“So, Malketh. Tell me about yourself. A man of mystery, truly. Drink?”
Sean nodded and the man across from him poured him a drink that looked like some kind of hard liquor. The man picked up his own glass and swirled it for a moment before taking a sip of it. Sean picked up his own glass and drank as well and enjoyed the taste. Ah, he had missed alcohol. As an Immortal, drugs and alcohol were useless and nothing more than something with a strange taste. So feeling the buzz of getting slightly drunk was a surprisingly refreshing feeling.
Especially after being rescued from that place where he had been imprisoned.
“Well, I am a man of mystery,” Sean said as he lowered his glass slightly and thought about what he should say. After their vehicle had landed Violet and Sierra had brought him here directly to this man’s cluttered office. Apparently he was in charge of their local cell of the Gaian Freedom Coalition. At first Sean had thought they might be military of some other nation at first based on the equipment and discipline. But from the glimpses he’d seen of their base it became clear that they seemed to be revolutionaries and more disorganized than Sean would have expected based on the pair that had rescued him.
“I’m not quite sure what you’re asking me for,” Sean continued after a short pause, “I lost my memories. I woke up in that apartment as confused as anyone else would be not knowing who I am or what was going on.”
“Hm, amnesia?” the man across from Sean said thoughtfully as he stared at Sean carefully, “Why not tell them that then? Our agents never told us anything like that. We got ahold of the original recording of your interrogation. The one at the police station before the government squirreled you away in that dark hole years ago. Figured if the higher ups in that place were still talking about you even now, that you must be somebody important.”
Sean shrugged, “How long has it been? I didn’t have a good sense of time down there really.”
“Six years. Six years you were in there,” the commander said.
“Six years…” Sean said as he sat back before taking another sip of the liquor, “That’s longer than I thought it was.”
“Indeed…” The commander eyed Sean curiously for a moment, “Well, surely you can tell me something? You seem remarkably calm and composed considering where my team found you. You have any skills that you remember? Any information that could help take down those government bastards? You’re free to leave if that’s what you want. But it wouldn’t take long for them to find you again now that they know who you are. I’d like you to join us in the GFC. If you can find a place here and a way to contribute.”
Sean considered. Hm. He’d have to give this man something, make himself at least somewhat valuable. The man seemed more pleasant than those government goons had been, but Sean could see the calculating glint in his eyes. If Sean proved to be completely useless then who knew what he could do. He might just cut Sean loose… Or he could decide to kill him to keep Sean from spilling any secrets that he might have accidentally learned. And setting Sean loose was basically the same as letting him be captured again considering the resources at the government's fingertips. The commander was right about that part at least.
“I’m an engineer,” Sean said suddenly as he decided what route he should take, “Give me something to fix and I should be able to figure out how to do it. I’d be happy to help pay you back for getting me out of there.”
The commander sat back and smiled slightly and raised his glass, “Ah, I knew that you must be special. We’d be happy to have you. I understand if you don’t want to talk about your past. If you do remember it. To joining the GFC and get payback on those bastards trying to press the rest of us under their heels.”
Sean raised his glass and tapped it against the commanders and they both drank.
— — —
Sean hadn’t imagined that things would be this corrupt. He wondered what Emily was doing right about now, if she knew about what was being done right under her nose…
Should he contact her? But she was literally the spiritual leader of the whole world and assembled nations. Why would they let random fugitive Sean or ‘Malketh’ come see her? The country that Sean had just been rescued from was the largest and most important economically and militarily from what Sean had been able to determine from his frantic research right after he entered this body. The Jade Congress was the country's name. Nominally a democracy, but it had been a very long time since anyone but the ruling party had ever been elected. The name was a fake, the elections were shams as the ruling party controlled those beneath them with an iron fist.
Right now Sean and this group of the GFC were in one of the neighboring countries hostile to the Jade Congress. Right now he was casually inspecting the fully articulating digital model of Sierra’s exosuit on the datapad in his hands. He reached out and after taking a few seconds to figure out the commands for the modeling software started pinching various pieces and sections and blowing them out to more closely inspect the internals and electricals. It was all very primitive, less complex than even the first robot Sean had ever managed to build. Let alone Ash’s first combat capable body, which had been orders more complex than even that.
