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*Third Person POV*
Having finished recording the video of what was only the beginning of Ajax's torture, Aspen turned to Valina and helped her off the ground, sitting her on the seat that had been used by the previous pilot he had just killed.
He then picked up the seat he had been using for Ajax and placed it in front of Valina before taking a seat himself. For 5 minutes, Aspen didn't say anything, he just stared at Valina's eyes while wiping his hands clean, his right hand's bruising healing and disappearing before Valina's very eyes.
Her eyes went wide at the sight, but she immediately tried to pretend she wasn't interested and tried her best to avoid looking into his eyes. After the 5 minutes had passed, Aspen finally broke the still silence between the two as he spoke calmly.
"You and I both know I'm more than justified in my actions," he started. "That pilot was no saint, even being a mere Delta Tier pilot, she was a waste of oxygen. Most of your men are like that. Participants of crusades done to squash resistance, killings of children and other innocents, just for the sake of your family's power."
Aspen leaned in, his head down, while his elbows rested on his legs as he toiled with his hands.
"You aren't a saint either, but you're not half as bad as they are. You've gone through with your family's orders to squash resistance, which I understand as a means to consolidate your power, but you had lines, you had limits. There were things you weren't willing to do even when that meant getting ostracized by your very own family."
Aspen sighed deeply, looking up to meet Valina's gaze.
"So tell me, why did you allow Ajax to do what he did to my girls?"
Valina seemed a little surprised, but understanding of Aspen's current demeanor.
"I- at first, I didn't support his idea. When Ajax and I first met, he knew who I was but I didn't know of his identity. Over a few months of getting closer to each other, he revealed to me that he was part of the resistance in Cenollia."
Valina looked down as she recounted the events.
"I must admit, it caught me off-guard, but his following words of falling for me landed on their intended mark in my heart. He then further revealed that he was pretty much their leader's right-hand man, your right-hand man. I found myself wondering why he was giving you up."
"Eventually, he caved in and revealed that it was all over revenge, of course. You had taken from him the woman he loved first, was what he had claimed. When he first proposed killing your wife, I wasn't against the idea, but neither was I backing it."
She stopped for a moment and glanced back up to meet Aspen's gaze.
"There was something wrong about killing a non-combatant, even if it would deal a devastating strike to you. But the more fixated Ajax grew on hurting you, on having her in his mind, the more I found myself considering the idea of offing her. But never your daughters."
Aspen nodded slowly, taking in the information escaping her lips. He clenched his fists as he asked again.
"So, why did you allow it to happen?"
Valina looked away from his eyes and up to the ceiling of the room they were in. It was a vast contrast to what the video had portrayed the room to be. It was modern and clean. A perfect blend of Blacks, whites, and golds adorned it.
"Truthfully… I don't know. At the time, I thought it was a heinous thing to do, but I was blinded by the desire to have anything relating to your wife disappear from Ajax's mind. I guess jealousy clouded the better of my judgment."
Valina swallowed hard as she found herself reliving the moment.
"But as of recent, I found myself rethinking those moments, of those poor girls' screams as Ajax went through with his plans and their mothers' cries for Ajax to stop. I was shocked, it wasn't what I had in mind when he proposed killing them."
She shook her head and looked down at Aspen's hands.
"But I liked him too much, and so I made myself willfully ignorant of his actions."
A heavy silence reigned over the room.
Valina could see Aspen's hands bleeding. The constant shift between an open bleeding wound in his palm and a closed healed hand caused a chill to run down her spine. To her, it was like Aspen was a walking regeneration pod.
"Willfully ignorant… That makes me wonder, is the person who had the ability to stop an atrocity from happening just as guilty as the one committing it? I guess it doesn't matter."
Aspen stood up and looked down at Valina while pointing at the screen behind him.
"Now I just want you to memorize these words and repeat them with emotion as you look into the camera. If you really feel any remorse for your actions… then I'll consider sparing your life."
Valina read the words on the screen and refused to repeat them. Aspen just sighed disappointingly and looked directly into the camera.
"You see, people, this is why they can't be trusted. Never willing to tell the truth. But she will spill the very beans she's been trying to hide, and more."
Aspen stopped talking as he pulled a syringe out of his pocket and held it up to the camera for display.
"Some of you may recognize this as what is used in interrogations. A truth serum. However, this is a much stronger version of it with 100% test rating. That means she will spill the beans like a drunken, lovestruck fool declares his desires."
Aspen went to administer the serum on Valina's arm, but she attempted to resist. This only caused the same 2 guards from earlier to come in and easily restrain her, allowing Aspen to administer the serum safely. After about 10 seconds, the serum started taking its effect.
