The Lords of The Bottom

Carut and Therod were the heroes of the day. They had successfully defended the shit factory and so were lauded for their efforts. Even got a trophy from Ross that declared them "King Shit of Turd Hill." It wasn't exactly a great honor, but after being berated for screwing up, it was pleasant to be applauded for doing the opposite. Though it didn't buy them out of the trouble they were in. Shortly after the small award ceremony Ross informed them they would in charge of security for the repairs at the shit plant. It made sense for Therod, while doing one thing well it doesn't ultimately make them less screw ups from before. Still it also made her sad because the smell was still ever present and she figured her and Carut had at least done something more useful than stop drinking for a bit like the former guards had done. But she didn't argue the point so with their trophy in two they reported for work back at the plant as people helped to put it back together.

"You know I actually am finding I like this place more now." Carut had settled in to his position holding up the wall. He said due to his height sitting for long periods was painful, he'd rather stand. Therod didn't mind, it meant the one chair they had in their check point was mostly hers.

"I've red studies about prisoners of war eventually loving their captors."

"Ouch."

"You brought it up, you're just institutionalized, soon enough you'll let your plumbing back up at the barracks so you can never be rid of this smell."

"You get mean when you are stuck doing bad jobs."

"You think this is mean you should have seen me when I was exploratory duty, years of being the only group in deep space, we started at genetics ended up bagging on people for distant relatives. I had no idea one of my ancestors once executed a man for improperly crossing the street."

"Sounds like a story I'd like to hear."

"Not really? I mean she killed a man because he crossed the street improperly, what the proper way was was not listed. Though to be fair we only had a history of this because of Trezlan Lorentino, so we might have to take it with a grain of salt." Carut laughed, Therod did find it funny herself that Trezlan had supposedly been around so long there were distinct historical records that just listed him as the source. She doubted them as most people tended to, but she did almost want to ask about his recollection of events if only to hear the bullshit itself.

"Well I'll remember your families history next time I cross a street improperly."

"Please do." With that they went back to waiting around, but they could at least take solace they were the lord of being on the bottom of things. As far as things went there was always that.

Double The Death

"Pleasure doing business with you Trezlan." It was weird that a group of killers had a receptionist. Trezlan felt that they had normalized murder a little too much now. Gone were the days you'd leave an envelope with weird instruction on it in an undisclosed place. Now you'd contact a group and like ordering food they'd go over the menu of murder options and then you paid them at a sanitized location. Could even deduct it on your taxes if you paid them, which Trezlan didn't any more since he wasn't officially a citizen of anywhere. His civic pride long forgotten.

"So how do you kill a person who can see the future?" Trezlan had been curious how they'd killed Brubaker without him seeing it coming.

"Well its like anything else you just have to be prepared. We had four people on deck in the general area who weren't told the target until right before the trigger pull. In that way it would be hard for him to see his own death was coming unless he knew it was about to happen which from our result he didn't."

"Impressive and for as little as I paid you, that's the kind of service I appreciate."

"To be fair Mr. Lorentino you weren't the only one who paid for Brubaker's death." That did surprise Trezlan.

"Well now I feel silly for paying if you were planning on killing him anyway." The receptionist smiled, there wasn't really anything to say to that. "I'm curious though if someone were to order me dead how would you people kill me?

"Hypothetically?"

"Hypothetically."

"Multiple bombs at different locations. You're wearabouts are not immediately known and you somehow avoid tracking software to a freakish degree. So we'd have to hit multiple places at once, bombs because of your necromancy."

"Impressive."

"Don't worry Mr. Lorentino we have and continue to not accept contracts on your life." She smiled but it wasn't very reassuring. Still always nice to know he'd go out in a flash and not suffer horribly through poison or a gunshot. It helped Trezlan Sleep at night.

There Are No Good People

Reading the report brought a smile to Brubaker's face. It was an incident report at one of the sanitation facilities his company owned. The kind of place no one thought about until something bad had happened there. Two separate incidents, one a group of anarchist kids, the other a coordinated mercenary assault that had been put down by on staff security. It wasn't exactly a smile worthy document aside from seeing Therod's name in it. Brubaker hadn't given her much thought since they'd separated. He hoped she would find her way and from seeing the report she mostly had. True she had been guarding a sanitation plant, but people have to start somewhere. It was almost enough for Brubaker to feel ok about what happened.

Almost, he was angry because he had personally set those mercenaries to blow up that plant, and he had seen in his mind it was successful. But now it hadn't been, and he hadn't seen the negative there. His vision wasn't as clear as it had been once, and now he was worried what else he wasn't seeing and why he wasn't seeing it. Brubaker had gotten used to using the sight again, but if it was going to fail him it was almost better not to see things. That was the last thought on his mind as the bullet blew his brains against the wall. The shot boomed after his body crumpled, the high rise window giving way under the new stress and blowing out scaring everyone on the floor.

