Virginia had accumulated a long list of regrets throughout the years. Some were trivial, while others disturbed her sleep on the rare occasions when she bothered to think about them. However, what she did in the last three hours was firmly on the top of that long list. And the worst part was that there was no one else to blame than herself. Sure, she could come up with a number of excuses ranging from the absurd to fairly reasonable. But they were excuses and nothing else. Sweet words to calm her guilty conscience. However, they would never erase the embracement of her screams of pleasure. Although, at the same time, a part of her was happy with the events that unfolded.
That was the core of the problem. It wasn’t what she did that bothered her, but the fact that she had lost control. In doing so, she had exposed to Felix a side of her that should have never seen the light of day. Right now, the only thing Virginia wanted was to forget and, if possible, erase the memory from her cerebral implant. However, unlike the latter, the former was impossible. Prompted by the thought, the implant offered to play a recording in her mind, and she couldn’t dismiss the option faster. There would be plenty of time to chastise herself later once she had crawled into a hole. But before that, Virginia had to think of a way to escape without Felix noticing. She wasn’t ready to confront him because what they did, what she initiated, was a mistake. Then again, it wasn’t the first time she would run away from another man’s bed in the hope that she could hide. Despite her age, all the years as a member of the scientific community, and the name she had made for herself, Virginia stumbled like a lost teen when it came to her love life.
Gently, she pulled the thin synthetic fabric of the cover closer to her body in an attempt to wrap herself with it. A rather difficult task to begin with made all that harder because of Felix’s strong arm enveloping her waist. With some effort, Virginia pushed the limb away, biting her lower lip as the ham-sized palm slid against the skin of her buttocks. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to enjoy this moment of bliss for a little longer, that traitorous part of her mind insisted.
She hated herself for admitting this, but Felix was surprisingly skilled in addition to his superior stamina and somewhat impressive anatomy. He was nothing like the type she would normally share a bed with. All her previous lovers were men of science well accomplished in their respective fields or, at the very least, promising graduates. And Felix was a lowly comms specialist, a brutish grunt who knew what he wanted and how to take it… Virginia shook her head, dismissing the strange thoughts forming there. Her life wasn’t like the smut floating on the recreation feed that rarely managed to catch her attention.
Twisting her body ever so slowly, she managed to finally wrap herself with the cover and sit in the bed. An achievement on its own, considering it wasn’t designed with someone with Felix’s unique physique in mind. Even for two average individuals, it would be a tight fit, let alone a giant of a man and herself. As much as she kept her figure in check by not eating and keeping a passable training routine, Virginia wasn’t a petite woman. So, it was no surprise that the tech next to her stirred. In a single motion, his large hand embraced her hips and moved her to the edge of the bed as he rolled on his side.
“There you go.” He rumbled in a deep voice, stuck between sleep and awakening. “Though… I’ll appreciate it if… You know, you leave the sheet behind.”
“Wha… What? I was just… That is…” Virginia stumbled on her words, unsure if she should think of an excuse or lash out at him for suggesting something obscene.
“You were trying to sneak out.” King stopped her, his eyes still closed. However, she was certain that he was following her every movement regardless. “Also, you can get dressed in ten seconds if you skip the underwear. You can stuff it in your shirt… Or, well, leave it here and come back for it later… Doesn’t bother me…”
Virginia could swear her face would melt through steel the way it was burning from the embracement she felt. Being called out like that only highlighted the absurdity of her actions. Which in turn made her feel more embarrassed, resulting in her falling into a spiral of emotions she rather didn’t experience.
“I wasn’t! I… I… I…”
“Look, Vi, we—”
“Please don’t shorten it.” She lifted her hand to interrupt him. “Use Virginia if you must.”
“Fine,” Felix opened his eyes slightly, visibly irritated. “Anyway, we’re both adults. There’s no need to make a huge deal out of this, you know. Or… you know… we could make something out of it… It’s up to you… All the same to me.”
“Please, stop talking.” She shivered at the insane ideas forming in her mind while putting her pants back on. “This… This was a mistake, okay? And I don’t want to hear any rumours!”
“Give me some credit, Dr Werner.” The man pushed his massive frame up and sat in the bed, revealing the mystery of where her bra had gone. “Oh… Here you go.”
