…As my vision cleared and I woke from unconsciousness…I knew true agony.
The bitch had activated the bomb on her wristband. All Yautja have one to kamikaze themselves when the hunter/huntress has lost a battle and sustained a fatal wound.
As I looked into her eyes, all sounds in the room had disappeared except one. Her laughing. My laughing. She spent her last moments imitating my laughter.
All I could do was stare, just stare as everything went white.
When I woke, everything burned.
Including me.
My entire body was in agony. Excruciating pain.
Unfortunately Deneve failed to survive the explosion. It is clear that was the Yautja's intent.
I pray you forgive me, Empress.
Signed,
Drakon Chief-Commander Elijah
My heart did not stir as I finished the letter. I was always a good liar.
Of course she survived. I was the one that created her, after all.
I was horribly scarred. Bandages cover my entire body. Every move I make is pure agony. But Phoeba was dead. She clearly did not know that our kind was strong enough to survive such an explosion.
It was disappointing that Mat and Marc somehow survived.
I saw them moving.
It took all of my strength to even crawl out of the pit that the bomb had created.
The guards I had stationed around the Center had found me and brought me back.
It would take weeks to recover from this injury.
But it would take much less for the Crescent to incubate.
And when that happened, no injury they have sustained so far will matter. Even death will be trivial to me.
"…More morphine." I murmured to the medic taking care of me as I lied in the hospital bed, bandaged from head to talon.
"Yes, sir." She nodded and increased the dosage.
"…Did they…recover…my…gun?" I asked hoarsely.
"Yes sir. Although I am a bit confused as to why you insisted that we not clean off the blood from the Yautja." She responded affirmatively.
"Revenge. Do me…a favor…and patch me through…to the cloning…laboratories. I've got…some work for them…geh…heh..heh…hee…hahaaha…" I answered with a weak laugh before closing my eyes as the medicine coursed through my veins and made me drowsy.
"…" The medic reached to move the letter I was writing on a holo-form (it was basically a hologram used to write letters without needing a pen or paper).
With a harsh movement I grasped her arm, shocking her.
"…Do…me…a favor. Give…that to Liinec. The…Empress is expecting it." I whispered before releasing her arm and closing my eyes again.
She nodded shakily before picking up the letter and leaving the room.
Moments after she left, I opened my eyes again.
I carefully removed part of my bandages. When I had been brought in here, I was a burnt husk. Unrecognizable. But as I removed the linen wrappings, I smiled.
My arm was nearly healed already. The silver scales were already back and covering my arm and hand. The plate that protected my arm had yet to reform, but that wouldn't be long. It wouldn't be long before I had another chance at revenge. That thought was enough to placate my rage for now as I re-wrapped my arm and actually drifted off to sleep.