The Machine God

Chapter 213

The Convergence of Wills, Pt. 2

Khalida tapped something on the podium’s surface. Screens positioned around the terrace flickered to life, each one displaying the same feed.

“Several months ago, the Emirates Superhuman Authority received intelligence suggesting that an illegal paramilitary operation was being conducted within the Rub’ al Khali, also known as the Empty Quarter. This operation was taking place within the sovereign borders of the United Arab Emirates, a neutral territory recognized under the Galactic Council’s arbitration framework.”

Khalida’s voice didn’t waver.

“The investigation revealed a militia camp, organized and funded by AEGIS. Recruited locally, but run by known agents. Personnel who appeared to have resigned from AEGIS before coming here, but were actually transferred through internal channels designed to obscure their continued employment.”

Alexander watched the crowd. They were already engaged, leaning forward, exchanging glances.

“The camp’s purpose was twofold. First, the theft and stockpiling of superhuman serum obtained through illegal means. Second, the forced injection of serum into kidnapped civilians for purposes unknown.”

She paused.

“Including children.”

The terrace went quiet in a way that felt physical.

They’d decided not to include that AEGIS was using the rescue of Gabriel Cross to spring a trap, for fear it would cause confusion.

“The evidence I am about to show you was verified and has been made available to everyone. It can be found at the websites now appearing on your screens. We have also submitted the complete intelligence packet to every major news organization across the world.”

The feeds shifted. Links appeared at the bottom while the main image changed to show a detention facility. Cells lined a corridor, each one occupied. Guards stood at intervals, and several of the prisoners wore power-dampening collars.

Khalida continued while the footage played.

“What you are seeing is a secure holding facility where the surviving members of the militia are being detained pending formal charges.”

The first face appeared. A man, unremarkable in features, sitting still in his cell. Alexander recognized him. The biomorph. Back in his natural human form, stripped of the monstrous shape he’d transformed into in the desert.

The feed moved on. A woman with sharp features and hollow eyes.

“This woman is Marie-Pierre Duval. A spatial manipulation specialist and a senior AEGIS administrator for the Gulf region. Her communications, financial records, and operational directives were seized and form a substantial portion of the evidence package.”

The screen shifted to a smaller figure. The face was blurred, but the proportions were unmistakable. A child, seated on a comfortable sofa, knees drawn up. He was being kept in a comfortable room, though it remained no less a cell than the others.

“This individual is a minor, and so we have taken measures to protect their identity. They are superpowered and were being used by AEGIS as part of this operation.” Khalida’s voice dropped a fraction. “A child, ladies and gentlemen. While the rest of the world remained unaware that the System’s spread had reached out and touched children, AEGIS had already weaponized them.”

She looked up from the podium.

“Yes. This is all verifiable. We employed the services of three publicly recognized truth-detecting superhumans, each with an established record of impartial testimony. Their findings, along with all records, statements, confessions, and supporting evidence available for viewing.” She took a deep breath. “I should warn you, though. Some of it will be very difficult to watch.”

The feed continued cycling. A lean man with hard eyes. Pierce. Alexander remembered the bullet punching through the Sidearm’s casing and into his shoulder. The sniper sat motionless in his cell, staring at nothing.

A few more faces followed. Survivors of the camp. They all looked hollow.

Khalida didn’t linger. She let the images do their work, then brought the screens back to the conference URL before returning her attention to the crowd.

“Now, allow me to provide context for how Grimnir and the Throne of Scales came to be involved.”

She took a deep breath.

“Many of you are aware of the public rivalry between these two guilds. And while their rivalry was genuine, it evolved into something far more consequential. After their initial encounters, both guilds independently began investigating irregularities within AEGIS and Santiago Systems. When their investigations inevitably converged, they decided to cooperate.”

Alexander kept his expression neutral. The lie was smooth. Seamless, even. Khalida delivered it with the same conviction as everything else, and the crowd had no reason to question it.

The truth would have taken far too long to explain and been far less flattering for everyone involved. But the truth about their history wasn’t the point today. The charges being laid were.

“At the insistence of Raelene West, the Throne of Scales’ investigation eventually included Santiago Systems. And what they uncovered goes beyond mere corporate negligence.”

