Interlude VII

  Annoyingly, General Sharma would not seem to take a hint. She had clearly overstayed her welcome, as Mave made abundantly clear with her number of mumbled gestures about needing to perform certain tasks. Of course, when pressed, Mave could never come up with a truly concrete excuse. Instead, she had hoped that the general would take a hint. Yet, she wouldn’t.

  A few times the General got away from her. Worse, Sharma was exceptionally aware of her surroundings. Three different times she noticed the odd way milk seemed to curdle around her. This led to the General forcefully remaking her coffee three different times. This was such a bother that the last time she made her coffee, Mave drank it down instantly. The coffee was off, as it tasted slightly like cough syrup. At least that is the odd flavor that Mave associated with the odd brew. Of course, most human meals tasted weird to her, so this was no true exception. Still, Mave couldn’t help but see the way Sharma almost seemed to relax once she had realized she had consumed the odd brew.

  There was also the time that she had gone off to use the bathroom. Only for Mave to find the Sharma roaming the halls of her over large estate. For a second, she was certain the General was looking for the girls. That is, the other girls who used to work with Mave and Melissa at their old diner. Originally the girls were a great cover, they were all poor street urchins who were taken in. No one would have shed a single tear if they had gone missing. Additionally, no one would have noticed if over times the girls started to appear with random boils and splotches on their skins. They were just street urchins after all, no one would have given the idea of street urchins being habitual drug users a second thought. In fact, most people would have kept quiet, if they noticed such afflictions anyways. They, and thereby the dirty diner, were a perfect cover for her.

  All of that of course changed when Melissa, the golden child, literally, became a billionaire and moved them all to a nice part of the city. Now people would think their situation was tragic. Street urchins blessed by riches, only to fall into the vices of their past. Now that they had money, things were a bit tougher for Mave. She had to be careful, more people noticed the rich. More people tried to lend a helping hand, knowing they would more likely be rewarded for their efforts. Thus, Mave couldn’t keep up the same routine as she had previously.

  Then the ultimate challenge came when she found out one of her charges, the one at the heart of all her complications, was a gods damned celestial. One of the very opponents she was sent here to move against. For a second she thought her plans were done for, but the stupid celestial was so enamored by her own schoolgirl crush, that she failed to notice the world around her. Rather than noticing that while taking the other waitresses from the slums, their health still deteriorated, she instead spent all her time focusing on a boy.

  This was a distraction that Mave was more than willing to indulge. That was why she had invited her to the mac charity, having it on good authority from General Sharma herself that he and a new instructor from the school would be the competitors. Thus, she was able to play up the moment when Mel won her auction. What did Celestials even need wizard certs for? Simple, to impress their human boyfriend who should be slated for another.

  Again, this only helped Mave out. Without the celestial being blindsided by her own infatuation with Kyle Goldman, many of Maves plans and movements would have already been noticed.

  Mave almost laughed when she realized the celestial had wasted a supreme relic, the Star-Crossed Lovers relic to get the boy to like her. Then she proceeded to get exceptionally guilty about the whole thing, wishing to push the boy away. The boy she had taken from his rightful spot, by Jessica Childer’s side. The whole thing could not have been funnier, if written by a true comedian. It was just too perfect: the hero and heroine, two people who were destined to fall in love at first sight, were suddenly broken up by a watcher. A watcher who was only sent to observe and course correct as needed.

  Mave had read the accords; in fact, all the members of her teams were well aware of the accords. They were allowed to come and act as their natures dictate. The celestials were called in as watchers, to oversee the operations and make sure Mave and her kind did not act beyond their limitations. To help give the inhabitants of the universe a chance, the different watchers were allowed to use a few items of power to course correct. These were items that were designed to forge alliances where there were none.

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  Personally, Mave would have used the Star-Crossed Lovers relic to broker a peace between the Dwenvarians and Endarians, linking them by a relationship between The Iron Butterfly and Goldhammer. In fact, that is almost what such a relic had to be for. Yet, she used it to break up the relationship between Kyle and Jessica. A relationship so powerful, that there were compensating controls put in place, namely the brother. A brother who was quickly and efficiently eliminated, but only after all chances of the two getting together were ruined. Ruined by the very people who were sent here to help the unification happen. Gods, it was too perfect. A perfect storm of greed and lust, by a watcher no less, ruining this universe.

