Reviews :
Snake557 : Hi there! Thank you so very much! Yeah, I forgot to communicate that and work it into the chapter - Novus and Chester parted ways with the group and went back to Sugar Rush. no mystery around it, I just forgot to work it in. Super unlike me, but a tiny mistake. He'll be back! :)
Burgie : Aw thank you! Beaux's a wonderful guy. The two get along really well.
Song Listened To :
Win Win ft. Tove Lo (Yotto Remix) by Diplo
*Chapter 139*
With confident footsteps that thud down the palace's massive stretch of a hollow corridor, one that lead from the racer's main garage and into the foyer and open-aired dining hall, Lash allowed his palpable presence to soak in echoey stamps that caused palace walls to tremble. Although not here to technically call anyone out or ruffle feathers, he knew it was only a matter of time, he knew it'd likely spill out no matter what. Now housing Gideon, and coming to understand that he was due to going to bat for Gideon on more than one occasion, he knew the palace heads weren't exempt from his fervent defenses. He took on Callum prior, and though Callum didn't hold a candle to the likes of Tessa and Zed, he still glowered down the pinhole entrance down the corridor and was eager to get to work. His heart raged like wildfire, he knew had he brought Kepa with him, said wildfire would likely be a genuinely tangible thing the crew here would have to worry about. Not technically keen on taking sides, he was finding it progressively more difficult staying silent, when it came to Gideon's feelings. Though he had previously had a rather shaken up phone call with Tessa the night prior, after sleeping on their quick exchange of words, and the near-devastating occurrence between him and Gideon, during his coding alignment, Lash wondered if he could rattle fear into everyone's hearts, fear he had experienced first hand.
"Heyy, my man," Ace urged happily as Lash fervently pressed into the dining hall with easiness, a prowess of solid confidence he didn't even have to try to don, he oozed it effortlessly. Although mildly heated, Lash gave Ace a broad smile alongside a swing of a brotherly handshake that morphed into a yank of a hug. Lash chuckled as Ace firmly pat Lash's back and looked stoked he was joining the crew, here, in the dining hall, "You ALREADY bored after the gang left for their tour?"
"To tears," Lash volleyed sarcastically, he silently took roll-call and fervently noted who surrounded his vicinity.
Lash and Zed diligently caught eyes, a sting of two powers due to battling for it, though Lash sagged his eyes away in a swing of promised revisiting and locked eyes with the few that were nervously ogling in Lash's direction. In swift count, he caught with Tessa, Oliver nearby, Rancis, Callum, a few Sugar Rush racers, and Ralph. Libby, Emery and a few of the female Sugar Rush racers were gathered in the lower levels and seating areas of the dining hall, it was obvious a finger-food-type breakfast had been prepared and a lazy hangout was in full swing. Not everyone was present, though Lash figured this crew was enough to spread his fervent words like wildfire. In a stab, Lash finally revisited Zed's stoic, powerful pierce of a gaze, a gaze in which Lash was promised didn't leave his whilst he was assessing who he was in the presence of. It was in Zed's dominant stare, alone, did Lash feel a single pixel underneath the King, a shred of humility he knew he owed Zed, at the very least.
"Y'stopping by for breakfast? What's up?" Ace joyfully wondered, a warm soul of naivety, he always proved to be the source of easy-going love, a being that didn't want any shred of drama or arguing; Lash admired this about his future father-in-law, though he grit his teeth a little and knew he was bringing explosive matters to sleeping giants.
"No, I... Well, I guess I came by to warn you guys," Lash started darkly, though he huffed a sarcastic chuckle as Oliver's and Ralph's gentle conversing began to drum to a stop, all eyes tossed Lash's way as he inhaled a deep breath and kept his gaze dug into Zed's, one that hadn't wavered even still, "It's about Gideon."
"I don't want mention of him, right now, Lash," Tessa stabbed gently, though Lash flinched and furrowed his brow in the Queen's direction. it was painfully obvious she had been crying, the night prior. He knew he was definitely either stupid or brave enough to challenge her word, this was obvious with the way Ace began to nervously peer between the two in Lash's peripheral, "Let it breathe."
"I don't think you want to be attempting to afford that kind of time, Your Majesty," Lash stated sternly, though his words were sincere and polite. Lash side-eyed Tessa and shook his head, "Hell, I don't think you even CAN afford it... Y'all are operating on borrowed time, at this point, what with how long that separate, silly group chat carried on for, probably for far longer than it should have."
"The group chat's deleted, it's not something Gideon has to worry about any longer," Oliver piped up, being caught in the middle of a debate was something he was usually not caught doing, alongside Ace, "Did you come here to scold us for it, or something? Cause it's pointless, it's long gone, won't happen again."
"No, I'm not here to scold you guys, but I CAN do that, if you'd want me to?" Lash barked, the dining hall began to grow nervously quiet as everyone lounging about was now cued to the tension the King and Queen were eagle-eyed to. Lash darkly revisited Zed's eyes and could practically feel the hole being burned through his forehead, though his deep, grumbly voice pressed on with rising strength, "As said, I'm here to warn you."
