Chapter 147: The Little Old Me The next little bit was fun but also kind of annoying. The good part was that I was able to spend some more time with friends and family; the bad part was waiting for the inevitable, because, oh boy, did I just want to murder some Dominious Hood idiots? Was that too much to ask? Apparently so, as the date for the mission was never sped up. Nina kept me updated on those details, which I appreciated. I knew she was doing this partly so I didn’t attempt to ask on my own and because I was going to be part of the attack squad. She made sure that I had a ticket to the fun, which was greatly appreciated because trying to get there on my own was likely not going to be easy. Which I had deeply contemplated doing. I mean, why not cut all the child’s play arguments and go there directly? The answer to that was it was bloody well hard. I had spent a good amount of time with Espr discussing if it was feasible, and yeah… it didn’t seem likely. Despite my abilities, I couldn’t fly anywhere close to the speed of spaceships, so just flinging myself wasn’t a good option. Buying a ship and trying to go at it myself also had a range of difficulties, due to all the people who would try to stop me on either side of the argument. Sadly, there was no bullshit magic method for me to get over there either. (“ At least you don’t have to wait any longer? ”) That is the biggest lie I have ever heard someone speak to me. (“ We both know that is far from the truth ”) Technically correct…. Espr was correct, though; the time of reckoning and my fun were soon approaching. My emotions were certainly a mess, in a good way? I mean, if I were being truthful, I hadn’t been exactly sane since my time on Espr’s surface. Not sure if that was the loneliness, the mutilations, the near-death experiences, everything in between those, the deep anger I felt for those who wronged me, the love I felt that I couldn’t touch or see… Eh, hard to say, really. I’m not sure if this change was due to my being literally changing, as my brain wasn’t human anymore, and I was certainly more controlled by my soul, that was for sure, or if it was just me finally dealing with the whole fuckload of issues I had been dealing with. The contract and the associated countdown, the torturous soul pain, my own weakness, and the concern I held for my family were all things that had been causing me problems for a long time, but I had dealt with all of them. Family was now extra protected, and all the other issues were also solved thanks to my evolution. All of that was a sensible reason for feeling good, but it felt as if I could feel all of my emotions easier? As they were all separate dials, I was feeling happy, angry, and sad. Honestly, I was basically trying to completely ignore that, which was kind of working? Wanting to keep thinking like I was made me think, well, like how I was. Again, I was not sure if this had something to do with me becoming a Spiritual Being, or the fact that I just have never dealt with my emotions properly for such a long time. I sat there for a while just debating why I was feeling the way I did. Wow… I must be really bored with waiting if I am debating my emotions of all things… (“ What were you doing  ”) As said, debating emotions. (“ Wow, you really were bored ”) However, eventually my prayers were answered, and I got my wish for our ride to their murder express to happen. Nina and I, along with a few of her followers… including Lila, were on a spacecraft ready to meet up with a larger fleet for the final preparations. Lila’s inclusion in this granted me more mixed feelings, but I couldn’t exactly tell her not to come. I understood she wanted revenge as well, and doing this would help with whatever sentence they tried to pin on her. I met up with Nina, as the two of us were going together on the central ship for the main bigshots discussion. I said, “Thanks for the gear.” Nina cringed lightly at my thanks. “Are you sure you don’t require anything more robust?” The gear I was currently wearing was some of the most common but decent drab armour someone could buy. “Nope.” Nina had offered better gear, but I purposely requested something flexible and simple, which met the requirements of. “My few sets of gear haven’t exactly lasted well, and I’ve adjusted my combat style to be less reliant on the protection offered by armour.” It wasn’t exactly cockiness from my end; my current body… really was better than most armour, and while most didn’t mean all, getting the armour that would actually be useful for me wouldn’t be easy or feasible on such short notice. My physical body was many times stronger, but it wasn’t immune to damage. Out of everything, it was what was improved the least; however, if it did break or get damaged, my largely improved regenerative abilities were still here. Anything that could be seriously harmful was a weapon like the black arrow, which harmed the soul, but that arrow would pierce through any armour I wore anyway. I added, “As I said, any funds you wish to spend on gear for me, please spend that on Lila.” “That has been done.” I was going in, not as Ceella, the superpowered individual, but just as one of Nina’s entourage. That was the easiest way to do this without getting a bunch of extra approval. I really didn’t bother with the background details as Nina was gratefully dealing with all that. Though if they did ever fail, my plans were to either try and sneak aboard or to fly solo, despite how hard the latter might be. Let’s hope this goes well. (“ Why wouldn’t it? ”) I just don’t want to beat someone up on the first date, you know? Tich, wrong person to joke with. “Hopefully, there is no trouble; it would be awful to beat someone up on the first encounter.” Nina asked, very concerned, “Besides Dominous Hood, have you actually done that to someone?” “Besides Dominous Hood and other criminals, hmm… I beat up one person I went on a date with. Before you ask why, they did deserve it.” “This was before I was super strong, so they were fine; as said, it was very deserved.” Nina sighed, “I will trust you on that…” We transferred ships by the connector tunnel and boarded the large ship. “I know you were