Khalida gestured to the screens. A new set of images appeared. Corporate logos. Facility blueprints. Redacted documents with enough visible text to suggest scale.

“What I am about to tell you should be the most shocking truth of the day. But by the time we are done, it will have become a footnote, buried by much worse.” She paused. “Alexander Rooke… is innocent. A young man, driven by the desire to become a superhero, who received the serum at a Santiago Systems facility. But when his powers awakened, Santiago Systems attempted to murder him via lethal injection.”

She let the silence run on for a moment.

“And when that failed, they tried to feed him feet-first into an incinerator.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Almost as one, the crowd turned in his direction. Alexander could feel the cameras reorienting, zooming, and focusing on his face. Sharing his face with the world.

“Alexander survived the attempt, but the two staff members responsible, in their panic, had him committed to a top-secret area of the prison known internally as the Deep Cells. An act that is completely illegal. Done without oversight. Without authority. And with no just cause, because Alexander Rooke had committed no crime.”

Khalida’s gaze swept the crowd.

“Santiago Systems has been committing anyone whose powers they deemed inconvenient or uncontrollable to these so-called Deep Cells. Again, with no legal process or recourse. And we know with near certainty that others remain down there, at this very moment, held under similarly illegal conditions.”

The screens flashed fragments of documents. Cell designations. Dates. Names with lines drawn through them.

“Talia Kim, a member of Grimnir, but once a long-serving agent at AEGIS, investigated the circumstances of Mr. Rooke’s imprisonment and escape. She did so against the prison director’s will, knowing the risk to her career, and her life.”

Talia straightened slightly. Just the barest shift in posture, so small he wouldn’t have noticed it without Hyperawareness.

“Ms. Kim’s investigation brought her into conflict with her superiors within AEGIS, including then Regional Administrator Priscilla Gant.”

Khalida turned toward the front row.

“Priscilla graces us with her presence today, representing AEGIS. Though she now holds the title of Regional Director. Congratulations on the promotion.”

Everyone turned to look at the woman in the white blazer. She showed no reaction. Just continued sitting there, chin raised, as though all the eyes in the world fixating on her mattered not at all.

Even her bodyguard appeared unbothered.

Khalida turned back to the podium. “When Talia Kim located Alexander Rooke and another escapee, Annette Sheridan, whose crime I feel compelled to note was picking a lock with her superpower in order to steal food for her starving little sister, they were attacked.”

She paused. The screen changed to show a man with an eyepatch, wearing fancy armor and a cape.

“By Flashpoint, a licensed AEGIS superhero. He ambushed them on the private property and legal establishment of Augustus Greaves, a highly decorated veteran of multiple space conflicts in service of humanity against some of our more aggressive galactic neighbors.”

Alexander heard Annie’s boot tap once against the stage. Anger, probably. The memory wasn’t a pleasant one for any of them. The man on the screen remained unfinished business. For now.

“Thankfully, they survived. But in the aftermath, AEGIS fabricated a narrative that presented Flashpoint, a deeply troubled superhuman whose collateral damage includes a civilian death toll numbering in the dozens, as a hero and a martyr. They branded four innocents as supervillains with no means to contest the designation. Again, there was no hearing. No trial. And I suspect that if they were ever to be captured, they would never have seen the inside of a courthouse alive.”

Khalida straightened.

“Grimnir has accepted independent verification for these events by the same truth-detecting superhumans. About the instigating circumstances that drove them into hiding, forced them to live as fugitives, and denied them the most basic protections of the legal system they once believed in.” She glanced briefly toward the stage. “Circumstances that would lead them to uncover such heinous crimes committed by Santiago Systems that everything we have discussed so far pales in comparison. Crimes that risk all our lives, and the very survival of humanity itself.”

Khalida gestured to her right. “Allow me to reintroduce the man who will share with you the truth. Alexander Rooke. And for those who know, one of the Eight himself, the Machine God.”

Alexander stood and tugged his jacket into place, then crossed over to Khalida. He shook her hand and leaned in close. “Is it bad that I suddenly have stage fright?”

She chuckled. “Just don’t imagine them all naked.”

He pulled back with a grin, then stepped up to the podium.

