"That's why, when you mix these ingredients, you have to be careful, yet quick so that the compound doesn't lose it's properties.", I explained to Malinda before adding. "While Xander Root is pretty hardy and won't lose many of it's properties once broken up, the nutrients in the Broc Flower will very quickly lose it's properties when exposed to standard room conditions, which is why you have to be careful when harvesting it."
It has been a week since the girls and I arrived here in the Mountain Base, and so far, we have been doing our part as best we can to help the war effort. Outside of small skirmishes, no major changes in the conflict had occurred yet, and we haven't been sent on any field assignments, either. For the most part, the three of us have just been working in our assigned stations to help bolster our forces. Ender has been hard at work teaching the blacksmith various techniques from her homeland to help strengthen steel, as well as producing a wide variety of gadgets for use by our own soldiers, though she refuses to tell anyone how most of them are made. More Shinobi Secrets, I suppose.
Meanwhile with Anastasia, she has apparently formed a sort of Think Tank of her own up in the War Room with both the Commander and Chief Advisor, only with less insanity than the Think Tank I'm used to. According to her, the Lich seems to be employing a few of Druella's more well known war strategies. Specifically, her siege tactics that helped her to win the Battle of Ishivostoka, which was her second major offensive victory right after the Battle of Swordbreak Keep. Because of that, we know quite a bit about what their next moves MIGHT be, and council will be held tomorrow to determine what to do with out newfound information. Here's hoping we actually get to do something proactive, since I'm about to up and do something myself.
Ah, the good old days of kicking the Legion's ass, where I could just up and do whatever I wanted to fuck them over with no strings attached. Too bad it's not that simple anymore, what with the majority of the enemy being really fucking overpowered. On the plus side, though, Anastasia has come to me a couple of times for practice shooting, and we've been able to practice a bit in a scarcely-populated part of the cave system. She's been getting pretty good, though again, only on stationary targets. By her own admission, she still doesn't know if she'll be able to pull the trigger when it really matters. Besides that, helping to develop this medicine is pretty rewarding in and of itself.
That's what I've been up to, by-the-by. Over the past week, I've been introducing Malinda to the necessary ingredients to create the Stimpak, how to grow and harvest them properly, as well as various different Chemistry Lessons so that she understood exactly how to ensure they worked as they should. We had made quite a bit of progress, too. Despite appearances, Malinda was just as adept with the various sciences as I had thought she would be, and she picked up on everything very quickly. Even better, she wasn't constantly acting weird or sexual in any way. Sure, there'd be a lewd comment here and there, but nothing like what I had to deal with back in Magicor with those goddamn gremlins. It'll probably be just another week before she has got this whole thing down. If only the plants would grow that fast. Well, the Xander Root will, that shit grows fucking everywhere.
"I see, and that's what the gauge on the syringe is for.", Malinda concluded before adding, "It keeps the compound at a stable pressure so that it doesn't denature."
"Exactly. Meeting the exact stability requirements for this compound is crucial for it to work and not have unintended side effects.", I responded, happy she was keeping up. "Too little pressure, and the compound will quickly denature and have no effect on the patient. Too much pressure, and it's effects can become toxic, causing intense pain, and in extreme cases, Heart Attacks since it becomes much denser and can easily block arteries."
"Right, last question.", she responded before asking, "Will it conflict with any other medications?"
"Good question. Surprisingly, no.", I answered, getting used to her impressive train of thought by now. "Really, if the Stimpak is prepared and applied correctly, the only real side effect that will occur is hunger in the patient, so besides any other potion that causes the same side effect, it won't negatively interact with other medications."
"Fascinating. Your homeland must be extremely advanced to develop something this extraordinary.", Malinda exclaimed, clearly in good spirits. "I'd love to visit it sometime. Where did you say it was again?"
"Nowhere that exists today.", I responded with a non-truth, hoping to get her to drop it. "Besides, you really wouldn't wanna visit it. Trust me."
"Hmm, if you say so.", she responded, stretching her arms and long, snake-like tail with a hum before she turned back to me. "So, what next?"
"Next, you need to go get some rest.", I answered, taking a peak at my Pip-Boy to see that it was already close to 10:30pm. "You're a doctor, so you should know better than anyone how bad sleep deprivation is for you." At that, she looked away shyly. Really, for all this girl's pros, she's an extreme workaholic. She's almost as bad as me, and that's NOT a good thing. Hypocritical, I know, but I don't need sleep to survive. She does, which is why Udephilis, the Commander and Lyra roped me into a plan to make her get better sleep.
