Year 7684 CE


    Duljaaros Star System


    Planet Relorum


    Border of Solarian Federation Space


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Damian Galvin held back an expression of winced discomfort as the cargo door opened. In one quick moment, the temperature had increased from a cool 18 degrees Celsius to a heavy 30, according to his cybernetics. That’s what we get for doing business on Relorum during summer, Damian thought.


    Relorum was a backwater of a planet. A half-barren desert, half-somewhat inhabitable world on the border of the Solarian Federation and Republic of Al’ Cathion spaces. Although it was technically an independent planet, it was so reliant on trade imports from the Federation, that it was subservient to it.


    The government here colored itself as a democracy, but really it was as corrupt as a planet could get. Which made Damian’s job a lot easier, a hell of a lot easier in fact. Once he was done here, Alice, that damned sadist, would simply buy off the local police to look the other way and he’d be clean.


    No more debt to pay off, he thought.


    The scene before him as the large metal door slowly touched the red dirt was a scene he’d been dreading since he was assigned this job. Before him stood two men in faded suits, one smoking a stick of Venusroot. Alice told him that could be only one person: Fredrick Renier, the older brother to Solomon Renier and one of the head bosses of the Tymirium Syndicate.


    “Greetings, Mister Renier!” said Salve the android without Damian’s permission.


    “Must you say that every time we do business with someone?” said Trytor the alien Brek, also without Damian’s permission. He shot them both dirty glances.


    “Of course, it is within my pro-”


    “Quiet,” Damian interrupted Salve, “You’re embarrassing yourselves.”


    Frederick Renier dropped his smoking Venusroot, smothering it in red dirt, as he began to walk towards the group. He gave a condescending look at every one of them but seemed to focus on the spider-like alien that was Trytor. A look of mild disgust held on his face.


    He focused again on Damian and pulled a Holophone. “You are…Damian Galvin?”


    “Yeah, that’s me. This is Trytor, our resident gun expert, and our android assistant Salve.”


    Salve raised his hand to shake. “Greetings!”


    Frederick looked at the android''s hand and begrudgingly shook it. “Yeah…you too. Am I to assume you know who I am?”


    “You’re Frederick Renier, older brother of Solomon Renier and one of Syndicate’s main bosses.”


    “Yep and this,” he put a hand on the shoulder of the other man, “Is my nephew Michael.”


    “Greetings!” said Salve, again. Michael did not respond.


    “Come on, we’ve got stuff to do.” Frederick said, “Follow me.”


    Damian and company did as they were told, following Fredrick in an expensive-looking Hovercar. Inside, they took their seats and Frederick took out an orange file. Inside were the images of a bank, a large stack of gold credits, and a woman in a Solarian Federation uniform.


    Damian took the file contents and showed them to the others. “Is this the job?”


    Michael answered. “Yes, and the woman is someone we need to take out.”


    “Why?” asked Trytor.


    “Because she works for the Solarian Federation, idiot. Can’t you see her uniform?” retorted Frederick.


    Trytor held back an alien growl. “That’s not what I meant.”


    Michael sighed. “She knows too much about the Syndicate’s operations here on Relorum. We need you to silence her before she presents her case to the rest of the Federation and takes over the system.”


    Salve raised a metallic hand. “Inquiry: why does the Solarian Federation want Relorum?”


    “Politics,” Frederick answered, “They want to use the planet''s Mars-like resources to build a megastructure as a gift to the Republic. A kind of peace treaty if you will.”


    “What kind of megastructure?” asked Salve.


    Michael was quick to answer. “A topopolis. Think of it like a massive looped O’Neil cylinder that encircles a star.”


    “And the bank and credits? What''s that all about?” asked Trytor.


    “The officer has been keeping track of our movements and people. She''s one of the best at doing so from what I’ve heard. She knows all about her heists and capers ahead of time.”


    Does that mean she knows of me? Does she know of Alice…and Sophia?! If that is true…then.


