Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Lady Lucky, Part 5

Lady Lucky, Part 5
By Matthew “Snooglebum” Wasik




Leomund Skavis cursed, fumbling with the door. He had been looking for something in the storage room when the power went out suddenly. The powered door he was trying to open should have had a way to open it manually, but it seemed to be stuck.
“Hi, mister Skavis!” said a voice behind him. Skavis froze. He knew that voice. He spun around, clicking on his flashlight. But there was no one there.
“No.” he said, disbelief in his voice. “I killed you. I saw you burn. What are you!?”

“I told you, I’m Mirth!” said Mirth’s voice from his left. Skavis whirled the flashlight in that direction, drawing his gun. But again, there was nobody there.
“Where are you? Where are you, you son of a bitch?” said Skavis, a note of hysteria in his voice. The beam of illumination from the flashlight shook as Skavis’ hands trembled.
“That’s the great thing about this power outage!” replied Mirth, “cause you see, mister Skavis, when I’m in the dark…”
There was a moment of silence, and then Mirth’s voice came from right next to Skavis’ ear: “I can be anywhere I want.”
Skavis screamed. Mirth pounced. Then there was nothing but the sound of sharp teeth tearing through bone.
***


The crew of the Lady Lucky hesitated, as a faint scream echoed throughout the corridors.
“The fuck was that?” said Whisper uneasily.
“I don’t know.” said Elizabeth. “It doesn’t change our objective. Move forward.”
The crew continued on, entering some sort of common room. Couches and tables were laid out, and all manner of refuse and recreational drugs covered every surface. There was also a group of Skavis gang members milling about, a few of which had procured flashlights and were looking around.
Whisper fired her shotgun twice into the chest of the nearest Skavis gang member from less than twenty feet away. The right side of his chest was blown apart, fragments of blood and bone spraying forth. He was knocked from his feet and fell to the ground with a thud. At the same time Dialer continued the assault by opening fire on another gang member, whose body involuntarily twitched and jerked as he was hit by more than a dozen machine gun rounds in the span of less than two seconds. Elizabeth finished off a third, taking a single clean shot with her pistol that impacted with the exact center of her target's head. There was a fireworks-like pop as the explosive round detonated, spattering the Skavis gang member’s head all over the back wall. Melody and Raythius finished off the final two with tight bursts from their submachine guns.
“Clear.” said Elizabeth, once the crew had finished their grim work. Shouts of alarm could be heard from further into the complex, and strangely enough, so could gunshots.
“The hell?” said Whisper. “Are they fighting somebody else?”
“Let’s hope so.” said Elizabeth. “We could use a distraction.”