Brubaker's killed dropped the rifle up top, something for the authorities to find and ultimately decide it wasn't worth pursuing. She made one call to her client and then hung up, having to leave the area lest she have to answer awkward questions to the authorities.

****

"Thank you." Trezlan hung up his phone and Rolando looked at him with the same hurt expression he usually wore when he felt Trezlan was being dishonest with him.

"Why? Why did he have to die?"

"Because he was dangerous, the sight is like that, it shows you what you want to see without seeing consequences or other failings. Brubaker would eventually do something bad, or worse so I stopped him."

"You just assume because you're awful everyone is like you, and that's not true, you're just a terrible person." Trezlan let that go, Rolando hadn't gotten over being possessed and he hadn't seen the world like Trezlan had, he was hurt and lashing out. But Trezlan already knew Brubaker was bad, he had known as soon as the man wound up in a corp instead of just winning the lottery, he had chosen to do awful things to get ahead and Trezlan knew that was a path that would ultimately be the worse for the galaxy.

"I know what I know, now why don't you leave me alone son only so much I can stand with your righteousness." Father and son glared at each other, and the galaxy relaxed as things had returned to normal.

In The Shit

Gunshots hit all around the factory. Shit was leaking from a variety of pipes as Therod and Carut moved towards the sound of gun fire they had become coated in the foul grey liquid. Therod knew no amount of showering would ever make her clean again. Carut seemed not to put off by the crap, but she figured he was putting on a show, as each extra geyser of filth hit them from another pipe she could tell he was feeling worse and worse for it. Carut and Therod had locked up the young terrorists in what was left of their guard station. Therod suggested they just shoot them, Carut decided he didn't want to commit murder based on people being dumb. Therod thought it wasn't murder so much as helping what will eventually come anyway, Carut was unconvinced with the argument.

The gun ship attackers didn't seem to have much of a plan. They were rounding up workers and shooting shit pipes, but that was all Therod could see they had done. The damage to the plant wasn't irreparable it was just superficial and disgusting. That they were incompetent only seemed par for the course for Therod, the job was crap and the people attacking the plant equally crap. Eventually the two of them came upon the group as they were lining up plant workers for an execution, there were six of them from what she could make out. They had their backs to Carut and Therod she looked at him, and then he at her and then they opened fire. Their weapons cut down the attackers without much issue what body armor they had on did not have much rear protection. Therod was going to ask what of the ship overhead when she heard a horrific noise somewhere else in the plant and then an explosion shortly thereafter.

"This job is shit." Carut sounded so crest fallen.

"Shit that pays." It was all Therod had left, the plant workers were happy, but she knew in her heart that no matter how many people thought she was cool, the stink of shit would not wash out of her clothes.

And then the Shit Hit the Fan

"Another day at the shit factory." They had been there a week. On top of being boring Therod could swear the smell was getting through the masks and she was literally breathing it in. On top of all the extra long showers to remove the stink from herself. Carut said it wasn't that bad, but wouldn't elaborate on what would be worse. Nothing in Therod's mind could be worse, but she didn't want to tempt the universe by saying that.

"Of all the places in the universe Trezlan Lorention at least won't come here." Therod had never really told Carut about her issue with Trezlan. It had just become a common enough theme for the man to be seen as the ultimate agent of chaos.

"There is that." Therod was about to start reading a book she'd purchased to speed up the boredom when she saw a van coming down the road pretty fast. It didn't look like a work van for the company, and it was going way faster than it should be.

"Whoa look at these assholes." Carut had stood up from where he was sitting and unslung his rifle. The building had a fortified gate, so no matter how hard they hit it, it wouldn't actually go down, but apparently the van driver was not aware of that, or the van was loaded with explosives, which didn't make Therod feel safer sitting next to the gate.

"Should we shoot them?"

"Nah gate should be fine, I want to be amused by this." Therod didn't feel that way, but the van accelerated and crashed in a metal screeching cacophony of noise. It was one of the loudest things Therod had ever heard. Out of the crash stumbled three long haired males dressed in jump suits and masks and staggering around because they just got in a major collision. Carut and Therod made a move toward the group when they pulled pisols shakily from their suits and pointed at them.

"Stay back and open the, gods damn it my neck hur..." Therod rushed forward, disarming the first of the three. Carut followed suit grabbing one of them in a choke hold and pointing his little crossbow at the last one who put his hands up.

"Whoa aren't you guys supposed to be drunks?"