    “What she doesn’t know is that we’re aware of her. That’s what the bank is for, it''s a distraction. A way to keep her occupied while you move in to intercept.”


    Damian thought about the task at hand and the morality of it. Here he was at the tail end of the galaxy, helping criminal overlords maintain their power by killing someone who, in all likelihood, was simply doing their job. He thought about the Kill Chip monitoring his actions. He thought about who it was connected to.


    It will all be worth it in the end, he lied to himself, it will all be worth it.


    The Hovercar flew on.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Damian’s room was…okay. The room smelled of piss, it barely had any lighting, and what looked like a rough approximation of a bed was laying in the corner but he had lived in worse. He looked to his right hand, the clear marks of cyber augmentation present across his wrist.


    A small hatch opened on his thumbs base and small black particles began to fly out in a swarm. They quickly formulated each other into a solid black cube hovering an inch from his palm. A Void Cube.


    Void Tech was a highly advanced technology at the subatomic level that helped humanity greatly on the galactic stage, allowing them to create Wormholes to different parts of the universe. A far safer and more efficient mode of travel compared to going Faster-Than-Light. While mainly intended for traveling the Milky Way, some might get their hands on less powerful Void Cubes and reuse them for more everyday tasks.


    Like killing people in Damian’s case.


    With a small twist of his hand, the cube transformed into a black revolver-like weapon. It didn’t actually need bullets to fire, only condensed energy that it absorbed. At its lowest power, it was like throwing a small pebble but at its highest, it could vaporize half a man''s body into vapor.


    Damian looked over the gun and thought about all the people he had killed with it. Then he thought about all the people he wanted to kill with it. Alice, Frederick, Solomon, Fal’ Grae, E’ Tariss, Daevon.


    They’ll all get what''s coming to them, but just play it cool for now. Play it cool.


    Damian sighed deeply, put the Void Cube away, and tucked himself into bed. His door opened. Damn it.


    It was Trytor, the spider-looking alien called a Brek. “Hey, Damian? Can we talk?”


    Damian refused to open his eyes. “What?”


    Trytor closed the door behind him and crawled to Damians ‘bed.’ “I’ve been thinking about our job tomorrow. About having to wack that Federation officer?”


    “So, what about it?”


    “Won’t killing her cause more trouble than it’s worth? This is the Federation we’re talking about here. The single most powerful government in the galaxy with only the Falmir Imperial Union to rival them.”


    Damian just wanted to sleep. “I don’t care. Once she’s gone, I’m gone. I’m done working for these rotten people after this.”


    Trytor paused for a second. “You know Alice isn’t going to let you go that easy, right?”


    Fear and rage filled Damian’s heart at hearing that. “I have to hope she makes good on our-”


    “She won’t,” Trytor interrupted, “She’ll never.”


    Damian stayed quiet after that. He thought only of Sophia’s safety at that moment. About how scared his little sister was.


    “I-I have to hope…she makes good on her promise.”


    Trytor spoke up again. “You’ve got a Kill Chip, don’t ya?”


    Damian didn’t respond.


    “F—,” Trytor hissed, “Look, I’ll see if I can go put a good word in for you with one of the bosses. See if that helps at all. Sound good?”


    Damian remained silent.


    “I’ll take your silence as a yes.”


    “Fine,” said Damian, “See if it works. I doubt it.”


    Trytor stayed a while longer before leaving. Despite his presence, Damian had never felt so alone before. Was his sister even alive or was she nothing more than bait that Alice used to her advantage?


    Damian calmed himself once more and tried to fall asleep. It was difficult, hard even, to even get a wink of sleep. Soon enough, he succeeded, though his dreams were perhaps worse.


    He dreamt of pushing Sophia when they were kids on the swings. He dreamt of his father taking care of them both. He dreamt of Alice telling them how he really died, her gun trained on Sophia’s head.


