All According to Plan

Vandrad seemed to keep running into situations that broke the norm of his routine. Here he thought that if he just continue his regimen, continued the pattern that he had built, he would get back to a place where he felt.. semi-normal again. Everything had been going according to plan up until the day that Mercury had broken into the training room and kidnapped him. He’d woken up, dragged by a wild animal, stripped down to a simple loincloth and on his way to be sold at a slave market in Desierto. And then after he had torn the place down, apparently according to the Silver Wolf’s plan the entire time, he had attempted to kill her. Somehow that had devolved into sleeping with her.

So it was safe to say that, since that day, things hadn’t been normal for him. It didn’t bug him for the most part – there were moments that his thoughts turned back to the memories that had slowly come back over time. While he had blacked out during their intimacy, if one could call that perverse show intimate, his mind had opened itself up over the weeks after and allowed him recollections of everything. It was… more visual than he needed it to be. He’d sought to rid himself of the images by distracting himself with jobs. The event in Rose Garden had proven interesting; if anything, it had provided him a verbal foil in the shape of Beira. In spite of not looking forward to taking part in a wedding event, it had been a reasonably entertaining evening, more or less.

Then there was when Nessa Lux had asked him to step in as a teacher. An agitating request but not one beyond his realm of expertise – he had operated as an officer in the Bellum army after all. And teaching wayward brats some manners was quite within his aura of enjoyment. He’d gotten them into shape quickly after demonstrating how woefully pathetic their attempts at being tough were. That should have been the end of the day’s events but then Patricia Reeves had tracked him down in Magnolia that evening. Due to her intervention, the two of them had been transported to some kind of life-or-death game realm. Together they were forced to fight against several beings of power, each one testing his strength and ability. In truth, if it hadn’t been for her, he may not have survived the encounter at all; her magics had proven to be useful and surprising, especially given that one was so close to his own.

And then there was the fact that she had kissed him. Within a few weeks span, he had kissed or been kissed by two women, making up the time different of literal decades with no intimate interaction from the opposite sex. She’d claimed it was for luck and he’d written it off as her nerves but it had still perplexed him. Even more so as she had shown up a few more times after, simply to talk with him and interact with him. Normally he would shove her off and tell her to leave but the fact that her magic was in the same range as his was fascinating. He’d been led to believe he was one a very few that could utilize ethernano in such a way. Yet here she was, as clear as daylight. It intrigued him enough that he was willing to let her keep coming around, if only in hopes of learning more. There was also the fact that she had subtle connections to the Rune Knights that he may be able to use.

So it was safe to say that Vandrad’s ‘normal’ life had been shifted on its head. But this day seemed like it was going to be getting back to what one might consider routine. That was, at least, until he had come down to the job board and found an alarming note. A ‘missing’ poster had been tacked to the board and one could only imagine the Prince of Bellum’s surprise when the face of Mercury was plastered right on the front of it. According to the details on it, she had gone out on a job about a week ago and then hadn’t returned or made any contact with the Silver Wolf guild. They were asking for any information that could be provided. His hand gripped the poster a little tighter as he read over the words, his eyes flickering up towards the face of the mage. No… this wasn’t right.

His body was moving instantly after he slammed the paper back onto the board, carrying back up to his room. Once there he had slipped on his armor and grabbed his travel pack, checking for the contents inside. Two items that he had acquired from Mercury in his three jobs with her; the tablet she had left in his care during the Sun Tower event and the tracker she had slid onto his person in Desierto. He flipped it on and was relieved to see that it was still working – ever better was that it was providing directions for him. Packing up a few necessities, he took a moment to rebandage his arm, leg and cheek. The beasts from the tarot dimension had done quite the damage and though he had gotten checked out and magically healed, it had only gotten him so far. No matter – he was still in prime condition to fight, should it come to that.

The trip to the Silent Glaciers invoked some posterity. How ironic was it that the place where they had first worked a job together was where he was being led to now? He did consider that this was another one of her tricks, specifically designed to mess with him. But considering the depth of the talk they had before parting last, he doubted it. Her jibes and jokes only went so far and even when they crossed the line, she was careful to make sure they were focused on who she was specifically targeting. Putting up a poster in the Fairy Tail guild hall for any to see could have attracted any number of people beyond himself. It was that solid thought and his gut feeling that kept him from contacting Silver Wolf and verifying the poster’s details.

