“Um… yes…”
“Oh sorry." I lowered my voice so only he could hear. “I forgot to introduce myself. My designation in the Gray Hall facility was 24601-01. Hey whatcha drinking?”
I picked up the mug he had been drinking and sniffed it.
I watched his expression out of the corner of my eye as he went from confused to angry.
"Hey! That's… listen here twenty four six oh one… whatever! I… I…"
Then, as his eyes flicked around and I saw the exact moment he realized who I was.
My grin grew and his eyes widened. The surprise and fear was the last bit conformation I needed.
“You’re…” he cut himself off but I knew what he was going to say.
“That's right." I put down his mug and looked him square in the eye. “My name is Ruin.”
Then I shoved a claw buring with ghost fire into his stomach. I grabbing his neck with my free hand, I braced one foot on the seat and the other against the back of the booth as I used a Bounce spell to launch us into the air.
I twisted so he was under me and cast Bounce again. It slammed him into the ground and he rolled until he crashed into the bar, scattering stools everywhere.
When I landed in a crouch I was vaguely aware of Cherish yelling, "Ruin! What are you doing!"
I was too angry and too focused to pay attention to anything other than the squirming, whimpering individual on the ground in front of me.
A few of the Natives started leaving, some stayed but the Centaurs started toward me, weapons in hand.
"He's an Overseer."
The Centaurs paused as my words fell heavily in the resulting silence. The gasping, moaning and swearing of the Elf I'd gutted became the only sounds in the tavern.
" - you... mother... piece of..."
The commotion had the other Subadults standing up to see what had happened but at my words they moved closer, surrounding us.
"- why is… no one… helping…"
"Ruin The Heartless! You stop this instant!" Cherish yelled.
I did not stop. I would not stop. I would never stop.
"Ruin The Heartless, Terror of the Innocent Nightmare, Heir of the Terrible Kindness, Destroyer of - "
"Alright! Alright!" I stopped and waved both hands in a ‘Stop! Stop! What are you doing?! Stop!’ gesture at Cherish. "No need to bring up achievement titles!"
"- dieing… need… heals… the pain…"
"Those titles don't have any effect here anyway," she said dismissively.
"Oh, right. I mean… oh yeah! Fine! To Be Cherished, Charmer of the Eater Woods, Voice of the Lost Hearts, Tamer - "
"Hey." One of the Succubi broke in. "How did you get the Eater Woods title? I needed that title for the herb drop bonuses!"
"- what's… wrong with… you people…"
"I'm a Nymph with crowd control Siren skills."
"Oooh… that explains it."
The person posing as a Subadult had a hand clamped over his stomach while the other weakly, desperately, moved around in the air.
I recognized the hand movements for what the were, navigation through AR menus. I watched him place two fingers against something only he could see and drag them down.
As he did, his pain seemingly disappeared and his hand dropped away from the still smoking wound like it was no longer there.
"That's better." He slumped in relief, his whole body relaxing. Then he saw everyone staring at him.
When his eyes lit on the Centaurs he jumped to his feet, pointed at me and shouted, "Guards! He attacked me! Arrest him!"
The guards, however, were looking at the large hole in the man's belly and didn't miss the fact that the Elf, who should of been on the ground screaming in pain, was just standing there, looking indignant.
"Oh, cut it out." I told him. "You probably got fifty percent health left."
I watched his eyes flick to the bottom corner of his vision but he didn't say anything.
"And don't bother pretending you're a Subadult," I added. "That ship already hit the iceberg."
I spoke louder for the rest of the Subadults. "I am two four six zero one dash zero one. He called me twenty four six oh one."
Grumbles and hissing whispers rose at this evidence and grew louder as they saw the imposters bewildered expression.
Taren stepped forward, axe in hand, and his voice seething with anger. "Why are you here, Overseer!"
"I… that's not… what?" He sputtered.
I decided to explain, not for his benefit but for the Natives.
