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[REND] 6.5 - Hero Wannabes, At Your Service
🕑 Added 2025-06-04 14:53:11 +0000 UTC“So… are you guys with the Bureau of Interdimensional Defense?” I asked. Whatever story Dario would give, it wouldn’t be the truth. Not the complete truth, anyway.
“Not really,” Dario said. “We're under a different organization. A secret one.”
“The BID’s secret as fuck too,” said Reo. “Yeah, we get to see their scary agents, but they’re into shady business, no doubt. Don’t need to be a conspiracy theorist to tell you that.”
“The people behind us are more secretive than that,” Myra said. For some reason, she had taken it as her duty to counter everything Reo says. “Dario doesn’t even know the name of the organization we’re working for.”
“It hopefully stays that way,” Dario said. “For our sakes, and the sake of our country. Mostly, the latter. The consequences if the Corebrings discover that this—” he pointed at the pulsing thingy on his chest “—is the project of our government will be severely dire. The Corebrings will have no hesitation in repeating the Labor Day Purge—”
“Times a hundred,” Johann added. He mostly kept to himself while the rest of his group talked. My read on him was that he stayed to the side because he was the sole normal human of the group. Which led to the question of why he did not have any powers?
“A secret government organization,” I slowly said, looking around. “If that’s the case, I’m kind of expecting a bit more, you know? Uh, organization.”
“Having a base in an abandoned building does make us look like chumps, doesn’t it?” Reo commented with a snort.
“Three reasons,” Dario said. He held up a finger. “First is secrecy. The further we are from appearing as a government project, the better for secrecy purposes. Second, the vast majority of people in the government aren’t amenable to this… experiment, as you may imagine. Another reason to appear detached from the government.”
“Not just the government people,” Myra said. “Most people, period, wouldn’t support something like this.”
“And the third reason?” I asked, having an inkling of what it may be.
“I’ll answer that,” Reo said in a glum tone. “If things go south, it’s quite easy to… throw us away.”
“Exactly,” Dario said, staring me in the eye, then Deen.
Because they look like a group of Adumbrae, I thought. Wait. Was Dario threatening us? By telling us all of this, we were trapped in the secret and could be ‘thrown away’ if we became liabilities.
“This… organization,” Deen said. “It made the artificial Core?”
“Yes,” Dario said, donning his shirt. “What the Professor had told me—that’s the codename of our handler—is that they possess a Mother Fragment. They grew these artificial Cores from slivers of the Mother Fragment.”
I had some idea about Mother Fragments. If Mom used to tell me fairytales as bedtime stories, Dad would tell me stories related to his research. Not the science stuff. Stories like how the Adumbrae and Corebrings came to Earth.
Mother Fragments were inside meteorites that landed on Earth after the Adumbrae started appearing—these became the Cores of the first generation of Corebrings. After the Corebrings destroyed all of the Purple Blooms and things started to stabilize, they gave up their Mother Fragments to make the Mother Core. Something like that. The Hive was formed, and the Mother Core has been a factory of superpowered humans since then. Hard to believe that the government had a Mother Fragment—if this were true, then it never became part of the Mother Core.
“Our Cores aren’t really artificial if you think about it,” Reo said.
“Here we go again,” Everett said with a sigh.
“Hear me out, yeah?” continued Reo. He thumped his chest. “This thing was made from a Mother Fragment. It’s not artificial. Just the process is. We’re more real than present-day Corebrings.”
“How did this organization get a Mother Fragment?” I asked, not believing their story. Still, they had powers just the same. They could also be artificial Adumbrae, maybe rivals of our kidnappers. “Wouldn’t the Corebrings know if one of their important things is missing?”
Dario shrugged. “That’s not for me to know. It’s also not for me to confirm the truth of what was explained to me. The fact of the matter is that we have these artificial Cores, and they gave us powers as advertised. You have witnessed it for yourselves.”
“The people who kidnapped us… they can make Adumbrae,” Deen said aloud what I was thinking about. “One of them told us about it.”