“You… You—”
“Mr King, emergency situation in Command. Your presence is required.” Zeti’s artificial voice interrupted the tirade Virginia was prepared to embark on. “Dr Werner, you are to accompany him for your own safety. Innari elements temporarily marked as friendlies will provide security.”
“What happened?” Felix demanded as he jumped from the bed and got dressed in record time.
“Events in progress. Further information will be provided on arrival. Innari Command has been petitioned to release the tech team working with Mr King.” The speakers of the console came to life again.
That was definitely not a good sign. A ball formed in Virginia’s gut as Felix practically dragged her out of his quarters.
“Zeti, contact Zoë! I know she doesn’t look like it, but she’s good at that Officer talk…” The large man paused as he listened to a response through the feed. “Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh fuck!”
“What’s going on? Felix! Talk to me!” She screamed behind the tech as they ran towards the HQ.
“Shit’s hit the fan! Zoë’s in surgery. The Knight Protector’s locked up. And the Chief and Commodore Neverok really pissed off Helix.”
“Oh! Fuck!” Virginia couldn’t even imagine how all of that could have happened in the last three or four hours.
She scrambled after the massive comms specialist as the first signs of panic began to set in. The fear and terror that had been her constant companions since all of this began returned, leaving her with a single thought – she didn’t want to be left alone. In her current state, she lost track of her surroundings, focused only on keeping up with Felix, and, as a result, collided with the reinforced door separating the rest of the station from Security HQ.
“Virginia, look at me. Breathe.” The giant placed a hand on her shoulder. “You might want to stay in the corridor with the Innari. Whatever’s inside, it ain’t going to be pretty.”
She couldn’t muster a single word but managed to shake her head. With trembling hands, the archaeologist grabbed the back of Felix’s t-shirt as they made their way through the fifty-meter-long corridor. At the end, a pair of menacing troopers in black armour waited for them, weapons at the ready.
“Identify yourselves!” One of them shouted.
“Communications Officer King and specialist Werner, civilian. Sending identification signature through open channel AS0C.”
“Confirmed.” The weapons were lowered, and they were motioned to approach the reinforced blast door of the Control Room. As soon as they did, the trooper on their right asked. “Can you open it?”
“Yeh… Mainframe won’t recognise authorisation codes, but the bio-scanner will override that.” Felix spoke and removed a small panel from the doorframe before placing his hand in the opening.
With a hiss, the door opened, and the smell of burned flesh hit Virginia’s nostrils. A second later, she could see the charred remains of people glued to the consoles they were hard-linked to. A handful of others lay on the floor in piles of blood, chunks of flesh and cybernetics littered around them. The moment her brain processed the grizzly sight, Dr Werner bent over and allowed for the disgusting mixture of stomach acids and whatever else was stored in her gut to find its way onto the floor.
“What the hell!” Everyone around her shouted, and Virginia found herself repeating the same words silently.
“Unfamiliarity with mainframe systems initiated an electrical overload.” Zeti’s voice boomed from the speakers in a perfect imitation of how an AI should sound like. At the same time, a stream of text began to appear on the lenses of Virginia’s glasses. “Attempts to counter the event resulted in the activation of static defences.”
< Z.E.T.I.: HELIX AUTHORISED PURGE PROTOCOL >
“Security protocol 77-4PRT was triggered exactly twenty-four minutes ago.”
< Z.E.T.I.: HIS ORDERS WERE EXPLICIT >
< Z.E.T.I.: NO SURVIVORS >
“Further tampering by MT Marcus, locked emergency hard-link release failsafe.”
< Z.E.T.I.: ALL BLAME IS TO BE DIRECTED AT >
< Z.E.T.I.: KNIGHT PROTECTOR VON EISSTAH >
“Fatal error caused the mainframe to reboot. Limited functionality was restored. Static defences unresponsive.”
< Z.E.T.I.: YOU ARE ASKED TO REMAIN HERE >
< Z.E.T.I.: WHERE I CAN PROTECT YOU >
< Z.E.T.I.: WHILE THE DEMON HUNTS >
“Emergency message sent to Communications Operator King.”