"Fine, fine.", she said with a wave, turning to leave the Infirmary we were working in. "You know the drill: clean up after yourself when you're done."
"Will do. Night, Malinda.", I responded. She called back with a hum, before slithering out of the infirmary and to her quarters. She wasn't married, with her excuse being that she was far too busy running things here, and she's right. The other Mamono are grateful, but worry for her. Me, though, I'm fucking relieved. Her professional attitude is, honestly, insanely refreshing.
Back to business, though, time to get on with my OTHER activity here in the lab. You know, by myself. Quickly heading over to the microscope, I went ahead and materialized my supplies for the project. What project, you ask? Why, getting myself immune to that annoying-ass Demonic Energy, that's what.
Laying out all my work from the past week really showed a lot about the progress I had made into this endeavor. Pages upon pages of my notes and calculations now lined the desk I sat at as I began to test and cross off more potential culprits for just what the fuck this last two elements were. As I discovered in Magicor, Demonic Energy and Spirit Energy are made up of various known elements and a couple unknown elements that made complete filtration by my artificial heart impossible. Using the microscope in the lab, I was able to determine that, by all intents and purposes, these energies look like Adenosine Triphosphate, just without the mystery elements.
Well, I guess SINGLE mystery element, since I was able to pretty quickly identify the element in Spirit Energy is just a never-before-seen isotope of Iridium. That's not even what I'm looking for, though, so back to the drawing board.
In light of that small discovery, along with studying the damn thing under a microscope for a while, I thought that it might be an isotope as well, but everything about it has just been...confusing, for the most part. I mean, the thing is small, at least it looks small compared to the other elements, yet it's so fucking dense that it could give Elt a run for his money.
Christ, I've been working at this for a week, and yet I feel like I'm getting fucking nowhere!
"...Fuck this. Not today.", I relented, digitizing everything before I had really even gotten started. "I need a drink."
"Good, you're finally here.", I heard Alto-Eris say as I slogged my way into the War Room with a massive headache courtesy of my goddamn hangover. I could currently make out everyone from last time was in the room, save for Udephilis.
"Are you alright, Six?", Anastasia asked, with a tilt of her head. "You don't look so good."
"You've got a hangover, don't you?", Ender suggested, to which I nodded painfully.
"Yeah, but I'm good.", I droned, really starting to regret drinking as much as I did last night.
...Oh, who am I kidding, I regret nothing. I haven't drank that much in a while.
"Tch! Of course the murderer is loony drunk.", I heard a snide comment to my right. Oh joy, it's Puff the Magic Cunt. Just what I fucking need right now.
"Ahem!", I heard Alto-Eris clear her throat as she went to get our attention. "Alright, apologies, but Udephilis had...urgent business to attend to down below." Well, that's not suspicious at all.
"May I ask what it was?", Anastasia asked in a polite manner.
"Let's just say a few leaks are needing to be plugged, and Udephilis feels personally responsible for them.", Lyra answered with a scowl on her face, while Leia looked furious yet again.
"Indeed, but besides that, we have urgent matters to discuss ourselves.", the Commander regained all of our attention before continuing. "Internal reports have been pleasing to see, what with the development of the Six's medicine and Ender's equipment. I thank you both for your hard work." In response, Ender did a quick, yet respectful bow as she responded.
"It was no trouble, Commander." Ender responded before quickly adding, bringing her head back up. "They won't kill the enemy, but they will surely disorient them and provide our own troops with many more avenues to approach during combat."
"So I've been told. And you, Six?", Alto-Eris asked as she turned to address me.
"Probably too busy drinking himself stupid.", the bitch remarked again. I swear to God, I do not need your shit right now!
"All good on my end, too.", I answered as politely as I could with a throbbing headache before continuing. "Malinda is a real smart cookie, and is picking up on things very quickly. I estimate around another week before she's pumping out Stimpaks like a pro chemist. With a good nights rest, I might add."
"Good, the sooner we get that medicine out in the field, the better.", Alto-Eris responded with a sigh before adding. "Also, thank you for helping out Malinda with her sleep patterns for us. She's as loyal as they come, and while I'm happy she's so diligent with her work, we all need to sleep." Well, not all of us…
"No problem. Sleep is the best medication, after all.", I supplied, before cheekily adding. "And some of us need it more than others." As I said while not-so-subtly looking toward Leia.
