Chapter 129 - Mind Bloom Flower

Six years ago, on a grey, overcast day Sansen Zhao took Tai Xing and his family on a ‘pleasure trip’ to a mansion on a small island off the northern coast. A few days after their arrival, Tai and his wife took a leisure walk around the island, leaving leaving fifteen year old Xiang with his brother and sister.

Alone on the far side of the island it appeared they were completely exposed and in a prime location for an ambush. In reality, this was a trap that they had meticulously planned.

Markus Gantt took the bait.

In the ensuing battle, despite having the advantage of surprise, they failed in every one of their objectives. Several members of the Order lost their lives. Tai and Yune Xing were killed. Markus Gantt escaped without a trace.

In the ensuing months the surviving members of the Order that participated in the operation fell out of touch with each other. Some of them lost hope and disappeared. Some of them left, swearing to hunt Gantt down and take their revenge. Some of them put down the mantle and moved on to other things.

Now it was six years later, and in that time Sansen Zhao had kept himself clear of Exalted business as much as he could. He had kept in touch with a few of the members of the order, but their lives had been more or less ‘normal’. It had been a long time since the members of the Order had come together to handle business.

The old tycoon looked at Jintang with a quiet expression, they were both thinking the same thing.

The arrival of Markus Gantt could only mean that things had taken a turn for the worse in Noga.

“Tell me where Locke is.” Sansen Zhao said, “Since that was where you were headed, we should be able to find your ‘present’ self. If not, Locke should be a huge help in finding you and fighting off Gantt.”

The Jintang Fang in front of him, which was a Gestalt of his past, was quickly about to disappear. The only thing keeping him around was Robin Lang’s time-based Exalted powers.

“He gave me a few spots where I might find him.” Chief Fang said, “But who knows if he'll actually be at any of them. Like always he’s in hiding, careful not to expose himself.”

“That means I can’t simply send a servant to find him?” Sansen Zhao was not too familiar with Locke - the man was an enigma. He kept to himself, limiting his contact even with members of the Order.

“He won’t show himself unless it’s specifically someone from the Order.” Chief Fang nodded, “Which puts us in a difficult situation. You’re not an Exalted, and Dr. Baolan’s path is not suited for dangerous situations. If I’m missing because something happened with Locke, you might be walking into a trap. Fortunately... There are two officers working under me that have made contact with Locke, you can contact them first.”

“Who are they?”

“You should already know them.” Chief Fang smirked in dark humour, “The first is Finn Mackenzie. The second is Zwei Xing.”

Sansen’s brows furrowed in a mix of incredulity and anger, “You recruited their sons? Have you any respect for the dead?”

“I was out of options.” Chief Fang said solemnly, “They were the only ones outside the Order that I could trust.”

Finn Mackenzie was the son of Dylan Mackenzie, a detective in their order that had died on that island six years ago. Zwei Xing of course was the son of Tai and Yune Xing, who they had failed to protect.

“They deserve better than this.” Sansen paced around the room as he shook his head, “Didn’t we swear to each other not to bring them into this fight, after our failure?”

“That was when we thought Gantt was crippled, when we thought he wouldn’t dare return.” Chief Fang said, “But he’s back, and you know what that means. We have to be careful who we trust. A single mistake could be fatal. No, it already has been.”

“Yang Yun’s death was a result of a mole in the police force. I’m sure of it.” Chief Fang said, “Not just anyone, someone high up. The way things have progressed, I’m sure it was Gantt’s doing. The way things are now I can’t even trust the other Police Chiefs.”

Sansen frowned, “Where are the kids now?”

Jintang shrugged, “They were at the station in the morning. That was twelve hours ago, though. I don’t know where they went.”

At this moment Robin Lang interrupted their conversation. “There are sixty seconds remaining until your gestalt expires.”

Chief Fang nodded, looking seriously at Sansen, “Find Finn and Zwei, enlist their help to locate Locke. With Locke’s help you should be able to stay a step ahead of Gantt, maybe even find me. Get Dr. Baolan somewhere safe. You, too, watch your back carefully.”

“What about Quill?” Sansen asked.

“I’m not sure.” Chief Fang said, “The easiest way is through the Import Companies. She’s affiliated closely with them.”

Chief Fang was referring to the specialty shops that served as the secret gathering and trading spaces for unofficial Exalted. There were a number of them throughout the city that formed a secret network.

Even though they were technically illicit operations, the police did not actively act against them or try to shut them down. It was far more beneficial to keep these operations open and utilize their services for themselves, as the situation called for it.

“Okay.” Sansen nodded, looking toward Robin, “Robin, I’m not sure how much you know, but will you be able to help us?”

The blue haired girl nodded slightly, simply saying, “Ten seconds.”

At this warning Chief Fang stroked his mustache thoughtfully, “You know, I’ve always wondered what happens to your gestalts when they disappear, Robin. My ‘real’ self won’t remember this, right?”

“Correct. You are not the real Jintang Fang, nor is your existence connected to your original form in any way.” Robin replied, “Gestalts are simply constructs, phantoms of time. You will simply cease to exist.”

“That is... Terrifying.” Chief Fang frowned as he looked over to Sansen, “Re-“

He suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Sansen felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle as he stared at the empty space where Chief Fang had just been. He had seen many strange Exalted powers in the past, but this one was particularly jarring.

