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TheDevilsTrick — Privateer Chapter 89
#adventure #anime #book #creatures #cyborg #demons #fantasy #gremlins #heroes #magic #manga #monster #noire #ongoing #pirates #privateer #pulp #season4 #selfmade
Published: 2023-10-01 15:14:32 +0000 UTC; Views: 1401; Favourites: 2; Downloads: 0
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[The Grind]
Over the next few days, the crew had gotten back into the rhythm of flying and maintaining their ship, all but Clyde who had remained bedridden in the meanwhile. While Zeesa and Sylvester’s relationship had taken a few steps forward, Belix still felt herself stuck and was doing her best to avoid the problem with liquor. For the most part though, Sylvester had been examining the orblet, and called a meeting to discuss what he had found. After everyone but Clyde had gathered in the commissary, he slapped down a stone slab on the table.
“I figured it out!” he declared happily.
While the others looked at him curiously, Belix wearily rubbed her eyes.
“Have you been cutting into that thing?” she demanded.
“Yeah, but, don’t worry, it’s…that is to say, as far as I can tell, it’s completely safe.”
“For the love of…urgh, what’d you find out?”
“That this,” he held up the slab, “This is energy.”
“Looks like a rock to me,” Granger commented.
“Energy,” Sylvester repeated, “Condensed energy that has been rendered immobile and, by extension, frozen.”
“So…it’s like water,” Zeesa surmised.
“Only way I could describe it,” he shrugged.
“So why didn’t you?” Belix demanded.
“…um…anyway,” he nervously changed the subject, “The main difference between this and actual water, is that these bodies are…distinctive and separate, they can’t mix together, but they can split…”
“And you based that on…”
“Because this is only part of the main body, but, it still acts with the intelligence and willpower of the main body, meaning that the consciousness is, if not transferable, then spread throughout its entire form.”
“I thought I told you to make sense,” Belix grumbled, rubbing her temples.
“That’s…well, that’s not the important part, it’s…well, it’s what led me to understand how we can actually kill this thing,” he picked up the slab from off the table, “Altogether, that orb contains, maybe, one-one thousandth of the main body’s total power, meaning, that, if we consider that the main body has more than enough power to destroy the world, then…the orblet could maybe destroy a country, this, a city, and,” he slapped the slab against the table, cracking off a few small chips from the rock as everyone physically jumped away from the table, “This,” he picked one of them up, not seeming to notice the terrified and angry stares everyone was giving him, “Maybe a ship or two.”
He glanced around the room in confusion while everyone else continued to glare at him.
“What’s the problem?” he wondered.
“Take a fucking guess!” Belix snapped, “Moron.”
“I told you already, it’s inert, I mean, if I leave it out too long it will start to change form again…”
“You tested that too?!” Belix got up from her seat and stomped towards him.
“Hey, Easy, Easy,” he threw up his hands and backed away, “It was with a grain of the substance, barely more than a milligram, contained within a glass bottle, monitored the whole time, and, when I reintroduced it to the orblet, it fused back into the rock.”
“That’s not as comforting as you think it is!” Granger continued to leer at him, still keeping one eye on the slab and the smaller pieces that had been left on the table.
“Okay, okay, I get it, but, understand, that when I say, this contains one, one billionth of the energy in the main body, I mean, total, it’s not producing new energy, or replacing what it’s lost…”
“How the Hell would you know that?” Evie demanded just as Belix backed Sylvester against a wall and pinned him there.
“Because, the devil didn’t come to the library to release the demons, it came to reclaim its power through the portal,” Sylvester told them desperately, “It didn’t ‘grow more’, or abandon the frozen mass, it shifted what remained back onto itself,” he sighed, “The devils are trapped, because they are stuck between worlds, the majority of their power is on this side of the portal, you said it yourself, what we have down in the hangar is like a finger or a toe, meaning, that what’s locked up in the temple must be like their…head or their legs, something that they absolutely won’t get rid of, because they can’t live without it.”
Belix put a finer to his lips to silence him, then planted it firmly in the center of his forehead.
“What is your fucking point?” she demanded.
“A small enough piece of it can be safely disposed of, burned or otherwise drained of energy, I’m thinking either a kiln or an engine…”
“You’re not using my engines to test that theory,” she cut him off.
“No,” he agreed, “I was thinking about my engine, the one me and Lynnie were making for the Autumn Clover.”
“So…you mean the ship we left at the bottom of the bay in Miji,” Belix surmised.
