Chapter 36.2: Test Subjects

Vadd on his heels, Christoff followed Comakk away from the stalker’s cylinder and across the testing chamber toward a pair of glass tubes that were empty and in their raised positions, awaiting whatever unlucky creatures were next to be experimented on. In this case, those would be an orange, overly stringent sylvari and some asura Kikka claimed was traveling with him.

Indeed, the bandit overseer was not disappointed. At the same moment he came to a stop behind Comakk at the two containment chambers, the steel door at the far end of the room slid open. The sound of steel grinding on stone echoed through the cold room, and the heads of creatures in a couple of the other test cylinders turned to see who or what stepped in.

It was Kikka, the teal braids beside her face swinging to her stride, as she led a procession of two pairs of asura guards, each pair driving a prisoner at the points of their strange rifles.

The first was an asura with jaunty braids that flicked up off the back of her head and little else of particular note. The second was the sylvari, stripped down to his dirty bark and pulsing a faint green bioluminescence that Christoff had forgotten about—focused hatred had a way of dimming details sometimes. Remi and the others had done a number on him, but even in evident pain, he carried himself with the honorbound pride Christoff remembered and detested so clearly. Both captives were manacled and reduced to their undergarments, but that only added to the dark joy of it all. It was just too bad Christoff had need of the soldier before he could see him tortured and killed.

By the time Kikka and her people arrived at the open cylinders, Christoff’s grin had faded. Something critical had come to mind. “Where are my people?” he demanded, taking a step toward Kikka. “They clearly succeeded. Again. So, where are they?”

She glared back up at him, coming to a stop just a few feet away now. “Where do you think they are, you ignoramus? They’re back in their cell, the same location I send you all to when you’ve exceeded your usefulness.” Just as quickly, she’d ignored Christoff, shifting her attention to something Comakk offered her on his data tablet.

Christoff growled to himself, running a finger thoughtfully down his scar. Had he really expected anything else?

The guards prodded the captives onto their circular bases, and the glass tubes descended. Gas hissed and latches clamped shut, sealing the cylinders to their docking platforms.

Sneering at Comakk, Kikka flashed a half-attentive glance at the human and gestured to the sylvari. “Nonetheless, your collection of buffoons did manage to deliver our new test subjects.”

“Did you ever doubt them?”

She scowled. “Of course I did. You have the collective intelligence of a wrench. The fact that the group of you can feed yourselves is astonishing.”

Christoff bristled but left the comment alone. There were more important matters at hand.

The captive asura eyed him ferociously, but Christoff kept his eyes on what mattered. He took a step closer to the rounded glass wall that separated him from the vigilman, meeting the increasingly cold glare of the sylvari who’d cost him so much. Recognition seemed to elude the creature.

“Fancy meeting you again,” Christoff said loudly enough to ensure the sylvari could hear him. “And in another subterranean location no less. Fate seems to favor me.”

The soldier squinted, eyes narrowing under that wooden brow as he worked to understand who he was looking at. Christoff couldn’t decide if that made things more or less entertaining, but he grinned menacingly all the same.

Suddenly it seemed to strike him. In shock, the sylvari craned his neck away from the glass. His voice was distant within the cylinder. “You?”

“Me,” Christoff agreed with a smirk. Oh, yes, this was good.

“It’s as if fate itself has twined our paths together,” he said, spitefully elated. “Or maybe it was just that jade of yours—but I guess that’s all mine now, isn’t it?” He rapped a rhythm against the glass, remembering not only what this fool had done to his outfit but also everything he’d overcome to get himself back to this point, with the jade nearly in his grasp and two enemies in arm’s reach.

He flicked a glance at Kikka, standing off to his side and barely paying any attention to the prisoners she’d just brought him. She was still dangerous—very dangerous, if Christoff was honest with himself. That was why he needed this sylvari and his elementalist powers.

“Say,” he mused, coming back to the vigilman, “how’s that poisoned girl? How far into the woods did you get before it took her? Herman’s poisons tend to yield some violent results.”

The sylvari only watched him, unmoving and unblinking, like a twig on the verge of snapping.

Christoff shrugged. Whether or not the salad spoke, this was a treat. “Very well, then. You keep your secrets, and I’ll keep mine. Except, given your accommodations here,” he waved a hand up and down the glass cylinder, “it’s probably no secret that these lovely people are less interested in conversation than I am. To them, you serve a more— pragmatic purpose.”

Standing there in nothing but his bark, the sylvari remained upright, his arms at his sides. “I have nothing to say to you or them.”

“I think you miss my meaning.” Christoff glanced away, snickering. “They have no interest in talking with you at all. This isn’t torture; you and your little friend are nothing but test subjects for, truly, a rather cruel contraption they’ve cooked up.”

