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TheDevilsTrick — Privateer Chapter 102
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Published: 2023-12-24 15:51:05 +0000 UTC; Views: 2944; Favourites: 11; Downloads: 0
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[The Measure]
Mr. Kelly stomped through the old catacombs with an obvious frustration, shoving guards out of the way as he threw open the doors to the throne room, only to find Vanitas standing there, waiting for him. His pace slowed as he entered the chamber, trying to understand the situation he was facing.
“Was there a regime change I wasn’t notified about?”
“Well…” Vanitas shrugged, “This would be how I’d warn you.”
“Dammit, what’s going on here?!” he demanded, “I was told you turned Lady Ravana away!”
“Yes, I very much did,” she responded calmly, while Mr. Kelly furiously shook his head.
“Where the fuck is Ragda!?” he demanded, “What is going on here?!”
“Strong arming,” Vanitas told him simply, “I believe the polite way to say it is that I am strong arming you into doing what I want.”
“I thought we had an arrangement!” he snapped, “Now where is Ragda!?”
“The...’master’ is currently indisposed,” Vanitas stated, sitting on the throne, “He’s left me in charge in his absence, and I’ve decided to take a few liberties.”
“Meaning?”
She lifted her hand and snapped her fingers, a pair of cloaked servants shuffling out with a gilded cup on a tray.
“First off, You will drink this.”
“And, if I refuse?”
“Then your precious Ravana does not receive her dose, she’ll likely die of her throat infection within the month, and you can complain to whoever you want about that.”
“You...why are you doing this?” he demanded.
“Because I’m drunk on the temporary power he’s given me,” she insisted smugly, then, leaned back in the chair and continued to muse, “Also, because that fool is currently incapacitated for meddling with powers he can’t quite control, whereas I prefer to use guinea pigs.”
“And that’s what I am?”
“No, of course not, you’re a free man with limitless potential and possibilities ahead of you, which is why I’ve taken the liberty of narrowing them down for you.”
He continued to glare at her, and eventually Vanitas let out a sigh.
“Fine then, don’t take the drink,” she waved away the servants who shuffled backwards out of the room, “I’ll find someone else to fill the role.”
“And Ravana?” Mr. Kelly demanded.
“Send her in, I’ll even apologize for making such a fuss,” Vanitas told him dismissively, “That’s all, and I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
He grunted at her with irritation, then turned to leave.
“I just thought it might appeal to you is all,” she called after him.
“Bing one of your flunkies?” he scoffed at her, “No thank you, my loyalty belongs to the church.”
“And your body, of course,” she nodded, “And I can appreciate that, I just thought that you might be a bit concerned is all.”
Reluctantly, he stopped walking and turned to face her.
“Concerned about what?” he demanded.
“What seems to be the hot commodity around here, good people, getting old.”
“...you’re trying to tempt me into your flock?” he scoffed at her.
“No, I’m offering you boundless power and eternal life, the ‘master’ wouldn’t even need to know that you were one of us.”
“You think you could hide it from him?”
“I think he doesn’t even know who the Hell you are,” Vanitas corrected him, standing up from her chair and walking towards him whispering conspiratorially as she did, “And that could be your armor, how many has he converted so far? Dozens? Hundreds? How could he even manage to parse out the smaller voice to even know you were waiting in there.”
“So, I’d be hiding in plain sight,” Mr. Kelly summarized, “But his to command, to control.”
“Well, I mean, you already are,” she scoffed, “He already owns the senators, they own you, why not just make it official.”
She sauntered back over to the throne, dragging her hand across its backrest as she circled around it.
“You must feel it, I know, the aches and pains, your eyesight starting to fade, your reflexes slowing.”
“Is that intended as mockery?” Mr. Kelly demanded.
“Statement of fact,” she corrected him, “You’re old, you should have retired years ago, not just from the field, but left the military entirely, grabbed yourself a wench, seen if your dick still works well enough to produce offspring.”
“Now you are mocking me!” he shook his head, starting to turn away, “And it’s not going to work.”
“I know it won’t, and it wasn’t mockery, it was the truth,” as he reached the exit, she called out to him, “I recognize a man of duty when I see one!”
he stopped again, let out a deep sigh and turned to face her once more.