“Actually, I was thinking more the schematics Lynnie would have left at her shop,” Sylvester mentioned, then scratched his chin, “Then again, that might actually work better…”
“To what end?”
“If it works, then we continue the process, burning away small pieces of the demon, Safely, until there’s just nothing left, the monster dies, we win.”
Belix finally released him and turned away.
“Get that crap off of my table,” she gestured to the slab, “Put it back on the orblet, and stop screwing with it!”
“Alright…” he nervously walked forward and did as he was told, “So…does that mean…”
“You’ve given us two viable options,” she responded coldly, folding her arms, “I’m considering them.”
“Thank you, that’s all I…”
“Granger!” she cut him off loudly, “If you see him anywhere near the hangar bay, UNSUPERVISED!” she yelled the last part in Sylvester’s ear, “I want you to break his legs.”
“Aye-aye,” he nodded dutifully as Sylvester quickly shuffled out of the room.
They waited for the footsteps to fade away before continuing the conversation, Granger even wiped his hand across the table to make certain that there were no lingering particles left behind.
“So,” he mentioned, checking his palm, “What do we actually think about this?”
“…meh,” Belix sighed, “I’m barely competent when it comes to this…existential, meta-text , bullshit…but, he thinks it can work…”
“He’s been wrong before, Recently in fact.”
“He’s obsessed,” Zeesa stated bluntly, “He…he Needs to find the solution…”
“Yeah, well, he’s not the only one,” Belix admitted quietly, “I didn’t bring that thing onboard just to keep it in storage.”
Evie leaned forward on her elbow, fingers laced together as she contemplated.
“We could take it to Seriquisse,” she suggested.
“…okay…” Belix glanced at her curiously, “Do you want to support that statement?”
“We…need to confess…”
“Fuck you!” Zeesa snapped.
“Okay, maybe not confess, but…” Evie struggled for the words, “We just killed the leader of an entire nation, if we don’t own up to it, someway, somehow…”
“We’ll look guilty as Hell if we try to run away,” Granger surmised.
“Fair point,” Belix admitted, “And they did buy us the ship…”
“They killed Ginger!” Zeesa reminded them.
“Yeah, I’m not about to give them a ‘thank you’ note, but, I’m not about to be hunted across the damn globe, by the church of all people.”
Belix paced the room, thinking it over.
“So, what’s the line?” Granger wondered.
“They were all killed but we survived?” she mused, “No, no, no, we were watching the ship, because we were useless pirates who…wouldn’t be much use in battle.”
“They took Sylvester with them…”
“Right, and we…we…Ah, shit, we’re gonna have to hide the shrimps, and Clyde, how the fuck do we explain him?”
“We…don’t?” Evie mentioned, “Weren’t we going to drop him off at Peregrine?”
“He’s hurt,” Belix glared at her, “He needs time to recover.”
“And that’s our problem?”
“It’s her problem,” Zeesa muttered condescendingly.
“Yeah, and it’s my fucking ship!” Belix snapped.
“Well…” Evie mentioned offhandedly, “Technically speaking…”
“Will you shut your…” she sighed, “Give me one good reason why we shouldn’t bring him along?”
“He’s a stranger,” Evie supplied.
“A hired hand at best,” Zeesa added.
“He’s been incapacitated,” Granger also mentioned, “By extension, he’s completely incapable of keeping or maintaining the ship and a singular drain on all out resources.”
Belix walked back to the table and leaned against it, staring at them all.
“You know, my old captain had a thing she’d do when she thought the crew as about to mutiny…”
“We’re not going to mutiny,” Granger scoffed.
“Shut UP! She snapped at him, her eyes cold as steel, “Now...what she would do, is toss a knife into the floor, and tell them that, if anybody wanted to take a run at her, all they had to do was pick it up, and, when they reached down for the blade, she’d shoot them in the throat.”
“We’re not going to…”
“You ever seen someone die from a bullet to the neck?” Belix pressed on, “Awful way to go, they make a terrible sound, I asked her about it one day, do you know what she said to me?”
Resigning himself to the situation, Granger folded his arms and stared back.
“What?” he demanded.
“She said the cowards would never go for the knife, only the brave would take it up, The Cowards would come after her when she was sleeping, or poison her food, but, after watching a brave man die on the floor, they’ll think twice.”
“Okay…” Zeesa shrugged in confusion, “So, what the Hell’s the message?”
“I’m thinking twice,” was all Belix said in response.
