Chapter 72 – Professor

Content Warning

— — —

I slowed down while moving through the city. Redline hummed comfortably underneath me, and for once I didn’t rush to the next place over. I was just… tired. Exhausted, really. I didn’t want to see Cerberus again, and I definitely didn’t want to face Professor Arnest. How could I meet the eyes of the man that did that to Dustin and just pretend I didn’t know anything?

I should do something about it… I just didn’t know what. Report him to the PK? The report would be buried with the syndicate’s strength, and it’d inevitably draw eyes to me. Say something to Quinn? Then she’d start asking questions I didn’t want answered. Horizon was out. If the AI overlord couldn’t bother to report me as an Anarch, he wouldn’t care about this either.

A red light made me stop entirely, and I leaned up on my bike. Lights from nearby advertisements flashed at me, excitedly announcing the newest products of dozens of corporations. I stared absent mindedly up at the glimmering neon. 

A group of drunken college kids staggered out across the crosswalk in front of me. One of them had his arm wrapped around his buddy’s shoulders like he couldn’t walk himself. My ears twitched as I picked up their conversation. “Fuckin’ storm. Why’s it always gotta rain? Our plans are totally ruined.”

”Nah, man. It’s fine. There’s this new bar that just opened up over there.” His buddy laughed and hauled him down the crosswalk. “Get this—their slogan is never leave alone.”

”Sounds like my kinda place!” The first guy totally forgot his woes as the two staggered off down the street.

I felt a trace of disgust radiate through me, and tuned out my surroundings. All those people in the eastern districts actually had to struggle, and the people around here were just mad their nights were ruined… I wasn’t much better, really.

Water trailed down my face from above. It hadn’t stopped raining the entire night. My ears twitched toward a scream that was abruptly cut off somewhere in the distance. My head still felt like it was stuffed with—

Beep! Beep!

A car behind me honked, and I dropped back down onto Redline. The light had turned green. The bike once more started to pick up speed underneath me. This side of the city, it was like nothing was even wrong. People moved out and laughed as they walked through the countless bars and clubs. What else could I expect from an entertainment district, though? 

Private security stood around the place, almost completely replacing the PK presence. I hadn’t seen a Peace Keeper patrol for a while, and even then it’d just been a token symbol of their presence. 

I slowed down behind a LEGS box van, and shook out my hair. A sign off to the side advertised moving to a new, safer city. My ears were weighed low by water soaked into them. My mind drifted back to the Reaprat. How long had it been down there? How many people did it kill undetected by Harbor? “Hey, Vigil?”

”Yes, Operator?” Vigil spoke to me from his position just behind the bike’s windshield. 

“How safe are the central cities of the UCS?” It’d been something that’d been weighing on my mind for a while. I had a bit of money now. It wouldn’t be impossible to move somewhere else.

Sylvie and I lived in a poorer side of the city. We weren’t quite in the east districts, so it wasn’t too terrible. We were also right next to the industrial side of the city. There was no chance the city council would sign off on flipping the power for us. Still, it wasn’t exactly safe.

His glowing red eyes met mine in the reflection of the bike’s windshield. ”This unit does not know.”

“Heh, right. Probably expunged those records too, huh?” I shook my head. He never kept any of the useful stuff…

”Negative, Operator. I have never been to any of the UCS’s cities aside from Silverport.” His eyes dimmed briefly. “Records copied from the Harbor database indicate the central cities have a higher safety rating, with much stronger public security.”

I knew that much—wait, something wasn’t quite right. “You, uh, you’ve never been to the central cities? Where’d you come from, then?”

All this time, I just assumed he came from there. The hyper advanced technology said as much… and the Grail Knight just sounded like a position from the cathedral. Now that I thought about it, though, if there was tech like massive war mechas, we would have them too. The outer fringe of the UCS was much more prone to Mire Tide. 

“Apologies, Operator Reyna Vargriev.” Vigil full name dropped me, which made me tense up slightly. That, or it was the totally neutral, cold voice he used. “Under Dominion Protocols, this unit is restricted from sharing information unless under specific conditions.”