    He dreamt of her pulling the trigger on Sophia. He dreamt of his gun pointed at Alice’s own head and pulling the trigger. He dreamt of the sky raining blood.


    He dreamt of collapsing on his knees. He dreamt of a man holding his gun and pointing at Damian’s chest. He dreamt of a revolution where there was no victory, not for him at least.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    The next day, Damian, Trytor, and Salve were across the street from where this officer, Natalia Powers he learned, was hiding out. She was in a semi-dilapidated warehouse with no windows and no markings. Not too suspicious and not too obvious either, the perfect place to hide.


    Not for long anyway, Damian thought. Salve had finished his scan of the building to look for traces of life. As Salve’s miniature probe was scanning, Damian could only focus on what was to happen after.


    Was Sophia safe? Is Alice going to make good on her promise? Are we even going to make it out alive?


    Damian’s head was spinning these questions in head over and over again. Until finally…


    “Movement detected. Identifying…confirmed! Natalia Powers found.”


    Trytor looked over the corner and saw Natalia making her way to a backdoor. “Come on, follow me,” he said in hushed tones.


    After crossing the street, they made their way to a discreet entrance in the back. Before entering, Damian peeked a look inside through the door. What he saw was shocking, to say the least.


    Is that…Alice Fulganrir?! What the…?


    Everything about her looked like the day they met. Her pale skin, pale white hair, pale red suit, everything down to a T. Her skeletal cybernetic right arm was stained with blood that was…flowing upwards?


    “What? What do you see?” said Trytor behind him.


    Damian didn’t hear him, his full focus was on Alice. It was then that she slowly turned her head towards the door, her right robotic eye glowing brighter than any sun could. Her mouth opened and inside Damian saw…saw…


    He raised his Void Gun to shoot that horrid devil and send her straight to the black ditch she crawled out of. Pure rage and hatred coursed through his veins. He could feel his blood turn to magma as blue energy crackled around the barrel of the gun.


    All he needed was one shoot and it was all-


    “HEY!”


    Damian snapped back to reality. “What?!”


    Trytor and Salve had been trying to get his attention for the last minute. Salve still showed a look of mechanical coldness. Trytor, however, showed a furrow of slight anger.


    “The hell is going on with you? Do you see something or not?"


    Damian looked at Trytor with confusion before looking back through the cracked door. Inside was Natalia Powers, headphones covering her head as she listened intently to NovaCommunications. What…was that? Am I losing it?


    “Well?” asked Trytor.


    “Uh, she just…listening to NovaComs, I think.”


    “Good, then we can still take her by surprise.”


    Trytor opened the door slightly, his own Brek-made handgun in his appendages aimed at her head. The three of them moved in slowly and carefully so as to not alert her. Then Damian noticed something.


    Growling. Something was growling in the warehouse.


    Damian activated his cybernetic eyes to look around for the source. Didn’t Salve’s probe detect no signs of life outside of Powers?


    It was then that he saw the alien Vaecholl hiding in the dark. It was like an alien dinosaur with massive armor plating across its body. It had two pairs of long arms, the lower ones ending in five-digit fingers tipped with claws, the higher ones being more like massive Preying Mantis-like scythes that could tear through titanium.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    He could see the mounted bullet guns on its back, perfectly designed to shoot and kill anything that dares stand its way. The massive, powerful tail that ended in a black mace scraped along the ground. He could see its white eyes reflecting light his way, and he could see the Anti-Perception Blocker stationed on the ground next to it.


    Beep.


    A signal came from its cybernetic translator on the Vaecholl’s throat and Natalia immediately grabbed a rifle and ducked for cover. The Vaecholl stood up from its position and armed its mounted guns as it stared directly at the group. Fear welled in Damian’s gut.


    “He told me you’d come for me! I’m warning you, we ain’t going down without a fight!” said Natalia.


