Chapter 17 – Recruitment

Sal stared at the new version of Anthony sitting in front of him. Gone was the shy and awkward guy who seemed to be at the academy against his will. His eyes were bright as he spoke rapidly, trying to explain everything all at once, and Sal had to raise a hand to get him to slow down.

“Wait, Anthony…what do you mean, frequencies?”

The word had popped up, and Sal couldn’t understand the context for it.

Anthony blinked, as though realizing that his audience wasn’t following along with him. With a guilty smile, he tried again, but slower this time. “Okay, so…trackers typically interpret essence signatures, right?” Anthony started slowly and waited for Sal to agree with him.

Divinity and Barry listened to the exchange, one eating and the other scrolling endlessly on his tablet.

Anthony raised a finger and pointed upward. “Before essence was mainstream, we used vintage technology. Frequencies for communication, airwaves that transported messages in real time. I want a tracker that’s able to capture that information, a listening device for those old frequencies!”

His smile was almost infectious, and Sal felt bad for having so many questions for him. It didn’t really make sense to Sal, so he tried to find out why Anthony was so invested in it as a project.

“What sort of use would something like that have?”

Anthony gestured broadly into the air with both arms, causing Barry to flinch out of reflex when a hand nearly collided with his head.

“I’ve got a basic radio back in my room. It’s pretty old, and my attempts to make it run off cores like a battery have almost completely failed… But there are moments when it works, and there are people talking! There are others out there, using vintage tech as a form of communication. Aren’t you curious what they’re talking about?” Anthony didn’t wait for Sal to respond as he jumped from that topic to the next in half a breath.

“Think about it! Since the war started, it’s impossible for a rollout of our technological advancement with essence and cores to the areas outside of the reclaimed zones. The people using these old channels could be survivors out in the Red Zones, using it to communicate against demon attacks! If we could hear them, or communicate with them, we could let them know where we are.”

Barry sighed and looked at Anthony with an exasperated expression. “Do you really think that they haven’t done that? There is a whole Research and Development facility here on campus. They’ve likely explored every opportunity to reach the outside world, so a busted radio isn’t going to change anything. It’s a fun idea, but I think it’s a dead end. You don’t need Sal for a project like that.”

Rather than looking crestfallen, Anthony pivoted around to face Barry. “Not true! They likely don’t want any students listening to the sound waves coming from old tech. Sal could make a tracker that would bypass their blockers!”

At that point, Divinity’s ears perked up, and she clearly shared Barry’s skepticism as she smiled at Anthony.

“Blockers? You kinda sound crazy when you say it like that. There are Heroes who specialize in communications and outreach. We’ve got departments for that in the academy as well as the bureau and military. There’s no way there’s some grand conspiracy at play here.”

Sal looked between Barry and Divinity and found himself on their side of the argument. He thought Anthony would fold after hearing it from all sides.

Anthony smiled and shook his head, as though they didn’t understand. “The reason they’re blocking the channels is because it’s used primarily by the Bastion. Their manifesto is sent out relentlessly. You could turn on a vintage television and it’ll be filled with programming from the Bastion. Everything you’ve seen growing up was from a curated list of programming. The raw footage is much more politicized, and judgmental of our current system. I can guarantee that we’re the sheltered people, not the people out on those Darwin Cruise Liners. We can’t know for sure until we have both sides of the story, and the only way to do that would be to create a communications tracker.”

His emphatic pitch had almost turned to pleading, and Sal felt uncomfortable suddenly.

Sal hadn’t heard of Bastion before coming to the academy, but in the last month, the name had continuously popped up. Much to the surprise of everyone, Barry was the one to add a more serious tone to the conversation. He looked around the table and noticed the still lingering stares of the second-years.

With a flick of his wrist, the green runes activated again and bathed their small group in a distorted bubble. Sal looked through the hazy walls of their dome and could barely see a thing. All the background noise from the canteen melted away in an instant, giving them absolute privacy.

Barry sighed as he sat up properly in his chair and looked at all of them carefully. “Has anyone been approached directly by Bastion?”

Divinity snorted, as if she were about to make a joke, but paused at the serious look on Barry’s face, with her mouth slightly open before tentatively shaking her head and glancing over to Sal.

He repeated her shake of the head, but his eyes were locked onto Barry. “Were you approached? I thought they were all lording it up in the sky?”

Barry exhaled slowly and tapped his hands against the table again.

“Yesterday. Controllers from second year approached me and asked if I’d be interested in joining their club. It was suspicious as fuck, but the benefits looked like an absolute no-brainer. If I was successful in their trials, then I’d be fast-tracked and funded by certain external guilds. No real information given, no real names, just suggestions of what my future could look like.” Barry tilted his head to one side. “By all appearances, it looked like a regular club and the tasks were pretty simple, probably designed to build up trust.”

Sal frowned. “So, what makes you think that they were Bastion? If they didn’t give you any details and didn’t ask anything of you, how can you be certain?”

Rather than answering, Barry raised his left arm and made it vanish from sight. His face broke into a smile as he brought it back into view with a slight flourish.

“They didn’t tell me they were from Bastion, but I used my ability to follow them undetected. Couldn’t be seen or heard, so it was quite simple.” He shrugged as he placed two fingers downward onto the table and walked his fingertips as if to demonstrate what the word follow meant.

