“Where are they? Where’s that hoity-toity bastard?!” Nachi came roaring onto the scene. “I’m going to beat them to a pulp!”
She could only be talking about Chorus, the center of everyone’s current conversation. After the vast majority of family members had departed, a large group had formed in front of the general’s mansion to discuss their various experiences—some heartfelt that they’d love to thank Chorus for the opportunity, and some trauma inducing that wanted to rip them a new one.
Kada wanted to believe that more good than harm had come from this. She certainly felt better about her family situation now than if the event had never happened—decades of repressed emotions off her chest. It seemed Tize had also made up with his father, and she saw Xard hugging it out with his parents before they left, so hopefully things had improved there too.
That didn’t mean she believed Chorus should get away scot-free. They had a lot to answer for. Too many boundaries had been overstepped—personal, ethical, and logistical. It was obvious that they’d gone too far, no matter the outcome.
“I’ll find them,” Phon closed their eyes for a moment and then sighed. “Of course they’re up on the roof looking down on all of us.”
Chorus appeared a second later, already striking a friendly pose as if they’d been waiting to be teleported. “Good evening, everyone! I hope you had a lovely—”
Nachi had made good on her word, sprinting over and decking Chorus on the chin. They went soaring from her uppercut and landed on their ass. But they didn’t get a reprieve there. Nachi hoisted them up by their lapel and began shaking them violently. “How dare you invite them!” she belted in their face.
“Who was it, anyways?” Phon asked since she was still standing nearby.
“My damned exes!” Nachi got more pissed just mentioning it. “All of them! So many angry women…”
“Kind of surprised they didn’t try and get our mother to say a bunch of embarrassing stuff for this event,” Phon lost interested Nachi’s plight.
“I can get that any time,” Chorus responded calmly between slaps. Nachi had given up on shaking and was now slapping them across the face repeatedly, alternating cheeks. “That, and your family drama wouldn’t have the same effect as everyone else’s since most don’t know Eleen Drazah is still conscious.”
“Well, at least you had the good sense not to invite my sisters,” Gatrim suddenly cut in with self-importance. “What a zjik show that would have been.”
“But I did invite them,” Chorus plainly stated. “And they responded with their intent to come too.”
“You did what…?” Gatrim’s face suddenly sunk in on itself, looking like his soul was trying to escape his body. “No no no no no no, no it’s fine. It’s fine. Totally fine. They can only get into the common areas of the barrier, so I should be safe here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be retiring to my room for the next 1… 2… let’s say 5 months.”
“Oh no, I knew they’d be especially eccentric characters,” Chorus smiled. “So I altered their permissions to give them full run of the compound.”
““You did what?!”” Both Drim and Phon’s eyes lurched wide as their heads whirled to Chorus.
Phon closed her eyes and did a scan of the area. “Several Lessers around the perimeter. They’re here alright. Seems they’ve been waiting for their moment.”
“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Gatrim collapsed, a helpless puddle on the ground.
“So let them come.” It was Kaizu of all people who stepped forward. “They’re just a bunch of Lessers, right? We all know Gatrim’s ability by now, so taking out a few copies of him shouldn’t be an issue. His family or not, they won’t lay a finger on my friend.”
Nachi’s ears perked up, and she finally let Chorus collapse to the ground. “A bunch of angry, strong, aggressive women will be rushing right towards us? Now that’s a better way to let off steam. And you Fiends stay out of this. Sounds like it could be a fun fight so I don’t want it to end too quickly.”
“Welp, I guess my pride as a Lesser is on the line,” Tize stepped forward too. “So I’ll help out as well.” He suddenly charged in front of Gatrim and whipped out his shield. A split-second later, sparks flew everywhere as it clashed with metal—dual karambit knives clawing at the portable defense.
The wielder was dressed in a black tactical outfit clearly meant for stealth and infiltration, but the trademark golden-blond hair marked her as a member of the Foilepe family. They retreated immediately, clearly using the lightning-sprint their family was famous for to vanish from sight.