    The Vaecholl’s throat emanated a deep and low vibration, to which its translator went to work. “What will it be then little mice? Surrender or die?”


    Those guns were trained onto all three of them. If they made the wrong move or said the wrong word, they would be dead in an instant. They would have to approach carefully if they were to survive.


    “May I have an inquiry?” asked Salve calmly


    Natalia remained quiet for a second as if considering an answer. “Depends on the question.”


    “How did you know of our actions to terminate you? We were certain you were unaware, so how come you know?”


    “Afraid I can’t answer that Nuts & Bolts.”


    “Why not?


    “Sorry, just can’t.”


    Natalia stood up from her improvised cover and raised her rifle at Damian and Salve. “You and your little android friend ain’t getting the best of me.”


    ‘You and your little android friend?’ Does she not know of Trytor? Did he get away?


    Damian looked for Trytor with his arms raised and body still. At the same time, he was looking for a way to escape the tense situation he was in. All around, he noticed his vision becoming blurry and when he looked at Natalia she again became Alice, only with crimson smoke pouring from her eyes and many hundreds of robotic arms jetting out from her back.


    “May I ask another question?” asked Salve again


    “Salve, what the hell are you doing?” said Damian in concern.


    “Did you know we have backup?”


    The ceiling burst open in a hail of gunfire. Natalia instinctively ran and hid under the large Vaecholl, who was now firing back at the squadron up top. Damian ducked and hid for some creates.


    Of course, he thought angrily, of course Alice wouldn’t tell me the whole plan for my last job!


    Damian summed up enough courage to look at the battlefield. Natalia and Vaecholl were working together against the squad above, Trytor was missing, and Salve was just standing there. Does he have his thumb up his non-existent ass?


    The Anti-Perception Blocker hummed gently as bullets darted across. That blocker was causing complications within Salve’s programming, and possibly within Damian’s eyes. Damian raised his Void Gun and fired at the blocker, blue electricity coalescing into a ball of hot plasma.


    On contact, the ball of energy exploded leaving the blocker as only a heap of ruined metal and plastic. That should wake him up. Salve’s head jerked quickly and rapidly, surveying the firefight before him.


    Upon recognizing the Vaecholl and Natalia Powers, his arms opened up and revealed several arm guns underneath. Natalia stopped firing at the roof squad and focused her attention on Salve. Her eyes widened in horror.


    “Ah, crap. Dravak!” She hit the ankle of the Vaecholl, whose name was apparently Dravak.


    Dravak glanced down at Salve and stomped down on Salve. Missed.


    Salve had dodged out of the way and began firing on Dravak with a spray of bullets. Most simply had no effect and very little managed to cut into shallow flesh. Dravak roared and snapped his teeth at Salve, again dodging before he could grab him.


    Damian got out from cover and began trying to fire at Natalia. Two squad members jumped down from the ceiling, one of them a human, the other a tentacled Bhosleth. They began shooting at Dravak with more precise shots as more and more came down.


    Damian had noticed a swelling in Dravak’s throat, which could only mean one thing. Natalia noticed too and put a gas mask on her face. Damian ran outside to avoid what was to come.


    Dravak released a belch of poisonous yellow gas from his throat and upon contact with their lungs, all things that breathed in without protection died. As Damian ran outside, he saw all the squad members drop to the floor like puppets without their strings. All the while Salve was still spraying ineffective bullets at Dravak.


    Where the hell is Trytor?! Did he ditch us? That little-


    Damian’s train of thought was cut short by Dravak bursting through the warehouse. He let out an offensive roar toward Damian as he began firing hot plasma from the mounted guns. He just barely had enough time to get out of the way.


    Natalia was behind him firing inside the warehouse with her rifle. Salve came out and began to dodge and duck with expert precision from Natalia’s rounds.


    “Enough of this annoyance,” said Dravak.


    Dravak''s tail mace slammed down to crush Salve but missed again. It didn’t miss a second time, however, as a side sweep managed to hit Salve into a nearby car. Salve was now missing a left arm and half his face.


