He could have been so much more, but the world didn't raise him to be the Imperator it needed. It didn't coddle the child of a conqueror, not the way he needed to be. Yuri never had a chance in the harsh reality of the Empire. He had no time for childish things. He was required to be a Zharkov from the moment he was born, and Zana knew how impossible of a task that could be.
“The good news is, they were able to shut down the robotic armies of Neo-Nippon before your father's death. The war, for all intents and purposes, is over.”
Zana's gaze rose up, glaring at Mastodon. “Good news? There's a silver lining to my father's death at the hands of my brother? Oh, how thankful I am for that.”
“Do not talk to your Dominus like that!” Luca shrieked.
Singh smiled and placed her hand on Luca's shoulder. “It's alright dear. The poor girl is in shock. We need to give her a moment.”
Zana had no patience for any of them at that moment. It was taking all of her strength not to burst through the ceiling and race across the globe in search of her brother. But then what? What would she do if she found him? She couldn't beat him into submission. It was obvious he was much more powerful than she was. There was no talking sense into him. There was no hope for reconciling her family. Only four Zharkovs still remained. Herself, Yuri, Maksim, and Magda. Five if she included her uncle's wife, Carmen, which she didn't. That poor girl had married into a graveyard.
Zana looked at the strangers in the room, then to the window that overlooked the domain of Therian, and for the first time in her life, she felt small. She was truly alone in the world. At first, the feeling threatened to crush her under its weight, like a suffocating, claustrophobic, existential crisis. But then, just as quickly as the feeling weighed down upon her shoulders, she flexed the powerful muscles in her neck and arms, shaking off the dilemma that tried to choke her. Her body suddenly felt weightless, carefree, without the responsibility of her family's name emblazoned across her chest.
A smile came to rest on her lips, one she personally owned. Just like her life, her fate, her entire reason for being. It only belonged to her now. She knew it was selfish to feel that way, especially now, but she didn't care. A part of her was relieved, because it finally felt okay to be selfish.
“I suppose my uncle Maksim is taking the throne then? Or has Yuri claimed it for himself?” She rolled her eyes as she asked, only slightly interested on a surface level.
“There have been no announcements. Your family hasn't even responded to the video that was released showing the murder.”
Zana's eyes squinted as if she didn't want to see the truth of the matter. “They showed his death? On television?”
“Do you seriously think the state-run media would allow that?” Luca scoffed with a smile. “It was the internet. At least some information can get through your family's filters.”
“The point is, everyone is scrambling,” Mastodon said, leaning forward in his chair and resting his thick-skinned elbows on the wooden table. “Everyone is trying to figure out what to do next. The war has ended and the Imperator is dead. All in the same day. There will be chaos, unless someone takes the reins.”
Zana lounged in her chair, flinging one of her arms over the back in a relaxed posture. “Don't worry. There's always a line of people ready to wear that crown.”
A snort of air trumpeted from the Dominus' trunk. “Just because they stand in line, does not make them capable leaders. We have seen a revolving door of Imperators in the last year. We need someone who can rule over the Empire with the strength they've come to expect from their Zharkovian leaders. Yet they must also deny the temptation of flexing that power like your brother, and lead our world through generations to come.”
Zana was no fool. She could read between the lines. She knew exactly where this conversation was going. With every death in her family, her blood became more rare, more valuable, more sought after.
“You want me to take the crown.”
It was Luca who laughed first. Singh held back, but still let out a tiny chuckle. Mastodon blew out another trumpet of air and slammed his gray fists upon the table.
“Do you really think I would put another Zharkov on the throne, much less a girl, just so I could bow down and thank you for the opportunity to remain on this cursed continent? The people of Therian deserve more. My family deserves more. And this is the exact opportunity for me to take what we deserve.”
Zana smirked, not at the Dominus, but at herself. She thought she knew where the conversation was headed, but she had underestimated the greed and hunger of the man she was talking to.
