NEW WORLD — HUNGER'S BANE

Chapter 107: Old Grudges

“Davídrius!”

Selind rushed along the top of Tresnon’s walls, followed closely by Saito and Hackett as she met up with Davídrius, who had just landed atop the wall in a roll. On the wall behind him landed Christeané, Rebehka, Relia, Karísah, and Mark carrying Kate; pensive silence fell over the group, all of them warily watching the dark horizon — and the sea of lights that blanketed it.

Davídrius was the first to turn away from the sight, his gaze falling on Saito and Hackett before shifting to Selind. “What’s the situation?” he questioned, his voice low.

“Not gonna lie, things could be a lot better,” Selind replied, gesturing for Davídrius and every else to follow as she turned to lead them back along the wall. “But at the same time, it could be a lot worse. Those Bleeders you and Ralak captured from those outposts, who freed themselves during the blackout — they wrecked Ral Street pretty badly, but Relia and the Earthians stopped ‘em short of that. The real problem is that we lost the main power generator, and two of the shield emitters. I’m not confident we’d be able to stand up to a siege, not without casualties.”

“Is a siege a possibility?” Hackett questioned.

“Normally, I’d say no…” Davídrius said with a scowl, “but the Bleeders have been beatin’ every one of my expectations, lately, so who’s to fuckin’ say…”

“Even if it does come to that, the Eximius Vir should have us covered,” Saito pointed out. “Danielle is working on replacing the shield emitters as we speak. She won’t be able to replace the power generator, but for now, Mote can generate more than enough power to power the city and its defenses. It’s sub-optimal, but things aren’t quite as bad as they might look, defensively speaking.”

Davídrius’s gaze lingered on Saito, his expression unreadable. It was Christeané who spoke up next, remarking, “so, we’re even getting help from the Earthians, huh?”

“Now is not the time for this,” Davídrius snapped.

Christeané smiled sheepishly. “Right, sorry, sorry.”

“…Is something wrong?” Saito questioned.

Davídrius didn’t respond, instead moving to the front of the group as they arrived at a wider section of the wall, featuring a large spotlight. Standing next to the spotlight was Luke, peering out over the horizon with a pair of binoculars; when he noticed the group approaching him, he lowered the binoculars to pass them a nod.

“How’s it looking?” Selind asked, while Davídrius grabbed the binoculars from Luke.

“Honestly? Not as bad as I’d thought,” Luke replied. “It looks like there’s a few thousand of ‘em, but they’re just using fake lights as a trick. In actuality, I only count a hundred of them on this side, and Gavon says there’s another hundred approaching from the north, but none to the west. That said, they do have some vehicles with them, and it even looks like they have some beam jammers, too… so there’s no easy way out with Danielle just turning into a Frigate, or something.”

“Beam jammers?” Hackett echoed incredulously. “Where the hell did they get those?”

“Oh c’mon, like that’s a problem,” Kate snorted in derision. “There’s only 200 of the bastards. I could handle that in my sleep!”

“We might be stronger than typical Chaotics, but we aren’t invulnerable,” Mark countered. “Don’t get carried away.”

“200 Bleeders, though…? That’s a lot in one place,” Karísah commented, her expression filled with concern. “Most raids I’ve heard of only have 50 or less…”

“More like a couple dozen,” Relia corrected. “A 200-person raid, for the Bleeders, is really somethin’… they must really have it out for Tresnon.”

Rebehka passed Relia and Karísah a wary glance before turning toward Davídrius. “…Is this more than we can handle?”

“Depends on how you mean,” Davídrius replied, still looking through the binoculars. A second later, he finally put them down, his brow furrowed in frustration. “Tresnon has a Defense Force for a reason. There’s only 200 of the Bleeders… but with that said, they do have vehicles and artillery, too… and if those are really beam jammers, then who knows what the hell else they’ve got…”

“If Tresnon’s power and shields hadn’t been sabotaged, then I’d say we could handle this easily,” Selind said. “As is, though… well, as Davídrius said, we have a Defense Force for a reason — and I’ve trained ‘em for situations just like this. Even if the Bleeders have tricks up their sleeves, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’d beat them... the only problem is that they’d be able to do a lot of damage and kill a lot of innocent people before we did.”