"Nah that shift left an hour ago, who put you up this dumb ass?" Before the kid could answer a gun ship emerged overhead and laid into the front gate with missiles, exploding it in shrapnel and fire.

"This is all your fault Therod." Everyone was huddled near the wreck of the gate. Therod shrugged her shoulders.

"Look just because I say I want excitement, doesn't make this shit my fault." Both of them got up and collected their weapons, the gun ship was dropping off men in the plant and it looked like their day was just starting.

"Shall we?" Carut had his arm out towards the fire and sounds of gun fire.

"Sure what's the worst that can happen?"

"STOP SAYING THAT!"

A Real Shit Job

"You know when you said this can be a real shit job I should have known you meant literally." Carut and Therod were stationed outside of a waste processing plant. It was apparently a target for chemical warfare or something, really it seemed like it was a Sun Star client specifically for punishment duty. The people they had replaced had previously been busted to the job for drinking, Therod felt it unfair for her to be there but she had screwed up along with Carut and so they had to have their punishment.

"I want to thank you for this, I have never actually gotten assigned to guard shit before, and this is a new low." Carut was in better spirits than Therod. They both had to wear breathing masks so as to not die from the fumes.

"I aim to set the bar low Carut. Honestly who would attack a shit factory?"

"Shitty terrorists."

"I hate you, even though I know I should have seen that coming."

****

"So once we get the shit what do we do with it?" Anarchists were rarely smart, the group planning their assault on the sanitation plant set that already low bar even lower. There were three of them, all under the age of twenty and living off their parents but wanting to disrupt the system they felt was keeping them down.

"We turn into a bomb dumb ass that's why they guard it, I read some stuff on the net, just apply some chemicals and boom!"

"Won't it be guarded?" Each one of them were really hard to tell apart, all long hair and teen age angst.

"Nah just a couple drunks, I chatted with them the other day, neither one will really stop us, but we have guns, you know what they say can't make an omlette without shooting people."

"Who says that?"

"Shut up and get in the van!"

****

"Unguarded, couple drunks really, should be easy to stage an assault on." The pros were better armed then the anarchists, there were also six of them and they had a better plan than get shit and make shit into bomb.

"And why are we doing this again?"

"Bosses want to build a new treatment plant, can't do that while the other one is still in operation."

"Makes sense, but won't we be suspected?"

"Nah I have a couple idiot anarchists I can blame this, been talking it up to them online."

"Excellent." And thus the least guarded shit factory in the galaxy came under assault by two completely related/unrelated parties.

The Land of The Screw Up

"I don't even want to look at you two right now." The captain of the sun stars was an older lady that went by Ross, Therod figured it was her last name, but she never knew if she had a name other than Ross. It was always Captain Ross in her limited interaction with her. Ross has dirty grey hair and a variety of scars on her face and other parts of her visible body. She also had a lot of cybernetics. Her entire chest was a bunch of whirring blinking computers, when she got angry they went from a neutral green to a flashing red. They were flashing red at Carut and Therod.

"Sir it was my fault I didn't check." Carut was accepting blame even though neither he nor Therod had foreseen the attack, and the ship they were in couldn't possibly have fought it off, even if they had.

"Out of here both of you, you're both on shit detail until I figure out how to like you again." They left her office and heard something getting smashed on the way out. The rest of the Sun Stars didn't say anything as they slinked off to the back of barracks. Therod just breathed out, she was glad she hadn't gotten kicked off her first job, but was mad this blew back on her despite doing everything she could.

"You know I thought we already were on shit detail."

"Oh it gets worse, what we were on before was new person detail, shit details involve actual shit like you would not believe."

"I made the correct life decision Carut I can feel it." The old man smiled and laid back on his bunk.

"Don't worry about Ross, she'll forgive us for being screws up and then we'll go back into her good graces just long enough to make another error and start it all over again."

"I'm hearing the reason I failed is because you're bad luck Carut." The old man laughed and Therod just laid down in her own bunk. All she really knew is that this was all Lorentino's fault and that at least made her feel better. Because at least she had someone to blame.

Better Than Bored

A combination of bullets and energy weaponry slammed into the bulkhead in front of her. Therod was crouched waiting for her attackers. Carut was behind her watching the rear. They were surrounded, what had seemed like a simple transport mission had turned into a fire fight almost immediately, the client was dead, Carut and Therod the only survivors as it stood and she didn't think their chances were looking great.

"Well this is exciting." Carut was armed with only a rifle and some weird crossbow contraption he had on his wrist "just in case". Therod had thought the crossbow weapon was stupid, but she'd seen him kill two people with it already, so it had its uses.

