Right of Retribution 3 -CH11- (Patreon)

Warner’s phone started to ring in his pocket.

Looking away from where Inger was busily sewing up Ylva’s leg he leaned to one side. Jerking out the phone from his pocket he looked to the screen.

It was a number he didn’t know, which meant it was more than likely one of the burner phones.

Tapping the button, he put it to his ear.

“Hello?” he asked.

Just because he thought it was one of their burner’s didn’t mean it was.

“Ah! Warner!” said War in a clear voice. “I’m so glad you picked up. Tarja said you would pick up fairly quickly but I honestly didn’t believe her.”

Warner froze, staring at the wall opposite to him. His mind had locked into blankness and refused to process anything.

“Warner? My dear? My partner? My chosen and fated foe? Are you there?” asked War, sounding confused and concerned.

“I… yeah, I’m here. War… what’d you do?” asked Warner in a cold and flat voice.

“Oh, nothing really. I just happened to catch Tarja on her way to you and… kept her,” said War with a deranged giggle. “I figured it’d be the perfect way to make sure you played with me.

“You ran away earlier and left me with that shit-bag Seville. I can’t have you doing that you know. How are we supposed to fulfill our union if you run away? We’ve been fated for all eternity! We must complete our parts, you know?”

Inga, Ylver, and Dayine were all staring at Warner now. They hadn’t missed the part where he’d said her name.

“In fact, just to make sure you didn’t run away again, I’m here! Knock knock!” declared War, followed by someone knocking at his front door.

Warner shot up out of his seat, his phone still to his ear.

Dropping it down to his side he pressed it into his hip.

“She took Daria, she’s here, don’t… attack her. We need to talk to her for the time being,” Warner said urgently. All three women nodded their heads.

Warner hung up his phone then dropped it onto the coffee table. Doing his best to stuff up his fear into a quiet dark hole, he mechanically forced himself over to the door.

Opening it, he found War standing there in the entry way. Her clothes looked to be hanging off of her in little better than shreds. In fact, he could quite clearly see her left breast.

“I know, I’m sorry,” War said, lifting her hands up in a ‘sorry’ type of gesture. “I didn’t have a chance to change after Seville. I wouldn’t have been able to pin Tarja down otherwise. She’s a tricky, slippery thing, ya know?

“Besides, I don’t mind you looking. We’re destined for one another, you know. I look forward to feeling your hands on me.”

Keeping his teeth tightly locked together, Warner didn’t respond. Instead, he stepped to the side and gestured into his home. There was nothing he could do to stop War.

If she wanted to flatten his house, she could flatten it. At the moment, he was completely at her whim.

So far he was lucky that she seemed to have a strange and broken fascination with him. If she’d had a disposition to see him dead, there’d be no chance for him.

“Oh! Thank you, sweetie,” War said and entered. She paused to lean into him and kiss him briefly. Leaving a strange after-taste on his lips that he couldn’t shake.

A sharp, peppery, metallic taste. It tickled the back of his memory but he couldn’t place it.

War entered his home without another word, heading straight into the living room.

“Dayine! It’s so nice to see you,” War said in a strange and bubbly tone. “I figured you might be around since Ylva showed up. Even you’re here, Inger.

“Does that mean you’ve all thrown in with Warner? If so, that’s pretty amazing. Amazing yet unsurprising. He’s Warner after all.”

Having shut the door, Warner rejoined everyone in the living room.

Dayine was breathing hard, her eyes wide, staring at War with hatred and fear in equal measure. As if she wanted to leap across the room and strangle the woman to death.

Though she was afraid to do so, fearing that she’d likely be beaten as quickly as it started.

Not that Warner could blame her.

War had manhandled him in a way that left his confidence quite shaken.

“Betrayer,” hissed Dayine when no one said anything in response to War. “First Betrayer. She who cast us into darkness!”

“Well, it’s not like I can deny that,” said War, putting one hand on a hip and then pushing the other side out. She snapped the fingers of her free hand and brought it across in front of herself. “And darnit, if that just doesn’t have a ring to it.

“Though it wasn’t really darkness. I just made sure that the war would go on. And can ya blame me? I’m War! I live and breathe war!

“How could I pass up the single biggest confrontation this universe would ever see? It’d be ridiculous. Imagine you getting your one chance at your greatest glory and… not doing it. I couldn’t pass that up. And if you think you could have done it in my position, than you’ve never really experienced temptation.”

War took on an annoyed and frustrated expression and shook her head. Then she rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Anyways, I’m here for Warner, not any of you,” said War and waved her hand at the other women. Turning in place she looked to Warner and gave him a broad smile. “Let’s talk! We need to figure out how to have our war now that I have Tarja.”

Warner realized his time was now up.

While War had been chatting with the others, he’d been wracking his mind to figure out a solution. To put together some type of answer to what’d just happened and give him a way to beat War.

