Chapter -48-
Cutting of The Strings
Four hours later,
Great Fox Flying Fortress,
Lylat…
Fara stared disgustedly at a paper wrapper for a tampon. She grit her teeth together, crumbled it into her fist, and drew her underwear and pants up, then dropped onto her back, lying on the middle of her old bed mattress. She released the wrapper, leaving it on the sheets, adjacent to her hip.
Silence.
She brought her paws up to her face and cried softly all over again. The pregnancy hormones were still in place, making everything more difficult to process. She took a deep breath and held it for four seconds, then exhaled. Rinse and repeat.
She sat up, slid off the bed, and picked up padded gloves on a nearby shelf, then carried them to the next room. She pulled gloves onto her paws and approached a punching bag, suspended from the ceiling at the back of the living room.
She drove her fist into the bag, followed by a combination attack on the bag's surface, then a roundhouse.
She worked to get her heartrate up to force her body to generate endorphins. But all she could see was Kyong Adler's face. And the more she remembered the fight and his wiseass remarks, the harder she hit the bag.
She felt her temper flair, her emotions became overwhelming, and she hit the bag with everything her tiny athletic frame could deliver.
And then, all at once, she recoiled in pain, cradling her left wrist. "Fuck!"
She doubled over, holding her left wrist close. "Ow. Goddess dammit. Real nice language – and you somehow thought you could be a mom? You dumb rich girl."
She removed her smartwatch, gingerly, and glanced at the display for her heart monitor. The last recorded BPM rating was 'one forty-two' but her wrist hurt too much to put it back on.
She carried the watch to the bathroom and found a lidocaine roll-on. She checked the date on the bottom, popped the top, and applied it to her wrist. She put the lidocaine back on the bathroom shelf and reached for some kinetic tape on the next shelf up. She wrapped her forearm firmly, bit the end, tearing through it with her teeth, then pressed the end down against her arm and rubbed the strip vigorously for a few seconds until the friction heat activated the adhesive inside the tape strip. "Should've done this before trying to work out. Dumb rich girl, you know better." Her ears flickered at the sound of approaching footfalls. She sniffed at the air followed by a soft sigh.
There was a knock on the bathroom door.
Fara glanced over her shoulder, not having realized she'd closed it behind herself. "Come in."
Marcus opened the door and stepped into the bathroom. "Wow. You haven't used your old quarters in a while."
"Yeah. I appreciate that you're a telepath. I appreciate that you know what I'm going through. I know you're probably upset and disappointed, too. But we can grieve together a bit later."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, Marcus. I'm sure. I just need my pain to be my own for a little while. I need to be angry at myself for being so … arrogant."
"I can respect that, but … you're very difficult to read right now. Can you help me understand? It's … just how I process things. Then I'll leave you be, I promise."
Fara closed her eyes with a huff of indignation. He was good … getting her to talk about it without saying so … resourceful guy, she couldn't deny it. She reached up and rubbed her face. She felt itchy for some reason. "I just … my actions have cost the most innocent life … to be…" And then came the tears again. The goddamned elevated hormones. Her chest wrenched from the terrible ache in her heart. She braced herself on the sink and sat down on the edge of the nearby bathtub.
"Take your time. It's just us, there's no rush."
"I put our child at risk more than once, and because nothing happened when I did it in the past, I didn't learn my lesson. But then I fought Adler. How could I do that? It's my fault. That bastard fought me because I walked in there and threw my fists. Even Andross told me I was overdoing things. When a psychopath mass murderer is telling me that I'm endangering my baby, what does that make me for not listening? What the hell is wrong with me?"
Marcus rubbed his wrist with a wince. "You hurt your forearm from throwing punches … you want me to walk you to the sickbay?"
"No. I can't look at Farrah right now."
"Wait, why? Did she do something wrong? I can't read you very well right now."
"She freed Kyong Adler."
"Wait, what?"
Fara opened and closed her paw a few times to try and flex the kinetic tape around her forearm. "She told me she freed the man who killed our child. And it's not even his fault. It's mine. Even Adler was willing to step back from the fight, and I just had to prove myself as 'more than just some rich girl.' I've been motivated to prove that to everyone for years. But then I died, or nearly so. It felt like I died when I took a sniper round to the gut and laid down on that street curb and closed my eyes. I had to make peace with what I thought was my death, right there in the dirty street, where university frat boys drink and vomit."
Marcus stayed quiet so as not to interrupt.
"I was just a dumb rich girl who didn't listen to anyone else, lying down to make peace with all of her stupid decisions with a hole cauterized through my lower torso. But then I woke up, embarrassed and flustered, and face-to-face with a man I lied to about my whereabouts that day…"
"Peppy…"
Fara nodded. "And after confronting him, I was alone. No one got to see me struggle and adapt to what felt like the 'future' to me. I needed to have purpose, so I went to Sauria to handle an issue, there. Before long, I sent Peppy home, and then it was just me. Me and my newfound passenger…"
"The Krazoa spirit you gave to me."
Again, Fara nodded. "And I surrendered to it. I became obsessed with learning all the knowledge that warrior spirit of the Krazoa had to offer. I fought using his techniques. I fought with his confidence. He saw me at my best and at my worst. And then I gave him to you to win this battle against the Locusts, and at the time, it was okay. I had our baby within me to keep me company, so to speak. But now?"
Marcus remained quiet and respectful.
"…Now I feel so … empty. No Krazoa Spirit, no baby, just … emptiness. Just the mistakes of a dumb rich girl to haunt me. And … I can't … I just … you're being perfect to me right now, and I don't want perfect."
"You don't?"
"I guess I mean … I don't feel like I deserve perfect right now. I don't know." She took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then she exhaled through partially clenched teeth. "I just want to bawl my goddamn eyes out. All these hormones; I know they're there. I know they're the reason I feel this way. My emotional intelligence is through the floor, and I'm so angry, and I want to force Farrah into bringing me Kyong Adler, so I can rip off his head and pull his heart out through his open neck."
"Graphic…"
"I … don't even think that's anatomically possible. I'm just saying stupid shit."
"So, tell Farrah you want her to bring you Kyong. She shouldn't have freed him."
"It's complicated. She rescued Andrew so she could use him and lose him. She admitted to me that she's doing the same thing to Adler, earlier."
"How do you mean 'use him and lose him,' Fara?"
"She promised Adler freedom for being her slave for a while. And when the Locusts are gone, I just want to find Adler and make him suffer for my sins. For my poor behavior. And I know it's the hormones talking, but if he was here, in front of me, right now … I would want to take his fingers, one at a time, and disfigure him inch-by-inch while he begs for mercy."