"Warn us," Tessa repeated sarcastically, her voice was nasally with the promise of past, present and future tears, Zed deepened the furrow of his brow.
"Let's discuss this privately, Whiplash," Zed's stern voice rolled over the huge stretch of marble island everyone was lazily gathered at, with Lash and Zed standing across from each other.
"I'll bet that's what you'd want, Zedian, you want to keep a hand over the grenade being launched your way in hopes that it'll soften the blow," Lash tightly rattled, "This is a warning to the entire palace. This is a warning that I hope rattles everyone to their core. I said it once and I will say it again... You. Can't. Afford. Time."
The dining hall was now prickled in full, dreaded silence as Lash, once again, successfully wrangled Zed into a proverbial chokehold and called checkmate on his Kingly stance. Zed stood still, the stern, molten look of rising anger on his face was apparent, as if Lash's temporary grapples for the crown was now becoming something Zed wasn't going to be lenient about, any longer, though as Lash firmly sucked in a breath through his nose, he darkly stabbed his eyes to Tessa's, to Oliver's, Ralph's, Rancis's and back to Zed's.
"Last night, I gave Gideon a coding alignment," Lash started in a prickle of sarcastic uplift, as if to be telling a sweet bedtime story, though with poise and an aura molten red, it was obvious he wasn't to be interrupted, "I'm willing to take bets on just what kind of a state you guys think his stressor points were in."
"Jacked up, surely," Oliver grunted in mild irritation, though it was somehow sweetly laced in apologetic concern for Gideon's health.
"Not a single pixel was out of place," Lash spat, Ace and Zed both sloped facial expressions in nervous shock as Lash leaned forward for rising, angry emphasis, "ONE stressor glowed hot red. Any guesses which?"
"ALL but one stressor was perfectly aligned?" Tessa worried, she lifted from not wanting to discuss this to now being entirely shocked as to the raw news Lash was unfolding, "H-How is that even possible?"
"Trust-fall stressor, surely," Ace mumbled cautiously, Lash snapped his fingers, tilted his head and grit his teeth in a sharp smile of riled, fervent energy.
"User-intuition, quick as lightning," Lash stabbed, he raised his eyebrows in sarcastic delight and gently gestured to his chest, "Oh, wait? I'm a User, too..."
Zed heaved a long sigh through his nose, darkly looked off, caught eyes with Rancis in stewing irritation, shifted on his feet and brought his molten gaze back to Lash's in dueling frustration.
"There's only one thing scarier than a villain riding off of fear and mental illness, jealousy or greed," Lash pressed, his voice boomed, he angrily made sure to make eye contact with every frozen soul in his circle, "I was that villain. I've been in that headspace... There would've been only one thing scarier had I been operating on a clean slate of near-fully aligned stressors, powers that even Users can't duplicate, a sense of self so strong, it'd make your guys head spin..."
Everyone held their breath and stared into Lash's eyes in a slow-rise of full panic, and though Zed was the only one to look mildly angry, he, too, had a twinkle of fear in his icy blue gaze.
"A core-based, gut desire I had never sourced, something I never rode off of, though had it been in my grasp and had it been something I was eager to seek, hoo-" Lash trailed off in sarcastic swooning as he looked off, shook his head, sighed through a mean smile and revisited eyes with everyone, "I'm telling you right now, Sugar Rush would've been fucked. There would've been nothing Tessa OR Berri could've done about it."
"What core-based gut desire?" Zed's stern voice carried above the sentence Lash was about to continue spatting, Lash stabbed his eyes into Zed's and narrowed his becoming-red gaze for feverish emphasis.
"Vengeance," Lash sharply stabbed, "Pure, unadulterated, justice served."
"Gideon wouldn't hurt us," Oliver argued, though he faltered and nervously caught eyes with Ralph.
"No, if he had the love and attention of his only brother, likely not," Lash dared, his eyes now grew hot orange with rising anger; Oliver stiffened with insult and looked to become ready to animate into full frustration.
"Excuse me?" Oliver stabbed loudly, Ralph held his bigger hand to Oliver's shoulder and shook his head, eager to make sure his own kin didn't run away with wrecking anger he had gifted him.
"Or maybe the apology of his eldest sister?" Lash continued to steamroll everyone, Ace sagged his palm to his face and looked as if he was due to checking out, though he stood still and confident next to Lash's heated aura.
"It hasn't even been twenty four hours, Lash," Tessa barked, Lash choked a sarcastic laugh and gestured his arms outwards.
"Remember that one time I told you fools that you couldn't afford time?" Lash now yelled, Zed squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.
"Did Gideon hint at somehow taking down Sugar Rush, last night, or something?" Zed firmly cloaked the group in full-dominance, "What did your alignment even consist of to scare you so badly that you had to come insult the lot of us in the process?"
"Let me tell you something," Lash hissed as he pointed, "Upon exterior swapping with the kid, he nearly danced the powers right out from underneath my skin as if it were a full, legitimate code swap, though I wasn't gunna walk away with a fair share, a kiss goodnight, the promise of mutual love..."
