“Okay, that sounds really bad now that I’ve said it out loud,” Xard regretted his choice of words. “But yes, by the king’s orders. I’m to dismantle Humanity, the Red Eyes gang, and anyone else I can find who’s trying to oppress others. Hopefully, I can uncover a bit more information about who's behind it all too, but making them inoperable comes first.”
“Well we can give you a head start at least,” Tize offered. “We’ve had one of our satellites tracking down their stations and internment camps, so we can give you a map of the main places to look. Just need to get someone in the science division to compile it all for you.”
“And, through our own research and information gathering, we’ve figured out a few major players backing the groups. Still haven’t found the head honcho, but we know a few of the key supporters and bankrollers. However, we should discuss them with the Drazahs first before we take any action, since moves against them could cause backlash with our other causes if they’re not handled the right way. Though the king might just say to kill them all anyways.”
“But let’s head to the lab so that we can get you on your way. Nathym’s out West, but the others should be able to get you what you need. And there’s a few other things you should see before you go as a fellow general.”
The two men headed over to Nathym’s workshop, and as soon as they entered the lobby, Dr. Farian rushed out of the clinic. “Xard! How have you been?” he asked as the man immediately began invading his privacy, taking stats and temperatures. “You look a little malnourished, possibly anemic, were they not feeding you well?”
Before the redhead could give any sort of answer or voice a complaint, Andi exited from the clinic as well, a swaddled bundle of joy in her arms. “Welcome back, Xard,” she greeted him with a smile.
“Oh, err, Ms. Jaimess, hello.” Even though he was the one who recruited her, suddenly seeing his old teacher still gave the man a twinge of anxiety. “Or would it be Mrs. Graf now?” he made assumptions based on the evidence in front of him.
Andi was taken aback by the accusation and looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms. “No, this is Feyj, you idiot!” The woman pulled off the infant’s cap so that Xard could see the single long curly strand of iridescent hair. “This was all just bad timing, it seems.”
“Without Drim, Feyjrusa has been living through their full life cycles. And last night, just after midnight, they decided to take their life so that they could get back on an easy to follow schedule, so that their early and end of life care wouldn’t be as much of a burden. It just so happened that I was next on the parenting list.”
“It’s quite alright, I’m helping her out,” Farian assured them. “And I haven’t dabbled in pediatrics in quite some time, so it’s a good refresher. It might also serve as practice for the future as well,” the man sent Andi a devilishly charming smile, causing her face to blush the reddest Xard had ever seen, close to his own hair.
Tize opted to stick around for a bit to further discuss Feyj’s care, but Xard left the lovebirds behind and made his way to the elevator down to the secret lab. It was fairly deserted at first, but the redhead quickly found a pair of prying eyes staring at him from the doorway to Ahvra’s lab. “We have intruders!” the woman shouted. “Err, I mean visitors,” she corrected and stepped outside the room. Another surprise for the day, it was Alkahest Khemmy.
“Welcome back, Xard,” Ahvra followed the woman out of the lab and then made a poor attempt at a joke. “Haven’t seen you in a long time. Guess you’re probably wondering what she’s doing here,” the scientist in her small child form looked towards the woman at her side. “I hate long stories, so basically this one kept sneaking in, wanting to check on the children after the siege started. And she kept doing it, so we captured her and forced her to join.”
“Poison Tongue here actually found a major security flaw in our barrier. She kept leaning against it and then used her Curse to temporarily kill herself as her corpse fell through before she was brought back to life. We have since had to update it to protect against raining body parts.”
Ahvra then held up her arm, showcasing the bracelet she wore, with a matching one around Alk’s wrist. “But now she is my prisoner since no one else wanted to shackle themselves to her. Works similarly to Wet Dog’s anchor, and doesn’t let her get too far from me. So I made her my third assistant—useful to have since the other two are always running off. Blood Fetishist is currently operating the express, if you were wondering.”
“Why does she even need to be a prisoner at all?” the man inquired. “If she’s helpful, shouldn’t we trust her like any other member?”