“Literally took them a few minutes to start discussing the candidates on their list. Apparently, they’re aiming for the people with useful abilities who are close enough to the top. From the names they mentioned, they’re not touching anyone between Rank #1 and Rank #80. I think they’re trying to get people early in the semester with promises of getting them into the Savior class.”

Divinity’s eyes widened. “What are the names? I know the roster of Saviors already, so just tell me who they were approaching.”

Barry frowned for a moment as he tried to recall them. With a click of his fingers, his eyebrows shot up and he pointed at Divinity. “Dazzler. He’s a Body Manipulator from one of the other cohorts, fell mid-table because he practically had to solo-run the tournament with his team. My guess is that he didn’t have someone crushing on him with a restorative drink at the ready.” Barry gave Sal a knowing look before his brow furrowed again.

“I think they approached Victoria from our cohort, but it’s hard to know…they were just talking about the girl who could sway minds. That could easily be Erika, but she doesn’t fit the ranking theory.”

Anthony reminded everyone he was there by coughing gently. When everyone looked at him for his input, he appeared a little panicked. Clearly, he just needed to cough.

“Eh, looks like they’re only targeting Controllers?”

Divinity nodded as her eyes turned a milky white.

Sal exhaled slowly as he looked between Barry and Divinity. “Okay, let’s say it’s true. What is so bad about Bastion? I know Sinclair hates them, but all they’ve done is propaganda as far as I know. Do they really have much influence on ground level?”

Anthony’s eyes brightened and he opened his mouth to respond, but Barry cut in ahead of him.

“They’ve got more influence than any individual faction in the city. I’d bet that at least half of the Doom Council are Bastion sympathizers. They’re ruthless and self-obsessed. Just look at the reclamation guilds and you have your answers. What zones are prioritized for the barrier expansions? Which territories do we push the hardest? Estates…private estates owned by members of the Bastion. They’re pulling strings from the sky with whatever leverage they’ve got.”

Divinity shook her head, and Sal saw her blue eyes were back. She bit her lip as she looked over at Barry.

“Okay, Darren Lenihan…gets the Hero name Dazzler. He’s in the Saviors by the end of the semester. Who else? Can you think of anyone? It might just be a coincidence! Body Manipulators are rare because of their aptitude and versatility; he might have made it with his own merits. Victoria…well, maybe if she understood her power to influence both men and women, she’d be much more capable of taking a Savior spot. They might just be coincidental.”

Sal was concerned with how frantic Divinity’s voice was becoming. Was he the only one who didn’t understand the severity of Bastion? When he looked over at Anthony, the bearded man was twiddling his thumbs as he watched the exchange anxiously. Sal knew that he didn’t have much to offer the conversation, so he tried a different approach.

“Anthony, what exactly is it that you need me to build? Something to listen in to frequencies?” It sounded stupid saying it out loud, but Anthony smiled as he nodded emphatically.

“Yes! That’s the first step.”

Barry continued to share names, and each one seemed to drain the remaining color from Divinity. Her eyes were white again as she tried to find something to do with Bastion, but if her sighs of exasperation were anything to go by, she wasn’t finding anything useful.

Sal wanted to find some way to help them, but he felt useless in their current back-and-forth. It took him a second to realize that Anthony was still talking to him, and he felt guilty for zoning out.

“Which would be amazing! But it’s totally fine if it’s only Common grade! It just needs to work, and I can use my ability to amp it up.” Anthony spoke rapidly as he moved his hands to illustrate his points.

When he glanced up, he caught Sal’s eye and smiled. “Sorry, it’s just really exciting! It’ll be phase one of the command centers, and then everything else should pretty much click into place. Just need to pass the basic courses of Crafting and Analysis to get into the essence programming specialisation. Once I’ve got that, I’ll be able to make way more of an impact.”

Sal felt like he had a thousand questions, but zero answers. He kept a polite smile, as he became self-conscious about just how little he knew about the wider world. The last part of Anthony’s sentence registered with him after a few moments.

“Would a tracker with a crafting ability help you more? Like, being able to see blueprints and stuff?”

Sal was throwing out ideas as he didn’t want to have to take on time-consuming projects that would only ever have a use for a single person. A crafting tracker that had a downgraded version of his Mythcrafter ability would likely be a commercial success and highly valuable. He hadn’t considered making it before as he already had the ability, but for other students, it would be an absolute godsend. Judging from Anthony’s stupefied expression, Sal was right.

Divinity finally surfaced from her visions and placed her face in her hands. “Ugh, it’s useless. I can’t find a single thing to do with them. If what you’re saying is true, Barry, then it’s the best kept secret in the entire academy.” She straightened up and looked at Barry. “Wait! The best kept secret before was your power. You literally spent the entire time in the academy without revealing it once.”

Barry gave Divinity a curious look. “I’m not sure I like where this train of thought is heading.”

Divinity waved her hand away. “No, nothing like that. Obviously, we trust you, but you’re really good at lying!”

Barry stared at her as a smile crept onto his face. “Go on… I was going to do it anyway, but I want to hear you say it.”

Divinity sighed as a pained expression gripped her. “You need to accept their offer and join Bastion.”