SIS B4: Chapter 109: Coward and Conviction

"Ah, welcome, welcome. Please, come inside," a young man in his late twenties or perhaps early thirties said as Daz and Crusher entered the room.

The man was wearing the robes of an archbishop, immediately putting Daz on high alert. This was not a person to be underestimated.

He wore rounded glasses with no legs that sat perfectly atop the bridge of his nose. He had short, swept-back brown hair and a bit of a messy stubble.

Around him were numerous desks, all littered with notes, stacks of papers, test tubes, and an oddly childish lunchbox that could be seen right next to him.

Of course, also in the massive chamber were the other 142 people. Every one of them was unconscious and floating in a tank of thick yet transparent purple fluid.

Before coming here Daz had been sent a file showing the profiles of every missing individual from Rose. Every face he could see in the tanks was a match.

"Now, I know this looks bad, but please don't kill me immediately, okay? Despite my rank, I'm not a fighter. Can we talk things out first?" the man pleaded.

In his hand was a sandwich which he was very slowly and very carefully returning to his childish lunchbox. He was clearly trying to make himself seem less threatening by how much he was emphasising that he wasn't reaching for a weapon or anything.

"Cute box," Daz said off-handedly just to stall for a bit of time as he thought about how to proceed.

The man smiled a bit as he finished putting the meal away.

He pushed up his glasses and said, "It was a gift from one of my daughters. I'm quite fond of it."

"I'm sure," Daz replied.

Meanwhile, Crusher whistled. "Freaky fuckin' place."

"I'm inclined to agree," Daz added with a nod.

"You wish to talk, yes?," he said, finally focusing his eyes on the Truthian. "Good. As do I. No sudden movements and if I sense the system fading from me or if my friend here starts turning to ash, you die instantly. Are we clear?" Daz said in a powerful voice that exuded his Ember of Majesty.

The man nodded as he slowly settled into the chair he was occupying. "I don't want to strain my legs so I hope you don't mind if I continue to sit. Of course, if you demand it, I'll get up."

Daz shook his head. "No, that's fine. Sitting or standing won't make a difference. Now, first question. Are these citizens of New Earth?" he asked gesturing to the fluid tanks.

He, of course, already had his answer but he wanted to test the man's truthfulness. Would a person who worshipped 'Truth' lie to an enemy ruler who was, effectively, holding him hostage? Daz had no idea but he was curious to see.

Crusher, on the other hand, was idly walking around the room inspecting different apparatuses and desks. She even approached the containers with the people and oddly glowing purple liquid in them.

She didn't seem to even register the threat of an archbishop of the church.

"Oh, yeah, yes they are," the man admitted freely. "If it will spare my life, what is happening to them does have some permanent side-effects but they can easily be pulled out of the extraction tanks and could be returned to a normal day-to-day life with only the slightest of assistance."

"Permanent side-effects?" Daz questioned with a sharp edge to his tone.

Thus far, the Truthian had yet to lie. Both a good and bad sign considering what he was saying.

The man smiled enthusiastically. "Oh, yes. Actually, I've managed to reduce the number of incurable effects from 72 to only three. It wasn't until I had it down to 32 effects that people stopped losing their minds and killing themselves. Ah, not your people. Citizens from the Federation of Hope."

'Larry Billard's territory,' Daz thought, recognising the mentioned location. "What are these three side effects?"

"Hair loss, random intense bouts of extreme hunger, and an intense craving to worship Aren. That last one is intentional, although, it can be avoided with enough willpower. The urge will never truly disappear though," the archbishop answered.

Daz was puzzled. 'Why isn't he lying? He doesn't seem overly faithful. I don't get the same feeling from him the cardinals simply oozed.'

On top of his thoughts, Daz also noticed that every other person in this entire facility thus far had immediately tried to ashify Crusher and kill him. Why was this man so different despite being of a higher rank?

"You're very honest for someone in your position. I am thankful for that, but forgive me if this doesn't seem very... convenient. The person in charge of this place just so happens to be the only one willing to sit down and talk to me?" Daz shook his head.

Crusher shouted from down the other end of the hall, "Gotta agree, Glasses. Uriel's got a hell of a point."

"Ah, well, of course. I can see your reasoning. Brainwashing, yes? It's perfectly reasonable to assume I, myself, have been brainwashed to give out answers that would satisfy you and also mislead you, trapping you somehow in some way," the man admitted.

"Exactly," Daz nodded. "Tell me something that would lead me to trusting in your words. Why are you, in particular, not brainwashed?"

The man slowly reached into his robes in a non-threatening way. Daz allowed this since his instincts were silent.

He ended up pulling out a wallet, of all things. He flipped it open then pulled out an old photo. He gestured for Daz to take it.

Daz had no plans to get any closer to the man. Instead, he got two of the pebble-sized gems to carry the photo back to him.

"Ingenious usage," the archbishop praised.

"Creativity isn't my strong suit but I do try," Daz replied casually as he took the photo from his gems then looked at it.

On it could be seen the Truthian as well as a woman and two children - both girls. They were posing in front of some statue Daz didn't recognise. It had clearly been taken pre-system.