***


The crew proceeded through the complex, violently accounting for ten more Skavis gang members. They reached a large storage room, filled with unremarkable grey crates of various sizes. A group of gang members had congregated in the room, and one of them had their flashlights trained on the door, right where the crew was standing.
“Get to cover!” said Elizabeth, diving behind a crate. The crew all took refuge behind crates as the Skavis gang opened fire. Several of the gang members had automatic weapons, and were firing in tight, controlled bursts.
Fuck!” Whisper cried, “I’m hit!”
Blood leaked from Whisper’s left shoulder, flowing from the bullet that had drilled into her arm.
“I can’t get to you!” shouted Melody over the sound of gunfire.
“It’s fine! I’m fine!” said Whisper, her Brand activating. Anger overtook her expression, and the demonic red faces that made up her Brand glowed bright red on her fists.
“We appear to be pinned down.” Dialer yelled, as chunks of metal flew past his head. The sound of gunfire almost drowned out his words “Captain, what is our plan?”
“Raythius!” shouted Elizabeth. “We need a distraction!”
“On it!” called Raythius. He ruffled around in his messenger bag, found a flashbang grenade, and tossed it over the crates without looking.
“Please land in the right place.” Raythius muttered to himself.
The flashbang went off with a incredibly loud bang! and flash of light, and with perfect timing, the lights went back on as the generator restarted. There were cries of surprise from the crew of the Lady Lucky as their nightvision was blinded, and cries of pain from the Skavis gang members as the flashbang went off. The crew pulled off their nightvision goggles, or in the case of the robots, disabled their nightvision setting.
“Attack!” called Elizabeth.
The crew popped up from behind cover and opened fire on the stunned skavis gang. Most of them were cut down in the initial salvo, but two managed to recover and take cover.
“NO YOU DON’T!” screamed Whisper, fully in the grasp of her brand.
“Whisper, no!” shouted Elizabeth, who had just put a pistol round into one of the two remaining crew members.
Whisper ignored her and charged the position of the last Skavis gang member, roaring in fury. Then the last remaining gang member popped out from behind the crate and put a shotgun round into her chest, point-blank. Whisper stumbled and fell.
“NO!” screamed Melody, and opened fire on the remaining gang member. The bullets shredded his chest, turning it into a soup of viscera. He fell to the ground, choking on his own blood.
“Oh no, no no no no.” said Melody desperately, rushing to Whisper. She turned her onto her back, revealing a horrific chest wound. The shotgun pellets had torn Whisper’s chest apart, leaving a bloody mess. Whisper was still breathing, however, and her teeth were clenched in fury.
“Fucker got me.” she said, her usual rasp even rougher. She coughed, and blood dribbled out of her mouth.
“Ok honey, I need you to focus.” said Melody, her voice hard as steel despite the tears in her eyes. “Your Brand is the only thing keeping you alive, so I need you to maintain it.”
“Fuck, ok.” said Whisper, and coughed up more blood. “If… if I don’t make it, just remember that I love you… ok?”
“Shut the hell up.” said Melody, tears trickling down her face. She had already begun to work furiously. “You’re going to be fine. I’m going to save you. You’re going to be fine.”
“Shit.” said Elizabeth, looking around. Angry shouts could be heard throughout the complex, converging on the storage room the crew was in. “Alright crew, sounds like they’re coming for us. We need to protect Melody while she works. Ty, can you fire a pistol one handed?”
“I can try.” said Ty, looking pale.
“Ok. Dialer, Ty, cover the east door. Me and Raythius will cover the north door.”
“We do have one advantage.” said Raythius, looking at the entrances. Both were corridors that proceeded for only a few feet, then immediately turned.
“What’s that?” asked Elizabeth, reloading her pistol.
“These corridors turn sharply, meaning by the time the Skavis lay eyes on us, they’ll be within melee range, which is where me and Dialer are most comfortable.”
“Huh.” said Elizabeth. “So they do. Dialer, Raythius, get up close to the doors, and get ready to attack.”
“Yes, captain.” replied the both of them, taking positions.
“Ty, I don’t want you shooting into the corridor, you might miss and hit Dialer.”
“Ok. Uh, what about yourself, captain?”
“I don’t miss.” said Elizabeth, regarding the corridor entrance calmly.
“Oh, right.”
The voices approached closer and closer, until they were almost upon the crew. Finally, in almost the same instant, two Skavis gang members turned the corner of each corridor.
Dialer attacked first, stabbing the gang member through the chest with his electrified sword. The gang member twisted and jerked involuntarily as hundreds of thousands of volts surged through his body. Raythius swung his extended whip-sword in a wide arc, decapitating the gang member who turned the corner. More gang members rounded each corner, shouting a battle cry. Dialer charged, impaling one of them and filling the other full of bullets from his machine gun. Raythius’s whip sword swung in wide, graceful arcs, cutting his attackers into ribbons. Elizabeth oversaw both corridors, picking off any remaining gang members with precise shots to the head.
All was going well until, with sheer luck, one of the gang members managed to dodge a swing of Raythius’ whip-sword. He weaved out of the way, and then opened fire on Raythius point-blank with a pistol. The first shot dented Raythius’ armor. The second punched a hole in it, and the third made it into his internals. He fell to the ground, his limbs twitching and spasming, the bullet holes smoking.
“Raythius! Damn it!” cried Elizabeth, shooting the gang member in the head. Guess I’m covering this corridor by myself, she thought.
The assault continued. Despite being slowed down from several successful shots to the chest, Dialer continued to hold down his assigned corridor. Elizabeth breathed in deep and took aim down the corridor, waiting for more gang members to show up. And show up they did. She killed one gang member. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.
Finally, at “nine”, the flow stopped. Elizabeth sighed, slightly shaky, and lowered her gun. Each of her shots had been a perfect, clean headshot. All was quiet from Dialer’s corridor too. Dialer himself was a mess. His left arm was hanging down loosely, non-functional. His armor plating was dented in several places, and one of his eyes was cracked. Smoke drifted lazily out of a hole in his side. He walked over to Elizabeth, limping slightly.
“I believe we have won.”
“Seems like.” said Elizabeth, looking around.