"What's that supposed to mean?", the bitch began to flare in response as we began to stare each other down.
"Enough, I won't have you two arguing anymore.", Alto-Eris stopped us before we could get into another argument. "I understand you two don't like each other, but I demand at least some level of professionalism. Is that clear?" We both acknowledged her, but without breaking eye contact.
"Crystal.", Leia relented, before breaking eye contact first.
"Good, now we can continue.", Alto-Eris concluded before moving on. "Thanks to Anastasia, we've come across some new information that we would like to confirm." After speaking, she nodded to Anastasia to continue
"Yes, if you could all please turn your attention to the map.", Anastasia asked, to which we all approached the map as she continued, "As you all know, there isn't much standing between us and the enemy at this point."
"That's putting it lightly.", I remarked quietly to myself, though something tells me the Commander heard it based on the small frown she was giving me.
"However, thanks to looking over past enemy battle tactics and marching patterns, we were able to determine what strategies Gretel will be employing.", Anastasia said proudly, a large smile present on her face. It's impressive that she can stay so optimistic in a stressful situation like this.
"By all means, let's hear it.", Lyra responded, starting to get fired up by Anastasia's enthusiasm.
"Thanks to our knowledge of Druella's own military strategies, we were able to determine that Gretel will most likely be seeking to choke out any remaining supply and transport routes coming to and from the areas surrounding the base of Mount Malak.", Anastasia explained while pointing to the areas on the map as she spoke about them. "This is because, when in our shoes, the Order would normally either send for a large number of reinforcements, along with more supplies to hold off an expected siege, or to send off important non-combatants...or both."
"Hold on, hold on.", Leia asked before clarifying, "What did you mean before when you said 'most likely'? You don't know for sure?"
"Yes, while we've been able to determine all this through basic pattern recognition and intuition, we don't have anything concrete yet...unfortunately.", Anastasia responded, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Ah, don't go getting down on us now!", Lyra exclaimed, giving Anastasia a clap on the back, to which she gave a small yelp in surprise. "From what we've seen, the enemy movements match up almost perfectly to what you've told us. I trust ya!"
"Seriously.", I concurred, still trying to work out m headache. "You know these cards better than anyone present, and I've had work with far less intel in the past, believe me." Fuck you, Colonel Moore.
"Which brings us back to our reason for meeting.", the Commander regained control of the conversation before addressing Ender, Anastasia, and I. "I'm sending you three on your first assignment." At that, our faces all lit up, even mine under my Gas Mask. Finally! We are getting some fresh air.
"Not only that, but I'll be joining y'all!", Lyra jumped in with a toothy grin.
"Indeed. You four will be scouting our southern border, marking anything that is interfering with our supply and transport routes.", Alto-Eris explained as she motioned towards the bottom portion of the map. "Now, while we won't be using the roads for anything like the Order does, that Lich likely suspects we will be trying to secure VIP's, such as Her Majesty, in the event of a siege. As such, the main reason for this operation is to make sure that Gretel is indeed utilizing Druella's war tactics."
"I see, an intelligence test.", I summarized, to which Alto-Eris nodded. Normally, I wouldn't be for this kind of thing if it wasn't necessary, given our current predicament, but I suppose if we were under any sort of immediate threat, Anastasia would have recognized it.
"Remember, you are scouts.", the Commander reiterated before explaining. "Should you find enemy combatants, you will maintain a stealth element, and only engage as a last resort in self-defense. That means you, Lyra."
"Ah, come on, Commander.", Lyra cheerfully replied back before adding, "Where's the fun in that?" In response, Alto-Eris merely sighed before turning to me and the girls.
"This will also be a test for you three, so no mediocrity. Am I clear?", the Commander asked.
"Yes, ma'am.", the three of us responded at once.
"Good, you are dismissed.", she finished as the four of us left the room to prepare for our first assignment.
"You feeling better, Six?", Anastasia asked in genuine concern. "You've been awfully quiet."
"Yeah, I'm better now.", I responded in reassurance before adding, "I'm just thinking." We left the Mountain a while ago and had been on the move for hours. Given that is was around noon when we left, we will most likely be setting up camp soon since we've still got quite a ways to go before we reach enemy territory or our designated scouting route.