Imagine his surprise, as he crested the final ridge, to find a bunker embedded in the side of a snowy hillside. They were miles away from the cavern where Vandrad and Mercury had fought against the ghosts, farther up in the mountainous region. As he slowly settled himself down onto the hillside, he double checked the tracker to ensure it was accurate. Indeed, it seemed that the Silver Wolf mage was inside the bunker somewhere. Was it by choice or otherwise? The only way he was going to get that answer was by going down there himself and checking. Rather than weigh his options and come up with a complicate strategy, he opted to do just that. Formulating a plan of attack could come after he got some answer. Or really pissed some people off – whatever happened to occur first.

He soared down and landed a few yards away from the front door, a heavy metal frame meant to keep attackers and the weather at bay. It wasn’t made of the same black metal that Mercury used so he doubted it was of her own construction and he further confirmed that by pounding his fist against it, both checking its durability and knocking quite loudly. He waited for a moment, turning slightly to look down the hillside before he heard a loud clank and the door started to open outwards. From the interior of the base emerged four armed guards, two men and women in unrecognizable armor. They fixed their weapons on him immediately, with three of them fanning out and surrounding him.

"Quite the greeting. Do you generally welcome your guests by pointing weapons at them?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Shut up!” The apparent lead guard barked, shoving her magic pistol in the Prince’s face. “How the hell did you find us? What are you doing here?”

"Believe it or not, I didn’t come here looking for you. I want you to march in there and tell that blasted woman to get her ass out here now and explain why she’s been missing,” Vandrad responded simply, leveling his gaze with the woman.

“What woman are you talking about?” The hissed back at him.

"Tsk,” the Prince scoffed. "You know which one I’m talking about. Lavender hair, short and wiry, can’t shut her mouth for more than ten seconds at a time. I’m honestly surprised I didn’t hear her when you opened the door.”

“The prisoner…” One of the other guards muttered softly, earning him a sideways glance from Vandrad.

“Shut up!” The lead guard snapped at her subordinate.

"Prisoner, is she?” Vandrad couldn’t help the smile that came across his face. "Well I suppose I should be thanking you lot then. This is perfect ammunition to mock her with when I set her free.”

“Enough of this. Let’s put him in the ground!” The woman ordered the others, flicking their weapons off safety. Before the Prince could even move, the four leveled their weapons and unleashed a series of magic blasts from the ends of their weapons, coating Vandrad in fire and smoke. They fired several times before halting their barrage, chuckling to themselves in their victory.

"Well, well, well…” Vandrad’s voice rippled out from the dense smoke. His magic ignited around him, coating him in its golden aura and bleaching his follicles. Unusually, his hair had seemingly gained more spikes within its mass and sparks of electricity crackled in the air around him from the intense pressure of his power. As the smoke began to clear and reveal him, he took a moment to smirk at each one of the guards. "I guess thanking you is out of the question.”

He snapped forward, grabbing the lead officer’s face in his hand. He spun around and sent her spiraling at one of her subordinates, crashing the two of them into a pile in the snow. As the other two guards brought their weapons up and fired, Vandrad vanished into thin air. Before they could figure out what was happening, he reappeared next to one of the guards, his fist snapping up and planting itself in the woman’s stomach. He hit with such force that he felt her ribs break inward, splintering the bone back into her organs. He then backflipped through the air towards the last guard, snapping his hand out as he came down and landing an energy-coated punch into his skull. With an almost mischievous grin, he lazily flung his hand towards the two living guards, still stuck on one another, and sent a blast at them. The explosion swallowed up their cries of panic as they passed into the next world.

Now on a rescue mission, Vandrad marched up to the door and slammed his fist through it, bending the metal easily with his strength. "Such reinforcement,” he mocked as he yanked the door off its hinges and tossed it behind him. "But I’ve experienced harder metal than this.” With his unheard compliment spoken, he walked into the facility, ready to see what awaited him in its depths.

It was only after taking a few steps into the bunker that the alarms started to sound. The normal overhead lights switched to a darker red, with sirens screeching and flashing lights along the walls. How they had picked up that Vandrad had entered the facility was surprising but, then again, they probably tried to get in communication with the guards and found static. That or perhaps this place was wired with cameras and they were watching his every move. Even as he thought it, he turned a corner and found a recording device centered in the middle of the hallway’s ceiling, the lens turning towards him and zooming in at him.

