kill him, I think, at this point," Orion replied, but Ned shook his head.
"That would be a waste! And I have some new things that I have been working on. While I can't change his ugly-looking face, I can replace his leg with a Platinum one! I will do some other things as well, but when I am done, Thomas will be in tip-top shape! Perfect for him to go and have a second round with that monster!" Ned chuckled, but Orion looked uneasy.
"The others that you tried this on didn't do so well, and we couldn't control them. Are you sure that you want to do that to someone like Thomas? He was already a bit of a loose cannon; if you augment him like you did with the other test subjects, he might even become stronger than me," Orion warned, but Ned only shrugged.
"Not the end of the world. In fact, I plan on setting him loose in the city! Stir things up a bit, and get rid of the families. This city is due for a clean-up!" Ned cackled.
"What about damages to the city? I made a mess, but that was in Deaths Grove, and no one cares about that. If you let Thomas go, then that will be all over the city! Is that really used with people the way they are?" Orion asked, and Ned nodded.
"Most of my main plan is in order right now, but it is still going to take a bit longer. As for Thomas, there is no way he is going to be able to get them all, so I plan on converting some of the other Order members over. Once my main plan is in place, it will not matter what anyone thinks because I will control them all. It is only a matter of time before I have pumped enough of the platinum into the water supply. Once that is done, every man, woman, and child will be under my control, and no one will complain. The problem is that the strong people need to die, or they will be able to break out of control. All things I am planning for," Ned explained as Orion stood in silence.
This was too much, and perhaps Thomas was right, but it seemed things were moving too fast now to stop. Orion was just going to have to keep a close watch on things and make sure that whatever happened, it did not get out of hand.
"You can go now, Orion. I have some things to set up, and I need you here when I am done, so don't leave the city," Ned said as he motioned toward the door.
Orion nodded and left, his mind now a fog of confusion, anger, and fear. He needed to find out what was going on, but there seemed to be too many pieces that were missing. Ned had always been eccentric, and Orion had looked past the experiments, but only because they had been for the country and for people from other countries. Now, Ned was talking about turning the members of his own Order of Salvation into magically enhanced killers with no souls.
He had to get to the bottom of this. There was too much danger for him to simply sit aside, and he needed to act before it was too late.