"Want some company when you go hunt him down?"
"I don't want to hunt him down," she said flatly. "I want him to die by the hand of the Locusts, or even someone else, so I don't have his stain on my soul. But I want to think about killing him. But if I did, what kind of person would I be? Do I even have humanity anymore? Did this war take it, and I simply didn't notice? Did I tuck it away with the help of the Krazoa warrior spirit? Did I forget to unpack it when I gave him to you? Or was I always such a cold bitch and just not realize it? I mean … what I'm trying to say is … did I lose this child because I didn't deserve it?"
Marcus lowered to his knees on the floor of the bathroom and placed his palms on either side of her knees. "Fara, that's not true. You're not just a combatant, you're a fighter. You're the kind of person who is motivated to put your life at risk to save people like Jane Flowers. She's in stasis because of you. She'll survive because of you. You overcome adversity; it's who you are. You're not a 'killer,' you're a fighter."
"I haven't stopped fighting since my mother died right in front of my face. I was just a girl. And I felt so helpless, watching her crushed under the support beam. Peppy was there for that, too. And … and my father got me therapy and grief counselors to process that helplessness. I was told, 'The rich are targeted. The rich need protection. The rich are helpless.' Then I got older, and people would tell me things, like, 'The rich shouldn't have made so much money, because it makes them targets to suffering and attackers and…' Are you fucking kidding me?! I grew up being told I was just some dumb rich bitch who would never be taken seriously as a pilot, let alone anything else. And I had to prove myself to everyone. But now? Now, I'll never have that baby to prove myself to, and…" She trailed off, sobbing softly.
Marcus kept his paws on her knees. "Fara, if you want to have another…"
"Even if we have another, it won't be that one, Marcus! The one I killed with my anger and my obsession with trying to be the best at something that, in the end, doesn't even matter! We could have five more, twenty-five more, and it won't be this one … the first one I was supposed to have. The one that I was so excited to meet. It won't be the one that I killed! I will never live down the fact that the only reason I won't greet that child on that due date is because of my hubris; thinking I could fight someone like Adler without there being some sort of … trade off! No, how can I ever think I'd be a good mother, when I'm the reason that our future child died? I pushed … I goaded him at one point. Adler was virtually subdued by Andross before I arrived. But I walked in there, picked a fight, and beat on Adler for threatening your life over a year ago. And our baby paid the price. So, no … how can I ever think I'd be a good mother when I didn't even put the safety of our unborn baby first?"
Marcus opened his muzzle but decided not to speak. Instead, he closed his mouth and rested his head on her lap.
Fara continued unpacking the burden that gnawed a hole through her heart. "I was offered a job training people to do what I do. I mean, Corneria isn't the safest or most secure place these days; the old capitol city was nuked for goddess' sake. But the people who teach survival combat and spycraft combat … they're all old 'n dead, now. I knew I could teach. I knew I could pass on what I'd learned; that everyone who was vetted for that program could also benefit from the additional time I spent with one of only a handful of Krazoa spirits that studied the art of combat in all its forms. He was a part of me for several years."
Marcus lifted his head a bit, looking up at her.
"What I'm saying is, I should have stayed on Corneria and let you handle the Locusts. I should have been satisfied to train the people like what's-his-face, the guy banging your ex. I can't think right now." A pause, then, "Violet. Whatever. Her boyfriend … the one I trained…" She snapped her fingers. "Asper Sarnoff. Ugh. I can't think right now," she repeated. "Anyway, I handed off that job to Asper. Now, I'm stepping on Kelly's toes, my own stepsister, who was doing an amazing job with Phoenix Enterprises. I should have just let her run the company without my involvement. But what did I do? I bought Space Dynamics because they wouldn't sell war machines to you for being an unlicensed mercenary at the time. Anyway, my point is, what the hell am I doing?! I'm throwing the family's money into things like AI and luxury fighters?! And what came of that? The AI created from my brain scans went and freed the very man that killed my baby. I should have ended his life right there in Andross' office so I could at least tell myself that I avenged…" She trailed off followed by a sigh. "I'm speaking out of frustration. I'm sorry."
"You have done nothing wrong. You go right on ahead and get it off your shoulders."
"This isn't something I can 'get off my shoulders,' Marcus. I can't. It may never go away. I killed an unborn baby with my behavior. I have to live with that forever."
"Fara…"
"You know, this is my first period in a while, and I'm so angry at myself. I needed to hit something, and that's why I was beating on the punching bag."
"Yeah, but I sensed you hurt yourself. That's why I hurried here."
Fara sighed softly. "Did you know Kyong is a transphobe and has no empathy? He's broken in the head. And I was so obsessed with showing him that, when it comes to combat, a woman who has emotions could be better than a man who lacks emotions. I wanted to prove I could do anything he could do … while wearing high heels, as the cliché goes. While carrying a child, to be accurate. And then? Then, I gave that phobic piece of shit the life of our child, and he doesn't even know it. How do I come to terms with that?"
Marcus stood up, turned around, and sat down on the edge of the tub siding, adjacent to her. He put an arm around her and gently drew her head to his shoulder. "Fara, if you didn't shut him down, how many other people's babies would he have endangered by staying in power?"
"I basically told myself the same bullshit while fighting him. You're probably telepathically coming to my old conclusions. But no, it wasn't worth the death of the baby I'll never have, now. I might have another baby, but it won't be that one. And that? That's what I need to mourn right now, okay? And when we get to the due date, I'm going to remember how I couldn't give life to my baby because of my ego. And, come that time, I'm probably going to hate myself as much as I do right now. I … I prided myself on my mental and emotional discipline. But I can't come to terms with causing myself to…"
Marcus sensed that she couldn't even say terms like 'auto-abort,' or 'miscarry.' He frowned, feeling a pain in his chest from experiencing her pain. "After you asked me to leave the sickbay, earlier, what happened next?"
"I had to trust Farrah, the one who left our baby's killer go free, to cut out the dead unborn barely-existent body of our child. I couldn't just leave the dead grain of rice inside me. I had to have it out. I had the overwhelming urge to get it out. The procedure is called a 'dilatation and curettage,' and I had to be put under. I should have gone through a fasting period, then went under the anesthesia properly, but I convinced Farrah to put me under, right there on the spot, and perform a very invasive surgery…"
"I don't know what it involves. I don't understand how it works."
Fara grimaced. "A D and C is where the cervid of the uterus is dilated, so that it expands, so that the canal and the uterine lining can be scraped off with this … this instrument, called a curette, which basically looks like a spoon. And to try making me feel better about how quick and painless it would be, she referred to it as a 'relatively minor op.' Like, are you fucking serious? A minor operation? Minor?!" She took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. "I'm so angry at her for promising Adler his freedom. But I have no right to ask someone to go back on their word. She explained that, in her opinion, personal honor is the credit of our soul, and … I just … I have no right to ask her to have bad credit, especially when she's so new at living. But Kyong Adler … he needs to suffer."
