Deathmark felt his consciousness returning. He immediately struggled, but two sets of strong arms held him fast. He reached for his quantum, but felt weak as a kitten.
“Welcome back, Ralph,” he heard TeleRhyde say.
“Dea … Deathmark, you asshole.”
“Okay. Deathmark, if that’s how you want it.”
“Why are you doing this to me?” He wasn’t quite pleading. Not only was he proud, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good with TeleRhyde. He knew him too well.
“The Confederate says hello. He also says you want out … which is fine by us … you are free to come and go as you please after all.”
“Fuck you! Why are you here then, damn you?”
“See, Deathmark, we have done favors of you for many years now … so, why you are free to go, we kind of want that investment back.”
Deathmark is confused. What could that mean … and then he hears his little girl start screaming. Once more, he lunges against the two novas holding him down and he almost breaks free … almost.
“TeleRhyde, what the hell are you doing to Gretchen?”
“Nothing really, I’m just showing her all the things you have had covered up all these years. Every nasty thing you have had us bury, every murder we’ve covered up, every brutal thing you have done for your own amusement … I’m showing it to her. I went by several of your ex-comrades and asked them to share. So, I’m not really doing anything,” Rhyde said with and eerie calm,” you are. You did those things … all those things that are now etched into her mind … those things you wanted covered-up and buried. All I am doing is taking back that effort so that she can know who her father really is.”
“I’ll kill you!” Deathmark seethed.
“Really? Here’s your chance. Gurton, Malek … release him.”
For a second, the two hulking Primacy members hesitated. Gurton, an ex-soldier for the CZM, let go first. Malek … perhaps remembering TeleRhyde’s aid in his escape from Bahrain hesitated a few moments longer.
Deathmark stood up. He didn’t need his entropic forces to rip TeleRhyde’s much smaller frame to pieces. He reached out to the nova standing before him. Rhyde’s face had an utterly calm demeanor about it … he didn’t fear death … but his eyes … his eyes were filled with such a powerful hate that Deathmark hesitated. A look of utter contempt came over TeleRhyde’s face. Rhyde looked at his two associates and nodded.
“Let’s go.”
“What about him?” Gurton asked.
“I’m not in the habit of killing novas, Gurt, not even stupid, cowardly ones.” Rhyde’s comments stabbed Deathmark to the core. He and Rhyde had been close once. They had been through some dangerous times … and they had always been able to count on each other, even if they hadn’t been quite friends. He knew Rhyde was a Believer … a soldier for the cause, but he had never understood just how deep that faith ran … til now, and that terrified him. Only in this instance did he understand why Rhyde had risked a Pax-driven fist in order to drag him out of danger and imprisonment. Only now did he understand why Rhyde not only pushed himself so hard along the path of Teras, but also encouraged others so passionately along it as well. Rhyde was a fanatic, he was utterly insane, and he was exactly what the Teragen needed if it was to survive. Inside that world, there hadn’t been anything Rhyde wouldn’t have done for him. Outside of it, there was no amount of camaraderie or friendship that would protect him. To have a man he had been that close to, who had been so compassionate toward him and his family, so brave and honest when it counted … and now so cruel … it shook Deathmark to his foundation. The sobbing of his daughter brought him back from his delirium. Rushing into her room, her screams at the sight of him brought him back to reality.
In the back of his mind, he heard Rhyde’s voice once more,
I would get out of there if I were you. Your ex-wife knows about your secret accounts and a few other really bad things you’ve done. She is on the phone with the Directive right now, and they will want to talk with you. I had to scrub most of the sensitive information from your mind, but they may not buy that, so I suggest not getting caught. Look up, though. I’ll do what I can to see that none of us waste anymore time on you. You are indeed free now, but we both know that Freedom has a terrible price.

Rhyde had dropped off his two associates with the Confederate at one of his hidden estates in Africa. The two soldiers had been glad for their bit of reward for a job well done. He couldn’t blame them … they were new to the cause and they hadn’t spilled blood with Deathmark and they didn’t know him. Rhyde had and he hurt inside at the loss of another member. The black slave girl décor also annoyed him. He was equally sure that Shrapnel wouldn’t approve, so he made his excuses for not partaking and went off to see his mentor.
Shrapnel was in a rare mood when he arrived. She wore her human skin and seemed almost relaxed. He relayed the details of the mission to her … she had entrusted him with it, and seemed pleased.
“Barry,” she called the Confederate Barry when she didn’t approve of something he did or said, “wanted to make a public example of him, but I find your solution to be more ... poignant. The Monkeys are our enemies, not our own kind if we can help it. We will have to suffer a great many fools before we win.”
Rhyde nodded. There wasn’t much he could say with something that mirrored his own philosophy on the matter. He wasn’t someone who flattered needlessly.
He caught her eyeing him strangely.
“Natalya says you are good for me. You provide solutions that don’t involve piles of bodies, though you kill when I ask you. What do you think about that?”
“I believe you know what’s best, Shrapnel. You come at it from a different mindset, but that’s why I joined up with you. I wanted to be somewhere I could do some good … were I was needed.”
He spoke with the confidence of his convictions and not ego and Shrapnel picked up on that. She stood up and transformed into the Twisted Metal Angel of Death. She walked over to him and put a lethally sharp arm around him …not like a lover, but like an older sister to her younger brother.
“We’ll see …” was all she said.