“When I say, ‘you should have retired by now’,” she explained, “I’m saying that there are men half your age who couldn’t do a quarter of what you can, you have no peer, and I am certain that your country appreciates you tireless efforts, but, what happens when you leave, when you die, or when your body just can’t keep up with the Hellish training regimen any longer?”
“Someone will fill my place,” he insisted dully, “I have...students, promising...prospects...someone will step up…”
“Like they’ll step up for your precious Ravana?” Vanitas wondered, a smirk on her lips as she, “If you truly believed that, then why would you facilitate us?”
“Because it is good for our country, our people, THIS,” he gestured wildly at the hall where the servant had gone, “This would just be for me, for my own sake…”
“Of course it would,” she nodded, “But who better, who can do what you do? Who deserves to sit by the left hand of God and watch as your glorious church ascends into its proper place? Let’s be honest with each other, some people just can’t be replaced, and I truly believe you are one of them.”
Mr. Kelly shuffled his feet, nervously, but he didn’t leave.
“I am...a servant of the church…”
“So,” Vanitas snapped her fingers and the servant with the golden cup emerged once again, shuffling forward to kneel before Mr. Kelly and offer him the goblet, “Serve them, continue to serve them, forever and for all time.”
He looked down on the gilded cup, beads of sweat forming on his skin.
“Is that not a noble calling?” she continued to press.
“You think I’m stupid,” he snapped back at her, “That I didn’t notice what you said about being a guinea pig?”
“You are,” Vanitas shrugged, “This is a special brew, I don’t fully know the effects, it could kill you, perhaps, or perhaps it could sever your ties to the mind-link we all share, and the power I grant you with it is real, you may even surpass Ragda.”
“That’s what you want isn’t it,” Mr. Kelly smirked back at her, “A weapon to kill your slave owner.”
“I wouldn’t be so crude as all that,” Vanitas shrugged, casually leaning against the throne, “It’s more like an insurance policy, in case our good master ever chooses to turn against your beloved theocracy.”
he took a moment to consider her words, then he reached out for the cup.
“No matter what else,” he warned her, “This will not make me your puppet, my soul, my service, belong to the church.”
“Of course, good sir knight,” Vanitas mocked him as he tipped the contents of the goblet down his throat, “I would have it no other way.”
Hours passed as he writhed on the floor, his screams echoing off of the walls, he could even be heard on the streets above, through several meters of insulated iron and concrete.
As night fell, Clyde and Belix slunk into the sewers, finding their way through the winding corridors until they reached a pair of oddly placed torches embedded in the wall. Tracing their hands down from them, they each found a loose brick and pressed it inwards, then stepped back as the passage opened before them. Warily they both crept forward, both brandishing an iron blade while slipping through the darkened hall. The passage opened up some fifty yards in and they found themselves within a nest of corridors. Searching about nervously, they shrugged and chose the tunnel to the left to continue deeper into the complex.
“This seem too easy to you?” she wondered, “No guards, no servants…”
“No creatures lurking in the rafters,” Clyde mentioned, glaring pointedly at the ceiling.
“You’re adapting to this way too quickly,” she commented.
“Don’t be jealous,” he shrugged, opening a nearby door and checking the room, “I’ve had more time than you to figure it out.”
“Figure what out?”
“My feelings,” he told her offhandedly as he backed out of the room, “My worldview.”
“What, you never thought there were monsters hiding in your closet?” Belix wondered, assuming a more casual pose as she sauntered through the hall.
“Always,” he muttered, “I just never thought they were real.”
“Oh…” Belix nodded, “So, why didn’t you tell me about that Vanitas woman?”
Clyde stopped in his tracks, then turned a weary eye in her direction.
“Should we be discussing this while infiltrating an enemy base?” he demanded.
“Well, all odds, we’re walking into a trap,” she shrugged, “We could die at any moment, and I’m curious so…”
“I don’t know what you’re expecting…”
“The truth would be nice.”
He let out a sigh and got back to searching, but, he told her what she wanted to know.