"All I wanted was the woman and now you’re going to complicate things for me,” the Prince of Bellum called out to whoever was watching behind the camera. "But here’s where you find yourselves lacking the advantage – I enjoy when things get complicated.” With a flick of his wrist, he sent a blast into the camera, causing it to explode and spray its internal parts all across the floor. Here he had thought that he was walking into a trap set by Mercury to lure him out and tease him – instead, it seemed she had gotten herself captured. Such a pleasing thought but, frankly, one that he didn’t quite buy. Her ability to utilize metal to her advantage meant that locking her down required highly efficient prison technology. While what he’d seen so far wasn’t exactly lacking, he had a gut instinct that these people weren’t the highest on the tiers of being criminally advanced. He could be wrong – he could turn another corner and find himself facing down some mechanical creation from hell. But until such an occurrence showed itself, he was inclined to believe that there was something else going on here. Perhaps that was his mistrusting nature… or maybe it was him knowing that Mercury rarely acted and moved in a straight line.

He nearly passed by the guard station and armory on his path, his foot coming to a halt as he slowly turned to look at the steel doors. It was quite nice of them to display the name of the room right above the passageway and his smirk tightened up as he turned to face the metal sheets. Compressing his magic into his hand, he thrust his arm forward and centered the blast down the crevice between the doors, blasting them inwards. In he stepped through the smoke, his golden glowing form outlining the dense smog proudly.

Half a dozen guards had set up barricades, utilizing crates from around the armory. As Vandrad stepped through, he heard the distinct sound of weapons being cocked and safeties being flicked off. He bent slightly and shot forward before disappearing completely, surprising the guards. He reappeared directly in front of the center guard, his hand snapping out to grab his rifle by the barrel and jerk the weapon from his hand. He then reached out with his other hand and grabbed the man by the neck, pulling him close. The other guards went into a panic and began to shoot at Vandrad and, unfortunately, only found their shots hitting the guard’s back. His body jerked violently as the magical blasts tore through his armor and flesh like tissue, his gargled cries sputtering blood from his mouth. From behind the cover of his ‘bodyguard’, Vandrad pulled his arm back and then sent the gun in his hand flipping through the air not unlike a frisbee. It slammed into one of the guard’s faces, the strength of the thrown object cracking his nose and face and causing him to fall to the ground in agony.

The Prince of Bellum held the corpse up for a few moments longer, so as to take the brunt of the damage before he threw it forward and disappeared, distracting the shooters. Their shots followed the body instinctively, only to realize that the intruder was no longer holding it and they were simply shooting through dead meat. Vandrad reappeared behind pair that had taken up refuge near the rear of the room, grinning as his hands shot forward to grab them by the back of their necks. He then slammed his hands towards one another, bringing the guard’s faces together to meet in a sickening crunch of flesh and bone. He then pulled them apart with the same forceful aggression, causing them to stumble backwards. But his arms remained outwards and towards them, igniting with energy and swiftly sending a blast through each of their chest plates, creating sport ball-sized holes in their chest cavities as well.

With three dead already, the last two standing and healthy guards started to panic. Their guns sprang to life once more, unleashing blasts towards the monster of a man that had killed three of their comrades. Vandrad disappeared and reappeared several feet ahead of where he was and, more importantly, closer to them. They swung their guns towards him to follow and he repeated the action, essentially marching towards them and removing himself as their target by the time their volley could hit. They were trying to back up at the same time, their flight or fight mechanisms quickly swapping to the former. But Vandrad teleported one last time to grab a hold of their weapons and jerk them towards one another. The action was so quick that both men had no time to stop their fingers from pulling on the trigger in absolute fear, a burst of magical blasts ripping into each of their faces and spraying the wall with their gore. And so they fell onto the ground, lives taken from them by their own weapons.

Vandrad surveyed the damage for a moment, delighting in the carnage but also let down by the lack of a challenge. A whimpering caught his attention and his emerald gaze turned to the last living guard, whose face was still broken and bruised. His nose was obviously broken and his cranial skull cracked by the looks of it. He was in pain but he was still awake… though probably lacking any true sight at the moment. But his mouth could still work. The Prince of Bellum walked over and grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck, roughly kicking the gun out of his hand and pulling him off his feet. "That sure looks painful. I imagine you can’t quite see anything right now; looks like your eyes are almost falling out of your head,” Vandrad informed the man, trying not to take too much delight in it.

The only answer that came his way was a quick yelp and more whimpering as the guard realized that he was not being talked to by one of his mates. Chuckling, Vandrad adjusted his grip so that his fingers were on the man’s neck. "I’ll make this really simple so you don’t have to think too hard with that scrambled brain of yours. I’m looking for a woman that apparently was taken prisoner here. Where might I find her? Answer quickly or I start breaking other body parts.”

“The third floor! She’s on the third floor in the prison!” The man spat out, pieces of his teeth flying out with his panicked spittle.