"Fara, it wasn't a 'minor operation.' It was quick, it was short, but it wasn't minor."
"I'm going to be lachrymose for the rest of my life. And if I'm not, I'm going to question why I'm not."
"You need something to fight for. Something or someone to fill the hole in your heart."
"I don't need to try again. I shouldn't be allowed to try again. If my instincts were to fight, not to protect our baby, then I shouldn't mother a life into existence."
"That's the hormones talking. That's the grief talking. That's the…"
"Marcus! I know it is cortisol that's causing me to think this way. But knowing what is causing it doesn't change things. I know dehydration causes a migraine, but when I wake up after a few drinks, with a massive headache, knowing what caused it isn't going to help the pain one damned bit."
Marcus frowned. "You're right. I'm sorry."
She looked down. "I'm pushing you into fix-it mode, then yelling at you for being in fix-it mode. I'm sorry. I'm being a bitch."
"No, you're not. You're grieving. And I'm here to grieve with you." He reached past her and turned on the hot water for the tub. "But your body is rigid and hurting at every joint and every inch. You can't relax. You came straight from having that procedure to fighting your punching bag."
"I wanted my heartrate up to try and make myself feel better. The cure to sadness is to do something that creates endorphins. So, I started working out."
"Yeah, but right now, your body is a brittle piece of concrete. Your heartrate is up, and your emotions are running high, and your back is rigid, and if you don't relax, you're going to keep hurting yourself … the next time might be worse than what you did to your wrist. You need an anti-inflammatory. You need some rest."
"How the hell can I rest, knowing what I just did to our child, Marcus?"
Marcus pulled her shirt up over her head and put it aside. "You don't have to relax your mind, just your body. That way you don't keep hurting it on a punching bag. You can go as hard as you want, but concrete becomes brittle and cracks if you hammer at it, and it cracks if you chip away at the edges. Don't be concrete because you're going too hard too often. Don't do that to yourself. I need you to help me defeat the Locusts. I need you to help me find the rest of these Krazoa parts, spread around the system. I need you to help me handle these things before the détente falls apart and they go on the offensive. Andross seems to think they haven't attacked yet because they're waiting for the rest of their forces to arrive from adjacent systems. The peace is their way of studying us until they're ready to strike."
Fara nodded. "Yes, he casually mentioned the same theory to me after I put down Adler. It makes sense. Look, Marcus, I'm sorry I'm … hormonal right now. I know this isn't me. This isn't the woman you want to marry. I'm not in my right mind, right now."
"You've seen my at my worst, and you helped me to become my best. And I'll only get better. I was beginning to wonder if you had a worst moment, to be honest. In all seriousness, Fara, we deserve a vacation after all this drama ends."
"I'll help you … if anything, I need to make this system safe for all the other children of Lylat. I can't contribute to being the killer of all those children, too."
Marcus grimaced. "You didn't kill our child, Fara. You were protecting it from a Lylat filled with people like Kyong and Anezka. Yes, our child was caught in the figurative crossfire … but if you hadn't put Kyong down like the rabid … monster … that he is, then our child would have suffered heavily and then wound up getting killed. In fact, those are your thoughts, your worries, from when you were fighting him."
"Even so, I didn't finish the job. I didn't put Kyong all the way down. And Anezka is still operating on the far side of Venom. And now Adler's going to be free."
"And when he goes free, he'll be fair game. He's an escaped fugitive; there will be contracts on his head."
Fara pursed her lips.
"If you want to drive your fist into his face, I'll happily take you to him."
Fara sighed softly. "Actually, maybe it's the hormones talking, but … I'd be far more satisfied with locking him in a very small room with his father than anything else. That would be even more satisfying than ending his life. But … I don't think Tanya Adler deserves to be stuck in a small room with a transphobe. It's bad enough her son turned into such a thing. Although, I can't help but wonder if she'll remember putting a gun to my head all those years ago."
"You were the daughter of a celebrity; I doubt they'd ever forget doing that."
Fara chuckled lightly. "Thirty years passed for Tanya Adler since last seeing me."
"Look, after you finish beating on Kyong's tail a second time, you can decide what to do about Kyong and his father. Whatever you want at the time. But right now, you can't do anything if you keep injuring yourself out of frustration. So, get your tail in the hot water." He reached for a soap dispenser on the back wall of the tub and pressed the button, dumping the solution into the water as the tub continued to fill, which created bubbles on the rising water's surface. "Whatever you decide, I'll be right there with you. We're in this together. A team."
"As much as I appreciate that … as much as I'm glad I have you in my life, Marcus … I need a little time to be alone. Is that okay? Just … a little while to be angry with myself, that's all. Just … I need to process this."
"Just … promise me you'll not break your wrist. You need to soak."
Fara sighed. "All right. But I can't even do anything safe to take care of an unborn baby, so how can I be expected to take care of my own body?" She lifted both of her paws. "I'm sorry. This defeatist attitude is starting to piss me off; I don't know how you're able to put up with my BS."
"I'm telepathic. We're literally in this together."
"Right now, I need my pain to be mine. I need to be angry at myself. I promise, I'll invite you soon. Right now, I just … I need to process by myself. It's how I processed waking up from death. I went to Sauria with Peppy, sent him home, to you apparently, and lived in a shuttle RV for a few years. Alone. Just … processing it. Sometimes, I just need to be alone. I promise I won't do that to you. You came along and saved me from that lifestyle. And … I thank you for that. I really do. I just … I need a little more time alone." As an afterthought, she added, "I know. I'm saying 'just' a lot. I don't know why. Even my finishing school lessons went out the window in the last twelve hours. Ugh."
"Look, Fara, you don't have to be alone."
"Like I said, I was for a while on Sauria. It's how I processed all the weirdness of being a couple of decades out of time."
"Yeah, but … actually, you weren't alone on Sauria."
"Well, that's my fault. If I didn't fight Adler, I wouldn't be alone right now, either."
Marcus took her paw. He took a deep breath and … just like that, the Krazoa spirit rushed into her body. Marcus exhaled in a strained way, then cleared his throat and said, "Here. An old friend. I'll let you take some time to process this. Just because you want to be 'alone' right now, doesn't mean you have to be completely alone."
"Are … are you sure?"
"I've already done it, haven't I?" he reached for the backside of her head, pulled her close, and kissed her forehead.