I cleared my throat very loudly and very obviously before saying, "The Grey Hell system only accepted single digit input from 1 through 0. And 0 was always zero, never "oh". That system of check digits, confirmation numbers and location numbers were so ingrained we spoke them in our sleep. You would know this if you were one of us. Your confusion only confirms what you are."
He paused, looking around and obviously evaluating the rooms mood before admitting, "I am not a Sub, that's true."
Then he hurried to explain when, as one, every Subadult took a step forward. "But I am not an Overseer! I'm not! I just here to… monitor how everyone is doing. I work for the Soul Eternity company."
"Which is owned by the Grey Hell," I said.
"Well, yes. No! Not owned… completely. I mean they have a lot of stock in the company and a lot of pull but - "
"So you don't work for the Grey Hell and you're not here to oversee us?" I said.
"Yes!"
"You just work for Soul Eternity who collaborates with Gray Hall Enterprises."
"Yes," he said, sounding relieved.
"You're a Collaborator. You do the bidding of the Grey Hell. A place that was designed to be evil. Run by Overseers who are, themselves, evil themselves."
"No! I…" he made a sound of frustration. "You Subs... We're not here to hurt you. Just to monitor."
Tahaniria stepped forward, anger and tension obvious in her movements. "That's what they said about the Overseers!"
He scoffed. "The people you call Overseers couldn't hurt you. They were monitored. You were just a job. Stop acting like such martyred little snowflakes. I mean… evil? Seriously?"
My laugh was an empty echo of suffering and loss. My wide, tooth filled smile showed all the pain in my heart.
He flinched away from me and I stepped closer, my voice holding the quiet promise of sudden screams and bad endings.
"You think you know what evil is? I look into your eyes and I can tell you've never felt it, never been touched by it. I have. I know evil.
"Evil exploits. Evil adds to the suffering of the world. Evil uses others with no regard to how they are affected. Evil seeks to divide us, because separation makes exploitation more effective, more efficient.
"We know this. In our hearts, our minds, our souls, in our bones and in our blood. We haven't just felt this, been victims of this. We've lived this. "
The Collaborator was taller than me and when I looked up into his wide, frightened eyes I was close enough to see a twisted image of myself reflected there.
Then I saw Cherish behind him. Her thoughts reached for me and instinct had me reaching for her.
"We have all added suffering to the world, because we are weak. By ourselves we are weak. But with others…"
Cherish walked over to me, her mind a comforting presence next to mine as she took my hand in hers.
I laughed again and this time, there was nothing dark or violent about it.
"And of course, I have seen goodness too. Good is collaborative. Good reduces the suffering of the world. Good is people still using each other, but for the benefit of the majority, as well as for the minority. Good unifies us, lets us accept the differences in each other. Allows us to compensate for each other's weaknesses and share each other's strengths."
When I stopped talking the whole room had gone quiet and everyone was looking at me strangely.
"What? Why is everyone staring at me? This is like, basic mora
l philosophy people!"
The Collaborator cleared his throat and said, "Right, well this has all been very… preachy but can someone heal me now? This massive bleed debuff has me down to nine percent."
"Wow." I blinked. "That low? I am awesome! Or I've been talking too long and you've been hemorrhaging essence this whole time. Or both. Yep, definitely both. I'd say it's more of a sixty forty percent split. No, seventy - "
"I'm still bleeding here! Seven percent!"
I let out a long drawn out sigh and said, "Fiiine..."
Then a Shadow Elf stepped out of the crowd, spat a red pulsing, flickering curse at the Collaborator and stabbed him in the neck.
"Or not." I stared down at the collapsing Collaborator and drew in his essence out of habit.
"Was that really necessary?" Aeria asked the other Elf.
She glared back and said, "Do you know what he just did?"
"Um, died?" I suggested.
She switched her glare to me. "He messed up and now, it's going to get out that we have monitors - "
"Collaborators," I corrected.