joking earlier, but let’s not cause trouble.” Nina's words were firm. “I also don’t want to deal with any more of these playtime debates than I have to.” There was a lot of unnecessary stress that was just leaking from Nina at the moment when she said those words. Hmm… yeah, let’s try and not cause trouble. Everything going smoothly was the best outcome for this. I also wanted to speak with Lila more, since I only found out about her inclusion last minute, which was completely my own fault. I never asked or questioned Nina about who she was bringing or Lila about what her plans were. We entered the large war room where there were plenty of people already present, a few of whom I recognised on some level, but I didn’t know the names of everyone that I felt was familiar. Nina sent a message through my helmet visor, saying to just follow her. I was going to be her guard for this, so the silent approach was the plan. “Hello Nina, it has been too long.” An old bloke walked up to Nina to welcome her aboard. Nina, while her expression didn’t shift, didn’t feel exactly comfortable with me. I was feeling the slight vibration in her soul with weak soul pressure. Thanks to my changes, I could sense surface-level feelings with my soul pressure. It probably had wider usage, but I didn’t see it as something I was going to use often. “Yes, it has. I’m glad you are doing well.” I wasn’t sure why she felt uncomfortable purely based on her emotions, but by how relaxed the man felt, I believed it was the difference in how both of them took the seriousness of the situation. Nina had spent my sleepless days working on this operation and trying to coordinate everything. Of course, at her level, she could go for many days without sleep, but most at her level still chose to sleep daily, as it was very relaxing and helped the mind. “Yes, yes, very, actually. I was wondering if we could talk about a job.” He tried to sway the conversation. “Gerleard. No talks about any other topics until this operation has been completed.” Her expression was still neutral, but her words were firm. “I understand. I will have a message sent to you later so you can read up on it.” He smiled to himself before he spoke to Nina more; his eyes were attached to another figure who entered the area, who apparently had more importance to him. I spoke to Nina through our private communications, “Does that happen often?” She whispered, “More than I care for.” “Yikes, that's bad.” She could hear me from her earpiece. We walked around as Nina spoke to a few more faces that she was actually happy to speak with. Nina wasn’t the only one with a guard, though; she was probably the only one with a guard like me–that was there only as a guard because getting the proper permission would be hard. Actually… let me check everyone else; this would be the perfect opportunity for a Dominous Hood piece of shit to sneak in. It is kind of impressive how badly the information has kind of spilled out. (“ Human secrecy is quite pathetic ”) Based on how much information that shouldn’t be known, that is, I am inclined to agree with you. Annoying, some of the only people on a large scale that have managed to be secretive are Dominous Hood. (“ They are the only organisation with that level of information control, to not mention all of what you know about their convoluted information keeping ”) While I was doing my super serious guard dutying. “Susan?” Nina questioned as she walked up to another woman on this large ship. “Oh, Nina, I’m glad to meet you in person for the first time.” Susan had brown eyes and dull red hair; she appeared to be wearing formal clothing, but it appeared to be at least secretively military-grade protective armour. Where have I seen her before–oh, the Blazers. Look at how everything cycles back. From what I gleaned from their conversation, this was the first time they had met face-to-face, but they had communicated a few times before this. Based on her attitude, Susan was in the crowd of people taking this as seriously as possible. Nina asked, “Was your grandfather appearing here today?” Susan sighed, “I know you are saying that from a strategic point of view, but that has repetitive questions today.” Susan looked at me. “You brought guards with you?” Maybe for some it wouldn’t be weird, but Nina was strong in her own right, so she didn’t really need protection. “Being professional. People like to tell me to have a guard by my side, so I am listening to that request for once.” Nina's eyes glanced at me. “So I picked someone at least competent to be by my side.” I said, “Thanks for the compliment.” Nina and Susan looked like they were prepared to have a much longer conversation. However, another figure walked up to the three of us. “Oh, hello, what a pleasant surprise to see you two here.” His voice carried a stench of annoyance that I wanted to swat. Present surprise my arse, fuck, I thought there wouldn’t be someone as annoying as the third woman, but I stand corrected. Nina replied, “Benjamin…” Before he even started his talk with the two ladies beside me, the man turned to me, and so I inquired, “What could you require from little old me?” He gestured as if to shoo me away. “I would like you to leave. I need to have a private conversation with these two.” Nina said, “No, anything you need to tell me can be heard in front of my guard.” In a condescending attitude, “Please, Nina, you need to understand, privacy is important.” I asked through our comms, “Nina, do you want me to smack him? I can do it non-physically?” “Want?” She sent nonverbal messages through our communication. She clearly wanted to, but she knew I shouldn’t do such a thing. I said aloud, “Well, I agreed that filthy rats should know their place and fuck off, and while you do that, why don’t you have a shower?” “Not well trained, I see–” He choked on his own words as my soul pressure strangled his body; he was unable to fall on the ground or even move. I said, “Nina, it appears this man brought some actual rats with him.” I clicked my fingers, and thin sticks of light appeared outside of the ship, around this man’s ship that I had discovered with [Star Mapping]. “Don’t worry. Let me do some cleanup.”