NT Rangers - Lad 12 - Agree (Patreon)

“You what? Why are you hesitating?” The Hero adopted a curious smirk. As Lad's mind pushed back against the control, he was suddenly able to see what could not be seen before. Where the Hero had waved his hand before there was floating pink text. It was in an arcane language and each character was shifting and trading with others before he even had a chance to fully take them in. As he turned his head they followed Lad's gaze as if they were engraved into his eyes.
“Maybe I underestimated you. A bit.” He commented.
“I may actually need Ai for this.” As he said that, and as Lad was still struggling, the Seraph floated in and landed behind him.

“You called?” She said attentively.

“Help...” Lad groaned. His whole body was shuddering and tears filled his eyes. They were hurting.

“He's actually fighting Serane's programming.”

She whistled. “Impressive. Shall I contract him, Master.” He simply offered a short nod. Meanwhile, Lad finally felt something in his head snap. His body relaxed. He was panting and sweating, but he wasn't sure why. When he looked to the Hero he felt love, adoration. Primarily though there was faith, faith that his goals are right. That the world would be better off with him in it.

“I...” Lad began.

“Yes?” The Hero smiled.

“Agree.”

“Good. Now don't blink.”

“Don't blink?” Lad stared straight ahead, eyes wide. The Seraph removed her blinds to reveal a pair of incredibly bright emerald eyes.

“Not even for a second.” He warned.

“Alright.” Lad submitted.

The one named Ai gripped his face with both hands and stared directly into Lad's eyes. “You will not speak a word about our Master to anyone outside of Echo. You will not hint about our Master, even, through any means available to you.”

“What- What do I do?”

“You just say yes.” The Hero advised.

“Yes.” Lad nodded.
“On both accounts yes.”

Ai smiled, offered a short nod, then continued. “You will protect our Master's plans, and everything about his identity from those outside and will keep all of  Echo's secrets with your life.”

It felt wrong. It felt damning, but he felt weak in the moment. He simply nodded again, allowing her to hold her gaze.
“Yes.”

Ai looked back. “Should I go further, Master? I could make it impossible for him to resist. He will not even think of betraying you. He wont be able to.”

The Hero cocked his head to one side. “No. Let him struggle and fight. So long as he can't speak or act against us, it wont matter. He's broken.” He stepped forward and brushed a finger under Lad's eyes to wipe away tears. Somehow, all of the cruel things that were being said never even entered Lad's mind. He found single words. 'Broken, struggle, fight,' but those left his mind as quickly as they came. All he felt and understood was the compassion that was shown in wiping his eyes.

“Thank... You...” Lad commented.
“I don't know what happened, or why I'm getting misty.”

“I have that effect on people. But... You are aware of your purpose, now?”

Lad smiled. “Undermine the ChesAn corporation. Infiltrate the Rangers. Retrieve Kara.” A wide smile crossed Lad's lips as he said it.
“For Echo. For the Hero.” He blinked after all of that was said. It felt almost robotic, programmed into him to repeat that phrase, and those orders. The Hero snickered. Lad looked down and saw that his body was twisted to attention. A salute that he had not yet learned with both arms crossed behind his back.

“At ease, Lad. I have high expectations in you. Do not fail me.”

“I wont, Lord.” Lad promised automatically. The Hero patted him on the back and ushered him out. Both he and the Seraph stayed behind. As he left into the throne room, the Commanders of Echo had all cleared out for the most part. He walked into the main path and down the walkway towards the door. They opened automatically, allowing him through. On the other side, stepping out from behind one of the first pillars, a silver-haired Fox appeared with her arms crossed over her modest chest.

“You were my replacement?” She asked in an annoyed tone.

“Sorry?” It clicked after a second and Lad smiled.
“Oh! You're Raithe. You're safe with the Lord. I'm glad.” He offered comfortably.

She sneered at him. “He got to you? Or were you actually stupid enough to believe what he was saying?” She walked up and urged him forward. The two walked together as they spoke, past the frozen, statue-like foot-soldiers. She leaned close, staring into his eyes.
“Ah... My condolences.”

Lad's facade cracked open at the challenge. “I- I tried... My best.”

Raithe's golden eyes widened. “You're resisting, aren't you?” She sounded incredibly shocked.
“You, of all people are actually resisting him?” She exhaled through her nose.

Lad felt a slight sense of clarity. He cringed at his compelled compliance and mourned for all of the sense he had lost due to coming here.
“What about you? Why are you talking about the Lord and his plans like this?”

“Because I am already hollow. Well, I was... I learned how to be a person again.”