“Look,” Evie put in, “You’re horny for this guy, we get it, but…”
Belix walked around the table and pulled back, hard on her hair, forcing the woman to look her in the eye.
“I’m just saying you don’t have to make any excuses!”
“I’m not!” Belix snapped, shoving her away hard, “Set a course for Seriquisse, and stay the fuck out of my sight for the rest of the day,”
She walked out in a huff, Granger following her.
“That means you too!” she yelled over her shoulder.
“Understand me cap’n,” he chased after and quickly cut her off, “I don’t care if he stays or goes but you…”
Belix, without missing a step, grabbed him by the shirt and pushed Granger against a wall.
“He has to leave…” she hissed at him, then lowered her eyes to the floor, “He will leave…soon…and I’m making my peace with it, just, give me time, alright.”
She shoved past him and into the interior of the ship, stopped by the quarters where Clyde was being kept. Helping Stitch with replacing his bandages, he had one of his more lucid moments and they shared a conversation. She mentioned their detour to Seriquisse and he asked if he could be let off on the way. Belix told him a lie and said that they had pressure being put on them, and they couldn’t deviate from the set course. He seemed far too tired to detect the lie and fell asleep not long after she finished replacing his bandages.
Upset, agitated and angry, she made her way to the kitchen and raided the liquor cabinet. She was walking down the hall, two bottles swinging from her hand and tossing a metal goblet in the other, until she heard someone sneaking up behind her.
“I told you to…” she turned and saw Sylvester approaching, “Oh, don’t suppose I told you to fuck off did I?”
“No…” he looked at her curiously, “You told Granger to break my legs.”
“If you go into the hangar bay,” she corrected him, “Whatcha doin’ down here anyway?”
“Getting…lunch…”
Belix thought on it for a moment then chucked her cup at the boy.
“Grab another,” she ordered him, “Follow me.”
“But, I was…”
“Are you getting this for Zeesa? Having yourself a little date?”
“Well…should I? I mean…”
“Are you gathering the food for Stitch or any of the other Shrimps?”
“Um…no?”
“Then today your meal is liquid, follow me down here,” she pointed down the hall and headed off.
He paused, but rushed into the kitchen for the new cup and hurried to catch up with her. She brought him to a cozy little nook, one of the abandoned guard rooms and poured him a drink before pounding down her first glass. As they polished off the first bottle, she explained how the rest of the meeting had gone and their plans to go to Seriquisse before making their decision about his plan. He agreed with the concept, but had his own concerns for dealing with the church, to which Belix admitted that they still hadn’t ironed out all of the details. When he finally finished his first cup, she poured him another and set the empty bottle aside as she cracked open the other one.
“So…” she wondered, slurring her speech a bit, “How’re things goin’ with…uh, Zeesa?”
“Maybe you should take a nap or something,” Sylvester mentioned, taking another sip from his cup, “You don’t look well…”
“I’m Fine!” Belix insisted, “Just gettin’ lit, just…”
“…you wanted to talk about something,” Sylvester observed, “That’s why you asked me here, you need…”
“You know, when Lynnie was around I could talk to her,” Belix mused and emptied her cup down her throat, “I could trust her, say things, and knew she’d keep secrets.”
“Are you asking me to…”
“I’m in love with Clyde,” Belix declared bluntly, then paused for a second, “Huh…”
“What?”
“Nothing, just…I’ve been dancing around saying it, I was…hoping…I dunno, saying it out loud might…make it feel better?”
“Have you told him?”
“…no,” Belix admitted miserably, “And, I’m not going to…”
“Well, if you wanted advice…”
“I don’t…” she grumbled, burying her face in her hands, “I needed a sounding board, to hear myself say things without…I dunno…”
“Is that what Lynnie was too you?”
“No,” Belix complained, “Fucking busybody is what she was, always…hrrrrmm,” she trailed off, staring into the middle distance, “You know…I haven’t talked to my mother in decades now, but…I really wish I could talk to her now…”
“Wait, exactly how old are you?”
“Do you need those teeth,” she glared at him and Sylvester let the matter drop.
While she was pouring herself another drink, he was taking stock of the situation, honestly trying to figure out some way to help while she continued to blather on.
“You know, there’s ports around here I aint set foot on in years,” she mentioned, “Got a friend named…name Tiffany, married some asshole, Charlie-something, she was pregnant last I saw her, never even met the kid.”
“You’re worried you might lose contact with him?”
“No, I’m worried he’ll be dead before I see him again,” she lamented, “I’ve had a chance to examine his body over the last few days, that beating he took at the library, it’s not unique.”
