Gaia's Champion Ch. 66 - Teaser (Patreon)

“You didn’t tell him.”

Sergei looked up, and Nikolai sat there, watching him carefully now.

“The additional readings,” the younger man clarified. Sergei resumed eating for a moment before answering.

“We were hired for Bella and Donnis.”

“And if those other readings are connected?” Nikolai frowned.

“They aren’t our assignment,” Sergei stated.

“But they could be worth more.”

That earned him several looks around the table that weren’t hostile per se, but concerned. Because that was exactly the kind of thinking that got inexperienced operators killed. Sergei set his spoon down slowly as he fixed a meaningful glare on Nikolai’s face.

“You’ve been on this job how long?” he asked.

“…four months,” Nikolai replied as he shifted slightly.

“Mm,” Sergei nodded before continuing. “I’ve been on it for six years.”

That shut the room up properly, as six years hunting the same targets was no small feat. That meant Sergei had endured six years of failed captures, burned contacts, close calls, dead men and cities that blurred together after a while. Sergei leaned forward slightly, his gaze boring through Nikolai’s skill as he spoke.

“You know what Bella and Donnis are capable of?”

Nikolai opened his mouth, then wisely closed it.

“No, you don’t,” Sergei answered for him. The older mercs around the table stayed quiet, and not because they disagreed, but because they remembered. “I’ve seen Donnis collapse a building facade onto armed men from thirty meters away. I witnessed Bella turn wet pavement into steam hot enough to strip skin.”

The younger merc paled slightly now as Mendez stopped cleaning his pistol entirely, eyes distant. Sergei noticed that too, which was good, as it showed that he remembered what had gone down during those days.

“Three years ago in Lagos,” Sergei continued evenly, “we lost two men because Donnis called lightning down through a rooftop water tower. They died before they hit the ground.”

The room remained silent except for the hum of the generators as Nikolai swallowed hard.

“And those readings?” Sergei went on, leaning back again as he gestured vaguely toward the scanner. “The ones from tonight? They registered as stronger than what we have for Bella and Donnis. Exponentially so.”

Not equal, but stronger, and that distinction mattered immensely.

“So let me ask you something,” Sergei questioned as his eyes locked onto Nikolai’s. “You think you’re ready to take on people whose power levels exceed Bella and Donnis? Because if Bella and Donnis can bury us in earth, burn us alive, or fry our nervous systems with lightning…”

He let the thought hang there deliberately, not needing to finish it. Nikolai’s face lost color steadily as realization properly settled in. This wasn’t the fear of combat, but the fear of the unknown, the old, primal kind. The kind human beings developed around storms, predators, and things lurking in darkness long before civilization ever existed.

“When it comes to shit like this,” Sergei said calmly as he picked his spoon back up, “you do the job you were paid for. You do not go looking for extra trouble because you think you’ll get lucky.”

Nikolai nodded immediately, looking far younger than he actually was.

“Understood.”