A poignant pause fell over the group, each of them taking in Selind’s statement in silence. As Luke reclaimed the binoculars and returned to surveying the Bleeders outside the walls, Saito turned back to Davídrius. “Here’s a question,” the Colonel started, “and it might not be a nice one, but it bears asking. You have an entire school of Chaotics here, right? Do they outnumber the Bleeders?”

Davídrius and Selind both gave Saito surprised looks; the Dean’s expression rapidly collapsed into a scowl as he replied, “the students ain’t ready for a live combat situation, not like this. We can’t just throw ‘em into an army-scale fight — even against the Bleeders, they’d be as good as dead!”

“We ain’t that weak!” Karísah argued. “I bet any 5th- or 6th-year could pull their weight! Besides, weren’t you 20 when you did all of your Hero Machina stuff? Well, most of the 5th-years are 20 or older. Some of the 4th-years, too!”

“She’s got you, there,” Christeané remarked.

“Tch…” Davídrius snorted in frustration. “…Still a worst case scenario.”

“Do we have a better scenario?” Hackett pressed.

“Keep in mind, we only have to stall long enough for Danielle to replace the shield emitters,” Saito pointed out. “She has to do it piece-by-piece, but it’s still possible. Shouldn’t take longer than an hour, if that.”

“Great, so we’re just gonna fucking wait, then?” Kate complained.

“If it’s our best option, then we should do it,” Karísah declared. “But, how do we stall against the Bleeders for an hour…?”

“…Well, it’s probably blasphemy to say this in present company,” Selind replied, and then held up a communicator toward Davídrius. “But we could talk to ‘em.”

The Dean glared down at the communicator in her hands. “…You wanna talk to ‘em?”

“He sure seemed to wanna talk to you.”

“’He’?” Karísah echoed, “…do you mean that Strén person…?”

“Hey, whoa there, buddy!” Christeané remarked, his eyes on Davídrius as the latter’s expression contorted into a foul look of fury. “I’m probably not the best person to say this, but let’s keep a level head, here.”

“Try sayin’ that again once you hear about all the shit Strén pulled two decades ago,” Davídrius shot back.

“If you don’t mind me asking…” Mark spoke up, glancing uneasily between Davídrius and Selind, “what did he do?”

“Strén was the closest thing to a ‘leader’ that the Bleeders have had in generations,” Selind replied. “It’s… difficult to describe how much more ruthless the Bleeders got while he was in charge. Those fuckers have always raided and pillaged, but with Strén, it got to an extra level of cruel. Playin’ with helpless folks before killin’ in cold blood, straight-up torture, even just goin’ out of their way to turn raids into a sport. All that on top of raids gettin’ more effective, and frequent. Hell, before Strén, the Bleeders would just raid a Compound and then leave them alone. But when he was in charge, they would actually burn entire Compounds to the ground.”

“That’s just the half of it,” Davídrius added. “Y’all had it fuckin’ nice here in Tresnon. You never had to experience that shit first-hand. But I— …” He trailed off for a moment, his lips pursed and gaze diverted as he fought past the obvious fury that had overtaken his body. “…I ain’t gonna bore y’all with a long story, here, but long story short, it’s all Strén’s fuckin’ fault that I had to kill my own damn best friend, after already losin’ a dozen people from my home Compound. A Compound that doesn’t even exist anymore, ‘cause of the fuckin’ Bleeders!”

“Ah…” Mark responded, unable to come up with any better response. Even Kate shifted uncomfortably, glancing around at everything except for Davídrius in her unease.

“And I ain’t the only one to have a story like that, either,” Davídrius continued. “Plenty of folks across Treséd were terrorized by Strén and his Bleeders. Hell, even this fucking raid is just a terror tactic! Fucking… argh!”

“Davídrius…” Rebehka muttered, her hand placed on his shoulder in an effort to reassure him. “…We’re in this together, right now. We can handle whatever he throws at us.”

“I bet that’s easy to say as an outsider, isn’t it?” Relia retorted.

“Relia!” Selind immediately admonished, “this is not the time for that attitude!”

