“YOU ARE VERY LUCKY! WE ARE ABOUT TO ESCAPE IN STYLE!”

As Spark was thrown onto the tattered corpse of the hairy beast ‘luck’ was the last word that came to his mind. He glanced at the girl in his arms, he’d deal with it. The other person on the mammoth was like minded. Maybe even happy.

Lyrcen was feeling around, digging his hands into the bloody interior of Trunky. It seemed like he was curious but Spark couldn’t be sure. The man’s face was impossible to read.

Mostly because he lacked one.

Underneath the nose it just curved inwards, an absence that gave him an alien look. Less Human than even the most adventurous of Synths. Two tubes led down into his neck, one covered with a filter assumedly for air and the other for liquid. Lyrcen turned his head towards Spark, his eyes were blank, unseeing, and his face streaked with the blood he wiped upon it. Spark couldn’t read Lyrcen, no, but he knew what he was.

A monstrosity.

“HOLD ON TIGHT!”

Spark firmly gripped the flesh, and the Mammoth started to rise towards the ceiling. A sturdy cable steadily pulling the fleeing group upwords.

Steadily, but incredibly slow.

Spark felt eyes upon him, looking around he saw them. The people left in the room stood making not a sound between them, eyes filled with anger, hatred, denial and some even with acceptance. The bleak spectators to the greatest disaster the station had in centuries. A grim group who would never forget the dead and dying upon the ground. Here was a moment that would be immortalized in history, Spark’s was a small part, but he was there.

A terrible thought came to him. The event was being broadcast. Had his mom seen? Was she watching Spark agree to his death? Should he say something, some last words? Or-

Would that be accepting his fate? What could he say to her if he survived?

What would she do if I die?

She’d move on, right? Spark had made a choice she’d accept that and move on wit-

Spark stopped that train of thought, he knew what would happen. He’d never been great at self deception. Fear ran through him.

He had to live.

Once their ride crossed the threshold and the gravity changed, Ky jumped off and started dragging the beasts corpse, managing to move it along at a crawl using his armour’s strength. He seemed determined to bring it along despite the trail of blood and fur it left through the passage.

Spark had to object. “Ky! We can-”

“I AM NOT KY! I WILL NOT STAND THESE FLAGRANT ACCUSATIONS!” Ky shook from anger within his power armour, until abruptly stopping. “Please continue though.” He let out calmly.

“Uh… We can walk, you don’t have to drag the mammoth.” Spark boldly declared in a quiet voice, hiding slightly behind the blind Lyrcen.

“WHY WOULD YOU WALK? IS A MAMMOTH NOT MEANT TO BE RIDDEN!?!” Ky tried to engage him in a calm philosophical discussion.

Spark took a look at the beast beneath him, skull split open, legs broken, blind man playing in its guts. “Good point.” He said, dropping the matter entirely.

The Synth glanced at the girl in his arms. Still breathing. As long as she was this could still be worth it.

But Spark couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take to get to Ky’s hideout and how much time the girl had left. After today's actions even he would try to find a far off place to lie low-

“WE ARE HERE! MY SECRET BASE!” Ky dragged the Mammoth into a ‘room’ more so the hallway just opened up. There hadn’t even been any turns; it was a straight line from the place they were fleeing. But Spark could leave off on questioning Ky’s judgement until after the girl got fixed up.

Ky turned around, striking a heroic pose. “NOW YOU'RE PROBABLY WONDERING--”

“The girl” Spark interjected.

“PRIORITIES! I GET THAT!” Ky screamed happily, pulling a packet he had hidden in his suit out. He took a pill out of it and tossed it at Spark. “THAT WILL TAKE CARE OF ALL ISSUES!”

Spark quickly placed the pill in the girls mouth.

“IT’S FAST ACTING! WORKS ON ANY BIO CREATURE, RIGHT TRUNKY!” Ky shoved five into the Mammoth’s mouth. “TRUNKY! STAND!” He cheered, then waited. After five seconds of nothing happening Ky’s movements became less enthusiastic. He knelt beside the animal taking off an armoured glove and placing his hand on its neck. After a moment his hand started to shake. When Ky next spoke it was in a trembling voice. He had a realization, the beast was dead.

Apparently the blind man playing in its guts wasn’t a good enough indicator, but Spark decided to add that to the ever growing pile of things he would never mention. Talking back to his mom was fun, talking back to this man?

Borderline suicidal.

“She’s dead… They have murdered her.” Ky shook his head. “An unforgivable action” He pointed a finger at Spark. “Those who perpetrated it must pay. They must pay the heaviest of prices… Before it was just business but now it is revenge. You understand that right?”

Spark certainly understood that no one but Ky forced the beast into its fatal confrontation with gravity. But still he nodded dutifully, just seemed like the right thing to do.

“Of course you do, at least to an extent. Such a beautiful creature! Anyone would be upset at its demise. Still, you don’t understand my relationship with the great beast.” The voice was grave, deadly serious. “You must think it was leant to me, but... I must confess to you. I am not who you think I am.” Ky started fiddling with his mask. “I reveal now my true identity! That of-”

Spark tried his damndest to not make a snarky comment, this man had just murdered a large amount of people. But seriously? Was there ever any doubt.

When the mask came off though a look of surprise popped onto Spark’s face.

Because it was Ky.

And Spark wanted to humour the murderous idiot.