"Your family?" Daz asked.

Nodding, the man replied, "Yes. My name's Zachary Wilson, by the way. That's my beautiful wife Katherine and our two daughters, Zoe and Claire."

He grinned from ear to ear as he lightly patted his lunchbox. "Claire got me this for Father's Day two years ago, Zoe got me the stickers on it."

Daz frowned. "This matters why?"

"Because I love them dearly. I'm sure with that photo you could track their whereabouts, right? Whoever's running your intelligence collection agency, they are simply brilliant. Do you know how hard it was to take anyone and no be traced here?"

He burst out laughing. "I guess we did get traced eventually, huh? Even God can't protect us from whoever runs the show for you. We couldn't even figure out who they are. All we learned was that they're internally called 'The Flower'. Crazy, right?"

Rose wasn't anywhere close to as cautious as Daz was but she didn't need to be. Perhaps the only person in the world who was capable of learning who ran the NCIA would be their father. Perhaps their grandfather, Lorenzo too.

It was a well-guarded secret and it brought Daz some comfort knowing the Truthians weren't aware of Rose's true importance beyond simply being his sister.

Zachary took off his glasses and wiped the tears he'd spilt from chuckling too hard. His smile died down to one of loving concern.

"They're all still alive. Kill them if I turn out to be lying," Zachary suggested. "It's cliche, I know, but I really do care for them more than words can describe."

Daz could feel from his Ember of Empathy that the man was scared shitless and held a huge amount of hope in his heart. For what, he didn't know.

Perhaps simply to be believed. Perhaps for something more nefarious. Daz had no way of knowing so he didn't allow it to affect him.

"Why not just try to kill me as everyone else here did?" Daz asked. "They lost, yes, but they weren't archbishops."

"Haha, no. The Right Foot of God are very talented in combat but yes, they aren't as closely connected to the Lord as I. However, while caring about my scientific advancements here as well as my faith, I won't lose my life over nothing. You, High King Daz Crowthorne have killed a cardinal while greatly suppressed," the Truthian stated.

Some fear entered his eyes and his emotions, Daz noticed. Very specific fears directed at him.

"You claim to lack creativity but you're a genius at ending lives. You must be. What point is there is me dying for nothing? I would lose too much." Zachary shook his head. "You'll only get the truth from me, sir. Of that, I swore on God's name."

"Even if that means getting discovered as a traitor by your fellow zealots?" Daz questioned.

The archbishop smiled wryly. "Better to die tomorrow than to die today. I can't just... I can't leave my family without a husband... without a father. That would be a greater cruelty. God will forgive me for he understands my sins."

Daz tossed the photo back like a baseball card which the archbishop caught easily. "Good enough for now, though don't expect this to be nearly sufficient for me to put my faith in you as you do with your 'god'."

"As paranoid as the reports say, haha," Zachary laughed helplessly. "Good, good. I expect to be... protected? My family too, if possible. I know it's asking a lot but... Please."

"Where is your family?" Daz asked.

Extracting a set of civilians from behind enemies lines could prove to be extremely difficult, in all honesty.

"Here, in New Earth. Odd, I know. It was a ploy to use our lives as good citizens of the kingdom to spawn public outrage if we were ever discovered and then accused of being members of the church. We never really thought you or your people would take that approach but it was a contingency just in case you did. Lucky for us, I guess, thinking on the current situation, haha," Zachary explained.

Daz nodded. "In that case, consider them protected. I fully expect you to let me know of anyone else who serves the church hiding within my walls," Daz said.

Zachary smiled. "I don't know much since my time was mostly spent on researching. You and your people are free to take all of the reports I received from my men though if you think they'd help. Don't expect much. I hear most, if not all, agents fled the kingdom besides critical operations like this one. Your lockdown did make things very... difficult."

"As was intended," Daz replied. "It was needed when I'm facing a cult who bombs cities, killing tens of thousands at a time."

"If it helps, I had no part in that. Not my department. I also didn't support it since it goes against the teachings of Aren. You're just too big of a personal threat to Mother Danielle is my understanding," Zachary claimed.

Daz narrowed his eyes. "Is that why the attack was staged? Because of me?"

"In part, yes. Not the you of now, per se, but the you of tomorrow. I honestly don't know too much, but as someone from the researching arm of the church, I am privy to some information. Your sudden immunity to God's Truth escalated things a lot," the Truthian claimed.

"I can only imagine. Still, let's not get too off-topic, shall we?" Daz gestured with his head to the large tank lining the room's walls. "What are you doing with my citizens here?"

"Ah, well, we're trying to create a method to kill extremely difficult to deal with individuals. Namely, espers, Ember users and, well, you," Zachary confessed.

"Did you really just imply you kidnapped and experimented on my people purely because you have so little faith in your god and fear me enough to think this as necessary?" Daz mocked as he thought, 'They're aware of espers and need to develop new methods to deal with them. Having troubles in Europe, perhaps? As expected of Father, if nothing else.'

Zachary shrugged. "I was just following orders. If it helps, I never enjoyed any of it. Ruining lives, you know. Permanently harming people - killing them even. So many have died to reach this point in the experiments. Mostly our own people who gave up the faith."

