Child of Hades

28. Hades almighty (Lié)

I was teleported into an empty room, a clean set of clothes on a table in front of me. A simple white t-shirt and white pants. White, the color of innocence. It felt like an insult and that was probably intentional. 

I got a message. "Find me."

A door and a drawer opened at the same time. There was a plasma gun in the drawer and guards outside the door. What was the point of disarming me? Was this all just to demonstrate his power?

The guards turned around and I shot them before they had the chance to draw their weapons. They were wearing heavy armor so I had to fire several shots before the plasma burned through their equipment and into their heads.

The shots attracted more guards. I could hear five people's breathing intensify as they started running towards me. Knowing their precise location without seeing them was the only advantage I needed to kill them. Some of them were actually surprisingly quick to react, but none of them managed to fire even one shot at me before collapsing on the floor. I picked up one of the soldier's techdevices to get a map of the ship. The first techdevice just shut down when I tried to hack it. Luckily I had already killed several soldiers, so I had more than one attempt of hacking into their system. The third attempt succeeded and I got a map of the ship before it shut down. My techdevice had saved the map once it was displayed.

If I was the captain of this ship, where would I be? The cockpit perhaps. Or one of the sleeping chambers, probably the biggest one. I assumed that the cockpit would be filled with heavily armed soldiers, so I decided to check the sleeping chambers first. I couldn't quite believe Hades had me playing this game with him. 

I evaded most soldiers on my way downstairs to the sleeping chambers, by simply avoiding the routes they were walking. A few of them I surprised from behind, I killed them swiftly and as quietly as I could. Their weapons were heavy and not my type.

I made it to the captain's quarters without any real struggle. I could hear only one man inside, and he was old. The door was not locked, I pushed it to open further. 

An old white human, a smug smile and a blanket wrapped around him to keep him warm.

"What do you stand for, Lié?", he was nothing like I had imagined him. Even is voice was so fragile and old. "Whose side are you on?"

"Why do  I have to stand for something?", I asked angrily. My voice was shaky as I was recovering from the sight of an old, fragile Hades. I had stopped supporting him a long time ago, but I had never imagined him so... human.

He smiled like I was his granddaughter and I had just said something childish.

"I was like you once. For a very long time, I didn't look out for anyone but myself."

I lifted the gun and aimed it at him. "I don't have to kill you to hurt you.", I said. "Let Rutha and KM-13 go."

He smiled sympathetically. "It's admirable. The way you changed."

"Who do you think you are?", the words escaped my mouth, and all they did was make him smile.

"Your efforts are misguided.", he said. "I am not your enemy, at least, I don't have to be."

My gun was still pointed at him. "I can see you are not going to let this go. So let's talk about this. Sit down. Have some tea."

I stepped closer, my eyes locked on him. I sat down slowly, and I did not take any tea from the bedside table to my left. 

My gun rested comfortably on my left leg, still pointed at him.

"Why don't you want Rutha to grow up here?", he asked calmly. 

"He doesn't belong here.", I replied.

Hades shook his head. "Chaus is a place for people who don't belong."

"Chaus isn't a place for anybody.", I raised my voice.

Hades poured tea in a cup and offered it to me. I declined and he started drinking from the cup himself. "I remember when you were little.", his expression was nostalgic. "Such tiny fingers and toes. The cutest baby really."

What the fuck was his point? 

"Can I ask you a question?", He took a zip of tea and continued: "When you were growin up here, did you ever feel like you don't belong?"

I didn't answer his question. "Wherever Rutha belongs is not for you to decide."

"That boy, Rutha, you really care for him.", I inadvertently nodded. 

"How would you like to run the school where he's studying?", he asked. "It's the same school you studied in.", he added.

He laughed at my expression. "Maybe not.", he said.