The only hard part would be the tools… Going in with less advanced equipment would be a hassle…
“So, any questions?” the man asked after Sean didn’t say anything else, “That’s the basic design of the armor. I’m here to teach you to repair it, we’ll just be removing the chestplate and repairing the superficial scratches on the metal today. Don’t worry, we won’t have to do anything electrical unless Sierra gets really banged up on one of his missions.”
Sean put the datapad down at his side, “No questions. Show me how it’s done,” he said. He thought he understood the basics of the design itself. But he was genuinely interested to see what methods the head engineer would use for repair with so few advanced tools to help him.
— — —
“Are you bored, Malketh?” the head engineer said sharply as he saw Sean’s glazed over look. The man’s actions had been interesting for the first hour or so. But they were approaching hour four now and Sean had already understood the basics of the techniques long ago. The engineer had just kept going with his long winded explanation. And after he had shushed Sean after Sean tried to interrupt him, Sean went silent and just waited. He did learn one or two more things in the man’s lecture, but not enough to justify him standing here waiting as the head engineer kept going and inflating his own ego for much longer than Sean ever thought possible.
“No, is that all?” Sean said to reply to the engineer a little impatiently, “I think I understood.”
“Did you now?” the man said before handing Sean his tools with an irritated look on his face, “Then how about you just handle the rest? I’m sure with you paying such close attention, you’ll be able to do it right. And it better not have so much as a single thing wrong, or I’ll have you cleaning the toilets next.”
With a self satisfied smirk, the head engineer gestured between Sean and the exosuit. ‘What crawled up his ass?’ Sean wondered to himself as he took stock of the tools he’d been given and the damage to the exosuit. He assessed the task for a few seconds.
“Well? What are you waiting for?” the head engineer said, “Go ahead.”
“Sure.”
Then Sean went to work and finished the repairs flawlessly. The head engineer was red in the face in embarrassment by the time Sean fixed the last dent in the material while avoiding all the internal electronics underneath.
“Well, I guess you were paying attention,” the man said before turning away, “You have the designs. Study them, I’ll be testing you tomorrow. Wonder boy.”
The man stormed out of the room and Sean blinked. Huh. Actually, he hadn’t seen any other engineers in this place yet. Was the man feeling threatened by Sean? Should Sean not have done as well as he had? Played down his skills?
Sean considered it, but then shrugged. What was done was done. No use downplaying anything now. The work was somewhat interesting and something to pass the time. Best to make himself useful to the GFC until he could more firmly establish himself into this new life as a mortal where he could be killed at any moment or even just die of old age if he waited too long to do something.
— — —
“Back from another mission, you two?” Sean said amiably as he fiddled with Sierra’s armor where a heavy caliber weapon had torn into the internals and rendered the left arm completely limp, “A rough one?”
“Yes, it was a close one my friend,” Sierra said as he stretched until his back popped with a loud crack.
“Ah, that’s the stuff,” Sierra groaned before rubbing his shoulder, “I will go to the medic now. See if they have something for the shoulder. But good thing my arm is not as damaged as the suit, ay? Heal him right up, Malketh, and do your magic.”
“Sure thing,” Sean said slightly amused by Sierra’s antics, “I’ll fix him right back up. Take a rest will you? That’s three missions just this week. Everyone needs a rest every once in a while. Even you two.”
“Bah,” Sierra said, “You repair faster than the old man. Faster repairs, more missions. No need to wait so long anymore. Lucky for you that Violet and I vouched for you, ay? Heard the old man was spreading all sorts of rumors about you a few months ago.”
Sean grimaced, “Yes, thanks for that both of you. That could have gone bad. They’ve got him fixing faulty lights around here now. So I suppose it all worked out in the end.”
“Worked out for you, Malketh,” Sierra said, “But you are better engineer, so I do not mind. Anywho, time to get some ice packs and have a beautiful woman kiss my wounds. I leave Violet to you.”