“I hope you’re not suggesting what I think you are,” Reo evenly said, turning all serious again. “We’re not filthy Adumbrae. Don’t accuse us—”
“Watch your mouth!” Myra raised a fist. “Don’t forget that Kelsey is one, and it wasn’t her fault.”
Deen glanced at me. She didn’t know what was going on. I whispered, “I’ll tell you later.”
A wave of heavy pressure pressed on us for a second.
Dario said, “Everyone. Stop.” Two more pulses of pressure, one for each word.
He had radiated a sort of oppressiveness that made me instinctively want to curl up. It was a power different from the headache field. This guy wasn’t honest about his real power. I bet his codename was part of the misdirection.
“Amber raised a valid question,” Dario said. “The enemy makes Adumbrae. Our side makes Corebrings. How can we show that we’re different from them?”
“The 2Ms use those parasites,” Everett said. He had placed himself between Reo and Myra, who were glowering at each other. Pretending that he didn’t notice his teammates raring to fight, Everett continued, “They also make monsters, if that’s not a dead giveaway that they’re Adumbrae. Kills people. Eats people. Bad guys all the way through.”
“Um, I’m not saying I doubt you,” Deen said. “Sorry if it came out that way. It’s… just too much to take in.”
“Like, I can’t believe that the government makes Corebrings,” I added. Deen was frigging annoying with her thoughtless question. It was a valid point, but she shouldn’t have brought it up.
She couldn’t be thinking of asking for one of those artificial Cores… was she? She had offered Purple Mohawk that we’d be Adumbrae if that was the way to save our asses.
“If you’re asking us to prove what we have are Cores,” Dario said, “then it’s not within our capabilities to do so. You have the right to be concerned. Pondering it further, we are more likely to be Adumbrae, trying to trick you, than artificial Corebrings. But that is how things stand. I can’t force you to trust me.”
Saying it’s unbelievable doesn’t make it believable, I thought with a mental smirk. We didn’t have a choice but to ‘believe’ it. Wouldn’t surprise me if they agreed to show their powers to intimidate us.
“We trust you,” said Deen. “We don’t know who you are, but you saved us. You’re the good guys in my book.”
She’s lying. I could feel it. She didn’t trust them, and she didn’t have any books. Call it best friend instincts. Deen and I had become close enough that I could sense her thoughts.
Wait. Us, close? Gross.
“Reo wasn’t part of the rescue mission,” Everett said, grinning. “He’s not part of the good guys.”
Reo snorted. “I’m fine to be whatever type of guy if it means keeping my skin.”
“Um, you were given Cores,” I said, “for what? Please don’t kill us if that’s top secret. You were already telling us, so I thought…”
“For testing purposes,” Dario said. “For some reason, having a… natural… experience is conducive to the development of the artificial Core. Natural—outside of a laboratory. There’s nothing natural about what we do and the threats we face. I suppose it’s no secret that our government wants to make Corebrings—Corebrings that can match the powers of the Central Hive. That’s the ultimate goal.”
“Things probably sped up with President Garland in office, huh?” Everett commented.
“Logical,” Deen said, nodding. She lifted her chin while speaking; that was the sign she was just going with the flow. “There are also rumors that Imperial Japan and the Soviet Union have their own secret projects with similar goals.” She was trying to connect with them.
“Rumors, just rumors,” Reo sang the lines of a popular song. “It’s true, but it’ll stay as rumors since no one wants open war with the Hive. You can bet your ass our governments have tons of other secret experiments and that sort of business.”
“So, like, what’s going on?” I asked. “I hope you’re allowed to say that.” If they weren’t, they wouldn’t have blabbed to us about this top-secret stuff, if it were true. That was a big if. “Why were we kidnapped? What was that Adumbrae attack last Monday? What—” I covered my mouth. “Sorry for asking too many questions.” Keep pretending to be overwhelmed. I didn’t have the slightest clue about the truth.
“The main task of our team,” Dario said, “is to fight the 2Ms here in La Esperanza. Mark and Big Marcy—they are brothers who lead a criminal organization. Hence, 2Ms.”