Dominion Protocols? I’ve heard of that somewhere before… was it with Bartmoss? Yeah, yeah, that sounded right. It was Paige that warned against violating them, wasn’t it? And Dominion came up when Vigil requested access from the Blackwater Biosystems. I just assumed back then that Dominion was the type of Titan.

”Is there another country still standing on Arthis?” I asked after a moment. I thought the Mire consumed everything across the world. Vigil, predictably, didn’t answer.

He could be tech from before the MIre, too… that didn’t seem right, though. The ship that I found him on had also been quite advanced. For the first time, it occurred to me that he might not be from anywhere that I knew. I scratched at my head, and pulled off the street into an alley. Unfortunately, I’d arrived at the Ghostfire Club.

I pulled into an alley off to the side of the Ghostfire Club. Redline pixelated, and disappeared underneath me. I stepped out into the filthy, trash filled alley and stuffed Vigil into my pocket. My nose wrinkled at the disgusting mix of scents plaguing the alley. 

My eyes caught on a puddle dipping and bobbing with raindrops. My reflection stared back at me with slightly glowing red eyes. I was in pretty good condition all in all. At least, externally. Internally, my body was still fighting off the last of the poison. The Reaprat only nicked me, and I was still suffering the consequences. If I’d been fully hit… well, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

There was an issue though. Aside from being a bit pale, most of my injuries were healed up. Sure, there was still the scabbing gunshot wound, but I didn’t look like I just fought a tier 2 Calamity by myself. A Yggdren would be weakened in the storm sewers, but it was still a Calamity. A ferocious Calamity that wouldn’t have gone down without a fight.

I should be injured, or they wouldn’t believe I took one on otherwise. Well, Arnest might. Cerberus definitely wouldn’t. I had this thought back when I first put this plan together. It was part of the reason I asked what Calamity the core came from. I needed to know which style of injury I needed to imitate.

I hesitated for a moment and then slowly drew out my claws. The silver claws gleamed in the dim neon light spilling in from the city. Heh, right, it was just to make it more believable. Nothing more. 

My claws pressed into my upper arm. I looked away toward the distant club and ripped downward.

— — —

I stepped into the room. Blood dripped off of my armor, and trailed down to collect on the floor. I’d gotten more than enough horrified looks when walking through the back halls of the club… heh, no wonder my name had such infamy. I probably looked like I just slaughtered a small family.

Cerberus sat in the booth, swirling around a glass of whiskey. The ice clinked softly in the glass. “You certainly took your time, Barghest.”

Professor Arnest had been pacing back and forth to the side of the private booth. He instantly surged to my side. “My son! Where’s my son?!” 

I tossed the mimic hand onto the booth’s table. The private room instantly went silent. Cerberus slowly put down his glass of whiskey, which had been splattered by rancid blood. He calmly pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped a speck off his face. “You failed?”

”Tier two Calamity got to him before I could.” I shifted, which caused my armor to leak once more. “Yggdren.”

”Failed? Failed?! Aha… what are you talking about?” Professor Arnest didn’t seem to understand what was happening. No—he knew. Just like when his actual son died, though, he was denying reality. “Where’s Jayce?”

”You’re looking at what’s left of him.” I pulled the Calamity Core out, and shuffled over to put it down on the table beside the acid-burned hand. “I killed it.”

”At least you can do something right.” Cerberus’s expression was sour, though he eased up ever so slightly at the sight of the Calamity Core. His eyes dropped to the blood dripping down my arm. “Though you’ve still fucked this horribly.”

”I…” No, wait, it wasn’t worth defending myself. He’d just take my defense as another thing I did wrong, and punish me even harder. “Sorry, sir.”

”Don’t apologize to me! Apologize to Professor Arnest for getting his son killed,” Cerberus snapped at me. “I thought I told you how important this was—“

“Jayce isn’t dead. Don’t joke like that.” Professor Arnest laughed, and shook his head. “Alright, where’s my son?”

Was he really that delusional? Yeah… yeah, he was. He was delusional enough to kidnap his nephew and remodel his face. “Dead.”

“You…” A hint of clarity reached his eyes, and he glared at me like I was the one who killed his son. “I was told you’d find him. That you would bring him back to me!”

