Chapter 37 (Patreon)

I stepped into the Training Hall to the curious scene of Pod 084 hovering idly around Rune’s cage, a tall glass of ice cold water clenched in both mechanical grippers. The girl was eyeing him with clear trepidation in her stormy blue gaze; trust was clearly going to be hard-earned, considering the circumstances of her capture, but I wasn’t too worried about that. With Force of Spirit and Superior Form combined, breaking down her walls - racism notwithstanding - was only a matter of time. 

Time that wasn’t now, ‘cause my mana was roiling beneath my flesh, yearning for release. My Reality Marble - my Inner World given manifest was there, in my soul, and on a level beyond the physical. My entire being wanted to see it materialized for the first time.

What better place to try it than the Training Hall?

“Proposal: Drink the water so that you don’t become dehydrated, and this Pod will ‘leave you alone’. Master has given me directives to act as your caretaker whilst he is busy.” If a robot could sound annoyed, I was willing to bet that 084 was damn near reaching that point at a fast pace. He buzzed around the cage again, this time at a faster tilt, and shoved the glass through the bars.

Rune grimaced, almost giving herself whiplash with how strongly she arched her neck away from the water. 

“And I already told you, you shitty hunk of scrap metal… I don’t want anything that bastard is offering me! Let me fucking die of thirst, I don’t give a shit.” 

084’s bulb flashed orange. “This Pod has not been given directives to drug the disgusting fascist designated as ‘Rune’. The water is ‘fresh from the tap’,” he paused, shaking the cup side to side, and droplets spilled out onto the floor. “This Pod has even gone beyond the assigned directive and included ice cubes.”

“... Get out of my face, or I swear to God-”

“Lil’ homie, leave the agua on the floor,” I flared Force of Spirit, the magical ability causing my voice - in spite of my tempered volume - to fill the room in an instant. The effect was immediate; 084 immediately straightened his little mechanical body, withdrawing his arm from between the bars and lowering himself to the floor, while Rune’s entire form froze in place, eyes going wide with fear and apprehension. 

With a quick twist of my feet and a burst of mana, I was walking towards the two in more presentable clothing - artistically torn jeans, combat boots, and a loose graphic tee with some edgy anime girl design on the front. “Either she drinks it or she doesn’t. When her tongue starts to feel like sandpaper and she starts losin’ hours at a time ‘cause she’s passing out, I think she’ll rethink the whole ‘tough bitch’ act.”

“H-hey, screw you!”

“Affirmative. Does the Master have further directives for this Pod?” 084 droned over Rune’s hoarse shout, turning towards me with his little bulb flashing a bright green. As commanded, the water was left sitting neatly in front of Rune’s cage, a droplet of condensation drifting tantalizingly down the side of the tall glass.

I ignored the teen as well, idly raising my fist as I got closer to 084.

My lips pulled back into a grin when he mechanically jabbed his little metal knuckles against mine.

“Nah, maybe order some pizza and have ‘em deliver it to the Trainyard. Shoot a text to Overdrive, let her know food’s inbound. I’m gonna be busy in here for a bit.” I didn’t look at Rune when saying it, but the inhalation of air was audible with or without her being in my periphery. She was right to be cautious, and her anticipation was understandable, but at the same time, it was all unfounded.

‘Magic before hoes, that’s my motto and I’m livin’ by it.’

“Affirmative,” 084 hovered up and down, a motion that I now understood was his way of ‘nodding’. “This Pod will leave Master to the interrogation and torture of the filthy nazi bastard. Auf Wiedersehen.”

…

I blinked. “Pod, what the fu-”

But he was already zooming out of the Training Hall like a mechanical mosquito, closing the large door behind him with a loud ‘slam’ that only slightly shook the room. I shook my head, unsure of whether I wanted to laugh at the zaniness or be concerned at the clear influence modern media data training was having on my once innocent little buddy. “What a fuckin’ character that guy is…”

“... You should’ve killed me.”

