ROD - Chapter 107

Chapter One-Hundred-Seven – Allegiances – Part One 

There is nothing more dangerous than being in a room with two people whom you don’t trust… except maybe a room with three… or four… fucking hell, you get the point. 

-Former WHA Battle Strategist Chairman Delana- 

The van lurches with a rumbling chorus of desperate wheels skidding on pavement. We are more than a few kilometers away, the traffic was really bad and finally just opened up. It’s been a few hours since the attack, and Vella for some reason is still pretending to be asleep. I managed to explain it to Clayton through rough charades. The way he keeps looking back at her in the rear view mirror, I think he’s wishing he could just open the backdoors and kick her out.  

“He still close?” Clayton asks in a hushed whisper.  

The proximity wisp I have on Starman is still pulsing slowly, “Two cars back.” 

“Great,” he says, cracking his neck.  

“Greymore give you any updates?” 

“He said Zero wasn’t in the helicopter, but she’s radio silent, as per usual.” 

“She didn’t reply to your messages?” 

“She never does,” he sighs, frowning, “She doesn’t speak unless she has to, she’s always been like that.” 

“I had a girlfriend like that once,” Tran says with a yawn, stretching and leaning his head against the window, “Come to think of it, she might still technically be my girlfriend.” 

“Technically?” Barlow asks.  

“Well, I never broke up with her, and she never broke up with me.” 

“How long since you talked?” Clayton asks.  

“More than a year… or maybe it was two,” Tran shrugs.  

“Definitely not your girlfriend anymore,” Barlow says.  

“Never know,” Tran smiles, “Maybe I’ll hit her up, been a while.” 

“Anyway,” Clayton sighs, checking the rearview mirror again, “If Zero wasn’t on the helicopter then she is alive, and probably within a kilometer of us.” 

“That close?” I ask.  

“She takes her job seriously.” 

Tran turns his head, leaning off the glass, “Hypothetically, if you and her fought, who would win?” 

Clayton just smirks.  

“Come on, man, I’m super curious,” Tran protests.  

“It would depend on a lot of things, weather, terrain, which at the end of the day wouldn’t matter, because we would never fight each other.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because,” he says, eyeing his mirrors and putting on his turn signal, “I’d never raise my blade to fight her.” 

“Because you love her?” Barlow asks.  

Clayton doesn’t reply, which is probably good since we don’t know if we can trust Vella.   

“Where are we going anyway?” Tran asks. 

“Back country, I know a guy who owes me a favor.” 

“What about the UWO, aren’t they going to like mount a rescue and recovery op or something?” 

“Their hands are a little full,” Clayton says.  

“What do you mean?” I ask.  

My messages from Greymore were pretty short, he essentially said lay low and wait for an update. Cortez is near hysterical, the constant messages made me hit the mute feature. Not that I don’t want to talk to her, but I need to keep my eyes on Vella, I don’t have time for distractions.  

Something in me shifts uneasily as I think about that last thought… is that how I see her now? As a distraction? No, I love her… My eyes lower, is she a distraction? I could have broached the subject with Mira right away if I wasn’t afraid to lose Cortez over it. What I need from Mira isn’t something that Cortez will like. She’ll say there has to be another way, she’ll say I can win without that.  

But I know that I need it, I need anything I can to get an edge, a leg up on all of these people. Especially if the Marauders are making moves on the board now. I don’t have Abyss like I used to. I don’t even know what the fuck the Chaos Emporium items do yet… without my tricks, I’m weak. I know that, I fucking feel it when I wake up and when I go to bed, wondering if I did enough… 

I need to become more than I am.  

I need to become the strongest.  

I need to be able to kill a god with my bare fucking hands.  

That’s the power I seek… not because I want it… power never interested me… but I’m after it, because I need it… 

For her, and for everyone I care about.  

Barlow almost died today, because I put him in a situation where he could die. Tran put his neck on the line pretending to be me. Clayton will throw his life away for me, because he believes in me… I need to live up to that belief… I need to… 

“Jimmy?” Barlow asks me with a furrowed brow, “You okay?” 

I swallow before looking up, “Yeah, you?” 

He looks at me strangely but nods.  

I turn and look at Vella, she’s laying in an uncomfortable position, the dedication to her act is admirable I guess.  

“What do you want to do with her?” Clayton asks me, “We’re getting close to my buddies place.” 

I sigh, we don’t have time for her games anymore. If she isn’t on our side, then we should leave her. Besides, I can track her now with my Soul Mark skill activated on her.  

“Godslayer?” he asks, looking in the rearview mirror. 

“Vella, I know you’re awake,” I say.  

No response. 

I open the rear doors of the van, I can feel Starman is in the car directly behind us. A blacked out SUV like we rode in earlier. I can see his assistant Jennifer in the front passenger seat, there’s a suit driving. Jennifer blinks at me, almost surprised.  

“Vella, you can keep pretending and find out how good your Constitution fares, or you can talk to us.” 

She doesn’t move, maybe she thinks I’m bluffing.  

I’m not.  

I grab her leg and give it a solid jerk, pulling her across the shag carpet in the van and tossing her toward the back doors. Right as her waist crosses the halfway point her eyes pop open and she claws at the carpet.  

“Are you fucking crazy!” she yells over the wind.  

I grab her arm and drag her back in, closing the doors again.  

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she asks, pulling her dress up and adjusting her bra, “You were really going to just throw me out? On a highway?” 

I nod.  

“After you pulled me from a collapsing building and carried me down more than forty stories? That doesn’t even make sense, who the fuck does that?” 

“Technically…” Tran begins.  