“I did.” I pointed at the hand. Hearing Dustin’s side of the story totally drained any empathy I had left in me for the man. It was okay to grieve. What he did was downright monstrous.

Professor Arnest slowly turned toward the hand. His eyes narrowed on the ring that was partly melted away by the acid Vesper used to simulate a Calamity’s stomach acid. He reached out, and pulled the ring off. The finger of the Mimic hand snapped off with it. 

Even more blood splattered across the table from the torn off finger. Cerberus’s nose curled, and he reached out a hand toward the man. “Professor, I really don’t think you should—“

“He always used to wear this after his mom died.” Arnest desperately clutched at the ring and jerked away from the Executor. He brought the finger up and brushed his cheek against it, smearing blood across his face. 

“Professor…” Cerberus tried once more. The man was in his own little world, and totally out of it as he obsessively clutched at the Mimic hand. He pulled the man, and guided him to sit down. “Please, sit down. Let me handle this. You! Stand up straight when a superior’s speaking to you.”

My spine reflexively straightened, and my tail curled around my armored leg. The motion jarred the self-inflicted injuries along my arm. “Sir.”

”Good girl.” Cerberus walked up to me. It felt like he towered over me as he once more shifted the blame to me. “How could you let this happen? You should’ve been able to handle this.” 

”I’m a non-combatant.” Not for the first time, I was thankful for my helmet. It hid my expression as my calm totally faded. “I found him, so what else do you expect—“

“Careful, Barghest.” The man straightened up, and his hand curled into a fist. “I don’t like that tone you’re using.”

“Sorry, sir…” I spat out through grit teeth.

 He started to pace in front of me. His every step was slow and methodical. “You’re supposed to be a lieutenant now, aren't you? One of Hades’ best and brightest. What would those under you say if they saw how sloppily you handed this?”

“…” He didn’t actually want me to reply. I could see it in his eyes. Anything I said now would just make what was coming for me worse. I dropped my head and stared blankly at the floor.

“You’re an embarrassment. Lieutenant or not, you’re still the same mutt we had to train. Even a title can’t fix being a genetic whiff.” Cerberus stopped pacing, and moved back toward the booth. Was he finally done? “Now, tell us how it went down. Don’t skip any detail.”

“Yes, sir,” I answered emotionlessly. I broke into the story I prepared on the way here. Just like Vesper said, it was heroic and tragic at the same time. I arrived too late to save Jayce. Right, he was probably already dead by the time I found him.

It was only halfway through that Arnest even started to pay attention. Once I was done, he asked me, “Is… is he really dead?”

“Nobody could’ve survived that.” I pointed toward the finger still clutched in the man’s hand. “I dug it out of the Yggdren’s stomach.”

“What have I done?” Professor Arnest looked like his entire world was collapsing around him. For the briefest moment, I felt something in my heart throb. It faded as his expression twisted once more. “I… right, this isn’t Jayce. This can’t be Jayce.” 

Cerberus coughed. “Professor, I’m afraid—“

“Enough! Enough…” The man tore the ring off the finger, and backed away toward the door. “Jayce is still out there. He’s waiting for me. I just need to find him!”

”We all know that isn’t true.” I moved out of the way, and leaned against the wall. The private booth was starting to look like the scene of a terrible slasher movie.

“You don’t know anything!” The professor charged out the door, and ran down the hall. Even now, he was still lost in denial.

“Professor!” Cerberus shouted after the man, and moved to chase after him. He turned back to me with a furious glare. “We’ll finish this later.”

”Yes, sir.” That was one conversation I wasn’t looking forward to. 

“This better not cost us an asset, or maybe we’ll start looking into what exactly is keeping our stupid mutt distracted.” He spoke with a dangerous calm that made my fur rise. “And remove it.”

I flinched, and my stomach churned nauseatingly.“Sir, I—“

”Clean this place up. I better be able to eat off the floor when I get back,” he spat off to the side to give me even more to clean, and moved out the door after the professor. 

”Heh, right.” I mockingly saluted after the man, and took a seat in the booth. After hesitating for a moment, I grabbed a second glass of whiskey that'd been totally untouched and sipped at it. I’d get started once my arm healed more.