"Oh? About what?", Anastasia asked with another curious tilt of her head.
"...Nothing important.", I responded. I'd been thinking about just what the fuck that last mystery element in Demonic Energy could be. I knew it was generally cold, looked small but was really dense for some inexplicable reason, and, in terms of makeup, looked almost identical to the new iridium isotope I found. That couldn't be that case, though, since the new iridium element was dense, but not THAT dense. It just didn't add up…
"Well, now I really want to know.", she responded with a slight giggle, Ender nodding as she did so.
"Sorry, but it's nothing you would understand.", I responded dismissively before adding. "Just mind-bending chemistry problems; nothing pertaining to the war."
"About that medicine your making?", Lyra asked curiously as she led us through the barren land full of more hills and ridges.
"No, a personal project.", I answered before elaborating, "I'm trying to find a way to make myself immune to Demonic Energy." Lyra's face morphed into one of pure shock at that, and she almost stopped dead in her tracks.
"Oh yeah, how is that going, Six?", Anastasia asked, curious as to my progress.
"Well, I can make myself immune to Spirit Energy with a push of a button if I wanted to, though I'm not sure why anyone would do that.", I answered, which made all girls present adopt an almost horrified look. I'm serious about that, too, since it's not like it makes me immune to spells cast with Spirit Energy. A fireball is still a fucking ball of fire, after all. Not much my heart can do to stop third degree burns.
"That...sounds awful.", Ender said quietly to herself before asking, "You can't impose that on...others, can you?"
"Not that I know of.", I answered half-truthfully, which caused them to sigh in relief, before explaining, "My main method of immunization right now is to define the mystery element to my [Artificial Heart] so that it can completely filter Demonic Energy out of my bloodstream like any other toxin." Honestly, I probably could find a way to make others unable to interact with Spirit Energy, but I have no real need to. Though, I can see why that idea would scare the shit out of monsters. After all, I'd be essentially sewing their mouths shut, and they'd be unable to eat.
"Wait, what do you mean artificial heart?", Lyra asked, catching onto what I said about my heart.
"...Here, it's about time we set up camp.", I quickly deflected before adding, "I'll tell you after we eat, sound good?" To that, Lyra nodded as we began to set up our small campsite under a ridge outcropping.
"Oh, Six!", Anastasia seemed like she remembered something before asking, "Before the sun sets, could we...practice shooting some more?"
"Sure, I don't see why not.", I responded as Anastasia's translucent face went slightly flushed. As Ender and Lyra went to set up the fire and cook food, I set up more empty Sunset Sarsaparilla Bottles up not too far away from the camp as Anastasia pulled out Maria. I could see that the safety was still on, too. Good girl.
"Hmm? I thought the Great Red-Eyes Six wasn't keen on sharing.", Lyra asked cheekily as she prepared the dried meat that was to be our dinner.
"I gave it to her just for self-defense.", I replied before adding, "Besides, given how she left Druella's armies, the only way they'd let her back into the fold is in pieces." At that, Lyra looked rather intrigued, but Ender stopped her before she probed any further.
"Trust me. You don't want to know.", Ender remarked plainly as I began to help Anastasia adopt the right form for shooting again. Once again, she began to blush and even slightly push her butt backwards into me as I held her arms from behind in the right position.
"Remember, focus now, fantasize later.", I reiterated from our first shooting lesson. She was now in position with a loaded gun, and there were now six bottles instead of five. "Ready?"
She nodded, and with a calm breath in and out, she took her first shots. I was glad that she was learning, remembering what I had taught her last time. She missed a several shots still, but managed to hit all but one of them now, and all she had was one bullet left. She was clearly tense, but seemed to remember what I told her about focus as she calmed down, breathed in, breathed out, and fired.
SPLASH!
What?
"Wait, I think that bottle was still full.", Anastasia said she ejected the spent magazine and flicked the safety back on Maria.
"Oops, my bad.", I said as I looked towards where the bottles were lined up previously. "I guess I placed a full one by mistake. On the plus side, though, you hit every single one of them. Great job."
"Indeed, you did very well, my Lord.", Ender joined me in congratulating Anastasia on her shooting.
"Thank you both again, but it's only because I have a good teacher.", Anastasia commented as she rubbed the back of her head, putting Maria away in her coat again.