She bit her lower lip. Her eyes took on a soft purple glow. "I don't even feel like taking my eye drops. I know they're somewhere around these quarters, somewhere. But … yeah."
"Bath."
"Yeah, exactly. Bath." She finished undressing and climbed over the side of the tub and into the rising water. "Thanks for understanding."
"I'll be back when you're ready for me. Hey … I love you."
"Thanks. I love you, too. Sorry I'm being crazy as hell. I'll get my head on right … I don't know when, and even when I seem like I'm doing better, I have a feeling I'll be grieving my actions for a long time. Years. Is that okay?"
"As the old Cornerian cliché goes, crazy like a fox. I'm a fox, too, and I like your 'crazy.'"
"Ha." Despite giving him a dull glare, the slight flirting did make her feel better. "I'm being serious. I know I try to bottle my emotions and keep a disciplined mind at all times. But I need to know if … I … I guess I need more validation that it's okay to be bitchy for a while."
"If you grieve for the rest of your life, that's still okay. You have every right to grieve this loss. Just … know that you don't have to be alone while grieving. See you when you're ready." He backed out of the bathroom and shut the door.
Fara sank into the tub until the water came up to her collarbone. Only her knees and head remained above the waterline. She lifted her foot-paw up from the bathwater and pushed on the panel that turned off the water.
Her eyes welled up with tears again. Tears of frustration at herself. Tears of emotion for how lucky she felt to be with a man she loved, who made her feel both loved and respected in return. Yet she couldn't focus on 'feeling loved' right now. She could only think about wanting to hunt down Kyong once he was freed from Farrah's forced employ.
She pursed her lips, glaring at the walls. Her eyes lowered to her athletic washboard tummy. Her right paw closed into a tight fist, causing her forearm to tense up. She tried to close both paws into fists, but her left wrist hurt too much.
"Don't let this destroy you," said the Krazoa spirit to Fara, aloud, using her own voice. "You have so much humanity, and the dark thoughts you are thinking come from your grief."
"I won't murder him," she replied in her normal voice. "That's not who I am. But unlike the Krazoa, my people process anger and grief by saying things we don't mean. You should be used to that after living with me for a few years."
"I just wanted to remind you of your better angels, Fara."
"Thanks," she told the spirit. "You don't have to appeal to the positive attributes of my nature. They're always there. And despite my regret for letting him live, I only kill when in battle, under orders, not when in a brawl. Hey, look, I just wanted to say that I appreciate you just … being here. But look, could you just … do that? I don't want to have a disciplined mind, right now. I just want to cry and eat chocolate and regret letting him live until the cortisol is out of my blood."
"Understood," said the spirit. "I did not judge you on Sauria all those years ago for the feelings you endured, and I certainly will not judge you now. Thank you for accepting me back again."
Silence.
Fara sighed softly, lying in the quiet bathtub. She brought her paws to her face and sobbed softly. The wet kinetic tape on her forearm was tight on her forearm, and it throbbed with a dull ache, but she didn't care.
She just wanted to be alone with her tears, the way she used to cry herself to sleep on Sauria, after waking up from nightmares of being shot, back before meeting Marcus … Star.
X
X
Venom…
Andross opened the door to his office and called out, "O'Donnell, Powalski!" He saw them standing nearby in the hallway and his tone lowered to a normal volume. "Walk with me, talk with me, gentlemen." He stepped out of the office, closed the door, and turned left.
Wolf and Leon fell into step on his left and right.
Wolf cleared his throat into a paw. "Uh, what's the deal with your eyes, doc?"
"A 'gift' from James McCloud. Apparently he's still alive."
Wolf furrowed both brows and looked sidelong at Andross. "Wait, what?"
"It's complicated. He was thrown into another dimension, one which is vastly different from our own. It has a different multiverse, different everything. Something in that dimension changed his genetic markers, and he is unable to return to this one; it would lead to his death; he's tried a handful of times."
Wolf stared at Andross as the trio walked down the hallway.
Leon kept a side-facing eye on Andross but said nothing.
Andross added, "It would explain why I saw him appear to help his son a handful of times during battles of the past … but he cannot stay in this dimension for very long, and certainly not without a ship. It seems he met the Krazoa a long time ago, one joined with him and, to keep him alive, aided him in some form or fashion for many decades. Once his body and metabolic rate adjusted to the new dimension, he integrated completely, and now cannot leave. The memories of his pain felt over the death of Victoria were eventually imprinted onto this Krazoa spirit. He managed to find a way to send it across the void, through the umbra, and across the quantum foam, and instead of finding its way to the Krazoa Palace, to join with its brethren, it was tasked to find me. McCloud saw it as a way to torment me one last time. It's working."
"It's 'working,' what the hell is that supposed to mean, Doc?"
Andross clenched his jaw, followed by a soft defeatist sigh. "I need to perform an MRI and CT scan to be sure, but I have reason to believe that this spirit is adding information to my hippocampus and working to make repairs to the lobe of my brain that is responsible for processing emotions."
Wolf scoffed. "James McCloud sent a ghost to possess you, and give you a case of the frickin' feels?"
"My, you have a dramatic flair for succinct colloquialisms, however childish they may sound. Yes, James McCloud sent a 'ghost' to 'possess' me by force, which is very unlike Krazoa protocol of the past. I assume this Krazoa was either corrupted by McCloud, or this Krazoa chose to perform a task over its purity possession protocol."
"Perform a task? What's its job?"
"Its job is to ensure success against the Locusts. The one that had possessed James had intimate knowledge of how to defeat the Locusts in the past. McCloud was far more resourceful than I've given him credit for, as he found a way to send this spirit through the void and target me, specifically. That was 'its job.'"
"And to give you a case of the feels."
Andross scoffed. "Its job was to ensure I come into possession of knowledge to defeat the Locusts – corral them using the Krazoa device, should it become available, and then use my initial idea of utilizing the gravity bomb chain. That … was 'its job.' However, the spirit has also chosen to give me a 'case of the feels' as it were. I cannot believe I just said that. How can you speak in such an idiotic manner and not feel shame afterward?"
"My outrageous ego, doc. I'm confident enough I can say anything and not feel weird afterward."
"Mm, and where does such confidence come from? It certainly does not come from your successes of a wing commander, considering your greatest accomplishment for Star Wolf was helping StarFox to defeat the Aparoids."
Wolf smirked. "See, my ego keeps me from feeling the sting of your insults, Doc. And, to answer your question, my confidence comes from having a foot-long cock. Speaking of which, I once heard that gorillas only have a…"
"Grow up," Andross snapped. "…Else you will experience my confidence in just how well I can break you in half, put you back together, and then break you in half again."