"I'd say I'd want to be bored over possibly being killed, but you know I'd rather die in excitement over live in boredom." She was running out of ammunition, the attackers did not seem to be running out of men, and last she heard they had an hour before support could reach them on the rock their ship had touched down on.

"We aren't dying here, most likely you know, I mean I don't even know why these dick holes are trying to kill us, they got the VIP, what more can we do?" They could talk which is why people were after them, not like Therod knew anything, but its hard to tell people that when they are shooting at you.

"Complete the set I guess." Therod figured the other team had to be running out of ammunition as well, a strike team only has so much ammo, and they couldn't have planned for the protracted fire fight they found themselves in.

"How you doing on bang bangs?"

"Screwed, you?"

"About to have to resort to bad language and my genitalia."

"So less than screwed."

"That hurts Therod." The enemy fire had stopped, Carut and Therod looked at each other, things were about to get better or worse depending on why the firing had stopped. Therod peaked around her corner and didn't see anyone. Carut also came up empty.

"I guess the threat of your dick was too much for them."

"Or your caustic personality."

"Well we're back to being bored."

"You're always looking on the bright side here." There wasn't much bright side, they had failed in their mission and hopefully their distress signal had been heard. And not by whoever had killed their VIP.

For the Service and The Inconvenience

The relic fell out of Rolando, leaving the young man back to himself, if only feeling naked and confused. Barnes collected it in a small sack he brought for the purpose. He hadn't had to do much to dislodge it, just knowing the proper phase to free it, which Trezlan in all his random shit apparently never figured it out. Barnes had to laugh a little bit that for all his knowledge he couldn't have figured out this simple thing.

"Who are you?"

"Ray Barnes, you're welcome." Barnes left and Rolando collapsed. Trezlan who never really left rushed to the boys side.

"Will he be..."

"Alright, yes he will be, I'm taking the artifact, its worth nothing to you and I have a use for it." Trezlan just waved him off, and Barnes didn't force the issue. The voice in his head was confused.

"We have a use for this?"

"We do, someday we'll use this for an important purpose." Barnes shrugged. The voice had gotten increasingly cryptic as of late, but he was Barnes's passenger, and he had to believe the voice had his best interest in heart, it had previously but Barnes was worrying maybe it didn't. But as the old saying went, in for a little, in for a lot.

****

"Who was that?"

"You know its funny I'm pretty sure that was the guy who paid me to get that relic in the first place, strange he didn't seem to recognize me at all."

"Well lets not do that again ok, I think I became a vegetarian." Trezlan laughed and clapped Rolando on his shoulder which caused the younger Lorentino to wince. But Trezlan didn't care he had his son back.

Who Is Mr. Barnes

Barnes at one point in his life had been an accountant. Just a normal person doing his normal person duties hoping to get a promotion, but never expecting it like all the other people above him tended to do. He would have been content to just keep doing that until his death if not for the quirk of chance that lead him to being possessed. It wasn't even an evil spirit that took him over, just a lonely one. Barnes could relate to the creature, he himself lived a solitary life, no spouse, no children, not even a pet. His parents died when he was a young man and he had no real friends. He made a bond with the creature, and instead of the possession being a one sided affair they worked with each other, and through this he found he found with the spirits help he could relieve others of their possession which were not beneficial.

Barnes still lead a mostly solitary life, but he at least felt better about helping people. Even if it meant helping someone like Trezlan Lorentino a name his spirit recognized from when he was alive (which had been hundreds of years before Barnes's birth). But he was not a picky guy, he didn't choose his cases or who he helped, he just helped because that was who Barnes was. Which meant at times helping some awful people like Lorentino. Barnes made his peace with it being that he was helping his son who suffered more by extension.

He also did so as a favor to the god of Death, so it was a two for one deal even if he didn't know how he'd ever ask for death's help in the future. It was the crazy life Mr. Barnes found himself in.

The Curt Mr. Barnes

"I don't have a lot of time Mr. Lorentino, I'd appreciate if your respect that." Trezlan didn't even say hell, he just opened the door and Barnes came inside. He had on a crisp black suit with white shirt and black tie, he looked more like an accountant than a possession expert. He handed Trezlan a satchel that smelled awfully and then looked around the fairly boring looking main room.

"Where is the boy?"

"Downstairs, I've tried a lot..."

"Less talk more showing me the problem." They descended down to where Rolando was. He was chewing meat Trezlan had tossed into the room and fled fearing the creature would break loose.

"So leeches, necromancy, a variety of rituals I'd rather not get into, tried calling three separate gods, and when all else failed therapy, nothing worked." The therapy was for Trezlan, he just thought he'd list it in case it helped.

"Do you have the artifact?" Trezlan wondered where Barnes got his information, Hanlon might have told him, but he seemed to just know.

