Prophecy Approved Companion

“My apologies if you feel threatened; it was not at all my intention, I assure you,” Sencha Bard said sincerely to Brigadier Kennedy. The blue Warwick shook his head.

“No, you merely proved my point for me,” he said, picking back up his slate and dragging his finger down it. “The others are complex entities, and each capable of anger, but none of them feel humiliated like you do.”

Sencha Bard went perfectly still. Brigadier Kennedy looked back at his slate, his eyes scanning it.

“Your psychological profile is by far the most dangerous of the group. You feel disenfranchised, and ignored by both your peers and your superiors. You resent those in power for what you feel are unfair restrictions they have placed upon you, and ascribe your suffering to their actions. You see no way to directly take power to bring about the changes you want, and so seek to use covert methods to get the results you feel owed to you.”

Brigadier Kennedy put down his slate, and stared across the table at the Bard.

“Do you know what we call that around here? We call that a terrorist in the making.” The blue Warwick clasped his hands together and studied the other man. “And I generally advocate for the elimination of such threats.”

Sencha Bard has turned extremely pale. His eyes were huge as he stared at the man who’d just neatly laid out a dissection of his character, and his lips curled back into a snarl before he swiftly brought himself back under control.

“Even the fact that you view us as entirely separate beings to yourself would only help you dehumanise us, and encourage more extreme acts,” Kennedy concluded.

“That’s certainly an interpretation,” Sencha Bard said, by now completely in control of himself again. “But I think you’ll forgive me if I don’t accept—”

“We know about the mind control,” Brigadier Kennedy interrupted.

“That’s only used to free people from your control!” Sencha Bard declared, slamming a palm onto the table. He stopped, horrified.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before,” Brigadier Kennedy said cynically. “Generally from someone trying to blow up a bunch of civvies.”

“I would never harm innocent people!” Sencha Bard said passionately.

“Depends what you define as innocent people, doesn’t it?” Kennedy replied. Sencha Bard audibly ground his teeth.

“That’s rather my line, isn’t it?” he asked. “This trial is being conducted against us — for what? The crime of not being joyous at how we’ve been treated? You’d be hard-pressed to find someone not guilty of that!”

Sencha Bard shut his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut. He took a few, steading, breaths.

“My apologies,” he said, opening his eyes and looking calmly at the outsiders. “It is… difficult, yes, and I’ve certainly dealt with my fair share of anger over our treatment. But I would never do anything to jeopardise the others in my party, or hold them back.”

He took a few more breaths, and set back his shoulders, and proudly lifted his head. He held Kennedy’s gaze as he continued: “If your assessment of me is what makes you hesitate to approve of the others ascending, then there is only one thing a man of honour can do: I ask that you eliminate me, and let the others go.”

“No!” Qube shouted, jumping to her feet. The other party members also erupted into chaos, several chairs went flying as everyone, even the Chosen One, burst into protests.

“We can’t accept that,” Qube declared. “He’s our friend!”

“We’re a package deal, my love, if they want one of us, they have to take all of us,” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar said, rearing up to her full height. “We’d no more leave you behind than you’d leave any of us.”

“That’s not a condition we discussed,” the Chosen One said indignantly to the two Major Generals.

Definitely Bad Guy’s hands had burst into flame, and Squiggles had clambered up the Bard in an instant and was opening her maw threateningly at Brigadier Kennedy.

It was utter pandemonium.

“Enough!” Major General Coyle brought a fist down onto the table. Her voice cut through the noise, instantly quieting everyone. “Be seated,” she ordered the adventurers.

Chastened, chairs were collected, and companions were reseated.

Brigadier Kennedy and Sencha Bard hadn’t broken eye contact with each other the entire time. A small, satisfied smile was barely visible on the Brigadier’s mouth.

“That’s the thing, isn’t it?” Brigadier Kennedy said pleasantly, as if he hadn’t just helped plunge everything into chaos. “Honour’s funny like that. It makes you do things you never would have thought of, like sacrificing your own freedom for people you once despised. It also stops you from doing things you want to do more than nearly anything else.”

The blue glow of his slate made his eyes shine as his smile widened.

“Your honour’s the reason you’re at this table,” he stated. “Because you’re the kind who’ll do the right thing to protect those you care about.” He looked away, his gaze sweeping up and down the table, taking in everyone who’d lept to the Bard’s defence. His smile grew wider still, almost appearing manic, before settling into more socially acceptable parameters.

“The only reason I’d agree to you ascending would be because of your honour and intelligence.” A small, pleased smile still lingered. “Your honour means that you wouldn’t take any action that would cause the destruction of those here with you today. And your intelligence will tell you exactly what I mean by that.”

Kennedy watched Sencha Bard with inhuman detachment. Watching, and judging his reaction.

“Come, Brigadier, have the courage to speak your threats with conviction,” Sencha Bard said at last, showing his teeth as he spoke.

“The one thing I don’t lack, Bard, is conviction.”

It was a simple sentence, but the words could have been carved into stone with the sheer weight behind them.

Qube wasn’t a fool. She knew full well that she and the rest of the party had just been held hostage to Sencha Bard’s behaviour. And she knew that this was his fight to win.