Apparently he had caused some damage to his mouth – ah well, nothing he was going to lose sleep over. Vandrad made to break the man’s neck but then paused for a moment, brow furrowing. "And how did you manage to capture her?”

“She just walked right into the base! Walked right through the doors and started acting like she was the new boss or something! She didn’t even fight when we took her in!”

Ahh… so it seemed that Mercury was here for a specific reason. She had allowed herself to get captured so she could get inside. Perhaps the job she had been sent on was for a target and she had opted to take the riskier route and get herself imprisoned closer to him. "Clever bitch…” he remarked with a snort. Then he twisted his wrist quickly, snapping the man’s neck decisively.

With that out of the way, he dropped the body on the floor. But as the limp carcass hit the ground, something else hit the ground with a stronger force. Vandrad had only a moment to turn around and throw his arms up in a guard before a fist nearly the size of his body slammed into him. The physical strength behind it was enough to lift him off his feet and send him flying out the door he had come through, slamming into the wall and denting it. As stony pieces crumbled all around him, Vandrad raised his head up to see two massive brutes, a man and a woman that stood easily at ten feet tall. Their hair was scraping the ceiling as they turned to face him, growling.

The Prince of Bellum shook his hands lightly, the stinging sensation from the strike dancing over the limbs. But rather than react in pain, he smirked. "Is that the best you got?” he asked them as his aura ignited once more. And with his challenge issued, he rocketed off the wall and at the pair, roaring as he prepared to do battle.

The entire bunker shook violently, as if the grandest of all earthquakes had centered itself right at the base of the structure. From the outside, snow was ripped from its resting place as the mountain itself seemed to quake from the repetitive blows. The outer wall for the building started to crack as spells smashed into the other side, sending shards of cement skittering through the snowy plain. Two battles were raging within the barriers of the building but from the feel of it, one was causing far more destruction.

And so it was; Vandrad had engaged the two giants in battle. Much to his delight, they took hits like absolute champions. Hits that would have broken bones on simpler opponents – and had only moments ago – seemed to barely move them. And their massive weapons hit with the force of a train, sending the much smaller Prince flying about the place and through walls. The brother was the lead in the attack; he met Vandrad head on and challenge in him close range. The sister seemed capable of holding her own but chose, instead, to back him up with destruction magic. It was a volatile element type that resulted in quick, decisive explosions. Vandrad would find himself smashed against a cement wall, only for his body to detonate in an explosion moments later that sent him careening through the barrier.

But even as his armor was tearing from the punishment, even as cuts, scrapes and bruises started to appear on his consistently appearing body, he still fought on with a smirk. The last true challenge he had received came from the woman he had come to ‘rescue’ and he hadn’t even been completely in his wits for that. Now he was full conscious and the siblings were dealing out damage and taking it almost as well as he was. It was an invigorating moment and frankly, he felt he should thank Mercury for bringing him here in the first place.

Of course he wouldn’t but he should.

The Prince was sent crashing through yet another structural wall, sending shards and bricks of stone falling all over the place. Vandrad rolled across the floor and then popped up into a crouch, his fingers gritting the stone floor for support. His gloves were only slivers of fabric hanging off of his knuckles a wrist. His jumpsuit was so torn to shreds that the left half of it didn’t even exist anymore. The armor on top had been cracked and hung loosely off of his right shoulder, revealing his bare torso underneath. He looked beaten to shit but as his head snapped up, there was still life burning in his eyes. In fact, he seemed absolutely incensed with the combat. He grunted as his energy spiked once more around him, his aura roaring to life as electricity danced over his body.

The brother stepped through the hole in the wall, his iron mace swinging ahead of him. Magical energy encircled the hard head of the weapon as he brought it up into an attack position. He took a moment to pause before he swung the weapon in a downward arc, aiming to slam it right into Vandrad. The Prince jerked towards it and thrust his fist forward, smashing his fist against the metal and halting it in its place. Magical energy battled against magical energy as both parties pushed back against one another, Vandrad’s shielded strength against the brutish might of the giant.

But yet again, the sister intervened. Another high-pitched whistle and Vandrad’s leg exploded, knocking him off balance. That gave the brother the perfect opportunity to carry through with his swing and send the Prince of Bellum soaring into another wall, tearing it down to shreds. But this time Vandrad was ready, his other hand snapping out as he fell through cement to unleash a blast of his own. The giant was unprepared for it and it caught him right in the face, causing him to stumble backwards. It was the perfect opportunity and Vandrad’s energy grew in such strength that it vaporized the bricks in the air around him. He surged forward, putting all of his magical focus behind him to gain even more speed. And when he came upon the stunned giant, he swung his arm forward in a full haymaker, rolling his body through with the strike to add extra strength.