    Natalia continued to fire into Salve’s mechanical body, although he seemed unphased by it. Salve attempted to stand up but two plasma rounds from Dravak put him back down in the car easily. Natalia was moving slowly towards Salve’s crumbled body, making sure each shot hit its mark.


    Damian was still on the defensive with Dravak continuing to bombard him with plasma. If he could get out of this situation, he was certain he could shoot her. Damian hid for more easy to defend cover as the plasma began to melt the solid concrete he was behind.


    It was then he noticed that Trytor was crawling on the side of the warehouse wall, holding a small handgun and a knife, heading straight towards Natalia.


    Damian yelled, “Trytor! What in the world do you think you''re doing!?”


    “Fixing the problem, asshole!” He yelled back.


    Damian fired four powerful shots at Dravak''s head, two missing and two only doing minor burn marks. Dravak repaid in kind with a barrage of plasma. Both Trytor and Damian hid again for cover, Trytor on the other side of the building, Damian ducking next to a car.


    Damian could see Alice--no, Natalia–had finished off the already damaged Salve, his chest melting from his now hyperactive fusion core. It was strange, he looked like he was bleeding. Natalia moved Damian’s position.


    She held a hand in the air. “Dravak, stop!”


    Dravak did as he was told and stopped his advance. Why does that remind me of someone? Natalia raised her rifle to Damian’s face.


    “Now listen here,” she said in between breaths, “You…are Damian Galvin, correct?”


    Damian refused to answer.


    “I have images of you…on the board. I know you’re in debt to a monster named Alice Fulganrir…and I know she has your sister Sophia.”


    How dare you say her name.


    “I can help you,” said Alice, masquerading as a Federation Officer.


    Red, red everywhere.


    “But only if you allow us.”


    I’ll send you to hell before I so much as consider that.


    Alice, smiling a devilish smile, was holding out a hand to Damian. Alice’s face was all that he could see, not the buildings, not the ground, not the Vaecholl, not anything. Just her and his desire to kill.


    Alice spoke up again. “Go on, Wretch, make your father proud. Show me what you’ve got. Show me you have what it takes to be a good lapdog and a better wretch.”


    Damian gritted his teeth together. He''d heard those words a thousand times before, but he was finished. He was done being her ‘wretch’ and ‘lapdog.’


    Alice suddenly looked up, the sounds of gunshots and roaring not far away. Damian didn’t hear them. Instead, he pulled out his Void gun and aimed it at Alice.


    Alice smiled down the barrel when suddenly a mass jumped down on top of her. It was black and indistinct, with small spindly legs. When Damian blinked, he saw Sophia of all people with a knife in Alice’s back.


    Alice let out a yelp of pain from the sharp metal. She tried to reach for her with her mechanical arm. Damian hesitated for a moment, attempting to aim away so as not to hurt her.


    Damian’s vision had gotten blurrier. The differences between Alice and Sophia began to blend together. Maybe if Damian hadn’t been tricked he wouldn’t have done what he did.


    Blue lightning turned hateful red.


    A flicker of static across Alice’s face.


    Max power.


    BANG!


    Silence followed Damian afterward. He looked at Alice’s body, her right arm missing and scorched. Then a sharp pain erupted from Damian’s neck in a place he dreaded more than anything.


    The Kill Chip. Sophia.


    A small river of blood pooled from Damian’s neck. Trytor was on the ground, half his body turned into a burned paste as blue cooper-blood was sprayed on the ground. Alice, now Natalia, was barely breathing.


    A screen came to his cybernetic eyes.


    ‘Oh no! You''ve been tricked! Now your precious sister is dead!’


    Damian was still in shock when he looked around to see a gunship firing down on the Vaecholl. Dravak was severely damaged, hundreds of bullet wounds covered his body and a harpoon had been lodged in his leg. He was firing everything he had at the gunship to little effect.


