Talon watches Torment's change of demeanor keenly as the vid-file plays, realizing there is much more to Torrent's bravado than he is aware of. The carrier on the screen clearly means something to his heir and he is displeased that he needs to learn about this critical weakness this way. If he had known beforehand, they could have acted preemptively and avoided this.
Torment should have confided in him instead of keeping her a secret.
With furrowed brows, he looks at the screen where Torrent is in the process of vigorously raping the carrier and fills with utter disgust at seeing the face of the monster they are working to destroy.
He might be an ice-cold killer who has committed his share of atrocities over the years, but he would never cross the line of sexual assault. That is where he and his organization differs from so many others. He has standards that will be followed without question and any misdeeds will be paid for with the perpetrator's life.
Obedience, loyalty and trust are what an organization as the Polyhexian Cartel is built upon and what made it grow from what it was to what it has become since he took over the leadership.
Collecting his thoughts, his optics narrow as he stares at the screen and the ongoing rape on it.
Enough is enough!
"EVERYONE OUT!" He orders the staff working within the command center, taking charge of the situation, and they all obediently rise from their stations and leave without a word. When the door to the command center finally closes behind the last of them, Talon's wings lower and his posture sags a bit.
He steps over to the station controlling the main screen and turns it off, abruptly silencing the carrier's anguished screams. The silence is deafening and he turns around to look at Torment, seeing the utter despair and grief in his heir's optics.
"Who is she, Comet?" He asks as he walks over to Torment at the elliptical table, looking into the pained optics and seeing a completely different side of his heir. Never once in their long time together has Torment ever shown this kind of emotion.
Torment meets Talon's optics with growing despair.
"Everything." He chokes out, his voice trembling with uncontrollable emotions as he fights the tears threatening to fall from his optics. "She means everything to me."
He ultimately loses the fight against the tears, and one after another, they run down his cheeks, causing him to look away from Talon in utter shame at his weakness.
Talon's gaze softens at Torment's confession.
Finding love can be your biggest weakness, but also your strongest motivation, and he refuses to let what happened to him repeat itself for his heir.
Not as long as he can prevent it.
His gaze hardens and fills with the determination and mercilessness he is known for.
"I will do anything in my power to bring her back to you, Comet." He vows fiercely. "Torrent has no idea what he has unleashed by going after you like this, and I will make sure that he will regret it for the rest of his pitiful life!"
Torment looks back at Talon, staring paralyzed at his creator, but when the full impact of the words registers, he collapses to his knees and finally lets go of the chaotic emotions raging within him. He breaks into even more tears —pain, despair and a deep thankfulness filling his spark at the same time.
He is not alone.
He has the full support of his family and friends.
He doesn't have to remain strong in the face of this emotional crisis.
His interaction with Skywarp has taught him that.
Talon's words are the strongest love confession he could ever hope to receive from his creator.
"Thank you." He manages to choke out, his optics full of gratitude.
Talon kneels and gently caresses a running tear away.
"No need to thank me, Comet. She is family, and you know I will do everything to protect those who belong to me." Talon says and looks at the door to the command center when it opens. Flare enters, responding to his summon, the carrier's gaze searching the large room until he spots them on the floor by the large table. He nods in silent communication with the prostitute before he slowly rises. "Take him back to his room. Do not leave him alone and keep me updated on his state."
Flare nods and walks over to kneel beside Torment.
"Come." He whispers softly, worry filling his optics as he helps Torment to stand on unsteady legs. "Let's get you back to the safety of your quarters, then you can tell me everything about what has happened."
Talon follows them with his gaze as Flare leads Torment out of the command center, and when they are gone, he calls the staff back to their stations. He has a painful petition to make, but if they are going to save Comet's beloved in time, it has to be made.
"Prepare a full-scale meeting with the leaders of our enemy organizations. It is time to negotiate terms of involvement with them."
Talon is flanked by his inner circle sans heir when he, an hour later, faces a live feed on the main screen with all the leaders of their enemy organizations. The invitation to this meeting has purposely been kept vague to garner their interest and get them to agree to participate.
"I thank you all for joining this meeting. I know it was with short notice and that you have other more pressing matters to attend to."
Rampage, the leader of the Tarnian Syndicate, scoffs disdainfully.
"We do! So get to the point already instead of wasting our time, Talon." He says dismissively, leaning forward on the screen with a deep dissatisfied frown. "Why have you called for this meeting?"
