The Machine God

Chapter 304

No Rest for the Wicked

He stood, Julia beside him, her hand in his. They both waited in silence as the conversations spilled into the hallway. Augustus clapped him on the shoulder as he passed. Maximilian offered a nod. Talia’s eyes lingered for a moment, before she followed Jasmine through the door.

Annie was the last one out, pushing the throne ahead of her. She paused at the threshold, glanced back at him, and shot him a look of undisguised pity.

Then the door slid shut.

Caroline Delvane hadn’t moved from her chair.

She sat directly opposite him, exactly where she’d been for the entire meeting. Arms resting on the wood. Healing cuts still visible across her forearms. The scar on her face, given by the Empress, had faded further in the past hour, now little more than a thin line running from jaw to temple.

She watched him with the same unreadable expression she’d worn since he entered the room.

Julia squeezed his hand.

Alexander put on his most disarming smile. “Mrs. Delvane. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you—”

Caroline flicked a hand through the air. “We’ve met before, Mr. Rooke. Though I doubt you remember. I didn’t tell you who I was, then. It was back during your high school days, when you first dated my daughter.”

Alexander did remember. It had happened twice, after all. Once, to him directly, in his original world, and once to the other him, whose body and powers he’d claimed. The woman sitting on the other side of the table obviously didn’t know that, and he saw no reason to offer the information.

Caroline continued. “I didn’t like you. You were far too soft and easygoing. And after I saw you on the news, I decided it was necessary to meet the boy who’d grown into a supervillain and dared to date my daughter. Again.”

“And then you had to come all the way to another world in another reality just to rescue me along with the others,” Alexander said, glancing at Julia with a smirk. “What a terrible second-first impression I must have made.”

“On the contrary.” Caroline pushed her chair back and rose to her feet. “Power and responsibility seem to have done you some good. These people respect you, and none of them are fools, even if some of them could use a little toughening up themselves.” She turned to Julia. “And as it has been made abundantly clear by my dearest daughter, it is neither my place nor my privilege to interfere in her dating life.”

Julia’s chin rose slightly. “That’s right.”

Alexander’s eyes narrowed. “And yet I get the feeling that’s not going to be the end of it.”

Caroline nodded. “You are sharp. Grimnir and the Throne of Scales requested my assistance with training several of their members for a month. I obliged only because my daughter begged, but now the account comes due.” She paused. “I will give you a week, coinciding with the date of my departure, and then I shall take your measure, as I have the other members of your two guilds.”

“That’s a generous timeline.”

Caroline headed for the door. “I would see what the Machine God is capable of when at his best.” She paused as the door slid open ahead of her. “I will be testing the Dragon Lord in three days. Perhaps you should stop by and watch.”

She stepped through and the door slid shut behind her.

Julia sighed. “That went about as well as it could have.”

“From the way you described her, I was expecting an immediate ass kicking.”

She smacked his arm. “I didn’t say anything like that.”

Alexander laughed as they walked through the doorway, still hand-in-hand. “Well, either way, I was expecting worse.” He paused. “Though maybe she was just taking pity on me. I really need a shower.”

“And a shave,” Julia said. She reached up and tugged at his overgrown beard. “You look like a caveman.”

“I think you mean ‘ruggedly handsome.’”

She made a face. “I suspect you haven’t actually seen or smelled yourself in a while.”

Alexander faked a gasp. “I’ll have you know I washed regularly in freezing cold river water. The wizards even had soap.”

Together, they made their way up through the mansion until they arrived at his room. He’d expected it to be untouched, knowing nobody in Grimnir would violate his privacy without good reason.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

It wasn’t.

The bed was unmade and a couple of suitcases sat against the far wall.

“I see you’ve made yourself at home,” Alexander said, crossing the room toward the bathroom while stripping his shirt off.

“Did you expect me to use a guest room?”

Alexander shook his head. “No, of course not. What’s mine is yours.”

“Augustus thought so. That’s why he let me in.”

There was a rustle of clothes behind him. He turned and found Julia also stripping down.

She looked up at him as her shirt slipped over her head. “What? I’m sweaty and bloody, too. You’re not going to make me wait while you shower first, are you?” She raised an eyebrow. “Or did you become a barbarian during your month away?”

Alexander chuckled, then gestured for the shower. “Ladies first.”

Julia sauntered past, pausing to let her pants slip from her hips.

Alexander watched appreciatively, then pulled the bathroom door closed behind him as he followed.