    Damian just stared at him.


    Dravak finally looked at Damian and saw what he had done. Damian could see the rage within him. He roared and began firing plasma rounds at Damian.


    An instinctual part of Damian led him to run away from the massive Vaecholl, down a back alley he couldn’t follow. When Dravak came to Natalia’s side, he picked her up with his claw hand and fled the scene. Damian noticed at the last second, but Natalia was able to pull some sort of button and pushed it as many times as she could.


    Damian stood there, blood still trickling down his neck. The gunship made a landing and out came several armed men…and Alice. Rage found its way back to him.


    With the real Alice in view, Damian hastily began asking questions. “Wa-was this all some sort of…sick setup?!”


    Alice held a small smile on her face. “Yep. And before you ask, yes, your sister is dead. Her corpse is on the ship with us.”


    Alice snapped her fingers and two of the armed men went to the ship and pulled a lifeless body from inside. They dropped it unceremoniously on the ground and flipped it to its side. It was indeed Sophia, a red burn mark on the side of her head.


    Damian dropped to his knees and stared at his dead sister. He spoke up, though it was barely even a whisper. “Why?”


    “Well, the debt that your family owed was pretty much paid for anyway. Plus, me and the Renier brothers have a new investment in something big and I could sense that you’d become a problem, I just couldn’t accept you weighing me down.”


    Damian''s neck had become numb a long time ago, he just failed to notice. “So to avoid you doing anything stupid, I had your Kill Chip also filled with a toxin that will finish you in about,” she checked her watch, “15-30 minutes, more or less.”


    Damian’s arms felt cold. “But if I’m to be truly honest?”


    Damian’s chest felt cold. “I just wanted to see the look on your face”


    …


    Damian suddenly felt warm. He quickly stood up, pulled out his Void Gun, aimed directly at Alice’s head, and-


    BANG!


    The shot came not from Damian nor Alice, nor the armed men or anyone else, but from Solomon Renier, who had hidden himself in the gunship. Damian was on his back, a burn mark square on his chest. Alice held a quick look of surprise on her as she looked at Solomon.


    His face was cold and dull, indifferent to the sins he commits in his business practices. He walked up to Damian’s failing form and gave him a look of disappointment. He didn’t even blink at him.


    “Hey, I was busy!” Alice complied.


    “He would have killed you.” replied Solomon, distant as always.


    “I was plenty safe, I have an entire squad all aroun-”


    “They would not have made it in time, Alice.”


    Alice sighed as she walked away. “Whatever, you never let me have any fun. Come on, didn’t you say you had a revolution in mind?”


    Damian did his best to stand, to raise his weapon and fire. Yet he was as still as a rock, unable to move so much as an inch. He could feel his whole body turn cold.


    Solomon crouched down and picked up the Void Cube. “I’ll be needing this later.”


    Solomon turned around and left calmly. He boarded the gunship with the others and left the dying Damian behind. Staring dispassionately all the while.


    Damian could feel the fatigue setting in. He was too tired and cold to move, too tired to think, too tired to do anything. Too tired to notice a second gunship and a familiar face pick him up.


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Telios Star System


    Adirondack, Moon of Liroth


    Within Solarian Federation Space


    <hr><hr><hr>


    Damian woke in a painful daze. He was on a hospital bed attached to blinking machinery. White fluorescent lights hummed above as he slowly opened his eyes.


    Where am I? Damian thought. Thinking back to how he got here, he remembered with near-perfect clarity. The Federation officer and the Vaecholl. Salve and Trytor’s deaths. Alice and Solomon.


    Sophia.


    Damian attempted to stand quickly at the thought before being reminded by a deep throbbing pain in his chest. Raising his hospital gown, he could see bandages, stitches, and light burn marks around his chest.


