Child of Hades

27. Family Reunion (Lié)

"I could work for you.", I pleaded. "I will have your children, anything."

Hades made a clicking noise with his tongue. "That doesn't sound romantic at all."

"What do you want?", I asked. "Where is KM-13?"

His lips formed a satisfied smile, and he responded as if he was talking to a little child: "The robot is being looked at by some of my experts. It seems like he has been malfunctioning."

I punched the wall but I didn't feel any pain in my hand because I was too riled up. My hand started bleeding, I watched it like I would watch a simulation. Hades stepped closer carefully. "Would you do me the kindness of leaving your weapons on the table?"

"Are you dreaming?", I replied childishly.

He chuckled again. "You know I can take them from you."

I dropped most of my guns and knives on the table. Knives are old-fashioned, but that's what makes them surprising.

He looked at me, his eyes filled with pride. 

Almost a decade ago, his presence had made me so nervous. I had wanted to be him, to be like him. 

"You don't mind?", he lifted his hands and I nodded. He found my last gun but missed the knife. It didn't miss him but went straight into his heart. For less than a second he looked surprised, then he teleported. The real Hades could not be far away. His followers and bodyguards would not be far away either. It was dangerous but if I was lucky, I could find something useful before I left. 

Scanning this place, as expected, did not work. I also would not be able to teleport away because of the techblocker. I closed my eyes for a brief second to focus on my hearing. Nothing. 

I stepped out of the room and saw nothing but gray halls and dim lights. Not seeing a better alternative, I continued walking. After some time, I heard someone breathing on the floor above me. It was a calm breath. I spotted an elevator nearby. How old was this building?

The breathing did not move to another place. No doubt Hades was watching me. I did not have the advantage of surprise that I usually relied on. Someone was waiting for me. 

The door squeaked as I went in. A figure was standing on the other end of the room. He was human. Brown hair, scars, slim. 

"Ribbit?"

He stepped into the light. There were many new scars on his face.

 His expression was serious. I smiled because I had not seen him in such a long time. He looked at me like I was a ghost.

"It's good you're alive.", I said.

His eyes met mine, then he looked to the floor. He gave in to temptation and smiled.

"Why did you leave?", his smile turned cold.

I shrugged apologetically. 

"I asked him if I could talk to you.", Ribbit told me."I thought maybe you could explain it."

It felt strange talking to him. He was the Ribbit that I remembered, but he was also not. I wondered how much of the boy I knew was left. He had changed a lot, but he looked at me naively, as if he was expecting me to say something.

"I wanted to be free.", I said hesitantly. "I did not think about you."

He breathed out, a deep sigh escaping his mouth. "What do you stand for?"

His words cut me like blades. 

"Look, I just want KM-13 and Rutha. I don't want any trouble. Can you help me?"

I could tell he was hurt. He pointed at a big scar running over his mouth. "You could've helped me."

"I wanted to.", I said. "But I just couldn't."

He laughed. "You should have come back home a long time ago. Don't you see what happens when you doubt Hades? You and I were supposed to be there for each other. But you didn't allow that."

He examined me one last time. "I don't know what he sees in you." Then he disappeared.

Shortly after my techdevice buzzed, I saw myself with a caption: "Family reunion." The message was followed by another message, an invitation to come aboard a nearby ship. The teleportation did not allow synthetic plastics or any kinds of metal other than my techdevice. Given the circumstances, the level of distrust was more than justified. I undressed and then teleported.