“So you're going to... what? March your army on the Fatherlands? Take the Citadel for yourself? I'm sorry, m'Dom, but no matter how many lions and eagles and sharks you may have, they're no match for Maksim or Yuri. The Zharkovs have held onto their power all these years for a reason.”
Mastodon's trunk twitched. “I'm no fool, girl. I know how this game is played. I know my role. What I'm wondering is... do you know yours?”
Zana smacked her lips and smiled. “Go ahead. Enlighten me.”
Mastodon glared back at her, obviously angered by her flippant attitude. He pushed his chair away from the table, stood up straight, and crossed his arms across his wide chest, staring down his trunk at her.
“You will proclaim your allegiance to the Therian domain. You will nominate me as Imperator of the Empire, to be inherited by my son, and eventually, the child inside of you. You will do this by sundown today.”
Zana nodded along, finding each of his sentences funnier than the last. When he was done, she leaned forward and tapped her fingers on her chin.
“Fascinating plan. But just to be clear... do you think my uncle and brother are just going to go along with this? Do you actually believe they would bow down to someone whose only super power is drinking water through their nose?”
Luca leaped from his chair, shoving his finger at Zana and screaming a string of curse words. Mastodon held out one of his giant hands to stop the boy, who reluctantly closed his mouth, but remained standing as a threat.
“I will keep your brother and uncle as Guardians. An Imperator still needs weapons. And, as a gift to you, once you have given birth, I will nominate you as Guardian as well.” Mastodon smiled. “I am not deaf nor blind. I know you never pictured yourself as a mother, or wearing a crown. Your true calling is that of a warrior. And unlike your family, I will grant this to you.”
The smile fell from Zana's face. “I was the Guardian of the East, before they sold me off to you.”
“And while I feel blessed that you carry my grandson, if you were to appoint me your Imperator, I will never ask this of you again. Think about it, Zana. You will be my right hand, my sword. We can make this Empire as strong and fruitful as Therian, without the limitations of technology that this continent has been cursed with.”
Zana wondered what the Therian people would do if they weren't held back by the curse of Professor Armageddon's time shield over the continent. It kept them in the dark ages, yet they had not only survived, but thrived. Though perhaps it was this very struggle that helped them become the people they were. If they were placated with modern comforts, would the people be as strong? Could Mastodon even consider such things when he was blinded by the shine of the crown?
“You call this continent cursed,” Zana said calmly, standing up from her chair, “but this is your home. These are your people. I think the world out there is what is cursed. War and bloodshed, death and destruction. For what? To move some lines on a map? To own the prettiest slaves? To feel satisfaction from seeing your enemies bow before you? Let my brother and uncle fight for that title. Let them float around in their castle in the sky. If the world leaves us alone, then I think we've won.”
There was a long pause as both Singh and Luca turned toward Mastodon, waiting for his reply. Finally the elephant-man straightened the layered necklaces strung around his neck and tightened one of the gold cuffs on his tusk, cleari
ng his throat to speak.
“I am glad you are fond of Therian, because I plan to appoint you and Luca as Domina and Dominus of the domain. Your child, of course, will be raised in the citadel. It must be prepared to take on the duties of the Imperator. And where better to learn than by my side?”
Zana noticed the pained expression in Luca's face. The lion-elephant-man was only now realizing his father's hopes rested in her belly, not him. She couldn't help feeling pleasure from his dismay.
“Perhaps I'm not making myself clear, m'Dom. I'm uninterested in your proposal. I hold no desire to become a Domini, or follow the orders of anyone for that matter. I shall birth your heir and then my life will be my own. Not yours. Not my family's. Not anyone's.”
Mastodon stared back at her, breathing heavily through his trunk, waiting for her to flinch, but she did not falter. He let out a final trumpet of air and stomped past her as he spoke.
