Hoplite stumbled through the dark, huffing and puffing as his eyes rolled around in his skull, trying to take in everything at once. Something was after him, The Child had to get away, the short monster could be anywhere, it had hurt him so badly… Where was his mother? He wanted to go back to the fountain, it was safe there, but he couldn't find her anywhere… The Soldier snarled from beyond The Door, telling The Child that their mother was dead, gone hundreds of years ago. He bashed against The Door hard, but The Child had barred it as soon as he'd taken over. The Soldier would get them killed, it was up to The Child to keep Hoplite safe.
Hoplite then located a groove in a wall, just large enough to accommodate him if he squoze in. He did so, pressing into the groove and feeling the warm fungus encapsulate his form. It wouldn't find it here, would it? He twitched, jittering despite the confining space. If only there were a door he could use to seal it completely… even then though, he didn't think he'd be completely safe. Cold sweat carved furrows through the layers of blood coating his skin, the taste of copper still on his teeth and tainting his tongue. Hoplite could still feel the scraps of meat stuck between his teeth, but he dare not try to dislodge them. The thought of making contact with them in any way made him want to hurl, yet he couldn't leave them there either.
Water, he needed to rinse- where was the fountain!? He then began to weep silently, leaning his forehead against the wall. The Soldier made his revulsion known, that crying was not something that a tool did. The Child ignored him, continuing to cry as he waited for the monster to arrive. It was going to find him, wasn't it?
If you don't go and neutralize it, it'll kill us both!
The Child winced at The Soldier's tone, biting his lip to keep it from quivering. The fountain had been so clean, so calm… oh how he so badly wanted to return, to see his mother once again…
To ask her why she'd let them take him away. Mother had always told him that it would happen one day, that the Eighth Arm would come to make him a superhero, but how had she already known that? She had spoken about it frequently, telling him that it would be for the good of the Ternan empire; though the way she had told him was strange. It was as if she only said it to comfort herself, rather than Hoplite.
He had never known his father, but his mother had always told Hoplite that father was incredibly important. Not only that, but top secret, she didn't have permission to tell anyone who Hoplite's father was. Though even as a boy, Hoplite had a sneaking suspicion as to who it could be… he'd seen images of Lord Jyn before.
The Soldier slammed against The Door hard, screaming incoherently as he forced it partway open.
Jyn was a massive man, clad in dark power-armor most of the time, but for his public appearances he left his face uncovered.
Stop this now! These are lies you are feeding him!
He had hard, serious features, a prominent brow, and long, pure white hair- a mutation, just like Hoplite had from birth. Mother had always dyed his hair to be dark, and he had to wear colored contacts to conceal the fact that he also bore golden eyes.
A mutation and nothing more, other branches of humanity have far more extreme changes than that! It is a coincidence.
Then why… why did the other Hoplites have the same exact mutation? The same pure white hair, the same golden eyes, why did they all bear some resemblance to one another? This was well before the Final Kind infusions or any other augmentations. Putting it all together and Hoplite had no choice but to acknowledge that-
The Soldier barged in fully, attempting to rip The Child from what he needed to do. The moment he'd gotten to hide had allowed him time to calm down, to analyze his thoughts, to put together the truth of his memory. The terror of running from the vampire had scrambled The Child, but now he was here, he was ready to do what needed to be done. The Soldier wrestled with him, the two's clash reducing Hoplite's body to a mumbling standstill, his eyes shutting tightly as he warred with himself. This was no battle of fists, not an exchange of gunfire, no, this was something that Hoplite had never prepared for.
He grit his teeth as his hands found his face, carving bloody furrows through the skin of his forehead as the battle raged inside. He began to shiver as two lines of thought attacked him simultaneously. Lord Jyn was the rightful ruler of humanity, the perfect man, risen from the ashes of the Fifth World War to bring humankind back from desolation.
That wasn't true, at least not all of it. Jyn, their father, had arrived after that devastating war and had conquered the humans remaining. After that, he brought them back from near-extinction, eventually reaching for the stars to expand his empire.
He was not their father, it couldn't be true. Lord Jyn didn't fornicate in such a fashion. How ridiculous a thought that the Lord of Humanity would bring about super-soldiers from his own loins? The thought didn't deserve any credibility. The Hoplites were all selected for their superior genetics, Thirty-Seven had been chosen from the population for his superb athleticism and intellect, not because he was the scion of Lord Jyn.
