Re: World-Valencia

[Ulysses Septimus]

"I have an idea."Ulysses chuckled, "I don't think we've tried much of psychological torture yet, have we, Commodore?"

[Sydney Underhill]

"That's right...we haven't." Sydney's usually dull grey eyes brightened now, and she looked up at the Admiral eagerly.

"I don't have very much experience in the psychological torture of others, you see...perhaps you would know how to proceed?"

[Ulysses Septimus]

"I've thought of a few things while I was up on the decks, hehe, this should make things interesting."He gestured to Sentus, "take off your mask, captain, show that fool over there who you really are."

The Armada Marine elite obeyed: letting his halberd rest against him, he reached up and plucked off his white bauta mask, revealing a human's face-

One eye a glowing blue photorecptor, the other one was blue-gray but blank, devoid of all emotions. His skin was pale, though not as much as Ulysses', and grooved with several scars.

"Wolf."Teach had a look of surprise, pain, and fear on his face, "I thought... You were dead."

"My system clearly still functions,"Sentus replied stiffly, and without emotions, "and my name is not Wolf, it is Captain Sentus Optimus, I am not a pirate filth like you are." He almost spat out the last words.

"Do you feel the pain?"Ulysses' long, gloved fingers slowly caressed Sentus' shoulder armor, like a child would with their favorite toy, "the pain of knowing even your closest friend had turned against you?"

[Sydney Underhill]

Sydney herself had been quite shocked when Sentus had revealed his face, but she had to stuff it down before it could get the better of her. After all, she wanted this torture to have its maximum effect on the pirate.

"I hope you've caught on now, Teach...things really aren't what they seem, are they? Maybe nothing is, who knows..."

She was absolutely enchanted by what had just been revealed to her, a transformation quite similar to her own.

Just how many of these are there? Ones like me...

[Ulysses Septimus]

Teach's lips trembled, like he was trying to speak but couldn't get the words out. 

He wanted to fight, actually, but how?! His captain is dead, his friend had turned basically into a clockwork that knows nothing other than to follow orders from the Armada admiral... There was nothing he could rely on, Teach concluded, thus he could do nothing for himself...

What would happen to me now? Will it be death, like Adrian? Or will I become like Wolf, a brutal, heartless machine that knows nothing other than killing everyone that are dear to me?


Ulysses reached out, the tips of his fingers brushing against Teach's temple, causing the pirate to immediately freeze stiff.

"Tch, so weak,"the admiral snorted, "even Captain Albus had endured for at least two days before he broke..."The last part of his sentence, his tone almost sounded sorry, like he cared for the clockwork captain of the White Cadre, which was actually true.

[Sydney Underhill]

"Broke?" Sydney whirled around suddenly, her brow furrowing in confusion.

I know this. Why do I know this. I have no idea what he is talking about, yet I know this. It was another moment like this, the type that drove her insane, the type when she remembered something, but she could not remember what it was.

"Broke...Admiral, what happened to him?"

[Ulysses Septimus]

Ulysses sighed, like he couldn't bear the memory for a moment. 

He pulled over two wooden chairs that was by the table and invited her to sit down.

"This is a rather long story."Ulysses closed his eyes as he tried to recount the details-

"About two months ago, Captain Servus Albus was reported missing by Servus Carbo--his 'brother' you could say--from his post at Granchia... I thought at first he had been terminated by a all too lucky pirate who had managed to sneak into Valencia...

But soon my spy Albinus Crassus proved me wrong: it turned out that my other enemy, Atticus Mercilus, had taken him in an attempt to find out more about me, since Captain Albus was in fact an officer serving under my command like Captain Optimus here.

By the time we managed to find Albus, he was broken, both physically and mentally... I do not know what Mercilus had done to him... We had to take him to Bishop and completely redo everything, starting with his memories..."

[Sydney Underhill]

"Oh..."

She looked down at her hands, gloved and bloodied and nicely folded, and had never felt more uncertain in her life.

What she had taken from that was that no matter how indestructible the clockworks claimed and seemed to be, they also had a mental breaking point.

So nothing is invincible.

[Ulysses Septimus]

"But I assure you, Commodore, both Lord Kane and I learned from that."Ulysses spoke again, "we had learned to improve upon the current designs, creating ways we could prevent for such things to happen: remember Quintia Presidios? She was one of the first to be created with our new programming... It'd be quite tricky to explain just how it was done, though I shall try my best.

Basically, we had to give each one of the new soldiers more intelligence, not enough for them to be independent, just enough for them to figure out what to do in a situation like what Albus had faced..."

He suddenly turned his head toward Teach, "By the way, don't even think of telling any of what I just said to your little friends... Not that you can, haha."