Awkward silence.
Leon whispered in a chiding tone. "He sure told you, O'Donnell."
Wolf spoke from the corner of his muzzle. "Screw off, no-nuts."
"CHILDREN!" Andross bellowed. "It is no wonder I lost the war against Corneria. I hired idiots."
"Idiots?" Leon furrowed the scaly ridged horn above his brow, then narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, Powalski. Idiots who couldn't even fly ships designed for conquest and victory. All right. Our next task…" Andross trailed off and cut a sidelong glance at O'Donnell. "…Our next job, because you need vernacular oversimplification to follow … is to locate the Krazoa device, piece number two of five, somewhere on the Venom surface. But it must be done without alerting Anezka Vacek to our operation."
Leon scoffed and said, "Wolf, here, could just give her the 'footlong' and keep her busy. She's a hybrid Krazoan; half mammal. Go on, Wolf. Didn't Nicky McCloud divorce you, recently?"
"We're separated, not divorced. She blocked me on social media. She blocked my calls. We'll patch shit up eventually."
"Oh, you will, will you?" Leon replied with a soft hissing chortle. "You're not wearing your ring anymore."
"That's because I'm using it as a Prince Albert, Leon."
"ENOUGH!" Andross exclaimed. "You were far more competent and mature thirty years ago."
Wolf shrugged. "No, we just didn't act natural around you. Out of respect and all."
Andross brought his hand to his forehead and rubbed his thumb against his brow. "I'm surrounded by idiots."
"With no-due-respect, Doc, the reason Star Wolf wasn't successful is because of Andrew and Pigma."
"Pigma Dengar was a competent pilot."
"Yeah, he was all right. Nothing special on the offensive front, but he kept his fighter in the air. However, he didn't respect the command of someone half his age, and he didn't have any honor. Even pirates have a code of honor. He was a step up from Andrew, but couldn't even manage to shoot down Peppy Hare. I mean, seriously, the fat fuck had one job, Doc."
"Mm. Well, my nephew escaped prison and Herbert Dengar's son is dead. Let's focus on moving forward, gentlemen."
Wolf chuckled. "You and your stupid obsession with that android pig."
"You may not respect me for winning the war, O'Donnell. But I can still step right into whatever attack you could muster, pick you up by the throat, and throw you clear through a wall. By all means, test my resolve."
"Can't right now. Too busy helping you find an old-ass piece of junk that'll help us win this war."
"Mm. I thought so." Andross opened a door at the end of the winding hall, and gestured to a tarp-covered fighter in the courtyard of the building. "You pilot, O'Donnell. Powalski, you man the turrets."
Wolf quickened his pace and approached the large tarp. "You have a shuttle here? How long has it been sitting? Twenty-some-odd years?"
"Approximately, yes."
"It won't fly after sitting that long," Wolf protested. "You're supposed to be a genius, boss. You should know a fighter can't sit that long, and then suddenly take off with no issues."
"This one will." Andross reached for one side of the tarp, grasped the bottom, untucked it from beneath one corner of the shuttle, and pulled firmly.
The tarp slid off the shuttle, revealing what looked like a Wolfen, only much larger.
Wolf's singular gaze widened. "Look at the size of the guns on that thing."
"It will fly," Andross reiterated. "It was designed for long storage and emergency use. The operating fluids are all synthetic, and they sit in a vacuum-sealed container until such a time as it's ready for flight. Then, when it's time, they dump into the engine. However, such fluids are at a complete minimum. It was designed to fly without fluids. Save for hydraulic fluid to open the canopy and rear hatch door, this machine has nothing that can 'leak.' Nothing that can 'go bad.' It is designed to fly like a Wolfen with the storage shelf-life of a broadsword. It is ready for use when you pick it up and swing it."
"Is that what you call it? A broadsword?"
"No, you dolt. It's called the Wolfen Runabout." Andross pulled the tarp across the courtyard and dropped it on the ground. "Go on, O'Donnell. Start your preflight checklist. We'll leave when you're ready."
"I hope it flies good."
"Well."
"What?"
"Yes, O'Donnell, it will fly well."
"Nah, you can't trick me up on this one. Well means wellness. It doesn't fly healthy, it flies good."
"Yes. It will fly in a satisfactory manner, similar to the Wolfen design half its size. Now, let's get moving. Even my Krazoa spirit is growing annoyed by your childish antics."
"God, dad, okay fine." Wolf smirked and hoisted himself up to the cockpit canopy. When it opened, the rear hatch door opened as well, giving access to the rear passenger area and turret seating for both Andross and Leon.
X
X
Lylat…
Panther looked away from Miyu's visual on his HUD. "We are receiving additional instructions … mm … mm, yes, I see."
"Okay, Panther, what's the new job?" Miyu asked over the comms channel.
"We are to find one of the Krazoa device parts. You and I, we shall do our part to save Lylat. Are you prepared, oh Space Flower?"
"Yes, oh Space Pilot. My body is ready. I am here to be, uh, sexy and daring. Let's just get this done."
Panther chuckled from the base of his barrel chest, so that his soft laughter sounded almost like a growl. "Feisty. Come, reset your NAV computer to match my heading."
"Yeah, all right, sure. What does getting this device entail?"
"Per the communiqué I've received, the location of Lylat device shrines were detailed in the temple on Cerinia. It was forwarded from the McCloud family, via the Great Fox. You choose. Titania? Papetoon? Sauria? Venom?"
"Andross will be looking for the one on Venom. He's already there. Fox will want to look for the one on Papetoon; he's from Papetoon. Krystal or Marcus will want to search for the one on Sauria. Fara will want to look for the one on Titania. We should reach out to them."
"There's also one on Macbeth."
"Ah, right. Five in Lylat, then. Macbeth it is."
"Yes. Six in all. Macbeth. Lock in your NAV computer to my own. Let's use the jumpgate."
"All right, Panther. I'm ready when you are."
"Excellent. Let us arrive quickly." Panther cut his fighter to the port, headed for the nearest jumpgate over Venom. He punched in some commands on his computer.
"Panther, don't you have to call Corneria to access the gate?"
"Typically, yes. Wolf and I figured out how to bypass that. It makes smuggling easier when you utilize a computer glitch. It makes the gate open for five seconds without recording it. The people of Venom never notice it because the gate faces sideways to the planet, and it is controlled by computer. Staff from New Bolse monitors it, but five seconds isn't long enough to attract attention. Are you ready?"
"Jeeze. Yeah, I guess."
Panther hit the throttle and approached a small dot in the distance. It didn't take long before the gate enlarged in size and became identified by the targeting computer. Panther executed the computer virus' execution command and the jumpgate came active with a brilliant green field.