Rune’s voice, quiet and terse and just a little bit awkward, brought my attention away from my fleeing AI and back towards her cage. I raised an eyebrow but said nothing, opting instead to make a ‘come hither’ gesture at the glass of water and lightly grab it when it smoothly floated up towards me. Agua secured, I cut my eyes back towards the blonde-haired girl and simply stared.

Rune is frightened. Rune is nervous. Rune is embarrassed. 

“I-I heard you. You and your fucking, um, sex slave or whatever the hell she is,” she continued stubbornly when it was clear that I wasn’t going to respond. She grimaced, struggling half-heartedly against the gilded branches that restrained her wrists. “You’ve got all those crazy strong powers, but nothing that lets you soundproof a room? Fucking perv…” 

There was a wariness in her eyes, meshing with her fear and anxiety, but that didn’t account for the barest flush of pink skimming along her cheeks. 

I could smell blood in the water.

“First off,” I snorted, taking a step closer to the cage and leaning against it, “She’s my girlfriend, not my ‘sex slave’. Who the fuck has ‘sex slaves’ in modern-day America?”

“Psh, the chi-”

My eyes glinted gold, pain comparable to a sharp pinch shooting through her body, and Rune swallowed thickly.

“The Asians over at the Docks. Lung and his band of retards.” Her face drew back into a disgusted scowl, eyes turning shaded with the downturn of her slim blonde eyebrows, and Rune faced me directly. “Someone like you wouldn’t get it, but the Empire - we’re different. We’re not a bunch of savages like the ABB. It’s kinda really fucking stupid that you went after us instead of the fuckers raping women.”

Rune is frustrated. Rune is scared. Rune is speaking more freely because she’s frustrated and scared. 

“I went after the Empire ‘cause I’m black, and on my first night in the city a buncha skinheads tried to assault me and my girl.” I replied boredly, carefully keeping my voice composed and unbothered.

I knew the type of loser Rune was. She was the type who knew when she’s too weak to actually change anything, so she lashes out in a desperate attempt to both soothe her own wounded pride and anger, and hopefully drive her captor into his own particular state of frustration or rage. Unfortunately for her, that simply wouldn’t work on me. For one, I had Hidden intuition as a cheat code, letting me know of her amateurish ‘mind games’ ahead of time. Secondly… I wasn’t here to fence words with her in the first place. 

Not today.

“Right,” she grinned mockingly, showing straight white teeth, but I easily picked apart the true unease that lay beneath the expression. “And I bet it had nothing to do with Lung posted up like the big man in charge, waiting to put you down if you tried something, huh?” 

I just watched her, lidded stare and the smallest of smirks pulling at the corner of my lips, and her veneer of haughty mockery cracked.

“You’re a fucking coward, Avalon.” she seethed, tensing painfully against her golden shackles. ”That’s why I’m here, right? S-so you can beat your dick at night knowing you won against a teenager?! Took her away from her fucking family and friends, locked her in some shitty cage, humiliated her, you kidnapping sack of shit!”

I idly scratched the scruff on my chin, but no words came out. I didn’t need to say anything just yet. 

She’d tire herself out eventually.

“Say something you motherfucker! I hate you! Fuck you. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!” As she snarled at me her head whipped from side to side, silky blonde locks flying wild, but I didn’t shift from my spot against the cage. I leaned there, the glass of water slowly but surely turning luke-warm in my warm grasp as the ice cubes melted. 

Even as she screamed her throat raw, hurling insult after insult - some of them pretty creative - my way, I didn’t respond.

And that was driving her fucking mad.

When she finally quietened, chest heaving and breaths coming out in harsh, labored pants, I slowly pushed the glass of water through the bars. It was a tight fit, especially with the chiseled muscle I’d packed on over the past few weeks, but a slight warping of the Chamon drifting through the air was enough to widen the bars an inch.

Rune stared at the glass, and my hand, like they were simultaneously the most disgusting and the most refreshing sight she’d ever laid her eyes on. Though her hair now fell down across her face like a tangled curtain, sweat drifting down the fair skin of her swan-like neck, she didn’t immediately spit venom and try to knock the water out of my hand. 

