“Damn it!” Xard rushed to intervene but it was already too late. The long blade was pulled out of the Lesser’s body, and they slumped to the ground, joining the ring of other corpses around them. And the only person left standing was The Warden—artificial human and caretaker of the Central Peace headquarters, who had been declared missing several months ago.
After clearing out the internment camp, and rescuing all the captives, Xard had returned to the facility briefly to destroy it, so it could never be used for such acts again. He’d made sure every member of Humanity was either long gone or slaughtered before he dared to leave the Lessers alone, and Dette had already sent a rescue crew that was en route. It had only been a few minutes, and he never expected to return to a massacre.
“Kill me,” The Warden suddenly turned to Xard with sad lifeless eyes. They then sprung forward, lunging their still bloody blade at the man.
The redhead dodged out of the way, and the artificial human repeated themself. “Kill me!”
Xard burst a few feet away, creating some distance, wanting to try and exchange more words if possible. “What do you mean? Why are you doing this?”
The separation didn’t stop The Warden from attacking again, but they used the runup to form a more coherent sentence. “They reprogrammed me to do this!”
After dodging the next attack, Xard went a little further. And as his attacker approached again, he steadily flew back, matching their speed to give them more time to talk. “I’m ordered to hunt down and kill any Fiend or Lesser I see out in the wilds. And when they heard about what you were doing, they sent me to intercept you.”
It was true that The Artillery believed it inevitable that he’d run into The Warden, but he’d only been at this for two days. The man must really have been putting the pressure on Humanity if they sent their secret weapon after him already.
“No matter how much I fight it, as long as I live, I won’t stop!” the murderer cried, their words filled with anguish. “I’d rather be dead than continue to be used as their heinous tool. So hurry up and kill me already!”
The Artillery finally zoomed forward, meeting their foe head on. But he didn’t aim for their head. Instead, Xard juked by their swing and swept his fingers, sending out a slicing blade of energy. The Warden’s arm that had been holding their slender sword separated from their torso and slumped to the ground.
Blood spurted, mixed with oil, as flesh and wires dangled out of their now-severed sleeve. “If you really are an artificial human,” Xard yelled at them from behind. “Then this won’t kill you!”
The Warden, making no effort to preserve their own life or body, merely bent down to pick up the felled sword. But as they went to grab it, their other arm was sliced away and flopped to the ground. And then went their legs, leaving only their torso flailing down in the mud. But even that didn’t stop their rogue programming.
With what strength remained, the forced-killer inched their head towards the hilt of their sword, trying to grab it with their teeth. But Xard didn’t let them, even if it only led to folly. The man grabbed their hair by the roots and pulled them back up off the ground. “Sorry to disappoint you,” his words were sharp, showing little sympathy for their current condition. “But at least one person in this world would be saddened by your death.”
The Artillery grabbed the mask that was dangling at his hip and placed it over The Warden's mouth. It activated immediately, releasing the embedded gas, and the killer fell into a deep slumber.
◆◆◆
“Dandy Mirror, you’ve returned already. What do you have there? It looks interesting? Can I dissect it?”
Jaid, who was right on the edge of falling asleep on the secret lab’s couch, was suddenly stirred awake by the commotion around her. Needless to say, she didn’t expect to see a human head poking out of a sack in front of her on the coffee table, accompanied by four severed, still oozing limbs. In her deliriousness, she didn’t recognize it as the mangled body of The Warden and was sent jumping up to the back of the couch.
“What’s the problem, Squire Factory?” Ahvra tested out a new nickname. “Never seen a still breathing artificial human with all of its limbs cut off, stuffed in a bag, and kidnapped before?”
Before Jaid could even deign that with a response, Nathym came rushing out of his lab, scanner in hand. He pressed it against The Warden’s comatose head and scowled when the machine beeped.
“Our Gizmicros again?” The Widdle Witch inquired.
“No, though for once I wish it was,” The Engineer was disappointed. “They’re not ours, but someone has gone to great lengths to build something similar along the same vein. If they were ours, we could use the same trick again, but…” The man walked away for a moment, returning a second later with a laptop sporting one of the weirdest dongles Jaid had ever seen.
“These are very well encrypted,” Nathym reported, showing the data on his screen. “They must have believed we or someone else would try to hack in at some point. Since these devices are now mixed into their circuitry, it’d be too time consuming to remove. But if we can get in, we can disable the programming forcing orders and alter it so that this can never happen to The Warden again.”
“Umm, is there anything I can do to help?” Jaid offered, unsure what she could do, still coming to grips with the situation in front of her. “Preferably something that doesn’t involve going inside their body…”
“I find it’s best to step aside and let them do their work,” Xard interjected. “We’re out of our depth.”