“She was a queen, she led a cult, they infected me with their blood, used it to control me, she seemed fixated on me, molested and threatened to rape me,” he rattled these things off dully as they continued to move along, barely paying it any attention, “Then used it to make me stand still while she stabbed her sword through me.”
“...Gods…” Belix muttered, somewhat regretting the question.
“The blood...it’s what made those things we fought what they are, getting soaked in their blood affected me, she can’t control me any more, but she can cause pain, nausea and dizziness,” he stopped and sighed, staring at the floor, “She will kill us all if she gets a chance, but she’s unhappy where she is, will do what she can to see Ragda fall, so don’t kill her when you see her.”
Belix approached him, touching his shoulder, she turned Clyde around and looked into his eyes.
“No promises,” she whispered.
They continued their search in silence, finding the entire compound completely deserted. Eventually they made their way to the throne room and even Clyde started to relax, feeling that they were completely alone.
“Think they saw us coming?” he mused.
“Or…” Belix mentioned, sheathing one of her blades, “Evie got spotted…”
“She didn’t,” Mr. Kelly’s voice echoed off the walls, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, “I trained her too well.”
The pair looked at each other, and readied their weapons once again.
“You gonna come out?” Belix wondered, “I promise to be civil.”
“Well, we both know that’s a lie,” Mr. Kelly snickered.
“He’s not wrong,” Clyde smirked, then declared loudly, “So, did we get the right place at least.”
“Oh, you certainly did,” Mr. Kelly chuckled, “How did you by the way?”
“You know this ‘man of mystery’ crap doesn’t really work when I’ve already seen your face,” Belix called out.
“An evasive response,” Mr. Kelly observed, “But you haven’t seen my face, not yet.”
“Do we really gotta waste out time with this prick?” Belix sighed in irritation.
“It was you little boy,” Mr. Kelly told them with tangible amusement in his voice, “She sensed you coming, told the rest to get out, go to their main base.”
“Of-fucking-course,” Belix grumbled, “Where is it?”
“You expect me to tell you?”
“Well...after I chop a few pieces of you…”
“Really?!” Mr. Kelly declared joyously, and the room started to shake.
For the briefest of moments they saw a massive three-fingered hand wrap around one of the standing pillars in the room, only to slip back into the shadows just as Mr. Kelly emerged.
“I’d love to see you try,” he smirked at her.
Belix glared back at him, tapping her foot angrily and then shouted at the top of her lungs.
“GRANGER!!” she yelled, her voice echoing through the empty halls, “Granger! Get your fat ass in here!”
the roar of her voice repeated, bouncing around the stone corridors before fading away, and they all waited patiently while the soft footsteps began to stomp closer, eventually ending when they kicked the door in. Granger stood before them, Evie at his side, huffing and sweating with both worry and exertion, but, as he looked around, found only one man standing in the room.
“What the Hell were you screaming about?” he demanded.
“The place is empty,” Belix declared, “This prick’s the only one left.”
“Oh?” Granger leered past her and finally recognized who was standing there, “Oh! Well, it must be my birthday!”
He walked forward, pushing past the other two and rubbing his hands together expectantly.
“I didn’t think I’d get a chance to do this so soon,” Granger mentioned as he cracked his knuckles against his chin.
Mr. Kelly stood there calmly and waited as the big man approached. Even Granger seemed to notice something was wrong, but shrugged off the concern and threw a punch with his flesh arm at Mr. Kelly’s head. The bald man simply raised his own hand and stopped the punch with seemingly no effort, even as the pressure from the blow ruffled his clothes and caused the floor beneath them to crack.
“Well?” Mr. Kelly smirked, “You’re not done are you?”
Before Granger could respond, Belix rushed in swinging a blade. Mr. Kelly easily avoided the strike and stepped back, then kicked Belix into Granger, hitting her hard enough to send them both flying across the room. He watched the two tumble across the concrete floor and laughed quietly. Evie appeared at his side, emerging from a pitch black illusion and stabbed him in the ribs with a fistful of needles. Mr. Kelly barely seemed to notice, and simply turned in her direction, giving her a disapproving look, and then back handing her onto the ground.