A nagging thought pushed into Lad's mind. A thought that threatened to dominate him and thrust him back into passive servitude.
“What he's right? What if the world need's him. “

Raithe punched Lad's shoulder. “Because he's not the Hero I remember and we can't let this impostor take his-” She stopped. Lad stopped with her and stared at her quizzically.

“Raithe?”

“Yes?” A voice came not from the girl he was talking to, but from straight ahead. A similar fox, a woman that could have been a twin, stood with Esther near the next set of double doors. Lad looked to her, then to Raithe. They were essentially identical save from some red highlights in the other's hair. The tip of her ears and tail and in the undercoat beneath her hair.
“Don't listen to the version of me that lost to our sister.”

Raithe glared at the two of them. “Here to repeat your lies? Lad don't l-” A pale arm curled around Raithe's neck, pulling her away swiftly. Lad thought he saw a glimpse of jet black hair and a pale ass before the two disappeared.

“So...” Esther sighed.
“It didn't take completely?” She motioned for him to approach. He moved between the Fox and the Jackal. Esther draped an arm over his shoulder. Raithe rested a hand on his back. The three of them began walking together.

“Uhm...” Lad felt nervous.

“It's okay! It makes me respect you more.” Esther claimed.
“If you were just a puppet I'd have no interest in you. Resisting just means your worthy to serve willingly.”

“Huh?” Reasoning swam so easily into his mind. Comforting thoughts.
“It's a test?”

“Exactly. If you obey the Lord of your own accord, it's so much more valuable. The fact that you're able to think about defying him makes your eventual obedience so much sweeter for him. You have a chance of standing at his side, like us.”

“But he's...” Lad cringed, it was difficult to even say that he was evil, but that was the thought that entered his mind.

“Because you're being fooled.” Raithe stated.

“What do you mean?” He asked suspiciously.

“This world does not even have a hero. It had a puppet of my sister, Kara.”

“You two are sisters?”

“Mhmm. In our world I bested her before her plans could come to fruition. In this world, however, she was able to manipulate him from the start. She convinced him to love her and become obsessed with her. She used her leverage to change him... To shape his spirit itself. He was guided to consume our mother's spirit, however who really benefited? Coda's plans came to fruition, our people flourished and now she and two other Foxes stand to control the whole world at the top of the most powerful corporation in the world. Convenient, no?”

Lad regarded hr words skeptically. It did not ring true in comparison to what he heard. Raithe read his expression.
“You're letting what that husk said get to you? You know, Kara consumed her too. Mercilessly. She convinced the Hero to help her do it. He is complicit in all of her crimes.” He did not believe what she was saying. He fought back against the desire to buy into it, however at the back of his mind he still felt the overpowering directive to retrieve Kara. It did not matter what he believed. He would have to do it.

Esther seemed to be able to tell. She giggled and rubbed his shoulder. “Think whatever you want, Lad. Follow your directives. Obey our Lord. You don't got a choice. The only thing your defiance changes is whether you get a place beside him when it's all over...” They stopped in front of one of the foot soldiers.
“Or whether you become one of these.” She pulled up the eye-mask covering the Echo Soldier's face and revealed fully dilated pink pupils.

Lad stared at it in fear. He was almost cowed by the threat, but he worked up an ounce of defiance to utter.
“Y-you're like them. The only difference is you're stronger and you THINK you're better. You can't choose to do anything...”

Raithe laughed. Esther sneered. “Idiot! I can choose, I just don't NEED to because the Lord is RIGHT. Isn't he stupid?”

“Yes, dear.” Raithe nodded, offering Lad a wink.

In that moment, Lad felt like he understood what true evil was, compared to a sad husk. He felt a sense of foreboding around Esther. It was what waited for him if he surrendered to the programming. Raithe on the other hand seemed fully capable of doing anything else. He could tell somehow that she was choosing to do bad. It was what he could have been if he had been taken in by the Hero's ideology completely.
“You have both given me a lot to think about...” He offered truthfully. They ushered him out.

The moment he left the facility he awoke in a cold sweat in his bed back at ChesAn. He wondered if it was just a dream, but then everything came flooding back. His Lord, his directives. It was late. He slid out of bed. Undermine ChesAn was all that was on his mind.
“I'm sorry...” He muttered as he left his room.
“I'm really, really sorry...” He rubbed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
“I was so stupid!” He rounded the corner to the holding cells. He showed his emblem on his wrist to the guard who let him through. Once he was inside he stopped and looked up at the cameras.

“Lad? What are you doing in there?” Kai asked through his HanCom,

“I need to ask some questions for Leto.” He lied.

“Is that wise?”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yeah, I trust you.” Kai claimed.