So that’s what it meant. Mark didn’t sound like a threatening name. Marcy, even less so. But since it had ‘Big’ in front, that automatically made it sound menacing. I wished for an alias someday. What about ‘Red Hood’? Tattoo Sleeves and his gang called me that.
Dario continued, “We are stopping the 2Ms while testing the Cores at the same time. In essence, we have a real-world training of becoming a Corebring, a hero fighting the Adumbrae. As you are already aware, the 2Ms have the technology to turn people into Adumbrae.”
I nodded. While waiting for Deen to wake up, I had told Dario what Purple Mohawk told us, plus all that stuff about mutants and eating brains.
I really wasn’t sure if it was the right call. It showed that we knew too much, risking getting killed or it. But we already knew too much, and they didn’t seem to want to kill us. Sharing information might make us appear friendlier. More importantly, I wanted to uncover their real deal.
Could they be useful to me? Since they had powers, maybe they had information that could help me maintain my mind. The priority is stopping Spooky Erind. Don’t get angry if you’re listening to my thoughts.
Dario paced as he explained, “The 2Ms offer this… service… to wealthy individuals, in return for funds, furthering their business. There are many who want eternal life, youth… a body that resists pain and heals any injury. Have a failing heart? Instead of paying millions to jump over the waitlist for a donor’s heart, just become an Adumbrae to restore your body. A lucrative business. However, money-making isn’t their ultimate goal.”
“Terrorism,” Deen said. “The Adumbrae attack.”
“Not quite terrorism,” said Dario, wagging his finger as he stopped walking. “The attack terrorized the city, but that was just the byproduct of their testing. Refining their Adumbrae-making capabilities is their goal.”
“Same as our situation, probs,” Myra drawled. “Can’t test in a lab. Need a realistic setting. A real setting.”
“The organization behind us intends to learn about the 2Ms' methods while halting their illegal activities,” Dario said. “If it were up to the BID, the technology and findings of the 2Ms would be destroyed. Such a course of action will be a waste, the Professor had explained to me. I agree with him. We have to learn about the enemy. If we have to use their methods, so be it. The end justifies the means.”
End justifies the means… That was a villain thing to say. Also, too much of a coincidence that there are artificial Adumbrae and artificial Corebrings too.
“What about Kelsey?” I asked. “How does she figure into the whole 2Ms thing?”
“She was on the train by pure chance,” Myra said. “No intel, it was going to happen. Johann dug up in the police files that an Adumbrae was in the same train car as Kelsey. She fought it to save the people and managed to drive it away. But since a few people had seen her, she also ran. Hasn’t returned home since. Something must’ve happened to her, and we have zero clue of what.”
Didn’t Tower Cop say that the people who witnessed what happened were dead? If Kelsey defeated the Adumbrae, then who killed those people? Did Kelsey do it? I could picture that happening because I had killed the people who knew I was an Adumbrae.
Maybe Kelsey didn’t want to face Myra, ashamed of what she had done? It was fun playing detective.
I had mountains of doubt about Dario’s story, but this Kelsey story seemed true. My senses told me that Myra’s emotions were real. I was quite adept at reading people.
“We count it as good news that the 2Ms are looking for her as well,” Johann said in a gentle voice. “It means they haven’t done anything to her.”
“And Kelsey wasn’t found by the cops,” Reo said, also sounding nicer. “They’re not looking for her either.”
“So, where is she?” Myra asked, her voice rising at the end. “She might’ve turned…” She didn’t finish her sentence.
No one refuted what was left unsaid. This was another possibility—the Adumbrae inside Kelsey won. Too bad I didn’t have a chance to talk with her. Kelsey could’ve given me tips how to handle this shit.
“How do we figure into this?” Deen asked, breaking the awkward silence. “The 2Ms kidnapped Erind to interrogate her about Kelsey, didn’t they? It was just a coincidence I was with Erind.”
Impressive that Deen managed to piece things together before I even told her about it. Clever girl. And rich too. We should remain besties.
“Beyond that, the 2Ms have no need of you,” Dario said. “On our part, we came to learn of the kidnappings on Tuesday. The corrupt cops tried to bury it, but there were too many. Johann alerted us to it, and we tried to learn of their next target.”
