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“We should have super important meetings here more often! It’s so cozy and cool,” Kada declared as she sprawled out on a couch in the living area of the secret underground lab.
“I’ll agree that it has an air of seriousness and espionage that the mansion doesn’t,” Xard relayed. “However, I think it’d be worth the time to convert one of those conference rooms into a proper tactical and briefing room, or a mission control. It’d be dedicated and closer.”
“Anything to make you never meet here again,” Ahvra said abruptly and harshly, compounded by how dead she sounded. “Too many noisy people in my quiet realm of science.”
“Okay, thank you all for meeting here,” Drim started before anyone else could raise tensions. Everyone, excluding Mallea and Feyj, was present for this briefing. “I know this is all very abrupt, but after confirming with Nathym and Ahvra, we believe this is our best chance to retrieve some important data from the CP servers, data that could make-or-break our plans.”
“But before we go over the specifics…” Drim took a deep breath and gritted his teeth for a moment. “I just want to say that I think my mother was right all along. What we need to do is—”
Phon’s eyes widened as soon as the first sentence left Drim’s lips. Without hesitation, she whipped out her knife, leapt from the wall she was leaning against, and immediately stabbed full force at the back of Drim’s neck.
“Watch out!” Eleen screamed from inside of Drim’s body. Vines that she was controlling shot out of his back and wrapped around Phon. They tightened around her limbs and restrained her, but it didn’t last. “Your Cosdamned sister! She’s trying to—” before Eleen could finish her statement, she ran out of energy, releasing the vines and falling into a deep sleep.
Phon put away her knife, and went back to leaning against the wall as if nothing had happened.
“Sorry for being so surprising again today,” Drim apologized once more as his vines crept back into their glowing home. Everyone except Phon was bewildered at what happened, both at Drim’s statement and Phon’s sudden assault. “This operation is extremely delicate. We can’t have my mother knowing all the details or having any effect or control over my body. It could cost us everything.”
“That was a code that Phon and I came up with shortly after we reunited. If I ever were to praise our mother, Phon would attack me without warning, no matter the situation. We were pretty confident that our mother would try to save me, and even if she didn’t, Phon wouldn’t do anything fatal. With that energy expenditure, she’ll be asleep well until after we deal with Sim.”
“Now let me get into the specifics of this mission.” Drim monologued for a while, going over the elaborate details of what they expected to happen, the devices Nathym would be making to assist them, and the goal for doing this. “So in summation, you need to complete whatever your objective is when we face Sim, and then find a way to safely ‘die’.”
“My devices will make it appear as if you’re dead,” Nathym added. “Once activated, they’ll fully disable all motor functions, and provide just enough movement to keep you breathing, though no one will be able to tell. You’ll still have full access to your Curses, and can disable the device with a thought in case of emergency.”
“This is an absolutely bonkers idea,” Kada was stunned. “Sounds fun, let’s do it!”
“I’m a little less enthused,” Xard stated. “But either way, Sim needs to be stopped. There’s no question there. If we can manipulate the CP and get crucial information at the same time, I agree that it’s worth the risk if you believe it’s necessary, Drim.”
“No, that’s not alright!” An abrupt and jolting reply from Drim was not what any of them expected. “Listen, I appreciate how loyal you both are, really, it means everything to me, but this mission is the riskiest one we’ve ever done. If we don’t execute it perfectly, if the CP goes against our expectations, they’ll have us at their mercy and we could die at any time. And you don’t even know why we’re doing this!”
“To get some medical data, right?” Kada confusedly repeated what was mentioned earlier.
“Yes, but you don’t really know what we’re using that data for,” Drim let out an exhaustive sigh. “I just said that we need it and you blindly agreed. That’s not okay, not this time with so much on the line. Just this once, I need you both to make this decision yourselves; decide if you really think it’s something worth risking your life for… And for that reason, I think it’s time I finally told you about Project Fiendless.”
◆◆◆
Xard didn’t know when he’d leapt from his chair. The past few minutes had started to blur. Now his right hand was pointing at Drim’s head in the shape of a gun, shaking wildly. He’d already absorbed the energy from his bullet ring in a moment of passion, but was hesitating as he stared dead into Drim’s eyes. A couple of tears had dropped from his own as he felt his world crumbling around him, his mind racing faster than he could keep up with.
