Chapter Text
Failure
2070
The Mysteron, known to the pathetic earthmen as Captain Black, snarled in frustration as he slammed his fist down on the table of the safe house his Mysteron masters had dumped him in, after failing to trick the humans into believing that they could launch an attack on the Mysteron’s home base only to find that they destroyed their own precious cities.
And it would have worked too, if it hadn’t been for Skybase tracking their submarine and Scarlet waking up and exposing the farce, mere seconds before he could launch the missiles.
His masters were furious, they were looking to replace him, and they gave him one more chance and he blew it…
Black growled, his wallowing in self pity, was not being helped by the fact that the pathetic earthman, that he was forced to ride share with was mentally laughing his head off.
“You do realise that if our masters decide to kill me for incompetence,” Black snarled. “You will die too, right?”
“You are asking me that like I care,” Conrad replied. “What is a life, if you do not have free will?”
Black snarled, “So you find it amusing that we could be about to die?” He snapped.
“That my life could be about to end permanently?” Conrad snarked. “No, I’m laughing because even with my memories and your own knowledge about Mysteron physiology, you still managed to underestimate the people you are trying to destroy.”
Black’s mind screeched to a halt, what was this pathetic earthman talking about? “Explain,” he snarled.
“Why would I explain anything that could help my enemies?” Conrad replied.
“Tell me or I will rip your thoughts from your memories,” Black snapped. “Either way l’m going to find out.”
Conrad snorted, “And you wonder why I don’t have much care for my life,” he lamented. “Can’t even have a private thought of my own…”
Black growled in warning…
“Fine!” Conrad replied. “Just because you will get my explanation whether I want to give it you or not…”
Black growled with impatience, “Well?” He snapped.
“Did you honestly think Charles, Adam and the rest of Skybase personnel,” Conrad replied, flippantly. “We’re going to let some other shady government organisation cart Paul off to be a lab-rat without a fight?”
“They are soldiers they are trained to obey orders,” Black snapped. “And to follow them without question.”
Conrad laughed, “Don’t tell me you actually believe that,” he replied. “You have my memories, how many times in them have I bent or outright disobeyed orders given to me in the course of my career?”
Black growled softly, he knew the answer, nothing in Conrad’s history was a secret to him.
“Do you think any of the Skybase officers,” Conrad continued. “Got to where they are today by being squeaky clean bootlickers?”
Black gave Conrad a mental equivalent of a dead eyed stare.
Conrad snorted, “Spectrum only hires people that are at the top of their field and are capable of thinking outside of the box,” he continued. “But regardless of their officer's unique skills, there is something that they have in common with most successful military units.”
“And that is?”
“Camaraderie,” Conrad replied. “Your unit is your family, you will go to hell and back for them, they will go to hell and back for you… Considering Paul has literally, by human standards, died for them multiple times, you could have safely bet the farm, on them coming after him, regardless of orders.”
Black growled softly, “And about the other thing I apparently did wrong?” He asked.
“God, that one is simple,” Conrad replied. “Why did you leave Paul in an unguarded place, when you knew he was going to wake up again?”
Black didn’t have an answer for that, because Scarlet was supposed to be dead - he had enough electrical energy pumped through him to kill any Mysteron a dozen times over, including himself, in fact the agents put in charge of Scarlet’s torture had to be careful not to touch him unless they killed themselves.
Unfortunately, Conrad picked up on his hesitation to answer, “Wait,” he said, confusion creeping into his voice. “Paul was actually meant to die permanently in that sick and twisted shit show?”
Black didn’t answer, because Scarlet was supposed to die, and by all Mysteron standards he should be…
Unless…
“Myst,” Black snarled. “We somehow recreated a Myst.”
“A what?” Conrad asked, still confused. “What the hell is a Myst?”
Black started to pace the room, a Myst, this was not good, but it could also explain why the Earthman he was ride-sharing with conscience being still alive and annoying him.
The only explanation was those bastards had done something to the humans before they died, something to protect them from their creations and insure their survival.
If Scarlet was a Myst… then it would take a set of very extreme circumstances to actually kill him.
But it would also explain why he had so easily broken free of the collective… The Mysteron’s had never been able to control their masters.
“Wait, you haven’t had any true influence over Paul since he broke free?” Conrad asked. “Like none what so ever?”
“We can still get to him, through his telepathic abilities,” Black snapped. “But we can’t control him.”
“THE DISCOVERY THAT SCARLET IS A MYST, AND THE FACT YOU HAVE SET BACK THE EARTHMEN’S RESEARCH INTO US HAS SHOWN THAT YOU STILL HAVE SOME USE TO US, CAPTAIN BLACK,” the Voice of the Mysteron’s boomed. “YOU HAVE BEEN SPARED, FOR NOW, YOU WILL WAIT HERE UNTIL YOU HAVE YOUR NEW ORDERS.”
“I know what I must do,” Black replied a feeling of relief crossing over him.
Conrad sighed in disappointment, “And here I thought I was going to be released from this nightmare,” he muttered. “What did they mean about setting back the humans research?”
Black’s face twisted into an evil smile, “Oh the results of the so called research we were doing with Scarlet was real,” he snickered. “Those detectors and ways to kill Mysteron’s were real deal alright.”
If Conrad had control over his face, it would have just lost all its colour, “And because the operation that the research was compromised by the Mysteron’s…” he whispered.
“The earthmen are going to dismiss it,” Black replied gleefully. “Because why would we allow them to have access to technology that could potentially destroy us?”
“So, Paul surviving is a blessing in disguise for you, is it?” Conrad replied darkly.
“Yes and no,” Black answered. “While his survival does wonders to disprove the research that could easily destroy us, the fact that he exists represents a bigger threat.”
“And what’s that?”
“There is dormant Myst’s in the human population,” Black replied darkly.
“Which means it’s only a matter of time, before we accidentally awaken another one.”