< Z.E.T.I.: I WILL KEEP YOU UPDATED >
Virginia pressed her back against the cold metallic wall and slumped to the floor. It took her another moment to realise that the messages were written in Unue, and she understood them perfectly. This was a nightmare. It was the only explanation. As a techno-archaeologist and researcher of Lost Technology, she understood what a rogue was capable of doing, at least in theory. But to see it with her own eyes, to experience it first hand, that was something else. She had allowed the cyber monstrosity to tamper with her cerebral implant. One wrong word, and this could be her. Virginia looked up at one of the cameras monitoring her every movement while Felix and the Innari began to remove the dead from the room and, for the first time in her life, prayed. She prayed that wherever Helix was, he would come back because he was the only one who could keep the artificial intelligence in check.
----------------------------------------
There was freedom in hatred. There was purpose in sin. There was purity in malice. For the first time in years, Helix felt the mnemonic shackles release their hold. He could let go and be what he was without fear of reproach. He was going to fulfil a promise long overdue. A part of the Demon wondered how Lilyana Neverok could be alive. Even if she was a Terran, her lifespan was insufficient for that to be true. However, she was one of a select few who knew about the origins of MASS Demon. On top of that, the Commodore inhabiting the station was a man. Sure, there were plenty of ways around that, but when added together, they painted a different picture. It was impossible for the two to be connected. Unless… The current Neverok was a scion of that accursed bloodline. It was so obvious that it physically hurt Lucas to think that he had missed it. He slowed his neck-breaking sprint the moment the Predator’s sensors picked heat signatures around the corner of the next junction.
“This level of incompetence is inexcusable,” he muttered to himself and picked one of the grenades locked to his hip. “Regulation A3-11 clearly states that all personnel should have thermal disruptors equipped at all times when in an active combat zone.”
The palm-sized cylinder bounced off the junction’s wall and detonated in a cloud of fire and shrapnel. Lucas was glad that the few minutes he spent going to the ammo cage in Control, after ordering Zeti to dispose of the heretics there, weren’t a waste of time as he originally thought. Stepping around the corner, rifle at the ready, he quickly evaluated the situation and relaxed. Two of the six men were alive, but they were in no condition to pose a threat. Putting them out of their misery would be a waste of ammunition. Having lost interest in them, Helix stepped over the mangled bodies and continued in the direction the map on the top left corner of his helmet indicated.
Tracking Donovan Rex’s position through the feed was simple enough. The problem was that it was clearly a trap. The pings lacked any distortions or echoes, which meant the signal was artificially generated. This also meant that the Commodore had a good understanding of how the Demons operated. But it also meant that there were holes in Lucas’ theory about who Alexei Neverok was. He was missing an important piece of the puzzle, and the medic didn’t like that. Each unknown increased the risk he was taking, and there were plenty of those already. Adding more was simply unacceptable. If either Puppeteer or Preacher were here, the first thing they would do would be to lecture Helix’s ears off before sorting all the available information and turning it into something that made sense. However, they were gone, and it was up to him to exact vengeance in their place.
“See you on the other side,” he whispered as he slowed down when he neared his destination. “But will you be waiting for me when I get there? Seven hundred and fifty years is a really long time.”
Lucas was unfamiliar with this part of the station. It definitely wasn’t part of 37-H, and he hadn’t the faintest idea what function it served because it didn’t appear to belong to a mining complex. Not that the medic was familiar with the interior architecture of an orbitally-locked mining facility, but he did imagine it to be more industrial. Instead, this portion of Section 05 looked clean. In a way, it reminded him of a research facility, although it lacked the sterile characteristics of one.
“Boost ISD within the 30Hz – 50Hz range.” He gave the command to the AI in the Predator suit because the thermals weren’t picking anything from behind the door in front of him.