“I discovered that you two were up,” Reo said, pointing at me. “Be amazed at my tale of espionage and—”
“We’ve heard it so many times already,” Myra said with a groan.
“Everett trailed you at that time,” Dario said. “The moment you two were taken, we got together the team and planned your rescue. We also hoped to find Kelsey.”
“Why are you telling us all this?” Deen asked. “About the Cores. About the 2Ms. Wouldn’t it be better the less we knew about your operations? You could’ve left us at a police station.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling them while you were asleep,” I said.
Dario said, “The 2Ms were interested in what Erind knew about Kelsey, which is nothing. But the situation has changed after we rescued you. Once the 2Ms know you two are still alive, they’d want to interrogate you. Unfortunately, we couldn’t leave you with the police.”
“The 2Ms have many cops on their pad,” Johann said.
“If some of the cops are crooks,” I said, “you could’ve dropped us off at my condo. I’ll pack my stuff, drive to Deen’s house, she’ll pack, and we’ll be off to… um… India or something before the days’ done. We can figure out our lives there.” Even if fleeing was an option, I wouldn’t do it because it was such a hassle. I’d rather die than move to another country. Adjusting to a different culture sucks; I’d need to relearn social cues and stuff.
Deen raised a brow at me. “India?”
I shrugged. “We can decide where to go later.” But no way Dario would let us go. This wasn’t only about our safety but also theirs. By helping us, we got roped into their mess with the 2Ms.
“You don’t have to leave,” Dario said, as expected. “If you’re away, we can’t protect you. We don’t know how far the 2Ms’ reach will be. If they want to find you, they eventually will. But if you’re here—”
“It’s dangerous and—” I began to say.
Dario cut in, “If you remain human.”
“What are you suggesting?” Deen asked in a sharp tone. “That we take the artificial Core?”
“Exactly,” Dario said.
“N-no, I do-don’t want to have powers and stuff,” I said, putting on an automatic reaction fitting my face while my brain worked in the background. Dario was giving us superpowers, just like that? There had to be a catch to this. “We’re not fighters.”
“Erind’s right,” Deen said. “We’re not much help to you.”
“Why not choose those with a military background?” I asked. “Or martial artists. Athletes too. We’re law students. We fight with our pens and mouths.”
“You can be trained,” Dario said. “The primary consideration is compatibility. People with bodies that won’t reject Core-melding are extremely rare. We strive to check any possible candidate. Any problems and inadequacies can be addressed if the melding succeeds.”
“How would that work?” I was seriously curious. “The purple mohawk Adumbrae told us that there are failures in turning people into Adumbrae. What if that artificial Core thingy malfunctioned or is incompatible? I don’t want to turn into a monster.”
I had more questions, like, what would happen if an Adumbrae were implanted with an artificial Core? They probably didn’t know. Oh yeah, and I also didn’t want them to know I was an Adumbrae.
“If you’re not compatible, then nothing,” Myra said. “We’ll have to think about what to do next. We’ll just check first.”
“How sure are you that we’d be compatible with Cores?” Deen asked. “Maybe we shouldn’t test the—”
“I’m confident of it,” Dario said. “You’ve met an Adumbrae and seen horrific sights, and yet you’ve been courageous through it all. You, Amber, tried to fight the Adumbrae even though you had no chance of winning. Erind, you escaped with Amber instead of leaving her behind. You two have the makings of heroes. The Core resonates with it. Having seen what the Adumbrae can do and are doing, don’t you want to fight them? Won’t you be heroes?”
Comments
Karp Paul
That is a good question. Previously, I suggested that consuming a core should give Erind another mask (and work exactly the opposite of what she hoped). For other Adumbrae - not sure how that should work. Maybe they should become stronger when consuming the cores, that would give Corebrings the reason to be more cautious.
