Felix shuddered, lurching back. "No, impossible! They were Tytus's chosen. There is no way you could kill them all!"
Val flashed a chilling smile, readying himself to take down the man desperately backing away with his shorter blade in hanging guard.
Intimidation check successful! Your foe is now intimidated, and is unable to seize the Vor. Well done!
"It doesn't end like this!" Felix sobbed. "It can't! I will have victory! I must!"
Val chuckled softly as the man looked desperately towards the gate entrance, already deducing why Felix was backing away, seeking space. "I saw you press your phone, some time ago. Your ace in the hole, is it not? The one mercenary who can embrace the shadows as well as any Dauda assassin. Or so you'd like to think."
Felix gasped and swallowed. "No. There is no way. No way!"
Val smiled, seeing all the pieces before him, content to keep the focus on himself. "Jacob and his hit squad are dead."
"How?"
"We trained and fought together, did you know that? And by the way, Yancey says hello."
Felix's eyes widened in surprise. "No. That doddering old fool... why did I never scan him?!" He then peered hard at Val, as if realizing how vulnerable Val was at that moment, all of Felix's focus now primed on a foe so fragile to Psionic attacks when he slipped free of Shadowmind and dared to meet the gaze of another.
Felix flashed a deadly smile. "Fool. The Dauda are the most pathetic of all Highlords, save for one trick alone! I have pierced your Shadowmind. Your soul is mine!"
Val looked his enemy straight in the eye. He could feel the storm of death building to a crescendo. "Checkmate."
Felix's brow furrowed in confusion. Then he stiffened and gasped, dropping his weapon as Christine's crackling blade effortlessly pierced him from behind, a lonely whistle creeping from his lungs as he crumpled over, clutching his abdomen, twisting in agony as he vomited goblets of blood upon the cold wet ground.
"If I had a pain vat, I would gladly cleave your head free and let you bobble in agony unending for what you bastards did to my family!" Christine said, lowering herself to the ground, twisting Felix's ear and forcing his agonized, helpless eyes to gaze into her own as she spat in his face.
"I'm glad to see you and all of Tytus's former lackeys scrabbling about like headless chickens, pathetic cowards unable to take hold of the reins of power yourself! But more, much more, I'm glad Tytus is dead. I'm glad his dreadnought was destroyed, I'm glad six thousand Dominion souls are burning in Hell! For what you did to my daughters, I would see you all burn!"
Felix screamed, his face a rictus of agony and desperation as Christine slowly raised her blade. "Please... please, Christine! I, I was wrong. I was wrong! I can show you the dwarves' lost city. I have destroyed all records, all traces. Everyone around us is surely dead with our psionic screams. I alone know the secrets. I alone can tell you!" His furious pleading turned to a desperate cry. "Please, Christine, don't kill me! It can't end here, it can't!"
Christine's gaze softened. "You sound just like a frightened little boy, Felix. And I wonder if I could have rescued the boy you once were, from the monster you have become. But it is too late now, Felix. Far, far too late."
"Christine, wait, you don't understand..."
Her blade crackled through the air, Felix's eyes blinking in momentary surprise before broken awareness faded at last, his skull cleaved in twain, brain and bone splattering upon the rich green grass drinking in the now pouring rain.
Christine took a shuddering breath, forcing herself to her feet, allowing her shaft of oblivion to shrink and disappear, hilt inert once more. She smiled bravely into the night, golden eyes peering at Val's Psiblade alone, crackling in the darkness.
"Come, Val. Our enemies are dead. Help me get Julia and the others inside, before exposure takes its toll."
Val eased his will and felt himself flow out of the shadows, Christine's brilliant gaze now locking upon his own.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Val nodded, quickly averting his gaze, focusing on the task at hand.
Julia.
Heart in his throat, he raced to her slumped form, relieved beyond words to feel her rising chest, the strength of her beating heart.
"She's lucky to have you. Come, I'll get the door. That's it, place Julia on the couch, let's retrieve the others. If anyone is severely hurt or worse, we race for the basement." Christine flashed Val an almost mischievous smile. "You'll just have to trust that things will work out, no matter how bad it seems now."