Sierra left and Sean saw Violet roll her eyes with her helmet at her side tucked under her arm, “Can’t believe he scored that nurse,” she grumbled, “Honestly. I wish there were a handsome man treating me when I went…”
“Hey, Sierra might take you if you asked nicely,” Sean joked as Violet started taking off her body armor and placing it in her locker, helmet and all. She was wearing some casual clothes underneath, a fact that surprised Sean the first time he’d seen her out of armor.
Violet placed the helmet in her locker and closed and locked the door before turning back to Sean. Violet put two fingers in her mouth and made an exaggerated gagging motion, “Ugh, gross. Don’t even joke about that, Malketh. Sierra’s not my type.”
“Don’t let Sierra hear you say that.”
“Trust me, I’m not his type either,” Violet said as she shook her head and smoothed her blonde hair back with her hand, “Anyway, are you still on for later tonight? Don’t forget the snacks.”
“Yeah, sure,” Sean said, “See you after dinner.”
— — —
“Oh, you’re so going down! Ha! Grrrrrrr ughhhhh! C’mon, seriously? Again?” Violet groaned.
Sean threw his game controller onto the table in front of him and laughed, “Aha! And she’s defeated again! Just admit it, you’ll never beat me in these fighting games, Violet.”
“How are you so good?” Violet complained, “Your character did a five hit combo before I even hit the ground. How is that even possible? I had four NPC allies fighting with me! It was five on one, how did you still win?”
“That’s just how I roll, get wrecked,” Sean gloated before reaching into the open back between them and taking a bite of the salty cracker that he took from inside.
“I don’t know how you do it,” Violet said as she started configuring a new game and started giving herself even more advantages again so she could try to beat Sean at the game.
The game started and they both started playing again. This time it was more even since Violet had given her allies more powerful weapons with attacks that were harder for Sean’s character to dodge.
Sean lost this time against the blatantly unfair battle, but only just.
“Well you won,” Sean said as he took another snack and crunched down again. Eating food as a mortal was just so much better than as an Immortal. One of his favorite parts in this new life of his.
“I just don’t get it,” Violet said, really sounding a bit frustrated now rather than just joking, “How are you so good at everything, Malketh? How can you do this? Just come here and play video games with me after what those government bastards did to you? Don’t you want to go out there, get some revenge?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Sean carefully put down the controller and turned to the woman as he considered how to respond.
“Sorry,” she said as she saw him thinking, “I shouldn’t have said that. We can just keep playing, you don’t have to answer.”
“No, it’s fine,” Sean said, “Just thinking about what to say. I have secrets. You know that. The commander knows that. Even the Jade Congress knows it. Can I trust you not to tell anyone if I tell you?”
“I promise,” Violet said after a long moment, “I won’t tell anyone.”
Sean reordered his thoughts as he thought of what to address first, “How will you feel? If the Jade Congress collapsed right now? I assume that’s why you’re doing this. For revenge against them for whatever they did against you.”
“It wasn’t against me,” Violet said softly, “It was my family. Disappeared without a trace. Never seen again. I only survived because I had a friend in GFC who warned me against going back home and took me in after.”
“I understand. I think,” Sean said, “My parents… Well, the place where I lived growing up was considered rural. Isolated.”
Violet snorted, “Not many places like that these days it seems,” she muttered, “Less and less places where the Jade Congress doesn’t have their fingers and influence digging in deeper more and more as time passes.”
Sean pressed onwards and ignored her comment, “My parents were murdered.”
Violet looked up sharply, “What? Malketh, did you…”
“It was the village elders,” Sean said, “They… well, it doesn’t really matter why. They didn’t like my family. So they killed my father, made it look like an accident. Then my mother, the same way. And they tried to do the same to me.”
“They… how did you survive? If they got away with it before?”
“The Sha… I was helped. I was so angry afterwards. The person who helped me… the first thing they did was go back to try to help me get my revenge. To get some justice for my parents.”
“What did they do?” Violet asked, her game controller laying forgotten in her lap as she wrung her hands in her lap as she focused all her attention on Sean’s story.
“We were supposed to steal everything,” Sean said, “Leave the people who did it penniless. But not kill anyone, despite what they’d done. I wanted to help on the mission, but the person who helped me… they stopped me. Went to handle it themselves, didn’t want me to go and get myself hurt. Then things went wrong. An old enemy caught up to the person, and ambushed them inside my home village.