Then why were he and his mother always followed by a retinue of armed men? Hoplite had been guarded by the military since well before he was born, Hector had told him so.
So you would believe the lies of a traitor? You are buying us a one track ticket right back into the Chair, I will not that happen again!
There's no Chair any more, Terna has been defeated, re-indoctrination is impossible. It's okay, you don't have to be afraid anymore.
Terna has not fallen! I am here still, the outer colonies still stand! I am not afraid, I am simply not a treasonous fool like you.
The only reason you remained loyal was because your mind was broken by the Chair. Deep down, you know just as well as I do what the truth is. All this talk of loyalty is you defending yourself from returning to the Chair again. It may have rewrote what you thought was the truth initially, but we're thaw now, you've had too much time to think about it, you know that Jyn is our father, and that he isn't-
Human, he is! It wouldn't make any sense that an alien creature from an alternate dimension would be able to reproduce with human women! The differences in biology would be far too vast, the DNA is simply incompatible. The only way it would have been possible would be if he was human, albeit a mutated one.
But you don't deny the possibility of him being our father?
The Soldier let out a rage-fueled scream, the force of which tore the flesh of his throat, blood spattering the fungal wall in front of him. He winced at the echo that ripped through the cavern, he couldn't stay here any longer-
He is our father, and he isn't human! I won't let you distract yourself anymore!
His head slammed into the wall, his forehead splitting the fungus apart to collide with the stone beneath. The rock cracked from the force, cutting the skin of his forehead before it immediately resealed, both his own skin and the fungus.
The footage could not have been faked, it's impossible! Try to reason out how human beings could edit alien recordings, go ahead, I dare you… Nothing!? I thought so, you know that it's not possible, Final Kind tech is incompatible with our own. It was caught at thousands of angles too, Jyn is, at the least, not a human being. As for how he could reproduce with humans, who knows? Certainly not you, nor I, but clearly somehow, it was possible, for here we stand. Our brothers and sisters looked a lot like us, remember? Speaking of sisters, don't you find it strange that the Eighth Arm would recruit women into a super-soldier program?
If they meet the requirements demanded of the station, there is nothing unusual about it. The female Hoplites had the same genetic superiority to most other humans, of course they were selected.
Of course they had superior genes, all of us are half-human, half-dragon. Without that, realistically, there would have been almost no women that would have been in project CHIMERA. They would have been about as rare as a male diver-
There are male divers!
Yes, but they're rare, to be a diver you must be below a certain weight threshold, you know that. The average man is simply far too heavy, leaving the divers female dominated. For boots-on-the ground super-soldiers however, wouldn't it be more ideal to recruit strictly male subjects with the desired genetics? Yet just under half of all three-hundred Hoplites were female. The only answer that makes sense to me, is that Jyn had no control over what our genders were when we were conceived, despite that, a half-dragon is still a fantastic candidate for augmentations, it would make no sense to turn them away just because they were female.
Not all marines are men, there are plenty of women among their ranks.
Sure, but again, they are as rare as male divers, what is your argument exactly?
That the Hoplites were chosen from a set of individuals that had the ideal genes for CHIMERA.
Are you saying that it was mere coincidence then?
Exactly right, traitor.
Then tell me why all the Paladins were male.
The Soldier froze, forcing Hoplite's mouth to work as he struggled to counter The Child's claim.
No answer? That's because you know the right one, but you can't let yourself say it out loud. I'll help you, the Paladins were all male, because they were able to be selected- unlike the Hoplites, who were conceived, their mothers were the ones who were selected for their genes, not the Hoplites themselves.
The Soldier remained silent, his frustration boiling Hoplite's blood.
Any more fruitless counterarguments?
The footage was faked.
We've been over that! You know as well as I do that human tech cannot edit Final Kind recordings, they're far too alien to one another!
Well they clearly found a way, that's the only thing that makes sense.
You're in denial, he doesn't need you anymore, or me for that matter, let's just go, you and me.
I will never give up my position and retreat, I'll not let him ever come back again! If he does… you know where we'll go.
The Chair doesn't exist anymore, you can let go.
Never!
Hoplite screamed again, bashing his head against the wall in front of him again, and again until he became dizzy. The stone beneath the fungus had been reduced to gray powder at this point, leaving a huge indent. The fungus quickly filled it out before expanding over the hole, making it appear as if nothing had happened.