    He then noticed his left arm, which had two tubes embedded in it. One gently sucked out dark, thick blood into a filter machine and the other flowed back the decontaminated liquid. He reached for his neck, to feel the Kill Chip, only to find it was gone.


    “Looking for this?” said a voice.


    Damian looked to his right and saw Michael Renier, holding a Kill Chip with dried blood. Damian was understandably confused. After all, he was just about to die to the man’s father.


    “Wha-what?”


    Michael put the Kill Chip in Damian’s weak hands. “Confused?”


    “Yeah, very confused.”


    “It’s alright, I’ll explain. Your friend, Trytor, told me everything he knew about your situation. Put in a good word for you, in simpler terms. He told me about your sister, how you had been blackmailed into service by Ms. Fulganrir, and…that you were looking for a way out.”


    Damian just looked at him with confusion still in his eyes as Michael continued. “My father knew this, Alice knew this, everyone knew this, except for me. I’ve caught them lying to me in the past but now it’s starting to get more and more serious by the day.”


    “I suspect that should this continue, both my safety and individuality will be compromised to my father’s liking.” Michael paused for a moment and gave Damian a cold look, so similar to his father, before turning into a warm smile. “Heh, did you know I was only born to take his place if he ever died? That’s right, my sole existence is to continue on a legacy of bloodied crime.”


    Oh, thought Damian about the implications of such a life.


    Michael walked to a window showing a massive gas giant in the sky, twin storms raging on its side. He stared at the planet, almost in a trance-like state. He seemed to be trying to find the right words to say to Damian.


    “My father and Alice Fulganrir are only after one thing: power. Alice only wants power to feed her sadism, but my father wants it to rule Relorum and keep it independent from foreign influence. I don’t think I need to tell you how much death would follow if he is allowed to establish a dictatorial rule over a whole planet.”


    “That…would be very bad, would it?”


    Michael held a resenting face. “Yes, it very much would.”


    “But what do you want me to do? I thank you for saving me,” I wish you could have saved her, '''' but how in the world could I help?”


    Michael''s face of anger turned into a smug smile. “It’s simple: they think you’re dead. If they think you’re dead then you have the advantage to strike back. You do want to get back at them, don’t you?”


    Damian thought about the proposal and then thought of a far more important question. “What do you get out of all this?”


    Michael stayed quiet for a moment before responding. “I’ve…never truly agreed with the Tymirium Syndicate. There have been many times in my life where I question if I follow my father out of love or fear.”


    Michael walked away from the window. “It took me a while to figure out it was the latter rather than the former.”


    Damian refocused himself. He still had questions to ask.


    “I’m sorry to hear that, but again, what do you hope to gain out of all this? The Syndicate? Relorum? Revenge?”


    Michael’s attention was drawn back to Damian. “Mostly revenge and preventing my father from killing the innocent, and people like you are just one of many examples of why I’m doing all this. Natalia was going to be my easy way out, but seeing how you ripped her arm off, well, it makes this a whole lot more difficult.”


    “Ah, sorry about that.” said Damian, now feeling the guilt.


    Michael sighed. “Don’t be, there was nothing either of us could do besides warning her.”


    So that’s how she knew of the operation beforehand, thought Damian.


    “But end goal wise? I don’t know, maybe go live on Earth or become a bounty hunter.”


    “And to do that you need me?”


    Michael looked at Damian with a smile. “No, I don’t need you specifically. You’re just the most readily available.”


    Michael took slow, methodical steps toward Damian’s bedside. “However, I don’t think I need to do much in order for you to join my cause.”


    Damian thought back about Sophia, and how lifeless she looked. How Alice had tricked him into being the reason for her death. And how it was all for some sick laugh.


    Michael reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a handgun. “So tell me, Mister Galvin,” Michael presented Damian with the gun’s handle.


    “How would you like to join…a real revolution?”


    Damian looked at the handle, slowly took it in his hand, thought about it, and looked back at Michael. He nodded with confirmation.