“By the time the person who helped me escaped with me in tow, everyone in my village was dead. The two of us left, and traveled together for a while. Years later I learned that it wasn’t just my village, but the whole area had been devastated by the person we left behind. I had my revenge. Everyone was dead, murderers and everyone who had ever supported them. But it was just depressing. Like it happened to someone else, you know?
“I guess I never really had the time for my flames of vengeance to grow or really set in. But knowing that all of them were dead didn’t comfort me at all. I’m lucky that I had other things to pay attention to. Even now, It’s something that I know I should care about, focus on. But I just don’t. It doesn’t spur me to action like it does for you.”
“Malketh,” Violet said in a hoarse voice, “I’m so sorry, I had no idea… To just lose everyone like that. And what the Jade Congress did to you after. I… I’m sorry. Who was it that did it? The Jade Congress? Someone else?”
“No, it wasn’t them,” Sean said, “You wouldn’t know about them. It doesn’t matter anymore. I told you, it is what it is. But my point is that getting your revenge won’t make you happy. Even if you killed everyone responsible for what happened to your family, it’ll just make you feel hollow afterward. There’s no big reveal or catharsis like you’re imagining there will be. Or at least there wasn’t for me.”
Violet didn’t say anything for a while.
“Maybe not,” she eventually said, “...Maybe not. But I can’t just stand by as the Jade Congress does more fucked up shit when I can stop it. Not when I can do something. Who helped you? I’m guessing the person who helped you make your new identity? Trained you in all this knowledge you seem to have. More than I’d expect from some backwater village boy.”
“Somebody important,” Sean said without elaborating, “And please don’t call me a village boy again. It feels gross somehow when you say it.”
“Gross? Hardly. You’re the one making it weird,” Violet said in a slightly lighter tone.
They played some more video games in a more subdued mood after. But they were better friends afterwards and Sean was able to convince Violet and Sierra to be more sustainable on how often they went out for missions and raids after a few more weeks of effort.
— — —
“Malketh, it’s been more than two years now. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? We can train you up if you’re nervous. You know those exosuits better than anyone else I know. I’m sure you could learn to pilot one easily. Just like playing a game,” Violet said.
“No, I prefer staying the cozy engineer,” Sean said, “I’m not really comfortable with killing people despite everything. Feels like something that I can’t take back. No offense, but I don’t want to kill somebody for the cause of the GFC. We both know this place is more a puppet of hostile nations to help weaken the Jade Congress than actually wanting to promote real reform or change. Or at least it is now.”
Violet grimaced, “It doesn’t matter where our funds come from. Our mission hasn’t changed.”
“If you say so,” Sean said, “But I’m fine where I am. You do know there’s some Immortals working for them? At least twenty or thirty from what I’ve heard around base. Are you sure you’re avoiding the places where they’re stationed?”
“Yes, Malketh,” Violet said, “Of course. I don’t see the big deal. They can’t die, but I’m sure we can trap them until the mission is done. They’re just normal people other than the regeneration and lack of aging. A heavy weapon would knock them down for a while.”
“You’d be surprised how much they can power through if they’re determined,” Sean said while remembering Asuta’s ‘Sensei training’ and angling his body so it would fall forward after a grenade evaporated everything above the waist in the grenade’s blast.
“Always the man of mystery,” Violet teased, “Like you’ve ever so much as met one of them. There can’t be more than, what, a few thousand of them in the whole world? I’m surprised that the Jade Congress even managed to convince that many Immortals to work for them. I doubt they work at guarding random military facilities. Probably too beneath them.”
“Just be careful,” Sean said, “I wouldn’t want to lose my gaming partner, would I?”
“Thanks, Malketh,” Violet said with a strange look in her eyes. She reached out and put her hand over Sean’s for a moment. Sean cleared his throat and pulled his hand back, “Ah, next game?” he said uncomfortably, “Co-op? Complete the campaign together?”
“Yeah, sure,” Violet said, looking disappointed as she grabbed the controller, “I call playing the character with the shotgun.”
— — —
“When will you two kiss, ay?” Sierra said bluntly as he stood by the door of the largely abandoned cafeteria where Violet and Sean had been eating their dinner together.