Valina's tense body started to slacken against the seat as her resistance waned and the serum too hold. Her once defiant eyes dulled, and a serene calm seemed to come over her. Aspen walked around the room and came to a stop behind her.
"Now," he said, his voice calm, "tell them. Tell the galaxy what your family has done."
At first, Valina remained silent, blinking as if trying to fight the compulsion, but she found her lips parting involuntarily as words started to spill out.
"The Volkov family… we aren't just a corporation. Like many of the other big influencers of the galaxy, we are an empire. You wouldn't be wrong in calling us warlords in business suits, gods who pull the strings of entire systems."
Valina's voice wavered as she attempted to resist, but she was unable to do so and continued. "There isn't a conflict that we haven't had a hand in. The events that fuel the fires of war? We orchestrated them. The gangs that distribute drugs and participate in other heinous crimes? We fund them. The politicians who rule over billions? They kneel before us."
Aspen walked around her and looked down at her. Valina's breath hitched, and she looked up at Aspen with horror, realization dawning on her about just how powerful this serum he had administered was. Some of the information she had revealed had only been mentioned to her in passing.
"My father, Anton Volkov, he… with a wave of his hand, he can erase a city in the Empire of Alteria. If a senator refuses to cooperate, they disappear. If a world resists our influence, it is purged in silence. My brothers, my uncles, my cousins… they have orchestrated genocides under the guise of 'pacifications.' They've reduced entire planets to husks, slaughtered billions just to secure a stronger foothold in the galaxy's economy. Just to secure more resources. We have created many wars, bankrolled both sides, and reaped the profits of the bloodshed. Our most recent example of this would be the rebellion started by you, Commander Del Santo."
Aspen remained motionless, his expression revealing nothing.
"But you started to get out of our hands, your ideals and potential were deemed a threat to us, so we had to personally step in. The Volkovs control trade routes, technology, and even the justice system. The courts are nothing more than a theater, where verdicts are written long before a trial even begins. We decide what is law, and we decide who is above it."
Valina's breath came in short gasps now, as if the weight of her confessions was crushing her from within. She swallowed hard before continuing.
"And the worst part?" she said, her voice breaking. "People know. The powerful ones, they know. They obey because they fear. The ones who resist are erased, their families turned to dust. We don't just rule through power… we rule through terror."
Aspen watched as the light in her eyes flickered, a woman who was no longer willfully blind to the true scope of her family's evil, and knowing she was a part of it.
"You've ruined so many lives," Aspen said, his voice quiet. "Mine was only one of the bunch. You've shaped entire generations in the image of your family's greed. And now the galaxy will hear it, from the mouth of one of its own."
Valina's head dipped forward, a single tear rolling down her cheek. Aspen let the silence hang for a moment, the weight of Valina's confessions hung in out for all to see. He glanced at the camera, his cold and disinterested gaze would make all those watching feel like death itself was looking them in the eye.
"They have played gods for too long," he said. "They build empires on the bones of the innocent. They silence those who speak the truth. They call it order, they call it business."
His cybernetic fingers flexed, metal glinting under the dim light.
"They've ruled through fear… and now, it's their turn to feel it."
Aspen got closer to the camera and bent down to be at eye level with it.
"You've all watched from the shadows, cowering, waiting for someone to strike back." His jaw tightened. "Well then, wait no longer, for the Reaper has already begun its hunt. The Volkovs will just be one of the many to fall to their knees. Gangs, corrupt politicians, assassins, rapists, slaver traders and owners alike, you will all soon be wishing you had never committed such vile acts."
And with that, the recording stopped.
"Unfortunately for you, Valina, you seemed not to have any remorse and forced me to use my precious Truth serum that cost me a whopping 50 CSP. You, unfortunately, signed your own death certificate."
Aspen stared at the dulled Valina before turning to his guards.
"Take her away."
Aspen then sat down and remained still, lost in thought. He had experienced over 3 years in the last couple of months. He had gone over many memories more times than he could count. He had killed more people in alternate universes than he could count.
He had become a cold, yet somehow emotional man, he had started to lose his humanity. But he clung to the feelings that stirred in him when Autumn and his daughters were brought up. It was the only way to not fully become desensitized to killing, to lose himself in his purpose. To lose his humanity.
A tear streaked down his left cheek, and he felt a soft hand placed on his left shoulder. Feeling the weight of the hand, Aspen gave a mental command for his suit to morph from the display it had, appearing like he was half man and half machine that still resembled the old Aspen.
The suit retracted and shifted, his Pilot suit replacing it. His face turned back to his normal appearance as his previous look was also retracted. He continued to stare out the glass window in the room.