"Fine collaborators - "
"No. You have to capitalize it when you say it. It makes a difference."
"What?"
"I sounds different if you capitalize it in your head and then say it outloud," I explained.
"That's stu… no it doesn't! It doesn't matter if you say it like collaborator or Collaborator… okay… fine. I hear it now. Where was I?"
"The Collaborator messed up but I don’t see… oh. Wait. Yeah, I get it now. Yeah. That's bad. That could be real bad. Super bad. Ultramega - "
"Care to share?" Aeria interrupted.
"Sure thing, carebear! What? What's with that look on your face? We're not at the nickname a friend phase yet? Because I think carebear is an excellent nickname for - "
"I will stab you in the face."
"Aaaand on second thought - "
"Ruin?" Cherish interrupted.
"Yes?"
"Shut up and start talking."
I gave her a courtly bow and said, "As my lady contradicts!"
I paused to order my thoughts before explaining. Paused again, and then decided to just outright lie.
"This whole thing was a set up!"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. All except Aeria and Taren who looked at me with suspicion.
"I mean it's obvious, right? The Collaborator barely hid what he was. He just sat there, not trying to hide his eyes movements and disguise the fact that he was using an AR interface. When I called the Grey Hell 'Gray Hall Enterprises' he didn't blink an eye but when I mentioned my designation he knew my name without me telling him. You know what this means right?"
More confused looks.
I looked around in exasperation and said, "Really! Seriously? Think about it! Why would the creators of the Grey Hell send someone who looked like he was a Subadult? Someone who would be so easily found out?"
The Shadow Elf Witch made a surprised sound and when I turned to look, I saw the realization on her face.
"Because they wanted us to find out about them!" She looked at me, appreciation in her eyes as she spoke to the room at large. "It's like what the Overseers did in the Grey Hell. They want to divide us, pit us against each other!"
"They want us to stay weak," Taren said slowly. "They want a witch hunt." Then he looked at the Shadow Elf and said, "No offense Galadriel."
Her lips quirked. "None taken because I agree. The Overseers want to use the existence of the Collaborators against us. If it worked we would have seen anyone we didn't personally know as a potential threat. We wouldn't be able to work together."
"WAIT!" I yelled. "Wait, a sudden thought struck me. Painfully! I hate it but… We can't call them Collaborators."
Everyone looked at me but it was Cherish who asked, "And why not?"
"Because of my speech!" I explained, "My speech about 'Good is made up of collaborative elements', blah blah, 'accepting the differences in each other allows us to compensate for each other's weaknesses.' Blah blah blah. So now everyone is going to forget about my 'collaboration is good' speech and focus on the evil Collaborators who are trying to undermine us all!"
Aeria was rubbing her temples by the time I was done and muttering something.
Tahaniria, who was next to her, spoke up. "Aeria's right. We decided on Collaborator, we're not changing it."
I sighed and said, "Fiiiine. It's not like anyone listens to what I - "
"I think we're all forgetting the big picture," Gladriel spoke over me. "How do we counteract Collaborators?"
"With contrariness and contradictions!" I cheered with a raised fist. Then grumbled as everyone ignored me.
"Cherish? Would you…" I told her my idea.
"Confirmed," she said and jumped on top of the nearest table.
"Excuse me?" She called out and smiled as everyone turned to look at her. "I am 24601-02, Cherish and I may have a solution or at least I have an idea of how to help the situation."
When no one objected she continued. "They expect us to turn on each other, so let's do the opposite. What are Punishers and Overseers known for? Bullying, insults, put downs and the like, right?"
Everyone nodded or answered with an automatic 'confirmed'.
"So if we see a Subadult acting that way, they may be a Collaborator. If they are, they'll expect us to be suspicious. Maybe even act violently. So instead we do the opposite. We still step in, we still say or do what needs to be done but we don't let them drag us down.
