Oath of the Survivor

Victor DeRosa was having a bad day.  He took the loss of his position in stride – after all, what good was a council if the world was going to end?  He took the Mayhew brat’s ascension to D Grade with grace – how much more powerful would Victor be, after all, once he accomplished the same?  What could not be tolerated, however, was the utter incompetence of his assistant James.  The buffoon tripped while walking past Victor’s desk and holding a cup of hot tea, spilling all over himself and Victor’s documents.  At least two hours of work was ruined, and to top it all off James asked for a break to visit Central Health, instead of immediately offering to fix the mess he made. 

Jaw clenched; Victor got back to the paperwork.   While he’d have preferred to go speak with Reynolds and his guest, he needed to get the population calculations together along with the formal aid requests.  The Collective -  the group that sold the rescue bid to Corthian Mining – had very strict protocols in place when it came to taking mundane items off-world.  Even things with major cultural significance would be left behind unless they received specific approvals. 

Victor understood, of course.  In fact, he was impressed that they identified these headwinds and had already established solutions.  After syncing his mana to a Translation Node, Victor requested all the details that Mr. Drake could provide on the policies and procedures of the evacuation.  While Boltsbury might be the new leader in title, they both knew that Victor’s administrative prowess would be a necessity to make the evacuation run smoothly. 

To that end, Garth had been more than willing to let Victor iron out the preliminary details, which gave him time to act.  He had several important items he needed to get off-world, and the first step would be to bury the approvals in the dozens of other forms.  In the unlikely event that Garth even looked at the paperwork, he had also prepared enough meaningless approvals to keep him from stumbling across Victor’s true designs. 

Completing the paperwork over an hour later, he prepared it to be shipped up to the Corthian Mining flagship.  Satisfied that everything was appropriately in motion, he made his way to the private residence he’d established after the revelation that Valentine was alive.  Greeting the security personnel at the gate to the estate, he made his way inside the large double doors and into the basement, where Reynolds waited.  Not sparing the man a glance as he set his things down, he spoke. 

“How is our guest recovering?”

“Poorly, sir.  He’s lucid, but his injuries are still severe.  While I don’t think he’s in life threatening danger, I am not confident in a full recovery without intervention by a more qualified Healer.”

“Good.  I don’t need him recovered.  I just need him alive.” 

With that, DeRosa activated MANA WHORL and spread tendrils throughout the room.  Each came into contact with a small, intricately designed magic circle that hummed to life as he infused them with energy.  A larger sigil on the floor was illuminated, and the trapdoor was opened.  DeRosa and Reynolds calmly stepped through, descending the stairs into the darkness beyond. 

Beneath the basement, Victor had commissioned a bunker.  It wasn’t questioned, as the population was convinced there was an attempt on his life.  Who wouldn’t want to have a little more security?  After having it installed, DeRosa and Reynolds got to work on putting in modifications.  Lights came on as they entered the room, revealing a cell with a single prisoner.  Victor was glad he’d prepared as much as he did, not having expected Gregory Valentine himself to appear. 

Far less would have been required to contain weaker enemies, but Victor wasn’t a man who did things in half measures.  As was tradition, he examined each of the three layers of containment for tampering before anything else. 

The cell itself was made of thick mana-infused steel by some of Nierburg’s best craftsmen.  Even further, it had been enchanted with the ability to slowly self-repair by drawing in uninfused metals that were in contact with the cell.  Over time, it would lose some of its potency if it was consistently damaged, though Victor would have advanced notice depending on how much mundane metal was absorbed.  He currently had enough surplus metal stacked on top of and below the cage to rebuild it twice over, and he examined the amount of remaining metal as a gauge to check on damage.  Today, as every day before, there was no change.  Valentine simply wasn’t in good enough condition to damage it.