"It was absorbed when he touched it."

"Explains why everything else failed, ok well give me a moment and then I'll do what I can do. If you have somewhere else to be, be there."

"I'm not leaving my son."

"Oh please sentimentality is beyond you, and don't even levy a threat against my person, you called me for help you get my help, now make yourself somewhere else I have work to do." Trezlan reluctantly agreed and Barnes opened the cell door and stood staring at the creature that had been Rolando Lorentino.

"Aren't you a pretty one." It was the last thing he said to the creature, and then the battle was on.

It Would Almost Be Hilarious

"What took you so long?" Trezlan was waiting for Hanlon, he had been waiting all morning, not like he had any real conscious way of calling Hanlon, but he did his usual floundering and expected the god to show up. But now here he was hours late and the man just strolled in like Trezlan hadn't been waiting for him. It was enough to make Trezlan think the god didn't care anymore.

"I had other business, no don't ask it was sad and yet funny and completely not related to anything with you. Let me guess this is about your son?"

"Of course its about my son, I've exhaused my list of things to do and now I need your help."

"Your list of things being kill him kill him slowly or kill someone else so that he can live?"

"That's patently insulting there are plenty of things I do that don't involve death like uhhh shit, look are you going to help me or just bother me here?"

"Well Trezlan I'm a death god, what do you want me to do? Kill him? What he's inflicted with is beyond my realm, but before you throw a damned fit like a child without food I already asked around and I have a guy, now you won't like him, I don't like him, but he's the best at this kind of thing. So you'll have to deal."

Trezlan was going to say something in return, but Hanlon was gone, in his place was a crisp business card that was white with bold type face on it. It was weird for someone to still use a printed business card, but I guess when you work for Gods you are expected to be weird. The card just had his name and a number, nothing else. His name didn't even stand out, Ray Barnes. But if Hanlon said he was the best, well then Trezlan was screwed.

"Barnes." Voice was clipped, not a syllable too long, only voice, no visual.

"This is Trezla..."

"Lorentino, possession, expect me within the hour." And the line went dead, Trezlan was barely into his thought process for asking for help and Barnes was already on the way, he was confused passed the point of even knowing what to do.

After Exhausting All Others

"And now you come to me." Hanlon smiled at Valrym, he loved that the little godling had come. It was a delight to see someone else brought low, especially someone who openly despised him. Valrym had attempted to kill Trezlan for years, he had failed for years and now he came to Hanlon as Hanlon always knew he would.

"He's insane, even for your whatever, he's lost it, he turned his son into a monster or something now? I don't even know, the man has always been on the edge, but now he jumped off straight into crazy town. It was probably when you let him use that ship of yours, too much power and you should have known that. You have to destroy him, at the very least for the galaxy." Hanlon almost wanted to have this conversation in one of his godly places, just to taunt the godling about power he would never have again. Alas the creature wouldn't agree to that so he was meeting him in a shady restaurant.

"And you think that's something I care about or haven't already accounted for? Dear Valrym if anyone should be destroyed its you. You who are full of lies and betrayal, you who has clung on to this world despite adding nothing to it. You who is tainted with necromancy yet do not worship at death. No I will not destroy Trezlan, he amuses me, you on the other hand do not, do not contact me again, and before you think about it, I'm pretty sure the Fire God would destroy you all the same without the polite conversation." Valrym felt suddenly very angry, and yet Hanlon held all the cards, and Valrym knew that, he was burning with shame and rage.

"You and he will ruin this existence."

"I doubt that, we're done I'll cover the check I know things are tough for you." Valrym got up and hurried away. He had one more card to play though he really didn't want to rely on another necromancer, but Morley was his only hope to bring sanity to the world, and Valrym really wanted that sanity even if it cost him what little he had left for ethics.

I know you Will

"General, I have to wonder what you're doing here?" Brubaker had managed to get an audience with a low level corporate diplomat. It was the best he'd been able to manage since separating himself from Lorentino. Even with the sight he saw no way of going back to the empire, he would have to wait and see, hopefully a later vision would show him more clarity.

"You need an analyst I need a job."

"Yes I got that from your application, but I'm confused as to how or why you think your skill applies to what we need." Brubaker smiled, he'd seen this conversation play out so many ways, it was hard to keep track if he was actually doing it now or its another vision.

"I have the sight, its why I fled the empire and why I'm no longer a general. Your rivals feel they can see the future, I can actually do it." Brubaker had seen like in most things, honesty was the be policy dealing with this low level exec. Who was soon to become director.

"And for this you'll expect?"