Danger Mittens
There is also the question of whether an artificial core can suppress adumbrae from taking over. Someone, somewhere, would have already tried this. It’s too risky for Erind to test it herself, but she should eventually meet someone who knows about it. It’s a question that many readers will have. Or maybe Erind forces a pure adumbrae to go through the process in the future, but that’s risky too. What if it goes terribly wrong?
Karp Paul
Some reasoning behind the changes: there is a bit more breathing room for the girls to think about the whole situation, and not so much pressure to join the group. Later, it can be explained that Dario wanted to find a way to pressure them to join anyway. The "onboarding" is a bit more gradual - the girls are asked to participate in just one operation, not to join the group permanently. Then Deen decides she wants a core, which was unexpected, but aligns with Dario's secret goals, so he agrees. They don't offer the core to Erind at all. Later, Deen can be the one convincing Erind to take the core (because she wants to be closer to Erind, to have more in common). Having a core is not so dangerous, if it cannot be detected by scanners, all you need is to hide it with some makeup/clothes for a couple of months. Deen does not really trust the group, but she wants to get power because she was traumatized before and sick of being a powerless girl. She secretly admires and resents Erind just because Erind was the one who was conscious in that warehouse. Of course, she does not say it out loud. Deen also catches on Dario being manipulative, and she hates being manipulated. She does not realize that Erind manipulates her at all. She thinks that if Erind gets a core, then both of them can later oppose Dario.
Karp Paul
Here is the idea of how these events (6.3-6.5) can go, beat by beat. There are some significant changes to the order of things, but these changes can mostly be implemented by moving around some text parts. There is some new text that needs to be written. These, of course, are just suggestions, so feel free to lift any ideas from here or ignore them completely. 6.3 (Deen's perspective) - Deen wakes up in an unknown place. Dario introduces himself and others (just be names, no codenames). He explains that they saved Deen and Erind from kidnappers but could not bring the girls home because Deen's sister might be there, and they could not explain the situation to her. Internally, Deen freaks out a little because the group knows about her. Dario explains that the group works for a secretive governmental agency, and they fight Adumbrae and those people that side with Adumbrae. He does not say anything about the powers. - When Deen is finally able to move, the group drives the girls to Deen's place (it was just a 20-minute ride). Nobody is home, as Deen expected. The group leaves the girls, and Dario says that they will contact them tomorrow. - At Deen's place, Deen asks Erind to stay with her. Deen is afraid (but does not say it out loud), and she assumes that Erind is also afraid. Erind explains to Deen what happened to them because Deen's memory is too fuzzy, and she remembers only some glimpses. Erind is surprisingly understanding and stays with Deen. - They try to have dinner, but Deen almost throws up seeing some meat, so she sticks to vegetables. Deen takes out a couple of her old phones which are not actually old (she switches phones every several months, being a rich girl, and has a collection of several models - all gifts from some guys or other people who want to be in good graces of Leska family), gives one to Erind. They checked that everything was ok, nobody was looking for them, nobody noticed they were absent. 6.4 - The next morning. "Deen, what a bitch" - Erind starts the chapter with her internal monologue about Deen being a crybaby and making her stay at her place because she was too scared. She also thinks that Deen can never become her sidekick because she is too skittish and emotionally unstable. Erind even wishes she had not assumed the face of a cute best friend during the previous semester. On the other hand, Erind is glad that she played the role of the perfect friend and now Deen feels like she owes her. - Erind notices that one of the wannabes is outside in a car parked across the street. She notices that her senses are better and her sight is sharper since she became an Adumbrae. She does not show that she notices but shows in the window to see if there will be a reaction from them. - Soon, Dario appears together with Reo. Deen welcomes him and thanks the group for saving her and Erind (Erind is not very thankful, but Deen explains that she is socially awkward). Dario continues the conversation, reiterating about the secret organization, Reo also chimes in. They tell the girls about the powers, and Erind asks for proof/demonstration. Dario says, not here, and suggests they move to the group's hideout. - They arrive at the same place as the day before. The group provides a demonstration of powers, with Dario explaining the artificial cores in the process. He explains that they have artificial cores, show how they look, and tell how they meld with the human body over time (give it several months). It becomes evident to Erind that they got their cores not so long ago (because they are still clearly visible). Dario explains that they can not be detected by the scanners, and the group has support from the police/authorities, but not officially because, in the forces, there are people who moonlight for 2Ms (and possibly other criminal organizations). 