"People who gave it up?" Das asked with a raised eyebrow. "Does the brainwashing wear off after a while?"

"Ahaha, brainwashing... Everyone always thinks its brainwashing... It isn't. There is no brainwashing. I know, hard to believe given how... loyal some people can be. Most Truthians genuinely do love and worship both Mother Danielle and the Lord with all of their hearts. No manipulation required nor desired," Zachary explained.

"I see." Daz didn't fully trust the man but he was supposedly telling the truth.

Then again, an indoctrinated person rarely knew they were indoctrinated. The same idea stood for brainwashing victims.

Daz tapped his foot against the floor a few times in thought. "Thank you for being forthcoming, now, what should I do with you? You've been honest, so too shall I. I came here to rescue my people, of course, but I also want to learn the limits of your powers to cancel the system and turn things to ash. Will you comply?"

"Oh, of course! I'll be a prisoner of war. Whatever you want. I'll even work on experiments of the biological nature if that's what you need. I'm incredibly skilled and my class shores up a lot of my personal weaknesses in the field. Like sleep. I don't need to sleep. Isn't that amazing?" the archbishop asked.

'He seems a bit... scattered,' Daz noticed. "We can discuss that later. For now, help Crusher and me to get the people out of these tanks safely. Do anything that goes against that and I'll kill you, your wife and your daughters. It will pain me to do so but the stakes are sadly that high."

"... I understand the need to scare me into line, but please, I know where I stand and what I could lose if I act out. I'm a sensible man," Zachary protested.

***

Crusher watched the Truthian prisoner from the cameras of Project Lockbox's control room.

Honestly, she expected Uriel to reject her when she had asked to stay with the religious scientist after they had finished transporting him here.

It had taken them a full two days just to bring the victims back to Fort Home where they were being looked after and treated by Master Sorola, Mave and a few other very powerful healers like Rimmy's main body.

Zachary, on the other hand, had been transported to the secret underwater prison that she had no idea even existed until Uriel said that this was where the man would be held captive for the meantime.

'What a whacky story. Little Miss Nearly-Mute straight up bought a fuckin' A-bomb to threaten the ol' governor? I thought she was pretty boring but she's got balls. I'll give her that,' Crusher thought about Uriel's soon-to-be-wife.

Looking at the monitors, she saw that the man wasn't this place's only prisoner. In fact, there were three other people locked up in here.

Uriel had explained them away as irredeemable criminals who even he, with all of his persuasive powers and abilities, couldn't reform.

Crusher had no interest in them. Her interest lay solely in Zachary. 'Uriel told me not to get near him but... I just gotta.'

She left the control room and made her way to Zachary's cell. Once there, she realised she didn't have the needed credentials to open the room's door.

Obvious upon thinking about it, really. Still, she had made up her mind. She would talk to the man face to face.

She punched the door with just a fraction of her strength. She wanted to break it, not the whole facility.

It actually didn't even budge though, surprisingly her. 'It's a top-secret prison for a reason, I guess.'

A moment later, the phone in her pocket started ringing. She was inclined to ignore it but she decided to see who was calling her.

If Ahab or Barbarossa were in trouble, she'd be a bit regretful if her ignoring them would lead to their deaths or something akin to that.

"Uriel?" she asked with a frown.

She accepted the call and put her phone up to her ear, curious as to why the very busy high king was calling her.

Right now he was supposed to be in the middle of personally meeting the families of the kidnapping victims to explain the situation and offer his apologies for letting such a thing ever happen.

"Crusher, what are you doing?" he asked in a confused tone.

She chuckled. "Checking up on our guest. Why?"

"... Crusher, I got an alert from the system that someone was attacking the prison. That person being you. Please, explain," he requested in an almost demanding tone.

Crusher froze. 'You fuckin' idiot. Of course he has something like that set up. He's a paranoid fuck! Damn... Uh, think...'

"Look, I'll be honest... I want to meet him. I want him to cancel my access to the system," she admitted.

What point was there in giving him a lie or some sloppy excuse? He was smarter than her and she knew it.

Plus, he could see through any and all lies. Frustrating was a good word to add to his face in her mind.

"Are you insane? He could kill you. We're not talking about some nobody Truthian here, Crusher. He's an archbishop. He can turn off your system access in less than a second and turn you into ash even faster. He may be willing to betray his faith religion but his connection to it is still very strong," Uriel explained, clearly trying to persuade her to give up on her wild idea.

"... Maybe. Maybe I am insane. This guy ain't a threat though. He cares about his family, right? He kills me, you kill him and his loved ones. Easy, right? He's a bit weird but he didn't come off as willing to die for a cause to me," she reasoned.

Honestly, no matter how Uriel responded, Crusher had no plans to change her mind. She didn't even know why she answered the phone, really.

'I'm loyal to ya, Uriel, I am. Sorry though. Any meaning whatsoever in this pointless life of constant mediocrity matters way more than you do. I can feel it. Something will change if I get this guy to strip my access to the system. I'm going in there one way or the other,' she thought with perhaps the most conviction she'd experienced in a very long time.