Kris had witnessed the atrocities brought about by the rage boiling inside of Renton and me more than once, and her fear wasn't unfounded.

Soon enough, Jimmy Clearing his throat interrupted my train of thought, and I slowly panned my eyes away from Kris and toward the men on the opposite side of the table.

"Commander Fairaday, there is no need for displays of power anymore, even if it is simply for effect; we are well aware of what you have done in the past, and if we weren't impressed by your credentials, then you wouldn't be here right now."

"You are far from the first Faction leader we have had in our Conference chambers, and if worst comes to worst, you certainly wouldn't be the first one we eliminated in our compound."

Hearing the man's bold statement, I leaned forward slowly before grinning cockily.

"I know you aren't threatening me, Commander Bovarnik; I don't need to tell you how swimmingly that would turn out for you if you were."

"As someone higher up on the food chain, you should have heard plenty of the abundant rumors and stories about me killing people for things less than the words you just spoke." Smiling wolfishly and going so far as to roll my upper lip back in a snarl, I turned to Balto.

"Tut, and here I believed that that guy was the more civilized of you.; I guess I have to reevaluate that opinion." My words drew a loud scoff from Jimmy as he turned blue in the face from anger. But I couldn't care less about his reaction, so I shrugged.

"Now then, if you would allow me, I'd like to continue my story; after all, we were only Six hours left into the countdown, which means we are drawing closer to the moment when Chase turned on Renton and me."

However, before I could continue telling the long tale of my past, Balto interrupted me by clearing his throat and shifting in his seat.

"I do have one question for you, Commander Fairaday," he stated in a firm tone, causing my head to tilt slightly, as a dog would when listening to something.

"And what would that be?" I asked inquisitively.

"With all this talk about the Second half of the Ragnarok Brothers, I can't help but wonder, where exactly is Renton Fairaday?"

In truth, my brother wasn't far away. At present, Renton was located outside the compound, leading our troops into battle against the Purists as they attacked the underground bunker.

In fact, it was that very attack that would occasionally rock the bunker every few minutes during our negotiations.

Predicting the flow of the conversation and understanding Balto may be alluding that he wished for me to contact Renton, I frowned.

He did have a Video communicator on hand, meant for emergencies, but since the above battle seemed heated, I didn't know if he could answer it.

"My brother is in combat outside your gates, defending us from the Purists attacking the walls as we speak." Returning to a calm expression, I spoke in a clear tone, leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest.

Like a Deity was watching our conversation and wished to add some cadence to my statement, the room shuddered several times with another onslaught of mortar shells as if on cue.

"You know, Commander Fairaday, rumor has it your brother was killed several weeks ago in combat. Word is he went down cowering in fear screaming for help from his big brother, and yet here you are stating that he is, in fact, outside leading your forces in protecting this base."

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'Woosah, this fugly bastard is trying to rile you up, Dean, just stay calm and take deep breaths,' I thought while steadying my breathing and looking at Balto with eyes seemingly stating, "What a crock of shit."

He was trying to bluff me into showing him proof that Renton was here, and I knew exactly why. Drumming my fingers along my right forearm, I narrowed my eyes and brought up the mental image of an oddly shaped pentagram diagram glowing in golden light.

I say mental image, but when someone activates this technique, an image is superimposed in their eyesight, which can only be seen as a clear floating projection by the person using the technique.

It was similar to augmented reality, which, if trained to a certain extent, an opponent could recognize, giving away valuable information.

The reason being, when this technique was used, it could be seen as a reflection in the person's eye, so generally, it wasn't a good idea to use it out in the open, as you would be telling your opponent everything about yourself, IE your Ability, rank, so on.

This was a technique the 50 %ers, as they were called, all had, and for everyone except Conduits, the only purpose it served was to show strength and talent.

When the Requiem changed the world, the 50 %ers, otherwise known as those who obtained Abilities, had a joint and hazy dream that night.

In that dream, we learned five things: how to activate our Ability, what that Ability was, its Toll or cost, how to measure strength or talent, and how to train our Ability to be stronger.

However, my Ability, Conduit, was slightly different from others. In my case, the technique we learned to judge talent or rank served a secondary purpose.

Aside from indicating how long I had access to those abilities I had added to my collection, it allowed me to see and cycle through the Abilities, like spinning one of those old-timey landline phones called a rotary phone.

With a rotary phone, you pushed your finger into one of the holes on the dial, indicating which number you wished to input, and spun the dial until it clicked; then, you retrieved your finger and allowed it to rotate back and reset.

The concept was similar to my version of the technique, which was commonly called, Scry.

Every one of the 50 %ers, and anyone birthed after the Requiem who obtained an ability, unlocked the Scry technique upon awakening; only in their case, it was a static pentagram diagram with small orbs and stars.

My reason for triggering the Scry technique was simple, a fight was about to break out, and the reason for that revolved around my brother.

As of late, Renton had been In charge of a special operations group tasked with quietly eliminating the more minor enemy factions, factions like the exact one I was presently conversing with.

However, word had gotten out, and it looked like it had reached Balto; his words put me on high alert since the man clearly knew his faction was on the hitlist handed down to my brother.

While I cycled through my copied abilities, Kris reacted and took action while I prepared; in one movement, she kicked her chair away, pulled out the collapsible sword secured to her left hip, snatched a long jagged knife from her belt, and jumped onto the table with a knife in one hand, and the sword in the other, pointing their blades at our host's throats within an instant.

Seeing this, I did nothing to stop her. Kris knew what she was doing, and in the presence of a Healer and an Electrokinetic, I was confident enough that she would win even without any interference from my end.

Still, that didn't stop me from preparing for the worst-case scenario.

"Don't you ever Speak of Sub-Commander Fairaday like that again; if my commander told you he was outside fighting, that's where he is. Do not question him; never forget it is only by his grace and kindness that we haven't kicked in your doors and gutted you like fish." Kris snarled in a sinister tone.

"We could easily wipe out all of your people, but no, we are here negotiating a union between us. While you cowards are hiding here, underground in your hole, we are outside defending your asses from hostile forces." She hissed through gritted teeth.

Jimmy had jumped when Kris launched forward; Balto, however, had not, and little trickles of blood were forming where the blade had come into contact with his throat.

Contrary to what you'd expect, there was zero fear in Balto's eyes, and instead, a sick grin spread across his face reminding me of one of those crazed supervillains from comic books. Then with an annoying chuckle, Balto raised his eyes to meet the fierce pair owned by Kris and spoke.

"So that's why they call you the Viper; your speed was pretty intense, however," In an instant Static electricity zipped through the room, and my eyes fell from the blade against Balto's neck to the hand firmly resting against Kris's abdomen.