Ki'Ti Rebellion EP1
Art by @FOKSICH - Story by @Villanite
"Do we have her location?" A woman's voice broke through the tiny speaker in Aries' ear.
"Mhmmm... I also have the location of the salad bar." Aries muttered to himself as he put a spoonful of food into the dish in his hand, "And they have my favorite! I think. It looks like seafood salad... do they have crabs on this planet?"
"Vil-" The initial voice was interrupted by another woman's voice filled with excitement, "Ooo! Do they have french fries?!"
"Uhhh, no, I don't think so. No fried food at all; want some cake, instead?" Aries responded under his breath, his golden eyes snapping up momentarily to see if anyone was watching him.
The second woman's voice sighed over the comm system, "Aww... what kind?"
"I assume that's chocolate... do they have cocoa on this plan-" Aries was cut off by the first woman's voice, "Vill! Varia! Will you two focus, please? Keep the comm channel clear! Varia, do you see the threat?"
Varia was across the ballroom where Aries was getting food. Due to her body's unique nature, she could stay up and out of sight of others as a small blob. She was playing the role of their eye in the sky. "Sorry, Trance. When Dad talks about food, I get distracted. Yes, I see the guy. He's coming up just like you said he would. He's ugly. Why is he mad at the little cute lady?"
"I see him, too. Guess snack time will have to wait. Did you even read the file, Varia? She has magic he wants or something." Aries commented as he put his plate down, moving back into the crowd at the gathering.
Trance cleared her throat over the comms, "Honestly, Vill, I don't think I quite understood the mission, myself. I told Varia she only had to read her parts because something still didn't make sense to me. Why does she not know we're prote-" She stopped suddenly as a notification came across her screen on the ship. "Wait... never mind. We'll chat later. Showtime. Vill, you're on. Varia, support your dad only if he needs i-" Gunshots cut Trance off, then Varia's voice followed over the comms.
"Why is he doing that?!" Varia asked in a panic.
"Vill?! Aries! What are you doing?!" Trance yelled over the comms.
The gunshots had come from Aries firing his gun up into the air; now, he was behind the woman he had been watching all this time. The girl was much shorter than him and had a look of surprise on her face. Aries had her wrist in one of his hands while the other wrapped around her throat. She struggled against Aries for a moment, but he responded with a swift strike to the back of her neck, knocking her out cold. That was when he finally looked around.
"Sorry, everyone! I needed to ensure everyone got down and was safe before anything bad happened! It seems this young lady was attempting to cause you harm, Senator!" Aries smiled, "I was here as a guest, but as an adventurer, I noticed harm was coming your way, so I had to make sure I earned my money!" That smile shifted to a grin, showing off those shark-like teeth.
The Senator, a gray old man with a knowing smile, nodded, "Ah, I see. Golden eyes... golden claws... a flair for drama. Your reputation precedes you, Mister Villanite. I will be sure to put a retroactive protection contract together for you. What will you do with the girl?"
Aries blinked quickly, then that grin grew further, "Well, my reputation? What wo-" Trance's voice cut through the comm system.
"ARIES! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU BLOWING THIS MISSION TO GOUGE A SENATOR FOR MONEY?!"
Aries pulled the earpiece out of his ear, "Well, I do appreciate it, Senator! I will take the girl in for questioning by the police right away! Please enjoy your night!" He turned around and muttered, "Let's go." Just then, a turquoise gelatinous blob suddenly landed on the man's open shoulder as he walked out of the ballroom.
The blob's magenta eyes stared at the man awhile, "Trance is mad at you." She informed him.
Aries nodded as he offered a few people an awkwardly fake smile, walking out of the building with a woman over one shoulder and a talking blob on the other, "Yes, I'm sure she is. Is she still yelling?"
"No. She went very quiet now. I think she left without us." Varia explained.
"Oh boy..." He put the earpiece back into his ear as he walked out of the building's main entrance, "Trance? I know you didn't leave because you wouldn't leave Varia all alone like that. I understand you're mad at me, but please trust me. Something wasn't right about this mission. I'll explain everything once we're leaving this planet, but for now, we have to go. Now."
Ten seconds passed before suddenly, a shift in the lighting above Aries and Varia revealed a floating ship in the air. A ladder dropped in Aries' reach, and as soon as he took hold, it began to pull them all up.
"Thank you, Trance!" Both Aries and Varia called out.
