"You're dissatisfied, right?
Meet with me to talk about your future."
Tch. Anyone would be intrigued by those words, wouldn't they? Andromeda glanced back down at her comm to double-check the address. Still, she couldn't understand what the old man meant. He'd always struck her as a strange and mysterious person, if not a little meddlesome. He was one of those ancient demons that toyed with people for fun, and she was fairly certain there was no one still alive who understood what went on in that horned head of his.
That guy had been around for ages, a Pilot for just as long. Nobody really knew how old he actually was, his age on his Pilot profile was an estimate and much of his information was locked up, top secret. What would a guy this high up with that many connections want with small fry like her..?
"Ah, you came after all, brat."
He had a sly grin, with his long silky black hair actually let down for once, and his two tall demon horns making for a striking silhouette. His orange eyes glowed like they were lit with the fire he wielded, and even Andy had to admit that of the many Pilots and Commanders she'd met, he was one of the ones with the largest, most intimidating presence.
She knew the sheer physical power he wielded, she'd seen it growing up on tv, and she'd never seen the man break a sweat.
She stood there awkwardly in the doorway of the private room as he set down his cup of matcha tea with a resounding
clack that seemed short-lived in the suffocating resonance of the room. She hadn't even known there were tea houses
in Travica.
"Anyone would come after being invited by you, Sir." She said through slightly gritted teeth, her chest feeling tight as she came in and sat on the bench across from him. Just what did he want..?
"And yet I thought you'd hurry faster if you were so intrigued." He rumbled, his voice deep and gravelly. "You're late."
"Huh? I'm five minutes early I thought--"
"Then I suppose you don't care about your future as much as I thought you might. My squad shows up to regular meetings earlier than this."
She couldn't help but glare at him; if she had realized he was going to treat this like work then she'd have come earlier sure, but he'd made it sound so strange and casual in his message that she had no idea what he wanted or what to expect. Just as she thought, he was meddlesome.
"I apologize for wasting your time. What did you want to talk about?"
He suddenly let out a bark of a husky laugh, snorting to himself as he sat back, resting his hands in his lap with his fingers laced together. "That's more of what I was expecting; it's nice! It's nice to see that time out was worth it. You grew up a little, it's great isn't it?"
She said nothing, every muscle in her body tense. She didn't know what he knew and couldn't say anything outright to confirm or deny
because she didn't know what he knew--or what he was allowed to. Still, this was irritating.
"Fine, fine. You've been through a lot, anyone with eyes can see that. But you don't know what to do with it, right? The Titans are a mess right now, and from what I found your teammates didn't like you very much. I wonder why?"
Was he mocking her? She found herself gripping the fabric of her yoga pants and grinding her teeth. Stupid old man, what did he know--
"Come to Samariel."
...
......
"What?"
He just grinned at her, using his telekinesis to bring his cup to him to take another sip of tea.
"The tea in Samariel is better. So is the water, you like to swim right? I did my homework."
She stared at him, not even touching the cup of tea that was sitting waiting for her as his telekinesis poured it.
"I... I don't understand what you're getting at. Samariel? Why? I don't drink tea."
"I think you understand but you're just confused. Allow me to clarify: Come to Samariel. Join the Leviathans. We can make better use of you there than you'll be here."
...
......
"I don't mean to be rude Sir... But are you senile?" She asked bluntly, her shock keeping her from thinking before she spoke--after all, just what the hell was he on?
He started laughing, his cup of tea setting itself down on the table as he slapped his knee.
"Senile..!"
"Sir, I'm serious. Do you not know who I am? You just said you did your homework, and yet--"
"And yet why would I invite such a troublemaker to my Squad? I don't like to repeat myself; you've been through a lot, any fool with eyes can see that."
She stared at him blankly, her heart in her throat as she couldn't connect the dots. What was he getting at?
"You've changed, and I want to change you more. I can see potential in you, and with the right technique I can change your shape and mold you in the fire like glass until you become perfect."
He shrugged, sighing and running his hand through his hair.
"Truth be told, I'm old, as you clearly know. I'm getting bored; I'd like to retire. But nobody in my Squad is ready yet, ready to take the lead of such an important part of this society. The Leviathans have been around for a long time, and it's a lot of responsibility that they're not ready to bear."
... No, don't tell me--"A Pilot with the experience you have is rare these days. You've dealt with it directly; the great responsibility of life. I can see it in your eyes, and I can tell because I know what you are. Your specific flavor of succubus--I know your mom, you know."