Val nodded, wasting no time, hurrying back out, pausing only to give his father a coded whistle, and before long they had brought everyone inside, Val relieved beyond words to find that besides being comatose, everyone's vitals were strong. Yin and Julia were looking so vulnerable that it tore at his heart, all of them hooked to the same exotic monitoring device Christine had used on him what now seemed like a lifetime ago, but had in fact only been a handful of hours.
For a time, the three of them sat and stared at the beeping machine.
Julia's mother, looking as elegant and deadly as any Highlord, cleared her throat. "I guess it's time we had that talk."
Val's father flashed a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
Christine nodded, spending a moment to glance over her daughter. "You are no fool, Johnathan, which doesn't surprise me. Hanna brooked no fools here, or in Jordia." She flashed a playful smile. "Honestly, I think she was as surprised to find she could love a human as I was to hear she was with child."
You could hear a pin drop in the sudden silence.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Val's father asked, showing heat for the first time Val could recall that night, fists clenched and shaking.
Val gave his father's hand a sympathetic squeeze, earning a wince, only then realizing his hands were still covered in dwarven armor. He blinked, somehow sensing Julia even then coming to, miming sleep, then gazing about with wide-eyed disbelief before hugging her mother fiercely.
"Mom, oh god, I thought we were dead!" she sobbed.
Christine smiled, holding her daughter close, kissing her brow. "We were lucky. Very lucky that our friends, no, dare I say it, loved ones, arrived when they did."
Julia turned to Val, capturing him with her beautiful gold-flecked eyes. Val flushed, so many things coming together in that instant, even as the memory of their passion blazed hot and sudden in his mind.
Julia flushed and smiled, lowering her gaze.
How did she know? He really shouldn't be surprised. They had always had a connection. Ever since they had first bonded together, tag-teaming all foes on digital battlegrounds, it was almost as if she could read his mind.
Which now made perfect sense, considering who, and what, her mother was.
"Thank you, Valor," Julia whispered.
Her mother kissed her cheek, shooing her off her lap. "You're a big girl, love, and soon the role I shall have to take will be far sterner than I should like. But time, alas, waits for no parent, and time wasted can never be taken back." Her eyes grew heavy with unspoken regret.
Julia smiled. "It will be okay, Mother, you'll see." She gazed down at her friends; Yin, Chris, Dirk and her father, all lost in deepest slumber still. "Are they going to be alright?" she whispered.
Her mother nodded.
"Thanks to your technology, right?"
Christine smiled. "That's right, dear."
"Which is really not human technology at all, but... Jordian technology." She swallowed. "Dominion technology."
Her mother's face lost its smile. "That's right, Julia."
"Where you're from."
Christine nodded.
Julia turned to Val, an odd look on her face. "And Val's mom too... right?"
Christine locked gazes with Val, who was suddenly terrified of the secrets she might grasp. She nodded her head. "Yes, Julia. Hanna and I are both from Jordia."
Julia swallowed, momentarily speechless, as were they all.
"Am... am I even human?"
Her mother smiled. "You and Val are both hybrid Terrans. Fear not, my love. I made sure to eliminate any less than harmonious combinations in utero. I fused several of your father's sperm and used the Psionifuge to weed out all bad combinations. That is why you have no asthma, allergies, or other adverse health conditions, and your biological rate of decay matches that of the average Jordian. Which is briefer than I'd like, but middle age hitting when you're 200 certainly beats 50."
Julia paled, looking shocked. "So not only am I an alien hybrid... I'm also a genetic experiment?"
Her mother nodded. "Of course. You and Val both." She winked. "An experiment I love and cherish with all my heart."
Julia blinked, exchanging a pained look with Val. There was so much wrong with her mother's statement, and Christine's gentle gaze made it clear she'd never understand.
"You're right," Christine said dryly, "I'd gotten over arbitrary strictures and taboos many decades ago when I first began my work. I refuse to let them deter me from nurturing my children in the best ways possible, so that they may have the best, most fulfilling lives that they possibly can."