"You're welcome, Varia. If Aries falls off just make sure you use him as a platform to jump up onto the ship." Trance responded.
Aries narrowed his gaze at the ship, unamused by this idea, then glared at Varia when she replied, "Will do!"
Aboard the Goldlight, Aries had put their newly abducted guest down onto one of the cots while Varia searched her and confiscated any weapons she could find.
It wasn't until he stepped into the cockpit that Trance spoke to him. "You can't be serious that you just cost us a mission because of a gut feeling. Please tell me that isn't it, Aries, because I will be really pissed."
Aries laughed lightly, which prompted Trance to demand that he "Stop laughing."
He offered her a toothy grin as he planted his face on the co-pilot's console. "You're really sexy when you're mad at me, you know."
"I'll crash this ship." She responded.
"Alright! No, it wasn't just a gut feeling. It was a lot of them. You said it yourself, this mission was kind of odd, wasn't it? Why would we be tasked to protect someone who doesn't know they're being protected?" He sighed as he leaned back into the chair and reached into his pocket. "Then, I saw this."
He held out the screen of his portable assistant, showing Trance a screen from a competing mercenary service's bounty listing.
"Wait..." Trance said as she took the screen from him and began to scroll, "What the fuck? This is a bounty to protect the Senator from... us?"
"Yep. Check when it was posted."
"Uh... huh... that's like fi-"
Aries interrupted, "Yup! Literally five minutes before I fired my gun. Someone was either setting us up, or setting her up, and we would have taken the heat."
Trance deflated against her chair and sighed, "Shit... what does that mean, then? Who would do that?"
"Was it the ugly old man?" Varia made her presence known, holding out the girl's gun to Aries, "This is all she had. She's locked in the room. She's cute. And soft."
"Varia, that's creepy." Trance informed her.
"Should I unlock the room?" Varia asked.
Aries shook his head, "No... no, not that. Listen, stay on topic. No, it wasn't the old man. When I told him that I wanted to earn our money, his mind immediately jumped to a proactive contract. I feel that he wouldn't have said that if he knew about the listing that already existed. And the person who posted it doesn't sound like an official government account."
Trance nodded, glancing at the screen again before handing it back over. Varia took the phone while Aries was busy investigating the gun offered to him.
While Varia played her favorite game on Aries' phone, Aries pursed his lips, "Why did she have a gun? And why is the serial number scratched off?"
"Should we wake her up or wait for her to wake up on her own? How hard did you hit her? In fact, did you really need to hit her? Wasn't there a less violent way to knock her out?" Trance asked.
"Dad chose violence..." Varia muttered.
Aries sighed, "Well, Trance. Clearly I was thinking in a panic. I'm sure there were other op--No! You know what? Don't start. You were screaming in my ear, it didn't help with my decision making. I'm not having this discussion."
Trance began to laugh, which soon forced Aries to laugh, as well, while Varia left the room and muttered, "You guys are weird... I want cake!"
It would be a few hours before the girl in the locked room found herself stirring. She was greeted at first by the pain of a headache, then the harsh flash of light as she cracked her eyes open. The woman groaned as she pulled herself into a sitting position, straightening out her tight dress before she looked around, trying to piece together the scenario that led to her being here in this strange room.
Suddenly, she remembered the critical details that made her snap her hand to her inner thigh; the gun was gone.
“Hello…?” She called out as she got up and made her way to the room door, tugging on the handle only to notice that the door was locked. She squinted as she looked around the window of the door. Was this a jail of some sort?
She was soon greeted by what seemed to be a small turqouise-colored child walking by the window of her room's door. The child’s magenta eyes snapped up at the window of the woman’s door and blinked in awe. “You’re awake!”
The woman perked a brow, “Uh… yeah… what, uh… well, where am I?”
“The Goldlight. What’s your name?” The child responded plainly as she stepped into the light in the hallway. That was when the woman noticed that this child seemed made of slime.
“Uh… Kiwei… nice to meet you.” She responded, almost in a daze, before shaking her head a bit. “Who are you? What are you?”
The slime child looked down at herself, then up to Kiwei, “I’m Varia!”
“Hello, Varia…” Kiwei responded. “But… what are you?”
The child blinked slightly, narrowing her magenta eyes before she looked back down at herself, then again up to Kiwei, “I’m… Varia…?”