Alexander swept his gaze across the crowd. He’d waited a long time for this moment. And even though he’d imagined the grand reveal occurring in a news studio at the top of a downtown skyscraper, probably with Annie sitting on a bunch of temporary hostages, maybe even literally, he was happy with the outcome.

Alexander cleared his throat. “Thank you, Khalida. And thank you all for being here.”

He’d prepared a speech for this, agonized over it on and off for the past week. But he hadn’t been happy with it, no matter how many tweaks he’d made.

Still wasn’t.

So it was time to improvise.

“I’m sure many of you think I’m standing here, about to give you a grand speech on my innocence.” He shook his head. “I’m not. What innocence we had was taken from us months ago, by AEGIS and Santiago Systems. Their actions forced us to fight, to adapt, or to die. And I will not apologize for surviving, or for the decisions we made to get here. I would do it all again. Only better.”

He grinned. “No, we are all here today because I believe in taking an eye for an eye. A life for a life. Because Grimnir’s purpose has been to tear down the veil of innocence hiding their dirty little secrets.”

Alexander turned to where Grimnir sat watching him. His friends. His family.

Augustus wore a look of pride. Talia was stoic, even with the entire world watching. Annie’s eyes were wide, her lips curved. Eager for the blow to land. Gabriel watched the crowd.

But it was Gilly and Felix who demanded his attention. One final check for permission they’d already given. Gilly blinked, all six eyes closing and opening in a sequence that ensured he wasn’t blind for even a moment. Felix just smiled.

Alexander nodded, then turned back to the crowd. “Besides the crimes you’ve already heard about, which are pretty damn bad already. Illegal imprisonment, public coverups, superpowered assault and murder, kidnapping and forced injections, including against minors… and the war crimes. We cannot forget the war crimes…”

Alexander straightened and stared over the crowd. Directly at a camera. “Santiago Systems orchestrated the abduction of hundreds of aliens across dozens of worlds and space stations. Brought them to Earth. Then tortured and experimented on them in an attempt to create the first superpowered, non-human, sapients.”

He held out his right hand. “Felix and Gilly here are two of those survivors.”

The crowd surged to its feet. Shouting drowned out shouting, merging into a loud cacophony of fear. They demanded proof of his claim. They screamed about the possibility of galactic reprisal.

Alexander took over every speaker with Technopathy, and turned up the volume. At the same time, his Will surged outward and pressed down on the crowd, opposed only by the few strong enough to withstand him.

Then he leaned closer and spoke.

“Yes.”

The word crashed over the crowd, drowning them out. Many of them had already fallen back into their seats beneath the sudden mental pressure of his Will.

“We have evidence,” he continued. “Of the mercenary company that committed the abductions. The communications between Doctor Miller and Gabriel Santiago himself, discussing the progress of the experiments and demanding more test subjects. Doctor Miller, a known supervillain whose wanted status was revoked by AEGIS after declaring him reformed.” He paused. “I decided not to play the footage of their rescue here, live, for the world to see, because it was bad enough to turn even my stomach.”

The crowd had gone dead silent.

“But it is available with everything else. It shows Grimnir’s raid of the facility. It proves we did not kill hundreds of people in the process, as Santiago claimed when he placed a public bounty on us. It shows the conditions in which we found Felix, who was experiencing horrific torture at the time.” His eyes narrowed. “It also shows an act of murder. One where I slowly crushed and electrocuted the good doctor until dead. And finally, it shows us releasing seven other aliens held in cells, including Gilly.”

Alexander took a deep breath. “We chose not to redact any of the footage, so there can be no claim of tampering. You’ll also find evidence we delivered most of the aliens to the Nexus and arranged for safe passage to their own worlds. Gilly and Felix remained behind and joined Grimnir, instead.”

Alexander watched the crowd. They’d calmed somewhat after hearing that the aliens had been released and returned safely, but most of them still looked shocked.

Perhaps it was their first time experiencing someone’s Will press upon them. Even the superhumans were eyeing him warily.

Good.

Because now he was going to reveal the Prophecy of Eight. And the upcoming apocalypse.

Then Maximilian could tell them all about what the Compact was going to do to save the world.

He didn’t envy him that task.