Rampage's attitude is already getting on Talon's nerves, and he inhales and exhales slowly to calm his rising anger before he looks Rampage dead in the optics as he speaks.
"I have called for this meeting because I require your assistance in a situation at hand."
Rampage leans back, his expression arrogant and dismissive.
"And why should we offer you our assistance? Aren't your organization one of the largest and strongest among us? Or is that more boasting than brawn? Are you finally admitting to a weakness, Talon?"
Talon doesn't react to the taunt and keeps his expression neutral while his spark fills with a growing rage. It is taking everything to not show a single sliver of his true feelings. To distract himself, he delivers the next bit of information.
"Because I have vital information that will affect all of you." He states matter-of-factly, his gaze moving from one to another as he speaks. "We have a common enemy, and when the law enforcement authorities finally decide to strike against it, they will swarm out territories to bring it to justice, most likely taking down some of our covert operations as collateral damage while it happens. None of us want that to happen, especially not if we can prevent it."
Nervous glances are shared on the screen and Talon suppresses his smug smirk at the sight of it.
He knows how to play this game.
"What the frag are you talking about?!" Rampage demands to know, clearly still suspicious of Talon's intentions, and Talon can't really blame him. They have been archenemies for as long as anyone can remember, fighting over territory and global markets to sell their goods.
"I'm sure that you all by now are aware of the 'Syndicate' that got dissolved a while ago. Well, it turns out that it was a branch of something larger. Something more sinister. And it is now threatening to disrupt our delicate balance with our law-enforcing opponents." He explains calmly, still taking his time to look at each and every one of them as he delivers his speech. "Which is why my heir decided to work together with the director of the Joint Investigation Unit to stop this 'Organization'. When the Senate decided to dissolve the Joint Investigation Unit, Torment came to me for assistance, and we are almost ready to strike against them. But something has come up, and it now forces us to act before we are fully prepared. So I ask your assistance to help us stop the Organization's plans and bring its leaders to justice before it affects us all. It will send a strong message to the society and its leaders that we don't tolerate the kind of behavior these criminals personify."
Voltage from the Nostra Calici looks at him skeptically.
"What do you suggest we do?"
This is the opening Talon has waited for and he lets his pure hatred for Torrent and the Organization show on his face while talking to his like-minded. At this very moment, he has the only chance he will get to convince them to join him in his endeavor to stop Torrent and the Organization, and he needs to choose his words wisely to sway them to his side.
"Members of the Organization have infiltrated our territories intending to murder people in the political top to make way for their own. If you are willing to offer me your assistance, I will provide you with the targets' names and the attackers' identities. And I can already tell you they plan to kill some of your people at the political tops. I'm sure I don't have to explain how big of a disadvantage it would be for any of us if that should happen."
"And when were you going to tell us all this?" Rampage asks with fury in his optics. "Or, wait, let me guess. You weren't planning to, but now that something has come up, you suddenly want our help! Why should we trust you when you planned to trespass on our territories to deal with this so-called 'threat'?"
Talon looks coldly at Rampage.
"Because this goes deep." He growls, matching Rampage's fury with his own. "Real deep. The Senate is unknowingly supporting this organization, and we cannot allow it this kind of power. My heir has managed to identify the people leading the Organization, and the Supreme leader has shown to be no other than the Vice President of the Senate. Imagine the power he would possess if he assassinated the President of the Senate and became the new President. It would not be beneficial for any of us."
"Let's say you manage to convince us to help you." Hyperline, the leader of the Kalisian Mafia, says calmly, his voice rhetorical. "What would your plan be?"
"Simple. We organize an attack to be carried out within the next twenty-four hours to root out the Organization's undercover agents within our territories. At the same time, a strike force with my strongest frontliners will be sent to the Senate to secure the President and the senators loyal to us. If it by chance alerts the law enforcement authorities, then even better. The enforcers can deal with the aftermath and arrest the relevant people when we have proven their crimes against society."
Landslide, the leader of a minor, fast-expanding cartel in Retoris, a smaller city-state bordering Iacon, nods thoughtfully.
"That can work."
Mutual, constructive discussions follow between the leaders of the nine most powerful criminal organizations, and Talon remains on the sideline, following as his enemies slowly come to an agreement.
"Have we come to a final agreement then?" He asks jovially after a while when the discussions have come to an end, a smirk on his lips.
"It seems so." Rampage grudgingly concedes, clearly not satisfied with the outcome of the discussions. "You'll hear from me when I have briefed my people."
