Dashing devil 5 bold beg.., p.40
Dashing Devil 5: Bold Beginnings, page 40
Stepper raised an eyebrow, obviously skeptical of his claim. "And what if they don't want those good lives?" she challenged, crossing her arms. "What if they want to be free? To live away from your government’s subjugation? To not have to live with a sword hanging over their heads?"
Boyd studied the woman intently, trying to decipher her true intentions. She seemed genuine in her belief that The Authority was responsible for all the evils in their world. But Boyd knew it wasn't that simple. Most citizens of The Authority were just regular people—neither completely good nor entirely evil.
As he spoke, his voice remained firm and unwavering. "It's not up to you to decide for them. They have the right to make their own choices."
“Do they have that right inside The Authority’s walls?” Stepper countered, her voice containing a bitter edge. “Or will they just be another pawn to serve your government’s regime? Simple pieces to be manipulated and controlled… just like you?”
Boyd felt his anger rise at the accusation but dismissed it because her statement would have been true not that long ago.
He met her eyes squarely and kept his voice steady as he replied, “Stepper, we are not the ones controlling and manipulating people. We are trying to change the way things are… from the inside. We may be a part of The Authority, but we have our own objectives and goals—goals that don't align with everything they do.”
Boyd frowned and shook his head. “I am no longer a pawn. And I will forge a new, better world from within,” he growled.
Stepper scoffed and shook her head. “If you knew the truth of all that The Authority has done, the death and destruction it has wrought on our world, you would not think it worth fixing.”
She paused and he saw something hopeful grow in her eyes that came through in her voice as she continued, “Come with us, Crimson Paw. Let me show you the truth of the world and the full evil of The Authority.”
Boyd stared at the woman for a long moment, judging her words and intentions. He felt concern grow over his Bond with Silver and he gave her calf a reassuring squeeze to let her know he wasn’t considering Stepper’s offer. He had a purpose within The Authority, people he loved—those he wished to protect and for whom he wished to make a better world.
"I appreciate the offer, Stepper," he said slowly, "but my place is here. I believe that change can come from within, and I will be that change. You may not see it now, but there are good people within The Authority who are working with me towards a better future."
Stepper's expression hardened, but her voice was a mix of disappointment and acceptance. "You don't understand. There is no hope for that system. It is too corrupt, too deeply involved in perpetuating suffering. The world needs people who can see the truth and fight against the oppressors. You are only adding to the problem by staying within The Authority."
“You're not going to convince me,” Boyd returned her hard expression with one of his own. “I don’t wish to be your enemy, but I will not be talked into destroying something I have sworn my life to protect. Keep that in mind. If you remain set on destroying The Authority, I will oppose you. It’s time to take your people and go.”
After a brief pause, Stepper sighed deeply and nodded. "Very well, Crimson Paw." The dark elf’s voice was filled with resignation, but also determination. "Just remember that we are the ones who are truly on your side. When you realize that there is no hope for your system, reach out and I will be there to show you the truth.”
With that, she disappeared from sight, reappearing next to one of the Changed. After a split second, she disappeared again along with her passenger. This process repeated itself, the dark-skinned woman appearing for a moment, grabbing an unconscious Changed, and then vanishing two dozen more times.
While she did this, the dragon man stepped out of the guard room with a limp and said in his deep, resonating voice, “It was a pleasure to meet you, Crimson Paw. I hope the next time it will be as allies.” He wore a pair of loose brown leather pants and a belt, but his shining red scales were otherwise bare.
Boyd nodded to the man. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“I am called Draconis,” the man said with a deep nod that may as well have been a short bow.
“And I am Regulus,” the beaked man said in a regal tone as he stepped out beside his draconian companion. “I, too, hope we never have cause to fight again.” His avian eyes were bloodshot, although no tears stained his feathers.
Boyd had an errant thought and took a mental note to look into whether birds could cry or not.
“Sorry about your eyes,” Boyd nodded to the man.
“Think nothing of it,” he replied, his beak clicking together twice. “It was a small price to pay, as I will now be able to tell the tale of the time I fought the Crimson Paw and lived to talk about it.”
Boyd chuckled and shook his head. “Just how big of a deal am I to you guys?”
Regulus blinked and considered his reply, but Draconis beat him to it.
“As a child,” the red-scaled man said, “I grew up with stories about you and what you would accomplish. Mind you, I am at least a decade your senior. Your coming has been foretold for three hundred years.”
He paused.
When he continued, it was obvious that he was reciting something from memory:
The lost son will return and unite us all against our greatest threat.
He is the bringer of change.
The one who will put the world right… alongside his wives.
He ended with a nod and a smile he directed at Silver. The big red dragon man met Boyd’s eye again before he continued. “Stepper may be disappointed by your decision today, but I trust in the prophecies… and I trust in you. If you think staying is the right decision, then it is right.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Stepper said with a sigh after she appeared next to Draconis, “that’s what Lil—ahem, sorry,” she broke off with a glance at Silver who glowered at her.
The Hero’s eyes glowed just a little brighter.
