Hale walked through the forest, as he did his confidence only grew. The feelings he had always suppressed since birth were let out. His malice, his hate. He felt freed. Freed of the chains that society had put on him. He was going to live, no matter how many lies he had to tell, how many people he had to manipulate, no matter how many bodies he had to stand on. In the end he could always ask the living ones for forgiveness. Through this line of thinking he was able to delay his empathy into the future. He could feel bad when he was a god.
Because of this line of thinking Hale decided to make a small detour. He walked until he saw a smaller boulder than the ones that were at the center of the quarry. The special thing about this one was that it had a small cave.
Hale pulled out the pistol he had and walked in. Michael heard him coming and became afraid, he was extremely weak. His previously lordly and overbearing aura was gone. His clothes were in tatters and he had multiple wounds that still hadn’t been bandaged. The abomination was more powerful than he had originally thought. Soon Hale appeared in the beam of Michael’s flashlight and he felt dread. A Crest subordinate. But Hale didn’t walk any further, he only observed the gray irises that made up Michael’s eyes.
They stood in silence for a few moments. Seeing that Hale wasn’t attacking Michael finally broke the silence, “What do you want?”
“I want to make a deal.”
-
“Where is Michael!” A shout sounded from the distance as Hale walked to the gathering of people in the glade without hurry.
Hale got closer and found that Rose was yelling at the few Shea people left as they all stood around the scorch marks on the ground that Hale had made previously. He sauntered up to the group and silently joined in with the other Crest family members. There were only two others besides Hale and Rose, and the Shea family only had the three.
“Where is your team? I can’t remember them so I assume they died.” Rose said as she answered her own question. She talked like she was in charge. She was angry that so many people were lost under her watch and her radiation field was fully released making her fair skin glow with moonlight. Of course, that glow wasn’t real, just a side effect of a radiation field with a visual aspect.
“I never saw them after we made it past those tentacles.” Hale lied through his teeth with no change in expression. Everything was within his control.
Rose’s yelling went on for a while longer but eventually she had to give up and the team headed back to their vans. There was nothing left here for them. The assault teams could clear out any of the remaining abominations.
They returned to the vans, but the Shea family members found that one of the military hummers was already gone. Rose nearly lost it again when she saw that.
“Bastard.” She couldn’t help but curse under her breath as she imagined Michael killing her team and leaving with the artifact.
Hale took the driver's seat of the empty van. His entire team had died. One was devoured by the ink, one was killed by Michael, and the other two had been betrayed. But Hale was different, he didn’t feel bad. How could dying not change you?
The van slowly drove through the mostly empty streets of Boston as he made his way to the Crest’s building in downtown Boston. This was the first time he really got to look around the city in nearly two weeks and so much had changed. He had missed his late night walks, the cool ocean air was refreshing. Being on the roof was nice, but it wasn’t the same. It didn’t contain that same sense of freedom. He felt so utterly alone as he watched random strangers walking down the streets. He could never interact with these people for any meaningful amount of time or he might kill them, and everyone that he could interact with were snakes. Even Aila, he suspected she was trying to control him or build some sort of bond for an unknown reason. He couldn’t let his guard down again.
He pulled into a parking spot in the underground parking garage. Did the few menial chores of putting away some gear before retiring to his room. Hale found it funny, well less funny and more annoying, his chest still hurt. Even though the god’s blood had pulled his wounds closed and helped him heal in an unnatural amount of time. He could feel his body trying to repair his heart. Trying and failing. It was like an aching muscle that you cannot stretch, or an itch you cannot reach. A reminder of the truths of the world. He could also feel the god’s blood that was still in ink form slithering around the bones of his left arm, like someone trying to get comfortable in bed. He found it nauseating at first, but after a few hours it calmed down and seemed to be content with its spot. Hale hid the doll that Ava left behind in his clothes. Sleep found him quickly after that.