“Fine. Once you have birthed my heir, I don't care what you do. Build a cabin in the woods. Sit at the bottom of the ocean. Fly to the moon for all I care. But today, while my heir is still in your belly, you will tell the world that I am your choice for Imperator. You will place the crown on my head as a Zharkov and a Therian.”
“I told you I'm not interested in-”
Mastodon spun around and screamed into her face, “This isn't a negotiation! I am the Dominus of Therian and I demand that you name me Imperator!”
Zana wiped the spittle from her face and smiled back at Mastodon. “You sound like a child. If you want that crown, then go take it. I won't take it for you.”
Mastodon twisted his head side to side as if he were working his annoyance out of the tense muscles in his neck. “You foolish little girl. You are absolutely going to get that crown for me. You're going to do everything I ask of you. And do you know why?”
“I couldn't possibly think of a reason.”
“Because if you do, the transfer of power will be peaceful. No one will get hurt. No one will suffer.” Then Mastodon smiled, which was unsettling. “But if you don't? There will be suffering.”
Zana stood up, sick of the charade they were all playing. He may have been the Dominus, but there was nothing he could do that would actually hurt her.
She leaned in close and whispered, “Try it.”
Mastodon raised his brow in surprise. “Oh? Not scared of me, are you? No, I suppose not. One of the benefits of your supposed invincibility. Well then... I guess I would have to turn my attention to those who would be scared of me. Let's see...”
Mastodon tapped his thick finger against his jaw as he pretended to contemplate his next action. “Wait... your grandmother is still alive, isn't she? And that old witch only has the power of flight. I bet I could come up with all kinds of nasty things to do to her frigid body. And I bet the women of Therian, the ones who have placed you on a pedestal, the same ones that call you a beacon of hope, would probably be disappointed to know that the mandatory mating rituals I would impress upon them were your fault, wouldn't they?”
Zana felt her stomach turn as she thought about all the people who could suffer for her dissent, but her stomach continued to turn as she imagined a world where she placed that elephant-man on the throne.
As the family began to leave the room, to leave Zana alone with her dark and twisted thoughts, her need to defy him shouted back, “Do you really expect me to stand for this?”
Mastodon stopped and looked back at her one last time and with a glint in his eyes he said, “No, Zana. I expect you to bow down for this.”
25
MICKEY
His hands weren't shaking, which still made him nervous. He wasn't sure how long it had been since his body had calmed down. He assumed it was decades. There were pock marks and wrinkles on his skin now, his fingers skinny and frail. His body was old, but just the fact that he was speaking to someone again made his mind light up.
“We were wrong about my super power,” he said as he drove his thumb into the palm of his other hand like a mortar and pestle.
Andre, Lucy, and Connor sat around him, hanging on his every word. He had practiced the speech a thousand times, but now that someone could finally hear him, all those words were lost.
“What do you mean wrong? You have super speed. You can run fast.”
Mickey shook his head. “It sure seemed that way. But really, who could blame us for thinking that. That power makes much more sense than what I can actually do. You wouldn't believe how long it took me just to wrap my brain around what was happening.”
Andre and Lucy exchanged confused glances.
Mickey took a deep breath. “I can control time.”
The three of them continued to stare at him, like there would be a second sentence to his explanation that would make the first sentence acceptable. He chuckled to himself, trying to place himself in their shoes. He must have sounded like a lunatic.
“Actually, control is probably the wrong word. I could never control it. That's why, before I took Dr Chem's power enhancer, I was always shaking and stumbling and moving fast. My power was glitching out, and my senses weren't able to adjust. So there I was, stumbling through life.”
Andre's eyes squinted as he mumbled, “I don't understand what you're saying, Mickey.”
Mickey smiled, trying to allow everyone else to catch up to the concept that he had years to accept. “I can slow down time, for everything accept myself. So I move at the same speed, but it's really a temporal thing. I'm moving, but you're not. Or at least, time was moving much slower for you than it was for me. So to you, it looked like whatever I was doing, was going really fast.”