The blue haired woman looked at Sansen, not thinking anything of the situation. Her face was void of emotion as she said, “Markus Gantt is a national threat. Lord Noga is counting on your Order to suppress his influence, much like you did six years ago.”

“Yes, that seems prudent.” Sansen’s mouth was dry as he nodded half-mindedly, “He is exceptionally dangerous. The more you try to hunt him, the stronger he gets. If you make one mistake he will hang you with it.”

“What resources do you need from us?” Robin asked.

“We need to gather the remaining members together and ensure their safety. In particular we need to find Quill to establish a sanctuary. After that we need to prepare countermeasures...“

“I’d much rather Jintang be the one leading this... But I suppose he’s missing.” Sansen mumbled softly to himself, feeling pressured. The blue haired woman made him feel exceptionally uneasy. Just something about her felt unnatural. There was a piercing quality to her gaze that made him feel like he was being closely observed, the way a small child observes an insect that he has caught.

“How easy would it be for you to find him?” Sansen asked. “Could you... look through time, perhaps, to track him down?”

It was common knowledge that Lord Noga’s realm of expertise was the Domain of SpaceTime. Sansen did not have much experience with His forces, but what he knew was that the Exalted usually specialized in one aspect of the Domain. Some had powers that could manipulate space and distance. Others could control time in various ways. Robin Lang’s ‘gestalt’ ability surely seemed to be a Time related power.

Robin Lang shook her head at Sansen’s question, indicating that she couldn’t track Chief Fang down. Sansen waited a moment for her to elaborate, but she simply left her answer at that.

“It might be for the better...” Sansen said, “Sudden movement to locate him might catch Gantt’s attention. If he knows we’re on to him, it will be a thousand times harder to catch him.”

“What are his powers?” Robin asked.

“Jintang didn’t brief you?” Sansen asked, then shook his head, “Actually I’m not surprised. The less people that know, and the less those people know, the better. The larger our forces become the easier it is for him to destroy us.”

He nodded carefully as he looked at Robin, “Markus Gantt is an Exalted in the Psyche Domain that specializes in infecting the minds of his victims. It’s extremely difficult to detect and difficult to defend against. Our saving grace is that it takes time for his mental infection to settle in. Once he’s rooted in his victim’s mind, he has full access to their thoughts and memories. Worse still, at that point he can then use that person infect more people.”

”He operates behind the scenes, capturing key individuals and using that knowledge to widen his net. He can’t straight up read other people’s minds, but he’s so in tune with the psyche of the people around him that he can sense when something’s amiss. If he can identify that someone is an agent working against him he will carefully find an opportunity to infect them. If the infection isn’t discovered in time, he quickly gains access to all the secrets of his enemies.”

“Understood.” Robin nodded, “The nature of this matter will not be shared with anyone. Furthermore, no action will be taken against Gantt without consulting first with you.”

“That would be wise for now.” Sansen said softly, “The first thing we need to do is do as Jintang suggested and find Zwei and Finn. We can then enlist their help to locate Locke. I also need to get a message to Baolan to come here to my mansion as soon as possible.”

“I can assist with those items.” Robin said, “If you know their location I can arrange for them to be transported to you.”

“Baolan will either be at his home or in his clinic.” Sansen said. He held out the petal towards Robin, “I will give you this petal. It is a charm that we devised as an early warning against Gantt. The petals are from a flower called the Mind Bloom that only grows in special conditions.

“When you meet a person of the order, present the petal while touching it with your bare skin. The other person will do the same. If a person’s mental state is split - in other words, if they are infected by Gantt - the petal will turn into ash. After several uses the petal will be drained of its power and will turn grey and brittle, so use it sparingly.

“Since there’s the possibility of the other person’s petal being counterfeit, after this first step, the next is to make contact with the other person with your own petal, thus confirming the other person’s clarity of mind yourself.”

“The Exalted world is wide and mysterious... There are certainly many ways to go around this. However we have been careful, we don’t believe that Gantt has discovered our use of the petals. Moreover, he knows from our past encounters that we have ways to detect him and cleanse his influence. Therefore when dealing specifically with confirmed members of our Order, he rarely tries to infect us directly.”

“I understand.” Robin replied succinctly.

“Good.” Sansen nodded, suppressing a sigh, “When you meet with Baolan to bring him here, simply present the petal to him and he will understand the situation. If the Mind Bloom Petal exchange doesn’t go well, you need to escape quickly. We don’t know the exact conditions that Gantt needs to infect someone, but at the very least he needs to be in close proximity for at least five minutes.”

“As for the kids, Zwei Xing might be at home at this time. I don’t have any knowledge about Finn Mackenzie. If you can find them without making a big disturbance, bring them here, to this room.”

“After Baolan, I will locate those two.” Robin nodded, “Is there anything else?”

“Mm... How can I contact you?” Sansen asked.

The blue haired woman grasped the top of her iron cane with both hands and held it out in front of her. She looked once more at Sansen with cold eyes, “Pray to Lord Noga.”

She tapped the cane decisively on the floor and instantly disappeared.

The room abruptly fell completely silent as Sansen Zhao found himself alone. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face as he realized that his hands were trembling uncontrollably.

With dry lips he whispered a reply, “Always.”