Chapter 296 Fear.

Chapter 296: 296 Fear.

I couldn’t afford to spill the beans out on the front lawn. I might get actively listened in on by some cape with super-hearing, and that would instantly ruin all of Chamelea’s incredibly brave, incredibly stupid hard work.

Psyren was still gaping like a landed fish as we hurried back inside, only to find the real Glacia standing peacefully at the foot of the grand staircase, actively trying and failing to hide a tremendously smug grin.

"W-wait!" Psyren stammered, looking frantically back and forth between the front doors and the ice villainess in sheer wonder. "But... that... how..."

With a sharp flick of my wrist and a heavy thrum of magnetic power, the massive oak front doors violently slammed shut behind us, the heavy steel deadbolts aggressively sliding home with a synchronized clack.

"Chamelea took her place," I finally exhaled, dropping the tension from my shoulders.

"Yes, sir," Glacia said, stepping forward. "She absolutely did. It was entirely her idea."

I sighed, dragging a heavy, armored hand down my face. "That was incredibly reckless," I said.

"But undeniably effective, sir," Glacia countered smoothly.

Well, I absolutely couldn’t deny the results.

"But it won’t work forever," I noted grimly. "A high-level mimic can fool visual sensors and basic telepaths, but they are going to figure it out sooner or later once they start running deep biometric scans at the supermax."

"Ideally later, sir. But that merely means we must move with extreme prejudice to clear my name."

"True," I said, stripping my gauntlets off. "And the absolute very first thing we need to do right now is for you to call your dad."

Glacia blinked, visibly rocking back on her heels a fraction of an inch. "My father, sir? Why?"

"Why? Because the breaking news that you’ve been aggressively captured by a federal strike team is going to be plastered all over the global networks within the hour. And that means he is going to hear about it, and he is absolutely not going to be happy! The absolute last thing I need right now is trying to tactically hunt down whoever framed you while simultaneously worrying that your father is about to blow a catastrophic, extinction-level cold front into Metropolis."

"Ah," Glacia said, nodding in immediate understanding. "Of course, sir. I understand completely. Yes, you are entirely right."

"Good. Do you have his direct number?"

"Of course, sir. I call my father once a week. He strictly insists."

"You are a fantastic daughter," I said, feeling a massive wave of relief wash over me.

"Thank you, sir," Glacia said, looking deeply pleased. She fetched her encrypted phone from her coat pocket and quickly dialed. "I shall put it on speaker, sir."

Wait, what?

"Uh, you really don’t have to—"

"GLACIA!" boomed a voice from the tiny phone speaker.

The sheer, furious volume was so intensely cold that jagged, literal icicles instantly started forming on the crystal chandelier overhead.

"DO NOT FEAR, MY PRECIOUS DAUGHTER! YOUR PAPA SHALL COME FOR YOU! THIS ENTIRE PITIFUL WORLD SHALL KNOW THE WRATH OF THE DEEPEST, DARKEST WINTER! I WILL ICE THEIR OCEANS! I WILL FLASH-FREEZE THEIR CITIES! I WILL MAKE THEM WEEP BLOOD FOR DARING TO LAY THEIR FILTHY HANDS UPON YOU!"

I visibly winced, aggressively rubbing my arms as a bitter, freezing wind surged through the foyer, dropping the ambient temperature to a distinctly painful degree.

"Father," Glacia said patiently, holding the phone steady.

"AND AS FOR THIS INCOMPETENT IRON POLARIS, HE SHALL KNOW AGONIES BEYOND THE SPAN OF AGES! THE BITTEREST COLD WILL CUT HIS WEAK FLESH TO RIBBONS! HIS VERY BLOOD WILL FREEZE SOLID IN HIS VEINS FOR FAILING TO PROTECT YOU!"

"Father."

"AND WHEN I AM FINALLY DONE EXACTING MY MERCILESS PUNISHMENT ON HIS PALTRY, SHATTERED FLESH, I WILL ENCASE HIS REMAINS IN GLACIAL ICE AND HANG THEM DECORATIVELY ABOVE MY THRONE! STARVING WOLVES WILL CHEW ON HIS—"

"Father!" Glacia shouted, her voice cutting through the room like a cracking glacier.

The howling interior winds instantly faded a bit. "Er, yes, my beautiful daughter?"

"I am perfectly fine, Father," Glacia said with endless, practiced patience. "It was a hired substitute that was carted off to the federal prison. I am completely safe in the chalet. Sir has successfully ensured no harm has come to me."