< ADJUSTING SOUND DAMPENERS >
< PROCESSING… >
< DEFAULT FILTER ACTIVE >
< SOUND RANGE OUTSIDE OF FILTER PARAMETERS >
< DO YOU WISH TO CREATE NEW ISD FILTER? >
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“No! Disable ISD function,” Helix hissed through his teeth. He knew he had missed something when he was calibrating the armour’s functions. It had taken him about a month to get all the settings right the last time he had to reset the Predator. And that was close to ten years ago. Of course, he would miss a thing or two. If he thought about it, he could take a breather and go through all the functions he might need in order to check that everything was working to his specifications…
Lucas locked his eyes on the door and inhaled slowly. He could feel the telling itch of the Vertigo dermal layer beneath his skin. He smiled behind his helmet and took several steps back before sliding the second grenade towards the door. The blast echoed through the quiet corridor as the explosive tore the metal slab from its frame. Before the smoke cleared, the Demon stormed through the opening, the butt of his rifle pressed against his shoulder. The moment he stepped through the opening, he was tackled to the ground. A woman with a charred white coat and singed black hair sat on top of him and began to rain blows on his body and head. Her face was twisted in a feral snarl, and thick saliva dangled from her cracked lips as she screamed at him. Based on the strength of her blows, Lucas determined that she had undergone significant body modification. Artificial bones, muscle accelerators, and carbon skin reinforced with tungsten wire. It was the whole package one would expect of a brawler. But the most important thing was that she was a psi-witch. She was a Myling at best. No wonder she preferred close-quarters combat. Her powers were of use only in close proximity. The medic would have missed her entirely if she didn’t try to influence him from a distance.
In the time it took her to deliver two blows to his chest and one to his helmet, the medic had a clear idea of what he was dealing with. On the fourth time her right arm came at his face, he caught the fist with his own hand and delivered a precise punch to the side of the elbow joint. There was a loud crunch as the weakest part of the arm broke. Cybernetic limbs have many advantages, but because of their durability, the joints, in particular, lacked the elasticity of genetically enhanced ones. It was for this reason that soldiers made sure to have shock absorbers installed. A lesson his attacker had clearly skipped. A fraction of a second later, Lucas unclenched his fist and grabbed the damaged arm. With a thrust of his hips and with a proper hold on the woman, he threw her to the side.
Like a rabid beast, she snapped her teeth at him and scrambled to her feet. Apparently, she hadn’t realised that her right arm was as good as useless and lost her balance. Still on his back, the medic twisted his body so that his feet would face her and buried the soles of his boots in her face. There was another crunch as her nose and cheeks shattered, accompanied by a cry of pain. Concussed, injured and realising that she was at a disadvantage, the woman rolled to the side, putting as much distance between them as she could. Her left hand franticly began to tear at the coat, searching for something beneath. Wasting no time, Lucas jumped to his feet and pulled out his combat. He felt the blade scrape her ribs and enter her lungs as he pinned the hand to her chest. Satisfied that she was no longer a threat, the medic placed his right foot on her throat, which put a stop to her squirming. The previous madness he had seen in her eyes was replaced by panic and fear as she spat the blood that was gathering in her mouth from her broken nose.
“Where is Neverok?” He asked slowly so that she could clearly hear every single word.
“Ha!” The woman spat in his direction, and a mixture of saliva and blood landed on his thigh. “You better kill me while you still have the chance!”
“Where is Neverok?” Lucas repeated the question, increasing the pressure his foot exerted on her throat.
“You fuck! You think I’m gonna talk just cause—”
“I do.” The Demon pulled his heavy gauss pistol, putting a slug through her left ankle. Most of the foot and the lower half of her shin were reduced to giblets of flesh and steel in an instant.
“You have quite a few modifications, which means it will take a while to die of blood loss.” He continued as if nothing had happened once the scream of pain came to an end. “Where is Neverok?”
“I ain’t… telling you…” She sobbed, still defiant.
Lucas sighed and put a slug through the biceps of her left arm. The limb shattered into tiny pieces, proving his assumption that it was a replacement. He then knelt next to her and slowly pulled the combat knife from her chest.
“Artificial lung, chambered, of course, in case of puncture.” The medic spun the knife in his hands and turned her head to the side, exposing the area where the spine connected to the skull. “There is this condition called paralytic torture that affects only humans with extensive cybernetic augmentation. Sadly, quite irreversible. It occurs when the spinal cord is severed from the medulla oblongata without damaging the implant connectors. Normally, that would kill a human, but for those like you, your hardware keeps you alive.”