She felt like her heart was skipping beats, like it was ready to stop.
"Hey... There should be a limit to how many cruel jokes you can make, Spider. If I'd have known you were just going to spout bullshit then I wouldn't have bothered wasting our time, please excuse me." She said as she started to get up, her blood roaring as it rushed through the veins in her ears.
If she'd have known he just invited her here to jeer and torture her then she would have told him to fuck off at once, she couldn't believe she fell for something like this--
"You ate them, didn't you?"
No.
No.She was stopped dead in her tracks, back to him as she faced the door, hindered by her own damned fear and curiosity.
"That's normal for your type. Not all succubi can get by on sex alone. Not the old lines, like yours. It was bound to happen at some point or another, but for someone like you who values human life so much, it would be devastating."
She turned to stare at him, the fury in her gaze instantly quelled by the chillingly cold one staring back at her. His smile was gone and he wasn't kidding anymore.
"You're afraid. 'What if it happens again? What if I lose control again?' right? Especially now that you're back in regular society, surrounded by innocent people, right? You want to forget everything and restart and pretend it never happened, right?"
She didn't know how he knew so much; if it was his connections, or if he was just that good at figuring people out because of how old he was, or both, or neither. She didn't know if she wanted to run from this room as fast as she could, or kill him. Her blood was rushing, and her heart was racing, panicking, what could she do? Was she discovered, was she going to be imprisoned after all, even though they'd been criminals? No, she couldn't, she didn't survive all the torture and starvation and the fighting and Acis Point just for this, for it all to be ripped from her right when she'd let her guard down--
She felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and before she could move she was suddenly being held down on the floor, her heart in her throat as she gasped. How did he move so quickly?!
"Relax. I'm not here to threaten you or take you in. Besides, Axis Point would already have seen everything, they don't care who you ate out there. You're fine, brat." He took his weight off the knee that was pressing into her back and she gasped a little and finally took in some air, coughing once or twice. "Sit down and drink some tea."
That warm hand grabbed a handful of her shirt fabric and lifted her up off the ground like she weighed no more than a child. He helped her to her feet and just as easily guided her to the cushioned bench and sat her down with a gentle push. Every hair on her body was bristling as she stared at him, afraid.
She felt afraid, he was right. But right now she was especially afraid of him.
He sat back down across from her and let out a sigh, the tea pot raising up to top off his glass.
"Damn kids, you always get so ahead of yourselves. You still have a long way to go before you learn even the basics, like learning how to
listen. I'm offering to help you, fool."
He took a long sip of his tea, clearly a little irritated. He glanced at her, down to her empty cup, and then back up at her. "I said
drink your tea."
She flinched, reminded of her father's angry voice, of being scolded and beaten, and she quickly reached out and grabbed the cup and took a forceful sip of it. Spider let out a breath, finally leaning back again and relaxing.
"Like I said, I'm here to
help you because I see your potential. But in order to keep growing you need to be pushed in the right direction, and sometimes that push is being saddled with more responsibilities.
I'm offering you a position but it isn't guaranteed; you'd have to do something for me first."
Suddenly the talk was sounding a little more digestible and realistic; of course he wouldn't make this kind of outlandish offer to her without wanting something in return, right? She lowered the cup to rest on her knee as she gripped it tightly with both hands, trying to calm herself, which she realized now was why he told her to drink.
"You'll come to Samariel and work on missions with the local police force for three months. It's something that's far below your rank, and I think you should be smart enough to know why I'm asking it of you."
She grit her teeth and didn't say anything, understanding completely.
"Establish trust with Samariel's people, learn the city and know it like the back of your hand. The police are just as important as Pilots in keeping the peace, and they're short-staffed lately. Do that successfully and I'll welcome you to the Squad.
In order to earn their trust though, you need to show what you're properly capable of. Every day after your shift ends with the police, you will come see me for personal training. We will work on those new powers of yours, because I'm one of the only ones that can teach you about them.
Come to Samariel. Start over and become stronger, become someone you can be proud of. And then eventually, become the leader of the Leviathans. Show the world that you're here."
He stood up, drinking the last of his tea and setting it down on the table.
"I'll give you a week to think about it. It should be an easy enough choice."
He moved silently through the room and the door shut behind him with the gentlest
click, and Andromeda Messiere was left to sit there in the tea room alone to think about her future.