The vid-link to the Tarnian Syndicate terminates, and soon after, the other leaders follow one after another until Talon and his inner circle are alone. Talon stares in silent contemplation at the blank screen, his wings lowering ever so slightly now that he no longer is the target of his enemies' intense scrutiny. Caught up in deep thoughts, it is first when he detects movement as someone dares step up beside him that he gets drawn out of his internal musings.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Talon?" Stampede, the operational leader of their weapons trade, asks warily. "To ask for help like this makes us look weak and vulnerable and they might decide to challenge us when this is over."
"I don't care!" Talon growls dismissively, facing his inner circle and daring them to challenge him on his decision. "We'll handle it if it happens. Right now, I need information none of you can provide!"
Without another word, he strides past them and leaves the command center, walking the long way down to the section of the stronghold that houses their prison cells.
Time to see if it was worth keeping Doublewire alive.
Flare hurriedly unlocks the door when they reach Torment's quarters. They barely manage to get inside before Torment collapses on his knees in utter despair, having held out for as long as it took them to get into the safety of privacy.
The prostitute closes the door and locks it before he kneels beside the distraught sire.
"What is happening, Torment?" He asks softly as he caresses Torment's cheek affectionately.
Torment grabs his hand and looks into his optics.
"The one I love more than anything is in danger because of me, and I can't do anything but wait for Talon to find a way to save her." He confesses brokenly. "I failed her by not protecting her."
Flare's optics fills with empathy.
"I did sense that something was different about you when you came back." He says with a sad, understanding smile. "Tell me about her."
Torment does so, and Flare is supportive and helps him through his panic attacks and self-hatred. He listens attentively as Torment explains how he and Athena met, what he did to her in the following weeks, and finally, Torment tells him about the day Athena broke up with him.
"She sounds like a strong and independent carrier, and if she could handle what you put her through, she is strong enough to overcome and survive this, too. All you need is to have faith in her." He says with conviction and tries to incite a reaction from Torment by his following words. Because the Torment in front of him is not the strong and confident sire that he is used to seeing, and seeing the one he loves brought to his knees like this infuriates him. "If you let this break you, then Torrent has already won. You need to be strong for her, be ready to be there for her when you get her back. Because if one thing is certain, it is that Talon will do everything for you."
"She broke up with me because of what I am. She doesn't want to have anything to do with me." Torment says with pained optics.
"If I was in her situation, I would need someone that I felt I could trust by my side. I have no idea how she will be after this experience, but the feelings you shared still mean something. They don't just disappear like that. Be there for her. Let her make her decision, and if she still doesn't want anything to do with you, then you will have to accept it."
They talk for hours while Flare tries to spur Torment on to become angry and break free from the loop of self-pity he is caught in, and when it finally happens, Flare then helps Torment direct his fury at its right target.
Torrent.
He has never before had a situation like this with Torment. Usually, the sire only needed physical comfort, not the deeper, soul-searching talks about feelings and how to handle them. And he is grateful to be there for his friend now that he needs him the most. He can only hope that whatever went wrong between Torment and Athena will be fixed, because Torment will never become whole again before that happens.
The sire is missing the part of his spark that he has given to the love of his life, and Flare had never imagined seeing the day that Torment would fall in love.
None of his clients handle feelings well.
Then again, if they did, he would not be needed to offer them the support they require during emotionally challenging times in their lives.
The first time he met Torment was fifty years after the young sire had joined the Polyhexian Cartel when Talon had come to him with a request. Torment still wasn't handling the loss of his biological creators, keeping it buried and fostering a growing hatred towards those who had hurt him so. The Polyhexian leader wanted to see if Flare could help Torment open up and begin to cope with his loss, but Torment kept refusing to talk about it, making it impossible for Flare to help him. Instead, they had formed a different kind of relationship, and he became the young sire's friend and confidant.
Slowly, over the years, Torment finally began to open up on his own, and their relationship developed into something deeper.
The sex had been fantastic but isn't appropriate now. So when Torment finally has exhausted himself emotionally to the point of fatigue, Flare helps him into the berthroom where they lie beside each other on the berth, with Torment calmly resting his head on Flare's chestplates.
"Thank you for understanding." Torment murmurs.
Flare smiles warmly.
"I will always be here for you, no matter what happens. Especially if you need romantic advice."
There is a punishing pinch to his flexible midsection, and he bursts into laughter.
How he has missed these moments between them.