It was at that moment that a deep voice joined the conversation. With the voice, a slight chill in the air. “This isn’t going to go anywhere if you keep asking her the same question, you know.”
Kiwei’s gaze snapped into the shadows, trailing upwards until finding those glowing golden eyes. “Those eyes…”
Aries stepped into the light with a smile. The man was mostly undressed, covered only by tight silky boxer briefs that did little to hide his dual-equipped anatomy. Kiwei’s eyes snapped back to the man’s eyes upon noticing this, clearing her throat before continuing her words, “I recognize your eyes. You’re the guy who stopped me from shooting the senator. Are you a cop? Why do you have a child here?”
Aries briefly looked down at Varia, then chuckled, “Her? A child? I mean, I guess she looks like one… she’s a slime. They change shape all the time, usually based on how much matte– You know what? I don’t think you’re here to talk about the slime. You have questions, right? Outside of whether or not I’m a cop? I’m not, by the way… couldn’t pass the written test.”
Kiwei stared at the man, narrowing her eyes, “... are you dumb?”
“Fuck you.” He snapped back.
Varia looked up at Aries, blinking, “Are you?”
“Enough.” Aries’ face mirrored his tone as he glared at both females.
“Anyway, why am I not arrested? I just tried to kill a senator. Why do you have me?” Kiwei asked.
“Do you promise not to cause issues if I let you out of the room?” The tall male asked.
Kiwei shook her here with no hesitation, “No.”
“I like her, she’s honest.” Varia noted.
Aries sighed and leaned against the wall on the opposite side of Kiwei’s door. “Fine… we’ll talk through the door. We were given a mission to protect you at that ball, but part of the mission was to make sure you didn’t know we were protecting you. It was an odd mission, so I took it out of curiosity and never really expected you to take a gun out to shoot the senator. Anyway, about five minutes before you did, another mission was posted to protect the senator from us.”
“So you were going to kill the senator, too?” Kiwei asked with a perked brow.
“No. That was never my plan, he seemed like a nice guy.” Aries explained.
Varia, who was now leaning against the wall, too, seemingly mimicking Aries, chimed in, “Seemed old and ugly to me.”
The other two glanced at Varia before Aries continued, “You pulled a gun out shortly after we were made to look like the bad guys… I thought something was fishy about the situation, so I stopped you, earned some brownie points with a senator, and decided to keep you for questioning.”
“Keep her detained, Vill. Not just keep her. You can’t just keep people.” Another voice spoke as the group glanced over to Trance. The redhead was chewing on her lip after correcting the man. Her arms crossed her chest as she eyed Kiwei, “Who sent you to the gala?”
Kiwei bit down on her lower lip, then stepped away from the door. “I’d rather not say, if that’s okay. If you’re not police, please let me go. You get nothing out of keeping me at this point.”
Aries sighed. “If we let you go, we’re letting you go to the cops. I’m on thin ice as it is, so I can’t really keep you without good reason. Why don’t you tell us who set you up?”
“They didn’t set me up!” Kiwei snapped back before deflating onto the cot, lowering her head.
Trance opened the door to the room, motioning for Aries to go inside before her.
Aries eyed her suspiciously for a moment but entered either way. “Are you making sure I get hit first?” He muttered.
Trance ignored his question, leaning against the doorframe as she watched the dark-haired woman. “Who’s they?”
Kiwei sighed, flopping onto her side. Her hair hid her face, but one of her long ears dropped over to show the lighter brown coloring inside her fuzzy ear that matched her bangs. “They were a new group of friends… activists. I thought they seemed cool at first. I was going through some shit and thought maybe it was time to do some good in my life.”
Varia made her way to the cot where Kiwei was now lying, her semi-transparent hand slowly reaching out to Kiwei’s ear.
“So the activists told you to go shoot a senator…?” Aries asked. “You wanted friends that badly?”
Kiwei glared at the tall man, “Well when you phrase it lik-Ahhh!” She jolted up, snapping to grab her ears and hold them secure. She gave the slime child a wide-eyed stare, “D-Don’t do that!”
Varia blinked. “But…”
Aries narrowed his eyes, “Is it a turn on?”
Trance and Kiwei both stared at the man.
“What?” Aries asked before the three all looked down at a sniffling Varia.
“I-I-I I sowwy!” She barely managed to let out.
Kiwei’s brown eyes almost immediately filled with tears before she reached down to wrap her arms around the slime. “No! Please don’t cry! I’m sorry! They’re just very ticklish, is all. It just caught me by surprise. I don’t handle being tickled very well.”
