Election Ready (07-10-2022)

## Unknown Warehouse, Arthur’s Bay, Camelot [07/10/2022]

“Okay, now kill me,” Heralda requests to Coldfront. He looks a bit reluctant but then fires an ice shard directly into her heart. She falls over dead on the ground. The rest of Mordred’s Hold looks at her corpse. “If she stays dead I’m telling Judas I had nothing to do with it,” Seiren says, her arms up in the air. Anti-Mage informs, “Doesn’t matter who did it, we’re all gonna become dust if she doesn’t wake up soon.” Coldfront defends himself, “Hey, she was the one who asked to do this.” Heralda’s arm then twitches. Black liquid coagulates over the ice shard, melting it and then covers her wounds. A few seconds later, she opens her eyes and sits herself up. “What a neat trick you two have there, Nyx,” Heralda says as she pats her chest, which is now completely closed up. Nyx scoffs and responds, “More like a curse.”

Heralda gives a sadistic smile and pats her on the shoulder. She says with an authoritarian tone, “That’s it. That’s the mindset you need to have. You don’t have a gift. You have a blight in you. A virus. A disease. But don’t worry, soon we’ll help you find happiness. And you too, can achieve humanity.” Nyx looks at Heralda, and notices the shift in her entire character. Nyx jerks back a little and looks at the others, who are casually doing their own thing. Heralda clears her throat and recovers her composure. She comforts, “Once the Bill I create passes, we’ll be able to help you become whoever you want. Everyone in this room will be able to live a normal life. You’ll get to live the life you never thought you’d have. There’s of course, your nemesis and his friends in the way. Once they’re…taken care of, Camelot will be free of anomalies and beings in need.” Lucifer appears next to Nyx in a puff of smoke and comments, “What a talker, huh?” He then takes out a cigar and lights it with his thumb. He blows out the smoke through his nose and continues, “She means well. She’s just overzealous sometimes.” Nyx responds only with a nod and stares at Heralda.

She notices a strange yet familiar sigil on the back of her neck as she’s talking to Coldfront. She also notices her physique, which is very unusual of a politician. Her biceps are toned and her triceps sculpted like a bodybuilder. Her torso overall was extremely athletic, as if she were in the military. Nyx thinks about all the body shapes of the politicians she’s seen, many have become lenient with their health, showing their status by looking well-fed and bulky. Heralda however, looked like she just got finished with a 4-hour training routine.

Heralda catches Nyx staring and smiles brightly. Nyx quickly looks away. Thoughts ran through her mind. Who is Heralda really? Why is she so friendly with Mordred’s Hold despite them trying to assassinate her? In fact, where did Mordred’s Hold come from? She shakes off these worries when Seiren taps her on the back. Nyx looks upon her, and fixates on her symbol on her forehead. “What is that tattoo by the way?” Nyx asks. Seiren smiles and answers, “Oh this? This was the symbol of the Valkyrie. I mentioned it before. Organization I used to be a part of. Earthquake was a member too. It’s a long story. A lot of it involves that fucking guy Creed. Handsome and irritating.” The other members heard the name Creed and scowl. Coldfront’s anger fills the room as the temperature decreases rapidly. “Fuck that guy,” he growls. Seiren cheekily responds, "That's my plan. But I don't think he quite likes redheads." Lucifer takes another puff of his cigar and raises his other hand up slowly, and in tandem, the temperature of the room increases back to its original state. Heralda asks cluelessly, “Who’s this Creed you guys keep speaking of?” Coldfront informs, “He’s the leader of the Seraphim. Those alien guys on one of your moons. Most of us all have history with him. None of it good. He destroyed the Valkyrie, our home and only purpose.” Wraith speaks up, “He also killed Gecko and I and sent us to the Abyss. Years of torture…” Gecko spits out the window in response. Heralda says in a concerned tone, “Is he strong?”

“Extremely. Even God fears him.”

“God? What is a ‘god’?”

“A god is a higher being. Immortal, powerful, usually the creator of many things. This one isn’t any god however. Jehovah Jirah takes the title as God. With a capital ‘G’. He created all of universe 218.” Lucifer adds, “Let’s not forget Levi also helped create the universe. God loves to keep that out a lot.” Wraith nods and continues, “Despite all this, Creed is above him now because of his latent ability to become stronger when he’s out for revenge. And his revenge has no limit. It just keeps increasing as he gets angrier. That’s what makes him so terrifying.” Lucifer adds in again, “But there is one thing that makes him kneel like any other schmuck. And that’s Corruption.” Nyx asks, “What’s Corruption?”

“It’s a force that is created when people lose faith in someone or something. Basically, the stuff is everywhere. Heralda here with her campaign has accumulated a shit ton of Corruption with people losing faith in the CACG. For a demon like me, Corruption is a valuable source. Since he’s part-Angel, my demonic abilities don’t really work on him. Corruption though? That’s a fairly new energy that Angel’s don’t have a defense for. In fact, it hurts them a lot. Cuts through holy abilities like butter. So I’m very akin to working with Heralda more to get a lot of that good shit.”

Nyx tries to process it all. Angels? Demons? God? Corruption? It makes her scratch the back of her head. Heralda looks at her and chuckles, “Yeah, it’s a lot. This is new information for me too. Didn’t think I’d learn so much about another universe from some mercenaries tasked by the Syndicate.” Nyx’s eyes open wide, hearing the name Syndicate. She looks up at the skylight in the warehouse and sees the giant spacecraft making its rounds over the planet. “You’re…working with the Syndicate?” she asks slowly. Heralda comforts, “Only until the elections are finished. They gave me an offer. And it was something I couldn’t refuse. I’ve come to learn a lot of our interests align.”

“So the Campaign attack…was planned?”

“You learn fast. I’m sorry we kept you in the dark about it. But I don’t think you would have minded anyways right? You just want to kill Void Walker, correct? This is beneficial to you too. We all want the CACG gone in some way, and the Syndicate provides the resources to do so. Hence your teammates.”

Nyx looks at the others. They look back at her. Lucifer speaks up, “If it counts for anything, we enjoy having you around. You’ve been enjoyable to be around. I know you said the collaboration was temporary but…” Seiren adds, “It would be nice to have another cutie like you around.”  Wraith says, “It’s fun to have another person around I think.” Gecko nods in approval. Nyx smiles a bit and nods back. “Alright, Ms. Politician. You better win. I’m itching to finally finish what I started with V.” Heralda laughs and says, “Oh don’t worry your head Nyx.