“It’s rude to say, sure, but ultimately, she’s right,” Christeané admitted. “We don’t know what it’s been like to live in Treséd, under the threat of the Bleeders. I’m not about to say that dealing with them is easy, or simple.” He then glanced toward Davídrius. “But we are here, right now, and we’re willing to help. If this Strén bastard thinks he can pull the same shit now that he did 20 years ago, then I’ll be right there with you when you tear him a new one.”

“And damn do I wanna tear him a new one…” Davídrius muttered. He paused for a moment to take a deep breath, and then snatched the communicator out of Selind’s hands. “Alright, well. Time to see if it really is that motherfucker on the other side…” Impatiently, he smashed his hand onto the communicator’s activation button, opening it up to the two-way comms line it was already connected to. “Alright, you motherfuckers!” Davídrius announced, directing his speech into the communicator’s mic as he glared out over the nighttime wastelands. “Who the hell am I talkin’ to?”

«Puahahahaha!!» A deep guffaw emerged over the connection, to which both Davídrius and Selind responded with frustrated scowls. A moment later, the laughing ceased, followed by a deep, gruff voice. «You really ain’t changed one bit, eh, ‘Guardian’? Or should I say, ‘Sentry’, now?»

“Strén…” Davídrius growled, “…you crusty dirt-damned bastard. Don’t even have the decency to die when you’re supposed to, huh?”

«Puahahaha! Well, ‘course not! Can’t just up and leave Treséd in the hands of a li’l pussy like you, now, can I?»

“Hell of a thing to say, for a dead man.”

«You wanna get mad at someone for me still bein’ alive, get mad at your friends. They’re the ones who didn’t follow through. Though I guess teamin’ up with outsiders was the only way you could even get that far, huh? You didn’t even manage to beat Feral back then, didja? Ain’t no way you woulda been able to kill me on your own.»

“So that really is Ind’s ‘real’ name, huh? Feral? She fights like a fuckin’ animal, I’ll give her that.”

«Puahaha! She’ll be glad to hear it!»

“I’m sure she will. Now get to the point. What the hell are you doin’ here, Strén? Tryin’ to lead a raid on fucking Tresnon, of all places? Did you honestly think that would work?”

«Cute! You still think all that posturin’ is worth somethin’! But I think we both know that tonight has shattered Tresnon’s reputation as an unbreakable fortress. Or maybe it’s just ‘cause you’ve gone soft? Ain’t no way I woulda been able to sneak two Bleeders in 20 years ago! Puahahahaha!»

“This guy is a real asshole,” Kate muttered, her voice low enough to not be picked up by the communicator. “Why can’t we just kick his ass, huh?”

“If we could do that without endangering the Compound, then I’m sure Davídrius would’ve been the first to suggest it,” Saito responded in kind. “Try to hold your tongue for now, and let the Dean handle this.”

“…Alright, you bastard,” Davídrius snarled, ignoring Kate and Saito’s side conversation as he continued to address Strén. “Sabotage aside, all the idiots who got in ain’t a threat anymore. Ind — I’m sorry, Feral — and Shade bailed, but that just means they ain’t comin’ back in. You lost your advantage. There’s no reason for y’all to stick around!”

«Sure, it’d be a fair fight now. But sometimes a drag-out, knock-out brawl is fun! I’m sure you remember our first fight. I know I sure had a lot of fun! Guess I might’ve knocked you around too much for you to remember though, huh? Puahaha!!»

A furious growl escaped Davídrius’s throat, his teeth grinding together. “…What do you want?” he eventually questioned. “Why’re you back? Why’re you attackin’ Tresnon? Is this really about that ‘outsider’ shit you Bleeders’ve been spoutin’ off about these past few months?”

«’Course it is! Outsiders are what’s bringin’ Treséd down, after all! Tresédians are the only ones who have the right to decide how we Tresédians live! After all, we’re the only ones who know what it’s like to live here, all the sufferin’, all the bullshit we have to put up with. It’s our problem. But you’d bring in a bunch of outsiders to ruin how things are!»

“Because things fucking suck,” Davídrius retorted.