He watched her for a moment, writhing at his feet, and then, just as she was about to get up, he stomped down on her spine, crushing her under his foot. He raised his head, taking a deep breath as a wide grin spread across his face.
“You know,” he sneered, “I really hate to give her so much credit, but that whore really knew what she was talking about, I never thought…” he stopped, hearing a sharp whistle, and turned to see Clyde standing there, waiting patiently, “Oh, right, the wounded warrior.”
“Just tell us where they went!” Clyde snapped.
“Or what?” Mr. Kelly approached, kicking Evie away, “What do you actually think you can do?”
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” Clyde responded calmly.
Granger and Belix sudden rushed him, Granger swinging with a wild haymaker that drove Mr. Kelly to his knees and drove him downward onto Belix’s knife. Mr. Kelly let out a pained gasp as a wisp of smoke erupted from the wound, but he recovered quickly, slapping Belix away and clenching Granger’s adam’s apple in his fist. Granger fell to a knee, unable to breathe, Clyde tried to help, but Mr. Kelly simply pulled the knife from his chest and used it to deflect his oncoming attack. With some room to maneuver, he stuck the blade into Granger’s chest and easily slid across the floor to avoid Clyde’s follow-up strike. All the while, Mr. Kelly smiled, not just mocking them, but elated, high on his own sense of power.
“Is it time now?” Mr. Kelly asked as Clyde stood between him and Granger, making himself into a barrier, “Or, were you hoping for another miracle rescue?”
Clyde looked around, Belix was still in the fight, but Evie had hardly moved ever since he took her down. He shared a glance with Belix and they both rushed in, working in tandem and slashing at Mr. Kelly as he easily dodged around their blows. Then, he retaliated, his fist growing to massive size and slamming into Belix’s gut before backhanding Clyde across the room. While Belix crumpled beneath the attack, Clyde slammed hard against a wall and barely managed to stay on his feet, when they finally touched the ground. Before Belix could rise again, he kicked her in the face, and turned his full attention to Clyde.
“Tell me,” Mr. Kelly asked the other man struggled to move towards him, “What was it you were planning to do?”
“...Urk...urn...urrr…” Clyde grunted as he shuffled his feet closer and drew back his blades to strike, “Nobody likes a smart-ass!”
Mr. Kelly easily caught his wrist and turned the weapon aside.
“No,” the bald man corrected him, an amused grin on his face, “Not to me, I meant to the others, to the cult, to Ragda?”
He slapped Clyde hard across the face, dropping him onto his hands and knees.
“You couldn’t even take me when I was still human!” Mr. Kelly declared, grabbing Clyde’s head and slamming it into the floor, “What the Hell do you think you could do against Them?!!”
“You…” Belix growled, cleaning some blood from her lip, “Leave him alone!”
“Oh?” Mr. Kelly dropped Clyde’s limp frame onto the ground and sauntered over to her, “Should I play with you then?”
He was distracted by a metallic clatter, a bloody iron knife, not thrown at him, but tossed at his feet. Mr. Kelly turned to see Granger standing tall, though with a hand covering the gaping wound in his chest.
“No,” the big man snarled, his voice a low, dangerous rumble, “You’re Mine!”
“Is that so?” he chuckled, glancing down at Belix who collected her blade and stood to face him.
“Get out!” Granger told her.
“Wha…” Belix leered at him, “Fuck you, I’m not about to…”
“They couldn’t have left without leaving a trail,” Granger insisted, “This bitch is just here to slow us down.”
Belix examined the room, seeing Clyde just barely managing to stand up, and Evie just now starting to stir.
“We can…” she tried to insist only to be interrupted.
“Go! Now!” Granger snapped at her, “That’s an order!”
Belix glared at him, but sheathed her blades and obeyed.
“Aye-aye,” she muttered, walking over and helping Clyde to his feet.
Once upright, he shuffled over, pulling Belix along with him, somewhat reluctantly and supporting Evie as they all tried their best to exit the throne room with some measure to dignity.
“HA!” Mr. Kelly laughed at them as the left, “I can’t tell who’s carrying who.”