Nachi was in the middle of fumbling with her headphones when she suddenly dropped her phone to block an attack with her polearm. It was a different sister this time, wielding a bo staff.
Kaizu, who had been guarding Gatrim’s back suddenly slunk away into the shadows, only to reappear a moment, wrapping her chain around a third sister who’d aimed for the opening. The sister managed to slip out of the chain and retreated as well.
“Are you sure you guys don’t need any help?” Kada called from the sidelines as the group of Lessers continued to fend off attacks. The rest of the Fiends had left the clear battlegrounds and were now sitting on the mansion’s steps, watching the spectacle.
“We’re fine,” Tize answered, having taken up the main defense around the still whimpering boy.
Nachi had managed to get her headphones in, so she didn’t answer, and she’d actually gone on the offensive. One Foilepe sister was currently pinned underneath her boot, failing to wriggle free. The next, Nachi was perfectly blocking her attacks, having tuned into her rhythm. But then she suddenly shot out her free hand at nothing, snatching a third sister out of the air who tried to dash in unnoticed. The trainer was certainly having the time of their life.
“Pardon me-” “Young master--” “this woman-” “has been-” “pursuing me-” “quite-” “relentlessly.” Mallea suddenly appeared in front of the group on the steps, only to immediately vanish again and appear a second later, repeating endlessly until she could get out a full sentence. It was obvious she was also using the Foilepe dash and one of the sisters was chasing her.
“She keeps-” “saying that-” “I stole-” “her family’s move and-” “need to be-” “erased.” “Shall I-” “dispose of her?” The butler didn’t seem perturbed by the pursuit in the slightest—nothing more than a day-to-day inconvenience.
Phon then made Mallea disappear—back to her shack probably—and the sister was left standing there, dumbfounded. She then decided to join the rest in the main fray.
Kaizu, who had mostly been hiding around, waiting for the sisters to be caught off-guard, suddenly appeared directly behind Gatrim to block an attack in Tize’s blindspot. But when she saw the face of the attacker, she stepped aside to let the woman through.
“Li-Lillow!” Gatrim was just as surprised to see his back-from-the-dead sister as the rest of them. “They’ll see you! Run away, quickly.”
“Nope!” she stood her ground. “When I got the invite, I knew the rest of the family must have too, and I couldn’t leave you to face it alone.” Lillow pulled the long hairpin out of her hair and brandished it in one hand and extended the other down to her brother. “You said you wanted to prove yourself, now’s the time to do so. Show them that it’s your life, and that you can take care of yourself.”
“Right!” Gatrim grabbed her hand and she lifted him up. He unsheathed his Rapier and sped right past Kaizu, deflecting one of his sisters who’d been trying to attack her while she was watching the scene. Lillow dashed as well, intercepting one who was trying to backstab Nachi.
The scene quickly devolved into a battle that was just a pain to watch. Golden-haired beauties kept appearing and disappearing—liable to give someone a seizure from the headache of trying to watch and keep up. In the latest clash, Gatrim managed to send his sister’s sickle flying. She stopped in her tracks, stunned in utter disbelief that she’d been disarmed.
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In the Foilepe family, being disarmed was the greatest humiliation. When they had practice duels, the sisters would often choose to get injured over losing their weapon, since it would be an immediate forfeit. Even though they could still dash without them, their weapons were their center. It guided them and kept them on the right path. Without them, they were kittens without claws.
The sister didn’t even try to retrieve her weapon, vanishing away from the fight, thoroughly beaten. But he didn’t stop there, Gatrim charged forward, emboldened by his victory. He knocked another weapon out of the next sister’s hands, and then another.
In truth, Gatrim had an overwhelming advantage. He’d been watching his sisters his entire life, studying them as they practiced. He’d memorized all their moves, all their motions, hoping that someday it would be his turn to take up the mantle, but it never came.