“He’s the type of guy who puts himself in danger.”
“And he’s human, his body will never repair completely…he won’t let it.”
“You want to stop him?”
“I want to hold his hand,” she responded softly, “I want to stand by his side in those last fleeting moments, tell him that it will all be okay, that he can finally rest…”
“That’s…”
“Really petty, stupid and kinda sad,” Belix surmised, now staring at her cup.
“I was going to say ‘oddly specific’.”
“It’s my worse case scenario, you know, in case things don’t work out with his other girl and…” she dropped the half-empty cup on the floor and rubbed her eyes, “I don’t even think I’m going to get that.”
“But…” he surmised for her, “If you did, you’d have the memory at least, something to carry with you, after it’s all over.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Belix looked at him in surprise, “You’re a good sounding board.”
“Well, I do have some experience with this, losing people, having to deal with the trauma.”
“What was your answer?”
“Didn’t have one, still don’t,” Sylvester admitted, sipping his drink, “I could tell you what not to do.”
“Doesn’t exactly mean I’ll follow the advice.”
“Yeah, you are pretty hard headed.”
They fell into silence, Belix staring at her lost cup before grabbing the bottle and taking a gulp straight from the depths.
“It’s stupid, anyway, isn’t it,” she mentioned, “I mean, even if I get what I want out of this, even if he does live a long happy life, I’d still outlive him by a couple of decades at least, and…I’m not going to get what I want…” Belix chuckled, blushing with embarrassment, “Gods, it’s pathetic, I’m morning it before it’s even happened.”
“Because it’s happening right now,” Sylvester told her, “Believe it or not, your actually handling this better than I did, you know, when my mom and dad were killed, I was…I was in denial for so long, I kept telling myself, anybody who’d listen, that they’d just get better, they’ll come home any minute now.”
“That’s not it,” she shook her head, “I’ve lost people before, Hells, I lost Lynnie, I’m not pitchin’ a tizzy ‘bout that am I?”
“Well, you did send yourself traveling all across the world just to kill the demon who killed her.”
“That’s…” Belix shrugged, taking another drink, “Yeah, fair assessment.”
“And when Granger went missing, you literally spat in a city leader’s face.”
“Right?” she chuckled, “Burned the shit outta that bridge.”
“No offence captain,” he let out a sigh, “But, you genuinely scare the Hell out of me, you’re probably one of the only people in this world I never want to piss off.”
“You…” she leered at him, “Are you flirting with me?”
“Fuck No!”
“Okay, a little less harsh next time!”
“I’m just saying that, This, is the other side of the coin,” he explained, setting his cup aside, “You’re a passionate woman, but, for as long as I’ve known you, that passion is extroverted, now, it’s internalized and, I mean, there’s not much you can actually do about it.”
“And it hurts like Hell,” she muttered, taking another big drink.
“And it should,” he mentioned miserably, “Love dying on the vine and all, but it will pass, time doesn’t heal all wounds, but it’ll damn sure blunt the pain,” he picked up his cup and emptied it down his throat, “For what that’s worth.”
“It aint worth much,” she admitted, staring at the wall, a sorrowful look on her face, “But, thanks anyway,” with a depressed sigh, she rubbed her eyes as she spoke, “I’m sorry, alright, I shouldn’t have tried to drag you into this, you can go…get your lunch now.”
“Actually,” he admitted, wobbling a bit as he stood up, “I think I might take a nap,” he pressed a palm against the side of his head and tried to keep his balance, “Did you just feed me straight gasoline?”
“Lightweight,” she rolled her eyes, then, as he was leaving, she thought of a question she needed to ask, “Hang on a second, honest opinion, can you tell me something?”
“I suppose,” he blinked awkwardly, leaning against the doorframe for stability, “To be frank, I don’t know that I Can lie right now.”
“Do you think I should drop Clyde off in Peregrine?”
“Uh…no, actually, no.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’d leave,” Sylvester told her, his expression dower, “He’s too busted up to do anything right now, but, you’re absolutely right, he would run off and try to do something stupid, he’d get himself killed, and that would be our fault.”
“You really think so?”
“Yes,” he replied emphatically, “I mean, I’m not going to beat myself up over it…”
“Weren’t you the one who recruited him?”
“That was more of a group effort, and that’s beside the point,” Sylvester shrugged, “I could get over it, I’m not going to blame you if you can’t.”
“Thanks,” Belix nodded.
“Anytime.”