«Ain’t surprised you’d say that. You been spendin’ too much time with them outsiders, gotten too used to the high life! Ha! Bet it’s real nice, bein’ surrounded by outsiders like that, ain’t it?»

“…Uh…” Rebehka glanced uneasily at everyone present; of the eleven individuals in the group atop the wall, only four were actually from Treséd — and five of the rest weren’t even Nimalian.

“…Tch…” Davídrius snorted as he looked over the group himself before turning back to glare at the horizon. “You talk big, but it’s all shit. You Bleeders alone are the biggest reason why Treséd is a shithole! If you cleaned up your act and actually helped out, then I wouldn’t need to ask outsiders for help! But instead, you just want to raid, rape, pillage, steal shit that ain’t yours, and then complain all damn day about ‘outsiders ruining everything’, even though you’re takin’ help from outsiders yourselves! ‘Cause I know you sure as shit wouldn’t have powered armor and prosthetics and all that other shit otherwise!”

«Puuaahahahahaha!!!» Strén’s bellowing laugh echoed loud and hard for several seconds. «Guess you got me, whelp! You’re right. I don’t give a damn about helpin’ people! But you know what I do give a damn about? Strength! Power! Pathetic shit like helpin’ people ain’t the way you get stronger — people who can’t even help themselves are there to be crushed, used, exploited. That’s what’s so perfect about the Treséd of today — this shithole of a wasteland makes strong people, people who can fight, defend themselves, and take what they want for themselves! We Bleeders just weed out the weak, the undeservin’, and we do it while showin’ the world the proper way to live: by takin’ what you want! With force!»

“What a fucked up way to live…”

«You say that, but you’re livin’ it too. I know what that li’l school of yours is about. I know what you teamin’ up with outsiders is about, too. You need power, you want power, and that’s why you get all those powerful idiots together in one place.»

“The hell are you—?”

«Don’t even try to say I’m wrong, whelp. Bandin’ together to protect each other, that’s power. You teachin’ kids how to defend themselves in this wasteland, that’s power. But your power’s been fucked by outsiders, and I’m here to prove it by showin’ just how weak you really are!»

“…Is this really stalling?” Hackett questioned warily.

“Strén ain’t the kinda guy you can reason with,” Davídrius replied, covering the communicator’s mic as he did. “Gettin’ him talkin’ about his motives is the only way to delay, but you can’t negotiate with him. If he wants somethin’, he’ll use force to get it.”

“…Uh, Colonel, Dean…” Luke spoke up, still peering through his binoculars as he locked onto one area in the distance. “…They’re rolling up the big guns. It looks like they’re preparing to attack…!”

“Shit,” Selind swore, frantically looking back across the city. “If they were to shell us now—!”

“Don’t worry, everything’s okay!”

Following her exclamation, Danielle landed on the wall just next to Kate, before whipping around and giving Saito and Davídrius a thumbs up. As she did, a golden shimmer appeared in the air outside of the Compound’s walls, forming a massive dome over the city before dissipating into thin air.

“You got the shields up!” Karísah exclaimed.

“Yeah!” Danielle affirmed. “Mote’s still busy powering the city, but I’m here and ready to help!”

“Then it sounds like things are looking up!” Christeané remarked. “The day you tear Strén a new asshole might be sooner than you thought, Davídrius!”

The Velocitechnic offered his friend a bitter smile, but before he could make to respond, Strén’s guffawing appeared over the communicator once more. Confused and incredulous expressions appeared on the faces of everyone atop the wall, while Davídrius finally unmuted the communicator and began to speak again. “…The hell’s so funny, huh?”

«You were just playin’ for time, weren’t ya?» Strén replied. «I expected this, though. Shade told me there was a Transtechnic outsider in Tresnon. From Earth, too, huh? Where do you get these fuckin’ outsiders?»

“If you expected this, then why the hell are you stickin’ around? Our shields are back, our power’s back. There’s nothin’ stoppin’ us from just killin’ you all with the wall turrets from behind the safety of our shields. In fact, I think I’ll give that order now—“

«Bold words, but I wouldn’t do that, if I were you. Not if you value your precious students the way you seem to.»

