Chapter 50: Monologue

My mouth dried up as I looked at the figure up on the viewscreen. Those piercing green eyes with their subtle glow, and that voice. It seemed impossible. I'd seen Lara throw herself to her death, tangled up with a Null Space Invader as they plummeted to the ocean below. 

She couldn't have survived. 

There was simply no way. 

But then, there she was, in classic bond villain fashion lording her deceit over us all. 

"Lara…" I breathed out loud, "You're alive?" 

"Oh Jacob, you're ever so quick," She mocked. "Yes I'm still alive, and yes everything you've been through so far has been because of me, not those Clan Pren fools that you've been hunting down." 

"But… I don't understand… Why?" 

It didn't make any sense. She was the daughter of the man who was in charge of the entire Guard. She was the one who held the tournaments on this world in the name of recruitment, something that was supposedly watched by billions. She was an icon, someone that countless sentient lifeforms probably looked up to every single day. People were mourning her death. Why would she want to turn on the people who loved her so much?

"You really don't know anything, do you?" She asked. "You know, when I first met you I was convinced that you were some plant sent here by the humans. I was going to keep you close because of that, maybe you'd be of some assistance. But no, you really don't know anything at all."

This conversation was going nowhere fast. I glanced over to Fal, she was still busily working away at trying to download any data that she could. Meanwhile, Yr'Arl had gone to watch our backs, standing near the lift just in case it started moving to pick a potential assailant up. That left questioning Lara down to me. 

"I told you I wasn't with the humans, so what exactly is it that I'm meant to know in this situation you've concocted?" I shot back. 

She laughed derisively at that comment. 

"Oh please, you'd love that, wouldn't you. I just sit here, let you in on all my plans like some kind of monologuing idiot so you can come and hunt me down, no thanks." 

"Well, if you aren't planning on telling me your plans, why are you here revealing yourself in the first place?" I asked. "As far as plans go, that doesn't seem like the smartest one." 

"For a start, you're going to be dead soon so it doesn't really matter," she said.  "I just wanted to congratulate you. Defeating two of my hybrids, that's some pretty impressive stuff. You've come a long way since the tournament yesterday already. You've grown so much so quickly. This is me paying my respects to an enemy that could have become colossally dangerous before I take them out of the picture altogether. You should be proud." 

"Your Hybrids?" I seethed. All of a sudden I was seeing red. "You created those things? The thing that killed Rin, that killed so many people on this base?" 

"Yeah, just a little bit of genetic bio-tinkering that I threw together in my spare time, don't worry though, next one will be much better," She gave me the sweetest smile that she could muster, "But hey, you won't need to worry about any of that, because you and your friends will be all nice and dead!"

"You're a monster," I yelled. "You've killed, and now you're going to kill even more. Your father would be disgusted by you." 

That drew out another incredulous snort from the woman. 

"Oh please, you don't know the first thing about my father," She retorted. "If he knew the reasons I was doing what I'm doing, if he knew what I knew about Null Space, then he'd probably be encouraging me to keep on going. Anyway, before I pop off and you… well… pop due to the pressures down there, I thought I'd give you a little present. See ya!" 

The screen flickered off, and immediately after a set of bright white runic symbols blazed into existence in the middle of the room. 

It was Pax and Akash… and they were alive. Barely. 

Pax's lizard-like face was covered in bruises, and one eye was swollen so badly that I wouldn't be surprised if it was seriously damaged. Akash was much worse off. The plant-creature was missing both of his legs, they ended in cracked woody stumps, and one of his arms. 

"Fal, it's Pax, Lara just sent him to us!" I called out to her. 

She glanced over from her work at the terminals, ripped whatever device she was using to hack in out of the port, and vaulted over a computer bank to sprint over to Pax as quickly as she could. Tears streamed from her eyes as she gently lifted his head into her lap. 

I didn't do the same to Akash, I didn't expect the tree with a hardcore hatred of humans would appreciate being looked after in the same way. 

Instead, I squatted down beside him and gently nudged his shoulder. 

Akash lashed out at me with his one good arm, but the blow was weak and half hearted. 

"Human?" He wheezed. "So… you were behind this… after all." 

"Not quite buddy," I said. "Lara set you free. We're at the bottom of the ocean right now with no way to get back up to the surface, I'm pretty sure she's planning to kill us all down here somehow." 

Akash let his head fall back down onto the ground and gave a wheezing laugh, it sounded like leafless branches blowing in the wind of a stormy winters night. 

"She… Is a dangerous one… Moreso than any human," he said, before seemingly falling unconscious once again. 

"We need to get out of here somehow," I said, "I'm not sure how Lara plans to murder us all, but considering what she said I'm pretty sure she intends to destroy the entire ship. I'd rather not be here when that happens." 

The hull gave an ominous creak as if it were suddenly straining against the pressure of all the water above it. 

It was already too late.