Everywhere his father watched him. Strung from the high ceilings, from pamphlets clutched in the hands of well-dressed guests, even from scrolling video feeds of his televised appearances – Captain Aurelius Ravelle silently judged his son, Field Lieutenant Kai Ravelle. Every year, the celebration of the man's memory grew more extravagant and less somber as he graduated from man to myth. Under the judgment, Kai felt his skin crawl. Surely, his father knew.
His mission to protect had turned him into a murderer.
Captains of today sat at the head of the banquet hall, just ahead of an elevated stage, with the rest of the room a mix of officers, their family and friends, monster servants, Corp sponsors, and Prismark media sharks. No one had asked him if he wanted to attend; he was expected, even after already raiding that day. Monster Control claimed this was a memorial, but to Kai, the music was too loud, there was too much wine, and then there was the biggest crime of them all; someone had invited Sascha Deveraux.
That jolly laugh of the Prismark Playboy echoed across the hall. Kai, at his table near the captains', sat statue-still except for occasional drinks of water. Aches rattled his ribs from a raid enacted only that morning, and periodically he tapped his cheek, wiping away something that was not there. He watched the microphone on the stage, desperate for the event to begin. At his side, on a specialized stool, sat his monster partner Surge, a bipedal Geo-element Tarro built of a cascade of tough stony scales and heavy spikes, who delicately sipped water in rhythm with his partner. Even with reptilian features, concern for his human companion was thinly disguised. Surge cleared his throat.
“Your mother?” he asked quietly. It wasn't the question he wanted to ask.
“She'll be along,” Kai replied, tugging his officer's cap down. Bright blue eyes, the bluest eyes in Copperdale, bored holes into the little plate of undisturbed pastries before him. “She has her monster with her.” The Ravelle house monster was a worrywart and did plenty of fussing over his elderly mother for them all, and fortunately, after working with Surge for so long, Kai understood what he really was asking.
Risking a glance to the steady gaze of the lizard-like monster, the lieutenant felt plenty of words surge forth but he was incredibly careful about what he allowed to actually slip through.
“We have to survive the storm,” he insisted in a low voice, and Surge cracked a smile. He mimed the motion of opening an umbrella over them and Kai snorted through his nose.
“Survive we will,” Surge rumbled. “Sit tight, do your speech, and we'll get you some rest.”
Another laugh rang out. Kai stiffened. Surge's expression was not a relief.
“He's getting closer,” Surge murmured. “He's not alone, Kai.”
“He's never alone,” the lieutenant muttered, choosing to observe the most powerful members of central Monster Control instead, noting how deeply entrenched in conversation they were with each other or with their phones. Anything instead of looking back. Kai had gone a few years without having to see those sunglasses, shining teeth, and that mop of perfect dark hair in person, and even then, that was far too recently.
Every time their paths crossed, he didn't feel like he was a man of thirty-five, but a boy of seventeen. A pain far deeper than his bruised ribs pulsed at the thought. Thick, stubby claws reached over and touched the table by his arm. Kai's eyes swiveled but he didn't move.
“I'm sorry,” Surge said earnestly. “But I think you should see who his guest is.”
Kai clenched his fists under the table.
He was no stranger to dread.
Earlier that same day, he had crept outside of a door to a rundown apartment complex with his raiders at his side. Reports of tamerless terrorist monsters had drawn his attention, and it was his job to pursue them, the Bonefire, at all costs. Surge acted as their living battering ram.
Just before a Pyro monster provided a smokescreen, the seconds slowed, and like so many times before, Kai wondered if this was what his father had wanted for himself, let alone his son. Then, they rushed into a room filled with unprepared monsters. Shouting, crying, howling, laughing – the raid's dervish ended when the smoke literally cleared, and in the end, three arrests were made, his baton shook in his clutch, and a still body lay before him. Hours later, and he still felt blood on his cheek.
But, hearing that Sascha had company meant that it wasn't just anyone, and in this pit of vipers, Kai was loathe to know who had set their fangs into the charismatic man this time. Sascha Deveraux always had a lover, business partner, or some celebrity from his Corp hanging off his arm. Knowing there was someone worse made him want to be sick.