Val's father, however, was radiating barely controlled fury. "You've known Hanna, who she was, what she was... a lifetime before I even met my own wife? And you never told me? And you deliberately altered Valor's genetics without a single request for consent? Why in god's name did you never say a word?"
"I was respecting Hanna's wishes." Christine's voice had turned hard and cold. Julia instantly quailed, and Valor let the darkness seep into him once more.
"You will use no Psionic strikes against my father," he said.
Christine blinked. "Of course not, Valor. What would ever make you think I'd break the trust you've shown me?" Her gaze turned sympathetic. "I've known Hanna for a very long time, Johnathan. Longer than you've been alive. We've been the best of friends, and more than friends, during that time."
Julia's eyes widened with that, as did Val's own.
Christine shook her head. "But that is neither here nor there. The bottom line is, we both have things in our past that we are not entirely proud of. Grievances of justice we sought escape from, and Earth, a ripe, recently discovered world known by only a few clans, was the perfect escape. I had the cover of my research. Even Tytus, may he rot in hell, knew the possible boon of life extension was a prize beyond measure for any mortal or Highlord. A boon that would make him inconceivably rich, and so pardon my family for any number of perceived sins." She swallowed, lowering her head. "Originally, the prize I sought was security for my clan and a father to love and cherish for many more centuries. That alone was what compelled me." She gazed down at her husband, eyes filled with sudden tenderness.
"Then I met your father, Julia, and everything changed."
Val's father cleared his throat. "As wealthy as you are, you didn't buy yourself citizenship. You and Hanna were both admitted on 1A visas, working with our research department on base."
Christine smiled. "Yes, we were. America was our goal, but we knew our backgrounds would give away that we weren't natives. We thought it far better to blend in under a believable pretext, as opposed to simply forcing our will upon everyone we met." She glared out the window, where Felix's body lay. "We were not here as part of the movement to secure dominion, but as a research team. And as such, we were promised absolute immunity for ourselves and our families."
She sighed, gazing so tenderly at her daughter. "And Tytus broke that accord when he had his bitch Solena harvest ripe Terrans with limited Psion potential in the very city where I live and work, netting my own child up in their game." Her fists clenched. "If I could have torn their hearts from either of their chests, god knows I would have."
"And yet you worked for them," Val's father said.
Christine closed her eyes. "Throughout most of history, even Terran history, totalitarian regimes of one sort or another rule most of the worlds, most of the time. Even today, only a minority of countries embrace true democracy of any sort, and you and I both know that no matter the government, those with power and influence sway most of the benefits their way. It is only the degree of corruption that differs."
Golden eyes stared into brown. "Imagine if you worked not for Uncle Sam, but for Augustus of the Roman Empire. A powerful man who kept his empire stable, gave the illusion of power and semi-autonomy to his senate, and rewarded his allies well. But anyone who dared to cross him was crushed to dust. Now imagine this emperor is the most powerful Psionicist on the planet, able to read anyone's thoughts, and crush traitors with his mind alone." She flashed a bleak smile. "Save for the Dauda clan, no one dares act counter to an Overlord's will. And even the Dauda are wise enough to be bribed into the appearance of submission. The deadliest of daggers, they have vulnerabilities as well, and are prudent enough to offer their services as indispensable tools no Overlord dares do without."
Julia blinked. "Dauda." She tasted the word, gazing curiously at Val. "I heard you taunt that monster with that name. You were trying to psyche him out, right? So he would be afraid, and be off his game, right?"
Her mother flashed a brilliant smile. "Well done, my daughter. Were you finally mastering the military treatises I left for you?"
Julia grinned. "No. Val and I use similar tactics when goading other players when we PvP online. Have them fear powers you don't have, so they aren't warding against the right attacks, or hit them with powers they didn't expect. That's one of the advantages of playing an unorthodox class. Sucks for perfect dungeon running, which is why few experienced players use them, but hybrid classes and off-color builds are the lifeblood of small band PvP."
Val grinned. "Exactly."
Christine blinked. "Ah. Well enough, then."