6.5 - Dario suggests Erind and Deen join them (not offering the cores). His arguments are that the girls are on the radar of a criminal organization, so they need protection, and authorities won't really help much. Erind talks about going to India, to which Dario replies that the girls will stand out too much (being white Californian girls). Deen says they might go to Albania to her far-far relatives (though she has never been there) but quickly discards this idea. - Erind asks about the cores more. Dario tells the story about the original fragments. This is a place to drop some lore in dialogue. For example, Deens argues with Dario and says that officially, all fragments are in possession of the Hive, to which Dario replies that this is not true: "Then how do you think we got it?". - Dario asks the girls to join them again. The girls ask why - a pretty natural question. Dario explains that they are planning an operation to investigate some potential artificial Adumbrae in high social circles, and that they could use Deen's connections. He promises that it will not be dangerous at all, and they will leave the girls alone after this. Erind is not happy about the idea of her being the sidekick, but says nothing. - Myra interjects and says they also need to search for Kelsey, hinting that she wants to prioritize her sister over this planned operation. Dario argues with her and convinces her that this operation can be helpful in finding Kelsey because maybe she was held captive. Erind notices that he says bullshit but stays silent. - Surprisingly, Deen asks if they are going to offer her and Erind to take cores. Dario was not expecting that and explained that they usually need to vet the subject, but then suddenly thought about something and agreed. Erind is surprised by two things: Deen asking for the core (like, why would she do that? Erind does not understand her feelings), and Dario agreeing to it (is there something more behind his motives?).
Temple (REND)
- Previously, Deen's route was essentially getting bored of winning at her life, and also wanting to break free of the roles imposed on her. Becoming a hero was her solution to that, plus she's going to have some purpose. Very different situation now. She'll still want to be a hero, but our route will be through protecting Erind. - The dynamics will really change once they find Kelsey (I have no idea where she is). She might dethrone Deen. lol. - Maybe it's a canon event that Erind will just get pissed off by the hero wannaves. - Yep, it's probably best she takes the Core now. She might actually get trapped by her face here. The consequences of refusing then would weigh heavily in their decision. I'm still thinking whether Dario will outright say he'll wipe their minds or not. Thanks for the help proofreading!
Temple (REND)
Thanks for your support!
Temple (REND)
Deen just keeps winning. She's really the main character!
OmniHumanist
"he pointed at the pulsing thingy on his chest" - I am still not sure it is a good idea to make these cores visible. -> The point of making the Cores visible is to give another physical thing that Erind would need to hide. In the previous version, Erind just loses her clothes and is mostly fine afterwards, but now she needs to be careful around any Hive Corebrings. Besides, the lore now seems really taken from Worm. -> It feels pretty different to me still. Like the powers are different, there's two sources of powers rather than just the single one in Worm, and the organizations feel a lot different too. I think in the last version they were called Origin Cores, instead of Origin Shards. Maybe this could be reverted?
Vaporus
Excellent writing, good stuff!
Karp Paul
My suggestions/comments: "No," Dario said. "We're under a different organization. A secret one." -> "Not really," Dario said. "We're under a different organization. A secret one." - Dario doesn't know if that is BID or not.. maybe a secret branch of BID, so there is no definite answer. "The BID's secret as fuck too," said Reo. - I really like this line :) "he pointed at the pulsing thingy on his chest" - I am still not sure it is a good idea to make these cores visible. Origin Shard - is this a Worm reference? Also, I don't think they should dump all this explanation on Erind and Deen in the first meetings. Together with powers, that is a bit too much for the girls (and for the readers). Besides, the lore now seems really taken from Worm. "Don't forget that Kelsey is one, and it wasn't her fault!" - not that raises a question of why the hell Kelsey is still alive... Also, it is a bit of an overreaction. "Amber tried to fight the Adumbrae even though she had no chance of winning. Erind escaped with Amber instead of leaving her behind. You two have the makings of heroes." - No, I'm sorry, but that's not believable at all. I'm sorry, but I need to re-read the previous parts to give proper suggestions. Overall, I like how this part is going, but I have concerns about the dialogue, some phrasing, and reasoning. I will have more detailed comments later, probably tomorrow.