"Maybe, but you have only yourself to commend for that display. I saw you correct yourself without my instruction multiple times.", I told her in response. Like Malinda, she catches on quick.
"Come and sit down, you two.", Lyra said as she got ready to hand out our food. "Let's dig in!" As we sat down, Anastasia on my right and Ender on my left with Lyra across, we got our food and ate our fill. Once we were done, we all sat around the campfire as the sun had finally set.
"Hey Six, I was wondering.", Anastasia began as we sat on nearly full stomachs. "What was that drink I shot?"
"Oh, that was a bit of Sunset Sarsaparilla.", I answered, materializing a bottle as I did so. "It's a carbonated soft drink that has a fizzy, sugary taste to it. You wanna try it?"
"...I am a bit curious, if you don't mind.", she responded, to which I took the cap off of the bottle and handed it to her, slyly checking to see if the cap had a blue star under it or not. It was more out of habit than anything else since I had already unlocked the "Legend of the Star", aka the biggest fucking waste of time ever devised by man.
After a tentative sniff, she took a swig of the drink only to adopt a surprise look as she almost ended up choking, coughing as she swallowed the beverage.
"My Lord, are you alright!?", Ender asked in concern for her Lord's safety.
"Yes, I'm fine, Ender. Just surprised, is all.", she quickly responded, though Ender was not convinced as she swiped the drink and took a swig herself. "Why is it so...bubbly?" Before I could answer, Ender almost went through the same routine that Anastasia did.
"I told you, it's carbonated.", I answered with a shrug of my shoulders. "That's just how they are."
"Now I'm curious. Gimme!", Lyra said as she swiped the bottle from the reluctant kunoichi and took a swig herself. "Hmm...Not bad, not bad at all! I could get used to this!"
"Yeah, that's maybe not the best idea.", I responded before adding, "That thing is fine in small numbers, but a lot of them will land you in the emergency room with kidney failure real quick."
"Oh, that's a shame.", Lyra remarked sadly before going back to her cheerful self. "Oh well! Better enjoy it while it lasts, then."
"Not to ruin the mood or anything, but…" Anastasia began before asking, "Aren't you worried we'll be seen by the enemy out here with this campfire?"
"Nah, we're still far enough from enemy territory. Only thing that may fuck with us out here is bandits, and even that's slim with me around.", Lyra answered before taking another swig and adding, "Although, we will likely have to stop at the secret bunker on the way back from scouting since I highly doubt we'll be able to finish this entire mission and make it back tomorrow."
"I'm still surprised we have a base that's remained completely undetected out there for so long.", Ender remarked before asking, "You're sure that they don't know about it?"
"Positive. Otherwise, they'd have made some move that shows they do like scouting it.", Lyra responded before explaining, "The bunker isn't even that well defended, either. It's just hard to find since it's hidden underground and concealed with magic."
"Not to mention that underground bunkers like that naturally hide heat from would-be predators and thermal imaging.", I added before continuing, "Hell, to anyone not explicitly knowledgeable about it, it might as well be completely...invisible…" I trailed off as the other girls looked at me expectantly.
...Oh my God, there's no way…
"Um, Six?", Anastasia asked, "You going to say something else?"
"Hmm? Oh no, sorry, just had a mini epiphany is all.", I answered before elaborating, "Pertaining to that side project of mine."
"Speaking of, aren't you gonna tell us what you meant earlier?", Lyra asked, making me sigh as I remembered how I deflected her questions before.
"Yeah, I guess so, though I'll need to show you something to give you some context.", I answered, taking off my Gas Mask and bandages, along with maneuvering my Elite Riot Gear so that the top half of my torso was only being covered by my undershirt.
"Oh? Stripping for us? I thought they weren't your...wives…", Lyra began to tease me a bit, but trailed off upon seeing the scars lining my forehead. "Six, what the fuck happened to your head?"
"Like I said, context.", I said, looking to Anastasia and Ender before continuing, "Lyra, you haven't seen these before, but I assume both of you girls remember these?" They both nodded.
"Yes, we remember.", Anastasia answered seriously, probably remembering my story about how I got domed twice.
"Well, now I'm going to explain the suture scars.", I told them as I worked to get the top half of my undershirt off. "As well as just how extensive they really are." With that, I had taken off my undershirt and exposed my chest and back to them in all their fucked up glory.
