Nerves and tensions ruled the atmosphere. An entire two hours, that’s how long there was to wait. During which, of course, Seven-Snakes woke up. The bastard didn’t wait before stirring up shit; predictably one of the first things he tried was to use his Divine Talent and run off. When he tried, the manacles around his hands delivered a potent shock that knocked him unconscious. It wouldn’t have worked on some Talents, but it was enough to disable Seven-Snakes’ most annoying ability.
So, he gave up and settled on insulting everyone.
Which pissed everyone off; Erec offered to play guard, since it would help him work off his nervous tension. He didn’t mind the insults of a loser.
It didn’t take long for the man to recognize him; when he asked Erec to show his face, he did so proudly.
“Sniveling lil’ kid.” Seven-Snakes rattled his cuffs at him, sneering. “Didn’t forget that face. Where’s that scared lil’ bitch waiting for his master to save him? Take off that steel, face me like a man.”
“Disappointed with how this all turned out, was kinda hoping I’d be the one to smash your face into a shelf.” Erec crossed his arms and took in the pathetic man. He was skinnier than when they’d last met and had a new hollowness to his eyes. There was a hunger. Was that what led them into the old-world facility? Did it have to do with that android he was tracking?
“Do it then.” Seven-Snakes spat on Erec’s Armor.
Instantly, his Fury sparked with the challenge. All that buried anger for his loss against the man brought it in full force. Erec felt his veins burning from the disrespect. The weight of their history hung between him, and he owed Seven-Snakes a debt for how he’d treated him, and what he’d tried to do. But yet they’d already defeated this pathetic worm, tied him up. It’d be wrong to let loose on a defenseless opponent.
“Bet if I ran across your mother, she’d be just like you, quiet and a coward. But she’d be a lot more fuckable—“
“Wow,” Enide said, walking up, hand behind her back as she looked between Erec and the prisoner. “He’s a piece of work. You going to take that, slinger. Or is shutting up an unruly bastard too much for you?”
There was more lurking there in the question. They both knew it. “Enide, I’m sorry for what I said. I was just surprised. It’s not often we fight against other humans, let alone kill them. But you’re an incredible fighter and are the reason you guys won with no causalities.” Erec said.
She flashed him a smirk. “More.”
“More?”
“You heard me, hero. I want more praise. Think I did it well, right? Tell me how.”
“Uh… The way you moved; was so damn deadly, how does your Talent work—I’d thought it a kind of teleportation, but the way you use it to wrap those bullets around you was something else entirely. It’s incredible,” Erec began, seeing her grin grow wider. If all it took to repair their rough patch was to express his admiration for how she fought, well, that was easy. What he didn’t want to admit is how badly part of him wanted to test himself against her.
“Fucking shoot me,” Seven-Snakes screamed, smacking his head on the bookcase. “Please, for the love of that bitch in the sky, end it already.”
“Hush, whiny,” Enide snorted. “Hey, hero. Mind punching him for me?”
“…Dunno if that’d be right,” Erec said.
“Fuck you, fuck her and fuck this whole shit-stain of a group. My only regret is that wish I could’ve killed the lot of you, would’ve left your corpses to rot. Maybe not her—she’d fetch a nice price—“
That was about it. As Seven-Snakes shifted his focus on to berating Enide and threatening her, Erec snapped. In a quick second, he was towering over Seven-Snakes, glaring down at his ton of steel. There was a threat to it; as the fire blazed in his chest. The threat that if he kept saying this absurdest and vile shit, Erec would end it. All the anger from before conjured Fury quicker than it’d ever been before.
“She’s a vile whore—“
Erec grabbed him by the collar, yanking the thin man up, and snapped his fist into the guy’s face.
With that, Seven-Snakes went limp, Erec dropped him after seeing his chest still rising. One punch to knock out the man who’d taken him hostage; a sudden act of violence against an unarmed man, who was using nothing but words to insult Enide.
Why did it feel so good?
“Atta boy,” Enide laughed. “Thing is, hero. You can have all these lofty ambitions or codes, but they don’t matter besides the weight you put on’em. The only reason you gotta follow them is because your head says so. Now, I’m not saying ‘It’s okay to do whatever,’ but follow your heart, alright? Saw you do it earlier in the tunnel when you wrecked the hell out of those robots, but don’t quite understand why you freeze on it outside of a fight. Not right if you ask me. And punching an asshole who can’t shut his mouth? That’s just a common curtsy for the rest of us.”