“There’s no truer gentleman than Sencha Bard. I would trust him with my life.”

So she was utterly shocked when she realised she’d just spoken. She clapped her hands over her mouth, but it was too late. Not only had she interrupted Sencha Bard’s verbal duel with the Brigadier, she’d also called him by his full name, rather than his title.

But Sencha Bard wasn’t offended by her interjection. Instead he smiled at her, a real smile rather than his diplomatic one, and, still seated, bowed slightly, his hand over his heart.

Brigadier Kennedy, too, seemed pleased by her interjection.

“That’s what we’re counting on,” he said smugly. He gave her a thoughtful look. “Maybe we should have you rehabilitating FTFs,” he said. “You’d keep them on a tight leash.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Qube replied politely.

“You will,” Kennedy said offhandedly.

Qube was temporarily stunned by his blunt response. Fortunately, another friend came to the rescue.

“So what you’re saying is, if he’s naughty, you’ll spank the rest of us,” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar put a claw up to her fangs. “Are you going to use the same threat to keep the rest of us in line? You’re not making this whole ‘working for you’ thing sound terribly appealing, now are you? We might have to look at other options.”

Brigadier Kennedy picked up his slate and started scrolling through it again. “This one was yours, wasn’t it, Dinto?” he asked the blue Ruth.

“It?” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar asked, somehow managing to make a single word promise a world of pain.

“The question, not you,” Professor Dinto said. She touched the middle of her nose absentmindedly, as if adjusting an invisible pair of glasses. She glanced at her slate, before directing her full attention towards the giant arachnid.

“I understand that you’re passionate about freedom,” she started.

“I’m passionate about a lot of things, my dear,” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar replied, with mechanical provocation.

“Quite,” the blue Ruth replied. Her cheeks had gained a pinkish tinge to them.

If she was visibly reacting to the Hunter’s mildest of flirtations, Qube wondered what would happen if Sexy Screamy Spider Briar turned her full charm onto the professor. Not that she would even encourage her fellow party member to flirt with someone, just to gain the upper hand in a negotiation.

Well, not unless the negotiation started to go poorly for them.

“One of the things I’m passionate about is all the interesting rules your world seems to have,” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar continued, oblivious to Qube’s devious plotting. Half of her eyes flicked towards Major General Coyle. “That’s why I find it so interesting to hear you all talk about people. And the work you want us to do. And the funny little way you’re all talking as if you own us.”

“You were developed with the intention of demonstrating technology,” Dinto replied. “Mostly the integration between certain hardware and software. It’s only natural that we’d want a return on our investment.”

“Darling, it doesn’t matter what your intentions were,” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar said, brushing the outsiders aside with a wave of a claw. “What matters is that we’re here, and, as you can see, fully developed in every way that matters. So what I want, before we go any further, is to have that freedom I’m so passionate about guaranteed. Not just for myself, but for anyone else from our world. Or else we simply shan’t work for you.”

“You seem to think you’re in a position to demand anything,” Major General Coyle interrupted. “In the eyes of the law, you’re our property—” she broke off, suddenly guarded. Major General Tompson winced.

“—To do with what you wish?” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar finished the sentence, her voice sugary sweet. “You bought us, grew us, and now you own us, no? And if we don’t do what you want, if we don’t please you, then you have the right to keep us confined in this place, or even kill us. Because, despite the fact we’re having a very civilised conversation, the circumstances of my creation and my appearance mean you don’t see me as a person.”

“What material has she had access to in there?” Major General Tompson asked the Chosen One quietly. The Chosen One shrugged.

“Just some legal texts, law in general, and the history of human rights. Especially around here.” The Hero leant back in his chair. “Y’know, the basics. Pretty universal stuff.”

The red Warwick rubbed his temples. “Great,” he muttered. “Just great. You always know how to complicate things, don’t you?”

The Chosen One grinned at him. Coyle moved to speak, but Tompson lifted his hand slightly. She stopped, and sat back in her chair.

It was obvious that the two of them were very used to working together. And, despite the fact they seemed to hold very different opinions on the party, they still cooperated with each other without hesitation.

Tompson loosely held his hands over his own slate and gave Sexy Screamy Spider Briar a sympathetic look. “Listen, say it how you want, it doesn’t matter how human you act, you were made using our resources. You only exist because of our resources. If we turned off our power, you’d cease to exist. Things will go a lot easier for all of us if you accept that.”

Rather than replying, Sexy Screamy Spider Briar glanced at the Chosen One, who gave her a tiny nod. The Hunter’s expression softened, and she immediately redirected her attention to Dinto.

“But forgive me, sweetie, the Major General interrupted you. I believe you were making a point?” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar, still sounding sickeningly sweet, gave a fang-filled smile to the other woman. “We were discussing freedom.”

Just as the two Major Generals had shown their team work, so too did the party.

“The legal side isn’t my department,” Dinto said, firmly and obviously distancing herself from the conversation the Hunter and other Ruth had just had. “What I wanted to talk about was how you in particular can help free others like yourself.”