The man before him shoved his little brother. Mtsi stood there in an unstable fit of emotions and the rock-man had shoved him for it. That was how they trained him. That was how they stripped every true emotion from the boy. If he wasn’t controlled, he was in pain.
“You hurt him,” Onder rumbled.
The rock-man didn’t even bother to look him in the eyes when he spoke. “A lot worse would’ve happened if I didn’t.”
“He wanted to let me out. That’s why he broke the glass.”
“Really?” The rock-man dared to laugh at him. “You know, agent Bliss never mentioned having a brother before you crashed into Kathous. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to kill you or not.”
Onder shut his eyes and took a breath. It wasn’t Mtsi’s fault that their relationship was so distant. He was right to be angry with Onder. He didn’t protect him when it mattered the most.
“Don’t call him that name.”
Onder didn’t bother responding to the rock-man’s emotional manipulation. He knew he was a monster in his brother’s eyes. He still wouldn’t let disrespect towards him go unpunished.
“Bliss? You mean the name he chose for himself?” the rock-man asked, feigning ignorance.
“He did not choose it.”
If anger could pierce walls, Onder would’ve been free already. The rock-man finally looked up and saw the harsh lines that were now melted into his brows. A weak-willed being would’ve been persuaded to let him out after seeing his face, but the rock-man unfortunately had some bite inside of his empty stare.
“You do understand that your brother is capable of thought, yes?”
“I’m done talking in circles with you. I know what you are. I know what this entire place is.”
The rock-man removed his palm from the chamber and took a step back. “You are making it very easy for him to hate you. I hope you realize that.”
His attention seemed to drift from Onder completely at that point. The man was a liar and a scoundrel, but Onder couldn’t help ruminating on his words. He already made it easy for Mtsi to hate him when he gave him up. When he failed to rescue him from the bastards chipping away at his soul. He remembered Mtsi’s pleas at the gala. An offer for redemption. A chance to leave the past behind and move forward together.
Did I miss my only chance to make things right? I could’ve just gone along with it in the moment. At least I would’ve been able to stand by his side and protect him.
It would’ve made extracting him much easier.
“That’s a nice and tragic thought, but I would’ve known that you were lying. Your brain is much more predictable than your brother’s.”
Onder looked up and saw the rock-man standing in the same place, writing something down on his CellPulse. Of course the man could read his thoughts. He had no mouth and still talked to people. Onder should’ve realized that sooner. He spent years living with psychic beings for the Old God’s sake. Reu would never let him hear the end of it.
“Why did you want to recruit me? I thought I was a monster that killed billions.”
“That’s true, but it doesn’t mean you’re not useful to me.”
Onder wished he could do something with his body. Stomp on the ground. Whack his tail against the glass. Crush the rock-man to dust yet another time. He had no gravity to stand on, and it was messing with the strength of his words.
“What would you have used me for?”
“That’s classified.” The rock-man started walking away. “It’s not too late, though. You can always change your mind.”
Onder had a spark of hope that the man would leave the room and give him a moment of peace. Instead, he ended the conversation by crouching next to a control panel at the far end of the room. He held so much power over others, all while hiding in a measly six-foot form with a non-threatening suit and ridiculous pair of glasses to humanize himself.
With nothing left to do except stew in his own rage, Onder closed his eyes. His chamber wasn’t exactly comfortable, but he had slept through worse back on Sigiba. He needed to conserve as much strength as possible for any escape attempts. Any plan he could think of required inflicting massive amounts of damage to his own body.
I’ll do whatever it takes. Anything for you, Mtsi,
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“Onder, keep your eyes closed and don’t make any sudden movements.”
His eyes twitched slightly at the voice that just found its way into his mind. He managed to keep it together. The slightly scratchy and feminine tone was immediately familiar.
“Reu?” he thought.
“Yes, it’s me. I finally found your signal. I’m sorry it took so long.”
“You have to be careful, the rock-man can hear my thoughts.”
She gave a reassuring hum. “Not right now. All he’ll hear is the violent dream of a crazed revenant.”
Onder did his best to chuckle internally. “I can’t believe you ever worked with this guy. He’s insufferable.”
“That’s not the point right now!” Her voice cracked with a hint of embarrassment. “We need to focus on getting you out.”
A warm sensation wrapped itself around the base of his skull. It pushed deeper inside until he felt it tugging at something. Each pull made his consciousness fade for a brief moment. It reminded him of the sudden blackout he experienced when fighting the plant woman and the one called Entropi.
“There are some pesky weeds clinging to your brainstem. You’re gonna want to burn those before we do anything.”
“Won’t that alert the rock-man?”
“He won’t be able to do anything about it. By the time he has another backup plan, you’ll be gone.”
“I like the way you think, Reu.”
“That being said, I do not have a solid plan yet.” She somehow cleared her throat within his mind. “I was hoping you had time to think of something since you are the one with direct visuals of the prison.”