"Moderate compensation, a simple analysts pay, I'm not asking for control or anything outlandish, I just need money and your company will benefit from what I can see. As it has in several visions director." The other man's smile already sealed the deal. In a month his company was making more money than it had in several years of opening, designing new research they hadn't dreamed of. And Brubaker would be comfortable.

"Sounds like we have a deal General Brubaker."

"Please just Brubaker I left being a General behind." The for now was what he said in his mind, but no need for this low level corper to know that, eventually Brubaker would need something better, but being the man behind the man had its benefits he'd seen them, also its dangers he'd seen those as well. But like most things he'd get to them in time, he had a lot of it available to him now.

Merc Work Sucks

"This is what we do all day?" Therod had been with the Sun Stars, a name she felt was at least redudant, for two weeks and she was bored. Her application was a physical grueling test of combat and endurance. Her actual job was standing around watching over corporate assets as a glorified security guard. The only endurance was not passing out while waiting for something or anything to do.

"Its a shit job but the pay is good." Carut was the only other person working with her. He was a giant of a man with an unnaturally white skin, some kind of planetary condition that had nothing to do with not seeing sunlight as he didn't seem to get sun burned no matter how long he was in the sun from what Therod had seen.

"Is the pay good? I have no idea, I was in Imperial government for too long, I have no idea how things operate in the corporate sector." Carut chuckled.

"Now see this is like an ethical problem, you basically admitted you have no idea of the value of money here, and you're basically daring me to not take advantage of that."

"Do realize even though you are bigger than me I can crush your testicles."

"Fair enough, the money here is better than you'd expect at most merc jobs, and we don't really do that morally shitty work, just a lot of boring guarding of things."

"Could be worse."

"Don't say that, don't ever say that, I said that and those bio monsters attacked and we lost like half our group, just say 'it's another day in paradise' nothing shitty ever comes from that."

"Ok, just another day in paradise." Therod shifted her weight and wished she bought more supportive shoes with her first paycheck since leaving the military. Carut leaned back on the packing container and they kept waiting, for what neither one was really sure.

We're All At Fault

"Rolando I know you blame me for this but really you have to admit this is partially your fault. Sure I was the one who sought the object out. And yes I did reach in there and grab it despite you warning me we should wait, and yes I maybe didn't fully read the warnings in the ancient language as they had been written, these things might seem like its my fault, but that's not entirely fair because you were also there and could have stopped me maybe so you know I think were also equally at fault. I mean no one said you couldn't read the texts, I don't remember saying that. Sure you'd have to learn the language that's been dead before you were born by a couple hundred years but we had some downtime on this thing so you know you could partially also be at fault for what happened just saying." Rolando was chained up with several different rune inscribed chains. His body mass had swollen by at least 5 times and he had huge claws extending out of his forearms. The creature didn't really speak so much as foam at the mouth and lunge at Trezlan, but Trezlan could tell Rolando was still in there he just had to figure out a way to reach his son.

Made worse was Valrym had been missing for a bit and Trezlan couldn't rely on the earthen godlings no doubt caustic wisdom. So Trezlan didn't know how he was going to fix Rolando, but he figured he would, he had to, because he had to explain to his son how this was actually his fault.

Hurt and Alone

"Well you can't go home, both of you are in your own way compromised." Trezlan was trying to break the news gently. Which to him meant bluntly with no regard to feelings. Brubaker at least accepted it since he figured he was screwed when he left and reawakend his magical power. For Therod it was a harder sell, she had been brainwashed by a member of the military and now here she was being told by an enemy of the state she was the real problem. It was a lot to take in.

"So you screwed me out of my career? I should have listened to the warnings about dealing with Lorentinos." Therod stomped out of the cargo area and Trezlan just let her go.

"You're a real nice guy Trezlan you know that."

"I saved her dumb life from the hell she was in and this is the thanks I get? Next time either of you two idiots are in trouble don't come looking for me, also you have a day and then I want both of you out of my shit." Trezlan was hurt because he figured they would at least appreciate what he did for them, but no just like always people turned on him when they didn't need him anymore. So no one was happy.

Brubaker ended up leaving first, hoping to levy using his sight to get back into the good graces of the Imperial military. Therod after him, hoping to find a job. Trezlan didn't leave because Rolando was down stairs the whole time currently fighting his own possession and like a dutiful father he was hoping to get back to him sometime.

Oh Great You're Here

Brubaker was about to wonder what he was about to do in the mind scape he found himself in before Trezlan showed up. He looked even younger, but Brubaker figured it was how he saw himself and not how he looked, it explained the flowing red hair when by all accounts Lorentino had been bald for hundreds of years.

"Trezlan if you're in here how in the gods names will we get out of here?"