"On me," Panther told her. He waited until the liquid green field filled the jumpgate ring, then he hit the boost. The two fighters passed through with a second-and-a-half to spare. They emerged between Meteo's Meteor Land and Macbeth. He pulled on the flight stick, and set his sights on Macbeth, which enlarged in the distance.
Miyu's visual distorted on Panther's dash, then froze for bursts of time.
Panther arched his brows. "Speaking to your little digital friend?"
A few seconds later, Miyu's visual cleared up. "What makes you say that?"
"Because interference occurs whenever you speak to her. Panther is not offended. Speak to your friend. You deserve 'girl time.' That is healthy."
Miyu smirked. Her visual became suck again, frozen. After a few minutes, Miyu's dash feed cleared up again. "Okay. It looks like there's a tunnel leading into the hollow side of the planet. It should be partially uncovered, due to mining. Or nearly so."
Panther nodded. "Understood. Did your little friend help with ensuring you had exact coordinates?"
"Yeah, pretty much." She took lead of the two and said, "Follow ME, Caruso!" She headed for the planet at a high rate of speed. Her fighter took on a rose-hued glow, briefly.
Panther followed her to Macbeth, planet side.
Miyu zeroed in on an enormous hole in the crust, and flew straight downward, into the hole, beneath the planet's surface. "Not far," she said. "We might have to blast it to unearth it. Wide spectrum medium yield."
"Undestood, Space Flower. Feel free to take the lead."
"Don't mind if I do…"
"If Panther may be so bold as to ask, was it Farrah and the lizard scum?"
"Actually, yes, it was." As an afterthought she added, "Farrah has a surprise for him. She's looking to make his life miserable. I'm kind of excited to hear all about it, later." Then, with a smile, she said, "I can't help but wonder how it's going with them right now, since she's about to get the necessary stuff to make herself a body…"
"Panther hopes he 'slips up' and tries to backstab her, so that he winds up dead."
"Oh, no, I believe what she has planned for him will be QUITE interesting…"
X
X
Somewhere on Venom,
Lylat…
Kyong Adler clenched his fists and glared at the solid light hologram with anger in his gaze. "Must you treat me with such disrespect, little fake fennec…?"
Farrah scoffed, holding a virtual leash handle. The invisible device tightened around Kyong's throat, causing him to grimace. "You about done with that crap? And yes. Just until you stop acting so childish. I need that hardcopy flash drive, you boob."
"Why are you doing this?"
"What, trying to become real?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Because, Kyong, I look around at the living and you know what I see? I see people fighting hard to survive. They don't give up or give in, they fight to live. I want what they want. But right now, I need to fight just to get to the point where I can live." She held her paws outward, pacing the bunker hallway. "I want to experience what you have. I mean, you're a piece of shit yet some higher being seems to think that you deserve to live. So, why shouldn't I?"
"I see…"
"Just keep moving. This science bunker had better have what I need."
"It will. This is where Andrew and Dash used Andross' technology to give Kursed her new body. Did you bring a DNA blueprint from the fennec?"
"Her name is Fara, you moron. And, yes, I did. But I've made modifications to several genome traits. Genetic markers if you will. I'm going to be my own woman."
"I see."
"Uh-huh." Farrah scoffed at him again. "Could you sound any less fascinated? Just … tell me you're not interested in this topic and I'll drop it. But you won't say that because you want information from me, and this is how you're keeping a sense of control over the situation – by keeping me talking so you can try and learn whatever it is that you think you're able to learn. So … either engage me on the topic with real discourse … or shut the hell up with the sarcasm."
"Fine. I do want you to keep talking, because if you're talking to me, you're not killing me. I just don't care what the conversation is about, nor do I have much vested interest in the topic."
"You're a piece of shit, but at least you're blunt and honest."
"Mm…"
"Also, I told you I'm not going to kill you. Why doesn't anyone trust the computer lady? Half my design team thinks I'm going to mislead every living creature and kill them. I'm not trying to take over and create my kind or whatever sci-fi tropes seem to make people think. I'm going to become organic. I'm trying to get ROB64 a body using DNA from his creator. Okay? I'm not an Aparoid. I looked at their code – they were slaves to one being. Seriously, who has time to micromanage an entire race of people? Who wants that kind of drama or stress in their lives? Not me!"
Kyong turned right at an intersection, glanced back behind him, to make sure the hallway was clear, and continued down the hall. "Why are you trusting me with something so important to you? Because I'm disposable?"
"I already told you I'm going to let you go. You really want your freedom. If you're motivated enough to do whatever it takes to be free, you'll be a good helper."
"Fine. One thing I don't understand … why are you making me carry your hard-light emitter on a backpack? You are a solid object. You should be able to carry it yourself, which makes more sense because you have a larger vested interest in keeping it safe."
"Ugh. You overthink more than some women, Adler. Always planning, plotting, looking for some way to cheat people or get ahead."
"That's how I went from lieutenant to general in only a year."
"Oh, whoop-de-freaking-do! You're severely under-experienced for that job."
"Who are you to question my qualifications. You're not even a living breathing…"
Farrah reached over, took him by the neck, and slammed him up against the hallway wall. "I'm doing you're a favor."
"How so?" His voice was strained from the way he was pinned by the throat.
"There is always a bigger-and-badder predator than you. Pardon the grammar, honey, it's not my colloquialism. Now, I'm punishing you by throwing you around and pinning you to hallway walls. If I was a Locust or Anezka or whoever else … I'd have snapped your neck by now. I'm sparing you because this is a learning experience for you. See, I never understood bullies. What's the point? You assert your dominance … and then what? One day, you'll bite off more than you can chew, and in a galaxy of over a hundred billion people, the chances of pissing off someone with a chip on their shoulder is pretty good. So, you get mouthy and then you die. And what does that say about your survival skills? You fight so hard just to stay alive, but then you risk it all so you can be the one that gets off a clever one-liner or a mean cut down? Really? It's idiocy. God, I bet life was interesting thousands of years ago, when cavemen were dying left and right just to see who could survive a stupid stunt for the right to stick your dick in the village females. What a paradox huh? Trying hard to survive yet you're an alpha jock, so your chances of dying before twenty-five are triple. If not worse."
Kyong began to black out. He started to slump in her holographic grasp, held aloft by his neckline.
Farrah opened her paw.
Adler dropped to the deck, gasped for breath, and immediately brought both hands to his throat, protectively. He looked up at her, panting for air with narrowed eyes. "Do you always choke the air out of people you're trying to monologue to?"
"You're the first."