“You even try to go after them and I’ll make you choke on your own teeth!” Granger warned him.
“What do I care?” Mr. Kelly shrugged, “It’s not like they can actually do anything…”
As he spoke, Granger rushed him throwing a punch that Mr. Kelly barely dodged around.
“Is that what it looks like when you’re actually trying?” the bald man mocked.
“Nope!” Granger turned his metal arm into a drill and managed to shove it into Mr. Kelly’s gut, “This is!”
The drill spun up, goring through Mr. Kelly’s torso until it popped out the other side, spraying a nearby pillar with gore. To Granger’s surprise, the bald man grabbed hold of his arm and easily pushed himself off of the arm, then lifted himself up and swung his foot down in an axe-kick. Granger deflected the blow and threw him away, staring at his gore stained hand in disbelief.
“So…” Mr. Kelly sneered at him, “THAT, was your best?”
Granger’s lip curled in a disgusted growl, watching the wound close itself.
“Well?” Mr. Kelly stepped towards him, his body already swelling and bubbling as rancid blue liquid poured from his eyes, “Let me show you mine!”
The fluid swarmed across his body as it continued to pour down, wrapping around his neck, then his arms. His chest thumped like a heartbeat, swelling with each beat and expanding. His arms engorged in size, shredding through his shirt as jagged teeth sprouted from his chest and fused with the ever expanding muscle and bone that was over whelming his shoulders. His spine expanded, growing into massive plates and then burst from him while a giant eyeball grew from the cavity it had created.
On malformed, cloven feet, he stood, titanic hands clenching at nothing as he tested them, seemingly pleased as he heard them pop and crack. Granger could just barely see him smiling from behind the protective cage of teeth that now encased what was left of his human form.
“Impressive, yes?” Mr. Kelly flexed for him, showing off his monstrous, rippling physique, “Don’t you just love it?”
Granger picked himself up, but was no sooner on his feet before Mr. Kelly wrapped a four fingered hand around his entire head, suffocating him. Granger fought back, but his punches had no effect and his drill ground to a halt. Mr. Kelly responded with a single blow that cracked his skull and drove him back to his knees. Dazed and blind, he couldn’t defend from the savage beating that followed, hitting him over and over again until his skin split and metal started to bend. Mr. Kelly left him swaying back and forth for a moment, then kicked him across the room.
Granger’s body went flying through a pillar and cratered into a wall where he lay still, unable to move from the pain. Mr. Kelly’s monstrous transformation loomed over him menacingly and laughed.
“I think mine’s bigger!” the devil joked, lifting his arms in triumph, “Don’t be too sad, I mean, I was amazing before, now...Well, I’m just more.”
“...more…” Granger moaned, clenching his fleshy hand into a fist.
Mr. Kelly stomped down on his wrist, cracking the bone and leaned down to spit on him.
“Still fighting back?” the devil wondered, “Why bother, you know what’s gonna happen.”
Gritting his teeth, Granger slapped his metal hand against the ground and pushed, slowly lifting himself up until Mr. Kelly kicked the arm out from under him and stomped on his back.
“I think I’m going to kill you now,” the devil told him, raising his fist, “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, this is all you are…”
“All...I…” Granger snarled, an image, a lost memory playing behind his eyes as he tanked another punch to the back of the head that crushed his face against the floor.
Light exploded in his eyes, blood flowed down his lips, and the memory continued. He was sitting at a table, wallowing in his own sorrow and misery. Then, in his darkest moment, her tiny paw reached out to him, touched his cheek, and she looked at him tearfully.
“You are better than this,” Lynnie had told him, “You are more than this…”
Mr. Kelly continued to beat on him until his face left a crater in the floor. Feeling that his work was finally done, the devil finally turned away, heading towards the door, beginning his search for the others, when Granger started to move. In abject astonishment, Mr. Kelly watched the battered man finally stood up.
“You know what?” Granger mentioned as he cracked his neck and wiped the blood off of his face, “I’m tired of letting her down.
“The fuck are you talking about?” Mr. Kelly demanded.
“Ahh...forget I said that,” Granger sighed and balled up his fists, “Let’s just get back to killing each other.”