At that, the soldier raised an eyebrow just slightly and took a step back from the glass, looking past Veritas and then scanning the top and bottom of the cell for any means of escape.

Christoff turned. What in Tyria would draw the sylvari’s attention away from—

Vadd’s assistants had removed the agony-magic cannon from the stalkers chamber and were wheeling it toward the sylvari’s. Christoff’s fun was already over.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

Vadd stood beside them now, his tablet once again tethered to the machine. He glanced up at the human, then Kikka, and then Christoff again. “We’re preparing another test,” he said uncertainly. “Whatever else would we do with two new subjects?”

Christoff gritted his teeth, glancing back into the eyes of the sylvari again. What a cruel twist of fate that his victory would have to be so short-lived. Though he had no qualms whatsoever with destroying the sylvari in the most painful way possible, Christoff couldn’t let it happen until the foolish soldier could do an equal amount of damage to the asura.

He ran a finger down his scar and forced his face into civility. “What about the cat?” he asked.

“What about it?” Vadd cocked his head. Kikka did likewise, though disdainfully.

The two assistants stopped, looking back and forth between their supervisor and the human. Christoff had to think fast. “Have we finished observing its madness?”

Vadd frowned at him, his face tightening now into an ugly pucker. He nervously glanced at Kikka and then back to Christoff. “Well, no. But we’ve seen a dozen examples of the magic’s effect on lesser life forms. The likelihood of this being any different is minimal. It’s past time we move our testing to more advanced—”

“What about the abnormality in the beam?” Christoff crossed his arms and snuck a glance at Kikka, whose heinous frown had deepened. He had to get the little monster on his side.

“Abnormality?” Kikka growled, looking first at the human and then at Vadd.

Betrayed and suddenly very uncomfortable, Vadd shot a glance at Veritas and then back at his superior. “It’s nothing,” he fumbled. “Just— well, simply a trajectory irregularity in one of the sub-beams. It occurred in only our most recent test, caused no harm, and corrected itself before anything could be done. It is a non-issue—purely a non-issue.” Flustered, the asura snapped another unnerved glance at Christoff before smiling awkwardly back at Kikka. She did not reciprocate.

She sniffed harshly. “I’ve made the criticality of this project explicitly clear, Vadd.”

“You have,” Vadd choked. His eyes were now locked on hers.

“And you haven’t ceased to reassure me that your current design is not only viable, but superior to what Jezzi’s team has accomplished.” She was nearly barking at him now, though she still flashed an occasional, assessing glance at Christoff.

“Yes.” Vadd raised a finger, seeming to soften his intended tone just as the words began leaving his mouth. “I mean— yes, Mistress. I— it is— the superior design, I mean. In every test it yields a higher agony output with vastly greater applied psychological strain than—”

Kikka cut him off. “Jezzi’s team has never experienced an output abnormality.” She took a step closer, her nose nearly touching his.

Vadd visibly shivered and his eyes darted up and down between Kikka and Christoff. It was infuriatingly impressive how much power that little woman held over everyone in her sway, but Christoff’s words had done their work. It was time to get Vadd out of the fire they’d kindled.

“At least they’ve never experienced any abnormalities they’ve bothered to mention, Kikka.” He crossed his arms again and shrugged. “But then, of course you recognize the difference. Even these fools know better than to bother you with every hurdle they encounter.”

The tight braids that framed her face swung as Kikka rounded on the human.

“Look,” Veritas said, raising his hands in submission as she glared up at him. “I was there. What happened in that test was hardly worth noting. Vadd is correct.” He pointed to the sweating asura on the other side of her. “But bless the gods, Kikka, your man here is exceptional at what he does. He covers all his bases, ties up all the loose ends, and I know he won’t be satisfied moving on to even a new test subject until—”

“Enough!” Kikka bellowed, pressing a hand to her face. She dropped it, demanding everyone’s silence with a look. “You have three days,” she snapped, rounding back to Vadd. “By the Alchemy, you will ensure there are no abnormalities in my weapon. Three days. Do you hear me?!”

Vadd nodded, even more sweat beading on his forehead.

“And if anything malfunctions in any conceivable way, you will be the final test subject of my weapon. There is no room for error at this juncture. Not from you. Not from any of you!”

Christoff frowned thoughtfully. Three days?

He vocalized the question, fully anticipating another scalding stare from the woman. “Humor my curiosity, Kikka: what happens in three days?”

A lip-tightening, toothy smile spread across the little dictator’s face, nearly spanning braid to braid. “A new era for our krewe,” she rasped.

Christoff had no idea what that meant, but for the first time that day, the room fell silent. Kikka continued glaring maliciously at him, clearly wanting a reaction; the guards exchanged self-satisfied grins; and Vadd’s nervous shuffling only increased.

Christoff glanced back at the sylvari, who watched everything warily. They may have been in much more similar positions than the man cared to admit.