"I...I see.", Anastasia croaked out while the other two were speechless. "So that's what you meant by...invasive surgery."
"Yep, and they've got a pretty fucked up story to go along with them.", I responded before clarifying, "Not fucked up in the moral sense…well, okay, maybe a little bit, but more fucked up in the sense that it makes no logical sense whatsoever. So, don't blame me if you don't believe it."
"...Well, at least it won't be boring.", Lyra responded as they all silently egged me on to tell the story.
"Alright, then.", I responded, putting my clothes and Gas Mask back on before beginning, "It all started with a signal on my...compass pointing me in the direction of a crashed satellite." They all gave me confused looks before I continued.
"Not important, just know it's a machine that is built for exploring space.", I quickly waved off before continuing, ignoring their wide-eyed faces as I did so, "It didn't seem to be doing much, but I noticed that it was set to do something at Midnight, so I waited. Upon striking Midnight, the machine came to life and began to glow very bright, and that's when I did something very stupid."
"What did you do?", Anastasia asked almost nervously.
"I poked it.", I responded cheekily, to which they all adopted unamused looks. "Like I said, very stupid idea because it immediately knocked me out, and to this day, I have no idea how. Before I knew it, I was waking up in a completely foreign place wearing nothing but a hospital gown." At that, Ender and Anastasia's faces reddened as they likely began imagining me in like that.
"That's when I noticed I had all these fucking scars trailing along my body.", I explained. God, leave it to the Think Tank to come up with the stupidest ways of cutting someone open. Low visibility scarring? Forget that, let's make a fucking road map on the patient, they'll love it. "Thankfully, I still had all my stuff on me, so I was able to get dressed and rearmed immediately, but I was still itching for answers."
"That's when I began to explore the unknown building I was in, and very quickly found my kidnappers. Now, this is where the story starts to get nutty.", I continued before explaining, "Believe it or not, my kidnappers were not humans like me, nor animals of any kind. They...were floating brains in jars."
"...What?", Ender asked in disbelief. Told her it was weird.
"You're just pulling our legs, right?", Lyra asked as she began to finish up her drink.
"Unfortunately, I'm not, and it only gets worse.", I responded with a sigh before continuing, "Turns out, they were humans at one point. Specifically, scientists who had simply gone batshit insane and migrated their brains from their human bodies and into floating jar that acted similar to automatons in design. Not only that, but they had experimented on me and thought I was incapable of even the most basic of conversations when I approached them."
"And that's why they...cut you open?", Anastasia asked, to which I nodded.
"Yep, and believe me, talking to them was a challenge. Hell, they were so far gone they thought my fingers and toes were dicks. Does that really sound like someone you want cutting you open and messing with your insides?", I asked, to which they all blushed and shook their heads. "Thought so, especially since they didn't just mess around, they pulled stuff out. Specifically, and I couldn't fucking believe this when they told me either, they took out my brain, heart, and spine and replaced them with various gadgets that filled in for my missing organs."
"They WHAT!?", all three of the girls exclaimed in varying degrees of surprise.
"Y'all heard me, they replaced my heart with a mechanical, artificial one, they replaced my spine with advanced, mechanical vertebrae, and they replaced my brain with coils that transmitted data from my actual brain that got flushed down one of the goddamn pipes.", I responded before finishing. "Anyway, that's why my body is carved up like a jack-o-lantern, and what I meant by artificial heart."
"So, are you still missing your...your…", Anastasia tried asking, too nervous to finished the question.
"Brain? No, I managed to get that and my spine back.", I responded, to which they seemed to sigh in relief.
"Wait, then why do you still have an artificial heart?" Ender asked, a little confused.
"Well, that's because I decided to keep it based on an astounding little feature.", I answered before elaborating, "My artificial heart can automatically filter out any toxin as long as it's recognized by my cybernetics system. This means that most poisons have no effect on me, but it also means I need to drink more to get drunk since alcohol is also, technically, a toxin."
"That's why you're able to drink so much.", Anastasia concluded, to which I nodded.
"Yep, which is why, if I can get my systems to recognize Demonic Energy fully, I can kiss the threat of Demonic Corruption goodbye.", I added.
"Well, that certainly is...hard to believe." Ender remarked before sighing, "But, those scars do lend pretty good credence to it, so I suppose I'll have to take your word for it. Besides, it's getting about time for us to sleep."
