Emperors War

No one else knew, but the Righteous Twins were very aware of the relationship between this man and Aker. When he had come to them and demanded that they place his bets for him they decided to do some digging and discovered that he was a guard in The Pit, and not just any guard. He was Aker"s guard, the one who knew more about Aker, his condition and his abilities than anyone else. For him to come to them to bet against Aker wasn"t small news.

"Do I look like someone who needs to repeat themselves? Also, I want to pick up every cent of the money within an hour of the fight being done, I shouldn"t have to explain to you what happens if it"s not ready right?" His silver hair was blowing slightly in the wind as they were discussing this bet outside in the slum of The Pits.

"Here is a list, I want the entire list completed in the next twelve hours and you two need to oversee every bit of it personally. If I find out that you had someone else do it there won"t be anyone who can protect you."

Normally Vance would keep his killing intent he had honed and developed over years of fighting in The Pit hidden, however as he threatened the Righteous Twins, he made sure to give them a little extra motivation.

Leland and Sheppard both stepped back as the momentary flash of killing intent pierced their guard, both of them had the same thought "We need to make sure we do this perfectly".

Without a word the two took off as Vance smile behind them. The truth was Vance was exceedingly pleased with the duo"s performance. The two of them had been exclusively placing bets for Vance since he first approached them, which was Aker"s first battle against a magic beast. He allowed them to take 3% of all bets, through the process of betting for Vance they had also become wealthy. He asked them to make the bet today as a reward as they had been betting heavily on Aker and he wanted them to cash in this last time.

After working out the details with the Righteous Twins Vance headed over to see Cap at the transfer yard. The transfer yard was used for the ships to load and unload cargo, refill and get supplies. On almost every planet the transfer yards would be some of the busiest locations as there was a constant stream of ships coming in, leaving and workers loading and unloading.

Usually there would be more ships and cargo to move than workers to process it which is why it was good practice to grease the wheels by paying off the yard supervisor. Having a good relationship with the yard supervisor would help in all manner of needs to include those that may or may not fit within the confines of legal. In the Underground Empire the definition of legal was stretched pretty thin, however there was no society without governing laws and that held true of even the Underground Empire.

Vance had found Cap getting her ship ready, she was making all the arrangements and setting up the last of the people that they would be taking with them. Cap had spent her whole career smuggling people from one place to the other, who would have ever thought that she would someday be so happy about her c.r.a.ppy ship and her less than high paying choice.

"Are you sure you want to take this garbage can?" Cap couldn"t help but ask one more time. Her and Vance had discussed this so many times and she was still amazed that he didn"t want to try and purchase an upgraded model. If they pulled every resource they had, well not counting Sneed of course, they could just afford the X2-Shuttle, but Vance was adamant that he didn"t want that.

"While the X-2 would get us to our destination faster it would also expose us to more risk. If someone finds out what we"re doing their first action would be to check every X-2 on the planet. They would never expect us to take the X-1, its counter intuitive to take it. It moves too slow and will take a significant amount of time for us. Compared to what we"re doing what"s one year? In the year that were traveling we"ll still be able to practice, study, and consolidate, it will give him a chance to grow without any concern before..." Vance was speaking as someone who had thoroughly thought out the plans with everyone. The only one who disagreed with using the X-1 was Cap who felt that faster was better in this case.

"Before you throw him back into another h.e.l.l? Is that what you were getting ready to say?" Cap cut in not allowing Vance to finish his sentence. She was not happy about where they were headed and did not agree with what Vance had planned.

"I messed up.... No, we all messed up. When that b.a.s.t.a.r.d tried to poison him, he fell for his sly and conniving ploy, none the wiser. While we trained him to fight, cook, forge and practice medicine, while he grew stronger and developed a killing and battle intent, we haven"t trained his senses. We had an opportunity to grow him through the a.s.sa.s.sins, forcing him to live on an edge when alone, when working, when studying but he wasn"t ready…..." Vance had already explained this before but Cap seemed as though she still wasn"t satisfied, it wouldn"t hurt for her to hear it again.