The giant went flying, lifting from his feet easily and thrown violently through a still standing pillar of stone. His sheer size nearly reduced the cement structure to dust and, as it was the last foundation for floor above, a second floor room came crashing down on top of him. Vandrad grinned wildly as he turned his attention to the sister, his body spinning around and flying towards her aggressively. She panicked and shot both her hands out at the same time, unleashing another explosion right upon him. He should have seen it coming but he was in such a haste to attack that he ran right into it. His approach was stopped and reversed, the Prince of Bellum sent flying back the way he came.

Just in time for the brother to emerge from the ruins, his mace already in swinging position. Vandrad barely caught sight of him as he spun wildly, gritting his teeth as he attempted to stop his wild ride. Just as he came upon the other giant, he swung the mace at the Prince, ready to break him in two with the solid hit. But Vandrad bent his body backwards, backflipping through the air and just barely above the mace as it passed underneath him. Time seemed to slow for a moment as the two stared at one another, the giant in shock and Vandrad in amusement. Then the Prince of Bellum’s hand snapped out and unleashed another blast, this one carrying far more magical power than the prior. It swallowed up the giant’s face, the shadow remaining within the beam of light for a second before dissipating. With its head gone, the large body crumpled to the ground and, upon impact, shook the building once more.

The sister erupted in a pained cry, the sight of her brother’s death striking her hard. It was yet another opening that Vandrad couldn’t let slip. He rushed towards her once more and she repeated the same action, thrusting her hands forward to ignite an explosion right upon him. But this time as the fiery ball appeared, Vandrad… disappeared. Her eyes went wide with shock at the sight of the quickly dissipating image, even as the Prince reappeared behind her in position to strike. His leg snapped out and delivered a knee straight to the back of her head. He could hear and feel her skull crack from the impact, a throaty gurgle slash gasp erupting from her awed mouth. She went down hard, landing face first onto the cement and, once more, shaking the building with her fall.

Vandrad came down on top of her head with his foot, crashing it down once more upon the back. And then he repeatedly stomped on her skull, slamming his heel through flesh and bone and brain matter. Her viscera sprayed all over the bottom half of his jumpsuit, coating the material and his flesh in the gore. By the time he had finished pounding his foot down, he had kicked through what remained of her head and had dented the floor.

He inhaled deeply, letting his Empowered form leave him for a moment. In a quick amount of time he had used a lot of magical energy. While his transformation did help to heal him, he was far more concerned about preserving his magical energy. Clearly there were enemies here that were not as easily pushed aside as the guards. Better to conserve his magical stores for when he absolutely needed it.

“Well look at you, handsome.”

A familiar voice caught his attention from behind him. Slowly he turned to face the origin, finding an all too familiar face awaiting him. There stood Mercury, dressed in what could only be called trendy by people that cared about those kinds of things. Her sleek jacket was a bit big on her considering the temperature but it still didn’t hide her figure. She was smirking at him – because of course she was – and her eyes glanced over at the two giant corpses. She chuckled. “Have a good time?”

Well this was interesting.

Vandrad’s entire purpose of coming here was to seek out Mercury. It wasn’t necessarily a rescue mission – he would deny it to his grave that he was concerned for her. But with her being gone, it had sparked a curiosity. Enough so that he had abandoned the rest of his plans to find her, following the tracker she had left him and using that to bring him here. And the base had been well defended; the guards had been aggressive pretty much from the moment he arrived. Granted, the ones with the guns hadn’t provided that much of a fight but the twin giants had smashed him up fairly well. Already he knew he would have to order additional armor, given the state of his now.

But rather than beating ugly siblings one and two and going upstairs to find her still captured, here she was; walking towards him and fully amused at the carnage his fight had caused. Frankly he shouldn’t have been surprised – the minute he started blasting, she probably found a means of escaping. She was a wily one after all. And simply based on how curious her nature was, she would certainly wander downstairs to see who had created the perfect distraction for her.

And yet, something felt off. He wasn’t sure what it was but his sense about her didn’t feel right. Normally he felt a distinct way around Mercury; annoyance, agitation, overall tension. And while the sight of her face still rustled those emotions from their resting places, they never quite took their rightful places. It was almost like he was looking at living, breathing picture of her rather than the real thing. But rather than stand there and theorize over the enigma walking towards him, he could put it to the test. "Well, I figured I’d play around a little while I waited for you to escape. That was part of the plan, after all.” And he committed to that deceit, turning and giving her an almost questioning look.