Because if he was being honest with himself, without Daria, he was severely lacking in his ability to plan.

His darling fruit-loop was the master-mind behind a lot of their plans and actions. Working masterfully behind the scenes to bring everything to the right point and end. Working tirelessly to give them their “happy ending” and those rewards.

The only answer he came up with, that he knew he would pursue if Daria wasn’t there without worrying about the future, was to give up. That there was no way for him to beat War by going to war with her.

He needed to remove himself from that line of thinking. To eliminate the possibility of defeat from the options he was given.

“No,” said Warner with a shake of his head.

War blinked, her extremely attractive features playing out a mixture of confusion, surprise, and shock.

“No?” she repeated, sounding as if she didn’t know what else to say.

“No. I won’t go to war with you, War. That’s pointless,” Warner said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I know for a fact that Daria would tell me to just leave. To not bother to get into a war with you.

“That’d be like trying to make water less wet by adding more water. It’s an impossible challenge. Like counting to infinity.

“So… she’d tell me to not bother. To pack up my family, surrender to you in this war that never started, then move. To escape from you in whatever way I can. Even if it means leaving the plane entirely.

“I have enough abilities that I could escape from you. To hide somewhere in a pocket plane that you’d never be able to find. Then I’d just live with the rest of my family and let the world play itself out.”

War stood there still looking more like a statue than an actual person. Her eyes were locked to his face and unmoving.

“So… I guess that’s that,” Warner said with a shrug of his shoulders. You win, yay. Congratulations.

“Would you mind leaving? We need to plan a funeral for Daria and then get to fleeing. Hope your war works out for you.”

“No!” War said, her face finally changing expression. She looked angry now. Very angry. As if he were face were a thundercloud gathering itself and getting ready to let out a lightning strike.

“Yes,” said Warner in a very calm voice. “Why would I ever go to war with War directly? That’s just assinine. Not to mention you took the person who planned out most of our strategies.

“You want me to go to war without even the most important person in our group. That’s just asking me to lose. So rather than do all that, I’ll just surrender and leave.”

“I won’t let you leave,” growled War.

“Fine. Just gets us to the end quicker I guess than fighting you,” Warner said with a shake of his head. “Anyways. Can you hurry up? This is pointless.”

In a flash War was in his face, her hand pressed to his throat.

“See?” said Warner who then let out a sigh. “Pointless. Get it over with then.”

Glaring at him from only a few feet away War looked like she was actually insane with rage. Like her head might pop any moment now and obscenities would stream out.

War suddenly blinked and the anger was gone.

In that instant, her hand loosened on his neck and fell down at her side.

“You’re right,” she said with a strange smile curling her lips. “You’re… right. Forcing you to go to war with me, by taking your master of tactics no less, just pushes you into the same ending. There really is no helping it, is there?

“Going to war with War is pointless. There’s nothing you could actually do to me in my current power-level.”

Shaking her head, she looked rather forlorn. As if she wasn’t sure how to proceed or what to do. That her plans for Warner were pointless.

This was the most dangerous moment for him, in truth.

If she decided that he didn’t matter, she could just as easily kill him as let him go. In fact, he was most certain that she would probably kill him out of hand, along with Daria, rather than letting them go.

“I guess I just need to end it then and—”

“I mean, not in the way you’re thinking it,” said Warner and interrupting her. He knew this was likely his best chance to push what he wanted to do, while keeping his friends and family among the living. War was insane, and from what she was just saying, it really was likely that she’d just kill him out of hand. “I could probably go to war with you, but not in a traditional sense of the word. Not up against you directly like the way you were thinking.”

“What?” asked War, her eyes crinkling. Mirth once again returned to her face and she looked interested again.

“I can’t fight you directly, War. You’re too strong!” Warner said and then forced out a laugh. He reached up and patted her cheek in an over-familiar way. “Not to mention, who would want to damage such a lovely face?

“I’m afraid I’m not in a position where I could fight you like that. Sorry. It’s just not possible.

“But… but I think I could fight you indirectly. Slowly knock you off your power-base until you were at a level where I could fight you directly.

“To go to war with your powers, first, then to war with you, after I’d brought you down. A defeat in detail, as it were. After all, should I not eliminate my own possibility of defeat before I engage you?”

War’s nostrils flared and her smile became a full fledged grin. Then she leaned in close to him, her hands resting on his shoulders.

“I like it. I like it a lot!” she said in a low sultry voice. “Mmm. I like it so much. I can’t believe I’m going to let you do this, but… you’re right. Why would you ever go to war with me as I am now? You wouldn’t!

“All I’ve done is force you into a position that there could never be a war. One that ends as soon as I notice you and attack.”