“Can you give me just a bit of privacy?” He hear her sigh on the other end.
“You get a few minutes, but that's it.”

“From you, too?” She hesitated as he asked that.
“Yeah. No problem, Lad.”

He smiled. “Thanks.”

“You're clear. Go ahead.”

Lad hung up and approached the cells. He stared at the two captives. The directive was blaring in his mind. His hand shook as it came close to the release, but he pulled back at the last second. That simple act of defiance felt painful. His head pounded and his body felt like it had suddenly gained an intense fever. The Jackal within the cell chuckled and walked up to the glass. She observed Lad as he stared straight down.
“You're sweating. You're shaking. You're trying to resist. That's not good. No no no...” She taunted.

“Speaking from experience?” Lad asked.

Merit gave him an odd look. “What?”

“Did you and your sister ever have a choice?”

Her ears twitched. She clicked her tongue and looked away. “What a waste of space you are. Obey our Lord. Release me.”

“Who says our Lord wants me to release you?” Lad asked with a smirk.

Merit blinked. “W-what? Of course he does!”

“He doesn't. In fact, both him and Esther are pretty happy to keep you in here. Releasing you threatens my own mission and you... Simply aren't that important to him.” It was half a lie. He was surprised how easy it came out and it was possible that the reason for that was the kernel of truth. If he interpreted his directive more carefully, rather than giving into it like a machine, releasing either of the two figures would not be good for the Hero in the long run.

“Liar!”

“When I asked if we need to free you, she was really quick to say no. It was super easy for her.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Merit screamed. She leaned back as Lad rested his forehead on the glass.

“I can feel him in my head... Does it get better?” Lad asked.

Merit softened slightly. She rolled her eyes and responded flatly. “Worse. Worse still if you resist. You feel sick, don't you?” She smiled.
“A sample of what could happen to you.”

“What's the worst that could happen?”

“He will overwrite you. Take you, put you in a body that is not yours...” Her ears drooped.
“You will be consumed by it. Your personality, memories, all of that will simply fade into something new. But the small things that you picked up, that you took? They' will linger. Trick you into believing you are something you are not.”

“Were you.. The one who consumed or...”

She grinned wickedly. “Take a guess.”

“So you still feel pieces of the one that was gone.”

“As if she was me and I am her. It's uncomfortable. Like being haunted by a ghost.”

“You really never had a choice, did you?”

“Shut up. Do whatever you think you need to to serve our Lord. Free me or do not.” She walked back to go sit in her cell.
“I do not care.”

“What's going on?” Sebek approached the glass. He smirked at Lad.
“Come to negotiate for your sister? You'll have to do something real nice for me to consider it.”

Lad stared at him blankly. “Shut up. You don't matter anymore. Fade into obscurity you Orc loser... Neither the Lord, nor Esther need y-” He felt dizzy, as if he had zoned out and was just coming back from a head rush.
“You...” It was so easy to say, because it was true.

“Well that's troubling. Guess it's time for me to start talking.”

“Do you know things?” Lad asked curiously.
“Did you go to the facility?”

“Nope. But I do know things. I was contracted. Almost made it there, until you interfered.”

“Do not listen to the traitor, Lad. He can't even help you the way he's offering due to Ai's power.” Merit warned. She was laying down comfortably on her side.

“Shouldn't I trust him if he's a traitor?” It felt sickening to say that. It went against his programming, but at the same time, he was able to fight back the urge to disregard Sebek entirely for his duplicity.

Merit snorted. “Can you not hear him? He is so quick to change sides. To say whatever he needs to to turn things in his favor. Not to mention what he did to your sister... Even if you do not wish to follow through on your Directives, you should shun him for what he has done to you.” Merit stared at lad from where she was laying.
“If you are interested we could genuinely help one another. The Orc only wishes to help himself. I say that both as a Commander of Echo and as a matter of common sense.”

To Lad Merit seemed exceedingly honest and straightforward. She was speaking purely out of self interest, but transparently so. She also seemed to be reachable to a certain extend. He felt if he talked to her more she might begin to show weakness. On the other hand, he could falter and slip deeper into Echo's grasp. On the other hand Sebek seemed to be directly offering to talk. As he was in thought Merit startled him by appearing right up next to the glass again.
“You could kill him, Lad... Call it revenge. They will give you a slap on the wrist at most. It will impress our Lord. But do not do it for us. No... Do it for Poor Leto.”

Lad felt his anger boiling over. It was all too convenient that he wished to do it for both reasons. His loyalty to Echo and his desire to right what happened to Leto. It would be so easy to active his suit, open the cell and kill the Orc before anyone could come and she was right. They would chalk it up to revenge.