Chapter 44: Survival
"What...?"
"Miwas are extremely intelligent creatures! Imagine a human-Vashki mix... they’d birth extremely brilliant species and they can continue building the legacy of Meredith."
K stared at Kagu’s outlook, disbelief painted his face.
"You need to see the bigger picture, K, the new species will be raised here. They will know who the enemy is, the ones we are all fighting. They will build a world far greater than this...revive Earth and her sister planets."
Bak scoffed.
"We can take back that which was taken from us! Don’t you want your home planet back?"
"We can get our home planet back without that. Besides, Thira mentioned that he wants no ties with Qashka, so why would he want to create offsprings carrying the bloodline of that planet?"
"I... only the doctor can explain that..."
K huffed and dropped to a squat position. His elbows pressed into his knees and arms spread out before him.
"List the possible places Thira might have gone to."
"The doctor’s movements are extremely limited. He only goes to the lab where his original and cloned bodies are, and the hangar to bring you into his lab when you’re injured."
"..."
"The Admiral doesn’t trust him enough to grant him full freedom that’s why he’s subjected to a sort of ’house arrest’."
"Looking at the current situation, I guess the action I took back then turned out to be for the best. Believe it or not K, your ’mommy’ has defaulted."
K shot up, his hand whizzed past Bak’s face, narrowly missing the supple flesh of his cheek.
"Watch it, Kid."
"Thira didn’t default, you saw them take him!"
"What if he wasn’t taken? What if this whole theatrics was just for show? To deceive us?"
"What are you saying? You have watched him over this years and this is what you have to say?"
"I have a lot more to say... trust me."
"I get that you have a sad past revolving around our common enemy, but that gives you no fucking right to talk about Thira like that!"
"..."
"Thira had no hands in the death of your sister and her daugh—"
Bak’s expression hardened.
"I’m the Supreme Admiral of the UDF. I decide what happens when someone’s, like Thira, actions put everyone around them at risk."
"You mean when those actions fit the perspective you already have laid out."
K stepped forward.
Bak didn’t move.
"Watch your mouth."
"Or what?"
The room went quiet.
K shoved Bak’s shoulder. "Or you’ll what?"
Bak’s eyes dropped briefly to the hand against his chest. Then back to K.
"Move."
K shoved him again.
Bak’s jaw clenched. "I said move."
K swung first.
Bak’s head snapped to the side as K’s fist nearly grazed his cheek.
For half a second, nobody moved,then, Bak slowly turned his head back.
"Fucking brat, I’ll teach you some manners."
Bak wiped a nonexistent sweat away with his thumb. "You really don’t know when to stop, do you?"
K barely had time to react.
Bak grabbed the front of his shirt and drove him backward.
THUD!
K’s back slammed into the wall hard enough to rattle the equipment beside them. He grunted and pushed at the older man.
Sure enough, Bak released him.
K immediately swung his fist again.
This time Bak caught his wrist.
K’s eyes widened.
He twisted, trying to break free, and drove his elbow toward Bak’s ribs.
Bak blocked it with his forearm. The machinery locking his limb in place.
K followed with a knee.
Bak caught his leg with his own leg and forced it down.
"Are you really a Matyr, you’re so fucking slow."
He shoved K sideways, sending him crashing into test tubes and beakers.
K stumbled several steps before catching himself.
His eyes narrowed, "I’m not finished." And he lunged.
Bak sidestepped the first punch. K spun and threw another.
Bak blocked.
Another.
Blocked again.
K’s frustration grew with every miss.
"You’re getting predictable."
"Shut up!"
K threw a hook.
Bak ducked beneath it and drove his fist into K’s stomach.
The Matyr doubled over, clutching his stomach as he struggled to breathe.
Bak grabbed the back of his shirt before he could fall and pulled him upright.
"You should stay down. You’re all weak and yet you still initiate a fight... are you plain stupid?"
K coughed.
"Fuck..."
"...you."
"I do admire your resilience, although... it’s fucking annoying."
He head butted the wheezing man and tossed him into another table.
"Those sure are going to cost a lot for repairs..."
Bak shot the Ai a glare before matching back to where he once stood.
"If you know what’s best for you, K, leave my family out of your filthy mouth."
K pushed himself up.
The room seemed to spin.
One minute he was in Thira’s lab the next he was on his back, the sight of swaying trees greeting him.
I already told you I’ll tell you everything...so why do you still turn on yourselves?
He groaned against the voice in his head.
Conserve your energy if you want to find him. I will tell you who I think took the Kept One.
"Fuck off."
Anger will not provide you answers. It will only blind you further.
"Leave me alone."
"I did that long ago."
"K? Are you alright?"
Look up child.
Look at the face of the one whom you’ve granted freedom.
K’s vision spun once more. The ache in his chest returned with full force.
Look at me.
His eyes roamed the room before settling on fourth figure.
The figure stood a few feet behind Admiral Bak.
Waves upon waves of inky hair rolled down her bare body in all its glory.
Onik’Shira.
Her lips parted in a smile, revealing jagged teeth and an abyss of wailing souls.
"We have to get him back to medic!"
"No."
Bak stepped forward and crouched to K’s level.
"!!!"
Eyes bright and pupils blown, K stared at nothing.
"K.A.G.U?"
"Yes?"
"What can cause heavily dilated pupils?"
The Beast.
You must find the Beast.