Ulysses' eyes trained once more onto Sydney, "I do not know if I've mentioned this, but Lord Kane and I also concluded that if we want to prevent such thing from happening... Eradication of certain individuals must be commenced... Like Mercilus, whom we are going to take down as soon as Bishop's little machine decodes where he is hiding."

[Sydney Underhill]

"I do not know much about this...Mercilus...at the moment...perhaps you can enlighten me when we get back to Valencia? I think I'm beginning to deny our...guest...which is rather rude of me..."

She twisted her head back over to look at Edward Teach, who was looking directly at her with a mix of confusion and fear in his eyes.

[Ulysses Septimus]

"I will be glad to."Ulysses stood, "have fun with this one, hehe... Wonder how long he could last."

He walked briskly back up to the upper deck, with Sentus Optimus (who had by then redonned his mask) trailing behind him.

[Sydney Underhill]

"Now, where was I..." She stood up and sighed, her mind coming back into focus.

"Ah, that's right! I was looking for a method...say, pirate, have you ever seen someone drawn and quartered?"

[Ulysses Septimus]

"no."His voice was barely audible, and choked heavily with fear.

[Sydney Underhill]

"No? Well, I suppose that's a good thing. It's a rather unpleasant sight, at least to most human eyes." She caught sight of the fear in his eyes and chuckled, brushing her bloodstained fingers along the narrow outline of his face.

"Don't worry, that's not going to happen to you...it'll be a little bit different than that."

[Ulysses Septimus]

"What are you planning?"He whispered, still stiff and tensed...

Teach contemplated surrendering, though he doubted if it would even work with her... But is this any better? He'd probably end up like Adrian did! Or worse yet, turned into a clockwork and forced to fight those ones he valued!

[Sydney Underhill]

After a few minutes of looking and rummaging around, Sydney finally selected a knife with a small, rectangular blade, testing the sharpness by pulling off her glove and running her finger along the edge. Sure enough, as she did, the blade immediately sunk into her flesh, which had began to curl, yielding to the thin metal.

"Perfect. I think this will work wonderfully."

[Ulysses Septimus]

Just at that moment, the tell tale footsteps announcing the arrival of the Marine elite Sentus Optimus echoed down the metal stairs leading into the dungeon, with the captain himself appearing moments later.

"Commodore,"he saluted her, "Lord Ulysses would like to have a word with you when your time permits, please."

[Sydney Underhill]

Sydney quickly dropped the knife, walking out from around the table and pulling her crimson-stained glove back onto her hand.

"I wouldn't want to keep him waiting, as we all know how long it takes for these pirates to die...so persistent, they are. I shall see him immediately."

She walked out of the lower dungeons of the ship and towards the Admiral's cabin, leaving Edward Teach to await his gruesome death.

[Ulysses Septimus]

Ulysses was seated behind his desk of mahogany and gold, his mask and hat resting next to his hand.

"Congratulations, Commodore."He was smiling, though not insane or anything, "I have just contacted Lord Kane, and he agreed that you deserve a promotion, due to that you've successfully eradicated two of the major threats to the Grand Design."

[Sydney Underhill]

The Commodore blinked quickly, slightly flustered at first, before standing up straight and bowing her head.

"I am thrilled that Lord Kane is pleased with my service."

[Ulysses Septimus]

"Indeed he is,"Ulysses nodded approvingly, "and, if I had not misheard, he not only approved of your promotion, His Majesty also expressed the desire to name you as the governor of any world you choose, once the Grand Design has been completed."

He didn't mention that he had also been promoted: from Admiral to Kane's personal lieutenant. Ulysses didn't see why he should be mentioning it, for it would be boasting, and anyone could name heroes who were killed by their pride.

[Sydney Underhill]

Sydney felt her chest swell with pride, although she did not let it show, as that seemed a bit distasteful to her. She glanced down at herself, realizing then that she was literally drenched in the now-dead swashbuckler's blood.

[Ulysses Septimus]

"Oh dear, I think we should get that cleaned up when we get back, shouldn't we, Commander?"Ulysses pulled open a drawer in his desk, drawing out a rather elegant sword belt of black leather and a gold buckle, complete with a sabre and a dagger attached to it.

"Here, a little something for being promoted."The lieutenant of Kane held it out to her. "oh and how's our guest doing?"

[Sydney Underhill]

"I've thought up a little something...special...for him. It'll have to be done carefully and slowly, but he won't ever forget it, I can assure you, Admiral." Sydney took the ornate belt and sabre from Ulysses, but held it at somewhat of a distance from her body, afraid to stain it as well.

[Ulysses Septimus]

"Good good,"Septimus' smile contorted into those of a sadistic torturer's, "I won't pester you any more, so why don't you go and give him what he deserves, hmm Commander? And you may leave that here if you don't want to get it dirty, just remember to reclaim it when we reach Valencia."

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