“Hmm, she is similar to Murder Mania when she first arrived,” Ahvra compared her to Kaizu. “If I let her off the leash, she will immediately try to kill Fluffy Gene Splicer.”
“That’s Laurim, right?” Xard had a bit of a hard time remembering every nickname. “No, Alk’s always been fairly level-headed from what I could tell. Do you really think she’d do such a thing?”
“Well just ask her,” Ahvra turned her head towards the girl again. “What is the first thing you would do if I set you free?”
“Kill Laurim,” Alk answered without hesitation or a hint of shame.
Ahvra smugly gestured her arms at the showcased answer—her theory vindicated. “I’m guessing you are here for the satellite data, yes? I hypothesized as much. Give me a minute, and I will compile it and send it to your phone. You all may enjoy chatting or can sit awkwardly if you have nothing to discuss.”
Those words alone made the situation awkward, but the redhead did have one thing to ask. “So if you’re here, and Lieu is at our western branch. Where’d Kalter end up?”
Alk’s eyes widened and she immediately looked away, as if Xard had insulted her with the question. He couldn’t tell because of her mask, but he had to assume that she was scowling. “Kalter’s dead,” she answered shortly, leaving no room for doubt in her words.
“You may not know since you’ve been gone, but a Fiend attacked the Central Peace. That was Kalter. We uncovered the order to raid our base, and he made a hit list of those that had signed off on it; a few of their military leaders, and a few politicians.”
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“We tried to stop him, begged him not to do it, but we could never get through to him. It got to the point that we considered tying him up just to save him from himself, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to do it. So he raided their base, killed some on the list and a lot of soldiers that tried to stop him. We don’t know how it ended, but he was eventually stopped and killed.”
“Are you certain he’s dead then?” Xard had to ask to be sure. “Knowing the CP, they could have very well captured him and detained him, never to be seen again. It’s possible—”
“No, he’s dead!” The Plague Doctor was on the edge of screaming but then took a second to calm herself. “Trust me, I know. He knew we wouldn’t go with him, but he still asked for our help. I made it so he couldn’t feel pain, that his adrenaline would keep flowing no matter what. And asked Lieu to put a bomb in him that would go off when he died.”
“Kalter knew he wasn’t going to come back alive, and he never had any plan to. But we changed the bomb. Instead of blowing up his body, I had it release a concoction that would dissolve his corpse. That way he wouldn’t end up with the same fate as Creti, endlessly experimented on. We didn’t want that for him. I know he’s dead because my connection to him through my Curse vanished, and we received confirmation that the concoction released.”
“I see…” Xard didn’t question it further. “I am sorry for your loss.”
Fortunately, it was then that Ahvra returned to help cut through the awkwardness, and a minute later Tize came down to join them. “So you have your map then,” he confirmed but then asked. “Have you taken him to see Mallea yet?”
Then it was Ahvra’s turn for a dejected look, more emotion shown on her blank child-like face than Xard had ever seen. The group led him back to another room to visit the butler. It was a short visit, straight and to the point with few words exchanged. It wasn’t something Xard could do anything about, much to his own sense of defeat, something he seemed to share with everyone in the room. But it only added fuel to the fire of his determination.
Back topside, on his way out of the workshop, the redhead was stopped by Andi again. “Tize mentioned what you were planning to do,” she explained. “And there’s something you should know. The Warden from the Central Peace, they’ve been going around hunting Fiends. We don’t know how, but it seems Humanity has the ability to control them against their will, turning them into their own hunting dog.”
“It’s quite likely that you’ll run into them. I’d ask that you not kill them if you can, for Mallea’s sake… To that end, I’ve made this,” the chemist handed Xard a face mask. “This should work on their artificial body and render them temporarily comatose until we can hopefully figure out how to help them.”
“Understood,” Xard took the mask and tucked it away. “I’ll do what I can.”