Oh he could see the pause in her face; she was wondering if it was a test. She blinked it away a moment later but the evidence was as clear as day. This was not the Mercury Arseneault he knew; this was someone else pretending to be her. While normally being deceived was one of Vandrad’s biggest pet peeves, he couldn’t help but be elated. He masked it under the guise of neutrality for the moment, now waiting for his moment to strike.

“Well, what if I was looking to have some fun?” She asked, giving him a faux pout. As she slowly walked around him, she reached out and dragged her finger over his bare chest and trailed it along his body as she went. “I did have to let these big scary bandits capture me after all. Who knows what they could have done to me?” There was a playfulness to her voice that was familiar, at the very least. This imposter had clearly interacted or seen some footage of Mercury enough to pick up on slight mannerisms. As she came back around to his front, she was smirking. “But I suppose taking the chance to walk in and pretend I was in charge was pretty funny too.”

"I suppose,” the Prince of Bellum replied easily, folding his arms over his chest. "What happened to your weapon?”

Another momentary pause. Had this idiot really not figured that he would ask questions? Was he simply supposed to be swept up at the sight of her and forget about any danger whatsoever? These bandits had a brazen confidence about their abilities and frankly, it made them even more worthy of being wiped from existence. She sighed. “They took it from me when I was captured. They probably have it locked up somewhere, hanging among other trophies that they’ve collected. I was on my way to get it when I heard you knock down the door – quite literally. So how about you keep me company while I look for it and then we can move onto the next part of the plan?”

"Ah yes, the plan,” he answered vaguely, smirking. "Well as long as you’ve located the map, we should be all set.”

Three strikes and you’re out. It was amazing to watch as his answers completely flummoxed her, leaving her staring at him for a moment in time before she continued right along. She must have felt quite proud of herself; she had seemingly tricked the knight in broken armor into telling all their plans. But the catch, of course, was that there was no map to speak of. And the look in her eyes betrayed the very notion. Yet she smiled evenly at him. “Of course. Who do you think you’re talking to, handsome?”

He had all the evidence he needed – or rather, he’d had most of the fun he could have and built up a solid case to mock her with. But that would come shortly; he wanted to make sure he really drove the nail into her coffin before throwing her into the ground. She had started to shift slightly and his hands snapped out, taking her by the hips and pulling her close. She gasped at the notion but went with it, her body pressing up against his. Ugh, she didn’t even feel right. But still Vandrad smirked at her. "How about you give your Big Van a kiss before we get to business? You know how much I like your sweet kisses.”

“Mmm I thought you’d never ask,” she purred as she pushed herself up on her toes and pressed her lips against his. Vandrad was not one for kissing – he’d done it merely on occasion during certain distinguished events. As far as he could recall, before his little affair with the rea Mercury in the desert, he’d never even kissed a person on the lips. But for the sake of committing to the ruse, he had to invoke the memories of kissing the blasted woman and remember how he had done it. And frankly, given that she gave a soft moan of approval, he figured he had done it pretty well.

As their lips parted, she sighed and smiled up at him. “Now then. Let’s get this done and then maybe we can find a nice corner to fu---ACK!” She was so caught up in the moment, so committed to playing her role like a D-list actor, that she had barely felt one of his hands shift off her hip and onto her forearm and his stance widen just a tad. And as she made her disgusting proposition, it was then that Vandrad acted. He jerked back, his fingers wrapping around her arm, and pulled her from the ground, literally yanking her nearly out of her shoes as he brought her over his head. He would then slam her down into the body of the fallen female giant, the force of it causing the fake Mercury to break through the flesh and be surrounded in bloody ichor. A fountain of gore shot out from the disheveled neck, as if it was celebrating him getting a prize.

As she grabbed at the fleshy mounds in an attempt to pry herself from the ribcage of the giant, Vandrad watched with mild amusement. "I find it incredible the lengths you Neanderthals are going to try and win this battle. The guards with guns were a weak example but the giants? For a moment I thought I was going up against an enemy that knew how to invoke a proper challenge. But then you came strolling in, wearing the face of that insufferable bitch and doing an impression a toddler could see through.”

As the fake Mercury managed to pull herself out from the bloody pool, she glared up at him. “How?!” She screeched.

"Oh you want to know how I wasn’t suddenly starry-eyed at the sight of her? Here – let me give you a countdown.” He suddenly raced forward and delivered a kick to her chest, sending her skidding along the ground in agony. "Five; there was no escape plan. There was no partnered scheme for that woman to get taken prisoner and me to provide a distraction.”