"I'm not really here with you right now, I mean I am in that you see me, but I'm more a representation of the spell than the actual person Trezlan, its complicated, but know I'm here to help." Brubaker shook his head even inside someone else's mind scape that explanation hurt.

"Ok so where do we start?"

"I don't entirely know, and before you start no it has nothing to do with limitations. It's just this mind is so dark, I'm hoping this is from the cybernetic aspect, otherwise we're in for a world of shit." Just as Not Trezlan said that three versions of Therod showed up. One of them had no cybernetic eye, one looked like the real Therod, and another looked horrible, her body twisted and bloodied like she'd been in an accidnet she couldn't recover from.

"You are not welcome here." They spoke in harmony though the mangled one did not sound good.

"Well at least the persona's showed up this is a positive development." Brubaker was styll completely lost but at least the avatar of Trezlan wasn't.

"You are not welcome here, leave."

"We can't ladies, me and my friend are here to help you recover, general?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"You have a personal connection with her, so utilize that." Brubaker thought that was the worst instruction ever, but he was in the mind of someone brainwashed being instructed by the mental representation of a necromancer who had supposedly lived for years, things had taken a dive for the worst a while back.

"Therod I'm your general, you will sort your shit out right quick or there will be consequences."

"Sir yes sir." Like a light going on the personalities folded in to each other and the darkness turned to light. Trezlan disappeared and Brubaker wondered how he was going to leave when he suddenly awoke next to Therod with a blistering head ache.

"You work fast general, when I had this happen to me took me like days." Brubaker wanted to slug the man, but Therod did regain her conscious will and immediately she began weeping at the things she'd done. Brubaker didn't know what to say, and Trezlan left saying something about how this is Brubaker's issue. Which made sense but still infuriated Brubaker at the response. Trezlan had turned out to be every awful thing he'd heard and worse.

Where Is Your Mind

"What's wrong with her?" Brubaker was standing next to Trezlan Lorentino. Trezlan had Therod strapped into a chair, her broken arm already in a medical contraption to immobilize and heal it. He was laying out a bunch of runes and other magical symbols that Brubaker didn't understand, though he was barely aware of what had happened. Trezlan had saved both him and Theord and got them off planet and now they were in some kind of holding warehouse. Brubaker saw all kind of weaponry lying around which fit the motif that Lorentino was an arms dealer, but he was still mystified how any of this happened. It didn't help that the sight didn't really see the past, and he was worried about the corruption so he wasn't seeing the future either. He was in the hands of a dangerous possibly immortal killer who was working out a ritual he couldn't understand, Brubaker almost wondered if it was better to be with Keith.

"Mind got all screwed with, have to unscrew that or she'll just turn on us when she comes to."

"So you've done this before?" Trezlan sucked in wind a little bit.

"Had it done to me, but you know the theory is similar mostly."

"Mostly? THEORY?! You're not really making me feel better about letting you do this to my person."

"Oh I'm not doing it, you are." And then Brubaker heard a phrase and he was all of a sudden in a dark place. He could only blame himself he knew Lorentino was an asshole and this just confirmed it, but still he didn't expect the betrayal so fast.

Saved By A Lorentino

"Don't look at me like that." Trezlan could feel the eyes of hate on him from Brubaker. Which seemed completely assholish considering he just saved the man from some weird indoctrination. But there he was staring a hole through him like some kind of freaky hate machine.

"You don't die, ever." Brubaker was using the sight as much as he could at this point fear of being corrupted be damned and he couldn't see Trezlan ever dying. No scenario in all of Brubakers scrying saw his death. None! The man never died, it was a first for Brubaker he'd never seen that ever.

"Well its nice of you to say Brubaker, but come now we have to get you out of..." The blow hit Trezlan between his shoulder blades, it stung and collapsed him to the ground forcing him to let go of Brubaker. Trezlan turned around his eyes swimming pain to see a huge red head staring him down with one mechanical eye. She looked a lot like Captain Therod, made worse by her name tag saying Therod on it. Trezlan almost figured she was Therod in his hurt state of mind. He didn't have time to even ask, she swung another heavy fist down and he barely blocked it aside. Her blow was hard and strong and he was still wrapped up with Brubaker. Ordinarily he would just blast her with fire and consider it done, but he knew the majority of the people working with Keith weren't doing it willingly.

"Look Therod I know we have history, but if you stop trying to hit me for a second..." This didn't stop the attack. She rushed again and he countered her strength with a pressure point hit on her arm, he heard a snap and that at least slowed her down a bit enough for him to get his bearings. He pulled a syringe from his kit and when she tried to use her off hand to attack him he got it into her neck and she fell into a heap. Trezlan looked at her, looked at Brubaker and then sighed.