"Instead an unknown enemy envied him and his abilities, will there never be anyone who does that again? Of course, there will be plenty, for someone as talented as Aker he will create countless of enemies who hate him because of his large shadow. We can"t continue to make the same mistake, there is only one way for him to grow his mind, grow his fighting skills and continue advancing, you know were right you just don"t want him to do it."

"You"re d.a.m.n right I don"t want him to do it. Hasn"t he already fought and struggled enough? All you care about is your d.a.m.n revenge and for that you"ll push that kid to the brink of death, so that you can fulfill your own selfish..." Cap blew up, she was expressing all the thoughts she had bottled up until now. Her pretty face was scowling which only helped to accentuate her blue eyes that seemed to be made of ice. Cap had more of an athletic build and was on the taller side for a woman, mixed with her facial features that were very attractive she was a domineering and intimidating woman to talk to. Only someone as imposing as Vance could stand in front of her and suppress her aura.

"I would stop right there if I were you....there"s some truth to your words but if you think that I would endanger Aker, risk his life for my own benefits then perhaps you aren"t the person we need to be planning with. I know you think you have Aker"s best interest at heart but let me ask you something. What type of universe do we live in? Is it a universe that if we move to some far-off place, live our life and go about our business n.o.body will ever mess with or threaten us? Is it a universe that if we live peacefully without desire and without doing harm to others, they will honor our way of life and leave us alone? Aker was living his life without a care in the world when that b.a.s.t.a.r.d s.n.a.t.c.hed him up. As soon as he discovered that Aker wasn"t what he thought he would be, he tossed him away like garbage....." Vance was staring down Cap, his voice was suppressing any ideas she had of interrupting or trying to rebut.

"Aker has talent and abilities that put him at the Apex of at least the outer universe, I believe you can agree with that. I also know that you understand that strength is the only currency that is truly accepted, either I"m stronger or you"re stronger. The stronger one is right, that"s how it works. That boy has already mastered skills that others have spent a lifetime trying to learn, our goal should be to expose him to every conceivable skill and danger so that he can develop the mindset he"s going to need to survive in this universe. No, not only survive that boy is going want to protect those that he has deemed family and that includes you, and that includes me. However, you are right about one thing, I haven"t made myself clear enough with him yet, it"s something I"ll take care of today."

As Cap listened to Vance speak, she couldn"t find any words to refute him. She had been watching as Aker struggled day in and day out and had grown weary of his struggle. Even right now he was laid out unconscious after fighting in a bitter battle. It was just as Vance said, strength meant everything in the universe. Those who had power pretended to be civil until it didn"t align with what they wanted. If you had something they wanted they would just take it and make you out to be the enemy, the bad guy.

"I understand, I was out of place..." with a sigh Cap acknowledged that while she didn"t want them to go to the destination they had settled on, it was because she didn"t want to see Aker at risk. She had also acknowledged that it was this thought process that had allowed Alfred to almost poison Aker, "I"m sorry".

"There is no reason to apologize, you only want what"s best for the boy and I could never fault you for that and I"m glad you talked to me about it and felt comfortable enough to berate me like you did...." As Vance spoke about her outburst and accusations Cap put her head down as she couldn"t look him in the eye. Her face blushed over giving her a look of innocence which startled Vance as he had never pictured this woman as one who could behave that way.

"better yet how are the ships changes coming along?" Vance decided to change the subject immediately after he saw Cap"s rosy cheeks.

Sensing her flushed cheeks Cap responded back immediately as though trying to avert the growing awkward moment. "I removed six rooms and created an open area for training as we discussed. I upgraded the kitchen and had the books you wanted moved in. We also installed a forge Sneed designed with Aker"s help, which I might add is revolutionary piece of magical engineering. It uses that worthless magical converter and connects it directly to the forge allowing for forge fires to be created without the need for the fuel to start them. It"s completely safe, if the fire gets out of hand the converter will shut down hence cutting off the fire. Not only that but after a few hours of reviewing the specks on the magical converter Aker asked Sneed why they couldn"t use two converters and combine them in the front and back so they wouldn"t interfere with one another to double the efficiency. Aker pointed out how the interaction could work like a human circular system which caused Sneed to jump up screaming and running off. This change yielded a two hundred percent increase in speed. If it wasn"t for this change our trip would take two or even three years instead of the one we have planned. In just a couple of hours of reviewing the magical designs for the converter he was able to increase its efficiency by over 100%, how does his mind work?"