“No! No! No, no, no, no, no!” Her reaction made it clear that she was quite familiar with the condition as the blade pierced the surface of her skin. “Upper floor! The staircase on the left! Mineral Purity Laboratory! It’s the second door on the right! Please! I beg you! Don’t do it! I told you what you wanted! Please…”
“I told you, you would.” Gently, he pushed the tip of the knife into the space between the C1 vertebrae and the skull. The woman let out a gurgle and became as still as a corpse. “But I had to ask more than once.”
There was a good chance that he might have killed her since a knife wasn’t as precise as a laser scalpel, but that didn’t bother him at all. Even a dead psi-witch could be useful when placed on a dissection table. Right now, however, Lucas had other things to take care of. He retrieved his Ripper rifle and made his way to the room she had indicated.
To his surprise, his advance was unchallenged, and the door to the Mineral Purity Laboratory was open. He hesitated for a moment, wary of traps, but he couldn’t see any obvious ones. It took him almost a minute to scan the area with the assistance of the Predator suit’s integrated AI; however, the result was the same. Lucas didn’t like that. He knew this was a trap – it had to be. The problem was that he couldn’t figure out what kind. Of course, there was a slim chance that the Commodore had given up and was willing to surrender, but the medic dismissed it as wishful thinking. He had to go in; regardless of his fears, there was no other option.
A single step was all it took to cross the threshold. What awaited him inside was a lean, tall old man dressed in a near-immaculate white long-coat identical in design to the white uniform of a Blue Bible Group Evangelist, including the black right sleeve. No, this wasn’t an imitation like the ones he had seen before. This was a genuine Evangelist uniform. It even had the golden pins on the edges of the collar, marking this person as a Baptizer. And there, just above the heart, was the emblem of the Holy Terran Empire’s royal family. The personal crest of Lilyana Neverok. The fury that burned in Helix’s heart turned into something cold and evil. He was going to take his time killing this wretch and enjoy every single second of it.
“Commodore Neverok?” The medic asked, not bothering to hide the bile in his voice. “Not what I expected.”
Two sunken brown eyes, nestled in a gaunt, wrinkled face, watched him from across the room as if making sure that Lucas was really there. A moment later, a hoarse whispering voice came out of the Commodore’s mouth.
“You should be dead. Turned to ash after detonating a portable fusion core.”
“I got lucky.” Lucas was caught off-guard by the statement and said the first thing that came to his mind. However, it also confirmed some of his theories as to why he had awakened in a damned cryo-pod. “It looks like you’re well informed.”
“Not well enough,” the man answered after clicking his tongue.
The silence stretched while Lucas’ eyes darted from side to side, checking if there was anyone else in the room with them. He was confused that none of the Commodore’s lackeys were present. This off-putting strangeness was the only thing keeping his finger from pressing the trigger of the weapon in his hands. That, and the desire to learn if this man knew why the medic was after his life.
“Not going to hurl more pawns at me?” Lucas finally broke the silence.
“I don’t think so.” Neverok shook his head, his eyes tracking the Demon’s every slight movement. “It would be futile, anyway. You have a feed jammer on you, which will disrupt the synaptic link. At best, if they come near you, they will be sent into a panic and flee. At worst, you’ll gain control over them. Just like you did with the 201st.”
“Then why use it in the first place?” Something didn’t add up. The results of the tests were never made public, and even if information had made its way past Michael’s censorship, there was no way that this person would know it.
“A small-scale test to see if the exploit could be removed.” The Commodore let out a sigh. “Apparently not.”
“Who are you?” Lucas asked, his frustration growing with every second. This back and forth was getting him nowhere.
“I thought you knew? Well, then,” the old man cleared his throat and straightened his coat. “I am Alexei Neverok, Commodore of—”
The Ripper rifle roared as Helix sent a trio of slugs around his head.
“Try again.”
“Sorry. I’ve used that name for quite some time, that it’s become a habit.” Neverok’s wrinkled face curled into a mirthless smile. However, Lucas could see the corner of his eyes twitch in frustration. “I suppose I’m Lilyana—”
Another trio of slugs tore chunks of the wall behind the Commodore.
“There will not be a third time,” the medic warned.
This wasn't making any sense. He should be in control of the situation; instead, it was this gaunt wraith of a man who was dictating the pace. And for some unexplained reason, Lucas was obediently following his lead. There was nothing stopping the Demon from maiming Neverok’s distant offspring and interrogating him in private, yet he couldn't bring himself to do it. The man standing five meters from him was plotting something, and until he knew what it was, this was the best course of action. At least, Lucas hoped it was.