“You shut up,” Vella says with a wrathful glare, “I’ve heard enough of your bullshit for one day.”  

I lean against the van wall, “Why were you pretending to be asleep?” 

She pulls her hand through her matted hair, “I… I was scared.” 

“Bullshit,” I say with a narrowed gaze.  

She rolls her eyes, “I was curious.” 

“About?” 

“You, obviously.” 

“And?” 

She frowns, pulling a clump of singed hair, “I wanted to know why you attacked the WHA and I figured that if I pretended to be asleep I could get more intel.” 

The fact that she’s saying this tells me that she is not wary of us. She is confident that she could take all of us, especially with Clayton driving.  

“We didn’t attack the WHA,” I say.  

She tilts her head and measures me, “Forgive me if I don’t believe you, especially since you let your friend pretend to be you all day.” 

“That was that, and this is this,” I say calmly. There’s something in her tone, almost like she doesn’t believe what she’s saying.  

“You killed a lot of my friends,” she says, pulling her hair up into a loose bun, “The rumors about you must be true, that you’re a Champion and a Marauder.” She looks down at the soot on her hand, “After today, I’d wager you lean more toward Marauder.” 

“He isn’t a fucking…” Barlow begins.  

I hold up a hand to stop him.  

“You don’t believe that I did it, do you?” I ask, tilting my head at her.  

She studies me again, her finger twirls in the loose strand that falls from her messy bun, “Do you have some kind of lie detecting skill?” 

“I have many tricks.” 

“Do you have any treats? Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love dressing up as the villain,” she flits a strange smile, “Do you… love dressing as a villain?” 

I almost feel like she’s trying to speak in some kind of code, “I don’t dress up for fun.” 

“Shame, I bet you’d look good in spandex,” she grins, licking her lips.  

I give her a look, one that clearly means I’m not interested in anything she’s selling, she tsks her tongue and looks out the rear windows toward the blacked out SUV behind us.  

“Is that…” she shifts, moving toward the door and wiping the dust from it, “That’s um, what was her name?” she starts snapping her fingers, “Um, Helga… no, Carol… no, that’s not right either.” 

She keeps going for a good two minutes and none of us give her the answer. I think we’re just wondering if she’ll get to it or not.  

“Debora… no, that’s not it, em, Haley?” she turns to me, “Her name’s Haley, isn’t it?”  

There’s a satisfied grin on her face.  

“I fucking knew it, her name’s Haley.” 

“It’s,” Tran begins but she does a shushing sound.  

“I told you not to talk Pervy Wonder.” 

“Pervy Wonder?” Tran says with a confused look.  

“What color panties am I wearing?” she asks him.  

“Blue lace… oh…” he turns and faces forward, and breathes out, “Fair.” 

“As I said, perv.” 

I let out a stifled sigh, “Anyway, who do you think did this? Marauders?” 

She leans against the wall, “Could be, could also be Starman went mental, or maybe he’s a Marauder. Hmm, that could be why… I don’t know, maybe it’s not related. Either way, I’ve never liked him, he’s a strange one for sure.” 

“Why do you say that?” Clayton asks, then looking back in the rear view mirror, “And what thing might not be related?” 

She doesn’t answer his questions directly, she looks out the window more intently and squints, “It’s just strange that she’s there, he never goes anywhere without her. Which means that Starman is probably in that car as well, following us after the WHA headquarters were destroyed. Why though? WHA protocol for this kind of situation is to disperse the Heroes around the world until the all clear is given.” 

“So, like, you are Vella, right?” Tran asks.  

She turns and gives him a dagger eyed stare, “Stop talking to me.” 

Tran turns, looking at me, “Can you ask if she’s Vella?” 

“She’s Vella,” I sigh.  

She tilts her head again, “You seem rather sure.” 

“I am.” 

She grins, “You know, I like my men like I like my women… dripping with confidence.”  

“Pass.” 

She blinks, then swallows as though confused that I don’t want to play into her hand. “I am indeed, Vella.” 

I turn to look out the window, the SUV is riding the van’s ass hard, if Clayton brake checked them, I don’t think they’d stop in time. I don’t think they mean us harm though, otherwise why follow behind us? Why not just try to ram us off the road, their vehicle would definitely win. There must be a reason, maybe he thinks we kidnapped Vella and doesn’t want to risk hurting her? Maybe he’s waiting for orders… would be a lot easier to just ask him. I need to find out more from Vella.  

“What do you really think happened?” I ask her.  

She shrugs, “If I had to guess, after your divine item came back, the UWO attacked the WHA in order to protect their asset and…” 

The vehicle jerks as one of the wheels run something over.  

“Damnit,” Clayton seethes, hitting the steering wheel, “The tire’s fucked, I need to pull over.”  

The blacked out SUV stops behind us as we pull over.  

“Well, might as well get this over with,” Vella says, then she looks at me firmly, “I can count on you right? If he attacks me.” 

I nod. I’m not letting either of these idiots kill each other. We need every hero… I think back to what she said about how Starman could be a Marauder… is that even possible?  

Then I remember what Sage told me, Gods and Goddesses can’t see mortal’s status sheets properly. So they wouldn’t know if someone was or wasn’t a Marauder. Unless they were cheating… like Red did… like Sera did… she said one of the heroes isn’t what they seem. Was she warning me that one of them is a Marauder?  

There’s an uneasy feeling welling up in me. What if one of the WHA heroes isn’t a hero at all? Dressing up like a villain… is that code? Or am I being paranoid.  

Vella pushes open the double doors and sits on the edge then crosses her legs and bends a finger at Jennifer in the front passenger seat.  

“Come here little mouse,” she says quietly.