Sure, he’d gone through the same basic training, gone through the same regiment, but none of his sisters had ever seen him truly fight. They’d never seen him struggle, seen him grow, seen him work tirelessly until he surpassed them.
Lillim started off watching his back, but she gave up quickly after, as did the other Lessers. Kaizu stowed her weapons, and Tize went to go pull away Nachi who was still lost in her own little world. The three of them then went to go join the rest of the crowd at the stairs.
One-by-one Gatrim disarmed each of his sisters. He made it look like a stupidly simple feat. Eventually, only he and Lillim were left, and Gatrim lowered his guard, but she certainly didn’t. He had to raise it again a moment later as she dashed right for him. It was unexpected, but he didn’t question it. The only way to prove himself was to fully defeat every single one.
But Lillow had always been the best of them, which made it all the weirder that she was the one who had deserted their way of life. She had also seen Gatrim’s abilities the most, so she’d be harder to overcome. The two dashed towards each other, ready to clash, but Gatrim dropped at the last second.
He juked past her legs and whipped back his rapier. The weapon extended and shot straight towards the back of Lillim’s hand. Before she could even realize where he’d gone, the hairpin was knocked loose and sent flying—Gatrim now the official best of the Foilepe family.
He stood back up and dusted himself off, and he sheathed his rapier as well, expecting it to be over. But his sisters all appeared again in a circle around him. They all dashed towards him in unison, but with no weapons in hand, he didn’t try to block their advance. All the family members clashing together in one giant group hug.
“Cosmos, I wish that were me.” Nachi flopped on the ground onto her back, envious of being squished by a gaggle of beautiful blondes. Everyone else went about the remainder of their day afterwards, since whatever happened next would be entirely up to Gatrim.
◆◆◆
The world suddenly shifted around Chorus, which was good because they were already sick of the decor in their detainment cell. They were eager to get this over with and face whatever punishment awaited them. A light shone on their face after they were teleported, and they found themself crouched on their knees on the exact same set they’d used to film the investment opportunities—a show that had still yet to air due to some disclosure agreements.
In front of them were the four main generals all sitting in their chairs, none of them with happy expressions on their faces. “So Xard thinks we should kick you out,” Drim didn’t hesitate. “Kada thinks we should lock you up for a few months so that you can reflect on your actions, and Phon thinks we should kill you. I wouldn’t take that one personally. She thinks we should kill everyone.”
Drim got out of his chair and walked over to Chorus, crouching down in front of them. “But I’m undecided, because I really just can’t understand. I get that you’re trying to do your job, and I get that you can be a bit eccentric and go overboard. But this was something else. It was too far, and you know it, but you went through with it anyways.”
“You can’t possibly think you would have gotten away with it without any repercussions, so why antagonize the entire group and sow discord, ruining all your relationships and good will you’ve built in your time here? And all for what? TV ratings? That doesn’t make sense, even for you.”
“Digging into everyone’s past was a zjik move to begin with, but messing with their personal lives like that is something that will be unforgivable to some. That is trust truly broken, and it’s not up to me to ever repair it. Some may never forgive you and refuse to work with you in the future, and there’s nothing I can do about it—if you’re even still with us after this.”
“Now I can’t say that you harmed me personally with this, but you did harm people I’m responsible for, and that can’t be overlooked. That alone would merit discharge if an agreement couldn’t be met with the other members. From my position, though, the main concern was the blatant circumvention of our rules and securities.”
“Barrier access is fully restricted for a reason, since it’s something that keeps everyone here safe. We’ll come back to how you managed to do it to begin with, but that’s not the main problem. There’s no way you didn’t know what you were doing was wrong. Fortunately, nothing came of it, but giving full clearance to known hostile entities is bewildering to me. So please enlighten me, help me understand how, in your mind, this was actually beneficial to the group.”
Chorus stared at Drim dead in the eyes. They tried to maintain their composure at first, but their mouth started to crack and twist until they slipped up entirely. And they started laughing, maniacally, straight into Drim’s face as tears streamed down their face, causing their makeup to run.