The Soldier and Child still continued to argue, going around in circles as Hoplite let out the occasional scream, both in terror and frustration. He just wanted to go home… there had to be something he could do to get out of this… to end their constant chittering. He didn't know any way to do that though, but one instinct cried out to him, urging him to voice a request. It wasn't something he'd cried out since he was a child, when he was taken from his mother.
He slowly opened his mouth, jaw trembling before he shouted, "Help me!"
Blood spewed up from his throat, coating his tongue as the shout tore his vocal chords asunder. The noise visibly exploded the air around his head, if he didn't have bionic implants in his ears, safe to say he would have burst his own eardrums. Hoplite had no idea that he was capable of yelling this loudly… but it had at least shut up his two unwanted passengers, though only for an instant.
Before he knew it they were back to squabbling. Hoplite attempted to shut out their voices by covering his ears with his hands… but that did nothing to dim their battle. He pressed harder, the pressure from his hands internally rupturing veins, but still they did not quiet.
"Shut up!" Hoplite shouted, his voice exploding the air once again, "Just shut up dammit, shut up!"
They ignored him, and in fact the shouting seemed to do nothing but make them louder in his mind. He stumbled out of the crevice, clutching the sides of his head as he sobbed. He wandered blindly through the cave, muttering madly to himself as the voices of Soldier and Child seeped through his mouth. Eventually he found himself wandering through an open plain, covered in short glowing mushrooms. He would give anything to make it end… to do anything to make it end…
If only he could end himself. He would regenerate any damage he'd do to himself though, it was pointless to try. Unless… the blood filtration system may be the key to freeing himself. All he had to do was activate it, and not turn it off, let it suffocate him until nothingness claimed him.
"Hoplite?" He heard a familiar muffled voice say from behind him, right as he was about to activate the blood-filter.
Hoplite froze, removing his hands from his ears before turning to face the speaker. It was Lance, her elbows and feet wrapped in what she had been wearing as clothes. Other than that and her chains, she was as nude as he himself was, but he didn't care about that. Their eyes met, gold and green, and Lance gasped, hand covering her mouth.
He did nothing, just standing there, maintaining eye-contact. It was the only thing that dimmed their voices.
"Help." He rasped, "They won't stop."
She nodded, tears beginning to well in her eyes, "I know."
Hoplite noted that she had the Fortis clutched in her hands, the chain-blades floating just beside her. Maybe he could activate the filter, then shoot himself in the head with his magnum, that itself wouldn't kill him, but it would at least knock him unconscious while the filter finished him off.
"Hoplite, I need you to listen to me." Lance told him, setting the gun on the ground, "You've been pretending that nothing is wrong, that you can simply go about as if what Lithia told you wasn't true. I know you like to reason things out, so you cannot lie to yourself here… You can use Foundation, meaning you bear the Blood of Zodd, same as anyone else on Ahkoolis."
Hoplite's jaw clenched, eyes going wide as the Soldier grew outraged, the Child unable to hold him from taking back control.
"You're going to lie to me too!?" Hoplite asked, lips pulling back in a frustrated snarl, "I should have known not to trust you!"
Lance's eyes widened for an instant, but she stood her ground, shocked expression turning into a defiant glare, "You won't scare me into playing into your delusions."
"Delusions!?" He shouted, forcing Lance to clutch her ears, face pained, "I am a loyal soldier, I obey Terna and Lord Jyn, the ultimate human, master of humanity! I won't buy into your tricks, never again!"
Lance ground her teeth together a moment before looking back up at Hoplite, "You can use magic Hoplite, this is not 'new technology' this is an inherent power that you wield, one that can only be used by Ahkoolians. You've learned that much, so why are you trying so hard to deny the truth?"
Hoplite winced as the Soldier attempted to retake full control of his body. He couldn't let that happen… if he did, Lance would die. The Child tried his best to restrain him, but The Soldier had grown more powerful, still desperately trying to cling to his reality. Hoplite just stood there, motionless and terrified of the battle that raged inside.
"You don't have to lie to yourself any more. That life you've lived, and I'm sorry to say this to you, but it is over now. There is no returning to your realm, there is no Terna, your command structure no longer exists… just let it go, you're free to live the life they stole from you."
"This is the life I know." Hoplite told her, blinking rapidly, "This is all there is, I only kill. That was what I was made to do, that is all I'm capable of doing."