Drim had told them everything, every facet of his plans, even that he’d been spying on them. At first, a few things stuck out to Xard as being strange, or a little too shady, but wanted to give Drim the benefit of the doubt since he was never the best at articulating his ideas. As time went on, the words became more and more deranged. For a while, Xard wondered if this was another test, since there was no way the person he knew could possibly be saying such things, but it eventually became all too clear that Drim Drazah believed every twisted word he was spouting. By the end, Xard could see it as nothing but the ravings of a madman.
Xard had checked on the others' reactions periodically, wanting to confirm that he wasn’t alone in finding this all extremely disturbing. It was clear that no one but Nathym knew the full extent, who’d left part way through. Even Phon who had been nonchalantly leaning up against the wall had her eyes jump open on occasion. Ahvra had fallen asleep at some point, but even if she was in disbelief, Xard would never have been able to tell in the first place.
Kada had seemed just as bewildered as Xard, too much so that at some point she’d mentally checked out and her head had been spinning since. Xard couldn’t blame her. The whole thing was too much, causing him to almost lose grip of his sanity a few times. It was deranged beyond belief, something only someone seriously disturbed, truly evil and sociopathic, could come up with. In Xard’s eyes, Drim Drazah was now nothing but a monster, one that needed to be slain for the good of humanity—to save the world that this tyrant would lead to ruin.
However, the moment Xard had acted on this impulse, his past emotions, memories, and love had all collided with it. This had led to an impasse in Xard’s mind. There was now someone he needed to stop no matter what, but couldn’t harm no matter how much he tried to convince himself. Unfortunately, this clash of mentalities had loosened his own self control, and he had already lashed out verbally without realizing.
The past few minutes had been silent, except for the insults and threats Xard had roared at Drim, with a few bits of sobbing in between. He’d already called Drim a monster before his mind had even processed the thought. He’d tarnished the world Drim aspired to make, detesting the peace that he claimed it would bring. Xard really even went for the throat and declared that Drim was worse than his mother, which was undoubtedly the harshest thing anyone could ever say to him.
This led Xard down another mental spiral, wondering if this was all his mother’s influence on him. She had control of his body to an extent, perhaps that extended to his mind as well. Maybe he wasn’t insane, maybe it was his mother poisoning him. Could it be that Drim really did just need help? Another person to be saved? Before he could fully think it through, Drim finally responded to his actions.
“You should go ahead and kill me, if that’s what you really think is best,” The sadness in Drim's eyes was miserable as he spoke. “Seeing how viscerally you’ve reacted to this… it’s really put in perspective how the rest of the world would feel. I’ve only ever thought of this as right. I knew some people would be opposed to it, or wouldn’t fully understand my vision right away, but I never knew it would make someone so close to me act so disgusted and violently against it…”
Xard’s heart felt stabbed and twisted at these words. Clearly, there was still good in Drim. Xard let his hand relax a little, still not dropping it fully, but let go of the energy that had been circulating in him this whole time. The measure’s he’d been considering didn’t seem as necessary, but he tensed up again a second later.
“But I won’t stop,” Drim firmly decreed. “Even if everyone sees me as a monster, I truly believe what I’m doing is right. No matter what, I’m going to see this through to the end, even if you’re not with me. I’m going to stick to my convictions, but you should stick to yours. So if you really think that you should kill me, do it. You may not get another- Nathym don’t!”
Xard tensed even more as he felt something press against the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, Drim, but I can’t let you do that,” Nathym protested from behind Xard’s back, sounding even more serious than Drim. “Project Fiendless is too important, so I won’t let you die so easily, Drim, at least not until we’re done. I won’t let any obstacles get in our way, even you, Xard, if it comes down to it.”
Xard turned his head just enough to make out that it was a gun pointed at the back of his neck. “You know that won’t do anything to me, Nathym,” Xard tried to reason with him. “You should put it away before I have to hurt you.”
“You’d be right, if this were a normal gun,” Nathym claimed. “This gun fires plasma-based projectiles. If a single drop touches your skin, it will burn through your flesh until there’s nothing left. It was designed specifically to kill you.”