Next, he checked the Isolation Array he’d established.  This was a new creation, using a standard Guard Array as a foundation.  Victor had repurposed it to not only shield away harmful mana, but to entirely remove atmospheric mana from a target area, absorbing it all to fuel the machine’s function.  In theory, it should be able to sustain itself forever.  Victor didn’t believe it would, but he was confident it would last a long, long time.  By preventing atmospheric mana from getting close, Valentine wouldn’t be able to recover his reserves.  The original intent was that any trapped awakened would use their skills to break the cage, only to find it self-repairing while their own reserves didn’t replenish.  In Valentine’s weakened state it wasn’t a necessity, though it did have the unexpected benefit of slowing his recovery.

The third and final layer was more of a magical tripwire, set outside the zone of the Isolation Array.  It was tied to several canisters that contained anesthetic gas mixed with a mild neurotoxin.  If it was broken from the inside, the canisters would release and Victor would get an alert of a breach.  With the sub-basement sealed, the dosage would be difficult to monitor and it would likely prove fatal to anybody who was able to break out. 

At least, it would have been before the emergence of new D Grades.  That was one possibility Victor hadn’t planned for, and it troubled him greatly.  For now, it was outside of his control.  Satisfied each layer of containment was functional, he sat in the large armchair situated at the other end of the room and focused on the man in the cage.  Gregory Valentine was in rough shape.  In their previous interrogations, Victor had learned that Kyle Mayhew was responsible for his condition, something he didn’t doubt after seeing him breaking through Nierburg’s defenses. 

Valentine was slumped against a wall of the cage, taking in labored breaths. He could see the hatred in his captive’s eyes, and met them with a calm smile.  Reynolds took his usual position at the foot of the stairwell, ready to intervene if somehow Valentine escaped.  Caution is rewarded, after all.  DeRosa clasped his hands as he met the prisoner’s gaze. 

“Just kill me and get it over with, Victor.  My organization is gone.  You’ve won.  I don’t want to stare at your twice-damned face anymore.  Get it over with.” 

There was still venom in Valentine’s voice, though far less than before.  The first several meetings had been full of expletives and hatred.  Now, it was clear that Gregory Valentine had truly appreciated the situation he was in.  There was nothing left for him other than death, and they both knew it.  The only variable was the timing and the method.

“Your organization was never a major threat, Gregory.  Mayhew, on the other hand, is.  So, let’s take it from the beginning.  What happened in your fight against him?”

They went back and forth for hours, with Valentine offering nothing he hadn’t before.  There were pieces to the story that Victor just couldn’t wrap his head around.  Why would a D Grade trouble themselves against a weak Fire Mage?  Why include Boltsbury in the attack at all?  Kyle could have easily dispatched this Carlyle and then turned his attention to Valentine.  There was more here, he was sure of it.  Still, he wouldn’t get anything more of value tonight.  Standing, he saw the look of hopelessness on the other man’s face. 

“Just kill me, Victor.”

“Not yet, Gregory.”

With that, tendrils of mana reached into the cage and wrapped around Valentine’s body.  The Isolation Array ate away at them, but Victor was more than powerful enough to hold them together for a time.  Valentine struggled against them, but Victor opened his mouth, as he had every day before.  He first emptied a pouch of a nutritional gel into Valentine’s mouth, followed by water mixed with a rejuvenating powder made by Nierburg’s Alchemists.  It wasn’t nearly as effective as a mana-based healing treatment, but given time it would continue to patch injuries.  Or, in Gregory’s case, keep his injuries from getting worse.  The man put up a token resistance, even though he was too weak to prevent it.  After his prisoner was fed, DeRosa and Reynolds left the room. 

Once the trap door was closed, Reynolds turned to Victor. 

“Sir, his story hasn’t changed at all.  Forgive my boldness, sir, but why are we keeping him alive?  Isn’t he more of a risk than an asset?”

“If it was just the story I was after, yes.  After reviewing the documents provided by Corthian Mining, however, I’m confident there will be other uses for the man.”

“Yes, sir.” 

Reynolds said nothing else, and they left the basement.  I have plans for you indeed, Victor thought, the shadow of a smile tugging on the side of his mouth.

~~~

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