“Follow my heart?” Erec asked, flexing his fingers.
Seven-Snakes groaned on the ground. Enide was right. Until he punched him, Seven-Snakes would’ve kept testing his buttons and trying to worm his way under his skin. Putting up with it was an exercise in futility.
Restraint only holds me back?
Erec threw his helmet off, far away from his victim on the ground. His eyes burned into Enide as the grin faded from her face.
“…That’s right. Follow your heart.”
Erec closed the distance and cupped her chin. Such a delicate move, with his gauntlets. And the way she looked back at him set his heart wild. Waiting in another world was torture. As was the idea of waiting until they reached Vega for a date under neon lights. She’d put a perfect image in his head, a moment that’d pulled him along and made him yearn for what could be. That idea was a restraint, though. Held him back from what could be.
At any moment, they could die. Sure, under the neon lights would be a dream of a moment. Far more ideal than in a dark library netherworld surrounded by captured thugs, Knights, and rubbernecking Pendragons.
Waiting was torture, and he was done with restraint. There was no such thing as perfect.
Erec leaned in, closing his eyes.
Their lips touched, both of them hesitant at first. Yet his blood turned to liquid fire as she pressed back; the fact she was as nervous as him only drove him forward. Enide didn’t pull away. One of her hands went to the back of his head as he pulled her closer by the waist. Despite the Armor, she pressed up against him. It was only his imagination, but he could’ve sworn he felt her through the plate.
The kiss turned desperately on both ends as the last of any reservation broke away. He felt as if they were floating away, untouched and in their bubble of reality.
A shrill whistle cut through it.
“Way to fucking go!” Garin yelled, clapping his hands.
“Goddess, what in the name of hell…” Boldwick’s rumble cut through.
[Finally. It’s annoying watching human courting dances. Though we’ll be having a talk soon about romances in the workplace, and when it isn’t appropriate to engage in such behavior. Like now.]
Enide laughed and pulled away. When Erec opened his eyes, she was gone. She’d pulled her vanishing trick to leave him to deal with the repercussions.
Embarrassed, he turned to face Boldwick, Garin, and the rest of the Pendragons gawking.
“Erec—please tell me you didn’t just knock out the prisoner to impress a girl. Because if you did, so help me…“
“I can explain—“ Erec began, stammering. He couldn’t. It may have felt right, and while he might not have regretted it, his actions had consequences.
— - ☢ - — - ☼ - — - ☢ - —
Everyone rushed through the Rifts the second they opened. It was inevitable, even the Knights shoved through the prisoners as fast as they could after a head count.
Then they went through the shadowy vortex that’d marked the tunnel between worlds.
This time, crossing the boundary was different. Instead of an endless stretch of steel was a corridor of books. Erec ran this time, eager to return home, but it kept going. Longer. The darkness behind him ate up the shelves and dim light as he ran. His heart pumped and panic flooded. Did something go wrong? Was this not what he thought it was?
Shapes twisted in the shadows behind.
Then suddenly, he was running down the steel tunnel—once more in the underground Vault.
Knights and prisoners popped into existence around them, most in a state of distress and confusion, like himself.
[Well, that was an informative experiment. One last order of business. You need to return to the central control room before we leave and set your palm on the main console for a few minutes. There’s something I wish to test.]
Erec shook but numbly followed the request after another head count. Once they were coordinating the evacuation, Erec slipped away.
Halfway to the destination, he reclined against a wall and took in a breather.
[Hurry.]
“Wait a minute,” Erec said. When jolting out of the Rift for the first time, his stomach twisted and turned. This time was different. He felt floaty. How much of that was the reality that he’d kissed Enide? But his thoughts felt slower, more sluggish. Adapting to shifting worlds took its toll. “VAL, what are you trying to accomplish? I thought you said you couldn’t do anything with the networks of this place.”
[Well, after working through my perimeters, after discovering they stole our research, I felt obligated to. I’ve found a reasonable loophole in my logic. Normally this wouldn’t work, but I predict that your little tech has had some time now to do his work. If he busted some walls, knowingly or not, I might as well make a copy. For our records.]
Erec shook his head before pulling himself together and fulfilling the request. With everyone distracted by the Knights arriving, going into the central room and leaning on the center console, and making small talk with Corey was… Almost too simple. An hour later, they’d packed away what they could and were headed back to the surface.
A few hours past that, the entire group was once more back on the surface, gathered together on the outskirts of Worth.
Rochester promised a party to end all parties.