If you missed the last chapter, you can find it [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/222704618?sort=0&page=0]here[/url]. If you want to read all the other chapters, go to my [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/222701511?sort=0&page=0]master thread[/url].
This is the second part of my old crossover I did with Azidamadjida's [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/218618986?sort=0&page=0]Reef Mob[/url] series a while back, just with tweaks and refinements to match the current House of Scar series. Before you read part 1 and this chapter, read Azid's Reef Mob chapters [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/219160053?page=0&sort=0&showBanned=0&path=0]23[/url] and [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/219218543?page=0&sort=0&showBanned=0&path=0]24[/url]. WARNING: The links in Azid's chapters are old, and they do not link to parts 1 and 2 of mine.
I watched as Zatkis' fell to the ground, blood and foam pouring from his mouth. Seren Cay was back on her throne, looking so calm as if nothing had happened. I heard footsteps from behind, and I drew my blade. I turn around to see two unarmed frames, and with a single stroke of my cleaver, they are both cut into halves.
She looked at me boringly and said, "They were going to take him to the medical room, Vesrik, but I guess I can always call for more."
I ignore what she's saying, and I feel tears run down my face; first time in years. I pick up Zatkis' shrapnel out of anger and the barrel is aimed at Seren in seconds.
I tell her menacingly, "No one touches my flesh and blood, baroness! You have become the incubator of your own death!"
The Baroness of 6 Demeter was still serene, and told me, "I did not kill your nephew, Kell of Scar. He is unconscious, and he will wake up in only half an hour."
The medics came, and took Zatkis to a nursing station. I still had the gun aimed at her, feeling as if every word that has slipped out of her tongue has been deception. "How can I be sure of that, Seren? You refuse to answer our questions, and you threatened Zatkis for the crime of... wanting to know."
Seren replied, "I am one of my word, Vesrik. I promise you, he is alive and you will remain that way. Just put down the weapon, and we can get back to our discussion."
[i]One of her word. Heh. Who does she think I am?[/i] I think to myself. I was still ready to give Rager the pleasure of rendering the asteroid down to the molecule. I don't have a problem with Zatkis and I being on this asteroid; it's the fact that I would be leaving House Scar without a kell, let alone a successor.
"Fine. Before we restart, let us agree that we can be royalty instead of pirates for the rest of this negotiation."
Seren agrees. "That would be preferred. Vesrik, you must understand, I have to get our lost family off of Kaliks-syn before your brother does any more damage to her mind than he already has. She's already forgotten her name due to his... methods."
I gripped my sword, remembering the evil of my brother. I did not know what else Seren had in mind, but I was not about to persist Seren even further. I contacted Rager to send down the codes.
"Rager, it's Vesrik. Send down the access codes we have stored in the old files for Kaliks-syn"
He replies, sounding a little petty, "I still haven't gotten my reward, Vesrik. Going to have to see that first."
I was in no mood to put up with his crap right now. "Rager, I will gut you." Seren laughs at my intolerant response. "Send them down, or I will [i]gift[/i] you to Taniks; and don't worry, you will be carefully wrapped."
Rager says worriedly, "Calm down, sir, I was only joking! Sending them down now."
He sent the access codes through a computer we have onboard the ketch. The information was sent to a small drive I kept with me for situations like this. I stepped up to the baroness' throne to hand it to her.
She was thrilled with the transgression, and said to me cheerfully, "Thank you for cooperating, Kell of Scar." She sent a guard over to take the access codes from the drive to store on their own. "I would hope to sign a peace between the House of Scar and the Reef Mob."
I was more than delighted to hear this. I'd rather not be enemies with a character like Seren; plus, they could be resourceful allies. "I agree to the peace. Always good to have more friends, yes?"
Seren Cay concluded the discussion, "Very well, then. The Kell of Scar and his companion will be granted all of the parts needed to make the Prime, for we have been given the access codes." She gave them to an Awoken messenger and told her, "Take this to Nas, Kenedi, and Solis. Tell them... the discussion went well."
I thought to myself, [i]She is joking, right?[/i]
Before I head to the medical room, she tells me, "The parts for your prime will be gifted by the Raptors at the Chryses Outpost within the Jupiter Trojans."
I went to the nursing station where Zatkis was taken. He was sitting in a chair, already fully recovered. He looked up at me, smiling, but his eyes were apologetic. "Sorry about my actions in the throne room, uncle. It seems the scars my father has placed within me haven't faded out entirely."
I reply with understanding, "Your apology is accepted. I understand; you were raised in a world without fear, without hope. When I was growing up with Taniks, we watched our mother die at the hands of our father."
[i]Why am I telling him this?[/i] I think to myself.
"That is when we became 'the Scarred'. But Taniks was younger, his mind more vulnerable, and it influenced him. As I grew up with, and raised Taniks, we were surviving. We were always being chased, having to kill our way out of situations." I continued with the story, trying to stay strong.
"Taniks liked the thrill, and kept his victims longer than he should have. He became a monster, trying newer and darker methods of torture. When I found out he was more than a fighter, we parted ways. I knew our scars made us different, but he was damaged beyond repair. He could not control his impulses."
Zatkis began to understand. He never knew how Taniks and I grew up, or grew apart. He never knew why his father was the way he is. "He never told me anything about that. Matter of fact, he never spoke of you."
I laugh at this. "He probably forgot me, lost in the sessions he shares with his Tanis's. Terrible, he is. He is more machine than Eliksni."
It became silent for a minute. I almost forgot something.
"I forgot to ask you, Zatkis, how did the chase for Falis go? Did you kill him?"
Zatkis looked disappointed for a second. "Unfortunately, no. He led me into Wolf territory, so I had to bale. Clever creature, that's what Falis is."
"Do not worry. He will meet wrath soon enough, whether it is by our hands or the Queens. Anyways, I gave her the access codes. We will pick up the parts at the Raptor-controlled Chryses Outpost in Jupiter's Trojan asteroids."
Zatkis seems to have made peace with that. "You have done what is necessary. We need to sustain our fellow Eliksni."
I smiled behind my mask, and get up from my relatively tiny seat. "Come on, then. Let's get back to the ketch. We have some work to do."
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Taniks and Vesrik's story reminds me of wolverine and sabertooth in X-Men Origins.