“Really?!? It was you councilor Ky?” Spark asked in complete surprise. “No one had expected that!”

“They never do.” The man nodded, a slight smirk on his face. “They've been dancing to my tune for years now, I have the perfect position, no one would ever suspect me.”

“To do what?” Spark was actually mildly curious.

“To win, of course.” A wide smile came to Ky’s face. “I’ve been laying the pieces for years, waiting for just the right moment. A Mammoth here, a suit of power armour there, I sprinkled these things in with my other requests. With late stage weaponry banned I’m the most powerful person in the station. And I have the most powerful group supporting me, the true warriors will rally behind me.”

“But you don’t! They’re behind Dyrian and Wyn-” Spark tried to object.

“They were, still are but…” Ky threw a passing glance at Lyrcen. “Do you know what was done to him?”

Spark shook his head, he didn’t really want to.

“There are these rooms, they’re a stasis of a sort. A person sits in complete darkness, body numbed to all pain. Just the person and their own thoughts. The person’s mind is chemically stimulated into overdrive. During this state they must think. Every fourteen minutes they are put to sleep for one. Entering into a crafted dream. In the dream they always wake up and feel relief until...-” Ky grinned at Spark.

“They’re back in the room?” Spark finished.

“Exactly! Fun stuff.” Ky clapped.

“So, uhhh… what does that have to do with Dyrian?”

“Well, now that you ask-- Did you know I record everything? I always need to see if my pitch of voice is correct.” He leaned to Spark and whispered. “I’m playing a character you see, I’m not always like this.” He pulled a device out. “And on this device I have the most ‘interesting’ thing.”

Voices began to sound out.

“Ky! Take this seriously, we have a chance to do something great!” Dyrian’s voice came through the speaker,

“WHY DO WE NOT JUST VOTE HIM OUT OF PRISON?”

“We need him to be set up for an execution, show tyranny. It’ll rally our people, then when you break him out I can condemn you and we’ll come together to push our agenda through.”

“AH! GREAT-” Ky turned the speaker off. “Interesting isn’t it?”

Hmm, Spark did some note taking.

Dyrian - I’m Going to join Linaya in helping him keep warm. Would hate for the man to catch a cold.

Spark tried to joke, but… he had been sure, sure the man had been good. Sure that-

“You look disappointed child.” Ky seemed to be suppressing a grin.

Spark met his eyes, distraught. “He looked guilty, remorseful. I felt like he could be trusted. I’m good at reading people, great!”

“You may be alright, but you’re a child. Dyrian has been alive for over three thousand years, did you really think it was beyond his skillset to deceive you?” Spark opened his mouth but Ky raised a hand cutting him off. “Anyways, you weren’t entirely wrong, he’s a remorseful man, certainly.” His eyes narrowed and his voice became hard.

“But remorse is not a virtue, if you feel bad about something but never seek to remedy your actions, well, in my eyes you're worse than one who does not know they’re wrong. He makes an active choice to be a monster, some just fall into it by habit.”

Ky’s eyes turned sad, he looked about to cry, his voice choked. “Do you think I feel remorse, Spark? For all those poor people I killed, for those who died?”

Spark looked at the man, everything about him screamed deep sadness. He shivered, despite not being able to feel cold. “I don’t know.”

The sadness left Ky’s face as quickly as it had come. “Good answer, presuming to know what others are thinking can be a grave misstep.” He nodded sagely.

“What are…” Spark steeled himself. “What are you going to do with me? Why did you bring me here?”

“It gets lonely knowing no one can see through my plans, none of them can predict me.” Ky looked at him wide eyed with a manic grin. “WHAT IS ANY OF THIS WORTH IF NO ONE KNOWS OF MY GENIUS! WHAT IS ANYTHING WORTH!” Ky’s grin slipped. “So I brought you here so I could monologue at you, I hope you don’t mind.”

Spark’s eyes widened in surprise. “Just that? I thought you were going to kill me!”

Ky laughed softly. “I will have to do that, of course. Can’t have you informing people. I just wanted to monologue first, makes me feel like a proper villain.” He winked

“You can’t! This is--”

“INSANE!” Ky roared. “YES IT MIGHT SEEM SO!” He grabbed Spark and pulled him up to Ky’s face. “BUT TELL ME! YOUR SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD AT READING FACES! WHEN YOU LOOK INTO MY EYES DO YOU TRUST WHAT YOU SEE?!?” He threw Spark across the room, slamming him into the wall.

Ky stomped across the room then stopped. “DAMN! I LEFT MY EXECUTION AXE IN THE OTHER BASE! LYRCEN, WATCH THE PRISONER!” He yelled at the blind man happily laying in the Trunky’s bloody guts, then ran out of the room.

Spark was only frozen for a second, he grabbed the girl but stopped at the exit. Looking back, two things caught his eyes, the packet of pills and the speaker. He grabbed them and ran, following the trail of blood and hair left by the deceased mammoth.

Spark ran for his life. Terrified. To answer Ky’s question, no Spark didn’t trust a single thing he saw anymore. Spark had seen people with a hint of wildness to them before. Consumed by their passions. Even his mom could get a bit carried away sometimes. Someone like Lyrcen? Completely mad.

You saw these things on the station, a fact of life.

But Ky? What the Synth saw there filled him with dread. Looking into Ky’s eyes he couldn’t help but feel that the man was completely and utterly-

Sane.