Her lips parted, pouty and pink but clearly chapped raw, and her tongue came out to lick them. The sound in the silence of the Training Hall was like a cat licking sandpaper - rough, dry, and uncomfortable.

But she made no move to drink.

“Lung,” I began, looking directly into her bloodshot eyes, “Is not someone I’m scared of. Just like I’m not scared of Kaiser, or Coil, or you and the ragtag group of fuck-ups I either killed or captured two days ago. The Empire’s gonna fall… but so will the ABB. So will Coil. And so will the rest of the wannabe supervillains that come knockin’ on my door after I cleanse this city.”

She swallowed again, opening her mouth to say something, but I shook my head once, firmly, and her teeth clicked as her trap snapped shut. The anger in her eyes was hot, fiery, but her little hissy fit had clearly tempered a lot of the rage and anguish she’d been feeling.

Now was the best time to hammer facts in, while the iron was hot and pliable.

“Drink.”

The command, uttered so direct and matter-of-factly, took her by surprise. She flinched back, lips warbling uneasily, but my grip on the glass didn’t falter. “N-no, I don’t want your-”

“I’m trying this the nice way,” I cut her off, bemused. “I have you tied down in a birdcage made of gold metal, and my robot butler just went off to order pizza from Domino’s. You think I couldn’t do whatever the fuck I wanted already?” My lips twitched down into a disappointed frown. “You’ve gotta be smarter than that.”

“...”

Her glare still burning azure daggers into my own lidded amber gaze, Rune clicked her teeth and allowed her lips to part once again. If I had to guess, it had been damn near close to eight hours since I’d taken her out of the Archway, and possibly even longer since she’d eaten and had something to drink considering she’d been staking out the ambush spot all night. 

When I pressed the rim of the glass against her bottom lip and her tongue snuck out to taste the cool liquid, the speed in which she tilted her head back to guzzle down the water made it clear that it had truly been a long time.

Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

“Slowly,” I clicked my tongue, amusement coloring my tone as I lightly pulled the glass away from the dehydrated girl. The cup was already half-empty, and it had been damn near the size of a pitcher. Rune gasped for air as soon as her lips disconnected from the rim, but the frigid heat in her eyes had already lowered to a simmer. 

Rune is frustrated. Rune is embarrassed. Rune is grateful.

When I brought the glass back to her mouth, the eye contact between us was starting to reach ‘awkwardly intimate’ levels, partially pushed by my constant smolder. She sipped at the water, more sedately this time, but there was a dusting of pink on her cheeks as she did so.

Rune was the first to lose the staring contest.

“... Why-” she coughed, clenching her jaw. “Why the hell do you think Kaiser won’t try to save me? He sent a rescue party for Hookwolf.”

I drew the nearly empty cup of water back through the bars of the cage, and Rune’s eyes followed it forlornly. “Callin’ him a pussy wasn’t just me shit-talking. He’s a coward, only acts when he has a glaring advantage. The PRT’s biggest issue is manpower right now - they’re outnumbered by the villains, and he knew that.”

Rune’s frown grew darker. “Okay? Even so-”

“I’m not done,” I drawled, and though she glared, she went silent. “‘Preciate it. Now, think about it from Kaiser’s POV, alright? Imagine you’re a pussy ass rich white kid, used to havin’ other people do the dirty work for you. Sure, sometimes you come in personally to torture or kill a minority to keep morale up, but gettin’ too close to the action risks you getting fucked over by the good guys - so you rely on putting aggressive meatheads with blind faith between you and danger.”

She didn’t respond, too busy glowering and scowling, but I knew that she was listening. Rune wasn’t a complete dumbass.

“You think your plan’s full-proof, ‘cause you have intel that the Protectorate and New Wave’s hemmed up with your OP psychopath of an ex-wife and her butt buddies from Gesselschaft. Everything seems to be going well. And then, suddenly… it’s not. Your ambush squad’s ripped to shreds by a new independent hero team, led by a black guy no less, and you’re left with fucked morale, less than half of your capes, and the realization that that same black guy who attacked your team is a Trump, Rating: Fuck Off, with a bone to pick… ‘cause you’re a dirty fuckin’ nazi.”