“It’s so good to feel useful.” said Ty dryly, holstering the pistol he never fired.
Melody leaned back from Whisper’s prone form, and took a deep breath.
“She’s going to make it.” she said, her voice shaking slightly with relief. “She’s going to be fine.”
Whisper, for her part, was unconscious, breathing deeply. Her Brand had faded out, and her chest and shoulder was covered in hardened medi-gel.
“Damn, girl.” said Ty, impressed. “You’re a hell of a surgeon. Patching up somebody in the middle of a fight.”
Melody smiled a tired smile. “I do my best.” she said.
“Ow.” said Raythius weakly. “I’ve been shot. Several times.”
“Your powers of observation are astounding.” said Dialer, going over to check on him. “Let me see if I can’t get your movement systems online again.”
“Oh hey, what’s going on in here? You guys aren’t gang members.” said a cheerful, breathy voice by the north door. Everybody still mobile turned to face the voice, aiming their weapons at the source.
“You do have a lot of guns though, so that’s something.” said Mirth. He looked even more horrific than normal. His white clothes were soaked with blood, and there were several bullet holes in the fabric, although he himself appeared unharmed. He was holding a knife, which was slowing dripping blood onto the floor with a steady plip, plip.
“You’re Mirth, aren't you.” said Elizabeth cautiously. “The Baxters gave me pictures of you..”
“Yep!” said Mirth. “Ooh, are you here to rescue me? That would be cool.”
“We are.” answered Elizabeth. “Are you alright?”
“Never felt better!” answered Mirth cheerfully. As he talked, Raythius gingerly climbed to his feet. Dialer had been able to restore some of Raythius’ mobility, but it was clear that he needed repairs badly.
“Did you kill some Skavis gang members?” asked Ty, looking deeply unnerved by Mirth’s appearance.
“Uh-huh! The power went out, and I was like ‘ooh, nice.’ and then I killed, like, twelve of them. It would have been more, but they were all running this way.”
“Uh-huh.” said Elizabeth skeptically, inspecting Mirth. “Did you manage to kill Leomund Skavis himself?”
“Yep! Sure did!” said Mirth.
“You’re sure? He’s a slippery bastard.”
“Trust me, he’s definitely dead.” said Mirth, licking his lips.
“I hope you’re right.” said Elizabeth.
“Hey… uh, do you guys hear something?” said Ty nervously, looking around. The entire crew went silent. It had begun as a quiet, subsonic vibration, and was turning into audible rumbling.
“Oh, that!” said Mirth. “That’s the Vault opening.”
“That’s the-- that’s the what?!” said Elizabeth, only realizing the implication of what Mirth had said halfway through her sentence. “It’s here?
“Yup! Under the complex!” said Mirth, as the rumbling intensified. “Ironic, right?”
The rumbling could be physically felt now, a vibration that ran throughout the complex. Dust began to fall from the ceiling.
“We might want to leave, by the way.” said Mirth casually, as dust rained on his head.
“Ok, Dialer, make sure Raythius doesn’t fall over. Melody, me and you are carrying Whisper. Mirth, Ty, stay close.”
The crew hasted to comply, and they began to make their way out of the complex.
“The front door is this way,” said Mirth, pointing down the corridor he had entered from. “Let’s go through there.”
The crew moved throughout the complex as it began to fall apart around them. Support beams snapped and fell, lights flickered on and off, chunks of the ceiling fell to the floor. As they moved, they passed numerous corpses that have been either stabbed or fatally bitten.
“Ow!” cried Ty, as a heavy support beam nicked his side, sending him stumbling. “Fuck me, today is not my day!”
The crew exited the compound into bright daylight. As they did so, the ground underneath them began to rise up in a ramp-like shape. They tried to make their way gracefully down, but the incline grew steeper, and they began to roll down. The noise had become unbearably loud, as thousands of tons of rock were displaced. Something was rising out of the mountain, and was moving the mountain out of the way in the process. The crew rolled to a stop at the base of the structure, battered and bruised. They all laboriously made it to their feet in time to see the Vault rise out of the mountain.
It was a pyramidal structure, perfectly geometric. As it rose, rocks and dirt sloughed off it, revealing gleaming white metal. There were runes set in all along its side, glowing a bright blue. It was enormous, easily as tall as a skyscraper. Eventually, it finished rising out of the ground, settling into place.
“Damn.” said Elizabeth simply, staring at it.
“S’pretty.” slurred Whisper, who had woken up in all the commotion. “I like the lights.”
“I do too!” said Mirth, admiring it.
“So… what now?” asked Ty. “Do we go in?”
“Fuck no.” said Elizabeth. “Screwing with Ascendant tech without knowing what you’re doing is a quick way to get killed. We’ll radio the Baxters and their team will deal with this. Plus, they’ll pay us.”
“So the Vault the Skavis gang was looking for… it was under their base the whole time?” said Melody.
“Yep!” said Mirth. “I had to stop myself from bursting out laughing during their interrogations. They were sitting right on top of it!”
“My question is: why did it rise up now?” said Melody curiously, cocking her head to the side. “What triggered it?”
“The Ascendants used all sorts of nasty things to activate their technology.” answered Raythius. “It’s possible it sensed all the people being killed, and responded by opening.”
“That’s messed up.” said Ty, frowning.
“So were the Ascendants. That’s what you get when you harness the Silent World to power your technology.”
“Captain. What is our next course of action?” asked Dialer, looking at Elizabeth. “Gawking at a pyramid has only so much appeal for me.”
“We head back to the ship and patch ourselves up.” said Elizabeth. “Then we get paid.”
“Fuuuuuuuuuck yeah” said Whisper drunkenly. “Gonna get drunk toniiiiiiiiight!”
“What you’re going to do is rest.” said Melody sternly. “You nearly died back there.”
“Awww, s’fine. Little booze isn’t gonna kill me.” said Whisper, waving her arm airly. She had managed to regain her feet, although she was swaying slightly.
“I’d rather not find out what kind of chemical interaction hexadrine has with alcohol, sweetheart. And I don’t think you do either.”
“Could be fun.” replied Whisper, raising her eyebrows.
“No.” said Melody, although her harsh words were tempered by a smile. “You can get celebration drunk once you’re off painkillers.”
“Yes, Whisper. Be responsible for once in your life.” said Dialer, trying to set his broken arm back into place.
“Fuck you man, you’re not my dad.” replied Whisper. “You’re not my robot dad.”
“I am a cyborg, not a robot. There is a difference.”
“Nuh.” said Whisper eloquently.
“Alright, everybody.” said Elizabeth. “Let’s get back to the ship.”


