Chapter 41: Deal
Ethan sat cross-legged on the edge of the table. Static buzzed constantly through his veins, a low current that never fully settled.
The silver-blue circlet on his forehead held back the worst of the divine pressure, but outside the storm still answered his presence with restless rumbles. Thunder rolled across the mountain ridges in uneven waves, matching the pulse under his skin.
Spark perched on his shoulder, tiny webbed fingers digging into the side of Ethan’s head for balance. The creature’s skin felt warm and slightly damp. Rick’s eyes tracked every movement Spark made. The older revolutionary had not spoken for nearly a minute.
"The bomb," Rick said at last. His gaze returned to Ethan. "I won’t ask for an apology. Yes, I should have kept this secret longer. But the vault under Theros holds more than credits. It’s the perfect safe place for a Typhon to grow.
Typhon residual doesn’t follow standard growth patterns. We planned to trigger it the second the payroll transferred. Maximum structural failure. We walk out with the credits while the mountain collapses on itself."
Ethan repeated the words slowly. "Use it as a bomb."
Rick nodded once, ignoring the flat tone. Dayan shook her head, still staring at the small creature on Ethan’s shoulder.
"So the plan was to let this thing grow inside its natural residue. The vault itself."
"Yes," Rick said. "But I think that plan is finished. The bomb won’t go back to its natural shell now." His eyes drifted back to Ethan. "Now the bomb has a father."
Spark made a pleased noise in his throat and buried his face into the hair at Ethan’s neck. The tiny tongue licked across Ethan’s jaw in short, repeated strokes. Marcus muttered under his breath.
"You’re not used to that yet."
Ethan stood. The motion made Spark shift and cling tighter. He walked out of the room without another word. Outside, rain hit the stone in three heavy drops and then stopped. Air pressure shifted. The storm was listening.
He turned back toward the doorway so the others could still hear him.
"Spark stays with me. If any of you try to extract him, I end the extraction team. If you try to kill me to get to him, I kill you first. End of discussion."
Rick stepped forward. "Half the network will go after you for that declaration. You’re declaring war on half the network."
"I’m declaring ownership," Ethan said. His eyes stayed hard. "It answers to me now. What is your precious plan worth when Spark refuses to go back?"
Barry’s hologram flickered into existence near the center table. The projection was grainy from the storm interference.
"Hunter status has been added to your unit. One faction has already begun sending out extraction teams. Amanda has started a preliminary report on the storm. Ethan, you should finish the mission you were assigned."
The room went quiet. Ethan looked at each face once, then left. The unit needed him back on the main floor, and the side chamber still held unfinished business.
He stopped at the doorway of the smaller room. Seris remained bound and gagged against the far wall. He could feel her heartbeat steady in the back of his mind. She was awake and listening.
"Marcus. Seris stays alive for now. In two hours she gets brought around. Until then no one speaks to her. You speak to her, she speaks to you, I need to be in the room."
Marcus opened his mouth. Ethan’s eyes flashed once. The older man shut it again without argument.
A voice came from the office. "Signifer. The unit is ready. Orders?"
Ethan scanned the main hall. Spark drank the static from the air and grew heavier on his shoulder by the second. The creature’s eyes glowed a faint blue.
"Only one thing left to finish this hunter mission."
Rick walked out of the office and stopped a few paces from Ethan. He looked at him for a long moment, then turned and carried the files toward the higher cells. The higher cells would not like what those files contained.
Ethan flexed his fingers. A thin ribbon of lightning ran up and down his knuckles and vanished. He stepped out of sight.
Outside, thunder answered the beat of his heart.
Spark whispered against his ear. "Father. More loud soon."
Ethan allowed a small smile. "Soon."
Two hours later the side chamber smelled of ozone and wet stone. Seris sat in the center of the floor where Marcus had left her.
The ropes around her wrists and ankles had cut shallow grooves into the skin. Her burns showed under the edge of her collar. She looked worse than Ethan had intended when he first ordered her restrained.
Marcus stood over her. He had removed the gag.
"What do you have that keeps Ethan from killing you?" he asked. "Is it the tits? Those giant tits of yours?"
Seris spat at his boots. "Because he’s naive. That is all. I should be dead by now, but that fool—"
Marcus’s fist drove into her stomach. The air left her in a sharp cry.
"Ah. I think you’re stalling," he said. His hand stayed ready. "You’re going to help me, Seris. Or Sera. Whatever your name is. You’re going to tell me everything you know about Angelina. What did she tell you?"
He hit her again. She screamed.
"Come on. Tell me. I’m just warming up."