"H-He..." Tessa, as well as everyone else, now donned looks of shocked terror.
"That's right," Lash stabbed through the grit of his teeth, "He had a taste of User powers and understood, in that moment, he was ENTIRELY unstoppable... Had I not intervened and stopped the exchange, guys... I have no clue what last night would've turned into. A darkness fell over him, he answered to the hurt in him, it was enough to be willing to rob me of my own coding... No full-swap necessary!"
The group was silent in frozen dread; Lash being Gideon's best friend, everyone stole nervous gazes to each other in the full understanding that if Gideon was willing to do this to his best friend, the rest of them were totally doomed, being individuals who he now didn't even consider acquaintances. Lash grappled the counter a bit and leaned into the group for emphasis.
"If you guys were scared of the world of trouble you thought I could cause? If you guys thought I was the villain," Lash started darkly, he huffed a shaky, sarcastic noise and shook his head, "You've got another thing comin'..."
"Where's Gideon?" Ralph firmly dared, now showing true form in becoming riled, as Gideon's parent, though he was shocked to find that Ralph wasn't the full-stop end-all to Lash's angry sarcasm.
"Oh, you don't know! You guys aren't friends enough with Gideon to know he landed himself an art gig in Vidrix," Lash tightly rattled, "Due to potentially inheriting his own art studio, one day, y'know... Unless you guys decide to push him over the edge and he fucking blows Sugar Rush to smithereens and is immediately banned from the whole Arcade."
"He doesn't talk to us, he doesn't associate with us, how would we know what he does on his day to day life?" Rancis sharply interjected, he shook his head and firmly shrugged, "Also, why would he punish US for living our lives in Sugar Rush? If he wants to pal around Vidrix, no one's stopping him."
"You guys are his family, his code and flesh and blood," Lash loudly argued, "I know more about the poor guy and I'm barely code related to him! The whole band met Kepa last night, he's thinking about confessing to her and potentially moving IN with her. He is one code swap away from having an equally-as enraged female-clone of himself with crosshairs locked and loaded on Sugar Rush. If you guys think Gideon is a terrifying force to be reckoned with, the fucking fire-breathing lioness on his six will ruin everyone's lives in the blink of an eye. You guys REALLY want to meet her that badly?"
"He's probably shit all over our names, surely Kepa hates us all. None of this will get better, it's clear," Oliver's anger continued to brew as he wildly gestured his bigger hands and arms outward, "If this is just going into a downward spiral that can't be saved, what the hell is the point even having this conversation? The group chat's deleted, let Gideon just live a peaceful life in Vidrix."
"What, and never seek him out, ever again? Never ask how he is? Never wonder what's going on in his heart?" Lash loudly volleyed.
"He's never done the same for us!" Oliver shouted, Lash clenched his fists and, although the movement was small and sharp, he sent his fists down into the island and successfully sent a lightning-crack of a shatter through the marble, causing it to pang with an echoey, ear-splitting crack of sifted destruction that caused flecks of dust to sift to the ground underneath everyone. Lash firmly leaned over the shards of marble underneath his fists and set a death-glower of molten red into Oliver's eyes.
"The selfishness you fools exude is absolutely ludicrous," Lash sharply hissed, everyone was frozen in shock, "I would NEVER expect a fresh, new being in this world to extend an arm of love upwards to me first. We are Gideon's elders, WE are Gideon's first impressions of love and tenderness, and THIS is how we treat him? He looks up to YOU assholes and you can't even extend a few months of selfless wondering and discovery for the poor guy to come into his own and find his footing? Rooted in love and a secure foundation?"
Everyone held eyes with Lash in full dread, full understanding that Lash was right, and though Lash could see counter-arguments brewing in everyone's heads, they all faltered in the confidence to speak up.
"One single exterior swap was enough for him to feel full-confidence to suck the power right out from me, and... I'm not saying Gideon is an evil person, but the intentions in his blinded actions, last night, was the closest thing to evil I've ever felt in my entire life," Lash pressed his hands to his broad chest and lightly shook his head, "This is coming from a reformed villain. This is coming from someone who was FRIENDS with Aroq... If this information isn't scaring the SHIT out of you guys, then I'm at a total loss and you idiots are on your own..."
"Since you seem to know Gideon better than anyone, what do YOU suggest we do?" Zed stabbed in full-frustration he tried to keep under wraps, and though Zed was certain Lash was now due to spelling it all out, Lash took a step back and set a narrowed, evil glower into Zed's eyes, a full show of fervent emphasis as he growled a solid conclusion into the cold, prickled air.
"Grovel," Lash spat, he held eyes with Zed long enough to see the look of rocked apprehension on his face before turning heel and leaving in the direction from which he came. He left everyone in cold, prickled terror, the air over the group was entirely palpable, and as everyone nervously slugged looks of confused horror into each other's eyes, it was Callum who confidently held eyes with the back of Lash's head as he finally vanished, a strange sweep of twisted camaraderie both men had for Gideon, a secret Callum was eager to keep for as long as he could.
