Robertson watched the body of Serravalen, intreiged by the little blue sparks in the opaque deathsuit carapace as it healed its owner, he'd heard of such things but never witnessed it himself. Out of his squad only Mason was still alive, the black curly haired man from the planet W'naeb administering some doses of Kickstart to the prostate form of Church the ebon who was still unconcious and barely clinging to life. He could only hypothesise what had happened, the entrance to the white, a couple of rampaging suits of Sarge, lots of dead folk squished by a suit of Sarge and killed by what looked like medical experiments. Of the 'waster Sandy he could find no trace, it was a pity he lamented, he'd liked most of the squad they'd come in with on this mission, except the female waster, who only the ebon seemed to like anyway.
"Evac and containment here in 30minutes Robbo" Mason had received an ebb communique from one of the necanthropes on the foldship Vendetta in orbit above. "Hmph", snorted Robertson derisively, "guess we better let the 'experts' deal with and take all the glory, eh." Mason just laughed quietly, "you keep that up and they just might send us back here man", Robertson agreed. "C'mon, grab the weapons and you can take the waster, I'll take the ebon", neither of them wanted to come back to Dante again so they made good speed getting out of the bunker complex."Will he come back out?"
Continually the ebon kept interupting Veracity the necanthrope through their final debreif with incessant questioning, sometimes he wondered who was interrogating who. Then before lashing out in a fit of temper remembered that 600 years ago he was a curious ebon too once, the small bit of mirth that crept over the brainwasters face was cause to make him even more annoyed. The ebon was only doing what ebons do and meant no malice or disrespect but the necanthrope knew that the 'waster enjoyed watching him get wound up. She would not like the night ahead of her, he would see to it personally that the dream demons got through to the arrogant little bitch.
"We dont know"
Yes, there would be no place to hide once her own mind was set after her.
"Thankyou for your efforts, you have done well and Mr Slayer personally appreciates your determination and loyalty. As recompense for your competion your clearence within the department has been increased greatly and a more substantial bonus to both your budgets for the length of your employment with the department. You may use this as you see fit."
Church was smart enough to notice the irritation on the necanthrope and left quickly as soon as she was let out, Serravalen was called back in for a little private chat. She would have to catch up with her later, all she wanted now was to see her family. Not noticing the dark shape that moved in behind her on the way out to her cab and appearing again behind her once she got home.Veracity kept his temper in check, even when the little witch came up with "whats this about then."
"You've had a nasty little habit for the last four years now havent you?"
The 'waster shut up quite quickly.
"Im disappointed, Preceptor is disappointed. You, out of all your friends was always the most talented, smartest and quickest to learn but you stopped your lessons and this is just a friendly chat to see if you need help with your ebb skills or formulae? We know, it gets difficult"
Unusually woman was keeping quiet and refusing to answer.
"We're here to help, Preceptor and I. Like the big brother you had, except your not allowed to hurt..."
Finally the waster broke her silence just like he wanted if he pressed enough buttons.
"I dont want the demons to come."
Veritous held a long and carefully calculated silence before continuing."Serravalencia", the necanthrope sat down on the edge of the table in a friendly manner. "For years you live in a run down hovel in downtown and you have a 6 figure budget annually. For years, your married to an unemployed loser of an ebon until that accident that finally releived you of him. Your not going to get any younger Serra, soon your looks are going to leave you, muscles and nerves get slower every year. Every mission you go on lately you barely make it back from, then what? We give you a desk job so you can die of old age? Seen any old ebon or waster agents lately Serra? And its not like your going to ever bear children to pass on the knowledge or money. We know you've tried, they never seemed to make it past a first trimester though did they?"
It was a masterpeice Veracity thought, he had been working on it for quite some time, since she was born actually. He'd made her cry and stripped the denial away.
"You dont have to look at this glyph the Preceptor himself made personally. But you dont have much to lose really if you do."Veracity made an exit soon after, patting her on the shoulder and leaving her a tissue with the thin slab of clay on the table.