The two of them jolted up and stared at Sierra who was looking back at them with his red eyes and albino skin with a sly grin on his face.
With a rumble, Sierra sat down next to Sean, shaking the whole table with his weight. He slung his bulky arms around Sean’s shoulders.
“Ah, you two. Always sneaking away together. The video games, the meals, ah so many excuses to sit close to one another and speak. The romantic tension, it is thick in the air. It is like… a fog. I must peer through it and wonder what to say, you see? Always dancing on my tiptoes after the missions. So annoying, and so I tell myself just a few minutes ago that I can solve this problem easily. Not leave it as a strange thing always simmering out of sight at all times. Hm, but I will now retreat before Violet attempts to make me regret my existence. Hopefully when I finish cowering elsewhere this strange fog will be lifted and you can both thank me for my help.”
Violet was blushing hard with her clenched fists around her fork and knife and gritted teeth as she sat there at the table as Sierra stood up and released his arm from around Sean.
“I will go now. We will soon see if a big man like me can truly hide from Violet’s wrath,” Sierra said jovially before glancing back at Violet. At seeing Violet’s murderous expression, Sierra suddenly frowned.
“I will flee now,” Sierra said firmly before turning and sprinting out of the room so fast that the doors hit the walls with a loud clang as he rushed through them with his bulky frame before anyone could react.
“SIERRA!” Violet shouted as she stood from the table, a vein on her neck pulsing and looking like she was about to blow her fuse any moment. She took a few steps to chase after Sierra, but on seeing Sean staring at her, she froze in place.
“Stupid asshole doesn’t know anything,” she said after she visibly mastered herself and sat back down and stabbed her food angrily with her fork, “Thinks that just because I have a friend that I’ve got to be fucking them too…”
Sean wisely chose to not say anything as Violet kept darkly muttering about Sierra as the meal continued and she brutally slaughtered the vegetables on her plate with jabs of her fork one after another.
The meal finished awkwardly and they went to leave and go their separate ways.
“Hey, Malketh,” Violet said with a slight hesitation as they were about to separate, “Are we… still on? For the weekend, to hang out?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t we be?” Sean said, despite knowing exactly what she was referring to.
“Right, of course,” Violet said before hesitating again, “Sierra doesn’t know anything. See you then.”
They went opposite ways to go to bed. Sean actually had to sleep every night now as a mortal. It was odd feeling tired so much and being forced to stick to a schedule so strictly. As an Immortal he didn’t have anything like that that was so strict on its timing every time.
— — —
“Hey, Malketh,” Violet said after they had both died, their digital characters both having been gutted by aliens with plasma swords and died on screen.
“What do you think about what Sierra said? You know… About us? Strange thought, right? Haha.”
“Right,” Sean said, “Strange.”
Violet shifted in her seat, “Did you have anyone? Before?”
“Yes. I did,” Sean said, “She’s still out there. Waiting for me to come back. I couldn’t be with you either way. I’m not going to cheat on her, she doesn’t deserve that. Even if she would probably never know.”
“Who’s the lucky girl? What makes you so sure she’s waiting for you still? After so long?” Violet asked.
“Lira. That’s her name. For her, all of this time won’t be nothing more than a moment. When I see her again she’ll be fine.”
Violet raised her eyebrows, “Only a moment? Surely you’re not… Oh my. Sean, did you get to date an Immortal? Is that what you mean? Because she’s so old?”
Sean jolted, “What? I mean, she is an Immortal but…”
“Ha! So I was right! Daaaaammmmn, Malketh. How’d you manage to land that? Did you two ever, you know…”
“It just sort of happened,” Sean said, “We were both in a bad place at the time. I’m glad I met her though. I don’t know what I would do without her. And yes, we did have some fun together. Ms. Nosy.”
“What?” Violet said, “I’m just saying. It’s like in the stories. Swept off your feet and carried away by the handsome Immortal off to their big palaces…”
Sean raised an eyebrow at her.
“What stories have you been reading?”
“That’s… that’s not important,” Violet said with a faint blush in her bronzed cheeks, “I believe you. But I’m surprised you managed something like that.”
“I’ll tell you about it later,” Sean promised as he got an excellent idea.