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Their laughter died down a bit, but they were still snickering with each breath. “Of all people, I would have expected you to see right through me, Drim Drazah. This, all of it, was to help you!”
“How does ruining—” Phon started to object but didn’t get the chance.
Chorus broke their staring contest, drooping their head to the ground, and words the group never expected left their mouth. “Step 1: Attention. Step 2: Expansion. These are first two steps to Project Fiendless, are they not?” They raised their head again and looked around at the bewildered expressions of everyone in the room, a menacing, almost mocking smile on their face.
“As I said in my interview when I first arrived, you’ve done an impeccable job with attention. Actors I know would kill to be in the same spotlight as you. It seems you’ve finished with expansion as well, since you aren’t as eager to recruit as you once were. You still welcome newcomers, but you must think that you have all the pieces you need in place.”
“Now, I don’t know how much help I’ll be for Steps 4 and 5, but when it comes to Step 3: Reliance, I can give it my all. You want a world where everyone thinks they can rely on you. I assume it’s mostly to try and erase the stigma of both the Drazah name and Fiends in general, or else you’ll never be able to complete your scheme.”
“This may sound ironic coming from me, today especially, but I understand it better than you ever will. Reliance is more fleeting than you think. Trust can be lost in an instant, no matter how much you’ve built up. Some people will rely on you one day and then sell you out the next, so simple reliance just won’t do.”
“What you need is dependance, and that’s where I come in. You need the world to never forget you. The moment they forget your name, what your face looks like, even for just a moment, you’ve lost it all.”
“So let me tell your story, let me make you a star. The world can never forget you. No, you need to be on their minds all the time. Even if you’re not directly in front of them, you need to be lurking in their back of their subconscious. We need to give them no escape, no reprieve from the Fiends For Hire. You need to be talked about at every water cooler, every lunch table, every family gathering where they don’t want to talk about anything else.”
“Listen to my declaration… For Project Fiendless to succeed, you need the very thought of a world without the Fiends For Hire to terrify them. That is real reliance. So let me do my job. I’ve never wanted to hurt anyone since coming here, and I will apologize to them and beg forgiveness, but I understand what they don’t. In order to succeed, some sacrifices, some uncomfortable moments, some mistrust, and some betrayals have to happen. You know that most of all, don’t you?”
Drim scowled. “Everyone clear the room. I need some time to talk to Chorus.” The others were confused at first but still obliged. “And someone ask Mallea to bring some food. This might take a while.”
Once everyone was gone, Drim undid Chorus’ handcuffs, but they didn’t regain their freedom. Vines shot out from all directions, grabbing Chorus’ various limbs and lifting them up while spreading them apart so that they were suspended in midair. “So you’re going to tell me how you found all this out. But first, you’re going to tell me the truth. Even if you found out about Project Fiendless somehow, why do you care so much that it succeeds? You don’t seem like the type who’d agree with my vision.”
“No, it’s utterly insane,” Chorus answered calmly. “You should probably be committed to an institution for even thinking it up. But that makes it all the more entertaining. Like I said, Drim Drazah, this is all for you.”
“I couldn’t care less about Project Fiendless, but you’re aiming to make it succeed, and I want to see it when it happens—a front row seat for that glorious moment. Because you, my one and only star, are the most interesting man in the world.”
“You won’t find me fawning all over you or throwing myself at you like the others. I’m not interested in you that way. But you call me what you want—a follower, a zealot, an apostle, maybe… your number one fan.”
“Drim Drazah, the name just rolls right off the tongue. That alone makes you memorable. To most, you’re just an awkward boy who’s trying to make a name for himself, and then there’s those who think you’re just following in your mother’s footsteps. But… you kind of are… aren’t you…?”
“You who killed your mother for trying to take over the world, but then you turn around and do the same. Well, not quite the same. See, she only wanted to rule the world, but you… you’re hellbent on destroying it. And that, Drim Drazah, is why I only have eyes for you.”