"Yep, tomorrow's gonna be a long day.", I responded before saying, "I'll be on watch again, so get some rest."
"I'll be on watch with you.", Lyra said as she tossed her now empty bottle at me, to which I caught and digitized it. "Gotta make sure you don't do anything fishy while we sleep. That fine with you girls?" These girls sure are paranoid. Are leaks really that common, or did they have a recent, bad experience? As she said that, Anastasia began to pout along with Ender as they began to lay down on their bedrolls that were laid out by the fire.
"...Fine, but keep your hands to yourself!", she pouted as Ender nodded. Lyra giggled in response as she nodded and wave her hand. With that, they laid down and soon fell asleep as their chests rose and fell in that telltale, rhythmic pattern. This left Lyra and I the only ones awake as the fire burned less and less. We sat there in silence for a little bit, just watching the area around us before Lyra spoke up.
"So Six, how have things been with Leia?", Lyra asked, quickly making me irritated. Why is she bringing up that bitch?
"You know her more than I do.", I answered before adding, "I bet you know all about that thunder cunt." Rather than get mad or lecture me like I suspected she might, she simply sighed.
"I know she isn't the easiest mamono to work with, but give her a chance.", Lyra said to me in a very sincere manner. "Given time, I bet she'll warm up to you. She's been through a lot."
"Well, news flash, coach, we all have.", I responded before continuing, "We've all gone through tough shit, she's not special, and that certainly doesn't certify her to be a cunt everywhere she goes."
"No, I mean RECENTLY she's been through a lot. You know, with this whole Civil War thing?", Lyra elaborated, sighing again as she did so. "She was there when the Queen was poisoned. Did you know that?"
"No, but like I said, seeing that go down doesn't give her permission to shit in everyone elses Sugar Bombs.", I reiterated.
"Maybe not, at least try to see things from her perspective.", Lyra pleaded, clearly caring about the bitch. "She wasn't just there with Her Majesty, she was helping to serve the beverages as a favor for a friend."
"Mhmm, let me guess.", I mused before guessing, "She was the one who served the poisoned drink, wasn't she?"
"Yep, and just like that, she was treated as a traitor by friends and companions.", Lyra confirmed with a sigh before adding, "All this while the city was being raided by the radicals and undead. Because of that, she has a deep-seated hatred for traitors, and she was unable to protect that which was most dear to her."
"Oh, and what was that?", I asked, almost not caring in the slightest.
"While she was being apprehended under suspicion of high treason, her husband was taken by a Zombie Dragon.", Lyra explained.
Oh…
Well, I guess that explains it. To these girls, their husbands really are their whole world. It's why the Demon Lord's armies have such a high desertion rate after successful sieges, and it's also why that Ice Queen from before did what she did. If Leia's husband really was stolen away while there was nothing she could do about it, then no wonder she's got a stick up her ass. That kinda thing would make any monster livid, especially a proud dragon like her.
"Look, I get she's going through some tough shit. I really do.", I said with my own sigh before continuing, "But she started this bitchfit in the first place. I'm more than willing to work professionally with her and give her a chance like you're asking, but the problem is that she does not feel the same." As I said that, she nodded before speaking up again.
"I suppose you're right.", she relented before remarking, "I just don't like seeing friends fight." Friends, huh? I don't know if I'd go that far just yet. More like acquaintances than anything else.
"Typically, I give everyone a single chance with a few exceptions.", I told her before proposing, "If she is willing to stop acting like a cunt, then I'll stop treating her like one. I want to work with her, since it'd make things go by much faster, but right now, the ball's in her court."
"Okay, I'll talk to her and see if we can't work something out.", Lyra responded before adding, "All I ask is that, if she tries to make amends, you'll give her that chance."
"Sure, like I said, it'd make things go much smoother if we could bury the hatchet.", I affirmed, to which she nodded.
"Thank you, Six.", Lyra thanked sincerely as we delved back into silence.
"Just out of curiosity, though.", I broke said silence before asking, "I'm assuming that Leia's husband is still being held in the city?"
"Yep, as far as I'm aware.", Lyra answered, a slight tinge of anger in her voice. Guess I can't blame her; no monster would ever want to be in Leia's shoes. Although, if he's still in the city, then I'll have to keep that in mind if, or rather when, I sneak in there. Who knows? If I take out his kidnapper and rescue him, then maybe I can get Leia to owe me one.