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The next day he reported to a conference room on floor 11 after he got a call telling him that he would need to report everything that happened. He found himself in a rather drab conference room, sitting across from him were three others. An older man, a younger man no more than 5 years older than Hale, and an old woman. They asked him basic questions of the sequence of events and Hale told them that he was stuck in the forest the whole time. The last time he saw his squad was right after the ink pit and then never again. They pressure him with their resonance realm radiation fields. He could have used his own, it wouldn’t have pressured them but it would have warded theirs off him but he decided to let those people have their fun. He lied and they believed it, it was infinitely more satisfying than simply pressuring a weak person. Hale had to practically focus all his attention on his eyes as they so wanted to flash violet while he spun webs of lies.
Hale took time at lunch to think of his plans for the future. He was in a stable spot now and there are avenues for him to take. His main problem is twofold. How to speed up his ascension to godhood and how to most effectively destroy the Crest family while also reaping the most. Hale felt sick even being in this building but he hadn’t lost all common sense. If he was going to go through the trouble of destroying this place he would at least make sure he reaps all the profits. The real problem is in his limited knowledge. He might have strategy, but it is impossible to win a game where the rules are kept from you. But, he had an idea to remedy that.
That evening he met with Aila again on the roof, she seemed to be completely undisturbed by the sudden “disappearance” of her sister. He found it odd, but with the increase in his realm he could finally peek through her radiation. He may still be a ways away from resonance but he is no longer the fresh awakened he was. He couldn’t quite place her concept but it was the exact same as her sisters. Cloning maybe? He couldn’t be sure but it was enough where he felt secure in his plans. She didn’t know what Ava knew and that was enough. They talked as they watched the sunset and soon clothes were off and moaning filled the previously silent roof.
“You’re different.” Aila said as she laid against his chest. They were once again clothed, mostly.
“A difference in perspective, I think.”
“No, like, you seem… unhinged.”
“Unburdened.” Hale corrected her.
“Unburdened by what?”
“The world.”
The next few days they would meet on the roof every evening and give into their primal urges. Hale couldn’t help feeling something for this lustful woman, but it wouldn’t stop him. They were now very comfortable around each other so Hale decided to use this moment to spring his innocent question.
“After meeting the Shea family I was wondering what the power structure of Boston is like.”
Aila cringed at the question but after a moment she let out a breath and said, “Three families control Boston. That would be our Crest family, the Shea family, and the Sumner family. There is another entity above all of us called The Order of the Self. Such a pretentious name.” Aila had a scowl as she thought of the Order of the Self.
“What are they like? And why do families have so much power? I don’t get it.” Hale asked honestly.
“The Order is overbearing and complete dickheads. They’re all so full of themselves, but their power is proof. Their lowest ranks are resonance realms, I’ve heard they have many gods in their organization and some even higher. When it comes to the families, their power comes from the fact that families are rare. You have to remember, when women get pregnant their bodies will irradiate the fetus, for us awakened the chances of anything but a stillbirth is astronomically low.”
“That makes sense.”
Time passed and they once again fell into primal urges. Hale had to admit, her sex drive was unreal. He was feeling more and more secure in his guess that the three sisters were one and Aila happened to get those traits. As they were getting ready to leave Hale posed a question to her.
“Don’t the higher ups get mad at you for bringing me up here?”
“Maybe they’d be if they knew.” Aila broke out into a giggle after that. It was quite enchanting, for a moment Hale wavered from his plan, but soon felt the pain in his heart that never went away. Cold water splashed on his face, taking him out of his reverie. His face didn’t show any of this change. Aila soon added, “You might think that much of this building is up to date but to be truthful that’s just on the surface. Technology like computer systems and cameras that are radiation resistant are hard to find and very expensive. Everyone wants one. So to save processing power on the servers they don’t track when the keycards are used, and besides for a few cameras in the front all the rest are fake. Like that one.” Aila pointed to a camera that sat just above where the elevator door was.
Hale couldn’t stop a large grin growing on his face. This would make everything easier. This would now be child’s play. The destruction of the Crest family was within reach.