10-13-2016, 02:42 PM
Nikolai paused in looping the belt around his waist, looking up at Alric with a frown. Nothing the man said elicited the suspension of dressing, but rather a name that was casually mentioned. "Leonid?"
Why would he be involved? What was the media discussing during Alric's flight? A pit formed in Nikolai's stomach.
Face drawn, he moved to the controls on the bed and keyed in the command to turn on the television. A screen lit to life along the wall. Movies. Shows. Games. Faces and sets Nikolai didn't recognize flickered quickly until he found a news source.
His jaw dropped when a gruesome image filled the view. It was of a man stretched on a gurney, unconscious, being rushed into a hospital. Tubes thrust from his mouth. Blood smeared his chest. Even the scars on his limp arm were there for the world to see. Something stuck out from between his ribs. Nik's hand unconsciously brushed his side.
It was him. That was what he looked like? That sickly, pale, pathetic body shrouded in death was him? He shivered. A voice haunted his memory, but he swallowed the fear that threatened his confidence.
He looked to Alric, voice drawn with shock. "How did that get out?"
What were the ramifications of this? The world thought he was dying. There was proof that he could die. It was RIGHT THERE!
"This is what Viktor wanted to tell me."
He clamped his jaw shut. Some of the anger he'd unleashed upon Aria rose, but only this time, it was directed at himself. Surely Viktor hadn't released the images on purpose. Someone must have stolen them. Gained access to CCD controlled networks. Leonid held a release. Nik looked back to the screen. The image of a blonde woman at a desk looked back at him. Only this woman had no idea she was speaking to Ascendancy. Giving him the first glimpse of news of himself. Neither did she have any idea what she was saying were lies.
His brows rose. A nuclear weapon? Detonated and contained by Ascendancy? The burns were from the blast of radiation? Two others taken by ambulance. He was in surgery. He was near death.
His fists curled tight. He was as far from death as one could be. To conflate him with mortality was absurd.
He muted the screen and quickly finished dressing. He carefully tucked his shirt in, arranged his hair neatly to one side and washed his face. He affixed the buttons around his wrist, smoothing the cloth over his scarred up arm. Alric had seen them before, although he was only one of a mere handful that had. He understood the significance. There wasn't time to properly shower and shave without cutting his face to shreds, even with as sharp a razor as the power could make. So he left the stubble on his chin, but smoothed it down with cream. The eyes that looked back at him in the mirror were stones, flat and cold. Unfeeling. Unsympathetic. He then shrugged a jacket around his shoulders, not bothering to do a tie. Neither did he have the crescent lapel pin. Nor did he bother with creating one out of scrap metal. He didn't care. His presence alone radiated command. Symbols, even the Arcus band, were accessory. The very fact that he was upright and unblemished was symbolic: a deity that could not be cut down.
"Let's go witness a miracle, Alric,"
he said, voice cool. They would go to Aria's room to watch another healing. If Jensen had the strength. And if Aria would allow it. The woman was a sadist.
Viktor waited in the hall to greet them, but Nikolai held a hand up that he remain silent. They would deal with the fallout of all this together, but not now.
Why would he be involved? What was the media discussing during Alric's flight? A pit formed in Nikolai's stomach.
Face drawn, he moved to the controls on the bed and keyed in the command to turn on the television. A screen lit to life along the wall. Movies. Shows. Games. Faces and sets Nikolai didn't recognize flickered quickly until he found a news source.
His jaw dropped when a gruesome image filled the view. It was of a man stretched on a gurney, unconscious, being rushed into a hospital. Tubes thrust from his mouth. Blood smeared his chest. Even the scars on his limp arm were there for the world to see. Something stuck out from between his ribs. Nik's hand unconsciously brushed his side.
It was him. That was what he looked like? That sickly, pale, pathetic body shrouded in death was him? He shivered. A voice haunted his memory, but he swallowed the fear that threatened his confidence.
He looked to Alric, voice drawn with shock. "How did that get out?"
What were the ramifications of this? The world thought he was dying. There was proof that he could die. It was RIGHT THERE!
"This is what Viktor wanted to tell me."
He clamped his jaw shut. Some of the anger he'd unleashed upon Aria rose, but only this time, it was directed at himself. Surely Viktor hadn't released the images on purpose. Someone must have stolen them. Gained access to CCD controlled networks. Leonid held a release. Nik looked back to the screen. The image of a blonde woman at a desk looked back at him. Only this woman had no idea she was speaking to Ascendancy. Giving him the first glimpse of news of himself. Neither did she have any idea what she was saying were lies.
His brows rose. A nuclear weapon? Detonated and contained by Ascendancy? The burns were from the blast of radiation? Two others taken by ambulance. He was in surgery. He was near death.
His fists curled tight. He was as far from death as one could be. To conflate him with mortality was absurd.
He muted the screen and quickly finished dressing. He carefully tucked his shirt in, arranged his hair neatly to one side and washed his face. He affixed the buttons around his wrist, smoothing the cloth over his scarred up arm. Alric had seen them before, although he was only one of a mere handful that had. He understood the significance. There wasn't time to properly shower and shave without cutting his face to shreds, even with as sharp a razor as the power could make. So he left the stubble on his chin, but smoothed it down with cream. The eyes that looked back at him in the mirror were stones, flat and cold. Unfeeling. Unsympathetic. He then shrugged a jacket around his shoulders, not bothering to do a tie. Neither did he have the crescent lapel pin. Nor did he bother with creating one out of scrap metal. He didn't care. His presence alone radiated command. Symbols, even the Arcus band, were accessory. The very fact that he was upright and unblemished was symbolic: a deity that could not be cut down.
"Let's go witness a miracle, Alric,"
he said, voice cool. They would go to Aria's room to watch another healing. If Jensen had the strength. And if Aria would allow it. The woman was a sadist.
Viktor waited in the hall to greet them, but Nikolai held a hand up that he remain silent. They would deal with the fallout of all this together, but not now.