Chapter 55 Three Faces Prepared

The copied transfer schedule gave The Unmasked nine hours to reach five additional candidates before Solenne moved them through the hidden route.

Ossian owned six faces, yet the system allowed only three body masks prepared for combat beyond the depot boundary.

'Unlimited ownership, limited hands on the shelf... power becomes useful only after choosing what stays home,' Ossian opened the loadout screen, 'make roles decide.'

Calista, Maelle, plus Odelia sat around the office table while Vaska marked Solenne's likely transport corridor across a city map.

Human remained Ossian's default identity rather than consuming one prepared position, leaving six monster faces competing for three slots.

[Masquerade Loadout preparation is available]

[Three body masks may enter hostile territory]

[Dreadweight weapon imprints require separate placement]

'Three on the body, ordered stacks in the gauntlets... no face can occupy both places at once,' Ossian read aloud, 'start with the mission.'

The rescue required pursuit through moving corridors, impact survival near transport engines, directional memory, communication, heat, plus biological distinction.

Carrion Orchid belonged permanently to Vaska now, removing biological classification from Ossian's available six and placing it with an independent contractor.

Odelia wrote each remaining role on separate cards instead of naming favourite masks across one list.

"Pursuit, survival, navigation, communication, breach, plus restraint require three bodies with remaining gaps covered through people," she wrote.

Maelle placed Furnace under breach, Cathedral under communication, Hollow Raven beneath navigation, plus Jackal under pursuit.

Ironback covered survival while also offering restraint through a body strong enough to hold without striking.

Calista moved Cathedral off the table after Odelia confirmed ordinary taps had already stabilised the moving corridor.

'Leaving a new mask behind feels like wasting progression... damn, that is attachment wearing tactical language,' Ossian let the card go, 'communication has Odelia.'

Furnace remained valuable, but Solenne's transport records listed volatile preservation gas throughout both vehicles.

Maelle refused heat inside that environment, preserving the mask as a depot reserve rather than carrying danger for spectacle.

The remaining candidates were Jackal, Ironback, plus Hollow Raven, each answering one problem without duplicating another specialist.

"You are choosing my Ironback prediction over your familiar right-hand stack," Calista said.

"I am choosing survival on the body, while your route gives Jackal somewhere useful to pursue," Ossian replied.

'She asks about trust, not whether the list works... answer through the choice without hiding inside it,' Ossian met her eyes, 'navigation belongs to Raven.'

The system required each selected face to leave Dreadweight and settle into prepared body storage over ten uninterrupted seconds.

Jackal withdrew from the right gauntlet first, making its familiar pursuit weight disappear from Ossian's fist.

Ironback followed from above Furnace Left, leaving stored force at zero before transfer rather than carrying an unspent impact into storage.

Hollow Raven entered the third position from its evidence case, darkening every remembered doorway across the office.

[Prepared body loadout: Carrion Jackal, Ironback Ape, Hollow Raven]

[Body positions filled: 3 of 3]

[Dreadweight imprints remain separately configurable]

'Right hand empty, left holding Furnace alone... familiar order dismantled for a rescue not yet begun,' Ossian flexed, 'test every absence.'

Maelle verified Dreadweight could still receive temporary configuration later, though selected body masks remained unavailable to either gauntlet during deployment.

Furnace stayed beneath an empty left receiving space, legal but unable to convert impact until another compatible imprint occupied above it.

His pursuit gauntlet remained empty, forcing Ossian to rely on whichever body face he wore rather than Jackal Right.

Calista ran the first drill by changing exits every twenty seconds while Odelia controlled route sound through taps.

Ossian wore Hollow Raven, followed remembered doors, plus reached the wrong office corner after hoarding an obsolete path.

'Navigation does not mean collecting every route... choose the one people still occupy,' Ossian closed four memories, 'follow Odelia's current sound.'

The second drill ended with the correct door after thirteen seconds, raising Hollow Raven synchronisation from 7% to 11%.

