#82

You continues through the ruined White Tower, with Susie and Klaus not far behind. You still has Your laser pike, and Klaus has taken Your knife. Susie is unarmed, but once You finds a weapon You intends on giving it to her.

Your trio passes through a number of empty corridors and rooms. There are a few faint fires burning all about, using on top of collapsed debris and circuitry. There are no soldiers and Guards, not even dead ones, though there are pools of ashes that have footprints in them. It looks like most of them were concerned with getting out, once they got their Emperor to one of those pods. You assumes that that's why there was only one left; the others were for him and any of his elite troopers that were meant to go with him.

At one point you walk through an abandoned room labeled as a medbay. There are some cells off to the side, that You figures were meant to hold medic units. Their absence strikes you as unsettling, but You doesn't know why.

Up ahead, there's another room, wherein You can see the shapes of active computer screens, and...something else. “Sh!” You whispers, telling the others to stop and crouch. There's a person moving in there.

Susie is examining them. “They're not wearing armor,” she says. You agrees; the silhouette doesn't have any protrusions indicating either armor or weapons. They appear to just be a normal guy.

“I'll take them out,” You says, and before anyone can protest, You lunges from the shadows and tackles them.

Your opponent struggles, making cries of rage as you grapple. However, they seem to be caught totally off guard, and thus don't or can't fight that hard. It's only a cheap punch to the face that knocks You off. When You looks up, he—for it is indeed a he—is already on his feet.

“What the hell are you doing?” he says.

You hops up at once. Klaus and Susie are already behind You. “Who are you?” You yells. “Are you with the Empire?”

“No!” he replies. “M-my name's Mark. I crawled up this Tower for...some reason. Are you with the Empire?”

“No.” You recognizes that he has a British accent of some sort. The first You's heard in real life.

“Is You sure?” he asks. He winces once he realizes You's one of those people.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, if you look over these burns on Susie and I, you'll see that we've actually been tortured by the Empire recently. So we're certainly not friends of any Imperials.”

He looks You over, and senses sincerity about You. But only based on Your injuries.

“Does You...do any of you...know why there's a huge hole in the side of this Tower?”

You's heart lightens at the thought of such a thing; he's not a prisoner. He came in from the outside. And however he came in, You can use that to escape.

“I do know. And explaining it is a long story.”

“I have time.”

And so it is that You tells Mark about most of what's happened. The things about all the cultists You ran into, the true nature of Zorro City, and the stuff about Madame Levingt and her magic, and indeed things like the apparently-magic eight-sided die, You chooses to omit. You doesn't know how much You can trust this dude. But the whole story pours out. Which is to say, You tells him...

You tells him that You was out minding the fields with Susie when You was attacked by what You would later learn was one of the Imperial fuel-mutants. Susie dragged You into a cave where You woke up and found that she and Your family had been kidnapped. You says nothing of finding the eight-sided die, which You learned recently could possibly manipulate the nature of the universe. Via the note that Susie left for You, You initially suspected her stepdad, Earl, of being the kidnapper of Your loved ones, but he turned out to be innocent. With the note in mind, You started following the road down into the depths of the woods. You eventually discovered the abandoned house out in the thicket, which had the pool table and the apparently fuel-mutated bats. You then made the pool table into a boat which You took downriver until You was an idiot and was knocked unconscious. You washed up next to the old prison where You found the flash drive (which is basically true, if one were to ignore the encounter with the strange phantoms and the degraded Brotherhood of Kletus, who had built a space-shattering engine of sorts), and then You continued with the boat to New Cenabum, where You met Klaus (which is also pretty much true, with the minor subtraction of the key detail of also meeting Madame Levingt). You and Klaus then proceeded into the woods where the two of you eventually found Zorro City. There, You battled the Fennec Gang and found some evidence that made You suspect Earl even more. You jumped aboard a plane from the City and took it here, which is also pretty much true. It was in Imperial Central that You learned the true nature of the mutant beast-creatures, just as You learned the actual nature of the medics in Zorro City. (He seems to jump at the point when You describes the mutants, but You doesn't know why.)

Due to some publicity mistakes, You was captured by Imperial soldiers and taken here, where You was tortured for awhile, but reunited with Susie. Thanks to Klaus' ingenuity, You managed to escape execution and took an elevator to the Emperor himself, after a brief duel with some Ultramarine Guards. During this time You freed Your mom and Susie (which is basically true) and the Emperor decided, on a whim, probably, to show You his fuel reactor. You decides then to actually take the time to explain his plan, to use the fuel to open up a hole to the Multiverse, and conquer it in the name of the Empire. However, the core ended up exploding, leaving You where You was just a few entries ago. That is to say, where You was a few minutes ago. You note, during the last few mentions, that he barely bats an eye at the notion of there even being a Multiverse.

Following this, the four of you look at each other very uneasily; but despite the distrust, there's a quiet assumption that you're not just going to go about attacking each other.

“So. What were you doing before I, uh...engaged you?”

“I was just looking over this computer. It's, uh, password protected, just like all the others I've seen in this dump...”

“Is it now?”

You looks it over. It's a large terminal; bigger than any You's seen so far. It could be important. And it has the right port. You sticks in the flash drive, and suddenly the password screen that was up there vanishes. You has full access.

“How did You...?”

“This flash drive's a piece of work. Now let's see what all is.”

“Those numbers look like launch coordinate records,” Susie says swiftly. There is a series of numbers, but You doesn't understand them, so You trusts her. “All the records of what look escape pods and airships, and planes, taking off from this Tower. It goes back for months, but all we need are the ones from recently...”

There are two numbers that she's highlighting. One is what You presumes is Your house, where You sent Your mom and Earl. Underneath, however, is a number with a red text color on it. The others are all white, so this must be an important set.

“Hm,” Susie is saying. “If my compass knowledge is correct, this is just a few miles west of here. It's got to be where Your dad...where the Emperor was sent.” Once again, You trusts her.

“Then that's where we're headed.”

“Wait,” Mark says. “Hold on. I...what?”

“What about it?” You asks.

“Is You...are you going after the Emperor? What's going on? And...what did she mean about the Emperor being Your father?” You had left out that part as well, as we all know.

Oh well. There's little harm in telling him. “I'm the son of the Emperor.”

There is a pause. “And...You's not an Imperial? Why?”

“Well, I don't take kindly to betrayal. No matter what sort of 'greater good' it seems to serve. And besides, I didn't find out he was the Emperor until...well, a few hours ago, in all likelihood.”

“Uh...wow.”

Mark clamps down on his tongue when he feels himself about to ask how the great American Emperor could have a mutant son. He knows You could beat him in a fight, and he doesn't want to take that risk.

“So,” You says. “Can you show us the way out of here?”

“Shouldn't we, y'know, scout for more information?”

“I've shut down the security. We can always get back in if we think we're missing something.”

“Oh.”

Another pause. “Well, it's right this way.”

“So, you're with us, then, right?” You asks.

A sigh. “I suppose I must be. I went...I was taken all the way across the pond, to fight the Empire. At least, that's how I remember it. So I guess that's what I have to do.”

An odd statement, You thinks, but there's no point in examining it that deeply for now. A few more chambers later, and there You is. There's a huge hole in the side of the Tower, with a walkway of rubble leading down to the city streets.

There are no words. You's finally free.