It was decided in an instant. He had won. All it took was a sneak attack, and they were victorious. Did his fool of a brother REALLY think he could defeat him?!
These were the thoughts going through Betrayus' mind as he sat in the office of what used to be the Round House, but he hadn't decided on a new name yet. What mattered was that he won, and that Pac World was his now.
There was a knock at the office's door. "You may enter."
In came one of his own soldiers. "Sir, the pods are ready for use."
"Excellent."
The soul extraction facility was as cold and unwelcoming as ever, quite fitting for the situation. Betrayus stood in front of the pod that contained his brother, with the most evil of smirks on his face. Stratos simply stared back, his eyes wide, full of raw fear. The other pods contained the other members of the Resistance, including Spheria and that damn pair of yellow orbs.
"Brother", Stratos pleaded, "please. It doesn't have to be this way."
"Oh I know it doesn't", Betrayus sneered, "I just want it to be. Any last words?"
"I have nothing to say to you."
"Aww, not even a goodbye?"
Stratos just narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth. "Have it your way then. Now…"
Betrayus strutted over to Spheria's pod, and she simply huffed and looked away from the white orb. "Just get it over with", she scoffed.
"Oh I wouldn't dream of hurting a hair on you, my dear! I can make all of this go away… if you agree to be mine."
"I'd sooner rot in the Nether Realm."
"Come now, I can give you anything your heart desires- now choose: me, or death!"
"DEATH", Spheria shouted without hesitation then telling Betrayus to do something less than family friendly right after.
Betrayus' smile disappeared, and now he was angry. "FINE", he shrieked, "YOU WILL REGRET THIS! DO IT", he shouted at the executioner. They nodded, and were about to pull the switch, when…
"HEY", rang out Zac's voice.
"Hm?"
"Before you do this, please… is little Packy alright?"
"Please", said Sunny, "just let us see our baby one last time."
"Oh he's fine- for now that is."
"YOU WOULDN'T DARE", Zac shouted while Sunny gasped in horror.
"Oh I would. You yellow ones ARE the bane of my existence after all. DO IT!"
The switch was pulled, and the pods were activated. The room was now filled with the sounds of screams and shrieks of agony as they had their souls forcefully torn from their bodies. And Betrayus just watched, his smile growing ever wider every second. Then, it was done. The bodies had gone limp, their eyes blank. In front of the bodies were their spirits, who were still trapped in the pods. Now, it was time for step two.
"YOU THERE", he shouted to one of his soldiers, "CRUSH THEIR EYES!"
Several of the soldiers in the room gasped. "But sir", said the one Betrayus had addressed. "Did I stutter?"
"But sir, that's your brother!"
"DID I STUTTER?! DO IT!"
The soldier looked at the scared ghosts for a moment, then back at his leader. "No."
"ARGH!" Betrayus raised his blaster, and fired it at the disobedient soldier much to the horror of the others. They let out a scream and fell to the ground in agony. "Does anyone else have any complaints?!"
That was enough for them all to back off. He pointed at another soldier. "Surely YOU can do it."
"Y-yes sir…
The pods were opened, and in spite of the spirits trying to escape, it was to no avail. The air was filled with sickening squelching sounds as each ghost had their eyes crushed one by one. Betrayus didn't even flinch when Stratos had his eyes destroyed, and thus ceased to exist altogether.
When the soldier got to the ghost of Spheria, he stopped them. He approached her, and sighed. "Last chance. Me, or death. I can still put you back in your body, you know."
She responded by spitting in his face. Before any of the others could stop him, he let out a cry of rage, lunged forward and plunged his hands into Spheria's ghostly form's eye sockets. He ripped them out, and crushed them in his hands like they were nothing. He was panting, his palms and fingers dripping with ectoplasm as the ghost melted away into a puddle. Then, he finally realized what he had done.
He froze, his legs suddenly feeling as if they might give out from underneath him. "S-sir", a soldier questioned. "Are you-"
"I'm going to my office", he mumbled, "and bring me the baby yellow one once this mess is cleaned up."
"Yes sir."
So small, so innocent, so… helpless. Betrayus simply stared at the sleeping infant on his desk, blaster in hand. It was time. Pac was apparently their name, how unoriginal Betrayus thought. Other than them being a yellow one he truly did have no reason to kill the baby, other than spite.
He had been pointing the blaster at the baby for over five minutes, finger on the trigger. Just WHAT was stopping him? He was already responsible for hundreds if not thousands of innocent deaths so why was THIS any different?!
The baby just continued to sleep, blissfully unaware of his situation. Betrayus' hand was beginning to tremble, and he was gritting his teeth.
Then finally… PEW!
The laser blast hit the wall, leaving an ugly black mark. He had turned his blaster away at the last second. He couldn't do it, he just couldn't. He let out a yell of frustration, throwing the blaster to the ground. This awoke the baby, who began to cry. Without thinking, Betrayus picked the child up as if by instinct. They stopped crying at once, looking up at Betrayus with their bright blue eyes. They then yawned, and fell right back asleep- right in his arms.
Betrayus froze, unsure how to react. He had just comforted the one he was intending to kill. Yet, it somehow felt… good? How disgusting.
But alas, as much as his mind kept screaming at him to do it, his heart said something else.
"He's all you have left of her", said a nagging thought in his head.
He had just killed the Resistance including his own brother in cold blood, yet he couldn't bring himself to kill a baby. A BABY. He sighed, and made yet another decision that would change his life drastically.
He opened the office door, and of course standing right there were several of his soldiers, who were all likely curious.
"I'm keeping him."
Well, this was certainly going to be an interesting arrangement.