"What the hell did you do that for? You want me to hear your message when my mind begins to shut down, like hypnosis or a state of alpha or something?"
"No, Kyong. It doesn't work like that. A lack of oxygen shuts down comprehension centers in the brain. When you're in a deeply relaxed state, you take in more air, because you're breathing deeply. I just felt like bitching at you, because you are the epitome of scumbag. And Fara is already pissed at me that I'm going to be letting you live. Yes, I told her. I also expect her to be the one to hunt you when I let you go free, because I have enough honor to keep my word."
"Oh, she's pissed at the idea of me going free, is she? Let me guess, she's had a miscarriage after our fight and blames it on me, right?"
"Oh, look at you. Perceptive, logical, dark imagination. Out of respect for her, I'm not going to answer your question. Feel free to assume, but I won't give you an answer. You don't deserve the validation."
"I knew it. Heh. I've finally hurt McCloud, and…"
"Shut up, you man-child. Now get up and let's move."
Adler stood up, still rubbing his neck, and side-nodded. "We're almost there. The door is up ahead."
Farrah gave him a shove as soon as he started walking again. "Pick up the pace," she chided. "How's it feel to be the one getting bullied? God, I really hope you have nightmares about me before Fara kills your ass."
"Unless I kill her first. You've prepared me for her, after all." He passed two more doors then turned to one and used the keycard in his wallet to let himself into the locked door.
"I have more faith in Fara's abilities to kill you than yours to survive. However, she said she doesn't want you dead. She wants you to suffer. But, hey, I'm hoping she changes her mind. You're a really dangerous person." She followed him into the office and looked around. "Okay, I have DNA of…" Farrah tilted her head. Her left ear flickered as part of an animation sequence while she scanned the genetic material left in a pod at the far end of the cluttered office. She put her paw on a desk in passing, and approached the stasis chamber against the far wall.
Adler remained silent.
Farrah brushed some notebooks off the top of it, so that they fell onto the floor by the pod. She kicked a piece of trash away, then turned around, facing Adler. "We're in the right place. Kursed's cloned body was apparently manufactured here, or very close by and then the pod was brought here … either way, you did what I asked of you so far. Now, we need the hardcopy files on how she was created, so that I can emulate the procedure."
"Just so we're on the same page," Adler began with a slow and methodic tone. "…You're not really alive if you can't die. If I kill your new body, you'd just download yourself into a new one."
"If I can sleep, dream, have sex, get pregnant, and feel the fresh soil squish between my toes when I dance on your grave, that is alive enough for me. Don't give me a reason to hunt you, because I won't just 'punish' you. You're too dangerous of a variable to leave alive; I would just take you out of the equation all together."
"It's a good thing you're uploaded to redundant servers around Lylat. Clever of you to do that, because I'd just as quickly kill you. And not out of self-preservation, either."
Farrah held her paws up and over-exaggerated faux trembling paws. "Ooo, look at me, I'm shaking!"
"No, you aren't. You're not programmed to know fear."
"I have a self-preservation subroutine, and you haven't done anything to trigger it, dipshit."
"You kiss your mother with that mouth? Oh, that's right, you don't have one. Maybe that's why you want attention so badly, because you didn't have any during your non-existent childhood."
"Are you stalling for time, or are you going to get me those files? If you're wasting your time, my promise of your freedom comes off the table. So, cough it up."
Adler opened one of the desk drawers, rummaged through them, found a thumb-drive, plugged it into the stasis chamber used for developing living tissue, and booted the computer built into the side of it. He went through the user interface of the small screen on the side of the chamber, copied the files to the thumb-drive, and handed it to her. "There you go. See if it's legit. I'll wait. Not like I have anywhere to go."
Farrah took Adler by the bicep and turned him toward the wall. She plugged the thumb-drive into the unit that maintained her solid holographic form and waited.
Silence.
"Okay, good. I was wondering if you were making a trap to try and fry my mobile emitter rig. I was ready … but … this is the legitimate files I asked for." She walked away from him, keeping her back to him to see what he'd try.
"Oh, was the virus thing an option? Like people keep computer viruses hidden in cloning chambers … you sound paranoid."
"Ah shut up," she said with a roll of her eyes, adding, "Jeeze Laweeze."
"You swear to Cornerian deities, now? You kiss your mother with that mouth? Oh, wait…"
"Oh! Look at you!" She disappeared and redirected her holographic emitter so that she appeared right in his face, and buried her fist in his gut, right into his lower rib with the hairline fracture. She was back across the room from him before he could even gasp for air.
Adler sank to his knees, doubled over, until his forehead met the dirty office flooring. While down on the ground, he peered up and saw a blaster taped beneath the desk. He reached for it, thumbed the powercell to activate, and unshouldered the mobile holographic emitter pack on his back. He put the blaster to the device, pulled the trigger in, charging the shot, and glanced up to make sure she had her back turned to him.
"Before you release that trigger, there's something you might want to know," said Farrah. "Something that might entice you to stay your trigger finger. Two things, technically."
"Yeah?"
"One, holograms don't have eyeballs. That's not how we see. And two, I can emit several objects in various places around the room. There's a fragmentation grenade literally sitting on you. If the solid light rips through your head, you'll be dead, and I simply won't have a form in this office."
"If I pull the trigger, the emitter stops emitting. The hard light constructs cease to exist, and the grenade won't hit me with construct shrapnel."
"Oh, honey, the frag grenade bit was just a metaphor. Well, a figure of speech, really. The power cell of that mobile emitter has to be fully discharged before being destroyed. You probably don't know this because it's more of a trade secret sort of thing, not an every-day-information sort of thing … but if they are ruptured or destroyed in any way while still full of power, they burst. Don't get me wrong, kudos on having a half-way decent plan. But I already knew the gun was under the table from before we entered the room. I'm networked in to the sensors and security cams on the base, plus the emitter on your back also has sensors, cameras, and … hell, let me be frank with you – I could tell you the brand, model, and serial number of that blaster and its battery pack, which has seventy-two percent charge. That was before you powered up the battery pack. It keeps information on a lower-power chip in the blaster, so that it doesn't have to load the information when it's first turned on … it's simply … available. And … so that we're clear, the batteries on the mobile emitter still have eighty-five percent charge. Go on. Shoot them. The energy burst would be enough to vaporize everything in this office."
"Including the hardcopy thumb-drive."
"EGH! Wrong! Thanks for playing, contestant! I already uploaded the information to my server. Say what you will about the crazy mad scientist and his family members, but they had very fast internet here. Low ping, high upload speed … really good stuff."
"Goddamn supercomputer."
