Dungeon of Torment

34. Commander

Netta's headquarters were above the Domino gate. She stood over a to-scale model plan of the fortress, a drink in hand. Chinchilla and his cronies had found a way to make alcohol, it tasted nasty but the effect was what she was after. She took a long swig, hoping to sear the Palace of Giants from her memory. There was a knock on the door followed by Hades stepping into the room, without waiting for her permission.

The Commander set down her glass on the table with more force than necessary. He was the last person that she wanted to see. The door swung shut behind him and Hades saluted her smartly.

"Come to check out the office, Captain?" Netta questioned icily. "Know that I have no intention of giving it up to you."

"It's a little too big for my taste, too many books, too many eyes outside."

Netta bristled angrily.

"Oh, so you're planning the changes you're going to make? Get out."

"I'm trying to tell you, that I have no interest in taking your command from you."

Netta laughed without humour.

"Really?" Her tone was scathing.

Hades fixed her with a penetrating sombre stare and nodded.

"The lords are wrong in thinking that I'd be anymore okay with murder than you are." He held her gaze as he spoke and his appearance of sincerity surprised her. After appraising him for several minutes, she slowly made her way over the desk and poured him a drink. Hades watched her, wary.

"I don't know, I'd kill to escape this place." She ran a hand over her shaved head and sighed. "At least, I thought I would." Turning back to face him, Netta handed him his drink before taking a sip of her own. "How about you?" She questioned, testing him. Hades didn't touch his drink. He stared mutely down at the model of the fort. "How far would you go, for a chance to escape this hell?" She prompted.

"Hell? I think it's kind of wonderful," he admitted. Netta frowned.

"Wonderful?"

"It's wild, it's unpolluted, it's something pure and young. A new world." He explained, his eyes shining as he spoke.

"It's a den of monsters," Netta argued.

"Or our sanctuary."

Netta stared across the table as the gristly war hero. His eyes were what struck her most, they were filled with so much warmth.

"You don't have family waiting for you?" She questioned. Hades shook his head.

"My people were willing to hand me over to the titan guard."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I forgave them before they even thought of it."

Netta could tell that he meant it to. She sank down into a chair.

"I don't want to die here," she admitted.

"So you're going to let them do it? Sacrifice people?"

"I don't know." Netta clenched her cup tighter in her grip. "If I told the people in the fort what was happening, would they even care?" She drained the last drags of her drink. "It's like your people handing you over, human nature is cold and selfish."