Lightning Destroyer: (Lighting Seeker Book 3)

The Message

Dash sat watching the scene over and over like a nightmare he couldn't quite pull himself away from. Vale cutting down a man without a thought. It was unlike her. For all of her ferocity, she never killed people. Vale had knocked out humans who attacked her. She had even killed in self-defense, but what happened on the screen was something else entirely. She treated that man like an AI. Like he was just a number. An obstacle that stood between her and what she wanted. It felt like watching someone else. Someone he didn't recognize.

And he would have sworn it was someone else if he hadn't seen her face. A clear flash of neon highlighted her sharp green eyes and raven black hair. What are you doing Vale? "Turn that blasted thin' off," Mortem barked from the captain's chair. "Lookin' at it will brin' ye nothin' but more questions." 

Dash stared at the screen for a beat longer, analyzing the scene again. "Something about this doesn't feel right." 

"Yer grandfather wanted us to see it. It's a message to let us know she's not on our side anymore." Mortem turned to look at Dash, his brow furrowed, connecting his two bushy eyebrows into a single bridge of frustration. "She's been with 'im for two days. He's makin' a power display. Takin' the Daughter of Rebellion and turnin' 'er into the Daughter of Order." 

The title made Dash's skin crawl. He had grown up hating his own background. Hating the blood that ran through his veins. He was from a world of rulers that had sold humanity's freedom to technology. Humanity had seemed ambivalent as it marched headlong into being served by machines, only to become so dependent on them, that they were now utterly helpless when machines took their power away.

"It's not that," Dash said, pushing his fingers across the screen, scrubbing through the footage until he got to the moment the sword hit the man across his body. "Look here," he said squinting at the screen. 

"I don't need a closer look at her expertise with a weapon boy. I taught 'er 'ow to use a few of the weapons in her arsenal." There was an edge to his voice as he stared out at the horizon through the front window of the airship. A distant look crossing his features. 

"Humor me Mortem, I need a second opinion on this," Dash insisted as he played the footage in slow motion. "Look, right there." 

Mortem pushed himself up from his seat and reluctantly walked over to the screen. "She cuts him along the chest, but she misses all of his vital organs. Every single one." Dash's mind raced as he watched the scene several more times. "This isn't sloppy. She's injuring him, but purposefully giving him time. Maybe someone found him before he bled to death—"

Mortem turned and walked back to his seat. "Turn it off Dash." 

"But can't you see—"

"Yes, but that footage was too easy to find. Ye have to understand that if ye noticed, so did yer grandfather. And if he saw her showin' mercy of any kind, she will be put through the AI memory wipe again. 'er memories will be tampered with." Mortem gripped the wheel of the ship tightly, his knuckles going white. "She's stubborn. So stubborn in fact that the longer she fights it, the less of 'erself will be at the other end of this. So turn off that blasted screen because watching it over and over is exactly what 'e wants and I refuse to let anyone aboard this ship play his blasted game."

"But she may be the one giving us clues." Dash thought of how Sky had helped Vale. Even when his actions were cold when she came looking for him, when the time came, he showed where his true loyalties lied. And he trusted Vale. Even if the sudden revelation of family line was terrifying. He hadn't known Vale was from the same world. An elite daughter. She hadn't even known. 

Mortem scratched his beard, deep in thought, eyes distant as he adjusted pieces on a chessboard only he could see. "As the daughter of Kebar's right 'and. The daughter of an Enforcer, it will be easier for the world to believe Vale has fallin' into line. That she was in the rebellion to gain our trust before bringin' back vital information."