Mercy was not what the Taskmaster had expected. The last time they had spoken, in his laboratory on Exegol, the agent had been full of fiery defiance. She had nearly killed him then and there, protecting the secret of her pregnancy and her escape from Mawite control - if indeed the Maw had
ever truly controlled her. Since then, they had waged a shadow war against one another - both were outwardly loyal to the cause of the Brotherhood, but each used Brotherhood warriors against the other. Many had died in the crossfire of their secret conflict, the duel behind the scenes of the Second Great Hyperspace War.
But now... now Mercy seemed to have lost that fire. Tu'teggacha had sensed her despair when last they had faced each other, her longing for her dead lover, but not like this. That despair seemed to have
consumed her, dragging her down into a dark place where she hardly even resisted him any longer. And the Ebruchi found that he was... disappointed. He had been looking forward to taking another crack at breaking her, finding some way to incinerate each of the personalities that lurked in her mind and forging an obedient servant from the ashes. Failing that, it would have been satisfying simply to kill her.
To rip out her soul, as he had threatened, and keep it from her lover
forever.
But now? Now any such victory would feel hollow. Mercy was beaten, but not by anything that
he had done. Her deep bond to a man who was now dead and gone had dragged her down, as if she was a swimmer chained by the ankle to a great and terrible weight. Most of the fight seemed to have gone out of her. Though she still
verbally resisted him, her words betrayed a troubling fatalism. She really, truly did not care if she lived or died. Not even the prospect of his capturing her children seemed to faze her; she seemed to truly believe that these
infants would somehow resist him. It was pure delusion, of course.
They were not yet even born. He would shape them from the very beginning.
Not yet born, but about to be. Mercy doubled over, a hand flying to her belly, and the Taskmaster's smile grew still further - his facial tentacles splayed out so far that the black gums around his horrific ring of teeth were clearly visible.
"Poor, deluded woman. You will not live to see how wrong you are. The twins will belong to me - body, mind, and soul." Pressing a button on his wrist communicator, Tu'teggacha summoned the medical droids he'd kept on standby, awaiting this very moment. They would assist with the birth, ensuring the safe delivery of the twins. The mother's health was... secondary at best.
Certainly they would not give her
anything for the pain.
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~ You are stronger than me right now, ~ Kallan's wife told him, entwining her fingers with his. ~
She refuses control of the body from me and fights against me, but she offers it to you. Couldn't you try to control it and escape? ~ Kallan felt the color drain from his face at the thought. He was afraid, and he did not hide it. Mercy, Asher, they were combat-trained and highly experienced after more than a decade of war... but him? He was a speeder mechanic, with little practice in the ways of battle. Escaping from whatever cruel prison the Taskmaster had placed Mercy in was a task for a holovid hero...
... surely not for him, a simple man who'd never won a fight in his life.
But who else was there? What other possible option?
~ I don't know if I can stop him, ~ Kallan said, confessing his fears.
~ Asher could have done it, but I'm not him, Keilara. I'm just... just me. What do I know about fighting sorcerers and breaking out of prisons? ~ Nothing at all - except the echoes of memory that bounced around Mercy's mind, experiences hard-won across fifteen long years of brutal, grinding battle. But maybe
knowing how didn't matter right then. Maybe all that mattered was to
try. There was little chance of success, not with him in the driver's seat of the body they shared, but there was no one else available.
~ They're our family, Kallan. The Taskmaster can't take them away from us. ~
He couldn't let this happen without a fight.
~ I'll try, ~ he said.
But it was already too late to escape before the birth, because the birth had begun.
~ We have to help her through this, ~ Kallan said, a look of determination crossing his frightened features. Only afterward, once the children were safely delivered and Mercy had survived the process, could they find some way to escape and save their family. With an effort of will, Kallan rose from the safe place in the sheltered depths of his host's mind, rising up in her consciousness.
~ I'm here, Mercy, ~ he said, squeezing her hand with ghostly fingers, showing her she wasn't alone.
~ I'll be here for you the whole time. ~
And he readied himself to fully inhabit the body they shared.
Nyaeli