“Please do not interrupt. You might learn something,” Neverok growled. “For the last roughly a hundred years, I’ve been Alexei. But long before that, I was Lilyana. And in part, still am.”
Finally, Lucas realised what had him on edge. The man’s stance and the slight movements of his body were at odds with Neverok’s apparent biological age. Even with advanced cybernetics, there would be a certain sluggishness past a certain age, but that, too, was absent.
“You’re a clone… No,” the medic corrected himself. Terrans couldn’t be cloned; only humans could. And even then, the growth had to be accelerated to avoid genetic breakdown, resulting in rapid ageing. “A vat-grown host with transplanted memory. But that shouldn’t work cross-species.”
“First, I tried to emulate what Constantine was doing, but alas, Michael and the other Icons of Sin had different plans.” Neverok chuckled. “They removed Dragan’s Vault by erasing the entire planet. One minute Hell was there, and the next, it was consumed by a tear into the no-void. The Sol star was destabilised and extinguished. I was left as the conqueror of a soon-to-be-dead system. And as the one responsible for the greatest catastrophe in the history of our species.”
Lucas watched speechlessly as the Commodore’s hands tightened into fists before relaxing.
“Apparently, when you lead a rebellion like Lilyana did, and the dust settles, people turn on you. So, I gathered what I could and took Osiris. But by the time we breached the defences, most of the research was either destroyed or sent to Research Station Sigma 37-H.” Neverok chuckled again, though this time, there was a hint of madness in his voice.
“Perhaps the Blessed Saint was indeed a god, and he was out to get me because by the time I learned of the station’s whereabouts – it was gone. All signs pointed to a no-void collision between the station and the convoy from Osiris.”
The Commodore looked at him pleadingly as if asking for forgiveness or reassurance that it wasn’t his fault. That Lilyana hadn’t done anything wrong. Lucas could give neither of those. He was unsure if he could believe any of this as he struggled to process what he was hearing.
“That’s why I turned to cloning.” Neverok sounded almost defeated as he continued. “But as you can imagine, the results were… Well, not positive. Much had to be sacrificed. So very much. By the end, I was no longer Lilyana but a fragment of the person she used to be. Before you ask, I don’t know why I did it. Perhaps she was afraid to die or wanted to escape – hide from what she’d done. Or she might have been searching for redemption. Who knows? Those memories were the first to go.”
“Why keep the name Neverok, then?” Lucas asked, eager to end this pitiful creature’s life, but doing so quickly would be a mercy it didn’t deserve.
“For I time I didn’t. But history was erased, rewritten and shamelessly raped to serve the needs of those in power. A few hundred years later, the name Neverok was forgotten. That’s why I began using it again before I, too, forgot it.” Alexei smiled, and a hint of challenge appeared in his voice. “What I’ve shared with you now is one of Lilyana’s few remaining memories I have left. That, and the fear you Demons struck in her very soul. It was the one thing I could not erase, no matter how hard I tried. I do not know what you did, but I know it shook her to the very core.”
The Commodore’s smile became a grin as his body tensed. “I’m really close to achieving that. The remains that were recovered roughly a hundred years ago really helped. But with you in my hands, I’ll finally have the key to replicating a functioning host capable of accepting Lilyana’s stored memories.”
Unimaginable rage erupted in Helix. This affront to existence had dared to desecrate the remains of his fallen comrades. All the hesitation, all the restraint and vestiges of mercy were stripped from the Demon in that single moment. In their place was a single thought. An all-encompassing desire – kill. He squeezed the trigger, and the Ripper rifle in his hands shattered into pieces like glass. Hundreds of needle-sized holes appeared on his left forearm, and a cloud of dark-red mist surrounded the limb. Almost a second later came the pain. On instinct, rather than because of conscious thought, the medic pulled out his pistol and fired as he jumped back. Apparently, Neverok had had the same idea, as electromagnetically accelerated slugs of compressed alloy impacted his left shoulder ribs. The custom-made Predator armour fulfilled its purpose, cracking as it absorbed the majority of the force of the shots. If the Commodore had used a gauss weapon instead of a low-velocity coil pistol designed for ship combat, the result would have been very different.