“No, there is something,” Nathym countered. “Let Farian know, and then get the clean room ready for surgery. There’s an easy to follow checklist that anyone can do. We’ll have to reattach their limbs soon. They’ll most likely need a transfusion as well, but their blood is likely synthetic, so get Valen and Andi working on that.”
“But we need to get this micro-device thing figured out first, or we’ll just be putting ourselves at risk. They can’t stop themselves from attacking us.”
“I can vouch for that,” Xard added. “When the initial dose of gas wore off, they kept trying to bite me before I could apply the mask again.”
“As for hacking in…” Nathym racked his brain. “Feyj is still a toddler, right? They’d be the fastest at this. The hacking programs on all our phones wouldn’t be able to handle this either. With my amateur level skill, it’d be genuinely faster for me to build a new device that could crack it before I could do it on my own.”
“Allow me to tend to it,” a voice called from the other side of the lounge, drawing all their eyes. It was Mallea. She was up and about, adorned in her usual butler outfit that Nathym had left in the room for her along with a note explaining all the events that had transpired. And for a woman who had just woken from a several-month icy coma, she looked just as calm and professional as always.
Nathym merely moved aside and let Mallea take his place at the laptop. The woman’s gloved hands began tapping away at the keyboard furiously, opening a coding window and digging into the encryption directly.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Jaid took that as her cue to leave. But rather than running around to everywhere she needed to go, clones were made and split up the burden. One went upstairs to inform Farian and Andi, another headed to the tunnels to retrieve Valen. The original went to find the clean room, which was buried in another hallway of doors. A bit of mixed feelings punched her in the gut when she passed by the room where her memories had been altered—not that she actually had much recollection of the event, but the convenient sign on the door clued her in.
Once in the operating room, the knight quickly found the checklist and got to work. Most of it was just organizing the pre-packaged and pre-sanitized tools, but she also needed to clean the operating table. With a few more clones made, she got to work.
It only took her a few minutes in total, and she wasn’t sure what to do next, but that was when Ahvra and Farian barged in. The latter was carrying the bundled bag of artificial human. “They’re still working on the bigger issue, but we’re going to get them prepped,” the doctor explained.
Jaid stuck around to help them hook up machines and whatever else they needed. Once The Warden’s clothes had been stripped and all the limbs had been laid out, Ahvra began inspecting them. “The cuts are all clean, and nothing major is missing. Dandy Mirror did a good job, so should be simple. Just need the blood and the go-ahead.”
Andi and Valen joined them shortly after with a blood bag. The chemist also hooked up a more succinct tank of anesthesia so they wouldn’t have to keep applying the mask. Mallea and Nathym joined them not long after, having broken through the encryption. The Engineer just needed to scan The Warden one final time to confirm that their patch went through.
At that point, all non-essential personnel were asked to leave so that they could perform the operation. So everyone but Ahvra and Farian returned to the lounge. When they got there, Nathym returned to his own lab to resume other work, and Andi and Valen went to make another bag of blood just in case it would be needed. Xard was also nowhere to be found, and Jaid assumed he’d gone back out on his mission—his part finished now that the delivery was complete.
Mallea was also oddly missing, but she returned a few minutes later with The Warden’s torn clothes in hand. The butler had diverted to wash them, and now she sat on one of the lounge’s couches and began meticulously stitching them back together.
Strangely enough, it wasn’t how Mallea would usually tailor, done in a flash. No, each pull of the thread was done with extra care and attention, steady and slow. It was possibly something the others wouldn’t pick up on, and it was subtle, but Jaid noticed a hint of anxiety looming, something usually missing from the butler’s demeanor entirely. And the knight guessed that she was working slowly to help take her mind off what was happening.
Jaid was killing the time on her end by texting Dura. He kept bombarding her with long winded messages about how much fun he was having exploring the compound and meeting everyone.
It was a good distraction, though it wasn’t long before Farian came to fetch the clothes from the butler, and a couple minutes later, they led The Warden back out to the lounge. And that was when it all came to a head. Mallea couldn’t restrain herself any longer. She leapt from the couch and rushed over, lunging forward, and wrapping her arms around the patient, pulling them into a tight hug.
“I remember. I remember all of it,” Mallea squeezed them closer, tears streaming from her eyes. “Everything you did for me, for all of us back then. You really are like family to me, and I’m sorry, so terribly sorry that I’ve forgotten you for all this time.”
“Of course,” The Warden hugged her back. “I would do anything for you, my sister. And don’t be sorry, we only have them to blame.”
The hug dragged on for quite some time, making everyone’s eyes wander to give the pair a moment of peace. But Nathym interrupted it, coming out from his lab and performing another inspection of the artificial human. “Well, you’re not trying to kill us, so that’s a good start.”