***


“It was underneath their complex the whole time?” said Stephen Baxter, eyebrow raised. He was a severe-looking man, with pinched features and a humorless expression. He was wearing expensive-looking black clothing, purchased at only the most esteemed of retailers, accompanied by a black bowler hat. “What a coincidence.” he continued.
“In my experience, Mr. Baxter, there’s no such thing as coincidence,” said Elizabeth. She was in her private quarters, on a video call. The video was slightly grainy-- the Lady Lucky was a long way from civilization.
“Indeed. Well, you did technically fulfill the obligations of the contract. The location of the Vault is revealed, and we are the only ones privy to its location. Your payment will be transferred to your account within the day.”
“Excellent.” replied Elizabeth. “And Mirth? What should we do with him?”
“Oh, just drop him at the nearest station. I doubt he cares.”
“Who is he, anyway?” asked Elizabeth, shifting to a more comfortable position. “The guy took out twelve gang members by himself, without a scratch on him.”
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure.” said Stephen Baxter, pursing his lips. “All I know is that he has an uncanny insight into the supernatural that’s been valuable to me before. Plus, he saved my life.”
“He did?” said Elizabeth, raising her eyebrows. “How?”
“He took a bullet meant for me. I was on Vicus, on the way to a business meeting, when an assassin pulled out a gun and aimed it at me. Mirth happened to be there. He pushed me out of the way and took the bullet for me. Then, because getting shot is only a mild inconvenience for him, he jumped on the assassin and stabbed him to death. He said afterwards it was because he liked my hat.”
“That’s… huh.” said Elizabeth. “That’s a strange reason to save somebody.”
“That’s Mirth. Mercurial, but useful.”
“I see.” said Elizabeth. “Well, if that’s all, I’m going to get going. The crew are having a celebration in the lounge that I’d like to be there for.”
“Do not let me keep you.” said Baxter. He shook his head. “Right underneath the complex. What luck.”
Elizabeth smiled. It’d been a long day, and she was looking forward to celebrating with her crew.
“Well, Mr. Baxter, that’s the funny thing. Where I’m from, we make our own luck.”
She frowned, and added: “Although our luck’s been pretty shitty lately, so maybe I shouldn’t say that.”


