’Mother. It’s your turn.’
Hera frowned at the playing cards lying on her ’side’ of the table.
To avoid revealing her presence here, Hera’s hand was to be manipulated by her son. Otherwise, the security feed would imdiately pick up the floating cards.
"...This is silly. You already know my entire hand before I’ve even begun to play." Hera thought back.
’Humor , mother, dearest. It isn’t as if we have much else to do in here.’
Hera begrudgingly points to a card. "...You should not be in here at all."
’... Don’t start this again, mother. I’m paying my dues to society.’ Arias picks up her choice and places it on the pile before responding.
"But if isolation is what you desire, then would it not be more preferable for you to co to my realm instead? There, at least, you may atone in comfort."
Arias laughed to himself, uncaring of the cara in his room.
’Atoning in comfort...? I’m afraid that’s a bit of an oxymoron.’
"Atoning is not synonymous with misery."
’It is to humans, I’m afraid.’
Hera pursed her lips as she pointed to a card. "If you regret your actions so much, I don’t understand why you will not retreat from this world and allow it to heal."
Arias couldn’t say he wasn’t tempted. However, his refusal remained firm.
’Morgan would say that it is important that I stay put. That the future of evolved humanity depends on seeing a figure such as myself showing a willingness to believe in cooperation and, if necessary, accept appropriate punishnt for causing harm.’
Arias leaned back in his chair with a smile on his face.
’I don’t think it’s that big of a price to pay to make a good change. Fred Hampton was jailed nurous tis, and he ended up being the reason Arican children got free lunch.’
Hera could only smile wryly at her son. "Ever the optimist..."
’It is one of my best traits. I just forget about it so often because there are so many of them.’
Hera chuckled to herself as she gave up on their ga of playing cards. ’Yes, but it seems that your humility is in short supply. It might behoove you to-’
With no warning, the prismatic screen of light keeping Arias in his cell was suddenly taken down.
Initially, neither of the two paid much attention to the phenona, as they believed it to be another routine al delivery.
But then, Arias rembered it was far too early for that.
He sat up on the bed abruptly and found a clean-cut, handso man with dark skin and square white teeth.
The bottoms of his leather shoes were slick with blood.
He beckoned Arias out of his cell with a friendly smile.
"Kincaid...?"
"Co on, fearless leader. I hear the food in this place is terrible."
Arias stood up slowly. His face was tight with anxiety.
"Darren... What did you do...?"
"I ca for you. It took a bit longer to do so than we had planned, but we should get out of here quickly if we want to avoid a-"
"I’m not going anywhere. I told you that, I told everyone that. I’m serving my sentence." Arias said firmly.
He sat back on his bed and tried to pretend things weren’t as dire as they felt.
"You should get ready to join . Maybe they’ll let us out of our cells once a day if you surrender quietly, and-"
"I’m afraid we might be a little far past that point, my friend. We’re about to reach the point of no return. And I want you to place your faith in just once, as you placed your faith in those two little tokens..." Kincaid said disdainfully.
Alarms suddenly begin to go off. The lights in the prison turned an ominous, flashing red.
Arias holds his head, hoping to blot out the blaring noise that threatens to deafen him.
Kincaid says sothing as the panic in the prison rises. He is as cool as a cucumber, his hands never leaving his pockets, and his lips remain pursed as if he’s whistling.
His words never reach Arias’ ears over all of the noise. He isn’t sure if he really wants to hear them anyway.
But then, Arias sees Kincaid tap his foot on the ground, and his entire world begins to rumble.
-
The sky over Ireland suddenly beca dark and cloudy.
Thunder rumbles in the distance as streaks of magenta rip through the dark clouds.
A bird descends from the heavens without warning. It is an impossibly large, demonic thing that appears as a remnant of the Jurassic age.
It lands on the ground just outside of an abandoned stadium, only to be greeted with screams and panic.
All of which disperse as the creature returns to a normal, more human appearance.
"Mal!"
Malachi rushed inside the stadium towards Emilia and Crystal.
He doesn’t have to move his eyes from them, but he has already sorted through the entire colosseum with his senses by the ti he reaches their position.
He knows that his friend isn’t here.
"I’m here. Where’s Morgan??"
He kneels beside Crystal as she swallows back a sob. Her ankle is slightly bruised, and parts of her overalls are torn.
"I... I don’t know..! These people, they were from Arias’ old group, they just showed up and took him!"
"N-Not just him..!" Emilia adds. "They took all of the n on our team, and our supplies, and-"
"It’s alright, we’ll find them." Malachi’s calm voice does not mirror his inner thoughts at all. "First things first, we need to get you and anyone else who’s been injured looked at."
Emilia and Crystal shake their heads in denial.
"N-No one else was hurt... They weren’t interested in the refugees; this only happened to because I was trying to stop them from taking him.." Crystal looks down at her torn clothes and leg with pity.
Malachi is relieved on that front, at the very least. And yet, the worry he feels for his missing friend is still his most present concern.
More figures arrive in the doorway shortly after Malachi. Their eyes glow with an inhuman light as the scent of blood announces itself to their senses.
Mal stands up shortly after ensuring that Emilia and Crystal are alright.
He moves past the mbers of his family as his own eyes begin to shine.
"Take the girls on board the ship, and make sure everyone here has what they need... I don’t think any authorities are coming, but I should be back before they do." He says firmly.
Aisha was the only person to follow Malachi instead of checking on the refugees as asked.
"You’re going to look for him, right? Two heads are better than one."
Malachi cannot refute the use of his friend’s senses in this endeavor.
He smiles subtly at her and nods in confirmation.
Together, the two of them jump into the sky, and the world below is darkened by the shadows of their inhuman forms.
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