The rabid animal in front of Trey was in the shape of a man. He scowled at the creature. It attempted to bite through the ballistic glass window that separated him from itself.
“Do it,” Trey said, nodding towards the hazmat-wearing crew holding tranquilizer guns. The last attempt hadn’t even slowed Clarke down. This time, they’d quintupled the dose. Clarke’s breaths were deep and desperate, as if the sheer act of his rage-filled existence was difficult to maintain. His skin was beat-red. Veins stuck out across his skin in a disturbing, bulging patchwork. They wriggled as the muscles beneath them flexed and convulsed in what appeared to be cramps, but Clarke appeared undisturbed by his own state.
This creature had gone feral. He wanted to put it out of his misery, but they needed to understand what had happened to him.
What was Clarke’s role in all of this?
They cut an opening in the ceiling, and then climbed to the roof to shoot at Clarke from a safe position. Clarke saw them up there and screamed, clawing in their direction as if it would cause some sort of damage. When his attacks appeared ineffectual, he redoubled his attempt at breaking through the glass.
The first shots rang out. When they proved ineffectual, they shot him more. Trey was relieved when Clarke’s eyes glazed over.
His entire demeanour changed. As he staggered. He held his hands up, and a look of horror appeared on his face.
He looked at Trey in confusion, and although he couldn’t hear him through the glass, he could read his lips.
Help me.
It broke through Trey’s anger. A sudden charge of urgent concern overtook him.
“Holy shit,” Bell whispered from beside him.
“What a fucking mess.” Trey muttered.
“Sir?” Bell asked.
“He’s still in there,” Trey said.
He watched as Clarke’s body failed to fight against the drugs coursing through his body. The animal within him was gone for now, apparently.
“The parasite doesn’t have full control. If we ease off the dose, maybe he can tell us something.”
“Sir, the survivors—”
“—Will not see eye to eye with me. I know, but he’s still one of my people.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll see what we can do to keep him restrained. But I recommend we keep contact with him to a bare minimum. No one should be in there with him if he’s—well, him.”
“I agree. Get it done.”
“I’ll keep you informed, sir.”
“Thanks, Bell. Good work today.”
Guard Captain Bell nodded. There wasn’t much that could phase that man, Trey thought. But things like this, seeing someone so utterly reduced to feral aggression, it was heartbreaking. It broke a rule that they’d all seemed to take for granted.
They all knew that people could be animals. But this was different. This went beyond animal instinct. This was something else.
He walked out of the building they were using to contain Clarke and saw a lot more frenetic energy in his people than he’d been expecting. Busy-at-work had a certain feeling about it. This seemed more like something important happened, and someone hadn’t informed him.
He stopped one of the passing labourers, a crewman with half of their uniform tied around their waist. He’d forgive the lapse in regulation. They would all be working nonstop for a long time, at least until the first round of defensive upgrades for the colony were done.
“What’s going on?” Trey asked.
“You don’t know?” The crewman asked, confused by why the big boss might have missed the memo. “The Ambition has just radioed in. They’ll be here within the hour, sir.”
Trey welcomed the news with relish. The Ambition’s early arrival couldn’t have been more fortuitous. They could use the help. He needed to be there when they landed.
He’d also need to get his hands on some of their munitions for their next meeting with Sabletown.
Trey sighed. No matter how hard he and the crew worked, there was always more to do.
“Sir,” came Captain Bell’s voice over the radio, “the sedative is already wearing off. I’m not sure how long he’ll be lucid for.”
Trey pursed his lips and turned back around. He’d only made a few steps past the building. He still had time before the Ambition arrived, so he could spare the time to extract whatever Clarke might share.
The scene that awaited him when he returned was gut-wrenching. Guards were trying to strap Clarke to a table they’d found in a room nearby. Clarke was in tears, begging for them to kill him.
“Mr. Oberon. I can’t control it,” Clarke said when he saw Trey enter. “I can feel it coming back. Its angry. Afraid. It can’t tolerate—”
Clarke groaned, then, through gritted teeth, he continued.
“—it needs total dominance over its territory. The guardian avatar is already on its way. And you’re not the only one it’s targeting, there’s another—”
Clarke’s body contorted, and he screamed in agony, but the agony gave way to rage. His eyes bore both pleading desperation and hatred.
“I’m not sure I can hold it back, you need to—”
Trey’s heart was bursting out of his chest.