Silence.
"I thought you were smart."
Another blow. Another scream.
"And if you try to report me or record me on a crystal, I won’t miss next time."
Seris’s head hung forward. Blood mixed with saliva on her chin. She nodded once.
"Understood. I will speak. I will speak."
Marcus stepped back and waited. The interrogation continued for the better part of an hour. When it finished he left her on the floor and walked out into the corridor where Ethan waited.
"She’s useless, Ethan. I’m telling you."
Ethan kept walking down the hall. Marcus fell in beside him.
"I know," Ethan said. He felt the Senior Auxiliary’s eyes on him as they passed a pair of junior operators. "But instinct says she matters. Same way it said to keep you alive in that forest."
Marcus’s face turned sullen. "Knew you’d say that. One of these days that instinct is going to get us both killed."
"Probably."
They reached the main hall. The rest of the unit stood around the central table arguing over the latest revision of the heist plan. Rick faced Dayan with his arms crossed. George and the other senior auxiliaries watched without interfering.
Marcus leaned closer. "Ethan, listen. If you don’t want the girl dead, send her to my unit. How’s that?"
Ethan stopped. He turned fully toward Marcus and studied him for several seconds.
"You won’t harass her. Sexually."
Marcus blinked. "What the— I know she’s got tits, but I just nutted this morning. Don’t worry about that."
Ethan kept staring. Marcus held the look without shifting.
"Okay," Ethan said. "Take her. I need another mage, though. Not your defense one. I need an attacker."
Marcus smiled. "Deal."
"Deal."
They shook on it. The conversation ended there. Marcus left to arrange the transfer. Ethan returned to the table where the unit still argued.
Spark remained on his shoulder, quiet now, watching the storm through the high windows. The static in Ethan’s veins had settled into a steady hum. Outside, the thunder had grown more frequent. The mountain was waking up.
He looked at the maps spread across the table and the faces of the people who still claimed to follow him. Hunter status sat on their unit like a new brand.
Extraction teams were already moving. The higher cells would receive Rick’s files within the hour. Seris would leave with Marcus by nightfall. Spark would stay.
Ethan flexed his hands once more. Lightning answered under the skin, thin and controlled. He had one mission left to finish before the network decided what to do with a Signifer who had claimed a living bomb as his own. The storm outside rolled closer. Spark’s voice came soft against his ear again.
"Father. More loud soon."
Ethan did not smile this time. He simply nodded and turned back to the plans.
The unit fell quiet when they noticed him watching. Rick still held the latest revision. Dayan waited for the next order. George and the others stood ready.
Barry’s hologram had not reappeared, but the message remained clear. Finish the assigned mission. Everything else could wait until the mountain stopped answering his heartbeat.
Ethan pointed at the map. "We move at first light. No more revisions. The vault under Theros is still the target. The credits are still the objective. Spark stays with me the entire time. Anyone who has a problem with that can leave the unit now."
No one moved.
Rick folded the papers and set them down. "Understood."
Dayan nodded once. The others followed. The argument ended. Ethan left the table and walked toward the outer corridor where the rain had started again. The drops hit harder this time. The air pressure continued to drop. Spark shifted on his shoulder and made a small, contented sound.
Ethan stood in the open doorway and let the storm touch his skin. The circlet on his forehead grew warmer as it worked to hold the pressure back. He could feel the residual power in the vault under Theros even from here, a distant pulse that matched the one in his own veins.
The original plan had been simple. Grow the Typhon in secret. Trigger the collapse. Take the credits and disappear. That plan was gone. Spark had chosen. The network would have to live with the choice.
He turned back inside. Marcus met him near the side chamber with the transfer papers already prepared. Seris would leave under guard within the hour.
The attacker mage Marcus promised would arrive before dawn. Ethan signed the form without reading the fine print. He trusted the deal only as far as the next sunrise. After that, instinct would decide again.
Marcus took the papers and paused. "You sure about this?"
"No," Ethan said. "But I’m sure about the other option. She stays alive. You keep your hands to yourself. That’s the agreement."
Marcus nodded and walked away. Ethan returned to the main hall. The unit had already begun packing. Weapons, rations, storm gear.
"Soon," he said.
The thunder rolled closer. The unit waited inside for first light. The mission under Theros still needed finishing. The network still needed an answer. Ethan turned from the doorway and walked back into the hall.
The static in his veins had stopped buzzing. It had settled into a steady current that felt like it belonged there. Spark stayed on his shoulder, eyes open, watching the storm.
The Chapter ended with the sound of rain against stone and the distant promise of more thunder.