Xard heated up at this, his eyes starting to glitter, and his hair starting to pulse. “So what, you’ve been ready to kill us this whole time?!” he shouted. “We’ve just been tools for you to use and then dispose of when we step out of line?”
“Simmer down a bit and try to understand.” There was clear exasperation and desperation in Nathym's voice as he sighed. “When Drim and I were discussing some initial plans for this group, we decided it was best that we put countermeasures in place in case someone went rogue and tried to abuse their powers. One of the first things I did upon my arrival here was to make weapons and devices to neutralize everyone if needed, even for Drim, and even for myself.”
Somehow Xard could understand that rationale, and it did temper his rage a little, but he still couldn’t let his guard down. He went to absorb energy from one of his rings, but found them unresponsive. As if reading his mind, Nathym held up a device with his free hand. “If you’re trying to use your rings, I’ve deactivated them for now. If you don’t stand down, I can also use it to lock your suit to keep you from moving everything but your arms.”
Xard couldn’t help but feel a little foolish, wondering why he ever thought he could use someone as skilled as Nathym’s own inventions against him. At this point, Xard had calmed down enough that he wasn’t going to attack or try to kill anyone at this moment, but his mind hadn’t slowed down for a second. He needed to leave so that he could process it all. “I’ll be in my room,” was all he said before darting off without looking back.
He didn’t leave his room until the night just before the mission at Sim’s castle, not even touching the meals Mallea would leave outside his door. This turned out to be for the best, as he later found out that they’d been laced with poison until Drim made her stop. It was a lethal dose for humans but not for Fiends. However, it still would have left him with intense intestinal distress. Apparently, it had been Pox that tipped Drim off that something was wrong with them, happily eating actual food for the first time ever after it’d been left out for long enough.
Xard spent most of his isolation listening to his police scanner, trying to take a break from thinking about what had happened. He’d feel a twinge of guilt every time there was a crime he could stop, but never had the motivation to actually do anything. Mostly, he found a strange comfort in the folly of the criminals he heard about. Their poor choices somehow helped rationalize how Xard now perceived Drim.
He never did manage to stop thinking about it all, and still never came to a final decision. There were only a few things he was sure of. He didn’t want to leave this place, he didn’t think Drim’s reasonings and schemes were out of malice, and lastly that Drim Drazah couldn’t remain unsupervised for the time being.
So for now, he’d play along. He’d go on the mission, and see for himself where Drim’s intentions really lied, and if he felt things were getting out of hand, he’d stop Drim himself. Perhaps emboldened by Drim’s own blunt honesty, Xard even told Drim all this before they left on their mission; the only thing he said to him at all.
This was how he felt until the operation started, but things changed once it ended. Under the effects of Nathym’s device, he was essentially left in suspended animation for what felt like years. Most of his senses were cut off, but he could still hear, and would occasionally focus on a noise around him, but it was extremely infrequent. Now he was left with no distractions, just his mind, and the feelings in his heart could finally break through.
Those hours tormented Xard, every aspect of his being at war with itself. He couldn’t accept that he’d been deceived this whole time, that all those life defining moments he’d spent with Drim were hollow and fake. Finally, he landed on the only truth he could believe.
Drim Drazah cared about nothing more than seeing peace in this world, to atone for the atrocities his parents committed. His plan may sound insane, with not even a hint of the perfect world Xard envisioned, but no matter what, Drim would stick to making the world the best place possible for everyone. If he believed that his plan could ever lead to the misery of a single innocent individual, he’d never go through with it. That was the hope that Xard could cling to.
He was still unsure of where his path with the Fiends For Hire would lead, and he still couldn’t fully trust Drim, but it was suddenly more invigorating than ever. They had been all over the world, and it may lead them to shaping a new one. He’d do what he could to make sure Drim didn’t walk down the wrong path, but it was difficult to think about when their path currently had their ‘corpses’ lying on autopsy tables next to each other.
Thanks for reading this chapter. Feel free to leave a comment or review. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have an idea for a Fiend, let me know in the comments or a DM and I may use them in a future volume!
More information about the series such as the Wiki and Social Medias can be found on the Fiends For Hire LinkTree!