"Gray?"
Jess stared out the window as well. The view of a waterfall here was breathtaking, even if it was artificial. After a few moments of silence, Jess's hands made their way to Aspen's head, playing with his long hair. Aspen didn't say anything and just allowed it to happen.
It took a little while longer of Jess twirling Aspen's hair in her hands for her to break the silence.
"You are more like him than you can imagine," She said. "I can see it, that look, those eyes, not exactly the same, but the resemblance is uncanny. That stoic facade you both put up. I know you're dealing with lots of emotions, many aren't even yours."
Jess's words hung in the air as she continued twirling Aspen's hair.
"Just like now… He would also let me mess with his hair when we were alone. He really was the family I never had."
Aspen shifted uncomfortably, memories of moments like this assaulting his mind.
"I know," he nodded, "I can remember."
Jess sighed deeply and walked around to face Aspen. She bent down to meet his eyes.
"I've been reading the Bible you gave me, and… I just want to say I'm sorry, for…for how I've treated you," she apologized. "It's not easy, you know, to die and then come back only to find out that the only person in the universe to have been your family is no longer here. That he was replaced with a younger version of himself from some other universe."
Aspen nodded, keeping quiet as he let Jess release her thoughts.
"You know, there's something I've been wondering. It's in relation to what you're doing, to what we're doing," she said. "The Bible, it… it has quite a number of rules, one of which is not to kill. Yet, what we do, what we'll be doing a lot going forth, is just that. Killing all the scum and ridding the galaxy of them. So, just how are we not in sin?"
Aspen let out a slow breath, his gaze fixed on Jess's eyes. He stared at the waterfall past Jess while listening to the low hum of the HQ beyond the walls, but his mind was elsewhere, sifting through Jess's words.
"I accept your apology," he said finally. "And I understand why you've been struggling with all of this."
Jess nodded but remained quiet, waiting for him to continue.
"As for your question," Aspen went on, "the Bible doesn't say, 'Thou shalt not kill.' It says, 'Thou shalt not murder.' There's a difference."
He turned his head slightly, just enough to meet her eyes.
"Murder is unjustified, driven by malice, selfishness, or cruelty. But killing to protect, to free those who cannot free themselves, to rid the world of true evil… that is not the same."
Jess furrowed her brows. "So you're saying that we're justified and free of sin because we're fighting for a noble cause?"
"Yes." Aspen leaned back slightly, stretching his shoulders. "To free the weak and the oppressed, to shatter the chains of the enslaved. That's why I fight. That's why I'll continue to kill… In a universe full of greed and oppression, if we don't fight for them, who will?"
Jess looked away, exhaling. She seemed to weigh his words carefully, but doubt still lingered in her expression.
"Alright," she admitted, "but what about Ajax? What about the prisoners? People you've tortured before killing?" Her eyes scanned his face for an answer. "Are you going to tell me that was also noble?"
Aspen smirked faintly, though it held no warmth. "No," he said. "That's personal. And I think you already knew that."
Jess hesitated before nodding. "Yeah… I figured as much."
Aspen's hands clenched at his sides. "But it doesn't matter. I knew God had already marked them for death." He looked back towards the waterfall, stormy clouds rapidly forming in the distance. "I'm just the one setting the appointment. And in doing so, I get to choose whether to expedite it… or to delay it."
Jess took a deep breath before sighing. She studied him for a long moment before shaking her head. "God's Reaper, huh?"
Aspen didn't answer.
Jess stepped back, arms crossing over her chest, her eyes flickering with mixed emotions.
"I'm gonna go," she said, voice quieter now. "I need to think… and you look like you could use the peace and quiet."
He didn't stop her as she turned and walked away. The door slid shut behind her with a soft hiss.
Aspen remained slumped in his chair, sitting motionless before the window.
Beyond the glass, the storm had fully settled in. Rain pelted the ground and windows as bright blue lightning tore jagged scars across the sky, and thunder rumbled.
Releasing a slow breath, Aspen closed his eyes and listened to the storm rage, his emotions calming, remembering that he wasn't a slave to them like he was when he first came to this universe, but that was easier said than done.
'There's so much more to be done," he thought to himself. "It's been an uphill battle to get to my current pilot level, but in comparison to the average pilot, it's been a breeze. My only worry is the war I'll be waging in outer space. Mechs can be considered obsolete against Battleships and Cruisers, posing a very slight threat to Destroyers and a real threat to fighters, frigates, and corvettes. If I'm going to really bring the fight to them, I need to figure out how I'm going to create an army.'
Word Count: 2955 Words 👏
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