Chapter 453

Chapter 453

The Commander didn’t immediately continue. For a moment, he seemed lost in thought. Jake watched him carefully. While the human managed to maintain a poker face, Jake couldn’t help but feel the Commander was deciding how much he should reveal.

“So, who is the person who contacted Catalina’s team?” Jake prodded, unwilling to give the Commander more time to think. “One of your people or someone else?”

“One of mine,” the Commander said, carefully choosing words. “Or at least, he was. His name is Mad Mick. Well, that’s what we used to call him.”

Catalina raised an eyebrow. “Mad Mick?”

“Yes. Before I tell you more about him, can you tell me exactly what he told you?”

Before Catalina could utter a word, Jake cut in, “No. Tell us more about him first.”

The Commander stared daggers at him. For a moment, it looked as though he was about to deliver a sharp remark, but he seemed to suppress the urge. Instead, he said, “You still don’t trust me, huh? Still think I’m hiding something?”

“We asked about him first,” Jake countered. “You’re always comparing me to humans, pointing out how I should act more like them. Well, isn’t it a basic courtesy for humans not to respond to a question with a question of your own? We asked you to tell us more about Mad Mick, so tell us about him, and then we’ll tell you in turn what he told us.”

The Commander kept staring at him in silence for another moment. In his peripheral vision, he caught Catalina casting a quick glance at him, and from her expression, he could tell she realized that what he had just said was intended for her benefit only. Mad Mick had provided her people with a meeting point, but Jake had no intention of sharing that detail with the Commander. They had no idea what the relationship between the Spartans and Mad Mick was, and prematurely revealing his location to the Commander wouldn’t be wise. From her expression, he could tell Catalina now understood this as well.

“Alright then,” the Commander said at last. “I’ll tell you all there is to know about Mad Mick.”

He even shrugged his shoulders, as if it wasn’t a big deal, but Jake could see right through it. The Commander was fuming, though he did his best not to let it show.

“Initially, Mad Mick was one of us,” the Commander continued. “He stayed here at our base, inventing all sorts of things. He wasn’t a soldier. His main skills were engineering and crafting, and he was exceptionally good at it. For example, the weapons my people use against the ravagespawn are his invention.”

“Didn’t you say earlier that you developed those weapons yourselves?” Catalina asked.

Frowning, the Commander admitted, “Yes, I did. But back then, Mick was a Spartan, so technically, I figured it was fair to call his invention ours.”

Or maybe you said that because you had no intention of telling us about Mad Mick at all,

Jake thought. He didn’t voice the thought.

“So how did he get the name ‘Mad Mick’?” Catalina asked.

“Well, you see, the reason he was so skilled at inventing and crafting was because of a legendary perk granted by the System long ago, as a reward for completing an exceptionally difficult challenge,” the Commander explained. “However, that perk came with a disadvantage.”

“What do you mean? What disadvantage?”

“It messed with his mind,” the Commander said. “Turned him into some sort of crazy scientist straight out of old cartoons, y’know? There was always something going on in his head. He was constantly mumbling, his mind always in overdrive. He barely paid attention to us, always locked away in his tech lab, obsessively tinkering, always working and experimenting, trying to invent various useful devices for us.”

The Commander paused, shaking his head.

“Most of the time, when he spoke to us, it was to request more resources for his inventions. But, as you can imagine, given our circumstances, we never had the luxury of abundant supplies. The weapons we use now were his only truly successful creation. The others, not so much. I can only imagine what he could’ve achieved if our city hadn’t been infested by the Ravage and he could get all the resources he needed for his experiments.”

“Did he acquire this perk before the emergence of the Ravage or after?” Catalina asked.

“Don’t know. He never told us. Talking to him was never easy. It was hard to understand what he was saying or what he was trying to tell us. He could start on one topic before suddenly jumping to another and then almost immediately start talking about something completely unrelated. Most of the time, he wasn’t even listening to us. Sometimes, he seemed to be arguing with himself, as if two different personalities were living in him.”

The Commander fell silent. Catalina waited a moment, but when he didn’t continue, she prompted, “So why is he no longer with you?”

The Commander didn’t immediately reply. After a brief pause, he said, “As time passed, he seemed to withdraw into himself more and more. Eventually, he almost stopped responding to us altogether. And then… he suddenly decided to leave. He didn’t tell us why, where he was going, or what was on his mind.”

“And you just let him go?”

“We tried to talk sense into him, of course,” the Commander replied. “He was safe with us, and at our base, we could take care of him. Out there, however, was nothing but the Ravage Contamination. Even for a soldier, surviving on the streets is impossible. We ourselves live far below ground, making only short trips to the outside world when needed. But Mad Mick wouldn’t listen to reason. Short of tying him up, there was no way to stop him. So he left. And until now, I haven’t heard a word from him.”