Rune shifted, unease and misery beginning to cloud her face. When she spoke, the warbling in her voice was impossible to hide. “Okay. Okay. I… I fucking get it.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

“Yes!” she snapped, that familiar flame of anger and rage lighting up her eyes before it almost immediately cooled into anguish. “Yeah, I get it. I fucked up - we fucked up, and now… no one’s coming to get me. I’m a liability now. Fuck. I- I don’t- this isn’t what…” Tears began to well up in her eyes, too sudden to be fake, and Rune swore softly beneath her breath again as one salty droplet betrayed all attempts to suck it back in. 

It ran down her splotchy cheek, instantly followed by another, and then another. Within moments, the girl was cursing at herself and trying to hide her tear-stained face behind a curtain of blonde knots.

The tears did nothing to move me.

“I-I’m not crying to-” she hiccuped, and then immediately snarled to herself. “Shit! I don’t want your fucking pity. This- this isn’t what this is. I don’t… I don’t know why I’m crying!”

“You just said it,” I sighed, pushing off of the cage and taking a small step back. “It’s ‘cause you fucked up. And as much as you try to be a ‘badass’, you’re scared. Of me, of what I’m gonna do. What I can do.”

Her teary, reddened eyes widened, but the anger that had been there was exhausted. Snuffed out. “N-no…”

Rune is scared.

A snort, this one loud and brutally amused, ripped its way out of my chest. “... All this ‘cause I asked you to stop being racist. To just be good. You see how fucking stupid that sounds?”

“...” She cut her eyes, a warbly, yet stubborn frown on her lips. 

I grinned lopsidedly.

“Uh-huh. I’m not torturing you today, so you can cut the waterworks. That shit doesn't work on me… unless you’re a hot goth chick with a fat ass.”

“I-I’m not trying to-!”

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved a hand idly, and the cloying, metallic Yellow Winds reacted to my subconscious will. The Gilded Cage yawned, supernaturally durable metal warping and retracting in on itself as the prison shifted to accommodate new instructions. The gnarled golden branches extending from the bars and binding Rune’s wrists and ankles unfurled themselves from around her reddened flesh, melting down into a shimmering liquid metal that seeped into the floor of the cage. At the same time, the cage itself abruptly shrunk, shrinking from thirty or so feet down to fifteen. 

Rune let out a loud, choked gasp as the metal holding her in the air abruptly disappeared, forcing her to fall heavily on her hands and knees. “What the fuck?”

“You’ve been civil,” I casually answered the unspoken question, “A lot of swear words and screaming, but you ain’t the worst conversationalist I’ve met so far. Think you can avoid pissing me off for the next few days?”

I could see the way that her fingers traced shapes against the golden metal, but there wasn’t a sense of urgency to the motion - it was more of an instinctive gesture rather than a conscious attempt to use her power. 

As expected, nothing happened. She didn’t even look surprised.

“... Whatever,” Rune grumbled, whipping her head away and ‘subtly’ wiping at her eyes and face with the frayed, tattered edges of her sleeves. “Not like I’m actually free.”

“Considering the whole ‘neo-nazi’ thing… you see how that’s hella ironic in the best way possible?”

That made her pause. “Your humor is trash.”

“Maybe,” I chuckled, languidly stretching my arms above my head. “Or maybe you fucks are the ones with the broken humor, and I’m secretly a world-class comedian surrounded by people who can’t appreciate real talent. Ever think about that?”

Rune slowly clambered back onto her feet, using the bars of the cage as handholds to support her weight. Her legs quaked and shook from the effort, the blood having fled from her extremities long ago, but she was nothing if not ridiculously stubborn to a fault. Within moments she was standing under her own power, face red from exertion and the remnants of tears.