"But why would he be afraid of the Dauda clan, anyway?" Julia asked. "And if they're the one clan even these Overlords respect, why aren't they in charge of everything?"
Christine gazed at Val, whose cheeks started to burn. "You should ask your partner, Julia. He has all the answers you're looking for."
Julia looked straight at him, her smile warming Val's heart. "He's my hero, come to my rescue from horrors I would have killed myself from, had you not been there for me, mom." She swallowed. "I know Val somehow fooled them. Fooled them all. They took the bait, and we left, and, well, here we are."
Val nodded, his father now favoring him with a gaze he dared not look at too closely. Both for the strangeness of it, and because he was suddenly afraid that he could read his father's mind in a way he could no Highlord. "I did. I bluffed them perfectly. I made a deal, they bought it, and we left once the deal was struck."
Christine gazed intently at him, Val refusing to meet her golden gaze. "And how did you bluff them, Valor?"
Val swallowed. "I got the drop on an Inquisitor by the name of Adolf."
Christine nodded. "Adolf Mordingi. One of the deadliest inquisitors and swordsmen Tytus had at his disposal."
Valor nodded. "When I bested him, he was on the ground, pleading for his life. He implied that I was a member of a clan of assassins. The Dauda clan. He feared me, feared my ability to hide in the shadows, a trick I practiced under my former commander. He kept trying to bribe me, to burrow into my confidence, and then it all clicked. I knew the perfect cover to maneuver for what I wanted, offering the most powerful man on that ship a prize to assure the freedom of myself, my friends..." Val swallowed. "And the girl I came to save."
Julia's gaze caught his own, captivating him, her smile like the morning sun. Only now, with his memories intact, did he realize just how much trouble he was in.
He couldn't deny the love he felt for this beautiful girl any longer, nor the love he felt for the woman he had rescued in a city now impossibly far away, her entire tribe counting on him still.
Julia's eyes widened. She abruptly turned away.
Shit.
Christine's soft hand clasped his own. "And I can never thank you enough for rescuing my c
hild. Never. She should never have been kidnapped. Never have been taken!" Christine squeezed Val's hand with surprising strength. "And that was why I knew you were the one to call. The only one we could trust."
Val's father blinked. "It was deliberate. I was wondering why Andrey was so anxious to have Valor assist, for all that I thought it an act of compassion that just might pay off... no. You really did choose Valor, knowing exactly what was at stake!"
Christine's gaze softened in apology. "Please understand, Johnathan, I had no idea that it had gone so far. That Solena was directly involved, that Tytus was not only seeking mind drones but was actively porting them to Jordia! Believe it or not, I was expecting nothing but weak pawns, easily snuck past by someone with certain talents, the evidence gathered all the leverage I needed to force my daughter's freedom and massive concessions for the breach to the accords. Had I myself dared to infiltrate an active Dominion staging site without Tytus's assignment, I would have committed what amounts to a high crime. Julia would have been put in even greater peril, and my husband as well.
"Just as importantly, by allowing Val to assist my clan with something so crucial, I would have had all the pretext I needed to grant him a boon in turn. That which he desired more than anything else in the world." She gazed pointedly at his legs.
His father blinked. "Was your examination of his legs that day just for show, then? Could you have healed him even then?"
Christine shook her head. "Not without violating the non-interference accord. It would have been a major breach, far worse than subtly introducing new technology that would work to our benefit in the long run. But Tytus's own excesses would have worked for us. He is known to award surprising boons to lackeys and mercenaries who perform exceptionally well, as have many other tyrants throughout Dominion history, assuring absolute loyalty to those holding the reigns of power. Thanks to his precedent, no one would dare object to my fully regenerating Val as a boon worthy of his rescuing my daughter. Which, if you'll recall, Johnathan, is what allowed me to bring Val back from the hideously burnt husk he had become after jumping through the gate. Of course I was committed to doing all I could for you and Val both, and believe it or not, much of his healing had nothing to do with me, though my serum might have helped just a bit."
Endless Online: Oblivion's Price: A LitRPG Adventure - Book 3 Page 41
