Chapter 58: The Myth of Astra

Rachel had made it clear what she wanted, and now she had to go through the exhaustive screening portion to give Tom a picture of who she was and how useful she could be under the right circumstances.

While going through her troubled past, manipulative behaviors in hiding her feelings, and raging internal aggression from that turning point in her life, Rachel also touched on her connection to Scarlet.

She plainly stated she couldn’t talk about certain things about the vespertine reaper that she’d entrusted to her, which was also a power move to give her more leverage in keeping the girl a harmless little bat.

An hour passed, and Richard relieved her to gather his notes. Just as she was about to leave, he added one last request. "Oh, and could you direct Selvaria to join me in twenty minutes?"

A frown touched Rachel’s eyes. "You’re making Scarlet stew... She’ll only become more nervous with every person that goes before her. It’s mean, but I guess you have to test her in ways other than me..."

He folded his fingers together with an even stare. "If you are thinking about PMCs, then military personnel have to be able to respond to high-stress situations. Situations where people’s lives are held in your hands by a hair’s breadth, and you don’t have the support of a government body or extensive training. Judging by the psychological profile I’ve built from the reports I have thus far..."

He shook his head. "I wouldn’t recommend her being anywhere near combat zones. She needs a stable life and people with whom she can rebuild trust and boundaries, yet you’ve handcuffed her to your leg. You, who, as you’ve described yourself, crave high-tension situations—to provide more leverage.

"I’d say that is far...meaner, Rachel. She obviously will develop trust and abandonment issues from her trauma, which could be devastating with how you’ve maneuvered your current relationship. I do believe you are trying to help her—to an extent—but you will need to draw a line soon, or things have a high probability of spiraling out of control for her, you, and your family. How far? I may be able to give you a rough projection in our next session. You likely already know this, though..."

Lips drawing in, Rachel left without a response; he wasn’t wrong, and her gut squirmed at the blunt evaluation. She had to pull Scarlet closer or break away, but it wasn’t Scarlet she was worried about; Veronica was the one who weighed on her mind, which was the critical piece of information complicating things that Richard was missing.

Barbara’s head lifted as she exited, spotting her neutral expression. "Ah, Rachel. If you could follow me. He’s made some time."

Puffing out a long stream of air, she nodded and directed one of the Green Berets to deliver her message to the leviathan before following the captain into the same room they’d used earlier. A laptop had been set up; the legend remained with her and promptly opened the device.

"It should only be a moment—ah, speak of the black-eyed devil."

General Dallas had dark rings under his eyes, yet he smirked slightly at her chiming comment. "I’ve been told you have something new to report to me... Your giant tree prediction was on point, and negotiations to get inside it are not going well. Now the United Kingdom wants to know where we got our intelligence from since the damn thing sprung up right next to the Houses of Parliament."

Barbara chuckled. "It’s become a whole political mess, hasn’t it?"

"Shockingly, yes... Ugh. What else can you add to my plate, Rachel? Who was it this time?"

Rachel recounted the vision in detail, mentioning the rabbit Moongmor on the goddess’ shoulder and the urgent need to rescue the fairy mythickin.

Tom ran his hand over his face. "Great... I don’t even have an answer as to where the mythickin fairy is—"

"I might be of assistance."

The screen fritzed, pixelated, and swapped to a cute pixel art of an ever-changing face, with a blurry halo behind it and a fancy ’A’ inside it. The flickering, flaming eye on the laptop instantly caught her attention as smaller pixel avatars did random activities across the display, such as taking pictures of each other and playing games.

"How..." Tom trailed off as the hacker chuckled, a fluctuating deep-to-feminine, filtered voice following.

"Did I beat your encryption? Chaos and earthquakes! Haha. It was child’s play for someone like the Myth of Astra—my calling card online. I’m dressed up, amped up, and in a black car—but you’re going to freak when you see what I’ve managed to collect, despite your precautions, General."

"What do you want?" Tom growled.

"Oh, in due time! Cracking your code has certainly whetted my appetite, but to get me on planes and to fly across the US at the drop of a hat? It’s big! You have no idea how many energy drinks I’m running on and the lengths I went to win your game! I’m in love with this changing world."

A smile brightened Rachel’s face. "You’re interested in me?"

"Haha! Conceited much? Eh...somewhat in you, but mostly the circumstances surrounding you! I’ve been rather fascinated by this little development in Miami—the pieces on the board that you’ve shown me, Tommy. Is this who you’re looking for, Rachel Park?"

A sideways angle of what appeared to be a hacked phone showed a dark room with a small, white-haired girl in a fish tank. Her face was puffy and red as someone loomed over the container out of view; she was wingless and a perfect match to who she’d seen in her vision.

"It...is."

"Fiona White, or Flutter Wings, as she’s known online. A somewhat successful Gaelic teacher and singing streamer; you can find all of her VODs to confirm it, and there’s even one of hers just after The Oscillation, as you’ve coined it, General.

"In my humble opinion, she has quite the cute and wholesome channel from what I’ve seen, which is a shame because she has been taken hostage by a group of Cuban-affiliated gangsters that run the operations in the sunny state... Have I piqued your interest yet?"

A strange, filtered pop sounded from the audio before the hacker’s logo returned, a male avatar now smiling in the background. "I think we can have all sorts of fun. Care to hear more? Because your time is running out, and I bet you’re dying to know why!"