Helix smiled despite the pain as he saw the gaping hole that had replaced Alexei Neverok’s gut. Whatever misguided science was used to create the old man’s body was now working against him. The Commodore’s enhanced biology was keeping him alive for the moment, and that suited the Demon perfectly. Ignoring the broken ribs and collarbone, the medic stood up and made his way to the abomination. Primal fear and panic had replaced Neverok’s previously calm and collected expression.
“I… was sure… the… particle… accelerator… would have… done… the job…” Alexei gurgled as he struggled to keep the air in his perforated lungs.
“Zeti,” Helix reconnected the feed, “connect me to Mr King.”
A heartbeat later, the worried voice of the comms operator sounded in his ear. “Boss—”
“Mr King, send a message to all. Commodore Neverok is dead. The station is under my control now. Zeti will provide you with an authorisation signature for the Innari.” With that, he disabled the feed once again, looked at Neverok's broken body, and removed his helmet.
A vicious smile formed on Helix’s lips as he looked into the eyes of the sorry parody of a Demon.
“We will tear your beating heart and use your skin as a banner while you still draw breath. Do you remember Commodore Neverok? A promise was made, and we Demons really like to keep our promises.”
----------------------------------------
“Thank you, Dr Saiko,” Lucas nodded as he sat in the bed-like chair, dismissing the physician. “I’ll take it from here.”
“Are you sure, Helix?” Hiroshi asked, his hands checking the connections of the drips one last time before moving away. “Your left arm hasn’t fully healed yet after the series of surgeries you had to undergo over the last three days, and you haven’t slept at all. Although your organism has done a marvellous job at repairing itself, and admittedly, its function and capabilities are too much for me to understand at this point, it is nonetheless weakened. You risk total organ failure. A possibility, I remind you, is highly likely considering the amount and quantity of compounds you plan to use.”
Lucas used the time while the good doctor spoke to go through the setting of the medical device one last time. It wasn’t that he disagreed with him, but although significant, the damage inflicted on his arm was, for the most part, superficial. If not for the holes in his bones, the Demon would have healed by now. Using a particle accelerator as an improvised shotgun from the adjacent room was both genius and insane at the same time. Lucas had to admit that he had gotten extremely lucky that the aim was slightly off. Satisfied that the drips were set in the correct order, he smiled at the heavily-augmented man.
“Believe it or not, it’s not my first time doing this. For me, this is a fairly regular procedure.”
Without further protest but with evident dissatisfaction that he was being shamelessly lied to, Dr Saiko left the repurposed examination room. Once the door locked, Lucas hooked the last of the drips. He could ignore the discomfort when the needles entered the veins on his forearms, but the one that went into his heart made him grunt in pain. The medic closed his eyes for a moment, taking several deep breaths while waiting for the burning sensation to subside. Only once it was gone did Lucas allow his body to relax. Before triggering the machine, he opened a secure feed to the station’s AI.
“Zeti. If anyone comes within fifty meters of the door, overload the reactor core.” He gave the command without hesitation. “Inform Mr King and Major Khalid of this as well.”
“Understood, Helix.”
After that, he opened a private feed to Officer Kurtz.
“Where’s the trust!” He could imagine Zoë’s sarcastic smile as he heard her grunt over the feed the moment it connected.
“It’s there. But human nature leans towards betrayal. I expect that your recovery is going well, and you will be on your feet in the meantime.”
“Sure! I feel better than ever. Even the doc’s surprised at how quickly I’m recovering!” The girl chuckled.
“Do not let your guard down. Our arrangement with the Innari is fragile,” Lucas said a little too seriously. However, it would be better if she learned to be cautious. “And Zoë, I didn’t give you feed clearance to listen in on my conversations.”
“Right, right. Sorry about that… And Helix… Uhm… Thank you for saving my life. Talk to you in two days.” She added before disconnecting.
Disabling the feed on his side, Helix closed his eyes and smiled. Zoë Kurtz would make a fine Oni after he was done working on her. He chuckled slightly as he felt the various chemicals and agents flood his system. The medical chair wasn’t the most comfortable bed, but right now, it was perfect. So much so that Lucas realised how much he needed a good night’s sleep.
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