Lucy's mouth was hanging open as she said, more to herself than anyone else, “That's like... super crazy.”
Andre shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he tried to understand. “That still doesn't explain why you disappeared when you took Doctor Chem's power enhancing...”
Mickey watched as the light turned on in Andre's mind. He was starting to understand.
“Wait... so you stopped time?”
“Not exactly. I thought so at first. But as the weeks passed, I saw that things were moving, just at such an incredibly slow pace, it was almost unnoticeable.”
Connor rubbed his hand across his buzzed haircut and asked, “So you've been here, but you were moving so fast no one could see you?”
“I tried standing still, hoping you would see me, but it was impossible to stay in the same place for weeks on end. I tried leaving notes, but I couldn't touch anything without destroying it. At first, it wouldn't move, but if I tried pushing it, the kinetic energy I was throwing around just by moving at a different 'speed' than everything else was incredible. If I pushed a pencil, it would explode. But the explosion was as slow as everything else. It's hard to wrap your brain around. I was actually able to walk across the ocean, because the water didn't move, but once time eventually passed, I had caused a gigantic wave, just by pounding the surface with my feet so hard.”
“So how did you eat?”
“I never got hungry. Ever. I'm only now starting to feel like I could eat a snack or something.” Mickey shrugged. “Never figured that one out. Has to be related to time, or the food not being a part of me, or... I don't know.”
Andre stood up and paced. “I mean, this is insane, Mickey. Completely insane. You can control time? Doesn't that make you... I don't know, a god or something?”
Mickey chuckled. “Again, I didn't exactly have control over it, or trust me, I wouldn't have slowed down time for so long.”
Lucy peered into his face, studying the wrinkles and bags under his eyes. “How long were you...”
Mickey shrugged again. “I have no idea. Clocks didn't work. Days and nights dragged on for... ever. It had to have been years. Maybe decades?”
Andre stopped pacing. “Decades? Alone? How did you not go crazy?”
“I kind of thought I was going crazy for a while, but when the world stops, you have a lot of time to
figure things out... time to just stop and think. You have to understand, for me, this was the first time the world calmed down. It was the first time I calmed down. Everything was just so... peaceful. The crazy came and went. Seeing things move again... this feels crazy. I grew really accustomed to the world the way it was. It was like...”
Mickey rubbed his eyes. “I don't know how to compare it to anything else. It was like a dream. Or a drug. But more refined. More clear. I just... I figured out a lot of stuff. About myself. About the world. Everything. I visited Wesley and Carmen. Watched their lives. Like a ghost or something.”
Andre leaned forward. “And? How are they? Are they... I don't know... are they okay?”
Mickey tilted his head back and forth. “I don't know how to answer that. They're both... doing the best they can. We all grew up in the same neighborhood, yet it's amazing how different we ended up. I guess we're all doing the same thing, in a way. We're all trying to take control of our lives instead of just trying to survive what we were dealt. Maybe growing up the way we did taught us that. Or maybe that's the only way to survive in this world. Who knows? I learned a lot about myself while I was wandering through time, but I'm not claiming to have it all figured out either.”
Andre stepped up to Mickey and threw his arms around him, hugging him again. “It's so good to have you back, man.”
Mickey patted him on the back. “I never really left.”
Lucy jumped up from her seat and said, “Oh my gosh. I just realized you said you were getting hungry.”
Mickey held up his hands. “Don't worry. I'm just a little peckish. I can eat later.”
Lucy put her fists on her hips. “Are you kidding? You haven't tasted anything in decades. I can't even imagine how good a pizza would taste to you right now. I'm going to go make you dinner just so I can watch you eat it.”
She grabbed Connor's hand and led him out of the room, leaving Andre and Mickey alone. Andre started pacing again as he talked.
The Super Power Saga (Book 3): Fear the Empire Page 16