“Yes, I’m no longer being influenced by their orders,” The Warden confirmed. “Thank you, truly,” they gave a gracious bow. “But is this really alright? I have taken so many lives in the past few months. While it may never have been my intent, it was still my hand. And if my life will atone for their losses, then I am very willing to pay that price.”
No one answered immediately, unsure who would have the authority to make such a judgment. But someone finally gave their verdict. “You’re just as much of a victim in all of this,” Xard slunk out from the shadows. “As long as you feel bad for what you’ve done, and strive to make things right, then we have no reason to kill you.”
“And I intend to do just that,” The Warden acknowledged. “Most of those who had a hand in my hijacking and the attempted coup at the Central Peace have already been ousted. But I have also been away for too long. While I don’t know everything that’s been happening, I’ve still been receiving a feed from their network due to my system’s integration, and they need a firm hand. I appreciate all you’ve done, but I can’t stick around. I need to return and get my house back in order.”
“But…” the artificial human turned to Mallea. “Once things have settled, I would like it if we could catch up over a meal, sister.”
“And I’d love that as well,” the butler smiled at her. “Now let me escort you back to Horage at least.” The pair of unrelated siblings left the room, and Jaid couldn’t help but feel touched by everything that had transpired. She was a bit saddened however, when Mallea returned mere minutes later, the trips through Valen’s portals taking no time at all and not allowing them to catch up properly.
“If there’s nothing else,” Mallea addressed the room. “Then I will be returning to my duties.”
“Umm, wait,” Jaid stopped her since no one else seemed to be taking the initiative. “Shouldn’t you take a while to rest and recover?”
“Resting is all I’ve done for months,” the butler scowled at her own leave of absence. “And there’s so much work to be done. Clearly this place has fallen to shambles without me. I’ll need to have a word with my protege about his negligence. And Drim and Phon will be be back soon, correct?”
“Later tonight, yes,” Xard confirmed.
“Then I have plenty of time to make this compound shine once more!” But before she left, Mallea turned around the room and bowed to every present. “Thank you, Nathym, Ahvra, Farian, for keeping me alive all this time. Thank you Xard for saving my family. And thank you Jaid for bringing me back. I shall pass my thanks along to everyone else as I come across them.”
The room was left in stunned silence as Mallea walked away, everyone shocked to their core that she’d remembered and said their actual names for the first time ever. But Jaid broke through the silence. “So we’re not far away from… whatever they’re doing? I thought it’d be a while still at least.” Though the knight had mostly lost her concept of time because of the unceasing chaos of the past few days.
“Yes, that’s why I’m still here,” Xard nodded. “I was planning to come back when I finished up with my last stop anyways. It just happened to coincide with my run-in with The Warden. After their move, they should be back here shortly. Then we’ll discuss a few matters and address the rest of the group so they know what’s going on.”
“Hey-ho!” it was right then that Kada cut in. “I’ve come to return Alk, and to hang out while we watch!” The Mermaid stormed in with The Plague Doctor in tow and Pox riding on top of her head
“Oh, it’s something we can watch?” Jaid was even more surprised.
“Guh, obviously,” Kada huffed. “Wouldn’t be much of a big reveal if no one saw it. Here.” She clicked on the tv in the secret lab’s lounge and changed the channel—a familiar Fiend TV logo looming in the corner. The original timer that had displayed the amount of time that had passed since Bisomote had been sieged was gone.
What replaced it was a new timer, counting down. It really wasn’t long at all, little more than an hour, not nearly long enough for Jaid to do anything of importance, so she settled in and got comfortable. Kada ordered food for them to be delivered from upstairs, including an abundance of popcorn, and their dinner was carted in shortly thereafter by a rushing Crucion.
Jaid pitied the boy, especially since Mallea was undoubtedly working him to death, but there wasn’t much more she could do. So she took that time to relax, enjoying her meal, trying not to fall asleep on the couch. Even though her exhaustion could have taken her, the knight’s mind never settled. Just what were they about to see? What were the Drazahs about to do? Surely it was going to be some grand big event, but she also found it hard to picture.
Then the timer finally hit zero, and the broadcast began. Jaid was then surprised more than anything by what she saw, because it was nothing she could have guessed. It wasn’t a grand announcement on top of a skyscraper, they weren’t streaming live from deep in the CP headquarters. No, there was actually no sign of Drim and Phon at all.
Instead, it was a broadcast that had already been scheduled for months, which a good chunk of the world already would have been watching. But with it being on Fiend TV, she wondered just how many more were tuning into the event that would never care about otherwise.