The fake Mercury hissed as she pushed herself to her feet, drenched in the giant’s blood and with her own chest throbbing in pain. Ice began to form over her hands as she brought them forward, unleashing a gust of snow and frost. Vandrad stood there as it hit him, his flesh already starting to freeze. But then his body began to glow, golden energy emitting from his skin and melting the ice away. He started to walk towards her, through the frost attack. "Four; she has a gun and blade multipart weapon and that would be the first thing she would seek out, no doubt. Additionally, she does not use this sorry excuse for ice magic.”

“Die!” The fake Mercury pulled one of her hands back and formed a ball of pure ice. She sent it flying at him, wrapping it in frost magic in hopes of further solidifying it and making it impossible to break.

But at the moment it should have struck Vandrad, it instead met his fist. Slivers of ice and snow burst all around his arm as he punched through the air, the entire limb glowing with his energy. "Three; there was no map and the look of shock on your face told that story well enough.”

She started to scream but he burst forward, planting his fist into her stomach. Spittle flew from her mouth along with the air in her lungs, knocking the fight right out of her. She started to fall to her knees but Vandrad caught her by the throat, lifting her head to look at him. "Two; Big Van is not the nickname she calls me. It is far more infuriating.” His fingers squeezed around her neck, choking her just enough for her body to start to panic. She gasped and clawed at his arm, leaving bloody scratch marks along his flesh. But the Prince of Bellum just stared at her, amused. He even chuckled. "And one; that woman and I don’t share anything sweet. At best a very violent rivalry. But I was curious to see if you could even kiss like her. As much as I hate to admit it out loud, she was far better than you.”

He grinned. "But confessions to dead people don’t count, do they?” He watched as the weight of that statement hit her, her eyes bulging out in complete fear. "Now do me a favor and don’t die too quickly – I want to make this last.”

It was several minutes later that Mercury – the real Mercury – would feel another quake. But this time, the floor nearby would dissolve as energy scorched through the stone and cement, melting it down to nothing. A shadow moved through the smog, seeming to climb past her level before pausing, having spotted her. A quiet but malicious chuckle would echo out from the smoke as the figure leveled itself with the floor before it moved to casually toss something. A hairy ball of some kind flew out from the smoke and rolled along the floor, flopping unevenly as it went. When it came to a stop, it was revealed to be the fake Mercury’s head. Amazingly, the toss had caused it to stop right on the flat part of the neck, as if it was being presented for the real Mercury’s consideration. The look of terror in her eyes told the tale of the punishment she had endured.

"Look at that,” Vandrad said as he floated out of the smoke and landed on the floor, smirking at the Mercury. "I actually killed you this time.”

Vandrad had taken a very real pleasure in torturing and eventually killing the Mercury mimic. It had help him work out a lot of different things that were certainly still in need of closure. That – and he would never say this out loud – and if someone was going to impersonate the woman, they had better do a damn good job of being convincing. A half-measure was an insult to both Mercury and Vandrad.

After ending her life, he had intended on bringing the head to the leader of this base and mocking him with it. Imagine his surprise, as he ascended through the hole he had made, that he noticed the real Mercury standing on one of the upper floors. It was far too tempting to ignore and so he had stopped to showcase the kill and tease her a bit with it, making light of the very serious situation they had been in prior. As he landed, practically glowing in glee at his fresh kill, he met her grin with one of his own, even as she teased him back, asking if he’d bestowed her with a session of sex like he had the original. "Of course not!” he stated starchily, looking as if the insinuation had taken offense – his usual demeanor at such comments from her. But quickly his smirk returned, unlike previous times. "Why would I waste that on a market brand copy of the original bitch?”

It was perhaps the highest compliment he had paid her yet. Though she had taken the time to pick up the woman’s head and confirm that it was lacking the glee that came post-coitus. As she sauntered away from him, it was just then that he caught sight of… well, him. There was a copy of himself, pinned to a wall of black metal with locks and an all-too-familiar muzzle. By the look of things, she had taken her time in abusing him – knives stuck out of several areas of his body and the blood was starting to pool underneath him. How amusing that these imbeciles had thought to try and imitate the two of them, in hopes of gaining some ground. A bold effort but without substance, altogether empty and fruitless. "There was a posting about you being missing. And I figured if you had gotten into trouble, I should come and remind you that the only person allowed to kill you is me. You’re not allowed to be beaten by anyone else.” Yet another compliment, in his own way. At least he was still smiling as he said it, genuinely meaning his words, as warped as they were. To the fake version of him, it was probably a horrifying way to talk to a partner. To her though… hell, she probably would just think he was actually flirting back with her.