The Commander finished speaking. Jake caught him stealing a glance at the two of them, as if assessing whether they bought his story. Which was clearly made-up. Something else had happened between the Spartans and Mad Mick, something the Commander didn’t want Jake or Catalina to know.

“That’s it?” Catalina asked after realizing the Commander had nothing more to add.

“Yep. That’s it.”

Catalina nodded calmly, her face composed, her expression giving the impression she didn’t suspect a thing. However, Jake’s keen perception caught the subtle tension in her features that told him that she, just like him, realized the Commander was hiding something.

“So I told you everything there is to know about Mad Mick,” the Commander said, pointedly looking at Jake. “Now it’s your turn to share. Tell me what he told you.”

Catalina was the one to answer. “If it was indeed Mad Mick who contacted my people…”

“I can’t imagine who else it would’ve been,” the Commander cut in.

“Right. Well, he wasn’t very talkative. He told my people he knew who they were and why they’d come. My people said he was speaking oddly, and it was difficult to understand him.”

Jake didn’t need to warn her not to mention that Mad Mick had given them a location where they could meet him, as Catalina had already realized they had to conceal this detail from the Commander.

“He was talking in riddles, making it hard to follow,” Catalina added.

“That’s Mad Mick, all right. Exactly how he used to speak. And still does, apparently.”

“Then, without warning, he disconnected before my people could press him for more details,” Catalina concluded.

The Commander stared at her for a moment, his eyes studying her expression as if trying to determine whether she was telling the truth or not. Judging by the disappointed look on his face, he couldn’t figure it out.

“Did he say anything else?” the Commander asked in a nonchalant manner after a pause. “Perhaps he wanted to meet your people? Maybe he asked for your help? Did he tell you where he was?”

Even though he tried to sound casual, the subtle shift in his tone when he asked the final question betrayed him, making it clear that was what he actually wanted to know.

“No to all of the above,” Catalina said.

“How did he sound?” the Commander pressed on. “What if he’s in some kind of trouble? What if he needs our help? We need to find him. Are you sure he didn’t tell your people where he was?”

“I’m sure,” Catalina said firmly. “I would’ve remembered. And he didn’t ask for any help. If he needed it, I think he would’ve said so.”

“Well, like I said before, he had difficulty communicating with people. How did he sound to you? Did he seem like he was in trouble?”

“No. My people didn’t mention anything like that, so I’d say he sounded fine.”

“I see,” the Commander said, clearly disappointed by her answer.

“Besides,” Jake added, “don’t you think that if he needed help, he would’ve reached out to you a long time ago? Especially since he seems to have some kind of scanning tech and a communication unit at his disposal.”

“Right,” the Commander said flatly.

After that, nobody spoke for a moment. Jake could tell Catalina was barely holding back from stealing a glance at him, afraid to do so for fear the Commander might think the two of them were conspiring against him.

Jake could tell she clearly wanted to talk to him privately about what they had just learned, so he said to the Commander, “Well, I think we discussed everything there was to discuss.”

“Yeah,” Catalina said, flashing the Commander a polite smile. “I think I’ll take you up on that offer to get some rest now.”

“Very well,” the Commander replied. “Find Silvia and let her know I told her to arrange a place for you to rest. She can also get you something to eat if you’re hungry.”

“Sounds great.” Catalina’s gaze swept across the cavern. “Where is she, though?”

The Commander pointed toward the far side of the vast space. “She’s at her usual station over there. But if you can’t find her, just ask somebody, and they’ll show you the way.”

Catalina nodded. “Got it. Thanks.”

“Just make sure you don’t leave the cavern. The tunnels are like a maze, easy to get lost in.”

“Don’t wander the tunnels. Got it.”

The Commander turned his attention to Jake. “And what about you? What are you planning to do?”

“While it’s night, I’ll explore the city, see what’s what, get the lay of the land. By morning, I’ll be back, and we can join your people on a Titan hunt.”

The Commander stared at him suspiciously for a moment. Then he said, “You want to find D, don’t you?”

Jake didn’t bother denying it.

“The thought has crossed my mind, yes,” he admitted.

“You’d better stay away from him,” the Commander warned. “Unlike you, he can’t speak. Writing is no longer easy for him either, so you two won’t be able to communicate. And he’s likely lost the last of his humanity by now and will simply attack you on sight.”

“Weren’t you the one asking me to hunt him down in the first place?”

“Yes, but that was before you pointed out that D must’ve reached the final stage of evolution by now, growing much stronger than you are. If you face him in battle, Jake, I doubt you’ll survive.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

Again, silence hung between them for a moment. Finally, the Commander nodded. “Alright then. You’re both dismissed,” he said, as if they were under his command. Jake and Catalina turned to leave.