From there, the Artillery just had one more step before he could set off on his journey, and he made his way back over to the member cubes, specifically the PR office. Victori was slumped down in front of her wall of monitors as usual, half awake as she monitored the endless forums and media sites. But she jumped to attention as soon as she noticed the man. “Executive Mistrion, we have a visitor!”
“Why are you calling them that?” Xard was put off by the formality.
“It’s what they requested,” The Kingmaker sighed. “It changes by the day, sometimes the hour. They’ve been going off the rails a bit more than usual lately…”
“Xard! Xard… Xard Xard.” Chorus kept repeating after they slammed open the door from the editing bay. Like Victori, The Quickchanger looked worse for wear, as if they hadn’t seen the light of day in months. “You’re back! Why did no one tell me what you’re back?!” They turned and punted a pile of trash with all of their might, exploding it to one side of the room.
“But this is good, very good! I take it that means the others are free, yes? Have you come for an exclusive interview about your time in prison? We’ve been dealing with the message everyone heard about Jaid’s ascension but that can be put on hold. I’m a busy person, but I can always squeeze time for you!”
“Uhh, no I’m not,” Xard dashed their hopes immediately. “But I’d be open to it eventually if you get permission. That said, when Drim and Phon make their move in a few days, you’re free to resume Fiend TV in full. But I’m actually here to see Victori.”
“Her?!” Chorus scowled like a jealous lover. “Well that’s alright. You’ve brought the most wondrous, exhausting news. When you two are done, come see me, girl. We have a schedule to make, edits to recut. We won’t be sleeping again until we go live!” They turned around, back into the editing bay, slamming the door behind them.
“Uhh, so how can I help you?” Victori looked a bit timid from being put on the spot but still eager to help.
“I have a message I’d like you to send.”
◆◆◆
“So you’re finally off then,” Tize greeted Xard for the last time outside the mansion’s steps. The redhead had come down with a pack of his things that was tethered to his combat suit—traveling light since he’d be flying most of the time rather than taking the Valen Express.
“Yep,” The Artillery nodded. “I’ll be back briefly once the others return, so we can go over a few plans and meet with everyone properly, but this mission will likely take me a few months.”
Tize pulled the man into one last hug, sad that their time together had been so short. And he waved him off as Xard took to the sky.
Once the man had reached a good soaring altitude, he tapped the earpiece he’d put in before he’d taken off. “Dette? Dette, do you copy?”
“Xard?! Sir is that really you?!” the woman’s voice echoed in his ear a few seconds later. “Cosmos, I thought I’d never hear from you again.” Her tone became more emotional with each word, sounding on the verge of tears.
“Yes, it’s me,” the man confirmed. “And I won’t be going anywhere this time. So you’re stuck with me.”
“Sir, I did exactly as you asked!” Dette was proud to report. “I’ve been monitoring criminals all over the world and have been maintaining the database while tipping off law enforcement where I can. It hasn’t been as effective as either of us would like. But I can send you dossiers and locations for anywhere on the map.”
“Very good, Dette. You’ve done well,” the man praised his subordinate. “We have a new target, though. I’ll send you the map the next time I land. And then I’ll ask that you make the best route, lining it with the worst criminals along the way. Just because we have a bigger mission, it doesn’t mean that we can’t save others and bring justice as we go.”
“Right!” the woman was as enthused as ever.
And as Xard soared through the sky, heading towards the first Humanity stronghold, a message began to play in minds around the world. “To Humanity, the Red Eyes Gang, all who support them, and those who would oppress others just for being different. Until now, you’ve gone unchecked, but that ends today.”
“End this foolishness, repent your ways, redirect your energy to a better cause. Because judgment has been passed, and your sentence has been given. If you continue down this path, if you don’t free your prisoners, end your terrorism, you will die. Your executioner is on his way.”
“This is your one and only warning. If you do not give this up, if you can’t come to understand that what you’re doing is wrong, then you no longer have a place in this world.”
Then a second, briefer message played. “To those who are being held against their will, captured or oppressed by forces with no actual authority, hold on for just a while longer. Artillery reinforcement is on its way.”