***

A couple hours later, Alexander reclined in a chair on his balcony, watching the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea. He held a mug of hot chocolate in his cybernetic hand, while his right scratched idly at stubble which had survived the trimming.

The treetops swayed beneath him, dark green against the fading sky. Beyond them, the water stretched to the horizon, occasionally broken by distant land masses, catching the last of the light. Orange bled into deep red along the waterline, the colors shifting as the sun dropped lower. A warm breeze carried salt and pine up from the coast, mixing with the chocolate’s steam.

He’d missed this. The workshop, the plans, his friends. All of it. But this, specifically. The quiet and the warmth and the view from one of his favorite chairs, watching the water change color with the time of day.

It was a simple ritual, but today of all days it felt like he’d earned it.

The door behind him slid open. Julia padded out onto the balcony wearing one of his shirts, the hem hanging to mid-thigh. She settled into the chair beside him and pulled her knees up.

Alexander handed her the mug without a word. She took it, wrapped both hands around it, and sipped.

They sat in comfortable silence for a minute.

“This is a beautiful place,” Julia said, handing the mug back.

Alexander took it with a nod. “Yeah.”

Julia studied him for a moment. “Something’s bothering you.”

He sipped slowly.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Alexander passed the mug back with a sigh. “It’s a bit complicated. I’m not even sure exactly what it is.”

Julia waited, patient as she always was.

He continued. “The time I spent over there made me realize that the wizards aren’t necessarily our enemies.” He glanced at Julia. “Don’t get me wrong. The Empire of Stars is a threat, and a serious one, but the rest of them? They’re just people trying to get by.”

“People who are going to die if they don’t…” Julia paused. “Migrate. To our world.”

Alexander didn’t say it, but he appreciated that she saw the difference. The Empire of Stars were would-be invaders. They intended to arrive in force, and would kill anyone and everyone they could in the process. The average wizard would be fleeing the System’s threat of worldly destruction and the Nightmares it unleashed upon them when they resisted.

“But you’re also seeing what that means for the other worlds. Cultivators. Knights. The survivors you helped in the cultist reality?”

Alexander nodded.

Julia took another sip, a thoughtful look on her face. “If there must be gods in our future, I’m glad you’re going to be one of them.”

He turned to her. “What?”

She stuffed the mug back into his hands. “Oh, don’t act surprised. I’m a superhero, but I don’t want to deal with the kinds of problems you and Maximilian are building all these plans around.”

“That’s mostly Max.”

Julia continued. “Being a superhero has been my dream from the moment the First appeared on the holo. I want to show up where I’m needed and help whoever needs it. I don’t want to deal with politics and negotiate agreements.” The corner of her mouth twitched. “Though I don’t mind helping when the negotiations break down.”

“You brute. Maybe you’re the barbarian.”

“Exactly. And if you’re not going to finish that…” She reached over, tugged the mug from his grip, then drank down the rest of it. “What I’m trying to say is that if you’re going to be a god, it’s probably a good thing that you’re sitting here, watching the sunset, and worrying about how to help the innocents caught up in all this.”

Alexander frowned. “You and your guild have been doing this since long before I started.”

Julia brushed her hair back. “We might jointly own the guild, but Max is the visionary. Like you, he worries about the future and everything that needs to be done to make sure it’s one we want to live in. Raelene gathers information, then comes up with the plans and the strategies to make those dreams a reality. I’m just the enforcer.”

Alexander studied her for a moment. “Liar.”

Julia laughed. “Maybe just a little.” She shot him a smile. “But I really do prefer to deal with punchable problems. They’re much easier to resolve.”

Alexander smiled back but didn’t say anything.

***

The next morning, Alexander climbed out of bed and threw on some comfortable clothes. The contrast between them and what he’d been wearing most of the past month was night and day.

Never again would he mock Augustus and his need for high-quality fabrics.

He kissed Julia on the temple, then left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

The building was silent as he made his way downstairs. Nobody was awake yet. Droney joined him when he reached the living room with a quiet beep.

“You ready to get back to work?” Alexander asked, heading for the workshop.

Droney beeped again.

Alexander laughed. “Nope. No rest for the wicked.” Technopathy slipped into the house system as they approached the workshop, bypassing all the security measures with a thought. “We’re going to start with getting you upgraded, and then we’ll finish the core of the M.G.S.”

The door slid open and he stepped inside.

Alexander paused and took a deep breath. The hum of the supercomputer and the fabricators surrounded him as the door closed behind. Everything was exactly where it should be, despite Talia’s efforts to continue his work in his absence.

Droney beeped.

“Yeah, it’s good to be home, buddy.”