***


Elizabeth walked into the lounge area of the Lady Lucky, where the entire crew was relaxing. Raythius and Dialer were engrossed in a discussion about cybernetics.. Ty was watching Whisper animatedly tell Mirth about a cartoon she liked, sipping coffee from his mug, an amused smile on his face. Melody had draped herself over whisper, and had her eyes closed, seemingly at peace and possibly asleep. Mirth was leaning towards Whisper with interest.
“So then there’s the earth guy, who-- oh, hey, captain.” said Whisper, noticing Elizabeth enter the room.
“Howdy.” said Elizabeth. “Telling Mirth about that kids cartoon you like?”
“It’s not just for kids!” protested Whisper, sounding faintly offended. “It’s dark as fuck, first of all.”
“Right. I’m gonna grab a drink.” said Elizabeth, and walked over to the mini-fridge in the corner of the room.
“So you were saying?” said Mirth. “About the earth guy.”
“Right!” said Whisper. “So there’s there’s the earth guy, who’s called Hound, and he’s got this fucking quiet sense of humor and shit-- seriously, it’s so well-written-- and he’s got earth powers, which in the fucking context of the show means that he can control gravity, and they get super creative with that shit too--” she was still high on painkillers, and was slurring her words slightly.
Elizabeth smiled, watching Whisper get progressively more and more excited. It was nice seeing her so animated, right after not being sure if she was going to live or not.
“That sounds really cool!” said Mirth, “I’ll have to check it out. Past Lives, you said?”
“Motherfucking Past Lives, dude. It’s so good.” said Whisper fervently.
“That show is unrefined and shallow.” said Dialer, from across the room. “I do not understand your fascination with it.”
“Dude.” said Whisper. “Shuuuuuuuuutthefuckup. You don’t like anything unless it’s boring as fuck.”
“That is untrue.” replied Dialer stiffly. “I have excellent taste in media.”
“You eat media?” said Mirth. “Hey, me too!”
“It was a figure of speech. How would I even eat? I have no digestive system.”
“There’s always a way to eat things.” answered Mirth, showing off his sharp teeth. “Trust me, I know.”
“No offense guy, but that’s a weird thing to say.” said Ty, giving Mirth a skeptical look.
“It’s true, though!” said Mirth. He grabbed an empty beer bottle and bit off the top with a crunch.
Everybody watched him chew in silence.
“Ok, maybe it’s just true for me.” said Mirth, talking with his mouth full.
“Alright, that is officially the strangest thing I have ever seen a person do.” said Raythius, his face-screen displaying a surprised-looking face.
“I’m not really a person, if that helps.” replied Mirth, swallowing with every sign of enjoyment. “Mmm. Stale beer taste.”
“You killed twelve Skavis gang members by yourself, regenerate from injuries, and eat broken glass.” said Elizabeth, matter-of-factly. “How the hell did the Skavis capture you?”
“A net!” said Mirth, happily. “I guess they’d been warned I’d be hard to capture, so they had this net gun that shot a gooey net at me. For all the cool stuff I can do, I can’t do much about that. And I never got put in a place with the lights off, so I couldn’t teleport out of it.”
“You can teleport.” said Ty flatly.
“Yep! Only in the dark, though.” replied Mirth, as if teleportation abilities were a normal, everyday thing.
“...What are you?” asked Raythius incredulously.
Mirth opened his mouth, then paused, seeming to consider something. Then for the first time in several days, his expression changed. He was still smiling, but the razor-toothed grin was gone.
“I’m Mirth.” he said. “And I’m a long way from home.”
“Where is your home?” asked Ty curiously.
“A long way away.” said Mirth, sounding wistful. “Another time, another place. My home is colder than here, darker than here. Full of angry, bitter people. But I still miss it.”
“That doesn’t answer the question though.” said Melody, who had woken up. “What are you?”
Mirth paused. He was silent for several seconds. Whisper opened her mouth to say something, but Melody shushed her.
“Let me tell you a story.” Mirth said finally. “About a demon, and about a mother. And this all takes place in another universe. So this mother hates sentient life. I mean, she hates it. She think’s it's her purpose to wipe out anything else that thinks. So creates an assassin. An infiltrator. And this infiltrator is supposed to be unpredictable. Chaotic. But here’s the thing: he’s too chaotic.”
Mirth paused again, and began to tap his hands on the chair. He had finally stopped smiling, and the difference was jarring. His face was focused on the middle distance, staring at nothing.
“So this assassin starts working for her. But here’s the thing, right? He gets bored. He wants to do other things, see other places, do other stuff other than just killing people. He starts being irresponsible. She doesn’t like that.”
Mirth sighed heavily, his expression tinged with the faintest hint of sadness.
“So she casts him out. Exiles him. Flings his spirit outside of their dimension, and it lands somewhere totally unfamiliar. And he’s there, in a body he’s never had before. Alone.”
Then, as suddenly as flipping a lightswitch, Mirth’s manic grin and wide-eyed expression returned.
“But hey, he figures it’s no use dwelling in the past! Time to move forward and make a new life for himself! And that’s as specific as I can get, cause I’m kind of, uh, supernaturally compelled to not reveal specific details. Mom’s a little paranoid.”
“...You have aroused my curiosity to a degree that is literally painful.” said Raythius. “I’d be disinclined to believe you if I didn’t spend half of my days dealing with far stranger things.”
“You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to.” Mirth replied. “I know it’s a weird, vague, made-up-sounding story.”
“I’ve heard stranger things.” said Elizabeth darkly. “Been through stranger things, if it comes to that.”
“Nearly died to stranger things.” Whisper pointed out.
“True.”
“Thanks for coming to save me, by the way.” said Mirth. “I don’t think I ever thanked you for that.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Thank Stephen Baxter, he’s the one that paid us to do it.”
“I’ll make sure to do that!” said Mirth. “He’s a pal.”
“Welp, it’s getting around to my bedtime, everybody.” said Melody, sitting up and stretching. “Whisper, you should get to bed soon too, you’re going to need your rest.”
“M’ not tired yet.” said Whisper, clearly exhausted.
“Sure you aren’t, honey.” said Melody fondly. She kissed Whisper, stood, and waved to the rest of the crew.
“Night, all.” she said. The rest of the crew bid her goodnight, and she took her leave.
“I think I’m going to bed too.” said Ty, taking a sip of coffee. “And by ‘go to bed’, I mean ‘stay up and work on stuff’ alone in my room’.”
“I am physically incapable of sleeping.” declared Dialer. “But I will take this opportunity to recharge myself.”
“And I, as well.” said Raythius.
“Oh hey, you guys are incapable of sleeping too? Neat!” said Mirth, looking at Dialer and Raythius.
“You’re just a font of surprises, Mirth.” said Elizabeth, shaking her head. Meanwhile, Whisper had fallen asleep on the couch.
“That’s me!” said Mirth happliy, “always surprising people with fonts.”
“Think I’ll turn in, too.” said Elizabeth. “S’ been a long day.”
“It has, it has.” said Mirth seriously. “I’ll just hang out, I guess. Maybe play some video games. The night is young.”
“You play video games?” said Ty eagerly. “What kind?”
“Oh, all sorts.”
Elizabeth left them to their discussion and left the room, smiling slightly. Mirth was offputting at first, but seemed quite nice once you got to know him.
She had the strangest feeling that after they dropped him off, they’d be seeing him again.
***