“Exactly, so to get what you want, a war with me, one where you could lose, I have to be able to fight you indirectly,” explained Warner. He knew that trying to normally reason with War would have been pointless. That it was more likely she wouldn’t understand than it was to succeed.

Instead, he was working to reason with her toward her goal and objective, even if the argument would make no sense to a rational person.

“After all, to fight you evenly, you amazingly, sexy, strong woman you,” Warner said and reached up to grasp her chin. He shook it gently back and forth as he held onto it and grinned at her. “I have to knock you down quite a bit first. How else am I going to call you Daria while pushing your face down in the bed from behind, hm?”

“Oooh, yes,” said War who was practically hanging off him now. “I like that.”

“You should, you filthy monster,” hissed Warner with disgust on his face. “You reek so badly of injustice. You’re my true arch-nemesis. Everything about you is absolutely wretched.

“Other than your looks and that body, War. I mean, wow. You should send me some photos later if you don’t mind.”

War was gazing at him with wide eyes and pin-prick like pupils.

At some point, War had clearly gone insane. She wasn’t a normal person or incarnation. She was almost quite literally at war with herself it seemed.

Wanting to lose and be defeated while facing a great enemy.

“I’m disgusting, aren’t I?” she asked in a cute voice.

“So vile that you make me want to throw up in your face,” Warner said, squeezing quite hard on her jaw now. To the point that he was probably close to breaking it if she was a human. “I’m going to have to spend years making you repent before I even dare to think of sending you to the judge or you’ll never get out.

“And if I want to win, I need to redeem your sick and twisted self, don’t I, War? Or at least, enough so that when you’re judged, there’s a chance you could work off your debt in time.”

Groaning in pain, War’s eyes rolled up into her head, her entire body starting to tremble and twitch. She looked like she was on the verge of either breaking mentally, orgasming, or attacking him.

Not wanting to push this too far, Warner let go of her jaw then moved her back two steps. Moving her to arms length.

“Yes,” moaned War, looking a lot like she was drunk at the moment. Her eyes fell back to him and she moved around a bit as if the world was spinning. Taking little steps and trying to get her balance. “Exactly. You have to… have to beat me black and blue. To treat me like your worst enemy that you have no pity for.

“To truly defile, beat, and humiliate me. Your arch-nemesis and your ultimate rival. My victory is your war with me and it’s end, yours is to redeem me. We can both win.”

“Great,” said Warner with a nod of his head. “Then give me back Daria, get out of my home you disgusting piece of filth that needs to be put down, and prepare to watch your empire crumble around you.

“Just remember, nothing direct against me. Otherwise there’s no point in this. Okay?”

“Yes,” mumbled War, nodding her head quickly. “Nothing direct. Go home, release Daria, send you photos, watch as you begin your war against me.”

“Exactly. Now go, or I’ll compliment you on your looks and how lovely you are again,” Warner said with a dismissive hand wave. “Or I’ll talk about what I think your ultimate plan is and how incredible you must have been to think about it.”

Wincing, War changed in a flash. Her eyes hardening, her face turning away from him, and her entire demeanor becoming stiff and rigid.

She simply winked out of existence. Vanishing from where she stood as if she’d never been there.

“What… what the fuck?” Dayine asked from behind him. “How in the shit did that work?”

“She’s crazy,” Ylva muttered.

“Exactly. She’s crazy,” agreed Warner, turning to the other women. “Trying to reason with her in a normal way… wasn’t going to work.

“What she wants, is literally for me to fight her. To go after her. Except she couldn’t see it as anything other than a one on one fight.

“I just changed the way she needs to approach her goal. She clearly doesn’t care how it’s achieved as long as it happens.”

“That’s why you refused to do what she wanted at all,” Inger offered. “Telling her you wouldn’t go to war with her for any reason except under the circumstances you permitted.”

“Yeah. More or less,” said Warner with a shrug of his shoulders. “Honestly, I only had the idea of it. I hadn’t planned any of that out. It all came to me as I went. It was all just… winging it.”

“Well, it seemed more like—”

Before Ylva could finish speaking there was a small flash of light and Daria appeared. Standing near the coffee table and facing Warner.

She looked none the worse for wear and seemed to be as confused to suddenly being in the living room as everyone else was. Unsure, she lifted up a hand and waved at Warner.

Then froze in place for a second before she blinked several times.

“Oh, I see,” Daria said then grinned at Warner, nodding his head. “Very well done! That’s amazing.

“Though… when she sends you those nudes in a little bit… compliment her on her body, but call her terrible things, too. Otherwise she’ll get too torn and I’m not sure what she’ll do. Sometimes she kills you, sometimes she… uh… demands sex from you and you end up saying yes, because saying no would turn violent.”

Warner raised his eyebrows, then rushed Daria.

As soon as he got his arms around her he tried his best to crush her with a hug. Holding to her and pressing her into himself.