Lance shook her head, "Hoplite, there is far more to life than killing, and you aren't just a tool designed for bloodshed. You've saved so many lives, mine, the Fiendwallers, the Tongues of Zodd, Michael- so many others. You aren't a killer, you're a protector." Lance said with emphasis, "Not only that, but you are capable of learning anything you set your mind to. There are other purposes in this life you can find, you could be a farmer, a blacksmith, tailor, fisherman, anything you could ever want to be. You were locked into doing one thing only for your entire existence, but no more." Lance continued, taking a step toward him, "You are a free man now, Ahkoolis is your oyster, it is safe for you here…" She hesitated before saying, "...And if you'll have me, I'll be with you every step of the way. You're irritating, stubborn, you don't know how to talk with people and no person on this planet could possibly be as rude as you… but you're my friend. Let me help you see what you can be."
Hoplite hesitated, "I can't be anything, I'm just a-"
"You are a man!" Lance overrode him, "If you say 'tool' one more time I will lose my mind!"
He hesitated again, "You really want to be my friend?"
Lance sighed, "Hoplite, I've considered you my friend since you saved my position back in the Harkhall. Don't you remember that?" She asked, "Not only did you save me, you also said something quite… embarrassing."
The Soldier quieted, "What was embarrassing?" Hoplite asked, genuinely curious.
Lance smiled softly, "You told the Harkmother you couldn't get lost with me by your side. Saying such a thing in elven society, well, it's high praise at the least. At most… well, let's not get into that, the point is you were right. I won't let you get lost, so come back with me, please."
The Soldier snarled, turning away from her "I won't let you lead him astray… I won't go back to The Chair."
"You never will again, I promise." Lance told him softly, taking another step towards him.
Hoplite wanted to turn back to her, but the Soldier refused.
"I know who your father is." She told him in a gentle tone.
Hoplite froze.
"We have a story left-over from before the First Era. I was thinking on it as I was tracking you down. Your father is the Banished Child, the First Dragon, formed from the Blood of Zodd, the Foundation of Draoi and the Knowledge of Saihara. He did something that warranted the Pillar-Gods to cast him out of our realm, what it was I couldn't say, but clearly he was sent to the Outworld, where eventually he had you. That is why you bear the blood of a Dragon, because Jyn and the Banished Child are one in the same, it could not have happened any other way."
The Soldier took back full control, turning to face Lance for the final time. She gasped, stepping away from him as he darted forward, rearing back his fist to strike her dead. The Child was powerless to stop him now, and Hoplite could only watch in terror as his own fist flew through the air to strike his only friend dead.
Something broke down The Door right then, and what emerged was The Man, seizing power from The Soldier. Hoplite's fist froze mere inches away from Lance's head, shaking with terror as The Man resumed control for the first time since Hector had saved him so long ago. The Soldier, along with the Child and Hoplite himself, all dissipated from his mind…
Once they were finally gone… Jason let out a sigh of relief, retracting his fist and standing tall, merely looking up at the ceiling as a sense of peace came over him. He was free… finally.
"Hoplite!?" Lance asked, voice panicked.
"I'm sorry." Jason told her, looking down to his friend, "But it's over now." He smiled, meeting her eyes.
Lance stared into them for a solid moment before Jason offered her his hand. She took it, and he hauled her up into his arms, hugging her tightly, her chin resting on his shoulder as he held her above the ground.
"Thank you so much." He told her gratefully, "You're amazing."
"I-" She stammered, "I'm glad you're feeling better, believe me I am- but you are aware that I am naked." She said with emphasis.
Jason blinked, that's right, this was probably embarrassing for her. He set her down gently, "Sorry about that."
Her face was red as a beet, had he made her angry? She averted her eyes, hands moving to cover her modesty. Jason still didn't understand why nudity was such a big deal to people, it was just one's natural state, it was nothing to be embarrassed about.
"Your eyes look better than they ever have been…" She mentioned, before turning back to glare up at him, "Can you please look away!?"
Jason winced before turning around, "I feel better than I ever have been, that's why." He sighed again.
"Well I'm glad for that, Hoplite. Are you ready to come back with me now?" She asked after a moment.
He smiled, "I sure am. We still have work to do here… also, Hoplite isn't my name."
"What do you mean?" Lance asked, curious.
"My real name is Jason." He said with a smile, "I'm not Hoplite anymore."