Another scream, and he broke through the straps that were holding him to the table. As soon as his aggression started, they shot Clarke with a stronger dose of tranquilizers than before.
He hated doing this to the man, and any remnant of hatred had abated. Now he felt nothing but pity and heartbreak. He waved over Captain Bell.
“What do you think?” Trey asked.
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“Guardian-avatar,” Bell said, frowning as he spoke, “It sounds like a solid candidate for the threat that Sabletown was referring to.”
“If it is, then we have a link between the beast waves, the guardian avatar, and the parasite. Maybe some sort of psychic control? Through etherium?” Trey asked. Just saying the words made him feel like cringing. Before coming to Skyhold, he’d have laughed the person who suggested it right out of the room.
Now, who knows what was possible and what wasn’t possible?
“I’ll stick around this time,” Trey said, “And I’ll try to keep him focused on what we need to know.”
“Right. E.T.A, scope, and weaknesses,” Guard Captain Bell said.
“Exactly. It would be nice to bring some useful information to our meeting with June.”
“I’d forgotten about that,” Guard Captain Bell said. “What’s the plan for the meeting, sir?”
“The Ambition just radioed in. They’ll be here within the hour. I think we can make a pretty convincing display of what we’re capable of if we have some time to prepare.”
Bell’s laugh seemed shallow.
“If there’s one thing I can say for sure about this world, sir, it is that nothing ever seems to go as expected. But the Ambition arriving earlier than expected is good news, at least.”
“I doubt Hunter’s going to agree. He was hoping to get at least half a day with a few artisans in order to have them ready to train others on their own.”
“None of us are comfortable with how fast the shit’s being thrown at us. He’ll learn to adapt.”
“You know,” Trey said, “I agree with that. He’s got a lot to learn, but he’s doing pretty well. I’d go so far to say that he’s doing better than most would after being thrust headfirst into this shit.”
“Sir, I don’t mean any disrespect towards the boy, but are we sure we can trust him to handle the pressure?” Bell asked, taking Trey off guard. He saw the potential for this conversation to run in the wrong direction.
“You’ve always known me to be direct, sir. But I need to you know that I respect what the boy’s achieved, and I truly believe that if all goes well, he has the potential to help us not only survive, but help us reach new heights that we couldn’t have back in Sanctuary.”
“Get to the point, Guard Captain.”
Guard Captain Bell’s back straightened.
“Sir, are we sure that he won’t take after his father?”
Honestly, Trey was disappointed that no one had mentioned the elephant in the room sooner. If Gideon’s condition was genetic, would Hunter exhibit a similar tendency?
“I am 100 percent sure that Hunter Koar is not Gideon Koar,” Trey said. He looked the Guard Captain in the eyes.
“You’ve killed more men than Gideon Koar ever had. You’ve killed those men at my direct order. Should you and I be worried about each other?”
Guard Captain Bell shook his head.
“That’s different, sir, but I take your point. You know I’m on your side and I support your decision to bring Hunter into the company. But there are those who have spoken in private. People who doubt whether he’s trustworthy.”
“Unless you’ve come to me with a list of names, I suggest you let this issue rest.”
“Yes, sir,” Guard Captain Bell said.
Trey sighed. He let his expression soften.
“I understand your concern, but Gideon Koar was a very complicated man. He was more insular, and one day, he refused to trust anyone outside of his immediate circle. It left him isolated, strained his marriage. He grew more bitter with himself, with humanity. Yet, he was capable of acts of such incredible generosity that would leave me in awe. Compared to him, Hunter is—” Trey paused, trying to find the right word.
“Well, Hunter has faced his inner demons in a way that Gideon never could have. He’s shown a willingness to trust us despite any neurosis that developed over his years in relative isolation. Compared to Gideon, Hunter, despite his gifts, is normal.”
Bell nodded.
“I’ll take your word for it, sir.”
Clarke moaned, and his body stirred.
“Already?” Trey asked. “That was an increased dose.”
“The parasite must be adapting somehow,” Bell said.
“How much of this stuff have we got on hand? Do we need to get him an I.V.?”
“I’m not an expert on this stuff, but I assume that would be a bad idea. If the parasite is adapting and strengthening, it might have a detrimental effect on Clarke,” Bell said.
“I don’t get it. Why is this thing still inside Clarke, when the parasite doesn’t seem to be able to maintain its hold on anyone else?” Trey asked.
Clarke was rubbing his eyes. Trey decided that the best way to answer the question was to ask the man himself.