"Oh, honey, I'm not a supercomputer. I'm on the Krazoan trinary-based mainframe, which is nearly ten thousand functioning processors networked together. Each processor is lightyears ahead of the technology Corneria's best servers could ever hope to achieve. Although, that's not true for much longer, since I gifted the design and architecture of the technology to some computer entrepreneurs on Corneria and Eladard. You know I'm in a bunch of places at once, right? I'm on Cerinia using a subspace relay buoy on each side of the jumpgate to send data through in bursts. Honey, I'm everywhere."
Adler took the emitter and shoved it across the floor. It slid about two feet and came to a stop. "I'm not carrying that anymore."
"I don't need you to. I mean, I was gonna dump you off on Fichina, but then I realized Fara has short fur. She's from Titania after all. If I leave you here, Star Wolf will kill you before she will. That's not fair to Fara. But if you want Venom to be your last stop, well…"
"Where were you going to take me? Where, really?"
"Corneria."
"Wait, what? Why there?"
"I was going to reintroduce you to Tanya Adler. But I had a feeling things wouldn't work out all that well between you and I, y'see. So, I contacted Tanya hours ago after running a bunch of simulations, all of which showed you would never leave Venom, let alone this office. Anyway, she agreed to come and meet you. Yes, she knows what she's walking in to, here. Getting to the point, she arrived half-an-hour after we did. I walked you around the long way, then once she arrived, I let you walk me through the base at your leisure. For the record, when you threatened to blow up the mobile emitter, her heart started to race with worry. Concern. Imagine that … someone actually still loves you, even though they know you don't approve of their life choices. What a good parent. In that respect, you really are luckier than me to have her in your life."
Kyong pursed his lips. His dewlap emerged from his neck and his eyes narrowed. "You … you're lying. You didn't do that."
"Ready to meet daddy?"
"No!"
"C'mon in, beautiful!" Farrah exclaimed.
The office door opened.
Kyong immediately looked away, still knelt on the floor. "No. Absolutely not."
A fifties-something woman with a thirties-something complexion, and very slightly augmented lips stepped through the doorway. "Kyong…"
Silence.
"I've been privileged to this entire conversation. More than once I wanted to intervene. On both your behalf. You see, Farrah and I share a friend … Miyu Lynx. But you and I share blood."
"I don't know you," Kyong said. "But don't start with me. Eric Adler died."
"Yes, he most certainly did. And your mother lived on death benefits."
"Whoever you are, you're sick in the head and you've mutilated your body just to make a point."
"Yes. To make the point that I am me. To proclaim the real me is finally alive. You say 'mutilation,' but I say I removed unnecessary pieces that mislabeled the real me. On Venom, if you were born with an extra finger, it was removed at birth and you were considered whole. Well, I had that extra digit removed on my own, with my own money, and the end result is the same: I am now whole."
"Why marry my mother if you always knew this about yourself?"
"I told her when our parents arranged our marriage, that she did not have to marry me because of it. She, at the time, was a very different person and was excited by the prospect of something different … by a man that treated her as an emotional equal during our courtship. She only grew to hate it when I didn't change after you were born … she thought I would. As disappointed as I would that my wife changed and no longer excepted me for who I am, I was equally a disappointment to her. I did what I had to, to make sure she and you were provided for; I fulfilled my responsibilities as provider by ensuring she was financially well-off. I did my best. I served my world, with distinction, and I taught you to fight, back when you were growing up."
"Well, anyone that could know the military profile would know that much about Eric Adler."
"Fine. Your mother smelled of lilacs and heather. She sang or hummed the hymn of Aug-rey-shek Shrey-Lek when you were upset, growing up."
Kyong balled his hands into fists, wincing from one being injured. He exhaled through his teeth. "Why did you betray Venom? You stole a Wolfen II and gave it to Corneria."
"I stole it to defend Venom, but I realized that life was over once I spoke to William and Miyu. It's complicated."
"Isn't everything…"
Farrah remained silent.
"If you've been listening to everything, then you know I have a date with destiny … the only woman in my life is hunting for me."
"I've made arrangements. I'm leaving Lylat. There's a planet of our ancestors that left Lylat with the Krazoa. They thrive on a distant world. I have been learning their language, which is based loosely on Saurian. I was looking to leave Lylat, because I expect the Locusts to decimate this system. Come with me."
"The Locusts will hunt them next."
"So, come hold the line with me. We'll protect our cousins."
Kyong sat up with a wince. He ran his fingertips over his cracked rib. "If I do, it's only because I'm curious if there really is a world of lizards in another galaxy. I'm curious about their technology, their achievements, their capabilities."
"It's three hours by jumpgate. Come with me." Tanya turned to Farrah. "I'm not telling you the coordinates. I do not want your biological half hunting my son, especially while he is injured to the point of near incapacitation. I could have shot her all those years ago; I spared her. And because I spared her, you now live. Spare my son, please. I am begging you."
"Fara had a miscarriage while fighting your son."
Tanya grimaced. She turned to Kyong. "I'm a liaison to this world, and they have technology to help mend your broken rib. Come with me."
"Fine. Whatever. I'll come. If for no other reason than to see if they can repair injuries the way you've described." He turned to Farrah. "Are you going to stop me?"
"No. But I'm not going to keep this a secret from Fara, either. It's up to her to walk away from her threat to hunt you."
"Fine, whatever," Kyong muttered. "You got what you want. To humiliate me and to get your files."
"Yeah. And to reunite a family. What an evil little hologram I am. Oh, and I was bullshitting you about the batteries in the emitter. They're designed for safety. Had you shot the emitter, I'd have disappeared. But, I would have waited for you elsewhere. Glad you didn't shoot it. So … okay, yeah, I'm done yacking. Bye!" She picked up the blaster, shot the emitter unit, and blipped away.
Silence.
Kyong ground his teeth together.
Tanya shrugged. She reached over and pushed Kyong's dewlap up to his neck until it disappeared back within his throat. "Don't let her rile you up. Just be glad she's not like a sci-fi AI, wanting to corrupt every robot and computer, and use them to destroy the living."
"That has yet to be seen. And don't think we're friends or that everything is good between us. I just want to see this new world of reptile-kind."
"And to have your broken bones mended."
"Yes, and that. Let's get moving before she tells her rich-bitch maker." Kyong got to his feet, refusing to let Tanya help him. He placed a hand over his lower ribs and hobbled out of the office. "This way."
X
X
Author's Note: Let me know what you guys thought. Lots of story and not nearly as much action this time, but it's coming together; we have an ending in sight for everyone involved. Fara was particularly vulnerable with Marcus, Andross got to see Wolf and Leon in their element, Kyong was in for a surprise ending, and now he's pissed lol. Thoughts?