"Gods give me strength not to kill everyone today." The gods really weren't listening, or if they were they didn't care, and so Trezlan drug two people out of the fire and destruction he had caused before disappearing once again. It was almost enough for him to reconsider that whole "not taking over the galaxy to save it from itself" plan he always had rattling around in his head.

This Is Your Life Colonel Keith

"You die horribly." Brubaker was locked into a chair, Colonel Keith was administering a "serum" to help him see the truth, but Brubaker already knew the truth he had seen it shortly after meeting Keith. The future had turned, something had changed somewhere and now Brubaker wasn't doomed, Keith was. And it was hilarious to Brubaker who has just come to grips with his own mortality. Now he saw scenarios that were insane and yet the sight didn't lie or it hadn't in Brubakers experience.

"And you know this how?"

"I can see the future Keith, its my curse, earlier I was sobbing because I saw I was doomed, but now, now something hilarious and terrifying is about to happen." Keith paused for a moment looking Brubaker in the eye as if to try and understand whats going on.

"You know I have to hand it to your Brubaker, I've had a lot of people try and get out of this, I've never had someone fake being able to see the future."

"It's a shame you die Keith if only you lived long enough to know how stupid you were." Keith was about to respond when an explosion blew out the wall behind him trapping him underneath. The fire was so hot it burned the material which slowly coated Keith in construction material. His screams dying off when the material drained into his sinus cavities. Brubaker felt better up until he saw Trezlan Lorentino walk on top of Keith's corpse. Then he felt the worst he'd felt in a while. He knew this was going to happen, but he still refused to believe the sight was correct about this.

In a way being saved by the man he'd hunted for so long was almost worse than being turned into a killer by a mad man, almost worse.

A Day Made for Bad Solutions

"And you're sure its Keith?" Head Guardsman Lucer hated his job. It was a field promotion at the end of the recent bio war the original head guardsman had been killed in the waning days of the conflict and so Lucer had been given his position and it sucked. Everything about the job was the worst part of command. Like getting word a Sanctuary had been wiped out and it appeared to have been one of their own who did the wiping, an annoying gnat of an officer named Keith. Keith was an asshole when Lucer was first coming up, it wasn't much of a surprise he had continued being asshole, though the killing all magical people was new. Lucer was mainly angry at himself, he had gotten word about some kind of dumb project the previous Head Guardsman had authorized regarding Keith but he figured it was some pr bullshit like all the others. Not some anti-magical hit squad.

"Yes sir confirmation by video analysis, its Keith." The Royal Guard were good at keeping things quiet, it was in their job description. But Lucer could tell if it got out that they the imperial military not only authorized a hit squad, but had it kill its own people? He'd be screwed, on top of losing his rank he'd face execution and it wasn't even he who set the stupid thing up.

"Well shit, ok sanitize what you can and then get back here I'll have to figure some way out of this shit storm." He turned the com off and just sat back in his chair almost numb. Lucer didn't want to be executed, and yet he had to deal with Keith one way or another. So with a heavy sigh and a lot of filters between he connected with someone he hoped to never see again.

"Who is this?"

"Lucer."

"Which Lucer?"

"You know a lot of Lucer's?"

"I know a few yeah, though the uniform tells me which one, I'm just screwing with you, been a hard day, what can I do for the empire Head Guardsman?" Lucer sighed he knew calling this man was a bad idea for a lot of reasons, but his attitude was one of the worst.

"I need your help Lorentino, you and the boy." Trezlan smiled, he knew this call was coming, but it still brought a big smile to his face. Nothing quite as good as being someones last resort.

The Downsides of Seeing The Future

Brubaker knew he was going to die. He'd seen it ever since they took the shackles off. He saw it play out a hundred different ways, but in each one he died. It was something everyone who ever had sight had to deal with, seeing their own end. It was alarming the first time. Brubaker remembered his first premature death, he stepped off a curb too fast and got splattered by an AI delivery truck. Brubaker had forgotten what it was like to know his own demise, having been off the sight for so long. But now it was back and every scenario he saw ended up awful for him.

Colonel Keith and his brand of wackjobs hadn't said much to him since they kidnapped him. But he saw all he needed to about the man and what he does. He saw the brainwashing and how just about everyone at his compound weren't even really people anymore. He saw this as his future, saw himself loving Keith enough to blow up a space port, or to go out in a hail of bullets. He could see these outcomes as clear as he could see the cell he was in could also become his tomb should he say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing.

Which lead Brubaker to just waiting for the end, however it would come it was pretty much a certainty at this point and in that Brubaker cursed the sight for letting him see there was no way out. It was the worst part of the curse of seeing.