“I have something in mind…” he murmured. “I was going to rip off one of my arms and legs. And my tail.”
“What?”
“I can break anything I hit, but I can’t get close enough to the glass. Even if I managed to swim over, the gravity is so low that hitting it wouldn’t do much since I can’t resist being thrown backwards.”
He had ample time to calculate an estimate of the chamber’s width and length. If he put one limb on top of the other, he could reach the edge of the glass. The energy from his hit would be preserved through his own flesh. If he could turn himself into a complete line through the entire width of the chamber. There’d be no place for the force to go but into one side of the glass or the other.
“My legs are long enough to reach the edge together. I’ll need my tail and my arm tied together on the other side. I can use my shirt for that.”
“Are you confident that you can make it out with two limbs torn off?”
He scoffed. “No, but I have to try something. I’ve just been waiting for the rock-man to leave.”
“Before you do anything you can’t take back, burn the twigs,” she ordered.
To make the process easier, he flipped his body to let his head dangle towards the floor. Blood made its way to his brain, slowed heavily by the low gravity field around him. He opened one eye just a tad to peek at the rock-man’s current location. He was still focused on maintaining the control panel.
Gentle heat always followed wherever his blood went. He could change it at a moment’s notice, something he did for his siblings when they huddled next to him. A similar warmth started to surround the roots holding his brainstem. He didn’t need his blood to boil in order to kill them. Constant elevated heat levels would suffice. The rock-man wouldn’t know a thing.
Reu was still lurking in his thoughts, but he didn’t care. He imagined his siblings standing next to him, their tiny hands clinging to his fingers. Mtsi getting tired and wanting to be carried. Helena insisting that she could keep going and running ahead of the two. Moments they never truly had. The first day he let their feet touch the ground was the day he lost them.
I wasn’t good enough. I’ll never be good enough. He took them. He broke them.
His siblings couldn’t rely on their own father for protection. They only had Onder. Mtsi sought safety from a cold rock that pretended he was a god. Helena was likely off doing something similar. Just because they were small and human. Onder was half-human too, but no one dared to see him that way.
“Onder, calm down.”
Reu’s voice sounded like it was rippling through water before reaching him. The temperature within jumped with every thought of what their father did to them. He could see Helena standing above Mtsi’s beaten body. Mtsi being dragged away by strangers. Zihatzik laughing.
Onder burned the roots at the first horrible thought he had, but he just continued spiraling down. He could relate to Mtsi’s current state in that matter. They couldn’t help but torture themselves to the brink of disaster. Mtsi could anchor Onder if he wanted to. Onder could never do the same.
You’re a useless and pathetic big brother. You don’t deserve them.
WARNING: TEMPERATURE ANOMALY. UNIT WILL BEGIN COOLING PROTOCOL.
His eyes snapped open. Reu’s familiar presence in his mind faded away. The rock-man was now standing next to the chamber and watching Onder with his hands in his pockets. Tears streamed down the giant’s face at the worst possible moment. He couldn’t show weakness to men like the one before him.
“I guess it was only a matter of time before you discovered our fail-safe.” He circled the chamber and lowered his head a few times, acting as though he was looking for something specific. “That’s alright. We have plenty of other options.”
Onder knew it was bullshit. The rock-man wasn’t looking at anything but the same old chips and wires that made up the base of the chamber. Onder now had a time-limit to implement his ultimate escape plan. He just needed enough time after ripping off his limbs to make a few steady hits. Timing would be everything. He wouldn’t get a do-over if he failed, not unless his limbs grew back.
There was no choice but to wait for Reu to contact him again. He wouldn’t make it far out of the solar system without his suit. A getaway vehicle would be required. Then there was the question of Mtsi. Reu would tell him to think rationally. Leave the boy behind for now and return for him at full strength with reality glue. Onder couldn’t help but see leaving him as another betrayal.
Mtsi had agreed to come with Onder before under the threat of harm to the plant woman. The same woman that implanted the weeds in his mind. That would be his chance. If everything could go perfectly, he’d escape and find her. Mtsi would come running. Their relationship was a curiosity. Onder couldn’t think of a reason for Mtsi to care so much for another alien that towered over him while calling herself a subordinate.
“Mtsi mentors the plant woman? He called her an ‘intern.’ What exactly does that entail?”
“I won’t be answering any questions about employees that aren’t related to you.”
The rock-man was playing defense now. That woman was the key to saving Onder’s family and her boss knew it. She would get Mtsi to come with him whether through threats or persuasion. Onder didn’t know much about her, but there was a chance that she would listen to reason. He had to give it a try at the very least.
She stopped me from saving him once, but she may have had the wrong idea. If she believes in the rock’s version of events, she was trying to help Mtsi. Old God, I hope she was trying to help him.
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