  Even with the most pressing hurdle gone, the union between Kyle and Jess, there were still other considerations to be aware of. There were still factors to be considerate of. For Mave’s part, she had to still do her part, a part that had gotten a lot easier as of two weeks ago. When the very watcher who had done everything to ruin the lives of everyone around her, used an Escape relic. While Mave didn’t know exactly what happened, she could make a few guesses. The sudden unwinding of time, the use of an Escape relic, all of these were signs that a watcher had been outed. This was perfect for her and the others, as it meant they knew what to expect for the next six months.

  That was part of why she had met with the Admiral, to touch base and readjust their plans. This time rather than using six months as a time frame, they decided to use four months instead. With such a short time frame, everything had to go smoothly. This was why she had to be a little more patient when dealing with problem makers. In particular, she had to be very careful with how she acted now with the General. Mave was aware of the General and her prowess for Precognition. Seers like her were often most sensitive after time jumps. Something about the resetting of timelines and energies that overlapped and would bleed over from the previous stream of time to the new stream of time.

  The only real saving grace was the fact that they hadn’t done a full reveal with the last time loop. Instead, they had only begun a partial reveal. Still even with that, Mave and the Beastkin General were two that had purposefully not revealed themselves. Their power lay in long term corruption of others. Thus, it was determined that they would be the two to be revealed last. So, when the general passed away under mysterious circumstances, it caused Mave to be weary.

  Now, General Sharma was here snooping around, and not leaving. She was extremely polite and cordial, but still it was clear she was waiting for something. The way she kept staring at her watch indicated her own impatience. This of course, only made Mave even more cautious around her.

  Ding dong.

  The archaic greeting chimes of someone at the front door sounded.

  Sigh.

  Mave looked to see that with the sign of the doorbell ringing, General Sharma looked visibly relieved. This of course only caused Mave to get nervous. Who had come? What was the general planning. Everything seemed to be going so oddly.

  “Let’s see who that is.” Sharma said, standing up and straightening out her uniform as she stood.

  While Mave didn’t have a sense of danger, a feeling of fear was something that had been denied her kind, as they were meant to be ruthless killers. Still, despite not having the necessary components to experience fear, she unlike many of her kind, had been allotted a certain level of sentience. A level of understanding and reasoning to let her know when something was off. Right now, every instinct she had, and every lesson she had learned on human interactions was warning her that something was off. Right now, she could tell the general was up to something.

  Door opening.

  “Hello there. Come on in. Come on in.”

  The General was already at the front door and greeting the relative stranger into Mave’s house. Based on past encounters, and inherited memories from the host, this should be odd, but otherwise acceptable behavior. As such, Mave could only look on in horror as a young man, she knew all too well about entered.

  “Fancy seeing you in this part of town Cadet Goldman, I mean just Kyle now? Right?” General Sharma said, shaking the man’s hand and then pushing him into the house so he was exceptionally close to Mave.

  The boy seemed fine, until he locked eyes on Mave. At the sight of Mave, he visibly stiffened.

  “Now come on, greet your host. She won’t bite, hard.” Sharma said.

  “Right, hello.” The boy said, trying to give a gentle wave, but his arm was quickly grabbed and pushed forward by Sharma.

  “Now none of that. Greet her properly, like I taught you.” Sharma admonished the boy.

  “Right.” He said, as his hand was shot forward, well within Mave’s range.

  Out of habit and instinct to want to fit in, Mave moved her own hand on reflex. In a second their hands met, then a burning pain of fire engulfed her body, as the world went white for a moment. She was being burned from the inside out.

  “What?” Was all Mave managed, before her body began pulsing and burning from deep within her stomach. Suddenly the fluids that she had consumed so quickly began burning within the core of her body. Mave realized her out shell, her mask protecting her from being noticed by the world was being burnt away. Worse, she was powerless to stop anything from happening. In this moment, even if she could react, her body was being acted upon by some type of poison that she had consumed in her coffee.

  Seeing that the General didn’t even bat an eyelash at the sudden change, Mave said the only two words that seemed appropriate at this time. “You bitch.”

  Then in a moment of rage and panic, Mave activated her final form. This was meant to be a death sentence, the burning away of her very core, to take out an immediate threat. Right now, she had two key targets, an unbonded Kyle Goldman, and General Sharma. If she could take out one, or both, then her own sacrifice would be worth the effort.

  With that, she activated her body, and let her final form appear. Judgment was coming early.