Right, okay, our campaign of harassment is reaching a fever pitch, which is /hopefully/ going to distract them. They should be calling an update soon, and the second you hear a Wareware pick up a phone and say something, you steal the phone from them and make a contract. Relay any information. Ringo out.
"You don't have to come, either, Atai," Dante said over Skype.
"I'm coming," Atai said. She thought over to Panpan, who was in Chicago, risking her life and her freedom.
"It won't be pretty."
"Last time, I was only able to... I need to be there. For your sake and my own."
"Suit yourself, Atai. I'm going to make polite conversation with the receptionist, and then when the phone rings I'm going to make up for lost time."
Atai heard Dante walk into the building, heard the cheerful "Salut" of the receptionist.
"Hello, I was wondering if you could tell me about this place?" Dante said in a sort of forced cheerfulness totally disjoint from her usual husky delivery.
"It's the Église Des Nous-mêmes," the receptionist said.
"Of course, of course. Is this a Christian group?"
"No, no, nothing like that--"
"Good, good. It's not Muslim?"
"No."
"Ah, excellent! I have been looking to make a break with all the talk of Adam and his various decendents, understand?"
"Of course! In the Église, the only God to be worshiped is mankind, and mankind certainly did not mold itself out of dust!"
"Thank you for being so upfront about all this. It is refreshing, isn't it?"
"Yes, indeed."
"You seem agitated," Dante said, tipping her hand slightly, so slightly. But the risk was substantiated by the reward.
"I am, yes-- would you mind if I took a quick phone call?"
"Not at all," Dante said. The phone rang shortly thereafter, and the receptionist said brisquely into it "yes, yes, I agree."
Atai heard a dim scuffle, a muted yelp, a crack, and a thud. She hoped the other end of the line had heard nothing at all.
"Wareware, I offer you a contract. When you accept it, you will bear a total understanding of what makes up this Wareware. This will destroy your individuality and bind you to the collective will of us. I offer you nothing in exchange for this pact. Do you accept?" Dante said.
And it was done. Atai received a message from another Skype account-- the pre-agreed password signifying that the contract had succeeded. She hung up on Dante and called the new number.
"The Zero Node lives around here," Dante said. Her new voice was strange, nasally, and slightly accented. "I know his name, I know his address, and I know what to do."
Dante stayed on the line as she peeled out of the driveway in her new body's car. Atai could hear the buffeting wind going by, and while she wasn't an expert she estimated that they were going way too fast.
"Dante, are you--"
"I'm /fine/."
Atai got a message from Ringo that interrupted her train of thought.
"Alright, guys... news. Between our harassments and the apparently obvious disruption of the chain of command in Paris, they're... according to our Japanese people, they're updating yet again, which means we've upset them more than anyone has ever upset them before. It's rolling, but when you get to Node Zero's house you should be able to hear their phone go off five thousand fucking times, so. Have fun with that. Dante, make sure you get Angele's body to a safe place. I recommend flying back to the States, honestly, considering that you've probably broken at least a dozen laws. This is the kind of situation where getting tied up with the international police actually keeps you from getting physically dead. Ringo out."
"Dante, did you--"
"I read it."
"While driving?"
"I'm a good driver. Tell Ringo to be a fuck of a lot more concise next time."
"Sure, sure," Atai said nervously.
A message came in from Panpan this time.
"Don't let her fuck this up, Atai. If I'm not there, you better get our friends back."
"We're here. Not hard," Dante said. Atai heard the car door slam behind her and Dante race across cobblestone, open a door, tramp up wooden stairs two or three at a time, get to a wooden door, shoulder it open with the terrific sound of splintering wood. She heard another sound she thought she wouldn't have to recognize.
It was the sound of a pistol being primed to fire.
Then came the sound of a grown man weeping.
"Where did you get a gun?" Atai said slowly.
"That sure is a question," Dante said. Atai expected Dante to say something to the man, but there was nothing aside from the sound of him crying.
"Wareware, I offer you a contract. When you accept it, you will bear a total understanding of what makes up me, myself, Dante of Angele. This will destroy your individuality and bind you to the collective will of... me. I offer you your precious fucking life in exchange. Do you accept?" Dante said.
"What are you talking about?" the man said. "Who are you?"
"Make a contract with me or I blow your brains out and scatter your precious fucking cell structure to kingdom come. You might lose contact between different groups, and that might break consensus. Wouldn't want that, would you?"
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!"
"Dante, he--"
"Shut up, Atai," Dante barked. "You killed her. She was the most selfless and noble person to have drawn breath in a century and you fucking killed her."
"I work for a library! Please, just leave me a--"
"Don't lie to me!" the words were screamed out at a volume that led the last sylables to fade into a dull, electronic static.
"Dante, his phone isn't ringing," Atai said.
"So? He's tricking us!"
"Dante, put the gun down," Atai said.
"Yes, please, listen to Doctor Hawking," the man said.
"Shut up! Both of you! You're-- I--"
"What if we were tricked from the start?" Atai said.
"Shut up!"
"What if Wareware /is/ willing to tamper with his own memories?"
"Shut up!"
"What if this isn't him?"
"Shut up shut up shut up! Who cares? If there's even a tiny chance it's him, I have to show him the stupid plans won't--"
"Dante you can't kill an innocent man!"
"What would that even mean? Even if he's not a demon, what's to say he's not a murderer or a rapist or some other monster?"
"I don't care, Dante! We're not going to do this!"
"There's some things that are more important t--"
"Shut up! Shut up, Dante! If... if we did this, it wouldn't be about saving people. It would just be about stupid revenge."
"What if all--"
"What would Angele say if she were here to judge you?"
"Angele is dead!"
"She is with that attitude!" The words were deafening.
A moment of silence followed, punctuated only by the soft sound of terrified man weeping.
"...Atai, what do you mean?"
"If you keep acting like there's no hope, there's not going to be any!"
"Atai..."
"If you want to go around murdering people, then that's your own fucking prerogative. But that's not me! I don't want Wareware to be dead or suffering, I just want Glass and Mori and Vlad and Nade and Tall back! No, no, more than that. I want Angele back, I want the person whose body you're inhabiting right now back, I want the woman we assaulted to get here to have her life back! All those posters on the CASH forums, too-- every one of them! If I could bring back John of Bavaria, I'd do that too. But I'm going to start with all of them."
"Atai, that's--"
"It's possible. And we're not going to kill anyone, because I don't want to have to explain to someone that their loved one was a casualty in a fucking supernatural gang war! Remember Black Alley Stories? Remember how this shit always turns out? Remember how you wanted to scream at people to stop murdering each other? I'm screaming at you to stop murdering people!"