Ironback body form came next, thickening Ossian's frame while preserving enough human control to carry a restrained candidate.

Its dominance instinct wanted to make frightened people stop moving through physical pressure rather than explanation.

Odelia halted the drill after Ossian gripped a volunteer's shoulder harder than required, recording the failure without soft language.

'A rescue body that treats panic as defiance... shit, strength earns no place unless the grip changes,' Ossian released, 'run it again.'

He passed the second carry by letting the volunteer choose pace while Ironback handled only the falling practice wall.

Jackal completed the set, pursuing a moving marker through four committed steps without turning toward Calista's numb hand as an injury.

The prepared loadout held after all three transformations, proving the mission could change body roles without returning to the depot.

Transfer remained ten seconds between each face, leaving the same vulnerable interval despite improved preparation.

Paloma attached six body-switch pauses to the rescue timeline, refusing to let plans treat transformation as immediate.

'Three faces feel like abundance until sixty seconds enter a deadline... hell, time remains the honest cost,' Ossian signed the route, 'keep every pause.'

Vaska returned with five medical profiles copied from the transfer facility, each showing damage, filament placement, plus counterfeit stability.

None matched the five witnesses rescued from the moving corridor, confirming another transport group remained captive.

Current transport lacked candidate consent, although all five had signed earlier treatment forms under incomplete disclosure.

Adra, a former courier, carried anchor points around both hips and could still walk if the filament remained below body temperature.

Mikel had lost movement below one elbow, yet his medical notes showed no instability until Solenne scheduled accelerated transfer.

The other three profiles described a porter, a dismissed healer, plus one unregistered child-care worker seeking stronger lungs.

Paloma removed employment history from the tactical copies, preventing social value from influencing who received route priority.

'Five people reduced to wounds for planning, then restored through names before choice... keep both views without confusing them,' Ossian read Adra first, 'build capacity.'

Bastien found a second evacuation sled capable of carrying two candidates through the narrow corridor if its handles were shortened.

Maelle cut both handles, preserving load rating while reducing turning clearance by eight inches around the moving walls.

Odelia assigned one tap sequence to each sled, allowing separate movement rather than one convoy vulnerable to Solenne's control codes.

Vaska offered a biological corridor around the least stable grafts, keeping Orchid's protection with Adra and Mikel instead of the healthiest three.

Calista assigned herself to those two profiles before Mantis could turn efficiency into another reason for abandonment.

"If their route is slower, my spear holds the slow route," she said, pressing both names beneath her palm.

'She corrects the instinct through responsibility, not denial... remember this when fear asks for cruelty next chapter,' Ossian amended the map, 'five leave together.'

The final plan used two sleds, three walking candidates, six switch pauses, plus one alternate route held through Odelia's sound.

No calculation guaranteed success, but every body occupied a named position rather than a compatibility ranking.

The lowest compatibility figures belonged to two people whose grafts were failing faster than the others.

Calista read those pages while Glass Mantis settled over her expression, removing anger, fear, plus hesitation from the rescue equation.

"Five bodies exceed clean route capacity, requiring two least-compatible candidates to remain until the second transport," she said.

Odelia stopped writing across the route board while Maelle lowered her hammer calculation without looking away from Calista's altered expression.

'That sentence is efficient, calm, mathematically defensible... not hers, or not all hers,' Ossian felt Jackal lean toward the weak profiles, 'do not answer the tactic first.'

He asked Calista which names occupied the two files, refusing to let compatibility remain an abstract sorting method.

She looked down, finding the names only after several seconds in which Mantis considered them irrelevant.

The delay frightened her more than any visible blade could, bringing one uneven breath through the mask's stillness.

"I knew the percentages before I knew who they belonged to," Calista said.

Ossian closed the loadout screen without changing the rescue count from five.

Glass Mantis spoke through Calista again, recommending they preserve three stable assets and accept two inefficient losses.