“Clarke,” Trey said, getting the man’s attention as he entered the room. Clarke didn’t react.
“You should have killed me. I can feel it in the background. It’s worming its way forward, but I think the constant struggle is exhausting it,” Clarke said, noticing the state of his body. He was emaciated, his veins discoloured and bulging, lesions stretching all across his skin, “and it’s going to kill me.”
The way he spoke implied a general acceptance to the diagnosis.
“We’ll figure this out, Clarke—”
“—spare me the false hope, sir,” Clarke said.
“How much time do we have to speak?” Trey asked.
“Few minutes, but I can’t be certain,” Clarke said.
“Alright, then what we want to know is; why is the parasite able to survive in you for so long, and what can you tell us about this guardian avatar?”
“I was on a scouting mission. Got bored with the day-to-day routine, so I wanted to get out in the field. We found something, I can’t remember what exactly, god—” Clarke squeezed his head, “it hurts to remember. There’s so much rage, so much fear. Its intellect is vast, but it’s all survival instinct. Pain. Just pain and fury.”
“Focus, Clarke.”
Clarke’s veins twitched, the muscles beneath his skin cramping all across his body. Trey was having trouble watching.
“After this, kill me. Please, sir. Don’t let me go through this again,” Clarke said through clenched teeth.
Trey’s breathing trembled.
“Clarke, we need more information. Tell us everything you can.”
“Promise me!” Clarke yelled.
“Okay,” Trey said, nodding slowly and feeling like he was betraying himself, “okay.”
He fought to keep his emotions as contained as he could keep them.
“Whatever it was, I got a direct dose of it. It’s experimenting with us, through me. It needs physical contact in order for me to spread it, and those who were closest to me could do the same to a lesser extent. The infection will make anyone more insane. The local wildlife keeps most of their original nature, but our minds are far more complex. Where it can’t assume direct control, it would rather just weaponise us against ourselves. The guardian avatar is its most powerful host. It’s invested more energy and time into it than any other creature. But it takes a lot of energy to keep it awake. I can feel it, I can feel the etherium moving. There’s so much of it, and the guardian is so powerful. It would be incredible if it wasn’t all so fucked up. Fuck—”
Clarke spasmed, Trey wanted to hold the man down, but he knew he couldn’t risk getting infected.
“—it’s taking control again. God — okay. Okay. It has a weakness. I can feel it. Every time one of its host’s dies—whether it’s in a beastwave or otherwise, there’s a psychic backlash. It can handle it with the small fry. But the more powerful the creature, the more energy it takes to maintain its dominance. If you can kill it, the backlash might be too much for it to bear, sir. You’d be pulling out the foundations for the entire house of cards. It’ll cripple the entire network by cutting off the source.”
“No more beast waves,” Bell said.
“That’s right, Guard Captain,” Clarke said, his smile turning more feral. “Don’t forget your promise.”
Trey took a deep breath.
“Vice-Captain Clarke, you’ve served me and my company well. The information you shared might be the difference between the life and death of thousands. I’ll make it my personal mission to ensure that everyone knows you fought till the very end. Every child born here will know that you were a hero.”
Clarke laughed maniacally, and it sounded almost like a bark. His voice became raspy as the final embers of control he had over his mind and body faded.
“It is aware of what I have shared. The predator knows its prey has found its weakness. It cannot tolerate that,” Clarke said, his voice increasing in pitch and contorting, taking on the tone of mocking.
“It comes now.”
Then he screamed, and it was bloodcurdling. It sounded like the scream tore at his own throat.
Trey flinched at a sudden, brief flash of light accompanying a loud popping sound. A hole emerged at the centre of Clarke’s head. Still, his body spasmed, pulling at the restraints that bound it. More shots rang out. Clarke’s body stilled, and although it was unmoving, his eyes remained wide open, face contorted into something that expressed both pain, desperation, and mindless fury.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Guard Captain Bell said, holstering his sidearm.
Trey nodded. He wiped away the tears that betrayed his best efforts of containment.
“It needed to be done. Let’s see that his death isn’t in vain.”
They’d both come here intending to hate Vice-Captain Clarke. He couldn’t speak for the Guard Captain, but Trey left with the feeling that he’d failed once more to be the leader he needed to be.
“The guardian avatar needs to die,” Trey said.
Bell’s voice was low, his voice hardly wavered, but Trey had known the man long enough to know when he was struggling with grief.
“Yes, sir.”