Specter

Chapter 33 (Intermission): I, The Voice Of Temptation

We last read Chapter 32, in which the athletic girl Dashie discovers that she was nearly aborted by her mother and father before her birth, and officially confronts them about it. Cornered, her parents reveal that Dashie's mother developed a severe drinking habit shortly after the arrest of Dashie's cousin—and subsequent transfer to a far-off, isolated colony and eventual death—at the hands of the Iron Kingpin's ruthless regime. She would regularly venture away from the island in secret, alongside Dashie's father, to contact medical professionals to figure out what to do with her upcoming pregnancy, to which doctors often warned that Dashie would be more likely to be afflicted with ADHD as a result of Dashie's mother's drinking; since Dashie's mother didn't want her to grow up in a world ruled by the Iron Kingpin and already felt massive guilt for "ruining" her future daughter's health with her negative coping habits, she opted to try and abort her.....but the specialists in charge apparently botched the procedure in some way, resulting in Dashie being born anyway and forcing her parents to try and keep the failed abortion hidden, which worked up until that point.

But Dashie, distraught that her parents even entertained the idea of aborting her even though neither her nor her mother were in danger of dying—only that Dashie might grow up deficient—effectively disowns them and sorrowfully runs away from home, much to her parents' heartbreak and repeated attempts to apologize.

She eventually returns to the Obsidian Sanctum, King Ryker's base of operations, where she meets up with the King shortly after the latter finishes conversing with his butler Sylvester. While vaguely alluding to recent events, Dashie says that her home isn't what she once knew it as, and voices her desire to move on and secure a spot on King Ryker's court alongside T.J., to which Ryker cheerfully agrees; with Dashie officially on board, she, Ryker, and Sylvester all go to sleep in separate rooms.

The chapter then ended with Moody a.k.a. Specter returning to the same dream pocket which she had visited for the past several nights, with her very first instinct being to apologize to the mysterious voice for "failing" then at the skating rink.....only for the voice—now much clearer—to forgo her apology and reveal that it's already free. Stunned, Specter turns around.....and is greeted by the spirit of the Iron Kingpin himself.

This time, we find out what the Iron Kingpin could possibly want with his most staunch opponent.....

***********************************************************************************************

Specter didn't want to believe it, but it was true; the spirit of the Iron Kingpin—the once-tyrant of the Rusted Citadel and the source of many conflicts and horrors committed within the island city both during and after his reign—was standing right in front of her, looking as real as ever. His formerly-shiny, nearly-full-bodied suit of silver armor was now charred with numerous blackened streaks from when he was thrown into a burning blue fire by The Viper, and what little was showing of his flesh was visibly peeling and tearing away, and his glass eye rolled about loosely within its housed socket. He effectively looked like he was a zombie.

And, like a zombie, he irregularly staggered forward in Specter's direction, taking unsynchronized steps with uneven intervals between them, until both tyrant and rebel were only a few feet from each other.

The usually snarky and confident Specter was now extremely caught off-guard by the Iron Kingpin's sudden appearance, sounding utterly horrified as though she still couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"How are you here?" she asked in confusion and terror. "You're.....you're supposed to be....."

"Dead?" the Iron Kingpin finished, before chuckling darkly.