"Oh. Well. Hrmf!" blustered the incredibly dangerous voice on the other end of the line. "Nonetheless, my daughter, I am most disturbed at what has come about today! Though I am immensely gratified to hear you have finally killed a registered hero. No doubt the arrogant fool deserved it!"

"I did not kill him, Father," Glacia corrected evenly. "I have been framed by an unknown third party."

"WHAT?!"

I violently winced again as an actual, swirling vortex of icy air billowed directly out of the phone receiver. The air in the foyer hissed and popped as the temperature plummeted another twenty degrees.

"WHO?!" Captain Zero bellowed, his voice tearing through the room like the north wind across the tundra. "WHO WOULD DARE DO THIS TO MY BELOVED DAUGHTER?! MY PRECIOUS SNOW ANGEL?! I WILL FEED THEIR FROSTBITTEN LIMBS TO MY WOLVES AND USE THEIR FROZEN FINGERS TO COOL MY EVENING BRANDY!"

"We will strategically find out, Father," Glacia assured him. "I promise. And they will pay dearly for what they have done."

"THEIR BRITTLE BONES WILL CRACK UNDER MY BOOT! I WILL DRAG THEM NAKED ACROSS JAGGED ICICLES FROM THE BACK OF MY SLEIGH! THEY WILL—"

Glacia sighed softly and tapped the screen, hanging up with a digital beep. "It would seem he understands the parameters of the situation, sir," she said smoothly, turning back to me.

"Oh. Um, yeah. I think so," I said, my teeth practically chattering.

Glacia cocked her head at me. "Are you quite well, sir? You seem a bit pale."

"Er, yeah. Totally. Absolutely... fine. Aside from, well, the looming threat of the apocalypse and all the other stuff, of course."

"Ah. Of course," Glacia said, her expression instantly growing rigid and professional once more. "Our hidden enemies. I understand."

As Glacia tucked her phone away, I let out a heavy sigh of blessed relief. Well, at the very least, Captain Zero knew I wasn’t the incompetent idiot who got his little girl dragged away in chains.

That was one massive, lethal problem successfully shelved for the foreseeable future. But the bigger problem was still staring me right in the face, and I had to deal with the frame-job ASAP.

"Right," I said, violently switching my brain back into boss mode. "Rhea is already on the job finding out exactly who framed you and how they pulled off the camera trick. Hopefully, she’ll be able to track something tangible down in the code, but until then—"

"Master?"

I spun around sharply, finding one of the chrome Rhea-Search androids standing politely at the edge of the foyer, her maid uniform completely unaffected by the freezing temperatures.

"Yes?"

"There is a visitor at the front gate."

"What? I don’t care. Tell them I’m in the tub with a plugged-in toaster."

"He says he is a formal emissary from Jester."

I groaned loudly and buried my face in my hands.

Great. Just fucking perfect. I just barely finished dealing with the psychotic fallout of one of the Order’s major heavy-hitters, and the immediate sequel comes knocking at my gate. And dealing with Jester’s crew was notoriously even worse than dealing with the Captain’s theatrical bullshit.

I let my magnetic senses actively radiate outward, sweeping the perimeter beyond the chalet gates.

I didn’t ping the massive, hovering metallic signature of a giant floating circus castle hanging above the property, so it seemed whoever this envoy was had arrived on their own.

But much like Captain Zero, I couldn’t just safely ignore this shit. The Order absolutely hated being ignored by independent leagues, and they tended to express that displeasure in very explosive, highly corrosive ways.

"What exactly does he want?" I grunted, dragging my hands down my face.

"He specifically seeks a face-to-face meeting with you, Master," the Rhea-Search replied pleasantly.

Dammit all. Order Number Two, Electric Goddamn Boogaloo was now actively playing in my living room.

"Fine. Fine. I guess we’ll do that right now, then."

"We will?" Glacia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I will," I corrected, giving Glacia a highly thoughtful look. "And you are going to silently listen in."

"Why, sir?" she asked.

"This sudden visit is almost certainly Order bullshit," I said grimly. "Which means I desperately need someone who knows their archaic, internal political rules inside and out to actively point out anything this guy says that doesn’t add up. But we absolutely do not need them knowing you are still inside the chalet. We don’t want to hand them a single scrap of information we don’t have to."

Glacia nodded thoughtfully, her eyes gleaming with cold intelligence. "I see," she said softly. "Most devious, sir. We will catch him in any lie, do not fear!"

"Good," I said, rolling my shoulders and smoothing my hair back into place. "Now, let’s go meet this bastard."