“You… the hell’re you sayin’?”

«Whaddya think, whelp? But if you can’t put two an’ two together, then I’ll lay it out. Hey, Feral, Shade, why don’t y’all come show off what you got for me?»

A cold chill descended over the walltop group as Feral’s cackling appeared. «Ehehe, you really slipped up, Sentry~!»

«Indeed. Infiltrating and exfiltrating Tresnon was much easier than I expected,» came Shade’s voice. «So easy, in fact, that I was able to bring something with me. Go ahead and speak to them, child. We won’t bite.»

A brief second passed, but that one moment seemed to stretch for minutes. Eventually, one voice broke the silence, the deadpan voice of a young woman, uttering quietly over the comms, «…s-sorry, everyone…»

“Minilas!!” Karísah exclaimed, her eyes wide with alarm. “They got Minilas?!”

“Liask did say that her friend went missing…” Mark said. “So, then… the Bleeders kidnapped her? But how…?”

“It’s no trick, either…” Luke muttered, still peering through his binoculars. “They have a young woman with them, alright, and she looks a lot like one of the students I’ve seen around here…”

«Anyways, you get the picture now, don’t ya?» came Strén’s gruff voice once more. «How d’ya feel now, O great an’ wonderful Sentry?»

“You…!” Davídrius growled, his grip on the communicator tightening into a vice as he snarled through clenched teeth, “if you harm her, or any of my students, then I will find you, and I will kill you, very… very slowly, and very, very painfully.”

«Now that’s the attitude I wanna hear! Use your anger, and take things! By force! But unfortunately for both of us, that won’t be happenin’ tonight.»

“Don’t you even think about leavin’ here with her, you fucking bastard!”

«An’ what’re you gonna do? Come out here and fight me? You’re fast, sure, but you know we got powered armor, now. You really think you can kill me, faster than my lackeys can kill your li’l student?»

“…!”

«Don’t get me wrong, I was really lookin’ forward to finally gettin’ a chance to bash your pathetic li’l face into the dirt… but I guess I just don’t got enough power yet. Enough strength. And you don’t got enough to stop me from leavin’, either. So we’ll call this a draw.»

“What?!” Kate passed Saito an impatient glance. “We can’t just let him leave!”

“Yeah!” Danielle affirmed, “we can go after them!”

“He has a hostage, we have no choice,” Saito countered, and then shifted his attention to Selind and Davídrius. “…Unless you decide otherwise.”

“You can’t sacrifice Minilas!” Karísah interjected, “if she’s alive, then we can still save her. But if we go out there now, then they’ll kill her!”

“That might be for the best,” Relia commented. “I’ve seen what Bleeders do to hostages. Not every hostage, granted, but the odds of that girl makin’ it out of this alright ain’t exactly high.”

“Even a slight chance is better than nothing,” Selind insisted. “When did you get so cynical, Relia? You can’t just throw away a life, like this!”

“And what about all of the lives those Bleeders will ruin if we let them get away?” Relia countered. “Unlike you, mom, I don’t just sit in one place. I’ve actually seen Treséd from every angle, and I know how dangerous the Bleeders are.”

Selind’s nostrils flared in a flash of anger, but she quickly clenched her fist and pursed her lips in an effort to suppress the fury that had overcome her. “…Do you really think your father was the first person I lost to the Bleeders?” she responded, her voice low. “You’re a smart girl, Relia, but this is one time that you don’t know what the hell you’re talkin’ about.” She then turned to Davídrius. “How do you wanna play this?”

“It looks like they’re already packin’ up to leave,” Luke said, still watching the horizon. “If we’re going to fight, we should do it now. …Though I kinda think sacrificing a hostage is messed up…”

“But we’ll still be behind you, Davídrius, whatever you pick,” Christeané insisted. “I know this is a tough choice, so I won’t judge you either way. This is your home, after all.”

Davídrius passed Christeané an uneasy glance, before locking eyes with Selind, and then Relia, and finally Karísah, where his gaze lingered for a moment. He pursed his lips, his brow furrowed in thought… only to scowl a second later and bring the communicator back to his lips. “…Strén.”