Vance had grown numb to Aker"s growth. It seemed that if he showed interest in a topic, he would be able to master it. Aker had asked for books on magical engineering which had excited Sneed at the time, so Sneed went all in delivering hundreds of books. Normally a person seeing the mountain of books would feel overwhelmed but not Aker, upon seeing the books a joyous smile spread over his face and he just began digging in. Within a week Aker and Sneed were having deep conversations about the theory and practical application of magic engineering.

"Good, is it safe to consider the ship ready to go?" Vance looked Cap in the eye looking for a specific answer. While if everything worked right, they wouldn"t be in a rush to leave, the truth was they didn"t want to wait around either. Vance was convinced that once the X-1 was en route no one would bother them as no one would expect them to be on the slowest ship in the universe.

"We could leave right now if you wanted to, were good to leave whenever you like…. Is it true that Sneed is staying behind?" Cap"s eyebrows drew together while her head tilted to the side.

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"Just for a while, he"s going to provide interference if needed and more importantly he"ll be our ears here collecting information and pa.s.sing it to us. He has become one of the wealthiest people in the Underground Empire and he has used that money to create heavy influence. I think even he"s lost count of the number of people he"s bribed and "gifted" money to, but it"s created a reliable information network." Vance had wanted Sneed to come along as well but Sneed refused, he was adamant that he could best help by staying right where he was.

"What about Dr. Life & Death? Have we found out what"s keeping him here?"

"He"s not going, and he won"t tell us why. I"m confident it has to do with his reason for disappearing once a month but other than that I don"t have any relevant information, but my gut is telling me that he is probably being forced to stay behind somehow." Vance let Cap know that Dr. Life & Death wouldn"t be coming along and also told her his hunch.

Before Cap could ask any more questions, Vance piped up "I just wish that Dr. Life & Death was going, and that fake artist want to be was staying behind. It p.i.s.ses me off that I"m going to be spending so much time on that ship with him with no way to get away. If I have to listen to him talk about the beauty of whatever it is, I"m going to punch him until his lips swell up and he can"t talk anymore." Vance"s face was full of frustration and fury as he thought about it.

Hearing Vance talk about Sampson that way she couldn"t help but turn her head and laugh.

______________

While Vance and Cap were discussing the final details in the medic station Kara called out.

"Big Brother you"re finally awake! I"m so happy, this is the second time you"ve done this to Little Kara you know! Why do you keep doing this, it"s all your fault that I"m like this! You should think about the people around you, do you know how worried everyone was?" Kara who was crying was blaming Aker for her miserable state. She was talking to him as though he had a choice in whether he was fighting in The Pit.

This was the second time that Aker had woken up to the crying Kara who blamed him for making her worry. Even as he tried to gain his senses about him, he could still rationalize that she had been upset and worried about him.

"Thank you for worrying about me but as you can see, I"m doing fine. It wasn"t that bad; I had just worn myself out and needed some rest is all. There is nothing to worry about, I"m sorry I made you worry." Aker tried his best to comfort Kara who was working on calming down. After calming down her excitement increased as she stared down at Aker.

"Have you noticed yet?" Kara asked a smile full of ridicule on her face.

"Noticed???" Aker shook his head side to side and looked at Kara in doubt.

"Your hair sure got long hasn"t it?" Kara"s ridiculing smile grew even larger.

"That"s because I don"t have anyone to cut it, I have to wear my..." Aker"s voice trailed off as he realized what he was about to say.

Reaching his hand up he touched his face and for the first time in longer than he could remember there was no cloth blocking him from touching. The mask that he had worn every day at all times was no longer on him.