— — —
“Ha! I’ve got you cornered now, Malketh!” Violet shouted as she furiously mashed the buttons on her game controller. Sean was indeed cornered. There was no escape and his inevitable doom was closing in on all sides on the screen. So he played his secret weapon that he’d been saving up for over an hour and a half.
“Hey Violet, one thing you should know about Immortals,” Sean said as he prepared his character to exploit the opening he was about to create, “Their endless stamina, it can be used in all sorts of fun ways. Lira certainly taught me that lesson well. In the bedroom.”
It took a second for the words to register in Violet’s mind, but her hands spasmed as she looked over at Sean in shock and disbelief. Sean’s digital character ruthlessly charged forward and started pummeling Violet’s character who had interrupted their long charged attack and accidentally fired it off to the side.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Violet swore as she turned back to the game and tried to recover from her mistake. But Sean had too much of a lead now that she’d presented weakness and ended up finishing her off before the NPCs could come help her. The game over screen appeared with Sean’s character as the winner.
“Gaia damn it!” Violet said, “That wasn’t fair! Have you been saving that up for over an hour?!”
“Yep,”
“Malketh, you sneak. That just completely hit me out of nowhere.”
“Hey you’re the one who asked.”
“Over an hour ago! I asked over an hour ago! I thought that you didn’t want to answer!”
“And I told you I’d answer you later, didn’t I? And I did. Not my fault you came to your own conclusions.”
Sean shot Violet a satisfied smirk as she sputtered in disbelief.
“That’s just ridiculous,” Violet said before sighing and slouching back onto the couch in defeat, “Really, how’s a girl supposed to counter something as unexpected as that?”
“Meh. Only works once,” Sean said, “But I still won. I beat you even after you worked your hardest to stack the deck against me again.”
“Were you just messing with me? Or did you really have an Immortal girlfriend out there somewhere?”
“She’s out there,” Sean said, “But I won’t be able to see her again in this lifetime.”
Violet looked confused and turned to him, “What? But I thought that you two were together… Why would you hold yourself back if you can never see her again?”
“I said in this lifetime,” Sean replied, “I’ll see her in my next life. I’ll see her then.”
Violet was quiet for a moment.
“That’s both so romantic and so disturbing at the same time. You love her so much you won’t be with anyone else until you die… But also you’re an idiot for doing that to yourself.”
Sean shrugged, “Not everything is about sex, Violet. I’m doing just fine. It’s my choice. Don’t worry about it too much. Or I’ll tell Sierra to help set up dates for you with some of the other guys on base again.”
“No!” Violet said in genuine fear, “Please don’t. I can’t believe he did that last year. I had to play along since Sierra was his usual loud self when talking to everyone and making plans without asking me first.”
“I thought it was kind of funny,” Sean admitted, “But alright, alright. That was too far. I’ll tell him you're gay so he sets you up with the women this time. That should delay him for a while as he loudly susses out which of them are interested and which aren’t.”
“Oh. My. Gaia,” Violet said, looking visually disturbed at the picture that Sean had just painted and going a little pale, “He would probably do it too,” she said, “I didn’t think it could get worse. I’m feeling embarrassed just imagining it. You’re a real cruel man sometimes, Malketh. Utterly ruthless.”
“I do my best. Want to play another game? Or are you too tired?”
Violet thought about it before grabbing her controller off the table again,
“One more game. We’re playing those settings again. I can’t believe you can beat all of that without cheating.”
“Prepare to be amazed,” Sean said with a slight grin as he selected his character and the match started. It would be a hard fight, but now that he’d played against them once he had a few ideas on how he could win this time…
He won again, but just barely with only a few health points left before his character died.
Sean stood up and yawned as he stood from the couch stretched, “And with my ultimate victory unchallenged, I’m done. Night, Violet.”
“Night, Malketh. See you.”
“See you.”
Sean walked out of the door to her room and then went to bed. It was so odd and… comfortable spending time with Violet. He could just relax and banter with her as they played the fighting games without worrying about anything else. Lira and Roger had always preferred the more cooperative games where you worked together to accomplish the goals.
It was nice to play against someone with a little bit more of a competitive spirit for once.