Chapter 80 of 89 · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Chapter 80 — Inside the dragon

Book: This Inevitable Ruin · Part: The Peeling of Larracos · Previous: Chapter 79 — Tart · Next: Chapter 81 — Executive Order 11905 · Floor: Floor 9 — Faction Wars · Series: the series

Opening

“If Louis is trapped in a room like that, how is she going to get him out?

Summary

Tipid on wraith possession: floor 10 and 11 monsters, a price paid by the possessor, puppets even when dead. Bautista maps the shifting honeycombs with thrown stuffed animals; Katia circles a paper map; Tipid: the design is from starships, escape pods and hull breaches, 'an unholy nightmare if the system is offline'. Florin: Kiwi's water broke arguing about Big Tina; she is in Bucket Boy's new clinic asking for Mongo; Kibben is calming Tina. 'Mongo, Mongo, you're going to be a daddy!' Mongo backs away screeching. Juice Box: 'a complication, but not anything I can't deal with.' Samantha: the robot dogs are going crazy; she has bonded with one named Buster, lower jaw removed, 'explodey part' taken off — 'THEY DON'T BLOW UP NEAR ME BECAUSE OF OUR SPECIAL BOND'. Hunter seekers, no dots: Jamal flames honeycomb after honeycomb like a wasp in a hive; Reaver Industries Security Sentry Dog, 'The Ditch Digger', with optional anti-personnel explosive; Donut's level-16 Magic Missile evaporates one to atoms (Brain Trust). A lion-sized dog with a Mini Tactical Nuke on its back is frozen by Elle; Carl picks up the block of ice and pockets it. 'Fucking run!' Louis teleports to the transport's foot and collapses; Carl: 'Juice Box! Louis has No Disassembles in his inventory. Drop them and leave!' — dropped, then triggered remotely, dives on Donut ('Fun,' says Rend), the EMP whooshes — then the castle goes up from inside, one or two mini nukes, deafening, bones broken, healed on reflex: 'This is not how people react to almost getting incinerated in a nuke.' Imani's new wing-shield saved Elle, Holger and the strippers; Gonk on her side; Jamal's legs wrecked by the pulse. Calliope spirals screaming out of the sky and explodes: 'Warlord Fang of the Reavers has fallen […] 51% experience to Carl […] and 40% to Juice Box. The rest is going to the now-deceased Fang for hiding in the worst possible place, which was inside the dragon.' The Reavers defeated; assets to the Posse. Juice Box, kneeling over Louis: 'the same way Epitome Tagg is hiding inside of my husband' — they had him cut open on a machine, heart and lungs replaced with mechanical organs seeded with biological material that is elf, that is Tagg, the brain next; healing did not regrow them. Keep him asleep; keep him safe. Samantha falls as a scorched comet, 'Fuck' still on her forehead and one white curl: 'You’re welcome. Now where’s my new doggie?'

Characters

• Juice Box — Possesses her husband to save him; feels Tagg in his heart.
• Louis and Firas — Cut open, re-organed, asleep for twenty minutes.
• Warlord Fang — Died inside his dragon.
• Samantha — Buster, a jawless bonded robot dog; a comet with a curl.
• Jamal — A wasp in a hive; legs ruined again.
• Carl — Pockets a nuke in a block of ice; detonates a castle.
• Elle McGibbons — 'cooked like Christmas hams'.
• Kiwi — In labour, asking for Mongo.
• Mongo — A father, reluctantly.

Locations

• The Reaver castle — Gone from the inside out.

Motifs

• The Reavers — Ditch Diggers, mini nukes, and a warlord who hides in his pet.
• Possession — A Hunter Wraith in Louis; Tagg in his heart and lungs.
• Faction Wars — The Reavers defeated, their assets to the Posse; Fang's kill credit 51% to Carl, 40% to Juice Box, 1% to Louis.