A second passed before the eventual response. «You still there?» came Strén’s gruff voice. «What, you actually thinkin’ of sacrificin’ your student to come get me? Finally grow some balls, huh?»

“Big words, for someone who needed a hostage to make sure you could leave alive,” Davídrius shot back. “I only got one thing to say to you, Strén: the next time we meet, it will be the last.”

«Puahahaha! I’d like nothin’ more, you pathetic whelp! ‘Til next we meet!»

“’Til next time…” Davídrius muttered through clenched teeth while glaring at the distant horizon. The lights from the Bleeders had begun to shift and move, and some of them already seemed to be growing dim with distance.

“…Well, Captain?” Saito eventually prompted, breaking the silence that briefly fell over the group. “Are they leaving?”

“Sure looks like it, sir,” Luke replied. “I think it’s over…”

“For now,” Relia commented. “But who knows when they’ll be back.”

“But this was still the right decision,” Karísah insisted, moving over to Davídrius’s side to place her hand on his shoulder. “I don’t know what’s between you and Strén, but… like Christeané said, we all got your back.”

Davídrius glanced down at her hand, and then up at her face, his expression unreadable. After a moment, he grunted dismissively and shook her off, turning around to storm off along the wall. “Selind!” he shouted over his shoulder, “get someone to watch those fuckers as they retreat. Make sure they don’t lay a hand on my student!”

“Got it,” Selind replied, but by the time her short reply had left her mouth, Davídrius had disappeared from the walltop, using his superspeed to launch himself over the city of Tresnon. Upon noticing this, Selind released a deep sigh, and then forced a smile as she turned to address the rest of the group. “Well… all things considered, I guess that went better than most of us expected. And we really couldn’t have done it without all of y’all’s help.”

“After that conversation we just heard, I can’t help but think that you’d be better off if we weren’t here in the first place…” Mark muttered.

“Ahhh, don’t pay Strén any mind. The Bleeders have always been self-servin’ hypocrites; that bastard is only usin’ ‘outsiders’ as an excuse to get that ‘power’ he wants so dearly. I, for one, welcome all of y’all.”

“Glad to hear it,” Christeané remarked, rubbing his stomach as a loud growl emanated from it. “…Well, everyone. Crisis averted, mostly. Let’s go see if dinner’s still on, shall we?”

“What? Dinner? Just like that…?” Mark questioned incredulously as Christeané and Rebehka both leaped off of the wall, using their respective Chaotic abilities to break their falls on the ground below.

“Attacks like this… oof. It’s been quite a while since I was involved in active defense, but, uh, that’s Treséd, for you,” Selind replied, still maintaining a smile as she guided Relia and Karísah along the wall — though Relia promptly disappeared a moment later after muttering “Chaos Teleport.”

“…Captain, Major, keep a watch here on the wall. If those Bleeders try to pull a feint, or something, then I want to hear immediately,” Colonel Saito ordered, and then turned to face Mark. “…This isn’t a pretty situation, I know. But it’s one we have to deal with. And in my experience, pigging out on food is one of the best ways to work through stress!”

“Sounds like a great way to get fat,” Kate muttered.

“Yes…” Saito rolled his eyes before beginning to walk down the wall top, gesturing for Mark, Danielle, and Kate to follow. “But we can’t dwell on this right now. You can’t lose yourself to the spiral of depression. We failed to save that one student tonight, yes, but we were still able to protect the entire Compound. Just think about it that way, and try to enjoy the rest of your night… as much as you can.”

“…If you say so, sir,” Mark replied, his idle gaze cast out over the city of Tresnon, and the unnervingly tranquil evening quiet that blanketed it. Despite the battles that had taken place within the walls earlier, the Compound almost looked safe and unspoiled… but the Bleeder attack had done much to harm the image of Tresnon’s impenetrable defenses. Indeed, Compound Tresnon was safe — for now. But for how long that would last, remained a mystery.

And yet, despite the Return of the corruption,

A bleeding enemy appears — with an eruption

They steal the attention of the heroes and the Keys

Distracting them from true threats with ease.

The Keys must now learn, to defeat this disruption.

End of Volume 1 - New World