"That's just basic moral hygiene right? Like they say in kindergarten, 'If someone insults you and you insult them back it gives them power over you. Instead of lowering yourself to their level, rise above.' and in this case, try to bring them with you. Tell them about the Collaborators, what they're trying to do and what to do about it."
She smiled prettily and said, "And if all else fails, kick their tailbone up their spine until it reaches their cranium."
"Wise words," I said solemnly and heard a few murmured agreements.
After that everyone drifted into groups to discuss what they had learned.
Cherish jumped down and grabbed me by one of my horns and steered me towards the bar.
"Okay, so… to be fair, you were gone longer than five minutes."
She gave me hard stare but I didn't feel any real anger from her, just resignation as she said, "I should have expected this."
She sat down on a bar stool and I took the one next to her. "Really? You expected Collaborators? That can't be true, that's like saying you expected the Spanish inquisition."
The Shadow Elf, Gladriel sat on my other side and said with a strained smile, "Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition."
"Hey! You stole my line!" I said indignantly, then winced. "Aaand now I feel bad about making the joke in the first place, around an actual Witch."
Her smile relaxed a little and she said, "I'm Wiccan too."
"Ouch!" I said and then reluctantly turned serious.
I looked around to see if anybody was close enough to overhear and asked, "Do you think they bought it?"
Gladriel drummed her fingers on the bartop and answered, "For all we know, it could be true. Maybe he really was just sent here to check up on us. Maybe his intentions were innocent. Maybe he was just being manipulated. But it doesn’t matter, intentions don't matter. What matters is actions.”
“Actions we mitigated.” Cherish said.
“Mitigated but not neutralized. 21601-01, Galadriel, by the way."
“24601-01, Ruin. Please don’t hold it against me. And, actions are more important than intentions. But intentions are relevant with regard to potential actions. If their intent is just to monitor and not interfere we should take that into account and not hold it against them.”
Gladriel gave me an incredulous look. "Dude, you just eviscerated that guy, like, three minutes ago.”
“And the next time I probably won’t maybe,” I said in a very reasona
ble tone.
She laughed a little and said, “Well, as fun as this has been, I need to go. Spells to learn. Things to kill.”
She stood up and started towards the door, giving a lazy wave over her shoulder as she said, “Nice meeting you two. Let's group up and kill more stuff next time.”
“I like her,” I said, watching her go.
“She is pretty cute." Cherish commented.
Galadriel, in contrast to Tahaniria, didn’t have nearly as many curves and was all sharp angles with a thin body. Her face was angular and she had chin length, bright red hair that had to have been a cosmetic change during character creation.
I shrugged, acknowledging that I had noticed and said, “Yeah, I especially liked how she cursed that one guy and stabbed him in the neck that one time. It was something Five would do.”
Cherish scrutinized me for a long moment and I got an almost exasperated feeling from her.
“What?”
“You have a type. You know that, right?"
"What? No, not a specific type. I mean, I like cute girls who are nice to me. But I'm not interested in anyone specific."
I felt more exasperation from her.
"What?
She sighed. "Nothing… its nothing."
“It doesn't feel like nothing,” I said.
“Hey! I just remembered. You need a bath because you're a stinky person. Unless you don’t want me to pay for your bath, then I can continue changing the subject until you get distracted and forget the nothing, um, thing.”
“Two. What is it. You were just feeling frustration.” I paused. The feeling I got from her faded, only to be replaced by another emotion. “And now you’re feeling distress…”
She hesitated before saying, “What if she’s… what exactly would you do if Five died. As in permadeath?”
I wanted to rip those words out of my brain, throw them on the floor and stomp them into their composite phonemes.
“Then anybody responsible for her death would get the same.” I tried to keep my voice calm and reasonable.
“And if that person or persons was too strong, too powerful?”
“Nobody is too powerful to kill.”
“But if you can’t.” She insisted. “If she was dead and gone and it was impossible for you to - ”
Dubstep Succubus Page 24