The porter turned back to Boyd and continued. “That’s what our beloved leader told me would happen. She said not even to bother trying to convince you if we met, and that you would come home when the time was right.”
“She’ll be waiting a long while,” Boyd rumbled, then shook his head again before glancing around the room to confirm that all but eight of the Changed had been removed. “It was a pleasure meeting you and not having my face driven into the concrete, but I must ask that you clear my engagement zone so I can continue my mission.”
The already dusky skin of Stepper’s cheeks darkened a shade when he brought up their last encounter and she replied with a chagrinned smile, “Right… uh… sorry about that.”
She reached over and put her hand on Regulus’s arm and then disappeared, taking the griffin man with her. She reappeared a moment later. “To be fair, you did put a few holes in my thigh.” She disappeared again, taking Draconis with her, only to appear again a moment later.
This time she stood much closer to him. She held a data stick out to him in her delicate looking hand. “Your reporter will be interested in what’s on that.”
Boyd accepted it from her as Stepper looked him up and down. Her pretty blue eyes filled with some heat as they settled on his golden orbs. “I promise I’ll make it up to you… someday.” She was gone again before he had a chance to reply.
Boyd scanned the room, trusting Silver to have his back. He half expected the porter to pop up to try to kidnap him. After a moment, he judged that she wouldn’t be returning. “Well, that was interesting,” he rumbled.
Silver gave him a concerned look.
“I’m still with you, my love, and I always will be,” he reassured her. “But we still have work to do. Start transporting the hostages to the safe zone, please, while I keep watch on those still here.”
“What if she comes back and tries to take you?” Silvie asked, her voice filled with the anxiety he sensed had spiked across their Bond.
Boyd drew his sword and charged it with his Black Flame as he made his way towards a clear section of wall that he put his back to before shrugging. “I’ll try not to do more damage than Hopewing can heal. Then, we can interrogate her and see if we can’t get some of those answers she promised. Now please, go. That conversation put us behind schedule.”
“Okay, Darling,” Silver gave him a half-hearted attempt at one of her patented pouts before blurring over to collect two of the remaining Changed before disappearing back the way they had come.
While scanning the room, Boyd also scanned his FDU. He confirmed that his team members, Pinnacle Watch, and the Quantum Guardians were in their proper locations for this stage of the mission. He also confirmed that no injuries had been reported.
Other than the strange encounter with Stepper and her men, the mission was going smoothly. Given the scale and the number of things that could go wrong, the fact that there had been relatively few issues made his teeth itch.
It was going too smoothly.
Chapter 42
Hopewing smiled sweetly at the excitable Tinker as the much shorter woman repeated, “We actually made it,” for the fourth time since they entered the safe zone established by Pinnacle Watch and held by the Pulse Brothers.
It was in a storage area off of a service hall that connected the freight entrance they planned to exfiltrate through once the Powered opposition was dealt with and the NPOs could enter in force. Several hundred of the Authority’s non-powered officers were standing by to deal with the mop up.
“Yes, we did sister,” Hopewing replied, “and it was all thanks to you dealing with the guards on the way.”
She might have been exaggerating a little, as she could have dealt with the opposition they had encountered herself. She had seen the lengths her Lord had gone to, to build up her smallest sister’s confidence. She saw no harm in supporting him in that effort.
“Yeah, Tink, you were a powerhouse out there. How many did you take down?” Mind Witch asked, likely with the same purpose as Hopewing.
Hopewing’s darkest sister seemed distracted—probably by events that were happening around her Lord. The Mind Powered had informed them that Boyd had encountered members of the third faction in the shadow war her Lord was now waging—those who came from the Wild Lands and intended to destroy The Authority.
It started with a short fight, in which her Lord displayed his dominance as he typically did, but they were now conversing. Her goth sister said she would keep them updated and not to be concerned, though she was obviously concerned herself—even if she tried to hide it behind an emotionless mask.
“Sixteen guards plus that one Powered,” Tinker said with a mixture of pride and trepidation, her hazel eyes wide as she looked from Hopewing to Mind Witch.
She had retracted her visor after they entered the safe zone, with the semitransparent pink visor sliding up into the hot pink helmet she wore.
“They all went down so quickly. Honestly,” Tinker blurted out, “this whole mission was easier than the obstacle course.”
Hopewing smiled at her smallest sister but reminded her, “The mission is not over until we are all safely back on the way to Glorith.”
This was especially true since her Lord was dealing with an outside threat. She so badly wanted to rush to his side, but he had made her promise to stay with Tinker and to keep her safe. His worry for the small woman—for all of them—was so sweet.
“Right,” Tinker nodded.
Her excited expression faded a bit, but she was obviously still riding an adrenaline high. The pink clad Hero turned to Mind Witch and asked with more excitement than the situation called for, “Any update on Boyd’s situation? Is Stepper there? I don’t think we have to worry if Stepper is there; she seems like a good person.”
“Saving a few civilians doesn’t necessarily mean she is on our side,” Mind Witch let a small frown cross her lips for just a moment before her mask slid back into place. “For now, they are just talking. She’s trying to convince him to go with her but doesn’t seem to be trying to force it. I’ve identified her mind, and while her defenses are pretty good, I have not picked up any intent to take him by force. It doesn’t seem that she thinks she can—Boyd nearly took out the two men she brought to counter him and Silver in a few seconds.”
