They'd figured out what Alistair was trying to do.
Anger rose in him. He had felt that emotion only rarely in his life, but this time it threatened to take him over, this rage at everything that had happened to him so far. Not self-pity but fury because what he wanted was very simple: to see his wife again. Yet every step he took toward her, something knocked him back.
"Fuck it." His voice was almost a growl, the rage propelling him forward. "Where are they, Caesar?"
The rest of the group stepped into the hall, concerned about the anger they saw on Alistair's face.
Lights flashed on, causing everyone to shield their eyes for a moment. Alistair turned and faced the other side of the hall. He knew what was coming.
A voice spoke from unseen speakers. "You'll find what's left of your friend in the yard."
The lights at the far end of the hall where the cages were located went out. Only the opposite side remained lit. Alistair didn't look around as he spoke. "Do you know where the yard is, Caesar?"
"I do," the giant answered. There was no fear in his voice, just resolution.
"Take me to it."
"Yes, master."
Alistair no longer cared about the odds they were facing. He no longer cared about death or even those around him. Anger fueled him, rage like a supernova. His only thought was that someone had to pay for him losing his wife and his life and being out here in a cold universe fighting the cruelest humans he'd ever met.
Anger moved him down that hallway. Someone would pay.
The yard was a quarter-kilometer away, and a set of double doors stood open. Alistair had figured this was a training center beneath the ground, to keep unwanted eyes from seeing these massive creatures while keeping them in shape.
Alistair stopped before he reached the doors.
The crimson of the MechSuit told him all he needed to know. His protégé stood on the other side of the open doorway, not in the yard, but in the hall. His Whip was at his side, the three strands twirling.
His helmet retracted into his neck, revealing his face. He had retained the boyish looks he'd been famed for as a young man with a gift.
"Everyone else stay here." Alistair walked to the doorway but did not step through. "Are you ready to die?"
"Can I be honest with you, Odin?"
"That's no longer my name," Alistair responded, his anger unabated.
"It's what I know you as. If I’m honest, I'm tired. I stole your kill back there; I'm sure you saw her. She deserved worse, but I'm not the man who can do it. Once you see all she did, I think you may hate me for stealing that death from your hands, but maybe you're tired too." The young man looked at his metal-booted feet. "I don't know. I don't know much of anything anymore, Odin. My father told me years ago that if I had the choice between being the best at something and being a good man, I should choose the latter. I remembered much of what he told me for so long, but I forgot that."
He stopped talking but didn't look up.
"What are you saying, Ares? You and your government have chased me to the ends of the universe. I'm here because of you. My friend is in that yard with giants and the gods know what else. Do you want me to kill you now before I go in there and get my friend back? If you're not here to die, then I have no idea what you're doing."
Ares blinked. "Maybe I could have been better than you in some other universe, one where all this didn't happen." He didn't sound like he was talking to Alistair but to himself. " I wonder if I would have been a good man? I don't know. I'm tired of doing the bidding of evil men. Of men who would let something like that bitch down there loose. There's no honor in that. I was a part of burning a planet to ash in my search to be the best, and there was certainly no honor in that."
Alistair was frozen in shock. The tears in Ares' eyes welled, sparkling in the artificial light.
"Have you seen what's in there?" Ares asked, meaning the yard.
"No." Alistair didn't know what was happening, but he watched as Ares picked up a DataTrack leaning against the wall. He touched the screen and a holocam came up, showing what they were about to face.
Alistair heard someone gasp behind him, then Relm's voice reached his and the giant's ears. "Caesar, broth, how good are you at math? You said there were twenty of you. What I'm looking at is multiplied by ten."
Alistair's mind immediately counted. There were over two hundred gigantes standing shoulder to shoulder in the yard, holding dual laser blades.
To the sides and behind them were another hundred men and women, each holding some kind of weapon, from MechPulses to those webs he'd seen at the hotel.
Floating above it all, chained to a chair, was Thoreaux.
His head lolled on his chest. His eyes were swollen shut, and he was missing flesh across his broken body. A bone was sticking out of his arm. Alistair couldn't tell if he was awake, only that he wasn't dead. Not quite.
He raised his head and looked at Ares. The tears were gone, but he still showed sadness.
"You asked if I came here to die, Odin. Maybe I did, but I'd rather not die at your hands if it's all the same to you." Ares put the DataTrack back down. "I was there when all that happened to your friend. Not in the room, but I heard his screams. The person who did it is dead, but that's not good enough for me. I'd like to go in there and die trying to free him."
Alistair didn't know if he was being lied to. There
