Proving Grounds [Complete]

[Lord Zedd]

Lord Zedd waited on a small balcony, with Knox on one side of him and Grace on the other. Somewhere else, Cade sat with a higher vantage point. In the middle of the Tier Three park they had secure overwatch on, Laci was jogging about in a tanktop and a pair of running shorts. She had reasoned that she might as well get her daily workout in, if she had to loiter around and wait to be ambushed.

It seemed like so long ago now that Zedd had orchestrated the overthrow of the Machine Empire and made a glorious return to his castle. It had been stolen in an instant, and now he was stuck with these insolent Stormtroopers and their petty gossip.

“I’m just saying,” Grace’s voice squawked from behind her helmet’s voice modulator. “You and Laci would make a really cute couple.”

“Come on, though,” Knox shook his own masked head. “I have to work with her. What if it goes badly? We’ll have to deal with that every single shift.”

“Don’t focus on the bad, think about the good!” Grace provided a counter-point.

“You must talk about something else,” Zedd broke his silence, unable to bear another painful second of this banter.

The two Stormtroopers paused, having momentarily forgotten that the dark lord could actually speak, given his complete silence since the break room he’d "introduced" himself in. They glanced to each other, then back to the prime that refused to look anywhere but the park below them. They gazed out as well, to make sure Laci was covered, before continuing this conversation.

“So, where do you come from, Zedd?” Knox asked. “Before the Omniverse, I mean.”

Zedd sighed softly and wistfully. “I was once the ruler of an endless domain of evil. Entire species lived or died based on my whims. Now I am here.”

“It’s not so bad,” Grace shrugged. “At least, compared to what I know. Coruscant is really nice, the Vasty Deep is supposed to be the perfect vacation spot, and the Dataverse is the Internet on steroids.”

“Yes, I have observed this Dataverse,” Zedd acknowledged, tapping the side of his red visor that was now synced to it. “I am unimpressed.”

“You? On the Dataverse?” Grace giggled softly as she looked over the walking horror show. “What in the world would you search for?”

“I studied something called the Omniverse Villain Leaderboard,” Zedd explained. “It should be useful information, but none of those scum are anything impressive.”

“The Omniverse…Villain…” Grace slowly repeated, shocked that something so blatant could exist.

“Dude, you can’t be posting on sites like that,” Knox interjected. “It’s clearly a set up.”

“A set up for what?” Zedd queried, looking over his shoulder at the Stormtrooper.

“I don’t know, to be honest,” Knox admitted after a second of consideration. “But nothing good can come of a place like that.”

“Yea, you’re not allowed to use the Dataverse without checking with us, first,” Grace agreed.

Zedd’s visor flared a crimson red. How dare they chat with him so casually, and to top it all off give him orders as well? His first instinct was to disregard Captain Desh’s instructions and exterminate these inferior beings, but their hand held radio keying up prevented him from dwelling any further on that wondrous idea.

“Alright, I got four people closing in on Laci,” Cade’s voice suddenly said over the static of the radio. “Sketchy looking bunch.”

Zedd gazed out at the park, locking his vision on the four that Cade had described. They did indeed stand out, with their ragged clothing and shifty gait. It almost looked like they were asking to be noticed in a nicer place like this. Their mistake.

“We’re looking at them,” Knox confirmed, not immediately noticing Zedd leaping from the balcony. “Laci, keep some distance and we’ll sneak up on the….Zedd’s gone.”

“What?” Cade’s voice came back over, but the other two armored Stormtroopers were quickly scrambling to follow the prime.

“Just move in!” Knox replied as he and Grace began descending the ladder towards the park.

Laci turned around as soon she heard the chatter in her earpiece. Sure enough, there were four men approaching that surely didn’t belong in such a clean and cared for place. Their clothes were ragged and their hair was unkempt. She was shocked she hadn’t noticed them earlier, but that was probably a part of their initiation, too. She paced several steps back, and reached behind her back for her concealed pistol in the waistband of her shorts.

Her heart was pounding, though. Was she going to have to shoot one of them? She’d heard the lectures and scenarios as she went through her Stormtrooper training, but all of that seemed to vanish as she faced a real life or death situation. One of them had a knife in their hands. She actually forgot all about her teammates, but could only bring herself to pace backwards, and didn’t draw her gun, yet. Her eyes widened in fear.

One of the thugs smiled as he approached. “We’ll make this real quick, gir-“

Lord Zedd stepped in between the group and bashed one of them in the head with his staff. The thug hit the pavement and blood sprayed from his head, but the other three could only gasp in horror at the being before them. It looked like something had crawled out of a horror movie and set foot onto Tier Three.

The hopeful criminal wielding the knife panicked as he thrust the knife forward and plunged it into Zedd’s abdomen. To the man’s continued terror, the dark lord did not even flinch. His head shifted downwards, and it was possible that he might be gazing into the man’s eyes. It was too difficult to know for sure, through Zedd’s facemask.

Zedd shoved the man backwards, then stepped after him and impaled the criminal with the spiked end of his staff. The surviving two screamed at this point, but when they attempted to retreat they turned to see the barrels of Knox and Grace’s blaster rifles.

“Laci!” Knox immediately shouted. “Are you alright?”

“Yea,” Laci said, still shaken as she drew her own pistol and trained it on one of the criminals. “Yea, I’m fine. Thanks.”

Zedd had no time for the woman and her inexperience. He marched up one of the men and grabbed him by the neck, hoisting him upwards. The criminal gurgled as he struggled against the pressure on his windpipe, and the other prisoner as well as the Stormtroopers watched Zedd carefully.

“Tell me where I will find the Bulldog,” Lord Zedd demanded of the gasping outlaw.

“I’ll never tell you anything, you Imperial freak show,” the man wheezed through the steel grip on his neck.

“That’s on you,” Zedd gave a simple retort.

He applied just enough pressure to destroy the man’s windpipe and snap his neck with a sickening crack. Upon doing so he discarded the man’s corpse like garbage, and approached the final surviving initiate. The man’s eyes were wide in terror, and he was caught completely off guard when the Prime swung his staff upwards. Zedd caught the man under the chin and knocked him off his feet, onto his back. As Cade finally joined the group, Zedd stood over the man.

“I will ask you the same question,” Lord Zedd demanded. “Where do I find the facilitator of these flimsy trials?”

“If…if you kill me…” the man gasped from the floor. “…then you will never find the Bulldog.”

“He will send more, and your death will mean nothing,” Zedd pointedly reminded the man as he raised his staff for the killing blow.

“Wait! Wait!” the criminal suddenly begged as he saw his life flash before his eyes.

“Talk. Now!” Zedd matched the volume of his victim’s voice.

“He’s at a bar in Tier Four! It’s called the Spoony Bard!” the man stuttered out. “He was supposed to meet us there to give us further instructions.”

A low cackle escaped Zedd’s steel facemask. “I hope you’re not lying, but to be fair, it’s really none of your concern any longer.”

Grace yelped in surprise as she watched Zedd drive the staff into the man’s skull. Knox and Cade exchanged concerned glances, as well, able to read each others expressions even through their heavy masks. They were really supposed to follow this guy?

“I suppose it is time to descend one more tier,” Zedd decreed as he ripped the staff from the final deceased gangster. “Come, minions. We have much to do, still.”

Laci gulped as she holstered her pistol. The four watched silently as Lord Zedd marched off.