Trance continued to glare at Aries.
Aries seemed busy staring at Kiwei, whose tight dress was doing her several favors while she barely hung off the side of the bed to hug the slime. He was finally removed from his appreciation when Trance’s knuckles smacked into his chest. He looked back at the redhead, “What?” The two stared at each other while Varia and Kiwei spoke about being ticklish. Aries repeated, “What?!” Trance shook her head.
“Anyway,” Trance started, interrupting the conversation between Kiwei and Varia, “Do you know where we can find your friends? It seems odd to us that while we were supposed to protect you, a mission went out that made us look like the villains in the situation.”
Kiwei straightened herself back up, taking Varia with her and plopping the slime child onto her lap as she pursed her lips. “I… guess I can tell you where they are. But wouldn’t it make more sense if our plans just got found out and they got caught already?”
Aries shook his head. “If that were the case, the police would have stopped us. It wouldn’t have been a mission that went up.”
Trance nodded. “He’s right. I believe whomever is behind your group trying to shoot a senator is also behind trying to make us look like we were responsible.”
Kiwei sighed, biting her lower lip as she stared at the ‘buns’ on Varia’s head, squeezing them gently. “Hm.” That was all she could let out.
Aries sighed and motioned to the door, “You said your name is Kiwei, right? I’m Aries, this is Trance, and that is Varia. Why don’t you stay in our care for now until we get to the bottom of this?”
Kiwei nodded gently. “Hm.” She let out once more.
Trance nodded a bit, then walked to the door. “I have to check on a few things. Let me know if anything comes up.”
Aries nodded in response and glanced down at Kiwei again before following Trance. Aries stopped at the door, looking back at the rabbit-eared girl. “Did anyone new join the group recently?”
Kiwei turned her head with furrowed brows to look at Aries. “Huh?”
“The group. The activists. Did anyone new join them recently? Besides yourself.” He clarified.
Kiwei looked to the side thoughtfully, humming as she searched her memories. “I mean… I suppose there was one guy that joined right before I did. I never got to know him too well. He was always busy talking to the boss directly.”
With that lead, Aries’ questioning began in earnest. While Varia fought a battle with sleep during the back and forth between Kiwei and Aries, another conversation about Kiwei was taking place elsewhere on the planet.
“They said Villanite got her!” Said a frantic young man.
“Then she’s dead, right? Isn’t he that space pirate that bought his freedom?” Replied a mildly distracted woman as she filed her nails.
“I heard he eats his targets.” Added on another man.
The frantic man slammed his fist onto the table in frustration. “Guys, this isn’t a fucking joke! Why did we hire that madman?! Wasn’t the mission to make sure she got out safely after killing the senator?!”
The woman with the file groaned out, “Tiberus! Enough! We get it! You had a crush on the girl. She’s gone now. She was kinda weird anyway, so let it go.”
Tiberus glared at the woman. “Fuck you, Kitra. You’re just mad because she helped me realize you’re a heartless bitch.”
The other man lifted his hands into the air. “Alright! Tib, Kit, that’s enough. Let’s not make this about you two as always. Listen, Tin said this was part of the plan. Trust in him.”
Kitra was back to filing her nails, shaking her head as she replied, “I dunno, Tilar. Tinel doesn’t seem to be himself these days. Ever since that off-worlder joined the group, those two are little butt buddies. I lost my boy toy, and you lost your boyfriend. Get over it; this group is done for. Kiwei going missing is just icing on the cake.”
Tilar and Tiberus glanced at each other for a moment. Tilar sighed, deflating himself into his chair as he looked to the side. Tiberus’ eyes widened, and he shook his head. “Fuck it. If you’re both giving up, then I’m done, too. I’ll just go talk to Tinel myself.”
Meanwhile, two men sat opposite each other around a wooden desk in another room. Behind the desk was an older man. He had short black hair, red bangs, and a pair of long, black, fuzzy ears. He had a scar on his chin, and his face showed that the trauma of his life had overtaken his age long ago.
In front of the desk was another older man. This man had long blonde hair tied neatly behind his head in a braid. He had a stubbly beard along his chin that went from blonde near his hair to white at his chin. His warm, green eyes were locked onto the other man as he smiled.
“Tinel, I don’t understand. Are you saying you’re questioning my methods?” The blonde asked.