Standing, Lieutenant Ravelle turned to scope the room, but didn't need to look any further than directly ahead. Haloed by the lighting of the hall, the centerpiece of an antique painting where all heads and hands stretched his way, walked Sascha, sleek in a tailored suit and with his damned sunglasses hiding those thoughtful, playful (and invariably bloodshot) eyes from the world... and off his arm hung MonstraTech Industry's Lily Orson.
She spied Kai before Sascha could finish his anecdote, and as soon as she locked on, she guided him as a homing missile his direction.
“Kai,” Surge rumbled in concern. “I can intervene.”
“Leave it,” Kai hissed under his breath, but pressed back into the table to the point that Surge held it in place with a supportive claw.
Upon approaching Kai, Sascha's ecstatic expression fell, and the man looked between his date and the lieutenant uncomfortably.
“Have you met?” Lily asked.
“Um,” Sascha stalled, and sipped his wine glass.
Kai straightened his back as tight as he could, staring ahead and beyond them. “Yes he and I have, but I believe we have not. It is an honor, miss Orson.”
“Son of Aurelius – the honor of course is mine,” the tall, finely dressed woman replied, offering a respectful tilt of her head. “I am sure he would be pleased you fight back the ferals that took him from us all. Sascha, you never told me you knew Lieutenant Ravelle.”
“Ha,“ Sascha chuckled, as though mishearing a joke. Under her sharp eyes, he floundered and rubbed his neck. “S-sorry. Lily, this is Kai Ravelle.“
“Lieutenant Ravelle, Mr. Deveraux,” Kai clarified.
A scowl twisted Sascha's expression. “Oh, fancy. Pox, my bad, how could I forget?"
“The lieutenant is a proper gentleman,” Lily cut in. “You could learn a few manners from him, dear.” She touched Sascha's chest in such a manner that made Kai's lungs constrict, but he did not flinch.
“This is my partner, Surge,” Kai introduced, seeing neither human had any interest in asking. Surge perked up at being mentioned, but Sascha only offered a wave and Lily didn't acknowledge him at all.
“How did you two meet?” she asked instead, grabbing a wine glass from a passing servant and offering it to Sascha, who took it obligingly.
“Oh, well, school of course,” the man replied with a nervous laugh. Even through the glasses, Kai knew he wasn't meeting his eye. “We went to the same private academy, same grade!”
“That sounds like it must have been endearing,” Lily said gently, but Kai didn't miss her lack of genuine investment.
Sascha did, and continued. “We were buddies, for a bit. That was then, though.”
Kai nodded.
“Oh?” Lily pressed, watching both men like a hawk. Intentionally, she dragged the discomfort out into the broad daylight, a hint of a smile curling her lip. “What happened? You don't seem friendly now.”
Kai tugged his hat. “We became different people.”
“Really different,” Sascha agreed, finishing his glass.
Neither wanted to share the taboo act.
Eighteen years melted away.
Again they stared at each other. Again Sascha stood with those encouraging his worst. Again Kai, by choice, stood alone and obedient.
“C'mon. You wanna be a Control dog? Lick my boot.”
“Ahem.” A voice cleared on the microphone. The group turned to the stage. A man asked them to take their seats. Kai turned back just to see Lily Orson wiggling her fingers at him, and Sascha hurrying away with his head low.
Sinking into his chair, Kai struggled to pull from his memories. Long before the raids, before Control academy, there had been two boys in the halls of school talking of a fondness for monsters. Was it worse they could never speak as friends again, or that he was now a monster killer? It was getting harder to decide what his lowest moment was. It made him feel like a stranger, wearing his own skin like a costume. He was lost until the steadying clutch of his partner reached over.
“Survive the storm,” Surge echoed quietly. “We'll weather it together.”
Kai blinked, surprised by how much his kindness steadied him, and he nodded. As the memorial speeches for his father began, his mother and her monster finally joined them, fussing until they settled. Lieutenant Ravelle sat straight, unyielding, and expressionless as steel.
At 3, this Hydro Tarro wanted to prove himself, wanted to fight hard to protect his sickly older tamer Carminati, and wanted to show off all he had learned from him. He knew the world was mean, but he thought he was ready.
Over a decade later, Wonton would pick his teeth with his younger self. He's greedy, a gambler, and running out of nice ways to keep his head afloat. Things were hard but are getting harder. But, one look at Jax and he sees potential...potentially an easy meal ticket for himself.