OmniHumanist
Typos: And I suppose it’s no secret that our government wants to make Corebrings—Corebrings that can match the powers of the That’s the ultimate goal.” -> And I suppose it’s no secret that our government wants to make Corebrings—Corebrings that can match the powers of the Corebring Hive. That’s the ultimate goal.” More importantly, they tell me important stuff about Adumbrae that could help me get rid of SpookyErind. -> More importantly, they might tell me important stuff about Adumbrae that could help me get rid of Spooky Erind. (Hmm this is a bit weird since later on Erind is concerned about merging with the Core. Perhaps explain why she thought they could help her with Spooky Erind, like Erind thought they were Adumbrae too at first). “How do we figure into this?” Deen asked, breaking the awkward silence. “They, the 2Ms, wanted Erind to ask her what she knows of Kelsey, right? It so happened that I was with her at that time.” -> The wording is a bit weird here. Maybe change the last statement to "It's just a coincidence I was with Erind, so they kidnapped me too." (or you can just say ""It's just a coincidence I was with Erind.") I had more questions, like, what would happen if an Adumbrae were implanted with an artificial Core? -> I had more questions, like, what would happen if an Adumbrae was implanted with an artificial Core? ----- She’s lying. I could feel it. She didn’t trust them, and she didn’t have any books. Call it best friend instincts. Deen and I had become close enough that I could sense her thoughts. Wait. Us, close? Gross. -> Interesting to see Deen's changes in the rewrite. She's way more cautious of other people. Hopefully this gets contrasted by her wanting to be a hero later on, as well as protecting Erind, even when she finds out she's an Adumbrae. What if the Adumbrae inside Kelsey won? Too bad I didn’t have a chance to talk with her. Kelsey could’ve given me tips how to handle this shit. -> What if Erind later recruits Kelsey lol. So Erind is both part of Dario's group and also managing a squad of Adumbrae. Vanessa can be here too lol. I shrugged. “We can decide where to go later.” If Deen agreed to my idea, I would have to pivot and argue to stay. -> Hey look, Euphonia's suggestion made it here. Maybe Erind is remembering from past timelines, jk lol. But in all seriousness, there should be some clarification for why Erind wants to stay here. It doesn't seem clear that Erind actually wants the artificial Core, so why is she opposed to going to India or anywhere else? Did I just get branded as a sidekick? I’d kick Dario’s ass someday. -> Oh no, Erind found her second target in the group. We’ll probably have Deen in the next chapter to end this segment, and it’s aftermath -> I know that you replied to my comments last chapter and changed your mind to Erind taking the Core now. Perhaps she is still a bit suspicious of taking it so in the next chapter, she asks can they still leave, but Dario says they will have their memories wiped if they do. And then in the aftermath chapter Erind mentions that she weighed the various choices of joining / leaving the group. If she left, she would probably need to fight them since they would try to wipe her memories. But if she stayed, either two things would happen: She would be unable to merge with the Core and would have to fight the group, or she could actually merge with it and hopefully get an extra way to fight off SpookyErind along with some upgrades. Joining the group has the only potential good option, even though it was risky. She's just glad it works out. It'll also be fun to see how Deen works into convincing herself and Erind to take the artificial Core. Deen could be like they might kill them if they don't decide to join. And then Deen looks back to how she was always so helpless. It'll also be fun to see a person merging with a Core, since I don't think we ever saw this last time. Maybe Deen could shop for some sport bras for Erind too. She does it to pay Erind back for staying with her when she got knocked out and to help her hide the artificial Core. Thanks for the chapter!
Metal(Liz)ard🏳️⚧️
Seeing Erind just autocorrect into being close with Dean is funny. She tries to manipulate Dean into doing what she wants but accidentally trains herself to act in a way to please her