Tinel shook his head. “No, Idris, that isn’t it. Well… not entirely. I just don’t understand, why do we have to give up an innocent girl like that? Kiwei was bright, it just seems like a waste.”
Idris chuckled lightly, nodding as he adjusted the black gloves on his hands. “Yes, yes… she is quite bright, isn’t she? That is why I chose her, specifically.”
That was when the door burst open to reveal Tiberus glaring at Idris. “Chose her?!”
Tinel’s eyes widened. “Tiberus! Were you eavesdropping?!”
“That’s right, Tiberus.” The blonde man’s voice seemed to crawl up Tiberus’s spine.
As the young man’s gaze locked onto the dark emeralds of Idris, Tiberus felt his entire body fill with an unimaginable heat. Everything in his body told him to kill this man, yet Tiberus’ fear overtook him with a simple gesture from the blonde. Idris smiled at Tiberus; it wasn’t relaxing, but that smile alone made Tiberus understand the worlds that kept this man apart from him.
“You see, Tiberus,” Idris began as he shifted his body to face the younger man, adjusting his suit’s coat as he did so, “Kiwei is a pilot with a bright future. She may have gotten into a bit of a rough patch in her personal life, but her knowledge and understanding of ships are second to none. Test scores, track times, flight records. These all exist, and it is simply a matter of time before she trips the radar of the new alliance’s military. She could single-handedly turn the tide of an entire war with her skills.”
“So you would throw away the person who could become our best pilot?!” Tiberus snapped back.
Idris shook his head, chuckling lightly. The sound seemed to carry the very definition of condescending within it. “No, child. If she stayed with the rebels, her talent would go to waste. The rebels do not have the organizational or analytical skills to sniff out innate talent like the Alliance does. You would have suffocated her and likely lost her on some pointless skirmish for a slum.”
“Idris, that seems a bit harsh.” Tinel commented.
“Does it? Well, regardless, the options were as follows: Allow the girl to be recruited by the Alliance and ensure that the rebels lose this battle, or hope for the off-chance that she decides to stay with the rebellion. Personally, I don’t like to gamble on odds like those, so I had to remove her from this board entirely. If you don’t have her as an opponent, the rebellion stands a higher chance.” Idris explained before standing up and towering over both men. He straightened out his dark red suit and smiled at the two of them. “Now, then. With that blow to the alliance, I must move on to the next objective. I believe my job here is done, Tinel.”
Tinel and Tiberus both furrowed their brows. “What? You’re not going to see this rebellion through?” Asked the elder.
Idris smiled once more, making both of the other men recoil. “Tinel, you asked me to help you win the rebellion. I did that. By eliminating the person who was going to become their best pilot. The rest is up to you.”
Tiberus pushed past his fear, having enough of Idris’ snideness, but just before he could throw his fist, the three were interrupted by yelling from down the hallway.
“TIN! TIN! YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!”
Tilar burst through the door, catching his breath as he spoke, “Tin! P-people! They-they-they! Outside!”
“What? Who’s outside?” Tinel rose to his feet, reaching for his pistol.
“People! New people! Members!” Tilar swallowed hard, then finally spoke clearly, “There are a ton of people showing up at our door, all saying they want to join the rebellion. Kiwei’s actions got the attention of the people! We have troops!”
Tinel and Tiberus both snapped their gazes onto Idris, wide-eyed and confused.
Idris chuckled, waving at the three of them as he left the office. “Good luck, Rebels!”
Tilar looked between a dumbfounded Tiberus and Tinel before peaking out of the door to ensure that Idris was far away before muttering to the other two, “Hey, does that guy give you guys the creeps? I know he’s you’re friend, Tin, but… like, the rest of us have been talking and…”
While Tilar tried to convince a confused Tinel that Idris had to go, the blonde was already making his way through the crowd of newcomers. Towering over the people of this planet for a moment and then blending in with the crowd the next moment.
“You know…” Tinel interrupted Tilar, “There’s something I still don’t get about him.”
“Just one thing?” Tiberus muttered as he sank into one of the chairs in the office.
“Well, no, but… five minutes before Kiwei pulled the gun on the senator–” Tinel was interrupted by Kitra.
“Hey! Assholes! You gonna come help me with all these fucking newbies?! They’re being a real fucking pain!” The woman yelled as she grabbed Tilar and Tiberus, dragging them off to help.