The robot sat alone in her room, perfectly still and silent. It was a modest room, but it had the telltale touches of a personality: pictures of faraway planets. An arrangement of statues made of jade and ivory. A collection of exotic knives of different shapes and sizes, all in pristine condition.
The door to the room opened, and another robot walked in. They were of identical designs-- lean and smooth, edges tapering off in graceful arcs. The robot sitting in the room looked different, however: she was painted a dark forest green as opposed to the others dull grey, and her face screen was cracked and flickering with static.
“Iris.” said the robot that had just entered the room. “Me and the other Venetors have come to a decision.”
Iris stood and bowed deeply. “I await your orders, Venetor Jinrael.”
“We were hesitant at first-- the proposal of killing one of our own was not to be taken lightly, even if he has abandoned our cause. But it must be done, he knows too much.” said Venetor Jinrael.
“It is as you say, Venetor. He has knowledge that could unravel everything we are trying to build.” replied Iris, rising from her bow. “It is a shame; we were friends, once.”
“But no longer?” asked Venetor Jinrael, cocking his head to the side.
“But no longer.” confirmed Iris. “My personal feelings will not conflict with this mission.”
“Then you understand what you must do.”
“Yes.” Iris went to the corner of the room and retrieved her whip-sword, checking its sharpness. Then she extended it into its whip form with a flourish, and spoke, her voice hard and determined:
“Before the month is out, Raythius shall die.”


The End, For Now

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