“That sounds like Boyd,” Tinker said with a little laugh, “exceeding expectations and all that.”
“Yes,” Mind Witch nodded, “but it raises another concern. Stepper knew it would just be Silver and him moving on the containment area… which means she somehow had knowledge of our plan.”
“Do you think we have a mole?” Tinker asked, sounding confused. “The details of our plan were kept to The Devoted, Royce, and Davis… and I don’t think it was any of us.” She paused and frowned. “Could we betray Boyd, even if we wanted to?”
“The cost associated with his Enhancement would likely prevent us from wanting to,” Mind Witch’s lips quirked up at one side. “I doubt it was any of us, either. There is a chance that it was Laura, she was given a copy of the plan as part of her training, though I doubt it was her. She really wants into our family, and I’ve never picked up anything that might imply she was against us in any of her thoughts. Daisy and Kayla might have overheard parts of the plan, but we didn’t discuss enough over mealtime for them to pass on what Stepper knew.”
“It seems unlikely that it was any of us,” Hopewing chimed in, her voice calm and steady despite the worry that began to gnaw at her. She scanned their surroundings, checking for any signs of danger—even within the supposedly safe zone. “We’ll have to tread carefully from now on and be cautious of who we share information with.”
Tinker nodded in agreement, her previous enthusiasm somewhat dampened by the shadow of suspicion. “I’ll keep an eye out and see if I notice anything unusual.”
Suddenly, she blanched, her cheeks which had been rosy with excitement going pale in an instant. Hopewing was left with the distinct impression that something was said privately between her and Mind Witch.
She peered at Mind Witch , old suspicions rising for a moment that were quickly squashed by a much more recent and pleasant memory. Her darkest sister would never betray her Lord or any of his loves. For one thing, doing so would betray herself. For another, the woman loved Boyd as strongly as Hopewing herself did. She was deeply committed to him—and through him, to all of them.
She would die with a smile on her face if it meant any of them might live an extra day.
‘Thank you for no longer suspecting me,’ Mind Witch’s voice said directly into her thoughts. ‘You had perfectly valid reasons to distrust me, but I will admit I hated it when you did. Let me know if you ever need to… ah… to see into my soul like that again.’
Hopewing was grateful that she had coated her halo with her golden shield to hide the sudden shift to a bright pink she was sure it just went through.
‘Kuh-he! It was better than I expected, too. And your Lord thinks we are something extra special as a pair.’
“Ahem,” Hope cleared her throat before her cheeks followed her halo’s example and turned a bright pink. “Any update on Boyd?”
Mind Witch focused on the mental link she had established with Boyd and her brow furrowed in concentration. “Boyd is standing his ground for now. Davis approved letting Stepper and her people take most of the Changed captives. They didn’t have the identifier implants all citizens have. My guess is that Davis just wants to avoid a potential confrontation with that group. Now, she’s still trying to talk Boyd into leaving with her, but it’s just making him angry.”
“That may not be the wisest…” Hopewing’s reply was cut off by shouts outside the door to the safe zone.
The next one to return should have been Kitsune, or possibly Silver with some of the hostages, but the voices were all masculine. Two were those of the Pulse Brothers, the twin's voices nearly the same, but the third was all too familiar.
The Blonde Buffoon could be heard clearly through the door as he shouted, “Just tell me if she’s in there or not!”
Mind Witch moved between Hopewing and the door as the shouting outside intensified, pushing Hopewing and Tinker behind her. It was very sweet, Hopewing thought, if a little silly.
Then there were two masculine cries of pain. Unfortunately, neither were the Blonde Buffoon.
“I can’t sense him at all,” Mind Witch hissed, “but he just took off one of the brother’s legs and the other’s arm. He’s coming.”
As she finished saying this, the functional end of two golden energy swords slashed through the metal door.
A seething fury churned in Hopewing's gut, but she felt powerless to act on it. She summoned her impenetrable barrier in a sphere around them, extending down to and through the floor to shield her sisters from the malicious monster who disguised himself as a Hero. Without her Lord by her side, she was nothing but a shield.
She not only lacked a sword to strike down the treacherous beast and put an end to his wickedness, but also the heart to wield it. Hopewing cursed her frail heart. Dammit, why was she so weak?!
The golden swords cut through the doors several more times—her Lord’s enemy never having learned anything close to efficiency—before the metal of the doors crumbled to pieces. Archangel appeared in a flash of light halfway between Hopewing’s shield and the door of the mostly empty safe zone. Her angelic heart was grateful that none of the hostages had been delivered yet, as they might then have been vulnerable to this monstrosity who plagued their world.
His six golden energy wings blazed with fire behind him, their sword-like feathers fanned out like a peacock’s. He wore his intricately carved golden armor over the tight white suit, unchanged since last she’d seen it. A sword glowed in each hand as he scanned the room, eyes quickly settling on her golden dome and staying there without even checking his corners. The oddly twisted crown on his head, however, was new.