“Haa…” she breathed, squeezing the bars so tightly that her knuckles turned pale from the pressure. When she returned her gaze to mine, I could see nothing but genuine befuddlement and suspicion in her eyes. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re a weird kidnapper? I don’t know what kinda game you’re playing, but I’m not falling for it.”

I tilted my head, and the bars of the cage made a low, metallic humming noise. “I could always tie you back up, leave you danglin’ from the top of the cage-”

Rune’s face whitened. “No! F-fuck no, stay weird. See if I care. Weirdo.”

“Cool, ‘cause I’m not doing this just to be a gracious host.”

I wasn’t going to try my new ability out on my girlfriend, after all.

I pressed my hand against my sternum, or maybe a little bit lower, where there was a noticeable heat that hadn’t been there before my latest ability. As if gladdened by my sudden acknowledgement, a feeling of raw power shot through every inch of my body, leaving goosebumps and electrifying tingles in its wake. Words came to me once again, an incantation that I inherently recognized as mine on a level completely separate than the physical or mental.

“... Why the hell are you smiling like that?” Rune muttered, her previously impassive tone turning cautious and on-edge all in one fell swoop.

“Don’t know what you’re talking ‘bout.” I replied distantly, allowing my eyes to close. “Now hush, you’re gonna fuck up the magic. Let me cook.”

“Magic? What…”

But I was already focusing on the twinkling lights that I could see shimmering in my mind’s eye. The words came to me again, flitting across my mind at speeds that I could only barely ascertain, repeating in powerful, rumbling loops that only got louder and louder in my ears - much like the sound of my own blood rushing through my veins.

Raw mana enriched my body, slicking across my skin and clothes.

“Though Stars May Fade, My Soul Yet Lives…”

Something clicked into place, and dully, through my steadfast concentration, I heard Rune utter a loud gasp. 

“Free of Limits, Bound by None…”

It was only at this point did I realize just how loud my voice was. Even without Force of Spirit, it rang through the entire Training Hall, echoing back against the walls and reverberating through my very bones - deep, commanding, dark. I opened my eyes only slightly, just to make sure that I wasn’t ripping Rune to shreds with my magic, but I could see nothing but light. Gold, purple, blue, crimson - mana of all colors were writhing through the room like streamers made of dense, hazy energy, and through the haze, I could see Rune squatting in the Gilded Cage, her mouth working tirelessly to shout something that I couldn’t hear.

The incantation continued, the words resonating with my Soul. 

“Within these Pages, I Reign Supreme…”

There was a sudden crack, one that ripped through both my overpowering voice and the heavy hum of raw mana coalescing in the atmosphere. Before my very eyes, like the special effects from a A-list science fiction movie, what could only be a spatial rift cut its way into reality. It was as if God himself hacked through the atmosphere with a meat cleaver - all jagged edges surrounding an abyssal gash that ran from floor to ceiling. Within the impossibly dark blackness, innumerable motes of light sparkled like stars in a cosmos, glimmering brightly against the inky abyss.

A moment later, everything began getting sucked inside. The mana, the very wind itself, and even the Gilded Cage.

My next words were spoken quietly, but rang out the loudest out of all of them.

“Turn All to Stardust…

My Celestial Grimoire.”

And, just like that-

I was no longer on Earth Bet.

_______________________________________

Perks Rolled:

N/A this chapter!

700 CP remaining.

A/N:

Slightly shorter chapter here, but I felt like this was a good place to end it off and I wanted to get something up on Patreon after my week hiatus!

Hopefully this gives people a better idea of how Rune's 'rehabilitation' is going to go. Don't know why some people thought that Avalon would just go straight to raping and mindfucking - that's not, at all, his personality, but here we are.

More importantly, the Reality Marble! If you can guess what kind it is, you win an internet cookie! All I'm gonna say right now is that it is very worth the 800 CP price. Its theme is pretty obvious during the Incantation and the effects of said incantation, I think.

Anyways, that's all I got for now. See you guys soon!

Next chapter will be exploring the RM more closely.