Not that that wasn’t far from the truth. He walked over as she pinned the head of her doppelganger next to the captured man, mocking him with it. She then made of show of looking between the two of them and finally realizing why they had chosen Vandrad as the person to imitate. She even teased him about not bringing it up sooner. She summoned up more knives and walked to him, explaining what this version of the Prince had said and done to try and win her favor. And it made him laugh – a deep, amused laugh that was only heightened as she spun around and strategically tossed a knife to further emasculate him, this time quite literally. Perhaps it was the fake’s death or maybe it was the mixture of that and the fight with the giants but he was feeling good. Enough so that he glanced at her as she offered a knife and smirked. "Oh come on, babe,” he said, drawing out the word with sarcasm. "It seems this poor man was just doing his best to measure up to a role model. Based on everything I’ve seen out of these idiots, there hasn’t been a spark of inspirational strength or wit in any of them.” He glanced down at the focus for her comment about not being able to imitate all of him. Chuckling, he twirled the knife in his hand before he, too, took off another part of what truly made him a man. "Poor you; you had him chained, muzzled and stripped down and he couldn’t even rival what you’ve already had. Here I thought upon first glance that you’d already seen just how committed he was to trying to be the original. I don’t blame you though – I wouldn’t want discount after prime either.”

Glancing back at the poor imitation briefly, he finally set his attention to her in a semi-serious manner. "I didn’t give any of those corpses time to introduce themselves by name. But your doppelganger did tell me that her boss was on the top floor before I twisted her head off. Since I’m feeling generous, I could give you a ride up there. I’m quite invested in toppling this dunghill now it seems.” Before he would turn and walk towards the hole, he turned back to the fake Vandrad and smirked. "Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to keep your girlfriend safe. I wouldn’t want you… worrying about her wellbeing after all.” And then he cackled.

His reasoning for coming to find her apparently struck her in an odd way. But of course, Mercury would take his saying that he was the only one allowed to kill her to mean that he cared about her. He snorted but continued to smirk, unwilling or uncaring to correct her way of thinking on the matter. She would always have her own way of deciphering what he said, spinning it in a way to tease him. But hell, even he had to admit, it was kind of growing on him – if only in a humorous way.

But she was apparently quite struck by his carefree attitude, feeling fully confident in knowing that she could just drape her arm over his shoulder and lean against him. He casually glanced at her but opted to let her stay, if only for the sake of continuing their joint effort of utterly humiliating the fool that dared impersonate him. But as his words rained down sarcasm and heavy mockery upon his doppelganger, the Silver Wolf mage insisted that he remain in this attitude range forever. She even offered him the opportunity to beat her up if it would keep him exactly in this state. And for the sake of keeping up the amusement, he glanced at her and deepened his smirk. "Careful, woman. We both know what happens when you let me pound you.”

Double entendre aside, it seemed that it was time to head up to the boss. Vandrad was more than a little done with his cheap imitation so he wandered over to the hole that he had made and turned in time to watch Mercury deposit a round into the fake’s chest, sending bolts of lightning through his body repeatedly. Vandrad snored a laugh at the sight of the writhing man before he glanced at Mercury as she stated she was ready. "Alright but I didn’t say it would be a comfortable ride.” With that forewarning given, he stepped towards her and then bent down, reached out with his arm and pulled her over his shoulder. Admittedly, it was the only way he was going to allow her to fly up with him anywhere. He wasn’t going to let her hang onto him on either side of him and dragging her up by the hand was exhausting. Easier to just throw her over his shoulder and be done with it.

Did it also give him the advantage to put his hand right on her ass? Maybe but he certainly wasn’t paying attention to that.

His magic carried them upwards until they’d reached the top floor. Apparently his blast had gone all the way through the roof, as the wintry sky loomed above them. He set her down gently – which was probably a shock in and of itself – and then turned to face a large steel door. "Gee, I wonder where the boss could be hiding,” he asked mockingly, grinning at the door. With a flick of his wrist, he sent a blast through the metal plates and bent them inwards, breaking the seal behind it and causing them to swing open violently.

"Well woman, this is your job after all. Only seems right that you get the opportunity to go in and seal the deal, as it were,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "But on one condition; I find myself lacking in training in terms of a challenge. I’ve heard that having a sparring partner can encourage growth and considering you have the tendency to push me past my limits – either through irritation or forced encouragement – I’ve deemed you the perfect partner. Try not to take it too personally; it’s only a matter of strengthening our magics. Nothing beyond that.”